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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..af87ef3 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #67429 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67429) diff --git a/old/67429-0.txt b/old/67429-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 016f439..0000000 --- a/old/67429-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6248 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Thing Beyond Reason, by Elisabeth -Sanxay Holding - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Thing Beyond Reason - -Author: Elisabeth Sanxay Holding - -Release Date: February 17, 2022 [eBook #67429] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Roger Frank. This file was produced from images generously - made available by The Internet Archive. - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THING BEYOND REASON *** - - - - The Thing Beyond Reason - - A COMPLETE SHORT NOVEL—THE STORY OF THE STRANGE - ADVENTURE THAT LED LEXY MORAN TO A HOUSE - OF TRAGEDY AND MYSTERY IN THE - SUBURBS OF NEW YORK - - By Elisabeth Sanxay Holding - Author of “Angelica,” etc. - - -The house was very quiet to-night. There was nothing to disturb Miss -Alexandra Moran but the placid ticking of the clock and the faint stir -of the curtains at the open window. For that matter, a considerable -amount of noise would not have troubled her just then. As she sat at -the library table, the light of the shaded lamp shone upon her bright, -ruffled head bent over her work in fiercest concentration. She was -chewing the end of a badly damaged lead pencil, and she was scowling. - -“No!” she said, half aloud. “Won’t do! It can’t be ‘fix’; but, by -jiminy, I’ll get it if it takes all night!” - -She laid down the pencil and sat back in the chair, with her arms -folded. Though her present difficulty concerned nothing more serious -than a crossword puzzle, an observer might have learned a good deal of -Miss Moran’s character from her manner of dealing with it. The puzzle -itself, with its neat, clear little letters printed in the squares, -would have been a revelation that whatever she undertook she did -carefully and intelligently—and obstinately. - -She was a young little thing, only twenty-three, and quite alone in -the world, but not at all dismayed by that. Her father had died some -three years ago, and, instead of leaving the snug little fortune she -had been taught to expect, he had left nothing at all; so that at -twenty she had had her first puzzle to solve—how to keep alive without -eating the bread of charity. - -It was no easy matter for a girl who was still in boarding school, but -she had done it. She had come to New York and had found a post as -nursery governess, and later as waitress in a tea room, and then in -the art department of an enormous store. She had gained no tangible -profit from these three years, she had no balance in the bank, but -that did not trouble her. She had learned that she could stand on her -own feet, that she could trust herself; and with this knowledge and -the experience she had had, and her quick wits and splendid health, -she felt herself fully armed against the world. Indeed, she had not a -care on earth this evening except the crossword puzzle. - -“It must be ‘tocsin,’” she said to herself. “There’s something wrong -with the verticals. It can’t be ‘fix,’ and yet—” - -The telephone bell rang. Still pondering her problem, Lexy went across -the room. - -“Is Miss Enderby there?” asked a man’s voice. - -“She’s out,” answered Lexy cheerfully. - -“No!” said the man’s voice. “She can’t—I—for God’s sake, where’s Miss -Enderby?” - -“She’s out,” Lexy repeated, startled. “She went to the opera with her -mother and father.” - -“Who are you?” - -“I’m Mrs. Enderby’s secretary.” - -“Look here! Didn’t Miss Enderby say anything? Isn’t there any sort of -message for me?” - -“Nothing that I know of. The servants have gone to bed, but I’ll ask -them, if it’s anything important.” - -“No!” said the voice. “Don’t! No, never mind! Good-by!” - -“That’s queer!” said Lexy to herself, as she walked away from the -instrument, and then she dismissed the matter from her mind. “None of -my business!” she thought, and returned to her puzzle. - -Suddenly an inspiration came. - -“It _is_ ‘fix’!” she cried. “And it’s not ‘tocsin,’ but ‘toxins’! -Hurrah!” - -This practically completed the puzzle, and she began to fill in the -empty squares with the peculiar satisfaction of the crossword -enthusiast. It was perfect, now, and she liked things to be perfect. - -As she leaned back, with a contented sigh, the clock struck twelve. - -“Golly! I didn’t realize it was so late!” she reflected. “Queer time -for any one to ring up!” - -She frowned again. Her special problem solved, she began to take more -interest in other affairs; and the more she thought of the telephone -incident, the more it amazed her. Caroline Enderby wasn’t like other -girls. The mere fact of a man’s telephoning to her at all was strange -and indeed unprecedented. - -“And he was badly upset, too,” thought Lexy. “He asked if she left a -message for him. Think of Caroline Enderby leaving a message for a -man!” - -She began to feel impatient for Caroline’s return. - -“I’ll tell her when we’re alone,” she thought; “and she’ll have to -explain—a little, anyhow.” - -Lexy wanted an explanation very much, because she was fond of -Caroline, and very sorry for her. - -Mrs. Enderby was a Frenchwoman of the old-fashioned, conservative -type, with the most rigid ideas about the bringing up of a young girl, -and her husband—Lexy had often wondered what Mr. Enderby had been -before his marriage, for now he was nothing but a grave and dignified -echo of his wife. Between them, they had educated Caroline in a -disastrous fashion. She had never even been to school. She had had -governesses at home, and when a male teacher came in, for music or -painting lessons, Mrs. Enderby had always sat in the room with her -child. Caroline never went out of the house alone. She was utterly cut -off from the normal life of other girls. She was a gentle, lovely -creature—a little unreal, Lexy had thought her, at first; and she, at -first, had been afraid of Lexy. - -Mrs. Enderby had advertised for a secretary, and Lexy had answered the -advertisement. Mrs. Enderby had wanted personal references, and Lexy -had supplied them, some five or six, of the highest quality. Mrs. -Enderby had investigated them with remarkable thoroughness, and had -asked Lexy many questions. Indeed, it had taken ten days to satisfy -her that Miss Moran was a fit person to come into her house, and Lexy -had lived under her roof and under her eagle eye for a month before -she was allowed to be alone with Caroline. After that first month, -however, Mrs. Enderby had made up her mind that Lexy was to be -trusted, and the thin pretext of “secretary” was dropped. - -Mrs. Enderby suffered from a not uncommon form of insomnia. She could -not sleep at convenient hours—at night, for instance—but could and did -sleep at very inconvenient hours during the day; and what she wanted -was not a secretary, but a companion for her daughter during these -hours. - -She realized, too, that even the most strictly brought up _jeune -fille_ needed some sort of youthful society, and in Lexy she had found -pretty well what she wanted—a well mannered, well bred young woman of -unimpeachable honesty. So she had permitted Lexy and Caroline to go -shopping alone, and sometimes to a matinée or to a tea room. She asked -them shrewd questions when they came home, and their answers satisfied -her perfectly. They had never even spoken to a man! - -“And yet,” thought Miss Moran, “somehow Caroline has been carrying on -with some one, without even me finding out! I didn’t know she had it -in her!” - -Lexy yawned mightily. She was growing very sleepy, but not for worlds -would she go to bed until she had seen Caroline. She lay down on the -divan, her hands clasped under her head, and let all sorts of little -idle thoughts drift through her mind. Now and then a taxi went by, but -this street in the East Sixties was a very quiet one. The house was so -very still, and there was nothing in her own young heart to trouble -her. Her eyes closed. - -She was half asleep when the sound of Mrs. Enderby’s voice in the hall -brought her to her feet. It was a penetrating voice, with a trace of -foreign accent, and it was not a voice that Lexy loved. She went out -of the library into the hall. - -“Did you enjoy—” she began politely, and then stopped short. “But -where’s Caroline?” she cried. - -“Caroline? But at home, of course,” answered Mrs. Enderby. - -“At home? Here?” - -“But certainly! She had a headache. At the last moment she decided not -to go with us. You were not here when we left, Miss Moran.” - -“I know,” murmured Lexy. “I had just run out to the drug store; but—” - -“She went directly to bed,” Mrs. Enderby continued. “I thought, -however, that she would have sent for you during the course of the -evening.” - -“Oh, I see!” said Lexy casually. - -At heart, however, she was curiously uneasy. Mr. Enderby stopped for a -moment, to give her some kindly information about the opera they had -heard. Then he and his wife ascended the stairs, followed by Lexy; and -with every step her uneasiness grew. She was sure that Caroline would -have sent for her if she had been in the house. - -Mrs. Enderby paused outside her child’s door. - -“The light is out,” she said. “She will be asleep. I shall not disturb -her. Good night, Miss Moran!” - -“Good night, Mrs. Enderby!” Lexy answered, and went into her own room. - -She gave Mrs. Enderby twenty minutes to get safely stowed away; then -she went out quietly into the hall, to Caroline’s room. She knocked -softly; there was no answer. She turned the handle and went in; the -room was dark and very still. She switched on the light. - -It was as she had expected—the room was empty. Caroline was not there. - - - II - -Lexy’s first impulse was to close the door of that empty room, and to -hold her tongue. It seemed to her that it would be treachery to -Caroline to tell Mrs. Enderby. She and Caroline were both young, both -of the same generation; they ought to stand loyally together against -the tyrannical older people. - -“Because, golly, what a row there’d be if Mrs. Enderby ever knew she’d -gone out!” Lexy thought. - -That was how she saw it, at first. Caroline had pretended to have a -headache so that she would be left behind, and would get a chance to -slip out alone. It was simply a lark. Lexy had known such things to -happen often before, at boarding school; and the unthinkable and -impossible thing was for one girl to tell on another. - -“She’ll be back soon,” thought Lexy, “and she’ll tell me all about -it.” - -So she went into Caroline’s room, to wait. It was a charming room, -pink and white, like Caroline herself. Lexy turned on the switch, and -two rose-shaded lamps blossomed out like flowers. She sat down on a -_chaise longue_, and stretched herself out, yawning. On the desk -before her was Caroline’s writing apparatus, a quill pen of old rose, -an ivory desk set, everything so dainty and orderly; only poor -Caroline had no friends, and never had letters to write or to answer. - -“I wonder who on earth that was on the telephone,” Lexy reflected. “It -_was_ queer—just on the only night of her life when she’d ever gone -out on her own. And he sounded so terribly upset! It _was_ queer. -Perhaps—” - -She was aware of a fast-growing oppression. The influence of -Caroline’s room was beginning to tell upon her. Caroline didn’t -understand about larks. She wasn’t that sort of girl. Quiet, shy, and -patient, she had never shown any trace of resentment against her -restricted life, or any desire for the good times that other girls of -her age enjoyed. The more Lexy thought about it, the more clearly she -realized the strangeness of all this, and the more uneasy she became. - -When the little Dresden clock on the mantelpiece struck one, it came -as a shock. Lexy sprang to her feet and looked about the room, filled -with unreasoning fear. One o’clock, and Caroline hadn’t come back! -Suppose—suppose she never came back? - -Lexy dismissed that idea with healthy scorn. Things like that didn’t -happen; and yet—what was it that gave to the pink and white lamplit -room such an air of being deserted? - -“Why, the photographs are gone!” she cried. - -She noticed now for the first time that the photographs of Mr. and -Mrs. Enderby in silver frames, which had always stood on the writing -desk, were not standing there now. - -She turned to the bureau. Caroline’s silver toilet set was not there. -She made a rapid survey of the room, and she made sure of her -suspicions. Caroline had gone deliberately, taking with her all the -things she would need on a short trip. - -“I’ve got to tell Mrs. Enderby now,” she thought. “It’s only fair.” - -She went out into the corridor, closing the door behind her, and -turned toward Mrs. Enderby’s room. She was very, very reluctant, for -she dreaded to break the peace of the quiet house by this dramatic -announcement. She hated anything in the nature of the sensational. -Level-headed, cool, practical, her instinct was to make light of all -this, to insist that nothing was really wrong. Caroline had gone, and -that was that. - -“There’s going to be such a fuss!” she thought. “If there’s anything I -loathe, it’s a fuss.” - -And all the time, under her cool and sensible exterior, she was -frightened. She felt that after all she was very young, and very -inexperienced, in a world where things—anything—things beyond her -knowledge—might happen. - -She knocked upon the door lightly—so lightly that no one heard her; -and she had to knock again. This time Mrs. Enderby opened the door. - -“Well?” she asked, not very amiably. - -“I thought I ought to tell you—” Lexy began; and still she hesitated, -moved by the unaccountable feeling that this might be treachery to -Caroline. - -“Tell me what?” asked Mrs. Enderby. “Come, if you please, Miss Moran! -Tell me at once!” - -“Caroline’s gone.” - -The words were spoken. Lexy waited in great alarm, wondering if Mrs. -Enderby would faint or scream. - -The lady did neither. She came out into the corridor, shutting the -door of her room behind her, and her first word and her only word was: - -“Hush!” - -Then she glanced about her at the closed doors, and, taking Lexy’s arm -in a firm grip, hurried her to Caroline’s room. Not until they were -shut in there did she speak again. - -“Now tell me!” she said. “Speak very low. You said—Caroline has gone?” - -“Yes,” said Lexy. “I came in here after you’d gone to bed, and—you can -see for yourself—the bed hasn’t been slept in. She’s taken her -things—her brush and comb and—” - -“And she told you—what?” - -“Me? Why, nothing!” answered Lexy, in surprise. “I didn’t see her. I -haven’t seen her since dinner.” - -“But you know,” said Mrs. Enderby. “You know where she has gone.” - -She spoke with cool certainty, and her black eyes were fixed upon Lexy -with a far from pleasant expression. - -Lexy looked back at her with equal steadiness. - -“Mrs. Enderby,” she said, “I _don’t_ know.” - -Mrs. Enderby shrugged her shoulders. - -“Very well!” she said. “You do not know exactly where she has gone. -_Bien, alors!_ You guess, eh?” - -“No,” answered Lexy, bewildered. “I don’t. I can’t.” - -“She has spoken to you of some—friend?” - -Seeing Lexy still frankly bewildered, Mrs. Enderby lost her patience. - -“The man!” she said. “Who is the man?” - -“I never heard Caroline speak of any man,” said Lexy. - -She spoke firmly enough, and she was telling the truth; but she -remembered that telephone call, and the memory brought a faint flush -into her cheeks. Mrs. Enderby did not fail to notice it. - -“Listen!” she said. “There is one thing you can do—only one thing. You -can hold your tongue. Tell no one. Let no one know that Caroline is -not here. You understand?” - -“But aren’t you going to—” - -“I am going to do nothing. You understand—nothing. There is to be no -scandal in my house.” - -“But, Mrs. Enderby!” - -“Hush! No one must know of this. To-morrow morning I shall have a -letter from Caroline.” - -“Oh!” said Lexy, with a sigh of genuine relief. “Oh, then you know -where she’s gone!” - -“I?” replied Mrs. Enderby. “I know nothing. This has come to me from a -clear sky. I have always tried to safeguard my child. I—” - -She paused for a moment, and for the first time Lexy pitied her. - -“It is the American blood in her,” Mrs. Enderby went on. “No French -girl would treat her parents so; but in this country— She has gone -with some fortune hunter. To-morrow I shall have a letter that she is -married. ‘Please forgive me, _chère Maman_,’ she will say. ‘I am so -happy. I, at nineteen, and of an ignorance the most complete, have -made my choice without you.’ That is the American way, is it not? That -is your ‘romance,’ eh? My one child—” - -Her voice broke. - -“No more!” she said. “It is finished. But—attend, Miss Moran! There -must be no scandal. No one is to know that she is not here.” - -She turned and walked out of the room. Lexy sank into a chair. - -“I don’t care!” she said to herself. - -“She’s wrong—I know it! It’s not what she thinks. Caroline’s not like -that. Something dreadful has happened!” - - - III - -It seemed perfectly natural to be awakened in the morning by Mrs. -Enderby’s hand on her shoulder, and to look up into Mrs. Enderby’s -flashing black eyes. Lexy had gone to sleep dominated by the thought -of that masterful woman. She vaguely remembered having dreamed of her, -and when she opened her eyes—there she was. - -“Get up!” said Mrs. Enderby in a low voice. “Go into Caroline’s room. -When Annie comes with the breakfast tray, take it from her at the -door. I have told her that Caroline is ill with a headache. You -understand?” - -“Yes, Mrs. Enderby,” answered Lexy. - -She sprang out of bed and began to dress, filled with an unreasoning -sense of haste. It wasn’t a dream, then—it was true. Caroline had -gone, and there was something Lexy must do for her. She could not have -explained what this something was, but it oppressed and worried her. -She could not rid herself of the feeling that she was not being loyal -to Caroline. - -“And yet,” she thought, “I had to tell Mrs. Enderby she wasn’t there. -I suppose I ought to have told her about that telephone call, too, but -I hate to do it! I know Caroline wouldn’t like me to; and what good -can it do, anyhow? Whoever it was, he didn’t know where she was. It -was the queerest thing—a man asking, ‘ For God’s sake, where’s Miss -Enderby?’ when she wasn’t here! No, Mrs. Enderby is wrong. Caroline -hasn’t just gone away of her own accord. She’s not that sort of girl. -Something has happened!” - -Lexy finished dressing and went into Caroline’s room. In the gay April -sunshine, that dainty room seemed almost unbearably forlorn. - -She went over to the window and looked down into the street. People -were passing by, and taxis, and private cars—all the ordinary, casual, -cheerful daily life at which Caroline Enderby had so often looked out, -like a poor enchanted princess in a tower. A wave of pity and -affection rose in Lexy’s heart. - -“Oh, poor Caroline!” she said to herself. “Such a dull, miserable -life! I do wish—” - -There was a knock at the door, and she hurried across the room to open -it. The parlor maid stood there with a tray. Lexy took it from her -with a pleasant “good morning,” and closed the door again. Caroline’s -breakfast! There was something disturbing in the sight of that -carefully prepared tray, ready for the girl who was not there. - -The door opened—without a preliminary knock, this time—and Mrs. -Enderby came in. She turned the key behind her, and, without a word, -went over to the bed and pulled off the covers. Then she went into the -adjoining bathroom and started the water running in the tub. This -done, she sat down at the table and began to eat the breakfast on the -tray. - -Lexy stood watching all this with indignation and a sort of horror. - -“All she cares about is keeping up appearances,” the girl thought. -“The only thing that worries her is that some one might find out. She -doesn’t know where poor Caroline is—and she can sit down and eat! I’m -comparatively a stranger, and even I—” - -Lexy was an honest soul, however. The fragrance of coffee and rolls -reached her, and she admitted in her heart that she, too, could eat, -if she had a chance. - -Mrs. Enderby was not going to give her a chance just yet. She finished -her meal and rose. - -“Now!” she said. “Just what is gone from here? We shall look.” - -So they looked, in the wardrobe, in the drawers, even in the orderly -desk. Very little was gone. - -“And now,” said Mrs. Enderby, “you lent her—how much money, Miss -Moran?” - -“I never lent her a penny in my life,” replied Lexy. - -Mrs. Enderby’s tone aroused a spirit of obstinate defiance in her. -Those flashing black eyes were fixed upon her with an expression which -did not please Lexy, and Lexy looked back with an expression which did -not please Mrs. Enderby. - -“So you will not tell me what you know!” said Mrs. Enderby, with a -chilly smile. - -It was on the tip of Lexy’s tongue to say, with considerable warmth, -that she _had_ told all she knew; but the memory of the telephone call -checked her. - -“If I tell her about that,” she thought, “she’ll just say, ‘Ah, I -thought so!’ And she’ll be surer than ever that Caroline has eloped -with a fortune hunter, and she won’t make any effort to find her. -No—I’m not going to tell her until she gets really frightened.” Aloud -she said: “I’ll do anything in the world that I can do, Mrs. Enderby, -to help you find Caroline.” - -“It is not necessary,” said Mrs. Enderby. “I shall have her letter.” - -There was another tap at the door. Mrs. Enderby closed the door -leading into the bathroom, and then called: - -“Come in!” - -The parlor maid entered. - -“You may take away the tray,” her mistress said graciously. “Miss -Enderby has finished.” - -Again a feeling that was almost horror came over Lexy. There was the -bed Caroline had slept in, there was the breakfast Caroline had eaten, -there was Caroline’s bath running—and Caroline wasn’t there! Lexy -wanted to get out of that room and away from Mrs. Enderby. - -“Do you mind if I go down and get my own breakfast now?” she asked, -when the parlor maid had gone out with the tray. - -“But certainly not!” Mrs. Enderby blandly consented. “We shall go down -together.” - -She turned off the water in the bath, and, following Lexy out of the -room, locked the door on the outside. The girl dropped behind her as -they descended the stairs, and studied the stout, dignified figure -before her with indignant interest. - -“A mother!” she thought. “A mother, behaving like this! How long is -she going to wait for her letter, I wonder? Well, if she won’t do -anything, then, by jiminy, I will!” - -A fresh example of Mrs. Enderby’s remarkable strength of mind awaited -them. Mr. Enderby was already seated at the table in the dining room. -As his wife entered, he rose, with his invariable politeness, and one -glance at his ruddy, cheerful face convinced Lexy that he knew nothing -of what had happened. - -“Caroline has a headache,” Mrs. Enderby explained. “It will be better -for her to rest for a little.” - -“Ah! Too bad!” said he. “Don’t think she gets out in the air enough. -Er—good morning, Miss Moran!” - -Lexy almost forgot to answer him, so intent was she upon watching Mrs. -Enderby open her letters. There must, she thought, be some change in -that calm, pale face when she didn’t find a letter from Caroline, -there must be something to break this inhuman tranquillity. - -But nothing broke it. Mr. Enderby ate his breakfast, and his wife -chatted affably with him while she glanced over her mail. The sunshine -poured into the room, gleaming on silver and linen, and on the -cheerful young parlor maid moving quietly about her duties. It was a -morning just like other mornings; and, in spite of herself, Lexy’s -feeling of dread and oppression began to lighten. Mr. Enderby was so -thoroughly unperturbed, Mrs. Enderby was so serene and majestic, the -house was so bright and pleasant in the spring morning, that it was -hard to believe that anything could be really amiss. - -“But I don’t care!” she thought sturdily. “_I_ know there is!” - -Mr. Enderby finished his breakfast and rose, and, as usual, his wife -accompanied him to the front door. Alone in the dining room, Lexy made -haste to finish her own meal. Just as she pushed back her chair, Mrs. -Enderby returned. - -“I shall ring, Annie,” she told the parlor maid, and the girl -disappeared. Then she turned to Lexy. “The letter has come,” she said. - -Lexy stared at her with such an expression of amazement and dismay -that Mrs. Enderby smiled. - -“You are very young,” she said. “You wish always for the dramatic. -When you have lived as long as I, you will see that such things do not -happen.” - -She spoke kindly, and Lexy saw in her dark eyes a look of weariness -and pain. - -“No, my child,” she went on. “In this life it is always the same -things that happen again and again. At twenty, one breaks the heart -for a man; at forty, one breaks the heart for one’s child. There is -only that—and money. Love and money—nothing else!” - -Lexy felt extraordinarily sorry for Mrs. Enderby; but even yet she -couldn’t quite believe that Caroline could have done such a thing. - -“But do you mean that she’s really—that she’s—” she began. - -“See, then!” said Mrs. Enderby. “Here is the letter!” - -Lexy took it from her, and read: - - Chere Maman: - - I only beg you and papa to forgive me for what I have - done; but I knew that if I told you, you would not have - let me go. When you get this - - I shall be married. To-morrow I shall write again, to tell - you where I am, and to beg you to let me bring my husband - to you. - - Oh, please, dear, dear mother and father, forgive me! - - Your loving, loving daughter, - Caroline. - -“You see!” said Mrs. Enderby. “It is as I told you.” - -There were tears in Lexy’s eyes as she put the letter back into the -envelope. - -“It doesn’t seem a bit like Caroline, though,” she remarked. - -Mrs. Enderby smiled again, faintly, and held out her hand for the -letter. Lexy returned it to her, with an almost mechanical glance at -the postmark—“Wyngate, Connecticut.” - -All her defiance had vanished. She was obliged to admit now that Mrs. -Enderby was wise, and that she herself was— - -“A little fool!” said Lexy candidly to herself. - - - IV - -“Do you mind if I go out for a walk?” asked the crestfallen Lexy; for -that was her instinct in any sort of trouble—to get out into the fresh -air and walk. - -“No,” answered Mrs. Enderby; “but I shall ask you to return in half an -hour. There is much to be done.” - -“Done!” cried Lexy. “But what can be done—now?” - -“That I shall tell you when you return,” said Mrs. Enderby. “In the -meantime, I trust you to say nothing of all this to any person -whatever. You understand, Miss Moran?” - -Miss Moran certainly did not understand, but she gave her promise to -keep silent, and, putting on her hat and coat, hurried out of the -house. Mighty glad she was to get out, too! - -“But why make a mystery of it like this?” she thought. “Every one has -to know, sooner or later, and it’s so—so ghastly, pretending that -Caroline’s there! Oh, it doesn’t seem possible, Caroline running off -like that, and I never even dreaming she was the least bit interested -in any man! I don’t see how she could have seen any one or written to -any one without my knowing it. It doesn’t seem possible!” - -She had reached the corner of Fifth Avenue, and was waiting for a halt -in the traffic, when she became aware of a young man who was standing -near her and staring at her. She glanced carelessly at him, and he -took off his hat, but he got no acknowledgment of his salute. He was a -stranger, and she meant him to remain a stranger. The bright-haired, -sturdy little Lexy was a very pretty girl, and she was not -unaccustomed to strange young men who stared. She knew how to handle -them. - -As she crossed the avenue, he crossed, too. When she entered the park, -he followed. Now Lexy was never tolerant of this sort of thing, and -to-day, in her anxiety and distress, she was less so than ever. She -turned her head and looked the young man squarely in the face with a -scornful and frigid look; and he took off his hat again! - -“Just you say one word,” said she to herself, “and I’ll call a -policeman!” - -Yet, as she walked briskly on, something in the man’s expression -haunted her. He didn’t look like that sort of man. His sunburned face -somehow seemed to her a very honest one, and the expression on it was -not at all flirtatious, but terribly troubled and unhappy. - -“Perhaps he thinks he knows me,” she thought. “Well, he doesn’t, and -he’s not going to, either!” - -And she dismissed him from her mind. - -“When did Caroline go?” she pondered, continuing her own miserable -train of thought. “While I was doing cross words in the library? If -she went out by the front door, she must have gone right past the -library. She must have known I was there—and not even to say good-by!” - -It hurt. She had grown very fond of the shy, quiet Caroline, and she -had firmly believed that Caroline was fond of her. What is more, she -had thought Caroline trusted her. - -“She didn’t though. All the time, when we were so friendly together, -she must have been planning this and—_what_?” - -She stopped short, her dark brows meeting in a fierce frown, for the -unknown man had come up beside her and spoken to her. - -“Excuse me!” he said. - -Lexy only looked at him, but he did not wither and perish under her -scorn. - -“I’ve _got_ to speak to you,” he said. - -“It’s—look here! I’ve been waiting outside the house all morning. Look -here, please! You’re Lexy, aren’t you?” - -This was a little too much! - -“If you don’t stop bothering me this instant—” she began hotly, but he -paid no heed. - -“_Where’s Miss Enderby?”_ he cried. - -Lexy grew very pale. Those were the words she had heard over the -telephone last night, and this was the same voice. - -For a moment she was silent, staring at him, while he looked back at -her, his blue eyes searching her face with a look of desperate -entreaty. All her doubts vanished. She had not been wrong. She had -been right—she was sure of it. She knew that something had -happened—something inexplicable and dreadful. - -“Please tell me!” he said. “You don’t know—you can’t know—she told me -you were her friend.” - -“But who are you?” cried Lexy. - -His face flushed under the sunburn. - -“I—” he began, and stopped. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you,” he went on. -“I’d like to, but, you see, I can’t. If you’ll just tell me where -Car—Miss Enderby is! She’s safe at home, isn’t she? She—of course she -is! She _must_ be! She—she is, isn’t she?” - -“Well,” said Lexy slowly, “I don’t see how I can tell you anything at -all. I don’t know what right you have to ask any questions. I don’t -know who you are, or anything about you.” - -“No,” he replied, “I know that; but, after all, it’s not much of a -question, is it—just if Miss Enderby’s all right?” - -Lexy felt very sorry for him, in his obvious struggle to speak quietly -and reasonably. She wanted to answer him promptly and candidly, for -his sake and for her own, because she felt sure that he could tell her -something about Caroline; but she had promised Mrs. Enderby to say -nothing. - -“It’s so silly!” she thought, exasperated. “If I could tell him, I -might find out—” - -“Find out what? Hadn’t Caroline written to say that she had gone away -to get married? In a day or two, probably to-morrow, they would learn -all the details from Caroline herself. This unhappy young man couldn’t -know anything. Indeed, he was asking for information. Who could he -possibly be? A rival suitor? Lexy remembered Caroline’s pitifully -restricted life. _Two_ suitors of whom she had never heard? It wasn’t -possible! - -“No,” she thought. “There’s something queer—something wrong!” - -“Look here!” the young man said again. “Aren’t you going to answer me? -Just tell me she’s all right, and—” - -“What makes you think she isn’t?” asked Lexy cautiously. - -He looked straight into her face. - -“You’re playing with me,” he said. “You’re fencing with me, to make me -give myself away; and it’s a pretty rotten thing to do!” - -“Rotten?” Lexy repeated indignantly. “Rotten, not to answer questions -from a perfect stranger?” - -“Yes,” he said, “it is; because that’s a question you could answer for -any one. I’ve only asked you if Miss Enderby is—all right.” - -This high-handed tone didn’t suit Lexy at all. He was actually -presuming to be angry, and that made her angry. - -“I shan’t tell you anything at all,” she said, and began to walk on -again. - -He put on his hat and turned away, but in a moment he was back at her -side. - -“Look here!” he said. “Caroline told me you were her friend. She said -you could be trusted. All right—I am trusting you. I’ve felt, all -along, that there was—something wrong. I’ve got to know! If you’ll -give me your word that she’s safe at home, I’ll clear out, and -apologize for having made a first-class fool of myself; but if she’s -not, I ought to know!” - -Lexy stopped again. Their eyes met in a long, steady glance. - -“I can’t answer any questions this morning,” she told him. “I promised -I wouldn’t.” - -“Then there is something wrong!” the young man exclaimed. - -He was silent for a long time, staring at the ground, and Lexy waited, -with a fast beating heart, for some word that would enlighten her. At -last he looked up. - -“I’ve got to trust you,” he said simply. “Caroline meant to tell you, -anyhow. You see”—he paused—“I’m Charles Houseman, the man she’s going -to marry.” - -“Oh!” cried Lexy. - -“Now you’ll tell me, won’t you?” - -She stared and stared at him, filled with amazement and pity. Such a -nice-looking, straightforward, manly sort of fellow—and such a look of -pain and bewilderment in his blue eyes! - -“But—did she _say_ she would marry you?” - -“Of course she did! She—look here! You don’t know what I’ve been -through. It was I who telephoned last night. I—” - -“But why did you? Oh, please tell me! I am Caroline’s friend—truly her -friend. I want to understand!” - -“All right!” he said. “I telephoned because I was waiting for her, and -she didn’t come.” - -“Waiting for—Caroline?” - -“We had arranged to get married last night. She was to meet me, but -she didn’t come,” he said, a little unsteadily. “Perhaps she just -changed her mind. Perhaps she doesn’t want to see me any more. If -that’s the case, I’ll trust you not to mention anything about me—to -any one. You see now, don’t you, that I—I had to know?” - -Lexy’s eyes filled with tears. Moved by a generous impulse, she held -out her hand. - -“I’m so awfully sorry!” she cried. - -“Why? You mean—for God’s sake, tell me! You mean she has changed her -mind?” - -“I can’t tell you—not now.” - -“You can’t leave it at that,” said he. He had taken her outstretched -hand, and he held it tight. “I ought to know what has happened. I -can’t believe that Caroline would let me down like that. She—she’s not -that sort of girl. Something’s gone wrong. She wouldn’t leave me -waiting and waiting there for her at Wyngate.” - -“Wyngate!” cried Lexy. “But that was—” - -She stopped abruptly. Caroline’s letter had been postmarked “Wyngate.” -She had gone there to meet—some one. She had married—some one. - -“I can’t understand,” Lexy went on. “It’s terrible! I can’t tell you -now; but I’ll meet you here this afternoon, after lunch—about two -o’clock—and I’ll tell you then.” - -She turned away, then, in haste to get back to Mrs. Enderby, but he -stopped her. - -“Remember!” he said sternly. “I’ve trusted you. If Caroline hasn’t -told her people about me, you mustn’t mention my name. I gave her my -word that I would let her do the telling. I didn’t want it that way, -but I promised her, and you’ve got to do the same. If she hasn’t told -about me, you’re not to.” - -“Oh, Lord!” cried poor Lexy. “Well, all right, I won’t! Now, for -goodness’ sake, go away, and let me alone—to do the best I can!” - - - V - -Lexy was late. The half hour had been considerably exceeded when she -ran up the steps of the Enderbys house. She rang the bell, and the -door was opened promptly by Annie. - -“Mrs. Enderby would like to see you at once, miss,” the parlor maid -said primly. - -But Lexy stopped to look covertly at Annie. Did she know anything? It -was possible. Anything was possible now. Lexy was obliged to admit, -however, that Annie had no appearance of guilt or mystery. A brisk and -sober woman of middle age, who had been with the family for nearly ten -years, she looked nothing more or less than disapproving because this -young person had presumed to keep Mrs. Enderby waiting for several -minutes. - -“Anyhow, I can’t ask her,” thought Lexy. “That’s the worst part of all -this— I can’t ask anybody anything without breaking a promise to -somebody else; and yet everybody ought to know everything!” - -In miserable perplexity, she went upstairs to Mrs. Enderby’s sitting -room. Only one thing was clear in her mind, and that was that she must -be freed from her weak-minded promise not to mention Caroline’s -absence. - -“And that’s not going to be easy,” she reflected, “when I can’t -explain to her. There’ll be a row. Well, I don’t care!” - -She did care, however. She respected Mrs. Enderby, and in her secret -heart she was a little afraid of her. She felt very young, very crude -and blundering, in the presence of that masterful woman; and she -doubted her own wisdom. - -“But what can I do?” she thought. “He said he trusted me. I _can’t_ -tell her! No, first I’ll get her to let me off that promise, and I’ll -go and tell that young man. Then I’ll make him let me off, and I’ll -come and tell her. Golly, how I hate all this fool mystery!” - -Mrs. Enderby was writing at her desk as Lexy entered the room. She -glanced up, unsmiling. - -“You are late,” she said. “I asked you to return in half an hour.” - -“I’m sorry,” Lexy replied meekly. - -“Very well! Now you will please to come with me.” - -She rose, and Lexy followed her down the hall to Caroline’s room. Mrs. -Enderby unlocked the door, and, when they had entered, locked the door -on the inside. - -“In fifteen minutes the car is coming,” she said. “I wish you to put -on Caroline’s hat and coat and a veil, and leave the house with me.” - -“You mean you want me to pretend I’m Caroline?” cried Lexy. - -“I wish it to be thought that you are Caroline,” Mrs. Enderby -corrected her. “Please waste no time. The car will be here—” - -“Mrs. Enderby, I—I can’t do it!” - -“You can, Miss Moran, and I think you will.” - -But Lexy was pretty close to desperation now. Her honest and vigorous -spirit was entangled in a network of promises and obligations and -deceptions, and she could not see how to free herself; but she would -not passively submit. - -“No,” she said, “I can’t. I’ve found out something—I can’t tell you -about it just now, but this afternoon I hope—” - -“This afternoon is another thing,” said Mrs. Enderby. “In the -meantime—” - -“But it’s important! It’s—” - -“You think I do not know? You think this letter sets my mind at rest?” -Mrs. Enderby demanded, with one of her sudden flashes of temper. “That -is imbecile! I know how serious it is that my child should leave me -like this; but I know what is my duty—first, to my husband. That -first, I tell you! It is for me to see that no disgrace comes upon his -house, no scandal—that first! Then, next, I must see to it that the -way is left open for Caroline to come back—if she wishes.” She came -close to Lexy, and fixed those black eyes of hers upon the girl’s -face. “I tell you, Miss Moran, there will be no scandal!” - -In spite of herself, Lexy was impressed. - -“But suppose—” she began. - -“No—we shall not suppose. I have told the servants that to-day Miss -Enderby goes into the country, to visit her old governess for a few -days. Very well—they shall see her go. If there is no other letter -to-morrow, I shall tell Mr. Enderby.” - -“Doesn’t he know?” - -“Please make haste, Miss Moran!” said Mrs. Enderby. - -As if hypnotized, Lexy began to dress herself in Caroline’s clothes; -but, as she glanced in the mirror to adjust the close-fitting little -hat, the monstrousness of the whole thing overwhelmed her. She had so -often seen Caroline in this hat and coat! - -“Oh, I can’t!” she cried. “I can’t! Suppose something terrible has -happened to her, and I’m—” - -“Keep quiet!” said Mrs. Enderby fiercely. “I tell you it shall be so! -Now, the veil. No, not like that—not as if you were disguising -yourself! So!” - -She unlocked the door, and, taking Lexy by the arm, went out into the -hall. Together they descended the stairs, Mrs. Enderby chatting -volubly in French, as she was wont to do with her daughter. None of -the servants would think of interrupting her, or of staring at her -companion. It was an ordinary, everyday scene. Annie was crossing the -lower hall. - -“Miss Moran will be out all day,” said Mrs. Enderby. “There will be no -one at home for lunch.” - -“Yes, ma’am,” replied Annie. - -The maid would not notice when—or if—Miss Moran went out. There was -nothing to arouse suspicion in any one. - -They went out to the car. A small trunk was strapped on behind. -Everything had been prepared for Miss Enderby’s visit to the country. -The chauffeur opened the door and touched his cap respectfully, the -two women got in, and off they went. - -“Now you will please to dismiss this subject from your mind,” said -Mrs. Enderby. “I do not wish to talk of it.” She spoke kindly now. -“You will have a pleasant day in the country.” - -“Day!” said Lexy. “But what time will we get back?” - -“Before dinner.” - -“Oh, I’ve got to get back this afternoon! I’ve got to see some one! -It’s important—terribly important!” - -Mrs. Enderby smiled faintly. - -“The chauffeur must see you descend at Miss Craigie’s house,” she -said. “Once we are there, I have a hat and coat of your own in the -trunk. I shall explain what is necessary to Miss Craigie, who is very -discreet, very devoted. You can change then, but you must go home -quietly by train; and I think there are not many trains.” - -Lexy had a vision of the young man waiting and waiting for her in the -park that afternoon—the young man who had trusted her, who was waiting -in such miserable anxiety for some news of Caroline. - -“Mrs. Enderby,” she protested, “I can’t come with you. I’ve got to get -back this afternoon.” - -“No,” said Mrs. Enderby. - -Lexy made a creditable effort to master her anger and distress. - -“It’s important—to you,” she said. “I have to see some one about -Caroline—some one who can tell you something.” - -This time Mrs. Enderby made no answer at all. There she sat, stout, -majestic, absolutely impervious, looking out of the window as if Lexy -did not exist. What was to be done? She couldn’t communicate with the -chauffeur except by leaning across Mrs. Enderby, and a struggle with -that lady was out of the question. - -“But I’m not going on!” she thought. - -She waited until the car slowed down at a crossing. Then she made a -sudden dart for the door. With equal suddenness Mrs. Enderby seized -her arm. - -“Sit down!” she said, in a singularly unpleasant whisper. “There shall -be no scene. Sit down, I tell you!” - -“I won’t!” replied Lexy, but just then the car started forward, and -she fell back on the seat. - -“You will come with me,” said Mrs. Enderby. - -That overbearing tone, that grasp on her arm, were very nearly too -much for Lexy. She had always been quick-tempered. All the Morans -were, and were perversely proud of it, too; but Lexy had learned many -lessons in a hard school. She had learned to control her temper, and -she did so now. She was silent for a time. - -“All right!” she agreed, at last. “I’ll come. I don’t see what else I -can do—now; but after this I’ll have to use my own judgment, Mrs. -Enderby.” - -“You have none,” Mrs. Enderby told her calmly. - -Lexy clenched her hands, and again was silent for a moment. - -“I mean—” she began. - -“I know very well what you mean,” said Mrs. Enderby. “You mean that -you will keep faith with me no longer. I saw that. You wished to run -off and tell your story to some one this afternoon. I stopped that. -After this, I cannot stop you any longer. You will tell, but I think -no one will listen to you. I shall deny it, and no one will be likely -to listen to the word of a discharged employee.” - -Lexy had grown very pale. - -“I see!” she said slowly. “Then you’re going to—” - -“You are discharged,” interrupted Mrs. Enderby, “because I do not like -to have my daughter’s companion running into the park to meet a young -man.” - -“I see!” said Lexy again. - -And nothing more. All the warmth of her anger had gone, and in its -place had come an overwhelming depression. For all her sturdiness and -courage, she was young and generous and sensitive, and those words of -Mrs. Enderby’s hurt her cruelly. - -She sat very still, looking out of the window. They had left the city -now, and were on the Boston road. It was a sweet, fresh April day, and -under a bright and windy sky the countryside was showing the first -soft green of spring. - -Lexy remembered. She remembered the things she had so valiantly tried -to forget—the dear, happy days that were past, spring days like this, -in her own home, with her mother and father; early morning rides on -her little black mare, and coming home to the old house, to the people -who loved her; her father’s laugh, her mother’s wonderful smile, the -friendly faces of the servants. - -She was not old enough or wise enough as yet, for these memories to be -a solace to her. They were pain—nothing but pain. There was no one now -to love her, or even to be interested in her. She had cut herself off -from her old friends and gone out alone, like a poor, rash, gallant -little knight-errant, into the wide world to seek her fortune. -Caroline had disappeared, and Mrs. Enderby had dismissed her with -savage contempt. She would have to go out now and look for a new job. - -She straightened her shoulders. - -“This won’t do!” she said to herself. “It’s disgusting, mawkish -self-pity, and nothing else. I’m young and healthy, and I can always -find a job. What I want to think about now is Caroline, and what I -ought to do for her.” - -So she did begin to think about Caroline. The first thought that came -into her head was such an extraordinary one that it startled her. - -“Anyhow, she’s a pretty lucky girl!” - -Lucky? Caroline, who had lived like a prisoner, and who had now so -strangely disappeared, lucky—simply because a sunburned, blue-eyed -young man was so miserably anxious about her? - -“I suppose he’s thinking about her this minute,” Lexy reflected; “and -I’m sure nobody in the world is thinking about me. Well, I don’t -care!” - - - VI - -The car took them to a drowsy little village, and stopped before a -small cottage on a side street. Mrs. Enderby got out, followed by -Lexy, the living ghost of Caroline. Side by side they went up the -flagged path and on to the porch. Mrs. Enderby rang the bell, and in a -moment the door was opened by a thin, sandy-haired woman in -spectacles. - -“Mrs. Enderby!” she cried, her plain face lighting up in a delighted -smile. “And my dear little Caroline!” She held out her hand to Lexy, -and suddenly her face changed. “But—” she began. - -Mrs. Enderby pushed her gently inside and closed the door. - -“But it’s not Caroline!” cried Miss Craigie. - -“Hush!” said Mrs. Enderby. “I shall explain to you. Please allow the -chauffeur to carry upstairs a small trunk, and please have no air of -surprise.” - -Evidently Miss Craigie was in the habit of obeying Mrs. Enderby. She -opened the front door and called the chauffeur, who came in with the -trunk. - -“Turn your back!” whispered Mrs. Enderby to Lexy. “Go and look out of -the window!” - -Lexy heard the man go past the sitting room and up the stairs. -Presently he came running down, and the front door closed after him. - -“Now, Miss Craigie,” said Mrs. Enderby, “if you will permit Miss Moran -to go upstairs?” - -“Oh, certainly!” answered the bewildered Miss Craigie. “Whatever you -think best, Mrs. Enderby, I’m sure.” - -“Go!” said Mrs. Enderby. - -The lady’s tone aroused in Lexy a great desire not to go. Of course, -now that she had gone so far, it would be childish to refuse to -continue; but she meant to take her time. She stood there by the -window, slowly drawing off her gloves, her back turned to the room. -Suddenly Mrs. Enderby caught her by the shoulder and turned her -around. - -“Go!” she said again. “Take off those things of my child’s. _Mon Dieu! -Mon Dieu!_ Have you no heart?” - -There was such a note of anguish in her voice that Lexy no longer -delayed. She followed Miss Craigie up the stairs to a neat, prim -little bedroom, where the trunk stood, already unlocked. - -“If you want anything—” suggested Miss Craigie, in her gentle and -apologetic way. - -“No, thank you,” replied Lexy. - -Miss Craigie went out, closing the door softly behind her. Lexy took -off Caroline’s hat and coat and laid them on the bed. - -“I wonder if I’ll ever see her wearing them again!” she thought. - -For a long time she stood motionless, looking down at the things that -Caroline had worn. Most pitifully eloquent, they seemed to her—the hat -that had covered Caroline’s fair hair, the coat that had fitted her -slender shoulders. Lexy looked and looked, grave and sorrowful—and in -that moment her resolution was made. - -“I’m going to find her!” she said, half aloud. “I don’t care what any -one else does or what any one else thinks. I _know_ she’s in trouble -of some sort, and I’m going to find her!” - -The last trace of what Lexy had called “mawkish self-pity” had -vanished now. She was no longer concerned with Mrs. Enderby’s attitude -toward herself. It didn’t matter. Finding another job didn’t matter, -either. She had a little money due her, and she meant to use it—every -penny of it—in finding Caroline. - -She washed her hands and face, brushed her hair, put on her own hat -and jacket, and went downstairs again. Mrs. Enderby was standing in -the tiny hall, and from the sitting room there came a sound of muffled -sobbing. - -“She is an imbecile, that woman!” said Mrs. Enderby, with a sigh; “but -she will hold her tongue. And you?” - -“I’ve got to do as I think best,” answered Lexy. “I’ll say good-by -now, Mrs. Enderby.” - -“There is no train until three o’clock. It is now after one. We shall -have lunch directly.” - -“No, thank you,” said Lexy. “I’d rather go now. I dare say I can find -something to eat in the village.” - -She was not in the least angry now, or hurt; only she wanted to get -away, by herself, to think this out. - -“Good-by?” repeated Mrs. Enderby, with a smile. “You think, then, -never to see me again?” - -“No,” said Lexy. “I mean to see you again—when I have something to -tell you; but just now I want to go back and pack up my things.” - -“And leave my house?” - -“Yes.” - -They were both silent for a moment. Then, to Lexy’s amazement, Mrs. -Enderby laid a hand gently on the girl’s shoulder. - -“My child,” she said, “you think I am a very hard woman. Perhaps it is -so; but, like you, I do what seems to me the right. Certainly it is -better now that you should leave us; but not like this. You must have -your lunch here, then you must return to the house and sleep there, -all in the usual way. To-morrow you shall go.” She paused a moment. -“You shall go, if you are still determined that you will not keep -faith with me.” - -It was not a very difficult matter to touch Lexy’s heart. Whatever -resentment she may have felt against Mrs. Enderby vanished now, lost -in a sincere pity and respect; but she was firm in her purpose. - -“I’ve got to tell one person,” she said. “If I do, I shall be able to -tell you something you ought to know. I wish you could trust me! I -wish you could believe that all I’m thinking of is—Caroline!” - -“I do believe you,” said Mrs. Enderby. “You are very honest, and very, -very young. You wish to do good, but you do harm. Very well, my -child—I cannot stop you. Go your way, and I go mine; but”—she paused -again, and again smiled her faint, shadowy smile—“if I think it right -that you should be sacrificed, it shall be so. I am sorry. I have -affection for you. I shall be sorry if you stand in my way.” - -Lexy met her eyes steadily. - -“I’m sorry, too,” she said. - -And so she was. There was nothing in her heart now but sorrow for them -all—for Caroline, for Mrs. Enderby, for the luckless Mr. Houseman, -even for Miss Craigie; but most of all for Caroline. - -“I’ve got to find her,” she thought, over and over again; “and _he’ll_ -help me!” - -She had lunch in Miss Craigie’s cottage—a melancholy meal, with the -hostess red-eyed and dejected and Mrs. Enderby sternly silent. Then, -after lunch, poor Miss Craigie was sent out for a drive, in order to -get rid of the chauffeur while Lexy slipped out of the house and down -to the station. - -Everything went as Mrs. Enderby had willed it. Lexy caught the -designated train, and returned to the city. All the way in, her great -comfort was the thought of Mr. Houseman. He would help her. Now she -could tell him that Caroline had gone, and he would help her. - -“Of course, I’ve missed him to-day,” she thought; “but he’s sure to be -in the park again to-morrow. Perhaps he’ll telephone. He’s not the -sort to be easily discouraged, I’m sure.” - -It was dark when she reached the Grand Central, but, at the risk of -being late for dinner, Lexy chose to walk back to the house. She could -always think better when she was walking. - -“I want to get the thing in order in my own mind,” she reflected. -“Mrs. Enderby is so—confusing. Here’s the case—Mr. Houseman says -Caroline promised to meet him last night at a place called Wyngate, -and they were to be married. She left the house. This morning there -was a letter from her, postmarked Wyngate; but he says she didn’t go -there. Well, then, where did she go?” - -Impossible to answer that question with even the wildest surmise. - -“I’ll have to wait,” Lexy went on. “I’ll have to find out more from -Mr. Houseman. Perhaps they misunderstood each other. It’s no use -trying to guess. I’ll have to wait till I see him.” - -She recalled his honest, sunburned face with great good will. He was -her ally. He was young, like herself, not old and cautious and -deliberate. She liked him. She trusted him. In her loneliness and -anxiety, he seemed a friend. - -Annie opened the door with her customary air of disapproval. - -“Yes, miss,” she answered. “Mrs. Enderby came home in the car half an -hour ago. Dinner’ll be served in ten minutes. Here’s a letter for you. -A young man left it about twenty minutes ago.” - -“If I’d taken a taxi from Grand Central, I’d have seen him!” was -Lexy’s first thought. - -Even a letter was something, however, and she ran upstairs with it, -very much pleased. Of course, it was from Mr. Houseman. She locked the -door, and, standing against it, looked at the envelope. It was -addressed to “Miss Lexy” in a good clear hand. That made her smile, -remembering her first indignation that morning. - -The letter ran thus: - - Dear Miss Lexy: - - Please excuse me for addressing you like this, but I don’t - know your other name. I forgot to ask you. - - I waited in the park for you all afternoon. When it got - dark, I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I went to the - house and asked for Miss Enderby. The servant told me she - had gone away to the country with her mother this morning. - - Please tell Miss Enderby that I understand. I am sorry she - didn’t tell me before that she had changed her mind, - instead of letting me wait like that; but it’s finished - now. Please tell her she can count on me to hold my - tongue, and never to bother her again in any way. - - We are sailing to-night, or I should have tried to see you - to-morrow. In case you have any message for me, you can - address me at the company’s office, J. J. Eames & Son, 99 - State Street. I expect to be back in about six weeks. - - Very truly yours, - Charles Houseman. - -“Sailing to-night!” cried Lexy. “Then he’s gone! He’s gone!” - - - VII - -“So you are still of the same mind?” inquired Mrs. Enderby. - -“More so, if anything,” Lexy answered seriously. - -It was after breakfast the next morning. Mr. Enderby had gone to his -office, and Mrs. Enderby and Lexy were alone in the dining room. There -was an odd sort of friendliness between them. Lexy felt no constraint -in asking questions. - -“There isn’t any letter this morning, is there, Mrs. Enderby?” - -“There is not.” - -“Then I suppose you’re going to tell Mr. Enderby?” - -“This evening.” - -“And then?” - -“Then I shall be guided by his advice,” Mrs. Enderby replied blandly. - -Lexy could have smiled at this. She knew how likely Mrs. Enderby was -to be guided by her husband; but she kept the smile and the thought to -herself. - -“I don’t want to interfere with your plans—” she began. - -“I have no plans.” - -“I mean, if you’re going to take steps to find her—” - -“My child,” said Mrs. Enderby, “it is clear that you wish to amuse -yourself with a grand mystery. I tell you there is no mystery, but you -do not believe me. I ask you to say nothing of this matter, but you -refuse. So I say to you now—go your own way, proceed with your -mystery. I do not think you can hurt me very much.” - -Lexy flushed. - -“I don’t want to hurt any one,” she declared stiffly. “I just want to -help your daughter.” - -“Proceed, then!” said Mrs. Enderby. - -Lexy rose. - -“Then I’ll say good-by, Mrs. Enderby,” she said. “My trunk’s packed. -I’ll send for it this afternoon.” - -“And where are you going in such a hurry?” - -“I’m going to Wyngate,” said Lexy. - -“Ah!” said Mrs. Enderby. “It is a pretty place, is it not?” - -“I don’t know. I’ve never seen it.” - -“Pardon me—you saw it yesterday. It is a small village through which -we passed on the way to Miss Craigie’s house.” - -“I didn’t know that.” - -“Now that you do know, perhaps you will spare yourself the trouble of -going there,” said Mrs. Enderby. “I assure you you will not find -Caroline there. I myself made certain inquiries. No such person has -arrived in Wyngate.” - -There was a moment’s silence. - -“But I observe by your face that you are not convinced,” Mrs. Enderby -went on. “‘This Mrs. Enderby, she is a stupid old creature,’ you think -to yourself. ‘I shall go there myself, and I shall discover that which -she could not.’” - -Lexy reddened again. - -“I don’t mean it that way,” she said. “It’s only that we look at this -from different points of view, and I feel—I feel that I’ve got to go.” - -“Very well!” said Mrs. Enderby, and she, too, rose. “You will please -to come to my room with me. There is part of your salary to be paid to -you.” - -Lexy followed her, still flushed, and very reluctant. She wished she -could afford to refuse that money. - -“But I’ve earned it,” she thought; “and goodness knows I’ll need it!” - -Mrs. Enderby sat down at her desk and took out her check book. While -she wrote, Lexy looked out of the window. - -“The amount due to you, including to-day, is thirty-two dollars,” said -Mrs. Enderby. “Here is a check for it.” - -“Thank you,” said Lexy. - -“One minute more! Here, my child, is another check.” - -Lexy stared at it, amazed. It was for one hundred dollars. - -“But, Mrs. Enderby, I can’t—” - -“You will please take it and say nothing more. I give you this because -I shall give you no reference. I shall answer no inquiries about you. -You understand?” - -“But I don’t want—” - -Mrs. Enderby pushed back her chair, and rose. She crossed the room to -Lexy, put both hands on the girl’s shoulders, and then did something -far more astonishing than the gift of the check. She kissed Lexy on -the forehead. - -“Good-by, and God bless you, little honest one!” she said, with a -smile. “I think we shall not see each other again, but I shall -sometimes remember you. Go, now, and bear in mind that you can always -trust Miss Craigie. She is an imbecile, but she can be trusted. -_Adieu!_” - -Lexy’s eyes filled with tears. - -“_Au revoir!_” she said stoutly; and then, with one of her sudden -impulses, she put both arms around Mrs. Enderby’s neck and returned -her kiss vigorously. “I’m sorry!” she said. “I’m awfully sorry!” - -This was their parting. Lexy was thankful that it had been like this, -very glad that she could leave the house in good will and kindliness. -It strengthened her beyond measure. She wanted to help Caroline, and -she wanted to help Mrs. Enderby, too. - -“And I will!” she thought. “I know that I’m right and she’s wrong! -She’s rather terrible, too. Sometimes I think she’d almost rather not -find out the truth, if it was going to make what she calls a scandal. -She will have it that Caroline’s gone away of her own free will, to -get married; and if it’s anything else, she doesn’t want to know. She -_is_ hard, but there’s something rather fine about her.” - -There was no one in the hall when Lexy left, and this was a relief, -for she supposed that Mrs. Enderby had told the servants, or would -tell them, that Miss Moran had been discharged. - -She went out and closed the door behind her. A fine, thin rain was -falling—nothing to daunt a healthy young creature like Lexy; yet she -wished that the sun had been shining. She wished that she hadn’t had -to leave the house in the rain, under a gray sky. Somehow it made her -only too well aware that she was homeless now, and alone. - -As was her habit when depressed, she set off to walk briskly; and by -the time she reached the Grand Central her cheeks were glowing and her -heart considerably less heavy. She learned that she had nearly three -hours to wait for the next train to Wyngate; so she bought her ticket, -checked her bag, and went out again. - -In a near-by department store she bought a little chamois pocket. Then -she went to the bank, cashed both her checks, and, putting the bills -into her pocket, hung it around her neck inside her blouse. It was -very comfortable to have so much money. - -Then, only as a forlorn hope, she rang up the offices of J. J. Eames & -Son, on State Street. - -“I don’t suppose they keep track of their passengers,” she thought; -“but it can’t do any harm.” - -So, when she got the connection, she asked politely: - -“Could you possibly tell me where Mr. Charles Houseman has gone?” - -“Certainly!” answered an equally polite voice at the other end of the -wire. “Just a moment, please! You mean Mr. Houseman, second officer on -the Mazell?” - -“I don’t know,” said Lexy, surprised. “Has he blue eyes?” - -There was an instant’s silence. Then the voice spoke again, a little -unsteadily. - -“I—I believe so.” - -“He’s laughing at me!” thought Lexy indignantly, and her voice became -severely dignified. - -“Can you tell me where the—the Mazell has gone?” - -“Lisbon and Gibraltar. We expect her back in about five weeks.” - -“Thank you!” said Lexy. “And that’s that!” she added, to herself. “So -he’s a sailor! I rather like sailors. Well, anyhow, he’s gone.” She -sighed. “Carry on!” she said. - -She went into a tea room on Forty-Second Street and ordered herself a -very good lunch. - -“Much better than I can afford,” she thought. “Goodness knows what’s -going to happen to me! Here I am, without visible means of support. I -suppose I’m an idiot. Lots of people would say so. They’d say I ought -to be looking for a new job this instant; but I don’t care! I’m not -going back on Caroline. Mrs. Enderby won’t do anything, and Mr. -Houseman’s gone away, and there’s nobody but me. Perhaps I can’t do -very much, but, by jiminy, I’m going to try!” - -There was still an hour to spare, and she passed it in a fashion she -had often scornfully denounced. She went shopping—without buying. She -wandered through a great department store, looking at all sorts of -things. Some of them she wanted, but she resolutely told herself that -she was better off without them. - -Then, at the proper time, she went back to the Grand Central, -recovered her bag, bought herself two or three magazines and a bar of -chocolate, and boarded the train. For all that she tried to be so cool -and sensible, she could not help feeling a queer little thrill of -excitement. Her quest had begun, and she could not in any way foresee -the end. - - - VIII - -Now it certainly was not Lexy’s way to take any great interest in -strange young men. There was not a trace of coquetry in her honest -heart, and she had always looked upon the little flirtations of her -friends with distaste and wonder. - -“_I’m_ not romantic!” she had said more than once. - -She believed that. She would have denied indignantly that her present -mission was romantic. She thought it a matter-of-course thing which -she was in honor bound to do for her friend Caroline Enderby. She felt -that she was very cool and practical about it, and a mighty sensible -sort of girl altogether. - -Certainly she saw the young man on the train, for her alert glance saw -pretty well everything. She saw him, and she thought she had never set -eyes on a handsomer man. - -He was very tall, and slenderly and strongly built. He was dressed -with fastidious perfection, and he had an air of marked distinction. -In short, he was a man whom any one would look at—and remember; but -Lexy, the unromantic girl, thought him inferior to the blue-eyed Mr. -Houseman. She preferred young Houseman’s blunt, sunburned face to the -dark and haughty one of this stranger. She simply was not interested -in dark and haughty strangers, however distinguished and handsome. She -looked at this one, and then returned to her magazines. - -She had a weakness for detective stories, and she was reading one -now—reading it in the proper spirit, uncritical and absorbed. Whenever -the train stopped at a station, she glanced up, and more than once, as -she turned her head, she caught the stranger’s eye. She wondered, -later on, why she hadn’t had some sort of premonition. People in -stories always did. They always recognized at once the other people -who were going to be in the story with them; but Lexy did not. Even -toward the end of the journey, when she and the stranger were the only -ones left in the car, she was not aware of any interest in him. - -Even when he, too, got out at Wyngate, Lexy was not specially -interested. It was only a little after five o’clock, but it was dark -already on that rainy afternoon, and the only thing that interested -her just then was the sight of a solitary taxi drawn up beside the -platform. Bag in hand, she hurried toward it, but the stranger got -there before her. When she arrived, he was speaking to the driver. - -There was no other taxi or vehicle of any sort in sight, no other -lights were visible except those of the station. It was a strange and -unknown world upon which she looked in the rainy dusk, and she felt a -justifiable annoyance with the ungallant stranger. He jumped into the -cab and slammed the door. - -“Driver!” cried Lexy. “Will you please come back for me?” - -But before the driver could answer, the door of the cab opened, and -the stranger sprang out. - -“I _beg_ your pardon!” he said, standing hat in hand before Lexy. “I’m -most awfully sorry! Give you my word I didn’t notice. I should have -noticed, of course. Absent-minded sort of beggar, you know! Please -take the cab, won’t you? I don’t in the least mind waiting. Please -take it! Allow me!” - -He tried to take her bag. His manner was not at all haughty. On the -contrary, it was a very agreeable manner, and the impulsive Lexy liked -him. - -“Why can’t we both go?” said she. - -“Oh, no!” he protested. “Please take the cab! Give you my word I don’t -mind waiting.” - -“It’s a dismal place to wait in,” said Lexy. “We can both go, just as -well as not.” - -The driver approved of Lexy’s idea. It saved him trouble. - -“Where do you want to go, miss?” he asked. - -“I don’t know,” said Lexy. “I suppose there’s a hotel, isn’t there?” - -“I say!” exclaimed the stranger. “Just what I’d been asking him, you -know! He says there’s no hotel, but a very decent boarding house.” - -“Mis’ Royce’s,” added the driver. “She takes boarders.” - -“All right!” said Lexy cheerfully. “Miss Royce’s it is!” - -The stranger took her bag, and put it into the taxi. He would have -assisted Lexy, but she was already inside; so he, too, got in. He -closed the door, and off they went. - -“I _am_ sorry, you know,” he said, “shoving ahead like that; but I -didn’t notice—” - -“Well, please stop being sorry now,” requested Lexy firmly. - -“Right-o!” said he. “You won’t mind my saying you’ve been wonderfully -nice about it?” - -“No, I don’t mind that a bit,” replied Lexy. “I like to be wonderfully -nice.” - -There was a moment’s silence. - -“Will you allow me to introduce myself?” said the stranger. “Grey, you -know—George Grey—Captain Grey, you know.” - -“Captain of a ship?” asked Lexy, with interest. She thought she would -like to talk about ships. - -“Oh, no!” said he, rather shocked. “Army—British army—stationed in -India.” - -“I knew you were an Englishman.” - -“Did you really?” said he, as if surprised. “People do seem to know. -My first visit to your country—six months’ leave—so I’ve come here to -see my sister—Mrs. Quelton. She’s married to an American doctor.” - -Lexy thought there was something almost pathetic in his chivalrous -anxiety to explain himself. - -“I’m Alexandra Moran,” she said. - -“Thank you!” said Captain Grey. “Thank you very much, Miss Moran!” - -There was no opportunity for further polite conversation, for the taxi -had stopped and the driver came around to the door. - -“Better make a run fer it!” he said. “I’ll take yer bags.” - -So Captain Grey took Lexy’s arm, and they did make a run for it, -through the fine, chilly rain, along a garden path and up on a -veranda. The door was opened at once. - -“Miss Royce?” asked Captain Grey. - -“Mrs. Royce,” said the other. “Come right in. My, how it does rain!” - -They followed her into a dimly lit hall. She opened a door on the -right, and lit the gas in what was obviously the “best parlor”—a -dreadful room, stiff and ugly, and smelling of camphor and dampness. -Captain Grey remained in the hall to settle with the driver, and Lexy -decided to let her share of the reckoning wait for a more auspicious -occasion. She went into the parlor with Mrs. Royce. - -“You and your husband just come from the city?” inquired the landlady. - -“He’s not my husband,” replied Lexy, with a laugh. “I never set eyes -on him before. There was only one taxi, and we were both looking for a -hotel. The driver said you took boarders, and that’s how we happened -to come together.” - -“I don’t take boarders much, ’cept in the summer time,” said Mrs. -Royce. She was a stout, comfortable sort of creature, gray-haired, and -very neat in her dark dress and clean white apron. She had a kindly, -good-humored face, too, but she had a landlady’s eye. “People don’t -come here much, this time of year,” she went on. “Nothing to bring ’em -here.” - -These last words were a challenge to Lexy to explain her business, and -she was prepared. - -“I passed through here the other day in a motor,” she said, “on my way -to Adams Corners, and I thought it looked like such a nice, quiet -place for me to work in. I’m a writer, you know, and I thought Wyngate -would just suit me.” - -“I was born and raised out to Adams Corners,” said Mrs. Royce. “Guess -there’s no one living out there that I don’t know.” - -“Then perhaps you know Miss Craigie?” - -“Miss Margaret Craigie? I should say I did! If you’re a friend of -hers—” - -“Only an acquaintance,” said Lexy cautiously. - -“Set down!” suggested Mrs. Royce, very cordial now. “I’ll light a nice -wood fire. A writer, are you? Well, well! And the gentleman—I wonder, -now, what brings him here!” - -“He told me he’d come to see his sister,” said Lexy. “Mrs. Quelton, I -think he said.” - -“Quelton!” cried the landlady. “You didn’t say Quelton? Not the -doctor’s wife?” - -“Yes,” said the captain’s voice from the doorway. “Nothing happened to -her, has there? Nothing gone wrong?” - -Mrs. Royce stared at him with the most profound interest, and he -stared back at her, somewhat uneasily. - -“No,” said she, at last. “No—only—well, I’m sure!” - -There was a silence. - -“Could we possibly have a little supper?” asked Lexy politely. - -“Yes, indeed you can!” said Mrs. Royce. “Right away!” But still she -lingered. “Mrs. Quelton’s brother!” she said. “Well, I never!” - -Then she tore herself away, leaving Lexy and Captain Grey alone in the -parlor. - -“Seems to bother her,” he said. “I wonder why!” - -Lexy was also wondering, and longing to ask questions, but she felt -that it wouldn’t be good manners. - -“People in small places like this are always awfully curious,” she -observed. - -“Yes,” said he; “and Muriel may be a bit eccentric, you know. I rather -imagine she is, from her letters. I’ve never seen her.” - -“Never seen your own sister!” - -Lexy would certainly have asked questions now, manners or no manners, -only that Mrs. Royce entered the room again, to fulfill her promise to -make a “nice wood fire.” Amazing, the difference it made in the room! -The ugliness and stiffness vanished in the ruddy glow. It seemed a -delightful room, now, homely and welcoming and safe. - -“It’s real cozy here,” said Mrs. Royce, “on a night like this. I’m -sorry the dining room’s so kind of chilly.” - -“Oh, can’t we have supper here, by the fire?” cried Lexy. “Please! -We’ll promise not to get any crumbs on your nice carpet, Mrs. Royce!” - -“I guess you can,” replied the landlady benevolently. - -And so it happened that the ancient magic of fire was invoked in -Lexy’s behalf. Probably, if she and Captain Grey had had their supper -in the chilly dining room, they would have been a little chilly, too, -and more cautious. They might not have said all that they did say. - - - IX - -It was an excellent supper, and Captain Grey and Lexy thoroughly -appreciated it. They ate with healthy appetites, and they talked. Mrs. -Royce, from the kitchen, heard their cheerful, friendly voices, and -their laughter, and she didn’t for one moment believe that they had -never met before. Listening to them, she wore that benevolent smile -once more, and felt sure that she had encountered a very charming -little romance. - -It was all Lexy’s doing. It was Lexy’s beautiful talent, to be able to -create this atmosphere of honest and happy _camaraderie_. Before the -meal was finished, Captain Grey was talking to her as if they had -known each other since childhood, and he didn’t even wonder at it. It -seemed perfectly natural. - -Mrs. Royce came in to take away the dishes. - -“Going to set here a while?” she asked, looking at the two young -people with a smile of approval. “I’ll bring in some more wood.” She -hesitated a moment, and the landladyish glimmer again appeared in her -eyes. “If it was me,” she observed, in the most casual way, “the -fire’d be enough light. If it was me, now, I wouldn’t want that gas -flaring and blaring away—and burning up good money,” she added, to -herself. - -“You’re right,” Lexy cheerfully agreed. “We’ll turn it down.” - -The rain was falling fast outside, driving against the windows when -the wind blew; and inside the young people sat by the fire, very -content. - -“Queer thing!” said Captain Grey meditatively. “Never been in this -place before—never been in this country before—and yet it’s like -coming home!” - -“I know that feeling,” said Lexy. “I’ve had it before. I think only -people who haven’t any real homes of their own ever have it.” - -“But haven’t you any real home?” he asked, evidently distressed. - -“No,” she answered; “but please don’t think it’s tragic. It’s not.” - -“You haven’t impressed me as tragic,” he admitted. - -Lexy laughed. - -“Thank goodness!” she said. “I do want to keep on being—well, ordinary -and human, even when outside things seem a little tragic.” - -“Miss Moran!” he said, and stopped. - -It was some time before he spoke again. Lexy took advantage of his -abstraction to study his face by the firelight. When you come to -understand it a little, it wasn’t a haughty face at all, but a very -sensitive and fine one. - -“Miss Moran!” he said again. “About being ordinary and human—of -course, one wants to be that; but the thing is—I don’t know quite how -to put it, but if you have a feeling, you know—I mean a feeling that -something is wrong—” He paused again. - -“I mean,” he went on, “if you have a feeling like that—a sort of—well, -call it uneasiness—the question is whether one ought to laugh at it, -or take it as”—once more he stopped—“as a warning,” he ended. - -A strange sensation came over Lexy. - -“I’ve been thinking a good deal about that very thing lately,” she -replied. “I believe feelings like that _are_ a warning. I’m sure it’s -wrong—foolish and wrong—to disregard them. Even if every one else, -even if your own mind tells you it’s all nonsense, you mustn’t care!” - -“I think you’re right,” he gravely agreed. “I’ve been trying to tell -myself that I’m an utter ass, but all the time I knew I wasn’t. I -knew—I know now—that there’s something—” - -An unreasoning dread possessed Lexy. She felt for a moment that she -didn’t want to hear any more. - -“I’d like to tell you about it, if you wouldn’t mind,” he said. -“Somehow I think you could help.” - -For an instant she hesitated. - -“Please do tell me,” she said at length. “I’d be glad to help, if I -can.” - -“It’s this,” he said. “Do you mind if I smoke? Thanks!” - -He took a cigarette case from his pocket. As he struck a match, she -could see his face very clearly in the sudden flame; and, for no -reason at all, she pitied him. - -“It’s this,” he said again. “It’s about my sister.” - -“The sister you’ve never seen?” - -The sensation of dread had gone, and she felt only the liveliest -interest. She wanted very much to hear about Captain Grey’s sister. - -“It wasn’t quite true to say I’d never seen her,” he explained, in his -painstaking way. “I have, you know; but not since I was six years old -and she was a baby. Our mother died when Muriel was born, out in -India. An aunt took the poor little kid to the States with her, and I -stayed out there with my father.” - -He drew on his cigarette for a minute. - -“She’s twenty-one now,” he said. “Last picture I had of her was when -she was fourteen or so. A pretty kid—a bit more than pretty—what you’d -call lovely.” - -He was silent for a little, staring into the fire. - -“When I was at school in England, it was arranged that she was to come -over; but she didn’t, and we’ve never met again. Twenty-one years—it’s -a long time.” - -“Yes, it is,” said Lexy gently, for something in his voice touched -her. - -“We’ve written to each other, on and off. I’m not much good at that -sort of thing, but I thought her letters were—well, rather remarkable, -you know; but I dare say I’m prejudiced. She’s the only one of my own -people left.” - -“You poor, dear thing!” thought Lexy, with ready sympathy, but she did -not say anything. - -“Anyhow,” he presently continued, “I got an impression from her -letters that she was rather an extraordinary girl. She was studying -music—said she was going on the concert stage—awfully enthusiastic -about it; and then she married this doctor chap. She never said much -about him, only that she was very happy; but—well, I don’t believe -that.” - -“Why?” - -“I don’t know. Anyhow, she was married about two years ago, and a few -months after her marriage she began writing oftener—almost every mail. -She was always wanting me to come over here and see her; and lately, -in her last letters, I—somehow I fancied she wanted me rather badly. -It—it worried me, so I arranged for leave. On the very day when I -wrote that I would be coming over this month, I had a letter from her, -asking me not to make any plans for coming this year. She said she’d -taken up her concert work again, and would be too busy to enjoy the -visit, and so on. I’d already made my plans, you see, so I went ahead. -Then, about a fortnight later, after she’d got my letter, I suppose, I -had a cable. ‘Don’t come,’ it said. I cabled back, but she didn’t -answer.” - -He looked anxiously at Lexy, but she said nothing. She sat very still, -curled up in a big chair, staring into the fire with an odd look of -uncertainty on her face. - -“You know,” he went on, “I’ve tried to think that she was simply too -busy, or something of that sort. But, Miss Moran, didn’t this woman’s -manner rather make you think there was something a bit—out of the -way?” - -“Oh, I don’t know,” replied Lexy, in a casual tone which very much -disconcerted him. - -“I’ve been making a fool of myself!” he thought, flushing. “Why the -devil didn’t I keep my old-woman notions to myself? Now she’ll think—” - -But Lexy was not thinking that Captain Grey was a fool. She was only -very much afraid of being one herself, and was engaged in a severe -struggle against this danger. That dread, that vague and oppressive -dread, had come back, and she was fighting to throw it off. She wanted -to be, she _would_ be, her own normal, cheerful self again, living in -a normal, everyday world. - -“All this about his sister, and about Caroline!” she thought. “It’s -really nothing—nothing serious. Our both being here in Wyngate—that’s -nothing, either. It’s just a coincidence. If the gas wasn’t turned -down, I wouldn’t feel like this.” - -She would have risen and turned up the gas, only that she was ashamed -to do so. The fire was blazing merrily, shedding a ruddy light upon -the homely room, the most commonplace room in the world. There was -Captain Grey sitting there smoking—just an ordinary young man come to -visit his sister. There was herself—just Lexy Moran, well fed and warm -and comfortable, with more than a hundred dollars in a bag round her -neck. She could hear Mrs. Royce moving about in the kitchen, humming -to herself in a low drone. - -“I will _not_ be silly!” she told herself. - -And just then a train whistled—a long, melancholy shriek. Lexy had a -sudden vision of it, rushing through the dark and the rain. She had a -sudden realization of the outside world, vast, lonely, terrible, -stretching from pole to pole—forests, and plains, and oceans. The -monstrous folly of pretending that everything was snug and warm and -cozy! Things did happen—only cowards denied that. - -“Captain Grey!” she cried abruptly. “What you’ve told me—it _is_ -queer; and it’s even queerer when I think what has brought me here to -this little place. Both of us here, in Wyngate! I think I’ll tell -you.” - -And she did. - -He listened in absolute silence to the tale of Caroline Enderby’s -disappearance. Even after Lexy had finished, it was some time before -he spoke. - -“I’ll try to help you,” he said simply. - -“Oh, thank you!” cried Lexy, with a rush of gratitude. She wanted some -one to help her, and she could imagine no one better for the purpose -than this young man. He would help her—she was sure of it. Even the -fact of having told him most wonderfully lightened her burden. She -gave an irrepressible little giggle. - -“We have almost all the ingredients for a first-class mystery story,” -she said; “except the jewel—the famous ruby, or the great diamond.” - -“It’s an emerald, in this case,” said Captain Grey. - -Lexy straightened up in her chair, and stared at him. - -“You don’t really mean that?” she demanded. “There isn’t really an -emerald?” He smiled. - -“I’m afraid it hasn’t much to do with the case—with either of the -cases,” he said; “but there is an emerald—my sister’s.” - -“It didn’t come from India?” - -“It did, though!” - -“Don’t tell me it was stolen from a temple! That would be too good to -be true!” - -“I’m sorry,” he said; “but as far as I know, it’s never been stolen at -all, and its history for the last eighty years hasn’t been sinister. -One of the old rajahs gave it to my grandfather—a reward of merit, you -know. When my father married, it went to my mother. She never had any -trouble with it. She never wore it, because she didn’t like it.” - -“Why?” - -“Well, you see, it’s an ostentatious sort of thing, and she wasn’t -ostentatious.” He paused a moment. “My father told me, before he died, -that he wanted Muriel to have it when she was eighteen; and so, three -years ago, I sent it over to her.” - -“But how?” - -“You’re a good detective,” said he, smiling again. “You don’t miss any -of the points. It was a bit of a problem, how to send the thing; but I -had the luck to find some people I knew who were coming over here, and -they brought it. So that’s that!” - -“An emerald!” said Lexy. “This is almost too much! I think I’ll say -good night, Captain Grey. I need sleep.” - -As she followed Mrs. Royce up the stairs, she saw Captain Grey still -sitting before the fire, smoking; and it was a comforting sight. - - - X - -Lexy slept late the next morning. It was nearly nine o’clock when she -opened her eyes. She lay for a few minutes, looking about her. The -gray light of another rainy day filled the neat, unfamiliar little -room, and outside the window she could see the branches of a little -pear tree rocking in the wind. - -“I’m here in Wyngate,” she said to herself. “I was bent on coming here -to find Caroline; and now, here I am, and how am I going to begin?” - -She got up, and washed in cold water, in a queer, old-fashioned china -basin painted with flowers. She brushed her shining hair, and dressed, -feeling more hopeful every minute. - -“One step at a time!” she thought. “The first step was to come here; -and the next step—well, I’ll think of it after breakfast. Perhaps -Captain Grey will have thought of something.” - -But Captain Grey had gone out. - -“Jest a few minutes ago,” Mrs. Royce informed her. “He was down real -early—around seven, and he waited and waited for you. At half past -eight he et, and off he went.” - -“Did he say when he’d be back?” - -“No,” said Mrs. Royce. “He didn’t say much of anything. He’s a kind of -quiet young man, ain’t he? Well, he’d ought to get on with his sister, -then.” - -“Is she very quiet?” asked Lexy. - -“Quiet!” repeated Mrs. Royce. “Set down an’ begin to eat, Miss Moran. -I’ve fixed a real nice tasty breakfast for you, if I do say it as -shouldn’t. Corn gems, too. Mis’ Quelton quiet? I should say she was! -Quiet as”—she paused—“as the dead,” she went on, and the phrase made -an unpleasant impression upon Lexy. “An’ her husband, too. I never saw -the like of them. They never come into the village, an’ nobody ever -goes out there to the Tower. About twice a week the doctor drives into -Lymewell—the town below here—and he buys a lot of food an’ all, an’ he -goes home. I can see him out of my front winder, an’ the sight of him, -driving along in that black buggy of his—it gives me the shivers!” - -“But if he’s a doctor—” - -“Don’t ask _me_ what kind of doctor he is, Miss Moran! He don’t go to -see the sick—that’s all I know.” - -“But his wife—what is she like?” - -“Miss Moran,” said the landlady, with profound impressiveness, “I -guess there ain’t three people in Wyngate that’s ever set eyes on -her!” - -“But how awfully queer!” - -“You may well say ‘queer,’” said Mrs. Royce. “There she stays, out in -that lonely place—never seeing a soul from one month’s end to another. -She’s a young woman, too—young, an’ just as pretty as a picture.” - -“Then you are—” - -“I’m one of the few that has seen her,” said Mrs. Royce, with a sort -of grim satisfaction. “That’s why I take a kind of special interest in -her. I seen her the night the doctor brought her here to Wyngate a -young bride. That’ll be three years ago this winter, but I remember it -as plain as plain. There was a terrible snowstorm, and he couldn’t git -out to his place, so he had to bring her here, and she sat right in -this very room, just where you’re sitting.” - -Instinctively Lexy looked behind her. - -“I feel that same way myself—as if she was a ghost,” said Mrs. Royce -solemnly. “Near three years ago, and her living only three miles off, -an’ I’ve never set eyes on her again. I’ve never forgotten her, -though, the sweet pretty young creature!” - -“But why do you suppose she lives like that?” - -Mrs. Royce came nearer. - -“Miss Moran,” she said, “that doctor is crazy. I’m not the only one to -say it. He’s as crazy—hush, now! Here’s that poor young man!” - -The “poor young man” came into the room, with that very nice smile of -his. - -“Good morning!” he said. “I say, I’m sorry I didn’t wait for you a bit -longer, Miss Moran.” - -“I’m glad you didn’t,” said Lexy. “I’d have felt awfully guilty.” - -“I went out to telephone,” he explained. “Thought I’d tell Muriel I -was here, you know; but they have no telephone. Dashed odd, isn’t it, -for a doctor not to have a telephone in the house?” - -“I don’t think he’s a real doctor—a physician, I mean,” said Lexy. She -glanced around and saw that Mrs. Royce had gone. Springing up, she -crossed the room to Captain Grey. “Has Mrs. Royce—has any one said -anything to you?” she asked, almost in a whisper. - -“No!” answered the young man, startled. “Why? What’s up?” - -“Mrs. Royce says—I suppose I really ought to tell you.” - -“No doubt about it!” - -“Mrs. Royce says Dr. Quelton is crazy!” - -Captain Grey took the news very coolly. Lexy observed that he -suppressed a smile. - -“Oh, that!” he said. “But you know, Miss Moran, in these little -villages any one who’s at all out of the ordinary is called crazy. -I’ve noticed it before. I can soon find out for myself, though, can’t -I? I thought, if you didn’t want me this morning, I’d go over -there—pay a call, you know. I understand it’s three miles from here, -so I shouldn’t be very long. I’d come back here for lunch.” - -“But, Captain Grey, you mustn’t think I expect you to—” - -“It’s not that,” he said. “Only you said you’d let me help you in your -little job, and I want to!” He smiled down at her. “So,” he said, -“I’ll be back for lunch;” and off he went. - -Lexy went to the window and looked out. She saw Captain Grey striding -off up the muddy road, perfectly indifferent to the rain, and -curiously elegant, in spite of his wet weather clothes. She was -thinking of him with great friendliness and appreciation; but she was -not thinking of him in the least as Mrs. Royce imagined she was -thinking. - -Mrs. Royce stood in the doorway, watching Lexy watch Captain Grey, -smiling and even beaming with benevolence; but she would have been -disappointed if she had suspected what was in Lexy’s head. - -“He’s awfully nice,” thought Lexy, “and awfully handsome, and I’m -certain that he’s absolutely trustworthy and honorable, but—” - -But somehow he wasn’t to be compared to Mr. Houseman. She knew -practically nothing about Mr. Houseman. She had talked with him for -five or ten minutes in the park, and his conversation had been -entirely about Caroline Enderby. He had shown himself to be -quick-tempered and sadly lacking in patience. He had written Lexy a -stiff, offended, boyish letter, and then he had disappeared. There was -no sensible reason in the world why she should think of him as she -did, no reason why she should hope so much to see him again; but she -did. - -“Well, now!” said Mrs. Royce, at last. “You’ll be wanting a nice quiet -place for your writing.” - -“Writing!” said Lexy. “I never—” She stopped herself just in time, -remembering her shocking falsehood of the night before. “I never care -much where I write,” she ended. - -“Well, I’ve fixed up the sewing room for you,” said Mrs. Royce. “I’ve -put a nice strong table in there with drawers, where you can keep your -papers an’ all.” - -“You’re a dear!” said Lexy warmly. - -She said this because she thought it, and without the least -calculation. She liked Mrs. Royce, and when she liked people she told -them so. That was what made people love her. - -Mrs. Royce was completely won. - -“I’m real glad to do it for you,” she said. “I won’t bother you, -neither, while you’re working. I know how it is with writing. My -cousin, now—her husband was writing for the movies, an’ he was that -upset if he was disturbed!” - -Still conversing with great affability, Mrs. Royce led the reluctant -writer upstairs to the small room prepared for her, and shut her in. -Lexy sat down in a chair before the workmanlike table, and grinned -ruefully. She had said she was a writer, and now she had to be one. - -“Well,” she reflected, “here’s a chance to write to Mr. Houseman, -anyhow.” - -She never had the least difficulty in writing letters. For one reason, -she never bothered about them unless she had something to say, and -then she said it, briefly and lucidly, and was done. She told Mr. -Houseman all she knew about Caroline’s disappearance, and explained -that she had gone out to Wyngate in the hope of picking up some trace -of her. - -“Of course,” she wrote, “I don’t know whether I’ll still be here when -you get back. If I’ve gone, I’ll leave my address with Mrs. Royce, in -case you should want to communicate with me.” - -This was admirable, so far; but, reading it over, Lexy was not -satisfied. She remembered the misery, the trouble and anxiety, in Mr. -Houseman’s blue eyes. She imagined him sailing the seas, bitterly hurt -because he thought Caroline had changed her mind. She thought of him -coming back and getting this letter, to revive .all his alarm for -Caroline. This wasn’t, after all, a business letter. She took up her -pen again, and added: - - I think I can imagine how you feel about all this, and I - am more sorry than I can tell you. I hope we shall meet - soon. - -This last phrase rather astonished her. She hadn’t meant to write just -that. She picked up the letter, intending to tear it up and write -another; but she thought better of it. - -“No!” she said to herself. “Let it stay. It’s true; why shouldn’t I -hope that we’ll meet again?” - -So she addressed the letter and sealed it, and then sat looking out of -the window at the rain. It was a hopeless sort of rain, faint and -fine—a hopeless, melancholy world, without color or promise. - -“I’d better take a walk!” thought Lexy, springing up. - -Before she reached the door there was a knock, and Mrs. Royce put her -head in. - -“He’s here!” she whispered. “He’s asking for you.” - -“Who?” cried Lexy. - -“Hush! The doctor!” answered Mrs. Royce. “You could ’a’ knocked me -down with a feather!” - - - XI - -Feathers would not have knocked down the sturdy Lexy, however. On the -contrary, she was pleased and interested by this utterly unexpected -visit. The sinister doctor here, in this house, and asking for her! -She started promptly toward the stairs. - -“Miss Moran!” cautioned the landlady, in a whisper. “Don’t tell him -nothing!” - -“Tell him!” said Lexy. “But I haven’t anything to tell!” - -“Well, you’d best be very careful!” said Mrs. Royce. - -With this solemn warning in her ears, Lexy descended the stairs. She -saw Dr. Quelton standing in the hall, hat in hand, waiting for her. -The doctor was rather a disappointment. He was not the dark, sinister -figure he should have been. He was a big man, powerfully built, with a -clumsy stoop to his tremendous shoulders. His heavy, clean-shaven face -would have been an agreeable one if it had not been for its -expression, but that expression was not at all an alarming or -dangerous one. It was an expression of the most utter and hopeless -boredom. - -He came toward her. - -“Miss Moran?” he asked. - -Even his voice was listless, and his glance was without a spark of -interest. - -“Yes,” said she. - -“My brother-in-law, Captain Grey, told us you were here, and I did -myself the honor of calling,” he went on. - -“You certainly were quick about it!” thought Lexy. “Captain Grey -couldn’t have reached his sister’s house an hour ago, and it’s three -miles from here. Won’t you come into the sitting room?” she asked -aloud. - -“Thank you,” he replied, and followed Lexy into the decorous and -dismal room. - -He sat down opposite her in a small chair that cracked under his -weight, and he smiled a bored and extinguished smile. - -“A writer, I believe?” he said. - -“Well, yes, in a way,” answered Lexy, growing a little red. - -“My wife and I were very much interested,” he went on, with as little -interest as a human being may well display. “We don’t have many -newcomers here. It’s a very quiet place.” - -His apathetic manner exasperated Lexy. - -“But I don’t care how quiet it is,” she observed. - -“My wife and I like a quiet life,” he said. “My wife asked me to -explain, Miss Moran, that she is something of a recluse. Her health -prevents her from calling upon you; but she wished me to say that she -would be very happy to see you at the Tower, whenever it may be -convenient for you to call, any afternoon after four o’clock.” - -“Thank you,” replied Lexy. “Please thank Mrs. Quelton. I shall be very -pleased to come.” - -And now why didn’t he go away? This visit was apparently a painful -duty for him. He had delivered his message, and yet he lingered. - -“A very quiet place,” he repeated; “but perhaps you are not sociably -inclined?” - -“Oh, I’m sociable enough—at times,” said Lexy. - -“But at the present time you prefer solitude? For the purposes of your -work? As a change from the stimulating atmosphere of the city?” - -Any mention of her work made Lexy uncomfortable. - -“Well, yes,” she answered in a dubious tone. - -“I lived in New York myself for a number of years,” he went on. “I -wonder if you—may I ask what part of the city you lived in, Miss -Moran?” - -Lexy hesitated, and she meant him to see that she hesitated. After -all, however, it was not an unnatural or impertinent question, and she -couldn’t very well refuse to answer it. - -“In the East Sixties, near the park,” she said. “It wasn’t my own -home, though—I was a companion,” she added. - -She always liked people to know that. She was far from being cynical, -but she was aware that this information made a difference—to some -people. - -She was astonished to see the difference it made in Dr. Quelton. He -raised his black, weary eyes to her face and stared at her with -unmistakable insolence. - -“Ah!” he said. “I see! I thought so!” - -There was a moment’s silence. - -“And you’ve come to Wyngate to—er—to write?” he went on. “Very -interesting—very!” - -Lexy felt her cheeks grow hot. She wished with all her heart that she -had not involved herself in that stupid falsehood. It humiliated her -so much that she couldn’t answer Dr. Quelton with her usual spirit. He -noticed her confusion—no doubt about that. - -“Poetry, perhaps?” he suggested. - -“No!” said Lexy vehemently. “Not poetry!” - -He leaned forward a little, looking directly into her face. - -“Perhaps,” he said, “you write detective stories?” - -“Yes!” said Lexy. - -The doctor rose. - -“The solving of mysteries!” he said, with his unpleasant smile. “That -makes very interesting fiction!” - -Lexy rose, too. His tone, his manner, exasperated her almost beyond -endurance. She felt an ardent desire to contradict everything he said. -What is more, she was in no humor to hear mystery stories made light -of. She had had enough of that—first Mrs. Enderby pretending there was -no mystery, and then Mr. Houseman going off and pretending it was -solved, so that she was left alone to do the best she could. Wasn’t -she in a mystery story at this very minute, and without a single -promising clew to guide her? - -“There are plenty of mysteries that aren’t fiction,” she observed -curtly. - -“But they are never solved,” said Dr. Quelton. - -“Never solved?” said Lexy. “But lots of them are! You can read in the -newspapers all the time about crimes that—” - -“The mystery of a crime is never solved,” the doctor blandly -proceeded. “Never! Let us say, for example, that a murder is -committed. The police investigate, they arrest some one. There is a -trial, the jury finds that the suspect is guilty, the judge sentences -him, and he is executed. Public opinion is satisfied; but as a matter -of fact, nothing whatever has been solved. It is all guesswork. Not -one living soul, not one member of the jury, not the judge, not the -executioner, really _knows_ that the accused man was guilty. They -think so—that is all. What you call a ‘solution’ is merely a guess, -based upon probabilities.” - -Lexy considered this with an earnest frown. - -“Well,” she said at last, “quite often criminals confess.” - -“In the days of witchcraft trials,” said he, “it was not uncommon for -women to come forward voluntarily and confess to being witches. In the -course of my own practice I have known people to confess things they -could not possibly have done. No!” He shook his head and smiled -faintly. “An acquaintance with the psychology of the diseased mind -makes one very skeptical about confessions, Miss Moran.” - -This idea, too, Lexy took into her mind and considered for a few -minutes. - -“Even an eyewitness,” Dr. Quelton went on, “is entirely unreliable. -Any lawyer can tell you how completely the senses deceive one. Three -persons can see the same occurrence, and each one of the three will -swear to a quite different impression. Each one may be entirely -honest, entirely convinced that he saw or heard what never took -place.” - -“Do you mean that you think it’s never possible to find out who’s -guilty?” - -“Never,” he replied agreeably. “It can never be anything but a guess, -as I said, based upon probabilities. Human senses, human judgment, -human reason, are all pitifully liable to error.” - -Lexy was silent for a time, thinking over this. - -“Maybe you’re right,” she said slowly, “about the senses, and -judgment, and reason. Perhaps their evidence isn’t always to be -trusted; but there’s something else.” - -“Something else?” he repeated. “Something else? And what may that be?” - -Lexy looked up at him. There was a smile on his heavy, pallid face, -aloof and contemptuous; but she was chiefly concerned just then in -trying to put into words her own firm conviction, more for her own -benefit than for his. It was not reason that had brought her here to -look for Caroline, it was not reason that sustained her. - -“There’s something else,” she said again, with a frown. “There’s a way -of knowing things without reason. It’s—I don’t know just how to put -it, but it’s a thing beyond reason.” - -He laughed, and she thought she had never heard a more unpleasant -laugh. - -“Certainly!” he said. “Beyond reason lies—unreason.” - -“I don’t mean that,” said Lexy. “I mean—” - -She stopped, because he had abruptly turned away and was walking -toward the door. She stood where she was, amazed by this unique -rudeness; but in the doorway he turned. - -“The thing beyond reason!” he said, almost in a whisper. Then, with a -sudden and complete change of manner, he went on: “It has been very -interesting to meet you, Miss Moran. My wife will enjoy a visit from -you. Any afternoon, after four o’clock!” He bowed politely. “After -four o’clock,” he repeated, and off he went. - -Lexy stood looking at the closed door. - -“Crazy?” she said to herself. “No—that’s not the word for him at all. -He’s—he’s just horrible!” - - - XII - -At half past twelve Captain Grey had not yet returned, and Mrs. Royce -declared that the ham omelet would be ruined if not eaten at once; so -Lexy went down to the dining room and ate her lunch alone. - -The rain was still falling steadily, and the little room was dim, -chilly, and, to Lexy, unbearably close. She wasn’t particularly -hungry, either, after such a hearty breakfast and no exercise. She -felt restless and uneasy. When Mrs. Royce went out into the kitchen to -fetch the dessert, she jumped up from the table, crossed the room, and -opened the window. - -The wild rain blew against her face, and it felt good to her. She drew -in a long breath of the fresh, damp air, and sighed with relief. - -“I’m going to go out this afternoon,” she said to herself, “if it -rains pitchforks! I can’t—” - -Just then she caught sight of Captain Grey coming down the road. Her -first impulse was to call out a cheerful salutation, but after a -second glance she felt no inclination for that. He was tramping along -doggedly through the rain, his hands in his pockets, his collar turned -up. He was as straight and soldierly as ever, but his face was pale, -with such a queer look on it! - -“Oh, dear!” thought Lexy. “Something’s gone wrong! Oh, the poor soul! -And he set off so happy this morning.” - -She went into the hall and opened the front door for him. Filled with -a motherly solicitude, she wanted to help him off with his overcoat, -but he abruptly declined that. - -“Am I late?” he asked. “I thought one o’clock, you know—I’m sorry.” - -“Mercy, that doesn’t matter!” said Lexy. “Aren’t you going to change -your shoes? You ought to. Well, then, you’d better come in and eat -your lunch this minute.” - -“You’re no end kind, to bother like that!” he said earnestly. “I do -appreciate it!” - -“Who wouldn’t be?” thought Lexy, glancing at him. “You poor soul, you -look as if you’d seen a ghost!” - -He took his place at the table, and Lexy sat down opposite him, her -chin in her hands, anxiously waiting for him to begin to tell her what -had happened. - -“Beastly day, isn’t it?” he said, with an obvious effort to speak -cheerfully. - -“Awful!” agreed Lexy. - -“And yet, you know,” he went on, “I rather like a walk on a day like -this. The country about here is pretty, don’t you think?” - -Lexy glanced around, to make sure that Mrs. Royce had closed the door -behind her. - -“Captain Grey!” she said, leaning across the table. “Tell me, did you -see her?” - -He did not meet Lexy’s eyes. He was looking down at his plate with -that curious dazed expression in his face. - -“Yes,” he said. “Yes, I saw her.” - -Lexy was hurt and disappointed by his manner. Evidently he didn’t want -to tell her anything, didn’t want to talk at all. Very well—the only -thing for her to do was to maintain a dignified silence. She did so -for almost ten minutes, but then nature got the upper hand. - -“Well?” she demanded. “Was everything all right?” - -“All right?” he repeated. “Oh, rather! Oh, yes, thanks—absolutely all -right.” - -This was too much for Lexy. - -“That’s good,” she said frigidly. “I’m going upstairs now, to write -some letters.” - -Her tone aroused him. He sprang to his feet, very contrite. - -“No! Look here!” he said. “Please don’t run away! I—I want to talk to -you, but it’s a bit hard. You can’t imagine what it’s like to see one -of your own people, you know—after such a long time.” - -Lexy sat down again. - -“Was she as you expected her to be?” she asked. - -“I don’t quite know what I expected,” he said. “Only—” - -He paused for a long time, and Lexy waited patiently, for she felt -very sorry for Captain Grey. At first sight she had imagined him to be -haughty, stiff, and aloof. She knew now that he was a very sensitive -man. He was terribly moved, and he wanted to tell her, but he -couldn’t. - -She tried to help him. - -“Dr. Quelton came to see me this morning,” she observed. - -“Yes—he said he would. Very decent sort of chap, don’t you think?” - -“Do you mean you _liked_ him?” asked Lexy. - -Captain Grey was a little startled by this Yankee notion of liking a -person at first sight. - -“Well, you see,” he said, “I’ve only met him once; but he seems to me -a very decent sort of chap. He’s clever, you know, and—and so on, and -my sister seems very happy with him.” - -“Happy?” - -“Yes. I’ve been an ass, imagining all sorts of silly rot. She’s not -very strong, I’m afraid, but she’s happy, and—well, you know, their -life out there is lonely, of course, but there’s something about it, -rather—rather charming, you know. I’d like you to see it for yourself. -I was speaking about you to Muriel. She wants to know you, and I think -you’d like her. Would you come out there to tea with me this -afternoon?” - -“Yes!” cried Lexy, with a vehemence that surprised him. - -There was nothing in the world she wanted more at that moment than to -see Captain Grey’s sister and to visit Dr. Quelton’s house. She didn’t -exactly know why, and she didn’t care, but she wanted to. - -Her trunk had not yet arrived. Indeed, she had only sent to Mrs. -Enderby’s for it that morning, but she was able to make herself -presentable with what she had in her bag, and excitement gave her an -added charm. She was in high spirits, gay and sparkling, so pretty and -so lively that Captain Grey was quite dazzled. - -He had engaged the one and only taxi. - -After they were settled in it, and on their way along the muddy road, -he said: - -“I say, Miss Moran, are there many American girls like you?” - -“No!” replied Lexy calmly. “I’m unique.” - -“I can believe that!” he said. “I’ve never seen any one like you. I -was telling Muriel how much I hope that you and she will hit it off. -It would be a wonderful thing for her to have a friend like you in -this place.” - -Something in his tone made Lexy turn serious. He was speaking as if -she was simply a nice girl he had happened to meet, as if she had -nothing to do but go out to tea and make agreeable friendships. - -“Yes,” she said, “but I don’t know how long I’ll be here. I certainly -haven’t accomplished much so far.” - -He was silent, and to Lexy his silence was very eloquent. - -“I came here for a definite purpose,” she told him. “I haven’t -forgotten that, and I’m not likely to forget it.” - -“I know,” said he, “but—” - -“But,” interrupted Lexy, “I know very well what you’re thinking—that -it’s a wild-goose chase, and that I’m a young idiot. Isn’t that it?” - -“I don’t mean that,” he protested; “only—don’t you see?” - -“I don’t!” Lexy grimly denied. “You’ve thought over the talk we had -last night, and you’ve decided that it was all nonsense.” - -“No, Miss Moran—not nonsense; but we were both a bit tired then, and -perhaps a bit overwrought.” - -“All right!” said Lexy. “Don’t go on! No—please drop it. I’ve talked -too much, anyhow. From now on I’m not going to talk to any one about -my little job. I’m going to go ahead in my own way, alone.” - -“You can’t,” said Captain Grey firmly. “I’m here, you know.” - -This did not appease Lexy, and she remained curt and silent all the -rest of the way. For a couple of miles the taxi went on along a broad, -smooth highway; then it turned off down a rough lane, bordered by dark -woodland, and entirely deserted. The rain drummed loud on the leather -top of the cab, the wind came sighing through the gaunt pines and the -slender, shivering birches; but when there was a lull, she heard -another sound, a sound familiar to her from childhood and yet always -strange, always heart-stirring—the dim, unceasing thunder of the sea. - -“Is the doctor’s house near the shore?” she inquired. - -“Yes—just on the beach.” - -“Oh, I’m so glad!” cried Lexy. “Our old house, where I was born, was -on the shore, and on days like this I used to love to go out and walk -with father. I love the sea so!” - -Captain Grey gave her an odd look, which she didn’t understand. -Perhaps that was just as well, for her words and her voice had -troubled the young man to an unreasonable degree. He wished he could -say something to comfort her. He wished he could offer her the sea as -a gift, for instance; and that would have been a mistake, because Lexy -did not like to be pathetic. - -Just at that moment, however, the taxi turned into a driveway, and -there was the house—the Tower. Lexy was disappointed. The name had -called up in her mind the picture of a gloomy edifice of gray stone, -more or less medieval, and altogether somber and forbidding; and this -was nothing in the world but a rather shabby old house, badly in need -of paint, and forlorn enough in the rain, but very ordinary and very -ugly. Even the tower, which had given the place its romantic name, was -only a wooden cupola with a lightning rod on top of it. - -“Can you get a good view of the sea from the windows?” Lexy demanded. - -“Well, not from the library, where I was,” he answered; “but perhaps—” - -“Captain Grey, I want to get out! I want to run down on the beach for -one instant!” - -“In this rain?” he protested. “You can’t!” - -“I’m not made of sugar,” said Lexy scornfully, “I’ve _got_ to run down -there just for an instant, before I go in.” - -“But, I say, your nice little hat, you know!” - -Lexy pulled off the nice little hat and laid it on his knee. Then she -rapped on the window, the driver stopped, and Lexy opened the door. - -“No! Look here! Please, Miss Moran!” cried Captain Grey. “Very well, -then, if you will go, I’ll go with you!” - -“I’d rather you didn’t,” said Lexy. “I feel as if I’d like to go alone -just for one look. You know how it is, sometimes. I haven’t had even a -smell of the sea for so long; and it reminds me—” - -She looked at him with a shadowy little smile, and he did understand. - -“All right!” he said. “Then slip on my coat.” - -She did so, to oblige him, and off she went, half running, down the -lane, in the direction of the sound of the surf. Captain Grey looked -after her—such an absurd little figure in that aquascutum of his that -almost touched the ground! He watched her till she was out of sight; -then he sat down in the cab and lit a cigarette. - -He thought about her, but Lexy had forgotten him. She found herself on -a desolate stretch of wet sand, with the gray sea tossing under a gray -sky. She smelled the hearty, salt smell, she remembered old things, -sad and sweet. Tears came into her eyes, and she felt them on her -cheeks, warm, salt as the sea. If only she could go running home, back -to the house where her mother used to wait for her! If only she could -find her father’s big, firm hand clasping her own! - -“I mustn’t be like this,” she said to herself. “Daddy would feel -ashamed of me.” - -In a cavernous pocket of the captain’s overcoat she found a -handkerchief. She dried her eyes with it, and turned back. The Tower -faced the lane, and the left side of it fronted the beach, rising -stark and high from the sands. She looked up at it. On the first floor -a sun parlor had been built out, and through the windows she could see -a woman sitting there in a deck chair. - -“I suppose that’s Muriel,” she thought, with a reawakening of her -lively interest. - -She came a little nearer. The woman was wearing a negligee and a -coquettish little silk cap. Her back was turned toward Lexy. She lay -there motionless, as if she were asleep. - -Lexy drew closer. The woman turned, straightened up in the chair, and -rose. A shiver ran along Lexy’s spine. She stopped and stared and -stared. - -The woman had raised her thin arms above her head, stretching. Then, -for a moment, she stood in an odd and lovely pose, with her hands -clasped behind her head. Oh, surely no one else ever stood like that! -That figure, that attitude—it couldn’t be any one else! - -“Caroline!” cried Lexy. “Caroline!” - -The woman did not hear. She was moving toward the long windows of the -room, and her every step, every line of her figure, was familiar and -unmistakable to Lexy. - -“Caroline!” she cried, running forward across the wet sand. “Wait! -Wait for me, Caroline!” - -A hand seized her arm. With a gasp, she looked into the pale, heavy -face of Dr. Quelton. He was smiling. - -“Miss Moran!” he said. “This is an unexpected pleasure—” - -Lexy jerked her arm away, and looked up at the windows of the sun -parlor. The woman had gone. - -“I saw Caroline!” she said. “In there!” - -“Caroline?” he repeated. “I’m afraid, I’m very much afraid, Miss -Moran, that you’ve made a mistake.” - -Their eyes met. In that instant, Lexy knew. He was still smiling with -an expression of bland amusement at this extraordinary little figure -in the huge coat; but he was her enemy, and she knew it. - -“Suppose we go on?” he suggested. “I believe it’s raining.” - -They turned and walked side by side around the house to the front -door, where Captain Grey stood waiting. - -“I say!” he exclaimed anxiously. “Your hair—your shoes—you’ll take a -chill, Miss Moran!” - -“I feel anxious about Miss Moran myself,” said Dr. Quelton. “I’m -afraid she’s a very imprudent young lady.” - -But Lexy said nothing. - - - XIII - -The doctor’s library had a charm of its own. It was a big room, -careless, a little shabby, but furnished in fastidious taste and with -a friendly sort of comfort. A great wood fire was blazing on the -hearth, and Dr. Quelton drew up an armchair before it for Lexy. - -“There!” he said. “Now you’ll soon be warm and dry. Anna!” - -“Yes, sir!” the parlor maid responded from the doorway. - -“Please tell Mrs. Quelton that Miss Moran is here.” - -“Yes, sir!” repeated the maid, and disappeared. - -Lexy sat down. Captain Grey stood, facing her, leaning one elbow on -the mantelpiece. Dr. Quelton paced up and down, his hands clasped -behind him. He looked like a dignified middle-aged gentleman in his -own home. - -A door opened somewhere in the house, and for a moment Lexy heard the -homely and familiar sound of an egg-beater whirring and a cheerful -Irish voice inquiring about “them potaters.” It was surely a cheerful -and pleasant enough setting; but Lexy did not find it so. - -“I saw Caroline!” she insisted to herself. “I don’t care what any one -says. I saw Caroline!” - -A strange sensation of pain and dread oppressed her. What should she -do? Whom should she tell? - -“Captain Grey,” she thought; “but not now. It’s no use now. Dr. -Quelton would deny it. I’ll have to wait until we get out of here; and -then, perhaps, it’ll be too late. He knows I saw her. -Something—something horrible—may happen!” - -A shiver ran through her. - -“Miss Moran is nervous,” said the doctor, with solicitude. - -“I’m not!” replied Lexy sharply. - -“I hope it’s not a chill,” said Captain Grey. - -“I should be inclined to think it nervousness,” said Dr. Quelton. “Our -landscape here is lonely and depressing, and Miss Moran has the -artist’s temperament, impressionable, high-strung.” - -“Not I!” declared Lexy, in a tone that startled Captain Grey. “Lonely -places don’t bother me. I don’t believe in ghosts.” - -“Oh!” said the doctor. “But here’s Mrs. Quelton. Muriel, this is Miss -Moran, the young writer of fiction.” - -Mrs. Quelton was coming down the long room, a beautiful woman, dark -and delicate, with a sort of plaintive languor in her manner. She held -out her hand to Lexy. - -“I’m so glad you’ve come!” she said. “George has told me so much about -you—the first American girl he’s known!” - -She glanced at her brother with a little smile. Lexy glanced at him, -too; and she was surprised and very much touched by the look on his -face. He couldn’t even smile. His face was grave, pale, almost solemn, -and he was regarding his sister with something like reverence. - -“Oh, poor fellow!” thought Lexy. “Poor lonely fellow! It’s such a -wonderful thing for him to find his sister—some one of his own. I only -hope she’s as nice as she looks.” - -This thought caused her to turn toward her hostess again. She _was_ -beautiful, and in a gentle and gracious fashion, and yet— - -“I don’t know,” thought Lexy. “There’s something—she doesn’t look -ill—perhaps she’s just lackadaisical; but certainly she’s not simple -and easy to understand. She must know about Caroline Enderby. The -thing is, would she help me, or—” - -Or would Mrs. Quelton also be her enemy? Lost in her own thought, Lexy -sat silent. She had, indeed, certain grave faults in social -deportment. The head mistress of the finishing school she had attended -had often said to her: - -“Alexandra, it is absolutely inexcusable to give way to moods in the -company of other people!” - -In theory Lexy admitted that this was true, but it made no difference. -If she didn’t feel inclined to talk, she didn’t talk. It was so this -afternoon. She merely answered when she was spoken to—which was not -often, for Dr. Quelton was asking his brother-in-law questions about -India, and Mrs. Quelton seemed no more desirous to talk than Lexy was. -What is more, Lexy felt certain that the doctor’s wife was not -listening to the talk between the two men, but, like herself, was -thinking her own thoughts. - -The parlor maid wheeled the tea cart in, and Mrs. Quelton roused -herself to pour the tea and to make polite inquiries, in her plaintive -tone, as to what her guests wanted in the way of cream and sugar. The -maid vanished again, and Dr. Quelton passed about the cups and plates. - -“It’s China tea,” he observed. “I import it myself. It has quite a -distinctive flavor, I think.” - -Captain Grey praised it, and Lexy herself found it very agreeable. She -sipped it, staring into the fire, glad to be let alone. Behind her she -could hear Captain Grey talking about the Ceylon tea plantations. His -voice sounded so pathetic! - -“Another cup, Miss Moran?” asked Mrs. Quelton. - -“Yes, thank you,” answered Lexy, and the doctor brought it to her. - -Poor Captain Grey and his precious, new-found sister! The sound of his -voice brought tears to her eyes. - -“But this is idiotic!” she thought, annoyed and surprised. - -Still the tears welled up. She gulped down the rest of her tea -hastily, hoping that it would steady her, but it did not help at all. -Sobs rose in her throat, and an immense and formless sorrow came over -her. - -“This has got to stop!” she thought, in alarm. “I can’t be such a -chump!” - -She turned to Mrs. Quelton. - -“Are you going to grow any—” she began, but her voice was so unsteady -that she had to stop for a moment. “Any flowers in—in your—g-garden?” - -The question ended in a loud and unmistakable sob. They all turned to -look at her, startled and anxious. - -She made a desperate effort to regain control of herself. - -“S-snapdragon,” she said. “So—so p-pretty!” - -Then, suddenly, all her defenses gave way. The teacup fell from her -hand and was shattered on the floor, and, burying her head in her -arms, she cried as she had never cried in her life. - -Mrs. Quelton stood beside her, one hand resting on Lexy’s shoulder. -Captain Grey was bending over her, profoundly disturbed. She tried to -speak, but she could not. - -“Miss Moran!” said Dr. Quelton solicitously. “Will you allow me to -give you a mild sedative?” - -“No!” she gasped. “No—I want to go home!” - -“I’ll telephone for the taxi,” suggested Captain Grey. “He wasn’t -coming back until half past five.” - -“Unfortunately we have no telephone,” said the doctor; “but I’ll drive -Miss Moran home.” - -“No! I want to walk.” - -“Not in this rain,” the doctor protested, “and in your overwrought -condition.” - -“I must!” She got up, the tears still streaming down her cheeks. “I -must!” she said wildly. “Let me go! Please let me go!” - -The doctor turned to Captain Grey. In the midst of her unutterable -misery and confusion, Lexy still heard and understood what he was -saying. - -“In a case of hysteria—better to humor her—the exercise and the fresh -air may help her.” - -The doctor’s wife helped Lexy with her hat and coat. She was very -gentle, very kind, and genuinely concerned for her unhappy little -guest. Lexy remembered afterward that Mrs. Quelton kissed her; but at -the moment nothing mattered except to get away, to get out of that -house into the fresh air. - -Without one backward glance she set off at a furious pace, splashing -through the puddles, almost running. Captain Grey kept easily by her -side with his long, lithe stride. Now and then he spoke to her, but -she could not trust herself to answer just yet. The storm within her -was subsiding. From time to time a sob broke from her, but the tears -had stopped. - -And now she was beginning to think. - -Twilight had come early on this rainy day, and it was almost dark -before they reached the end of the lane. Lexy slackened her pace. -Then, as they came to the corner of the highway, she stopped and laid -her hand on her companion’s sleeve. - -“Captain Grey!” she said. - -He looked down at her, but it was too dark to see what expression -there was on her pale face. He was vastly relieved, however, by the -steadiness of her voice. - -“Captain Grey!” she said again. “If I told you something—something -very important—would you believe me?” - -“Yes, yes, of course,” he answered hastily. “Of course, I would always -believe you; but I wish you wouldn’t try to talk about anything -important just now, you know. Let’s wait a bit, eh?” - -Lexy smiled to herself in the dark—a smile of extraordinary -bitterness. He wouldn’t believe her if she told him about Caroline. He -would think she was hysterical. She saw quite plainly that by this -strange outburst she had lost his confidence. - -She could in no way explain her sudden breaking down. Such a thing had -never happened to her before. She could not understand it, but she was -in no doubt about the unfortunate consequences of it. She was -discredited. - - - XIV - -Lexy sat on the edge of the bed, her hands clasped loosely before her, -her bright head bent, her eyes fixed somberly upon nothing; and she -could see nothing—not one step of the way that lay ahead of her. She -could not think what she ought to do next. For the first time in her -life, she had a feeling of utter confusion and dismay. - -“It’s because I’m so tired,” she said to herself. “I’ve never been -really tired out before.” - -But that in itself was a cause for alarm. Why should she feel like -this, so exhausted and depressed? Horrible thoughts came to her. Dr. -Quelton had called her nervous, high-strung, hysterical. Was that -because he had seen in her something which she herself had never -suspected? Was she hysterical? Mrs. Enderby had laughed at her. Mr. -Houseman had gone away, satisfied with his own solution. Captain Grey, -chivalrous and kindly as he was, had obviously lost interest in her -affairs. Nobody believed in her. Was it because every one could see— - -She remembered the intolerable humiliation of the day before, her wild -outburst of tears in the Queltons’ house. Even in her childhood she -had never done such a thing before. - -“What does it mean?” she asked herself in terror. “What is the matter -with me? Is this whole thing just a delusion? I came here to find -Caroline, and I thought—I thought I did see her. Am I mad?” - -That was the awful thing that had lain in ambush in her mind ever -since yesterday, that had haunted her restless sleep all night. She -had not admitted it, but it had been there every minute. All her -actions, all her words, to-day, had the one object of showing Mrs. -Royce and Captain Grey how entirely normal and sensible she was. - -“That’s what they always do!” she whispered with dry lips. - -All day, hiding her terror and weakness, talking to Mrs. Royce, -sitting at the lunch table and talking and laughing with Captain Grey, -trying to make them believe her quite cheerful and untroubled—and all -the time perhaps they knew. Perhaps they were humoring her! - -She sprang up and went over to the window. The sun was beginning to -sink in a tranquil sky. It had been a beautiful day, but Lexy felt too -weary and listless to go out. She remembered now that both Captain -Grey and the landlady had urged her to do so, that they had both said -it would do her good. Then they must have noted that something was -wrong with her. What did they think it was? Did she look— - -She crossed the room and stood before the mirror. The rays of the -setting sun fell upon her hair, turning it to copper and gold. It -seemed to her to shine with a strange light about her pallid little -face. Her eyes seemed enormous, somber, and terrible. - -She covered her face with her hands and flung herself on the bed, sick -and desperate. She could not see any one, could not speak to any one. -When a knock came at her door, she thrust her fingers into her ears -and lay there, with her eyes shut tight, trembling from head to foot; -but the knocking went on until she could endure it no longer. - -“Yes?” she said, sitting up. - -“Supper’s all on the table!” said Mrs. Royce’s cheerful voice. - -“I don’t want any supper to-night, thank you,” replied Lexy. - -Mrs. Royce expostulated and argued for a time, but she could not -persuade Lexy even to unlock the door; and at last, with a worried -sigh, she went downstairs again. - -The room was quite dark now, and the wind blowing in through the open -window felt chill; but Lexy was too tired to close the window or light -the gas. She was not drowsy. She lay stretched out, limp, overpowered -with fatigue, but wide awake, and with a curious certainty that she -was waiting for something. - -There was another knock at the door, and this time Captain Grey’s -voice spoke. - -“I say, Miss Moran!” he said anxiously. “You’re not ill, are you?” - -“No!” she answered, with a trace of irritability. “I’m just tired.” - -“But don’t you think you ought to eat something, you know? Or a cup of -tea?” - -“No!” she cried, still more impatiently. “I can’t. I want to rest.” - -“Can you open the door for half a moment?” he asked. “I’ve some roses -here that my sister sent to you. She wanted me to say—” - -The door opened with startling suddenness. Lexy appeared, and took the -roses out of his hand. - -“Thank you! Good night!” she said, and was gone again before he quite -realized what was happening. - -Then he heard the key turn in the lock, and, bewildered and very -uneasy, he went away. - -Lexy flung the roses down on the table, not even troubling to put them -into water. - -“Anything to get rid of him!” she said to herself. “I want to be let -alone!” - -She lay down on the bed again, pulling a blanket over herself. -Downstairs she could hear Mrs. Royce moving about in the kitchen, and -Captain Grey’s singularly agreeable voice talking to the landlady. It -seemed to her that they were in a different world, and that she was -shut outside, in a black and terrible solitude. - -“If I can only sleep!” she thought. “Perhaps, in the morning—” - -She was beginning to feel a little drowsy now. How heavenly it would -be to sleep, even for a little while! To sleep and to forget! - -The wind was blowing through the dark little room, bringing to her the -perfume of the roses—a wonderful fragrance. It was wonderful, but -almost too strong. It was too strong. It troubled her. - -“I’ll put them out on the window sill,” she murmured. “It’s such a -queer scent!” - -But she was too tired, too unspeakably tired. She didn’t seem able to -get up, or even to move. She sighed faintly, and closed her eyes. The -wind blew, strong and steady, heavy with that sweet and subtle odor. - - * * * * * - -“Look out!” cried Mr. Houseman. “She’s going about!” - -Lexy laughed, and ducked down into the cockpit while the boom swung -over. The little sailboat was flying over the sunny water like a bird. -There was not a cloud in the pure bright sky, not a shadow in her -joyous heart. - -“I am so glad you came!” she said. - -“Of course I came,” he answered. “I had to swim all the way from -India.” - -“Mercy!” cried Lexy. “That must have been dreadful! But why?” - -Mr. Houseman leaned forward and whispered solemnly: - -“There was a tempest in a teapot.” - -This frightened her. - -“Do you think there’s going to be another one?” she whispered back. - -“Sure to be!” said he. “Don’t you see how dark it’s getting?” - -It was getting very dark. Lexy couldn’t see his face now. - -“Hold my hand!” he shouted, and she reached out for it; but she -couldn’t find him at all. - -“Mr. Houseman!” she cried. - -There was no answer. She stared about her, numb with terror. What was -it that rustled like that? What were these black, tall things that -were standing motionless about her on every side? - -“I’ve been dreaming,” she said to herself. “I’m in my own room, of -course. If I go just a few steps, I’ll touch the wall. I’m awake -now—only it’s so dark!” - -And what was it that rustled like that—like leaves in the wind? What -were these black, still forms about her? Trees? No—they couldn’t be -trees. - -In a wild panic she moved forward. Her outstretched hand touched -something, and she screamed. The scream seemed to run along through -the dark, leaping and rolling over the ground like a terrified animal. -She tried to run after it, stumbling and panting, until her shoulder -struck violently against something, and she stopped. - -And into her sick and shuddering mind her old sturdy courage began to -return. She tried to breathe quietly. She struggled desperately -against the awful weakness that urged her to sink down on the ground -and cover her eyes. - -“No!” she said aloud. “I won’t! I’m here! I’m alive! I will -understand! I will see!” - -She was able now to draw a deep breath, and the horrible fluttering of -her heart grew less. She stood motionless, waiting. It was coming back -to her, that immortal, unconquerable spirit of hers. The anguish and -the strange fear were passing. - -“I’m here,” she said. “I’m in a wood somewhere. These are trees. What -I hear are only the leaves in the wind. I don’t know where it is, or -how I got here; but I’m alive and well. I can walk. I can get out of -it.” - -She moved forward again, quietly and deliberately. Her eyes were more -accustomed to the darkness now, and she made her way through the -trees, looking always ahead, never once behind her. - -“The wood must end somewhere,” she said. “The morning will have to -come some time. All I have to do is to go on.” - -Patter, patter, patter, like little feet running behind her. - -“Only the leaves on the trees,” said Lexy. “All I have to do is to go -on.” - -And she went on. Sometimes a wild desire to run swept over her, but -she would not hasten her steps, and she would not look behind. The -primeval terror of the forest pressed upon her, but she cast it away. -Alone, lost, in darkness and solitude, she kept her hold upon the one -thing that mattered—the honor and dignity of her own soul. - -“I’m not afraid,” she said. - -And then she saw a light. At first she thought it was the moon, but it -hung too low, and it was too brilliant. Even then she would not run. -She went on steadily toward it. In a few minutes she stepped out of -the woodland upon a road—a hard, asphalt road with lights along it. It -was quite empty, it was unfamiliar to her, but she would have gone -down on her knees and kissed the dust of it. It was a road, and all -roads lead home. - - - XV - -There were no stars and no moon, for the sky was filled with wild -black clouds flying before the wind. Lexy could not guess at the time. -She had no idea where she was, but it didn’t matter. The morning would -come some time, and the road would lead somewhere. - -“It’s better here,” she said to herself. “I’d far, far rather be here, -wherever it is, than shut up in that room with the thoughts I had!” - -Those thoughts, those fears, had utterly gone from her now, but the -memory of them was horrible. She shuddered at the memory of the hours -she had spent locked in her room, with that monstrous dread of madness -in her heart. Thank God, it had passed now! She walked along the -interminable empty road, her old self again, but graver and sterner -than she had ever been before in her life. - -“I’ve got to understand all this,” she said to herself. “I’ve got to -know what’s been the matter with me. That breakdown at the Queltons’, -that awful time yesterday afternoon, and this! I suppose I’ve been -walking in my sleep. I never did before. Something’s gone wrong with -my nerves, terribly wrong; and I’ve got to find out why.” - -She quickened her pace a little, because a trace of the old panic fear -had stirred in her. - -“It’s over!” she thought. “I’ll never imagine such a thing again; but -I wonder if I’ll ever feel quite sure of myself again!” - -For all her valiant efforts, tears came into her eyes. She had always -been so proudly and honestly sure of herself, she had always trusted -herself, and now—now she knew how weak, how untrustworthy she could -be. Now she would always have that knowledge, and would fear that the -weakness might come again. - -“I don’t know whether I really did see Caroline. I can’t feel certain -of anything. Perhaps I ought to give up all this and go away and rest; -only I’ve no place to go. There isn’t any one I can tell.” - -She straightened her shoulders and looked up at the vast, dark sky, -where black clouds ran before a wind that snapped at their heels like -a wolf; and the sight assuaged her. This world that lay under the open -sky—the woods, the hills, and above all, the sea—was her world. It -belonged to her equally with all God’s creatures. She had her part in -it and her place. There was no one to whom she could turn for comfort, -her faith in herself was cruelly shaken, and yet somehow she was not -forsaken and helpless. Some one was coming. It was dark, but the light -was coming! - -She went on, her brisk footsteps ringing out clearly in the silence. -The road was bordered on both sides by woods, where the leaves -whispered, and there was no sign anywhere of another human being; but -the road must lead somewhere. It began to go steeply uphill, and she -became aware for the first time that she was very tired and very -hungry, and that one of her shoes was worn through; but she had her -precious money in the bag around her neck, and, if she kept on going, -she couldn’t help reaching some place where she could get food and -rest. - -“At the top of the hill I’ll be able to see better,” she thought. - -It was a long, long hill, and the stones began to hurt her foot in the -worn shoe; but she got to the top, and then below her she saw the -lights of a railway station. - -She went down the hill at a lively trot, and it was as if she had come -into a different world. Dogs barked somewhere not far off, and she -passed a barn standing black against the sky. It was a human world, -where people lived. - -When she reached the platform, the door of the waiting room was -locked, but inside she could see a light burning dimly in the ticket -booth, and a clock. Half past one! - -With a sigh of relief, she sat down on the edge of the platform. She -wouldn’t in the least mind sitting here until morning, in a place -where there were lights and a clock, and she could hear a dog barking. -She took off her shoe and rubbed her bruised foot, and sighed again -with great content. In four hours or so somebody would come, and then -she would find out where she was, and how to get back to Mrs. Royce, -and Mrs. Royce’s comfortable breakfast—coffee, ham and eggs, and hot -muffins. - -She started up, and hastily put on her shoe again, for in the distance -she heard the sound of a motor. She told herself that it would be the -height of folly to stop an unknown car in this solitary place, for -there were evil men abroad in the world; but there were a great many -more honest ones, and if she could only get back to Mrs. Royce’s now! - -She crossed the road and stood behind a big tree. The purr of the -motor was growing louder and louder, filling the whole earth. Her -heart beat fast, she kept her eyes upon the road, excited, but not -sure what she meant to do. - -It was a taxi. She sprang out into the road and waved her arms. - -“Taxi!” she shouted joyously. - -The car stopped with a jolt, and the driver jumped out. - -“Now, then! What’s up?” he demanded suspiciously. From a safe -distance, the light of an electric torch was flashed in her face. -“Well, I’ll be gosh-darned!” said he. “Ain’t you the boarder up to -Mrs. Royce’s?” - -“Yes! I am! I am!” cried Lexy, overwhelmed with delight. “Can you take -me there?” - -“I can,” he replied; “but what on earth are you doing out here?” - -“I got lost,” said Lexy. “Where is this, anyhow?” - -“Wyngate station,” said he. “I’ll be gosh-darned! I never! Lost?” - -“Yes,” said Lexy. “Aren’t you the driver who took me up the day I came -here?” - -“That’s me—only taxi in Wyngate. Took you out to the Queltons’, too. -Hop in, miss!” - -His engine had stalled, and he set to work to crank it, while Lexy -stood beside him. - -“Drive awfully fast, will you?” she asked. - -He was too busy to answer for a moment. Then, when his engine was -running again, he straightened up and looked at her. - -“No, ma’am!” he said firmly. “No more of that for me! Not after what -happened a while ago. No, ma’am! I had my lesson!” - -“An accident?” inquired Lexy politely. - -“Well,” he said slowly, “I s’pose it was; but the more I think it -over, the more I dunno!” - -In the brightness cast by the headlights, Lexy could see his face very -well, and the look on it gave her a strange little thrill of fear. It -was not a handsome or intelligent face, but it was a very honest one, -and she saw, written plain upon it, a very honest doubt and dismay. -Like herself, he wasn’t sure. - -“It was this way,” he went on. “About three miles up Carterstown way -there’s a bad piece of road. There’s a steep hill, and a crossroad -cuts across the foot of it, and it’s too narrer for two cars to pass. -It’s a bad piece, and I always been keerful there. I was keerful that -night. I was coming along the crossroad, and I heard another car -somewhere, and I sounded the horn two or three times before I come to -the foot of the hill. Jest as I got there, and was turning up the -hill, down comes another car, full tilt. I couldn’t git out o’ the -way. There’s stone walls on both sides. I tried to back, but he -crashed into me. I kind of fainted, I guess. My cab was all smashed -up, and I was cut pretty bad with glass. They found me lying there -about an hour after. The other fellow—he was killed.” He stopped for a -minute. “If it hadn’t been fer his license number, nobody could ’a’ -known who he was, he was so smashed up. Seems he was from New York, -driving a taxi belonging to one of them big companies.” - -“Poor fellow!” said Lexy. - -“Yes,” said the other solemnly. “I kin say that, too, whatever he -meant to do.” - -“Meant to do?” - -The countryman came a step nearer. - -“I keep thinking about it,” he said in a half whisper. “This is the -queer thing about it, miss. That there car didn’t start till _I got to -the foot of the hill_! The engine was just racing, and the car wasn’t -moving along—I _know_ that. It was as if he’d been waiting up there -for me, and then down he came as if he meant”—the speaker paused -again—“to kill me,” he ended. - -“But—” Lexy began, and then stopped. - -She had a very odd feeling that this story was somehow of great -importance to her, but that she must put it away, that she must keep -it in her mind until later. This wasn’t the time to think about it. - -“Joe,” she said, “I want to hear more about this—all about it; but not -now. I’m too tired.” - -He gave himself a shake, like a dog. Then he turned to her with a -slow, good-natured smile. - -“I guess you are!” he said. “Lucky for you I just happened to be late -to-night, taking them Ainsly girls ’way out to their house after a -dance. Hop in, miss!” - -Lexy got in, and they set off. She leaned back and closed her eyes, -but they flew open again as if of their own accord. There was -something she wanted to see. Through the glass she could see Joe’s -burly shoulders, a little hunched—Joe, who, like herself, wasn’t sure. - -“Not now!” said something inside her. “Don’t think about that now. Try -not to think at all. Wait! Something is going to happen.” - -At the corner of the road leading to Mrs. Royce’s, she tapped on the -window. Joe stopped the cab with a jerk, sprang down from his seat, -and ran around to open the door. - -“What’s the matter, miss?” - -“Nothing,” said Lexy. “I’m sorry if I startled you, Joe. I thought I’d -get out here and slip into the house quietly, without disturbing any -one.” - -Joe grinned sheepishly. - -“I’ve got kind of jumpy since—that,” he said. “Howsomever, come on, -miss!” - -“Oh, I don’t mean to trouble you!” - -“I’m going to see you safe inside that there house!” Joe declared -firmly. - -Grateful for his genuine kindness, Lexy made no further protest. Side -by side they walked down the lane, their footsteps noiseless in the -thick dust, and Joe opened the garden gate without a sound. - -“I thought perhaps I could climb up that tree and get in at my -window,” Lexy whispered. - -“I’ll do it for you,” said Joe, “and come down and let you in by the -back door.” - -He was up the tree like a cat. He went cautiously along a branch, -until he could reach the roof of the shed with his toes. He dropped -down on the roof, and Lexy saw him disappear into her room. She went -to the back door. In a minute she heard the key turn inside, and the -door opened. - -“Thank you ever so much, Joe!” she whispered. - -But he paid no attention to her. He stood still, drawing deep breaths -of the night air. - -“Them roses!” he said. “The smell of ’em made me kind of sick, like. -Throw ’em out, miss! Don’t go to sleep with them roses in the room!” - -Lexy did not answer for a time. - -“I’ll see you to-morrow, Joe,” she said. “I’ll pay you for the taxi, -and have a talk with you. And thank you, Joe, ever so much!” - -He touched his cap, murmured “Good night,” and off he went. - -Lexy went in, locked the kitchen door behind her, and stood there, -leaning against it, half dazed by the great light that was coming into -her mind. She was beginning to understand! The roses—the roses with -their strange and powerful fragrance! Her hysterical outburst after -her tea at Dr. Quelton’s house! She was beginning to understand, not -the details, but the one tremendous thing that mattered. - -“He did it,” she said to herself. “He made all this happen. I didn’t -just break down. I haven’t been weak and hysterical. He made it all -happen!” - -For a time her relief was an ecstasy. She could trust herself again. -She was so happy in that knowledge that she could have shouted aloud, -to waken Mrs. Royce and Captain Grey, and tell them. The monstrous -burden was lifted, she was free, she was her old sturdy, trustworthy -self again. - -She sank into a chair by the kitchen table, staring before her into -the dark, her lips parted in a smile of gratitude and delight; and -then, suddenly, the smile fled. She rose to her feet, her hands -clenched, her whole body rigid. - -“He did it!” she said again. “It’s the vilest and most horrible thing -anyone can do. He tried to steal my soul. He turned me into that poor, -terrified, contemptible creature. I’ll never in all my life forgive -him. I’m going to find out—about that, and about Caroline. I’ll never -give up trying, and I’ll never forgive him!” - -She groped her way through the dark kitchen and into the hall. That -was where she had first seen Dr. Quelton. She stopped and turned, as -if she were looking into his face. - -“I’m stronger than you!” she whispered. - - - XVI - -Lexy came down to breakfast a little late the next morning, but in the -best of spirits, and with a ferocious appetite. She had no idea how or -when she had left the house the night before, but obviously neither -Mrs. Royce nor Captain Grey knew anything about it, and that sufficed. -She could go on eating, quite untroubled by their friendly anxiety. -Let them think what they chose—it no longer mattered to her. - -For, in spite of the warm liking she had for them both, she felt -entirely cut off from them now. If she told them the truth, they would -not believe her, they would not and could not help her. Nobody on -earth would help her. She faced that fact squarely. Whatever Dr. -Quelton had meant to accomplish, he had perfectly succeeded in doing -one thing—he had discredited her. Anything she said now would be -regarded as the irresponsible statement of a hysterical girl. - -Very well! She had done with talking. She meant to act now. - -“It was awfully nice of your sister to send me those roses,” she -observed. - -Captain Grey was standing by the window in the dining room, keeping -her company while she ate. He turned his head aside as she spoke, but -not before she had noticed on his sensitive face the odd and touching -look that always came over it at any mention of his sister. Evidently -he worshiped her, and yet Lexy was certain that he was somehow -disappointed in her. - -“She likes you very much,” he said. - -“I’m glad,” said Lexy; “but how did you manage to keep the roses so -wonderfully fresh, Captain Grey?” - -“The doctor wrapped them for me—some rather special way, you know—damp -paper, and then a cloth. He told me not to open them until I gave them -to you. Very clever chap, isn’t he?” - -“He is!” agreed Lexy, with a faint smile. - -“Mind if I smoke, Miss Moran?” asked the young man. “Thanks!” - -He lit a cigarette and sat down on the window sill. He was silent, and -so was Lexy, for she fancied that he had something he wished to say. - -“Miss Moran,” he said, at last, “you’ll go there again to see her, -won’t you?” - -Lexy considered for a moment. - -“Why?” she asked. “Why did you think I wouldn’t?” - -“I was afraid you might think—it’s the atmosphere of the place—I’m -sure of it—that made you nervous the other afternoon. It’s something -about the place, you know. I’ve felt it myself. I was afraid you -wouldn’t care to go again, and I don’t like to think of her -there—alone.” - -“She’s not alone,” observed Lexy blandly. “She has her clever -husband.” - -“Yes, I know that, of course, but he’s—well, he’s not very cheery,” -said the young man earnestly. - -Lexy couldn’t help laughing. - -“No, he’s not very cheery,” she admitted. “Of course I’ll go -again—this afternoon, if you’d like.” - -“I say! You are good!” he cried. “I know jolly well that you don’t -want to go.” - -“I do, though,” declared Lexy. - -“Shall we walk over?” - -“If you don’t mind,” said Lexy, “I’ll go by myself. There’s something -I want to attend to first. I’ll meet you there at four o’clock.” - -“Right-o!” said he. “Then you won’t mind if I go there for lunch?” - -She assured him that she wouldn’t. - -“You poor dear thing!” she added, to herself. His solicitude touched -her. He seemed to feel himself responsible for her, as if she were a -very delicate and rather weak-minded child. “You’re not very cheery, -either!” she thought. And indeed he was not. His meeting with his -sister had upset him badly. Ever since he had first seen her, he had -been troubled and anxious and downcast. “And that’s because she’s not -human,” thought Lexy. “She’s beautiful, and gentle, and all that, but -she’s like a ghost. Of course it bothers him!” - -She did not give much more thought to Captain Grey, however. As soon -as he left the house, she went upstairs into the little sewing room, -and until lunch time she was busy writing the clearest and briefest -account she could of what had occurred. This she put into an envelope, -which she addressed to Mr. Charles Houseman and laid it on her bureau. - -“If anything happened, I suppose they’d give it to him,” she said to -herself. “I’d like him to know.” - -Somehow this gave her a good deal of comfort. Not that she expected -anything to happen, or was at all frightened, but she did not deny -that Dr. Quelton was a singularly unpleasant sort of enemy to have; -and he was her enemy—she was sure of it. - -Just because he had made such a point of her arriving after four -o’clock, she had made up her mind to reach the house well before that -hour—which would not please him. Directly after lunch she walked down -to the village. She found Joe taking a nap in his cab, outside the -station; and, regardless of the frightful curiosity of the villagers, -she stood there talking to him for a long time. He assured her, with -his sheepish grin, that he had told no one of his having met her the -night before, and he willingly promised never to mention it to any one -without her consent. - -“I ain’t so much of a talker,” he said. - -That was true, too. He was reluctant, to-day, to talk about his -strange adventure with the cab on the hill; but Lexy made him answer -her questions, and he wavered in no respect from his first version. - -“There was an inquest, an’ all,” he said. “I’m darned glad it’s all -over!” - -“It isn’t!” thought Lexy. “Somehow it belongs with other things. It’s -a piece of the puzzle. I can’t fit it in now, but I will some day!” - -So she thanked Joe, and paid him for last night’s trip, though he made -miserable and embarrassed efforts to stop her. Then she set off on her -way. - -It was four o’clock by her watch when she reached the garden gate. She -stopped for a moment with her hand on the latch, and, in spite of -herself, a little shiver ran through her. The battered old house in -the tangled garden looked more menacing to-day, in the tranquil spring -sunshine, than it had in the rain. It was utterly lonely and quiet. -Lexy could hear nothing but the distant sound of the surf, which was -like the beating of a tired heart. - -Against the advice of Mrs. Enderby, almost against her own reason, she -had come here to Wyngate, and to the house—and she had seen Caroline. -The thing which was beyond reason had been right—so right that it -frightened her; and now it bade her go on. It was like a voice telling -her that her feet were set in the right path. - -Lexy pushed open the gate and went in. The pleasant young parlor maid -opened the door. She looked alarmed. - -“I don’t know, miss,” she said. “Mrs. Quelton—I’ll go and ask the -doctor.” - -But from the hall Lexy had caught sight of Mrs. Quelton in the -drawing-room alone, and, with an affable smile for the anxious parlor -maid, she went in there. - -“I’m afraid I’m awfully early—” she began, and then stopped short in -amazement. - -Mrs. Quelton did not welcome the visitor, did not smile or speak. She -lay back in her chair and stared at Lexy with dilated eyes and parted -lips. Her face was as white as paper, and strangely drawn. - -“Are you ill?” cried Lexy, running toward her. - -Mrs. Quelton only stared at her with those brilliant, dilated eyes. -Lexy took the other woman’s hand, and it was as cold as ice, and -utterly lifeless. - -“Mrs. Quelton! Are you ill?” she asked again. - -Somehow it added to her horror to see, as she bent over her, that the -unfortunate woman’s face was ever so thickly covered with some curious -sort of paint or powder. It made her seem like a grotesque and -horrible marionette. - -“She’s old!” thought Lexy. “She’s terribly, terribly old!” - -She drew back her hand, for she could not touch that painted face. She -didn’t fail in generous pity, but she could not overcome an -instinctive repugnance. She turned around, intending to call the -parlor maid, and there was Dr. Quelton striding down the long room -with a glass in his hand. Without even glancing at Lexy, he stooped -over his wife, raised her limp head on one arm, and put the glass to -her lips. She drank the contents, and lay back again, with her eyes -closed. Almost at once the color began to return to her ashen cheeks. -Her arms quivered, and then she opened her eyes and looked up at him -with a faint, dazed smile. - -“You’re better now,” he said. - -“Better!” she repeated. “But you were late! I needed it—I needed it!” - -“Come, now!” he said indulgently. “The faintness has passed. Now you -must go up to your room and rest a little before tea.” - -She rose, and to Lexy’s surprise her movements showed no trace of -weakness. Then, turning her head, she caught sight of the girl, and -her face lighted with pleasure. - -“Miss Moran!” she cried. “How very nice to—” - -“Miss Moran will wait, I’m sure,” the doctor interrupted. “You must -rest for half an hour, Muriel.” - -Taking her by the arm, he led her down the room. In the doorway she -looked back and smiled at her visitor; and if anything had been needed -to steel Lexy’s heart against the doctor, that smile on his wife’s -face would have done it—that poor, plaintive little smile. - -Standing there by Mrs. Quelton’s empty chair, she waited for him to -return, a cold and terrible anger rising in her. She heard his step in -the hall, heavy and deliberate, and presently he reëntered the room -and came toward her, his blank, dull eyes fixed upon nothing. She was -quite certain that he wanted to put her out of his way, and that he -had no scruple whatever as to methods; yet for all her youth and -inexperience, her utter loneliness, she felt that she was a match for -him. - -“So you’ve come back to us, Miss Moran,” he said in his lifeless -voice. “I was afraid you might not.” - -“Oh, but why not?” Lexy inquired in a brisk and cheerful tone. “I like -to come here!” - -A curious thrill of exultation ran through her, for she saw on the -doctor’s face the faintest shadow of a frown. He was perplexed! She -baffled him, and he didn’t know whether she understood what had -happened. - -“It is a great pleasure to Mrs. Quelton and myself,” he said politely. -Then he raised his eyes and looked directly at her. “Perhaps,” he went -on, “you would be kind enough to spend a week here with us some time? -Although I’m afraid you might find it very dull.” - -“Oh, no!” Lexy assured him. “I’d love to come—whenever it’s convenient -for you.” - -They were still looking directly into each other’s eyes. - -“Suppose we say to-morrow?” suggested Dr. Quelton. - -“Thank you!” said Lexy. “I’ll come to-morrow!” - - - XVII - -Captain Grey was enchanted with the idea of Lexy’s spending a week -with his sister. He was going, too. Indeed, Lexy felt sure that Mrs. -Quelton had wanted him to go there some time ago, and that he had -refused simply on her own account. He didn’t like to leave her alone -at Mrs. Royce’s, and after her nervous breakdown that afternoon -nothing could have induced him to do so. He was anxious about her. He -tried, with what he believed was great tact, to find out her plans for -the future. He was genuinely troubled by the loneliness and -uncertainty of her life. - -Lexy appreciated all this, and she liked the young man very -much—perhaps as much as he liked her; but the sympathetic -understanding which had promised to develop on the night when they -talked together in the firelight had never developed. - -Something had checked it. They were the best of friends, but Captain -Grey never again referred to what Lexy had told him about Caroline -Enderby, and about her reason for coming to Wyngate; and Lexy said -nothing, either. Evidently he thought that it had been a far-fetched, -romantic notion of hers, and hoped that she had forgotten all about -it. - -Lexy did not try to undeceive him. Her story would be too fantastic -for him to believe. Nobody would believe it, except a person with -absolute faith not only in her honesty but in her intelligence and -clearsightedness; and there was no such person. She was not resentful -or grieved over this. She accepted it quietly, and prepared to go -forward alone. - -It had occurred to her lately that perhaps Mr. Houseman had been -right, and that Caroline had gone away of her own free will; but she -meant to _know_. She had seen the missing girl in Dr. Quelton’s house. -Whatever the doctor might say about the false evidence of the senses, -Lexy’s confidence in her own clear gray eyes was not in the least -shaken. She had seen Caroline once, and she was going to see her -again. That was why she was going to the Tower. - -“It’ll do Muriel no end of good,” said Captain Grey, when they were in -the taxi. “She’s—to tell you the truth, Miss Moran, I don’t feel -altogether easy about her.” - -“Why?” asked Lexy, very curious to know what he thought. - -“Well,” he said, “it’s hard to put it into words; but that’s not a -wholesome sort of life for a young woman, shut away like that. The -doctor says her health’s not good, but it’s my opinion that if she got -about more—saw more people, you know—” - -Lexy felt a great pity for him. Apparently he did not even suspect -what she was now sure of—that the unfortunate Muriel was hopelessly -addicted to some drug, which her husband himself gave to her. - -“And I hope he’ll go back to India before he does find out,” she -thought. “It’s too horrible—he worships her so!” - -“I’ve tried, you know,” he went on. “I wanted to take her into the -city, to a concert. Seems confoundedly queer, doesn’t it, the way -she’s lost interest in her music? She didn’t want to go. Then about -the emerald—” - -“Oh!” said Lexy, who had forgotten about the emerald. - -“Chap I know designed a setting for it. It’s unset now, you know, and -I thought I’d like to do that for her while I was here; but she -doesn’t seem interested. I can’t even get her to let me see the thing. -I’ve asked her two or three times, but she always puts me off. Do you -think it bores her?” - -“Perhaps it does,” replied Lexy. - -“Well,” said the young man, “when a woman’s bored by a jewel like -that, she’s in a bad way. I wish you could see it!” - -“I wish I could,” said Lexy, and added to herself: “But I don’t think -I ever shall. Probably her husband’s got it.” - -They had now reached the Tower. The parlor maid opened the door for -them, and at once conducted Lexy upstairs to her room. - -It was a big room, with four windows, and very comfortably furnished; -but even a fire burning in the grate and two or three shaded electric -lamps could not give it a homelike air. There was a musty smell about -it, and there was an amazing amount of dust. It was neat, but it -wasn’t clean. Dust rose from the carpet when she walked, and from the -chair cushions when she sat down. She saw fluff under the bed and -under the bureau. - -“Not much of a housekeeper, poor soul!” thought Lexy. “It’s a pity. -One could do almost anything with a house like this, and all this -beautiful old furniture!” - -But this, after all, was a minor matter. She took off her hat, washed -her hands and face, brushed her hair, and left the room, closing the -door quietly behind her. - -“The house is strange to me,” she said to herself, with a grin. “I -shouldn’t wonder if I turned the wrong way, and got lost!” - -That was what she intended to do. She did not expect to make any -sensational discoveries, for Dr. Quelton did not seem to be the sort -of person who would leave clews lying about for her to pick up; but -she did hope that she might see or hear something—Heaven knows -what—that might bring her nearer to Caroline. - -So, instead of walking toward the stairs, she turned in the opposite -direction, along a hall lined with doors, all of them shut. At the end -there was a grimy window, through which the sun shone in upon the -dusty carpet and the faded wall paper. There was a forlorn and -neglected air about the place, a stillness which made it impossible -for her to believe that there was any living creature behind those -closed doors. - -“I wish I had cheek enough to open some of them,” she thought; “but -I’m afraid I haven’t. I shouldn’t know what to say if there was some -one in the room. After all, I’m supposed to be a guest. I’ve got to be -a little discreet about my prying.” - -She went softly along the hall to the window, to see what was out -there. When she reached it, she was surprised to see that the last -door was a little ajar. She looked through the crack. It wasn’t a room -in there, but another hall, only a few feet long, ending at a narrow -staircase. - -“That must be the way to the cupola,” she thought. “I suppose a guest -might go up there, to see the view.” - -So she pushed the door open and went on tiptoe to the stairs; and then -she heard a voice which she had no trouble in recognizing. It was Dr. -Quelton’s. - -“My dear young man,” he was saying. “I am not a psychologist. It has -always seemed to me the greatest folly to devote serious study to the -workings of so erratic and incalculable a machine as the human brain. -It is a study in which there are, practically speaking, no general -rules, no trustworthy data. It is, in my opinion, not a science at -all, but a philosophy; and philosophy makes no appeal to me. I frankly -admit that I am entirely materialistic. I care little for causes, but -much for effects. Consequently, I have devoted myself to medicine, in -which I can produce certain effects according to established rules.” - -“But I meant more particularly the effect of—of things on the mind—the -brain, you know,” said Captain Grey’s voice. - -Again Lexy felt a great pity for him. He sounded very, very young in -contrast to the doctor—so young and earnest, and so helpless! - -“Exactly!” said the doctor. “You were, I believe, trying to lead to a -suggestion that psychology might be of help to Muriel. Am I right?” - -There was a moment’s pause, during which Lexy very cautiously went -halfway up the stairs. - -“I did think of that,” said the young man valiantly. “It seems to me -she’s a bit—well, morbid, you know; and I’ve heard about those -chaps—those psychoanalysts, you know. Simply occurred to me that one -of them—merely a suggestion, you know. I’m not trying to be -officious.” - -“A psychoanalyst,” said Dr. Quelton, “is a man who analyzes the -psyche, who solemnly and expensively analyzes something of whose -existence he has no proof whatever.” - -There was another silence. - -By this time Lexy had reached the head of the stairs. Beside her was -an open door, through which she could look, while she herself was -hidden from view. Beyond it was, as she had thought, the cupola—a -small octagonal room with windows on every side, through which the sun -poured in a dazzling flood. There was nothing in the room except a -white enamel table, a stool, a porcelain sink, and an open cabinet, -upon the shelves of which stood rows and rows of bottles, each one -labeled. Facing this cabinet, and with their backs toward the door, -stood the two men—the doctor with his shoulders hunched and his hands -clasped behind him, and Captain Grey, tall, slender, straight as a -wand. - -“Materia medica—that is my art,” said the doctor. “I have devoted my -life to it, and I have learned—a little. I have made experiments. A -psychologist will offer to tell you why a man has murdered his -grandmother. I can’t pretend to do that, but I can give that man a -tablet which will make it practically certain that he _will_ kill his -grandmother if they are left alone together for ten minutes.” - -“But, I say!” protested Captain Grey. - -“I can assure you that I have never made the experiment,” said Dr. -Quelton, with a laugh; “but I could do it. I have learned that certain -states of mind can be produced by certain drugs.” - -Captain Grey turned his head, so that Lexy could see his handsome, -sensitive face in profile. - -“That seems to me a pretty risky thing to do,” he said, with a trace -of sternness. “I hope, sir, that you don’t—” - -“Don’t give Muriel drugs that make her disposed to murder her -grandmother?” interrupted the doctor, with another laugh; but he must -have noticed that his companion was unresponsive, for he at once -changed his tone. “No,” he said gravely. “I have made a particular -study of Muriel’s case. She seriously overtaxed herself in her musical -studies. Don’t be alarmed, my dear fellow—there is no permanent -injury. It is simply a profound mental and nervous lassitude—obviously -a case where artificial stimulation is required, until the tone of the -lethargic brain is restored. I am able to do for her what, I feel -certain, no one else now living could do. In this bottle”—he tapped -one of them with his forefinger—“I have a preparation which would make -my fortune, if I had the least ambition in that direction. Five drops -of that, in a glass of water, and her depression and apathy are -immediately dispelled. There is an instantaneous improvement in—” - -Lexy waited to hear no more. She slipped down the stairs as quietly as -she had come up, hurried along the hall, and went into her own room -again. Her knees gave way and she collapsed into a chair, staring -ahead of her with the most singular expression on her face. - -She was, in fact, looking at a new idea, and it was not a welcome one. - -“No!” she said to herself. “It’s out of the question. It’s too -dangerous. I can’t do it!” - -But the idea remained solidly before her; and the more she -contemplated it, the more was her honest heart obliged to admit the -possibilities in it. - -“It can’t do any real harm,” she said; “and it might do good—so much -good! All right, I’m going to do it!” - -Half an hour before dinner she went down into the library, a polite -and quiet young guest, even a little subdued. Dr. Quelton took Captain -Grey out for a stroll on the beach. He asked Lexy to go with them, but -she said she would prefer to stay with Mrs. Quelton. - -It was very peaceful and pleasant there in the library. The late -afternoon sun shone in through the long window, touching with a benign -light the shabby and graceful old furniture, picking out a glitter of -gold on the binding of a book, a dull gleam of silver or copper in a -corner. A mild breeze blew in, fluttering the curtains and bringing a -wholesome breath of the salt air. - -Mrs. Quelton was at her best. To be sure, she was not very -interesting. She talked about rather banal things—about the weather, -about a kitten that had run away, about the flowers in the -conservatory; but Lexy, as she watched her and listened to her, could -understand better than ever before what it was in Captain Grey’s -sister that had so seized upon his heart. Languid and aloof as she -was, there was nevertheless an undeniable charm about her, something -sweet and kindly and lovable. She said, more than once, how very glad -she was to have Lexy with her, and Lexy believed she meant it. - -The two men had strolled out of sight. - -“I must have left my handkerchief upstairs,” said Lexy. “Excuse me -just a minute, please!” - -But she was gone more than a minute, and when she returned her face -was curiously white. - - - XVIII - -The clock struck eleven. Lexy glanced up from her book, in the vain -hope that somebody would speak, would stir, would make some move to -end this intolerable evening; but nobody did. - -Dr. Quelton and Captain Grey were playing chess. They sat facing each -other at a small table, in a haze of tobacco smoke, silent and intent, -as if they had been gods deciding human destinies. Mrs. Quelton lay on -her _chaise longue_, doing nothing at all. If Lexy spoke to her, she -answered in a low tone, but cheerfully enough; but she so obviously -preferred not to talk that Lexy had taken up a book and vainly -attempted to read. - -It was the most wearisome and depressing evening she had ever spent. -Her lively and restless spirit had often enough found it dull at the -Enderbys’, and at other times and places; but this was different, and -infinitely worse. - -To begin with, a sense of guilt lay like lead upon her heart. She -hoped and believed that what she had done was right, but she was -afraid, terribly afraid, of what might result. She could not keep her -eyes off Mrs. Quelton’s face. She watched the doctor’s wife with a -dread and anxiety which she felt was ill concealed; and she had a -chill suspicion that the doctor was watching her, in turn. - -“Of course, he’s bound to find out some time,” she said to herself. “I -wasn’t such a fool as to expect more than a day or two, at the very -most; but I did hope there’d be time just to see—” - -Again she glanced at Mrs. Quelton. Was it imagination, or was there -already a faint and indefinable change? - -“No, that’s nonsense,” she thought. “There couldn’t be, so -soon—although I don’t know how often he gives her that priceless -tonic.” - -Suddenly she wanted to laugh. She had a very vivid memory of Dr. -Quelton tapping that bottle with his finger, and saying to Captain -Grey that he had a preparation in there which would make his fortune, -if he chose. - -“It wouldn’t now,” she thought, struggling with suppressed laughter. - -There was nothing in that bottle now but water. Just before dinner she -had run up to the cupola, emptied its contents into the sink, and -filled it from the tap. - -The idea had come to her when she overheard the two men talking. It -had seemed to her then a plain and obvious duty to destroy the drug -that so horribly affected Mrs. Quelton. Fate had allowed her to see -which bottle it was. Fate gave her an undisturbed half hour when the -doctor and Captain Grey were out; and, to make her plan quite perfect, -the liquid in the bottle was colorless and almost without odor. - -She had thought it possible that the doctor would not notice the -substitution until his unhappy wife had had at least a chance to -return to a normal condition. Lexy had meant to wait and to watch, -and, when the moment came, to speak to Mrs. Quelton. She had thought -that she could warn the doctor’s wife, and implore her not to submit -to that hideous domination. - -She had scarcely thought of the risk to herself, and it had not -occurred to her that there might be serious risk to Mrs. Quelton. She -knew almost nothing about drugs and their effects. Her one idea had -been to destroy the thing that was destroying Mrs. Quelton. Only now, -when it was done, did she realize the mad audacity of her act. A man -like Dr. Quelton couldn’t be tricked by such a childish device. He -would know what had happened, and who had done it. Very likely he had -plenty more of the drug somewhere else. If he hadn’t— - -“He’d feel like killing me,” thought Lexy. “I suppose he could, easily -enough. He must know all sorts of nice, quiet little ways for getting -rid of obnoxious people. Perhaps there was something in my dinner -to-night!” - -She dared not think of such a possibility. - -“No!” she said to herself. “He asked me here just to show me how -little I mattered. He knew I’d seen Caroline here, and he asked me to -come, because he was so sure I couldn’t do anything. I’m too -insignificant for him to bother with. He knows that nobody would -believe what I said. He’d only have to say that I was hysterical, and -Captain Grey and Mrs. Royce would be obliged to bear him out. He won’t -trouble himself about me!” - -She stole a glance at him, and, to her profound uneasiness, she found -him staring intently at her. A shiver ran down her spine, and she -turned back to her book with a very pale face. If only it had been an -interesting book, so that she might have forgotten herself for a -little while! - -The clock struck half past eleven. - -“After all, I don’t see why I have to sit here,” she thought. “I -shouldn’t exactly break up the party if I went to bed.” - -And she was just about to close her book when Mrs. Quelton spoke. - -“I’m so tired!” she said in a high, wailing voice. “I’m so tired—so -tired—so tired!” - -Dr. Quelton hastily rose and came over to her chair. - -“Then you must go to bed,” he said. “Come!” - -He helped her to rise, and she stood, supported by his arm, her face -drawn and ghastly. - -“I’m so tired!” she moaned. - -Captain Grey came toward her, making a very poor attempt to smile. - -“Good night, Muriel!” he said, holding out his hand. - -She did not answer, or even look at him. Leaning on the doctor’s arm, -she went out of the room, into the hall, and up the stairs. Her -wailing voice floated back to them: “I’m so tired—so tired!” - -For a moment Captain Grey and Lexy were silent. Then— - -“Good God!” he cried suddenly. “I can’t stand this! I—” - -Lexy came nearer to him. - -“Don’t stand it!” she whispered. “Take her away! Can’t you _see_? Take -her away!” - -“How can I? Her husband—she doesn’t want to go.” - -“Make her! Oh, can’t you see? He’s giving her some horrible drug!” - -“You mustn’t be alarmed,” said Dr. Quelton’s voice from the hall. They -both looked at him with a guilty start, but his blank eyes were -staring past them, at nothing. “It is unfortunate,” he said. “The -little excitement of this visit—” - -He walked past them into the room and over to the table, where his -pipe lay among the chessmen. He lit it deliberately and stood smoking -it, with one arm resting on the mantelpiece. - -“In her present highly nervous condition,” he went on, “the little -excitement of this visit has proved too much for her. I shall drive -over to the hospital and fetch a nurse—” - -“A nurse!” cried the young man. “Then she’s—” - -“There is absolutely no occasion for alarm, as I told you before. A -few days’ rest and quiet—” - -“Look here, sir!” said Captain Grey. “It seems to me—I’ve no wish to -be offensive, or anything of that sort, but it seems right to me”—he -paused for a moment—“to get a second opinion.” - -“I shouldn’t advise it,” replied the doctor blandly. - -“Possibly not, sir; but perhaps you would be willing to oblige me to -that extent. I don’t want to insist—” - -“I wouldn’t, if I were you.” - -There was a faint flush on the young man’s dark face. - -“Nevertheless—” he began, but again the doctor interrupted him. - -“My dear young man,” he said, “you oblige me to be frank. I should -have preferred a discreet silence; but as you are obviously determined -to make the matter as difficult as possible, you must hear the truth. -For some years your sister has been addicted to the use of certain -drugs. When I discovered this, I set about trying to cure the -addiction. You probably have no idea what that means. I venture to say -that there is nothing—absolutely nothing—more difficult in the entire -field of medicine. I have been working on the case for more than a -year, and I have made distinct progress; but it will be some time -before the cure is completed, and I can assure you that it never will -be unless I am left undisturbed. There is no other man now living who -can do what I am doing.” - -He spoke gravely and coldly, and his blank eyes were fixed upon -Captain Grey with a sort of sternness; but Lexy had a curious -impression—more than an impression, a certainty—that within himself -Dr. Quelton was laughing. - -“If you care to take another doctor into your confidence,” he went on, -“I can scarcely refuse permission; but you will regret it.” - -The young man said nothing. He turned away and stood by the open -window, looking out into the dark garden. Lexy waited for a moment. -Then, with a subdued “Good night,” she went out of the room, up the -stairs, and into her own room. - -“It’s a lie!” she said to herself. - - - XIX - -“Then you’re not going to do anything?” asked Lexy. - -“My dear Miss Moran, what in the world can I do?” returned Captain -Grey, with a sort of despair. - -They were sitting together on the veranda in the warm morning -sunshine. They had had breakfast in the dining room, with the -doctor—an excellent breakfast. The doctor had been at his -best—courteous, affable, very attentive to his guests. Everything in -his manner tended to reassure the young soldier. - -Everything in the world seemed to tend in that direction, Lexy -thought. A Sunday tranquillity lay over the country. Church bells were -ringing somewhere in the far distance. The windows of the library -stood open, and the parlor maid was visible in there, flitting about -with broom and duster. Everything was peaceful and ordinary, and -Captain Grey had come out on the veranda and attempted to begin a -peaceful and ordinary conversation. - -But Lexy had no intention of allowing him to enjoy such a thing. She -felt pretty sure that her time in this house would not be long. She -had caused Dr. Quelton an anxiety that he could not conceal. She had -got in his way. She could not tell whether he had discovered her trick -yet, but the effects were manifest; and if he didn’t know now, he -would very soon, and then— - -Captain Grey must carry on when she was gone. - -“You’re properly satisfied—with everything?” she went on mercilessly. -“You’re not allowed even to see your sister. No one can see her. -You’re not allowed to call in another doctor.” - -“Even if I’m not properly satisfied,” he answered, “what can I do? In -her husband’s house, you know—I can’t make a row.” - -“Why can’t you?” - -He looked at her, startled and uneasy. Her question was ridiculous. -Why couldn’t he make a row? Simply because he couldn’t; because he -wasn’t that sort; because it wasn’t done; because almost anything was -preferable to making a row. - -“Of course, if you have a blind faith in Dr. Quelton—” she persisted. - -“Well, I haven’t,” he admitted; “but—” - -“Then let’s go upstairs and see her. The doctor has gone out.” - -“But the nurse—” - -“Put on your best commanding officer’s air,” said Lexy. “You can be -awfully impressive when you like. If I were you, there’s nothing I’d -stop at.” - -“Yes, but look here—what can I say to Quelton when he hears about it?” - -“Laugh it off,” said Lexy. - -The idea of Captain Grey trying to laugh off anything made her grin -from ear to ear. - -“Not much of a joke, though, is it?” he said rather stiffly. “Suppose -he hoofs us out of the house?” - -“Oh, dear!” cried Lexy. “You’re not a bit resourceful! Let’s try it, -anyhow. It’s horrible to think of her shut up like that. Perhaps she’s -longing to see you.” - -He rose. - -“Right-o!” he said. “Let’s try it!” - -Together they went up the stairs and down the hall of the other wing, -opposite that in which Lexy’s room was. Captain Grey knocked on a -door, and a quiet, middle-aged little nurse came out. - -“I’ll just pop in to see how my sister’s getting on,” said the young -man, and Lexy silently applauded his toploftical manner. - -“I’m sorry,” said the little nurse, “but Dr. Quelton has given strict -orders—” - -“Er—yes, quite so!” he interrupted suavely. “I shan’t stop a minute.” - -He came nearer, but the nurse drew back and stood with her back -against the door. - -“Dr. Quelton has given strict orders—” she repeated. - -“No more of that, please!” he said with a frown. “I’m going to see -Mrs. Quelton for a moment. Stand aside, please!” - -He did not raise his voice, but the quality of it was oddly changed. -Lexy felt a thrill of pleasure in its cool assurance and authority. -Perhaps he objected very much to “making a row,” but what a glorious -row he could make if he chose! If he would only once face Dr. Quelton -like this! - -“Stand aside, if you please!” he repeated, and the poor little nurse, -very much flustered, did so. - -“I’m afraid Dr. Quelton will be—” she began, but Captain Grey had -already entered the room. - -The nurse followed him, closing the door after her. Lexy opened it at -once and went in after them. She caught a glimpse of the young man and -the nurse vanishing through one of the long windows that led out to -the balcony. For a moment she hesitated, looking about her at the big, -dim room. The dark shades were pulled down, and not a trace of the -spring’s brightness entered here. - -Then she heard Captain Grey’s voice speaking. - -“My dear, my dear!” he said. “Can I do anything in the world for you? -My dear!” - -There was no answer. Lexy crossed the room to the window and looked -out. The balcony, too, was dim, with Venetian blinds drawn down on -every side, and on a narrow cot lay Muriel Quelton. There was a -bandage over her forehead and covering her hair, and under it her face -had a mystic and terrible beauty. She was as white as a ghost, with -great dark circles beneath her eyes; and she was so still—so utterly -still—that Lexy was stricken with terror. - -Captain Grey was sitting beside her in a low chair, holding one of her -lifeless hands, and Lexy saw on his face such anguish as she had never -looked upon before. - -“My dear!” he said again. - -Her weary eyes opened and looked up at him. Then the shadow of a smile -crossed her face. - -“Stay!” she whispered. - -Lexy drew nearer. Tears were running down her cheeks. She tried to -read the nurse’s face, but she could not. - -“How is—she—getting on?” she asked, speaking very low. - -“Lexy!” came a voice from the cot, almost inaudible. “Take it—the top -drawer—of the bureau—for you.” - -“But do you mean—I don’t understand!” cried Lexy. - -“Hush, please!” said the nurse severely. “Mrs. Quelton is not to be -excited.” - -Lexy was silent for a moment. Then, just as she was about to speak, -her quick ear caught a very unwelcome sound—the sound of a horse’s -trot. She turned away and went back through the window into the room. -Dr. Quelton was coming home. She couldn’t wait to find out what Muriel -Quelton had meant. Once more she was compelled to do the best she -could amid a fog of misunderstanding. - -“Lexy—take it—the top drawer—of the bureau—for you.” - -That was what she thought Mrs. Quelton had said, and she acted upon -that premise. She crossed the room to the bureau, and opened the top -drawer. In the dim light that filled the shuttered room she could not -see very clearly; but, as far as she could ascertain, there was -nothing in the drawer except some neatly folded silk stockings, a -satin glove case, some little odds and ends of ribbons, and a pile of -handkerchiefs. She looked into the glove case—nothing there but -gloves. There was nothing hidden away among the stockings, nothing -among the ribbons. - -She heard the front door close and a step begin to mount the stairs, -deliberate and heavy, in the quiet house. In haste she went at the -pile of handkerchiefs. There were dozens of them, all of fine white -linen, all with a “2” embroidered in one corner—very uninteresting -handkerchiefs, Lexy thought; but halfway through the pile she came -upon one that she had seen before. - -It was so familiar to her that at first she was not startled or even -surprised. It was a handkerchief that she had embroidered for Caroline -Enderby. - -She took it up and looked at it with a frown. Then she heard Dr. -Quelton’s step in the hall outside. She tucked the handkerchief in her -belt, and tried to close the drawer, but it stuck. Her heart was -beating wildly, her knees felt weak. He would find her there, like a -thief! - -But the footsteps went on past the door. She waited for a moment, and -then went noiselessly across to the door, opened it, looked up and -down the empty corridor, and ran, like a hare, back to her own room. - -Caroline’s handkerchief! Was that what Mrs. Quelton had meant her to -find? Or had she discovered it by accident? Did it mean that Mrs. -Quelton was at heart her ally? Or was this little square of linen all -that was left of Caroline? - -Lexy took it out of her belt and looked at it again, and her tears -fell on it. Whatever else it might imply, it told her clearly enough -that her friend _had been there_. Poor Caroline—the helpless little -captive who had left her prison to be lost in the strange world -outside—had come here, and she had brought with her the handkerchief -that Lexy had embroidered for her. It had come now into Lexy’s hand, a -mute and pitiful emissary, whose message she could not understand. - -“What shall I do?” she thought. “Oh, what must I do? Perhaps it’s time -for the police. Perhaps, if I show this to Captain Grey, he’ll believe -me. There must be some one, somewhere, who’ll believe me and help me!” - -There was a knock at the door. - -“Yes?” she said. - -“Open the door!” ordered Dr. Quelton’s voice. - -“No!” Lexy promptly replied. - -She put the handkerchief inside her blouse and stood facing the closed -door, with her hands clenched. Now he knew! She heard him laugh -quietly. - -“Perhaps you’re right,” he said. “It is better, perhaps, for us not to -meet again. Even making every allowance for your hysterical, -unbalanced mind, I find it difficult to excuse this latest -manifestation which I have just this moment discovered. It was you, of -course, who filled that bottle with water?” - -She did not answer. - -“Why you did it, I don’t know,” he went on, “and probably you don’t -know yourself. It was the wanton mischief of an irresponsible child, -but the consequences in this instance are serious—very serious. Mrs. -Quelton will suffer for them. I doubt if she will recover. No, Miss -Moran, you are too troublesome a guest. You had better go—at once!” - -“All right!” said Lexy, in a defiant but trembling voice. - -“At once!” he repeated. “I shall send your bag this afternoon.” - - - XX - -“I don’t care!” said Lexy to herself. “I’ll come back!” - -She did not wish to have her bag sent after her. She packed it in -great haste, put on her hat and coat, and, opening the door of her -room, stepped out cautiously and looked up and down the corridor. -There was no one in sight, so she picked up her bag and set forth. - -She was running away—worse than that, she was being driven away; but -just at the moment she could see no other course open to her. She -could not appeal to Captain Grey while he was in such distracting -anxiety about his sister. It would be cruel, and it would be useless. -What could he do? If Dr. Quelton did not want her in his house, -certainly his brother-in-law could not insist upon her staying. - -“No!” she reflected. “He would only think it was his duty as a -gentleman to leave with me, and he would be miserable, not knowing -what became of his sister. I’ve got to go, that’s all; but, by jiminy, -I’ll come back! And then we’ll see how much more wanton mischief this -irresponsible child can manage!” - -There was in her heart a steady flame of anger. Hatred was not natural -to her, but her feeling for Dr. Quelton came dangerously near to it. -For Caroline’s disappearance, for Mrs. Quelton’s pitiful state, for -her own humiliation and suffering, she held him responsible; and she -meant to settle that score. - -She met no one on her way through the house. She went down the stairs, -opened the door, and stepped out into the dazzling sunshine. It was a -warm day, her bag was very heavy, and the three-mile walk to Mrs. -Royce’s was not inviting. It had to be done, however, and off she -started. - -The lane was thick with dust, and it was hard walking with that heavy -bag, but she went on at a smart pace as long as she thought any one -could possibly see her from the cupola. Then she set down the bag and -rested for a moment. - -“There’s a certain way to carry things without strain,” she thought. -“I read about it in a magazine. You use the muscles of your back, or -your shoulders, or something.” - -But she couldn’t remember how this was to be done; so, picking up the -bag in her usual way, went on again. Obviously her way was a very -wrong way, for by the time she had reached the end of the lane her -fingers were cramped and painful, and her arms ached; and there was -the highway, stretching endlessly before her under the hot noonday -sun—two miles of it or more. There was no reasonable chance of a taxi, -and she knew no one in the neighborhood who might come driving by. -There was nothing in sight but a man walking along the road toward -her, and that didn’t interest her. - -She went on as far as she could, and then stopped under a tree, to rub -her stiffening arms. - -“I wonder,” she thought, “if I could hide this darned old bag -somewhere, and send Joe for it later!” - -But her nicest clothes were in it, and the risk was too great. With a -resentful sigh she lifted it and stepped out again. The man coming -along the road was quite close to her now. She stopped short, and so -did he. - -“Lexy!” he shouted, and came toward her on a run, with a wide grin on -his sunburned face. - -She dropped the bag with a thump, and stood waiting for him. He held -out both hands, and she took them. - -“Oh, golly!” she cried. “I’m so glad you’ve come, Mr. Houseman!” - -“So am I!” he said. “Ever since I got that last letter from you—” - -“Last! I only wrote one.” - -“Well, I got two,” he told her. “The second one came yesterday, about -this doctor, and the roses, you know.” - -“Mrs. Royce must have posted it!” said Lexy. “I wrote it, but I didn’t -mean it to be sent to you unless something happened to me.” - -“Enough has happened to you already!” - -“More things are going to happen,” said she. “Lots more!” - -It suddenly occurred to her that the proper moment had come for -withdrawing her hands from Mr. Houseman’s firm grasp. Indeed, she -thought the proper moment might already have passed, and a warm color -came into her cheeks. - -The young man flushed a little himself. - -“I didn’t mean to call you that,” he said; “but Caroline used to write -a lot about you, and she always called you ‘Lexy,’ so I got into the -way of thinking of you—like that.” - -“I don’t mind,” Lexy conceded. - -There was a moment’s silence. - -“Charles is my name,” he observed. - -Another silence. - -“Queer, isn’t it?” he said seriously. - -“Here we’ve only seen each other once, and yet somehow it seems to me -as if I’d known you for years!” - -“Well, the circumstances are rather unusual,” said Lexy. - -“You’re right! But look here—we’ve got to talk about all this. Where -were you going?” - -“Back to Mrs. Royce’s.” - -“Let’s go!” he said cheerfully, and picked up the bag as if it were -nothing at all. - -“But where were _you_ going?” asked Lexy. - -“To find you. You see, we ran into some awfully bad weather, and the -engines broke down, and we came back for repairs; so I got your -letters. I explained to the old man that I’d have to have leave, for -some very important business, and off I came to Wyngate. Your Mrs. -Royce told me you’d gone out to the Queltons’. I didn’t like that. Why -did you go there, after what had happened?” - -“I’ll tell you all about that later,” said Lexy; “but now you’ve got -to tell me things. How did you ever meet Caroline? How in the world -did she manage to write to you?” - -“Well, you see, I met her about a year ago, on board the Ormond. She -and her parents were coming back from France, and I was third officer, -you know. Her mother and father were seasick most of the time, so we -had a chance to—to talk to each other; and, you see—” - -“Yes, I see!” said Lexy gently. - -“One of the servants—a girl called Annie—used to post Caroline’s -letters for her, and I used to write to her in care of Annie’s mother. -We never had a chance to meet again, after that trip. I wanted to come -to the house and see her people, but she said it wasn’t any use; and -from what I saw of them on the Ormond I dare say she was right. I -wouldn’t have suited them. I haven’t any money, you know—nothing but -my pay; but it was enough for us to live on. Other fellows manage!” - -He was silent for a moment. - -“After all,” he said, “I’m not a beggar. I can hold my own pretty well -in the world, and I could look after a wife.” - -“I know it!” cried Lexy, with vehemence. She felt curiously touched by -his words, and quite indignant against the Enderbys and any one else -who did not appreciate him. - -“I asked Caroline to marry me,” he went on. “I told her I couldn’t -give her much, but we could have had a jolly sort of life. Look here! -Are you crying?” - -“A little bit,” Lexy admitted; “but don’t pay any attention to it. Go -on!” - -“That’s about all there is. She said she would meet me here in -Wyngate, because that’s the nearest station of the main line to some -little place where a nurse or a governess of hers lived.” - -“Miss Craigie!” - -“Never heard the name. Anyhow, she wanted to go there after we got -married, and—I wish you wouldn’t look like that!” - -“But I’m so _awfully_ sorry for you!” - -“It was pretty hard, at first,” he said; “but—well, you see, I’ve -thought a bit about it, and after all I’m glad we didn’t get married.” - -“Oh!” cried Lexy, profoundly shocked. “But that’s—” - -“Because I—you see, she didn’t—well, I don’t think she really liked me -very much.” - -Lexy was astounded. - -“Fact!” said he. “What she wanted was romance, and all that sort of -thing. She wanted to get away from home, and I was the only chance she -had; so there you are!” - -“That wasn’t very fair to you!” - -“I don’t blame her,” he said thoughtfully. “We were both—but what’s -the sense of talking about all that? The thing is to find her!” - -Lexy agreed to that promptly. - -“Now I’ll tell you everything that’s happened,” she said. - -He listened to her with alert attention. He interrupted her often to -ask questions, but they were always questions that she could answer. -He wanted all the facts, and what Lexy told him he unquestioningly -accepted as fact. When she said she had seen Caroline at the doctor’s -house, he believed her. He didn’t suggest that her eyes might have -deceived her. He trusted her—not only her good intentions, but her -good sense. - -At last she came to the part of her story about which she was most -doubtful—the episode of the emptied bottle. She told it with -reluctance. - -“I don’t know now,” she said. “Perhaps I did wrong. Perhaps that -really was wanton mischief. I did so hate that horrible drug that -changed her so! When I did it, it seemed right; but now—” - -“It was right,” said he. “Any one’s better off dead than being -drugged. Everything you’ve done was right and splendid. You’re the -pluckiest girl I ever heard of—the best and most loyal little pal to -poor Caroline! There’s no one like you!” - -After Mrs. Enderby’s cold and skeptical smile, after Dr. Quelton’s -parting sneer, after Captain Grey’s doubts and uncertainties, this -speech rather went to Lexy’s head. The world seemed a different place. -She glanced at the young man, and he happened at that moment to be -looking at her. They both looked away hastily. - -“This fellow—this Captain Grey,” said Charles. “He seems to me to be -rather a chump!” - -“Oh, he’s not!” protested Lexy. “He’s as nice as can be!” - -Charles Houseman, who had believed everything that Lexy had said, did -not appear convinced of this; and for some inexplicable reason Lexy -was not greatly displeased by his lack of belief. - - - XXI - -Mrs. Royce was very much pleased to see her pet, Miss Moran, return. -She was well disposed toward Mr. Houseman, too, and willingly agreed -to put him up for a few days. She set to work at once to cook a good -lunch for them, but she did not hum under her breath, as was her usual -habit. In fact, she was greatly perplexed and worried. - -When her guests were seated at the table, she retired, leaving them -alone; but she did not go very far. She remained close to the door, so -that she could look through the crack. She observed that Miss Moran -seemed very lively and cheerful with this newcomer—though she had been -quite as lively and cheerful with Captain Grey. - -“Well, I don’t know, I’m sure!” said Mrs. Royce to herself, with a -sigh. “It beats _me_!” - -For the question which so troubled her was—which young man was _the_ -young man? - -“Both of ’em as nice, polite young fellers as you’d want to see,” she -repeated. “T’ other one’s handsomer, but he’s kind of foreign-like and -gloomy. This one’s got more gumption. The way he walked in here, smart -as a whip, and asked for Miss Moran, an’ when I says she’s gone to -visit the Queltons, why, off he went, after her! I like a man with -gumption!” - -So did Miss Moran. Charles Houseman seemed to her the only living, -vigorous creature in a world of ghosts, the only one whom she could -really understand. There were no shadowy corners about him. He was -altogether honest, direct, and uncomplicated. He had no tact and no -caution. He had come now, in the midst of this wretched tangle, and -she completely believed that he would cut the Gordian knot. - -He had suggested that they should let the subject drop for a time. - -“I think I’ve got the facts straight,” he said; “and now I want to -think them over a bit. Let’s take a walk, and talk about something -else.” - -Lexy agreed to the entire program. If she was tired, she either didn’t -know it, or she forgot it in the joy of this beautifully careless -companionship. She could say exactly what came into her head to -Charles Houseman. He understood her. He was interested in every word -she spoke, and, what is more, she was aware of the profound admiration -that underlay his interest. He thought she was wonderful, and that -made her strangely happy. - -“Do you know,” he said, “the first time I saw you, there in the park, -I—I liked the way you talked to me!” - -“How?” asked Lexy, with great interest. “I thought I must have seemed -awfully irritating and mysterious.” - -He grinned. - -“You were awfully mad when I spoke to you,” he said; “but I liked -that. I don’t know—somehow you made me think of Joan of Arc.” - -“Me?” cried Lexy. “With freckles, and such a temper? You couldn’t -imagine me listening to angels, could you?” - -“Yes,” he said, “I could.” - -She glanced at him to see if he was laughing, but he was not. His eyes -met hers with a quiet and steady look. - -“I didn’t need to imagine much,” he said. “You’ve told me what you’ve -been through, and I can see for myself what you are. I don’t think -there ever was another girl like you!” - -“Nonsense!” said Lexy, looking away. “I’m just pig-headed—that’s all.” - -They had wandered across the fields until they came to a little river, -running clear and swift under the elm trees. By tacit consent they sat -down on the bank. They didn’t talk much. Houseman skipped stones with -skill and earnest attention, and Lexy watched the minnows flitting -past through the limpid water. The sky was an unclouded blue. The -sunlight came through the branches, where the leaves were scarcely -unfolded, and made little golden sparkles on the hurrying current. It -was all so quiet—and yet it wasn’t peaceful. The world seemed too -young, too warmly and joyously alive, for peace. The spring was -waiting in eagerness for the summer. This still, fresh, sunlit day was -only an interlude. - -Casually, Houseman told her a good deal about himself. - -“From Baltimore,” he said. “My people wanted me to go into the navy. -My father and grandfather were both navy, but I couldn’t see it. Too -cut and dried! I’m on a cargo steamer now, and I like it.” - -And this information—with the additional facts that he was twenty-six, -that he had two brothers in the navy and three married sisters, and -that both of his parents were living—was all that he had to give about -himself. Lexy was satisfied. There he was, and anyone with eyes to see -and ears to listen could understand him. Honest, blunt, and careless, -fearing nothing, shirking nothing, and facing life with cheerful -unconcern, he was, she thought, a comrade and an ally without an -equal. - -The sun was setting when they turned homeward. The sky was swimming in -soft, pale colors, and a little breeze blew, stirring the new leaves. -It was a poetic and even a melancholy hour; but Houseman found nothing -better to say than that he was hungry. - -“So am I!” said Lexy. - -They looked at each other as if they had discovered still another bond -between them. They were happy—so happy! - -Mrs. Royce saw them from the kitchen window. They were strolling along -leisurely, side by side. They were quite composed and matter-of-fact, -and their desultory conversation was upon the subject of shellfish. -The young Baltimorean was an authority on oysters, but Lexy, as a New -Englander, had something to say on the subject of clam chowder. - -Mrs. Royce was suddenly enlightened. - -“He’s the one!” she said to herself. “Well, I’m real glad, I’m sure!” - -So glad was she that she at once began to make a superb chocolate -cake, and she hummed a song about a young man on Springfield Mountain, -who killed a “pesky sarpent.” - -George Grey heard her. He was in the sitting room, smoking, and -apparently reading a book; but he never turned a page. He lit one -cigarette after another, and his hand was steady. He looked as he -always looked—fastidiously neat, self-possessed, and a little haughty; -but in spirit he was suffering horribly. - -Lexy knew that as soon as she saw him, because she knew him and liked -him so well. She held out her hand to him, not even pretending to -smile, but searching his face with an anxious and friendly glance. - -“Here’s Mr. Houseman, Caroline Enderby’s _fiancé_,” she said. “I’ve -told him the whole thing, so if there’s anything new—” - -Captain Grey stiffened perceptibly. He couldn’t see what possible -connection anybody’s _fiancé_ could have with his affairs. He shook -hands with Houseman, but not very nicely; and Houseman was not -excessively cordial. - -Lexy took no notice of this nonsense. Her mood of happy confidence had -passed now, and the dark and mysterious shadow had come back. There -was something of greater importance to think about than her personal -affairs. - -“Captain Grey,” she said, with a sort of directness, “I didn’t tell -you before, but I’m going to tell you now. I saw Caroline in that -house, and this morning I found—this.” - -He looked at the handkerchief, and then at Lexy. - -“But—” he began. - -“It means that she’s been there, or that she’s there now,” Lexy went -on. “It’s time we found out. Of course, I know how you feel about Dr. -Quelton. He’s your sister’s husband, and you didn’t want—” - -“It doesn’t make much difference now,” he said. “If you’ll wait a day -or so, she—” - -He turned away abruptly, and took out his cigarette case. - -“What do you mean?” cried Lexy. - -“It won’t be long,” he said quietly. “She—my sister—he says it won’t -be more than twenty-four hours, at the most.” - -“Oh, no! It can’t be! Captain Grey, don’t believe him!” - -“I tried not to,” he said. “I—well, we had a bit of a row, and I made -him let me bring in another doctor from the village here. He said the -same thing.” - -“What did the doctor say it was?” asked Houseman. - -“Pernicious anæmia. There’s nothing to be done.” - -Captain Grey seemed to find some difficulty in lighting his cigarette; -but when he had done so, and had drawn in a deep breath, he turned -back toward Lexy with a smile that startled her. She had never -imagined he could look like that. It was a wolfish kind of smile, -lighting his dark face with a sort of savage mirth. - -“When it’s over,” he said, “I’ll be very pleased to help you to hang -him, if you can; or I’ll wring his neck myself.” - -The other two stared at him in silence for a moment. - -“You think he’s—” Houseman began. - -“I don’t know whether he has actually murdered her or not,” said -Captain Grey, “but he has destroyed her—utterly wasted and ruined her -life. He taught her to take that damned drug; and when Miss Moran -broke the bottle—” - -“Oh! Did he tell you?” - -“He did. He says you’ve killed her. There was some rare drug in it -that he can’t get for a fortnight or so, and she can’t live without -it.” - -“Captain Grey!” she cried, white to the lips. “I didn’t—” - -“I know,” he said gently. “You meant to help, and I’m glad you did it. -She’s better dead. This afternoon, for a little while, she -was—herself. She talked to me. She was very weak, but she was herself. -She asked me to help her not to take it again. She thought she was -getting better. Then that”—he paused—“that damned brute brought in a -lawyer, so that she could make her will. She couldn’t believe it. She -looked up at me. ‘Oh, I’m not going to _die_, am I?’ she said. Before -I could answer her, he told her she must be prepared. Then I—” - -Again he turned away. - -“And you let him alone?” inquired Houseman. - -“It’s not time to settle with him—yet,” said the other. “That’s why I -came away, because I don’t want to kill him—yet. She’s unconscious -now. She will be, until it’s finished. I’m going back later, but I -wanted to come, here—” He ceased speaking. “To you,” his eyes said to -Lexy. - -She forgot everything else, then, except this tormented and suffering -human being who had turned to her for comfort. She pushed him gently -down into a chair, and seated herself on the arm of it. She took both -his hands and patted them, while she racked her brain for the right -thing to say. - -“We’ll do _something_!” she said. “There’s no reason to be in despair. -That young country doctor was probably entirely under the influence of -Dr. Quelton. We’ll get some one else. We’ll telephone to one of the -big hospitals in New York and find out who’s the very best man, and -we’ll get him out here. Mr. Houseman will ring up—” - -But Mr. Houseman had disappeared. Worse still, Mrs. Royce’s telephone -was out of order. - -“Never mind!” said Lexy. “We’ll have a nice hot cup of tea, and then -we’ll go to the grocery store. There’s a telephone there.” - -She made the captain drink his tea and eat a little. Then she ran -upstairs for her hat; and she was very angry at Charles Houseman for -running away. - - - XXII - -They set off together down the village street. There was no one about -at that hour. All Wyngate was partaking of its Sunday night supper -within doors, and one or two of the little wooden houses showed lights -in the front windows; but for the most part life was concentrated in -the kitchen. - -The drug store was locked, but a dim light was burning inside, and a -vigorous ringing of the night bell brought Mr. Binz, the owner, to -open the door. He was deeply interested in their errand. He suggested -St. Luke’s Hospital, for the reason that he had once been there -himself, and therefore held it almost sacred. - -“But,” he said, in his slow and impressive way, “if I was you, I’d -ring up Doc Quelton first, and find out how things are going up there; -because you may find out—” - -Lexy interrupted him hastily, for she didn’t want him to say what he -evidently wished to say. - -“There won’t be any change in Mrs. Quelton,” she said. “It would only -be a waste of time.” - -It was not so much for that poor woman, who she feared was beyond -hope, that she wanted the New York specialist, as for Captain Grey. It -would help him so much to feel that something was being done, that -some one was hurrying out here! - -“Might be more of a waste of time,” said Mr. Binz, “if some one was to -come all the way out here after she—” - -“Oh, all right!” cried Lexy impatiently. Then suddenly she remembered. -“They haven’t any telephone at the doctor’s house,” she said. - -“Suppose I go out there first, and see?” suggested Captain Grey. - -“No!” said Lexy. “Don’t!” - -But the idea impressed him as a good one, and go he would. - -“I’d rather see how she is, first,” he repeated. “If there’s no -change, I’ll come back.” - -Lexy looked at Mr. Binz with an angry and reproachful frown, which the -poor man did not understand. He had only wanted to give helpful -advice. - -“Come on, then!” she said to Captain Grey. - -“I’ll leave you at Mrs. Royce’s,” he told her. - -“No, you won’t!” she contradicted with a trace of severity. “If you -_will_ go, I’m going with you!” - -He protested against this, but she would not listen, and so they went -to the garage for Joe’s taxi; but Joe and his taxi had gone out. An -interested bystander said that they could get a “rig” from the livery -stable with no trouble at all. They had only to find the proprietor, -and he, in turn, would find the driver, who would harness up the -horse. - -“No, thanks,” said Captain Grey. He turned to Lexy. “I can’t wait,” he -told her. “I’m going to walk. Thank you for—” - -“I can walk, too,” said Lexy. “It’s only three miles.” - -“I don’t want you to, Miss Moran.” - -“I’m coming anyhow,” she replied. - -For that instinct in her, the thing which was beyond reason, drove her -forward. She could not let him go alone. She had walked that three -miles once before to-day, and she had walked farther than that with -Houseman in the afternoon. She was tired, terribly tired, and filled -with a queer, sick reluctance to approach that sinister house again; -but she had to go. She had said to herself that morning that she was -coming back, and now she was going to do so. - -They did not try to talk much on the way. What had they to say? They -were both filled with a dread foreboding. They hurried, yet they -wished never to come to the end of the journey. - -They turned down the lane, leaving the lights of the highway behind, -and went forward in thick darkness, under the shadow of the trees. The -sound of the sea came to them—the loneliest sound in all the world. - -“There’s a light in the house, anyhow!” said Lexy suddenly. - -Her own voice sounded so small, so pert, so futile, in the dark, that -she felt no surprise when Captain Grey showed a faint trace of -impatience in answering. - -“Naturally!” he said. - -Only, to her, it did not seem natural, that one little light shining -out through the glass of the front door. It would be more natural, she -thought, if there were only the darkness and the sound of the sea. - -They turned into the drive. Their footsteps sounded strangely and -terribly loud on the gravel, and became as sharp as pistol shots when -they mounted the veranda. The captain rang the bell, and the sound of -it ran through the house like a shudder; but no one came. He rang -again and again, but nothing stirred inside the house. He knocked on -the glass, and they waited, looking into the bright and empty hall; -but no one came. - -Captain Grey turned the knob, the door opened, and they went in. The -door of the library was open, showing only darkness. The stairs ran up -into darkness. Nothing moved, nothing stirred. Then, suddenly, a -little breeze rose, and the front door slammed with a crash behind -them. Lexy cried out, and caught the young man’s arm. - -“Don’t be afraid!” he said; but his face was ashen. For a moment they -stood where they were. “Miss Moran,” he went on, “would you rather -wait here while I go upstairs?” - -“No,” said Lexy. “I’ll come with you.” - -He started up the stairs, and she followed him closely. At almost -every step she looked behind her, and she did not know which was the -more horrible to her, the brightly lit hall or the darkness before -them. Suppose she saw some one in the hall behind them! - -Captain Grey did not once glance behind. He went on steadily. When he -reached the top of the flight, he took a box of matches from his -pocket and lit the gas. There was the long corridor, with the row of -closed doors. He turned down in the direction of Mrs. Quelton’s room, -but Lexy touched him on the shoulder. - -“I think you had better let me go first,” she suggested. “Perhaps she -won’t be ready to see you.” - -Their eyes met. - -“Thank you, Lexy!” he said simply, and went on again. - -He had never used her name before. He was trying to tell her that he -understood what she had wished to do for him. She had offered to go -first, alone, into the silent room, to see whatever might be there—to -spare him something, if she could. - -But he would not have it so. He stopped outside the door, and knocked -twice. Then he went in. - -It was dark and still in there, with the night wind blowing in through -the open windows. He struck a match and lit the gas. The room was -empty. - -He went across to the long windows and out on the balcony. There was -no gas connection there. He struck one match after another, and went -from one end of the balcony to the other. There was nothing. - -“Not here!” he said, in a dazed, flat voice. - -Lexy could not speak at all. She had come out on the balcony, and -stood beside him. The sound of the sea was loud in her ears—or was it -the beating of her own heart? She held her breath and strained her -eyes in the darkness. - -“There’s—something—here!” she whispered tensely. - -“No!” he said aloud. “I looked. Come! We’ll go through the house.” - -She followed close at his heels. He went into every room, lit the gas, -looked about, and found nothing. Lexy grew confused with the opening -and closing of doors, the sudden flare of light in the darkness, the -succession of empty rooms. - -He went up into the cupola. Nothing there, nor in the servants’ rooms. -Then downstairs, through the long library, the dining room, the -sitting room, the kitchen, the pantry. He proceeded with a sort of -merciless deliberation, opened every door, looked into every cupboard. - -Finding a stable lantern in the kitchen, he lighted it and carried it -with him. The door to the cellar stood open. He went through it, down -the steep wooden stairs, and Lexy followed him. - -To her exhausted and frightened gaze the cellar seemed enormous—as -vast and august as some great ancient tomb. The lantern made a little -pool of light, and outside it the shadows closed in on them thickly. -She came near to him and caught him by the sleeve. - -“Oh, let’s go away!” she cried. “Let’s go away! We’ve looked—” - -“This is the last place,” he said gently. “After this, we’ll give it -up.” - -Fighting down the sick terror that had come over her, she walked -beside him in the little circle of light, and tried not to look at the -shadows. - -“What’s that?” he exclaimed. - -“Oh, what?” she cried. - -He went back a few paces and set down the lantern. Then he advanced -again and bent over, staring at the floor. - -“Do you see?” he asked. - -She did see. A narrow strip of light lay along the floor. - -“It comes up from below,” he said. “There must be a subcellar. Let’s -see!” - -He brought back the lantern and examined the floor by its light, going -down on his hands and knees. - -“Stand back!” he said suddenly. “It’s a trapdoor. See—here’s a ring to -lift it.” - -Captain Grey pulled at the ring, but nothing happened. - -“I’m on the wrong side,” he said. - -Moving over, he pulled again, and a square of stone lifted. A clear -light came from below, showing a short ladder clamped to the floor. - -“Stay there, please,” he told Lexy. “You have the lantern. I shan’t be -a minute.” - -But as soon as he had reached the foot of the ladder, Lexy climbed -down after him; and just at the same moment, they saw— - -They were standing in a tiny room with roughly mortared walls. A -powerful electric torch stood on end in one corner, and at their feet -lay the body of a man, face downward across a wooden chest. It was Dr. -Quelton. - -With a violent effort Captain Grey lifted the doctor’s heavy shoulder, -while Lexy covered her eyes. She knew that he was dead. No living -thing could lie so. - -Her head swam, her knees gave way, and she tottered back against the -wall, half fainting, when the captain’s voice rang out, with a note of -agony and despair that she never forgot. - -“My God! My God!” he wailed. “Oh, Muriel!” - -She opened her eyes. For a moment she was too giddy to see. Then, as -her vision cleared, she saw him on his knees beside the chest. - -Not a chest—it was a coffin; and on it was a strange little plate -glittering like gold, with an inscription: - - MURIEL QUELTON - BELOVED WIFE OF PAUL QUELTON - - - XXIII - -When she looked back upon the experiences of that dreadful night, it -seemed to Lexy that both she and her companion displayed almost -incredible endurance. Since morning they had lived through a very -lifetime of emotion, to end now in this tragedy more horrible than -anything they could have feared. - -Yet, not five minutes after his cry of agony, Captain Grey had -recovered his self-control. He was able to speak quietly to Lexy, and -she was able to answer him no less quietly. - -“We’d better go,” he said. “We can do nothing here. It’s a case for -the police now.” - -“I’ve got to go back to the balcony,” Lexy told him. “There was -something there.” - -“Very well!” he agreed, and, without another word or a backward -glance, he went up the ladder. - -They returned through the house. He had left the lights burning and -the doors open, so that there was a monstrous air of festivity in the -emptiness. They went into Mrs. Quelton’s room again, and crossed -through it to the balcony. He carried the lantern with him, and by its -steady yellow flame they could see into every corner. There was the -couch upon which she had lain—disarranged, as if she had just risen -from it. There was a little table with medicine bottles on it. All the -usual things were in the usual places. - -“Nothing here,” said Captain Grey. - -Lexy was sure, however, that there was. She stepped to the balcony -railing, to look down into the garden below, and there, on the white -paint of the railing, she found something. - -“Look!” she said, in a matter-of-fact voice. “What’s this?” - -He came to her side. - -“It’s the print of a hand,” he said. “In blood, I should imagine.” - -For a moment they stared at the ghastly mark, a strange evidence of -pain and violence in this quiet place. - -“We’d better look in the garden,” he suggested. - -They went down. The grass beneath the balcony was beaten down in one -place, but there was nothing else. Some one had come and gone. They -could not even guess who it had been. They knew nothing. - -“Come, Lexy!” the captain said. - -They both turned for one last look at the accursed house, blazing with -spectral lights. Then they set off, away from it, over that weary road -again. - -“There’s no police station in the village, is there?” he asked. - -“I’ve never seen one, but I’ve heard Mrs. Royce talk about the -constable. Anyhow, she can tell us.” - -“Yes,” he said, and was silent for a moment. “Rather a pity, isn’t -it,” he went on, “that there has to be—all that? Because it doesn’t -matter now. It’s finished. Better if the house burned down to-night!” - -In her heart Lexy agreed with him. She had no curiosity left, and -scarcely any interest. As he had said, it was finished. She wanted to -rest, not to speak, not to think, not to remember; but it couldn’t be -so. They would both have to tell what they had seen, to answer -questions. It wasn’t enough that two people lay dead in that house of -horror. All the world, which knew and cared nothing about them, must -have a full explanation. - -“I suppose we couldn’t wait till morning?” she suggested. - -He took her hand and drew it through his arm. - -“You’re worn out,” he told her. “It’s altogether wrong. There’s no -reason why you should be troubled any more, Lexy. Slip into the house -quietly, and get to bed and to sleep. Nobody need know that you went -there.” - -“No!” she said. “We’ll see it through together.” - -The thought of Charles Houseman came to her, but she disowned it with -a listless sort of resentment. She felt, somehow, that he had failed -her. He had not been there when she needed him. He had not taken his -part in this ghastly and unforgettable sight. - -There was a light in Mrs. Royce’s front parlor. Perhaps he was in -there, waiting for her, cheerful and cool, a thousand miles away from -the nightmare world in which she had been moving. She did not want to -see him or speak to him just now. He hadn’t seen. He wouldn’t -understand. - -Captain Grey opened the gate, and they went up the flagged walk. -Before they had mounted the veranda steps, the front door was flung -wide, and Mrs. Royce appeared. - -“Oh, my goodness!” she cried. “I thought you’d never come!” - -Her tone and her manner were so strange that they both stopped and -stared at her. - -“Oh, my goodness!” she cried again. - -“Oh, _do_ come in! I don’t know what to do with her, I’m sure!” - -“Who?” asked Lexy. - -“Poor Mis’ Quelton. There she is, lyin’ upstairs—” - -“Mrs. _Quelton_?” - -“Joe, he brought her in his taxi, jest a little while after you’d -gone.” - -“Brought Mrs. Quelton here?” - -“Brought her here and carried her up them very stairs,” declared Mrs. -Royce impressively; “right up into the east bedroom, and there she -lies!” - -She stood aside, and Lexy and Captain Grey entered the house. The -young man turned aside into the parlor, sank into a chair, and covered -his face with his hands. Lexy stood beside him, looking down at his -bent head, her face haggard and white. - -“Why did Joe do that?” she asked. - -“Don’t ask _me_, Miss Moran!” replied Mrs. Royce. “It beats me!” - -There was a silence. - -“But ain’t you going upstairs to see what she wants?” inquired Mrs. -Royce anxiously. - -Captain Grey sprang to his feet. - -“Good God!” he shouted. “What are you talking about?” - -Mrs. Royce backed into a corner, regarding him with alarm. - -“I jest thought you’d like to talk to her,” she faltered. - -“Do you mean she’s _not dead_?” - -“Dead? Oh, my goodness gracious me!” cried Mrs. Royce. “I never—” - -“Wait here,” Lexy told the captain. - -“No!” he replied. “I must—” - -But, disregarding him, Lexy turned to Mrs. Royce. - -“Let me see her,” she said. - -Mrs. Royce led the way upstairs. She went at an unusual rate of speed, -so that she was panting when she reached the top. - -“Kind of vi’lent!” she whispered, pointing downstairs, where Captain -Grey was. - -“This room?” asked Lexy. “Shall I go in?” - -“Well,” said Mrs. Royce, “seems to me I’d knock, if I was you.” - -Knock on the door of the room where Mrs. Quelton lay? Knock, and -expect an answer from that voice? It seemed to Lexy, for a moment, -that she could not raise her hand. - -But she did. She knocked, and she was answered. She turned the handle -and went in. An oil lamp stood on the bureau, and outside the circle -of its mellow light, in the shadow, Mrs. Quelton was sitting on the -edge of the bed; and it seemed to Lexy that she had never seen such a -forlorn and pitiful figure. - -“Oh, my dear!” she cried impulsively, and held out her arms. - -Mrs. Quelton rose. She came toward Lexy, her hands outstretched—when a -sudden cry from Mrs. Royce arrested her. - -“But that ain’t Mrs. Quelton!” cried the landlady. - - - XXIV - -If Lexy had not caught the unhappy woman, she would have fallen; but -those sturdy young arms held her, and, with Mrs. Royce’s help, they -got her on the bed. White as a ghost, incredibly frail in her black -dress, she lay there, scarcely seeming to breathe. - -“It _ain’t_ Mrs. Quelton!” repeated Mrs. Royce, in a whisper. - -“I know!” said Lexy softly. “Will you get me water and a towel, -please?” - -Mrs. Royce went out of the room, and Lexy knelt down beside the bed. -She did know now—the woman whom they had all called Muriel Quelton was -really Caroline Enderby. - -Lexy did not blame herself for not having known before. Looking at -that face now, in its terrible stillness, she could trace the familiar -features easily enough, but how changed! How worn and lined, how -_old_! The brows, the lashes, the soft, disordered hair, were black -now instead of brown; but that merely physical alteration was of no -significance, compared with that other awful change. It was Caroline -Enderby, the gentle and pitifully inexperienced girl of nineteen, but -it was Mrs. Quelton, too, that tragic and somber figure. - -Mrs. Royce came back with a basin of water, clean towels, and a -precious bottle of eau de Cologne. - -“Poor lamb!” she whispered. “Ain’t she pretty?” - -Lexy wet a towel and passed it over that unconscious face again and -again. Mrs. Royce watched, spellbound; for the dark and haggard -stranger was passing away before her very eyes, and some one else was -coming into life—some one quite young and— - -The closed lids fluttered, and then opened. - -“Lexy!” murmured the metamorphosed one. - -“I’m here, Caroline!” said Lexy, with a stifled sob. “Everything’s all -right, dear! Don’t worry—just rest!” - -“I can’t, Lexy! I can’t!” she answered, and from her eyes, now closed -again, tears came running slowly down her cheeks. - -“Yes, you can!” said Lexy. “We’ll—” - -“Supposing I get her some nice hot soup?” whispered Mrs. Royce, and, -at a nod from Lexy, she was off again. - -Caroline reached out and caught Lexy’s hand. - -“Oh, Lexy, Lexy!” she said. “Can you ever forgive me?” - -“No!” her friend replied cheerfully. “Never! But don’t bother now. You -can tell me later, when you feel better.” - -“I’ll never, never feel better till I’ve told you! Oh, Lexy, I knew -yesterday, and I didn’t tell you! Oh, Lexy, Lexy, I don’t understand! -I want to tell you! I want you to help me!” - -A flush had come into her cheeks. She was growing painfully excited. -She tried to sit up, but Lexy firmly prevented that. - -“Lie down, darling!” she said. “We’ll get a doctor.” - -“No! No! I’m not ill—not ill, Lexy, only tired. Oh, you don’t know! -You won’t let _him_ come here, Lexy?” - -“I promise you he’ll never trouble you again,” replied Lexy quietly. - -She saw Captain Grey standing in the doorway, behind the head of the -bed. She glanced at him, and then at Caroline again. Let him stay! -Whatever had happened, he ought to know. - -“I don’t understand,” said Caroline, clinging fast to Lexy’s hand. “I -want to tell you—all of it. You know, Lexy, I did a horrible, wretched -thing. I said I’d marry a man. I promised to meet him here in Wyngate, -because it was near to dear Miss Craigie’s. I didn’t tell you, but it -wasn’t because I didn’t trust you, Lexy—truly it wasn’t! It was only -because I knew mother would be so angry with you. I told him I’d take -the train that got here at eleven o’clock that night; but after I’d -left the house, I got frightened. I’d never gone out alone before. I -couldn’t bear it. If I hadn’t promised him, I’d have gone home again. -I _wanted_ to go home. I was sorry I’d promised.” - -“Don’t try to go on now, dear!” - -“I must! So I took a taxi. I thought I’d get here as soon as the -train, but when it was eleven o’clock we were still miles away. I -thought perhaps Charles wouldn’t wait, and there’d be nobody in -Wyngate, and I didn’t dare go home again; so I kept begging the driver -to go faster. Oh, Lexy, it was all my fault! He did go—terribly fast. -It was wonderful to be alone, and rushing along like that; and then I -think he ran into a telegraph pole, turning a corner. There was a -crash, and I didn’t know anything more for—I don’t know how long it’s -been.” - -“Soup!” whispered Mrs. Royce, but Caroline was too intent upon her -confession to stop. - -Lexy took the broth and set it on the table. - -“I don’t know how long it was,” Caroline went on. “It must have been -days, or perhaps weeks. Sometimes I seemed to knew, in a sort of -dream. Oh, it was horrible! Oh, Lexy, I can’t explain! I didn’t really -know anything, only that sometimes my mind seemed to be struggling—” - -“Take some of this soup,” said Lexy. “You’ve _got_ to, Caroline, or I -won’t listen.” - -Obediently Caroline allowed herself to be fed. She took fully half of -that excellent soup, and it did her good. - -“Yesterday,” she said, “I did know. I couldn’t sleep all night. I felt -so ill, I thought I was going to die; and all the time it was coming -back to me. I couldn’t think why I was there in that place. I was -frightened—worse than frightened. The nurse kept calling me ‘Mrs. -Quelton,’ and I told her I wasn’t Mrs. Quelton—I was Caroline Enderby. -She must have told him. He came, he kept looking at me, and saying, -‘You are Muriel Quelton, I tell you!’ Then he sent the nurse away, and -he said: ‘If you insist that you are Caroline Enderby, you’re mad, and -I’ll send you to an asylum.’ I was—oh, Lexy, I’m not brave!—I was -afraid of him. When you came that morning, I didn’t dare to tell you. -I hoped you’d find the handkerchief, and know; and then—” - -Suddenly she turned and buried her face in the pillow. - -“Then I didn’t want you to know!” she sobbed. “Captain Grey—he sat -there with me. Lexy! Lexy! I didn’t know there was any one like him in -the world! I wanted to stay, then. I thought, if you found out, I’d -have to go away—to go home again, or to marry Charles. I’d promised to -marry him, Lexy, but I can’t! Not now!” - -“Hush, darling!” said Lexy hastily. - -This was something Captain Grey had no right to hear, but he did hear -it. He was still standing outside the door, motionless. - -“He was so kind!” Caroline went on. “And his face—” - -“Never mind that!” Lexy interrupted sternly. “Tell me how you got -away.” - -“When _he_ came back, he found George there—I had to call him George.” - -“Yes, I see. Never mind!” - -“George went away, and then—he told me. He said his wife had died a -few months ago, and that in her will she’d left some jewel—a ruby—” - -“An emerald,” corrected Lexy. - -“Yes—it was an emerald. She’d left it to her brother, and he—Dr. -Quelton—had taken it long ago, and sold it, to get money for his -horrible drugs. She never knew that, and he didn’t tell her lawyer -that she’d died. I don’t know how he managed, or what he did, but -nobody knew. Then there came a letter from her brother, to say that he -was coming; and the doctor said—I’ll never forget it: - -“‘Consequently, Muriel Quelton had to be here, and she was; and she’ll -remain here until her purpose is served!’ - -“He told me what had happened. He said that as soon as he knew Captain -Grey was coming, he began to look for some one to take his poor wife’s -place. The captain hadn’t seen his sister since she was a baby, you -know, and all he knew was that she was tall and dark. Dr. Quelton said -he had arranged for some one to come from a hospital; and then he -found me. He drove by just a little while after the accident, and he -found the poor driver dead and me unconscious. He found a letter to -mother in my purse, and he mailed it afterward. Then he heard another -car coming along the road, and he started the engine and sent the -taxi—with the dead driver in his seat—crashing down the hill, to run -into the other car. He wanted the driver’s death to look like an -accident. He didn’t care if the other man were killed. He’s—he’s not -human, Lexy! He told me he had never in his life cared for any one -except his wife. He told me what a beautiful, wonderful woman she -was—and yet he had stolen her emerald when she was dying. Love! He -couldn’t love any one!” - -But Lexy remembered her last glimpse of Dr. Quelton, lying dead across -the coffin of the woman he had robbed. Who would ever know, who was to -judge now, what might have been in his warped and utterly solitary -heart? - -“He told me,” Caroline went on, “that he had never felt any great -interest in me. A mediocre mind, he said I had. He told me he had -never so much as touched my finger tips. He sat there, talking so -calmly! He said he had kept me under the influence of some drug that -made my mind suggestible—I think that’s the word. He meant that -whoever took that drug would believe anything, accept anything. He had -told me I was Muriel Quelton, and I believed I was. Then he told me to -dye my hair, and to make up my face with things he gave me. He told me -I was ill and tired and growing old, and I felt so. Lexy, he said that -even without that, without making the least change in my appearance, -no one would have known me, because my _mind_ was changed. He said -there was no disguise in the world like that. Was it true, Lexy? Was I -old, and—and horrible to every one?” - -“No,” Lexy briefly replied. - -“Then he went on. He said he had no more of the drug left, and that -he’d have to dispose of me. ‘You know you’re very ill,’ he said. ‘The -nurse and that young fool of a doctor agree with me. I think you’re -likely to grow worse—very much worse—to-night. You’re very likely to -die.’ Oh, Lexy! What could I do but agree? I was shut up—so weak and -ill— I knew he could so easily give me something to kill me! He said -that if I would make a will and sign it as he told me, he would let me -go and be—be myself again. I couldn’t help it! And his wife was dead. -It couldn’t do her any harm if I signed her name. He wrote it, and I -traced it on another sheet of paper. I had to, Lexy! I knew it was -wrong, but what else could I possibly do?” - -“Never mind, Caroline!” said Lexy. “It didn’t do any harm, dear. And -then did he let you go?” - -An odd smile came over Caroline’s face. - -“Not exactly,” she said. “After I’d signed the will, leaving him the -emerald, he sent away the nurse. Then he came out on the balcony, sat -down, and began to talk to me. He was so pleasant and kindly! He made -plans for my getting away unnoticed, and brought me some sandwiches -and a cup of tea. He said I would have to eat a little, or I wouldn’t -have strength enough to go. It was getting dark then, and he couldn’t -see my face. I pretended to believe him, but I knew all the time. He -kept urging me to hurry up, and to eat the sandwiches and drink the -tea. I _knew_! I had made the will, and now, of course, I had to die. -I tried to think of a way out; and at last, when he saw that I didn’t -eat or drink, he spoke out plainly. He said that he had sent the -servants away for the afternoon, and that we were alone in the house. -He got up; he stood there and looked down at me. - -“‘That tea is an easy way out—quite painless and easy,’ he said; ‘but -if you won’t take it, there’s another way—not so easy!’ - -“He had some sort of hypodermic needle; but just then some one began -pounding on the door downstairs, and he had to go. He locked the door -after him, and he knew I was too weak to move. I tried. I got off the -couch, but I fell on the floor beside it; and then Charles came—” - -“Charles?” - -“He climbed up over the balcony. It was too dark to see him, but I -heard his voice, whispering, ‘Where are you?’ He found me, lifted me -up, and helped me over to the railing. Then we heard Dr. Quelton -coming back. There was another man, down in the garden, with a taxi. -Charles called out to him, and he stood below there. I heard Dr. -Quelton unlock the door, and I was so frightened that I felt strong -enough to do anything to get away. Charles helped me over, and the -other man caught me. Then I heard Charles shout, ‘Quick! Get her -away!’ The other man pushed me into the taxi and started off across -the lawn. I fainted, and I didn’t know anything more until I opened my -eyes here.” - -“But where _is_ he?” cried Lexy. “What happened to him?” - -“I don’t know.” - -“And you don’t seem to care, either!” said Lexy hotly. “He saved your -life, and now—” - -She thought of that bloody hand print, and the grass beaten down. The -young man who had no caution, no regard for the proprieties, had done -the direct and simple thing which appealed to his audacious mind. -Perhaps he had been killed in doing it. He would know how to face -death in the same straightforward way. - -Lexy would be as straightforward as he. She would find him, and she -wouldn’t try to think how much she cared about finding him. - -She rose. - -“I’ll get Mrs. Royce to stay with you, Caroline,” she said. - -“But where are you going, Lexy?” - -“I’m going to find Charles.” - -In the doorway she encountered Captain Grey. - -“Do you think she could stand seeing me?” he asked anxiously. “I mean -do you—” - -But Lexy didn’t even answer. - - - XXV - -After all, Lexy’s search for Charles Houseman was neither difficult -nor heroic, except in intention. She found him in the Lymewell -Hospital. Joe told her where he was, and Joe took her there. - -Houseman himself was rigidly determined not to be heroic. He had -refused to go to bed, and Lexy found him in a bare, whitewashed -waiting room, where he sat on a bench. - -“Just came in to get the hand dressed,” he said. “I’ll go back with -you now.” - -The doctor advised him not to, but Charles was not very susceptible to -advice. He wished to be entirely casual and matter-of-fact, and Lexy -tried to humor him. They stood together in the hall of the hospital -while a nurse went to get him a bottle of lotion from the dispensary, -and he talked in what he intended to be an offhand manner; but Lexy -could see that he was in pain, and almost exhausted, and his hair was -all on end. - -Somehow, that was the thing she couldn’t bear—that his hair should be -so ruffled. She could respect his determination to ignore the -throbbing anguish of his hand, she would, if he liked, pretend that -there was nothing at all tragic or unusual in the night’s adventure; -but his hair— - -The nurse returned with the bottle, gave him directions for its use, -and told him sternly that he must come back the next morning for a -dressing. - -“All right!” he said impatiently. “Come on, Lexy!” - -They got into Joe’s cab together, and off they went. - -“What happened to your hand?” inquired Lexy, as if it didn’t much -matter. - -“Knife through it,” he answered. “You see, I held the old fellow, to -give Mrs. Quelton a chance to get away. When I thought it was all -right, I gave him a shove backward, and started to climb over the -balcony; and he jabbed a knife through my hand. That’s what kept me so -long—I couldn’t get it out; and after I did, I—rested for a while. -Then I started for Wyngate, and I met Joe coming back to look for me. -He said he’d landed Mrs. Quelton all right. So that’s all!” - -Lexy was silent for a moment. - -“Of course you didn’t know it _wasn’t_ Mrs. Quelton,” she said. “It -was Caroline all the time.” - -“Caroline?” he cried. “What do you mean? It couldn’t have been -Caroline!” - -Lexy gave him a very brief, very bare account of Caroline’s narrative. - -“Oh!” he said, when she had done; and again there was silence for a -time. “Does she still want to go on with the thing—marrying me, I -mean?” he asked finally, in a queer, flat tone. - -“No,” said Lexy pleasantly. “No—she does not.” - -“Oh!” he said again, with undisguised relief. “Well, then—it’s all -right, then!” - -“You don’t seem to be much surprised,” said Lexy. “Don’t you think -it’s the most extraordinary story you ever heard?” - -“Well, you see—I’m a bit tired,” he explained. “I haven’t grasped it -all yet; only, if she doesn’t want to marry me now, Lexy, dear, will -you?” - -At last Lexy could do what she had longed to do for the last half -hour—she could stroke down his ruffled hair. - -And this, as far as they were concerned, was the last act and the -fitting climax of the play. They were ready now for the curtain to -rise upon another play; but there were other people not so young, or -not so sturdy, for whom the first drama was not so readily dismissed. - -There was Captain Grey, who was never to see his sister now, never to -know if she had really wanted him and needed him. He did not soon -forget what had happened at the Tower. - -Mrs. Enderby was sent for, and arrived that morning before sunrise, -with her husband. She listened to Caroline’s strange story, and made -what she could of it. She had not one word of reproach for her -daughter. - -“We shall not cry over the spilled milk,” she said. “Let us see what -is to be done, before the police come.” She had a thoroughly European -point of view about the police. “If we are fortunate enough to find an -officer with discretion,” she added, “even yet a scandal may be -averted.” - -For that was still her passionate resolve—that there should be no -scandal. She thought and planned with desperate energy; she directed -every one as to the part he or she should play; and in the end she -succeeded. Nobody knew that Caroline had disappeared, and nobody ever -would know. Nobody knew that the so-called Mrs. Quelton was Caroline, -and that, too, would never be known. Only let Joe and Mrs. Royce be -persuaded to hold their tongues; as for Lexy, Captain Grey, and -Houseman, she could of course rely upon them. - -So the police were, as they say, baffled. Mr. Houseman told them a -tale. He had been alarmed about the lady whom he knew as Mrs. Quelton, -and he had climbed up on the balcony, hoping to see her alone; but he -had met Dr. Quelton instead, and had been hurt in trying to escape -from him. - -Captain Grey also had a tale. He, too, had been alarmed about the lady -whom he believed to be his sister. He had gone with Miss Moran to call -upon her, and they had found the doctor dead, lying across the coffin. - -There was an inquest, and Mr. Houseman had a very unpleasant time of -it, being the last one who had seen the doctor alive; but there was no -really serious suspicion against him. The _post-mortem_ showed that -the doctor had died of some unknown poison, at least half an hour -after the young man had arrived at the hospital. The verdict was -suicide, although the coroner’s jury had its own opinion about the -mysterious dark woman who had posed as the doctor’s wife. An autopsy -revealed that Mrs. Quelton had died from a natural cause—phthisis of -the lungs. In short, as far as could be discovered, there was no -murder at all. - -This was a disappointment to the public, but there was always the -mysterious dark woman. The police instituted a search for her, and -there was much about her in the newspapers, but she was never found. - -Miss Enderby returned to the city from her visit to Miss Craigie, and -friends of the family were interested to learn that while away she had -met such a nice young man—a Captain Grey, from India. He had to return -to his regiment, but, before he went, Caroline’s engagement to him was -announced. Later he was to retire from the army and come back to live -in New York. - -There was another item of news, of minor importance. That pretty -little secretary of Mrs. Enderby’s got married, and the Enderbys were -wonderfully kind about it—surprisingly so. It didn’t seem at all like -Mrs. Enderby to let the girl be married from her own house, and to -give her a smart little car for a wedding present. What is more, Mr. -Enderby found a very good position in his office for the young man. - -“My dear Sophie,” said one of Mrs. Enderby’s old friends, with the -peculiar candor of an old friend, “I’ve never known _you_ to do so -much for any one before!” - -Mrs. Enderby was standing on the top doorstep of her house, looking -after the car in which Lexy and her Charles had driven off for their -honeymoon, with Joe, of Wyngate, as their chauffeur. - -“So much for her?” she said. “It’s not enough—not half enough!” - -And there were actually tears in her eyes as she went back into the -house where Caroline was. - - -[Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the February 1926 issue of -Munsey’s Magazine.] - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THING BEYOND REASON *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/67429-0.zip b/old/67429-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 5e20461..0000000 --- a/old/67429-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67429-h.zip b/old/67429-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6dcc1bd..0000000 --- a/old/67429-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67429-h/67429-h.htm b/old/67429-h/67429-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index feef8bf..0000000 --- a/old/67429-h/67429-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6338 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> -<head> - <meta charset="UTF-8" /> - <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Thing Beyond Reason, by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding</title> - <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover" /> - <style> - body { margin-left:8%; margin-right:8%; } - p { text-indent:1.15em; margin-top:0.1em; margin-bottom:0.1em; text-align:justify; } - h1 { text-align:center; font-weight:normal; page-break-before: always; - font-size:1.4em; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; } - h2 { text-align:center; font-weight:normal; page-break-before: always; - font-size:1.0em; margin-top:3em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; } - .ce { text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; } - h1 { text-align:center; font-weight:normal; font-size:1.4em; margin-top:1em; } - .tn { background-color:linen; font-size:0.8em; border:1px solid silver; margin-top:1.8em; margin-left:8%; margin-bottom:1em; width:80%; padding:0.4em 2%; } - - .chapter { clear: both; page-break-before: always; } - </style> -</head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Thing Beyond Reason, by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Thing Beyond Reason</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Elisabeth Sanxay Holding</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: February 17, 2022 [eBook #67429]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Roger Frank. This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THING BEYOND REASON ***</div> -<h1>The Thing Beyond Reason</h1> - -<div style='text-align:center; font-size:0.8em;'> -A COMPLETE SHORT NOVEL—THE STORY OF THE STRANGE<br/> -ADVENTURE THAT LED LEXY MORAN TO A HOUSE<br/> -OF TRAGEDY AND MYSTERY IN THE<br/> -SUBURBS OF NEW YORK</div> -<div class='ce'> -<div style='font-size:1.1em;margin-top:1em;'>By Elisabeth Sanxay Holding </div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;margin-bottom:2em;'>Author of “Angelica,” etc. </div> -</div> -<p>The house was very quiet to-night. There was nothing to disturb Miss -Alexandra Moran but the placid ticking of the clock and the faint stir -of the curtains at the open window. For that matter, a considerable -amount of noise would not have troubled her just then. As she sat at -the library table, the light of the shaded lamp shone upon her bright, -ruffled head bent over her work in fiercest concentration. She was -chewing the end of a badly damaged lead pencil, and she was scowling.</p> - -<p>“No!” she said, half aloud. “Won’t do! It can’t be ‘fix’; but, by -jiminy, I’ll get it if it takes all night!”</p> - -<p>She laid down the pencil and sat back in the chair, with her arms -folded. Though her present difficulty concerned nothing more serious -than a crossword puzzle, an observer might have learned a good deal of -Miss Moran’s character from her manner of dealing with it. The puzzle -itself, with its neat, clear little letters printed in the squares, -would have been a revelation that whatever she undertook she did -carefully and intelligently—and obstinately.</p> - -<p>She was a young little thing, only twenty-three, and quite alone in -the world, but not at all dismayed by that. Her father had died some -three years ago, and, instead of leaving the snug little fortune she -had been taught to expect, he had left nothing at all; so that at -twenty she had had her first puzzle to solve—how to keep alive without -eating the bread of charity.</p> - -<p>It was no easy matter for a girl who was still in boarding school, but -she had done it. She had come to New York and had found a post as -nursery governess, and later as waitress in a tea room, and then in -the art department of an enormous store. She had gained no tangible -profit from these three years, she had no balance in the bank, but -that did not trouble her. She had learned that she could stand on her -own feet, that she could trust herself; and with this knowledge and -the experience she had had, and her quick wits and splendid health, -she felt herself fully armed against the world. Indeed, she had not a -care on earth this evening except the crossword puzzle.</p> - -<p>“It must be ‘tocsin,’” she said to herself. “There’s something wrong -with the verticals. It can’t be ‘fix,’ and yet—”</p> - -<p>The telephone bell rang. Still pondering her problem, Lexy went across -the room.</p> - -<p>“Is Miss Enderby there?” asked a man’s voice.</p> - -<p>“She’s out,” answered Lexy cheerfully.</p> - -<p>“No!” said the man’s voice. “She can’t—I—for God’s sake, where’s Miss -Enderby?”</p> - -<p>“She’s out,” Lexy repeated, startled. “She went to the opera with her -mother and father.”</p> - -<p>“Who are you?”</p> - -<p>“I’m Mrs. Enderby’s secretary.”</p> - -<p>“Look here! Didn’t Miss Enderby say anything? Isn’t there any sort of -message for me?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing that I know of. The servants have gone to bed, but I’ll ask -them, if it’s anything important.”</p> - -<p>“No!” said the voice. “Don’t! No, never mind! Good-by!”</p> - -<p>“That’s queer!” said Lexy to herself, as she walked away from the -instrument, and then she dismissed the matter from her mind. “None of -my business!” she thought, and returned to her puzzle.</p> - -<p>Suddenly an inspiration came.</p> - -<p>“It <i>is</i> ‘fix’!” she cried. “And it’s not ‘tocsin,’ but ‘toxins’! -Hurrah!”</p> - -<p>This practically completed the puzzle, and she began to fill in the -empty squares with the peculiar satisfaction of the crossword -enthusiast. It was perfect, now, and she liked things to be perfect.</p> - -<p>As she leaned back, with a contented sigh, the clock struck twelve.</p> - -<p>“Golly! I didn’t realize it was so late!” she reflected. “Queer time -for any one to ring up!”</p> - -<p>She frowned again. Her special problem solved, she began to take more -interest in other affairs; and the more she thought of the telephone -incident, the more it amazed her. Caroline Enderby wasn’t like other -girls. The mere fact of a man’s telephoning to her at all was strange -and indeed unprecedented.</p> - -<p>“And he was badly upset, too,” thought Lexy. “He asked if she left a -message for him. Think of Caroline Enderby leaving a message for a -man!”</p> - -<p>She began to feel impatient for Caroline’s return.</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell her when we’re alone,” she thought; “and she’ll have to -explain—a little, anyhow.”</p> - -<p>Lexy wanted an explanation very much, because she was fond of -Caroline, and very sorry for her.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby was a Frenchwoman of the old-fashioned, conservative -type, with the most rigid ideas about the bringing up of a young girl, -and her husband—Lexy had often wondered what Mr. Enderby had been -before his marriage, for now he was nothing but a grave and dignified -echo of his wife. Between them, they had educated Caroline in a -disastrous fashion. She had never even been to school. She had had -governesses at home, and when a male teacher came in, for music or -painting lessons, Mrs. Enderby had always sat in the room with her -child. Caroline never went out of the house alone. She was utterly cut -off from the normal life of other girls. She was a gentle, lovely -creature—a little unreal, Lexy had thought her, at first; and she, at -first, had been afraid of Lexy.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby had advertised for a secretary, and Lexy had answered the -advertisement. Mrs. Enderby had wanted personal references, and Lexy -had supplied them, some five or six, of the highest quality. Mrs. -Enderby had investigated them with remarkable thoroughness, and had -asked Lexy many questions. Indeed, it had taken ten days to satisfy -her that Miss Moran was a fit person to come into her house, and Lexy -had lived under her roof and under her eagle eye for a month before -she was allowed to be alone with Caroline. After that first month, -however, Mrs. Enderby had made up her mind that Lexy was to be -trusted, and the thin pretext of “secretary” was dropped.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby suffered from a not uncommon form of insomnia. She could -not sleep at convenient hours—at night, for instance—but could and did -sleep at very inconvenient hours during the day; and what she wanted -was not a secretary, but a companion for her daughter during these -hours.</p> - -<p>She realized, too, that even the most strictly brought up <i>jeune -fille</i> needed some sort of youthful society, and in Lexy she had found -pretty well what she wanted—a well mannered, well bred young woman of -unimpeachable honesty. So she had permitted Lexy and Caroline to go -shopping alone, and sometimes to a matinée or to a tea room. She asked -them shrewd questions when they came home, and their answers satisfied -her perfectly. They had never even spoken to a man!</p> - -<p>“And yet,” thought Miss Moran, “somehow Caroline has been carrying on -with some one, without even me finding out! I didn’t know she had it -in her!”</p> - -<p>Lexy yawned mightily. She was growing very sleepy, but not for worlds -would she go to bed until she had seen Caroline. She lay down on the -divan, her hands clasped under her head, and let all sorts of little -idle thoughts drift through her mind. Now and then a taxi went by, but -this street in the East Sixties was a very quiet one. The house was so -very still, and there was nothing in her own young heart to trouble -her. Her eyes closed.</p> - -<p>She was half asleep when the sound of Mrs. Enderby’s voice in the hall -brought her to her feet. It was a penetrating voice, with a trace of -foreign accent, and it was not a voice that Lexy loved. She went out -of the library into the hall.</p> - -<p>“Did you enjoy—” she began politely, and then stopped short. “But -where’s Caroline?” she cried.</p> - -<p>“Caroline? But at home, of course,” answered Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>“At home? Here?”</p> - -<p>“But certainly! She had a headache. At the last moment she decided not -to go with us. You were not here when we left, Miss Moran.”</p> - -<p>“I know,” murmured Lexy. “I had just run out to the drug store; but—”</p> - -<p>“She went directly to bed,” Mrs. Enderby continued. “I thought, -however, that she would have sent for you during the course of the -evening.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I see!” said Lexy casually.</p> - -<p>At heart, however, she was curiously uneasy. Mr. Enderby stopped for a -moment, to give her some kindly information about the opera they had -heard. Then he and his wife ascended the stairs, followed by Lexy; and -with every step her uneasiness grew. She was sure that Caroline would -have sent for her if she had been in the house.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby paused outside her child’s door.</p> - -<p>“The light is out,” she said. “She will be asleep. I shall not disturb -her. Good night, Miss Moran!”</p> - -<p>“Good night, Mrs. Enderby!” Lexy answered, and went into her own room.</p> - -<p>She gave Mrs. Enderby twenty minutes to get safely stowed away; then -she went out quietly into the hall, to Caroline’s room. She knocked -softly; there was no answer. She turned the handle and went in; the -room was dark and very still. She switched on the light.</p> - -<p>It was as she had expected—the room was empty. Caroline was not there.</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>II</h2></div> - -<p>Lexy’s first impulse was to close the door of that empty room, and to -hold her tongue. It seemed to her that it would be treachery to -Caroline to tell Mrs. Enderby. She and Caroline were both young, both -of the same generation; they ought to stand loyally together against -the tyrannical older people.</p> - -<p>“Because, golly, what a row there’d be if Mrs. Enderby ever knew she’d -gone out!” Lexy thought.</p> - -<p>That was how she saw it, at first. Caroline had pretended to have a -headache so that she would be left behind, and would get a chance to -slip out alone. It was simply a lark. Lexy had known such things to -happen often before, at boarding school; and the unthinkable and -impossible thing was for one girl to tell on another.</p> - -<p>“She’ll be back soon,” thought Lexy, “and she’ll tell me all about -it.”</p> - -<p>So she went into Caroline’s room, to wait. It was a charming room, -pink and white, like Caroline herself. Lexy turned on the switch, and -two rose-shaded lamps blossomed out like flowers. She sat down on a -<i>chaise longue</i>, and stretched herself out, yawning. On the desk -before her was Caroline’s writing apparatus, a quill pen of old rose, -an ivory desk set, everything so dainty and orderly; only poor -Caroline had no friends, and never had letters to write or to answer.</p> - -<p>“I wonder who on earth that was on the telephone,” Lexy reflected. “It -<i>was</i> queer—just on the only night of her life when she’d ever gone -out on her own. And he sounded so terribly upset! It <i>was</i> queer. -Perhaps—”</p> - -<p>She was aware of a fast-growing oppression. The influence of -Caroline’s room was beginning to tell upon her. Caroline didn’t -understand about larks. She wasn’t that sort of girl. Quiet, shy, and -patient, she had never shown any trace of resentment against her -restricted life, or any desire for the good times that other girls of -her age enjoyed. The more Lexy thought about it, the more clearly she -realized the strangeness of all this, and the more uneasy she became.</p> - -<p>When the little Dresden clock on the mantelpiece struck one, it came -as a shock. Lexy sprang to her feet and looked about the room, filled -with unreasoning fear. One o’clock, and Caroline hadn’t come back! -Suppose—suppose she never came back?</p> - -<p>Lexy dismissed that idea with healthy scorn. Things like that didn’t -happen; and yet—what was it that gave to the pink and white lamplit -room such an air of being deserted?</p> - -<p>“Why, the photographs are gone!” she cried.</p> - -<p>She noticed now for the first time that the photographs of Mr. and -Mrs. Enderby in silver frames, which had always stood on the writing -desk, were not standing there now.</p> - -<p>She turned to the bureau. Caroline’s silver toilet set was not there. -She made a rapid survey of the room, and she made sure of her -suspicions. Caroline had gone deliberately, taking with her all the -things she would need on a short trip.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to tell Mrs. Enderby now,” she thought. “It’s only fair.”</p> - -<p>She went out into the corridor, closing the door behind her, and -turned toward Mrs. Enderby’s room. She was very, very reluctant, for -she dreaded to break the peace of the quiet house by this dramatic -announcement. She hated anything in the nature of the sensational. -Level-headed, cool, practical, her instinct was to make light of all -this, to insist that nothing was really wrong. Caroline had gone, and -that was that.</p> - -<p>“There’s going to be such a fuss!” she thought. “If there’s anything I -loathe, it’s a fuss.”</p> - -<p>And all the time, under her cool and sensible exterior, she was -frightened. She felt that after all she was very young, and very -inexperienced, in a world where things—anything—things beyond her -knowledge—might happen.</p> - -<p>She knocked upon the door lightly—so lightly that no one heard her; -and she had to knock again. This time Mrs. Enderby opened the door.</p> - -<p>“Well?” she asked, not very amiably.</p> - -<p>“I thought I ought to tell you—” Lexy began; and still she hesitated, -moved by the unaccountable feeling that this might be treachery to -Caroline.</p> - -<p>“Tell me what?” asked Mrs. Enderby. “Come, if you please, Miss Moran! -Tell me at once!”</p> - -<p>“Caroline’s gone.”</p> - -<p>The words were spoken. Lexy waited in great alarm, wondering if Mrs. -Enderby would faint or scream.</p> - -<p>The lady did neither. She came out into the corridor, shutting the -door of her room behind her, and her first word and her only word was:</p> - -<p>“Hush!”</p> - -<p>Then she glanced about her at the closed doors, and, taking Lexy’s arm -in a firm grip, hurried her to Caroline’s room. Not until they were -shut in there did she speak again.</p> - -<p>“Now tell me!” she said. “Speak very low. You said—Caroline has gone?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Lexy. “I came in here after you’d gone to bed, and—you can -see for yourself—the bed hasn’t been slept in. She’s taken her -things—her brush and comb and—”</p> - -<p>“And she told you—what?”</p> - -<p>“Me? Why, nothing!” answered Lexy, in surprise. “I didn’t see her. I -haven’t seen her since dinner.”</p> - -<p>“But you know,” said Mrs. Enderby. “You know where she has gone.”</p> - -<p>She spoke with cool certainty, and her black eyes were fixed upon Lexy -with a far from pleasant expression.</p> - -<p>Lexy looked back at her with equal steadiness.</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Enderby,” she said, “I <i>don’t</i> know.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby shrugged her shoulders.</p> - -<p>“Very well!” she said. “You do not know exactly where she has gone. -<i>Bien, alors!</i> You guess, eh?”</p> - -<p>“No,” answered Lexy, bewildered. “I don’t. I can’t.”</p> - -<p>“She has spoken to you of some—friend?”</p> - -<p>Seeing Lexy still frankly bewildered, Mrs. Enderby lost her patience.</p> - -<p>“The man!” she said. “Who is the man?”</p> - -<p>“I never heard Caroline speak of any man,” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>She spoke firmly enough, and she was telling the truth; but she -remembered that telephone call, and the memory brought a faint flush -into her cheeks. Mrs. Enderby did not fail to notice it.</p> - -<p>“Listen!” she said. “There is one thing you can do—only one thing. You -can hold your tongue. Tell no one. Let no one know that Caroline is -not here. You understand?”</p> - -<p>“But aren’t you going to—”</p> - -<p>“I am going to do nothing. You understand—nothing. There is to be no -scandal in my house.”</p> - -<p>“But, Mrs. Enderby!”</p> - -<p>“Hush! No one must know of this. To-morrow morning I shall have a -letter from Caroline.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” said Lexy, with a sigh of genuine relief. “Oh, then you know -where she’s gone!”</p> - -<p>“I?” replied Mrs. Enderby. “I know nothing. This has come to me from a -clear sky. I have always tried to safeguard my child. I—”</p> - -<p>She paused for a moment, and for the first time Lexy pitied her.</p> - -<p>“It is the American blood in her,” Mrs. Enderby went on. “No French -girl would treat her parents so; but in this country— She has gone -with some fortune hunter. To-morrow I shall have a letter that she is -married. ‘Please forgive me, <i>chère Maman</i>,’ she will say. ‘I am so -happy. I, at nineteen, and of an ignorance the most complete, have -made my choice without you.’ That is the American way, is it not? That -is your ‘romance,’ eh? My one child—”</p> - -<p>Her voice broke.</p> - -<p>“No more!” she said. “It is finished. But—attend, Miss Moran! There -must be no scandal. No one is to know that she is not here.”</p> - -<p>She turned and walked out of the room. Lexy sank into a chair.</p> - -<p>“I don’t care!” she said to herself.</p> - -<p>“She’s wrong—I know it! It’s not what she thinks. Caroline’s not like -that. Something dreadful has happened!”</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>III</h2></div> - -<p>It seemed perfectly natural to be awakened in the morning by Mrs. -Enderby’s hand on her shoulder, and to look up into Mrs. Enderby’s -flashing black eyes. Lexy had gone to sleep dominated by the thought -of that masterful woman. She vaguely remembered having dreamed of her, -and when she opened her eyes—there she was.</p> - -<p>“Get up!” said Mrs. Enderby in a low voice. “Go into Caroline’s room. -When Annie comes with the breakfast tray, take it from her at the -door. I have told her that Caroline is ill with a headache. You -understand?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Mrs. Enderby,” answered Lexy.</p> - -<p>She sprang out of bed and began to dress, filled with an unreasoning -sense of haste. It wasn’t a dream, then—it was true. Caroline had -gone, and there was something Lexy must do for her. She could not have -explained what this something was, but it oppressed and worried her. -She could not rid herself of the feeling that she was not being loyal -to Caroline.</p> - -<p>“And yet,” she thought, “I had to tell Mrs. Enderby she wasn’t there. -I suppose I ought to have told her about that telephone call, too, but -I hate to do it! I know Caroline wouldn’t like me to; and what good -can it do, anyhow? Whoever it was, he didn’t know where she was. It -was the queerest thing—a man asking, ‘ For God’s sake, where’s Miss -Enderby?’ when she wasn’t here! No, Mrs. Enderby is wrong. Caroline -hasn’t just gone away of her own accord. She’s not that sort of girl. -Something has happened!”</p> - -<p>Lexy finished dressing and went into Caroline’s room. In the gay April -sunshine, that dainty room seemed almost unbearably forlorn.</p> - -<p>She went over to the window and looked down into the street. People -were passing by, and taxis, and private cars—all the ordinary, casual, -cheerful daily life at which Caroline Enderby had so often looked out, -like a poor enchanted princess in a tower. A wave of pity and -affection rose in Lexy’s heart.</p> - -<p>“Oh, poor Caroline!” she said to herself. “Such a dull, miserable -life! I do wish—”</p> - -<p>There was a knock at the door, and she hurried across the room to open -it. The parlor maid stood there with a tray. Lexy took it from her -with a pleasant “good morning,” and closed the door again. Caroline’s -breakfast! There was something disturbing in the sight of that -carefully prepared tray, ready for the girl who was not there.</p> - -<p>The door opened—without a preliminary knock, this time—and Mrs. -Enderby came in. She turned the key behind her, and, without a word, -went over to the bed and pulled off the covers. Then she went into the -adjoining bathroom and started the water running in the tub. This -done, she sat down at the table and began to eat the breakfast on the -tray.</p> - -<p>Lexy stood watching all this with indignation and a sort of horror.</p> - -<p>“All she cares about is keeping up appearances,” the girl thought. -“The only thing that worries her is that some one might find out. She -doesn’t know where poor Caroline is—and she can sit down and eat! I’m -comparatively a stranger, and even I—”</p> - -<p>Lexy was an honest soul, however. The fragrance of coffee and rolls -reached her, and she admitted in her heart that she, too, could eat, -if she had a chance.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby was not going to give her a chance just yet. She finished -her meal and rose.</p> - -<p>“Now!” she said. “Just what is gone from here? We shall look.”</p> - -<p>So they looked, in the wardrobe, in the drawers, even in the orderly -desk. Very little was gone.</p> - -<p>“And now,” said Mrs. Enderby, “you lent her—how much money, Miss -Moran?”</p> - -<p>“I never lent her a penny in my life,” replied Lexy.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby’s tone aroused a spirit of obstinate defiance in her. -Those flashing black eyes were fixed upon her with an expression which -did not please Lexy, and Lexy looked back with an expression which did -not please Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>“So you will not tell me what you know!” said Mrs. Enderby, with a -chilly smile.</p> - -<p>It was on the tip of Lexy’s tongue to say, with considerable warmth, -that she <i>had</i> told all she knew; but the memory of the telephone call -checked her.</p> - -<p>“If I tell her about that,” she thought, “she’ll just say, ‘Ah, I -thought so!’ And she’ll be surer than ever that Caroline has eloped -with a fortune hunter, and she won’t make any effort to find her. -No—I’m not going to tell her until she gets really frightened.” Aloud -she said: “I’ll do anything in the world that I can do, Mrs. Enderby, -to help you find Caroline.”</p> - -<p>“It is not necessary,” said Mrs. Enderby. “I shall have her letter.”</p> - -<p>There was another tap at the door. Mrs. Enderby closed the door -leading into the bathroom, and then called:</p> - -<p>“Come in!”</p> - -<p>The parlor maid entered.</p> - -<p>“You may take away the tray,” her mistress said graciously. “Miss -Enderby has finished.”</p> - -<p>Again a feeling that was almost horror came over Lexy. There was the -bed Caroline had slept in, there was the breakfast Caroline had eaten, -there was Caroline’s bath running—and Caroline wasn’t there! Lexy -wanted to get out of that room and away from Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>“Do you mind if I go down and get my own breakfast now?” she asked, -when the parlor maid had gone out with the tray.</p> - -<p>“But certainly not!” Mrs. Enderby blandly consented. “We shall go down -together.”</p> - -<p>She turned off the water in the bath, and, following Lexy out of the -room, locked the door on the outside. The girl dropped behind her as -they descended the stairs, and studied the stout, dignified figure -before her with indignant interest.</p> - -<p>“A mother!” she thought. “A mother, behaving like this! How long is -she going to wait for her letter, I wonder? Well, if she won’t do -anything, then, by jiminy, I will!”</p> - -<p>A fresh example of Mrs. Enderby’s remarkable strength of mind awaited -them. Mr. Enderby was already seated at the table in the dining room. -As his wife entered, he rose, with his invariable politeness, and one -glance at his ruddy, cheerful face convinced Lexy that he knew nothing -of what had happened.</p> - -<p>“Caroline has a headache,” Mrs. Enderby explained. “It will be better -for her to rest for a little.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! Too bad!” said he. “Don’t think she gets out in the air enough. -Er—good morning, Miss Moran!”</p> - -<p>Lexy almost forgot to answer him, so intent was she upon watching Mrs. -Enderby open her letters. There must, she thought, be some change in -that calm, pale face when she didn’t find a letter from Caroline, -there must be something to break this inhuman tranquillity.</p> - -<p>But nothing broke it. Mr. Enderby ate his breakfast, and his wife -chatted affably with him while she glanced over her mail. The sunshine -poured into the room, gleaming on silver and linen, and on the -cheerful young parlor maid moving quietly about her duties. It was a -morning just like other mornings; and, in spite of herself, Lexy’s -feeling of dread and oppression began to lighten. Mr. Enderby was so -thoroughly unperturbed, Mrs. Enderby was so serene and majestic, the -house was so bright and pleasant in the spring morning, that it was -hard to believe that anything could be really amiss.</p> - -<p>“But I don’t care!” she thought sturdily. “<i>I</i> know there is!”</p> - -<p>Mr. Enderby finished his breakfast and rose, and, as usual, his wife -accompanied him to the front door. Alone in the dining room, Lexy made -haste to finish her own meal. Just as she pushed back her chair, Mrs. -Enderby returned.</p> - -<p>“I shall ring, Annie,” she told the parlor maid, and the girl -disappeared. Then she turned to Lexy. “The letter has come,” she said.</p> - -<p>Lexy stared at her with such an expression of amazement and dismay -that Mrs. Enderby smiled.</p> - -<p>“You are very young,” she said. “You wish always for the dramatic. -When you have lived as long as I, you will see that such things do not -happen.”</p> - -<p>She spoke kindly, and Lexy saw in her dark eyes a look of weariness -and pain.</p> - -<p>“No, my child,” she went on. “In this life it is always the same -things that happen again and again. At twenty, one breaks the heart -for a man; at forty, one breaks the heart for one’s child. There is -only that—and money. Love and money—nothing else!”</p> - -<p>Lexy felt extraordinarily sorry for Mrs. Enderby; but even yet she -couldn’t quite believe that Caroline could have done such a thing.</p> - -<p>“But do you mean that she’s really—that she’s—” she began.</p> - -<p>“See, then!” said Mrs. Enderby. “Here is the letter!”</p> - -<p>Lexy took it from her, and read:</p> - -<blockquote> -<p style='text-indent:0'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Chere Maman</span>:</p> - -<p>I only beg you and papa to forgive me for what I have done; but I knew -that if I told you, you would not have let me go. When you get this</p> - -<p>I shall be married. To-morrow I shall write again, to tell you where I -am, and to beg you to let me bring my husband to you.</p> - -<p>Oh, please, dear, dear mother and father, forgive me!</p> - -<div style='text-align:right;margin-right:4em;'>Your loving, loving daughter,</div> -<div style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;'>Caroline.</div> -</blockquote> -<p>“You see!” said Mrs. Enderby. “It is as I told you.”</p> - -<p>There were tears in Lexy’s eyes as she put the letter back into the -envelope.</p> - -<p>“It doesn’t seem a bit like Caroline, though,” she remarked.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby smiled again, faintly, and held out her hand for the -letter. Lexy returned it to her, with an almost mechanical glance at -the postmark—“Wyngate, Connecticut.”</p> - -<p>All her defiance had vanished. She was obliged to admit now that Mrs. -Enderby was wise, and that she herself was—</p> - -<p>“A little fool!” said Lexy candidly to herself.</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>IV</h2></div> - -<p>“Do you mind if I go out for a walk?” asked the crestfallen Lexy; for -that was her instinct in any sort of trouble—to get out into the fresh -air and walk.</p> - -<p>“No,” answered Mrs. Enderby; “but I shall ask you to return in half an -hour. There is much to be done.”</p> - -<p>“Done!” cried Lexy. “But what can be done—now?”</p> - -<p>“That I shall tell you when you return,” said Mrs. Enderby. “In the -meantime, I trust you to say nothing of all this to any person -whatever. You understand, Miss Moran?”</p> - -<p>Miss Moran certainly did not understand, but she gave her promise to -keep silent, and, putting on her hat and coat, hurried out of the -house. Mighty glad she was to get out, too!</p> - -<p>“But why make a mystery of it like this?” she thought. “Every one has -to know, sooner or later, and it’s so—so ghastly, pretending that -Caroline’s there! Oh, it doesn’t seem possible, Caroline running off -like that, and I never even dreaming she was the least bit interested -in any man! I don’t see how she could have seen any one or written to -any one without my knowing it. It doesn’t seem possible!”</p> - -<p>She had reached the corner of Fifth Avenue, and was waiting for a halt -in the traffic, when she became aware of a young man who was standing -near her and staring at her. She glanced carelessly at him, and he -took off his hat, but he got no acknowledgment of his salute. He was a -stranger, and she meant him to remain a stranger. The bright-haired, -sturdy little Lexy was a very pretty girl, and she was not -unaccustomed to strange young men who stared. She knew how to handle -them.</p> - -<p>As she crossed the avenue, he crossed, too. When she entered the park, -he followed. Now Lexy was never tolerant of this sort of thing, and -to-day, in her anxiety and distress, she was less so than ever. She -turned her head and looked the young man squarely in the face with a -scornful and frigid look; and he took off his hat again!</p> - -<p>“Just you say one word,” said she to herself, “and I’ll call a -policeman!”</p> - -<p>Yet, as she walked briskly on, something in the man’s expression -haunted her. He didn’t look like that sort of man. His sunburned face -somehow seemed to her a very honest one, and the expression on it was -not at all flirtatious, but terribly troubled and unhappy.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps he thinks he knows me,” she thought. “Well, he doesn’t, and -he’s not going to, either!”</p> - -<p>And she dismissed him from her mind.</p> - -<p>“When did Caroline go?” she pondered, continuing her own miserable -train of thought. “While I was doing cross words in the library? If -she went out by the front door, she must have gone right past the -library. She must have known I was there—and not even to say good-by!”</p> - -<p>It hurt. She had grown very fond of the shy, quiet Caroline, and she -had firmly believed that Caroline was fond of her. What is more, she -had thought Caroline trusted her.</p> - -<p>“She didn’t though. All the time, when we were so friendly together, -she must have been planning this and—<i>what</i>?”</p> - -<p>She stopped short, her dark brows meeting in a fierce frown, for the -unknown man had come up beside her and spoken to her.</p> - -<p>“Excuse me!” he said.</p> - -<p>Lexy only looked at him, but he did not wither and perish under her -scorn.</p> - -<p>“I’ve <i>got</i> to speak to you,” he said.</p> - -<p>“It’s—look here! I’ve been waiting outside the house all morning. Look -here, please! You’re Lexy, aren’t you?”</p> - -<p>This was a little too much!</p> - -<p>“If you don’t stop bothering me this instant—” she began hotly, but he -paid no heed.</p> - -<p>“<i>Where’s Miss Enderby?”</i> he cried.</p> - -<p>Lexy grew very pale. Those were the words she had heard over the -telephone last night, and this was the same voice.</p> - -<p>For a moment she was silent, staring at him, while he looked back at -her, his blue eyes searching her face with a look of desperate -entreaty. All her doubts vanished. She had not been wrong. She had -been right—she was sure of it. She knew that something had -happened—something inexplicable and dreadful.</p> - -<p>“Please tell me!” he said. “You don’t know—you can’t know—she told me -you were her friend.”</p> - -<p>“But who are you?” cried Lexy.</p> - -<p>His face flushed under the sunburn.</p> - -<p>“I—” he began, and stopped. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you,” he went on. -“I’d like to, but, you see, I can’t. If you’ll just tell me where -Car—Miss Enderby is! She’s safe at home, isn’t she? She—of course she -is! She <i>must</i> be! She—she is, isn’t she?”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Lexy slowly, “I don’t see how I can tell you anything at -all. I don’t know what right you have to ask any questions. I don’t -know who you are, or anything about you.”</p> - -<p>“No,” he replied, “I know that; but, after all, it’s not much of a -question, is it—just if Miss Enderby’s all right?”</p> - -<p>Lexy felt very sorry for him, in his obvious struggle to speak quietly -and reasonably. She wanted to answer him promptly and candidly, for -his sake and for her own, because she felt sure that he could tell her -something about Caroline; but she had promised Mrs. Enderby to say -nothing.</p> - -<p>“It’s so silly!” she thought, exasperated. “If I could tell him, I -might find out—”</p> - -<p>“Find out what? Hadn’t Caroline written to say that she had gone away -to get married? In a day or two, probably to-morrow, they would learn -all the details from Caroline herself. This unhappy young man couldn’t -know anything. Indeed, he was asking for information. Who could he -possibly be? A rival suitor? Lexy remembered Caroline’s pitifully -restricted life. <i>Two</i> suitors of whom she had never heard? It wasn’t -possible!</p> - -<p>“No,” she thought. “There’s something queer—something wrong!”</p> - -<p>“Look here!” the young man said again. “Aren’t you going to answer me? -Just tell me she’s all right, and—”</p> - -<p>“What makes you think she isn’t?” asked Lexy cautiously.</p> - -<p>He looked straight into her face.</p> - -<p>“You’re playing with me,” he said. “You’re fencing with me, to make me -give myself away; and it’s a pretty rotten thing to do!”</p> - -<p>“Rotten?” Lexy repeated indignantly. “Rotten, not to answer questions -from a perfect stranger?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said, “it is; because that’s a question you could answer for -any one. I’ve only asked you if Miss Enderby is—all right.”</p> - -<p>This high-handed tone didn’t suit Lexy at all. He was actually -presuming to be angry, and that made her angry.</p> - -<p>“I shan’t tell you anything at all,” she said, and began to walk on -again.</p> - -<p>He put on his hat and turned away, but in a moment he was back at her -side.</p> - -<p>“Look here!” he said. “Caroline told me you were her friend. She said -you could be trusted. All right—I am trusting you. I’ve felt, all -along, that there was—something wrong. I’ve got to know! If you’ll -give me your word that she’s safe at home, I’ll clear out, and -apologize for having made a first-class fool of myself; but if she’s -not, I ought to know!”</p> - -<p>Lexy stopped again. Their eyes met in a long, steady glance.</p> - -<p>“I can’t answer any questions this morning,” she told him. “I promised -I wouldn’t.”</p> - -<p>“Then there is something wrong!” the young man exclaimed.</p> - -<p>He was silent for a long time, staring at the ground, and Lexy waited, -with a fast beating heart, for some word that would enlighten her. At -last he looked up.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to trust you,” he said simply. “Caroline meant to tell you, -anyhow. You see”—he paused—“I’m Charles Houseman, the man she’s going -to marry.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” cried Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Now you’ll tell me, won’t you?”</p> - -<p>She stared and stared at him, filled with amazement and pity. Such a -nice-looking, straightforward, manly sort of fellow—and such a look of -pain and bewilderment in his blue eyes!</p> - -<p>“But—did she <i>say</i> she would marry you?”</p> - -<p>“Of course she did! She—look here! You don’t know what I’ve been -through. It was I who telephoned last night. I—”</p> - -<p>“But why did you? Oh, please tell me! I am Caroline’s friend—truly her -friend. I want to understand!”</p> - -<p>“All right!” he said. “I telephoned because I was waiting for her, and -she didn’t come.”</p> - -<p>“Waiting for—Caroline?”</p> - -<p>“We had arranged to get married last night. She was to meet me, but -she didn’t come,” he said, a little unsteadily. “Perhaps she just -changed her mind. Perhaps she doesn’t want to see me any more. If -that’s the case, I’ll trust you not to mention anything about me—to -any one. You see now, don’t you, that I—I had to know?”</p> - -<p>Lexy’s eyes filled with tears. Moved by a generous impulse, she held -out her hand.</p> - -<p>“I’m so awfully sorry!” she cried.</p> - -<p>“Why? You mean—for God’s sake, tell me! You mean she has changed her -mind?”</p> - -<p>“I can’t tell you—not now.”</p> - -<p>“You can’t leave it at that,” said he. He had taken her outstretched -hand, and he held it tight. “I ought to know what has happened. I -can’t believe that Caroline would let me down like that. She—she’s not -that sort of girl. Something’s gone wrong. She wouldn’t leave me -waiting and waiting there for her at Wyngate.”</p> - -<p>“Wyngate!” cried Lexy. “But that was—”</p> - -<p>She stopped abruptly. Caroline’s letter had been postmarked “Wyngate.” -She had gone there to meet—some one. She had married—some one.</p> - -<p>“I can’t understand,” Lexy went on. “It’s terrible! I can’t tell you -now; but I’ll meet you here this afternoon, after lunch—about two -o’clock—and I’ll tell you then.”</p> - -<p>She turned away, then, in haste to get back to Mrs. Enderby, but he -stopped her.</p> - -<p>“Remember!” he said sternly. “I’ve trusted you. If Caroline hasn’t -told her people about me, you mustn’t mention my name. I gave her my -word that I would let her do the telling. I didn’t want it that way, -but I promised her, and you’ve got to do the same. If she hasn’t told -about me, you’re not to.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Lord!” cried poor Lexy. “Well, all right, I won’t! Now, for -goodness’ sake, go away, and let me alone—to do the best I can!”</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>V</h2></div> - -<p>Lexy was late. The half hour had been considerably exceeded when she -ran up the steps of the Enderbys house. She rang the bell, and the -door was opened promptly by Annie.</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Enderby would like to see you at once, miss,” the parlor maid -said primly.</p> - -<p>But Lexy stopped to look covertly at Annie. Did she know anything? It -was possible. Anything was possible now. Lexy was obliged to admit, -however, that Annie had no appearance of guilt or mystery. A brisk and -sober woman of middle age, who had been with the family for nearly ten -years, she looked nothing more or less than disapproving because this -young person had presumed to keep Mrs. Enderby waiting for several -minutes.</p> - -<p>“Anyhow, I can’t ask her,” thought Lexy. “That’s the worst part of all -this— I can’t ask anybody anything without breaking a promise to -somebody else; and yet everybody ought to know everything!”</p> - -<p>In miserable perplexity, she went upstairs to Mrs. Enderby’s sitting -room. Only one thing was clear in her mind, and that was that she must -be freed from her weak-minded promise not to mention Caroline’s -absence.</p> - -<p>“And that’s not going to be easy,” she reflected, “when I can’t -explain to her. There’ll be a row. Well, I don’t care!”</p> - -<p>She did care, however. She respected Mrs. Enderby, and in her secret -heart she was a little afraid of her. She felt very young, very crude -and blundering, in the presence of that masterful woman; and she -doubted her own wisdom.</p> - -<p>“But what can I do?” she thought. “He said he trusted me. I <i>can’t</i> -tell her! No, first I’ll get her to let me off that promise, and I’ll -go and tell that young man. Then I’ll make him let me off, and I’ll -come and tell her. Golly, how I hate all this fool mystery!”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby was writing at her desk as Lexy entered the room. She -glanced up, unsmiling.</p> - -<p>“You are late,” she said. “I asked you to return in half an hour.”</p> - -<p>“I’m sorry,” Lexy replied meekly.</p> - -<p>“Very well! Now you will please to come with me.”</p> - -<p>She rose, and Lexy followed her down the hall to Caroline’s room. Mrs. -Enderby unlocked the door, and, when they had entered, locked the door -on the inside.</p> - -<p>“In fifteen minutes the car is coming,” she said. “I wish you to put -on Caroline’s hat and coat and a veil, and leave the house with me.”</p> - -<p>“You mean you want me to pretend I’m Caroline?” cried Lexy.</p> - -<p>“I wish it to be thought that you are Caroline,” Mrs. Enderby -corrected her. “Please waste no time. The car will be here—”</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Enderby, I—I can’t do it!”</p> - -<p>“You can, Miss Moran, and I think you will.”</p> - -<p>But Lexy was pretty close to desperation now. Her honest and vigorous -spirit was entangled in a network of promises and obligations and -deceptions, and she could not see how to free herself; but she would -not passively submit.</p> - -<p>“No,” she said, “I can’t. I’ve found out something—I can’t tell you -about it just now, but this afternoon I hope—”</p> - -<p>“This afternoon is another thing,” said Mrs. Enderby. “In the -meantime—”</p> - -<p>“But it’s important! It’s—”</p> - -<p>“You think I do not know? You think this letter sets my mind at rest?” -Mrs. Enderby demanded, with one of her sudden flashes of temper. “That -is imbecile! I know how serious it is that my child should leave me -like this; but I know what is my duty—first, to my husband. That -first, I tell you! It is for me to see that no disgrace comes upon his -house, no scandal—that first! Then, next, I must see to it that the -way is left open for Caroline to come back—if she wishes.” She came -close to Lexy, and fixed those black eyes of hers upon the girl’s -face. “I tell you, Miss Moran, there will be no scandal!”</p> - -<p>In spite of herself, Lexy was impressed.</p> - -<p>“But suppose—” she began.</p> - -<p>“No—we shall not suppose. I have told the servants that to-day Miss -Enderby goes into the country, to visit her old governess for a few -days. Very well—they shall see her go. If there is no other letter -to-morrow, I shall tell Mr. Enderby.”</p> - -<p>“Doesn’t he know?”</p> - -<p>“Please make haste, Miss Moran!” said Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>As if hypnotized, Lexy began to dress herself in Caroline’s clothes; -but, as she glanced in the mirror to adjust the close-fitting little -hat, the monstrousness of the whole thing overwhelmed her. She had so -often seen Caroline in this hat and coat!</p> - -<p>“Oh, I can’t!” she cried. “I can’t! Suppose something terrible has -happened to her, and I’m—”</p> - -<p>“Keep quiet!” said Mrs. Enderby fiercely. “I tell you it shall be so! -Now, the veil. No, not like that—not as if you were disguising -yourself! So!”</p> - -<p>She unlocked the door, and, taking Lexy by the arm, went out into the -hall. Together they descended the stairs, Mrs. Enderby chatting -volubly in French, as she was wont to do with her daughter. None of -the servants would think of interrupting her, or of staring at her -companion. It was an ordinary, everyday scene. Annie was crossing the -lower hall.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran will be out all day,” said Mrs. Enderby. “There will be no -one at home for lunch.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, ma’am,” replied Annie.</p> - -<p>The maid would not notice when—or if—Miss Moran went out. There was -nothing to arouse suspicion in any one.</p> - -<p>They went out to the car. A small trunk was strapped on behind. -Everything had been prepared for Miss Enderby’s visit to the country. -The chauffeur opened the door and touched his cap respectfully, the -two women got in, and off they went.</p> - -<p>“Now you will please to dismiss this subject from your mind,” said -Mrs. Enderby. “I do not wish to talk of it.” She spoke kindly now. -“You will have a pleasant day in the country.”</p> - -<p>“Day!” said Lexy. “But what time will we get back?”</p> - -<p>“Before dinner.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’ve got to get back this afternoon! I’ve got to see some one! -It’s important—terribly important!”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby smiled faintly.</p> - -<p>“The chauffeur must see you descend at Miss Craigie’s house,” she -said. “Once we are there, I have a hat and coat of your own in the -trunk. I shall explain what is necessary to Miss Craigie, who is very -discreet, very devoted. You can change then, but you must go home -quietly by train; and I think there are not many trains.”</p> - -<p>Lexy had a vision of the young man waiting and waiting for her in the -park that afternoon—the young man who had trusted her, who was waiting -in such miserable anxiety for some news of Caroline.</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Enderby,” she protested, “I can’t come with you. I’ve got to get -back this afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>Lexy made a creditable effort to master her anger and distress.</p> - -<p>“It’s important—to you,” she said. “I have to see some one about -Caroline—some one who can tell you something.”</p> - -<p>This time Mrs. Enderby made no answer at all. There she sat, stout, -majestic, absolutely impervious, looking out of the window as if Lexy -did not exist. What was to be done? She couldn’t communicate with the -chauffeur except by leaning across Mrs. Enderby, and a struggle with -that lady was out of the question.</p> - -<p>“But I’m not going on!” she thought.</p> - -<p>She waited until the car slowed down at a crossing. Then she made a -sudden dart for the door. With equal suddenness Mrs. Enderby seized -her arm.</p> - -<p>“Sit down!” she said, in a singularly unpleasant whisper. “There shall -be no scene. Sit down, I tell you!”</p> - -<p>“I won’t!” replied Lexy, but just then the car started forward, and -she fell back on the seat.</p> - -<p>“You will come with me,” said Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>That overbearing tone, that grasp on her arm, were very nearly too -much for Lexy. She had always been quick-tempered. All the Morans -were, and were perversely proud of it, too; but Lexy had learned many -lessons in a hard school. She had learned to control her temper, and -she did so now. She was silent for a time.</p> - -<p>“All right!” she agreed, at last. “I’ll come. I don’t see what else I -can do—now; but after this I’ll have to use my own judgment, Mrs. -Enderby.”</p> - -<p>“You have none,” Mrs. Enderby told her calmly.</p> - -<p>Lexy clenched her hands, and again was silent for a moment.</p> - -<p>“I mean—” she began.</p> - -<p>“I know very well what you mean,” said Mrs. Enderby. “You mean that -you will keep faith with me no longer. I saw that. You wished to run -off and tell your story to some one this afternoon. I stopped that. -After this, I cannot stop you any longer. You will tell, but I think -no one will listen to you. I shall deny it, and no one will be likely -to listen to the word of a discharged employee.”</p> - -<p>Lexy had grown very pale.</p> - -<p>“I see!” she said slowly. “Then you’re going to—”</p> - -<p>“You are discharged,” interrupted Mrs. Enderby, “because I do not like -to have my daughter’s companion running into the park to meet a young -man.”</p> - -<p>“I see!” said Lexy again.</p> - -<p>And nothing more. All the warmth of her anger had gone, and in its -place had come an overwhelming depression. For all her sturdiness and -courage, she was young and generous and sensitive, and those words of -Mrs. Enderby’s hurt her cruelly.</p> - -<p>She sat very still, looking out of the window. They had left the city -now, and were on the Boston road. It was a sweet, fresh April day, and -under a bright and windy sky the countryside was showing the first -soft green of spring.</p> - -<p>Lexy remembered. She remembered the things she had so valiantly tried -to forget—the dear, happy days that were past, spring days like this, -in her own home, with her mother and father; early morning rides on -her little black mare, and coming home to the old house, to the people -who loved her; her father’s laugh, her mother’s wonderful smile, the -friendly faces of the servants.</p> - -<p>She was not old enough or wise enough as yet, for these memories to be -a solace to her. They were pain—nothing but pain. There was no one now -to love her, or even to be interested in her. She had cut herself off -from her old friends and gone out alone, like a poor, rash, gallant -little knight-errant, into the wide world to seek her fortune. -Caroline had disappeared, and Mrs. Enderby had dismissed her with -savage contempt. She would have to go out now and look for a new job.</p> - -<p>She straightened her shoulders.</p> - -<p>“This won’t do!” she said to herself. “It’s disgusting, mawkish -self-pity, and nothing else. I’m young and healthy, and I can always -find a job. What I want to think about now is Caroline, and what I -ought to do for her.”</p> - -<p>So she did begin to think about Caroline. The first thought that came -into her head was such an extraordinary one that it startled her.</p> - -<p>“Anyhow, she’s a pretty lucky girl!”</p> - -<p>Lucky? Caroline, who had lived like a prisoner, and who had now so -strangely disappeared, lucky—simply because a sunburned, blue-eyed -young man was so miserably anxious about her?</p> - -<p>“I suppose he’s thinking about her this minute,” Lexy reflected; “and -I’m sure nobody in the world is thinking about me. Well, I don’t -care!”</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>VI</h2></div> - -<p>The car took them to a drowsy little village, and stopped before a -small cottage on a side street. Mrs. Enderby got out, followed by -Lexy, the living ghost of Caroline. Side by side they went up the -flagged path and on to the porch. Mrs. Enderby rang the bell, and in a -moment the door was opened by a thin, sandy-haired woman in -spectacles.</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Enderby!” she cried, her plain face lighting up in a delighted -smile. “And my dear little Caroline!” She held out her hand to Lexy, -and suddenly her face changed. “But—” she began.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby pushed her gently inside and closed the door.</p> - -<p>“But it’s not Caroline!” cried Miss Craigie.</p> - -<p>“Hush!” said Mrs. Enderby. “I shall explain to you. Please allow the -chauffeur to carry upstairs a small trunk, and please have no air of -surprise.”</p> - -<p>Evidently Miss Craigie was in the habit of obeying Mrs. Enderby. She -opened the front door and called the chauffeur, who came in with the -trunk.</p> - -<p>“Turn your back!” whispered Mrs. Enderby to Lexy. “Go and look out of -the window!”</p> - -<p>Lexy heard the man go past the sitting room and up the stairs. -Presently he came running down, and the front door closed after him.</p> - -<p>“Now, Miss Craigie,” said Mrs. Enderby, “if you will permit Miss Moran -to go upstairs?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, certainly!” answered the bewildered Miss Craigie. “Whatever you -think best, Mrs. Enderby, I’m sure.”</p> - -<p>“Go!” said Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>The lady’s tone aroused in Lexy a great desire not to go. Of course, -now that she had gone so far, it would be childish to refuse to -continue; but she meant to take her time. She stood there by the -window, slowly drawing off her gloves, her back turned to the room. -Suddenly Mrs. Enderby caught her by the shoulder and turned her -around.</p> - -<p>“Go!” she said again. “Take off those things of my child’s. <i>Mon Dieu! -Mon Dieu!</i> Have you no heart?”</p> - -<p>There was such a note of anguish in her voice that Lexy no longer -delayed. She followed Miss Craigie up the stairs to a neat, prim -little bedroom, where the trunk stood, already unlocked.</p> - -<p>“If you want anything—” suggested Miss Craigie, in her gentle and -apologetic way.</p> - -<p>“No, thank you,” replied Lexy.</p> - -<p>Miss Craigie went out, closing the door softly behind her. Lexy took -off Caroline’s hat and coat and laid them on the bed.</p> - -<p>“I wonder if I’ll ever see her wearing them again!” she thought.</p> - -<p>For a long time she stood motionless, looking down at the things that -Caroline had worn. Most pitifully eloquent, they seemed to her—the hat -that had covered Caroline’s fair hair, the coat that had fitted her -slender shoulders. Lexy looked and looked, grave and sorrowful—and in -that moment her resolution was made.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to find her!” she said, half aloud. “I don’t care what any -one else does or what any one else thinks. I <i>know</i> she’s in trouble -of some sort, and I’m going to find her!”</p> - -<p>The last trace of what Lexy had called “mawkish self-pity” had -vanished now. She was no longer concerned with Mrs. Enderby’s attitude -toward herself. It didn’t matter. Finding another job didn’t matter, -either. She had a little money due her, and she meant to use it—every -penny of it—in finding Caroline.</p> - -<p>She washed her hands and face, brushed her hair, put on her own hat -and jacket, and went downstairs again. Mrs. Enderby was standing in -the tiny hall, and from the sitting room there came a sound of muffled -sobbing.</p> - -<p>“She is an imbecile, that woman!” said Mrs. Enderby, with a sigh; “but -she will hold her tongue. And you?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to do as I think best,” answered Lexy. “I’ll say good-by -now, Mrs. Enderby.”</p> - -<p>“There is no train until three o’clock. It is now after one. We shall -have lunch directly.”</p> - -<p>“No, thank you,” said Lexy. “I’d rather go now. I dare say I can find -something to eat in the village.”</p> - -<p>She was not in the least angry now, or hurt; only she wanted to get -away, by herself, to think this out.</p> - -<p>“Good-by?” repeated Mrs. Enderby, with a smile. “You think, then, -never to see me again?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Lexy. “I mean to see you again—when I have something to -tell you; but just now I want to go back and pack up my things.”</p> - -<p>“And leave my house?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>They were both silent for a moment. Then, to Lexy’s amazement, Mrs. -Enderby laid a hand gently on the girl’s shoulder.</p> - -<p>“My child,” she said, “you think I am a very hard woman. Perhaps it is -so; but, like you, I do what seems to me the right. Certainly it is -better now that you should leave us; but not like this. You must have -your lunch here, then you must return to the house and sleep there, -all in the usual way. To-morrow you shall go.” She paused a moment. -“You shall go, if you are still determined that you will not keep -faith with me.”</p> - -<p>It was not a very difficult matter to touch Lexy’s heart. Whatever -resentment she may have felt against Mrs. Enderby vanished now, lost -in a sincere pity and respect; but she was firm in her purpose.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to tell one person,” she said. “If I do, I shall be able to -tell you something you ought to know. I wish you could trust me! I -wish you could believe that all I’m thinking of is—Caroline!”</p> - -<p>“I do believe you,” said Mrs. Enderby. “You are very honest, and very, -very young. You wish to do good, but you do harm. Very well, my -child—I cannot stop you. Go your way, and I go mine; but”—she paused -again, and again smiled her faint, shadowy smile—“if I think it right -that you should be sacrificed, it shall be so. I am sorry. I have -affection for you. I shall be sorry if you stand in my way.”</p> - -<p>Lexy met her eyes steadily.</p> - -<p>“I’m sorry, too,” she said.</p> - -<p>And so she was. There was nothing in her heart now but sorrow for them -all—for Caroline, for Mrs. Enderby, for the luckless Mr. Houseman, -even for Miss Craigie; but most of all for Caroline.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to find her,” she thought, over and over again; “and <i>he’ll</i> -help me!”</p> - -<p>She had lunch in Miss Craigie’s cottage—a melancholy meal, with the -hostess red-eyed and dejected and Mrs. Enderby sternly silent. Then, -after lunch, poor Miss Craigie was sent out for a drive, in order to -get rid of the chauffeur while Lexy slipped out of the house and down -to the station.</p> - -<p>Everything went as Mrs. Enderby had willed it. Lexy caught the -designated train, and returned to the city. All the way in, her great -comfort was the thought of Mr. Houseman. He would help her. Now she -could tell him that Caroline had gone, and he would help her.</p> - -<p>“Of course, I’ve missed him to-day,” she thought; “but he’s sure to be -in the park again to-morrow. Perhaps he’ll telephone. He’s not the -sort to be easily discouraged, I’m sure.”</p> - -<p>It was dark when she reached the Grand Central, but, at the risk of -being late for dinner, Lexy chose to walk back to the house. She could -always think better when she was walking.</p> - -<p>“I want to get the thing in order in my own mind,” she reflected. -“Mrs. Enderby is so—confusing. Here’s the case—Mr. Houseman says -Caroline promised to meet him last night at a place called Wyngate, -and they were to be married. She left the house. This morning there -was a letter from her, postmarked Wyngate; but he says she didn’t go -there. Well, then, where did she go?”</p> - -<p>Impossible to answer that question with even the wildest surmise.</p> - -<p>“I’ll have to wait,” Lexy went on. “I’ll have to find out more from -Mr. Houseman. Perhaps they misunderstood each other. It’s no use -trying to guess. I’ll have to wait till I see him.”</p> - -<p>She recalled his honest, sunburned face with great good will. He was -her ally. He was young, like herself, not old and cautious and -deliberate. She liked him. She trusted him. In her loneliness and -anxiety, he seemed a friend.</p> - -<p>Annie opened the door with her customary air of disapproval.</p> - -<p>“Yes, miss,” she answered. “Mrs. Enderby came home in the car half an -hour ago. Dinner’ll be served in ten minutes. Here’s a letter for you. -A young man left it about twenty minutes ago.”</p> - -<p>“If I’d taken a taxi from Grand Central, I’d have seen him!” was -Lexy’s first thought.</p> - -<p>Even a letter was something, however, and she ran upstairs with it, -very much pleased. Of course, it was from Mr. Houseman. She locked the -door, and, standing against it, looked at the envelope. It was -addressed to “Miss Lexy” in a good clear hand. That made her smile, -remembering her first indignation that morning.</p> - -<p>The letter ran thus:</p> - -<blockquote> -<p style='text-indent:0'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Dear Miss Lexy:</span></p> - -<p>Please excuse me for addressing you like this, but I don’t know your -other name. I forgot to ask you.</p> - -<p>I waited in the park for you all afternoon. When it got dark, I -couldn’t stand it any longer, so I went to the house and asked for -Miss Enderby. The servant told me she had gone away to the country -with her mother this morning.</p> - -<p>Please tell Miss Enderby that I understand. I am sorry she didn’t tell -me before that she had changed her mind, instead of letting me wait -like that; but it’s finished now. Please tell her she can count on me -to hold my tongue, and never to bother her again in any way.</p> - -<p>We are sailing to-night, or I should have tried to see you to-morrow. -In case you have any message for me, you can address me at the -company’s office, J. J. Eames & Son, 99 State Street. I expect to be -back in about six weeks.</p> - -<div style='text-align:right;margin-right:4em;'>Very truly yours,</div> -<div style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Charles Houseman.</span></div> -</blockquote> -<p>“Sailing to-night!” cried Lexy. “Then he’s gone! He’s gone!”</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>VII</h2></div> - -<p>“So you are still of the same mind?” inquired Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>“More so, if anything,” Lexy answered seriously.</p> - -<p>It was after breakfast the next morning. Mr. Enderby had gone to his -office, and Mrs. Enderby and Lexy were alone in the dining room. There -was an odd sort of friendliness between them. Lexy felt no constraint -in asking questions.</p> - -<p>“There isn’t any letter this morning, is there, Mrs. Enderby?”</p> - -<p>“There is not.”</p> - -<p>“Then I suppose you’re going to tell Mr. Enderby?”</p> - -<p>“This evening.”</p> - -<p>“And then?”</p> - -<p>“Then I shall be guided by his advice,” Mrs. Enderby replied blandly.</p> - -<p>Lexy could have smiled at this. She knew how likely Mrs. Enderby was -to be guided by her husband; but she kept the smile and the thought to -herself.</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to interfere with your plans—” she began.</p> - -<p>“I have no plans.”</p> - -<p>“I mean, if you’re going to take steps to find her—”</p> - -<p>“My child,” said Mrs. Enderby, “it is clear that you wish to amuse -yourself with a grand mystery. I tell you there is no mystery, but you -do not believe me. I ask you to say nothing of this matter, but you -refuse. So I say to you now—go your own way, proceed with your -mystery. I do not think you can hurt me very much.”</p> - -<p>Lexy flushed.</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to hurt any one,” she declared stiffly. “I just want to -help your daughter.”</p> - -<p>“Proceed, then!” said Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>Lexy rose.</p> - -<p>“Then I’ll say good-by, Mrs. Enderby,” she said. “My trunk’s packed. -I’ll send for it this afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“And where are you going in such a hurry?”</p> - -<p>“I’m going to Wyngate,” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Ah!” said Mrs. Enderby. “It is a pretty place, is it not?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know. I’ve never seen it.”</p> - -<p>“Pardon me—you saw it yesterday. It is a small village through which -we passed on the way to Miss Craigie’s house.”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t know that.”</p> - -<p>“Now that you do know, perhaps you will spare yourself the trouble of -going there,” said Mrs. Enderby. “I assure you you will not find -Caroline there. I myself made certain inquiries. No such person has -arrived in Wyngate.”</p> - -<p>There was a moment’s silence.</p> - -<p>“But I observe by your face that you are not convinced,” Mrs. Enderby -went on. “‘This Mrs. Enderby, she is a stupid old creature,’ you think -to yourself. ‘I shall go there myself, and I shall discover that which -she could not.’”</p> - -<p>Lexy reddened again.</p> - -<p>“I don’t mean it that way,” she said. “It’s only that we look at this -from different points of view, and I feel—I feel that I’ve got to go.”</p> - -<p>“Very well!” said Mrs. Enderby, and she, too, rose. “You will please -to come to my room with me. There is part of your salary to be paid to -you.”</p> - -<p>Lexy followed her, still flushed, and very reluctant. She wished she -could afford to refuse that money.</p> - -<p>“But I’ve earned it,” she thought; “and goodness knows I’ll need it!”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby sat down at her desk and took out her check book. While -she wrote, Lexy looked out of the window.</p> - -<p>“The amount due to you, including to-day, is thirty-two dollars,” said -Mrs. Enderby. “Here is a check for it.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>“One minute more! Here, my child, is another check.”</p> - -<p>Lexy stared at it, amazed. It was for one hundred dollars.</p> - -<p>“But, Mrs. Enderby, I can’t—”</p> - -<p>“You will please take it and say nothing more. I give you this because -I shall give you no reference. I shall answer no inquiries about you. -You understand?”</p> - -<p>“But I don’t want—”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby pushed back her chair, and rose. She crossed the room to -Lexy, put both hands on the girl’s shoulders, and then did something -far more astonishing than the gift of the check. She kissed Lexy on -the forehead.</p> - -<p>“Good-by, and God bless you, little honest one!” she said, with a -smile. “I think we shall not see each other again, but I shall -sometimes remember you. Go, now, and bear in mind that you can always -trust Miss Craigie. She is an imbecile, but she can be trusted. -<i>Adieu!</i>”</p> - -<p>Lexy’s eyes filled with tears.</p> - -<p>“<i>Au revoir!</i>” she said stoutly; and then, with one of her sudden -impulses, she put both arms around Mrs. Enderby’s neck and returned -her kiss vigorously. “I’m sorry!” she said. “I’m awfully sorry!”</p> - -<p>This was their parting. Lexy was thankful that it had been like this, -very glad that she could leave the house in good will and kindliness. -It strengthened her beyond measure. She wanted to help Caroline, and -she wanted to help Mrs. Enderby, too.</p> - -<p>“And I will!” she thought. “I know that I’m right and she’s wrong! -She’s rather terrible, too. Sometimes I think she’d almost rather not -find out the truth, if it was going to make what she calls a scandal. -She will have it that Caroline’s gone away of her own free will, to -get married; and if it’s anything else, she doesn’t want to know. She -<i>is</i> hard, but there’s something rather fine about her.”</p> - -<p>There was no one in the hall when Lexy left, and this was a relief, -for she supposed that Mrs. Enderby had told the servants, or would -tell them, that Miss Moran had been discharged.</p> - -<p>She went out and closed the door behind her. A fine, thin rain was -falling—nothing to daunt a healthy young creature like Lexy; yet she -wished that the sun had been shining. She wished that she hadn’t had -to leave the house in the rain, under a gray sky. Somehow it made her -only too well aware that she was homeless now, and alone.</p> - -<p>As was her habit when depressed, she set off to walk briskly; and by -the time she reached the Grand Central her cheeks were glowing and her -heart considerably less heavy. She learned that she had nearly three -hours to wait for the next train to Wyngate; so she bought her ticket, -checked her bag, and went out again.</p> - -<p>In a near-by department store she bought a little chamois pocket. Then -she went to the bank, cashed both her checks, and, putting the bills -into her pocket, hung it around her neck inside her blouse. It was -very comfortable to have so much money.</p> - -<p>Then, only as a forlorn hope, she rang up the offices of J. J. Eames & -Son, on State Street.</p> - -<p>“I don’t suppose they keep track of their passengers,” she thought; -“but it can’t do any harm.”</p> - -<p>So, when she got the connection, she asked politely:</p> - -<p>“Could you possibly tell me where Mr. Charles Houseman has gone?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly!” answered an equally polite voice at the other end of the -wire. “Just a moment, please! You mean Mr. Houseman, second officer on -the Mazell?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” said Lexy, surprised. “Has he blue eyes?”</p> - -<p>There was an instant’s silence. Then the voice spoke again, a little -unsteadily.</p> - -<p>“I—I believe so.”</p> - -<p>“He’s laughing at me!” thought Lexy indignantly, and her voice became -severely dignified.</p> - -<p>“Can you tell me where the—the Mazell has gone?”</p> - -<p>“Lisbon and Gibraltar. We expect her back in about five weeks.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you!” said Lexy. “And that’s that!” she added, to herself. “So -he’s a sailor! I rather like sailors. Well, anyhow, he’s gone.” She -sighed. “Carry on!” she said.</p> - -<p>She went into a tea room on Forty-Second Street and ordered herself a -very good lunch.</p> - -<p>“Much better than I can afford,” she thought. “Goodness knows what’s -going to happen to me! Here I am, without visible means of support. I -suppose I’m an idiot. Lots of people would say so. They’d say I ought -to be looking for a new job this instant; but I don’t care! I’m not -going back on Caroline. Mrs. Enderby won’t do anything, and Mr. -Houseman’s gone away, and there’s nobody but me. Perhaps I can’t do -very much, but, by jiminy, I’m going to try!”</p> - -<p>There was still an hour to spare, and she passed it in a fashion she -had often scornfully denounced. She went shopping—without buying. She -wandered through a great department store, looking at all sorts of -things. Some of them she wanted, but she resolutely told herself that -she was better off without them.</p> - -<p>Then, at the proper time, she went back to the Grand Central, -recovered her bag, bought herself two or three magazines and a bar of -chocolate, and boarded the train. For all that she tried to be so cool -and sensible, she could not help feeling a queer little thrill of -excitement. Her quest had begun, and she could not in any way foresee -the end.</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>VIII</h2></div> - -<p>Now it certainly was not Lexy’s way to take any great interest in -strange young men. There was not a trace of coquetry in her honest -heart, and she had always looked upon the little flirtations of her -friends with distaste and wonder.</p> - -<p>“<i>I’m</i> not romantic!” she had said more than once.</p> - -<p>She believed that. She would have denied indignantly that her present -mission was romantic. She thought it a matter-of-course thing which -she was in honor bound to do for her friend Caroline Enderby. She felt -that she was very cool and practical about it, and a mighty sensible -sort of girl altogether.</p> - -<p>Certainly she saw the young man on the train, for her alert glance saw -pretty well everything. She saw him, and she thought she had never set -eyes on a handsomer man.</p> - -<p>He was very tall, and slenderly and strongly built. He was dressed -with fastidious perfection, and he had an air of marked distinction. -In short, he was a man whom any one would look at—and remember; but -Lexy, the unromantic girl, thought him inferior to the blue-eyed Mr. -Houseman. She preferred young Houseman’s blunt, sunburned face to the -dark and haughty one of this stranger. She simply was not interested -in dark and haughty strangers, however distinguished and handsome. She -looked at this one, and then returned to her magazines.</p> - -<p>She had a weakness for detective stories, and she was reading one -now—reading it in the proper spirit, uncritical and absorbed. Whenever -the train stopped at a station, she glanced up, and more than once, as -she turned her head, she caught the stranger’s eye. She wondered, -later on, why she hadn’t had some sort of premonition. People in -stories always did. They always recognized at once the other people -who were going to be in the story with them; but Lexy did not. Even -toward the end of the journey, when she and the stranger were the only -ones left in the car, she was not aware of any interest in him.</p> - -<p>Even when he, too, got out at Wyngate, Lexy was not specially -interested. It was only a little after five o’clock, but it was dark -already on that rainy afternoon, and the only thing that interested -her just then was the sight of a solitary taxi drawn up beside the -platform. Bag in hand, she hurried toward it, but the stranger got -there before her. When she arrived, he was speaking to the driver.</p> - -<p>There was no other taxi or vehicle of any sort in sight, no other -lights were visible except those of the station. It was a strange and -unknown world upon which she looked in the rainy dusk, and she felt a -justifiable annoyance with the ungallant stranger. He jumped into the -cab and slammed the door.</p> - -<p>“Driver!” cried Lexy. “Will you please come back for me?”</p> - -<p>But before the driver could answer, the door of the cab opened, and -the stranger sprang out.</p> - -<p>“I <i>beg</i> your pardon!” he said, standing hat in hand before Lexy. “I’m -most awfully sorry! Give you my word I didn’t notice. I should have -noticed, of course. Absent-minded sort of beggar, you know! Please -take the cab, won’t you? I don’t in the least mind waiting. Please -take it! Allow me!”</p> - -<p>He tried to take her bag. His manner was not at all haughty. On the -contrary, it was a very agreeable manner, and the impulsive Lexy liked -him.</p> - -<p>“Why can’t we both go?” said she.</p> - -<p>“Oh, no!” he protested. “Please take the cab! Give you my word I don’t -mind waiting.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a dismal place to wait in,” said Lexy. “We can both go, just as -well as not.”</p> - -<p>The driver approved of Lexy’s idea. It saved him trouble.</p> - -<p>“Where do you want to go, miss?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” said Lexy. “I suppose there’s a hotel, isn’t there?”</p> - -<p>“I say!” exclaimed the stranger. “Just what I’d been asking him, you -know! He says there’s no hotel, but a very decent boarding house.”</p> - -<p>“Mis’ Royce’s,” added the driver. “She takes boarders.”</p> - -<p>“All right!” said Lexy cheerfully. “Miss Royce’s it is!”</p> - -<p>The stranger took her bag, and put it into the taxi. He would have -assisted Lexy, but she was already inside; so he, too, got in. He -closed the door, and off they went.</p> - -<p>“I <i>am</i> sorry, you know,” he said, “shoving ahead like that; but I -didn’t notice—”</p> - -<p>“Well, please stop being sorry now,” requested Lexy firmly.</p> - -<p>“Right-o!” said he. “You won’t mind my saying you’ve been wonderfully -nice about it?”</p> - -<p>“No, I don’t mind that a bit,” replied Lexy. “I like to be wonderfully -nice.”</p> - -<p>There was a moment’s silence.</p> - -<p>“Will you allow me to introduce myself?” said the stranger. “Grey, you -know—George Grey—Captain Grey, you know.”</p> - -<p>“Captain of a ship?” asked Lexy, with interest. She thought she would -like to talk about ships.</p> - -<p>“Oh, no!” said he, rather shocked. “Army—British army—stationed in -India.”</p> - -<p>“I knew you were an Englishman.”</p> - -<p>“Did you really?” said he, as if surprised. “People do seem to know. -My first visit to your country—six months’ leave—so I’ve come here to -see my sister—Mrs. Quelton. She’s married to an American doctor.”</p> - -<p>Lexy thought there was something almost pathetic in his chivalrous -anxiety to explain himself.</p> - -<p>“I’m Alexandra Moran,” she said.</p> - -<p>“Thank you!” said Captain Grey. “Thank you very much, Miss Moran!”</p> - -<p>There was no opportunity for further polite conversation, for the taxi -had stopped and the driver came around to the door.</p> - -<p>“Better make a run fer it!” he said. “I’ll take yer bags.”</p> - -<p>So Captain Grey took Lexy’s arm, and they did make a run for it, -through the fine, chilly rain, along a garden path and up on a -veranda. The door was opened at once.</p> - -<p>“Miss Royce?” asked Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Royce,” said the other. “Come right in. My, how it does rain!”</p> - -<p>They followed her into a dimly lit hall. She opened a door on the -right, and lit the gas in what was obviously the “best parlor”—a -dreadful room, stiff and ugly, and smelling of camphor and dampness. -Captain Grey remained in the hall to settle with the driver, and Lexy -decided to let her share of the reckoning wait for a more auspicious -occasion. She went into the parlor with Mrs. Royce.</p> - -<p>“You and your husband just come from the city?” inquired the landlady.</p> - -<p>“He’s not my husband,” replied Lexy, with a laugh. “I never set eyes -on him before. There was only one taxi, and we were both looking for a -hotel. The driver said you took boarders, and that’s how we happened -to come together.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t take boarders much, ’cept in the summer time,” said Mrs. -Royce. She was a stout, comfortable sort of creature, gray-haired, and -very neat in her dark dress and clean white apron. She had a kindly, -good-humored face, too, but she had a landlady’s eye. “People don’t -come here much, this time of year,” she went on. “Nothing to bring ’em -here.”</p> - -<p>These last words were a challenge to Lexy to explain her business, and -she was prepared.</p> - -<p>“I passed through here the other day in a motor,” she said, “on my way -to Adams Corners, and I thought it looked like such a nice, quiet -place for me to work in. I’m a writer, you know, and I thought Wyngate -would just suit me.”</p> - -<p>“I was born and raised out to Adams Corners,” said Mrs. Royce. “Guess -there’s no one living out there that I don’t know.”</p> - -<p>“Then perhaps you know Miss Craigie?”</p> - -<p>“Miss Margaret Craigie? I should say I did! If you’re a friend of -hers—”</p> - -<p>“Only an acquaintance,” said Lexy cautiously.</p> - -<p>“Set down!” suggested Mrs. Royce, very cordial now. “I’ll light a nice -wood fire. A writer, are you? Well, well! And the gentleman—I wonder, -now, what brings him here!”</p> - -<p>“He told me he’d come to see his sister,” said Lexy. “Mrs. Quelton, I -think he said.”</p> - -<p>“Quelton!” cried the landlady. “You didn’t say Quelton? Not the -doctor’s wife?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said the captain’s voice from the doorway. “Nothing happened to -her, has there? Nothing gone wrong?”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce stared at him with the most profound interest, and he -stared back at her, somewhat uneasily.</p> - -<p>“No,” said she, at last. “No—only—well, I’m sure!”</p> - -<p>There was a silence.</p> - -<p>“Could we possibly have a little supper?” asked Lexy politely.</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed you can!” said Mrs. Royce. “Right away!” But still she -lingered. “Mrs. Quelton’s brother!” she said. “Well, I never!”</p> - -<p>Then she tore herself away, leaving Lexy and Captain Grey alone in the -parlor.</p> - -<p>“Seems to bother her,” he said. “I wonder why!”</p> - -<p>Lexy was also wondering, and longing to ask questions, but she felt -that it wouldn’t be good manners.</p> - -<p>“People in small places like this are always awfully curious,” she -observed.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said he; “and Muriel may be a bit eccentric, you know. I rather -imagine she is, from her letters. I’ve never seen her.”</p> - -<p>“Never seen your own sister!”</p> - -<p>Lexy would certainly have asked questions now, manners or no manners, -only that Mrs. Royce entered the room again, to fulfill her promise to -make a “nice wood fire.” Amazing, the difference it made in the room! -The ugliness and stiffness vanished in the ruddy glow. It seemed a -delightful room, now, homely and welcoming and safe.</p> - -<p>“It’s real cozy here,” said Mrs. Royce, “on a night like this. I’m -sorry the dining room’s so kind of chilly.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, can’t we have supper here, by the fire?” cried Lexy. “Please! -We’ll promise not to get any crumbs on your nice carpet, Mrs. Royce!”</p> - -<p>“I guess you can,” replied the landlady benevolently.</p> - -<p>And so it happened that the ancient magic of fire was invoked in -Lexy’s behalf. Probably, if she and Captain Grey had had their supper -in the chilly dining room, they would have been a little chilly, too, -and more cautious. They might not have said all that they did say.</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>IX</h2></div> - -<p>It was an excellent supper, and Captain Grey and Lexy thoroughly -appreciated it. They ate with healthy appetites, and they talked. Mrs. -Royce, from the kitchen, heard their cheerful, friendly voices, and -their laughter, and she didn’t for one moment believe that they had -never met before. Listening to them, she wore that benevolent smile -once more, and felt sure that she had encountered a very charming -little romance.</p> - -<p>It was all Lexy’s doing. It was Lexy’s beautiful talent, to be able to -create this atmosphere of honest and happy <i>camaraderie</i>. Before the -meal was finished, Captain Grey was talking to her as if they had -known each other since childhood, and he didn’t even wonder at it. It -seemed perfectly natural.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce came in to take away the dishes.</p> - -<p>“Going to set here a while?” she asked, looking at the two young -people with a smile of approval. “I’ll bring in some more wood.” She -hesitated a moment, and the landladyish glimmer again appeared in her -eyes. “If it was me,” she observed, in the most casual way, “the -fire’d be enough light. If it was me, now, I wouldn’t want that gas -flaring and blaring away—and burning up good money,” she added, to -herself.</p> - -<p>“You’re right,” Lexy cheerfully agreed. “We’ll turn it down.”</p> - -<p>The rain was falling fast outside, driving against the windows when -the wind blew; and inside the young people sat by the fire, very -content.</p> - -<p>“Queer thing!” said Captain Grey meditatively. “Never been in this -place before—never been in this country before—and yet it’s like -coming home!”</p> - -<p>“I know that feeling,” said Lexy. “I’ve had it before. I think only -people who haven’t any real homes of their own ever have it.”</p> - -<p>“But haven’t you any real home?” he asked, evidently distressed.</p> - -<p>“No,” she answered; “but please don’t think it’s tragic. It’s not.”</p> - -<p>“You haven’t impressed me as tragic,” he admitted.</p> - -<p>Lexy laughed.</p> - -<p>“Thank goodness!” she said. “I do want to keep on being—well, ordinary -and human, even when outside things seem a little tragic.”</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran!” he said, and stopped.</p> - -<p>It was some time before he spoke again. Lexy took advantage of his -abstraction to study his face by the firelight. When you come to -understand it a little, it wasn’t a haughty face at all, but a very -sensitive and fine one.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran!” he said again. “About being ordinary and human—of -course, one wants to be that; but the thing is—I don’t know quite how -to put it, but if you have a feeling, you know—I mean a feeling that -something is wrong—” He paused again.</p> - -<p>“I mean,” he went on, “if you have a feeling like that—a sort of—well, -call it uneasiness—the question is whether one ought to laugh at it, -or take it as”—once more he stopped—“as a warning,” he ended.</p> - -<p>A strange sensation came over Lexy.</p> - -<p>“I’ve been thinking a good deal about that very thing lately,” she -replied. “I believe feelings like that <i>are</i> a warning. I’m sure it’s -wrong—foolish and wrong—to disregard them. Even if every one else, -even if your own mind tells you it’s all nonsense, you mustn’t care!”</p> - -<p>“I think you’re right,” he gravely agreed. “I’ve been trying to tell -myself that I’m an utter ass, but all the time I knew I wasn’t. I -knew—I know now—that there’s something—”</p> - -<p>An unreasoning dread possessed Lexy. She felt for a moment that she -didn’t want to hear any more.</p> - -<p>“I’d like to tell you about it, if you wouldn’t mind,” he said. -“Somehow I think you could help.”</p> - -<p>For an instant she hesitated.</p> - -<p>“Please do tell me,” she said at length. “I’d be glad to help, if I -can.”</p> - -<p>“It’s this,” he said. “Do you mind if I smoke? Thanks!”</p> - -<p>He took a cigarette case from his pocket. As he struck a match, she -could see his face very clearly in the sudden flame; and, for no -reason at all, she pitied him.</p> - -<p>“It’s this,” he said again. “It’s about my sister.”</p> - -<p>“The sister you’ve never seen?”</p> - -<p>The sensation of dread had gone, and she felt only the liveliest -interest. She wanted very much to hear about Captain Grey’s sister.</p> - -<p>“It wasn’t quite true to say I’d never seen her,” he explained, in his -painstaking way. “I have, you know; but not since I was six years old -and she was a baby. Our mother died when Muriel was born, out in -India. An aunt took the poor little kid to the States with her, and I -stayed out there with my father.”</p> - -<p>He drew on his cigarette for a minute.</p> - -<p>“She’s twenty-one now,” he said. “Last picture I had of her was when -she was fourteen or so. A pretty kid—a bit more than pretty—what you’d -call lovely.”</p> - -<p>He was silent for a little, staring into the fire.</p> - -<p>“When I was at school in England, it was arranged that she was to come -over; but she didn’t, and we’ve never met again. Twenty-one years—it’s -a long time.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it is,” said Lexy gently, for something in his voice touched -her.</p> - -<p>“We’ve written to each other, on and off. I’m not much good at that -sort of thing, but I thought her letters were—well, rather remarkable, -you know; but I dare say I’m prejudiced. She’s the only one of my own -people left.”</p> - -<p>“You poor, dear thing!” thought Lexy, with ready sympathy, but she did -not say anything.</p> - -<p>“Anyhow,” he presently continued, “I got an impression from her -letters that she was rather an extraordinary girl. She was studying -music—said she was going on the concert stage—awfully enthusiastic -about it; and then she married this doctor chap. She never said much -about him, only that she was very happy; but—well, I don’t believe -that.”</p> - -<p>“Why?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know. Anyhow, she was married about two years ago, and a few -months after her marriage she began writing oftener—almost every mail. -She was always wanting me to come over here and see her; and lately, -in her last letters, I—somehow I fancied she wanted me rather badly. -It—it worried me, so I arranged for leave. On the very day when I -wrote that I would be coming over this month, I had a letter from her, -asking me not to make any plans for coming this year. She said she’d -taken up her concert work again, and would be too busy to enjoy the -visit, and so on. I’d already made my plans, you see, so I went ahead. -Then, about a fortnight later, after she’d got my letter, I suppose, I -had a cable. ‘Don’t come,’ it said. I cabled back, but she didn’t -answer.”</p> - -<p>He looked anxiously at Lexy, but she said nothing. She sat very still, -curled up in a big chair, staring into the fire with an odd look of -uncertainty on her face.</p> - -<p>“You know,” he went on, “I’ve tried to think that she was simply too -busy, or something of that sort. But, Miss Moran, didn’t this woman’s -manner rather make you think there was something a bit—out of the -way?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t know,” replied Lexy, in a casual tone which very much -disconcerted him.</p> - -<p>“I’ve been making a fool of myself!” he thought, flushing. “Why the -devil didn’t I keep my old-woman notions to myself? Now she’ll think—”</p> - -<p>But Lexy was not thinking that Captain Grey was a fool. She was only -very much afraid of being one herself, and was engaged in a severe -struggle against this danger. That dread, that vague and oppressive -dread, had come back, and she was fighting to throw it off. She wanted -to be, she <i>would</i> be, her own normal, cheerful self again, living in -a normal, everyday world.</p> - -<p>“All this about his sister, and about Caroline!” she thought. “It’s -really nothing—nothing serious. Our both being here in Wyngate—that’s -nothing, either. It’s just a coincidence. If the gas wasn’t turned -down, I wouldn’t feel like this.”</p> - -<p>She would have risen and turned up the gas, only that she was ashamed -to do so. The fire was blazing merrily, shedding a ruddy light upon -the homely room, the most commonplace room in the world. There was -Captain Grey sitting there smoking—just an ordinary young man come to -visit his sister. There was herself—just Lexy Moran, well fed and warm -and comfortable, with more than a hundred dollars in a bag round her -neck. She could hear Mrs. Royce moving about in the kitchen, humming -to herself in a low drone.</p> - -<p>“I will <i>not</i> be silly!” she told herself.</p> - -<p>And just then a train whistled—a long, melancholy shriek. Lexy had a -sudden vision of it, rushing through the dark and the rain. She had a -sudden realization of the outside world, vast, lonely, terrible, -stretching from pole to pole—forests, and plains, and oceans. The -monstrous folly of pretending that everything was snug and warm and -cozy! Things did happen—only cowards denied that.</p> - -<p>“Captain Grey!” she cried abruptly. “What you’ve told me—it <i>is</i> -queer; and it’s even queerer when I think what has brought me here to -this little place. Both of us here, in Wyngate! I think I’ll tell -you.”</p> - -<p>And she did.</p> - -<p>He listened in absolute silence to the tale of Caroline Enderby’s -disappearance. Even after Lexy had finished, it was some time before -he spoke.</p> - -<p>“I’ll try to help you,” he said simply.</p> - -<p>“Oh, thank you!” cried Lexy, with a rush of gratitude. She wanted some -one to help her, and she could imagine no one better for the purpose -than this young man. He would help her—she was sure of it. Even the -fact of having told him most wonderfully lightened her burden. She -gave an irrepressible little giggle.</p> - -<p>“We have almost all the ingredients for a first-class mystery story,” -she said; “except the jewel—the famous ruby, or the great diamond.”</p> - -<p>“It’s an emerald, in this case,” said Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>Lexy straightened up in her chair, and stared at him.</p> - -<p>“You don’t really mean that?” she demanded. “There isn’t really an -emerald?” He smiled.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid it hasn’t much to do with the case—with either of the -cases,” he said; “but there is an emerald—my sister’s.”</p> - -<p>“It didn’t come from India?”</p> - -<p>“It did, though!”</p> - -<p>“Don’t tell me it was stolen from a temple! That would be too good to -be true!”</p> - -<p>“I’m sorry,” he said; “but as far as I know, it’s never been stolen at -all, and its history for the last eighty years hasn’t been sinister. -One of the old rajahs gave it to my grandfather—a reward of merit, you -know. When my father married, it went to my mother. She never had any -trouble with it. She never wore it, because she didn’t like it.”</p> - -<p>“Why?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you see, it’s an ostentatious sort of thing, and she wasn’t -ostentatious.” He paused a moment. “My father told me, before he died, -that he wanted Muriel to have it when she was eighteen; and so, three -years ago, I sent it over to her.”</p> - -<p>“But how?”</p> - -<p>“You’re a good detective,” said he, smiling again. “You don’t miss any -of the points. It was a bit of a problem, how to send the thing; but I -had the luck to find some people I knew who were coming over here, and -they brought it. So that’s that!”</p> - -<p>“An emerald!” said Lexy. “This is almost too much! I think I’ll say -good night, Captain Grey. I need sleep.”</p> - -<p>As she followed Mrs. Royce up the stairs, she saw Captain Grey still -sitting before the fire, smoking; and it was a comforting sight.</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>X</h2></div> - -<p>Lexy slept late the next morning. It was nearly nine o’clock when she -opened her eyes. She lay for a few minutes, looking about her. The -gray light of another rainy day filled the neat, unfamiliar little -room, and outside the window she could see the branches of a little -pear tree rocking in the wind.</p> - -<p>“I’m here in Wyngate,” she said to herself. “I was bent on coming here -to find Caroline; and now, here I am, and how am I going to begin?”</p> - -<p>She got up, and washed in cold water, in a queer, old-fashioned china -basin painted with flowers. She brushed her shining hair, and dressed, -feeling more hopeful every minute.</p> - -<p>“One step at a time!” she thought. “The first step was to come here; -and the next step—well, I’ll think of it after breakfast. Perhaps -Captain Grey will have thought of something.”</p> - -<p>But Captain Grey had gone out.</p> - -<p>“Jest a few minutes ago,” Mrs. Royce informed her. “He was down real -early—around seven, and he waited and waited for you. At half past -eight he et, and off he went.”</p> - -<p>“Did he say when he’d be back?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Mrs. Royce. “He didn’t say much of anything. He’s a kind of -quiet young man, ain’t he? Well, he’d ought to get on with his sister, -then.”</p> - -<p>“Is she very quiet?” asked Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Quiet!” repeated Mrs. Royce. “Set down an’ begin to eat, Miss Moran. -I’ve fixed a real nice tasty breakfast for you, if I do say it as -shouldn’t. Corn gems, too. Mis’ Quelton quiet? I should say she was! -Quiet as”—she paused—“as the dead,” she went on, and the phrase made -an unpleasant impression upon Lexy. “An’ her husband, too. I never saw -the like of them. They never come into the village, an’ nobody ever -goes out there to the Tower. About twice a week the doctor drives into -Lymewell—the town below here—and he buys a lot of food an’ all, an’ he -goes home. I can see him out of my front winder, an’ the sight of him, -driving along in that black buggy of his—it gives me the shivers!”</p> - -<p>“But if he’s a doctor—”</p> - -<p>“Don’t ask <i>me</i> what kind of doctor he is, Miss Moran! He don’t go to -see the sick—that’s all I know.”</p> - -<p>“But his wife—what is she like?”</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran,” said the landlady, with profound impressiveness, “I -guess there ain’t three people in Wyngate that’s ever set eyes on -her!”</p> - -<p>“But how awfully queer!”</p> - -<p>“You may well say ‘queer,’” said Mrs. Royce. “There she stays, out in -that lonely place—never seeing a soul from one month’s end to another. -She’s a young woman, too—young, an’ just as pretty as a picture.”</p> - -<p>“Then you are—”</p> - -<p>“I’m one of the few that has seen her,” said Mrs. Royce, with a sort -of grim satisfaction. “That’s why I take a kind of special interest in -her. I seen her the night the doctor brought her here to Wyngate a -young bride. That’ll be three years ago this winter, but I remember it -as plain as plain. There was a terrible snowstorm, and he couldn’t git -out to his place, so he had to bring her here, and she sat right in -this very room, just where you’re sitting.”</p> - -<p>Instinctively Lexy looked behind her.</p> - -<p>“I feel that same way myself—as if she was a ghost,” said Mrs. Royce -solemnly. “Near three years ago, and her living only three miles off, -an’ I’ve never set eyes on her again. I’ve never forgotten her, -though, the sweet pretty young creature!”</p> - -<p>“But why do you suppose she lives like that?”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce came nearer.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran,” she said, “that doctor is crazy. I’m not the only one to -say it. He’s as crazy—hush, now! Here’s that poor young man!”</p> - -<p>The “poor young man” came into the room, with that very nice smile of -his.</p> - -<p>“Good morning!” he said. “I say, I’m sorry I didn’t wait for you a bit -longer, Miss Moran.”</p> - -<p>“I’m glad you didn’t,” said Lexy. “I’d have felt awfully guilty.”</p> - -<p>“I went out to telephone,” he explained. “Thought I’d tell Muriel I -was here, you know; but they have no telephone. Dashed odd, isn’t it, -for a doctor not to have a telephone in the house?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think he’s a real doctor—a physician, I mean,” said Lexy. She -glanced around and saw that Mrs. Royce had gone. Springing up, she -crossed the room to Captain Grey. “Has Mrs. Royce—has any one said -anything to you?” she asked, almost in a whisper.</p> - -<p>“No!” answered the young man, startled. “Why? What’s up?”</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Royce says—I suppose I really ought to tell you.”</p> - -<p>“No doubt about it!”</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Royce says Dr. Quelton is crazy!”</p> - -<p>Captain Grey took the news very coolly. Lexy observed that he -suppressed a smile.</p> - -<p>“Oh, that!” he said. “But you know, Miss Moran, in these little -villages any one who’s at all out of the ordinary is called crazy. -I’ve noticed it before. I can soon find out for myself, though, can’t -I? I thought, if you didn’t want me this morning, I’d go over -there—pay a call, you know. I understand it’s three miles from here, -so I shouldn’t be very long. I’d come back here for lunch.”</p> - -<p>“But, Captain Grey, you mustn’t think I expect you to—”</p> - -<p>“It’s not that,” he said. “Only you said you’d let me help you in your -little job, and I want to!” He smiled down at her. “So,” he said, -“I’ll be back for lunch;” and off he went.</p> - -<p>Lexy went to the window and looked out. She saw Captain Grey striding -off up the muddy road, perfectly indifferent to the rain, and -curiously elegant, in spite of his wet weather clothes. She was -thinking of him with great friendliness and appreciation; but she was -not thinking of him in the least as Mrs. Royce imagined she was -thinking.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce stood in the doorway, watching Lexy watch Captain Grey, -smiling and even beaming with benevolence; but she would have been -disappointed if she had suspected what was in Lexy’s head.</p> - -<p>“He’s awfully nice,” thought Lexy, “and awfully handsome, and I’m -certain that he’s absolutely trustworthy and honorable, but—”</p> - -<p>But somehow he wasn’t to be compared to Mr. Houseman. She knew -practically nothing about Mr. Houseman. She had talked with him for -five or ten minutes in the park, and his conversation had been -entirely about Caroline Enderby. He had shown himself to be -quick-tempered and sadly lacking in patience. He had written Lexy a -stiff, offended, boyish letter, and then he had disappeared. There was -no sensible reason in the world why she should think of him as she -did, no reason why she should hope so much to see him again; but she -did.</p> - -<p>“Well, now!” said Mrs. Royce, at last. “You’ll be wanting a nice quiet -place for your writing.”</p> - -<p>“Writing!” said Lexy. “I never—” She stopped herself just in time, -remembering her shocking falsehood of the night before. “I never care -much where I write,” she ended.</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ve fixed up the sewing room for you,” said Mrs. Royce. “I’ve -put a nice strong table in there with drawers, where you can keep your -papers an’ all.”</p> - -<p>“You’re a dear!” said Lexy warmly.</p> - -<p>She said this because she thought it, and without the least -calculation. She liked Mrs. Royce, and when she liked people she told -them so. That was what made people love her.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce was completely won.</p> - -<p>“I’m real glad to do it for you,” she said. “I won’t bother you, -neither, while you’re working. I know how it is with writing. My -cousin, now—her husband was writing for the movies, an’ he was that -upset if he was disturbed!”</p> - -<p>Still conversing with great affability, Mrs. Royce led the reluctant -writer upstairs to the small room prepared for her, and shut her in. -Lexy sat down in a chair before the workmanlike table, and grinned -ruefully. She had said she was a writer, and now she had to be one.</p> - -<p>“Well,” she reflected, “here’s a chance to write to Mr. Houseman, -anyhow.”</p> - -<p>She never had the least difficulty in writing letters. For one reason, -she never bothered about them unless she had something to say, and -then she said it, briefly and lucidly, and was done. She told Mr. -Houseman all she knew about Caroline’s disappearance, and explained -that she had gone out to Wyngate in the hope of picking up some trace -of her.</p> - -<p>“Of course,” she wrote, “I don’t know whether I’ll still be here when -you get back. If I’ve gone, I’ll leave my address with Mrs. Royce, in -case you should want to communicate with me.”</p> - -<p>This was admirable, so far; but, reading it over, Lexy was not -satisfied. She remembered the misery, the trouble and anxiety, in Mr. -Houseman’s blue eyes. She imagined him sailing the seas, bitterly hurt -because he thought Caroline had changed her mind. She thought of him -coming back and getting this letter, to revive .all his alarm for -Caroline. This wasn’t, after all, a business letter. She took up her -pen again, and added:</p> - -<blockquote> -<p>I think I can imagine how you feel about all this, and I am more sorry -than I can tell you. I hope we shall meet soon.</p> - -</blockquote> -<p>This last phrase rather astonished her. She hadn’t meant to write just -that. She picked up the letter, intending to tear it up and write -another; but she thought better of it.</p> - -<p>“No!” she said to herself. “Let it stay. It’s true; why shouldn’t I -hope that we’ll meet again?”</p> - -<p>So she addressed the letter and sealed it, and then sat looking out of -the window at the rain. It was a hopeless sort of rain, faint and -fine—a hopeless, melancholy world, without color or promise.</p> - -<p>“I’d better take a walk!” thought Lexy, springing up.</p> - -<p>Before she reached the door there was a knock, and Mrs. Royce put her -head in.</p> - -<p>“He’s here!” she whispered. “He’s asking for you.”</p> - -<p>“Who?” cried Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Hush! The doctor!” answered Mrs. Royce. “You could ’a’ knocked me -down with a feather!”</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>XI</h2></div> - -<p>Feathers would not have knocked down the sturdy Lexy, however. On the -contrary, she was pleased and interested by this utterly unexpected -visit. The sinister doctor here, in this house, and asking for her! -She started promptly toward the stairs.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran!” cautioned the landlady, in a whisper. “Don’t tell him -nothing!”</p> - -<p>“Tell him!” said Lexy. “But I haven’t anything to tell!”</p> - -<p>“Well, you’d best be very careful!” said Mrs. Royce.</p> - -<p>With this solemn warning in her ears, Lexy descended the stairs. She -saw Dr. Quelton standing in the hall, hat in hand, waiting for her. -The doctor was rather a disappointment. He was not the dark, sinister -figure he should have been. He was a big man, powerfully built, with a -clumsy stoop to his tremendous shoulders. His heavy, clean-shaven face -would have been an agreeable one if it had not been for its -expression, but that expression was not at all an alarming or -dangerous one. It was an expression of the most utter and hopeless -boredom.</p> - -<p>He came toward her.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran?” he asked.</p> - -<p>Even his voice was listless, and his glance was without a spark of -interest.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said she.</p> - -<p>“My brother-in-law, Captain Grey, told us you were here, and I did -myself the honor of calling,” he went on.</p> - -<p>“You certainly were quick about it!” thought Lexy. “Captain Grey -couldn’t have reached his sister’s house an hour ago, and it’s three -miles from here. Won’t you come into the sitting room?” she asked -aloud.</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” he replied, and followed Lexy into the decorous and -dismal room.</p> - -<p>He sat down opposite her in a small chair that cracked under his -weight, and he smiled a bored and extinguished smile.</p> - -<p>“A writer, I believe?” he said.</p> - -<p>“Well, yes, in a way,” answered Lexy, growing a little red.</p> - -<p>“My wife and I were very much interested,” he went on, with as little -interest as a human being may well display. “We don’t have many -newcomers here. It’s a very quiet place.”</p> - -<p>His apathetic manner exasperated Lexy.</p> - -<p>“But I don’t care how quiet it is,” she observed.</p> - -<p>“My wife and I like a quiet life,” he said. “My wife asked me to -explain, Miss Moran, that she is something of a recluse. Her health -prevents her from calling upon you; but she wished me to say that she -would be very happy to see you at the Tower, whenever it may be -convenient for you to call, any afternoon after four o’clock.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” replied Lexy. “Please thank Mrs. Quelton. I shall be very -pleased to come.”</p> - -<p>And now why didn’t he go away? This visit was apparently a painful -duty for him. He had delivered his message, and yet he lingered.</p> - -<p>“A very quiet place,” he repeated; “but perhaps you are not sociably -inclined?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’m sociable enough—at times,” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>“But at the present time you prefer solitude? For the purposes of your -work? As a change from the stimulating atmosphere of the city?”</p> - -<p>Any mention of her work made Lexy uncomfortable.</p> - -<p>“Well, yes,” she answered in a dubious tone.</p> - -<p>“I lived in New York myself for a number of years,” he went on. “I -wonder if you—may I ask what part of the city you lived in, Miss -Moran?”</p> - -<p>Lexy hesitated, and she meant him to see that she hesitated. After -all, however, it was not an unnatural or impertinent question, and she -couldn’t very well refuse to answer it.</p> - -<p>“In the East Sixties, near the park,” she said. “It wasn’t my own -home, though—I was a companion,” she added.</p> - -<p>She always liked people to know that. She was far from being cynical, -but she was aware that this information made a difference—to some -people.</p> - -<p>She was astonished to see the difference it made in Dr. Quelton. He -raised his black, weary eyes to her face and stared at her with -unmistakable insolence.</p> - -<p>“Ah!” he said. “I see! I thought so!”</p> - -<p>There was a moment’s silence.</p> - -<p>“And you’ve come to Wyngate to—er—to write?” he went on. “Very -interesting—very!”</p> - -<p>Lexy felt her cheeks grow hot. She wished with all her heart that she -had not involved herself in that stupid falsehood. It humiliated her -so much that she couldn’t answer Dr. Quelton with her usual spirit. He -noticed her confusion—no doubt about that.</p> - -<p>“Poetry, perhaps?” he suggested.</p> - -<p>“No!” said Lexy vehemently. “Not poetry!”</p> - -<p>He leaned forward a little, looking directly into her face.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps,” he said, “you write detective stories?”</p> - -<p>“Yes!” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>The doctor rose.</p> - -<p>“The solving of mysteries!” he said, with his unpleasant smile. “That -makes very interesting fiction!”</p> - -<p>Lexy rose, too. His tone, his manner, exasperated her almost beyond -endurance. She felt an ardent desire to contradict everything he said. -What is more, she was in no humor to hear mystery stories made light -of. She had had enough of that—first Mrs. Enderby pretending there was -no mystery, and then Mr. Houseman going off and pretending it was -solved, so that she was left alone to do the best she could. Wasn’t -she in a mystery story at this very minute, and without a single -promising clew to guide her?</p> - -<p>“There are plenty of mysteries that aren’t fiction,” she observed -curtly.</p> - -<p>“But they are never solved,” said Dr. Quelton.</p> - -<p>“Never solved?” said Lexy. “But lots of them are! You can read in the -newspapers all the time about crimes that—”</p> - -<p>“The mystery of a crime is never solved,” the doctor blandly -proceeded. “Never! Let us say, for example, that a murder is -committed. The police investigate, they arrest some one. There is a -trial, the jury finds that the suspect is guilty, the judge sentences -him, and he is executed. Public opinion is satisfied; but as a matter -of fact, nothing whatever has been solved. It is all guesswork. Not -one living soul, not one member of the jury, not the judge, not the -executioner, really <i>knows</i> that the accused man was guilty. They -think so—that is all. What you call a ‘solution’ is merely a guess, -based upon probabilities.”</p> - -<p>Lexy considered this with an earnest frown.</p> - -<p>“Well,” she said at last, “quite often criminals confess.”</p> - -<p>“In the days of witchcraft trials,” said he, “it was not uncommon for -women to come forward voluntarily and confess to being witches. In the -course of my own practice I have known people to confess things they -could not possibly have done. No!” He shook his head and smiled -faintly. “An acquaintance with the psychology of the diseased mind -makes one very skeptical about confessions, Miss Moran.”</p> - -<p>This idea, too, Lexy took into her mind and considered for a few -minutes.</p> - -<p>“Even an eyewitness,” Dr. Quelton went on, “is entirely unreliable. -Any lawyer can tell you how completely the senses deceive one. Three -persons can see the same occurrence, and each one of the three will -swear to a quite different impression. Each one may be entirely -honest, entirely convinced that he saw or heard what never took -place.”</p> - -<p>“Do you mean that you think it’s never possible to find out who’s -guilty?”</p> - -<p>“Never,” he replied agreeably. “It can never be anything but a guess, -as I said, based upon probabilities. Human senses, human judgment, -human reason, are all pitifully liable to error.”</p> - -<p>Lexy was silent for a time, thinking over this.</p> - -<p>“Maybe you’re right,” she said slowly, “about the senses, and -judgment, and reason. Perhaps their evidence isn’t always to be -trusted; but there’s something else.”</p> - -<p>“Something else?” he repeated. “Something else? And what may that be?”</p> - -<p>Lexy looked up at him. There was a smile on his heavy, pallid face, -aloof and contemptuous; but she was chiefly concerned just then in -trying to put into words her own firm conviction, more for her own -benefit than for his. It was not reason that had brought her here to -look for Caroline, it was not reason that sustained her.</p> - -<p>“There’s something else,” she said again, with a frown. “There’s a way -of knowing things without reason. It’s—I don’t know just how to put -it, but it’s a thing beyond reason.”</p> - -<p>He laughed, and she thought she had never heard a more unpleasant -laugh.</p> - -<p>“Certainly!” he said. “Beyond reason lies—unreason.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t mean that,” said Lexy. “I mean—”</p> - -<p>She stopped, because he had abruptly turned away and was walking -toward the door. She stood where she was, amazed by this unique -rudeness; but in the doorway he turned.</p> - -<p>“The thing beyond reason!” he said, almost in a whisper. Then, with a -sudden and complete change of manner, he went on: “It has been very -interesting to meet you, Miss Moran. My wife will enjoy a visit from -you. Any afternoon, after four o’clock!” He bowed politely. “After -four o’clock,” he repeated, and off he went.</p> - -<p>Lexy stood looking at the closed door.</p> - -<p>“Crazy?” she said to herself. “No—that’s not the word for him at all. -He’s—he’s just horrible!”</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>XII</h2></div> - -<p>At half past twelve Captain Grey had not yet returned, and Mrs. Royce -declared that the ham omelet would be ruined if not eaten at once; so -Lexy went down to the dining room and ate her lunch alone.</p> - -<p>The rain was still falling steadily, and the little room was dim, -chilly, and, to Lexy, unbearably close. She wasn’t particularly -hungry, either, after such a hearty breakfast and no exercise. She -felt restless and uneasy. When Mrs. Royce went out into the kitchen to -fetch the dessert, she jumped up from the table, crossed the room, and -opened the window.</p> - -<p>The wild rain blew against her face, and it felt good to her. She drew -in a long breath of the fresh, damp air, and sighed with relief.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to go out this afternoon,” she said to herself, “if it -rains pitchforks! I can’t—”</p> - -<p>Just then she caught sight of Captain Grey coming down the road. Her -first impulse was to call out a cheerful salutation, but after a -second glance she felt no inclination for that. He was tramping along -doggedly through the rain, his hands in his pockets, his collar turned -up. He was as straight and soldierly as ever, but his face was pale, -with such a queer look on it!</p> - -<p>“Oh, dear!” thought Lexy. “Something’s gone wrong! Oh, the poor soul! -And he set off so happy this morning.”</p> - -<p>She went into the hall and opened the front door for him. Filled with -a motherly solicitude, she wanted to help him off with his overcoat, -but he abruptly declined that.</p> - -<p>“Am I late?” he asked. “I thought one o’clock, you know—I’m sorry.”</p> - -<p>“Mercy, that doesn’t matter!” said Lexy. “Aren’t you going to change -your shoes? You ought to. Well, then, you’d better come in and eat -your lunch this minute.”</p> - -<p>“You’re no end kind, to bother like that!” he said earnestly. “I do -appreciate it!”</p> - -<p>“Who wouldn’t be?” thought Lexy, glancing at him. “You poor soul, you -look as if you’d seen a ghost!”</p> - -<p>He took his place at the table, and Lexy sat down opposite him, her -chin in her hands, anxiously waiting for him to begin to tell her what -had happened.</p> - -<p>“Beastly day, isn’t it?” he said, with an obvious effort to speak -cheerfully.</p> - -<p>“Awful!” agreed Lexy.</p> - -<p>“And yet, you know,” he went on, “I rather like a walk on a day like -this. The country about here is pretty, don’t you think?”</p> - -<p>Lexy glanced around, to make sure that Mrs. Royce had closed the door -behind her.</p> - -<p>“Captain Grey!” she said, leaning across the table. “Tell me, did you -see her?”</p> - -<p>He did not meet Lexy’s eyes. He was looking down at his plate with -that curious dazed expression in his face.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said. “Yes, I saw her.”</p> - -<p>Lexy was hurt and disappointed by his manner. Evidently he didn’t want -to tell her anything, didn’t want to talk at all. Very well—the only -thing for her to do was to maintain a dignified silence. She did so -for almost ten minutes, but then nature got the upper hand.</p> - -<p>“Well?” she demanded. “Was everything all right?”</p> - -<p>“All right?” he repeated. “Oh, rather! Oh, yes, thanks—absolutely all -right.”</p> - -<p>This was too much for Lexy.</p> - -<p>“That’s good,” she said frigidly. “I’m going upstairs now, to write -some letters.”</p> - -<p>Her tone aroused him. He sprang to his feet, very contrite.</p> - -<p>“No! Look here!” he said. “Please don’t run away! I—I want to talk to -you, but it’s a bit hard. You can’t imagine what it’s like to see one -of your own people, you know—after such a long time.”</p> - -<p>Lexy sat down again.</p> - -<p>“Was she as you expected her to be?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“I don’t quite know what I expected,” he said. “Only—”</p> - -<p>He paused for a long time, and Lexy waited patiently, for she felt -very sorry for Captain Grey. At first sight she had imagined him to be -haughty, stiff, and aloof. She knew now that he was a very sensitive -man. He was terribly moved, and he wanted to tell her, but he -couldn’t.</p> - -<p>She tried to help him.</p> - -<p>“Dr. Quelton came to see me this morning,” she observed.</p> - -<p>“Yes—he said he would. Very decent sort of chap, don’t you think?”</p> - -<p>“Do you mean you <i>liked</i> him?” asked Lexy.</p> - -<p>Captain Grey was a little startled by this Yankee notion of liking a -person at first sight.</p> - -<p>“Well, you see,” he said, “I’ve only met him once; but he seems to me -a very decent sort of chap. He’s clever, you know, and—and so on, and -my sister seems very happy with him.”</p> - -<p>“Happy?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. I’ve been an ass, imagining all sorts of silly rot. She’s not -very strong, I’m afraid, but she’s happy, and—well, you know, their -life out there is lonely, of course, but there’s something about it, -rather—rather charming, you know. I’d like you to see it for yourself. -I was speaking about you to Muriel. She wants to know you, and I think -you’d like her. Would you come out there to tea with me this -afternoon?”</p> - -<p>“Yes!” cried Lexy, with a vehemence that surprised him.</p> - -<p>There was nothing in the world she wanted more at that moment than to -see Captain Grey’s sister and to visit Dr. Quelton’s house. She didn’t -exactly know why, and she didn’t care, but she wanted to.</p> - -<p>Her trunk had not yet arrived. Indeed, she had only sent to Mrs. -Enderby’s for it that morning, but she was able to make herself -presentable with what she had in her bag, and excitement gave her an -added charm. She was in high spirits, gay and sparkling, so pretty and -so lively that Captain Grey was quite dazzled.</p> - -<p>He had engaged the one and only taxi.</p> - -<p>After they were settled in it, and on their way along the muddy road, -he said:</p> - -<p>“I say, Miss Moran, are there many American girls like you?”</p> - -<p>“No!” replied Lexy calmly. “I’m unique.”</p> - -<p>“I can believe that!” he said. “I’ve never seen any one like you. I -was telling Muriel how much I hope that you and she will hit it off. -It would be a wonderful thing for her to have a friend like you in -this place.”</p> - -<p>Something in his tone made Lexy turn serious. He was speaking as if -she was simply a nice girl he had happened to meet, as if she had -nothing to do but go out to tea and make agreeable friendships.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” she said, “but I don’t know how long I’ll be here. I certainly -haven’t accomplished much so far.”</p> - -<p>He was silent, and to Lexy his silence was very eloquent.</p> - -<p>“I came here for a definite purpose,” she told him. “I haven’t -forgotten that, and I’m not likely to forget it.”</p> - -<p>“I know,” said he, “but—”</p> - -<p>“But,” interrupted Lexy, “I know very well what you’re thinking—that -it’s a wild-goose chase, and that I’m a young idiot. Isn’t that it?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t mean that,” he protested; “only—don’t you see?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t!” Lexy grimly denied. “You’ve thought over the talk we had -last night, and you’ve decided that it was all nonsense.”</p> - -<p>“No, Miss Moran—not nonsense; but we were both a bit tired then, and -perhaps a bit overwrought.”</p> - -<p>“All right!” said Lexy. “Don’t go on! No—please drop it. I’ve talked -too much, anyhow. From now on I’m not going to talk to any one about -my little job. I’m going to go ahead in my own way, alone.”</p> - -<p>“You can’t,” said Captain Grey firmly. “I’m here, you know.”</p> - -<p>This did not appease Lexy, and she remained curt and silent all the -rest of the way. For a couple of miles the taxi went on along a broad, -smooth highway; then it turned off down a rough lane, bordered by dark -woodland, and entirely deserted. The rain drummed loud on the leather -top of the cab, the wind came sighing through the gaunt pines and the -slender, shivering birches; but when there was a lull, she heard -another sound, a sound familiar to her from childhood and yet always -strange, always heart-stirring—the dim, unceasing thunder of the sea.</p> - -<p>“Is the doctor’s house near the shore?” she inquired.</p> - -<p>“Yes—just on the beach.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’m so glad!” cried Lexy. “Our old house, where I was born, was -on the shore, and on days like this I used to love to go out and walk -with father. I love the sea so!”</p> - -<p>Captain Grey gave her an odd look, which she didn’t understand. -Perhaps that was just as well, for her words and her voice had -troubled the young man to an unreasonable degree. He wished he could -say something to comfort her. He wished he could offer her the sea as -a gift, for instance; and that would have been a mistake, because Lexy -did not like to be pathetic.</p> - -<p>Just at that moment, however, the taxi turned into a driveway, and -there was the house—the Tower. Lexy was disappointed. The name had -called up in her mind the picture of a gloomy edifice of gray stone, -more or less medieval, and altogether somber and forbidding; and this -was nothing in the world but a rather shabby old house, badly in need -of paint, and forlorn enough in the rain, but very ordinary and very -ugly. Even the tower, which had given the place its romantic name, was -only a wooden cupola with a lightning rod on top of it.</p> - -<p>“Can you get a good view of the sea from the windows?” Lexy demanded.</p> - -<p>“Well, not from the library, where I was,” he answered; “but perhaps—”</p> - -<p>“Captain Grey, I want to get out! I want to run down on the beach for -one instant!”</p> - -<p>“In this rain?” he protested. “You can’t!”</p> - -<p>“I’m not made of sugar,” said Lexy scornfully, “I’ve <i>got</i> to run down -there just for an instant, before I go in.”</p> - -<p>“But, I say, your nice little hat, you know!”</p> - -<p>Lexy pulled off the nice little hat and laid it on his knee. Then she -rapped on the window, the driver stopped, and Lexy opened the door.</p> - -<p>“No! Look here! Please, Miss Moran!” cried Captain Grey. “Very well, -then, if you will go, I’ll go with you!”</p> - -<p>“I’d rather you didn’t,” said Lexy. “I feel as if I’d like to go alone -just for one look. You know how it is, sometimes. I haven’t had even a -smell of the sea for so long; and it reminds me—”</p> - -<p>She looked at him with a shadowy little smile, and he did understand.</p> - -<p>“All right!” he said. “Then slip on my coat.”</p> - -<p>She did so, to oblige him, and off she went, half running, down the -lane, in the direction of the sound of the surf. Captain Grey looked -after her—such an absurd little figure in that aquascutum of his that -almost touched the ground! He watched her till she was out of sight; -then he sat down in the cab and lit a cigarette.</p> - -<p>He thought about her, but Lexy had forgotten him. She found herself on -a desolate stretch of wet sand, with the gray sea tossing under a gray -sky. She smelled the hearty, salt smell, she remembered old things, -sad and sweet. Tears came into her eyes, and she felt them on her -cheeks, warm, salt as the sea. If only she could go running home, back -to the house where her mother used to wait for her! If only she could -find her father’s big, firm hand clasping her own!</p> - -<p>“I mustn’t be like this,” she said to herself. “Daddy would feel -ashamed of me.”</p> - -<p>In a cavernous pocket of the captain’s overcoat she found a -handkerchief. She dried her eyes with it, and turned back. The Tower -faced the lane, and the left side of it fronted the beach, rising -stark and high from the sands. She looked up at it. On the first floor -a sun parlor had been built out, and through the windows she could see -a woman sitting there in a deck chair.</p> - -<p>“I suppose that’s Muriel,” she thought, with a reawakening of her -lively interest.</p> - -<p>She came a little nearer. The woman was wearing a negligee and a -coquettish little silk cap. Her back was turned toward Lexy. She lay -there motionless, as if she were asleep.</p> - -<p>Lexy drew closer. The woman turned, straightened up in the chair, and -rose. A shiver ran along Lexy’s spine. She stopped and stared and -stared.</p> - -<p>The woman had raised her thin arms above her head, stretching. Then, -for a moment, she stood in an odd and lovely pose, with her hands -clasped behind her head. Oh, surely no one else ever stood like that! -That figure, that attitude—it couldn’t be any one else!</p> - -<p>“Caroline!” cried Lexy. “Caroline!”</p> - -<p>The woman did not hear. She was moving toward the long windows of the -room, and her every step, every line of her figure, was familiar and -unmistakable to Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Caroline!” she cried, running forward across the wet sand. “Wait! -Wait for me, Caroline!”</p> - -<p>A hand seized her arm. With a gasp, she looked into the pale, heavy -face of Dr. Quelton. He was smiling.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran!” he said. “This is an unexpected pleasure—”</p> - -<p>Lexy jerked her arm away, and looked up at the windows of the sun -parlor. The woman had gone.</p> - -<p>“I saw Caroline!” she said. “In there!”</p> - -<p>“Caroline?” he repeated. “I’m afraid, I’m very much afraid, Miss -Moran, that you’ve made a mistake.”</p> - -<p>Their eyes met. In that instant, Lexy knew. He was still smiling with -an expression of bland amusement at this extraordinary little figure -in the huge coat; but he was her enemy, and she knew it.</p> - -<p>“Suppose we go on?” he suggested. “I believe it’s raining.”</p> - -<p>They turned and walked side by side around the house to the front -door, where Captain Grey stood waiting.</p> - -<p>“I say!” he exclaimed anxiously. “Your hair—your shoes—you’ll take a -chill, Miss Moran!”</p> - -<p>“I feel anxious about Miss Moran myself,” said Dr. Quelton. “I’m -afraid she’s a very imprudent young lady.”</p> - -<p>But Lexy said nothing.</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>XIII</h2></div> - -<p>The doctor’s library had a charm of its own. It was a big room, -careless, a little shabby, but furnished in fastidious taste and with -a friendly sort of comfort. A great wood fire was blazing on the -hearth, and Dr. Quelton drew up an armchair before it for Lexy.</p> - -<p>“There!” he said. “Now you’ll soon be warm and dry. Anna!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir!” the parlor maid responded from the doorway.</p> - -<p>“Please tell Mrs. Quelton that Miss Moran is here.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir!” repeated the maid, and disappeared.</p> - -<p>Lexy sat down. Captain Grey stood, facing her, leaning one elbow on -the mantelpiece. Dr. Quelton paced up and down, his hands clasped -behind him. He looked like a dignified middle-aged gentleman in his -own home.</p> - -<p>A door opened somewhere in the house, and for a moment Lexy heard the -homely and familiar sound of an egg-beater whirring and a cheerful -Irish voice inquiring about “them potaters.” It was surely a cheerful -and pleasant enough setting; but Lexy did not find it so.</p> - -<p>“I saw Caroline!” she insisted to herself. “I don’t care what any one -says. I saw Caroline!”</p> - -<p>A strange sensation of pain and dread oppressed her. What should she -do? Whom should she tell?</p> - -<p>“Captain Grey,” she thought; “but not now. It’s no use now. Dr. -Quelton would deny it. I’ll have to wait until we get out of here; and -then, perhaps, it’ll be too late. He knows I saw her. -Something—something horrible—may happen!”</p> - -<p>A shiver ran through her.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran is nervous,” said the doctor, with solicitude.</p> - -<p>“I’m not!” replied Lexy sharply.</p> - -<p>“I hope it’s not a chill,” said Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>“I should be inclined to think it nervousness,” said Dr. Quelton. “Our -landscape here is lonely and depressing, and Miss Moran has the -artist’s temperament, impressionable, high-strung.”</p> - -<p>“Not I!” declared Lexy, in a tone that startled Captain Grey. “Lonely -places don’t bother me. I don’t believe in ghosts.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” said the doctor. “But here’s Mrs. Quelton. Muriel, this is Miss -Moran, the young writer of fiction.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Quelton was coming down the long room, a beautiful woman, dark -and delicate, with a sort of plaintive languor in her manner. She held -out her hand to Lexy.</p> - -<p>“I’m so glad you’ve come!” she said. “George has told me so much about -you—the first American girl he’s known!”</p> - -<p>She glanced at her brother with a little smile. Lexy glanced at him, -too; and she was surprised and very much touched by the look on his -face. He couldn’t even smile. His face was grave, pale, almost solemn, -and he was regarding his sister with something like reverence.</p> - -<p>“Oh, poor fellow!” thought Lexy. “Poor lonely fellow! It’s such a -wonderful thing for him to find his sister—some one of his own. I only -hope she’s as nice as she looks.”</p> - -<p>This thought caused her to turn toward her hostess again. She <i>was</i> -beautiful, and in a gentle and gracious fashion, and yet—</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” thought Lexy. “There’s something—she doesn’t look -ill—perhaps she’s just lackadaisical; but certainly she’s not simple -and easy to understand. She must know about Caroline Enderby. The -thing is, would she help me, or—”</p> - -<p>Or would Mrs. Quelton also be her enemy? Lost in her own thought, Lexy -sat silent. She had, indeed, certain grave faults in social -deportment. The head mistress of the finishing school she had attended -had often said to her:</p> - -<p>“Alexandra, it is absolutely inexcusable to give way to moods in the -company of other people!”</p> - -<p>In theory Lexy admitted that this was true, but it made no difference. -If she didn’t feel inclined to talk, she didn’t talk. It was so this -afternoon. She merely answered when she was spoken to—which was not -often, for Dr. Quelton was asking his brother-in-law questions about -India, and Mrs. Quelton seemed no more desirous to talk than Lexy was. -What is more, Lexy felt certain that the doctor’s wife was not -listening to the talk between the two men, but, like herself, was -thinking her own thoughts.</p> - -<p>The parlor maid wheeled the tea cart in, and Mrs. Quelton roused -herself to pour the tea and to make polite inquiries, in her plaintive -tone, as to what her guests wanted in the way of cream and sugar. The -maid vanished again, and Dr. Quelton passed about the cups and plates.</p> - -<p>“It’s China tea,” he observed. “I import it myself. It has quite a -distinctive flavor, I think.”</p> - -<p>Captain Grey praised it, and Lexy herself found it very agreeable. She -sipped it, staring into the fire, glad to be let alone. Behind her she -could hear Captain Grey talking about the Ceylon tea plantations. His -voice sounded so pathetic!</p> - -<p>“Another cup, Miss Moran?” asked Mrs. Quelton.</p> - -<p>“Yes, thank you,” answered Lexy, and the doctor brought it to her.</p> - -<p>Poor Captain Grey and his precious, new-found sister! The sound of his -voice brought tears to her eyes.</p> - -<p>“But this is idiotic!” she thought, annoyed and surprised.</p> - -<p>Still the tears welled up. She gulped down the rest of her tea -hastily, hoping that it would steady her, but it did not help at all. -Sobs rose in her throat, and an immense and formless sorrow came over -her.</p> - -<p>“This has got to stop!” she thought, in alarm. “I can’t be such a -chump!”</p> - -<p>She turned to Mrs. Quelton.</p> - -<p>“Are you going to grow any—” she began, but her voice was so unsteady -that she had to stop for a moment. “Any flowers in—in your—g-garden?”</p> - -<p>The question ended in a loud and unmistakable sob. They all turned to -look at her, startled and anxious.</p> - -<p>She made a desperate effort to regain control of herself.</p> - -<p>“S-snapdragon,” she said. “So—so p-pretty!”</p> - -<p>Then, suddenly, all her defenses gave way. The teacup fell from her -hand and was shattered on the floor, and, burying her head in her -arms, she cried as she had never cried in her life.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Quelton stood beside her, one hand resting on Lexy’s shoulder. -Captain Grey was bending over her, profoundly disturbed. She tried to -speak, but she could not.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran!” said Dr. Quelton solicitously. “Will you allow me to -give you a mild sedative?”</p> - -<p>“No!” she gasped. “No—I want to go home!”</p> - -<p>“I’ll telephone for the taxi,” suggested Captain Grey. “He wasn’t -coming back until half past five.”</p> - -<p>“Unfortunately we have no telephone,” said the doctor; “but I’ll drive -Miss Moran home.”</p> - -<p>“No! I want to walk.”</p> - -<p>“Not in this rain,” the doctor protested, “and in your overwrought -condition.”</p> - -<p>“I must!” She got up, the tears still streaming down her cheeks. “I -must!” she said wildly. “Let me go! Please let me go!”</p> - -<p>The doctor turned to Captain Grey. In the midst of her unutterable -misery and confusion, Lexy still heard and understood what he was -saying.</p> - -<p>“In a case of hysteria—better to humor her—the exercise and the fresh -air may help her.”</p> - -<p>The doctor’s wife helped Lexy with her hat and coat. She was very -gentle, very kind, and genuinely concerned for her unhappy little -guest. Lexy remembered afterward that Mrs. Quelton kissed her; but at -the moment nothing mattered except to get away, to get out of that -house into the fresh air.</p> - -<p>Without one backward glance she set off at a furious pace, splashing -through the puddles, almost running. Captain Grey kept easily by her -side with his long, lithe stride. Now and then he spoke to her, but -she could not trust herself to answer just yet. The storm within her -was subsiding. From time to time a sob broke from her, but the tears -had stopped.</p> - -<p>And now she was beginning to think.</p> - -<p>Twilight had come early on this rainy day, and it was almost dark -before they reached the end of the lane. Lexy slackened her pace. -Then, as they came to the corner of the highway, she stopped and laid -her hand on her companion’s sleeve.</p> - -<p>“Captain Grey!” she said.</p> - -<p>He looked down at her, but it was too dark to see what expression -there was on her pale face. He was vastly relieved, however, by the -steadiness of her voice.</p> - -<p>“Captain Grey!” she said again. “If I told you something—something -very important—would you believe me?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes, of course,” he answered hastily. “Of course, I would always -believe you; but I wish you wouldn’t try to talk about anything -important just now, you know. Let’s wait a bit, eh?”</p> - -<p>Lexy smiled to herself in the dark—a smile of extraordinary -bitterness. He wouldn’t believe her if she told him about Caroline. He -would think she was hysterical. She saw quite plainly that by this -strange outburst she had lost his confidence.</p> - -<p>She could in no way explain her sudden breaking down. Such a thing had -never happened to her before. She could not understand it, but she was -in no doubt about the unfortunate consequences of it. She was -discredited.</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>XIV</h2></div> - -<p>Lexy sat on the edge of the bed, her hands clasped loosely before her, -her bright head bent, her eyes fixed somberly upon nothing; and she -could see nothing—not one step of the way that lay ahead of her. She -could not think what she ought to do next. For the first time in her -life, she had a feeling of utter confusion and dismay.</p> - -<p>“It’s because I’m so tired,” she said to herself. “I’ve never been -really tired out before.”</p> - -<p>But that in itself was a cause for alarm. Why should she feel like -this, so exhausted and depressed? Horrible thoughts came to her. Dr. -Quelton had called her nervous, high-strung, hysterical. Was that -because he had seen in her something which she herself had never -suspected? Was she hysterical? Mrs. Enderby had laughed at her. Mr. -Houseman had gone away, satisfied with his own solution. Captain Grey, -chivalrous and kindly as he was, had obviously lost interest in her -affairs. Nobody believed in her. Was it because every one could see—</p> - -<p>She remembered the intolerable humiliation of the day before, her wild -outburst of tears in the Queltons’ house. Even in her childhood she -had never done such a thing before.</p> - -<p>“What does it mean?” she asked herself in terror. “What is the matter -with me? Is this whole thing just a delusion? I came here to find -Caroline, and I thought—I thought I did see her. Am I mad?”</p> - -<p>That was the awful thing that had lain in ambush in her mind ever -since yesterday, that had haunted her restless sleep all night. She -had not admitted it, but it had been there every minute. All her -actions, all her words, to-day, had the one object of showing Mrs. -Royce and Captain Grey how entirely normal and sensible she was.</p> - -<p>“That’s what they always do!” she whispered with dry lips.</p> - -<p>All day, hiding her terror and weakness, talking to Mrs. Royce, -sitting at the lunch table and talking and laughing with Captain Grey, -trying to make them believe her quite cheerful and untroubled—and all -the time perhaps they knew. Perhaps they were humoring her!</p> - -<p>She sprang up and went over to the window. The sun was beginning to -sink in a tranquil sky. It had been a beautiful day, but Lexy felt too -weary and listless to go out. She remembered now that both Captain -Grey and the landlady had urged her to do so, that they had both said -it would do her good. Then they must have noted that something was -wrong with her. What did they think it was? Did she look—</p> - -<p>She crossed the room and stood before the mirror. The rays of the -setting sun fell upon her hair, turning it to copper and gold. It -seemed to her to shine with a strange light about her pallid little -face. Her eyes seemed enormous, somber, and terrible.</p> - -<p>She covered her face with her hands and flung herself on the bed, sick -and desperate. She could not see any one, could not speak to any one. -When a knock came at her door, she thrust her fingers into her ears -and lay there, with her eyes shut tight, trembling from head to foot; -but the knocking went on until she could endure it no longer.</p> - -<p>“Yes?” she said, sitting up.</p> - -<p>“Supper’s all on the table!” said Mrs. Royce’s cheerful voice.</p> - -<p>“I don’t want any supper to-night, thank you,” replied Lexy.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce expostulated and argued for a time, but she could not -persuade Lexy even to unlock the door; and at last, with a worried -sigh, she went downstairs again.</p> - -<p>The room was quite dark now, and the wind blowing in through the open -window felt chill; but Lexy was too tired to close the window or light -the gas. She was not drowsy. She lay stretched out, limp, overpowered -with fatigue, but wide awake, and with a curious certainty that she -was waiting for something.</p> - -<p>There was another knock at the door, and this time Captain Grey’s -voice spoke.</p> - -<p>“I say, Miss Moran!” he said anxiously. “You’re not ill, are you?”</p> - -<p>“No!” she answered, with a trace of irritability. “I’m just tired.”</p> - -<p>“But don’t you think you ought to eat something, you know? Or a cup of -tea?”</p> - -<p>“No!” she cried, still more impatiently. “I can’t. I want to rest.”</p> - -<p>“Can you open the door for half a moment?” he asked. “I’ve some roses -here that my sister sent to you. She wanted me to say—”</p> - -<p>The door opened with startling suddenness. Lexy appeared, and took the -roses out of his hand.</p> - -<p>“Thank you! Good night!” she said, and was gone again before he quite -realized what was happening.</p> - -<p>Then he heard the key turn in the lock, and, bewildered and very -uneasy, he went away.</p> - -<p>Lexy flung the roses down on the table, not even troubling to put them -into water.</p> - -<p>“Anything to get rid of him!” she said to herself. “I want to be let -alone!”</p> - -<p>She lay down on the bed again, pulling a blanket over herself. -Downstairs she could hear Mrs. Royce moving about in the kitchen, and -Captain Grey’s singularly agreeable voice talking to the landlady. It -seemed to her that they were in a different world, and that she was -shut outside, in a black and terrible solitude.</p> - -<p>“If I can only sleep!” she thought. “Perhaps, in the morning—”</p> - -<p>She was beginning to feel a little drowsy now. How heavenly it would -be to sleep, even for a little while! To sleep and to forget!</p> - -<p>The wind was blowing through the dark little room, bringing to her the -perfume of the roses—a wonderful fragrance. It was wonderful, but -almost too strong. It was too strong. It troubled her.</p> - -<p>“I’ll put them out on the window sill,” she murmured. “It’s such a -queer scent!”</p> - -<p>But she was too tired, too unspeakably tired. She didn’t seem able to -get up, or even to move. She sighed faintly, and closed her eyes. The -wind blew, strong and steady, heavy with that sweet and subtle odor.</p> - -<div style='height:1em;'></div> -<p>“Look out!” cried Mr. Houseman. “She’s going about!”</p> - -<p>Lexy laughed, and ducked down into the cockpit while the boom swung -over. The little sailboat was flying over the sunny water like a bird. -There was not a cloud in the pure bright sky, not a shadow in her -joyous heart.</p> - -<p>“I am so glad you came!” she said.</p> - -<p>“Of course I came,” he answered. “I had to swim all the way from -India.”</p> - -<p>“Mercy!” cried Lexy. “That must have been dreadful! But why?”</p> - -<p>Mr. Houseman leaned forward and whispered solemnly:</p> - -<p>“There was a tempest in a teapot.”</p> - -<p>This frightened her.</p> - -<p>“Do you think there’s going to be another one?” she whispered back.</p> - -<p>“Sure to be!” said he. “Don’t you see how dark it’s getting?”</p> - -<p>It was getting very dark. Lexy couldn’t see his face now.</p> - -<p>“Hold my hand!” he shouted, and she reached out for it; but she -couldn’t find him at all.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Houseman!” she cried.</p> - -<p>There was no answer. She stared about her, numb with terror. What was -it that rustled like that? What were these black, tall things that -were standing motionless about her on every side?</p> - -<p>“I’ve been dreaming,” she said to herself. “I’m in my own room, of -course. If I go just a few steps, I’ll touch the wall. I’m awake -now—only it’s so dark!”</p> - -<p>And what was it that rustled like that—like leaves in the wind? What -were these black, still forms about her? Trees? No—they couldn’t be -trees.</p> - -<p>In a wild panic she moved forward. Her outstretched hand touched -something, and she screamed. The scream seemed to run along through -the dark, leaping and rolling over the ground like a terrified animal. -She tried to run after it, stumbling and panting, until her shoulder -struck violently against something, and she stopped.</p> - -<p>And into her sick and shuddering mind her old sturdy courage began to -return. She tried to breathe quietly. She struggled desperately -against the awful weakness that urged her to sink down on the ground -and cover her eyes.</p> - -<p>“No!” she said aloud. “I won’t! I’m here! I’m alive! I will -understand! I will see!”</p> - -<p>She was able now to draw a deep breath, and the horrible fluttering of -her heart grew less. She stood motionless, waiting. It was coming back -to her, that immortal, unconquerable spirit of hers. The anguish and -the strange fear were passing.</p> - -<p>“I’m here,” she said. “I’m in a wood somewhere. These are trees. What -I hear are only the leaves in the wind. I don’t know where it is, or -how I got here; but I’m alive and well. I can walk. I can get out of -it.”</p> - -<p>She moved forward again, quietly and deliberately. Her eyes were more -accustomed to the darkness now, and she made her way through the -trees, looking always ahead, never once behind her.</p> - -<p>“The wood must end somewhere,” she said. “The morning will have to -come some time. All I have to do is to go on.”</p> - -<p>Patter, patter, patter, like little feet running behind her.</p> - -<p>“Only the leaves on the trees,” said Lexy. “All I have to do is to go -on.”</p> - -<p>And she went on. Sometimes a wild desire to run swept over her, but -she would not hasten her steps, and she would not look behind. The -primeval terror of the forest pressed upon her, but she cast it away. -Alone, lost, in darkness and solitude, she kept her hold upon the one -thing that mattered—the honor and dignity of her own soul.</p> - -<p>“I’m not afraid,” she said.</p> - -<p>And then she saw a light. At first she thought it was the moon, but it -hung too low, and it was too brilliant. Even then she would not run. -She went on steadily toward it. In a few minutes she stepped out of -the woodland upon a road—a hard, asphalt road with lights along it. It -was quite empty, it was unfamiliar to her, but she would have gone -down on her knees and kissed the dust of it. It was a road, and all -roads lead home.</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>XV</h2></div> - -<p>There were no stars and no moon, for the sky was filled with wild -black clouds flying before the wind. Lexy could not guess at the time. -She had no idea where she was, but it didn’t matter. The morning would -come some time, and the road would lead somewhere.</p> - -<p>“It’s better here,” she said to herself. “I’d far, far rather be here, -wherever it is, than shut up in that room with the thoughts I had!”</p> - -<p>Those thoughts, those fears, had utterly gone from her now, but the -memory of them was horrible. She shuddered at the memory of the hours -she had spent locked in her room, with that monstrous dread of madness -in her heart. Thank God, it had passed now! She walked along the -interminable empty road, her old self again, but graver and sterner -than she had ever been before in her life.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to understand all this,” she said to herself. “I’ve got to -know what’s been the matter with me. That breakdown at the Queltons’, -that awful time yesterday afternoon, and this! I suppose I’ve been -walking in my sleep. I never did before. Something’s gone wrong with -my nerves, terribly wrong; and I’ve got to find out why.”</p> - -<p>She quickened her pace a little, because a trace of the old panic fear -had stirred in her.</p> - -<p>“It’s over!” she thought. “I’ll never imagine such a thing again; but -I wonder if I’ll ever feel quite sure of myself again!”</p> - -<p>For all her valiant efforts, tears came into her eyes. She had always -been so proudly and honestly sure of herself, she had always trusted -herself, and now—now she knew how weak, how untrustworthy she could -be. Now she would always have that knowledge, and would fear that the -weakness might come again.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know whether I really did see Caroline. I can’t feel certain -of anything. Perhaps I ought to give up all this and go away and rest; -only I’ve no place to go. There isn’t any one I can tell.”</p> - -<p>She straightened her shoulders and looked up at the vast, dark sky, -where black clouds ran before a wind that snapped at their heels like -a wolf; and the sight assuaged her. This world that lay under the open -sky—the woods, the hills, and above all, the sea—was her world. It -belonged to her equally with all God’s creatures. She had her part in -it and her place. There was no one to whom she could turn for comfort, -her faith in herself was cruelly shaken, and yet somehow she was not -forsaken and helpless. Some one was coming. It was dark, but the light -was coming!</p> - -<p>She went on, her brisk footsteps ringing out clearly in the silence. -The road was bordered on both sides by woods, where the leaves -whispered, and there was no sign anywhere of another human being; but -the road must lead somewhere. It began to go steeply uphill, and she -became aware for the first time that she was very tired and very -hungry, and that one of her shoes was worn through; but she had her -precious money in the bag around her neck, and, if she kept on going, -she couldn’t help reaching some place where she could get food and -rest.</p> - -<p>“At the top of the hill I’ll be able to see better,” she thought.</p> - -<p>It was a long, long hill, and the stones began to hurt her foot in the -worn shoe; but she got to the top, and then below her she saw the -lights of a railway station.</p> - -<p>She went down the hill at a lively trot, and it was as if she had come -into a different world. Dogs barked somewhere not far off, and she -passed a barn standing black against the sky. It was a human world, -where people lived.</p> - -<p>When she reached the platform, the door of the waiting room was -locked, but inside she could see a light burning dimly in the ticket -booth, and a clock. Half past one!</p> - -<p>With a sigh of relief, she sat down on the edge of the platform. She -wouldn’t in the least mind sitting here until morning, in a place -where there were lights and a clock, and she could hear a dog barking. -She took off her shoe and rubbed her bruised foot, and sighed again -with great content. In four hours or so somebody would come, and then -she would find out where she was, and how to get back to Mrs. Royce, -and Mrs. Royce’s comfortable breakfast—coffee, ham and eggs, and hot -muffins.</p> - -<p>She started up, and hastily put on her shoe again, for in the distance -she heard the sound of a motor. She told herself that it would be the -height of folly to stop an unknown car in this solitary place, for -there were evil men abroad in the world; but there were a great many -more honest ones, and if she could only get back to Mrs. Royce’s now!</p> - -<p>She crossed the road and stood behind a big tree. The purr of the -motor was growing louder and louder, filling the whole earth. Her -heart beat fast, she kept her eyes upon the road, excited, but not -sure what she meant to do.</p> - -<p>It was a taxi. She sprang out into the road and waved her arms.</p> - -<p>“Taxi!” she shouted joyously.</p> - -<p>The car stopped with a jolt, and the driver jumped out.</p> - -<p>“Now, then! What’s up?” he demanded suspiciously. From a safe -distance, the light of an electric torch was flashed in her face. -“Well, I’ll be gosh-darned!” said he. “Ain’t you the boarder up to -Mrs. Royce’s?”</p> - -<p>“Yes! I am! I am!” cried Lexy, overwhelmed with delight. “Can you take -me there?”</p> - -<p>“I can,” he replied; “but what on earth are you doing out here?”</p> - -<p>“I got lost,” said Lexy. “Where is this, anyhow?”</p> - -<p>“Wyngate station,” said he. “I’ll be gosh-darned! I never! Lost?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Lexy. “Aren’t you the driver who took me up the day I came -here?”</p> - -<p>“That’s me—only taxi in Wyngate. Took you out to the Queltons’, too. -Hop in, miss!”</p> - -<p>His engine had stalled, and he set to work to crank it, while Lexy -stood beside him.</p> - -<p>“Drive awfully fast, will you?” she asked.</p> - -<p>He was too busy to answer for a moment. Then, when his engine was -running again, he straightened up and looked at her.</p> - -<p>“No, ma’am!” he said firmly. “No more of that for me! Not after what -happened a while ago. No, ma’am! I had my lesson!”</p> - -<p>“An accident?” inquired Lexy politely.</p> - -<p>“Well,” he said slowly, “I s’pose it was; but the more I think it -over, the more I dunno!”</p> - -<p>In the brightness cast by the headlights, Lexy could see his face very -well, and the look on it gave her a strange little thrill of fear. It -was not a handsome or intelligent face, but it was a very honest one, -and she saw, written plain upon it, a very honest doubt and dismay. -Like herself, he wasn’t sure.</p> - -<p>“It was this way,” he went on. “About three miles up Carterstown way -there’s a bad piece of road. There’s a steep hill, and a crossroad -cuts across the foot of it, and it’s too narrer for two cars to pass. -It’s a bad piece, and I always been keerful there. I was keerful that -night. I was coming along the crossroad, and I heard another car -somewhere, and I sounded the horn two or three times before I come to -the foot of the hill. Jest as I got there, and was turning up the -hill, down comes another car, full tilt. I couldn’t git out o’ the -way. There’s stone walls on both sides. I tried to back, but he -crashed into me. I kind of fainted, I guess. My cab was all smashed -up, and I was cut pretty bad with glass. They found me lying there -about an hour after. The other fellow—he was killed.” He stopped for a -minute. “If it hadn’t been fer his license number, nobody could ’a’ -known who he was, he was so smashed up. Seems he was from New York, -driving a taxi belonging to one of them big companies.”</p> - -<p>“Poor fellow!” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said the other solemnly. “I kin say that, too, whatever he -meant to do.”</p> - -<p>“Meant to do?”</p> - -<p>The countryman came a step nearer.</p> - -<p>“I keep thinking about it,” he said in a half whisper. “This is the -queer thing about it, miss. That there car didn’t start till <i>I got to -the foot of the hill</i>! The engine was just racing, and the car wasn’t -moving along—I <i>know</i> that. It was as if he’d been waiting up there -for me, and then down he came as if he meant”—the speaker paused -again—“to kill me,” he ended.</p> - -<p>“But—” Lexy began, and then stopped.</p> - -<p>She had a very odd feeling that this story was somehow of great -importance to her, but that she must put it away, that she must keep -it in her mind until later. This wasn’t the time to think about it.</p> - -<p>“Joe,” she said, “I want to hear more about this—all about it; but not -now. I’m too tired.”</p> - -<p>He gave himself a shake, like a dog. Then he turned to her with a -slow, good-natured smile.</p> - -<p>“I guess you are!” he said. “Lucky for you I just happened to be late -to-night, taking them Ainsly girls ’way out to their house after a -dance. Hop in, miss!”</p> - -<p>Lexy got in, and they set off. She leaned back and closed her eyes, -but they flew open again as if of their own accord. There was -something she wanted to see. Through the glass she could see Joe’s -burly shoulders, a little hunched—Joe, who, like herself, wasn’t sure.</p> - -<p>“Not now!” said something inside her. “Don’t think about that now. Try -not to think at all. Wait! Something is going to happen.”</p> - -<p>At the corner of the road leading to Mrs. Royce’s, she tapped on the -window. Joe stopped the cab with a jerk, sprang down from his seat, -and ran around to open the door.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter, miss?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing,” said Lexy. “I’m sorry if I startled you, Joe. I thought I’d -get out here and slip into the house quietly, without disturbing any -one.”</p> - -<p>Joe grinned sheepishly.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got kind of jumpy since—that,” he said. “Howsomever, come on, -miss!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t mean to trouble you!”</p> - -<p>“I’m going to see you safe inside that there house!” Joe declared -firmly.</p> - -<p>Grateful for his genuine kindness, Lexy made no further protest. Side -by side they walked down the lane, their footsteps noiseless in the -thick dust, and Joe opened the garden gate without a sound.</p> - -<p>“I thought perhaps I could climb up that tree and get in at my -window,” Lexy whispered.</p> - -<p>“I’ll do it for you,” said Joe, “and come down and let you in by the -back door.”</p> - -<p>He was up the tree like a cat. He went cautiously along a branch, -until he could reach the roof of the shed with his toes. He dropped -down on the roof, and Lexy saw him disappear into her room. She went -to the back door. In a minute she heard the key turn inside, and the -door opened.</p> - -<p>“Thank you ever so much, Joe!” she whispered.</p> - -<p>But he paid no attention to her. He stood still, drawing deep breaths -of the night air.</p> - -<p>“Them roses!” he said. “The smell of ’em made me kind of sick, like. -Throw ’em out, miss! Don’t go to sleep with them roses in the room!”</p> - -<p>Lexy did not answer for a time.</p> - -<p>“I’ll see you to-morrow, Joe,” she said. “I’ll pay you for the taxi, -and have a talk with you. And thank you, Joe, ever so much!”</p> - -<p>He touched his cap, murmured “Good night,” and off he went.</p> - -<p>Lexy went in, locked the kitchen door behind her, and stood there, -leaning against it, half dazed by the great light that was coming into -her mind. She was beginning to understand! The roses—the roses with -their strange and powerful fragrance! Her hysterical outburst after -her tea at Dr. Quelton’s house! She was beginning to understand, not -the details, but the one tremendous thing that mattered.</p> - -<p>“He did it,” she said to herself. “He made all this happen. I didn’t -just break down. I haven’t been weak and hysterical. He made it all -happen!”</p> - -<p>For a time her relief was an ecstasy. She could trust herself again. -She was so happy in that knowledge that she could have shouted aloud, -to waken Mrs. Royce and Captain Grey, and tell them. The monstrous -burden was lifted, she was free, she was her old sturdy, trustworthy -self again.</p> - -<p>She sank into a chair by the kitchen table, staring before her into -the dark, her lips parted in a smile of gratitude and delight; and -then, suddenly, the smile fled. She rose to her feet, her hands -clenched, her whole body rigid.</p> - -<p>“He did it!” she said again. “It’s the vilest and most horrible thing -anyone can do. He tried to steal my soul. He turned me into that poor, -terrified, contemptible creature. I’ll never in all my life forgive -him. I’m going to find out—about that, and about Caroline. I’ll never -give up trying, and I’ll never forgive him!”</p> - -<p>She groped her way through the dark kitchen and into the hall. That -was where she had first seen Dr. Quelton. She stopped and turned, as -if she were looking into his face.</p> - -<p>“I’m stronger than you!” she whispered.</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>XVI</h2></div> - -<p>Lexy came down to breakfast a little late the next morning, but in the -best of spirits, and with a ferocious appetite. She had no idea how or -when she had left the house the night before, but obviously neither -Mrs. Royce nor Captain Grey knew anything about it, and that sufficed. -She could go on eating, quite untroubled by their friendly anxiety. -Let them think what they chose—it no longer mattered to her.</p> - -<p>For, in spite of the warm liking she had for them both, she felt -entirely cut off from them now. If she told them the truth, they would -not believe her, they would not and could not help her. Nobody on -earth would help her. She faced that fact squarely. Whatever Dr. -Quelton had meant to accomplish, he had perfectly succeeded in doing -one thing—he had discredited her. Anything she said now would be -regarded as the irresponsible statement of a hysterical girl.</p> - -<p>Very well! She had done with talking. She meant to act now.</p> - -<p>“It was awfully nice of your sister to send me those roses,” she -observed.</p> - -<p>Captain Grey was standing by the window in the dining room, keeping -her company while she ate. He turned his head aside as she spoke, but -not before she had noticed on his sensitive face the odd and touching -look that always came over it at any mention of his sister. Evidently -he worshiped her, and yet Lexy was certain that he was somehow -disappointed in her.</p> - -<p>“She likes you very much,” he said.</p> - -<p>“I’m glad,” said Lexy; “but how did you manage to keep the roses so -wonderfully fresh, Captain Grey?”</p> - -<p>“The doctor wrapped them for me—some rather special way, you know—damp -paper, and then a cloth. He told me not to open them until I gave them -to you. Very clever chap, isn’t he?”</p> - -<p>“He is!” agreed Lexy, with a faint smile.</p> - -<p>“Mind if I smoke, Miss Moran?” asked the young man. “Thanks!”</p> - -<p>He lit a cigarette and sat down on the window sill. He was silent, and -so was Lexy, for she fancied that he had something he wished to say.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran,” he said, at last, “you’ll go there again to see her, -won’t you?”</p> - -<p>Lexy considered for a moment.</p> - -<p>“Why?” she asked. “Why did you think I wouldn’t?”</p> - -<p>“I was afraid you might think—it’s the atmosphere of the place—I’m -sure of it—that made you nervous the other afternoon. It’s something -about the place, you know. I’ve felt it myself. I was afraid you -wouldn’t care to go again, and I don’t like to think of her -there—alone.”</p> - -<p>“She’s not alone,” observed Lexy blandly. “She has her clever -husband.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know that, of course, but he’s—well, he’s not very cheery,” -said the young man earnestly.</p> - -<p>Lexy couldn’t help laughing.</p> - -<p>“No, he’s not very cheery,” she admitted. “Of course I’ll go -again—this afternoon, if you’d like.”</p> - -<p>“I say! You are good!” he cried. “I know jolly well that you don’t -want to go.”</p> - -<p>“I do, though,” declared Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Shall we walk over?”</p> - -<p>“If you don’t mind,” said Lexy, “I’ll go by myself. There’s something -I want to attend to first. I’ll meet you there at four o’clock.”</p> - -<p>“Right-o!” said he. “Then you won’t mind if I go there for lunch?”</p> - -<p>She assured him that she wouldn’t.</p> - -<p>“You poor dear thing!” she added, to herself. His solicitude touched -her. He seemed to feel himself responsible for her, as if she were a -very delicate and rather weak-minded child. “You’re not very cheery, -either!” she thought. And indeed he was not. His meeting with his -sister had upset him badly. Ever since he had first seen her, he had -been troubled and anxious and downcast. “And that’s because she’s not -human,” thought Lexy. “She’s beautiful, and gentle, and all that, but -she’s like a ghost. Of course it bothers him!”</p> - -<p>She did not give much more thought to Captain Grey, however. As soon -as he left the house, she went upstairs into the little sewing room, -and until lunch time she was busy writing the clearest and briefest -account she could of what had occurred. This she put into an envelope, -which she addressed to Mr. Charles Houseman and laid it on her bureau.</p> - -<p>“If anything happened, I suppose they’d give it to him,” she said to -herself. “I’d like him to know.”</p> - -<p>Somehow this gave her a good deal of comfort. Not that she expected -anything to happen, or was at all frightened, but she did not deny -that Dr. Quelton was a singularly unpleasant sort of enemy to have; -and he was her enemy—she was sure of it.</p> - -<p>Just because he had made such a point of her arriving after four -o’clock, she had made up her mind to reach the house well before that -hour—which would not please him. Directly after lunch she walked down -to the village. She found Joe taking a nap in his cab, outside the -station; and, regardless of the frightful curiosity of the villagers, -she stood there talking to him for a long time. He assured her, with -his sheepish grin, that he had told no one of his having met her the -night before, and he willingly promised never to mention it to any one -without her consent.</p> - -<p>“I ain’t so much of a talker,” he said.</p> - -<p>That was true, too. He was reluctant, to-day, to talk about his -strange adventure with the cab on the hill; but Lexy made him answer -her questions, and he wavered in no respect from his first version.</p> - -<p>“There was an inquest, an’ all,” he said. “I’m darned glad it’s all -over!”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t!” thought Lexy. “Somehow it belongs with other things. It’s -a piece of the puzzle. I can’t fit it in now, but I will some day!”</p> - -<p>So she thanked Joe, and paid him for last night’s trip, though he made -miserable and embarrassed efforts to stop her. Then she set off on her -way.</p> - -<p>It was four o’clock by her watch when she reached the garden gate. She -stopped for a moment with her hand on the latch, and, in spite of -herself, a little shiver ran through her. The battered old house in -the tangled garden looked more menacing to-day, in the tranquil spring -sunshine, than it had in the rain. It was utterly lonely and quiet. -Lexy could hear nothing but the distant sound of the surf, which was -like the beating of a tired heart.</p> - -<p>Against the advice of Mrs. Enderby, almost against her own reason, she -had come here to Wyngate, and to the house—and she had seen Caroline. -The thing which was beyond reason had been right—so right that it -frightened her; and now it bade her go on. It was like a voice telling -her that her feet were set in the right path.</p> - -<p>Lexy pushed open the gate and went in. The pleasant young parlor maid -opened the door. She looked alarmed.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know, miss,” she said. “Mrs. Quelton—I’ll go and ask the -doctor.”</p> - -<p>But from the hall Lexy had caught sight of Mrs. Quelton in the -drawing-room alone, and, with an affable smile for the anxious parlor -maid, she went in there.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid I’m awfully early—” she began, and then stopped short in -amazement.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Quelton did not welcome the visitor, did not smile or speak. She -lay back in her chair and stared at Lexy with dilated eyes and parted -lips. Her face was as white as paper, and strangely drawn.</p> - -<p>“Are you ill?” cried Lexy, running toward her.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Quelton only stared at her with those brilliant, dilated eyes. -Lexy took the other woman’s hand, and it was as cold as ice, and -utterly lifeless.</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Quelton! Are you ill?” she asked again.</p> - -<p>Somehow it added to her horror to see, as she bent over her, that the -unfortunate woman’s face was ever so thickly covered with some curious -sort of paint or powder. It made her seem like a grotesque and -horrible marionette.</p> - -<p>“She’s old!” thought Lexy. “She’s terribly, terribly old!”</p> - -<p>She drew back her hand, for she could not touch that painted face. She -didn’t fail in generous pity, but she could not overcome an -instinctive repugnance. She turned around, intending to call the -parlor maid, and there was Dr. Quelton striding down the long room -with a glass in his hand. Without even glancing at Lexy, he stooped -over his wife, raised her limp head on one arm, and put the glass to -her lips. She drank the contents, and lay back again, with her eyes -closed. Almost at once the color began to return to her ashen cheeks. -Her arms quivered, and then she opened her eyes and looked up at him -with a faint, dazed smile.</p> - -<p>“You’re better now,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Better!” she repeated. “But you were late! I needed it—I needed it!”</p> - -<p>“Come, now!” he said indulgently. “The faintness has passed. Now you -must go up to your room and rest a little before tea.”</p> - -<p>She rose, and to Lexy’s surprise her movements showed no trace of -weakness. Then, turning her head, she caught sight of the girl, and -her face lighted with pleasure.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran!” she cried. “How very nice to—”</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran will wait, I’m sure,” the doctor interrupted. “You must -rest for half an hour, Muriel.”</p> - -<p>Taking her by the arm, he led her down the room. In the doorway she -looked back and smiled at her visitor; and if anything had been needed -to steel Lexy’s heart against the doctor, that smile on his wife’s -face would have done it—that poor, plaintive little smile.</p> - -<p>Standing there by Mrs. Quelton’s empty chair, she waited for him to -return, a cold and terrible anger rising in her. She heard his step in -the hall, heavy and deliberate, and presently he reëntered the room -and came toward her, his blank, dull eyes fixed upon nothing. She was -quite certain that he wanted to put her out of his way, and that he -had no scruple whatever as to methods; yet for all her youth and -inexperience, her utter loneliness, she felt that she was a match for -him.</p> - -<p>“So you’ve come back to us, Miss Moran,” he said in his lifeless -voice. “I was afraid you might not.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, but why not?” Lexy inquired in a brisk and cheerful tone. “I like -to come here!”</p> - -<p>A curious thrill of exultation ran through her, for she saw on the -doctor’s face the faintest shadow of a frown. He was perplexed! She -baffled him, and he didn’t know whether she understood what had -happened.</p> - -<p>“It is a great pleasure to Mrs. Quelton and myself,” he said politely. -Then he raised his eyes and looked directly at her. “Perhaps,” he went -on, “you would be kind enough to spend a week here with us some time? -Although I’m afraid you might find it very dull.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no!” Lexy assured him. “I’d love to come—whenever it’s convenient -for you.”</p> - -<p>They were still looking directly into each other’s eyes.</p> - -<p>“Suppose we say to-morrow?” suggested Dr. Quelton.</p> - -<p>“Thank you!” said Lexy. “I’ll come to-morrow!”</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>XVII</h2></div> - -<p>Captain Grey was enchanted with the idea of Lexy’s spending a week -with his sister. He was going, too. Indeed, Lexy felt sure that Mrs. -Quelton had wanted him to go there some time ago, and that he had -refused simply on her own account. He didn’t like to leave her alone -at Mrs. Royce’s, and after her nervous breakdown that afternoon -nothing could have induced him to do so. He was anxious about her. He -tried, with what he believed was great tact, to find out her plans for -the future. He was genuinely troubled by the loneliness and -uncertainty of her life.</p> - -<p>Lexy appreciated all this, and she liked the young man very -much—perhaps as much as he liked her; but the sympathetic -understanding which had promised to develop on the night when they -talked together in the firelight had never developed.</p> - -<p>Something had checked it. They were the best of friends, but Captain -Grey never again referred to what Lexy had told him about Caroline -Enderby, and about her reason for coming to Wyngate; and Lexy said -nothing, either. Evidently he thought that it had been a far-fetched, -romantic notion of hers, and hoped that she had forgotten all about -it.</p> - -<p>Lexy did not try to undeceive him. Her story would be too fantastic -for him to believe. Nobody would believe it, except a person with -absolute faith not only in her honesty but in her intelligence and -clearsightedness; and there was no such person. She was not resentful -or grieved over this. She accepted it quietly, and prepared to go -forward alone.</p> - -<p>It had occurred to her lately that perhaps Mr. Houseman had been -right, and that Caroline had gone away of her own free will; but she -meant to <i>know</i>. She had seen the missing girl in Dr. Quelton’s house. -Whatever the doctor might say about the false evidence of the senses, -Lexy’s confidence in her own clear gray eyes was not in the least -shaken. She had seen Caroline once, and she was going to see her -again. That was why she was going to the Tower.</p> - -<p>“It’ll do Muriel no end of good,” said Captain Grey, when they were in -the taxi. “She’s—to tell you the truth, Miss Moran, I don’t feel -altogether easy about her.”</p> - -<p>“Why?” asked Lexy, very curious to know what he thought.</p> - -<p>“Well,” he said, “it’s hard to put it into words; but that’s not a -wholesome sort of life for a young woman, shut away like that. The -doctor says her health’s not good, but it’s my opinion that if she got -about more—saw more people, you know—”</p> - -<p>Lexy felt a great pity for him. Apparently he did not even suspect -what she was now sure of—that the unfortunate Muriel was hopelessly -addicted to some drug, which her husband himself gave to her.</p> - -<p>“And I hope he’ll go back to India before he does find out,” she -thought. “It’s too horrible—he worships her so!”</p> - -<p>“I’ve tried, you know,” he went on. “I wanted to take her into the -city, to a concert. Seems confoundedly queer, doesn’t it, the way -she’s lost interest in her music? She didn’t want to go. Then about -the emerald—”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” said Lexy, who had forgotten about the emerald.</p> - -<p>“Chap I know designed a setting for it. It’s unset now, you know, and -I thought I’d like to do that for her while I was here; but she -doesn’t seem interested. I can’t even get her to let me see the thing. -I’ve asked her two or three times, but she always puts me off. Do you -think it bores her?”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps it does,” replied Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Well,” said the young man, “when a woman’s bored by a jewel like -that, she’s in a bad way. I wish you could see it!”</p> - -<p>“I wish I could,” said Lexy, and added to herself: “But I don’t think -I ever shall. Probably her husband’s got it.”</p> - -<p>They had now reached the Tower. The parlor maid opened the door for -them, and at once conducted Lexy upstairs to her room.</p> - -<p>It was a big room, with four windows, and very comfortably furnished; -but even a fire burning in the grate and two or three shaded electric -lamps could not give it a homelike air. There was a musty smell about -it, and there was an amazing amount of dust. It was neat, but it -wasn’t clean. Dust rose from the carpet when she walked, and from the -chair cushions when she sat down. She saw fluff under the bed and -under the bureau.</p> - -<p>“Not much of a housekeeper, poor soul!” thought Lexy. “It’s a pity. -One could do almost anything with a house like this, and all this -beautiful old furniture!”</p> - -<p>But this, after all, was a minor matter. She took off her hat, washed -her hands and face, brushed her hair, and left the room, closing the -door quietly behind her.</p> - -<p>“The house is strange to me,” she said to herself, with a grin. “I -shouldn’t wonder if I turned the wrong way, and got lost!”</p> - -<p>That was what she intended to do. She did not expect to make any -sensational discoveries, for Dr. Quelton did not seem to be the sort -of person who would leave clews lying about for her to pick up; but -she did hope that she might see or hear something—Heaven knows -what—that might bring her nearer to Caroline.</p> - -<p>So, instead of walking toward the stairs, she turned in the opposite -direction, along a hall lined with doors, all of them shut. At the end -there was a grimy window, through which the sun shone in upon the -dusty carpet and the faded wall paper. There was a forlorn and -neglected air about the place, a stillness which made it impossible -for her to believe that there was any living creature behind those -closed doors.</p> - -<p>“I wish I had cheek enough to open some of them,” she thought; “but -I’m afraid I haven’t. I shouldn’t know what to say if there was some -one in the room. After all, I’m supposed to be a guest. I’ve got to be -a little discreet about my prying.”</p> - -<p>She went softly along the hall to the window, to see what was out -there. When she reached it, she was surprised to see that the last -door was a little ajar. She looked through the crack. It wasn’t a room -in there, but another hall, only a few feet long, ending at a narrow -staircase.</p> - -<p>“That must be the way to the cupola,” she thought. “I suppose a guest -might go up there, to see the view.”</p> - -<p>So she pushed the door open and went on tiptoe to the stairs; and then -she heard a voice which she had no trouble in recognizing. It was Dr. -Quelton’s.</p> - -<p>“My dear young man,” he was saying. “I am not a psychologist. It has -always seemed to me the greatest folly to devote serious study to the -workings of so erratic and incalculable a machine as the human brain. -It is a study in which there are, practically speaking, no general -rules, no trustworthy data. It is, in my opinion, not a science at -all, but a philosophy; and philosophy makes no appeal to me. I frankly -admit that I am entirely materialistic. I care little for causes, but -much for effects. Consequently, I have devoted myself to medicine, in -which I can produce certain effects according to established rules.”</p> - -<p>“But I meant more particularly the effect of—of things on the mind—the -brain, you know,” said Captain Grey’s voice.</p> - -<p>Again Lexy felt a great pity for him. He sounded very, very young in -contrast to the doctor—so young and earnest, and so helpless!</p> - -<p>“Exactly!” said the doctor. “You were, I believe, trying to lead to a -suggestion that psychology might be of help to Muriel. Am I right?”</p> - -<p>There was a moment’s pause, during which Lexy very cautiously went -halfway up the stairs.</p> - -<p>“I did think of that,” said the young man valiantly. “It seems to me -she’s a bit—well, morbid, you know; and I’ve heard about those -chaps—those psychoanalysts, you know. Simply occurred to me that one -of them—merely a suggestion, you know. I’m not trying to be -officious.”</p> - -<p>“A psychoanalyst,” said Dr. Quelton, “is a man who analyzes the -psyche, who solemnly and expensively analyzes something of whose -existence he has no proof whatever.”</p> - -<p>There was another silence.</p> - -<p>By this time Lexy had reached the head of the stairs. Beside her was -an open door, through which she could look, while she herself was -hidden from view. Beyond it was, as she had thought, the cupola—a -small octagonal room with windows on every side, through which the sun -poured in a dazzling flood. There was nothing in the room except a -white enamel table, a stool, a porcelain sink, and an open cabinet, -upon the shelves of which stood rows and rows of bottles, each one -labeled. Facing this cabinet, and with their backs toward the door, -stood the two men—the doctor with his shoulders hunched and his hands -clasped behind him, and Captain Grey, tall, slender, straight as a -wand.</p> - -<p>“Materia medica—that is my art,” said the doctor. “I have devoted my -life to it, and I have learned—a little. I have made experiments. A -psychologist will offer to tell you why a man has murdered his -grandmother. I can’t pretend to do that, but I can give that man a -tablet which will make it practically certain that he <i>will</i> kill his -grandmother if they are left alone together for ten minutes.”</p> - -<p>“But, I say!” protested Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>“I can assure you that I have never made the experiment,” said Dr. -Quelton, with a laugh; “but I could do it. I have learned that certain -states of mind can be produced by certain drugs.”</p> - -<p>Captain Grey turned his head, so that Lexy could see his handsome, -sensitive face in profile.</p> - -<p>“That seems to me a pretty risky thing to do,” he said, with a trace -of sternness. “I hope, sir, that you don’t—”</p> - -<p>“Don’t give Muriel drugs that make her disposed to murder her -grandmother?” interrupted the doctor, with another laugh; but he must -have noticed that his companion was unresponsive, for he at once -changed his tone. “No,” he said gravely. “I have made a particular -study of Muriel’s case. She seriously overtaxed herself in her musical -studies. Don’t be alarmed, my dear fellow—there is no permanent -injury. It is simply a profound mental and nervous lassitude—obviously -a case where artificial stimulation is required, until the tone of the -lethargic brain is restored. I am able to do for her what, I feel -certain, no one else now living could do. In this bottle”—he tapped -one of them with his forefinger—“I have a preparation which would make -my fortune, if I had the least ambition in that direction. Five drops -of that, in a glass of water, and her depression and apathy are -immediately dispelled. There is an instantaneous improvement in—”</p> - -<p>Lexy waited to hear no more. She slipped down the stairs as quietly as -she had come up, hurried along the hall, and went into her own room -again. Her knees gave way and she collapsed into a chair, staring -ahead of her with the most singular expression on her face.</p> - -<p>She was, in fact, looking at a new idea, and it was not a welcome one.</p> - -<p>“No!” she said to herself. “It’s out of the question. It’s too -dangerous. I can’t do it!”</p> - -<p>But the idea remained solidly before her; and the more she -contemplated it, the more was her honest heart obliged to admit the -possibilities in it.</p> - -<p>“It can’t do any real harm,” she said; “and it might do good—so much -good! All right, I’m going to do it!”</p> - -<p>Half an hour before dinner she went down into the library, a polite -and quiet young guest, even a little subdued. Dr. Quelton took Captain -Grey out for a stroll on the beach. He asked Lexy to go with them, but -she said she would prefer to stay with Mrs. Quelton.</p> - -<p>It was very peaceful and pleasant there in the library. The late -afternoon sun shone in through the long window, touching with a benign -light the shabby and graceful old furniture, picking out a glitter of -gold on the binding of a book, a dull gleam of silver or copper in a -corner. A mild breeze blew in, fluttering the curtains and bringing a -wholesome breath of the salt air.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Quelton was at her best. To be sure, she was not very -interesting. She talked about rather banal things—about the weather, -about a kitten that had run away, about the flowers in the -conservatory; but Lexy, as she watched her and listened to her, could -understand better than ever before what it was in Captain Grey’s -sister that had so seized upon his heart. Languid and aloof as she -was, there was nevertheless an undeniable charm about her, something -sweet and kindly and lovable. She said, more than once, how very glad -she was to have Lexy with her, and Lexy believed she meant it.</p> - -<p>The two men had strolled out of sight.</p> - -<p>“I must have left my handkerchief upstairs,” said Lexy. “Excuse me -just a minute, please!”</p> - -<p>But she was gone more than a minute, and when she returned her face -was curiously white.</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>XVIII</h2></div> - -<p>The clock struck eleven. Lexy glanced up from her book, in the vain -hope that somebody would speak, would stir, would make some move to -end this intolerable evening; but nobody did.</p> - -<p>Dr. Quelton and Captain Grey were playing chess. They sat facing each -other at a small table, in a haze of tobacco smoke, silent and intent, -as if they had been gods deciding human destinies. Mrs. Quelton lay on -her <i>chaise longue</i>, doing nothing at all. If Lexy spoke to her, she -answered in a low tone, but cheerfully enough; but she so obviously -preferred not to talk that Lexy had taken up a book and vainly -attempted to read.</p> - -<p>It was the most wearisome and depressing evening she had ever spent. -Her lively and restless spirit had often enough found it dull at the -Enderbys’, and at other times and places; but this was different, and -infinitely worse.</p> - -<p>To begin with, a sense of guilt lay like lead upon her heart. She -hoped and believed that what she had done was right, but she was -afraid, terribly afraid, of what might result. She could not keep her -eyes off Mrs. Quelton’s face. She watched the doctor’s wife with a -dread and anxiety which she felt was ill concealed; and she had a -chill suspicion that the doctor was watching her, in turn.</p> - -<p>“Of course, he’s bound to find out some time,” she said to herself. “I -wasn’t such a fool as to expect more than a day or two, at the very -most; but I did hope there’d be time just to see—”</p> - -<p>Again she glanced at Mrs. Quelton. Was it imagination, or was there -already a faint and indefinable change?</p> - -<p>“No, that’s nonsense,” she thought. “There couldn’t be, so -soon—although I don’t know how often he gives her that priceless -tonic.”</p> - -<p>Suddenly she wanted to laugh. She had a very vivid memory of Dr. -Quelton tapping that bottle with his finger, and saying to Captain -Grey that he had a preparation in there which would make his fortune, -if he chose.</p> - -<p>“It wouldn’t now,” she thought, struggling with suppressed laughter.</p> - -<p>There was nothing in that bottle now but water. Just before dinner she -had run up to the cupola, emptied its contents into the sink, and -filled it from the tap.</p> - -<p>The idea had come to her when she overheard the two men talking. It -had seemed to her then a plain and obvious duty to destroy the drug -that so horribly affected Mrs. Quelton. Fate had allowed her to see -which bottle it was. Fate gave her an undisturbed half hour when the -doctor and Captain Grey were out; and, to make her plan quite perfect, -the liquid in the bottle was colorless and almost without odor.</p> - -<p>She had thought it possible that the doctor would not notice the -substitution until his unhappy wife had had at least a chance to -return to a normal condition. Lexy had meant to wait and to watch, -and, when the moment came, to speak to Mrs. Quelton. She had thought -that she could warn the doctor’s wife, and implore her not to submit -to that hideous domination.</p> - -<p>She had scarcely thought of the risk to herself, and it had not -occurred to her that there might be serious risk to Mrs. Quelton. She -knew almost nothing about drugs and their effects. Her one idea had -been to destroy the thing that was destroying Mrs. Quelton. Only now, -when it was done, did she realize the mad audacity of her act. A man -like Dr. Quelton couldn’t be tricked by such a childish device. He -would know what had happened, and who had done it. Very likely he had -plenty more of the drug somewhere else. If he hadn’t—</p> - -<p>“He’d feel like killing me,” thought Lexy. “I suppose he could, easily -enough. He must know all sorts of nice, quiet little ways for getting -rid of obnoxious people. Perhaps there was something in my dinner -to-night!”</p> - -<p>She dared not think of such a possibility.</p> - -<p>“No!” she said to herself. “He asked me here just to show me how -little I mattered. He knew I’d seen Caroline here, and he asked me to -come, because he was so sure I couldn’t do anything. I’m too -insignificant for him to bother with. He knows that nobody would -believe what I said. He’d only have to say that I was hysterical, and -Captain Grey and Mrs. Royce would be obliged to bear him out. He won’t -trouble himself about me!”</p> - -<p>She stole a glance at him, and, to her profound uneasiness, she found -him staring intently at her. A shiver ran down her spine, and she -turned back to her book with a very pale face. If only it had been an -interesting book, so that she might have forgotten herself for a -little while!</p> - -<p>The clock struck half past eleven.</p> - -<p>“After all, I don’t see why I have to sit here,” she thought. “I -shouldn’t exactly break up the party if I went to bed.”</p> - -<p>And she was just about to close her book when Mrs. Quelton spoke.</p> - -<p>“I’m so tired!” she said in a high, wailing voice. “I’m so tired—so -tired—so tired!”</p> - -<p>Dr. Quelton hastily rose and came over to her chair.</p> - -<p>“Then you must go to bed,” he said. “Come!”</p> - -<p>He helped her to rise, and she stood, supported by his arm, her face -drawn and ghastly.</p> - -<p>“I’m so tired!” she moaned.</p> - -<p>Captain Grey came toward her, making a very poor attempt to smile.</p> - -<p>“Good night, Muriel!” he said, holding out his hand.</p> - -<p>She did not answer, or even look at him. Leaning on the doctor’s arm, -she went out of the room, into the hall, and up the stairs. Her -wailing voice floated back to them: “I’m so tired—so tired!”</p> - -<p>For a moment Captain Grey and Lexy were silent. Then—</p> - -<p>“Good God!” he cried suddenly. “I can’t stand this! I—”</p> - -<p>Lexy came nearer to him.</p> - -<p>“Don’t stand it!” she whispered. “Take her away! Can’t you <i>see</i>? Take -her away!”</p> - -<p>“How can I? Her husband—she doesn’t want to go.”</p> - -<p>“Make her! Oh, can’t you see? He’s giving her some horrible drug!”</p> - -<p>“You mustn’t be alarmed,” said Dr. Quelton’s voice from the hall. They -both looked at him with a guilty start, but his blank eyes were -staring past them, at nothing. “It is unfortunate,” he said. “The -little excitement of this visit—”</p> - -<p>He walked past them into the room and over to the table, where his -pipe lay among the chessmen. He lit it deliberately and stood smoking -it, with one arm resting on the mantelpiece.</p> - -<p>“In her present highly nervous condition,” he went on, “the little -excitement of this visit has proved too much for her. I shall drive -over to the hospital and fetch a nurse—”</p> - -<p>“A nurse!” cried the young man. “Then she’s—”</p> - -<p>“There is absolutely no occasion for alarm, as I told you before. A -few days’ rest and quiet—”</p> - -<p>“Look here, sir!” said Captain Grey. “It seems to me—I’ve no wish to -be offensive, or anything of that sort, but it seems right to me”—he -paused for a moment—“to get a second opinion.”</p> - -<p>“I shouldn’t advise it,” replied the doctor blandly.</p> - -<p>“Possibly not, sir; but perhaps you would be willing to oblige me to -that extent. I don’t want to insist—”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t, if I were you.”</p> - -<p>There was a faint flush on the young man’s dark face.</p> - -<p>“Nevertheless—” he began, but again the doctor interrupted him.</p> - -<p>“My dear young man,” he said, “you oblige me to be frank. I should -have preferred a discreet silence; but as you are obviously determined -to make the matter as difficult as possible, you must hear the truth. -For some years your sister has been addicted to the use of certain -drugs. When I discovered this, I set about trying to cure the -addiction. You probably have no idea what that means. I venture to say -that there is nothing—absolutely nothing—more difficult in the entire -field of medicine. I have been working on the case for more than a -year, and I have made distinct progress; but it will be some time -before the cure is completed, and I can assure you that it never will -be unless I am left undisturbed. There is no other man now living who -can do what I am doing.”</p> - -<p>He spoke gravely and coldly, and his blank eyes were fixed upon -Captain Grey with a sort of sternness; but Lexy had a curious -impression—more than an impression, a certainty—that within himself -Dr. Quelton was laughing.</p> - -<p>“If you care to take another doctor into your confidence,” he went on, -“I can scarcely refuse permission; but you will regret it.”</p> - -<p>The young man said nothing. He turned away and stood by the open -window, looking out into the dark garden. Lexy waited for a moment. -Then, with a subdued “Good night,” she went out of the room, up the -stairs, and into her own room.</p> - -<p>“It’s a lie!” she said to herself.</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>XIX</h2></div> - -<p>“Then you’re not going to do anything?” asked Lexy.</p> - -<p>“My dear Miss Moran, what in the world can I do?” returned Captain -Grey, with a sort of despair.</p> - -<p>They were sitting together on the veranda in the warm morning -sunshine. They had had breakfast in the dining room, with the -doctor—an excellent breakfast. The doctor had been at his -best—courteous, affable, very attentive to his guests. Everything in -his manner tended to reassure the young soldier.</p> - -<p>Everything in the world seemed to tend in that direction, Lexy -thought. A Sunday tranquillity lay over the country. Church bells were -ringing somewhere in the far distance. The windows of the library -stood open, and the parlor maid was visible in there, flitting about -with broom and duster. Everything was peaceful and ordinary, and -Captain Grey had come out on the veranda and attempted to begin a -peaceful and ordinary conversation.</p> - -<p>But Lexy had no intention of allowing him to enjoy such a thing. She -felt pretty sure that her time in this house would not be long. She -had caused Dr. Quelton an anxiety that he could not conceal. She had -got in his way. She could not tell whether he had discovered her trick -yet, but the effects were manifest; and if he didn’t know now, he -would very soon, and then—</p> - -<p>Captain Grey must carry on when she was gone.</p> - -<p>“You’re properly satisfied—with everything?” she went on mercilessly. -“You’re not allowed even to see your sister. No one can see her. -You’re not allowed to call in another doctor.”</p> - -<p>“Even if I’m not properly satisfied,” he answered, “what can I do? In -her husband’s house, you know—I can’t make a row.”</p> - -<p>“Why can’t you?”</p> - -<p>He looked at her, startled and uneasy. Her question was ridiculous. -Why couldn’t he make a row? Simply because he couldn’t; because he -wasn’t that sort; because it wasn’t done; because almost anything was -preferable to making a row.</p> - -<p>“Of course, if you have a blind faith in Dr. Quelton—” she persisted.</p> - -<p>“Well, I haven’t,” he admitted; “but—”</p> - -<p>“Then let’s go upstairs and see her. The doctor has gone out.”</p> - -<p>“But the nurse—”</p> - -<p>“Put on your best commanding officer’s air,” said Lexy. “You can be -awfully impressive when you like. If I were you, there’s nothing I’d -stop at.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but look here—what can I say to Quelton when he hears about it?”</p> - -<p>“Laugh it off,” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>The idea of Captain Grey trying to laugh off anything made her grin -from ear to ear.</p> - -<p>“Not much of a joke, though, is it?” he said rather stiffly. “Suppose -he hoofs us out of the house?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, dear!” cried Lexy. “You’re not a bit resourceful! Let’s try it, -anyhow. It’s horrible to think of her shut up like that. Perhaps she’s -longing to see you.”</p> - -<p>He rose.</p> - -<p>“Right-o!” he said. “Let’s try it!”</p> - -<p>Together they went up the stairs and down the hall of the other wing, -opposite that in which Lexy’s room was. Captain Grey knocked on a -door, and a quiet, middle-aged little nurse came out.</p> - -<p>“I’ll just pop in to see how my sister’s getting on,” said the young -man, and Lexy silently applauded his toploftical manner.</p> - -<p>“I’m sorry,” said the little nurse, “but Dr. Quelton has given strict -orders—”</p> - -<p>“Er—yes, quite so!” he interrupted suavely. “I shan’t stop a minute.”</p> - -<p>He came nearer, but the nurse drew back and stood with her back -against the door.</p> - -<p>“Dr. Quelton has given strict orders—” she repeated.</p> - -<p>“No more of that, please!” he said with a frown. “I’m going to see -Mrs. Quelton for a moment. Stand aside, please!”</p> - -<p>He did not raise his voice, but the quality of it was oddly changed. -Lexy felt a thrill of pleasure in its cool assurance and authority. -Perhaps he objected very much to “making a row,” but what a glorious -row he could make if he chose! If he would only once face Dr. Quelton -like this!</p> - -<p>“Stand aside, if you please!” he repeated, and the poor little nurse, -very much flustered, did so.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid Dr. Quelton will be—” she began, but Captain Grey had -already entered the room.</p> - -<p>The nurse followed him, closing the door after her. Lexy opened it at -once and went in after them. She caught a glimpse of the young man and -the nurse vanishing through one of the long windows that led out to -the balcony. For a moment she hesitated, looking about her at the big, -dim room. The dark shades were pulled down, and not a trace of the -spring’s brightness entered here.</p> - -<p>Then she heard Captain Grey’s voice speaking.</p> - -<p>“My dear, my dear!” he said. “Can I do anything in the world for you? -My dear!”</p> - -<p>There was no answer. Lexy crossed the room to the window and looked -out. The balcony, too, was dim, with Venetian blinds drawn down on -every side, and on a narrow cot lay Muriel Quelton. There was a -bandage over her forehead and covering her hair, and under it her face -had a mystic and terrible beauty. She was as white as a ghost, with -great dark circles beneath her eyes; and she was so still—so utterly -still—that Lexy was stricken with terror.</p> - -<p>Captain Grey was sitting beside her in a low chair, holding one of her -lifeless hands, and Lexy saw on his face such anguish as she had never -looked upon before.</p> - -<p>“My dear!” he said again.</p> - -<p>Her weary eyes opened and looked up at him. Then the shadow of a smile -crossed her face.</p> - -<p>“Stay!” she whispered.</p> - -<p>Lexy drew nearer. Tears were running down her cheeks. She tried to -read the nurse’s face, but she could not.</p> - -<p>“How is—she—getting on?” she asked, speaking very low.</p> - -<p>“Lexy!” came a voice from the cot, almost inaudible. “Take it—the top -drawer—of the bureau—for you.”</p> - -<p>“But do you mean—I don’t understand!” cried Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Hush, please!” said the nurse severely. “Mrs. Quelton is not to be -excited.”</p> - -<p>Lexy was silent for a moment. Then, just as she was about to speak, -her quick ear caught a very unwelcome sound—the sound of a horse’s -trot. She turned away and went back through the window into the room. -Dr. Quelton was coming home. She couldn’t wait to find out what Muriel -Quelton had meant. Once more she was compelled to do the best she -could amid a fog of misunderstanding.</p> - -<p>“Lexy—take it—the top drawer—of the bureau—for you.”</p> - -<p>That was what she thought Mrs. Quelton had said, and she acted upon -that premise. She crossed the room to the bureau, and opened the top -drawer. In the dim light that filled the shuttered room she could not -see very clearly; but, as far as she could ascertain, there was -nothing in the drawer except some neatly folded silk stockings, a -satin glove case, some little odds and ends of ribbons, and a pile of -handkerchiefs. She looked into the glove case—nothing there but -gloves. There was nothing hidden away among the stockings, nothing -among the ribbons.</p> - -<p>She heard the front door close and a step begin to mount the stairs, -deliberate and heavy, in the quiet house. In haste she went at the -pile of handkerchiefs. There were dozens of them, all of fine white -linen, all with a “2” embroidered in one corner—very uninteresting -handkerchiefs, Lexy thought; but halfway through the pile she came -upon one that she had seen before.</p> - -<p>It was so familiar to her that at first she was not startled or even -surprised. It was a handkerchief that she had embroidered for Caroline -Enderby.</p> - -<p>She took it up and looked at it with a frown. Then she heard Dr. -Quelton’s step in the hall outside. She tucked the handkerchief in her -belt, and tried to close the drawer, but it stuck. Her heart was -beating wildly, her knees felt weak. He would find her there, like a -thief!</p> - -<p>But the footsteps went on past the door. She waited for a moment, and -then went noiselessly across to the door, opened it, looked up and -down the empty corridor, and ran, like a hare, back to her own room.</p> - -<p>Caroline’s handkerchief! Was that what Mrs. Quelton had meant her to -find? Or had she discovered it by accident? Did it mean that Mrs. -Quelton was at heart her ally? Or was this little square of linen all -that was left of Caroline?</p> - -<p>Lexy took it out of her belt and looked at it again, and her tears -fell on it. Whatever else it might imply, it told her clearly enough -that her friend <i>had been there</i>. Poor Caroline—the helpless little -captive who had left her prison to be lost in the strange world -outside—had come here, and she had brought with her the handkerchief -that Lexy had embroidered for her. It had come now into Lexy’s hand, a -mute and pitiful emissary, whose message she could not understand.</p> - -<p>“What shall I do?” she thought. “Oh, what must I do? Perhaps it’s time -for the police. Perhaps, if I show this to Captain Grey, he’ll believe -me. There must be some one, somewhere, who’ll believe me and help me!”</p> - -<p>There was a knock at the door.</p> - -<p>“Yes?” she said.</p> - -<p>“Open the door!” ordered Dr. Quelton’s voice.</p> - -<p>“No!” Lexy promptly replied.</p> - -<p>She put the handkerchief inside her blouse and stood facing the closed -door, with her hands clenched. Now he knew! She heard him laugh -quietly.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps you’re right,” he said. “It is better, perhaps, for us not to -meet again. Even making every allowance for your hysterical, -unbalanced mind, I find it difficult to excuse this latest -manifestation which I have just this moment discovered. It was you, of -course, who filled that bottle with water?”</p> - -<p>She did not answer.</p> - -<p>“Why you did it, I don’t know,” he went on, “and probably you don’t -know yourself. It was the wanton mischief of an irresponsible child, -but the consequences in this instance are serious—very serious. Mrs. -Quelton will suffer for them. I doubt if she will recover. No, Miss -Moran, you are too troublesome a guest. You had better go—at once!”</p> - -<p>“All right!” said Lexy, in a defiant but trembling voice.</p> - -<p>“At once!” he repeated. “I shall send your bag this afternoon.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>XX</h2></div> - -<p>“I don’t care!” said Lexy to herself. “I’ll come back!”</p> - -<p>She did not wish to have her bag sent after her. She packed it in -great haste, put on her hat and coat, and, opening the door of her -room, stepped out cautiously and looked up and down the corridor. -There was no one in sight, so she picked up her bag and set forth.</p> - -<p>She was running away—worse than that, she was being driven away; but -just at the moment she could see no other course open to her. She -could not appeal to Captain Grey while he was in such distracting -anxiety about his sister. It would be cruel, and it would be useless. -What could he do? If Dr. Quelton did not want her in his house, -certainly his brother-in-law could not insist upon her staying.</p> - -<p>“No!” she reflected. “He would only think it was his duty as a -gentleman to leave with me, and he would be miserable, not knowing -what became of his sister. I’ve got to go, that’s all; but, by jiminy, -I’ll come back! And then we’ll see how much more wanton mischief this -irresponsible child can manage!”</p> - -<p>There was in her heart a steady flame of anger. Hatred was not natural -to her, but her feeling for Dr. Quelton came dangerously near to it. -For Caroline’s disappearance, for Mrs. Quelton’s pitiful state, for -her own humiliation and suffering, she held him responsible; and she -meant to settle that score.</p> - -<p>She met no one on her way through the house. She went down the stairs, -opened the door, and stepped out into the dazzling sunshine. It was a -warm day, her bag was very heavy, and the three-mile walk to Mrs. -Royce’s was not inviting. It had to be done, however, and off she -started.</p> - -<p>The lane was thick with dust, and it was hard walking with that heavy -bag, but she went on at a smart pace as long as she thought any one -could possibly see her from the cupola. Then she set down the bag and -rested for a moment.</p> - -<p>“There’s a certain way to carry things without strain,” she thought. -“I read about it in a magazine. You use the muscles of your back, or -your shoulders, or something.”</p> - -<p>But she couldn’t remember how this was to be done; so, picking up the -bag in her usual way, went on again. Obviously her way was a very -wrong way, for by the time she had reached the end of the lane her -fingers were cramped and painful, and her arms ached; and there was -the highway, stretching endlessly before her under the hot noonday -sun—two miles of it or more. There was no reasonable chance of a taxi, -and she knew no one in the neighborhood who might come driving by. -There was nothing in sight but a man walking along the road toward -her, and that didn’t interest her.</p> - -<p>She went on as far as she could, and then stopped under a tree, to rub -her stiffening arms.</p> - -<p>“I wonder,” she thought, “if I could hide this darned old bag -somewhere, and send Joe for it later!”</p> - -<p>But her nicest clothes were in it, and the risk was too great. With a -resentful sigh she lifted it and stepped out again. The man coming -along the road was quite close to her now. She stopped short, and so -did he.</p> - -<p>“Lexy!” he shouted, and came toward her on a run, with a wide grin on -his sunburned face.</p> - -<p>She dropped the bag with a thump, and stood waiting for him. He held -out both hands, and she took them.</p> - -<p>“Oh, golly!” she cried. “I’m so glad you’ve come, Mr. Houseman!”</p> - -<p>“So am I!” he said. “Ever since I got that last letter from you—”</p> - -<p>“Last! I only wrote one.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I got two,” he told her. “The second one came yesterday, about -this doctor, and the roses, you know.”</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Royce must have posted it!” said Lexy. “I wrote it, but I didn’t -mean it to be sent to you unless something happened to me.”</p> - -<p>“Enough has happened to you already!”</p> - -<p>“More things are going to happen,” said she. “Lots more!”</p> - -<p>It suddenly occurred to her that the proper moment had come for -withdrawing her hands from Mr. Houseman’s firm grasp. Indeed, she -thought the proper moment might already have passed, and a warm color -came into her cheeks.</p> - -<p>The young man flushed a little himself.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t mean to call you that,” he said; “but Caroline used to write -a lot about you, and she always called you ‘Lexy,’ so I got into the -way of thinking of you—like that.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t mind,” Lexy conceded.</p> - -<p>There was a moment’s silence.</p> - -<p>“Charles is my name,” he observed.</p> - -<p>Another silence.</p> - -<p>“Queer, isn’t it?” he said seriously.</p> - -<p>“Here we’ve only seen each other once, and yet somehow it seems to me -as if I’d known you for years!”</p> - -<p>“Well, the circumstances are rather unusual,” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>“You’re right! But look here—we’ve got to talk about all this. Where -were you going?”</p> - -<p>“Back to Mrs. Royce’s.”</p> - -<p>“Let’s go!” he said cheerfully, and picked up the bag as if it were -nothing at all.</p> - -<p>“But where were <i>you</i> going?” asked Lexy.</p> - -<p>“To find you. You see, we ran into some awfully bad weather, and the -engines broke down, and we came back for repairs; so I got your -letters. I explained to the old man that I’d have to have leave, for -some very important business, and off I came to Wyngate. Your Mrs. -Royce told me you’d gone out to the Queltons’. I didn’t like that. Why -did you go there, after what had happened?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you all about that later,” said Lexy; “but now you’ve got -to tell me things. How did you ever meet Caroline? How in the world -did she manage to write to you?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you see, I met her about a year ago, on board the Ormond. She -and her parents were coming back from France, and I was third officer, -you know. Her mother and father were seasick most of the time, so we -had a chance to—to talk to each other; and, you see—”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I see!” said Lexy gently.</p> - -<p>“One of the servants—a girl called Annie—used to post Caroline’s -letters for her, and I used to write to her in care of Annie’s mother. -We never had a chance to meet again, after that trip. I wanted to come -to the house and see her people, but she said it wasn’t any use; and -from what I saw of them on the Ormond I dare say she was right. I -wouldn’t have suited them. I haven’t any money, you know—nothing but -my pay; but it was enough for us to live on. Other fellows manage!”</p> - -<p>He was silent for a moment.</p> - -<p>“After all,” he said, “I’m not a beggar. I can hold my own pretty well -in the world, and I could look after a wife.”</p> - -<p>“I know it!” cried Lexy, with vehemence. She felt curiously touched by -his words, and quite indignant against the Enderbys and any one else -who did not appreciate him.</p> - -<p>“I asked Caroline to marry me,” he went on. “I told her I couldn’t -give her much, but we could have had a jolly sort of life. Look here! -Are you crying?”</p> - -<p>“A little bit,” Lexy admitted; “but don’t pay any attention to it. Go -on!”</p> - -<p>“That’s about all there is. She said she would meet me here in -Wyngate, because that’s the nearest station of the main line to some -little place where a nurse or a governess of hers lived.”</p> - -<p>“Miss Craigie!”</p> - -<p>“Never heard the name. Anyhow, she wanted to go there after we got -married, and—I wish you wouldn’t look like that!”</p> - -<p>“But I’m so <i>awfully</i> sorry for you!”</p> - -<p>“It was pretty hard, at first,” he said; “but—well, you see, I’ve -thought a bit about it, and after all I’m glad we didn’t get married.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” cried Lexy, profoundly shocked. “But that’s—”</p> - -<p>“Because I—you see, she didn’t—well, I don’t think she really liked me -very much.”</p> - -<p>Lexy was astounded.</p> - -<p>“Fact!” said he. “What she wanted was romance, and all that sort of -thing. She wanted to get away from home, and I was the only chance she -had; so there you are!”</p> - -<p>“That wasn’t very fair to you!”</p> - -<p>“I don’t blame her,” he said thoughtfully. “We were both—but what’s -the sense of talking about all that? The thing is to find her!”</p> - -<p>Lexy agreed to that promptly.</p> - -<p>“Now I’ll tell you everything that’s happened,” she said.</p> - -<p>He listened to her with alert attention. He interrupted her often to -ask questions, but they were always questions that she could answer. -He wanted all the facts, and what Lexy told him he unquestioningly -accepted as fact. When she said she had seen Caroline at the doctor’s -house, he believed her. He didn’t suggest that her eyes might have -deceived her. He trusted her—not only her good intentions, but her -good sense.</p> - -<p>At last she came to the part of her story about which she was most -doubtful—the episode of the emptied bottle. She told it with -reluctance.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know now,” she said. “Perhaps I did wrong. Perhaps that -really was wanton mischief. I did so hate that horrible drug that -changed her so! When I did it, it seemed right; but now—”</p> - -<p>“It was right,” said he. “Any one’s better off dead than being -drugged. Everything you’ve done was right and splendid. You’re the -pluckiest girl I ever heard of—the best and most loyal little pal to -poor Caroline! There’s no one like you!”</p> - -<p>After Mrs. Enderby’s cold and skeptical smile, after Dr. Quelton’s -parting sneer, after Captain Grey’s doubts and uncertainties, this -speech rather went to Lexy’s head. The world seemed a different place. -She glanced at the young man, and he happened at that moment to be -looking at her. They both looked away hastily.</p> - -<p>“This fellow—this Captain Grey,” said Charles. “He seems to me to be -rather a chump!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, he’s not!” protested Lexy. “He’s as nice as can be!”</p> - -<p>Charles Houseman, who had believed everything that Lexy had said, did -not appear convinced of this; and for some inexplicable reason Lexy -was not greatly displeased by his lack of belief.</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>XXI</h2></div> - -<p>Mrs. Royce was very much pleased to see her pet, Miss Moran, return. -She was well disposed toward Mr. Houseman, too, and willingly agreed -to put him up for a few days. She set to work at once to cook a good -lunch for them, but she did not hum under her breath, as was her usual -habit. In fact, she was greatly perplexed and worried.</p> - -<p>When her guests were seated at the table, she retired, leaving them -alone; but she did not go very far. She remained close to the door, so -that she could look through the crack. She observed that Miss Moran -seemed very lively and cheerful with this newcomer—though she had been -quite as lively and cheerful with Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t know, I’m sure!” said Mrs. Royce to herself, with a -sigh. “It beats <i>me</i>!”</p> - -<p>For the question which so troubled her was—which young man was <i>the</i> -young man?</p> - -<p>“Both of ’em as nice, polite young fellers as you’d want to see,” she -repeated. “T’ other one’s handsomer, but he’s kind of foreignlike and -gloomy. This one’s got more gumption. The way he walked in here, smart -as a whip, and asked for Miss Moran, an’ when I says she’s gone to -visit the Queltons, why, off he went, after her! I like a man with -gumption!”</p> - -<p>So did Miss Moran. Charles Houseman seemed to her the only living, -vigorous creature in a world of ghosts, the only one whom she could -really understand. There were no shadowy corners about him. He was -altogether honest, direct, and uncomplicated. He had no tact and no -caution. He had come now, in the midst of this wretched tangle, and -she completely believed that he would cut the Gordian knot.</p> - -<p>He had suggested that they should let the subject drop for a time.</p> - -<p>“I think I’ve got the facts straight,” he said; “and now I want to -think them over a bit. Let’s take a walk, and talk about something -else.”</p> - -<p>Lexy agreed to the entire program. If she was tired, she either didn’t -know it, or she forgot it in the joy of this beautifully careless -companionship. She could say exactly what came into her head to -Charles Houseman. He understood her. He was interested in every word -she spoke, and, what is more, she was aware of the profound admiration -that underlay his interest. He thought she was wonderful, and that -made her strangely happy.</p> - -<p>“Do you know,” he said, “the first time I saw you, there in the park, -I—I liked the way you talked to me!”</p> - -<p>“How?” asked Lexy, with great interest. “I thought I must have seemed -awfully irritating and mysterious.”</p> - -<p>He grinned.</p> - -<p>“You were awfully mad when I spoke to you,” he said; “but I liked -that. I don’t know—somehow you made me think of Joan of Arc.”</p> - -<p>“Me?” cried Lexy. “With freckles, and such a temper? You couldn’t -imagine me listening to angels, could you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said, “I could.”</p> - -<p>She glanced at him to see if he was laughing, but he was not. His eyes -met hers with a quiet and steady look.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t need to imagine much,” he said. “You’ve told me what you’ve -been through, and I can see for myself what you are. I don’t think -there ever was another girl like you!”</p> - -<p>“Nonsense!” said Lexy, looking away. “I’m just pig-headed—that’s all.”</p> - -<p>They had wandered across the fields until they came to a little river, -running clear and swift under the elm trees. By tacit consent they sat -down on the bank. They didn’t talk much. Houseman skipped stones with -skill and earnest attention, and Lexy watched the minnows flitting -past through the limpid water. The sky was an unclouded blue. The -sunlight came through the branches, where the leaves were scarcely -unfolded, and made little golden sparkles on the hurrying current. It -was all so quiet—and yet it wasn’t peaceful. The world seemed too -young, too warmly and joyously alive, for peace. The spring was -waiting in eagerness for the summer. This still, fresh, sunlit day was -only an interlude.</p> - -<p>Casually, Houseman told her a good deal about himself.</p> - -<p>“From Baltimore,” he said. “My people wanted me to go into the navy. -My father and grandfather were both navy, but I couldn’t see it. Too -cut and dried! I’m on a cargo steamer now, and I like it.”</p> - -<p>And this information—with the additional facts that he was twenty-six, -that he had two brothers in the navy and three married sisters, and -that both of his parents were living—was all that he had to give about -himself. Lexy was satisfied. There he was, and anyone with eyes to see -and ears to listen could understand him. Honest, blunt, and careless, -fearing nothing, shirking nothing, and facing life with cheerful -unconcern, he was, she thought, a comrade and an ally without an -equal.</p> - -<p>The sun was setting when they turned homeward. The sky was swimming in -soft, pale colors, and a little breeze blew, stirring the new leaves. -It was a poetic and even a melancholy hour; but Houseman found nothing -better to say than that he was hungry.</p> - -<p>“So am I!” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>They looked at each other as if they had discovered still another bond -between them. They were happy—so happy!</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce saw them from the kitchen window. They were strolling along -leisurely, side by side. They were quite composed and matter-of-fact, -and their desultory conversation was upon the subject of shellfish. -The young Baltimorean was an authority on oysters, but Lexy, as a New -Englander, had something to say on the subject of clam chowder.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce was suddenly enlightened.</p> - -<p>“He’s the one!” she said to herself. “Well, I’m real glad, I’m sure!”</p> - -<p>So glad was she that she at once began to make a superb chocolate -cake, and she hummed a song about a young man on Springfield Mountain, -who killed a “pesky sarpent.”</p> - -<p>George Grey heard her. He was in the sitting room, smoking, and -apparently reading a book; but he never turned a page. He lit one -cigarette after another, and his hand was steady. He looked as he -always looked—fastidiously neat, self-possessed, and a little haughty; -but in spirit he was suffering horribly.</p> - -<p>Lexy knew that as soon as she saw him, because she knew him and liked -him so well. She held out her hand to him, not even pretending to -smile, but searching his face with an anxious and friendly glance.</p> - -<p>“Here’s Mr. Houseman, Caroline Enderby’s <i>fiancé</i>,” she said. “I’ve -told him the whole thing, so if there’s anything new—”</p> - -<p>Captain Grey stiffened perceptibly. He couldn’t see what possible -connection anybody’s <i>fiancé</i> could have with his affairs. He shook -hands with Houseman, but not very nicely; and Houseman was not -excessively cordial.</p> - -<p>Lexy took no notice of this nonsense. Her mood of happy confidence had -passed now, and the dark and mysterious shadow had come back. There -was something of greater importance to think about than her personal -affairs.</p> - -<p>“Captain Grey,” she said, with a sort of directness, “I didn’t tell -you before, but I’m going to tell you now. I saw Caroline in that -house, and this morning I found—this.”</p> - -<p>He looked at the handkerchief, and then at Lexy.</p> - -<p>“But—” he began.</p> - -<p>“It means that she’s been there, or that she’s there now,” Lexy went -on. “It’s time we found out. Of course, I know how you feel about Dr. -Quelton. He’s your sister’s husband, and you didn’t want—”</p> - -<p>“It doesn’t make much difference now,” he said. “If you’ll wait a day -or so, she—”</p> - -<p>He turned away abruptly, and took out his cigarette case.</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?” cried Lexy.</p> - -<p>“It won’t be long,” he said quietly. “She—my sister—he says it won’t -be more than twenty-four hours, at the most.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no! It can’t be! Captain Grey, don’t believe him!”</p> - -<p>“I tried not to,” he said. “I—well, we had a bit of a row, and I made -him let me bring in another doctor from the village here. He said the -same thing.”</p> - -<p>“What did the doctor say it was?” asked Houseman.</p> - -<p>“Pernicious anæmia. There’s nothing to be done.”</p> - -<p>Captain Grey seemed to find some difficulty in lighting his cigarette; -but when he had done so, and had drawn in a deep breath, he turned -back toward Lexy with a smile that startled her. She had never -imagined he could look like that. It was a wolfish kind of smile, -lighting his dark face with a sort of savage mirth.</p> - -<p>“When it’s over,” he said, “I’ll be very pleased to help you to hang -him, if you can; or I’ll wring his neck myself.”</p> - -<p>The other two stared at him in silence for a moment.</p> - -<p>“You think he’s—” Houseman began.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know whether he has actually murdered her or not,” said -Captain Grey, “but he has destroyed her—utterly wasted and ruined her -life. He taught her to take that damned drug; and when Miss Moran -broke the bottle—”</p> - -<p>“Oh! Did he tell you?”</p> - -<p>“He did. He says you’ve killed her. There was some rare drug in it -that he can’t get for a fortnight or so, and she can’t live without -it.”</p> - -<p>“Captain Grey!” she cried, white to the lips. “I didn’t—”</p> - -<p>“I know,” he said gently. “You meant to help, and I’m glad you did it. -She’s better dead. This afternoon, for a little while, she -was—herself. She talked to me. She was very weak, but she was herself. -She asked me to help her not to take it again. She thought she was -getting better. Then that”—he paused—“that damned brute brought in a -lawyer, so that she could make her will. She couldn’t believe it. She -looked up at me. ‘Oh, I’m not going to <i>die</i>, am I?’ she said. Before -I could answer her, he told her she must be prepared. Then I—”</p> - -<p>Again he turned away.</p> - -<p>“And you let him alone?” inquired Houseman.</p> - -<p>“It’s not time to settle with him—yet,” said the other. “That’s why I -came away, because I don’t want to kill him—yet. She’s unconscious -now. She will be, until it’s finished. I’m going back later, but I -wanted to come, here—” He ceased speaking. “To you,” his eyes said to -Lexy.</p> - -<p>She forgot everything else, then, except this tormented and suffering -human being who had turned to her for comfort. She pushed him gently -down into a chair, and seated herself on the arm of it. She took both -his hands and patted them, while she racked her brain for the right -thing to say.</p> - -<p>“We’ll do <i>something</i>!” she said. “There’s no reason to be in despair. -That young country doctor was probably entirely under the influence of -Dr. Quelton. We’ll get some one else. We’ll telephone to one of the -big hospitals in New York and find out who’s the very best man, and -we’ll get him out here. Mr. Houseman will ring up—”</p> - -<p>But Mr. Houseman had disappeared. Worse still, Mrs. Royce’s telephone -was out of order.</p> - -<p>“Never mind!” said Lexy. “We’ll have a nice hot cup of tea, and then -we’ll go to the grocery store. There’s a telephone there.”</p> - -<p>She made the captain drink his tea and eat a little. Then she ran -upstairs for her hat; and she was very angry at Charles Houseman for -running away.</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>XXII</h2></div> - -<p>They set off together down the village street. There was no one about -at that hour. All Wyngate was partaking of its Sunday night supper -within doors, and one or two of the little wooden houses showed lights -in the front windows; but for the most part life was concentrated in -the kitchen.</p> - -<p>The drug store was locked, but a dim light was burning inside, and a -vigorous ringing of the night bell brought Mr. Binz, the owner, to -open the door. He was deeply interested in their errand. He suggested -St. Luke’s Hospital, for the reason that he had once been there -himself, and therefore held it almost sacred.</p> - -<p>“But,” he said, in his slow and impressive way, “if I was you, I’d -ring up Doc Quelton first, and find out how things are going up there; -because you may find out—”</p> - -<p>Lexy interrupted him hastily, for she didn’t want him to say what he -evidently wished to say.</p> - -<p>“There won’t be any change in Mrs. Quelton,” she said. “It would only -be a waste of time.”</p> - -<p>It was not so much for that poor woman, who she feared was beyond -hope, that she wanted the New York specialist, as for Captain Grey. It -would help him so much to feel that something was being done, that -some one was hurrying out here!</p> - -<p>“Might be more of a waste of time,” said Mr. Binz, “if some one was to -come all the way out here after she—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, all right!” cried Lexy impatiently. Then suddenly she remembered. -“They haven’t any telephone at the doctor’s house,” she said.</p> - -<p>“Suppose I go out there first, and see?” suggested Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>“No!” said Lexy. “Don’t!”</p> - -<p>But the idea impressed him as a good one, and go he would.</p> - -<p>“I’d rather see how she is, first,” he repeated. “If there’s no -change, I’ll come back.”</p> - -<p>Lexy looked at Mr. Binz with an angry and reproachful frown, which the -poor man did not understand. He had only wanted to give helpful -advice.</p> - -<p>“Come on, then!” she said to Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>“I’ll leave you at Mrs. Royce’s,” he told her.</p> - -<p>“No, you won’t!” she contradicted with a trace of severity. “If you -<i>will</i> go, I’m going with you!”</p> - -<p>He protested against this, but she would not listen, and so they went -to the garage for Joe’s taxi; but Joe and his taxi had gone out. An -interested bystander said that they could get a “rig” from the livery -stable with no trouble at all. They had only to find the proprietor, -and he, in turn, would find the driver, who would harness up the -horse.</p> - -<p>“No, thanks,” said Captain Grey. He turned to Lexy. “I can’t wait,” he -told her. “I’m going to walk. Thank you for—”</p> - -<p>“I can walk, too,” said Lexy. “It’s only three miles.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want you to, Miss Moran.”</p> - -<p>“I’m coming anyhow,” she replied.</p> - -<p>For that instinct in her, the thing which was beyond reason, drove her -forward. She could not let him go alone. She had walked that three -miles once before to-day, and she had walked farther than that with -Houseman in the afternoon. She was tired, terribly tired, and filled -with a queer, sick reluctance to approach that sinister house again; -but she had to go. She had said to herself that morning that she was -coming back, and now she was going to do so.</p> - -<p>They did not try to talk much on the way. What had they to say? They -were both filled with a dread foreboding. They hurried, yet they -wished never to come to the end of the journey.</p> - -<p>They turned down the lane, leaving the lights of the highway behind, -and went forward in thick darkness, under the shadow of the trees. The -sound of the sea came to them—the loneliest sound in all the world.</p> - -<p>“There’s a light in the house, anyhow!” said Lexy suddenly.</p> - -<p>Her own voice sounded so small, so pert, so futile, in the dark, that -she felt no surprise when Captain Grey showed a faint trace of -impatience in answering.</p> - -<p>“Naturally!” he said.</p> - -<p>Only, to her, it did not seem natural, that one little light shining -out through the glass of the front door. It would be more natural, she -thought, if there were only the darkness and the sound of the sea.</p> - -<p>They turned into the drive. Their footsteps sounded strangely and -terribly loud on the gravel, and became as sharp as pistol shots when -they mounted the veranda. The captain rang the bell, and the sound of -it ran through the house like a shudder; but no one came. He rang -again and again, but nothing stirred inside the house. He knocked on -the glass, and they waited, looking into the bright and empty hall; -but no one came.</p> - -<p>Captain Grey turned the knob, the door opened, and they went in. The -door of the library was open, showing only darkness. The stairs ran up -into darkness. Nothing moved, nothing stirred. Then, suddenly, a -little breeze rose, and the front door slammed with a crash behind -them. Lexy cried out, and caught the young man’s arm.</p> - -<p>“Don’t be afraid!” he said; but his face was ashen. For a moment they -stood where they were. “Miss Moran,” he went on, “would you rather -wait here while I go upstairs?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Lexy. “I’ll come with you.”</p> - -<p>He started up the stairs, and she followed him closely. At almost -every step she looked behind her, and she did not know which was the -more horrible to her, the brightly lit hall or the darkness before -them. Suppose she saw some one in the hall behind them!</p> - -<p>Captain Grey did not once glance behind. He went on steadily. When he -reached the top of the flight, he took a box of matches from his -pocket and lit the gas. There was the long corridor, with the row of -closed doors. He turned down in the direction of Mrs. Quelton’s room, -but Lexy touched him on the shoulder.</p> - -<p>“I think you had better let me go first,” she suggested. “Perhaps she -won’t be ready to see you.”</p> - -<p>Their eyes met.</p> - -<p>“Thank you, Lexy!” he said simply, and went on again.</p> - -<p>He had never used her name before. He was trying to tell her that he -understood what she had wished to do for him. She had offered to go -first, alone, into the silent room, to see whatever might be there—to -spare him something, if she could.</p> - -<p>But he would not have it so. He stopped outside the door, and knocked -twice. Then he went in.</p> - -<p>It was dark and still in there, with the night wind blowing in through -the open windows. He struck a match and lit the gas. The room was -empty.</p> - -<p>He went across to the long windows and out on the balcony. There was -no gas connection there. He struck one match after another, and went -from one end of the balcony to the other. There was nothing.</p> - -<p>“Not here!” he said, in a dazed, flat voice.</p> - -<p>Lexy could not speak at all. She had come out on the balcony, and -stood beside him. The sound of the sea was loud in her ears—or was it -the beating of her own heart? She held her breath and strained her -eyes in the darkness.</p> - -<p>“There’s—something—here!” she whispered tensely.</p> - -<p>“No!” he said aloud. “I looked. Come! We’ll go through the house.”</p> - -<p>She followed close at his heels. He went into every room, lit the gas, -looked about, and found nothing. Lexy grew confused with the opening -and closing of doors, the sudden flare of light in the darkness, the -succession of empty rooms.</p> - -<p>He went up into the cupola. Nothing there, nor in the servants’ rooms. -Then downstairs, through the long library, the dining room, the -sitting room, the kitchen, the pantry. He proceeded with a sort of -merciless deliberation, opened every door, looked into every cupboard.</p> - -<p>Finding a stable lantern in the kitchen, he lighted it and carried it -with him. The door to the cellar stood open. He went through it, down -the steep wooden stairs, and Lexy followed him.</p> - -<p>To her exhausted and frightened gaze the cellar seemed enormous—as -vast and august as some great ancient tomb. The lantern made a little -pool of light, and outside it the shadows closed in on them thickly. -She came near to him and caught him by the sleeve.</p> - -<p>“Oh, let’s go away!” she cried. “Let’s go away! We’ve looked—”</p> - -<p>“This is the last place,” he said gently. “After this, we’ll give it -up.”</p> - -<p>Fighting down the sick terror that had come over her, she walked -beside him in the little circle of light, and tried not to look at the -shadows.</p> - -<p>“What’s that?” he exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“Oh, what?” she cried.</p> - -<p>He went back a few paces and set down the lantern. Then he advanced -again and bent over, staring at the floor.</p> - -<p>“Do you see?” he asked.</p> - -<p>She did see. A narrow strip of light lay along the floor.</p> - -<p>“It comes up from below,” he said. “There must be a subcellar. Let’s -see!”</p> - -<p>He brought back the lantern and examined the floor by its light, going -down on his hands and knees.</p> - -<p>“Stand back!” he said suddenly. “It’s a trapdoor. See—here’s a ring to -lift it.”</p> - -<p>Captain Grey pulled at the ring, but nothing happened.</p> - -<p>“I’m on the wrong side,” he said.</p> - -<p>Moving over, he pulled again, and a square of stone lifted. A clear -light came from below, showing a short ladder clamped to the floor.</p> - -<p>“Stay there, please,” he told Lexy. “You have the lantern. I shan’t be -a minute.”</p> - -<p>But as soon as he had reached the foot of the ladder, Lexy climbed -down after him; and just at the same moment, they saw—</p> - -<p>They were standing in a tiny room with roughly mortared walls. A -powerful electric torch stood on end in one corner, and at their feet -lay the body of a man, face downward across a wooden chest. It was Dr. -Quelton.</p> - -<p>With a violent effort Captain Grey lifted the doctor’s heavy shoulder, -while Lexy covered her eyes. She knew that he was dead. No living -thing could lie so.</p> - -<p>Her head swam, her knees gave way, and she tottered back against the -wall, half fainting, when the captain’s voice rang out, with a note of -agony and despair that she never forgot.</p> - -<p>“My God! My God!” he wailed. “Oh, Muriel!”</p> - -<p>She opened her eyes. For a moment she was too giddy to see. Then, as -her vision cleared, she saw him on his knees beside the chest.</p> - -<p>Not a chest—it was a coffin; and on it was a strange little plate -glittering like gold, with an inscription:</p> - -<div class='ce'> -<div>MURIEL QUELTON</div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;'>BELOVED WIFE OF PAUL QUELTON </div> -</div> -<div class='chapter'><h2>XXIII</h2></div> - -<p>When she looked back upon the experiences of that dreadful night, it -seemed to Lexy that both she and her companion displayed almost -incredible endurance. Since morning they had lived through a very -lifetime of emotion, to end now in this tragedy more horrible than -anything they could have feared.</p> - -<p>Yet, not five minutes after his cry of agony, Captain Grey had -recovered his self-control. He was able to speak quietly to Lexy, and -she was able to answer him no less quietly.</p> - -<p>“We’d better go,” he said. “We can do nothing here. It’s a case for -the police now.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to go back to the balcony,” Lexy told him. “There was -something there.”</p> - -<p>“Very well!” he agreed, and, without another word or a backward -glance, he went up the ladder.</p> - -<p>They returned through the house. He had left the lights burning and -the doors open, so that there was a monstrous air of festivity in the -emptiness. They went into Mrs. Quelton’s room again, and crossed -through it to the balcony. He carried the lantern with him, and by its -steady yellow flame they could see into every corner. There was the -couch upon which she had lain—disarranged, as if she had just risen -from it. There was a little table with medicine bottles on it. All the -usual things were in the usual places.</p> - -<p>“Nothing here,” said Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>Lexy was sure, however, that there was. She stepped to the balcony -railing, to look down into the garden below, and there, on the white -paint of the railing, she found something.</p> - -<p>“Look!” she said, in a matter-of-fact voice. “What’s this?”</p> - -<p>He came to her side.</p> - -<p>“It’s the print of a hand,” he said. “In blood, I should imagine.”</p> - -<p>For a moment they stared at the ghastly mark, a strange evidence of -pain and violence in this quiet place.</p> - -<p>“We’d better look in the garden,” he suggested.</p> - -<p>They went down. The grass beneath the balcony was beaten down in one -place, but there was nothing else. Some one had come and gone. They -could not even guess who it had been. They knew nothing.</p> - -<p>“Come, Lexy!” the captain said.</p> - -<p>They both turned for one last look at the accursed house, blazing with -spectral lights. Then they set off, away from it, over that weary road -again.</p> - -<p>“There’s no police station in the village, is there?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“I’ve never seen one, but I’ve heard Mrs. Royce talk about the -constable. Anyhow, she can tell us.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said, and was silent for a moment. “Rather a pity, isn’t -it,” he went on, “that there has to be—all that? Because it doesn’t -matter now. It’s finished. Better if the house burned down to-night!”</p> - -<p>In her heart Lexy agreed with him. She had no curiosity left, and -scarcely any interest. As he had said, it was finished. She wanted to -rest, not to speak, not to think, not to remember; but it couldn’t be -so. They would both have to tell what they had seen, to answer -questions. It wasn’t enough that two people lay dead in that house of -horror. All the world, which knew and cared nothing about them, must -have a full explanation.</p> - -<p>“I suppose we couldn’t wait till morning?” she suggested.</p> - -<p>He took her hand and drew it through his arm.</p> - -<p>“You’re worn out,” he told her. “It’s altogether wrong. There’s no -reason why you should be troubled any more, Lexy. Slip into the house -quietly, and get to bed and to sleep. Nobody need know that you went -there.”</p> - -<p>“No!” she said. “We’ll see it through together.”</p> - -<p>The thought of Charles Houseman came to her, but she disowned it with -a listless sort of resentment. She felt, somehow, that he had failed -her. He had not been there when she needed him. He had not taken his -part in this ghastly and unforgettable sight.</p> - -<p>There was a light in Mrs. Royce’s front parlor. Perhaps he was in -there, waiting for her, cheerful and cool, a thousand miles away from -the nightmare world in which she had been moving. She did not want to -see him or speak to him just now. He hadn’t seen. He wouldn’t -understand.</p> - -<p>Captain Grey opened the gate, and they went up the flagged walk. -Before they had mounted the veranda steps, the front door was flung -wide, and Mrs. Royce appeared.</p> - -<p>“Oh, my goodness!” she cried. “I thought you’d never come!”</p> - -<p>Her tone and her manner were so strange that they both stopped and -stared at her.</p> - -<p>“Oh, my goodness!” she cried again.</p> - -<p>“Oh, <i>do</i> come in! I don’t know what to do with her, I’m sure!”</p> - -<p>“Who?” asked Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Poor Mis’ Quelton. There she is, lyin’ upstairs—”</p> - -<p>“Mrs. <i>Quelton</i>?”</p> - -<p>“Joe, he brought her in his taxi, jest a little while after you’d -gone.”</p> - -<p>“Brought Mrs. Quelton here?”</p> - -<p>“Brought her here and carried her up them very stairs,” declared Mrs. -Royce impressively; “right up into the east bedroom, and there she -lies!”</p> - -<p>She stood aside, and Lexy and Captain Grey entered the house. The -young man turned aside into the parlor, sank into a chair, and covered -his face with his hands. Lexy stood beside him, looking down at his -bent head, her face haggard and white.</p> - -<p>“Why did Joe do that?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“Don’t ask <i>me</i>, Miss Moran!” replied Mrs. Royce. “It beats me!”</p> - -<p>There was a silence.</p> - -<p>“But ain’t you going upstairs to see what she wants?” inquired Mrs. -Royce anxiously.</p> - -<p>Captain Grey sprang to his feet.</p> - -<p>“Good God!” he shouted. “What are you talking about?”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce backed into a corner, regarding him with alarm.</p> - -<p>“I jest thought you’d like to talk to her,” she faltered.</p> - -<p>“Do you mean she’s <i>not dead</i>?”</p> - -<p>“Dead? Oh, my goodness gracious me!” cried Mrs. Royce. “I never—”</p> - -<p>“Wait here,” Lexy told the captain.</p> - -<p>“No!” he replied. “I must—”</p> - -<p>But, disregarding him, Lexy turned to Mrs. Royce.</p> - -<p>“Let me see her,” she said.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce led the way upstairs. She went at an unusual rate of speed, -so that she was panting when she reached the top.</p> - -<p>“Kind of vi’lent!” she whispered, pointing downstairs, where Captain -Grey was.</p> - -<p>“This room?” asked Lexy. “Shall I go in?”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Mrs. Royce, “seems to me I’d knock, if I was you.”</p> - -<p>Knock on the door of the room where Mrs. Quelton lay? Knock, and -expect an answer from that voice? It seemed to Lexy, for a moment, -that she could not raise her hand.</p> - -<p>But she did. She knocked, and she was answered. She turned the handle -and went in. An oil lamp stood on the bureau, and outside the circle -of its mellow light, in the shadow, Mrs. Quelton was sitting on the -edge of the bed; and it seemed to Lexy that she had never seen such a -forlorn and pitiful figure.</p> - -<p>“Oh, my dear!” she cried impulsively, and held out her arms.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Quelton rose. She came toward Lexy, her hands outstretched—when a -sudden cry from Mrs. Royce arrested her.</p> - -<p>“But that ain’t Mrs. Quelton!” cried the landlady.</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>XXIV</h2></div> - -<p>If Lexy had not caught the unhappy woman, she would have fallen; but -those sturdy young arms held her, and, with Mrs. Royce’s help, they -got her on the bed. White as a ghost, incredibly frail in her black -dress, she lay there, scarcely seeming to breathe.</p> - -<p>“It <i>ain’t</i> Mrs. Quelton!” repeated Mrs. Royce, in a whisper.</p> - -<p>“I know!” said Lexy softly. “Will you get me water and a towel, -please?”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce went out of the room, and Lexy knelt down beside the bed. -She did know now—the woman whom they had all called Muriel Quelton was -really Caroline Enderby.</p> - -<p>Lexy did not blame herself for not having known before. Looking at -that face now, in its terrible stillness, she could trace the familiar -features easily enough, but how changed! How worn and lined, how -<i>old</i>! The brows, the lashes, the soft, disordered hair, were black -now instead of brown; but that merely physical alteration was of no -significance, compared with that other awful change. It was Caroline -Enderby, the gentle and pitifully inexperienced girl of nineteen, but -it was Mrs. Quelton, too, that tragic and somber figure.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce came back with a basin of water, clean towels, and a -precious bottle of eau de Cologne.</p> - -<p>“Poor lamb!” she whispered. “Ain’t she pretty?”</p> - -<p>Lexy wet a towel and passed it over that unconscious face again and -again. Mrs. Royce watched, spellbound; for the dark and haggard -stranger was passing away before her very eyes, and some one else was -coming into life—some one quite young and—</p> - -<p>The closed lids fluttered, and then opened.</p> - -<p>“Lexy!” murmured the metamorphosed one.</p> - -<p>“I’m here, Caroline!” said Lexy, with a stifled sob. “Everything’s all -right, dear! Don’t worry—just rest!”</p> - -<p>“I can’t, Lexy! I can’t!” she answered, and from her eyes, now closed -again, tears came running slowly down her cheeks.</p> - -<p>“Yes, you can!” said Lexy. “We’ll—”</p> - -<p>“Supposing I get her some nice hot soup?” whispered Mrs. Royce, and, -at a nod from Lexy, she was off again.</p> - -<p>Caroline reached out and caught Lexy’s hand.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Lexy, Lexy!” she said. “Can you ever forgive me?”</p> - -<p>“No!” her friend replied cheerfully. “Never! But don’t bother now. You -can tell me later, when you feel better.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll never, never feel better till I’ve told you! Oh, Lexy, I knew -yesterday, and I didn’t tell you! Oh, Lexy, Lexy, I don’t understand! -I want to tell you! I want you to help me!”</p> - -<p>A flush had come into her cheeks. She was growing painfully excited. -She tried to sit up, but Lexy firmly prevented that.</p> - -<p>“Lie down, darling!” she said. “We’ll get a doctor.”</p> - -<p>“No! No! I’m not ill—not ill, Lexy, only tired. Oh, you don’t know! -You won’t let <i>him</i> come here, Lexy?”</p> - -<p>“I promise you he’ll never trouble you again,” replied Lexy quietly.</p> - -<p>She saw Captain Grey standing in the doorway, behind the head of the -bed. She glanced at him, and then at Caroline again. Let him stay! -Whatever had happened, he ought to know.</p> - -<p>“I don’t understand,” said Caroline, clinging fast to Lexy’s hand. “I -want to tell you—all of it. You know, Lexy, I did a horrible, wretched -thing. I said I’d marry a man. I promised to meet him here in Wyngate, -because it was near to dear Miss Craigie’s. I didn’t tell you, but it -wasn’t because I didn’t trust you, Lexy—truly it wasn’t! It was only -because I knew mother would be so angry with you. I told him I’d take -the train that got here at eleven o’clock that night; but after I’d -left the house, I got frightened. I’d never gone out alone before. I -couldn’t bear it. If I hadn’t promised him, I’d have gone home again. -I <i>wanted</i> to go home. I was sorry I’d promised.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t try to go on now, dear!”</p> - -<p>“I must! So I took a taxi. I thought I’d get here as soon as the -train, but when it was eleven o’clock we were still miles away. I -thought perhaps Charles wouldn’t wait, and there’d be nobody in -Wyngate, and I didn’t dare go home again; so I kept begging the driver -to go faster. Oh, Lexy, it was all my fault! He did go—terribly fast. -It was wonderful to be alone, and rushing along like that; and then I -think he ran into a telegraph pole, turning a corner. There was a -crash, and I didn’t know anything more for—I don’t know how long it’s -been.”</p> - -<p>“Soup!” whispered Mrs. Royce, but Caroline was too intent upon her -confession to stop.</p> - -<p>Lexy took the broth and set it on the table.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know how long it was,” Caroline went on. “It must have been -days, or perhaps weeks. Sometimes I seemed to knew, in a sort of -dream. Oh, it was horrible! Oh, Lexy, I can’t explain! I didn’t really -know anything, only that sometimes my mind seemed to be struggling—”</p> - -<p>“Take some of this soup,” said Lexy. “You’ve <i>got</i> to, Caroline, or I -won’t listen.”</p> - -<p>Obediently Caroline allowed herself to be fed. She took fully half of -that excellent soup, and it did her good.</p> - -<p>“Yesterday,” she said, “I did know. I couldn’t sleep all night. I felt -so ill, I thought I was going to die; and all the time it was coming -back to me. I couldn’t think why I was there in that place. I was -frightened—worse than frightened. The nurse kept calling me ‘Mrs. -Quelton,’ and I told her I wasn’t Mrs. Quelton—I was Caroline Enderby. -She must have told him. He came, he kept looking at me, and saying, -‘You are Muriel Quelton, I tell you!’ Then he sent the nurse away, and -he said: ‘If you insist that you are Caroline Enderby, you’re mad, and -I’ll send you to an asylum.’ I was—oh, Lexy, I’m not brave!—I was -afraid of him. When you came that morning, I didn’t dare to tell you. -I hoped you’d find the handkerchief, and know; and then—”</p> - -<p>Suddenly she turned and buried her face in the pillow.</p> - -<p>“Then I didn’t want you to know!” she sobbed. “Captain Grey—he sat -there with me. Lexy! Lexy! I didn’t know there was any one like him in -the world! I wanted to stay, then. I thought, if you found out, I’d -have to go away—to go home again, or to marry Charles. I’d promised to -marry him, Lexy, but I can’t! Not now!”</p> - -<p>“Hush, darling!” said Lexy hastily.</p> - -<p>This was something Captain Grey had no right to hear, but he did hear -it. He was still standing outside the door, motionless.</p> - -<p>“He was so kind!” Caroline went on. “And his face—”</p> - -<p>“Never mind that!” Lexy interrupted sternly. “Tell me how you got -away.”</p> - -<p>“When <i>he</i> came back, he found George there—I had to call him George.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I see. Never mind!”</p> - -<p>“George went away, and then—he told me. He said his wife had died a -few months ago, and that in her will she’d left some jewel—a ruby—”</p> - -<p>“An emerald,” corrected Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Yes—it was an emerald. She’d left it to her brother, and he—Dr. -Quelton—had taken it long ago, and sold it, to get money for his -horrible drugs. She never knew that, and he didn’t tell her lawyer -that she’d died. I don’t know how he managed, or what he did, but -nobody knew. Then there came a letter from her brother, to say that he -was coming; and the doctor said—I’ll never forget it:</p> - -<p>“‘Consequently, Muriel Quelton had to be here, and she was; and she’ll -remain here until her purpose is served!’</p> - -<p>“He told me what had happened. He said that as soon as he knew Captain -Grey was coming, he began to look for some one to take his poor wife’s -place. The captain hadn’t seen his sister since she was a baby, you -know, and all he knew was that she was tall and dark. Dr. Quelton said -he had arranged for some one to come from a hospital; and then he -found me. He drove by just a little while after the accident, and he -found the poor driver dead and me unconscious. He found a letter to -mother in my purse, and he mailed it afterward. Then he heard another -car coming along the road, and he started the engine and sent the -taxi—with the dead driver in his seat—crashing down the hill, to run -into the other car. He wanted the driver’s death to look like an -accident. He didn’t care if the other man were killed. He’s—he’s not -human, Lexy! He told me he had never in his life cared for any one -except his wife. He told me what a beautiful, wonderful woman she -was—and yet he had stolen her emerald when she was dying. Love! He -couldn’t love any one!”</p> - -<p>But Lexy remembered her last glimpse of Dr. Quelton, lying dead across -the coffin of the woman he had robbed. Who would ever know, who was to -judge now, what might have been in his warped and utterly solitary -heart?</p> - -<p>“He told me,” Caroline went on, “that he had never felt any great -interest in me. A mediocre mind, he said I had. He told me he had -never so much as touched my finger tips. He sat there, talking so -calmly! He said he had kept me under the influence of some drug that -made my mind suggestible—I think that’s the word. He meant that -whoever took that drug would believe anything, accept anything. He had -told me I was Muriel Quelton, and I believed I was. Then he told me to -dye my hair, and to make up my face with things he gave me. He told me -I was ill and tired and growing old, and I felt so. Lexy, he said that -even without that, without making the least change in my appearance, -no one would have known me, because my <i>mind</i> was changed. He said -there was no disguise in the world like that. Was it true, Lexy? Was I -old, and—and horrible to every one?”</p> - -<p>“No,” Lexy briefly replied.</p> - -<p>“Then he went on. He said he had no more of the drug left, and that -he’d have to dispose of me. ‘You know you’re very ill,’ he said. ‘The -nurse and that young fool of a doctor agree with me. I think you’re -likely to grow worse—very much worse—to-night. You’re very likely to -die.’ Oh, Lexy! What could I do but agree? I was shut up—so weak and -ill— I knew he could so easily give me something to kill me! He said -that if I would make a will and sign it as he told me, he would let me -go and be—be myself again. I couldn’t help it! And his wife was dead. -It couldn’t do her any harm if I signed her name. He wrote it, and I -traced it on another sheet of paper. I had to, Lexy! I knew it was -wrong, but what else could I possibly do?”</p> - -<p>“Never mind, Caroline!” said Lexy. “It didn’t do any harm, dear. And -then did he let you go?”</p> - -<p>An odd smile came over Caroline’s face.</p> - -<p>“Not exactly,” she said. “After I’d signed the will, leaving him the -emerald, he sent away the nurse. Then he came out on the balcony, sat -down, and began to talk to me. He was so pleasant and kindly! He made -plans for my getting away unnoticed, and brought me some sandwiches -and a cup of tea. He said I would have to eat a little, or I wouldn’t -have strength enough to go. It was getting dark then, and he couldn’t -see my face. I pretended to believe him, but I knew all the time. He -kept urging me to hurry up, and to eat the sandwiches and drink the -tea. I <i>knew</i>! I had made the will, and now, of course, I had to die. -I tried to think of a way out; and at last, when he saw that I didn’t -eat or drink, he spoke out plainly. He said that he had sent the -servants away for the afternoon, and that we were alone in the house. -He got up; he stood there and looked down at me.</p> - -<p>“‘That tea is an easy way out—quite painless and easy,’ he said; ‘but -if you won’t take it, there’s another way—not so easy!’</p> - -<p>“He had some sort of hypodermic needle; but just then some one began -pounding on the door downstairs, and he had to go. He locked the door -after him, and he knew I was too weak to move. I tried. I got off the -couch, but I fell on the floor beside it; and then Charles came—”</p> - -<p>“Charles?”</p> - -<p>“He climbed up over the balcony. It was too dark to see him, but I -heard his voice, whispering, ‘Where are you?’ He found me, lifted me -up, and helped me over to the railing. Then we heard Dr. Quelton -coming back. There was another man, down in the garden, with a taxi. -Charles called out to him, and he stood below there. I heard Dr. -Quelton unlock the door, and I was so frightened that I felt strong -enough to do anything to get away. Charles helped me over, and the -other man caught me. Then I heard Charles shout, ‘Quick! Get her -away!’ The other man pushed me into the taxi and started off across -the lawn. I fainted, and I didn’t know anything more until I opened my -eyes here.”</p> - -<p>“But where <i>is</i> he?” cried Lexy. “What happened to him?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know.”</p> - -<p>“And you don’t seem to care, either!” said Lexy hotly. “He saved your -life, and now—”</p> - -<p>She thought of that bloody hand print, and the grass beaten down. The -young man who had no caution, no regard for the proprieties, had done -the direct and simple thing which appealed to his audacious mind. -Perhaps he had been killed in doing it. He would know how to face -death in the same straightforward way.</p> - -<p>Lexy would be as straightforward as he. She would find him, and she -wouldn’t try to think how much she cared about finding him.</p> - -<p>She rose.</p> - -<p>“I’ll get Mrs. Royce to stay with you, Caroline,” she said.</p> - -<p>“But where are you going, Lexy?”</p> - -<p>“I’m going to find Charles.”</p> - -<p>In the doorway she encountered Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>“Do you think she could stand seeing me?” he asked anxiously. “I mean -do you—”</p> - -<p>But Lexy didn’t even answer.</p> - -<div class='chapter'><h2>XXV</h2></div> - -<p>After all, Lexy’s search for Charles Houseman was neither difficult -nor heroic, except in intention. She found him in the Lymewell -Hospital. Joe told her where he was, and Joe took her there.</p> - -<p>Houseman himself was rigidly determined not to be heroic. He had -refused to go to bed, and Lexy found him in a bare, whitewashed -waiting room, where he sat on a bench.</p> - -<p>“Just came in to get the hand dressed,” he said. “I’ll go back with -you now.”</p> - -<p>The doctor advised him not to, but Charles was not very susceptible to -advice. He wished to be entirely casual and matter-of-fact, and Lexy -tried to humor him. They stood together in the hall of the hospital -while a nurse went to get him a bottle of lotion from the dispensary, -and he talked in what he intended to be an offhand manner; but Lexy -could see that he was in pain, and almost exhausted, and his hair was -all on end.</p> - -<p>Somehow, that was the thing she couldn’t bear—that his hair should be -so ruffled. She could respect his determination to ignore the -throbbing anguish of his hand, she would, if he liked, pretend that -there was nothing at all tragic or unusual in the night’s adventure; -but his hair—</p> - -<p>The nurse returned with the bottle, gave him directions for its use, -and told him sternly that he must come back the next morning for a -dressing.</p> - -<p>“All right!” he said impatiently. “Come on, Lexy!”</p> - -<p>They got into Joe’s cab together, and off they went.</p> - -<p>“What happened to your hand?” inquired Lexy, as if it didn’t much -matter.</p> - -<p>“Knife through it,” he answered. “You see, I held the old fellow, to -give Mrs. Quelton a chance to get away. When I thought it was all -right, I gave him a shove backward, and started to climb over the -balcony; and he jabbed a knife through my hand. That’s what kept me so -long—I couldn’t get it out; and after I did, I—rested for a while. -Then I started for Wyngate, and I met Joe coming back to look for me. -He said he’d landed Mrs. Quelton all right. So that’s all!”</p> - -<p>Lexy was silent for a moment.</p> - -<p>“Of course you didn’t know it <i>wasn’t</i> Mrs. Quelton,” she said. “It -was Caroline all the time.”</p> - -<p>“Caroline?” he cried. “What do you mean? It couldn’t have been -Caroline!”</p> - -<p>Lexy gave him a very brief, very bare account of Caroline’s narrative.</p> - -<p>“Oh!” he said, when she had done; and again there was silence for a -time. “Does she still want to go on with the thing—marrying me, I -mean?” he asked finally, in a queer, flat tone.</p> - -<p>“No,” said Lexy pleasantly. “No—she does not.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” he said again, with undisguised relief. “Well, then—it’s all -right, then!”</p> - -<p>“You don’t seem to be much surprised,” said Lexy. “Don’t you think -it’s the most extraordinary story you ever heard?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you see—I’m a bit tired,” he explained. “I haven’t grasped it -all yet; only, if she doesn’t want to marry me now, Lexy, dear, will -you?”</p> - -<p>At last Lexy could do what she had longed to do for the last half -hour—she could stroke down his ruffled hair.</p> - -<p>And this, as far as they were concerned, was the last act and the -fitting climax of the play. They were ready now for the curtain to -rise upon another play; but there were other people not so young, or -not so sturdy, for whom the first drama was not so readily dismissed.</p> - -<p>There was Captain Grey, who was never to see his sister now, never to -know if she had really wanted him and needed him. He did not soon -forget what had happened at the Tower.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby was sent for, and arrived that morning before sunrise, -with her husband. She listened to Caroline’s strange story, and made -what she could of it. She had not one word of reproach for her -daughter.</p> - -<p>“We shall not cry over the spilled milk,” she said. “Let us see what -is to be done, before the police come.” She had a thoroughly European -point of view about the police. “If we are fortunate enough to find an -officer with discretion,” she added, “even yet a scandal may be -averted.”</p> - -<p>For that was still her passionate resolve—that there should be no -scandal. She thought and planned with desperate energy; she directed -every one as to the part he or she should play; and in the end she -succeeded. Nobody knew that Caroline had disappeared, and nobody ever -would know. Nobody knew that the so-called Mrs. Quelton was Caroline, -and that, too, would never be known. Only let Joe and Mrs. Royce be -persuaded to hold their tongues; as for Lexy, Captain Grey, and -Houseman, she could of course rely upon them.</p> - -<p>So the police were, as they say, baffled. Mr. Houseman told them a -tale. He had been alarmed about the lady whom he knew as Mrs. Quelton, -and he had climbed up on the balcony, hoping to see her alone; but he -had met Dr. Quelton instead, and had been hurt in trying to escape -from him.</p> - -<p>Captain Grey also had a tale. He, too, had been alarmed about the lady -whom he believed to be his sister. He had gone with Miss Moran to call -upon her, and they had found the doctor dead, lying across the coffin.</p> - -<p>There was an inquest, and Mr. Houseman had a very unpleasant time of -it, being the last one who had seen the doctor alive; but there was no -really serious suspicion against him. The <i>post-mortem</i> showed that -the doctor had died of some unknown poison, at least half an hour -after the young man had arrived at the hospital. The verdict was -suicide, although the coroner’s jury had its own opinion about the -mysterious dark woman who had posed as the doctor’s wife. An autopsy -revealed that Mrs. Quelton had died from a natural cause—phthisis of -the lungs. In short, as far as could be discovered, there was no -murder at all.</p> - -<p>This was a disappointment to the public, but there was always the -mysterious dark woman. The police instituted a search for her, and -there was much about her in the newspapers, but she was never found.</p> - -<p>Miss Enderby returned to the city from her visit to Miss Craigie, and -friends of the family were interested to learn that while away she had -met such a nice young man—a Captain Grey, from India. He had to return -to his regiment, but, before he went, Caroline’s engagement to him was -announced. Later he was to retire from the army and come back to live -in New York.</p> - -<p>There was another item of news, of minor importance. That pretty -little secretary of Mrs. Enderby’s got married, and the Enderbys were -wonderfully kind about it—surprisingly so. It didn’t seem at all like -Mrs. Enderby to let the girl be married from her own house, and to -give her a smart little car for a wedding present. What is more, Mr. -Enderby found a very good position in his office for the young man.</p> - -<p>“My dear Sophie,” said one of Mrs. Enderby’s old friends, with the -peculiar candor of an old friend, “I’ve never known <i>you</i> to do so -much for any one before!”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby was standing on the top doorstep of her house, looking -after the car in which Lexy and her Charles had driven off for their -honeymoon, with Joe, of Wyngate, as their chauffeur.</p> - -<p>“So much for her?” she said. “It’s not enough—not half enough!”</p> - -<p>And there were actually tears in her eyes as she went back into the -house where Caroline was.</p> - -<div class='tn'> -<div style='text-align:center'>Transcriber’s Notes</div> -<ol> -<li>This story appeared in the February 1926 issue of <em>Munsey’s Magazine</em>.</li> -<li>The cover image was created by the transcriber and placed in the public domain.</li> -</ol> -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THING BEYOND REASON ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Thing Beyond Reason - -Author: Elisabeth Sanxay Holding - -Release Date: February 17, 2022 [eBook #67429] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Roger Frank. This file was produced from images generously - made available by The Internet Archive. - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THING BEYOND REASON *** - - - - The Thing Beyond Reason - - A COMPLETE SHORT NOVEL—THE STORY OF THE STRANGE - ADVENTURE THAT LED LEXY MORAN TO A HOUSE - OF TRAGEDY AND MYSTERY IN THE - SUBURBS OF NEW YORK - - By Elisabeth Sanxay Holding - Author of “Angelica,” etc. - - -The house was very quiet to-night. There was nothing to disturb Miss -Alexandra Moran but the placid ticking of the clock and the faint stir -of the curtains at the open window. For that matter, a considerable -amount of noise would not have troubled her just then. As she sat at -the library table, the light of the shaded lamp shone upon her bright, -ruffled head bent over her work in fiercest concentration. She was -chewing the end of a badly damaged lead pencil, and she was scowling. - -“No!” she said, half aloud. “Won’t do! It can’t be ‘fix’; but, by -jiminy, I’ll get it if it takes all night!” - -She laid down the pencil and sat back in the chair, with her arms -folded. Though her present difficulty concerned nothing more serious -than a crossword puzzle, an observer might have learned a good deal of -Miss Moran’s character from her manner of dealing with it. The puzzle -itself, with its neat, clear little letters printed in the squares, -would have been a revelation that whatever she undertook she did -carefully and intelligently—and obstinately. - -She was a young little thing, only twenty-three, and quite alone in -the world, but not at all dismayed by that. Her father had died some -three years ago, and, instead of leaving the snug little fortune she -had been taught to expect, he had left nothing at all; so that at -twenty she had had her first puzzle to solve—how to keep alive without -eating the bread of charity. - -It was no easy matter for a girl who was still in boarding school, but -she had done it. She had come to New York and had found a post as -nursery governess, and later as waitress in a tea room, and then in -the art department of an enormous store. She had gained no tangible -profit from these three years, she had no balance in the bank, but -that did not trouble her. She had learned that she could stand on her -own feet, that she could trust herself; and with this knowledge and -the experience she had had, and her quick wits and splendid health, -she felt herself fully armed against the world. Indeed, she had not a -care on earth this evening except the crossword puzzle. - -“It must be ‘tocsin,’” she said to herself. “There’s something wrong -with the verticals. It can’t be ‘fix,’ and yet—” - -The telephone bell rang. Still pondering her problem, Lexy went across -the room. - -“Is Miss Enderby there?” asked a man’s voice. - -“She’s out,” answered Lexy cheerfully. - -“No!” said the man’s voice. “She can’t—I—for God’s sake, where’s Miss -Enderby?” - -“She’s out,” Lexy repeated, startled. “She went to the opera with her -mother and father.” - -“Who are you?” - -“I’m Mrs. Enderby’s secretary.” - -“Look here! Didn’t Miss Enderby say anything? Isn’t there any sort of -message for me?” - -“Nothing that I know of. The servants have gone to bed, but I’ll ask -them, if it’s anything important.” - -“No!” said the voice. “Don’t! No, never mind! Good-by!” - -“That’s queer!” said Lexy to herself, as she walked away from the -instrument, and then she dismissed the matter from her mind. “None of -my business!” she thought, and returned to her puzzle. - -Suddenly an inspiration came. - -“It _is_ ‘fix’!” she cried. “And it’s not ‘tocsin,’ but ‘toxins’! -Hurrah!” - -This practically completed the puzzle, and she began to fill in the -empty squares with the peculiar satisfaction of the crossword -enthusiast. It was perfect, now, and she liked things to be perfect. - -As she leaned back, with a contented sigh, the clock struck twelve. - -“Golly! I didn’t realize it was so late!” she reflected. “Queer time -for any one to ring up!” - -She frowned again. Her special problem solved, she began to take more -interest in other affairs; and the more she thought of the telephone -incident, the more it amazed her. Caroline Enderby wasn’t like other -girls. The mere fact of a man’s telephoning to her at all was strange -and indeed unprecedented. - -“And he was badly upset, too,” thought Lexy. “He asked if she left a -message for him. Think of Caroline Enderby leaving a message for a -man!” - -She began to feel impatient for Caroline’s return. - -“I’ll tell her when we’re alone,” she thought; “and she’ll have to -explain—a little, anyhow.” - -Lexy wanted an explanation very much, because she was fond of -Caroline, and very sorry for her. - -Mrs. Enderby was a Frenchwoman of the old-fashioned, conservative -type, with the most rigid ideas about the bringing up of a young girl, -and her husband—Lexy had often wondered what Mr. Enderby had been -before his marriage, for now he was nothing but a grave and dignified -echo of his wife. Between them, they had educated Caroline in a -disastrous fashion. She had never even been to school. She had had -governesses at home, and when a male teacher came in, for music or -painting lessons, Mrs. Enderby had always sat in the room with her -child. Caroline never went out of the house alone. She was utterly cut -off from the normal life of other girls. She was a gentle, lovely -creature—a little unreal, Lexy had thought her, at first; and she, at -first, had been afraid of Lexy. - -Mrs. Enderby had advertised for a secretary, and Lexy had answered the -advertisement. Mrs. Enderby had wanted personal references, and Lexy -had supplied them, some five or six, of the highest quality. Mrs. -Enderby had investigated them with remarkable thoroughness, and had -asked Lexy many questions. Indeed, it had taken ten days to satisfy -her that Miss Moran was a fit person to come into her house, and Lexy -had lived under her roof and under her eagle eye for a month before -she was allowed to be alone with Caroline. After that first month, -however, Mrs. Enderby had made up her mind that Lexy was to be -trusted, and the thin pretext of “secretary” was dropped. - -Mrs. Enderby suffered from a not uncommon form of insomnia. She could -not sleep at convenient hours—at night, for instance—but could and did -sleep at very inconvenient hours during the day; and what she wanted -was not a secretary, but a companion for her daughter during these -hours. - -She realized, too, that even the most strictly brought up _jeune -fille_ needed some sort of youthful society, and in Lexy she had found -pretty well what she wanted—a well mannered, well bred young woman of -unimpeachable honesty. So she had permitted Lexy and Caroline to go -shopping alone, and sometimes to a matinée or to a tea room. She asked -them shrewd questions when they came home, and their answers satisfied -her perfectly. They had never even spoken to a man! - -“And yet,” thought Miss Moran, “somehow Caroline has been carrying on -with some one, without even me finding out! I didn’t know she had it -in her!” - -Lexy yawned mightily. She was growing very sleepy, but not for worlds -would she go to bed until she had seen Caroline. She lay down on the -divan, her hands clasped under her head, and let all sorts of little -idle thoughts drift through her mind. Now and then a taxi went by, but -this street in the East Sixties was a very quiet one. The house was so -very still, and there was nothing in her own young heart to trouble -her. Her eyes closed. - -She was half asleep when the sound of Mrs. Enderby’s voice in the hall -brought her to her feet. It was a penetrating voice, with a trace of -foreign accent, and it was not a voice that Lexy loved. She went out -of the library into the hall. - -“Did you enjoy—” she began politely, and then stopped short. “But -where’s Caroline?” she cried. - -“Caroline? But at home, of course,” answered Mrs. Enderby. - -“At home? Here?” - -“But certainly! She had a headache. At the last moment she decided not -to go with us. You were not here when we left, Miss Moran.” - -“I know,” murmured Lexy. “I had just run out to the drug store; but—” - -“She went directly to bed,” Mrs. Enderby continued. “I thought, -however, that she would have sent for you during the course of the -evening.” - -“Oh, I see!” said Lexy casually. - -At heart, however, she was curiously uneasy. Mr. Enderby stopped for a -moment, to give her some kindly information about the opera they had -heard. Then he and his wife ascended the stairs, followed by Lexy; and -with every step her uneasiness grew. She was sure that Caroline would -have sent for her if she had been in the house. - -Mrs. Enderby paused outside her child’s door. - -“The light is out,” she said. “She will be asleep. I shall not disturb -her. Good night, Miss Moran!” - -“Good night, Mrs. Enderby!” Lexy answered, and went into her own room. - -She gave Mrs. Enderby twenty minutes to get safely stowed away; then -she went out quietly into the hall, to Caroline’s room. She knocked -softly; there was no answer. She turned the handle and went in; the -room was dark and very still. She switched on the light. - -It was as she had expected—the room was empty. Caroline was not there. - - - II - -Lexy’s first impulse was to close the door of that empty room, and to -hold her tongue. It seemed to her that it would be treachery to -Caroline to tell Mrs. Enderby. She and Caroline were both young, both -of the same generation; they ought to stand loyally together against -the tyrannical older people. - -“Because, golly, what a row there’d be if Mrs. Enderby ever knew she’d -gone out!” Lexy thought. - -That was how she saw it, at first. Caroline had pretended to have a -headache so that she would be left behind, and would get a chance to -slip out alone. It was simply a lark. Lexy had known such things to -happen often before, at boarding school; and the unthinkable and -impossible thing was for one girl to tell on another. - -“She’ll be back soon,” thought Lexy, “and she’ll tell me all about -it.” - -So she went into Caroline’s room, to wait. It was a charming room, -pink and white, like Caroline herself. Lexy turned on the switch, and -two rose-shaded lamps blossomed out like flowers. She sat down on a -_chaise longue_, and stretched herself out, yawning. On the desk -before her was Caroline’s writing apparatus, a quill pen of old rose, -an ivory desk set, everything so dainty and orderly; only poor -Caroline had no friends, and never had letters to write or to answer. - -“I wonder who on earth that was on the telephone,” Lexy reflected. “It -_was_ queer—just on the only night of her life when she’d ever gone -out on her own. And he sounded so terribly upset! It _was_ queer. -Perhaps—” - -She was aware of a fast-growing oppression. The influence of -Caroline’s room was beginning to tell upon her. Caroline didn’t -understand about larks. She wasn’t that sort of girl. Quiet, shy, and -patient, she had never shown any trace of resentment against her -restricted life, or any desire for the good times that other girls of -her age enjoyed. The more Lexy thought about it, the more clearly she -realized the strangeness of all this, and the more uneasy she became. - -When the little Dresden clock on the mantelpiece struck one, it came -as a shock. Lexy sprang to her feet and looked about the room, filled -with unreasoning fear. One o’clock, and Caroline hadn’t come back! -Suppose—suppose she never came back? - -Lexy dismissed that idea with healthy scorn. Things like that didn’t -happen; and yet—what was it that gave to the pink and white lamplit -room such an air of being deserted? - -“Why, the photographs are gone!” she cried. - -She noticed now for the first time that the photographs of Mr. and -Mrs. Enderby in silver frames, which had always stood on the writing -desk, were not standing there now. - -She turned to the bureau. Caroline’s silver toilet set was not there. -She made a rapid survey of the room, and she made sure of her -suspicions. Caroline had gone deliberately, taking with her all the -things she would need on a short trip. - -“I’ve got to tell Mrs. Enderby now,” she thought. “It’s only fair.” - -She went out into the corridor, closing the door behind her, and -turned toward Mrs. Enderby’s room. She was very, very reluctant, for -she dreaded to break the peace of the quiet house by this dramatic -announcement. She hated anything in the nature of the sensational. -Level-headed, cool, practical, her instinct was to make light of all -this, to insist that nothing was really wrong. Caroline had gone, and -that was that. - -“There’s going to be such a fuss!” she thought. “If there’s anything I -loathe, it’s a fuss.” - -And all the time, under her cool and sensible exterior, she was -frightened. She felt that after all she was very young, and very -inexperienced, in a world where things—anything—things beyond her -knowledge—might happen. - -She knocked upon the door lightly—so lightly that no one heard her; -and she had to knock again. This time Mrs. Enderby opened the door. - -“Well?” she asked, not very amiably. - -“I thought I ought to tell you—” Lexy began; and still she hesitated, -moved by the unaccountable feeling that this might be treachery to -Caroline. - -“Tell me what?” asked Mrs. Enderby. “Come, if you please, Miss Moran! -Tell me at once!” - -“Caroline’s gone.” - -The words were spoken. Lexy waited in great alarm, wondering if Mrs. -Enderby would faint or scream. - -The lady did neither. She came out into the corridor, shutting the -door of her room behind her, and her first word and her only word was: - -“Hush!” - -Then she glanced about her at the closed doors, and, taking Lexy’s arm -in a firm grip, hurried her to Caroline’s room. Not until they were -shut in there did she speak again. - -“Now tell me!” she said. “Speak very low. You said—Caroline has gone?” - -“Yes,” said Lexy. “I came in here after you’d gone to bed, and—you can -see for yourself—the bed hasn’t been slept in. She’s taken her -things—her brush and comb and—” - -“And she told you—what?” - -“Me? Why, nothing!” answered Lexy, in surprise. “I didn’t see her. I -haven’t seen her since dinner.” - -“But you know,” said Mrs. Enderby. “You know where she has gone.” - -She spoke with cool certainty, and her black eyes were fixed upon Lexy -with a far from pleasant expression. - -Lexy looked back at her with equal steadiness. - -“Mrs. Enderby,” she said, “I _don’t_ know.” - -Mrs. Enderby shrugged her shoulders. - -“Very well!” she said. “You do not know exactly where she has gone. -_Bien, alors!_ You guess, eh?” - -“No,” answered Lexy, bewildered. “I don’t. I can’t.” - -“She has spoken to you of some—friend?” - -Seeing Lexy still frankly bewildered, Mrs. Enderby lost her patience. - -“The man!” she said. “Who is the man?” - -“I never heard Caroline speak of any man,” said Lexy. - -She spoke firmly enough, and she was telling the truth; but she -remembered that telephone call, and the memory brought a faint flush -into her cheeks. Mrs. Enderby did not fail to notice it. - -“Listen!” she said. “There is one thing you can do—only one thing. You -can hold your tongue. Tell no one. Let no one know that Caroline is -not here. You understand?” - -“But aren’t you going to—” - -“I am going to do nothing. You understand—nothing. There is to be no -scandal in my house.” - -“But, Mrs. Enderby!” - -“Hush! No one must know of this. To-morrow morning I shall have a -letter from Caroline.” - -“Oh!” said Lexy, with a sigh of genuine relief. “Oh, then you know -where she’s gone!” - -“I?” replied Mrs. Enderby. “I know nothing. This has come to me from a -clear sky. I have always tried to safeguard my child. I—” - -She paused for a moment, and for the first time Lexy pitied her. - -“It is the American blood in her,” Mrs. Enderby went on. “No French -girl would treat her parents so; but in this country— She has gone -with some fortune hunter. To-morrow I shall have a letter that she is -married. ‘Please forgive me, _chère Maman_,’ she will say. ‘I am so -happy. I, at nineteen, and of an ignorance the most complete, have -made my choice without you.’ That is the American way, is it not? That -is your ‘romance,’ eh? My one child—” - -Her voice broke. - -“No more!” she said. “It is finished. But—attend, Miss Moran! There -must be no scandal. No one is to know that she is not here.” - -She turned and walked out of the room. Lexy sank into a chair. - -“I don’t care!” she said to herself. - -“She’s wrong—I know it! It’s not what she thinks. Caroline’s not like -that. Something dreadful has happened!” - - - III - -It seemed perfectly natural to be awakened in the morning by Mrs. -Enderby’s hand on her shoulder, and to look up into Mrs. Enderby’s -flashing black eyes. Lexy had gone to sleep dominated by the thought -of that masterful woman. She vaguely remembered having dreamed of her, -and when she opened her eyes—there she was. - -“Get up!” said Mrs. Enderby in a low voice. “Go into Caroline’s room. -When Annie comes with the breakfast tray, take it from her at the -door. I have told her that Caroline is ill with a headache. You -understand?” - -“Yes, Mrs. Enderby,” answered Lexy. - -She sprang out of bed and began to dress, filled with an unreasoning -sense of haste. It wasn’t a dream, then—it was true. Caroline had -gone, and there was something Lexy must do for her. She could not have -explained what this something was, but it oppressed and worried her. -She could not rid herself of the feeling that she was not being loyal -to Caroline. - -“And yet,” she thought, “I had to tell Mrs. Enderby she wasn’t there. -I suppose I ought to have told her about that telephone call, too, but -I hate to do it! I know Caroline wouldn’t like me to; and what good -can it do, anyhow? Whoever it was, he didn’t know where she was. It -was the queerest thing—a man asking, ‘ For God’s sake, where’s Miss -Enderby?’ when she wasn’t here! No, Mrs. Enderby is wrong. Caroline -hasn’t just gone away of her own accord. She’s not that sort of girl. -Something has happened!” - -Lexy finished dressing and went into Caroline’s room. In the gay April -sunshine, that dainty room seemed almost unbearably forlorn. - -She went over to the window and looked down into the street. People -were passing by, and taxis, and private cars—all the ordinary, casual, -cheerful daily life at which Caroline Enderby had so often looked out, -like a poor enchanted princess in a tower. A wave of pity and -affection rose in Lexy’s heart. - -“Oh, poor Caroline!” she said to herself. “Such a dull, miserable -life! I do wish—” - -There was a knock at the door, and she hurried across the room to open -it. The parlor maid stood there with a tray. Lexy took it from her -with a pleasant “good morning,” and closed the door again. Caroline’s -breakfast! There was something disturbing in the sight of that -carefully prepared tray, ready for the girl who was not there. - -The door opened—without a preliminary knock, this time—and Mrs. -Enderby came in. She turned the key behind her, and, without a word, -went over to the bed and pulled off the covers. Then she went into the -adjoining bathroom and started the water running in the tub. This -done, she sat down at the table and began to eat the breakfast on the -tray. - -Lexy stood watching all this with indignation and a sort of horror. - -“All she cares about is keeping up appearances,” the girl thought. -“The only thing that worries her is that some one might find out. She -doesn’t know where poor Caroline is—and she can sit down and eat! I’m -comparatively a stranger, and even I—” - -Lexy was an honest soul, however. The fragrance of coffee and rolls -reached her, and she admitted in her heart that she, too, could eat, -if she had a chance. - -Mrs. Enderby was not going to give her a chance just yet. She finished -her meal and rose. - -“Now!” she said. “Just what is gone from here? We shall look.” - -So they looked, in the wardrobe, in the drawers, even in the orderly -desk. Very little was gone. - -“And now,” said Mrs. Enderby, “you lent her—how much money, Miss -Moran?” - -“I never lent her a penny in my life,” replied Lexy. - -Mrs. Enderby’s tone aroused a spirit of obstinate defiance in her. -Those flashing black eyes were fixed upon her with an expression which -did not please Lexy, and Lexy looked back with an expression which did -not please Mrs. Enderby. - -“So you will not tell me what you know!” said Mrs. Enderby, with a -chilly smile. - -It was on the tip of Lexy’s tongue to say, with considerable warmth, -that she _had_ told all she knew; but the memory of the telephone call -checked her. - -“If I tell her about that,” she thought, “she’ll just say, ‘Ah, I -thought so!’ And she’ll be surer than ever that Caroline has eloped -with a fortune hunter, and she won’t make any effort to find her. -No—I’m not going to tell her until she gets really frightened.” Aloud -she said: “I’ll do anything in the world that I can do, Mrs. Enderby, -to help you find Caroline.” - -“It is not necessary,” said Mrs. Enderby. “I shall have her letter.” - -There was another tap at the door. Mrs. Enderby closed the door -leading into the bathroom, and then called: - -“Come in!” - -The parlor maid entered. - -“You may take away the tray,” her mistress said graciously. “Miss -Enderby has finished.” - -Again a feeling that was almost horror came over Lexy. There was the -bed Caroline had slept in, there was the breakfast Caroline had eaten, -there was Caroline’s bath running—and Caroline wasn’t there! Lexy -wanted to get out of that room and away from Mrs. Enderby. - -“Do you mind if I go down and get my own breakfast now?” she asked, -when the parlor maid had gone out with the tray. - -“But certainly not!” Mrs. Enderby blandly consented. “We shall go down -together.” - -She turned off the water in the bath, and, following Lexy out of the -room, locked the door on the outside. The girl dropped behind her as -they descended the stairs, and studied the stout, dignified figure -before her with indignant interest. - -“A mother!” she thought. “A mother, behaving like this! How long is -she going to wait for her letter, I wonder? Well, if she won’t do -anything, then, by jiminy, I will!” - -A fresh example of Mrs. Enderby’s remarkable strength of mind awaited -them. Mr. Enderby was already seated at the table in the dining room. -As his wife entered, he rose, with his invariable politeness, and one -glance at his ruddy, cheerful face convinced Lexy that he knew nothing -of what had happened. - -“Caroline has a headache,” Mrs. Enderby explained. “It will be better -for her to rest for a little.” - -“Ah! Too bad!” said he. “Don’t think she gets out in the air enough. -Er—good morning, Miss Moran!” - -Lexy almost forgot to answer him, so intent was she upon watching Mrs. -Enderby open her letters. There must, she thought, be some change in -that calm, pale face when she didn’t find a letter from Caroline, -there must be something to break this inhuman tranquillity. - -But nothing broke it. Mr. Enderby ate his breakfast, and his wife -chatted affably with him while she glanced over her mail. The sunshine -poured into the room, gleaming on silver and linen, and on the -cheerful young parlor maid moving quietly about her duties. It was a -morning just like other mornings; and, in spite of herself, Lexy’s -feeling of dread and oppression began to lighten. Mr. Enderby was so -thoroughly unperturbed, Mrs. Enderby was so serene and majestic, the -house was so bright and pleasant in the spring morning, that it was -hard to believe that anything could be really amiss. - -“But I don’t care!” she thought sturdily. “_I_ know there is!” - -Mr. Enderby finished his breakfast and rose, and, as usual, his wife -accompanied him to the front door. Alone in the dining room, Lexy made -haste to finish her own meal. Just as she pushed back her chair, Mrs. -Enderby returned. - -“I shall ring, Annie,” she told the parlor maid, and the girl -disappeared. Then she turned to Lexy. “The letter has come,” she said. - -Lexy stared at her with such an expression of amazement and dismay -that Mrs. Enderby smiled. - -“You are very young,” she said. “You wish always for the dramatic. -When you have lived as long as I, you will see that such things do not -happen.” - -She spoke kindly, and Lexy saw in her dark eyes a look of weariness -and pain. - -“No, my child,” she went on. “In this life it is always the same -things that happen again and again. At twenty, one breaks the heart -for a man; at forty, one breaks the heart for one’s child. There is -only that—and money. Love and money—nothing else!” - -Lexy felt extraordinarily sorry for Mrs. Enderby; but even yet she -couldn’t quite believe that Caroline could have done such a thing. - -“But do you mean that she’s really—that she’s—” she began. - -“See, then!” said Mrs. Enderby. “Here is the letter!” - -Lexy took it from her, and read: - - Chere Maman: - - I only beg you and papa to forgive me for what I have - done; but I knew that if I told you, you would not have - let me go. When you get this - - I shall be married. To-morrow I shall write again, to tell - you where I am, and to beg you to let me bring my husband - to you. - - Oh, please, dear, dear mother and father, forgive me! - - Your loving, loving daughter, - Caroline. - -“You see!” said Mrs. Enderby. “It is as I told you.” - -There were tears in Lexy’s eyes as she put the letter back into the -envelope. - -“It doesn’t seem a bit like Caroline, though,” she remarked. - -Mrs. Enderby smiled again, faintly, and held out her hand for the -letter. Lexy returned it to her, with an almost mechanical glance at -the postmark—“Wyngate, Connecticut.” - -All her defiance had vanished. She was obliged to admit now that Mrs. -Enderby was wise, and that she herself was— - -“A little fool!” said Lexy candidly to herself. - - - IV - -“Do you mind if I go out for a walk?” asked the crestfallen Lexy; for -that was her instinct in any sort of trouble—to get out into the fresh -air and walk. - -“No,” answered Mrs. Enderby; “but I shall ask you to return in half an -hour. There is much to be done.” - -“Done!” cried Lexy. “But what can be done—now?” - -“That I shall tell you when you return,” said Mrs. Enderby. “In the -meantime, I trust you to say nothing of all this to any person -whatever. You understand, Miss Moran?” - -Miss Moran certainly did not understand, but she gave her promise to -keep silent, and, putting on her hat and coat, hurried out of the -house. Mighty glad she was to get out, too! - -“But why make a mystery of it like this?” she thought. “Every one has -to know, sooner or later, and it’s so—so ghastly, pretending that -Caroline’s there! Oh, it doesn’t seem possible, Caroline running off -like that, and I never even dreaming she was the least bit interested -in any man! I don’t see how she could have seen any one or written to -any one without my knowing it. It doesn’t seem possible!” - -She had reached the corner of Fifth Avenue, and was waiting for a halt -in the traffic, when she became aware of a young man who was standing -near her and staring at her. She glanced carelessly at him, and he -took off his hat, but he got no acknowledgment of his salute. He was a -stranger, and she meant him to remain a stranger. The bright-haired, -sturdy little Lexy was a very pretty girl, and she was not -unaccustomed to strange young men who stared. She knew how to handle -them. - -As she crossed the avenue, he crossed, too. When she entered the park, -he followed. Now Lexy was never tolerant of this sort of thing, and -to-day, in her anxiety and distress, she was less so than ever. She -turned her head and looked the young man squarely in the face with a -scornful and frigid look; and he took off his hat again! - -“Just you say one word,” said she to herself, “and I’ll call a -policeman!” - -Yet, as she walked briskly on, something in the man’s expression -haunted her. He didn’t look like that sort of man. His sunburned face -somehow seemed to her a very honest one, and the expression on it was -not at all flirtatious, but terribly troubled and unhappy. - -“Perhaps he thinks he knows me,” she thought. “Well, he doesn’t, and -he’s not going to, either!” - -And she dismissed him from her mind. - -“When did Caroline go?” she pondered, continuing her own miserable -train of thought. “While I was doing cross words in the library? If -she went out by the front door, she must have gone right past the -library. She must have known I was there—and not even to say good-by!” - -It hurt. She had grown very fond of the shy, quiet Caroline, and she -had firmly believed that Caroline was fond of her. What is more, she -had thought Caroline trusted her. - -“She didn’t though. All the time, when we were so friendly together, -she must have been planning this and—_what_?” - -She stopped short, her dark brows meeting in a fierce frown, for the -unknown man had come up beside her and spoken to her. - -“Excuse me!” he said. - -Lexy only looked at him, but he did not wither and perish under her -scorn. - -“I’ve _got_ to speak to you,” he said. - -“It’s—look here! I’ve been waiting outside the house all morning. Look -here, please! You’re Lexy, aren’t you?” - -This was a little too much! - -“If you don’t stop bothering me this instant—” she began hotly, but he -paid no heed. - -“_Where’s Miss Enderby?”_ he cried. - -Lexy grew very pale. Those were the words she had heard over the -telephone last night, and this was the same voice. - -For a moment she was silent, staring at him, while he looked back at -her, his blue eyes searching her face with a look of desperate -entreaty. All her doubts vanished. She had not been wrong. She had -been right—she was sure of it. She knew that something had -happened—something inexplicable and dreadful. - -“Please tell me!” he said. “You don’t know—you can’t know—she told me -you were her friend.” - -“But who are you?” cried Lexy. - -His face flushed under the sunburn. - -“I—” he began, and stopped. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you,” he went on. -“I’d like to, but, you see, I can’t. If you’ll just tell me where -Car—Miss Enderby is! She’s safe at home, isn’t she? She—of course she -is! She _must_ be! She—she is, isn’t she?” - -“Well,” said Lexy slowly, “I don’t see how I can tell you anything at -all. I don’t know what right you have to ask any questions. I don’t -know who you are, or anything about you.” - -“No,” he replied, “I know that; but, after all, it’s not much of a -question, is it—just if Miss Enderby’s all right?” - -Lexy felt very sorry for him, in his obvious struggle to speak quietly -and reasonably. She wanted to answer him promptly and candidly, for -his sake and for her own, because she felt sure that he could tell her -something about Caroline; but she had promised Mrs. Enderby to say -nothing. - -“It’s so silly!” she thought, exasperated. “If I could tell him, I -might find out—” - -“Find out what? Hadn’t Caroline written to say that she had gone away -to get married? In a day or two, probably to-morrow, they would learn -all the details from Caroline herself. This unhappy young man couldn’t -know anything. Indeed, he was asking for information. Who could he -possibly be? A rival suitor? Lexy remembered Caroline’s pitifully -restricted life. _Two_ suitors of whom she had never heard? It wasn’t -possible! - -“No,” she thought. “There’s something queer—something wrong!” - -“Look here!” the young man said again. “Aren’t you going to answer me? -Just tell me she’s all right, and—” - -“What makes you think she isn’t?” asked Lexy cautiously. - -He looked straight into her face. - -“You’re playing with me,” he said. “You’re fencing with me, to make me -give myself away; and it’s a pretty rotten thing to do!” - -“Rotten?” Lexy repeated indignantly. “Rotten, not to answer questions -from a perfect stranger?” - -“Yes,” he said, “it is; because that’s a question you could answer for -any one. I’ve only asked you if Miss Enderby is—all right.” - -This high-handed tone didn’t suit Lexy at all. He was actually -presuming to be angry, and that made her angry. - -“I shan’t tell you anything at all,” she said, and began to walk on -again. - -He put on his hat and turned away, but in a moment he was back at her -side. - -“Look here!” he said. “Caroline told me you were her friend. She said -you could be trusted. All right—I am trusting you. I’ve felt, all -along, that there was—something wrong. I’ve got to know! If you’ll -give me your word that she’s safe at home, I’ll clear out, and -apologize for having made a first-class fool of myself; but if she’s -not, I ought to know!” - -Lexy stopped again. Their eyes met in a long, steady glance. - -“I can’t answer any questions this morning,” she told him. “I promised -I wouldn’t.” - -“Then there is something wrong!” the young man exclaimed. - -He was silent for a long time, staring at the ground, and Lexy waited, -with a fast beating heart, for some word that would enlighten her. At -last he looked up. - -“I’ve got to trust you,” he said simply. “Caroline meant to tell you, -anyhow. You see”—he paused—“I’m Charles Houseman, the man she’s going -to marry.” - -“Oh!” cried Lexy. - -“Now you’ll tell me, won’t you?” - -She stared and stared at him, filled with amazement and pity. Such a -nice-looking, straightforward, manly sort of fellow—and such a look of -pain and bewilderment in his blue eyes! - -“But—did she _say_ she would marry you?” - -“Of course she did! She—look here! You don’t know what I’ve been -through. It was I who telephoned last night. I—” - -“But why did you? Oh, please tell me! I am Caroline’s friend—truly her -friend. I want to understand!” - -“All right!” he said. “I telephoned because I was waiting for her, and -she didn’t come.” - -“Waiting for—Caroline?” - -“We had arranged to get married last night. She was to meet me, but -she didn’t come,” he said, a little unsteadily. “Perhaps she just -changed her mind. Perhaps she doesn’t want to see me any more. If -that’s the case, I’ll trust you not to mention anything about me—to -any one. You see now, don’t you, that I—I had to know?” - -Lexy’s eyes filled with tears. Moved by a generous impulse, she held -out her hand. - -“I’m so awfully sorry!” she cried. - -“Why? You mean—for God’s sake, tell me! You mean she has changed her -mind?” - -“I can’t tell you—not now.” - -“You can’t leave it at that,” said he. He had taken her outstretched -hand, and he held it tight. “I ought to know what has happened. I -can’t believe that Caroline would let me down like that. She—she’s not -that sort of girl. Something’s gone wrong. She wouldn’t leave me -waiting and waiting there for her at Wyngate.” - -“Wyngate!” cried Lexy. “But that was—” - -She stopped abruptly. Caroline’s letter had been postmarked “Wyngate.” -She had gone there to meet—some one. She had married—some one. - -“I can’t understand,” Lexy went on. “It’s terrible! I can’t tell you -now; but I’ll meet you here this afternoon, after lunch—about two -o’clock—and I’ll tell you then.” - -She turned away, then, in haste to get back to Mrs. Enderby, but he -stopped her. - -“Remember!” he said sternly. “I’ve trusted you. If Caroline hasn’t -told her people about me, you mustn’t mention my name. I gave her my -word that I would let her do the telling. I didn’t want it that way, -but I promised her, and you’ve got to do the same. If she hasn’t told -about me, you’re not to.” - -“Oh, Lord!” cried poor Lexy. “Well, all right, I won’t! Now, for -goodness’ sake, go away, and let me alone—to do the best I can!” - - - V - -Lexy was late. The half hour had been considerably exceeded when she -ran up the steps of the Enderbys house. She rang the bell, and the -door was opened promptly by Annie. - -“Mrs. Enderby would like to see you at once, miss,” the parlor maid -said primly. - -But Lexy stopped to look covertly at Annie. Did she know anything? It -was possible. Anything was possible now. Lexy was obliged to admit, -however, that Annie had no appearance of guilt or mystery. A brisk and -sober woman of middle age, who had been with the family for nearly ten -years, she looked nothing more or less than disapproving because this -young person had presumed to keep Mrs. Enderby waiting for several -minutes. - -“Anyhow, I can’t ask her,” thought Lexy. “That’s the worst part of all -this— I can’t ask anybody anything without breaking a promise to -somebody else; and yet everybody ought to know everything!” - -In miserable perplexity, she went upstairs to Mrs. Enderby’s sitting -room. Only one thing was clear in her mind, and that was that she must -be freed from her weak-minded promise not to mention Caroline’s -absence. - -“And that’s not going to be easy,” she reflected, “when I can’t -explain to her. There’ll be a row. Well, I don’t care!” - -She did care, however. She respected Mrs. Enderby, and in her secret -heart she was a little afraid of her. She felt very young, very crude -and blundering, in the presence of that masterful woman; and she -doubted her own wisdom. - -“But what can I do?” she thought. “He said he trusted me. I _can’t_ -tell her! No, first I’ll get her to let me off that promise, and I’ll -go and tell that young man. Then I’ll make him let me off, and I’ll -come and tell her. Golly, how I hate all this fool mystery!” - -Mrs. Enderby was writing at her desk as Lexy entered the room. She -glanced up, unsmiling. - -“You are late,” she said. “I asked you to return in half an hour.” - -“I’m sorry,” Lexy replied meekly. - -“Very well! Now you will please to come with me.” - -She rose, and Lexy followed her down the hall to Caroline’s room. Mrs. -Enderby unlocked the door, and, when they had entered, locked the door -on the inside. - -“In fifteen minutes the car is coming,” she said. “I wish you to put -on Caroline’s hat and coat and a veil, and leave the house with me.” - -“You mean you want me to pretend I’m Caroline?” cried Lexy. - -“I wish it to be thought that you are Caroline,” Mrs. Enderby -corrected her. “Please waste no time. The car will be here—” - -“Mrs. Enderby, I—I can’t do it!” - -“You can, Miss Moran, and I think you will.” - -But Lexy was pretty close to desperation now. Her honest and vigorous -spirit was entangled in a network of promises and obligations and -deceptions, and she could not see how to free herself; but she would -not passively submit. - -“No,” she said, “I can’t. I’ve found out something—I can’t tell you -about it just now, but this afternoon I hope—” - -“This afternoon is another thing,” said Mrs. Enderby. “In the -meantime—” - -“But it’s important! It’s—” - -“You think I do not know? You think this letter sets my mind at rest?” -Mrs. Enderby demanded, with one of her sudden flashes of temper. “That -is imbecile! I know how serious it is that my child should leave me -like this; but I know what is my duty—first, to my husband. That -first, I tell you! It is for me to see that no disgrace comes upon his -house, no scandal—that first! Then, next, I must see to it that the -way is left open for Caroline to come back—if she wishes.” She came -close to Lexy, and fixed those black eyes of hers upon the girl’s -face. “I tell you, Miss Moran, there will be no scandal!” - -In spite of herself, Lexy was impressed. - -“But suppose—” she began. - -“No—we shall not suppose. I have told the servants that to-day Miss -Enderby goes into the country, to visit her old governess for a few -days. Very well—they shall see her go. If there is no other letter -to-morrow, I shall tell Mr. Enderby.” - -“Doesn’t he know?” - -“Please make haste, Miss Moran!” said Mrs. Enderby. - -As if hypnotized, Lexy began to dress herself in Caroline’s clothes; -but, as she glanced in the mirror to adjust the close-fitting little -hat, the monstrousness of the whole thing overwhelmed her. She had so -often seen Caroline in this hat and coat! - -“Oh, I can’t!” she cried. “I can’t! Suppose something terrible has -happened to her, and I’m—” - -“Keep quiet!” said Mrs. Enderby fiercely. “I tell you it shall be so! -Now, the veil. No, not like that—not as if you were disguising -yourself! So!” - -She unlocked the door, and, taking Lexy by the arm, went out into the -hall. Together they descended the stairs, Mrs. Enderby chatting -volubly in French, as she was wont to do with her daughter. None of -the servants would think of interrupting her, or of staring at her -companion. It was an ordinary, everyday scene. Annie was crossing the -lower hall. - -“Miss Moran will be out all day,” said Mrs. Enderby. “There will be no -one at home for lunch.” - -“Yes, ma’am,” replied Annie. - -The maid would not notice when—or if—Miss Moran went out. There was -nothing to arouse suspicion in any one. - -They went out to the car. A small trunk was strapped on behind. -Everything had been prepared for Miss Enderby’s visit to the country. -The chauffeur opened the door and touched his cap respectfully, the -two women got in, and off they went. - -“Now you will please to dismiss this subject from your mind,” said -Mrs. Enderby. “I do not wish to talk of it.” She spoke kindly now. -“You will have a pleasant day in the country.” - -“Day!” said Lexy. “But what time will we get back?” - -“Before dinner.” - -“Oh, I’ve got to get back this afternoon! I’ve got to see some one! -It’s important—terribly important!” - -Mrs. Enderby smiled faintly. - -“The chauffeur must see you descend at Miss Craigie’s house,” she -said. “Once we are there, I have a hat and coat of your own in the -trunk. I shall explain what is necessary to Miss Craigie, who is very -discreet, very devoted. You can change then, but you must go home -quietly by train; and I think there are not many trains.” - -Lexy had a vision of the young man waiting and waiting for her in the -park that afternoon—the young man who had trusted her, who was waiting -in such miserable anxiety for some news of Caroline. - -“Mrs. Enderby,” she protested, “I can’t come with you. I’ve got to get -back this afternoon.” - -“No,” said Mrs. Enderby. - -Lexy made a creditable effort to master her anger and distress. - -“It’s important—to you,” she said. “I have to see some one about -Caroline—some one who can tell you something.” - -This time Mrs. Enderby made no answer at all. There she sat, stout, -majestic, absolutely impervious, looking out of the window as if Lexy -did not exist. What was to be done? She couldn’t communicate with the -chauffeur except by leaning across Mrs. Enderby, and a struggle with -that lady was out of the question. - -“But I’m not going on!” she thought. - -She waited until the car slowed down at a crossing. Then she made a -sudden dart for the door. With equal suddenness Mrs. Enderby seized -her arm. - -“Sit down!” she said, in a singularly unpleasant whisper. “There shall -be no scene. Sit down, I tell you!” - -“I won’t!” replied Lexy, but just then the car started forward, and -she fell back on the seat. - -“You will come with me,” said Mrs. Enderby. - -That overbearing tone, that grasp on her arm, were very nearly too -much for Lexy. She had always been quick-tempered. All the Morans -were, and were perversely proud of it, too; but Lexy had learned many -lessons in a hard school. She had learned to control her temper, and -she did so now. She was silent for a time. - -“All right!” she agreed, at last. “I’ll come. I don’t see what else I -can do—now; but after this I’ll have to use my own judgment, Mrs. -Enderby.” - -“You have none,” Mrs. Enderby told her calmly. - -Lexy clenched her hands, and again was silent for a moment. - -“I mean—” she began. - -“I know very well what you mean,” said Mrs. Enderby. “You mean that -you will keep faith with me no longer. I saw that. You wished to run -off and tell your story to some one this afternoon. I stopped that. -After this, I cannot stop you any longer. You will tell, but I think -no one will listen to you. I shall deny it, and no one will be likely -to listen to the word of a discharged employee.” - -Lexy had grown very pale. - -“I see!” she said slowly. “Then you’re going to—” - -“You are discharged,” interrupted Mrs. Enderby, “because I do not like -to have my daughter’s companion running into the park to meet a young -man.” - -“I see!” said Lexy again. - -And nothing more. All the warmth of her anger had gone, and in its -place had come an overwhelming depression. For all her sturdiness and -courage, she was young and generous and sensitive, and those words of -Mrs. Enderby’s hurt her cruelly. - -She sat very still, looking out of the window. They had left the city -now, and were on the Boston road. It was a sweet, fresh April day, and -under a bright and windy sky the countryside was showing the first -soft green of spring. - -Lexy remembered. She remembered the things she had so valiantly tried -to forget—the dear, happy days that were past, spring days like this, -in her own home, with her mother and father; early morning rides on -her little black mare, and coming home to the old house, to the people -who loved her; her father’s laugh, her mother’s wonderful smile, the -friendly faces of the servants. - -She was not old enough or wise enough as yet, for these memories to be -a solace to her. They were pain—nothing but pain. There was no one now -to love her, or even to be interested in her. She had cut herself off -from her old friends and gone out alone, like a poor, rash, gallant -little knight-errant, into the wide world to seek her fortune. -Caroline had disappeared, and Mrs. Enderby had dismissed her with -savage contempt. She would have to go out now and look for a new job. - -She straightened her shoulders. - -“This won’t do!” she said to herself. “It’s disgusting, mawkish -self-pity, and nothing else. I’m young and healthy, and I can always -find a job. What I want to think about now is Caroline, and what I -ought to do for her.” - -So she did begin to think about Caroline. The first thought that came -into her head was such an extraordinary one that it startled her. - -“Anyhow, she’s a pretty lucky girl!” - -Lucky? Caroline, who had lived like a prisoner, and who had now so -strangely disappeared, lucky—simply because a sunburned, blue-eyed -young man was so miserably anxious about her? - -“I suppose he’s thinking about her this minute,” Lexy reflected; “and -I’m sure nobody in the world is thinking about me. Well, I don’t -care!” - - - VI - -The car took them to a drowsy little village, and stopped before a -small cottage on a side street. Mrs. Enderby got out, followed by -Lexy, the living ghost of Caroline. Side by side they went up the -flagged path and on to the porch. Mrs. Enderby rang the bell, and in a -moment the door was opened by a thin, sandy-haired woman in -spectacles. - -“Mrs. Enderby!” she cried, her plain face lighting up in a delighted -smile. “And my dear little Caroline!” She held out her hand to Lexy, -and suddenly her face changed. “But—” she began. - -Mrs. Enderby pushed her gently inside and closed the door. - -“But it’s not Caroline!” cried Miss Craigie. - -“Hush!” said Mrs. Enderby. “I shall explain to you. Please allow the -chauffeur to carry upstairs a small trunk, and please have no air of -surprise.” - -Evidently Miss Craigie was in the habit of obeying Mrs. Enderby. She -opened the front door and called the chauffeur, who came in with the -trunk. - -“Turn your back!” whispered Mrs. Enderby to Lexy. “Go and look out of -the window!” - -Lexy heard the man go past the sitting room and up the stairs. -Presently he came running down, and the front door closed after him. - -“Now, Miss Craigie,” said Mrs. Enderby, “if you will permit Miss Moran -to go upstairs?” - -“Oh, certainly!” answered the bewildered Miss Craigie. “Whatever you -think best, Mrs. Enderby, I’m sure.” - -“Go!” said Mrs. Enderby. - -The lady’s tone aroused in Lexy a great desire not to go. Of course, -now that she had gone so far, it would be childish to refuse to -continue; but she meant to take her time. She stood there by the -window, slowly drawing off her gloves, her back turned to the room. -Suddenly Mrs. Enderby caught her by the shoulder and turned her -around. - -“Go!” she said again. “Take off those things of my child’s. _Mon Dieu! -Mon Dieu!_ Have you no heart?” - -There was such a note of anguish in her voice that Lexy no longer -delayed. She followed Miss Craigie up the stairs to a neat, prim -little bedroom, where the trunk stood, already unlocked. - -“If you want anything—” suggested Miss Craigie, in her gentle and -apologetic way. - -“No, thank you,” replied Lexy. - -Miss Craigie went out, closing the door softly behind her. Lexy took -off Caroline’s hat and coat and laid them on the bed. - -“I wonder if I’ll ever see her wearing them again!” she thought. - -For a long time she stood motionless, looking down at the things that -Caroline had worn. Most pitifully eloquent, they seemed to her—the hat -that had covered Caroline’s fair hair, the coat that had fitted her -slender shoulders. Lexy looked and looked, grave and sorrowful—and in -that moment her resolution was made. - -“I’m going to find her!” she said, half aloud. “I don’t care what any -one else does or what any one else thinks. I _know_ she’s in trouble -of some sort, and I’m going to find her!” - -The last trace of what Lexy had called “mawkish self-pity” had -vanished now. She was no longer concerned with Mrs. Enderby’s attitude -toward herself. It didn’t matter. Finding another job didn’t matter, -either. She had a little money due her, and she meant to use it—every -penny of it—in finding Caroline. - -She washed her hands and face, brushed her hair, put on her own hat -and jacket, and went downstairs again. Mrs. Enderby was standing in -the tiny hall, and from the sitting room there came a sound of muffled -sobbing. - -“She is an imbecile, that woman!” said Mrs. Enderby, with a sigh; “but -she will hold her tongue. And you?” - -“I’ve got to do as I think best,” answered Lexy. “I’ll say good-by -now, Mrs. Enderby.” - -“There is no train until three o’clock. It is now after one. We shall -have lunch directly.” - -“No, thank you,” said Lexy. “I’d rather go now. I dare say I can find -something to eat in the village.” - -She was not in the least angry now, or hurt; only she wanted to get -away, by herself, to think this out. - -“Good-by?” repeated Mrs. Enderby, with a smile. “You think, then, -never to see me again?” - -“No,” said Lexy. “I mean to see you again—when I have something to -tell you; but just now I want to go back and pack up my things.” - -“And leave my house?” - -“Yes.” - -They were both silent for a moment. Then, to Lexy’s amazement, Mrs. -Enderby laid a hand gently on the girl’s shoulder. - -“My child,” she said, “you think I am a very hard woman. Perhaps it is -so; but, like you, I do what seems to me the right. Certainly it is -better now that you should leave us; but not like this. You must have -your lunch here, then you must return to the house and sleep there, -all in the usual way. To-morrow you shall go.” She paused a moment. -“You shall go, if you are still determined that you will not keep -faith with me.” - -It was not a very difficult matter to touch Lexy’s heart. Whatever -resentment she may have felt against Mrs. Enderby vanished now, lost -in a sincere pity and respect; but she was firm in her purpose. - -“I’ve got to tell one person,” she said. “If I do, I shall be able to -tell you something you ought to know. I wish you could trust me! I -wish you could believe that all I’m thinking of is—Caroline!” - -“I do believe you,” said Mrs. Enderby. “You are very honest, and very, -very young. You wish to do good, but you do harm. Very well, my -child—I cannot stop you. Go your way, and I go mine; but”—she paused -again, and again smiled her faint, shadowy smile—“if I think it right -that you should be sacrificed, it shall be so. I am sorry. I have -affection for you. I shall be sorry if you stand in my way.” - -Lexy met her eyes steadily. - -“I’m sorry, too,” she said. - -And so she was. There was nothing in her heart now but sorrow for them -all—for Caroline, for Mrs. Enderby, for the luckless Mr. Houseman, -even for Miss Craigie; but most of all for Caroline. - -“I’ve got to find her,” she thought, over and over again; “and _he’ll_ -help me!” - -She had lunch in Miss Craigie’s cottage—a melancholy meal, with the -hostess red-eyed and dejected and Mrs. Enderby sternly silent. Then, -after lunch, poor Miss Craigie was sent out for a drive, in order to -get rid of the chauffeur while Lexy slipped out of the house and down -to the station. - -Everything went as Mrs. Enderby had willed it. Lexy caught the -designated train, and returned to the city. All the way in, her great -comfort was the thought of Mr. Houseman. He would help her. Now she -could tell him that Caroline had gone, and he would help her. - -“Of course, I’ve missed him to-day,” she thought; “but he’s sure to be -in the park again to-morrow. Perhaps he’ll telephone. He’s not the -sort to be easily discouraged, I’m sure.” - -It was dark when she reached the Grand Central, but, at the risk of -being late for dinner, Lexy chose to walk back to the house. She could -always think better when she was walking. - -“I want to get the thing in order in my own mind,” she reflected. -“Mrs. Enderby is so—confusing. Here’s the case—Mr. Houseman says -Caroline promised to meet him last night at a place called Wyngate, -and they were to be married. She left the house. This morning there -was a letter from her, postmarked Wyngate; but he says she didn’t go -there. Well, then, where did she go?” - -Impossible to answer that question with even the wildest surmise. - -“I’ll have to wait,” Lexy went on. “I’ll have to find out more from -Mr. Houseman. Perhaps they misunderstood each other. It’s no use -trying to guess. I’ll have to wait till I see him.” - -She recalled his honest, sunburned face with great good will. He was -her ally. He was young, like herself, not old and cautious and -deliberate. She liked him. She trusted him. In her loneliness and -anxiety, he seemed a friend. - -Annie opened the door with her customary air of disapproval. - -“Yes, miss,” she answered. “Mrs. Enderby came home in the car half an -hour ago. Dinner’ll be served in ten minutes. Here’s a letter for you. -A young man left it about twenty minutes ago.” - -“If I’d taken a taxi from Grand Central, I’d have seen him!” was -Lexy’s first thought. - -Even a letter was something, however, and she ran upstairs with it, -very much pleased. Of course, it was from Mr. Houseman. She locked the -door, and, standing against it, looked at the envelope. It was -addressed to “Miss Lexy” in a good clear hand. That made her smile, -remembering her first indignation that morning. - -The letter ran thus: - - Dear Miss Lexy: - - Please excuse me for addressing you like this, but I don’t - know your other name. I forgot to ask you. - - I waited in the park for you all afternoon. When it got - dark, I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I went to the - house and asked for Miss Enderby. The servant told me she - had gone away to the country with her mother this morning. - - Please tell Miss Enderby that I understand. I am sorry she - didn’t tell me before that she had changed her mind, - instead of letting me wait like that; but it’s finished - now. Please tell her she can count on me to hold my - tongue, and never to bother her again in any way. - - We are sailing to-night, or I should have tried to see you - to-morrow. In case you have any message for me, you can - address me at the company’s office, J. J. Eames & Son, 99 - State Street. I expect to be back in about six weeks. - - Very truly yours, - Charles Houseman. - -“Sailing to-night!” cried Lexy. “Then he’s gone! He’s gone!” - - - VII - -“So you are still of the same mind?” inquired Mrs. Enderby. - -“More so, if anything,” Lexy answered seriously. - -It was after breakfast the next morning. Mr. Enderby had gone to his -office, and Mrs. Enderby and Lexy were alone in the dining room. There -was an odd sort of friendliness between them. Lexy felt no constraint -in asking questions. - -“There isn’t any letter this morning, is there, Mrs. Enderby?” - -“There is not.” - -“Then I suppose you’re going to tell Mr. Enderby?” - -“This evening.” - -“And then?” - -“Then I shall be guided by his advice,” Mrs. Enderby replied blandly. - -Lexy could have smiled at this. She knew how likely Mrs. Enderby was -to be guided by her husband; but she kept the smile and the thought to -herself. - -“I don’t want to interfere with your plans—” she began. - -“I have no plans.” - -“I mean, if you’re going to take steps to find her—” - -“My child,” said Mrs. Enderby, “it is clear that you wish to amuse -yourself with a grand mystery. I tell you there is no mystery, but you -do not believe me. I ask you to say nothing of this matter, but you -refuse. So I say to you now—go your own way, proceed with your -mystery. I do not think you can hurt me very much.” - -Lexy flushed. - -“I don’t want to hurt any one,” she declared stiffly. “I just want to -help your daughter.” - -“Proceed, then!” said Mrs. Enderby. - -Lexy rose. - -“Then I’ll say good-by, Mrs. Enderby,” she said. “My trunk’s packed. -I’ll send for it this afternoon.” - -“And where are you going in such a hurry?” - -“I’m going to Wyngate,” said Lexy. - -“Ah!” said Mrs. Enderby. “It is a pretty place, is it not?” - -“I don’t know. I’ve never seen it.” - -“Pardon me—you saw it yesterday. It is a small village through which -we passed on the way to Miss Craigie’s house.” - -“I didn’t know that.” - -“Now that you do know, perhaps you will spare yourself the trouble of -going there,” said Mrs. Enderby. “I assure you you will not find -Caroline there. I myself made certain inquiries. No such person has -arrived in Wyngate.” - -There was a moment’s silence. - -“But I observe by your face that you are not convinced,” Mrs. Enderby -went on. “‘This Mrs. Enderby, she is a stupid old creature,’ you think -to yourself. ‘I shall go there myself, and I shall discover that which -she could not.’” - -Lexy reddened again. - -“I don’t mean it that way,” she said. “It’s only that we look at this -from different points of view, and I feel—I feel that I’ve got to go.” - -“Very well!” said Mrs. Enderby, and she, too, rose. “You will please -to come to my room with me. There is part of your salary to be paid to -you.” - -Lexy followed her, still flushed, and very reluctant. She wished she -could afford to refuse that money. - -“But I’ve earned it,” she thought; “and goodness knows I’ll need it!” - -Mrs. Enderby sat down at her desk and took out her check book. While -she wrote, Lexy looked out of the window. - -“The amount due to you, including to-day, is thirty-two dollars,” said -Mrs. Enderby. “Here is a check for it.” - -“Thank you,” said Lexy. - -“One minute more! Here, my child, is another check.” - -Lexy stared at it, amazed. It was for one hundred dollars. - -“But, Mrs. Enderby, I can’t—” - -“You will please take it and say nothing more. I give you this because -I shall give you no reference. I shall answer no inquiries about you. -You understand?” - -“But I don’t want—” - -Mrs. Enderby pushed back her chair, and rose. She crossed the room to -Lexy, put both hands on the girl’s shoulders, and then did something -far more astonishing than the gift of the check. She kissed Lexy on -the forehead. - -“Good-by, and God bless you, little honest one!” she said, with a -smile. “I think we shall not see each other again, but I shall -sometimes remember you. Go, now, and bear in mind that you can always -trust Miss Craigie. She is an imbecile, but she can be trusted. -_Adieu!_” - -Lexy’s eyes filled with tears. - -“_Au revoir!_” she said stoutly; and then, with one of her sudden -impulses, she put both arms around Mrs. Enderby’s neck and returned -her kiss vigorously. “I’m sorry!” she said. “I’m awfully sorry!” - -This was their parting. Lexy was thankful that it had been like this, -very glad that she could leave the house in good will and kindliness. -It strengthened her beyond measure. She wanted to help Caroline, and -she wanted to help Mrs. Enderby, too. - -“And I will!” she thought. “I know that I’m right and she’s wrong! -She’s rather terrible, too. Sometimes I think she’d almost rather not -find out the truth, if it was going to make what she calls a scandal. -She will have it that Caroline’s gone away of her own free will, to -get married; and if it’s anything else, she doesn’t want to know. She -_is_ hard, but there’s something rather fine about her.” - -There was no one in the hall when Lexy left, and this was a relief, -for she supposed that Mrs. Enderby had told the servants, or would -tell them, that Miss Moran had been discharged. - -She went out and closed the door behind her. A fine, thin rain was -falling—nothing to daunt a healthy young creature like Lexy; yet she -wished that the sun had been shining. She wished that she hadn’t had -to leave the house in the rain, under a gray sky. Somehow it made her -only too well aware that she was homeless now, and alone. - -As was her habit when depressed, she set off to walk briskly; and by -the time she reached the Grand Central her cheeks were glowing and her -heart considerably less heavy. She learned that she had nearly three -hours to wait for the next train to Wyngate; so she bought her ticket, -checked her bag, and went out again. - -In a near-by department store she bought a little chamois pocket. Then -she went to the bank, cashed both her checks, and, putting the bills -into her pocket, hung it around her neck inside her blouse. It was -very comfortable to have so much money. - -Then, only as a forlorn hope, she rang up the offices of J. J. Eames & -Son, on State Street. - -“I don’t suppose they keep track of their passengers,” she thought; -“but it can’t do any harm.” - -So, when she got the connection, she asked politely: - -“Could you possibly tell me where Mr. Charles Houseman has gone?” - -“Certainly!” answered an equally polite voice at the other end of the -wire. “Just a moment, please! You mean Mr. Houseman, second officer on -the Mazell?” - -“I don’t know,” said Lexy, surprised. “Has he blue eyes?” - -There was an instant’s silence. Then the voice spoke again, a little -unsteadily. - -“I—I believe so.” - -“He’s laughing at me!” thought Lexy indignantly, and her voice became -severely dignified. - -“Can you tell me where the—the Mazell has gone?” - -“Lisbon and Gibraltar. We expect her back in about five weeks.” - -“Thank you!” said Lexy. “And that’s that!” she added, to herself. “So -he’s a sailor! I rather like sailors. Well, anyhow, he’s gone.” She -sighed. “Carry on!” she said. - -She went into a tea room on Forty-Second Street and ordered herself a -very good lunch. - -“Much better than I can afford,” she thought. “Goodness knows what’s -going to happen to me! Here I am, without visible means of support. I -suppose I’m an idiot. Lots of people would say so. They’d say I ought -to be looking for a new job this instant; but I don’t care! I’m not -going back on Caroline. Mrs. Enderby won’t do anything, and Mr. -Houseman’s gone away, and there’s nobody but me. Perhaps I can’t do -very much, but, by jiminy, I’m going to try!” - -There was still an hour to spare, and she passed it in a fashion she -had often scornfully denounced. She went shopping—without buying. She -wandered through a great department store, looking at all sorts of -things. Some of them she wanted, but she resolutely told herself that -she was better off without them. - -Then, at the proper time, she went back to the Grand Central, -recovered her bag, bought herself two or three magazines and a bar of -chocolate, and boarded the train. For all that she tried to be so cool -and sensible, she could not help feeling a queer little thrill of -excitement. Her quest had begun, and she could not in any way foresee -the end. - - - VIII - -Now it certainly was not Lexy’s way to take any great interest in -strange young men. There was not a trace of coquetry in her honest -heart, and she had always looked upon the little flirtations of her -friends with distaste and wonder. - -“_I’m_ not romantic!” she had said more than once. - -She believed that. She would have denied indignantly that her present -mission was romantic. She thought it a matter-of-course thing which -she was in honor bound to do for her friend Caroline Enderby. She felt -that she was very cool and practical about it, and a mighty sensible -sort of girl altogether. - -Certainly she saw the young man on the train, for her alert glance saw -pretty well everything. She saw him, and she thought she had never set -eyes on a handsomer man. - -He was very tall, and slenderly and strongly built. He was dressed -with fastidious perfection, and he had an air of marked distinction. -In short, he was a man whom any one would look at—and remember; but -Lexy, the unromantic girl, thought him inferior to the blue-eyed Mr. -Houseman. She preferred young Houseman’s blunt, sunburned face to the -dark and haughty one of this stranger. She simply was not interested -in dark and haughty strangers, however distinguished and handsome. She -looked at this one, and then returned to her magazines. - -She had a weakness for detective stories, and she was reading one -now—reading it in the proper spirit, uncritical and absorbed. Whenever -the train stopped at a station, she glanced up, and more than once, as -she turned her head, she caught the stranger’s eye. She wondered, -later on, why she hadn’t had some sort of premonition. People in -stories always did. They always recognized at once the other people -who were going to be in the story with them; but Lexy did not. Even -toward the end of the journey, when she and the stranger were the only -ones left in the car, she was not aware of any interest in him. - -Even when he, too, got out at Wyngate, Lexy was not specially -interested. It was only a little after five o’clock, but it was dark -already on that rainy afternoon, and the only thing that interested -her just then was the sight of a solitary taxi drawn up beside the -platform. Bag in hand, she hurried toward it, but the stranger got -there before her. When she arrived, he was speaking to the driver. - -There was no other taxi or vehicle of any sort in sight, no other -lights were visible except those of the station. It was a strange and -unknown world upon which she looked in the rainy dusk, and she felt a -justifiable annoyance with the ungallant stranger. He jumped into the -cab and slammed the door. - -“Driver!” cried Lexy. “Will you please come back for me?” - -But before the driver could answer, the door of the cab opened, and -the stranger sprang out. - -“I _beg_ your pardon!” he said, standing hat in hand before Lexy. “I’m -most awfully sorry! Give you my word I didn’t notice. I should have -noticed, of course. Absent-minded sort of beggar, you know! Please -take the cab, won’t you? I don’t in the least mind waiting. Please -take it! Allow me!” - -He tried to take her bag. His manner was not at all haughty. On the -contrary, it was a very agreeable manner, and the impulsive Lexy liked -him. - -“Why can’t we both go?” said she. - -“Oh, no!” he protested. “Please take the cab! Give you my word I don’t -mind waiting.” - -“It’s a dismal place to wait in,” said Lexy. “We can both go, just as -well as not.” - -The driver approved of Lexy’s idea. It saved him trouble. - -“Where do you want to go, miss?” he asked. - -“I don’t know,” said Lexy. “I suppose there’s a hotel, isn’t there?” - -“I say!” exclaimed the stranger. “Just what I’d been asking him, you -know! He says there’s no hotel, but a very decent boarding house.” - -“Mis’ Royce’s,” added the driver. “She takes boarders.” - -“All right!” said Lexy cheerfully. “Miss Royce’s it is!” - -The stranger took her bag, and put it into the taxi. He would have -assisted Lexy, but she was already inside; so he, too, got in. He -closed the door, and off they went. - -“I _am_ sorry, you know,” he said, “shoving ahead like that; but I -didn’t notice—” - -“Well, please stop being sorry now,” requested Lexy firmly. - -“Right-o!” said he. “You won’t mind my saying you’ve been wonderfully -nice about it?” - -“No, I don’t mind that a bit,” replied Lexy. “I like to be wonderfully -nice.” - -There was a moment’s silence. - -“Will you allow me to introduce myself?” said the stranger. “Grey, you -know—George Grey—Captain Grey, you know.” - -“Captain of a ship?” asked Lexy, with interest. She thought she would -like to talk about ships. - -“Oh, no!” said he, rather shocked. “Army—British army—stationed in -India.” - -“I knew you were an Englishman.” - -“Did you really?” said he, as if surprised. “People do seem to know. -My first visit to your country—six months’ leave—so I’ve come here to -see my sister—Mrs. Quelton. She’s married to an American doctor.” - -Lexy thought there was something almost pathetic in his chivalrous -anxiety to explain himself. - -“I’m Alexandra Moran,” she said. - -“Thank you!” said Captain Grey. “Thank you very much, Miss Moran!” - -There was no opportunity for further polite conversation, for the taxi -had stopped and the driver came around to the door. - -“Better make a run fer it!” he said. “I’ll take yer bags.” - -So Captain Grey took Lexy’s arm, and they did make a run for it, -through the fine, chilly rain, along a garden path and up on a -veranda. The door was opened at once. - -“Miss Royce?” asked Captain Grey. - -“Mrs. Royce,” said the other. “Come right in. My, how it does rain!” - -They followed her into a dimly lit hall. She opened a door on the -right, and lit the gas in what was obviously the “best parlor”—a -dreadful room, stiff and ugly, and smelling of camphor and dampness. -Captain Grey remained in the hall to settle with the driver, and Lexy -decided to let her share of the reckoning wait for a more auspicious -occasion. She went into the parlor with Mrs. Royce. - -“You and your husband just come from the city?” inquired the landlady. - -“He’s not my husband,” replied Lexy, with a laugh. “I never set eyes -on him before. There was only one taxi, and we were both looking for a -hotel. The driver said you took boarders, and that’s how we happened -to come together.” - -“I don’t take boarders much, ’cept in the summer time,” said Mrs. -Royce. She was a stout, comfortable sort of creature, gray-haired, and -very neat in her dark dress and clean white apron. She had a kindly, -good-humored face, too, but she had a landlady’s eye. “People don’t -come here much, this time of year,” she went on. “Nothing to bring ’em -here.” - -These last words were a challenge to Lexy to explain her business, and -she was prepared. - -“I passed through here the other day in a motor,” she said, “on my way -to Adams Corners, and I thought it looked like such a nice, quiet -place for me to work in. I’m a writer, you know, and I thought Wyngate -would just suit me.” - -“I was born and raised out to Adams Corners,” said Mrs. Royce. “Guess -there’s no one living out there that I don’t know.” - -“Then perhaps you know Miss Craigie?” - -“Miss Margaret Craigie? I should say I did! If you’re a friend of -hers—” - -“Only an acquaintance,” said Lexy cautiously. - -“Set down!” suggested Mrs. Royce, very cordial now. “I’ll light a nice -wood fire. A writer, are you? Well, well! And the gentleman—I wonder, -now, what brings him here!” - -“He told me he’d come to see his sister,” said Lexy. “Mrs. Quelton, I -think he said.” - -“Quelton!” cried the landlady. “You didn’t say Quelton? Not the -doctor’s wife?” - -“Yes,” said the captain’s voice from the doorway. “Nothing happened to -her, has there? Nothing gone wrong?” - -Mrs. Royce stared at him with the most profound interest, and he -stared back at her, somewhat uneasily. - -“No,” said she, at last. “No—only—well, I’m sure!” - -There was a silence. - -“Could we possibly have a little supper?” asked Lexy politely. - -“Yes, indeed you can!” said Mrs. Royce. “Right away!” But still she -lingered. “Mrs. Quelton’s brother!” she said. “Well, I never!” - -Then she tore herself away, leaving Lexy and Captain Grey alone in the -parlor. - -“Seems to bother her,” he said. “I wonder why!” - -Lexy was also wondering, and longing to ask questions, but she felt -that it wouldn’t be good manners. - -“People in small places like this are always awfully curious,” she -observed. - -“Yes,” said he; “and Muriel may be a bit eccentric, you know. I rather -imagine she is, from her letters. I’ve never seen her.” - -“Never seen your own sister!” - -Lexy would certainly have asked questions now, manners or no manners, -only that Mrs. Royce entered the room again, to fulfill her promise to -make a “nice wood fire.” Amazing, the difference it made in the room! -The ugliness and stiffness vanished in the ruddy glow. It seemed a -delightful room, now, homely and welcoming and safe. - -“It’s real cozy here,” said Mrs. Royce, “on a night like this. I’m -sorry the dining room’s so kind of chilly.” - -“Oh, can’t we have supper here, by the fire?” cried Lexy. “Please! -We’ll promise not to get any crumbs on your nice carpet, Mrs. Royce!” - -“I guess you can,” replied the landlady benevolently. - -And so it happened that the ancient magic of fire was invoked in -Lexy’s behalf. Probably, if she and Captain Grey had had their supper -in the chilly dining room, they would have been a little chilly, too, -and more cautious. They might not have said all that they did say. - - - IX - -It was an excellent supper, and Captain Grey and Lexy thoroughly -appreciated it. They ate with healthy appetites, and they talked. Mrs. -Royce, from the kitchen, heard their cheerful, friendly voices, and -their laughter, and she didn’t for one moment believe that they had -never met before. Listening to them, she wore that benevolent smile -once more, and felt sure that she had encountered a very charming -little romance. - -It was all Lexy’s doing. It was Lexy’s beautiful talent, to be able to -create this atmosphere of honest and happy _camaraderie_. Before the -meal was finished, Captain Grey was talking to her as if they had -known each other since childhood, and he didn’t even wonder at it. It -seemed perfectly natural. - -Mrs. Royce came in to take away the dishes. - -“Going to set here a while?” she asked, looking at the two young -people with a smile of approval. “I’ll bring in some more wood.” She -hesitated a moment, and the landladyish glimmer again appeared in her -eyes. “If it was me,” she observed, in the most casual way, “the -fire’d be enough light. If it was me, now, I wouldn’t want that gas -flaring and blaring away—and burning up good money,” she added, to -herself. - -“You’re right,” Lexy cheerfully agreed. “We’ll turn it down.” - -The rain was falling fast outside, driving against the windows when -the wind blew; and inside the young people sat by the fire, very -content. - -“Queer thing!” said Captain Grey meditatively. “Never been in this -place before—never been in this country before—and yet it’s like -coming home!” - -“I know that feeling,” said Lexy. “I’ve had it before. I think only -people who haven’t any real homes of their own ever have it.” - -“But haven’t you any real home?” he asked, evidently distressed. - -“No,” she answered; “but please don’t think it’s tragic. It’s not.” - -“You haven’t impressed me as tragic,” he admitted. - -Lexy laughed. - -“Thank goodness!” she said. “I do want to keep on being—well, ordinary -and human, even when outside things seem a little tragic.” - -“Miss Moran!” he said, and stopped. - -It was some time before he spoke again. Lexy took advantage of his -abstraction to study his face by the firelight. When you come to -understand it a little, it wasn’t a haughty face at all, but a very -sensitive and fine one. - -“Miss Moran!” he said again. “About being ordinary and human—of -course, one wants to be that; but the thing is—I don’t know quite how -to put it, but if you have a feeling, you know—I mean a feeling that -something is wrong—” He paused again. - -“I mean,” he went on, “if you have a feeling like that—a sort of—well, -call it uneasiness—the question is whether one ought to laugh at it, -or take it as”—once more he stopped—“as a warning,” he ended. - -A strange sensation came over Lexy. - -“I’ve been thinking a good deal about that very thing lately,” she -replied. “I believe feelings like that _are_ a warning. I’m sure it’s -wrong—foolish and wrong—to disregard them. Even if every one else, -even if your own mind tells you it’s all nonsense, you mustn’t care!” - -“I think you’re right,” he gravely agreed. “I’ve been trying to tell -myself that I’m an utter ass, but all the time I knew I wasn’t. I -knew—I know now—that there’s something—” - -An unreasoning dread possessed Lexy. She felt for a moment that she -didn’t want to hear any more. - -“I’d like to tell you about it, if you wouldn’t mind,” he said. -“Somehow I think you could help.” - -For an instant she hesitated. - -“Please do tell me,” she said at length. “I’d be glad to help, if I -can.” - -“It’s this,” he said. “Do you mind if I smoke? Thanks!” - -He took a cigarette case from his pocket. As he struck a match, she -could see his face very clearly in the sudden flame; and, for no -reason at all, she pitied him. - -“It’s this,” he said again. “It’s about my sister.” - -“The sister you’ve never seen?” - -The sensation of dread had gone, and she felt only the liveliest -interest. She wanted very much to hear about Captain Grey’s sister. - -“It wasn’t quite true to say I’d never seen her,” he explained, in his -painstaking way. “I have, you know; but not since I was six years old -and she was a baby. Our mother died when Muriel was born, out in -India. An aunt took the poor little kid to the States with her, and I -stayed out there with my father.” - -He drew on his cigarette for a minute. - -“She’s twenty-one now,” he said. “Last picture I had of her was when -she was fourteen or so. A pretty kid—a bit more than pretty—what you’d -call lovely.” - -He was silent for a little, staring into the fire. - -“When I was at school in England, it was arranged that she was to come -over; but she didn’t, and we’ve never met again. Twenty-one years—it’s -a long time.” - -“Yes, it is,” said Lexy gently, for something in his voice touched -her. - -“We’ve written to each other, on and off. I’m not much good at that -sort of thing, but I thought her letters were—well, rather remarkable, -you know; but I dare say I’m prejudiced. She’s the only one of my own -people left.” - -“You poor, dear thing!” thought Lexy, with ready sympathy, but she did -not say anything. - -“Anyhow,” he presently continued, “I got an impression from her -letters that she was rather an extraordinary girl. She was studying -music—said she was going on the concert stage—awfully enthusiastic -about it; and then she married this doctor chap. She never said much -about him, only that she was very happy; but—well, I don’t believe -that.” - -“Why?” - -“I don’t know. Anyhow, she was married about two years ago, and a few -months after her marriage she began writing oftener—almost every mail. -She was always wanting me to come over here and see her; and lately, -in her last letters, I—somehow I fancied she wanted me rather badly. -It—it worried me, so I arranged for leave. On the very day when I -wrote that I would be coming over this month, I had a letter from her, -asking me not to make any plans for coming this year. She said she’d -taken up her concert work again, and would be too busy to enjoy the -visit, and so on. I’d already made my plans, you see, so I went ahead. -Then, about a fortnight later, after she’d got my letter, I suppose, I -had a cable. ‘Don’t come,’ it said. I cabled back, but she didn’t -answer.” - -He looked anxiously at Lexy, but she said nothing. She sat very still, -curled up in a big chair, staring into the fire with an odd look of -uncertainty on her face. - -“You know,” he went on, “I’ve tried to think that she was simply too -busy, or something of that sort. But, Miss Moran, didn’t this woman’s -manner rather make you think there was something a bit—out of the -way?” - -“Oh, I don’t know,” replied Lexy, in a casual tone which very much -disconcerted him. - -“I’ve been making a fool of myself!” he thought, flushing. “Why the -devil didn’t I keep my old-woman notions to myself? Now she’ll think—” - -But Lexy was not thinking that Captain Grey was a fool. She was only -very much afraid of being one herself, and was engaged in a severe -struggle against this danger. That dread, that vague and oppressive -dread, had come back, and she was fighting to throw it off. She wanted -to be, she _would_ be, her own normal, cheerful self again, living in -a normal, everyday world. - -“All this about his sister, and about Caroline!” she thought. “It’s -really nothing—nothing serious. Our both being here in Wyngate—that’s -nothing, either. It’s just a coincidence. If the gas wasn’t turned -down, I wouldn’t feel like this.” - -She would have risen and turned up the gas, only that she was ashamed -to do so. The fire was blazing merrily, shedding a ruddy light upon -the homely room, the most commonplace room in the world. There was -Captain Grey sitting there smoking—just an ordinary young man come to -visit his sister. There was herself—just Lexy Moran, well fed and warm -and comfortable, with more than a hundred dollars in a bag round her -neck. She could hear Mrs. Royce moving about in the kitchen, humming -to herself in a low drone. - -“I will _not_ be silly!” she told herself. - -And just then a train whistled—a long, melancholy shriek. Lexy had a -sudden vision of it, rushing through the dark and the rain. She had a -sudden realization of the outside world, vast, lonely, terrible, -stretching from pole to pole—forests, and plains, and oceans. The -monstrous folly of pretending that everything was snug and warm and -cozy! Things did happen—only cowards denied that. - -“Captain Grey!” she cried abruptly. “What you’ve told me—it _is_ -queer; and it’s even queerer when I think what has brought me here to -this little place. Both of us here, in Wyngate! I think I’ll tell -you.” - -And she did. - -He listened in absolute silence to the tale of Caroline Enderby’s -disappearance. Even after Lexy had finished, it was some time before -he spoke. - -“I’ll try to help you,” he said simply. - -“Oh, thank you!” cried Lexy, with a rush of gratitude. She wanted some -one to help her, and she could imagine no one better for the purpose -than this young man. He would help her—she was sure of it. Even the -fact of having told him most wonderfully lightened her burden. She -gave an irrepressible little giggle. - -“We have almost all the ingredients for a first-class mystery story,” -she said; “except the jewel—the famous ruby, or the great diamond.” - -“It’s an emerald, in this case,” said Captain Grey. - -Lexy straightened up in her chair, and stared at him. - -“You don’t really mean that?” she demanded. “There isn’t really an -emerald?” He smiled. - -“I’m afraid it hasn’t much to do with the case—with either of the -cases,” he said; “but there is an emerald—my sister’s.” - -“It didn’t come from India?” - -“It did, though!” - -“Don’t tell me it was stolen from a temple! That would be too good to -be true!” - -“I’m sorry,” he said; “but as far as I know, it’s never been stolen at -all, and its history for the last eighty years hasn’t been sinister. -One of the old rajahs gave it to my grandfather—a reward of merit, you -know. When my father married, it went to my mother. She never had any -trouble with it. She never wore it, because she didn’t like it.” - -“Why?” - -“Well, you see, it’s an ostentatious sort of thing, and she wasn’t -ostentatious.” He paused a moment. “My father told me, before he died, -that he wanted Muriel to have it when she was eighteen; and so, three -years ago, I sent it over to her.” - -“But how?” - -“You’re a good detective,” said he, smiling again. “You don’t miss any -of the points. It was a bit of a problem, how to send the thing; but I -had the luck to find some people I knew who were coming over here, and -they brought it. So that’s that!” - -“An emerald!” said Lexy. “This is almost too much! I think I’ll say -good night, Captain Grey. I need sleep.” - -As she followed Mrs. Royce up the stairs, she saw Captain Grey still -sitting before the fire, smoking; and it was a comforting sight. - - - X - -Lexy slept late the next morning. It was nearly nine o’clock when she -opened her eyes. She lay for a few minutes, looking about her. The -gray light of another rainy day filled the neat, unfamiliar little -room, and outside the window she could see the branches of a little -pear tree rocking in the wind. - -“I’m here in Wyngate,” she said to herself. “I was bent on coming here -to find Caroline; and now, here I am, and how am I going to begin?” - -She got up, and washed in cold water, in a queer, old-fashioned china -basin painted with flowers. She brushed her shining hair, and dressed, -feeling more hopeful every minute. - -“One step at a time!” she thought. “The first step was to come here; -and the next step—well, I’ll think of it after breakfast. Perhaps -Captain Grey will have thought of something.” - -But Captain Grey had gone out. - -“Jest a few minutes ago,” Mrs. Royce informed her. “He was down real -early—around seven, and he waited and waited for you. At half past -eight he et, and off he went.” - -“Did he say when he’d be back?” - -“No,” said Mrs. Royce. “He didn’t say much of anything. He’s a kind of -quiet young man, ain’t he? Well, he’d ought to get on with his sister, -then.” - -“Is she very quiet?” asked Lexy. - -“Quiet!” repeated Mrs. Royce. “Set down an’ begin to eat, Miss Moran. -I’ve fixed a real nice tasty breakfast for you, if I do say it as -shouldn’t. Corn gems, too. Mis’ Quelton quiet? I should say she was! -Quiet as”—she paused—“as the dead,” she went on, and the phrase made -an unpleasant impression upon Lexy. “An’ her husband, too. I never saw -the like of them. They never come into the village, an’ nobody ever -goes out there to the Tower. About twice a week the doctor drives into -Lymewell—the town below here—and he buys a lot of food an’ all, an’ he -goes home. I can see him out of my front winder, an’ the sight of him, -driving along in that black buggy of his—it gives me the shivers!” - -“But if he’s a doctor—” - -“Don’t ask _me_ what kind of doctor he is, Miss Moran! He don’t go to -see the sick—that’s all I know.” - -“But his wife—what is she like?” - -“Miss Moran,” said the landlady, with profound impressiveness, “I -guess there ain’t three people in Wyngate that’s ever set eyes on -her!” - -“But how awfully queer!” - -“You may well say ‘queer,’” said Mrs. Royce. “There she stays, out in -that lonely place—never seeing a soul from one month’s end to another. -She’s a young woman, too—young, an’ just as pretty as a picture.” - -“Then you are—” - -“I’m one of the few that has seen her,” said Mrs. Royce, with a sort -of grim satisfaction. “That’s why I take a kind of special interest in -her. I seen her the night the doctor brought her here to Wyngate a -young bride. That’ll be three years ago this winter, but I remember it -as plain as plain. There was a terrible snowstorm, and he couldn’t git -out to his place, so he had to bring her here, and she sat right in -this very room, just where you’re sitting.” - -Instinctively Lexy looked behind her. - -“I feel that same way myself—as if she was a ghost,” said Mrs. Royce -solemnly. “Near three years ago, and her living only three miles off, -an’ I’ve never set eyes on her again. I’ve never forgotten her, -though, the sweet pretty young creature!” - -“But why do you suppose she lives like that?” - -Mrs. Royce came nearer. - -“Miss Moran,” she said, “that doctor is crazy. I’m not the only one to -say it. He’s as crazy—hush, now! Here’s that poor young man!” - -The “poor young man” came into the room, with that very nice smile of -his. - -“Good morning!” he said. “I say, I’m sorry I didn’t wait for you a bit -longer, Miss Moran.” - -“I’m glad you didn’t,” said Lexy. “I’d have felt awfully guilty.” - -“I went out to telephone,” he explained. “Thought I’d tell Muriel I -was here, you know; but they have no telephone. Dashed odd, isn’t it, -for a doctor not to have a telephone in the house?” - -“I don’t think he’s a real doctor—a physician, I mean,” said Lexy. She -glanced around and saw that Mrs. Royce had gone. Springing up, she -crossed the room to Captain Grey. “Has Mrs. Royce—has any one said -anything to you?” she asked, almost in a whisper. - -“No!” answered the young man, startled. “Why? What’s up?” - -“Mrs. Royce says—I suppose I really ought to tell you.” - -“No doubt about it!” - -“Mrs. Royce says Dr. Quelton is crazy!” - -Captain Grey took the news very coolly. Lexy observed that he -suppressed a smile. - -“Oh, that!” he said. “But you know, Miss Moran, in these little -villages any one who’s at all out of the ordinary is called crazy. -I’ve noticed it before. I can soon find out for myself, though, can’t -I? I thought, if you didn’t want me this morning, I’d go over -there—pay a call, you know. I understand it’s three miles from here, -so I shouldn’t be very long. I’d come back here for lunch.” - -“But, Captain Grey, you mustn’t think I expect you to—” - -“It’s not that,” he said. “Only you said you’d let me help you in your -little job, and I want to!” He smiled down at her. “So,” he said, -“I’ll be back for lunch;” and off he went. - -Lexy went to the window and looked out. She saw Captain Grey striding -off up the muddy road, perfectly indifferent to the rain, and -curiously elegant, in spite of his wet weather clothes. She was -thinking of him with great friendliness and appreciation; but she was -not thinking of him in the least as Mrs. Royce imagined she was -thinking. - -Mrs. Royce stood in the doorway, watching Lexy watch Captain Grey, -smiling and even beaming with benevolence; but she would have been -disappointed if she had suspected what was in Lexy’s head. - -“He’s awfully nice,” thought Lexy, “and awfully handsome, and I’m -certain that he’s absolutely trustworthy and honorable, but—” - -But somehow he wasn’t to be compared to Mr. Houseman. She knew -practically nothing about Mr. Houseman. She had talked with him for -five or ten minutes in the park, and his conversation had been -entirely about Caroline Enderby. He had shown himself to be -quick-tempered and sadly lacking in patience. He had written Lexy a -stiff, offended, boyish letter, and then he had disappeared. There was -no sensible reason in the world why she should think of him as she -did, no reason why she should hope so much to see him again; but she -did. - -“Well, now!” said Mrs. Royce, at last. “You’ll be wanting a nice quiet -place for your writing.” - -“Writing!” said Lexy. “I never—” She stopped herself just in time, -remembering her shocking falsehood of the night before. “I never care -much where I write,” she ended. - -“Well, I’ve fixed up the sewing room for you,” said Mrs. Royce. “I’ve -put a nice strong table in there with drawers, where you can keep your -papers an’ all.” - -“You’re a dear!” said Lexy warmly. - -She said this because she thought it, and without the least -calculation. She liked Mrs. Royce, and when she liked people she told -them so. That was what made people love her. - -Mrs. Royce was completely won. - -“I’m real glad to do it for you,” she said. “I won’t bother you, -neither, while you’re working. I know how it is with writing. My -cousin, now—her husband was writing for the movies, an’ he was that -upset if he was disturbed!” - -Still conversing with great affability, Mrs. Royce led the reluctant -writer upstairs to the small room prepared for her, and shut her in. -Lexy sat down in a chair before the workmanlike table, and grinned -ruefully. She had said she was a writer, and now she had to be one. - -“Well,” she reflected, “here’s a chance to write to Mr. Houseman, -anyhow.” - -She never had the least difficulty in writing letters. For one reason, -she never bothered about them unless she had something to say, and -then she said it, briefly and lucidly, and was done. She told Mr. -Houseman all she knew about Caroline’s disappearance, and explained -that she had gone out to Wyngate in the hope of picking up some trace -of her. - -“Of course,” she wrote, “I don’t know whether I’ll still be here when -you get back. If I’ve gone, I’ll leave my address with Mrs. Royce, in -case you should want to communicate with me.” - -This was admirable, so far; but, reading it over, Lexy was not -satisfied. She remembered the misery, the trouble and anxiety, in Mr. -Houseman’s blue eyes. She imagined him sailing the seas, bitterly hurt -because he thought Caroline had changed her mind. She thought of him -coming back and getting this letter, to revive .all his alarm for -Caroline. This wasn’t, after all, a business letter. She took up her -pen again, and added: - - I think I can imagine how you feel about all this, and I - am more sorry than I can tell you. I hope we shall meet - soon. - -This last phrase rather astonished her. She hadn’t meant to write just -that. She picked up the letter, intending to tear it up and write -another; but she thought better of it. - -“No!” she said to herself. “Let it stay. It’s true; why shouldn’t I -hope that we’ll meet again?” - -So she addressed the letter and sealed it, and then sat looking out of -the window at the rain. It was a hopeless sort of rain, faint and -fine—a hopeless, melancholy world, without color or promise. - -“I’d better take a walk!” thought Lexy, springing up. - -Before she reached the door there was a knock, and Mrs. Royce put her -head in. - -“He’s here!” she whispered. “He’s asking for you.” - -“Who?” cried Lexy. - -“Hush! The doctor!” answered Mrs. Royce. “You could ’a’ knocked me -down with a feather!” - - - XI - -Feathers would not have knocked down the sturdy Lexy, however. On the -contrary, she was pleased and interested by this utterly unexpected -visit. The sinister doctor here, in this house, and asking for her! -She started promptly toward the stairs. - -“Miss Moran!” cautioned the landlady, in a whisper. “Don’t tell him -nothing!” - -“Tell him!” said Lexy. “But I haven’t anything to tell!” - -“Well, you’d best be very careful!” said Mrs. Royce. - -With this solemn warning in her ears, Lexy descended the stairs. She -saw Dr. Quelton standing in the hall, hat in hand, waiting for her. -The doctor was rather a disappointment. He was not the dark, sinister -figure he should have been. He was a big man, powerfully built, with a -clumsy stoop to his tremendous shoulders. His heavy, clean-shaven face -would have been an agreeable one if it had not been for its -expression, but that expression was not at all an alarming or -dangerous one. It was an expression of the most utter and hopeless -boredom. - -He came toward her. - -“Miss Moran?” he asked. - -Even his voice was listless, and his glance was without a spark of -interest. - -“Yes,” said she. - -“My brother-in-law, Captain Grey, told us you were here, and I did -myself the honor of calling,” he went on. - -“You certainly were quick about it!” thought Lexy. “Captain Grey -couldn’t have reached his sister’s house an hour ago, and it’s three -miles from here. Won’t you come into the sitting room?” she asked -aloud. - -“Thank you,” he replied, and followed Lexy into the decorous and -dismal room. - -He sat down opposite her in a small chair that cracked under his -weight, and he smiled a bored and extinguished smile. - -“A writer, I believe?” he said. - -“Well, yes, in a way,” answered Lexy, growing a little red. - -“My wife and I were very much interested,” he went on, with as little -interest as a human being may well display. “We don’t have many -newcomers here. It’s a very quiet place.” - -His apathetic manner exasperated Lexy. - -“But I don’t care how quiet it is,” she observed. - -“My wife and I like a quiet life,” he said. “My wife asked me to -explain, Miss Moran, that she is something of a recluse. Her health -prevents her from calling upon you; but she wished me to say that she -would be very happy to see you at the Tower, whenever it may be -convenient for you to call, any afternoon after four o’clock.” - -“Thank you,” replied Lexy. “Please thank Mrs. Quelton. I shall be very -pleased to come.” - -And now why didn’t he go away? This visit was apparently a painful -duty for him. He had delivered his message, and yet he lingered. - -“A very quiet place,” he repeated; “but perhaps you are not sociably -inclined?” - -“Oh, I’m sociable enough—at times,” said Lexy. - -“But at the present time you prefer solitude? For the purposes of your -work? As a change from the stimulating atmosphere of the city?” - -Any mention of her work made Lexy uncomfortable. - -“Well, yes,” she answered in a dubious tone. - -“I lived in New York myself for a number of years,” he went on. “I -wonder if you—may I ask what part of the city you lived in, Miss -Moran?” - -Lexy hesitated, and she meant him to see that she hesitated. After -all, however, it was not an unnatural or impertinent question, and she -couldn’t very well refuse to answer it. - -“In the East Sixties, near the park,” she said. “It wasn’t my own -home, though—I was a companion,” she added. - -She always liked people to know that. She was far from being cynical, -but she was aware that this information made a difference—to some -people. - -She was astonished to see the difference it made in Dr. Quelton. He -raised his black, weary eyes to her face and stared at her with -unmistakable insolence. - -“Ah!” he said. “I see! I thought so!” - -There was a moment’s silence. - -“And you’ve come to Wyngate to—er—to write?” he went on. “Very -interesting—very!” - -Lexy felt her cheeks grow hot. She wished with all her heart that she -had not involved herself in that stupid falsehood. It humiliated her -so much that she couldn’t answer Dr. Quelton with her usual spirit. He -noticed her confusion—no doubt about that. - -“Poetry, perhaps?” he suggested. - -“No!” said Lexy vehemently. “Not poetry!” - -He leaned forward a little, looking directly into her face. - -“Perhaps,” he said, “you write detective stories?” - -“Yes!” said Lexy. - -The doctor rose. - -“The solving of mysteries!” he said, with his unpleasant smile. “That -makes very interesting fiction!” - -Lexy rose, too. His tone, his manner, exasperated her almost beyond -endurance. She felt an ardent desire to contradict everything he said. -What is more, she was in no humor to hear mystery stories made light -of. She had had enough of that—first Mrs. Enderby pretending there was -no mystery, and then Mr. Houseman going off and pretending it was -solved, so that she was left alone to do the best she could. Wasn’t -she in a mystery story at this very minute, and without a single -promising clew to guide her? - -“There are plenty of mysteries that aren’t fiction,” she observed -curtly. - -“But they are never solved,” said Dr. Quelton. - -“Never solved?” said Lexy. “But lots of them are! You can read in the -newspapers all the time about crimes that—” - -“The mystery of a crime is never solved,” the doctor blandly -proceeded. “Never! Let us say, for example, that a murder is -committed. The police investigate, they arrest some one. There is a -trial, the jury finds that the suspect is guilty, the judge sentences -him, and he is executed. Public opinion is satisfied; but as a matter -of fact, nothing whatever has been solved. It is all guesswork. Not -one living soul, not one member of the jury, not the judge, not the -executioner, really _knows_ that the accused man was guilty. They -think so—that is all. What you call a ‘solution’ is merely a guess, -based upon probabilities.” - -Lexy considered this with an earnest frown. - -“Well,” she said at last, “quite often criminals confess.” - -“In the days of witchcraft trials,” said he, “it was not uncommon for -women to come forward voluntarily and confess to being witches. In the -course of my own practice I have known people to confess things they -could not possibly have done. No!” He shook his head and smiled -faintly. “An acquaintance with the psychology of the diseased mind -makes one very skeptical about confessions, Miss Moran.” - -This idea, too, Lexy took into her mind and considered for a few -minutes. - -“Even an eyewitness,” Dr. Quelton went on, “is entirely unreliable. -Any lawyer can tell you how completely the senses deceive one. Three -persons can see the same occurrence, and each one of the three will -swear to a quite different impression. Each one may be entirely -honest, entirely convinced that he saw or heard what never took -place.” - -“Do you mean that you think it’s never possible to find out who’s -guilty?” - -“Never,” he replied agreeably. “It can never be anything but a guess, -as I said, based upon probabilities. Human senses, human judgment, -human reason, are all pitifully liable to error.” - -Lexy was silent for a time, thinking over this. - -“Maybe you’re right,” she said slowly, “about the senses, and -judgment, and reason. Perhaps their evidence isn’t always to be -trusted; but there’s something else.” - -“Something else?” he repeated. “Something else? And what may that be?” - -Lexy looked up at him. There was a smile on his heavy, pallid face, -aloof and contemptuous; but she was chiefly concerned just then in -trying to put into words her own firm conviction, more for her own -benefit than for his. It was not reason that had brought her here to -look for Caroline, it was not reason that sustained her. - -“There’s something else,” she said again, with a frown. “There’s a way -of knowing things without reason. It’s—I don’t know just how to put -it, but it’s a thing beyond reason.” - -He laughed, and she thought she had never heard a more unpleasant -laugh. - -“Certainly!” he said. “Beyond reason lies—unreason.” - -“I don’t mean that,” said Lexy. “I mean—” - -She stopped, because he had abruptly turned away and was walking -toward the door. She stood where she was, amazed by this unique -rudeness; but in the doorway he turned. - -“The thing beyond reason!” he said, almost in a whisper. Then, with a -sudden and complete change of manner, he went on: “It has been very -interesting to meet you, Miss Moran. My wife will enjoy a visit from -you. Any afternoon, after four o’clock!” He bowed politely. “After -four o’clock,” he repeated, and off he went. - -Lexy stood looking at the closed door. - -“Crazy?” she said to herself. “No—that’s not the word for him at all. -He’s—he’s just horrible!” - - - XII - -At half past twelve Captain Grey had not yet returned, and Mrs. Royce -declared that the ham omelet would be ruined if not eaten at once; so -Lexy went down to the dining room and ate her lunch alone. - -The rain was still falling steadily, and the little room was dim, -chilly, and, to Lexy, unbearably close. She wasn’t particularly -hungry, either, after such a hearty breakfast and no exercise. She -felt restless and uneasy. When Mrs. Royce went out into the kitchen to -fetch the dessert, she jumped up from the table, crossed the room, and -opened the window. - -The wild rain blew against her face, and it felt good to her. She drew -in a long breath of the fresh, damp air, and sighed with relief. - -“I’m going to go out this afternoon,” she said to herself, “if it -rains pitchforks! I can’t—” - -Just then she caught sight of Captain Grey coming down the road. Her -first impulse was to call out a cheerful salutation, but after a -second glance she felt no inclination for that. He was tramping along -doggedly through the rain, his hands in his pockets, his collar turned -up. He was as straight and soldierly as ever, but his face was pale, -with such a queer look on it! - -“Oh, dear!” thought Lexy. “Something’s gone wrong! Oh, the poor soul! -And he set off so happy this morning.” - -She went into the hall and opened the front door for him. Filled with -a motherly solicitude, she wanted to help him off with his overcoat, -but he abruptly declined that. - -“Am I late?” he asked. “I thought one o’clock, you know—I’m sorry.” - -“Mercy, that doesn’t matter!” said Lexy. “Aren’t you going to change -your shoes? You ought to. Well, then, you’d better come in and eat -your lunch this minute.” - -“You’re no end kind, to bother like that!” he said earnestly. “I do -appreciate it!” - -“Who wouldn’t be?” thought Lexy, glancing at him. “You poor soul, you -look as if you’d seen a ghost!” - -He took his place at the table, and Lexy sat down opposite him, her -chin in her hands, anxiously waiting for him to begin to tell her what -had happened. - -“Beastly day, isn’t it?” he said, with an obvious effort to speak -cheerfully. - -“Awful!” agreed Lexy. - -“And yet, you know,” he went on, “I rather like a walk on a day like -this. The country about here is pretty, don’t you think?” - -Lexy glanced around, to make sure that Mrs. Royce had closed the door -behind her. - -“Captain Grey!” she said, leaning across the table. “Tell me, did you -see her?” - -He did not meet Lexy’s eyes. He was looking down at his plate with -that curious dazed expression in his face. - -“Yes,” he said. “Yes, I saw her.” - -Lexy was hurt and disappointed by his manner. Evidently he didn’t want -to tell her anything, didn’t want to talk at all. Very well—the only -thing for her to do was to maintain a dignified silence. She did so -for almost ten minutes, but then nature got the upper hand. - -“Well?” she demanded. “Was everything all right?” - -“All right?” he repeated. “Oh, rather! Oh, yes, thanks—absolutely all -right.” - -This was too much for Lexy. - -“That’s good,” she said frigidly. “I’m going upstairs now, to write -some letters.” - -Her tone aroused him. He sprang to his feet, very contrite. - -“No! Look here!” he said. “Please don’t run away! I—I want to talk to -you, but it’s a bit hard. You can’t imagine what it’s like to see one -of your own people, you know—after such a long time.” - -Lexy sat down again. - -“Was she as you expected her to be?” she asked. - -“I don’t quite know what I expected,” he said. “Only—” - -He paused for a long time, and Lexy waited patiently, for she felt -very sorry for Captain Grey. At first sight she had imagined him to be -haughty, stiff, and aloof. She knew now that he was a very sensitive -man. He was terribly moved, and he wanted to tell her, but he -couldn’t. - -She tried to help him. - -“Dr. Quelton came to see me this morning,” she observed. - -“Yes—he said he would. Very decent sort of chap, don’t you think?” - -“Do you mean you _liked_ him?” asked Lexy. - -Captain Grey was a little startled by this Yankee notion of liking a -person at first sight. - -“Well, you see,” he said, “I’ve only met him once; but he seems to me -a very decent sort of chap. He’s clever, you know, and—and so on, and -my sister seems very happy with him.” - -“Happy?” - -“Yes. I’ve been an ass, imagining all sorts of silly rot. She’s not -very strong, I’m afraid, but she’s happy, and—well, you know, their -life out there is lonely, of course, but there’s something about it, -rather—rather charming, you know. I’d like you to see it for yourself. -I was speaking about you to Muriel. She wants to know you, and I think -you’d like her. Would you come out there to tea with me this -afternoon?” - -“Yes!” cried Lexy, with a vehemence that surprised him. - -There was nothing in the world she wanted more at that moment than to -see Captain Grey’s sister and to visit Dr. Quelton’s house. She didn’t -exactly know why, and she didn’t care, but she wanted to. - -Her trunk had not yet arrived. Indeed, she had only sent to Mrs. -Enderby’s for it that morning, but she was able to make herself -presentable with what she had in her bag, and excitement gave her an -added charm. She was in high spirits, gay and sparkling, so pretty and -so lively that Captain Grey was quite dazzled. - -He had engaged the one and only taxi. - -After they were settled in it, and on their way along the muddy road, -he said: - -“I say, Miss Moran, are there many American girls like you?” - -“No!” replied Lexy calmly. “I’m unique.” - -“I can believe that!” he said. “I’ve never seen any one like you. I -was telling Muriel how much I hope that you and she will hit it off. -It would be a wonderful thing for her to have a friend like you in -this place.” - -Something in his tone made Lexy turn serious. He was speaking as if -she was simply a nice girl he had happened to meet, as if she had -nothing to do but go out to tea and make agreeable friendships. - -“Yes,” she said, “but I don’t know how long I’ll be here. I certainly -haven’t accomplished much so far.” - -He was silent, and to Lexy his silence was very eloquent. - -“I came here for a definite purpose,” she told him. “I haven’t -forgotten that, and I’m not likely to forget it.” - -“I know,” said he, “but—” - -“But,” interrupted Lexy, “I know very well what you’re thinking—that -it’s a wild-goose chase, and that I’m a young idiot. Isn’t that it?” - -“I don’t mean that,” he protested; “only—don’t you see?” - -“I don’t!” Lexy grimly denied. “You’ve thought over the talk we had -last night, and you’ve decided that it was all nonsense.” - -“No, Miss Moran—not nonsense; but we were both a bit tired then, and -perhaps a bit overwrought.” - -“All right!” said Lexy. “Don’t go on! No—please drop it. I’ve talked -too much, anyhow. From now on I’m not going to talk to any one about -my little job. I’m going to go ahead in my own way, alone.” - -“You can’t,” said Captain Grey firmly. “I’m here, you know.” - -This did not appease Lexy, and she remained curt and silent all the -rest of the way. For a couple of miles the taxi went on along a broad, -smooth highway; then it turned off down a rough lane, bordered by dark -woodland, and entirely deserted. The rain drummed loud on the leather -top of the cab, the wind came sighing through the gaunt pines and the -slender, shivering birches; but when there was a lull, she heard -another sound, a sound familiar to her from childhood and yet always -strange, always heart-stirring—the dim, unceasing thunder of the sea. - -“Is the doctor’s house near the shore?” she inquired. - -“Yes—just on the beach.” - -“Oh, I’m so glad!” cried Lexy. “Our old house, where I was born, was -on the shore, and on days like this I used to love to go out and walk -with father. I love the sea so!” - -Captain Grey gave her an odd look, which she didn’t understand. -Perhaps that was just as well, for her words and her voice had -troubled the young man to an unreasonable degree. He wished he could -say something to comfort her. He wished he could offer her the sea as -a gift, for instance; and that would have been a mistake, because Lexy -did not like to be pathetic. - -Just at that moment, however, the taxi turned into a driveway, and -there was the house—the Tower. Lexy was disappointed. The name had -called up in her mind the picture of a gloomy edifice of gray stone, -more or less medieval, and altogether somber and forbidding; and this -was nothing in the world but a rather shabby old house, badly in need -of paint, and forlorn enough in the rain, but very ordinary and very -ugly. Even the tower, which had given the place its romantic name, was -only a wooden cupola with a lightning rod on top of it. - -“Can you get a good view of the sea from the windows?” Lexy demanded. - -“Well, not from the library, where I was,” he answered; “but perhaps—” - -“Captain Grey, I want to get out! I want to run down on the beach for -one instant!” - -“In this rain?” he protested. “You can’t!” - -“I’m not made of sugar,” said Lexy scornfully, “I’ve _got_ to run down -there just for an instant, before I go in.” - -“But, I say, your nice little hat, you know!” - -Lexy pulled off the nice little hat and laid it on his knee. Then she -rapped on the window, the driver stopped, and Lexy opened the door. - -“No! Look here! Please, Miss Moran!” cried Captain Grey. “Very well, -then, if you will go, I’ll go with you!” - -“I’d rather you didn’t,” said Lexy. “I feel as if I’d like to go alone -just for one look. You know how it is, sometimes. I haven’t had even a -smell of the sea for so long; and it reminds me—” - -She looked at him with a shadowy little smile, and he did understand. - -“All right!” he said. “Then slip on my coat.” - -She did so, to oblige him, and off she went, half running, down the -lane, in the direction of the sound of the surf. Captain Grey looked -after her—such an absurd little figure in that aquascutum of his that -almost touched the ground! He watched her till she was out of sight; -then he sat down in the cab and lit a cigarette. - -He thought about her, but Lexy had forgotten him. She found herself on -a desolate stretch of wet sand, with the gray sea tossing under a gray -sky. She smelled the hearty, salt smell, she remembered old things, -sad and sweet. Tears came into her eyes, and she felt them on her -cheeks, warm, salt as the sea. If only she could go running home, back -to the house where her mother used to wait for her! If only she could -find her father’s big, firm hand clasping her own! - -“I mustn’t be like this,” she said to herself. “Daddy would feel -ashamed of me.” - -In a cavernous pocket of the captain’s overcoat she found a -handkerchief. She dried her eyes with it, and turned back. The Tower -faced the lane, and the left side of it fronted the beach, rising -stark and high from the sands. She looked up at it. On the first floor -a sun parlor had been built out, and through the windows she could see -a woman sitting there in a deck chair. - -“I suppose that’s Muriel,” she thought, with a reawakening of her -lively interest. - -She came a little nearer. The woman was wearing a negligee and a -coquettish little silk cap. Her back was turned toward Lexy. She lay -there motionless, as if she were asleep. - -Lexy drew closer. The woman turned, straightened up in the chair, and -rose. A shiver ran along Lexy’s spine. She stopped and stared and -stared. - -The woman had raised her thin arms above her head, stretching. Then, -for a moment, she stood in an odd and lovely pose, with her hands -clasped behind her head. Oh, surely no one else ever stood like that! -That figure, that attitude—it couldn’t be any one else! - -“Caroline!” cried Lexy. “Caroline!” - -The woman did not hear. She was moving toward the long windows of the -room, and her every step, every line of her figure, was familiar and -unmistakable to Lexy. - -“Caroline!” she cried, running forward across the wet sand. “Wait! -Wait for me, Caroline!” - -A hand seized her arm. With a gasp, she looked into the pale, heavy -face of Dr. Quelton. He was smiling. - -“Miss Moran!” he said. “This is an unexpected pleasure—” - -Lexy jerked her arm away, and looked up at the windows of the sun -parlor. The woman had gone. - -“I saw Caroline!” she said. “In there!” - -“Caroline?” he repeated. “I’m afraid, I’m very much afraid, Miss -Moran, that you’ve made a mistake.” - -Their eyes met. In that instant, Lexy knew. He was still smiling with -an expression of bland amusement at this extraordinary little figure -in the huge coat; but he was her enemy, and she knew it. - -“Suppose we go on?” he suggested. “I believe it’s raining.” - -They turned and walked side by side around the house to the front -door, where Captain Grey stood waiting. - -“I say!” he exclaimed anxiously. “Your hair—your shoes—you’ll take a -chill, Miss Moran!” - -“I feel anxious about Miss Moran myself,” said Dr. Quelton. “I’m -afraid she’s a very imprudent young lady.” - -But Lexy said nothing. - - - XIII - -The doctor’s library had a charm of its own. It was a big room, -careless, a little shabby, but furnished in fastidious taste and with -a friendly sort of comfort. A great wood fire was blazing on the -hearth, and Dr. Quelton drew up an armchair before it for Lexy. - -“There!” he said. “Now you’ll soon be warm and dry. Anna!” - -“Yes, sir!” the parlor maid responded from the doorway. - -“Please tell Mrs. Quelton that Miss Moran is here.” - -“Yes, sir!” repeated the maid, and disappeared. - -Lexy sat down. Captain Grey stood, facing her, leaning one elbow on -the mantelpiece. Dr. Quelton paced up and down, his hands clasped -behind him. He looked like a dignified middle-aged gentleman in his -own home. - -A door opened somewhere in the house, and for a moment Lexy heard the -homely and familiar sound of an egg-beater whirring and a cheerful -Irish voice inquiring about “them potaters.” It was surely a cheerful -and pleasant enough setting; but Lexy did not find it so. - -“I saw Caroline!” she insisted to herself. “I don’t care what any one -says. I saw Caroline!” - -A strange sensation of pain and dread oppressed her. What should she -do? Whom should she tell? - -“Captain Grey,” she thought; “but not now. It’s no use now. Dr. -Quelton would deny it. I’ll have to wait until we get out of here; and -then, perhaps, it’ll be too late. He knows I saw her. -Something—something horrible—may happen!” - -A shiver ran through her. - -“Miss Moran is nervous,” said the doctor, with solicitude. - -“I’m not!” replied Lexy sharply. - -“I hope it’s not a chill,” said Captain Grey. - -“I should be inclined to think it nervousness,” said Dr. Quelton. “Our -landscape here is lonely and depressing, and Miss Moran has the -artist’s temperament, impressionable, high-strung.” - -“Not I!” declared Lexy, in a tone that startled Captain Grey. “Lonely -places don’t bother me. I don’t believe in ghosts.” - -“Oh!” said the doctor. “But here’s Mrs. Quelton. Muriel, this is Miss -Moran, the young writer of fiction.” - -Mrs. Quelton was coming down the long room, a beautiful woman, dark -and delicate, with a sort of plaintive languor in her manner. She held -out her hand to Lexy. - -“I’m so glad you’ve come!” she said. “George has told me so much about -you—the first American girl he’s known!” - -She glanced at her brother with a little smile. Lexy glanced at him, -too; and she was surprised and very much touched by the look on his -face. He couldn’t even smile. His face was grave, pale, almost solemn, -and he was regarding his sister with something like reverence. - -“Oh, poor fellow!” thought Lexy. “Poor lonely fellow! It’s such a -wonderful thing for him to find his sister—some one of his own. I only -hope she’s as nice as she looks.” - -This thought caused her to turn toward her hostess again. She _was_ -beautiful, and in a gentle and gracious fashion, and yet— - -“I don’t know,” thought Lexy. “There’s something—she doesn’t look -ill—perhaps she’s just lackadaisical; but certainly she’s not simple -and easy to understand. She must know about Caroline Enderby. The -thing is, would she help me, or—” - -Or would Mrs. Quelton also be her enemy? Lost in her own thought, Lexy -sat silent. She had, indeed, certain grave faults in social -deportment. The head mistress of the finishing school she had attended -had often said to her: - -“Alexandra, it is absolutely inexcusable to give way to moods in the -company of other people!” - -In theory Lexy admitted that this was true, but it made no difference. -If she didn’t feel inclined to talk, she didn’t talk. It was so this -afternoon. She merely answered when she was spoken to—which was not -often, for Dr. Quelton was asking his brother-in-law questions about -India, and Mrs. Quelton seemed no more desirous to talk than Lexy was. -What is more, Lexy felt certain that the doctor’s wife was not -listening to the talk between the two men, but, like herself, was -thinking her own thoughts. - -The parlor maid wheeled the tea cart in, and Mrs. Quelton roused -herself to pour the tea and to make polite inquiries, in her plaintive -tone, as to what her guests wanted in the way of cream and sugar. The -maid vanished again, and Dr. Quelton passed about the cups and plates. - -“It’s China tea,” he observed. “I import it myself. It has quite a -distinctive flavor, I think.” - -Captain Grey praised it, and Lexy herself found it very agreeable. She -sipped it, staring into the fire, glad to be let alone. Behind her she -could hear Captain Grey talking about the Ceylon tea plantations. His -voice sounded so pathetic! - -“Another cup, Miss Moran?” asked Mrs. Quelton. - -“Yes, thank you,” answered Lexy, and the doctor brought it to her. - -Poor Captain Grey and his precious, new-found sister! The sound of his -voice brought tears to her eyes. - -“But this is idiotic!” she thought, annoyed and surprised. - -Still the tears welled up. She gulped down the rest of her tea -hastily, hoping that it would steady her, but it did not help at all. -Sobs rose in her throat, and an immense and formless sorrow came over -her. - -“This has got to stop!” she thought, in alarm. “I can’t be such a -chump!” - -She turned to Mrs. Quelton. - -“Are you going to grow any—” she began, but her voice was so unsteady -that she had to stop for a moment. “Any flowers in—in your—g-garden?” - -The question ended in a loud and unmistakable sob. They all turned to -look at her, startled and anxious. - -She made a desperate effort to regain control of herself. - -“S-snapdragon,” she said. “So—so p-pretty!” - -Then, suddenly, all her defenses gave way. The teacup fell from her -hand and was shattered on the floor, and, burying her head in her -arms, she cried as she had never cried in her life. - -Mrs. Quelton stood beside her, one hand resting on Lexy’s shoulder. -Captain Grey was bending over her, profoundly disturbed. She tried to -speak, but she could not. - -“Miss Moran!” said Dr. Quelton solicitously. “Will you allow me to -give you a mild sedative?” - -“No!” she gasped. “No—I want to go home!” - -“I’ll telephone for the taxi,” suggested Captain Grey. “He wasn’t -coming back until half past five.” - -“Unfortunately we have no telephone,” said the doctor; “but I’ll drive -Miss Moran home.” - -“No! I want to walk.” - -“Not in this rain,” the doctor protested, “and in your overwrought -condition.” - -“I must!” She got up, the tears still streaming down her cheeks. “I -must!” she said wildly. “Let me go! Please let me go!” - -The doctor turned to Captain Grey. In the midst of her unutterable -misery and confusion, Lexy still heard and understood what he was -saying. - -“In a case of hysteria—better to humor her—the exercise and the fresh -air may help her.” - -The doctor’s wife helped Lexy with her hat and coat. She was very -gentle, very kind, and genuinely concerned for her unhappy little -guest. Lexy remembered afterward that Mrs. Quelton kissed her; but at -the moment nothing mattered except to get away, to get out of that -house into the fresh air. - -Without one backward glance she set off at a furious pace, splashing -through the puddles, almost running. Captain Grey kept easily by her -side with his long, lithe stride. Now and then he spoke to her, but -she could not trust herself to answer just yet. The storm within her -was subsiding. From time to time a sob broke from her, but the tears -had stopped. - -And now she was beginning to think. - -Twilight had come early on this rainy day, and it was almost dark -before they reached the end of the lane. Lexy slackened her pace. -Then, as they came to the corner of the highway, she stopped and laid -her hand on her companion’s sleeve. - -“Captain Grey!” she said. - -He looked down at her, but it was too dark to see what expression -there was on her pale face. He was vastly relieved, however, by the -steadiness of her voice. - -“Captain Grey!” she said again. “If I told you something—something -very important—would you believe me?” - -“Yes, yes, of course,” he answered hastily. “Of course, I would always -believe you; but I wish you wouldn’t try to talk about anything -important just now, you know. Let’s wait a bit, eh?” - -Lexy smiled to herself in the dark—a smile of extraordinary -bitterness. He wouldn’t believe her if she told him about Caroline. He -would think she was hysterical. She saw quite plainly that by this -strange outburst she had lost his confidence. - -She could in no way explain her sudden breaking down. Such a thing had -never happened to her before. She could not understand it, but she was -in no doubt about the unfortunate consequences of it. She was -discredited. - - - XIV - -Lexy sat on the edge of the bed, her hands clasped loosely before her, -her bright head bent, her eyes fixed somberly upon nothing; and she -could see nothing—not one step of the way that lay ahead of her. She -could not think what she ought to do next. For the first time in her -life, she had a feeling of utter confusion and dismay. - -“It’s because I’m so tired,” she said to herself. “I’ve never been -really tired out before.” - -But that in itself was a cause for alarm. Why should she feel like -this, so exhausted and depressed? Horrible thoughts came to her. Dr. -Quelton had called her nervous, high-strung, hysterical. Was that -because he had seen in her something which she herself had never -suspected? Was she hysterical? Mrs. Enderby had laughed at her. Mr. -Houseman had gone away, satisfied with his own solution. Captain Grey, -chivalrous and kindly as he was, had obviously lost interest in her -affairs. Nobody believed in her. Was it because every one could see— - -She remembered the intolerable humiliation of the day before, her wild -outburst of tears in the Queltons’ house. Even in her childhood she -had never done such a thing before. - -“What does it mean?” she asked herself in terror. “What is the matter -with me? Is this whole thing just a delusion? I came here to find -Caroline, and I thought—I thought I did see her. Am I mad?” - -That was the awful thing that had lain in ambush in her mind ever -since yesterday, that had haunted her restless sleep all night. She -had not admitted it, but it had been there every minute. All her -actions, all her words, to-day, had the one object of showing Mrs. -Royce and Captain Grey how entirely normal and sensible she was. - -“That’s what they always do!” she whispered with dry lips. - -All day, hiding her terror and weakness, talking to Mrs. Royce, -sitting at the lunch table and talking and laughing with Captain Grey, -trying to make them believe her quite cheerful and untroubled—and all -the time perhaps they knew. Perhaps they were humoring her! - -She sprang up and went over to the window. The sun was beginning to -sink in a tranquil sky. It had been a beautiful day, but Lexy felt too -weary and listless to go out. She remembered now that both Captain -Grey and the landlady had urged her to do so, that they had both said -it would do her good. Then they must have noted that something was -wrong with her. What did they think it was? Did she look— - -She crossed the room and stood before the mirror. The rays of the -setting sun fell upon her hair, turning it to copper and gold. It -seemed to her to shine with a strange light about her pallid little -face. Her eyes seemed enormous, somber, and terrible. - -She covered her face with her hands and lung herself on the bed, sick -and desperate. She could not see any one, could not speak to any one. -When a knock came at her loor, she thrust her fingers into her ears -and lay there, with her eyes shut tight, trembling from head to foot; -but the knocking went on until she could endure it no longer. - -“Yes?” she said, sitting up. - -“Supper’s all on the table!” said Mrs. Royce’s cheerful voice. - -“I don’t want any supper to-night, thank you,” replied Lexy. - -Mrs. Royce expostulated and argued for a time, but she could not -persuade Lexy even to unlock the door; and at last, with a worried -sigh, she went downstairs again. - -The room was quite dark now, and the wind blowing in through the open -window felt chill; but Lexy was too tired to close the window or light -the gas. She was not drowsy. She lay stretched out, limp, overpowered -with fatigue, but wide awake, and with a curious certainty that she -was waiting for something. - -There was another knock at the door, and this time Captain Grey’s -voice spoke. - -“I say, Miss Moran!” he said anxiously. “You’re not ill, are you?” - -“No!” she answered, with a trace of irritability. “I’m just tired.” - -“But don’t you think you ought to eat something, you know? Or a cup of -tea?” - -“No!” she cried, still more impatiently. “I can’t. I want to rest.” - -“Can you open the door for half a moment?” he asked. “I’ve some roses -here that my sister sent to you. She wanted me to say—” - -The door opened with startling suddenness. Lexy appeared, and took the -roses out of his hand. - -“Thank you! Good night!” she said, and was gone again before he quite -realized what was happening. - -Then he heard the key turn in the lock, and, bewildered and very -uneasy, he went away. - -Lexy flung the roses down on the table, not even troubling to put them -into water. - -“Anything to get rid of him!” she said to herself. “I want to be let -alone!” - -She lay down on the bed again, pulling a blanket over herself. -Downstairs she could hear Mrs. Royce moving about in the kitchen, and -Captain Grey’s singularly agreeable voice talking to the landlady. It -seemed to her that they were in a different world, and that she was -shut outside, in a black and terrible solitude. - -“If I can only sleep!” she thought. “Perhaps, in the morning—” - -She was beginning to feel a little drowsy now. How heavenly it would -be to sleep, even for a little while! To sleep and to forget! - -The wind was blowing through the dark little room, bringing to her the -perfume of the roses—a wonderful fragrance. It was wonderful, but -almost too strong. It was too strong. It troubled her. - -“I’ll put them out on the window sill,” she murmured. “It’s such a -queer scent!” - -But she was too tired, too unspeakably tired. She didn’t seem able to -get up, or even to move. She sighed faintly, and closed her eyes. The -wind blew, strong and steady, heavy with that sweet and subtle odor. - - * * * * * - -“Look out!” cried Mr. Houseman. “She’s going about!” - -Lexy laughed, and ducked down into the cockpit while the boom swung -over. The little sailboat was flying over the sunny water like a bird. -There was not a cloud in the pure bright sky, not a shadow in her -joyous heart. - -“I am so glad you came!” she said. - -“Of course I came,” he answered. “I had to swim all the way from -India.” - -“Mercy!” cried Lexy. “That must have been dreadful! But why?” - -Mr. Houseman leaned forward and whispered solemnly: - -“There was a tempest in a teapot.” - -This frightened her. - -“Do you think there’s going to be another one?” she whispered back. - -“Sure to be!” said he. “Don’t you see how dark it’s getting?” - -It was getting very dark. Lexy couldn’t see his face now. - -“Hold my hand!” he shouted, and she reached out for it; but she -couldn’t find him at all. - -“Mr. Houseman!” she cried. - -There was no answer. She stared about her, numb with terror. What was -it that rustled like that? What were these black, tall things that -were standing motionless about her on every side? - -“I’ve been dreaming,” she said to herself. “I’m in my own room, of -course. If I go just a few steps, I’ll touch the wall. I’m awake -now—only it’s so dark!” - -And what was it that rustled like that—like leaves in the wind? What -were these black, still forms about her? Trees? No—they couldn’t be -trees. - -In a wild panic she moved forward. Her outstretched hand touched -something, and she screamed. The scream seemed to run along through -the dark, leaping and rolling over the ground like a terrified animal. -She tried to run after it, stumbling and panting, until her shoulder -struck violently against something, and she stopped. - -And into her sick and shuddering mind her old sturdy courage began to -return. She tried to breathe quietly. She struggled desperately -against the awful weakness that urged her to sink down on the ground -and cover her eyes. - -“No!” she said aloud. “I won’t! I’m here! I’m alive! I will -understand! I will see!” - -She was able now to draw a deep breath, and the horrible fluttering of -her heart grew less. She stood motionless, waiting. It was coming back -to her, that immortal, unconquerable spirit of hers. The anguish and -the strange fear were passing. - -“I’m here,” she said. “I’m in a wood somewhere. These are trees. What -I hear are only the leaves in the wind. I don’t know where it is, or -how I got here; but I’m alive and well. I can walk. I can get out of -it.” - -She moved forward again, quietly and deliberately. Her eyes were more -accustomed to the darkness now, and she made her way through the -trees, looking always ahead, never once behind her. - -“The wood must end somewhere,” she said. “The morning will have to -come some time. All I have to do is to go on.” - -Patter, patter, patter, like little feet running behind her. - -“Only the leaves on the trees,” said Lexy. “All I have to do is to go -on.” - -And she went on. Sometimes a wild desire to run swept over her, but -she would not hasten her steps, and she would not look behind. The -primeval terror of the forest pressed upon her, but she cast it away. -Alone, lost, in darkness and solitude, she kept her hold upon the one -thing that mattered—the honor and dignity of her own soul. - -“I’m not afraid,” she said. - -And then she saw a light. At first she thought it was the moon, but it -hung too low, and it was too brilliant. Even then she would not run. -She went on steadily toward it. In a few minutes she stepped out of -the woodland upon a road—a hard, asphalt road with lights along it. It -was quite empty, it was unfamiliar to her, but she would have gone -down on her knees and kissed the dust of it. It was a road, and all -roads lead home. - - - XV - -There were no stars and no moon, for the sky was filled with wild -black clouds flying before the wind. Lexy could not guess at the time. -She had no idea where she was, but it didn’t matter. The morning would -come some time, and the road would lead somewhere. - -“It’s better here,” she said to herself. “I’d far, far rather be here, -wherever it is, than shut up in that room with the thoughts I had!” - -Those thoughts, those fears, had utterly gone from her now, but the -memory of them was horrible. She shuddered at the memory of the hours -she had spent locked in her room, with that monstrous dread of madness -in her heart. Thank God, it had passed now! She walked along the -interminable empty road, her old self again, but graver and sterner -than she had ever been before in her life. - -“I’ve got to understand all this,” she said to herself. “I’ve got to -know what’s been the matter with me. That breakdown at the Queltons’, -that awful time yesterday afternoon, and this! I suppose I’ve been -walking in my sleep. I never did before. Something’s gone wrong with -my nerves, terribly wrong; and I’ve got to find out why.” - -She quickened her pace a little, because a trace of the old panic fear -had stirred in her. - -“It’s over!” she thought. “I’ll never imagine such a thing again; but -I wonder if I’ll ever feel quite sure of myself again!” - -For all her valiant efforts, tears came into her eyes. She had always -been so proudly and honestly sure of herself, she had always trusted -herself, and now—now she knew how weak, how untrustworthy she could -be. Now she would always have that knowledge, and would fear that the -weakness might come again. - -“I don’t know whether I really did see Caroline. I can’t feel certain -of anything. Perhaps I ought to give up all this and go away and rest; -only I’ve no place to go. There isn’t any one I can tell.” - -She straightened her shoulders and looked up at the vast, dark sky, -where black clouds ran before a wind that snapped at their heels like -a wolf; and the sight assuaged her. This world that lay under the open -sky—the woods, the hills, and above all, the sea—was her world. It -belonged to her equally with all God’s creatures. She had her part in -it and her place. There was no one to whom she could turn for comfort, -her faith in herself was cruelly shaken, and yet somehow she was not -forsaken and helpless. Some one was coming. It was dark, but the light -was coming! - -She went on, her brisk footsteps ringing out clearly in the silence. -The road was bordered on both sides by woods, where the leaves -whispered, and there was no sign anywhere of another human being; but -the road must lead somewhere. It began to go steeply uphill, and she -became aware for the first time that she was very tired and very -hungry, and that one of her shoes was worn through; but she had her -precious money in the bag around her neck, and, if she kept on going, -she couldn’t help reaching some place where she could get food and -rest. - -“At the top of the hill I’ll be able to see better,” she thought. - -It was a long, long hill, and the stones began to hurt her foot in the -worn shoe; but she got to the top, and then below her she saw the -lights of a railway station. - -She went down the hill at a lively trot, and it was as if she had come -into a different world. Dogs barked somewhere not far off, and she -passed a barn standing black against the sky. It was a human world, -where people lived. - -When she reached the platform, the door of the waiting room was -locked, but inside she could see a light burning dimly in the ticket -booth, and a clock. Half past one! - -With a sigh of relief, she sat down on the edge of the platform. She -wouldn’t in the least mind sitting here until morning, in a place -where there were lights and a clock, and she could hear a dog barking. -She took off her shoe and rubbed her bruised foot, and sighed again -with great content. In four hours or so somebody would come, and then -she would find out where she was, and how to get back to Mrs. Royce, -and Mrs. Royce’s comfortable breakfast—coffee, ham and eggs, and hot -muffins. - -She started up, and hastily put on her shoe again, for in the distance -she heard the sound of a motor. She told herself that it would be the -height of folly to stop an unknown car in this solitary place, for -there were evil men abroad in the world; but there were a great many -more honest ones, and if she could only get back to Mrs. Royce’s now! - -She crossed the road and stood behind a big tree. The purr of the -motor was growing louder and louder, filling the whole earth. Her -heart beat fast, she kept her eyes upon the road, excited, but not -sure what she meant to do. - -It was a taxi. She sprang out into the road and waved her arms. - -“Taxi!” she shouted joyously. - -The car stopped with a jolt, and the driver jumped out. - -“Now, then! What’s up?” he demanded suspiciously. From a safe -distance, the light of an electric torch was flashed in her face. -“Well, I’ll be gosh-darned!” said he. “Ain’t you the boarder up to -Mrs. Royce’s?” - -“Yes! I am! I am!” cried Lexy, overwhelmed with delight. “Can you take -me there?” - -“I can,” he replied; “but what on earth are you doing out here?” - -“I got lost,” said Lexy. “Where is this, anyhow?” - -“Wyngate station,” said he. “I’ll be gosh-darned! I never! Lost?” - -“Yes,” said Lexy. “Aren’t you the driver who took me up the day I came -here?” - -“That’s me—only taxi in Wyngate. Took you out to the Queltons’, too. -Hop in, miss!” - -His engine had stalled, and he set to work to crank it, while Lexy -stood beside him. - -“Drive awfully fast, will you?” she asked. - -He was too busy to answer for a moment. Then, when his engine was -running again, he straightened up and looked at her. - -“No, ma’am!” he said firmly. “No more of that for me! Not after what -happened a while ago. No, ma’am! I had my lesson!” - -“An accident?” inquired Lexy politely. - -“Well,” he said slowly, “I s’pose it was; but the more I think it -over, the more I dunno!” - -In the brightness cast by the headlights, Lexy could see his face very -well, and the look on it gave her a strange little thrill of fear. It -was not a handsome or intelligent face, but it was a very honest one, -and she saw, written plain upon it, a very honest doubt and dismay. -Like herself, he wasn’t sure. - -“It was this way,” he went on. “About three miles up Carterstown way -there’s a bad piece of road. There’s a steep hill, and a crossroad -cuts across the foot of it, and it’s too narrer for two cars to pass. -It’s a bad piece, and I always been keerful there. I was keerful that -night. I was coming along the crossroad, and I heard another car -somewhere, and I sounded the horn two or three times before I come to -the foot of the hill. Jest as I got there, and was turning up the -hill, down comes another car, full tilt. I couldn’t git out o’ the -way. There’s stone walls on both sides. I tried to back, but he -crashed into me. I kind of fainted, I guess. My cab was all smashed -up, and I was cut pretty bad with glass. They found me lying there -about an hour after. The other fellow—he was killed.” He stopped for a -minute. “If it hadn’t been fer his license number, nobody could ’a’ -known who he was, he was so smashed up. Seems he was from New York, -driving a taxi belonging to one of them big companies.” - -“Poor fellow!” said Lexy. - -“Yes,” said the other solemnly. “I kin say that, too, whatever he -meant to do.” - -“Meant to do?” - -The countryman came a step nearer. - -“I keep thinking about it,” he said in a half whisper. “This is the -queer thing about it, miss. That there car didn’t start till _I got to -the foot of the hill_! The engine was just racing, and the car wasn’t -moving along—I _know_ that. It was as if he’d been waiting up there -for me, and then down he came as if he meant”—the speaker paused -again—“to kill me,” he ended. - -“But—” Lexy began, and then stopped. - -She had a very odd feeling that this story was somehow of great -importance to her, but that she must put it away, that she must keep -it in her mind until later. This wasn’t the time to think about it. - -“Joe,” she said, “I want to hear more about this—all about it; but not -now. I’m too tired.” - -He gave himself a shake, like a dog. Then he turned to her with a -slow, good-natured smile. - -“I guess you are!” he said. “Lucky for you I just happened to be late -to-night, taking them Ainsly girls ’way out to their house after a -dance. Hop in, miss!” - -Lexy got in, and they set off. She leaned back and closed her eyes, -but they flew open again as if of their own accord. There was -something she wanted to see. Through the glass she could see Joe’s -burly shoulders, a little hunched—Joe, who, like herself, wasn’t sure. - -“Not now!” said something inside her. “Don’t think about that now. Try -not to think at all. Wait! Something is going to happen.” - -At the corner of the road leading to Mrs. Royce’s, she tapped on the -window. Joe stopped the cab with a jerk, sprang down from his seat, -and ran around to open the door. - -“What’s the matter, miss?” - -“Nothing,” said Lexy. “I’m sorry if I startled you, Joe. I thought I’d -get out here and slip into the house quietly, without disturbing any -one.” - -Joe grinned sheepishly. - -“I’ve got kind of jumpy since—that,” he said. “Howsomever, come on, -miss!” - -“Oh, I don’t mean to trouble you!” - -“I’m going to see you safe inside that there house!” Joe declared -firmly. - -Grateful for his genuine kindness, Lexy made no further protest. Side -by side they walked down the lane, their footsteps noiseless in the -thick dust, and Joe opened the garden gate without a sound. - -“I thought perhaps I could climb up that tree and get in at my -window,” Lexy whispered. - -“I’ll do it for you,” said Joe, “and come down and let you in by the -back door.” - -He was up the tree like a cat. He went cautiously along a branch, -until he could reach the roof of the shed with his toes. He dropped -down on the roof, and Lexy saw him disappear into her room. She went -to the back door. In a minute she heard the key turn inside, and the -door opened. - -“Thank you ever so much, Joe!” she whispered. - -But he paid no attention to her. He stood still, drawing deep breaths -of the night air. - -“Them roses!” he said. “The smell of ’em made me kind of sick, like. -Throw ’em out, miss! Don’t go to sleep with them roses in the room!” - -Lexy did not answer for a time. - -“I’ll see you to-morrow, Joe,” she said. “I’ll pay you for the taxi, -and have a talk with you. And thank you, Joe, ever so much!” - -He touched his cap, murmured “Good night,” and off he went. - -Lexy went in, locked the kitchen door behind her, and stood there, -leaning against it, half dazed by the great light that was coming into -her mind. She was beginning to understand! The roses—the roses with -their strange and powerful fragrance! Her hysterical outburst after -her tea at Dr. Quelton’s house! She was beginning to understand, not -the details, but the one tremendous thing that mattered. - -“He did it,” she said to herself. “He made all this happen. I didn’t -just break down. I haven’t been weak and hysterical. He made it all -happen!” - -For a time her relief was an ecstasy. She could trust herself again. -She was so happy in that knowledge that she could have shouted aloud, -to waken Mrs. Royce and Captain Grey, and tell them. The monstrous -burden was lifted, she was free, she was her old sturdy, trustworthy -self again. - -She sank into a chair by the kitchen table, staring before her into -the dark, her lips parted in a smile of gratitude and delight; and -then, suddenly, the smile fled. She rose to her feet, her hands -clenched, her whole body rigid. - -“He did it!” she said again. “It’s the vilest and most horrible thing -anyone can do. He tried to steal my soul. He turned me into that poor, -terrified, contemptible creature. I’ll never in all my life forgive -him. I’m going to find out—about that, and about Caroline. I’ll never -give up trying, and I’ll never forgive him!” - -She groped her way through the dark kitchen and into the hall. That -was where she had first seen Dr. Quelton. She stopped and turned, as -if she were looking into his face. - -“I’m stronger than you!” she whispered. - - - XVI - -Lexy came down to breakfast a little late the next morning, but in the -best of spirits, and with a ferocious appetite. She had no idea how or -when she had left the house the night before, but obviously neither -Mrs. Royce nor Captain Grey knew anything about it, and that sufficed. -She could go on eating, quite untroubled by their friendly anxiety. -Let them think what they chose—it no longer mattered to her. - -For, in spite of the warm liking she had for them both, she felt -entirely cut off from them now. If she told them the truth, they would -not believe her, they would not and could not help her. Nobody on -earth would help her. She faced that fact squarely. Whatever Dr. -Quelton had meant to accomplish, he had perfectly succeeded in doing -one thing—he had discredited her. Anything she said now would be -regarded as the irresponsible statement of a hysterical girl. - -Very well! She had done with talking. She meant to act now. - -“It was awfully nice of your sister to send me those roses,” she -observed. - -Captain Grey was standing by the window in the dining room, keeping -her company while she ate. He turned his head aside as she spoke, but -not before she had noticed on his sensitive face the odd and touching -look that always came over it at any mention of his sister. Evidently -he worshiped her, and yet Lexy was certain that he was somehow -disappointed in her. - -“She likes you very much,” he said. - -“I’m glad,” said Lexy; “but how did you manage to keep the roses so -wonderfully fresh, Captain Grey?” - -“The doctor wrapped them for me—some rather special way, you know—damp -paper, and then a cloth. He told me not to open them until I gave them -to you. Very clever chap, isn’t he?” - -“He is!” agreed Lexy, with a faint smile. - -“Mind if I smoke, Miss Moran?” asked the young man. “Thanks!” - -He lit a cigarette and sat down on the window sill. He was silent, and -so was Lexy, for she fancied that he had something he wished to say. - -“Miss Moran,” he said, at last, “you’ll go there again to see her, -won’t you?” - -Lexy considered for a moment. - -“Why?” she asked. “Why did you think I wouldn’t?” - -“I was afraid you might think—it’s the atmosphere of the place—I’m -sure of it—that made you nervous the other afternoon. It’s something -about the place, you know. I’ve felt it myself. I was afraid you -wouldn’t care to go again, and I don’t like to think of her -there—alone.” - -“She’s not alone,” observed Lexy blandly. “She has her clever -husband.” - -“Yes, I know that, of course, but he’s—well, he’s not very cheery,” -said the young man earnestly. - -Lexy couldn’t help laughing. - -“No, he’s not very cheery,” she admitted. “Of course I’ll go -again—this afternoon, if you’d like.” - -“I say! You are good!” he cried. “I know jolly well that you don’t -want to go.” - -“I do, though,” declared Lexy. - -“Shall we walk over?” - -“If you don’t mind,” said Lexy, “I’ll go by myself. There’s something -I want to attend to first. I’ll meet you there at four o’clock.” - -“Right-o!” said he. “Then you won’t mind if I go there for lunch?” - -She assured him that she wouldn’t. - -“You poor dear thing!” she added, to herself. His solicitude touched -her. He seemed to feel himself responsible for her, as if she were a -very delicate and rather weak-minded child. “You’re not very cheery, -either!” she thought. And indeed he was not. His meeting with his -sister had upset him badly. Ever since he had first seen her, he had -been troubled and anxious and downcast. “And that’s because she’s not -human,” thought Lexy. “She’s beautiful, and gentle, and all that, but -she’s like a ghost. Of course it bothers him!” - -She did not give much more thought to Captain Grey, however. As soon -as he left the house, she went upstairs into the little sewing room, -and until lunch time she was busy writing the clearest and briefest -account she could of what had occurred. This she put into an envelope, -which she addressed to Mr. Charles Houseman and laid it on her bureau. - -“If anything happened, I suppose they’d give it to him,” she said to -herself. “I’d like him to know.” - -Somehow this gave her a good deal of comfort. Not that she expected -anything to happen, or was at all frightened, but she did not deny -that Dr. Quelton was a singularly unpleasant sort of enemy to have; -and he was her enemy—she was sure of it. - -Just because he had made such a point of her arriving after four -o’clock, she had made up her mind to reach the house well before that -hour—which would not please him. Directly after lunch she walked down -to the village. She found Joe taking a nap in his cab, outside the -station; and, regardless of the frightful curiosity of the villagers, -she stood there talking to him for a long time. He assured her, with -his sheepish grin, that he had told no one of his having met her the -night before, and he willingly promised never to mention it to any one -without her consent. - -“I ain’t so much of a talker,” he said. - -That was true, too. He was reluctant, to-day, to talk about his -strange adventure with the cab on the hill; but Lexy made him answer -her questions, and he wavered in no respect from his first version. - -“There was an inquest, an’ all,” he said. “I’m darned glad it’s all -over!” - -“It isn’t!” thought Lexy. “Somehow it belongs with other things. It’s -a piece of the puzzle. I can’t fit it in now, but I will some day!” - -So she thanked Joe, and paid him for last night’s trip, though he made -miserable and embarrassed efforts to stop her. Then she set off on her -way. - -It was four o’clock by her watch when she reached the garden gate. She -stopped for a moment with her hand on the latch, and, in spite of -herself, a little shiver ran through her. The battered old house in -the tangled garden looked more menacing to-day, in the tranquil spring -sunshine, than it had in the rain. It was utterly lonely and quiet. -Lexy could hear nothing but the distant sound of the surf, which was -like the beating of a tired heart. - -Against the advice of Mrs. Enderby, almost against her own reason, she -had come here to Wyngate, and to the house—and she had seen Caroline. -The thing which was beyond reason had been right—so right that it -frightened her; and now it bade her go on. It was like a voice telling -her that her feet were set in the right path. - -Lexy pushed open the gate and went in. The pleasant young parlor maid -opened the door. She looked alarmed. - -“I don’t know, miss,” she said. “Mrs. Quelton—I’ll go and ask the -doctor.” - -But from the hall Lexy had caught sight of Mrs. Quelton in the -drawing-room alone, and, with an affable smile for the anxious parlor -maid, she went in there. - -“I’m afraid I’m awfully early—” she began, and then stopped short in -amazement. - -Mrs. Quelton did not welcome the visitor, did not smile or speak. She -lay back in her chair and stared at Lexy with dilated eyes and parted -lips. Her face was as white as paper, and strangely drawn. - -“Are you ill?” cried Lexy, running toward her. - -Mrs. Quelton only stared at her with those brilliant, dilated eyes. -Lexy took the other woman’s hand, and it was as cold as ice, and -utterly lifeless. - -“Mrs. Quelton! Are you ill?” she asked again. - -Somehow it added to her horror to see, as she bent over her, that the -unfortunate woman’s face was ever so thickly covered with some curious -sort of paint or powder. It made her seem like a grotesque and -horrible marionette. - -“She’s old!” thought Lexy. “She’s terribly, terribly old!” - -She drew back her hand, for she could not touch that painted face. She -didn’t fail in generous pity, but she could not overcome an -instinctive repugnance. She turned around, intending to call the -parlor maid, and there was Dr. Quelton striding down the long room -with a glass in his hand. Without even glancing at Lexy, he stooped -over his wife, raised her limp head on one arm, and put the glass to -her lips. She drank the contents, and lay back again, with her eyes -closed. Almost at once the color began to return to her ashen cheeks. -Her arms quivered, and then she opened her eyes and looked up at him -with a faint, dazed smile. - -“You’re better now,” he said. - -“Better!” she repeated. “But you were late! I needed it—I needed it!” - -“Come, now!” he said indulgently. “The faintness has passed. Now you -must go up to your room and rest a little before tea.” - -She rose, and to Lexy’s surprise her movements showed no trace of -weakness. Then, turning her head, she caught sight of the girl, and -her face lighted with pleasure. - -“Miss Moran!” she cried. “How very nice to—” - -“Miss Moran will wait, I’m sure,” the doctor interrupted. “You must -rest for half an hour, Muriel.” - -Taking her by the arm, he led her down the room. In the doorway she -looked back and smiled at her visitor; and if anything had been needed -to steel Lexy’s heart against the doctor, that smile on his wife’s -face would have done it—that poor, plaintive little smile. - -Standing there by Mrs. Quelton’s empty chair, she waited for him to -return, a cold and terrible anger rising in her. She heard his step in -the hall, heavy and deliberate, and presently he reëntered the room -and came toward her, his blank, dull eyes fixed upon nothing. She was -quite certain that he wanted to put her out of his way, and that he -had no scruple whatever as to methods; yet for all her youth and -inexperience, her utter loneliness, she felt that she was a match for -him. - -“So you’ve come back to us, Miss Moran,” he said in his lifeless -voice. “I was afraid you might not.” - -“Oh, but why not?” Lexy inquired in a brisk and cheerful tone. “I like -to come here!” - -A curious thrill of exultation ran through her, for she saw on the -doctor’s face the faintest shadow of a frown. He was perplexed! She -baffled him, and he didn’t know whether she understood what had -happened. - -“It is a great pleasure to Mrs. Quelton and myself,” he said politely. -Then he raised his eyes and looked directly at her. “Perhaps,” he went -on, “you would be kind enough to spend a week here with us some time? -Although I’m afraid you might find it very dull.” - -“Oh, no!” Lexy assured him. “I’d love to come—whenever it’s convenient -for you.” - -They were still looking directly into each other’s eyes. - -“Suppose we say to-morrow?” suggested Dr. Quelton. - -“Thank you!” said Lexy. “I’ll come to-morrow!” - - - XVII - -Captain Grey was enchanted with the idea of Lexy’s spending a week -with his sister. He was going, too. Indeed, Lexy felt sure that Mrs. -Quelton had wanted him to go there some time ago, and that he had -refused simply on her own account. He didn’t like to leave her alone -at Mrs. Royce’s, and after her nervous breakdown that afternoon -nothing could have induced him to do so. He was anxious about her. He -tried, with what he believed was great tact, to find out her plans for -the future. He was genuinely troubled by the loneliness and -uncertainty of her life. - -Lexy appreciated all this, and she liked the young man very -much—perhaps as much as he liked her; but the sympathetic -understanding which had promised to develop on the night when they -talked together in the firelight had never developed. - -Something had checked it. They were the best of friends, but Captain -Grey never again referred to what Lexy had told him about Caroline -Enderby, and about her reason for coming to Wyngate; and Lexy said -nothing, either. Evidently he thought that it had been a far-fetched, -romantic notion of hers, and hoped that she had forgotten all about -it. - -Lexy did not try to undeceive him. Her story would be too fantastic -for him to believe. Nobody would believe it, except a person with -absolute faith not only in her honesty but in her intelligence and -clearsightedness; and there was no such person. She was not resentful -or grieved over this. She accepted it quietly, and prepared to go -forward alone. - -It had occurred to her lately that perhaps Mr. Houseman had been -right, and that Caroline had gone away of her own free will; but she -meant to _know_. She had seen the missing girl in Dr. Quelton’s house. -Whatever the doctor might say about the false evidence of the senses, -Lexy’s confidence in her own clear gray eyes was not in the least -shaken. She had seen Caroline once, and she was going to see her -again. That was why she was going to the Tower. - -“It’ll do Muriel no end of good,” said Captain Grey, when they were in -the taxi. “She’s—to tell you the truth, Miss Moran, I don’t feel -altogether easy about her.” - -“Why?” asked Lexy, very curious to know what he thought. - -“Well,” he said, “it’s hard to put it into words; but that’s not a -wholesome sort of life for a young woman, shut away like that. The -doctor says her health’s not good, but it’s my opinion that if she got -about more—saw more people, you know—” - -Lexy felt a great pity for him. Apparently he did not even suspect -what she was now sure of—that the unfortunate Muriel was hopelessly -addicted to some drug, which her husband himself gave to her. - -“And I hope he’ll go back to India before he does find out,” she -thought. “It’s too horrible—he worships her so!” - -“I’ve tried, you know,” he went on. “I wanted to take her into the -city, to a concert. Seems confoundedly queer, doesn’t it, the way -she’s lost interest in her music? She didn’t want to go. Then about -the emerald—” - -“Oh!” said Lexy, who had forgotten about the emerald. - -“Chap I know designed a setting for it. It’s unset now, you know, and -I thought I’d like to do that for her while I was here; but she -doesn’t seem interested. I can’t even get her to let me see the thing. -I’ve asked her two or three times, but she always puts me off. Do you -think it bores her?” - -“Perhaps it does,” replied Lexy. - -“Well,” said the young man, “when a woman’s bored by a jewel like -that, she’s in a bad way. I wish you could see it!” - -“I wish I could,” said Lexy, and added to herself: “But I don’t think -I ever shall. Probably her husband’s got it.” - -They had now reached the Tower. The parlor maid opened the door for -them, and at once conducted Lexy upstairs to her room. - -It was a big room, with four windows, and very comfortably furnished; -but even a fire burning in the grate and two or three shaded electric -lamps could not give it a homelike air. There was a musty smell about -it, and there was an amazing amount of dust. It was neat, but it -wasn’t clean. Dust rose from the carpet when she walked, and from the -chair cushions when she sat down. She saw fluff under the bed and -under the bureau. - -“Not much of a housekeeper, poor soul!” thought Lexy. “It’s a pity. -One could do almost anything with a house like this, and all this -beautiful old furniture!” - -But this, after all, was a minor matter. She took off her hat, washed -her hands and face, brushed her hair, and left the room, closing the -door quietly behind her. - -“The house is strange to me,” she said to herself, with a grin. “I -shouldn’t wonder if I turned the wrong way, and got lost!” - -That was what she intended to do. She did not expect to make any -sensational discoveries, for Dr. Quelton did not seem to be the sort -of person who would leave clews lying about for her to pick up; but -she did hope that she might see or hear something—Heaven knows -what—that might bring her nearer to Caroline. - -So, instead of walking toward the stairs, she turned in the opposite -direction, along a hall lined with doors, all of them shut. At the end -there was a grimy window, through which the sun shone in upon the -dusty carpet and the faded wall paper. There was a forlorn and -neglected air about the place, a stillness which made it impossible -for her to believe that there was any living creature behind those -closed doors. - -“I wish I had cheek enough to open some of them,” she thought; “but -I’m afraid I haven’t. I shouldn’t know what to say if there was some -one in the room. After all, I’m supposed to be a guest. I’ve got to be -a little discreet about my prying.” - -She went softly along the hall to the window, to see what was out -there. When she reached it, she was surprised to see that the last -door was a little ajar. She looked through the crack. It wasn’t a room -in there, but another hall, only a few feet long, ending at a narrow -staircase. - -“That must be the way to the cupola,” she thought. “I suppose a guest -might go up there, to see the view.” - -So she pushed the door open and went on tiptoe to the stairs; and then -she heard a voice which she had no trouble in recognizing. It was Dr. -Quelton’s. - -“My dear young man,” he was saying. “I am not a psychologist. It has -always seemed to me the greatest folly to devote serious study to the -workings of so erratic and incalculable a machine as the human brain. -It is a study in which there are, practically speaking, no general -rules, no trustworthy data. It is, in my opinion, not a science at -all, but a philosophy; and philosophy makes no appeal to me. I frankly -admit that I am entirely materialistic. I care little for causes, but -much for effects. Consequently, I have devoted myself to medicine, in -which I can produce certain effects according to established rules.” - -“But I meant more particularly the effect of—of things on the mind—the -brain, you know,” said Captain Grey’s voice. - -Again Lexy felt a great pity for him. He sounded very, very young in -contrast to the doctor—so young and earnest, and so helpless! - -“Exactly!” said the doctor. “You were, I believe, trying to lead to a -suggestion that psychology might be of help to Muriel. Am I right?” - -There was a moment’s pause, during which Lexy very cautiously went -halfway up the stairs. - -“I did think of that,” said the young man valiantly. “It seems to me -she’s a bit—well, morbid, you know; and I’ve heard about those -chaps—those psychoanalysts, you know. Simply occurred to me that one -of them—merely a suggestion, you know. I’m not trying to be -officious.” - -“A psychoanalyst,” said Dr. Quelton, “is a man who analyzes the -psyche, who solemnly and expensively analyzes something of whose -existence he has no proof whatever.” - -There was another silence. - -By this time Lexy had reached the head of the stairs. Beside her was -an open door, through which she could look, while she herself was -hidden from view. Beyond it was, as she had thought, the cupola—a -small octagonal room with windows on every side, through which the sun -poured in a dazzling flood. There was nothing in the room except a -white enamel table, a stool, a porcelain sink, and an open cabinet, -upon the shelves of which stood rows and rows of bottles, each one -labeled. Facing this cabinet, and with their backs toward the door, -stood the two men—the doctor with his shoulders hunched and his hands -clasped behind him, and Captain Grey, tall, slender, straight as a -wand. - -“Materia medica—that is my art,” said the doctor. “I have devoted my -life to it, and I have learned—a little. I have made experiments. A -psychologist will offer to tell you why a man has murdered his -grandmother. I can’t pretend to do that, but I can give that man a -tablet which will make it practically certain that he _will_ kill his -grandmother if they are left alone together for ten minutes.” - -“But, I say!” protested Captain Grey. - -“I can assure you that I have never made the experiment,” said Dr. -Quelton, with a laugh; “but I could do it. I have learned that certain -states of mind can be produced by certain drugs.” - -Captain Grey turned his head, so that Lexy could see his handsome, -sensitive face in profile. - -“That seems to me a pretty risky thing to do,” he said, with a trace -of sternness. “I hope, sir, that you don’t—” - -“Don’t give Muriel drugs that make her disposed to murder her -grandmother?” interrupted the doctor, with another laugh; but he must -have noticed that his companion was unresponsive, for he at once -changed his tone. “No,” he said gravely. “I have made a particular -study of Muriel’s case. She seriously overtaxed herself in her musical -studies. Don’t be alarmed, my dear fellow—there is no permanent -injury. It is simply a profound mental and nervous lassitude—obviously -a case where artificial stimulation is required, until the tone of the -lethargic brain is restored. I am able to do for her what, I feel -certain, no one else now living could do. In this bottle”—he tapped -one of them with his forefinger—“I have a preparation which would make -my fortune, if I had the least ambition in that direction. Five drops -of that, in a glass of water, and her depression and apathy are -immediately dispelled. There is an instantaneous improvement in—” - -Lexy waited to hear no more. She slipped down the stairs as quietly as -she had come up, hurried along the hall, and went into her own room -again. Her knees gave way and she collapsed into a chair, staring -ahead of her with the most singular expression on her face. - -She was, in fact, looking at a new idea, and it was not a welcome one. - -“No!” she said to herself. “It’s out of the question. It’s too -dangerous. I can’t do it!” - -But the idea remained solidly before her; and the more she -contemplated it, the more was her honest heart obliged to admit the -possibilities in it. - -“It can’t do any real harm,” she said; “and it might do good—so much -good! All right, I’m going to do it!” - -Half an hour before dinner she went down into the library, a polite -and quiet young guest, even a little subdued. Dr. Quelton took Captain -Grey out for a stroll on the beach. He asked Lexy to go with them, but -she said she would prefer to stay with Mrs. Quelton. - -It was very peaceful and pleasant there in the library. The late -afternoon sun shone in through the long window, touching with a benign -light the shabby and graceful old furniture, picking out a glitter of -gold on the binding of a book, a dull gleam of silver or copper in a -corner. A mild breeze blew in, fluttering the curtains and bringing a -wholesome breath of the salt air. - -Mrs. Quelton was at her best. To be sure, she was not very -interesting. She talked about rather banal things—about the weather, -about a kitten that had run away, about the flowers in the -conservatory; but Lexy, as she watched her and listened to her, could -understand better than ever before what it was in Captain Grey’s -sister that had so seized upon his heart. Languid and aloof as she -was, there was nevertheless an undeniable charm about her, something -sweet and kindly and lovable. She said, more than once, how very glad -she was to have Lexy with her, and Lexy believed she meant it. - -The two men had strolled out of sight. - -“I must have left my handkerchief upstairs,” said Lexy. “Excuse me -just a minute, please!” - -But she was gone more than a minute, and when she returned her face -was curiously white. - - - XVIII - -The clock struck eleven. Lexy glanced up from her book, in the vain -hope that somebody would speak, would stir, would make some move to -end this intolerable evening; but nobody did. - -Dr. Quelton and Captain Grey were playing chess. They sat facing each -other at a small table, in a haze of tobacco smoke, silent and intent, -as if they had been gods deciding human destinies. Mrs. Quelton lay on -her _chaise longue_, doing nothing at all. If Lexy spoke to her, she -answered in a low tone, but cheerfully enough; but she so obviously -preferred not to talk that Lexy had taken up a book and vainly -attempted to read. - -It was the most wearisome and depressing evening she had ever spent. -Her lively and restless spirit had often enough found it dull at the -Enderbys’, and at other times and places; but this was different, and -infinitely worse. - -To begin with, a sense of guilt lay like lead upon her heart. She -hoped and believed that what she had done was right, but she was -afraid, terribly afraid, of what might result. She could not keep her -eyes off Mrs. Quelton’s face. She watched the doctor’s wife with a -dread and anxiety which she felt was ill concealed; and she had a -chill suspicion that the doctor was watching her, in turn. - -“Of course, he’s bound to find out some time,” she said to herself. “I -wasn’t such a fool as to expect more than a day or two, at the very -most; but I did hope there’d be time just to see—” - -Again she glanced at Mrs. Quelton. Was it imagination, or was there -already a faint and indefinable change? - -“No, that’s nonsense,” she thought. “There couldn’t be, so -soon—although I don’t know how often he gives her that priceless -tonic.” - -Suddenly she wanted to laugh. She had a very vivid memory of Dr. -Quelton tapping that bottle with his finger, and saying to Captain -Grey that he had a preparation in there which would make his fortune, -if he chose. - -“It wouldn’t now,” she thought, struggling with suppressed laughter. - -There was nothing in that bottle now but water. Just before dinner she -had run up to the cupola, emptied its contents into the sink, and -filled it from the tap. - -The idea had come to her when she overheard the two men talking. It -had seemed to her then a plain and obvious duty to destroy the drug -that so horribly affected Mrs. Quelton. Fate had allowed her to see -which bottle it was. Fate gave her an undisturbed half hour when the -doctor and Captain Grey were out; and, to make her plan quite perfect, -the liquid in the bottle was colorless and almost without odor. - -She had thought it possible that the doctor would not notice the -substitution until his unhappy wife had had at least a chance to -return to a normal condition. Lexy had meant to wait and to watch, -and, when the moment came, to speak to Mrs. Quelton. She had thought -that she could warn the doctor’s wife, and implore her not to submit -to that hideous domination. - -She had scarcely thought of the risk to herself, and it had not -occurred to her that there might be serious risk to Mrs. Quelton. She -knew almost nothing about drugs and their effects. Her one idea had -been to destroy the thing that was destroying Mrs. Quelton. Only now, -when it was done, did she realize the mad audacity of her act. A man -like Dr. Quelton couldn’t be tricked by such a childish device. He -would know what had happened, and who had done it. Very likely he had -plenty more of the drug somewhere else. If he hadn’t— - -“He’d feel like killing me,” thought Lexy. “I suppose he could, easily -enough. He must know all sorts of nice, quiet little ways for getting -rid of obnoxious people. Perhaps there was something in my dinner -to-night!” - -She dared not think of such a possibility. - -“No!” she said to herself. “He asked me here just to show me how -little I mattered. He knew I’d seen Caroline here, and he asked me to -come, because he was so sure I couldn’t do anything. I’m too -insignificant for him to bother with. He knows that nobody would -believe what I said. He’d only have to say that I was hysterical, and -Captain Grey and Mrs. Royce would be obliged to bear him out. He won’t -trouble himself about me!” - -She stole a glance at him, and, to her profound uneasiness, she found -him staring intently at her. A shiver ran down her spine, and she -turned back to her book with a very pale face. If only it had been an -interesting book, so that she might have forgotten herself for a -little while! - -The clock struck half past eleven. - -“After all, I don’t see why I have to sit here,” she thought. “I -shouldn’t exactly break up the party if I went to bed.” - -And she was just about to close her book when Mrs. Quelton spoke. - -“I’m so tired!” she said in a high, wailing voice. “I’m so tired—so -tired—so tired!” - -Dr. Quelton hastily rose and came over to her chair. - -“Then you must go to bed,” he said. “Come!” - -He helped her to rise, and she stood, supported by his arm, her face -drawn and ghastly. - -“I’m so tired!” she moaned. - -Captain Grey came toward her, making a very poor attempt to smile. - -“Good night, Muriel!” he said, holding out his hand. - -She did not answer, or even look at him. Leaning on the doctor’s arm, -she went out of the room, into the hall, and up the stairs. Her -wailing voice floated back to them: “I’m so tired—so tired!” - -For a moment Captain Grey and Lexy were silent. Then— - -“Good God!” he cried suddenly. “I can’t stand this! I—” - -Lexy came nearer to him. - -“Don’t stand it!” she whispered. “Take her away! Can’t you _see_? Take -her away!” - -“How can I? Her husband—she doesn’t want to go.” - -“Make her! Oh, can’t you see? He’s giving her some horrible drug!” - -“You mustn’t be alarmed,” said Dr. Quelton’s voice from the hall. They -both looked at him with a guilty start, but his blank eyes were -staring past them, at nothing. “It is unfortunate,” he said. “The -little excitement of this visit—” - -He walked past them into the room and over to the table, where his -pipe lay among the chessmen. He lit it deliberately and stood smoking -it, with one arm resting on the mantelpiece. - -“In her present highly nervous condition,” he went on, “the little -excitement of this visit has proved too much for her. I shall drive -over to the hospital and fetch a nurse—” - -“A nurse!” cried the young man. “Then she’s—” - -“There is absolutely no occasion for alarm, as I told you before. A -few days’ rest and quiet—” - -“Look here, sir!” said Captain Grey. “It seems to me—I’ve no wish to -be offensive, or anything of that sort, but it seems right to me”—he -paused for a moment—“to get a second opinion.” - -“I shouldn’t advise it,” replied the doctor blandly. - -“Possibly not, sir; but perhaps you would be willing to oblige me to -that extent. I don’t want to insist—” - -“I wouldn’t, if I were you.” - -There was a faint flush on the young man’s dark face. - -“Nevertheless—” he began, but again the doctor interrupted him. - -“My dear young man,” he said, “you oblige me to be frank. I should -have preferred a discreet silence; but as you are obviously determined -to make the matter as difficult as possible, you must hear the truth. -For some years your sister has been addicted to the use of certain -drugs. When I discovered this, I set about trying to cure the -addiction. You probably have no idea what that means. I venture to say -that there is nothing—absolutely nothing—more difficult in the entire -field of medicine. I have been working on the case for more than a -year, and I have made distinct progress; but it will be some time -before the cure is completed, and I can assure you that it never will -be unless I am left undisturbed. There is no other man now living who -can do what I am doing.” - -He spoke gravely and coldly, and his blank eyes were fixed upon -Captain Grey with a sort of sternness; but Lexy had a curious -impression—more than an impression, a certainty—that within himself -Dr. Quelton was laughing. - -“If you care to take another doctor into your confidence,” he went on, -“I can scarcely refuse permission; but you will regret it.” - -The young man said nothing. He turned away and stood by the open -window, looking out into the dark garden. Lexy waited for a moment. -Then, with a subdued “Good night,” she went out of the room, up the -stairs, and into her own room. - -“It’s a lie!” she said to herself. - - - XIX - -“Then you’re not going to do anything?” asked Lexy. - -“My dear Miss Moran, what in the world can I do?” returned Captain -Grey, with a sort of despair. - -They were sitting together on the veranda in the warm morning -sunshine. They had had breakfast in the dining room, with the -doctor—an excellent breakfast. The doctor had been at his -best—courteous, affable, very attentive to his guests. Everything in -his manner tended to reassure the young soldier. - -Everything in the world seemed to tend in that direction, Lexy -thought. A Sunday tranquillity lay over the country. Church bells were -ringing somewhere in the far distance. The windows of the library -stood open, and the parlor maid was visible in there, flitting about -with broom and duster. Everything was peaceful and ordinary, and -Captain Grey had come out on the veranda and attempted to begin a -peaceful and ordinary conversation. - -But Lexy had no intention of allowing him to enjoy such a thing. She -felt pretty sure that her time in this house would not be long. She -had caused Dr. Quelton an anxiety that he could not conceal. She had -got in his way. She could not tell whether he had discovered her trick -yet, but the effects were manifest; and if he didn’t know now, he -would very soon, and then— - -Captain Grey must carry on when she was gone. - -“You’re properly satisfied—with everything?” she went on mercilessly. -“You’re not allowed even to see your sister. No one can see her. -You’re not allowed to call in another doctor.” - -“Even if I’m not properly satisfied,” he answered, “what can I do? In -her husband’s house, you know—I can’t make a row.” - -“Why can’t you?” - -He looked at her, startled and uneasy. Her question was ridiculous. -Why couldn’t he make a row? Simply because he couldn’t; because he -wasn’t that sort; because it wasn’t done; because almost anything was -preferable to making a row. - -“Of course, if you have a blind faith in Dr. Quelton—” she persisted. - -“Well, I haven’t,” he admitted; “but—” - -“Then let’s go upstairs and see her. The doctor has gone out.” - -“But the nurse—” - -“Put on your best commanding officer’s air,” said Lexy. “You can be -awfully impressive when you like. If I were you, there’s nothing I’d -stop at.” - -“Yes, but look here—what can I say to Quelton when he hears about it?” - -“Laugh it off,” said Lexy. - -The idea of Captain Grey trying to laugh off anything made her grin -from ear to ear. - -“Not much of a joke, though, is it?” he said rather stiffly. “Suppose -he hoofs us out of the house?” - -“Oh, dear!” cried Lexy. “You’re not a bit resourceful! Let’s try it, -anyhow. It’s horrible to think of her shut up like that. Perhaps she’s -longing to see you.” - -He rose. - -“Right-o!” he said. “Let’s try it!” - -Together they went up the stairs and down the hall of the other wing, -opposite that in which Lexy’s room was. Captain Grey knocked on a -door, and a quiet, middle-aged little nurse came out. - -“I’ll just pop in to see how my sister’s getting on,” said the young -man, and Lexy silently applauded his toploftical manner. - -“I’m sorry,” said the little nurse, “but Dr. Quelton has given strict -orders—” - -“Er—yes, quite so!” he interrupted suavely. “I shan’t stop a minute.” - -He came nearer, but the nurse drew back and stood with her back -against the door. - -“Dr. Quelton has given strict orders—” she repeated. - -“No more of that, please!” he said with a frown. “I’m going to see -Mrs. Quelton for a moment. Stand aside, please!” - -He did not raise his voice, but the quality of it was oddly changed. -Lexy felt a thrill of pleasure in its cool assurance and authority. -Perhaps he objected very much to “making a row,” but what a glorious -row he could make if he chose! If he would only once face Dr. Quelton -like this! - -“Stand aside, if you please!” he repeated, and the poor little nurse, -very much flustered, did so. - -“I’m afraid Dr. Quelton will be—” she began, but Captain Grey had -already entered the room. - -The nurse followed him, closing the door after her. Lexy opened it at -once and went in after them. She caught a glimpse of the young man and -the nurse vanishing through one of the long windows that led out to -the balcony. For a moment she hesitated, looking about her at the big, -dim room. The dark shades were pulled down, and not a trace of the -spring’s brightness entered here. - -Then she heard Captain Grey’s voice speaking. - -“My dear, my dear!” he said. “Can I do anything in the world for you? -My dear!” - -There was no answer. Lexy crossed the room to the window and looked -out. The balcony, too, was dim, with Venetian blinds drawn down on -every side, and on a narrow cot lay Muriel Quelton. There was a -bandage over her forehead and covering her hair, and under it her face -had a mystic and terrible beauty. She was as white as a ghost, with -great dark circles beneath her eyes; and she was so still—so utterly -still—that Lexy was stricken with terror. - -Captain Grey was sitting beside her in a low chair, holding one of her -lifeless hands, and Lexy saw on his face such anguish as she had never -looked upon before. - -“My dear!” he said again. - -Her weary eyes opened and looked up at him. Then the shadow of a smile -crossed her face. - -“Stay!” she whispered. - -Lexy drew nearer. Tears were running down her cheeks. She tried to -read the nurse’s face, but she could not. - -“How is—she—getting on?” she asked, speaking very low. - -“Lexy!” came a voice from the cot, almost inaudible. “Take it—the top -drawer—of the bureau—for you.” - -“But do you mean—I don’t understand!” cried Lexy. - -“Hush, please!” said the nurse severely. “Mrs. Quelton is not to be -excited.” - -Lexy was silent for a moment. Then, just as she was about to speak, -her quick ear caught a very unwelcome sound—the sound of a horse’s -trot. She turned away and went back through the window into the room. -Dr. Quelton was coming home. She couldn’t wait to find out what Muriel -Quelton had meant. Once more she was compelled to do the best she -could amid a fog of misunderstanding. - -“Lexy—take it—the top drawer—of the bureau—for you.” - -That was what she thought Mrs. Quelton had said, and she acted upon -that premise. She crossed the room to the bureau, and opened the top -drawer. In the dim light that filled the shuttered room she could not -see very clearly; but, as far as she could ascertain, there was -nothing in the drawer except some neatly folded silk stockings, a -satin glove case, some little odds and ends of ribbons, and a pile of -handkerchiefs. She looked into the glove case—nothing there but -gloves. There was nothing hidden away among the stockings, nothing -among the ribbons. - -She heard the front door close and a step begin to mount the stairs, -deliberate and heavy, in the quiet house. In haste she went at the -pile of handkerchiefs. There were dozens of them, all of fine white -linen, all with a “2” embroidered in one corner—very uninteresting -handkerchiefs, Lexy thought; but halfway through the pile she came -upon one that she had seen before. - -It was so familiar to her that at first she was not startled or even -surprised. It was a handkerchief that she had embroidered for Caroline -Enderby. - -She took it up and looked at it with a frown. Then she heard Dr. -Quelton’s step in the hall outside. She tucked the handkerchief in her -belt, and tried to close the drawer, but it stuck. Her heart was -beating wildly, her knees felt weak. He would find her there, like a -thief! - -But the footsteps went on past the door. She waited for a moment, and -then went noiselessly across to the door, opened it, looked up and -down the empty corridor, and ran, like a hare, back to her own room. - -Caroline’s handkerchief! Was that what Mrs. Quelton had meant her to -find? Or had she discovered it by accident? Did it mean that Mrs. -Quelton was at heart her ally? Or was this little square of linen all -that was left of Caroline? - -Lexy took it out of her belt and looked at it again, and her tears -fell on it. Whatever else it might imply, it told her clearly enough -that her friend _had been there_. Poor Caroline—the helpless little -captive who had left her prison to be lost in the strange world -outside—had come here, and she had brought with her the handkerchief -that Lexy had embroidered for her. It had come now into Lexy’s hand, a -mute and pitiful emissary, whose message she could not understand. - -“What shall I do?” she thought. “Oh, what must I do? Perhaps it’s time -for the police. Perhaps, if I show this to Captain Grey, he’ll believe -me. There must be some one, somewhere, who’ll believe me and help me!” - -There was a knock at the door. - -“Yes?” she said. - -“Open the door!” ordered Dr. Quelton’s voice. - -“No!” Lexy promptly replied. - -She put the handkerchief inside her blouse and stood facing the closed -door, with her hands clenched. Now he knew! She heard him laugh -quietly. - -“Perhaps you’re right,” he said. “It is better, perhaps, for us not to -meet again. Even making every allowance for your hysterical, -unbalanced mind, I find it difficult to excuse this latest -manifestation which I have just this moment discovered. It was you, of -course, who filled that bottle with water?” - -She did not answer. - -“Why you did it, I don’t know,” he went on, “and probably you don’t -know yourself. It was the wanton mischief of an irresponsible child, -but the consequences in this instance are serious—very serious. Mrs. -Quelton will suffer for them. I doubt if she will recover. No, Miss -Moran, you are too troublesome a guest. You had better go—at once!” - -“All right!” said Lexy, in a defiant but trembling voice. - -“At once!” he repeated. “I shall send your bag this afternoon.” - - - XX - -“I don’t care!” said Lexy to herself. “I’ll come back!” - -She did not wish to have her bag sent after her. She packed it in -great haste, put on her hat and coat, and, opening the door of her -room, stepped out cautiously and looked up and down the corridor. -There was no one in sight, so she picked up her bag and set forth. - -She was running away—worse than that, she was being driven away; but -just at the moment she could see no other course open to her. She -could not appeal to Captain Grey while he was in such distracting -anxiety about his sister. It would be cruel, and it would be useless. -What could he do? If Dr. Quelton did not want her in his house, -certainly his brother-in-law could not insist upon her staying. - -“No!” she reflected. “He would only think it was his duty as a -gentleman to leave with me, and he would be miserable, not knowing -what became of his sister. I’ve got to go, that’s all; but, by jiminy, -I’ll come back! And then we’ll see how much more wanton mischief this -irresponsible child can manage!” - -There was in her heart a steady flame of anger. Hatred was not natural -to her, but her feeling for Dr. Quelton came dangerously near to it. -For Caroline’s disappearance, for Mrs. Quelton’s pitiful state, for -her own humiliation and suffering, she held him responsible; and she -meant to settle that score. - -She met no one on her way through the house. She went down the stairs, -opened the door, and stepped out into the dazzling sunshine. It was a -warm day, her bag was very heavy, and the three-mile walk to Mrs. -Royce’s was not inviting. It had to be done, however, and off she -started. - -The lane was thick with dust, and it was hard walking with that heavy -bag, but she went on at a smart pace as long as she thought any one -could possibly see her from the cupola. Then she set down the bag and -rested for a moment. - -“There’s a certain way to carry things without strain,” she thought. -“I read about it in a magazine. You use the muscles of your back, or -your shoulders, or something.” - -But she couldn’t remember how this was to be done; so, picking up the -bag in her usual way, went on again. Obviously her way was a very -wrong way, for by the time she had reached the end of the lane her -fingers were cramped and painful, and her arms ached; and there was -the highway, stretching endlessly before her under the hot noonday -sun—two miles of it or more. There was no reasonable chance of a taxi, -and she knew no one in the neighborhood who might come driving by. -There was nothing in sight but a man walking along the road toward -her, and that didn’t interest her. - -She went on as far as she could, and then stopped under a tree, to rub -her stiffening arms. - -“I wonder,” she thought, “if I could hide this darned old bag -somewhere, and send Joe for it later!” - -But her nicest clothes were in it, and the risk was too great. With a -resentful sigh she lifted it and stepped out again. The man coming -along the road was quite close to her now. She stopped short, and so -did he. - -“Lexy!” he shouted, and came toward her on a run, with a wide grin on -his sunburned face. - -She dropped the bag with a thump, and stood waiting for him. He held -out both hands, and she took them. - -“Oh, golly!” she cried. “I’m so glad you’ve come, Mr. Houseman!” - -“So am I!” he said. “Ever since I got that last letter from you—” - -“Last! I only wrote one.” - -“Well, I got two,” he told her. “The second one came yesterday, about -this doctor, and the roses, you know.” - -“Mrs. Royce must have posted it!” said Lexy. “I wrote it, but I didn’t -mean it to be sent to you unless something happened to me.” - -“Enough has happened to you already!” - -“More things are going to happen,” said she. “Lots more!” - -It suddenly occurred to her that the proper moment had come for -withdrawing her hands from Mr. Houseman’s firm grasp. Indeed, she -thought the proper moment might already have passed, and a warm color -came into her cheeks. - -The young man flushed a little himself. - -“I didn’t mean to call you that,” he said; “but Caroline used to write -a lot about you, and she always called you ‘Lexy,’ so I got into the -way of thinking of you—like that.” - -“I don’t mind,” Lexy conceded. - -There was a moment’s silence. - -“Charles is my name,” he observed. - -Another silence. - -“Queer, isn’t it?” he said seriously. - -“Here we’ve only seen each other once, and yet somehow it seems to me -as if I’d known you for years!” - -“Well, the circumstances are rather unusual,” said Lexy. - -“You’re right! But look here—we’ve got to talk about all this. Where -were you going?” - -“Back to Mrs. Royce’s.” - -“Let’s go!” he said cheerfully, and picked up the bag as if it were -nothing at all. - -“But where were _you_ going?” asked Lexy. - -“To find you. You see, we ran into some awfully bad weather, and the -engines broke down, and we came back for repairs; so I got your -letters. I explained to the old man that I’d have to have leave, for -some very important business, and off I came to Wyngate. Your Mrs. -Royce told me you’d gone out to the Queltons’. I didn’t like that. Why -did you go there, after what had happened?” - -“I’ll tell you all about that later,” said Lexy; “but now you’ve got -to tell me things. How did you ever meet Caroline? How in the world -did she manage to write to you?” - -“Well, you see, I met her about a year ago, on board the Ormond. She -and her parents were coming back from France, and I was third officer, -you know. Her mother and father were seasick most of the time, so we -had a chance to—to talk to each other; and, you see—” - -“Yes, I see!” said Lexy gently. - -“One of the servants—a girl called Annie—used to post Caroline’s -letters for her, and I used to write to her in care of Annie’s mother. -We never had a chance to meet again, after that trip. I wanted to come -to the house and see her people, but she said it wasn’t any use; and -from what I saw of them on the Ormond I dare say she was right. I -wouldn’t have suited them. I haven’t any money, you know—nothing but -my pay; but it was enough for us to live on. Other fellows manage!” - -He was silent for a moment. - -“After all,” he said, “I’m not a beggar. I can hold my own pretty well -in the world, and I could look after a wife.” - -“I know it!” cried Lexy, with vehemence. She felt curiously touched by -his words, and quite indignant against the Enderbys and any one else -who did not appreciate him. - -“I asked Caroline to marry me,” he went on. “I told her I couldn’t -give her much, but we could have had a jolly sort of life. Look here! -Are you crying?” - -“A little bit,” Lexy admitted; “but don’t pay any attention to it. Go -on!” - -“That’s about all there is. She said she would meet me here in -Wyngate, because that’s the nearest station of the main line to some -little place where a nurse or a governess of hers lived.” - -“Miss Craigie!” - -“Never heard the name. Anyhow, she wanted to go there after we got -married, and—I wish you wouldn’t look like that!” - -“But I’m so _awfully_ sorry for you!” - -“It was pretty hard, at first,” he said; “but—well, you see, I’ve -thought a bit about it, and after all I’m glad we didn’t get married.” - -“Oh!” cried Lexy, profoundly shocked. “But that’s—” - -“Because I—you see, she didn’t—well, I don’t think she really liked me -very much.” - -Lexy was astounded. - -“Fact!” said he. “What she wanted was romance, and all that sort of -thing. She wanted to get away from home, and I was the only chance she -had; so there you are!” - -“That wasn’t very fair to you!” - -“I don’t blame her,” he said thoughtfully. “We were both—but what’s -the sense of talking about all that? The thing is to find her!” - -Lexy agreed to that promptly. - -“Now I’ll tell you everything that’s happened,” she said. - -He listened to her with alert attention. He interrupted her often to -ask questions, but they were always questions that she could answer. -He wanted all the facts, and what Lexy told him he unquestioningly -accepted as fact. When she said she had seen Caroline at the doctor’s -house, he believed her. He didn’t suggest that her eyes might have -deceived her. He trusted her—not only her good intentions, but her -good sense. - -At last she came to the part of her story about which she was most -doubtful—the episode of the emptied bottle. She told it with -reluctance. - -“I don’t know now,” she said. “Perhaps I did wrong. Perhaps that -really was wanton mischief. I did so hate that horrible drug that -changed her so! When I did it, it seemed right; but now—” - -“It was right,” said he. “Any one’s better off dead than being -drugged. Everything you’ve done was right and splendid. You’re the -pluckiest girl I ever heard of—the best and most loyal little pal to -poor Caroline! There’s no one like you!” - -After Mrs. Enderby’s cold and skeptical smile, after Dr. Quelton’s -parting sneer, after Captain Grey’s doubts and uncertainties, this -speech rather went to Lexy’s head. The world seemed a different place. -She glanced at the young man, and he happened at that moment to be -looking at her. They both looked away hastily. - -“This fellow—this Captain Grey,” said Charles. “He seems to me to be -rather a chump!” - -“Oh, he’s not!” protested Lexy. “He’s as nice as can be!” - -Charles Houseman, who had believed everything that Lexy had said, did -not appear convinced of this; and for some inexplicable reason Lexy -was not greatly displeased by his lack of belief. - - - XXI - -Mrs. Royce was very much pleased to see her pet, Miss Moran, return. -She was well disposed toward Mr. Houseman, too, and willingly agreed -to put him up for a few days. She set to work at once to cook a good -lunch for them, but she did not hum under her breath, as was her usual -habit. In fact, she was greatly perplexed and worried. - -When her guests were seated at the table, she retired, leaving them -alone; but she did not go very far. She remained close to the door, so -that she could look through the crack. She observed that Miss Moran -seemed very lively and cheerful with this newcomer—though she had been -quite as lively and cheerful with Captain Grey. - -“Well, I don’t know, I’m sure!” said Mrs. Royce to herself, with a -sigh. “It beats _me_!” - -For the question which so troubled her was—which young man was _the_ -young man? - -“Both of ’em as nice, polite young fellers as you’d want to see,” she -repeated. “T’ other one’s handsomer, but he’s kind of foreignlike and -gloomy. This one’s got more gumption. The way he walked in here, smart -as a whip, and asked for Miss Moran, an’ when I says she’s gone to -visit the Queltons, why, off he went, after her! I like a man with -gumption!” - -So did Miss Moran. Charles Houseman seemed to her the only living, -vigorous creature in a world of ghosts, the only one whom she could -really understand. There were no shadowy corners about him. He was -altogether honest, direct, and uncomplicated. He had no tact and no -caution. He had come now, in the midst of this wretched tangle, and -she completely believed that he would cut the Gordian knot. - -He had suggested that they should let the subject drop for a time. - -“I think I’ve got the facts straight,” he said; “and now I want to -think them over a bit. Let’s take a walk, and talk about something -else.” - -Lexy agreed to the entire program. If she was tired, she either didn’t -know it, or she forgot it in the joy of this beautifully careless -companionship. She could say exactly what came into her head to -Charles Houseman. He understood her. He was interested in every word -she spoke, and, what is more, she was aware of the profound admiration -that underlay his interest. He thought she was wonderful, and that -made her strangely happy. - -“Do you know,” he said, “the first time I saw you, there in the park, -I—I liked the way you talked to me!” - -“How?” asked Lexy, with great interest. “I thought I must have seemed -awfully irritating and mysterious.” - -He grinned. - -“You were awfully mad when I spoke to you,” he said; “but I liked -that. I don’t know—somehow you made me think of Joan of Arc.” - -“Me?” cried Lexy. “With freckles, and such a temper? You couldn’t -imagine me listening to angels, could you?” - -“Yes,” he said, “I could.” - -She glanced at him to see if he was laughing, but he was not. His eyes -met hers with a quiet and steady look. - -“I didn’t need to imagine much,” he said. “You’ve told me what you’ve -been through, and I can see for myself what you are. I don’t think -there ever was another girl like you!” - -“Nonsense!” said Lexy, looking away. “I’m just pig-headed—that’s all.” - -They had wandered across the fields until they came to a little river, -running clear and swift under the elm trees. By tacit consent they sat -down on the bank. They didn’t talk much. Houseman skipped stones with -skill and earnest attention, and Lexy watched the minnows flitting -past through the limpid water. The sky was an unclouded blue. The -sunlight came through the branches, where the leaves were scarcely -unfolded, and made little golden sparkles on the hurrying current. It -was all so quiet—and yet it wasn’t peaceful. The world seemed too -young, too warmly and joyously alive, for peace. The spring was -waiting in eagerness for the summer. This still, fresh, sunlit day was -only an interlude. - -Casually, Houseman told her a good deal about himself. - -“From Baltimore,” he said. “My people wanted me to go into the navy. -My father and grandfather were both navy, but I couldn’t see it. Too -cut and dried! I’m on a cargo steamer now, and I like it.” - -And this information—with the additional facts that he was twenty-six, -that he had two brothers in the navy and three married sisters, and -that both of his parents were living—was all that he had to give about -himself. Lexy was satisfied. There he was, and anyone with eyes to see -and ears to listen could understand him. Honest, blunt, and careless, -fearing nothing, shirking nothing, and facing life with cheerful -unconcern, he was, she thought, a comrade and an ally without an -equal. - -The sun was setting when they turned homeward. The sky was swimming in -soft, pale colors, and a little breeze blew, stirring the new leaves. -It was a poetic and even a melancholy hour; but Houseman found nothing -better to say than that he was hungry. - -“So am I!” said Lexy. - -They looked at each other as if they had discovered still another bond -between them. They were happy—so happy! - -Mrs. Royce saw them from the kitchen window. They were strolling along -leisurely, side by side. They were quite composed and matter-of-fact, -and their desultory conversation was upon the subject of shellfish. -The young Baltimorean was an authority on oysters, but Lexy, as a New -Englander, had something to say on the subject of clam chowder. - -Mrs. Royce was suddenly enlightened. - -“He’s the one!” she said to herself. “Well, I’m real glad, I’m sure!” - -So glad was she that she at once began to make a superb chocolate -cake, and she hummed a song about a young man on Springfield Mountain, -who killed a “pesky sarpent.” - -George Grey heard her. He was in the sitting room, smoking, and -apparently reading a book; but he never turned a page. He lit one -cigarette after another, and his hand was steady. He looked as he -always looked—fastidiously neat, self-possessed, and a little haughty; -but in spirit he was suffering horribly. - -Lexy knew that as soon as she saw him, because she knew him and liked -him so well. She held out her hand to him, not even pretending to -smile, but searching his face with an anxious and friendly glance. - -“Here’s Mr. Houseman, Caroline Enderby’s _fiancé_,” she said. “I’ve -told him the whole thing, so if there’s anything new—” - -Captain Grey stiffened perceptibly. He couldn’t see what possible -connection anybody’s _fiancé_ could have with his affairs. He shook -hands with Houseman, but not very nicely; and Houseman was not -excessively cordial. - -Lexy took no notice of this nonsense. Her mood of happy confidence had -passed now, and the dark and mysterious shadow had come back. There -was something of greater importance to think about than her personal -affairs. - -“Captain Grey,” she said, with a sort of directness, “I didn’t tell -you before, but I’m going to tell you now. I saw Caroline in that -house, and this morning I found—this.” - -He looked at the handkerchief, and then at Lexy. - -“But—” he began. - -“It means that she’s been there, or that she’s there now,” Lexy went -on. “It’s time we found out. Of course, I know how you feel about Dr. -Quelton. He’s your sister’s husband, and you didn’t want—” - -“It doesn’t make much difference now,” he said. “If you’ll wait a day -or so, she—” - -He turned away abruptly, and took out his cigarette case. - -“What do you mean?” cried Lexy. - -“It won’t be long,” he said quietly. “She—my sister—he says it won’t -be more than twenty-four hours, at the most.” - -“Oh, no! It can’t be! Captain Grey, don’t believe him!” - -“I tried not to,” he said. “I—well, we had a bit of a row, and I made -him let me bring in another doctor from the village here. He said the -same thing.” - -“What did the doctor say it was?” asked Houseman. - -“Pernicious anæmia. There’s nothing to be done.” - -Captain Grey seemed to find some difficulty in lighting his cigarette; -but when he had done so, and had drawn in a deep breath, he turned -back toward Lexy with a smile that startled her. She had never -imagined he could look like that. It was a wolfish kind of smile, -lighting his dark face with a sort of savage mirth. - -“When it’s over,” he said, “I’ll be very pleased to help you to hang -him, if you can; or I’ll wring his neck myself.” - -The other two stared at him in silence for a moment. - -“You think he’s—” Houseman began. - -“I don’t know whether he has actually murdered her or not,” said -Captain Grey, “but he has destroyed her—utterly wasted and ruined her -life. He taught her to take that damned drug; and when Miss Moran -broke the bottle—” - -“Oh! Did he tell you?” - -“He did. He says you’ve killed her. There was some rare drug in it -that he can’t get for a fortnight or so, and she can’t live without -it.” - -“Captain Grey!” she cried, white to the lips. “I didn’t—” - -“I know,” he said gently. “You meant to help, and I’m glad you did it. -She’s better dead. This afternoon, for a little while, she -was—herself. She talked to me. She was very weak, but she was herself. -She asked me to help her not to take it again. She thought she was -getting better. Then that”—he paused—“that damned brute brought in a -lawyer, so that she could make her will. She couldn’t believe it. She -looked up at me. ‘Oh, I’m not going to _die_, am I?’ she said. Before -I could answer her, he told her she must be prepared. Then I—” - -Again he turned away. - -“And you let him alone?” inquired Houseman. - -“It’s not time to settle with him—yet,” said the other. “That’s why I -came away, because I don’t want to kill him—yet. She’s unconscious -now. She will be, until it’s finished. I’m going back later, but I -wanted to come, here—” He ceased speaking. “To you,” his eyes said to -Lexy. - -She forgot everything else, then, except this tormented and suffering -human being who had turned to her for comfort. She pushed him gently -down into a chair, and seated herself on the arm of it. She took both -his hands and patted them, while she racked her brain for the right -thing to say. - -“We’ll do _something_!” she said. “There’s no reason to be in despair. -That young country doctor was probably entirely under the influence of -Dr. Quelton. We’ll get some one else. We’ll telephone to one of the -big hospitals in New York and find out who’s the very best man, and -we’ll get him out here. Mr. Houseman will ring up—” - -But Mr. Houseman had disappeared. Worse still, Mrs. Royce’s telephone -was out of order. - -“Never mind!” said Lexy. “We’ll have a nice hot cup of tea, and then -we’ll go to the grocery store. There’s a telephone there.” - -She made the captain drink his tea and eat a little. Then she ran -upstairs for her hat; and she was very angry at Charles Houseman for -running away. - - - XXII - -They set off together down the village street. There was no one about -at that hour. All Wyngate was partaking of its Sunday night supper -within doors, and one or two of the little wooden houses showed lights -in the front windows; but for the most part life was concentrated in -the kitchen. - -The drug store was locked, but a dim light was burning inside, and a -vigorous ringing of the night bell brought Mr. Binz, the owner, to -open the door. He was deeply interested in their errand. He suggested -St. Luke’s Hospital, for the reason that he had once been there -himself, and therefore held it almost sacred. - -“But,” he said, in his slow and impressive way, “if I was you, I’d -ring up Doc Quelton first, and find out how things are going up there; -because you may find out—” - -Lexy interrupted him hastily, for she didn’t want him to say what he -evidently wished to say. - -“There won’t be any change in Mrs. Quelton,” she said. “It would only -be a waste of time.” - -It was not so much for that poor woman, who she feared was beyond -hope, that she wanted the New York specialist, as for Captain Grey. It -would help him so much to feel that something was being done, that -some one was hurrying out here! - -“Might be more of a waste of time,” said Mr. Binz, “if some one was to -come all the way out here after she—” - -“Oh, all right!” cried Lexy impatiently. Then suddenly she remembered. -“They haven’t any telephone at the doctor’s house,” she said. - -“Suppose I go out there first, and see?” suggested Captain Grey. - -“No!” said Lexy. “Don’t!” - -But the idea impressed him as a good one, and go he would. - -“I’d rather see how she is, first,” he repeated. “If there’s no -change, I’ll come back.” - -Lexy looked at Mr. Binz with an angry and reproachful frown, which the -poor man did not understand. He had only wanted to give helpful -advice. - -“Come on, then!” she said to Captain Grey. - -“I’ll leave you at Mrs. Royce’s,” he told her. - -“No, you won’t!” she contradicted with a trace of severity. “If you -_will_ go, I’m going with you!” - -He protested against this, but she would not listen, and so they went -to the garage for Joe’s taxi; but Joe and his taxi had gone out. An -interested bystander said that they could get a “rig” from the livery -stable with no trouble at all. They had only to find the proprietor, -and he, in turn, would find the driver, who would harness up the -horse. - -“No, thanks,” said Captain Grey. He turned to Lexy. “I can’t wait,” he -told her. “I’m going to walk. Thank you for—” - -“I can walk, too,” said Lexy. “It’s only three miles.” - -“I don’t want you to, Miss Moran.” - -“I’m coming anyhow,” she replied. - -For that instinct in her, the thing which was beyond reason, drove her -forward. She could not let him go alone. She had walked that three -miles once before to-day, and she had walked farther than that with -Houseman in the afternoon. She was tired, terribly tired, and filled -with a queer, sick reluctance to approach that sinister house again; -but she had to go. She had said to herself that morning that she was -coming back, and now she was going to do so. - -They did not try to talk much on the way. What had they to say? They -were both filled with a dread foreboding. They hurried, yet they -wished never to come to the end of the journey. - -They turned down the lane, leaving the lights of the highway behind, -and went forward in thick darkness, under the shadow of the trees. The -sound of the sea came to them—the loneliest sound in all the world. - -“There’s a light in the house, anyhow!” said Lexy suddenly. - -Her own voice sounded so small, so pert, so futile, in the dark, that -she felt no surprise when Captain Grey showed a faint trace of -impatience in answering. - -“Naturally!” he said. - -Only, to her, it did not seem natural, that one little light shining -out through the glass of the front door. It would be more natural, she -thought, if there were only the darkness and the sound of the sea. - -They turned into the drive. Their footsteps sounded strangely and -terribly loud on the gravel, and became as sharp as pistol shots when -they mounted the veranda. The captain rang the bell, and the sound of -it ran through the house like a shudder; but no one came. He rang -again and again, but nothing stirred inside the house. He knocked on -the glass, and they waited, looking into the bright and empty hall; -but no one came. - -Captain Grey turned the knob, the door opened, and they went in. The -door of the library was open, showing only darkness. The stairs ran up -into darkness. Nothing moved, nothing stirred. Then, suddenly, a -little breeze rose, and the front door slammed with a crash behind -them. Lexy cried out, and caught the young man’s arm. - -“Don’t be afraid!” he said; but his face was ashen. For a moment they -stood where they were. “Miss Moran,” he went on, “would you rather -wait here while I go upstairs?” - -“No,” said Lexy. “I’ll come with you.” - -He started up the stairs, and she followed him closely. At almost -every step she looked behind her, and she did not know which was the -more horrible to her, the brightly lit hall or the darkness before -them. Suppose she saw some one in the hall behind them! - -Captain Grey did not once glance behind. He went on steadily. When he -reached the top of the flight, he took a box of matches from his -pocket and lit the gas. There was the long corridor, with the row of -closed doors. He turned down in the direction of Mrs. Quelton’s room, -but Lexy touched him on the shoulder. - -“I think you had better let me go first,” she suggested. “Perhaps she -won’t be ready to see you.” - -Their eyes met. - -“Thank you, Lexy!” he said simply, and went on again. - -He had never used her name before. He was trying to tell her that he -understood what she had wished to do for him. She had offered to go -first, alone, into the silent room, to see whatever might be there—to -spare him something, if she could. - -But he would not have it so. He stopped outside the door, and knocked -twice. Then he went in. - -It was dark and still in there, with the night wind blowing in through -the open windows. He struck a match and lit the gas. The room was -empty. - -He went across to the long windows and out on the balcony. There was -no gas connection there. He struck one match after another, and went -from one end of the balcony to the other. There was nothing. - -“Not here!” he said, in a dazed, flat voice. - -Lexy could not speak at all. She had come out on the balcony, and -stood beside him. The sound of the sea was loud in her ears—or was it -the beating of her own heart? She held her breath and strained her -eyes in the darkness. - -“There’s—something—here!” she whispered tensely. - -“No!” he said aloud. “I looked. Come! We’ll go through the house.” - -She followed close at his heels. He went into every room, lit the gas, -looked about, and found nothing. Lexy grew confused with the opening -and closing of doors, the sudden flare of light in the darkness, the -succession of empty rooms. - -He went up into the cupola. Nothing there, nor in the servants’ rooms. -Then downstairs, through the long library, the dining room, the -sitting room, the kitchen, the pantry. He proceeded with a sort of -merciless deliberation, opened every door, looked into every cupboard. - -Finding a stable lantern in the kitchen, he lighted it and carried it -with him. The door to the cellar stood open. He went through it, down -the steep wooden stairs, and Lexy followed him. - -To her exhausted and frightened gaze the cellar seemed enormous—as -vast and august as some great ancient tomb. The lantern made a little -pool of light, and outside it the shadows closed in on them thickly. -She came near to him and caught him by the sleeve. - -“Oh, let’s go away!” she cried. “Let’s go away! We’ve looked—” - -“This is the last place,” he said gently. “After this, we’ll give it -up.” - -Fighting down the sick terror that had come over her, she walked -beside him in the little circle of light, and tried not to look at the -shadows. - -“What’s that?” he exclaimed. - -“Oh, what?” she cried. - -He went back a few paces and set down the lantern. Then he advanced -again and bent over, staring at the floor. - -“Do you see?” he asked. - -She did see. A narrow strip of light lay along the floor. - -“It comes up from below,” he said. “There must be a subcellar. Let’s -see!” - -He brought back the lantern and examined the floor by its light, going -down on his hands and knees. - -“Stand back!” he said suddenly. “It’s a trapdoor. See—here’s a ring to -lift it.” - -Captain Grey pulled at the ring, but nothing happened. - -“I’m on the wrong side,” he said. - -Moving over, he pulled again, and a square of stone lifted. A clear -light came from below, showing a short ladder clamped to the floor. - -“Stay there, please,” he told Lexy. “You have the lantern. I shan’t be -a minute.” - -But as soon as he had reached the foot of the ladder, Lexy climbed -down after him; and just at the same moment, they saw— - -They were standing in a tiny room with roughly mortared walls. A -powerful electric torch stood on end in one corner, and at their feet -lay the body of a man, face downward across a wooden chest. It was Dr. -Quelton. - -With a violent effort Captain Grey lifted the doctor’s heavy shoulder, -while Lexy covered her eyes. She knew that he was dead. No living -thing could lie so. - -Her head swam, her knees gave way, and she tottered back against the -wall, half fainting, when the captain’s voice rang out, with a note of -agony and despair that she never forgot. - -“My God! My God!” he wailed. “Oh, Muriel!” - -She opened her eyes. For a moment she was too giddy to see. Then, as -her vision cleared, she saw him on his knees beside the chest. - -Not a chest—it was a coffin; and on it was a strange little plate -glittering like gold, with an inscription: - - MURIEL QUELTON - BELOVED WIFE OF PAUL QUELTON - - - XXIII - -When she looked back upon the experiences of that dreadful night, it -seemed to Lexy that both she and her companion displayed almost -incredible endurance. Since morning they had lived through a very -lifetime of emotion, to end now in this tragedy more horrible than -anything they could have feared. - -Yet, not five minutes after his cry of agony, Captain Grey had -recovered his self-control. He was able to speak quietly to Lexy, and -she was able to answer him no less quietly. - -“We’d better go,” he said. “We can do nothing here. It’s a case for -the police now.” - -“I’ve got to go back to the balcony,” Lexy told him. “There was -something there.” - -“Very well!” he agreed, and, without another word or a backward -glance, he went up the ladder. - -They returned through the house. He had left the lights burning and -the doors open, so that there was a monstrous air of festivity in the -emptiness. They went into Mrs. Quelton’s room again, and crossed -through it to the balcony. He carried the lantern with him, and by its -steady yellow flame they could see into every corner. There was the -couch upon which she had lain—disarranged, as if she had just risen -from it. There was a little table with medicine bottles on it. All the -usual things were in the usual places. - -“Nothing here,” said Captain Grey. - -Lexy was sure, however, that there was. She stepped to the balcony -railing, to look down into the garden below, and there, on the white -paint of the railing, she found something. - -“Look!” she said, in a matter-of-fact voice. “What’s this?” - -He came to her side. - -“It’s the print of a hand,” he said. “In blood, I should imagine.” - -For a moment they stared at the ghastly mark, a strange evidence of -pain and violence in this quiet place. - -“We’d better look in the garden,” he suggested. - -They went down. The grass beneath the balcony was beaten down in one -place, but there was nothing else. Some one had come and gone. They -could not even guess who it had been. They knew nothing. - -“Come, Lexy!” the captain said. - -They both turned for one last look at the accursed house, blazing with -spectral lights. Then they set off, away from it, over that weary road -again. - -“There’s no police station in the village, is there?” he asked. - -“I’ve never seen one, but I’ve heard Mrs. Royce talk about the -constable. Anyhow, she can tell us.” - -“Yes,” he said, and was silent for a moment. “Rather a pity, isn’t -it,” he went on, “that there has to be—all that? Because it doesn’t -matter now. It’s finished. Better if the house burned down to-night!” - -In her heart Lexy agreed with him. She had no curiosity left, and -scarcely any interest. As he had said, it was finished. She wanted to -rest, not to speak, not to think, not to remember; but it couldn’t be -so. They would both have to tell what they had seen, to answer -questions. It wasn’t enough that two people lay dead in that house of -horror. All the world, which knew and cared nothing about them, must -have a full explanation. - -“I suppose we couldn’t wait till morning?” she suggested. - -He took her hand and drew it through his arm. - -“You’re worn out,” he told her. “It’s altogether wrong. There’s no -reason why you should be troubled any more, Lexy. Slip into the house -quietly, and get to bed and to sleep. Nobody need know that you went -there.” - -“No!” she said. “We’ll see it through together.” - -The thought of Charles Houseman came to her, but she disowned it with -a listless sort of resentment. She felt, somehow, that he had failed -her. He had not been there when she needed him. He had not taken his -part in this ghastly and unforgettable sight. - -There was a light in Mrs. Royce’s front parlor. Perhaps he was in -there, waiting for her, cheerful and cool, a thousand miles away from -the nightmare world in which she had been moving. She did not want to -see him or speak to him just now. He hadn’t seen. He wouldn’t -understand. - -Captain Grey opened the gate, and they went up the flagged walk. -Before they had mounted the veranda steps, the front door was flung -wide, and Mrs. Royce appeared. - -“Oh, my goodness!” she cried. “I thought you’d never come!” - -Her tone and her manner were so strange that they both stopped and -stared at her. - -“Oh, my goodness!” she cried again. - -“Oh, _do_ come in! I don’t know what to do with her, I’m sure!” - -“Who?” asked Lexy. - -“Poor Mis’ Quelton. There she is, lyin’ upstairs—” - -“Mrs. _Quelton_?” - -“Joe, he brought her in his taxi, jest a little while after you’d -gone.” - -“Brought Mrs. Quelton here?” - -“Brought her here and carried her up them very stairs,” declared Mrs. -Royce impressively; “right up into the east bedroom, and there she -lies!” - -She stood aside, and Lexy and Captain Grey entered the house. The -young man turned aside into the parlor, sank into a chair, and covered -his face with his hands. Lexy stood beside him, looking down at his -bent head, her face haggard and white. - -“Why did Joe do that?” she asked. - -“Don’t ask _me_, Miss Moran!” replied Mrs. Royce. “It beats me!” - -There was a silence. - -“But ain’t you going upstairs to see what she wants?” inquired Mrs. -Royce anxiously. - -Captain Grey sprang to his feet. - -“Good God!” he shouted. “What are you talking about?” - -Mrs. Royce backed into a corner, regarding him with alarm. - -“I jest thought you’d like to talk to her,” she faltered. - -“Do you mean she’s _not dead_?” - -“Dead? Oh, my goodness gracious me!” cried Mrs. Royce. “I never—” - -“Wait here,” Lexy told the captain. - -“No!” he replied. “I must—” - -But, disregarding him, Lexy turned to Mrs. Royce. - -“Let me see her,” she said. - -Mrs. Royce led the way upstairs. She went at an unusual rate of speed, -so that she was panting when she reached the top. - -“Kind of vi’lent!” she whispered, pointing downstairs, where Captain -Grey was. - -“This room?” asked Lexy. “Shall I go in?” - -“Well,” said Mrs. Royce, “seems to me I’d knock, if I was you.” - -Knock on the door of the room where Mrs. Quelton lay? Knock, and -expect an answer from that voice? It seemed to Lexy, for a moment, -that she could not raise her hand. - -But she did. She knocked, and she was answered. She turned the handle -and went in. An oil lamp stood on the bureau, and outside the circle -of its mellow light, in the shadow, Mrs. Quelton was sitting on the -edge of the bed; and it seemed to Lexy that she had never seen such a -forlorn and pitiful figure. - -“Oh, my dear!” she cried impulsively, and held out her arms. - -Mrs. Quelton rose. She came toward Lexy, her hands outstretched—when a -sudden cry from Mrs. Royce arrested her. - -“But that ain’t Mrs. Quelton!” cried the landlady. - - - XXIV - -If Lexy had not caught the unhappy woman, she would have fallen; but -those sturdy young arms held her, and, with Mrs. Royce’s help, they -got her on the bed. White as a ghost, incredibly frail in her black -dress, she lay there, scarcely seeming to breathe. - -“It _ain’t_ Mrs. Quelton!” repeated Mrs. Royce, in a whisper. - -“I know!” said Lexy softly. “Will you get me water and a towel, -please?” - -Mrs. Royce went out of the room, and Lexy knelt down beside the bed. -She did know now—the woman whom they had all called Muriel Quelton was -really Caroline Enderby. - -Lexy did not blame herself for not having known before. Looking at -that face now, in its terrible stillness, she could trace the familiar -features easily enough, but how changed! How worn and lined, how -_old_! The brows, the lashes, the soft, disordered hair, were black -now instead of brown; but that merely physical alteration was of no -significance, compared with that other awful change. It was Caroline -Enderby, the gentle and pitifully inexperienced girl of nineteen, but -it was Mrs. Quelton, too, that tragic and somber figure. - -Mrs. Royce came back with a basin of water, clean towels, and a -precious bottle of eau de Cologne. - -“Poor lamb!” she whispered. “Ain’t she pretty?” - -Lexy wet a towel and passed it over that unconscious face again and -again. Mrs. Royce watched, spellbound; for the dark and haggard -stranger was passing away before her very eyes, and some one else was -coming into life—some one quite young and— - -The closed lids fluttered, and then opened. - -“Lexy!” murmured the metamorphosed one. - -“I’m here, Caroline!” said Lexy, with a stifled sob. “Everything’s all -right, dear! Don’t worry—just rest!” - -“I can’t, Lexy! I can’t!” she answered, and from her eyes, now closed -again, tears came running slowly down her cheeks. - -“Yes, you can!” said Lexy. “We’ll—” - -“Supposing I get her some nice hot soup?” whispered Mrs. Royce, and, -at a nod from Lexy, she was off again. - -Caroline reached out and caught Lexy’s hand. - -“Oh, Lexy, Lexy!” she said. “Can you ever forgive me?” - -“No!” her friend replied cheerfully. “Never! But don’t bother now. You -can tell me later, when you feel better.” - -“I’ll never, never feel better till I’ve told you! Oh, Lexy, I knew -yesterday, and I didn’t tell you! Oh, Lexy, Lexy, I don’t understand! -I want to tell you! I want you to help me!” - -A flush had come into her cheeks. She was growing painfully excited. -She tried to sit up, but Lexy firmly prevented that. - -“Lie down, darling!” she said. “We’ll get a doctor.” - -“No! No! I’m not ill—not ill, Lexy, only tired. Oh, you don’t know! -You won’t let _him_ come here, Lexy?” - -“I promise you he’ll never trouble you again,” replied Lexy quietly. - -She saw Captain Grey standing in the doorway, behind the head of the -bed. She glanced at him, and then at Caroline again. Let him stay! -Whatever had happened, he ought to know. - -“I don’t understand,” said Caroline, clinging fast to Lexy’s hand. “I -want to tell you—all of it. You know, Lexy, I did a horrible, wretched -thing. I said I’d marry a man. I promised to meet him here in Wyngate, -because it was near to dear Miss Craigie’s. I didn’t tell you, but it -wasn’t because I didn’t trust you, Lexy—truly it wasn’t! It was only -because I knew mother would be so angry with you. I told him I’d take -the train that got here at eleven o’clock that night; but after I’d -left the house, I got frightened. I’d never gone out alone before. I -couldn’t bear it. If I hadn’t promised him, I’d have gone home again. -I _wanted_ to go home. I was sorry I’d promised.” - -“Don’t try to go on now, dear!” - -“I must! So I took a taxi. I thought I’d get here as soon as the -train, but when it was eleven o’clock we were still miles away. I -thought perhaps Charles wouldn’t wait, and there’d be nobody in -Wyngate, and I didn’t dare go home again; so I kept begging the driver -to go faster. Oh, Lexy, it was all my fault! He did go—terribly fast. -It was wonderful to be alone, and rushing along like that; and then I -think he ran into a telegraph pole, turning a corner. There was a -crash, and I didn’t know anything more for—I don’t know how long it’s -been.” - -“Soup!” whispered Mrs. Royce, but Caroline was too intent upon her -confession to stop. - -Lexy took the broth and set it on the table. - -“I don’t know how long it was,” Caroline went on. “It must have been -days, or perhaps weeks. Sometimes I seemed to knew, in a sort of -dream. Oh, it was horrible! Oh, Lexy, I can’t explain! I didn’t really -know anything, only that sometimes my mind seemed to be struggling—” - -“Take some of this soup,” said Lexy. “You’ve _got_ to, Caroline, or I -won’t listen.” - -Obediently Caroline allowed herself to be fed. She took fully half of -that excellent soup, and it did her good. - -“Yesterday,” she said, “I did know. I couldn’t sleep all night. I felt -so ill, I thought I was going to die; and all the time it was coming -back to me. I couldn’t think why I was there in that place. I was -frightened—worse than frightened. The nurse kept calling me ‘Mrs. -Quelton,’ and I told her I wasn’t Mrs. Quelton—I was Caroline Enderby. -She must have told him. He came, he kept looking at me, and saying, -‘You are Muriel Quelton, I tell you!’ Then he sent the nurse away, and -he said: ‘If you insist that you are Caroline Enderby, you’re mad, and -I’ll send you to an asylum.’ I was—oh, Lexy, I’m not brave!—I was -afraid of him. When you came that morning, I didn’t dare to tell you. -I hoped you’d find the handkerchief, and know; and then—” - -Suddenly she turned and buried her face in the pillow. - -“Then I didn’t want you to know!” she sobbed. “Captain Grey—he sat -there with me. Lexy! Lexy! I didn’t know there was any one like him in -the world! I wanted to stay, then. I thought, if you found out, I’d -have to go away—to go home again, or to marry Charles. I’d promised to -marry him, Lexy, but I can’t! Not now!” - -“Hush, darling!” said Lexy hastily. - -This was something Captain Grey had no right to hear, but he did hear -it. He was still standing outside the door, motionless. - -“He was so kind!” Caroline went on. “And his face—” - -“Never mind that!” Lexy interrupted sternly. “Tell me how you got -away.” - -“When _he_ came back, he found George there—I had to call him George.” - -“Yes, I see. Never mind!” - -“George went away, and then—he told me. He said his wife had died a -few months ago, and that in her will she’d left some jewel—a ruby—” - -“An emerald,” corrected Lexy. - -“Yes—it was an emerald. She’d left it to her brother, and he—Dr. -Quelton—had taken it long ago, and sold it, to get money for his -horrible drugs. She never knew that, and he didn’t tell her lawyer -that she’d died. I don’t know how he managed, or what he did, but -nobody knew. Then there came a letter from her brother, to say that he -was coming; and the doctor said—I’ll never forget it: - -“‘Consequently, Muriel Quelton had to be here, and she was; and she’ll -remain here until her purpose is served!’ - -“He told me what had happened. He said that as soon as he knew Captain -Grey was coming, he began to look for some one to take his poor wife’s -place. The captain hadn’t seen his sister since she was a baby, you -know, and all he knew was that she was tall and dark. Dr. Quelton said -he had arranged for some one to come from a hospital; and then he -found me. He drove by just a little while after the accident, and he -found the poor driver dead and me unconscious. He found a letter to -mother in my purse, and he mailed it afterward. Then he heard another -car coming along the road, and he started the engine and sent the -taxi—with the dead driver in his seat—crashing down the hill, to run -into the other car. He wanted the driver’s death to look like an -accident. He didn’t care if the other man were killed. He’s—he’s not -human, Lexy! He told me he had never in his life cared for any one -except his wife. He told me what a beautiful, wonderful woman she -was—and yet he had stolen her emerald when she was dying. Love! He -couldn’t love any one!” - -But Lexy remembered her last glimpse of Dr. Quelton, lying dead across -the coffin of the woman he had robbed. Who would ever know, who was to -judge now, what might have been in his warped and utterly solitary -heart? - -“He told me,” Caroline went on, “that he had never felt any great -interest in me. A mediocre mind, he said I had. He told me he had -never so much as touched my finger tips. He sat there, talking so -calmly! He said he had kept me under the influence of some drug that -made my mind suggestible—I think that’s the word. He meant that -whoever took that drug would believe anything, accept anything. He had -told me I was Muriel Quelton, and I believed I was. Then he told me to -dye my hair, and to make up my face with things he gave me. He told me -I was ill and tired and growing old, and I felt so. Lexy, he said that -even without that, without making the least change in my appearance, -no one would have known me, because my _mind_ was changed. He said -there was no disguise in the world like that. Was it true, Lexy? Was I -old, and—and horrible to every one?” - -“No,” Lexy briefly replied. - -“Then he went on. He said he had no more of the drug left, and that -he’d have to dispose of me. ‘You know you’re very ill,’ he said. ‘The -nurse and that young fool of a doctor agree with me. I think you’re -likely to grow worse—very much worse—to-night. You’re very likely to -die.’ Oh, Lexy! What could I do but agree? I was shut up—so weak and -ill— I knew he could so easily give me something to kill me! He said -that if I would make a will and sign it as he told me, he would let me -go and be—be myself again. I couldn’t help it! And his wife was dead. -It couldn’t do her any harm if I signed her name. He wrote it, and I -traced it on another sheet of paper. I had to, Lexy! I knew it was -wrong, but what else could I possibly do?” - -“Never mind, Caroline!” said Lexy. “It didn’t do any harm, dear. And -then did he let you go?” - -An odd smile came over Caroline’s face. - -“Not exactly,” she said. “After I’d signed the will, leaving him the -emerald, he sent away the nurse. Then he came out on the balcony, sat -down, and began to talk to me. He was so pleasant and kindly! He made -plans for my getting away unnoticed, and brought me some sandwiches -and a cup of tea. He said I would have to eat a little, or I wouldn’t -have strength enough to go. It was getting dark then, and he couldn’t -see my face. I pretended to believe him, but I knew all the time. He -kept urging me to hurry up, and to eat the sandwiches and drink the -tea. I _knew_! I had made the will, and now, of course, I had to die. -I tried to think of a way out; and at last, when he saw that I didn’t -eat or drink, he spoke out plainly. He said that he had sent the -servants away for the afternoon, and that we were alone in the house. -He got up; he stood there and looked down at me. - -“‘That tea is an easy way out—quite painless and easy,’ he said; ‘but -if you won’t take it, there’s another way—not so easy!’ - -“He had some sort of hypodermic needle; but just then some one began -pounding on the door downstairs, and he had to go. He locked the door -after him, and he knew I was too weak to move. I tried. I got off the -couch, but I fell on the floor beside it; and then Charles came—” - -“Charles?” - -“He climbed up over the balcony. It was too dark to see him, but I -heard his voice, whispering, ‘Where are you?’ He found me, lifted me -up, and helped me over to the railing. Then we heard Dr. Quelton -coming back. There was another man, down in the garden, with a taxi. -Charles called out to him, and he stood below there. I heard Dr. -Quelton unlock the door, and I was so frightened that I felt strong -enough to do anything to get away. Charles helped me over, and the -other man caught me. Then I heard Charles shout, ‘Quick! Get her -away!’ The other man pushed me into the taxi and started off across -the lawn. I fainted, and I didn’t know anything more until I opened my -eyes here.” - -“But where _is_ he?” cried Lexy. “What happened to him?” - -“I don’t know.” - -“And you don’t seem to care, either!” said Lexy hotly. “He saved your -life, and now—” - -She thought of that bloody hand print, and the grass beaten down. The -young man who had no caution, no regard for the proprieties, had done -the direct and simple thing which appealed to his audacious mind. -Perhaps he had been killed in doing it. He would know how to face -death in the same straightforward way. - -Lexy would be as straightforward as he. She would find him, and she -wouldn’t try to think how much she cared about finding him. - -She rose. - -“I’ll get Mrs. Royce to stay with you, Caroline,” she said. - -“But where are you going, Lexy?” - -“I’m going to find Charles.” - -In the doorway she encountered Captain Grey. - -“Do you think she could stand seeing me?” he asked anxiously. “I mean -do you—” - -But Lexy didn’t even answer. - - - XXV - -After all, Lexy’s search for Charles Houseman was neither difficult -nor heroic, except in intention. She found him in the Lymewell -Hospital. Joe told her where he was, and Joe took her there. - -Houseman himself was rigidly determined not to be heroic. He had -refused to go to bed, and Lexy found him in a bare, whitewashed -waiting room, where he sat on a bench. - -“Just came in to get the hand dressed,” he said. “I’ll go back with -you now.” - -The doctor advised him not to, but Charles was not very susceptible to -advice. He wished to be entirely casual and matter-of-fact, and Lexy -tried to humor him. They stood together in the hall of the hospital -while a nurse went to get him a bottle of lotion from the dispensary, -and he talked in what he intended to be an offhand manner; but Lexy -could see that he was in pain, and almost exhausted, and his hair was -all on end. - -Somehow, that was the thing she couldn’t bear—that his hair should be -so ruffled. She could respect his determination to ignore the -throbbing anguish of his hand, she would, if he liked, pretend that -there was nothing at all tragic or unusual in the night’s adventure; -but his hair— - -The nurse returned with the bottle, gave him directions for its use, -and told him sternly that he must come back the next morning for a -dressing. - -“All right!” he said impatiently. “Come on, Lexy!” - -They got into Joe’s cab together, and off they went. - -“What happened to your hand?” inquired Lexy, as if it didn’t much -matter. - -“Knife through it,” he answered. “You see, I held the old fellow, to -give Mrs. Quelton a chance to get away. When I thought it was all -right, I gave him a shove backward, and started to climb over the -balcony; and he jabbed a knife through my hand. That’s what kept me so -long—I couldn’t get it out; and after I did, I—rested for a while. -Then I started for Wyngate, and I met Joe coming back to look for me. -He said he’d landed Mrs. Quelton all right. So that’s all!” - -Lexy was silent for a moment. - -“Of course you didn’t know it _wasn’t_ Mrs. Quelton,” she said. “It -was Caroline all the time.” - -“Caroline?” he cried. “What do you mean? It couldn’t have been -Caroline!” - -Lexy gave him a very brief, very bare account of Caroline’s narrative. - -“Oh!” he said, when she had done; and again there was silence for a -time. “Does she still want to go on with the thing—marrying me, I -mean?” he asked finally, in a queer, flat tone. - -“No,” said Lexy pleasantly. “No—she does not.” - -“Oh!” he said again, with undisguised relief. “Well, then—it’s all -right, then!” - -“You don’t seem to be much surprised,” said Lexy. “Don’t you think -it’s the most extraordinary story you ever heard?” - -“Well, you see—I’m a bit tired,” he explained. “I haven’t grasped it -all yet; only, if she doesn’t want to marry me now, Lexy, dear, will -you?” - -At last Lexy could do what she had longed to do for the last half -hour—she could stroke down his ruffled hair. - -And this, as far as they were concerned, was the last act and the -fitting climax of the play. They were ready now for the curtain to -rise upon another play; but there were other people not so young, or -not so sturdy, for whom the first drama was not so readily dismissed. - -There was Captain Grey, who was never to see his sister now, never to -know if she had really wanted him and needed him. He did not soon -forget what had happened at the Tower. - -Mrs. Enderby was sent for, and arrived that morning before sunrise, -with her husband. She listened to Caroline’s strange story, and made -what she could of it. She had not one word of reproach for her -daughter. - -“We shall not cry over the spilled milk,” she said. “Let us see what -is to be done, before the police come.” She had a thoroughly European -point of view about the police. “If we are fortunate enough to find an -officer with discretion,” she added, “even yet a scandal may be -averted.” - -For that was still her passionate resolve—that there should be no -scandal. She thought and planned with desperate energy; she directed -every one as to the part he or she should play; and in the end she -succeeded. Nobody knew that Caroline had disappeared, and nobody ever -would know. Nobody knew that the so-called Mrs. Quelton was Caroline, -and that, too, would never be known. Only let Joe and Mrs. Royce be -persuaded to hold their tongues; as for Lexy, Captain Grey, and -Houseman, she could of course rely upon them. - -So the police were, as they say, baffled. Mr. Houseman told them a -tale. He had been alarmed about the lady whom he knew as Mrs. Quelton, -and he had climbed up on the balcony, hoping to see her alone; but he -had met Dr. Quelton instead, and had been hurt in trying to escape -from him. - -Captain Grey also had a tale. He, too, had been alarmed about the lady -whom he believed to be his sister. He had gone with Miss Moran to call -upon her, and they had found the doctor dead, lying across the coffin. - -There was an inquest, and Mr. Houseman had a very unpleasant time of -it, being the last one who had seen the doctor alive; but there was no -really serious suspicion against him. The _post-mortem_ showed that -the doctor had died of some unknown poison, at least half an hour -after the young man had arrived at the hospital. The verdict was -suicide, although the coroner’s jury had its own opinion about the -mysterious dark woman who had posed as the doctor’s wife. An autopsy -revealed that Mrs. Quelton had died from a natural cause—phthisis of -the lungs. In short, as far as could be discovered, there was no -murder at all. - -This was a disappointment to the public, but there was always the -mysterious dark woman. The police instituted a search for her, and -there was much about her in the newspapers, but she was never found. - -Miss Enderby returned to the city from her visit to Miss Craigie, and -friends of the family were interested to learn that while away she had -met such a nice young man—a Captain Grey, from India. He had to return -to his regiment, but, before he went, Caroline’s engagement to him was -announced. Later he was to retire from the army and come back to live -in New York. - -There was another item of news, of minor importance. That pretty -little secretary of Mrs. Enderby’s got married, and the Enderbys were -wonderfully kind about it—surprisingly so. It didn’t seem at all like -Mrs. Enderby to let the girl be married from her own house, and to -give her a smart little car for a wedding present. What is more, Mr. -Enderby found a very good position in his office for the young man. - -“My dear Sophie,” said one of Mrs. Enderby’s old friends, with the -peculiar candor of an old friend, “I’ve never known _you_ to do so -much for any one before!” - -Mrs. Enderby was standing on the top doorstep of her house, looking -after the car in which Lexy and her Charles had driven off for their -honeymoon, with Joe, of Wyngate, as their chauffeur. - -“So much for her?” she said. “It’s not enough—not half enough!” - -And there were actually tears in her eyes as she went back into the -house where Caroline was. - - -[Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the February 1926 issue of -Munsey’s Magazine.] - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THING BEYOND REASON *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Thing Beyond Reason</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Elisabeth Sanxay Holding</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: February 17, 2022 [eBook #67429]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Roger Frank. This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THING BEYOND REASON ***</div> -<h1>The Thing Beyond Reason</h1> - -<div style='text-align:center; font-size:0.8em;'> -A COMPLETE SHORT NOVEL—THE STORY OF THE STRANGE<br/> -ADVENTURE THAT LED LEXY MORAN TO A HOUSE<br/> -OF TRAGEDY AND MYSTERY IN THE<br/> -SUBURBS OF NEW YORK</div> -<div class='ce'> -<div style='font-size:1.1em;margin-top:1em;'>By Elisabeth Sanxay Holding </div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;margin-bottom:2em;'>Author of “Angelica,” etc. </div> -</div> -<p>The house was very quiet to-night. There was nothing to disturb Miss -Alexandra Moran but the placid ticking of the clock and the faint stir -of the curtains at the open window. For that matter, a considerable -amount of noise would not have troubled her just then. As she sat at -the library table, the light of the shaded lamp shone upon her bright, -ruffled head bent over her work in fiercest concentration. She was -chewing the end of a badly damaged lead pencil, and she was scowling.</p> - -<p>“No!” she said, half aloud. “Won’t do! It can’t be ‘fix’; but, by -jiminy, I’ll get it if it takes all night!”</p> - -<p>She laid down the pencil and sat back in the chair, with her arms -folded. Though her present difficulty concerned nothing more serious -than a crossword puzzle, an observer might have learned a good deal of -Miss Moran’s character from her manner of dealing with it. The puzzle -itself, with its neat, clear little letters printed in the squares, -would have been a revelation that whatever she undertook she did -carefully and intelligently—and obstinately.</p> - -<p>She was a young little thing, only twenty-three, and quite alone in -the world, but not at all dismayed by that. Her father had died some -three years ago, and, instead of leaving the snug little fortune she -had been taught to expect, he had left nothing at all; so that at -twenty she had had her first puzzle to solve—how to keep alive without -eating the bread of charity.</p> - -<p>It was no easy matter for a girl who was still in boarding school, but -she had done it. She had come to New York and had found a post as -nursery governess, and later as waitress in a tea room, and then in -the art department of an enormous store. She had gained no tangible -profit from these three years, she had no balance in the bank, but -that did not trouble her. She had learned that she could stand on her -own feet, that she could trust herself; and with this knowledge and -the experience she had had, and her quick wits and splendid health, -she felt herself fully armed against the world. Indeed, she had not a -care on earth this evening except the crossword puzzle.</p> - -<p>“It must be ‘tocsin,’” she said to herself. “There’s something wrong -with the verticals. It can’t be ‘fix,’ and yet—”</p> - -<p>The telephone bell rang. Still pondering her problem, Lexy went across -the room.</p> - -<p>“Is Miss Enderby there?” asked a man’s voice.</p> - -<p>“She’s out,” answered Lexy cheerfully.</p> - -<p>“No!” said the man’s voice. “She can’t—I—for God’s sake, where’s Miss -Enderby?”</p> - -<p>“She’s out,” Lexy repeated, startled. “She went to the opera with her -mother and father.”</p> - -<p>“Who are you?”</p> - -<p>“I’m Mrs. Enderby’s secretary.”</p> - -<p>“Look here! Didn’t Miss Enderby say anything? Isn’t there any sort of -message for me?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing that I know of. The servants have gone to bed, but I’ll ask -them, if it’s anything important.”</p> - -<p>“No!” said the voice. “Don’t! No, never mind! Good-by!”</p> - -<p>“That’s queer!” said Lexy to herself, as she walked away from the -instrument, and then she dismissed the matter from her mind. “None of -my business!” she thought, and returned to her puzzle.</p> - -<p>Suddenly an inspiration came.</p> - -<p>“It <i>is</i> ‘fix’!” she cried. “And it’s not ‘tocsin,’ but ‘toxins’! -Hurrah!”</p> - -<p>This practically completed the puzzle, and she began to fill in the -empty squares with the peculiar satisfaction of the crossword -enthusiast. It was perfect, now, and she liked things to be perfect.</p> - -<p>As she leaned back, with a contented sigh, the clock struck twelve.</p> - -<p>“Golly! I didn’t realize it was so late!” she reflected. “Queer time -for any one to ring up!”</p> - -<p>She frowned again. Her special problem solved, she began to take more -interest in other affairs; and the more she thought of the telephone -incident, the more it amazed her. Caroline Enderby wasn’t like other -girls. The mere fact of a man’s telephoning to her at all was strange -and indeed unprecedented.</p> - -<p>“And he was badly upset, too,” thought Lexy. “He asked if she left a -message for him. Think of Caroline Enderby leaving a message for a -man!”</p> - -<p>She began to feel impatient for Caroline’s return.</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell her when we’re alone,” she thought; “and she’ll have to -explain—a little, anyhow.”</p> - -<p>Lexy wanted an explanation very much, because she was fond of -Caroline, and very sorry for her.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby was a Frenchwoman of the old-fashioned, conservative -type, with the most rigid ideas about the bringing up of a young girl, -and her husband—Lexy had often wondered what Mr. Enderby had been -before his marriage, for now he was nothing but a grave and dignified -echo of his wife. Between them, they had educated Caroline in a -disastrous fashion. She had never even been to school. She had had -governesses at home, and when a male teacher came in, for music or -painting lessons, Mrs. Enderby had always sat in the room with her -child. Caroline never went out of the house alone. She was utterly cut -off from the normal life of other girls. She was a gentle, lovely -creature—a little unreal, Lexy had thought her, at first; and she, at -first, had been afraid of Lexy.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby had advertised for a secretary, and Lexy had answered the -advertisement. Mrs. Enderby had wanted personal references, and Lexy -had supplied them, some five or six, of the highest quality. Mrs. -Enderby had investigated them with remarkable thoroughness, and had -asked Lexy many questions. Indeed, it had taken ten days to satisfy -her that Miss Moran was a fit person to come into her house, and Lexy -had lived under her roof and under her eagle eye for a month before -she was allowed to be alone with Caroline. After that first month, -however, Mrs. Enderby had made up her mind that Lexy was to be -trusted, and the thin pretext of “secretary” was dropped.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby suffered from a not uncommon form of insomnia. She could -not sleep at convenient hours—at night, for instance—but could and did -sleep at very inconvenient hours during the day; and what she wanted -was not a secretary, but a companion for her daughter during these -hours.</p> - -<p>She realized, too, that even the most strictly brought up <i>jeune -fille</i> needed some sort of youthful society, and in Lexy she had found -pretty well what she wanted—a well mannered, well bred young woman of -unimpeachable honesty. So she had permitted Lexy and Caroline to go -shopping alone, and sometimes to a matinée or to a tea room. She asked -them shrewd questions when they came home, and their answers satisfied -her perfectly. They had never even spoken to a man!</p> - -<p>“And yet,” thought Miss Moran, “somehow Caroline has been carrying on -with some one, without even me finding out! I didn’t know she had it -in her!”</p> - -<p>Lexy yawned mightily. She was growing very sleepy, but not for worlds -would she go to bed until she had seen Caroline. She lay down on the -divan, her hands clasped under her head, and let all sorts of little -idle thoughts drift through her mind. Now and then a taxi went by, but -this street in the East Sixties was a very quiet one. The house was so -very still, and there was nothing in her own young heart to trouble -her. Her eyes closed.</p> - -<p>She was half asleep when the sound of Mrs. Enderby’s voice in the hall -brought her to her feet. It was a penetrating voice, with a trace of -foreign accent, and it was not a voice that Lexy loved. She went out -of the library into the hall.</p> - -<p>“Did you enjoy—” she began politely, and then stopped short. “But -where’s Caroline?” she cried.</p> - -<p>“Caroline? But at home, of course,” answered Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>“At home? Here?”</p> - -<p>“But certainly! She had a headache. At the last moment she decided not -to go with us. You were not here when we left, Miss Moran.”</p> - -<p>“I know,” murmured Lexy. “I had just run out to the drug store; but—”</p> - -<p>“She went directly to bed,” Mrs. Enderby continued. “I thought, -however, that she would have sent for you during the course of the -evening.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I see!” said Lexy casually.</p> - -<p>At heart, however, she was curiously uneasy. Mr. Enderby stopped for a -moment, to give her some kindly information about the opera they had -heard. Then he and his wife ascended the stairs, followed by Lexy; and -with every step her uneasiness grew. She was sure that Caroline would -have sent for her if she had been in the house.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby paused outside her child’s door.</p> - -<p>“The light is out,” she said. “She will be asleep. I shall not disturb -her. Good night, Miss Moran!”</p> - -<p>“Good night, Mrs. Enderby!” Lexy answered, and went into her own room.</p> - -<p>She gave Mrs. Enderby twenty minutes to get safely stowed away; then -she went out quietly into the hall, to Caroline’s room. She knocked -softly; there was no answer. She turned the handle and went in; the -room was dark and very still. She switched on the light.</p> - -<p>It was as she had expected—the room was empty. Caroline was not there.</p> - -<h2>II</h2> - -<p>Lexy’s first impulse was to close the door of that empty room, and to -hold her tongue. It seemed to her that it would be treachery to -Caroline to tell Mrs. Enderby. She and Caroline were both young, both -of the same generation; they ought to stand loyally together against -the tyrannical older people.</p> - -<p>“Because, golly, what a row there’d be if Mrs. Enderby ever knew she’d -gone out!” Lexy thought.</p> - -<p>That was how she saw it, at first. Caroline had pretended to have a -headache so that she would be left behind, and would get a chance to -slip out alone. It was simply a lark. Lexy had known such things to -happen often before, at boarding school; and the unthinkable and -impossible thing was for one girl to tell on another.</p> - -<p>“She’ll be back soon,” thought Lexy, “and she’ll tell me all about -it.”</p> - -<p>So she went into Caroline’s room, to wait. It was a charming room, -pink and white, like Caroline herself. Lexy turned on the switch, and -two rose-shaded lamps blossomed out like flowers. She sat down on a -<i>chaise longue</i>, and stretched herself out, yawning. On the desk -before her was Caroline’s writing apparatus, a quill pen of old rose, -an ivory desk set, everything so dainty and orderly; only poor -Caroline had no friends, and never had letters to write or to answer.</p> - -<p>“I wonder who on earth that was on the telephone,” Lexy reflected. “It -<i>was</i> queer—just on the only night of her life when she’d ever gone -out on her own. And he sounded so terribly upset! It <i>was</i> queer. -Perhaps—”</p> - -<p>She was aware of a fast-growing oppression. The influence of -Caroline’s room was beginning to tell upon her. Caroline didn’t -understand about larks. She wasn’t that sort of girl. Quiet, shy, and -patient, she had never shown any trace of resentment against her -restricted life, or any desire for the good times that other girls of -her age enjoyed. The more Lexy thought about it, the more clearly she -realized the strangeness of all this, and the more uneasy she became.</p> - -<p>When the little Dresden clock on the mantelpiece struck one, it came -as a shock. Lexy sprang to her feet and looked about the room, filled -with unreasoning fear. One o’clock, and Caroline hadn’t come back! -Suppose—suppose she never came back?</p> - -<p>Lexy dismissed that idea with healthy scorn. Things like that didn’t -happen; and yet—what was it that gave to the pink and white lamplit -room such an air of being deserted?</p> - -<p>“Why, the photographs are gone!” she cried.</p> - -<p>She noticed now for the first time that the photographs of Mr. and -Mrs. Enderby in silver frames, which had always stood on the writing -desk, were not standing there now.</p> - -<p>She turned to the bureau. Caroline’s silver toilet set was not there. -She made a rapid survey of the room, and she made sure of her -suspicions. Caroline had gone deliberately, taking with her all the -things she would need on a short trip.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to tell Mrs. Enderby now,” she thought. “It’s only fair.”</p> - -<p>She went out into the corridor, closing the door behind her, and -turned toward Mrs. Enderby’s room. She was very, very reluctant, for -she dreaded to break the peace of the quiet house by this dramatic -announcement. She hated anything in the nature of the sensational. -Level-headed, cool, practical, her instinct was to make light of all -this, to insist that nothing was really wrong. Caroline had gone, and -that was that.</p> - -<p>“There’s going to be such a fuss!” she thought. “If there’s anything I -loathe, it’s a fuss.”</p> - -<p>And all the time, under her cool and sensible exterior, she was -frightened. She felt that after all she was very young, and very -inexperienced, in a world where things—anything—things beyond her -knowledge—might happen.</p> - -<p>She knocked upon the door lightly—so lightly that no one heard her; -and she had to knock again. This time Mrs. Enderby opened the door.</p> - -<p>“Well?” she asked, not very amiably.</p> - -<p>“I thought I ought to tell you—” Lexy began; and still she hesitated, -moved by the unaccountable feeling that this might be treachery to -Caroline.</p> - -<p>“Tell me what?” asked Mrs. Enderby. “Come, if you please, Miss Moran! -Tell me at once!”</p> - -<p>“Caroline’s gone.”</p> - -<p>The words were spoken. Lexy waited in great alarm, wondering if Mrs. -Enderby would faint or scream.</p> - -<p>The lady did neither. She came out into the corridor, shutting the -door of her room behind her, and her first word and her only word was:</p> - -<p>“Hush!”</p> - -<p>Then she glanced about her at the closed doors, and, taking Lexy’s arm -in a firm grip, hurried her to Caroline’s room. Not until they were -shut in there did she speak again.</p> - -<p>“Now tell me!” she said. “Speak very low. You said—Caroline has gone?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Lexy. “I came in here after you’d gone to bed, and—you can -see for yourself—the bed hasn’t been slept in. She’s taken her -things—her brush and comb and—”</p> - -<p>“And she told you—what?”</p> - -<p>“Me? Why, nothing!” answered Lexy, in surprise. “I didn’t see her. I -haven’t seen her since dinner.”</p> - -<p>“But you know,” said Mrs. Enderby. “You know where she has gone.”</p> - -<p>She spoke with cool certainty, and her black eyes were fixed upon Lexy -with a far from pleasant expression.</p> - -<p>Lexy looked back at her with equal steadiness.</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Enderby,” she said, “I <i>don’t</i> know.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby shrugged her shoulders.</p> - -<p>“Very well!” she said. “You do not know exactly where she has gone. -<i>Bien, alors!</i> You guess, eh?”</p> - -<p>“No,” answered Lexy, bewildered. “I don’t. I can’t.”</p> - -<p>“She has spoken to you of some—friend?”</p> - -<p>Seeing Lexy still frankly bewildered, Mrs. Enderby lost her patience.</p> - -<p>“The man!” she said. “Who is the man?”</p> - -<p>“I never heard Caroline speak of any man,” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>She spoke firmly enough, and she was telling the truth; but she -remembered that telephone call, and the memory brought a faint flush -into her cheeks. Mrs. Enderby did not fail to notice it.</p> - -<p>“Listen!” she said. “There is one thing you can do—only one thing. You -can hold your tongue. Tell no one. Let no one know that Caroline is -not here. You understand?”</p> - -<p>“But aren’t you going to—”</p> - -<p>“I am going to do nothing. You understand—nothing. There is to be no -scandal in my house.”</p> - -<p>“But, Mrs. Enderby!”</p> - -<p>“Hush! No one must know of this. To-morrow morning I shall have a -letter from Caroline.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” said Lexy, with a sigh of genuine relief. “Oh, then you know -where she’s gone!”</p> - -<p>“I?” replied Mrs. Enderby. “I know nothing. This has come to me from a -clear sky. I have always tried to safeguard my child. I—”</p> - -<p>She paused for a moment, and for the first time Lexy pitied her.</p> - -<p>“It is the American blood in her,” Mrs. Enderby went on. “No French -girl would treat her parents so; but in this country— She has gone -with some fortune hunter. To-morrow I shall have a letter that she is -married. ‘Please forgive me, <i>chère Maman</i>,’ she will say. ‘I am so -happy. I, at nineteen, and of an ignorance the most complete, have -made my choice without you.’ That is the American way, is it not? That -is your ‘romance,’ eh? My one child—”</p> - -<p>Her voice broke.</p> - -<p>“No more!” she said. “It is finished. But—attend, Miss Moran! There -must be no scandal. No one is to know that she is not here.”</p> - -<p>She turned and walked out of the room. Lexy sank into a chair.</p> - -<p>“I don’t care!” she said to herself.</p> - -<p>“She’s wrong—I know it! It’s not what she thinks. Caroline’s not like -that. Something dreadful has happened!”</p> - -<h2>III</h2> - -<p>It seemed perfectly natural to be awakened in the morning by Mrs. -Enderby’s hand on her shoulder, and to look up into Mrs. Enderby’s -flashing black eyes. Lexy had gone to sleep dominated by the thought -of that masterful woman. She vaguely remembered having dreamed of her, -and when she opened her eyes—there she was.</p> - -<p>“Get up!” said Mrs. Enderby in a low voice. “Go into Caroline’s room. -When Annie comes with the breakfast tray, take it from her at the -door. I have told her that Caroline is ill with a headache. You -understand?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Mrs. Enderby,” answered Lexy.</p> - -<p>She sprang out of bed and began to dress, filled with an unreasoning -sense of haste. It wasn’t a dream, then—it was true. Caroline had -gone, and there was something Lexy must do for her. She could not have -explained what this something was, but it oppressed and worried her. -She could not rid herself of the feeling that she was not being loyal -to Caroline.</p> - -<p>“And yet,” she thought, “I had to tell Mrs. Enderby she wasn’t there. -I suppose I ought to have told her about that telephone call, too, but -I hate to do it! I know Caroline wouldn’t like me to; and what good -can it do, anyhow? Whoever it was, he didn’t know where she was. It -was the queerest thing—a man asking, ‘ For God’s sake, where’s Miss -Enderby?’ when she wasn’t here! No, Mrs. Enderby is wrong. Caroline -hasn’t just gone away of her own accord. She’s not that sort of girl. -Something has happened!”</p> - -<p>Lexy finished dressing and went into Caroline’s room. In the gay April -sunshine, that dainty room seemed almost unbearably forlorn.</p> - -<p>She went over to the window and looked down into the street. People -were passing by, and taxis, and private cars—all the ordinary, casual, -cheerful daily life at which Caroline Enderby had so often looked out, -like a poor enchanted princess in a tower. A wave of pity and -affection rose in Lexy’s heart.</p> - -<p>“Oh, poor Caroline!” she said to herself. “Such a dull, miserable -life! I do wish—”</p> - -<p>There was a knock at the door, and she hurried across the room to open -it. The parlor maid stood there with a tray. Lexy took it from her -with a pleasant “good morning,” and closed the door again. Caroline’s -breakfast! There was something disturbing in the sight of that -carefully prepared tray, ready for the girl who was not there.</p> - -<p>The door opened—without a preliminary knock, this time—and Mrs. -Enderby came in. She turned the key behind her, and, without a word, -went over to the bed and pulled off the covers. Then she went into the -adjoining bathroom and started the water running in the tub. This -done, she sat down at the table and began to eat the breakfast on the -tray.</p> - -<p>Lexy stood watching all this with indignation and a sort of horror.</p> - -<p>“All she cares about is keeping up appearances,” the girl thought. -“The only thing that worries her is that some one might find out. She -doesn’t know where poor Caroline is—and she can sit down and eat! I’m -comparatively a stranger, and even I—”</p> - -<p>Lexy was an honest soul, however. The fragrance of coffee and rolls -reached her, and she admitted in her heart that she, too, could eat, -if she had a chance.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby was not going to give her a chance just yet. She finished -her meal and rose.</p> - -<p>“Now!” she said. “Just what is gone from here? We shall look.”</p> - -<p>So they looked, in the wardrobe, in the drawers, even in the orderly -desk. Very little was gone.</p> - -<p>“And now,” said Mrs. Enderby, “you lent her—how much money, Miss -Moran?”</p> - -<p>“I never lent her a penny in my life,” replied Lexy.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby’s tone aroused a spirit of obstinate defiance in her. -Those flashing black eyes were fixed upon her with an expression which -did not please Lexy, and Lexy looked back with an expression which did -not please Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>“So you will not tell me what you know!” said Mrs. Enderby, with a -chilly smile.</p> - -<p>It was on the tip of Lexy’s tongue to say, with considerable warmth, -that she <i>had</i> told all she knew; but the memory of the telephone call -checked her.</p> - -<p>“If I tell her about that,” she thought, “she’ll just say, ‘Ah, I -thought so!’ And she’ll be surer than ever that Caroline has eloped -with a fortune hunter, and she won’t make any effort to find her. -No—I’m not going to tell her until she gets really frightened.” Aloud -she said: “I’ll do anything in the world that I can do, Mrs. Enderby, -to help you find Caroline.”</p> - -<p>“It is not necessary,” said Mrs. Enderby. “I shall have her letter.”</p> - -<p>There was another tap at the door. Mrs. Enderby closed the door -leading into the bathroom, and then called:</p> - -<p>“Come in!”</p> - -<p>The parlor maid entered.</p> - -<p>“You may take away the tray,” her mistress said graciously. “Miss -Enderby has finished.”</p> - -<p>Again a feeling that was almost horror came over Lexy. There was the -bed Caroline had slept in, there was the breakfast Caroline had eaten, -there was Caroline’s bath running—and Caroline wasn’t there! Lexy -wanted to get out of that room and away from Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>“Do you mind if I go down and get my own breakfast now?” she asked, -when the parlor maid had gone out with the tray.</p> - -<p>“But certainly not!” Mrs. Enderby blandly consented. “We shall go down -together.”</p> - -<p>She turned off the water in the bath, and, following Lexy out of the -room, locked the door on the outside. The girl dropped behind her as -they descended the stairs, and studied the stout, dignified figure -before her with indignant interest.</p> - -<p>“A mother!” she thought. “A mother, behaving like this! How long is -she going to wait for her letter, I wonder? Well, if she won’t do -anything, then, by jiminy, I will!”</p> - -<p>A fresh example of Mrs. Enderby’s remarkable strength of mind awaited -them. Mr. Enderby was already seated at the table in the dining room. -As his wife entered, he rose, with his invariable politeness, and one -glance at his ruddy, cheerful face convinced Lexy that he knew nothing -of what had happened.</p> - -<p>“Caroline has a headache,” Mrs. Enderby explained. “It will be better -for her to rest for a little.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! Too bad!” said he. “Don’t think she gets out in the air enough. -Er—good morning, Miss Moran!”</p> - -<p>Lexy almost forgot to answer him, so intent was she upon watching Mrs. -Enderby open her letters. There must, she thought, be some change in -that calm, pale face when she didn’t find a letter from Caroline, -there must be something to break this inhuman tranquillity.</p> - -<p>But nothing broke it. Mr. Enderby ate his breakfast, and his wife -chatted affably with him while she glanced over her mail. The sunshine -poured into the room, gleaming on silver and linen, and on the -cheerful young parlor maid moving quietly about her duties. It was a -morning just like other mornings; and, in spite of herself, Lexy’s -feeling of dread and oppression began to lighten. Mr. Enderby was so -thoroughly unperturbed, Mrs. Enderby was so serene and majestic, the -house was so bright and pleasant in the spring morning, that it was -hard to believe that anything could be really amiss.</p> - -<p>“But I don’t care!” she thought sturdily. “<i>I</i> know there is!”</p> - -<p>Mr. Enderby finished his breakfast and rose, and, as usual, his wife -accompanied him to the front door. Alone in the dining room, Lexy made -haste to finish her own meal. Just as she pushed back her chair, Mrs. -Enderby returned.</p> - -<p>“I shall ring, Annie,” she told the parlor maid, and the girl -disappeared. Then she turned to Lexy. “The letter has come,” she said.</p> - -<p>Lexy stared at her with such an expression of amazement and dismay -that Mrs. Enderby smiled.</p> - -<p>“You are very young,” she said. “You wish always for the dramatic. -When you have lived as long as I, you will see that such things do not -happen.”</p> - -<p>She spoke kindly, and Lexy saw in her dark eyes a look of weariness -and pain.</p> - -<p>“No, my child,” she went on. “In this life it is always the same -things that happen again and again. At twenty, one breaks the heart -for a man; at forty, one breaks the heart for one’s child. There is -only that—and money. Love and money—nothing else!”</p> - -<p>Lexy felt extraordinarily sorry for Mrs. Enderby; but even yet she -couldn’t quite believe that Caroline could have done such a thing.</p> - -<p>“But do you mean that she’s really—that she’s—” she began.</p> - -<p>“See, then!” said Mrs. Enderby. “Here is the letter!”</p> - -<p>Lexy took it from her, and read:</p> - -<blockquote> -<p style='text-indent:0'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Chere Maman</span>:</p> - -<p>I only beg you and papa to forgive me for what I have done; but I knew -that if I told you, you would not have let me go. When you get this</p> - -<p>I shall be married. To-morrow I shall write again, to tell you where I -am, and to beg you to let me bring my husband to you.</p> - -<p>Oh, please, dear, dear mother and father, forgive me!</p> - -<div style='text-align:right;margin-right:4em;'>Your loving, loving daughter,</div> -<div style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;'>Caroline.</div> -</blockquote> -<p>“You see!” said Mrs. Enderby. “It is as I told you.”</p> - -<p>There were tears in Lexy’s eyes as she put the letter back into the -envelope.</p> - -<p>“It doesn’t seem a bit like Caroline, though,” she remarked.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby smiled again, faintly, and held out her hand for the -letter. Lexy returned it to her, with an almost mechanical glance at -the postmark—“Wyngate, Connecticut.”</p> - -<p>All her defiance had vanished. She was obliged to admit now that Mrs. -Enderby was wise, and that she herself was—</p> - -<p>“A little fool!” said Lexy candidly to herself.</p> - -<h2>IV</h2> - -<p>“Do you mind if I go out for a walk?” asked the crestfallen Lexy; for -that was her instinct in any sort of trouble—to get out into the fresh -air and walk.</p> - -<p>“No,” answered Mrs. Enderby; “but I shall ask you to return in half an -hour. There is much to be done.”</p> - -<p>“Done!” cried Lexy. “But what can be done—now?”</p> - -<p>“That I shall tell you when you return,” said Mrs. Enderby. “In the -meantime, I trust you to say nothing of all this to any person -whatever. You understand, Miss Moran?”</p> - -<p>Miss Moran certainly did not understand, but she gave her promise to -keep silent, and, putting on her hat and coat, hurried out of the -house. Mighty glad she was to get out, too!</p> - -<p>“But why make a mystery of it like this?” she thought. “Every one has -to know, sooner or later, and it’s so—so ghastly, pretending that -Caroline’s there! Oh, it doesn’t seem possible, Caroline running off -like that, and I never even dreaming she was the least bit interested -in any man! I don’t see how she could have seen any one or written to -any one without my knowing it. It doesn’t seem possible!”</p> - -<p>She had reached the corner of Fifth Avenue, and was waiting for a halt -in the traffic, when she became aware of a young man who was standing -near her and staring at her. She glanced carelessly at him, and he -took off his hat, but he got no acknowledgment of his salute. He was a -stranger, and she meant him to remain a stranger. The bright-haired, -sturdy little Lexy was a very pretty girl, and she was not -unaccustomed to strange young men who stared. She knew how to handle -them.</p> - -<p>As she crossed the avenue, he crossed, too. When she entered the park, -he followed. Now Lexy was never tolerant of this sort of thing, and -to-day, in her anxiety and distress, she was less so than ever. She -turned her head and looked the young man squarely in the face with a -scornful and frigid look; and he took off his hat again!</p> - -<p>“Just you say one word,” said she to herself, “and I’ll call a -policeman!”</p> - -<p>Yet, as she walked briskly on, something in the man’s expression -haunted her. He didn’t look like that sort of man. His sunburned face -somehow seemed to her a very honest one, and the expression on it was -not at all flirtatious, but terribly troubled and unhappy.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps he thinks he knows me,” she thought. “Well, he doesn’t, and -he’s not going to, either!”</p> - -<p>And she dismissed him from her mind.</p> - -<p>“When did Caroline go?” she pondered, continuing her own miserable -train of thought. “While I was doing cross words in the library? If -she went out by the front door, she must have gone right past the -library. She must have known I was there—and not even to say good-by!”</p> - -<p>It hurt. She had grown very fond of the shy, quiet Caroline, and she -had firmly believed that Caroline was fond of her. What is more, she -had thought Caroline trusted her.</p> - -<p>“She didn’t though. All the time, when we were so friendly together, -she must have been planning this and—<i>what</i>?”</p> - -<p>She stopped short, her dark brows meeting in a fierce frown, for the -unknown man had come up beside her and spoken to her.</p> - -<p>“Excuse me!” he said.</p> - -<p>Lexy only looked at him, but he did not wither and perish under her -scorn.</p> - -<p>“I’ve <i>got</i> to speak to you,” he said.</p> - -<p>“It’s—look here! I’ve been waiting outside the house all morning. Look -here, please! You’re Lexy, aren’t you?”</p> - -<p>This was a little too much!</p> - -<p>“If you don’t stop bothering me this instant—” she began hotly, but he -paid no heed.</p> - -<p>“<i>Where’s Miss Enderby?”</i> he cried.</p> - -<p>Lexy grew very pale. Those were the words she had heard over the -telephone last night, and this was the same voice.</p> - -<p>For a moment she was silent, staring at him, while he looked back at -her, his blue eyes searching her face with a look of desperate -entreaty. All her doubts vanished. She had not been wrong. She had -been right—she was sure of it. She knew that something had -happened—something inexplicable and dreadful.</p> - -<p>“Please tell me!” he said. “You don’t know—you can’t know—she told me -you were her friend.”</p> - -<p>“But who are you?” cried Lexy.</p> - -<p>His face flushed under the sunburn.</p> - -<p>“I—” he began, and stopped. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you,” he went on. -“I’d like to, but, you see, I can’t. If you’ll just tell me where -Car—Miss Enderby is! She’s safe at home, isn’t she? She—of course she -is! She <i>must</i> be! She—she is, isn’t she?”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Lexy slowly, “I don’t see how I can tell you anything at -all. I don’t know what right you have to ask any questions. I don’t -know who you are, or anything about you.”</p> - -<p>“No,” he replied, “I know that; but, after all, it’s not much of a -question, is it—just if Miss Enderby’s all right?”</p> - -<p>Lexy felt very sorry for him, in his obvious struggle to speak quietly -and reasonably. She wanted to answer him promptly and candidly, for -his sake and for her own, because she felt sure that he could tell her -something about Caroline; but she had promised Mrs. Enderby to say -nothing.</p> - -<p>“It’s so silly!” she thought, exasperated. “If I could tell him, I -might find out—”</p> - -<p>“Find out what? Hadn’t Caroline written to say that she had gone away -to get married? In a day or two, probably to-morrow, they would learn -all the details from Caroline herself. This unhappy young man couldn’t -know anything. Indeed, he was asking for information. Who could he -possibly be? A rival suitor? Lexy remembered Caroline’s pitifully -restricted life. <i>Two</i> suitors of whom she had never heard? It wasn’t -possible!</p> - -<p>“No,” she thought. “There’s something queer—something wrong!”</p> - -<p>“Look here!” the young man said again. “Aren’t you going to answer me? -Just tell me she’s all right, and—”</p> - -<p>“What makes you think she isn’t?” asked Lexy cautiously.</p> - -<p>He looked straight into her face.</p> - -<p>“You’re playing with me,” he said. “You’re fencing with me, to make me -give myself away; and it’s a pretty rotten thing to do!”</p> - -<p>“Rotten?” Lexy repeated indignantly. “Rotten, not to answer questions -from a perfect stranger?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said, “it is; because that’s a question you could answer for -any one. I’ve only asked you if Miss Enderby is—all right.”</p> - -<p>This high-handed tone didn’t suit Lexy at all. He was actually -presuming to be angry, and that made her angry.</p> - -<p>“I shan’t tell you anything at all,” she said, and began to walk on -again.</p> - -<p>He put on his hat and turned away, but in a moment he was back at her -side.</p> - -<p>“Look here!” he said. “Caroline told me you were her friend. She said -you could be trusted. All right—I am trusting you. I’ve felt, all -along, that there was—something wrong. I’ve got to know! If you’ll -give me your word that she’s safe at home, I’ll clear out, and -apologize for having made a first-class fool of myself; but if she’s -not, I ought to know!”</p> - -<p>Lexy stopped again. Their eyes met in a long, steady glance.</p> - -<p>“I can’t answer any questions this morning,” she told him. “I promised -I wouldn’t.”</p> - -<p>“Then there is something wrong!” the young man exclaimed.</p> - -<p>He was silent for a long time, staring at the ground, and Lexy waited, -with a fast beating heart, for some word that would enlighten her. At -last he looked up.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to trust you,” he said simply. “Caroline meant to tell you, -anyhow. You see”—he paused—“I’m Charles Houseman, the man she’s going -to marry.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” cried Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Now you’ll tell me, won’t you?”</p> - -<p>She stared and stared at him, filled with amazement and pity. Such a -nice-looking, straightforward, manly sort of fellow—and such a look of -pain and bewilderment in his blue eyes!</p> - -<p>“But—did she <i>say</i> she would marry you?”</p> - -<p>“Of course she did! She—look here! You don’t know what I’ve been -through. It was I who telephoned last night. I—”</p> - -<p>“But why did you? Oh, please tell me! I am Caroline’s friend—truly her -friend. I want to understand!”</p> - -<p>“All right!” he said. “I telephoned because I was waiting for her, and -she didn’t come.”</p> - -<p>“Waiting for—Caroline?”</p> - -<p>“We had arranged to get married last night. She was to meet me, but -she didn’t come,” he said, a little unsteadily. “Perhaps she just -changed her mind. Perhaps she doesn’t want to see me any more. If -that’s the case, I’ll trust you not to mention anything about me—to -any one. You see now, don’t you, that I—I had to know?”</p> - -<p>Lexy’s eyes filled with tears. Moved by a generous impulse, she held -out her hand.</p> - -<p>“I’m so awfully sorry!” she cried.</p> - -<p>“Why? You mean—for God’s sake, tell me! You mean she has changed her -mind?”</p> - -<p>“I can’t tell you—not now.”</p> - -<p>“You can’t leave it at that,” said he. He had taken her outstretched -hand, and he held it tight. “I ought to know what has happened. I -can’t believe that Caroline would let me down like that. She—she’s not -that sort of girl. Something’s gone wrong. She wouldn’t leave me -waiting and waiting there for her at Wyngate.”</p> - -<p>“Wyngate!” cried Lexy. “But that was—”</p> - -<p>She stopped abruptly. Caroline’s letter had been postmarked “Wyngate.” -She had gone there to meet—some one. She had married—some one.</p> - -<p>“I can’t understand,” Lexy went on. “It’s terrible! I can’t tell you -now; but I’ll meet you here this afternoon, after lunch—about two -o’clock—and I’ll tell you then.”</p> - -<p>She turned away, then, in haste to get back to Mrs. Enderby, but he -stopped her.</p> - -<p>“Remember!” he said sternly. “I’ve trusted you. If Caroline hasn’t -told her people about me, you mustn’t mention my name. I gave her my -word that I would let her do the telling. I didn’t want it that way, -but I promised her, and you’ve got to do the same. If she hasn’t told -about me, you’re not to.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Lord!” cried poor Lexy. “Well, all right, I won’t! Now, for -goodness’ sake, go away, and let me alone—to do the best I can!”</p> - -<h2>V</h2> - -<p>Lexy was late. The half hour had been considerably exceeded when she -ran up the steps of the Enderbys house. She rang the bell, and the -door was opened promptly by Annie.</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Enderby would like to see you at once, miss,” the parlor maid -said primly.</p> - -<p>But Lexy stopped to look covertly at Annie. Did she know anything? It -was possible. Anything was possible now. Lexy was obliged to admit, -however, that Annie had no appearance of guilt or mystery. A brisk and -sober woman of middle age, who had been with the family for nearly ten -years, she looked nothing more or less than disapproving because this -young person had presumed to keep Mrs. Enderby waiting for several -minutes.</p> - -<p>“Anyhow, I can’t ask her,” thought Lexy. “That’s the worst part of all -this— I can’t ask anybody anything without breaking a promise to -somebody else; and yet everybody ought to know everything!”</p> - -<p>In miserable perplexity, she went upstairs to Mrs. Enderby’s sitting -room. Only one thing was clear in her mind, and that was that she must -be freed from her weak-minded promise not to mention Caroline’s -absence.</p> - -<p>“And that’s not going to be easy,” she reflected, “when I can’t -explain to her. There’ll be a row. Well, I don’t care!”</p> - -<p>She did care, however. She respected Mrs. Enderby, and in her secret -heart she was a little afraid of her. She felt very young, very crude -and blundering, in the presence of that masterful woman; and she -doubted her own wisdom.</p> - -<p>“But what can I do?” she thought. “He said he trusted me. I <i>can’t</i> -tell her! No, first I’ll get her to let me off that promise, and I’ll -go and tell that young man. Then I’ll make him let me off, and I’ll -come and tell her. Golly, how I hate all this fool mystery!”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby was writing at her desk as Lexy entered the room. She -glanced up, unsmiling.</p> - -<p>“You are late,” she said. “I asked you to return in half an hour.”</p> - -<p>“I’m sorry,” Lexy replied meekly.</p> - -<p>“Very well! Now you will please to come with me.”</p> - -<p>She rose, and Lexy followed her down the hall to Caroline’s room. Mrs. -Enderby unlocked the door, and, when they had entered, locked the door -on the inside.</p> - -<p>“In fifteen minutes the car is coming,” she said. “I wish you to put -on Caroline’s hat and coat and a veil, and leave the house with me.”</p> - -<p>“You mean you want me to pretend I’m Caroline?” cried Lexy.</p> - -<p>“I wish it to be thought that you are Caroline,” Mrs. Enderby -corrected her. “Please waste no time. The car will be here—”</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Enderby, I—I can’t do it!”</p> - -<p>“You can, Miss Moran, and I think you will.”</p> - -<p>But Lexy was pretty close to desperation now. Her honest and vigorous -spirit was entangled in a network of promises and obligations and -deceptions, and she could not see how to free herself; but she would -not passively submit.</p> - -<p>“No,” she said, “I can’t. I’ve found out something—I can’t tell you -about it just now, but this afternoon I hope—”</p> - -<p>“This afternoon is another thing,” said Mrs. Enderby. “In the -meantime—”</p> - -<p>“But it’s important! It’s—”</p> - -<p>“You think I do not know? You think this letter sets my mind at rest?” -Mrs. Enderby demanded, with one of her sudden flashes of temper. “That -is imbecile! I know how serious it is that my child should leave me -like this; but I know what is my duty—first, to my husband. That -first, I tell you! It is for me to see that no disgrace comes upon his -house, no scandal—that first! Then, next, I must see to it that the -way is left open for Caroline to come back—if she wishes.” She came -close to Lexy, and fixed those black eyes of hers upon the girl’s -face. “I tell you, Miss Moran, there will be no scandal!”</p> - -<p>In spite of herself, Lexy was impressed.</p> - -<p>“But suppose—” she began.</p> - -<p>“No—we shall not suppose. I have told the servants that to-day Miss -Enderby goes into the country, to visit her old governess for a few -days. Very well—they shall see her go. If there is no other letter -to-morrow, I shall tell Mr. Enderby.”</p> - -<p>“Doesn’t he know?”</p> - -<p>“Please make haste, Miss Moran!” said Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>As if hypnotized, Lexy began to dress herself in Caroline’s clothes; -but, as she glanced in the mirror to adjust the close-fitting little -hat, the monstrousness of the whole thing overwhelmed her. She had so -often seen Caroline in this hat and coat!</p> - -<p>“Oh, I can’t!” she cried. “I can’t! Suppose something terrible has -happened to her, and I’m—”</p> - -<p>“Keep quiet!” said Mrs. Enderby fiercely. “I tell you it shall be so! -Now, the veil. No, not like that—not as if you were disguising -yourself! So!”</p> - -<p>She unlocked the door, and, taking Lexy by the arm, went out into the -hall. Together they descended the stairs, Mrs. Enderby chatting -volubly in French, as she was wont to do with her daughter. None of -the servants would think of interrupting her, or of staring at her -companion. It was an ordinary, everyday scene. Annie was crossing the -lower hall.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran will be out all day,” said Mrs. Enderby. “There will be no -one at home for lunch.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, ma’am,” replied Annie.</p> - -<p>The maid would not notice when—or if—Miss Moran went out. There was -nothing to arouse suspicion in any one.</p> - -<p>They went out to the car. A small trunk was strapped on behind. -Everything had been prepared for Miss Enderby’s visit to the country. -The chauffeur opened the door and touched his cap respectfully, the -two women got in, and off they went.</p> - -<p>“Now you will please to dismiss this subject from your mind,” said -Mrs. Enderby. “I do not wish to talk of it.” She spoke kindly now. -“You will have a pleasant day in the country.”</p> - -<p>“Day!” said Lexy. “But what time will we get back?”</p> - -<p>“Before dinner.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’ve got to get back this afternoon! I’ve got to see some one! -It’s important—terribly important!”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby smiled faintly.</p> - -<p>“The chauffeur must see you descend at Miss Craigie’s house,” she -said. “Once we are there, I have a hat and coat of your own in the -trunk. I shall explain what is necessary to Miss Craigie, who is very -discreet, very devoted. You can change then, but you must go home -quietly by train; and I think there are not many trains.”</p> - -<p>Lexy had a vision of the young man waiting and waiting for her in the -park that afternoon—the young man who had trusted her, who was waiting -in such miserable anxiety for some news of Caroline.</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Enderby,” she protested, “I can’t come with you. I’ve got to get -back this afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>Lexy made a creditable effort to master her anger and distress.</p> - -<p>“It’s important—to you,” she said. “I have to see some one about -Caroline—some one who can tell you something.”</p> - -<p>This time Mrs. Enderby made no answer at all. There she sat, stout, -majestic, absolutely impervious, looking out of the window as if Lexy -did not exist. What was to be done? She couldn’t communicate with the -chauffeur except by leaning across Mrs. Enderby, and a struggle with -that lady was out of the question.</p> - -<p>“But I’m not going on!” she thought.</p> - -<p>She waited until the car slowed down at a crossing. Then she made a -sudden dart for the door. With equal suddenness Mrs. Enderby seized -her arm.</p> - -<p>“Sit down!” she said, in a singularly unpleasant whisper. “There shall -be no scene. Sit down, I tell you!”</p> - -<p>“I won’t!” replied Lexy, but just then the car started forward, and -she fell back on the seat.</p> - -<p>“You will come with me,” said Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>That overbearing tone, that grasp on her arm, were very nearly too -much for Lexy. She had always been quick-tempered. All the Morans -were, and were perversely proud of it, too; but Lexy had learned many -lessons in a hard school. She had learned to control her temper, and -she did so now. She was silent for a time.</p> - -<p>“All right!” she agreed, at last. “I’ll come. I don’t see what else I -can do—now; but after this I’ll have to use my own judgment, Mrs. -Enderby.”</p> - -<p>“You have none,” Mrs. Enderby told her calmly.</p> - -<p>Lexy clenched her hands, and again was silent for a moment.</p> - -<p>“I mean—” she began.</p> - -<p>“I know very well what you mean,” said Mrs. Enderby. “You mean that -you will keep faith with me no longer. I saw that. You wished to run -off and tell your story to some one this afternoon. I stopped that. -After this, I cannot stop you any longer. You will tell, but I think -no one will listen to you. I shall deny it, and no one will be likely -to listen to the word of a discharged employee.”</p> - -<p>Lexy had grown very pale.</p> - -<p>“I see!” she said slowly. “Then you’re going to—”</p> - -<p>“You are discharged,” interrupted Mrs. Enderby, “because I do not like -to have my daughter’s companion running into the park to meet a young -man.”</p> - -<p>“I see!” said Lexy again.</p> - -<p>And nothing more. All the warmth of her anger had gone, and in its -place had come an overwhelming depression. For all her sturdiness and -courage, she was young and generous and sensitive, and those words of -Mrs. Enderby’s hurt her cruelly.</p> - -<p>She sat very still, looking out of the window. They had left the city -now, and were on the Boston road. It was a sweet, fresh April day, and -under a bright and windy sky the countryside was showing the first -soft green of spring.</p> - -<p>Lexy remembered. She remembered the things she had so valiantly tried -to forget—the dear, happy days that were past, spring days like this, -in her own home, with her mother and father; early morning rides on -her little black mare, and coming home to the old house, to the people -who loved her; her father’s laugh, her mother’s wonderful smile, the -friendly faces of the servants.</p> - -<p>She was not old enough or wise enough as yet, for these memories to be -a solace to her. They were pain—nothing but pain. There was no one now -to love her, or even to be interested in her. She had cut herself off -from her old friends and gone out alone, like a poor, rash, gallant -little knight-errant, into the wide world to seek her fortune. -Caroline had disappeared, and Mrs. Enderby had dismissed her with -savage contempt. She would have to go out now and look for a new job.</p> - -<p>She straightened her shoulders.</p> - -<p>“This won’t do!” she said to herself. “It’s disgusting, mawkish -self-pity, and nothing else. I’m young and healthy, and I can always -find a job. What I want to think about now is Caroline, and what I -ought to do for her.”</p> - -<p>So she did begin to think about Caroline. The first thought that came -into her head was such an extraordinary one that it startled her.</p> - -<p>“Anyhow, she’s a pretty lucky girl!”</p> - -<p>Lucky? Caroline, who had lived like a prisoner, and who had now so -strangely disappeared, lucky—simply because a sunburned, blue-eyed -young man was so miserably anxious about her?</p> - -<p>“I suppose he’s thinking about her this minute,” Lexy reflected; “and -I’m sure nobody in the world is thinking about me. Well, I don’t -care!”</p> - -<h2>VI</h2> - -<p>The car took them to a drowsy little village, and stopped before a -small cottage on a side street. Mrs. Enderby got out, followed by -Lexy, the living ghost of Caroline. Side by side they went up the -flagged path and on to the porch. Mrs. Enderby rang the bell, and in a -moment the door was opened by a thin, sandy-haired woman in -spectacles.</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Enderby!” she cried, her plain face lighting up in a delighted -smile. “And my dear little Caroline!” She held out her hand to Lexy, -and suddenly her face changed. “But—” she began.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby pushed her gently inside and closed the door.</p> - -<p>“But it’s not Caroline!” cried Miss Craigie.</p> - -<p>“Hush!” said Mrs. Enderby. “I shall explain to you. Please allow the -chauffeur to carry upstairs a small trunk, and please have no air of -surprise.”</p> - -<p>Evidently Miss Craigie was in the habit of obeying Mrs. Enderby. She -opened the front door and called the chauffeur, who came in with the -trunk.</p> - -<p>“Turn your back!” whispered Mrs. Enderby to Lexy. “Go and look out of -the window!”</p> - -<p>Lexy heard the man go past the sitting room and up the stairs. -Presently he came running down, and the front door closed after him.</p> - -<p>“Now, Miss Craigie,” said Mrs. Enderby, “if you will permit Miss Moran -to go upstairs?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, certainly!” answered the bewildered Miss Craigie. “Whatever you -think best, Mrs. Enderby, I’m sure.”</p> - -<p>“Go!” said Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>The lady’s tone aroused in Lexy a great desire not to go. Of course, -now that she had gone so far, it would be childish to refuse to -continue; but she meant to take her time. She stood there by the -window, slowly drawing off her gloves, her back turned to the room. -Suddenly Mrs. Enderby caught her by the shoulder and turned her -around.</p> - -<p>“Go!” she said again. “Take off those things of my child’s. <i>Mon Dieu! -Mon Dieu!</i> Have you no heart?”</p> - -<p>There was such a note of anguish in her voice that Lexy no longer -delayed. She followed Miss Craigie up the stairs to a neat, prim -little bedroom, where the trunk stood, already unlocked.</p> - -<p>“If you want anything—” suggested Miss Craigie, in her gentle and -apologetic way.</p> - -<p>“No, thank you,” replied Lexy.</p> - -<p>Miss Craigie went out, closing the door softly behind her. Lexy took -off Caroline’s hat and coat and laid them on the bed.</p> - -<p>“I wonder if I’ll ever see her wearing them again!” she thought.</p> - -<p>For a long time she stood motionless, looking down at the things that -Caroline had worn. Most pitifully eloquent, they seemed to her—the hat -that had covered Caroline’s fair hair, the coat that had fitted her -slender shoulders. Lexy looked and looked, grave and sorrowful—and in -that moment her resolution was made.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to find her!” she said, half aloud. “I don’t care what any -one else does or what any one else thinks. I <i>know</i> she’s in trouble -of some sort, and I’m going to find her!”</p> - -<p>The last trace of what Lexy had called “mawkish self-pity” had -vanished now. She was no longer concerned with Mrs. Enderby’s attitude -toward herself. It didn’t matter. Finding another job didn’t matter, -either. She had a little money due her, and she meant to use it—every -penny of it—in finding Caroline.</p> - -<p>She washed her hands and face, brushed her hair, put on her own hat -and jacket, and went downstairs again. Mrs. Enderby was standing in -the tiny hall, and from the sitting room there came a sound of muffled -sobbing.</p> - -<p>“She is an imbecile, that woman!” said Mrs. Enderby, with a sigh; “but -she will hold her tongue. And you?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to do as I think best,” answered Lexy. “I’ll say good-by -now, Mrs. Enderby.”</p> - -<p>“There is no train until three o’clock. It is now after one. We shall -have lunch directly.”</p> - -<p>“No, thank you,” said Lexy. “I’d rather go now. I dare say I can find -something to eat in the village.”</p> - -<p>She was not in the least angry now, or hurt; only she wanted to get -away, by herself, to think this out.</p> - -<p>“Good-by?” repeated Mrs. Enderby, with a smile. “You think, then, -never to see me again?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Lexy. “I mean to see you again—when I have something to -tell you; but just now I want to go back and pack up my things.”</p> - -<p>“And leave my house?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>They were both silent for a moment. Then, to Lexy’s amazement, Mrs. -Enderby laid a hand gently on the girl’s shoulder.</p> - -<p>“My child,” she said, “you think I am a very hard woman. Perhaps it is -so; but, like you, I do what seems to me the right. Certainly it is -better now that you should leave us; but not like this. You must have -your lunch here, then you must return to the house and sleep there, -all in the usual way. To-morrow you shall go.” She paused a moment. -“You shall go, if you are still determined that you will not keep -faith with me.”</p> - -<p>It was not a very difficult matter to touch Lexy’s heart. Whatever -resentment she may have felt against Mrs. Enderby vanished now, lost -in a sincere pity and respect; but she was firm in her purpose.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to tell one person,” she said. “If I do, I shall be able to -tell you something you ought to know. I wish you could trust me! I -wish you could believe that all I’m thinking of is—Caroline!”</p> - -<p>“I do believe you,” said Mrs. Enderby. “You are very honest, and very, -very young. You wish to do good, but you do harm. Very well, my -child—I cannot stop you. Go your way, and I go mine; but”—she paused -again, and again smiled her faint, shadowy smile—“if I think it right -that you should be sacrificed, it shall be so. I am sorry. I have -affection for you. I shall be sorry if you stand in my way.”</p> - -<p>Lexy met her eyes steadily.</p> - -<p>“I’m sorry, too,” she said.</p> - -<p>And so she was. There was nothing in her heart now but sorrow for them -all—for Caroline, for Mrs. Enderby, for the luckless Mr. Houseman, -even for Miss Craigie; but most of all for Caroline.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to find her,” she thought, over and over again; “and <i>he’ll</i> -help me!”</p> - -<p>She had lunch in Miss Craigie’s cottage—a melancholy meal, with the -hostess red-eyed and dejected and Mrs. Enderby sternly silent. Then, -after lunch, poor Miss Craigie was sent out for a drive, in order to -get rid of the chauffeur while Lexy slipped out of the house and down -to the station.</p> - -<p>Everything went as Mrs. Enderby had willed it. Lexy caught the -designated train, and returned to the city. All the way in, her great -comfort was the thought of Mr. Houseman. He would help her. Now she -could tell him that Caroline had gone, and he would help her.</p> - -<p>“Of course, I’ve missed him to-day,” she thought; “but he’s sure to be -in the park again to-morrow. Perhaps he’ll telephone. He’s not the -sort to be easily discouraged, I’m sure.”</p> - -<p>It was dark when she reached the Grand Central, but, at the risk of -being late for dinner, Lexy chose to walk back to the house. She could -always think better when she was walking.</p> - -<p>“I want to get the thing in order in my own mind,” she reflected. -“Mrs. Enderby is so—confusing. Here’s the case—Mr. Houseman says -Caroline promised to meet him last night at a place called Wyngate, -and they were to be married. She left the house. This morning there -was a letter from her, postmarked Wyngate; but he says she didn’t go -there. Well, then, where did she go?”</p> - -<p>Impossible to answer that question with even the wildest surmise.</p> - -<p>“I’ll have to wait,” Lexy went on. “I’ll have to find out more from -Mr. Houseman. Perhaps they misunderstood each other. It’s no use -trying to guess. I’ll have to wait till I see him.”</p> - -<p>She recalled his honest, sunburned face with great good will. He was -her ally. He was young, like herself, not old and cautious and -deliberate. She liked him. She trusted him. In her loneliness and -anxiety, he seemed a friend.</p> - -<p>Annie opened the door with her customary air of disapproval.</p> - -<p>“Yes, miss,” she answered. “Mrs. Enderby came home in the car half an -hour ago. Dinner’ll be served in ten minutes. Here’s a letter for you. -A young man left it about twenty minutes ago.”</p> - -<p>“If I’d taken a taxi from Grand Central, I’d have seen him!” was -Lexy’s first thought.</p> - -<p>Even a letter was something, however, and she ran upstairs with it, -very much pleased. Of course, it was from Mr. Houseman. She locked the -door, and, standing against it, looked at the envelope. It was -addressed to “Miss Lexy” in a good clear hand. That made her smile, -remembering her first indignation that morning.</p> - -<p>The letter ran thus:</p> - -<blockquote> -<p style='text-indent:0'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Dear Miss Lexy:</span></p> - -<p>Please excuse me for addressing you like this, but I don’t know your -other name. I forgot to ask you.</p> - -<p>I waited in the park for you all afternoon. When it got dark, I -couldn’t stand it any longer, so I went to the house and asked for -Miss Enderby. The servant told me she had gone away to the country -with her mother this morning.</p> - -<p>Please tell Miss Enderby that I understand. I am sorry she didn’t tell -me before that she had changed her mind, instead of letting me wait -like that; but it’s finished now. Please tell her she can count on me -to hold my tongue, and never to bother her again in any way.</p> - -<p>We are sailing to-night, or I should have tried to see you to-morrow. -In case you have any message for me, you can address me at the -company’s office, J. J. Eames & Son, 99 State Street. I expect to be -back in about six weeks.</p> - -<div style='text-align:right;margin-right:4em;'>Very truly yours,</div> -<div style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Charles Houseman.</span></div> -</blockquote> -<p>“Sailing to-night!” cried Lexy. “Then he’s gone! He’s gone!”</p> - -<h2>VII</h2> - -<p>“So you are still of the same mind?” inquired Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>“More so, if anything,” Lexy answered seriously.</p> - -<p>It was after breakfast the next morning. Mr. Enderby had gone to his -office, and Mrs. Enderby and Lexy were alone in the dining room. There -was an odd sort of friendliness between them. Lexy felt no constraint -in asking questions.</p> - -<p>“There isn’t any letter this morning, is there, Mrs. Enderby?”</p> - -<p>“There is not.”</p> - -<p>“Then I suppose you’re going to tell Mr. Enderby?”</p> - -<p>“This evening.”</p> - -<p>“And then?”</p> - -<p>“Then I shall be guided by his advice,” Mrs. Enderby replied blandly.</p> - -<p>Lexy could have smiled at this. She knew how likely Mrs. Enderby was -to be guided by her husband; but she kept the smile and the thought to -herself.</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to interfere with your plans—” she began.</p> - -<p>“I have no plans.”</p> - -<p>“I mean, if you’re going to take steps to find her—”</p> - -<p>“My child,” said Mrs. Enderby, “it is clear that you wish to amuse -yourself with a grand mystery. I tell you there is no mystery, but you -do not believe me. I ask you to say nothing of this matter, but you -refuse. So I say to you now—go your own way, proceed with your -mystery. I do not think you can hurt me very much.”</p> - -<p>Lexy flushed.</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to hurt any one,” she declared stiffly. “I just want to -help your daughter.”</p> - -<p>“Proceed, then!” said Mrs. Enderby.</p> - -<p>Lexy rose.</p> - -<p>“Then I’ll say good-by, Mrs. Enderby,” she said. “My trunk’s packed. -I’ll send for it this afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“And where are you going in such a hurry?”</p> - -<p>“I’m going to Wyngate,” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Ah!” said Mrs. Enderby. “It is a pretty place, is it not?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know. I’ve never seen it.”</p> - -<p>“Pardon me—you saw it yesterday. It is a small village through which -we passed on the way to Miss Craigie’s house.”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t know that.”</p> - -<p>“Now that you do know, perhaps you will spare yourself the trouble of -going there,” said Mrs. Enderby. “I assure you you will not find -Caroline there. I myself made certain inquiries. No such person has -arrived in Wyngate.”</p> - -<p>There was a moment’s silence.</p> - -<p>“But I observe by your face that you are not convinced,” Mrs. Enderby -went on. “‘This Mrs. Enderby, she is a stupid old creature,’ you think -to yourself. ‘I shall go there myself, and I shall discover that which -she could not.’”</p> - -<p>Lexy reddened again.</p> - -<p>“I don’t mean it that way,” she said. “It’s only that we look at this -from different points of view, and I feel—I feel that I’ve got to go.”</p> - -<p>“Very well!” said Mrs. Enderby, and she, too, rose. “You will please -to come to my room with me. There is part of your salary to be paid to -you.”</p> - -<p>Lexy followed her, still flushed, and very reluctant. She wished she -could afford to refuse that money.</p> - -<p>“But I’ve earned it,” she thought; “and goodness knows I’ll need it!”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby sat down at her desk and took out her check book. While -she wrote, Lexy looked out of the window.</p> - -<p>“The amount due to you, including to-day, is thirty-two dollars,” said -Mrs. Enderby. “Here is a check for it.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>“One minute more! Here, my child, is another check.”</p> - -<p>Lexy stared at it, amazed. It was for one hundred dollars.</p> - -<p>“But, Mrs. Enderby, I can’t—”</p> - -<p>“You will please take it and say nothing more. I give you this because -I shall give you no reference. I shall answer no inquiries about you. -You understand?”</p> - -<p>“But I don’t want—”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby pushed back her chair, and rose. She crossed the room to -Lexy, put both hands on the girl’s shoulders, and then did something -far more astonishing than the gift of the check. She kissed Lexy on -the forehead.</p> - -<p>“Good-by, and God bless you, little honest one!” she said, with a -smile. “I think we shall not see each other again, but I shall -sometimes remember you. Go, now, and bear in mind that you can always -trust Miss Craigie. She is an imbecile, but she can be trusted. -<i>Adieu!</i>”</p> - -<p>Lexy’s eyes filled with tears.</p> - -<p>“<i>Au revoir!</i>” she said stoutly; and then, with one of her sudden -impulses, she put both arms around Mrs. Enderby’s neck and returned -her kiss vigorously. “I’m sorry!” she said. “I’m awfully sorry!”</p> - -<p>This was their parting. Lexy was thankful that it had been like this, -very glad that she could leave the house in good will and kindliness. -It strengthened her beyond measure. She wanted to help Caroline, and -she wanted to help Mrs. Enderby, too.</p> - -<p>“And I will!” she thought. “I know that I’m right and she’s wrong! -She’s rather terrible, too. Sometimes I think she’d almost rather not -find out the truth, if it was going to make what she calls a scandal. -She will have it that Caroline’s gone away of her own free will, to -get married; and if it’s anything else, she doesn’t want to know. She -<i>is</i> hard, but there’s something rather fine about her.”</p> - -<p>There was no one in the hall when Lexy left, and this was a relief, -for she supposed that Mrs. Enderby had told the servants, or would -tell them, that Miss Moran had been discharged.</p> - -<p>She went out and closed the door behind her. A fine, thin rain was -falling—nothing to daunt a healthy young creature like Lexy; yet she -wished that the sun had been shining. She wished that she hadn’t had -to leave the house in the rain, under a gray sky. Somehow it made her -only too well aware that she was homeless now, and alone.</p> - -<p>As was her habit when depressed, she set off to walk briskly; and by -the time she reached the Grand Central her cheeks were glowing and her -heart considerably less heavy. She learned that she had nearly three -hours to wait for the next train to Wyngate; so she bought her ticket, -checked her bag, and went out again.</p> - -<p>In a near-by department store she bought a little chamois pocket. Then -she went to the bank, cashed both her checks, and, putting the bills -into her pocket, hung it around her neck inside her blouse. It was -very comfortable to have so much money.</p> - -<p>Then, only as a forlorn hope, she rang up the offices of J. J. Eames & -Son, on State Street.</p> - -<p>“I don’t suppose they keep track of their passengers,” she thought; -“but it can’t do any harm.”</p> - -<p>So, when she got the connection, she asked politely:</p> - -<p>“Could you possibly tell me where Mr. Charles Houseman has gone?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly!” answered an equally polite voice at the other end of the -wire. “Just a moment, please! You mean Mr. Houseman, second officer on -the Mazell?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” said Lexy, surprised. “Has he blue eyes?”</p> - -<p>There was an instant’s silence. Then the voice spoke again, a little -unsteadily.</p> - -<p>“I—I believe so.”</p> - -<p>“He’s laughing at me!” thought Lexy indignantly, and her voice became -severely dignified.</p> - -<p>“Can you tell me where the—the Mazell has gone?”</p> - -<p>“Lisbon and Gibraltar. We expect her back in about five weeks.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you!” said Lexy. “And that’s that!” she added, to herself. “So -he’s a sailor! I rather like sailors. Well, anyhow, he’s gone.” She -sighed. “Carry on!” she said.</p> - -<p>She went into a tea room on Forty-Second Street and ordered herself a -very good lunch.</p> - -<p>“Much better than I can afford,” she thought. “Goodness knows what’s -going to happen to me! Here I am, without visible means of support. I -suppose I’m an idiot. Lots of people would say so. They’d say I ought -to be looking for a new job this instant; but I don’t care! I’m not -going back on Caroline. Mrs. Enderby won’t do anything, and Mr. -Houseman’s gone away, and there’s nobody but me. Perhaps I can’t do -very much, but, by jiminy, I’m going to try!”</p> - -<p>There was still an hour to spare, and she passed it in a fashion she -had often scornfully denounced. She went shopping—without buying. She -wandered through a great department store, looking at all sorts of -things. Some of them she wanted, but she resolutely told herself that -she was better off without them.</p> - -<p>Then, at the proper time, she went back to the Grand Central, -recovered her bag, bought herself two or three magazines and a bar of -chocolate, and boarded the train. For all that she tried to be so cool -and sensible, she could not help feeling a queer little thrill of -excitement. Her quest had begun, and she could not in any way foresee -the end.</p> - -<h2>VIII</h2> - -<p>Now it certainly was not Lexy’s way to take any great interest in -strange young men. There was not a trace of coquetry in her honest -heart, and she had always looked upon the little flirtations of her -friends with distaste and wonder.</p> - -<p>“<i>I’m</i> not romantic!” she had said more than once.</p> - -<p>She believed that. She would have denied indignantly that her present -mission was romantic. She thought it a matter-of-course thing which -she was in honor bound to do for her friend Caroline Enderby. She felt -that she was very cool and practical about it, and a mighty sensible -sort of girl altogether.</p> - -<p>Certainly she saw the young man on the train, for her alert glance saw -pretty well everything. She saw him, and she thought she had never set -eyes on a handsomer man.</p> - -<p>He was very tall, and slenderly and strongly built. He was dressed -with fastidious perfection, and he had an air of marked distinction. -In short, he was a man whom any one would look at—and remember; but -Lexy, the unromantic girl, thought him inferior to the blue-eyed Mr. -Houseman. She preferred young Houseman’s blunt, sunburned face to the -dark and haughty one of this stranger. She simply was not interested -in dark and haughty strangers, however distinguished and handsome. She -looked at this one, and then returned to her magazines.</p> - -<p>She had a weakness for detective stories, and she was reading one -now—reading it in the proper spirit, uncritical and absorbed. Whenever -the train stopped at a station, she glanced up, and more than once, as -she turned her head, she caught the stranger’s eye. She wondered, -later on, why she hadn’t had some sort of premonition. People in -stories always did. They always recognized at once the other people -who were going to be in the story with them; but Lexy did not. Even -toward the end of the journey, when she and the stranger were the only -ones left in the car, she was not aware of any interest in him.</p> - -<p>Even when he, too, got out at Wyngate, Lexy was not specially -interested. It was only a little after five o’clock, but it was dark -already on that rainy afternoon, and the only thing that interested -her just then was the sight of a solitary taxi drawn up beside the -platform. Bag in hand, she hurried toward it, but the stranger got -there before her. When she arrived, he was speaking to the driver.</p> - -<p>There was no other taxi or vehicle of any sort in sight, no other -lights were visible except those of the station. It was a strange and -unknown world upon which she looked in the rainy dusk, and she felt a -justifiable annoyance with the ungallant stranger. He jumped into the -cab and slammed the door.</p> - -<p>“Driver!” cried Lexy. “Will you please come back for me?”</p> - -<p>But before the driver could answer, the door of the cab opened, and -the stranger sprang out.</p> - -<p>“I <i>beg</i> your pardon!” he said, standing hat in hand before Lexy. “I’m -most awfully sorry! Give you my word I didn’t notice. I should have -noticed, of course. Absent-minded sort of beggar, you know! Please -take the cab, won’t you? I don’t in the least mind waiting. Please -take it! Allow me!”</p> - -<p>He tried to take her bag. His manner was not at all haughty. On the -contrary, it was a very agreeable manner, and the impulsive Lexy liked -him.</p> - -<p>“Why can’t we both go?” said she.</p> - -<p>“Oh, no!” he protested. “Please take the cab! Give you my word I don’t -mind waiting.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a dismal place to wait in,” said Lexy. “We can both go, just as -well as not.”</p> - -<p>The driver approved of Lexy’s idea. It saved him trouble.</p> - -<p>“Where do you want to go, miss?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” said Lexy. “I suppose there’s a hotel, isn’t there?”</p> - -<p>“I say!” exclaimed the stranger. “Just what I’d been asking him, you -know! He says there’s no hotel, but a very decent boarding house.”</p> - -<p>“Mis’ Royce’s,” added the driver. “She takes boarders.”</p> - -<p>“All right!” said Lexy cheerfully. “Miss Royce’s it is!”</p> - -<p>The stranger took her bag, and put it into the taxi. He would have -assisted Lexy, but she was already inside; so he, too, got in. He -closed the door, and off they went.</p> - -<p>“I <i>am</i> sorry, you know,” he said, “shoving ahead like that; but I -didn’t notice—”</p> - -<p>“Well, please stop being sorry now,” requested Lexy firmly.</p> - -<p>“Right-o!” said he. “You won’t mind my saying you’ve been wonderfully -nice about it?”</p> - -<p>“No, I don’t mind that a bit,” replied Lexy. “I like to be wonderfully -nice.”</p> - -<p>There was a moment’s silence.</p> - -<p>“Will you allow me to introduce myself?” said the stranger. “Grey, you -know—George Grey—Captain Grey, you know.”</p> - -<p>“Captain of a ship?” asked Lexy, with interest. She thought she would -like to talk about ships.</p> - -<p>“Oh, no!” said he, rather shocked. “Army—British army—stationed in -India.”</p> - -<p>“I knew you were an Englishman.”</p> - -<p>“Did you really?” said he, as if surprised. “People do seem to know. -My first visit to your country—six months’ leave—so I’ve come here to -see my sister—Mrs. Quelton. She’s married to an American doctor.”</p> - -<p>Lexy thought there was something almost pathetic in his chivalrous -anxiety to explain himself.</p> - -<p>“I’m Alexandra Moran,” she said.</p> - -<p>“Thank you!” said Captain Grey. “Thank you very much, Miss Moran!”</p> - -<p>There was no opportunity for further polite conversation, for the taxi -had stopped and the driver came around to the door.</p> - -<p>“Better make a run fer it!” he said. “I’ll take yer bags.”</p> - -<p>So Captain Grey took Lexy’s arm, and they did make a run for it, -through the fine, chilly rain, along a garden path and up on a -veranda. The door was opened at once.</p> - -<p>“Miss Royce?” asked Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Royce,” said the other. “Come right in. My, how it does rain!”</p> - -<p>They followed her into a dimly lit hall. She opened a door on the -right, and lit the gas in what was obviously the “best parlor”—a -dreadful room, stiff and ugly, and smelling of camphor and dampness. -Captain Grey remained in the hall to settle with the driver, and Lexy -decided to let her share of the reckoning wait for a more auspicious -occasion. She went into the parlor with Mrs. Royce.</p> - -<p>“You and your husband just come from the city?” inquired the landlady.</p> - -<p>“He’s not my husband,” replied Lexy, with a laugh. “I never set eyes -on him before. There was only one taxi, and we were both looking for a -hotel. The driver said you took boarders, and that’s how we happened -to come together.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t take boarders much, ’cept in the summer time,” said Mrs. -Royce. She was a stout, comfortable sort of creature, gray-haired, and -very neat in her dark dress and clean white apron. She had a kindly, -good-humored face, too, but she had a landlady’s eye. “People don’t -come here much, this time of year,” she went on. “Nothing to bring ’em -here.”</p> - -<p>These last words were a challenge to Lexy to explain her business, and -she was prepared.</p> - -<p>“I passed through here the other day in a motor,” she said, “on my way -to Adams Corners, and I thought it looked like such a nice, quiet -place for me to work in. I’m a writer, you know, and I thought Wyngate -would just suit me.”</p> - -<p>“I was born and raised out to Adams Corners,” said Mrs. Royce. “Guess -there’s no one living out there that I don’t know.”</p> - -<p>“Then perhaps you know Miss Craigie?”</p> - -<p>“Miss Margaret Craigie? I should say I did! If you’re a friend of -hers—”</p> - -<p>“Only an acquaintance,” said Lexy cautiously.</p> - -<p>“Set down!” suggested Mrs. Royce, very cordial now. “I’ll light a nice -wood fire. A writer, are you? Well, well! And the gentleman—I wonder, -now, what brings him here!”</p> - -<p>“He told me he’d come to see his sister,” said Lexy. “Mrs. Quelton, I -think he said.”</p> - -<p>“Quelton!” cried the landlady. “You didn’t say Quelton? Not the -doctor’s wife?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said the captain’s voice from the doorway. “Nothing happened to -her, has there? Nothing gone wrong?”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce stared at him with the most profound interest, and he -stared back at her, somewhat uneasily.</p> - -<p>“No,” said she, at last. “No—only—well, I’m sure!”</p> - -<p>There was a silence.</p> - -<p>“Could we possibly have a little supper?” asked Lexy politely.</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed you can!” said Mrs. Royce. “Right away!” But still she -lingered. “Mrs. Quelton’s brother!” she said. “Well, I never!”</p> - -<p>Then she tore herself away, leaving Lexy and Captain Grey alone in the -parlor.</p> - -<p>“Seems to bother her,” he said. “I wonder why!”</p> - -<p>Lexy was also wondering, and longing to ask questions, but she felt -that it wouldn’t be good manners.</p> - -<p>“People in small places like this are always awfully curious,” she -observed.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said he; “and Muriel may be a bit eccentric, you know. I rather -imagine she is, from her letters. I’ve never seen her.”</p> - -<p>“Never seen your own sister!”</p> - -<p>Lexy would certainly have asked questions now, manners or no manners, -only that Mrs. Royce entered the room again, to fulfill her promise to -make a “nice wood fire.” Amazing, the difference it made in the room! -The ugliness and stiffness vanished in the ruddy glow. It seemed a -delightful room, now, homely and welcoming and safe.</p> - -<p>“It’s real cozy here,” said Mrs. Royce, “on a night like this. I’m -sorry the dining room’s so kind of chilly.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, can’t we have supper here, by the fire?” cried Lexy. “Please! -We’ll promise not to get any crumbs on your nice carpet, Mrs. Royce!”</p> - -<p>“I guess you can,” replied the landlady benevolently.</p> - -<p>And so it happened that the ancient magic of fire was invoked in -Lexy’s behalf. Probably, if she and Captain Grey had had their supper -in the chilly dining room, they would have been a little chilly, too, -and more cautious. They might not have said all that they did say.</p> - -<h2>IX</h2> - -<p>It was an excellent supper, and Captain Grey and Lexy thoroughly -appreciated it. They ate with healthy appetites, and they talked. Mrs. -Royce, from the kitchen, heard their cheerful, friendly voices, and -their laughter, and she didn’t for one moment believe that they had -never met before. Listening to them, she wore that benevolent smile -once more, and felt sure that she had encountered a very charming -little romance.</p> - -<p>It was all Lexy’s doing. It was Lexy’s beautiful talent, to be able to -create this atmosphere of honest and happy <i>camaraderie</i>. Before the -meal was finished, Captain Grey was talking to her as if they had -known each other since childhood, and he didn’t even wonder at it. It -seemed perfectly natural.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce came in to take away the dishes.</p> - -<p>“Going to set here a while?” she asked, looking at the two young -people with a smile of approval. “I’ll bring in some more wood.” She -hesitated a moment, and the landladyish glimmer again appeared in her -eyes. “If it was me,” she observed, in the most casual way, “the -fire’d be enough light. If it was me, now, I wouldn’t want that gas -flaring and blaring away—and burning up good money,” she added, to -herself.</p> - -<p>“You’re right,” Lexy cheerfully agreed. “We’ll turn it down.”</p> - -<p>The rain was falling fast outside, driving against the windows when -the wind blew; and inside the young people sat by the fire, very -content.</p> - -<p>“Queer thing!” said Captain Grey meditatively. “Never been in this -place before—never been in this country before—and yet it’s like -coming home!”</p> - -<p>“I know that feeling,” said Lexy. “I’ve had it before. I think only -people who haven’t any real homes of their own ever have it.”</p> - -<p>“But haven’t you any real home?” he asked, evidently distressed.</p> - -<p>“No,” she answered; “but please don’t think it’s tragic. It’s not.”</p> - -<p>“You haven’t impressed me as tragic,” he admitted.</p> - -<p>Lexy laughed.</p> - -<p>“Thank goodness!” she said. “I do want to keep on being—well, ordinary -and human, even when outside things seem a little tragic.”</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran!” he said, and stopped.</p> - -<p>It was some time before he spoke again. Lexy took advantage of his -abstraction to study his face by the firelight. When you come to -understand it a little, it wasn’t a haughty face at all, but a very -sensitive and fine one.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran!” he said again. “About being ordinary and human—of -course, one wants to be that; but the thing is—I don’t know quite how -to put it, but if you have a feeling, you know—I mean a feeling that -something is wrong—” He paused again.</p> - -<p>“I mean,” he went on, “if you have a feeling like that—a sort of—well, -call it uneasiness—the question is whether one ought to laugh at it, -or take it as”—once more he stopped—“as a warning,” he ended.</p> - -<p>A strange sensation came over Lexy.</p> - -<p>“I’ve been thinking a good deal about that very thing lately,” she -replied. “I believe feelings like that <i>are</i> a warning. I’m sure it’s -wrong—foolish and wrong—to disregard them. Even if every one else, -even if your own mind tells you it’s all nonsense, you mustn’t care!”</p> - -<p>“I think you’re right,” he gravely agreed. “I’ve been trying to tell -myself that I’m an utter ass, but all the time I knew I wasn’t. I -knew—I know now—that there’s something—”</p> - -<p>An unreasoning dread possessed Lexy. She felt for a moment that she -didn’t want to hear any more.</p> - -<p>“I’d like to tell you about it, if you wouldn’t mind,” he said. -“Somehow I think you could help.”</p> - -<p>For an instant she hesitated.</p> - -<p>“Please do tell me,” she said at length. “I’d be glad to help, if I -can.”</p> - -<p>“It’s this,” he said. “Do you mind if I smoke? Thanks!”</p> - -<p>He took a cigarette case from his pocket. As he struck a match, she -could see his face very clearly in the sudden flame; and, for no -reason at all, she pitied him.</p> - -<p>“It’s this,” he said again. “It’s about my sister.”</p> - -<p>“The sister you’ve never seen?”</p> - -<p>The sensation of dread had gone, and she felt only the liveliest -interest. She wanted very much to hear about Captain Grey’s sister.</p> - -<p>“It wasn’t quite true to say I’d never seen her,” he explained, in his -painstaking way. “I have, you know; but not since I was six years old -and she was a baby. Our mother died when Muriel was born, out in -India. An aunt took the poor little kid to the States with her, and I -stayed out there with my father.”</p> - -<p>He drew on his cigarette for a minute.</p> - -<p>“She’s twenty-one now,” he said. “Last picture I had of her was when -she was fourteen or so. A pretty kid—a bit more than pretty—what you’d -call lovely.”</p> - -<p>He was silent for a little, staring into the fire.</p> - -<p>“When I was at school in England, it was arranged that she was to come -over; but she didn’t, and we’ve never met again. Twenty-one years—it’s -a long time.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it is,” said Lexy gently, for something in his voice touched -her.</p> - -<p>“We’ve written to each other, on and off. I’m not much good at that -sort of thing, but I thought her letters were—well, rather remarkable, -you know; but I dare say I’m prejudiced. She’s the only one of my own -people left.”</p> - -<p>“You poor, dear thing!” thought Lexy, with ready sympathy, but she did -not say anything.</p> - -<p>“Anyhow,” he presently continued, “I got an impression from her -letters that she was rather an extraordinary girl. She was studying -music—said she was going on the concert stage—awfully enthusiastic -about it; and then she married this doctor chap. She never said much -about him, only that she was very happy; but—well, I don’t believe -that.”</p> - -<p>“Why?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know. Anyhow, she was married about two years ago, and a few -months after her marriage she began writing oftener—almost every mail. -She was always wanting me to come over here and see her; and lately, -in her last letters, I—somehow I fancied she wanted me rather badly. -It—it worried me, so I arranged for leave. On the very day when I -wrote that I would be coming over this month, I had a letter from her, -asking me not to make any plans for coming this year. She said she’d -taken up her concert work again, and would be too busy to enjoy the -visit, and so on. I’d already made my plans, you see, so I went ahead. -Then, about a fortnight later, after she’d got my letter, I suppose, I -had a cable. ‘Don’t come,’ it said. I cabled back, but she didn’t -answer.”</p> - -<p>He looked anxiously at Lexy, but she said nothing. She sat very still, -curled up in a big chair, staring into the fire with an odd look of -uncertainty on her face.</p> - -<p>“You know,” he went on, “I’ve tried to think that she was simply too -busy, or something of that sort. But, Miss Moran, didn’t this woman’s -manner rather make you think there was something a bit—out of the -way?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t know,” replied Lexy, in a casual tone which very much -disconcerted him.</p> - -<p>“I’ve been making a fool of myself!” he thought, flushing. “Why the -devil didn’t I keep my old-woman notions to myself? Now she’ll think—”</p> - -<p>But Lexy was not thinking that Captain Grey was a fool. She was only -very much afraid of being one herself, and was engaged in a severe -struggle against this danger. That dread, that vague and oppressive -dread, had come back, and she was fighting to throw it off. She wanted -to be, she <i>would</i> be, her own normal, cheerful self again, living in -a normal, everyday world.</p> - -<p>“All this about his sister, and about Caroline!” she thought. “It’s -really nothing—nothing serious. Our both being here in Wyngate—that’s -nothing, either. It’s just a coincidence. If the gas wasn’t turned -down, I wouldn’t feel like this.”</p> - -<p>She would have risen and turned up the gas, only that she was ashamed -to do so. The fire was blazing merrily, shedding a ruddy light upon -the homely room, the most commonplace room in the world. There was -Captain Grey sitting there smoking—just an ordinary young man come to -visit his sister. There was herself—just Lexy Moran, well fed and warm -and comfortable, with more than a hundred dollars in a bag round her -neck. She could hear Mrs. Royce moving about in the kitchen, humming -to herself in a low drone.</p> - -<p>“I will <i>not</i> be silly!” she told herself.</p> - -<p>And just then a train whistled—a long, melancholy shriek. Lexy had a -sudden vision of it, rushing through the dark and the rain. She had a -sudden realization of the outside world, vast, lonely, terrible, -stretching from pole to pole—forests, and plains, and oceans. The -monstrous folly of pretending that everything was snug and warm and -cozy! Things did happen—only cowards denied that.</p> - -<p>“Captain Grey!” she cried abruptly. “What you’ve told me—it <i>is</i> -queer; and it’s even queerer when I think what has brought me here to -this little place. Both of us here, in Wyngate! I think I’ll tell -you.”</p> - -<p>And she did.</p> - -<p>He listened in absolute silence to the tale of Caroline Enderby’s -disappearance. Even after Lexy had finished, it was some time before -he spoke.</p> - -<p>“I’ll try to help you,” he said simply.</p> - -<p>“Oh, thank you!” cried Lexy, with a rush of gratitude. She wanted some -one to help her, and she could imagine no one better for the purpose -than this young man. He would help her—she was sure of it. Even the -fact of having told him most wonderfully lightened her burden. She -gave an irrepressible little giggle.</p> - -<p>“We have almost all the ingredients for a first-class mystery story,” -she said; “except the jewel—the famous ruby, or the great diamond.”</p> - -<p>“It’s an emerald, in this case,” said Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>Lexy straightened up in her chair, and stared at him.</p> - -<p>“You don’t really mean that?” she demanded. “There isn’t really an -emerald?” He smiled.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid it hasn’t much to do with the case—with either of the -cases,” he said; “but there is an emerald—my sister’s.”</p> - -<p>“It didn’t come from India?”</p> - -<p>“It did, though!”</p> - -<p>“Don’t tell me it was stolen from a temple! That would be too good to -be true!”</p> - -<p>“I’m sorry,” he said; “but as far as I know, it’s never been stolen at -all, and its history for the last eighty years hasn’t been sinister. -One of the old rajahs gave it to my grandfather—a reward of merit, you -know. When my father married, it went to my mother. She never had any -trouble with it. She never wore it, because she didn’t like it.”</p> - -<p>“Why?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you see, it’s an ostentatious sort of thing, and she wasn’t -ostentatious.” He paused a moment. “My father told me, before he died, -that he wanted Muriel to have it when she was eighteen; and so, three -years ago, I sent it over to her.”</p> - -<p>“But how?”</p> - -<p>“You’re a good detective,” said he, smiling again. “You don’t miss any -of the points. It was a bit of a problem, how to send the thing; but I -had the luck to find some people I knew who were coming over here, and -they brought it. So that’s that!”</p> - -<p>“An emerald!” said Lexy. “This is almost too much! I think I’ll say -good night, Captain Grey. I need sleep.”</p> - -<p>As she followed Mrs. Royce up the stairs, she saw Captain Grey still -sitting before the fire, smoking; and it was a comforting sight.</p> - -<h2>X</h2> - -<p>Lexy slept late the next morning. It was nearly nine o’clock when she -opened her eyes. She lay for a few minutes, looking about her. The -gray light of another rainy day filled the neat, unfamiliar little -room, and outside the window she could see the branches of a little -pear tree rocking in the wind.</p> - -<p>“I’m here in Wyngate,” she said to herself. “I was bent on coming here -to find Caroline; and now, here I am, and how am I going to begin?”</p> - -<p>She got up, and washed in cold water, in a queer, old-fashioned china -basin painted with flowers. She brushed her shining hair, and dressed, -feeling more hopeful every minute.</p> - -<p>“One step at a time!” she thought. “The first step was to come here; -and the next step—well, I’ll think of it after breakfast. Perhaps -Captain Grey will have thought of something.”</p> - -<p>But Captain Grey had gone out.</p> - -<p>“Jest a few minutes ago,” Mrs. Royce informed her. “He was down real -early—around seven, and he waited and waited for you. At half past -eight he et, and off he went.”</p> - -<p>“Did he say when he’d be back?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Mrs. Royce. “He didn’t say much of anything. He’s a kind of -quiet young man, ain’t he? Well, he’d ought to get on with his sister, -then.”</p> - -<p>“Is she very quiet?” asked Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Quiet!” repeated Mrs. Royce. “Set down an’ begin to eat, Miss Moran. -I’ve fixed a real nice tasty breakfast for you, if I do say it as -shouldn’t. Corn gems, too. Mis’ Quelton quiet? I should say she was! -Quiet as”—she paused—“as the dead,” she went on, and the phrase made -an unpleasant impression upon Lexy. “An’ her husband, too. I never saw -the like of them. They never come into the village, an’ nobody ever -goes out there to the Tower. About twice a week the doctor drives into -Lymewell—the town below here—and he buys a lot of food an’ all, an’ he -goes home. I can see him out of my front winder, an’ the sight of him, -driving along in that black buggy of his—it gives me the shivers!”</p> - -<p>“But if he’s a doctor—”</p> - -<p>“Don’t ask <i>me</i> what kind of doctor he is, Miss Moran! He don’t go to -see the sick—that’s all I know.”</p> - -<p>“But his wife—what is she like?”</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran,” said the landlady, with profound impressiveness, “I -guess there ain’t three people in Wyngate that’s ever set eyes on -her!”</p> - -<p>“But how awfully queer!”</p> - -<p>“You may well say ‘queer,’” said Mrs. Royce. “There she stays, out in -that lonely place—never seeing a soul from one month’s end to another. -She’s a young woman, too—young, an’ just as pretty as a picture.”</p> - -<p>“Then you are—”</p> - -<p>“I’m one of the few that has seen her,” said Mrs. Royce, with a sort -of grim satisfaction. “That’s why I take a kind of special interest in -her. I seen her the night the doctor brought her here to Wyngate a -young bride. That’ll be three years ago this winter, but I remember it -as plain as plain. There was a terrible snowstorm, and he couldn’t git -out to his place, so he had to bring her here, and she sat right in -this very room, just where you’re sitting.”</p> - -<p>Instinctively Lexy looked behind her.</p> - -<p>“I feel that same way myself—as if she was a ghost,” said Mrs. Royce -solemnly. “Near three years ago, and her living only three miles off, -an’ I’ve never set eyes on her again. I’ve never forgotten her, -though, the sweet pretty young creature!”</p> - -<p>“But why do you suppose she lives like that?”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce came nearer.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran,” she said, “that doctor is crazy. I’m not the only one to -say it. He’s as crazy—hush, now! Here’s that poor young man!”</p> - -<p>The “poor young man” came into the room, with that very nice smile of -his.</p> - -<p>“Good morning!” he said. “I say, I’m sorry I didn’t wait for you a bit -longer, Miss Moran.”</p> - -<p>“I’m glad you didn’t,” said Lexy. “I’d have felt awfully guilty.”</p> - -<p>“I went out to telephone,” he explained. “Thought I’d tell Muriel I -was here, you know; but they have no telephone. Dashed odd, isn’t it, -for a doctor not to have a telephone in the house?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think he’s a real doctor—a physician, I mean,” said Lexy. She -glanced around and saw that Mrs. Royce had gone. Springing up, she -crossed the room to Captain Grey. “Has Mrs. Royce—has any one said -anything to you?” she asked, almost in a whisper.</p> - -<p>“No!” answered the young man, startled. “Why? What’s up?”</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Royce says—I suppose I really ought to tell you.”</p> - -<p>“No doubt about it!”</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Royce says Dr. Quelton is crazy!”</p> - -<p>Captain Grey took the news very coolly. Lexy observed that he -suppressed a smile.</p> - -<p>“Oh, that!” he said. “But you know, Miss Moran, in these little -villages any one who’s at all out of the ordinary is called crazy. -I’ve noticed it before. I can soon find out for myself, though, can’t -I? I thought, if you didn’t want me this morning, I’d go over -there—pay a call, you know. I understand it’s three miles from here, -so I shouldn’t be very long. I’d come back here for lunch.”</p> - -<p>“But, Captain Grey, you mustn’t think I expect you to—”</p> - -<p>“It’s not that,” he said. “Only you said you’d let me help you in your -little job, and I want to!” He smiled down at her. “So,” he said, -“I’ll be back for lunch;” and off he went.</p> - -<p>Lexy went to the window and looked out. She saw Captain Grey striding -off up the muddy road, perfectly indifferent to the rain, and -curiously elegant, in spite of his wet weather clothes. She was -thinking of him with great friendliness and appreciation; but she was -not thinking of him in the least as Mrs. Royce imagined she was -thinking.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce stood in the doorway, watching Lexy watch Captain Grey, -smiling and even beaming with benevolence; but she would have been -disappointed if she had suspected what was in Lexy’s head.</p> - -<p>“He’s awfully nice,” thought Lexy, “and awfully handsome, and I’m -certain that he’s absolutely trustworthy and honorable, but—”</p> - -<p>But somehow he wasn’t to be compared to Mr. Houseman. She knew -practically nothing about Mr. Houseman. She had talked with him for -five or ten minutes in the park, and his conversation had been -entirely about Caroline Enderby. He had shown himself to be -quick-tempered and sadly lacking in patience. He had written Lexy a -stiff, offended, boyish letter, and then he had disappeared. There was -no sensible reason in the world why she should think of him as she -did, no reason why she should hope so much to see him again; but she -did.</p> - -<p>“Well, now!” said Mrs. Royce, at last. “You’ll be wanting a nice quiet -place for your writing.”</p> - -<p>“Writing!” said Lexy. “I never—” She stopped herself just in time, -remembering her shocking falsehood of the night before. “I never care -much where I write,” she ended.</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ve fixed up the sewing room for you,” said Mrs. Royce. “I’ve -put a nice strong table in there with drawers, where you can keep your -papers an’ all.”</p> - -<p>“You’re a dear!” said Lexy warmly.</p> - -<p>She said this because she thought it, and without the least -calculation. She liked Mrs. Royce, and when she liked people she told -them so. That was what made people love her.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce was completely won.</p> - -<p>“I’m real glad to do it for you,” she said. “I won’t bother you, -neither, while you’re working. I know how it is with writing. My -cousin, now—her husband was writing for the movies, an’ he was that -upset if he was disturbed!”</p> - -<p>Still conversing with great affability, Mrs. Royce led the reluctant -writer upstairs to the small room prepared for her, and shut her in. -Lexy sat down in a chair before the workmanlike table, and grinned -ruefully. She had said she was a writer, and now she had to be one.</p> - -<p>“Well,” she reflected, “here’s a chance to write to Mr. Houseman, -anyhow.”</p> - -<p>She never had the least difficulty in writing letters. For one reason, -she never bothered about them unless she had something to say, and -then she said it, briefly and lucidly, and was done. She told Mr. -Houseman all she knew about Caroline’s disappearance, and explained -that she had gone out to Wyngate in the hope of picking up some trace -of her.</p> - -<p>“Of course,” she wrote, “I don’t know whether I’ll still be here when -you get back. If I’ve gone, I’ll leave my address with Mrs. Royce, in -case you should want to communicate with me.”</p> - -<p>This was admirable, so far; but, reading it over, Lexy was not -satisfied. She remembered the misery, the trouble and anxiety, in Mr. -Houseman’s blue eyes. She imagined him sailing the seas, bitterly hurt -because he thought Caroline had changed her mind. She thought of him -coming back and getting this letter, to revive .all his alarm for -Caroline. This wasn’t, after all, a business letter. She took up her -pen again, and added:</p> - -<blockquote> -<p>I think I can imagine how you feel about all this, and I am more sorry -than I can tell you. I hope we shall meet soon.</p> - -</blockquote> -<p>This last phrase rather astonished her. She hadn’t meant to write just -that. She picked up the letter, intending to tear it up and write -another; but she thought better of it.</p> - -<p>“No!” she said to herself. “Let it stay. It’s true; why shouldn’t I -hope that we’ll meet again?”</p> - -<p>So she addressed the letter and sealed it, and then sat looking out of -the window at the rain. It was a hopeless sort of rain, faint and -fine—a hopeless, melancholy world, without color or promise.</p> - -<p>“I’d better take a walk!” thought Lexy, springing up.</p> - -<p>Before she reached the door there was a knock, and Mrs. Royce put her -head in.</p> - -<p>“He’s here!” she whispered. “He’s asking for you.”</p> - -<p>“Who?” cried Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Hush! The doctor!” answered Mrs. Royce. “You could ’a’ knocked me -down with a feather!”</p> - -<h2>XI</h2> - -<p>Feathers would not have knocked down the sturdy Lexy, however. On the -contrary, she was pleased and interested by this utterly unexpected -visit. The sinister doctor here, in this house, and asking for her! -She started promptly toward the stairs.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran!” cautioned the landlady, in a whisper. “Don’t tell him -nothing!”</p> - -<p>“Tell him!” said Lexy. “But I haven’t anything to tell!”</p> - -<p>“Well, you’d best be very careful!” said Mrs. Royce.</p> - -<p>With this solemn warning in her ears, Lexy descended the stairs. She -saw Dr. Quelton standing in the hall, hat in hand, waiting for her. -The doctor was rather a disappointment. He was not the dark, sinister -figure he should have been. He was a big man, powerfully built, with a -clumsy stoop to his tremendous shoulders. His heavy, clean-shaven face -would have been an agreeable one if it had not been for its -expression, but that expression was not at all an alarming or -dangerous one. It was an expression of the most utter and hopeless -boredom.</p> - -<p>He came toward her.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran?” he asked.</p> - -<p>Even his voice was listless, and his glance was without a spark of -interest.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said she.</p> - -<p>“My brother-in-law, Captain Grey, told us you were here, and I did -myself the honor of calling,” he went on.</p> - -<p>“You certainly were quick about it!” thought Lexy. “Captain Grey -couldn’t have reached his sister’s house an hour ago, and it’s three -miles from here. Won’t you come into the sitting room?” she asked -aloud.</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” he replied, and followed Lexy into the decorous and -dismal room.</p> - -<p>He sat down opposite her in a small chair that cracked under his -weight, and he smiled a bored and extinguished smile.</p> - -<p>“A writer, I believe?” he said.</p> - -<p>“Well, yes, in a way,” answered Lexy, growing a little red.</p> - -<p>“My wife and I were very much interested,” he went on, with as little -interest as a human being may well display. “We don’t have many -newcomers here. It’s a very quiet place.”</p> - -<p>His apathetic manner exasperated Lexy.</p> - -<p>“But I don’t care how quiet it is,” she observed.</p> - -<p>“My wife and I like a quiet life,” he said. “My wife asked me to -explain, Miss Moran, that she is something of a recluse. Her health -prevents her from calling upon you; but she wished me to say that she -would be very happy to see you at the Tower, whenever it may be -convenient for you to call, any afternoon after four o’clock.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” replied Lexy. “Please thank Mrs. Quelton. I shall be very -pleased to come.”</p> - -<p>And now why didn’t he go away? This visit was apparently a painful -duty for him. He had delivered his message, and yet he lingered.</p> - -<p>“A very quiet place,” he repeated; “but perhaps you are not sociably -inclined?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’m sociable enough—at times,” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>“But at the present time you prefer solitude? For the purposes of your -work? As a change from the stimulating atmosphere of the city?”</p> - -<p>Any mention of her work made Lexy uncomfortable.</p> - -<p>“Well, yes,” she answered in a dubious tone.</p> - -<p>“I lived in New York myself for a number of years,” he went on. “I -wonder if you—may I ask what part of the city you lived in, Miss -Moran?”</p> - -<p>Lexy hesitated, and she meant him to see that she hesitated. After -all, however, it was not an unnatural or impertinent question, and she -couldn’t very well refuse to answer it.</p> - -<p>“In the East Sixties, near the park,” she said. “It wasn’t my own -home, though—I was a companion,” she added.</p> - -<p>She always liked people to know that. She was far from being cynical, -but she was aware that this information made a difference—to some -people.</p> - -<p>She was astonished to see the difference it made in Dr. Quelton. He -raised his black, weary eyes to her face and stared at her with -unmistakable insolence.</p> - -<p>“Ah!” he said. “I see! I thought so!”</p> - -<p>There was a moment’s silence.</p> - -<p>“And you’ve come to Wyngate to—er—to write?” he went on. “Very -interesting—very!”</p> - -<p>Lexy felt her cheeks grow hot. She wished with all her heart that she -had not involved herself in that stupid falsehood. It humiliated her -so much that she couldn’t answer Dr. Quelton with her usual spirit. He -noticed her confusion—no doubt about that.</p> - -<p>“Poetry, perhaps?” he suggested.</p> - -<p>“No!” said Lexy vehemently. “Not poetry!”</p> - -<p>He leaned forward a little, looking directly into her face.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps,” he said, “you write detective stories?”</p> - -<p>“Yes!” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>The doctor rose.</p> - -<p>“The solving of mysteries!” he said, with his unpleasant smile. “That -makes very interesting fiction!”</p> - -<p>Lexy rose, too. His tone, his manner, exasperated her almost beyond -endurance. She felt an ardent desire to contradict everything he said. -What is more, she was in no humor to hear mystery stories made light -of. She had had enough of that—first Mrs. Enderby pretending there was -no mystery, and then Mr. Houseman going off and pretending it was -solved, so that she was left alone to do the best she could. Wasn’t -she in a mystery story at this very minute, and without a single -promising clew to guide her?</p> - -<p>“There are plenty of mysteries that aren’t fiction,” she observed -curtly.</p> - -<p>“But they are never solved,” said Dr. Quelton.</p> - -<p>“Never solved?” said Lexy. “But lots of them are! You can read in the -newspapers all the time about crimes that—”</p> - -<p>“The mystery of a crime is never solved,” the doctor blandly -proceeded. “Never! Let us say, for example, that a murder is -committed. The police investigate, they arrest some one. There is a -trial, the jury finds that the suspect is guilty, the judge sentences -him, and he is executed. Public opinion is satisfied; but as a matter -of fact, nothing whatever has been solved. It is all guesswork. Not -one living soul, not one member of the jury, not the judge, not the -executioner, really <i>knows</i> that the accused man was guilty. They -think so—that is all. What you call a ‘solution’ is merely a guess, -based upon probabilities.”</p> - -<p>Lexy considered this with an earnest frown.</p> - -<p>“Well,” she said at last, “quite often criminals confess.”</p> - -<p>“In the days of witchcraft trials,” said he, “it was not uncommon for -women to come forward voluntarily and confess to being witches. In the -course of my own practice I have known people to confess things they -could not possibly have done. No!” He shook his head and smiled -faintly. “An acquaintance with the psychology of the diseased mind -makes one very skeptical about confessions, Miss Moran.”</p> - -<p>This idea, too, Lexy took into her mind and considered for a few -minutes.</p> - -<p>“Even an eyewitness,” Dr. Quelton went on, “is entirely unreliable. -Any lawyer can tell you how completely the senses deceive one. Three -persons can see the same occurrence, and each one of the three will -swear to a quite different impression. Each one may be entirely -honest, entirely convinced that he saw or heard what never took -place.”</p> - -<p>“Do you mean that you think it’s never possible to find out who’s -guilty?”</p> - -<p>“Never,” he replied agreeably. “It can never be anything but a guess, -as I said, based upon probabilities. Human senses, human judgment, -human reason, are all pitifully liable to error.”</p> - -<p>Lexy was silent for a time, thinking over this.</p> - -<p>“Maybe you’re right,” she said slowly, “about the senses, and -judgment, and reason. Perhaps their evidence isn’t always to be -trusted; but there’s something else.”</p> - -<p>“Something else?” he repeated. “Something else? And what may that be?”</p> - -<p>Lexy looked up at him. There was a smile on his heavy, pallid face, -aloof and contemptuous; but she was chiefly concerned just then in -trying to put into words her own firm conviction, more for her own -benefit than for his. It was not reason that had brought her here to -look for Caroline, it was not reason that sustained her.</p> - -<p>“There’s something else,” she said again, with a frown. “There’s a way -of knowing things without reason. It’s—I don’t know just how to put -it, but it’s a thing beyond reason.”</p> - -<p>He laughed, and she thought she had never heard a more unpleasant -laugh.</p> - -<p>“Certainly!” he said. “Beyond reason lies—unreason.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t mean that,” said Lexy. “I mean—”</p> - -<p>She stopped, because he had abruptly turned away and was walking -toward the door. She stood where she was, amazed by this unique -rudeness; but in the doorway he turned.</p> - -<p>“The thing beyond reason!” he said, almost in a whisper. Then, with a -sudden and complete change of manner, he went on: “It has been very -interesting to meet you, Miss Moran. My wife will enjoy a visit from -you. Any afternoon, after four o’clock!” He bowed politely. “After -four o’clock,” he repeated, and off he went.</p> - -<p>Lexy stood looking at the closed door.</p> - -<p>“Crazy?” she said to herself. “No—that’s not the word for him at all. -He’s—he’s just horrible!”</p> - -<h2>XII</h2> - -<p>At half past twelve Captain Grey had not yet returned, and Mrs. Royce -declared that the ham omelet would be ruined if not eaten at once; so -Lexy went down to the dining room and ate her lunch alone.</p> - -<p>The rain was still falling steadily, and the little room was dim, -chilly, and, to Lexy, unbearably close. She wasn’t particularly -hungry, either, after such a hearty breakfast and no exercise. She -felt restless and uneasy. When Mrs. Royce went out into the kitchen to -fetch the dessert, she jumped up from the table, crossed the room, and -opened the window.</p> - -<p>The wild rain blew against her face, and it felt good to her. She drew -in a long breath of the fresh, damp air, and sighed with relief.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to go out this afternoon,” she said to herself, “if it -rains pitchforks! I can’t—”</p> - -<p>Just then she caught sight of Captain Grey coming down the road. Her -first impulse was to call out a cheerful salutation, but after a -second glance she felt no inclination for that. He was tramping along -doggedly through the rain, his hands in his pockets, his collar turned -up. He was as straight and soldierly as ever, but his face was pale, -with such a queer look on it!</p> - -<p>“Oh, dear!” thought Lexy. “Something’s gone wrong! Oh, the poor soul! -And he set off so happy this morning.”</p> - -<p>She went into the hall and opened the front door for him. Filled with -a motherly solicitude, she wanted to help him off with his overcoat, -but he abruptly declined that.</p> - -<p>“Am I late?” he asked. “I thought one o’clock, you know—I’m sorry.”</p> - -<p>“Mercy, that doesn’t matter!” said Lexy. “Aren’t you going to change -your shoes? You ought to. Well, then, you’d better come in and eat -your lunch this minute.”</p> - -<p>“You’re no end kind, to bother like that!” he said earnestly. “I do -appreciate it!”</p> - -<p>“Who wouldn’t be?” thought Lexy, glancing at him. “You poor soul, you -look as if you’d seen a ghost!”</p> - -<p>He took his place at the table, and Lexy sat down opposite him, her -chin in her hands, anxiously waiting for him to begin to tell her what -had happened.</p> - -<p>“Beastly day, isn’t it?” he said, with an obvious effort to speak -cheerfully.</p> - -<p>“Awful!” agreed Lexy.</p> - -<p>“And yet, you know,” he went on, “I rather like a walk on a day like -this. The country about here is pretty, don’t you think?”</p> - -<p>Lexy glanced around, to make sure that Mrs. Royce had closed the door -behind her.</p> - -<p>“Captain Grey!” she said, leaning across the table. “Tell me, did you -see her?”</p> - -<p>He did not meet Lexy’s eyes. He was looking down at his plate with -that curious dazed expression in his face.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said. “Yes, I saw her.”</p> - -<p>Lexy was hurt and disappointed by his manner. Evidently he didn’t want -to tell her anything, didn’t want to talk at all. Very well—the only -thing for her to do was to maintain a dignified silence. She did so -for almost ten minutes, but then nature got the upper hand.</p> - -<p>“Well?” she demanded. “Was everything all right?”</p> - -<p>“All right?” he repeated. “Oh, rather! Oh, yes, thanks—absolutely all -right.”</p> - -<p>This was too much for Lexy.</p> - -<p>“That’s good,” she said frigidly. “I’m going upstairs now, to write -some letters.”</p> - -<p>Her tone aroused him. He sprang to his feet, very contrite.</p> - -<p>“No! Look here!” he said. “Please don’t run away! I—I want to talk to -you, but it’s a bit hard. You can’t imagine what it’s like to see one -of your own people, you know—after such a long time.”</p> - -<p>Lexy sat down again.</p> - -<p>“Was she as you expected her to be?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“I don’t quite know what I expected,” he said. “Only—”</p> - -<p>He paused for a long time, and Lexy waited patiently, for she felt -very sorry for Captain Grey. At first sight she had imagined him to be -haughty, stiff, and aloof. She knew now that he was a very sensitive -man. He was terribly moved, and he wanted to tell her, but he -couldn’t.</p> - -<p>She tried to help him.</p> - -<p>“Dr. Quelton came to see me this morning,” she observed.</p> - -<p>“Yes—he said he would. Very decent sort of chap, don’t you think?”</p> - -<p>“Do you mean you <i>liked</i> him?” asked Lexy.</p> - -<p>Captain Grey was a little startled by this Yankee notion of liking a -person at first sight.</p> - -<p>“Well, you see,” he said, “I’ve only met him once; but he seems to me -a very decent sort of chap. He’s clever, you know, and—and so on, and -my sister seems very happy with him.”</p> - -<p>“Happy?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. I’ve been an ass, imagining all sorts of silly rot. She’s not -very strong, I’m afraid, but she’s happy, and—well, you know, their -life out there is lonely, of course, but there’s something about it, -rather—rather charming, you know. I’d like you to see it for yourself. -I was speaking about you to Muriel. She wants to know you, and I think -you’d like her. Would you come out there to tea with me this -afternoon?”</p> - -<p>“Yes!” cried Lexy, with a vehemence that surprised him.</p> - -<p>There was nothing in the world she wanted more at that moment than to -see Captain Grey’s sister and to visit Dr. Quelton’s house. She didn’t -exactly know why, and she didn’t care, but she wanted to.</p> - -<p>Her trunk had not yet arrived. Indeed, she had only sent to Mrs. -Enderby’s for it that morning, but she was able to make herself -presentable with what she had in her bag, and excitement gave her an -added charm. She was in high spirits, gay and sparkling, so pretty and -so lively that Captain Grey was quite dazzled.</p> - -<p>He had engaged the one and only taxi.</p> - -<p>After they were settled in it, and on their way along the muddy road, -he said:</p> - -<p>“I say, Miss Moran, are there many American girls like you?”</p> - -<p>“No!” replied Lexy calmly. “I’m unique.”</p> - -<p>“I can believe that!” he said. “I’ve never seen any one like you. I -was telling Muriel how much I hope that you and she will hit it off. -It would be a wonderful thing for her to have a friend like you in -this place.”</p> - -<p>Something in his tone made Lexy turn serious. He was speaking as if -she was simply a nice girl he had happened to meet, as if she had -nothing to do but go out to tea and make agreeable friendships.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” she said, “but I don’t know how long I’ll be here. I certainly -haven’t accomplished much so far.”</p> - -<p>He was silent, and to Lexy his silence was very eloquent.</p> - -<p>“I came here for a definite purpose,” she told him. “I haven’t -forgotten that, and I’m not likely to forget it.”</p> - -<p>“I know,” said he, “but—”</p> - -<p>“But,” interrupted Lexy, “I know very well what you’re thinking—that -it’s a wild-goose chase, and that I’m a young idiot. Isn’t that it?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t mean that,” he protested; “only—don’t you see?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t!” Lexy grimly denied. “You’ve thought over the talk we had -last night, and you’ve decided that it was all nonsense.”</p> - -<p>“No, Miss Moran—not nonsense; but we were both a bit tired then, and -perhaps a bit overwrought.”</p> - -<p>“All right!” said Lexy. “Don’t go on! No—please drop it. I’ve talked -too much, anyhow. From now on I’m not going to talk to any one about -my little job. I’m going to go ahead in my own way, alone.”</p> - -<p>“You can’t,” said Captain Grey firmly. “I’m here, you know.”</p> - -<p>This did not appease Lexy, and she remained curt and silent all the -rest of the way. For a couple of miles the taxi went on along a broad, -smooth highway; then it turned off down a rough lane, bordered by dark -woodland, and entirely deserted. The rain drummed loud on the leather -top of the cab, the wind came sighing through the gaunt pines and the -slender, shivering birches; but when there was a lull, she heard -another sound, a sound familiar to her from childhood and yet always -strange, always heart-stirring—the dim, unceasing thunder of the sea.</p> - -<p>“Is the doctor’s house near the shore?” she inquired.</p> - -<p>“Yes—just on the beach.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’m so glad!” cried Lexy. “Our old house, where I was born, was -on the shore, and on days like this I used to love to go out and walk -with father. I love the sea so!”</p> - -<p>Captain Grey gave her an odd look, which she didn’t understand. -Perhaps that was just as well, for her words and her voice had -troubled the young man to an unreasonable degree. He wished he could -say something to comfort her. He wished he could offer her the sea as -a gift, for instance; and that would have been a mistake, because Lexy -did not like to be pathetic.</p> - -<p>Just at that moment, however, the taxi turned into a driveway, and -there was the house—the Tower. Lexy was disappointed. The name had -called up in her mind the picture of a gloomy edifice of gray stone, -more or less medieval, and altogether somber and forbidding; and this -was nothing in the world but a rather shabby old house, badly in need -of paint, and forlorn enough in the rain, but very ordinary and very -ugly. Even the tower, which had given the place its romantic name, was -only a wooden cupola with a lightning rod on top of it.</p> - -<p>“Can you get a good view of the sea from the windows?” Lexy demanded.</p> - -<p>“Well, not from the library, where I was,” he answered; “but perhaps—”</p> - -<p>“Captain Grey, I want to get out! I want to run down on the beach for -one instant!”</p> - -<p>“In this rain?” he protested. “You can’t!”</p> - -<p>“I’m not made of sugar,” said Lexy scornfully, “I’ve <i>got</i> to run down -there just for an instant, before I go in.”</p> - -<p>“But, I say, your nice little hat, you know!”</p> - -<p>Lexy pulled off the nice little hat and laid it on his knee. Then she -rapped on the window, the driver stopped, and Lexy opened the door.</p> - -<p>“No! Look here! Please, Miss Moran!” cried Captain Grey. “Very well, -then, if you will go, I’ll go with you!”</p> - -<p>“I’d rather you didn’t,” said Lexy. “I feel as if I’d like to go alone -just for one look. You know how it is, sometimes. I haven’t had even a -smell of the sea for so long; and it reminds me—”</p> - -<p>She looked at him with a shadowy little smile, and he did understand.</p> - -<p>“All right!” he said. “Then slip on my coat.”</p> - -<p>She did so, to oblige him, and off she went, half running, down the -lane, in the direction of the sound of the surf. Captain Grey looked -after her—such an absurd little figure in that aquascutum of his that -almost touched the ground! He watched her till she was out of sight; -then he sat down in the cab and lit a cigarette.</p> - -<p>He thought about her, but Lexy had forgotten him. She found herself on -a desolate stretch of wet sand, with the gray sea tossing under a gray -sky. She smelled the hearty, salt smell, she remembered old things, -sad and sweet. Tears came into her eyes, and she felt them on her -cheeks, warm, salt as the sea. If only she could go running home, back -to the house where her mother used to wait for her! If only she could -find her father’s big, firm hand clasping her own!</p> - -<p>“I mustn’t be like this,” she said to herself. “Daddy would feel -ashamed of me.”</p> - -<p>In a cavernous pocket of the captain’s overcoat she found a -handkerchief. She dried her eyes with it, and turned back. The Tower -faced the lane, and the left side of it fronted the beach, rising -stark and high from the sands. She looked up at it. On the first floor -a sun parlor had been built out, and through the windows she could see -a woman sitting there in a deck chair.</p> - -<p>“I suppose that’s Muriel,” she thought, with a reawakening of her -lively interest.</p> - -<p>She came a little nearer. The woman was wearing a negligee and a -coquettish little silk cap. Her back was turned toward Lexy. She lay -there motionless, as if she were asleep.</p> - -<p>Lexy drew closer. The woman turned, straightened up in the chair, and -rose. A shiver ran along Lexy’s spine. She stopped and stared and -stared.</p> - -<p>The woman had raised her thin arms above her head, stretching. Then, -for a moment, she stood in an odd and lovely pose, with her hands -clasped behind her head. Oh, surely no one else ever stood like that! -That figure, that attitude—it couldn’t be any one else!</p> - -<p>“Caroline!” cried Lexy. “Caroline!”</p> - -<p>The woman did not hear. She was moving toward the long windows of the -room, and her every step, every line of her figure, was familiar and -unmistakable to Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Caroline!” she cried, running forward across the wet sand. “Wait! -Wait for me, Caroline!”</p> - -<p>A hand seized her arm. With a gasp, she looked into the pale, heavy -face of Dr. Quelton. He was smiling.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran!” he said. “This is an unexpected pleasure—”</p> - -<p>Lexy jerked her arm away, and looked up at the windows of the sun -parlor. The woman had gone.</p> - -<p>“I saw Caroline!” she said. “In there!”</p> - -<p>“Caroline?” he repeated. “I’m afraid, I’m very much afraid, Miss -Moran, that you’ve made a mistake.”</p> - -<p>Their eyes met. In that instant, Lexy knew. He was still smiling with -an expression of bland amusement at this extraordinary little figure -in the huge coat; but he was her enemy, and she knew it.</p> - -<p>“Suppose we go on?” he suggested. “I believe it’s raining.”</p> - -<p>They turned and walked side by side around the house to the front -door, where Captain Grey stood waiting.</p> - -<p>“I say!” he exclaimed anxiously. “Your hair—your shoes—you’ll take a -chill, Miss Moran!”</p> - -<p>“I feel anxious about Miss Moran myself,” said Dr. Quelton. “I’m -afraid she’s a very imprudent young lady.”</p> - -<p>But Lexy said nothing.</p> - -<h2>XIII</h2> - -<p>The doctor’s library had a charm of its own. It was a big room, -careless, a little shabby, but furnished in fastidious taste and with -a friendly sort of comfort. A great wood fire was blazing on the -hearth, and Dr. Quelton drew up an armchair before it for Lexy.</p> - -<p>“There!” he said. “Now you’ll soon be warm and dry. Anna!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir!” the parlor maid responded from the doorway.</p> - -<p>“Please tell Mrs. Quelton that Miss Moran is here.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir!” repeated the maid, and disappeared.</p> - -<p>Lexy sat down. Captain Grey stood, facing her, leaning one elbow on -the mantelpiece. Dr. Quelton paced up and down, his hands clasped -behind him. He looked like a dignified middle-aged gentleman in his -own home.</p> - -<p>A door opened somewhere in the house, and for a moment Lexy heard the -homely and familiar sound of an egg-beater whirring and a cheerful -Irish voice inquiring about “them potaters.” It was surely a cheerful -and pleasant enough setting; but Lexy did not find it so.</p> - -<p>“I saw Caroline!” she insisted to herself. “I don’t care what any one -says. I saw Caroline!”</p> - -<p>A strange sensation of pain and dread oppressed her. What should she -do? Whom should she tell?</p> - -<p>“Captain Grey,” she thought; “but not now. It’s no use now. Dr. -Quelton would deny it. I’ll have to wait until we get out of here; and -then, perhaps, it’ll be too late. He knows I saw her. -Something—something horrible—may happen!”</p> - -<p>A shiver ran through her.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran is nervous,” said the doctor, with solicitude.</p> - -<p>“I’m not!” replied Lexy sharply.</p> - -<p>“I hope it’s not a chill,” said Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>“I should be inclined to think it nervousness,” said Dr. Quelton. “Our -landscape here is lonely and depressing, and Miss Moran has the -artist’s temperament, impressionable, high-strung.”</p> - -<p>“Not I!” declared Lexy, in a tone that startled Captain Grey. “Lonely -places don’t bother me. I don’t believe in ghosts.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” said the doctor. “But here’s Mrs. Quelton. Muriel, this is Miss -Moran, the young writer of fiction.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Quelton was coming down the long room, a beautiful woman, dark -and delicate, with a sort of plaintive languor in her manner. She held -out her hand to Lexy.</p> - -<p>“I’m so glad you’ve come!” she said. “George has told me so much about -you—the first American girl he’s known!”</p> - -<p>She glanced at her brother with a little smile. Lexy glanced at him, -too; and she was surprised and very much touched by the look on his -face. He couldn’t even smile. His face was grave, pale, almost solemn, -and he was regarding his sister with something like reverence.</p> - -<p>“Oh, poor fellow!” thought Lexy. “Poor lonely fellow! It’s such a -wonderful thing for him to find his sister—some one of his own. I only -hope she’s as nice as she looks.”</p> - -<p>This thought caused her to turn toward her hostess again. She <i>was</i> -beautiful, and in a gentle and gracious fashion, and yet—</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” thought Lexy. “There’s something—she doesn’t look -ill—perhaps she’s just lackadaisical; but certainly she’s not simple -and easy to understand. She must know about Caroline Enderby. The -thing is, would she help me, or—”</p> - -<p>Or would Mrs. Quelton also be her enemy? Lost in her own thought, Lexy -sat silent. She had, indeed, certain grave faults in social -deportment. The head mistress of the finishing school she had attended -had often said to her:</p> - -<p>“Alexandra, it is absolutely inexcusable to give way to moods in the -company of other people!”</p> - -<p>In theory Lexy admitted that this was true, but it made no difference. -If she didn’t feel inclined to talk, she didn’t talk. It was so this -afternoon. She merely answered when she was spoken to—which was not -often, for Dr. Quelton was asking his brother-in-law questions about -India, and Mrs. Quelton seemed no more desirous to talk than Lexy was. -What is more, Lexy felt certain that the doctor’s wife was not -listening to the talk between the two men, but, like herself, was -thinking her own thoughts.</p> - -<p>The parlor maid wheeled the tea cart in, and Mrs. Quelton roused -herself to pour the tea and to make polite inquiries, in her plaintive -tone, as to what her guests wanted in the way of cream and sugar. The -maid vanished again, and Dr. Quelton passed about the cups and plates.</p> - -<p>“It’s China tea,” he observed. “I import it myself. It has quite a -distinctive flavor, I think.”</p> - -<p>Captain Grey praised it, and Lexy herself found it very agreeable. She -sipped it, staring into the fire, glad to be let alone. Behind her she -could hear Captain Grey talking about the Ceylon tea plantations. His -voice sounded so pathetic!</p> - -<p>“Another cup, Miss Moran?” asked Mrs. Quelton.</p> - -<p>“Yes, thank you,” answered Lexy, and the doctor brought it to her.</p> - -<p>Poor Captain Grey and his precious, new-found sister! The sound of his -voice brought tears to her eyes.</p> - -<p>“But this is idiotic!” she thought, annoyed and surprised.</p> - -<p>Still the tears welled up. She gulped down the rest of her tea -hastily, hoping that it would steady her, but it did not help at all. -Sobs rose in her throat, and an immense and formless sorrow came over -her.</p> - -<p>“This has got to stop!” she thought, in alarm. “I can’t be such a -chump!”</p> - -<p>She turned to Mrs. Quelton.</p> - -<p>“Are you going to grow any—” she began, but her voice was so unsteady -that she had to stop for a moment. “Any flowers in—in your—g-garden?”</p> - -<p>The question ended in a loud and unmistakable sob. They all turned to -look at her, startled and anxious.</p> - -<p>She made a desperate effort to regain control of herself.</p> - -<p>“S-snapdragon,” she said. “So—so p-pretty!”</p> - -<p>Then, suddenly, all her defenses gave way. The teacup fell from her -hand and was shattered on the floor, and, burying her head in her -arms, she cried as she had never cried in her life.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Quelton stood beside her, one hand resting on Lexy’s shoulder. -Captain Grey was bending over her, profoundly disturbed. She tried to -speak, but she could not.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran!” said Dr. Quelton solicitously. “Will you allow me to -give you a mild sedative?”</p> - -<p>“No!” she gasped. “No—I want to go home!”</p> - -<p>“I’ll telephone for the taxi,” suggested Captain Grey. “He wasn’t -coming back until half past five.”</p> - -<p>“Unfortunately we have no telephone,” said the doctor; “but I’ll drive -Miss Moran home.”</p> - -<p>“No! I want to walk.”</p> - -<p>“Not in this rain,” the doctor protested, “and in your overwrought -condition.”</p> - -<p>“I must!” She got up, the tears still streaming down her cheeks. “I -must!” she said wildly. “Let me go! Please let me go!”</p> - -<p>The doctor turned to Captain Grey. In the midst of her unutterable -misery and confusion, Lexy still heard and understood what he was -saying.</p> - -<p>“In a case of hysteria—better to humor her—the exercise and the fresh -air may help her.”</p> - -<p>The doctor’s wife helped Lexy with her hat and coat. She was very -gentle, very kind, and genuinely concerned for her unhappy little -guest. Lexy remembered afterward that Mrs. Quelton kissed her; but at -the moment nothing mattered except to get away, to get out of that -house into the fresh air.</p> - -<p>Without one backward glance she set off at a furious pace, splashing -through the puddles, almost running. Captain Grey kept easily by her -side with his long, lithe stride. Now and then he spoke to her, but -she could not trust herself to answer just yet. The storm within her -was subsiding. From time to time a sob broke from her, but the tears -had stopped.</p> - -<p>And now she was beginning to think.</p> - -<p>Twilight had come early on this rainy day, and it was almost dark -before they reached the end of the lane. Lexy slackened her pace. -Then, as they came to the corner of the highway, she stopped and laid -her hand on her companion’s sleeve.</p> - -<p>“Captain Grey!” she said.</p> - -<p>He looked down at her, but it was too dark to see what expression -there was on her pale face. He was vastly relieved, however, by the -steadiness of her voice.</p> - -<p>“Captain Grey!” she said again. “If I told you something—something -very important—would you believe me?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes, of course,” he answered hastily. “Of course, I would always -believe you; but I wish you wouldn’t try to talk about anything -important just now, you know. Let’s wait a bit, eh?”</p> - -<p>Lexy smiled to herself in the dark—a smile of extraordinary -bitterness. He wouldn’t believe her if she told him about Caroline. He -would think she was hysterical. She saw quite plainly that by this -strange outburst she had lost his confidence.</p> - -<p>She could in no way explain her sudden breaking down. Such a thing had -never happened to her before. She could not understand it, but she was -in no doubt about the unfortunate consequences of it. She was -discredited.</p> - -<h2>XIV</h2> - -<p>Lexy sat on the edge of the bed, her hands clasped loosely before her, -her bright head bent, her eyes fixed somberly upon nothing; and she -could see nothing—not one step of the way that lay ahead of her. She -could not think what she ought to do next. For the first time in her -life, she had a feeling of utter confusion and dismay.</p> - -<p>“It’s because I’m so tired,” she said to herself. “I’ve never been -really tired out before.”</p> - -<p>But that in itself was a cause for alarm. Why should she feel like -this, so exhausted and depressed? Horrible thoughts came to her. Dr. -Quelton had called her nervous, high-strung, hysterical. Was that -because he had seen in her something which she herself had never -suspected? Was she hysterical? Mrs. Enderby had laughed at her. Mr. -Houseman had gone away, satisfied with his own solution. Captain Grey, -chivalrous and kindly as he was, had obviously lost interest in her -affairs. Nobody believed in her. Was it because every one could see—</p> - -<p>She remembered the intolerable humiliation of the day before, her wild -outburst of tears in the Queltons’ house. Even in her childhood she -had never done such a thing before.</p> - -<p>“What does it mean?” she asked herself in terror. “What is the matter -with me? Is this whole thing just a delusion? I came here to find -Caroline, and I thought—I thought I did see her. Am I mad?”</p> - -<p>That was the awful thing that had lain in ambush in her mind ever -since yesterday, that had haunted her restless sleep all night. She -had not admitted it, but it had been there every minute. All her -actions, all her words, to-day, had the one object of showing Mrs. -Royce and Captain Grey how entirely normal and sensible she was.</p> - -<p>“That’s what they always do!” she whispered with dry lips.</p> - -<p>All day, hiding her terror and weakness, talking to Mrs. Royce, -sitting at the lunch table and talking and laughing with Captain Grey, -trying to make them believe her quite cheerful and untroubled—and all -the time perhaps they knew. Perhaps they were humoring her!</p> - -<p>She sprang up and went over to the window. The sun was beginning to -sink in a tranquil sky. It had been a beautiful day, but Lexy felt too -weary and listless to go out. She remembered now that both Captain -Grey and the landlady had urged her to do so, that they had both said -it would do her good. Then they must have noted that something was -wrong with her. What did they think it was? Did she look—</p> - -<p>She crossed the room and stood before the mirror. The rays of the -setting sun fell upon her hair, turning it to copper and gold. It -seemed to her to shine with a strange light about her pallid little -face. Her eyes seemed enormous, somber, and terrible.</p> - -<p>She covered her face with her hands and lung herself on the bed, sick -and desperate. She could not see any one, could not speak to any one. -When a knock came at her loor, she thrust her fingers into her ears -and lay there, with her eyes shut tight, trembling from head to foot; -but the knocking went on until she could endure it no longer.</p> - -<p>“Yes?” she said, sitting up.</p> - -<p>“Supper’s all on the table!” said Mrs. Royce’s cheerful voice.</p> - -<p>“I don’t want any supper to-night, thank you,” replied Lexy.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce expostulated and argued for a time, but she could not -persuade Lexy even to unlock the door; and at last, with a worried -sigh, she went downstairs again.</p> - -<p>The room was quite dark now, and the wind blowing in through the open -window felt chill; but Lexy was too tired to close the window or light -the gas. She was not drowsy. She lay stretched out, limp, overpowered -with fatigue, but wide awake, and with a curious certainty that she -was waiting for something.</p> - -<p>There was another knock at the door, and this time Captain Grey’s -voice spoke.</p> - -<p>“I say, Miss Moran!” he said anxiously. “You’re not ill, are you?”</p> - -<p>“No!” she answered, with a trace of irritability. “I’m just tired.”</p> - -<p>“But don’t you think you ought to eat something, you know? Or a cup of -tea?”</p> - -<p>“No!” she cried, still more impatiently. “I can’t. I want to rest.”</p> - -<p>“Can you open the door for half a moment?” he asked. “I’ve some roses -here that my sister sent to you. She wanted me to say—”</p> - -<p>The door opened with startling suddenness. Lexy appeared, and took the -roses out of his hand.</p> - -<p>“Thank you! Good night!” she said, and was gone again before he quite -realized what was happening.</p> - -<p>Then he heard the key turn in the lock, and, bewildered and very -uneasy, he went away.</p> - -<p>Lexy flung the roses down on the table, not even troubling to put them -into water.</p> - -<p>“Anything to get rid of him!” she said to herself. “I want to be let -alone!”</p> - -<p>She lay down on the bed again, pulling a blanket over herself. -Downstairs she could hear Mrs. Royce moving about in the kitchen, and -Captain Grey’s singularly agreeable voice talking to the landlady. It -seemed to her that they were in a different world, and that she was -shut outside, in a black and terrible solitude.</p> - -<p>“If I can only sleep!” she thought. “Perhaps, in the morning—”</p> - -<p>She was beginning to feel a little drowsy now. How heavenly it would -be to sleep, even for a little while! To sleep and to forget!</p> - -<p>The wind was blowing through the dark little room, bringing to her the -perfume of the roses—a wonderful fragrance. It was wonderful, but -almost too strong. It was too strong. It troubled her.</p> - -<p>“I’ll put them out on the window sill,” she murmured. “It’s such a -queer scent!”</p> - -<p>But she was too tired, too unspeakably tired. She didn’t seem able to -get up, or even to move. She sighed faintly, and closed her eyes. The -wind blew, strong and steady, heavy with that sweet and subtle odor.</p> - -<div style='height:1em;'></div> -<p>“Look out!” cried Mr. Houseman. “She’s going about!”</p> - -<p>Lexy laughed, and ducked down into the cockpit while the boom swung -over. The little sailboat was flying over the sunny water like a bird. -There was not a cloud in the pure bright sky, not a shadow in her -joyous heart.</p> - -<p>“I am so glad you came!” she said.</p> - -<p>“Of course I came,” he answered. “I had to swim all the way from -India.”</p> - -<p>“Mercy!” cried Lexy. “That must have been dreadful! But why?”</p> - -<p>Mr. Houseman leaned forward and whispered solemnly:</p> - -<p>“There was a tempest in a teapot.”</p> - -<p>This frightened her.</p> - -<p>“Do you think there’s going to be another one?” she whispered back.</p> - -<p>“Sure to be!” said he. “Don’t you see how dark it’s getting?”</p> - -<p>It was getting very dark. Lexy couldn’t see his face now.</p> - -<p>“Hold my hand!” he shouted, and she reached out for it; but she -couldn’t find him at all.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Houseman!” she cried.</p> - -<p>There was no answer. She stared about her, numb with terror. What was -it that rustled like that? What were these black, tall things that -were standing motionless about her on every side?</p> - -<p>“I’ve been dreaming,” she said to herself. “I’m in my own room, of -course. If I go just a few steps, I’ll touch the wall. I’m awake -now—only it’s so dark!”</p> - -<p>And what was it that rustled like that—like leaves in the wind? What -were these black, still forms about her? Trees? No—they couldn’t be -trees.</p> - -<p>In a wild panic she moved forward. Her outstretched hand touched -something, and she screamed. The scream seemed to run along through -the dark, leaping and rolling over the ground like a terrified animal. -She tried to run after it, stumbling and panting, until her shoulder -struck violently against something, and she stopped.</p> - -<p>And into her sick and shuddering mind her old sturdy courage began to -return. She tried to breathe quietly. She struggled desperately -against the awful weakness that urged her to sink down on the ground -and cover her eyes.</p> - -<p>“No!” she said aloud. “I won’t! I’m here! I’m alive! I will -understand! I will see!”</p> - -<p>She was able now to draw a deep breath, and the horrible fluttering of -her heart grew less. She stood motionless, waiting. It was coming back -to her, that immortal, unconquerable spirit of hers. The anguish and -the strange fear were passing.</p> - -<p>“I’m here,” she said. “I’m in a wood somewhere. These are trees. What -I hear are only the leaves in the wind. I don’t know where it is, or -how I got here; but I’m alive and well. I can walk. I can get out of -it.”</p> - -<p>She moved forward again, quietly and deliberately. Her eyes were more -accustomed to the darkness now, and she made her way through the -trees, looking always ahead, never once behind her.</p> - -<p>“The wood must end somewhere,” she said. “The morning will have to -come some time. All I have to do is to go on.”</p> - -<p>Patter, patter, patter, like little feet running behind her.</p> - -<p>“Only the leaves on the trees,” said Lexy. “All I have to do is to go -on.”</p> - -<p>And she went on. Sometimes a wild desire to run swept over her, but -she would not hasten her steps, and she would not look behind. The -primeval terror of the forest pressed upon her, but she cast it away. -Alone, lost, in darkness and solitude, she kept her hold upon the one -thing that mattered—the honor and dignity of her own soul.</p> - -<p>“I’m not afraid,” she said.</p> - -<p>And then she saw a light. At first she thought it was the moon, but it -hung too low, and it was too brilliant. Even then she would not run. -She went on steadily toward it. In a few minutes she stepped out of -the woodland upon a road—a hard, asphalt road with lights along it. It -was quite empty, it was unfamiliar to her, but she would have gone -down on her knees and kissed the dust of it. It was a road, and all -roads lead home.</p> - -<h2>XV</h2> - -<p>There were no stars and no moon, for the sky was filled with wild -black clouds flying before the wind. Lexy could not guess at the time. -She had no idea where she was, but it didn’t matter. The morning would -come some time, and the road would lead somewhere.</p> - -<p>“It’s better here,” she said to herself. “I’d far, far rather be here, -wherever it is, than shut up in that room with the thoughts I had!”</p> - -<p>Those thoughts, those fears, had utterly gone from her now, but the -memory of them was horrible. She shuddered at the memory of the hours -she had spent locked in her room, with that monstrous dread of madness -in her heart. Thank God, it had passed now! She walked along the -interminable empty road, her old self again, but graver and sterner -than she had ever been before in her life.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to understand all this,” she said to herself. “I’ve got to -know what’s been the matter with me. That breakdown at the Queltons’, -that awful time yesterday afternoon, and this! I suppose I’ve been -walking in my sleep. I never did before. Something’s gone wrong with -my nerves, terribly wrong; and I’ve got to find out why.”</p> - -<p>She quickened her pace a little, because a trace of the old panic fear -had stirred in her.</p> - -<p>“It’s over!” she thought. “I’ll never imagine such a thing again; but -I wonder if I’ll ever feel quite sure of myself again!”</p> - -<p>For all her valiant efforts, tears came into her eyes. She had always -been so proudly and honestly sure of herself, she had always trusted -herself, and now—now she knew how weak, how untrustworthy she could -be. Now she would always have that knowledge, and would fear that the -weakness might come again.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know whether I really did see Caroline. I can’t feel certain -of anything. Perhaps I ought to give up all this and go away and rest; -only I’ve no place to go. There isn’t any one I can tell.”</p> - -<p>She straightened her shoulders and looked up at the vast, dark sky, -where black clouds ran before a wind that snapped at their heels like -a wolf; and the sight assuaged her. This world that lay under the open -sky—the woods, the hills, and above all, the sea—was her world. It -belonged to her equally with all God’s creatures. She had her part in -it and her place. There was no one to whom she could turn for comfort, -her faith in herself was cruelly shaken, and yet somehow she was not -forsaken and helpless. Some one was coming. It was dark, but the light -was coming!</p> - -<p>She went on, her brisk footsteps ringing out clearly in the silence. -The road was bordered on both sides by woods, where the leaves -whispered, and there was no sign anywhere of another human being; but -the road must lead somewhere. It began to go steeply uphill, and she -became aware for the first time that she was very tired and very -hungry, and that one of her shoes was worn through; but she had her -precious money in the bag around her neck, and, if she kept on going, -she couldn’t help reaching some place where she could get food and -rest.</p> - -<p>“At the top of the hill I’ll be able to see better,” she thought.</p> - -<p>It was a long, long hill, and the stones began to hurt her foot in the -worn shoe; but she got to the top, and then below her she saw the -lights of a railway station.</p> - -<p>She went down the hill at a lively trot, and it was as if she had come -into a different world. Dogs barked somewhere not far off, and she -passed a barn standing black against the sky. It was a human world, -where people lived.</p> - -<p>When she reached the platform, the door of the waiting room was -locked, but inside she could see a light burning dimly in the ticket -booth, and a clock. Half past one!</p> - -<p>With a sigh of relief, she sat down on the edge of the platform. She -wouldn’t in the least mind sitting here until morning, in a place -where there were lights and a clock, and she could hear a dog barking. -She took off her shoe and rubbed her bruised foot, and sighed again -with great content. In four hours or so somebody would come, and then -she would find out where she was, and how to get back to Mrs. Royce, -and Mrs. Royce’s comfortable breakfast—coffee, ham and eggs, and hot -muffins.</p> - -<p>She started up, and hastily put on her shoe again, for in the distance -she heard the sound of a motor. She told herself that it would be the -height of folly to stop an unknown car in this solitary place, for -there were evil men abroad in the world; but there were a great many -more honest ones, and if she could only get back to Mrs. Royce’s now!</p> - -<p>She crossed the road and stood behind a big tree. The purr of the -motor was growing louder and louder, filling the whole earth. Her -heart beat fast, she kept her eyes upon the road, excited, but not -sure what she meant to do.</p> - -<p>It was a taxi. She sprang out into the road and waved her arms.</p> - -<p>“Taxi!” she shouted joyously.</p> - -<p>The car stopped with a jolt, and the driver jumped out.</p> - -<p>“Now, then! What’s up?” he demanded suspiciously. From a safe -distance, the light of an electric torch was flashed in her face. -“Well, I’ll be gosh-darned!” said he. “Ain’t you the boarder up to -Mrs. Royce’s?”</p> - -<p>“Yes! I am! I am!” cried Lexy, overwhelmed with delight. “Can you take -me there?”</p> - -<p>“I can,” he replied; “but what on earth are you doing out here?”</p> - -<p>“I got lost,” said Lexy. “Where is this, anyhow?”</p> - -<p>“Wyngate station,” said he. “I’ll be gosh-darned! I never! Lost?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Lexy. “Aren’t you the driver who took me up the day I came -here?”</p> - -<p>“That’s me—only taxi in Wyngate. Took you out to the Queltons’, too. -Hop in, miss!”</p> - -<p>His engine had stalled, and he set to work to crank it, while Lexy -stood beside him.</p> - -<p>“Drive awfully fast, will you?” she asked.</p> - -<p>He was too busy to answer for a moment. Then, when his engine was -running again, he straightened up and looked at her.</p> - -<p>“No, ma’am!” he said firmly. “No more of that for me! Not after what -happened a while ago. No, ma’am! I had my lesson!”</p> - -<p>“An accident?” inquired Lexy politely.</p> - -<p>“Well,” he said slowly, “I s’pose it was; but the more I think it -over, the more I dunno!”</p> - -<p>In the brightness cast by the headlights, Lexy could see his face very -well, and the look on it gave her a strange little thrill of fear. It -was not a handsome or intelligent face, but it was a very honest one, -and she saw, written plain upon it, a very honest doubt and dismay. -Like herself, he wasn’t sure.</p> - -<p>“It was this way,” he went on. “About three miles up Carterstown way -there’s a bad piece of road. There’s a steep hill, and a crossroad -cuts across the foot of it, and it’s too narrer for two cars to pass. -It’s a bad piece, and I always been keerful there. I was keerful that -night. I was coming along the crossroad, and I heard another car -somewhere, and I sounded the horn two or three times before I come to -the foot of the hill. Jest as I got there, and was turning up the -hill, down comes another car, full tilt. I couldn’t git out o’ the -way. There’s stone walls on both sides. I tried to back, but he -crashed into me. I kind of fainted, I guess. My cab was all smashed -up, and I was cut pretty bad with glass. They found me lying there -about an hour after. The other fellow—he was killed.” He stopped for a -minute. “If it hadn’t been fer his license number, nobody could ’a’ -known who he was, he was so smashed up. Seems he was from New York, -driving a taxi belonging to one of them big companies.”</p> - -<p>“Poor fellow!” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said the other solemnly. “I kin say that, too, whatever he -meant to do.”</p> - -<p>“Meant to do?”</p> - -<p>The countryman came a step nearer.</p> - -<p>“I keep thinking about it,” he said in a half whisper. “This is the -queer thing about it, miss. That there car didn’t start till <i>I got to -the foot of the hill</i>! The engine was just racing, and the car wasn’t -moving along—I <i>know</i> that. It was as if he’d been waiting up there -for me, and then down he came as if he meant”—the speaker paused -again—“to kill me,” he ended.</p> - -<p>“But—” Lexy began, and then stopped.</p> - -<p>She had a very odd feeling that this story was somehow of great -importance to her, but that she must put it away, that she must keep -it in her mind until later. This wasn’t the time to think about it.</p> - -<p>“Joe,” she said, “I want to hear more about this—all about it; but not -now. I’m too tired.”</p> - -<p>He gave himself a shake, like a dog. Then he turned to her with a -slow, good-natured smile.</p> - -<p>“I guess you are!” he said. “Lucky for you I just happened to be late -to-night, taking them Ainsly girls ’way out to their house after a -dance. Hop in, miss!”</p> - -<p>Lexy got in, and they set off. She leaned back and closed her eyes, -but they flew open again as if of their own accord. There was -something she wanted to see. Through the glass she could see Joe’s -burly shoulders, a little hunched—Joe, who, like herself, wasn’t sure.</p> - -<p>“Not now!” said something inside her. “Don’t think about that now. Try -not to think at all. Wait! Something is going to happen.”</p> - -<p>At the corner of the road leading to Mrs. Royce’s, she tapped on the -window. Joe stopped the cab with a jerk, sprang down from his seat, -and ran around to open the door.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter, miss?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing,” said Lexy. “I’m sorry if I startled you, Joe. I thought I’d -get out here and slip into the house quietly, without disturbing any -one.”</p> - -<p>Joe grinned sheepishly.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got kind of jumpy since—that,” he said. “Howsomever, come on, -miss!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t mean to trouble you!”</p> - -<p>“I’m going to see you safe inside that there house!” Joe declared -firmly.</p> - -<p>Grateful for his genuine kindness, Lexy made no further protest. Side -by side they walked down the lane, their footsteps noiseless in the -thick dust, and Joe opened the garden gate without a sound.</p> - -<p>“I thought perhaps I could climb up that tree and get in at my -window,” Lexy whispered.</p> - -<p>“I’ll do it for you,” said Joe, “and come down and let you in by the -back door.”</p> - -<p>He was up the tree like a cat. He went cautiously along a branch, -until he could reach the roof of the shed with his toes. He dropped -down on the roof, and Lexy saw him disappear into her room. She went -to the back door. In a minute she heard the key turn inside, and the -door opened.</p> - -<p>“Thank you ever so much, Joe!” she whispered.</p> - -<p>But he paid no attention to her. He stood still, drawing deep breaths -of the night air.</p> - -<p>“Them roses!” he said. “The smell of ’em made me kind of sick, like. -Throw ’em out, miss! Don’t go to sleep with them roses in the room!”</p> - -<p>Lexy did not answer for a time.</p> - -<p>“I’ll see you to-morrow, Joe,” she said. “I’ll pay you for the taxi, -and have a talk with you. And thank you, Joe, ever so much!”</p> - -<p>He touched his cap, murmured “Good night,” and off he went.</p> - -<p>Lexy went in, locked the kitchen door behind her, and stood there, -leaning against it, half dazed by the great light that was coming into -her mind. She was beginning to understand! The roses—the roses with -their strange and powerful fragrance! Her hysterical outburst after -her tea at Dr. Quelton’s house! She was beginning to understand, not -the details, but the one tremendous thing that mattered.</p> - -<p>“He did it,” she said to herself. “He made all this happen. I didn’t -just break down. I haven’t been weak and hysterical. He made it all -happen!”</p> - -<p>For a time her relief was an ecstasy. She could trust herself again. -She was so happy in that knowledge that she could have shouted aloud, -to waken Mrs. Royce and Captain Grey, and tell them. The monstrous -burden was lifted, she was free, she was her old sturdy, trustworthy -self again.</p> - -<p>She sank into a chair by the kitchen table, staring before her into -the dark, her lips parted in a smile of gratitude and delight; and -then, suddenly, the smile fled. She rose to her feet, her hands -clenched, her whole body rigid.</p> - -<p>“He did it!” she said again. “It’s the vilest and most horrible thing -anyone can do. He tried to steal my soul. He turned me into that poor, -terrified, contemptible creature. I’ll never in all my life forgive -him. I’m going to find out—about that, and about Caroline. I’ll never -give up trying, and I’ll never forgive him!”</p> - -<p>She groped her way through the dark kitchen and into the hall. That -was where she had first seen Dr. Quelton. She stopped and turned, as -if she were looking into his face.</p> - -<p>“I’m stronger than you!” she whispered.</p> - -<h2>XVI</h2> - -<p>Lexy came down to breakfast a little late the next morning, but in the -best of spirits, and with a ferocious appetite. She had no idea how or -when she had left the house the night before, but obviously neither -Mrs. Royce nor Captain Grey knew anything about it, and that sufficed. -She could go on eating, quite untroubled by their friendly anxiety. -Let them think what they chose—it no longer mattered to her.</p> - -<p>For, in spite of the warm liking she had for them both, she felt -entirely cut off from them now. If she told them the truth, they would -not believe her, they would not and could not help her. Nobody on -earth would help her. She faced that fact squarely. Whatever Dr. -Quelton had meant to accomplish, he had perfectly succeeded in doing -one thing—he had discredited her. Anything she said now would be -regarded as the irresponsible statement of a hysterical girl.</p> - -<p>Very well! She had done with talking. She meant to act now.</p> - -<p>“It was awfully nice of your sister to send me those roses,” she -observed.</p> - -<p>Captain Grey was standing by the window in the dining room, keeping -her company while she ate. He turned his head aside as she spoke, but -not before she had noticed on his sensitive face the odd and touching -look that always came over it at any mention of his sister. Evidently -he worshiped her, and yet Lexy was certain that he was somehow -disappointed in her.</p> - -<p>“She likes you very much,” he said.</p> - -<p>“I’m glad,” said Lexy; “but how did you manage to keep the roses so -wonderfully fresh, Captain Grey?”</p> - -<p>“The doctor wrapped them for me—some rather special way, you know—damp -paper, and then a cloth. He told me not to open them until I gave them -to you. Very clever chap, isn’t he?”</p> - -<p>“He is!” agreed Lexy, with a faint smile.</p> - -<p>“Mind if I smoke, Miss Moran?” asked the young man. “Thanks!”</p> - -<p>He lit a cigarette and sat down on the window sill. He was silent, and -so was Lexy, for she fancied that he had something he wished to say.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran,” he said, at last, “you’ll go there again to see her, -won’t you?”</p> - -<p>Lexy considered for a moment.</p> - -<p>“Why?” she asked. “Why did you think I wouldn’t?”</p> - -<p>“I was afraid you might think—it’s the atmosphere of the place—I’m -sure of it—that made you nervous the other afternoon. It’s something -about the place, you know. I’ve felt it myself. I was afraid you -wouldn’t care to go again, and I don’t like to think of her -there—alone.”</p> - -<p>“She’s not alone,” observed Lexy blandly. “She has her clever -husband.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know that, of course, but he’s—well, he’s not very cheery,” -said the young man earnestly.</p> - -<p>Lexy couldn’t help laughing.</p> - -<p>“No, he’s not very cheery,” she admitted. “Of course I’ll go -again—this afternoon, if you’d like.”</p> - -<p>“I say! You are good!” he cried. “I know jolly well that you don’t -want to go.”</p> - -<p>“I do, though,” declared Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Shall we walk over?”</p> - -<p>“If you don’t mind,” said Lexy, “I’ll go by myself. There’s something -I want to attend to first. I’ll meet you there at four o’clock.”</p> - -<p>“Right-o!” said he. “Then you won’t mind if I go there for lunch?”</p> - -<p>She assured him that she wouldn’t.</p> - -<p>“You poor dear thing!” she added, to herself. His solicitude touched -her. He seemed to feel himself responsible for her, as if she were a -very delicate and rather weak-minded child. “You’re not very cheery, -either!” she thought. And indeed he was not. His meeting with his -sister had upset him badly. Ever since he had first seen her, he had -been troubled and anxious and downcast. “And that’s because she’s not -human,” thought Lexy. “She’s beautiful, and gentle, and all that, but -she’s like a ghost. Of course it bothers him!”</p> - -<p>She did not give much more thought to Captain Grey, however. As soon -as he left the house, she went upstairs into the little sewing room, -and until lunch time she was busy writing the clearest and briefest -account she could of what had occurred. This she put into an envelope, -which she addressed to Mr. Charles Houseman and laid it on her bureau.</p> - -<p>“If anything happened, I suppose they’d give it to him,” she said to -herself. “I’d like him to know.”</p> - -<p>Somehow this gave her a good deal of comfort. Not that she expected -anything to happen, or was at all frightened, but she did not deny -that Dr. Quelton was a singularly unpleasant sort of enemy to have; -and he was her enemy—she was sure of it.</p> - -<p>Just because he had made such a point of her arriving after four -o’clock, she had made up her mind to reach the house well before that -hour—which would not please him. Directly after lunch she walked down -to the village. She found Joe taking a nap in his cab, outside the -station; and, regardless of the frightful curiosity of the villagers, -she stood there talking to him for a long time. He assured her, with -his sheepish grin, that he had told no one of his having met her the -night before, and he willingly promised never to mention it to any one -without her consent.</p> - -<p>“I ain’t so much of a talker,” he said.</p> - -<p>That was true, too. He was reluctant, to-day, to talk about his -strange adventure with the cab on the hill; but Lexy made him answer -her questions, and he wavered in no respect from his first version.</p> - -<p>“There was an inquest, an’ all,” he said. “I’m darned glad it’s all -over!”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t!” thought Lexy. “Somehow it belongs with other things. It’s -a piece of the puzzle. I can’t fit it in now, but I will some day!”</p> - -<p>So she thanked Joe, and paid him for last night’s trip, though he made -miserable and embarrassed efforts to stop her. Then she set off on her -way.</p> - -<p>It was four o’clock by her watch when she reached the garden gate. She -stopped for a moment with her hand on the latch, and, in spite of -herself, a little shiver ran through her. The battered old house in -the tangled garden looked more menacing to-day, in the tranquil spring -sunshine, than it had in the rain. It was utterly lonely and quiet. -Lexy could hear nothing but the distant sound of the surf, which was -like the beating of a tired heart.</p> - -<p>Against the advice of Mrs. Enderby, almost against her own reason, she -had come here to Wyngate, and to the house—and she had seen Caroline. -The thing which was beyond reason had been right—so right that it -frightened her; and now it bade her go on. It was like a voice telling -her that her feet were set in the right path.</p> - -<p>Lexy pushed open the gate and went in. The pleasant young parlor maid -opened the door. She looked alarmed.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know, miss,” she said. “Mrs. Quelton—I’ll go and ask the -doctor.”</p> - -<p>But from the hall Lexy had caught sight of Mrs. Quelton in the -drawing-room alone, and, with an affable smile for the anxious parlor -maid, she went in there.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid I’m awfully early—” she began, and then stopped short in -amazement.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Quelton did not welcome the visitor, did not smile or speak. She -lay back in her chair and stared at Lexy with dilated eyes and parted -lips. Her face was as white as paper, and strangely drawn.</p> - -<p>“Are you ill?” cried Lexy, running toward her.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Quelton only stared at her with those brilliant, dilated eyes. -Lexy took the other woman’s hand, and it was as cold as ice, and -utterly lifeless.</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Quelton! Are you ill?” she asked again.</p> - -<p>Somehow it added to her horror to see, as she bent over her, that the -unfortunate woman’s face was ever so thickly covered with some curious -sort of paint or powder. It made her seem like a grotesque and -horrible marionette.</p> - -<p>“She’s old!” thought Lexy. “She’s terribly, terribly old!”</p> - -<p>She drew back her hand, for she could not touch that painted face. She -didn’t fail in generous pity, but she could not overcome an -instinctive repugnance. She turned around, intending to call the -parlor maid, and there was Dr. Quelton striding down the long room -with a glass in his hand. Without even glancing at Lexy, he stooped -over his wife, raised her limp head on one arm, and put the glass to -her lips. She drank the contents, and lay back again, with her eyes -closed. Almost at once the color began to return to her ashen cheeks. -Her arms quivered, and then she opened her eyes and looked up at him -with a faint, dazed smile.</p> - -<p>“You’re better now,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Better!” she repeated. “But you were late! I needed it—I needed it!”</p> - -<p>“Come, now!” he said indulgently. “The faintness has passed. Now you -must go up to your room and rest a little before tea.”</p> - -<p>She rose, and to Lexy’s surprise her movements showed no trace of -weakness. Then, turning her head, she caught sight of the girl, and -her face lighted with pleasure.</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran!” she cried. “How very nice to—”</p> - -<p>“Miss Moran will wait, I’m sure,” the doctor interrupted. “You must -rest for half an hour, Muriel.”</p> - -<p>Taking her by the arm, he led her down the room. In the doorway she -looked back and smiled at her visitor; and if anything had been needed -to steel Lexy’s heart against the doctor, that smile on his wife’s -face would have done it—that poor, plaintive little smile.</p> - -<p>Standing there by Mrs. Quelton’s empty chair, she waited for him to -return, a cold and terrible anger rising in her. She heard his step in -the hall, heavy and deliberate, and presently he reëntered the room -and came toward her, his blank, dull eyes fixed upon nothing. She was -quite certain that he wanted to put her out of his way, and that he -had no scruple whatever as to methods; yet for all her youth and -inexperience, her utter loneliness, she felt that she was a match for -him.</p> - -<p>“So you’ve come back to us, Miss Moran,” he said in his lifeless -voice. “I was afraid you might not.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, but why not?” Lexy inquired in a brisk and cheerful tone. “I like -to come here!”</p> - -<p>A curious thrill of exultation ran through her, for she saw on the -doctor’s face the faintest shadow of a frown. He was perplexed! She -baffled him, and he didn’t know whether she understood what had -happened.</p> - -<p>“It is a great pleasure to Mrs. Quelton and myself,” he said politely. -Then he raised his eyes and looked directly at her. “Perhaps,” he went -on, “you would be kind enough to spend a week here with us some time? -Although I’m afraid you might find it very dull.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no!” Lexy assured him. “I’d love to come—whenever it’s convenient -for you.”</p> - -<p>They were still looking directly into each other’s eyes.</p> - -<p>“Suppose we say to-morrow?” suggested Dr. Quelton.</p> - -<p>“Thank you!” said Lexy. “I’ll come to-morrow!”</p> - -<h2>XVII</h2> - -<p>Captain Grey was enchanted with the idea of Lexy’s spending a week -with his sister. He was going, too. Indeed, Lexy felt sure that Mrs. -Quelton had wanted him to go there some time ago, and that he had -refused simply on her own account. He didn’t like to leave her alone -at Mrs. Royce’s, and after her nervous breakdown that afternoon -nothing could have induced him to do so. He was anxious about her. He -tried, with what he believed was great tact, to find out her plans for -the future. He was genuinely troubled by the loneliness and -uncertainty of her life.</p> - -<p>Lexy appreciated all this, and she liked the young man very -much—perhaps as much as he liked her; but the sympathetic -understanding which had promised to develop on the night when they -talked together in the firelight had never developed.</p> - -<p>Something had checked it. They were the best of friends, but Captain -Grey never again referred to what Lexy had told him about Caroline -Enderby, and about her reason for coming to Wyngate; and Lexy said -nothing, either. Evidently he thought that it had been a far-fetched, -romantic notion of hers, and hoped that she had forgotten all about -it.</p> - -<p>Lexy did not try to undeceive him. Her story would be too fantastic -for him to believe. Nobody would believe it, except a person with -absolute faith not only in her honesty but in her intelligence and -clearsightedness; and there was no such person. She was not resentful -or grieved over this. She accepted it quietly, and prepared to go -forward alone.</p> - -<p>It had occurred to her lately that perhaps Mr. Houseman had been -right, and that Caroline had gone away of her own free will; but she -meant to <i>know</i>. She had seen the missing girl in Dr. Quelton’s house. -Whatever the doctor might say about the false evidence of the senses, -Lexy’s confidence in her own clear gray eyes was not in the least -shaken. She had seen Caroline once, and she was going to see her -again. That was why she was going to the Tower.</p> - -<p>“It’ll do Muriel no end of good,” said Captain Grey, when they were in -the taxi. “She’s—to tell you the truth, Miss Moran, I don’t feel -altogether easy about her.”</p> - -<p>“Why?” asked Lexy, very curious to know what he thought.</p> - -<p>“Well,” he said, “it’s hard to put it into words; but that’s not a -wholesome sort of life for a young woman, shut away like that. The -doctor says her health’s not good, but it’s my opinion that if she got -about more—saw more people, you know—”</p> - -<p>Lexy felt a great pity for him. Apparently he did not even suspect -what she was now sure of—that the unfortunate Muriel was hopelessly -addicted to some drug, which her husband himself gave to her.</p> - -<p>“And I hope he’ll go back to India before he does find out,” she -thought. “It’s too horrible—he worships her so!”</p> - -<p>“I’ve tried, you know,” he went on. “I wanted to take her into the -city, to a concert. Seems confoundedly queer, doesn’t it, the way -she’s lost interest in her music? She didn’t want to go. Then about -the emerald—”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” said Lexy, who had forgotten about the emerald.</p> - -<p>“Chap I know designed a setting for it. It’s unset now, you know, and -I thought I’d like to do that for her while I was here; but she -doesn’t seem interested. I can’t even get her to let me see the thing. -I’ve asked her two or three times, but she always puts me off. Do you -think it bores her?”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps it does,” replied Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Well,” said the young man, “when a woman’s bored by a jewel like -that, she’s in a bad way. I wish you could see it!”</p> - -<p>“I wish I could,” said Lexy, and added to herself: “But I don’t think -I ever shall. Probably her husband’s got it.”</p> - -<p>They had now reached the Tower. The parlor maid opened the door for -them, and at once conducted Lexy upstairs to her room.</p> - -<p>It was a big room, with four windows, and very comfortably furnished; -but even a fire burning in the grate and two or three shaded electric -lamps could not give it a homelike air. There was a musty smell about -it, and there was an amazing amount of dust. It was neat, but it -wasn’t clean. Dust rose from the carpet when she walked, and from the -chair cushions when she sat down. She saw fluff under the bed and -under the bureau.</p> - -<p>“Not much of a housekeeper, poor soul!” thought Lexy. “It’s a pity. -One could do almost anything with a house like this, and all this -beautiful old furniture!”</p> - -<p>But this, after all, was a minor matter. She took off her hat, washed -her hands and face, brushed her hair, and left the room, closing the -door quietly behind her.</p> - -<p>“The house is strange to me,” she said to herself, with a grin. “I -shouldn’t wonder if I turned the wrong way, and got lost!”</p> - -<p>That was what she intended to do. She did not expect to make any -sensational discoveries, for Dr. Quelton did not seem to be the sort -of person who would leave clews lying about for her to pick up; but -she did hope that she might see or hear something—Heaven knows -what—that might bring her nearer to Caroline.</p> - -<p>So, instead of walking toward the stairs, she turned in the opposite -direction, along a hall lined with doors, all of them shut. At the end -there was a grimy window, through which the sun shone in upon the -dusty carpet and the faded wall paper. There was a forlorn and -neglected air about the place, a stillness which made it impossible -for her to believe that there was any living creature behind those -closed doors.</p> - -<p>“I wish I had cheek enough to open some of them,” she thought; “but -I’m afraid I haven’t. I shouldn’t know what to say if there was some -one in the room. After all, I’m supposed to be a guest. I’ve got to be -a little discreet about my prying.”</p> - -<p>She went softly along the hall to the window, to see what was out -there. When she reached it, she was surprised to see that the last -door was a little ajar. She looked through the crack. It wasn’t a room -in there, but another hall, only a few feet long, ending at a narrow -staircase.</p> - -<p>“That must be the way to the cupola,” she thought. “I suppose a guest -might go up there, to see the view.”</p> - -<p>So she pushed the door open and went on tiptoe to the stairs; and then -she heard a voice which she had no trouble in recognizing. It was Dr. -Quelton’s.</p> - -<p>“My dear young man,” he was saying. “I am not a psychologist. It has -always seemed to me the greatest folly to devote serious study to the -workings of so erratic and incalculable a machine as the human brain. -It is a study in which there are, practically speaking, no general -rules, no trustworthy data. It is, in my opinion, not a science at -all, but a philosophy; and philosophy makes no appeal to me. I frankly -admit that I am entirely materialistic. I care little for causes, but -much for effects. Consequently, I have devoted myself to medicine, in -which I can produce certain effects according to established rules.”</p> - -<p>“But I meant more particularly the effect of—of things on the mind—the -brain, you know,” said Captain Grey’s voice.</p> - -<p>Again Lexy felt a great pity for him. He sounded very, very young in -contrast to the doctor—so young and earnest, and so helpless!</p> - -<p>“Exactly!” said the doctor. “You were, I believe, trying to lead to a -suggestion that psychology might be of help to Muriel. Am I right?”</p> - -<p>There was a moment’s pause, during which Lexy very cautiously went -halfway up the stairs.</p> - -<p>“I did think of that,” said the young man valiantly. “It seems to me -she’s a bit—well, morbid, you know; and I’ve heard about those -chaps—those psychoanalysts, you know. Simply occurred to me that one -of them—merely a suggestion, you know. I’m not trying to be -officious.”</p> - -<p>“A psychoanalyst,” said Dr. Quelton, “is a man who analyzes the -psyche, who solemnly and expensively analyzes something of whose -existence he has no proof whatever.”</p> - -<p>There was another silence.</p> - -<p>By this time Lexy had reached the head of the stairs. Beside her was -an open door, through which she could look, while she herself was -hidden from view. Beyond it was, as she had thought, the cupola—a -small octagonal room with windows on every side, through which the sun -poured in a dazzling flood. There was nothing in the room except a -white enamel table, a stool, a porcelain sink, and an open cabinet, -upon the shelves of which stood rows and rows of bottles, each one -labeled. Facing this cabinet, and with their backs toward the door, -stood the two men—the doctor with his shoulders hunched and his hands -clasped behind him, and Captain Grey, tall, slender, straight as a -wand.</p> - -<p>“Materia medica—that is my art,” said the doctor. “I have devoted my -life to it, and I have learned—a little. I have made experiments. A -psychologist will offer to tell you why a man has murdered his -grandmother. I can’t pretend to do that, but I can give that man a -tablet which will make it practically certain that he <i>will</i> kill his -grandmother if they are left alone together for ten minutes.”</p> - -<p>“But, I say!” protested Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>“I can assure you that I have never made the experiment,” said Dr. -Quelton, with a laugh; “but I could do it. I have learned that certain -states of mind can be produced by certain drugs.”</p> - -<p>Captain Grey turned his head, so that Lexy could see his handsome, -sensitive face in profile.</p> - -<p>“That seems to me a pretty risky thing to do,” he said, with a trace -of sternness. “I hope, sir, that you don’t—”</p> - -<p>“Don’t give Muriel drugs that make her disposed to murder her -grandmother?” interrupted the doctor, with another laugh; but he must -have noticed that his companion was unresponsive, for he at once -changed his tone. “No,” he said gravely. “I have made a particular -study of Muriel’s case. She seriously overtaxed herself in her musical -studies. Don’t be alarmed, my dear fellow—there is no permanent -injury. It is simply a profound mental and nervous lassitude—obviously -a case where artificial stimulation is required, until the tone of the -lethargic brain is restored. I am able to do for her what, I feel -certain, no one else now living could do. In this bottle”—he tapped -one of them with his forefinger—“I have a preparation which would make -my fortune, if I had the least ambition in that direction. Five drops -of that, in a glass of water, and her depression and apathy are -immediately dispelled. There is an instantaneous improvement in—”</p> - -<p>Lexy waited to hear no more. She slipped down the stairs as quietly as -she had come up, hurried along the hall, and went into her own room -again. Her knees gave way and she collapsed into a chair, staring -ahead of her with the most singular expression on her face.</p> - -<p>She was, in fact, looking at a new idea, and it was not a welcome one.</p> - -<p>“No!” she said to herself. “It’s out of the question. It’s too -dangerous. I can’t do it!”</p> - -<p>But the idea remained solidly before her; and the more she -contemplated it, the more was her honest heart obliged to admit the -possibilities in it.</p> - -<p>“It can’t do any real harm,” she said; “and it might do good—so much -good! All right, I’m going to do it!”</p> - -<p>Half an hour before dinner she went down into the library, a polite -and quiet young guest, even a little subdued. Dr. Quelton took Captain -Grey out for a stroll on the beach. He asked Lexy to go with them, but -she said she would prefer to stay with Mrs. Quelton.</p> - -<p>It was very peaceful and pleasant there in the library. The late -afternoon sun shone in through the long window, touching with a benign -light the shabby and graceful old furniture, picking out a glitter of -gold on the binding of a book, a dull gleam of silver or copper in a -corner. A mild breeze blew in, fluttering the curtains and bringing a -wholesome breath of the salt air.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Quelton was at her best. To be sure, she was not very -interesting. She talked about rather banal things—about the weather, -about a kitten that had run away, about the flowers in the -conservatory; but Lexy, as she watched her and listened to her, could -understand better than ever before what it was in Captain Grey’s -sister that had so seized upon his heart. Languid and aloof as she -was, there was nevertheless an undeniable charm about her, something -sweet and kindly and lovable. She said, more than once, how very glad -she was to have Lexy with her, and Lexy believed she meant it.</p> - -<p>The two men had strolled out of sight.</p> - -<p>“I must have left my handkerchief upstairs,” said Lexy. “Excuse me -just a minute, please!”</p> - -<p>But she was gone more than a minute, and when she returned her face -was curiously white.</p> - -<h2>XVIII</h2> - -<p>The clock struck eleven. Lexy glanced up from her book, in the vain -hope that somebody would speak, would stir, would make some move to -end this intolerable evening; but nobody did.</p> - -<p>Dr. Quelton and Captain Grey were playing chess. They sat facing each -other at a small table, in a haze of tobacco smoke, silent and intent, -as if they had been gods deciding human destinies. Mrs. Quelton lay on -her <i>chaise longue</i>, doing nothing at all. If Lexy spoke to her, she -answered in a low tone, but cheerfully enough; but she so obviously -preferred not to talk that Lexy had taken up a book and vainly -attempted to read.</p> - -<p>It was the most wearisome and depressing evening she had ever spent. -Her lively and restless spirit had often enough found it dull at the -Enderbys’, and at other times and places; but this was different, and -infinitely worse.</p> - -<p>To begin with, a sense of guilt lay like lead upon her heart. She -hoped and believed that what she had done was right, but she was -afraid, terribly afraid, of what might result. She could not keep her -eyes off Mrs. Quelton’s face. She watched the doctor’s wife with a -dread and anxiety which she felt was ill concealed; and she had a -chill suspicion that the doctor was watching her, in turn.</p> - -<p>“Of course, he’s bound to find out some time,” she said to herself. “I -wasn’t such a fool as to expect more than a day or two, at the very -most; but I did hope there’d be time just to see—”</p> - -<p>Again she glanced at Mrs. Quelton. Was it imagination, or was there -already a faint and indefinable change?</p> - -<p>“No, that’s nonsense,” she thought. “There couldn’t be, so -soon—although I don’t know how often he gives her that priceless -tonic.”</p> - -<p>Suddenly she wanted to laugh. She had a very vivid memory of Dr. -Quelton tapping that bottle with his finger, and saying to Captain -Grey that he had a preparation in there which would make his fortune, -if he chose.</p> - -<p>“It wouldn’t now,” she thought, struggling with suppressed laughter.</p> - -<p>There was nothing in that bottle now but water. Just before dinner she -had run up to the cupola, emptied its contents into the sink, and -filled it from the tap.</p> - -<p>The idea had come to her when she overheard the two men talking. It -had seemed to her then a plain and obvious duty to destroy the drug -that so horribly affected Mrs. Quelton. Fate had allowed her to see -which bottle it was. Fate gave her an undisturbed half hour when the -doctor and Captain Grey were out; and, to make her plan quite perfect, -the liquid in the bottle was colorless and almost without odor.</p> - -<p>She had thought it possible that the doctor would not notice the -substitution until his unhappy wife had had at least a chance to -return to a normal condition. Lexy had meant to wait and to watch, -and, when the moment came, to speak to Mrs. Quelton. She had thought -that she could warn the doctor’s wife, and implore her not to submit -to that hideous domination.</p> - -<p>She had scarcely thought of the risk to herself, and it had not -occurred to her that there might be serious risk to Mrs. Quelton. She -knew almost nothing about drugs and their effects. Her one idea had -been to destroy the thing that was destroying Mrs. Quelton. Only now, -when it was done, did she realize the mad audacity of her act. A man -like Dr. Quelton couldn’t be tricked by such a childish device. He -would know what had happened, and who had done it. Very likely he had -plenty more of the drug somewhere else. If he hadn’t—</p> - -<p>“He’d feel like killing me,” thought Lexy. “I suppose he could, easily -enough. He must know all sorts of nice, quiet little ways for getting -rid of obnoxious people. Perhaps there was something in my dinner -to-night!”</p> - -<p>She dared not think of such a possibility.</p> - -<p>“No!” she said to herself. “He asked me here just to show me how -little I mattered. He knew I’d seen Caroline here, and he asked me to -come, because he was so sure I couldn’t do anything. I’m too -insignificant for him to bother with. He knows that nobody would -believe what I said. He’d only have to say that I was hysterical, and -Captain Grey and Mrs. Royce would be obliged to bear him out. He won’t -trouble himself about me!”</p> - -<p>She stole a glance at him, and, to her profound uneasiness, she found -him staring intently at her. A shiver ran down her spine, and she -turned back to her book with a very pale face. If only it had been an -interesting book, so that she might have forgotten herself for a -little while!</p> - -<p>The clock struck half past eleven.</p> - -<p>“After all, I don’t see why I have to sit here,” she thought. “I -shouldn’t exactly break up the party if I went to bed.”</p> - -<p>And she was just about to close her book when Mrs. Quelton spoke.</p> - -<p>“I’m so tired!” she said in a high, wailing voice. “I’m so tired—so -tired—so tired!”</p> - -<p>Dr. Quelton hastily rose and came over to her chair.</p> - -<p>“Then you must go to bed,” he said. “Come!”</p> - -<p>He helped her to rise, and she stood, supported by his arm, her face -drawn and ghastly.</p> - -<p>“I’m so tired!” she moaned.</p> - -<p>Captain Grey came toward her, making a very poor attempt to smile.</p> - -<p>“Good night, Muriel!” he said, holding out his hand.</p> - -<p>She did not answer, or even look at him. Leaning on the doctor’s arm, -she went out of the room, into the hall, and up the stairs. Her -wailing voice floated back to them: “I’m so tired—so tired!”</p> - -<p>For a moment Captain Grey and Lexy were silent. Then—</p> - -<p>“Good God!” he cried suddenly. “I can’t stand this! I—”</p> - -<p>Lexy came nearer to him.</p> - -<p>“Don’t stand it!” she whispered. “Take her away! Can’t you <i>see</i>? Take -her away!”</p> - -<p>“How can I? Her husband—she doesn’t want to go.”</p> - -<p>“Make her! Oh, can’t you see? He’s giving her some horrible drug!”</p> - -<p>“You mustn’t be alarmed,” said Dr. Quelton’s voice from the hall. They -both looked at him with a guilty start, but his blank eyes were -staring past them, at nothing. “It is unfortunate,” he said. “The -little excitement of this visit—”</p> - -<p>He walked past them into the room and over to the table, where his -pipe lay among the chessmen. He lit it deliberately and stood smoking -it, with one arm resting on the mantelpiece.</p> - -<p>“In her present highly nervous condition,” he went on, “the little -excitement of this visit has proved too much for her. I shall drive -over to the hospital and fetch a nurse—”</p> - -<p>“A nurse!” cried the young man. “Then she’s—”</p> - -<p>“There is absolutely no occasion for alarm, as I told you before. A -few days’ rest and quiet—”</p> - -<p>“Look here, sir!” said Captain Grey. “It seems to me—I’ve no wish to -be offensive, or anything of that sort, but it seems right to me”—he -paused for a moment—“to get a second opinion.”</p> - -<p>“I shouldn’t advise it,” replied the doctor blandly.</p> - -<p>“Possibly not, sir; but perhaps you would be willing to oblige me to -that extent. I don’t want to insist—”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t, if I were you.”</p> - -<p>There was a faint flush on the young man’s dark face.</p> - -<p>“Nevertheless—” he began, but again the doctor interrupted him.</p> - -<p>“My dear young man,” he said, “you oblige me to be frank. I should -have preferred a discreet silence; but as you are obviously determined -to make the matter as difficult as possible, you must hear the truth. -For some years your sister has been addicted to the use of certain -drugs. When I discovered this, I set about trying to cure the -addiction. You probably have no idea what that means. I venture to say -that there is nothing—absolutely nothing—more difficult in the entire -field of medicine. I have been working on the case for more than a -year, and I have made distinct progress; but it will be some time -before the cure is completed, and I can assure you that it never will -be unless I am left undisturbed. There is no other man now living who -can do what I am doing.”</p> - -<p>He spoke gravely and coldly, and his blank eyes were fixed upon -Captain Grey with a sort of sternness; but Lexy had a curious -impression—more than an impression, a certainty—that within himself -Dr. Quelton was laughing.</p> - -<p>“If you care to take another doctor into your confidence,” he went on, -“I can scarcely refuse permission; but you will regret it.”</p> - -<p>The young man said nothing. He turned away and stood by the open -window, looking out into the dark garden. Lexy waited for a moment. -Then, with a subdued “Good night,” she went out of the room, up the -stairs, and into her own room.</p> - -<p>“It’s a lie!” she said to herself.</p> - -<h2>XIX</h2> - -<p>“Then you’re not going to do anything?” asked Lexy.</p> - -<p>“My dear Miss Moran, what in the world can I do?” returned Captain -Grey, with a sort of despair.</p> - -<p>They were sitting together on the veranda in the warm morning -sunshine. They had had breakfast in the dining room, with the -doctor—an excellent breakfast. The doctor had been at his -best—courteous, affable, very attentive to his guests. Everything in -his manner tended to reassure the young soldier.</p> - -<p>Everything in the world seemed to tend in that direction, Lexy -thought. A Sunday tranquillity lay over the country. Church bells were -ringing somewhere in the far distance. The windows of the library -stood open, and the parlor maid was visible in there, flitting about -with broom and duster. Everything was peaceful and ordinary, and -Captain Grey had come out on the veranda and attempted to begin a -peaceful and ordinary conversation.</p> - -<p>But Lexy had no intention of allowing him to enjoy such a thing. She -felt pretty sure that her time in this house would not be long. She -had caused Dr. Quelton an anxiety that he could not conceal. She had -got in his way. She could not tell whether he had discovered her trick -yet, but the effects were manifest; and if he didn’t know now, he -would very soon, and then—</p> - -<p>Captain Grey must carry on when she was gone.</p> - -<p>“You’re properly satisfied—with everything?” she went on mercilessly. -“You’re not allowed even to see your sister. No one can see her. -You’re not allowed to call in another doctor.”</p> - -<p>“Even if I’m not properly satisfied,” he answered, “what can I do? In -her husband’s house, you know—I can’t make a row.”</p> - -<p>“Why can’t you?”</p> - -<p>He looked at her, startled and uneasy. Her question was ridiculous. -Why couldn’t he make a row? Simply because he couldn’t; because he -wasn’t that sort; because it wasn’t done; because almost anything was -preferable to making a row.</p> - -<p>“Of course, if you have a blind faith in Dr. Quelton—” she persisted.</p> - -<p>“Well, I haven’t,” he admitted; “but—”</p> - -<p>“Then let’s go upstairs and see her. The doctor has gone out.”</p> - -<p>“But the nurse—”</p> - -<p>“Put on your best commanding officer’s air,” said Lexy. “You can be -awfully impressive when you like. If I were you, there’s nothing I’d -stop at.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but look here—what can I say to Quelton when he hears about it?”</p> - -<p>“Laugh it off,” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>The idea of Captain Grey trying to laugh off anything made her grin -from ear to ear.</p> - -<p>“Not much of a joke, though, is it?” he said rather stiffly. “Suppose -he hoofs us out of the house?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, dear!” cried Lexy. “You’re not a bit resourceful! Let’s try it, -anyhow. It’s horrible to think of her shut up like that. Perhaps she’s -longing to see you.”</p> - -<p>He rose.</p> - -<p>“Right-o!” he said. “Let’s try it!”</p> - -<p>Together they went up the stairs and down the hall of the other wing, -opposite that in which Lexy’s room was. Captain Grey knocked on a -door, and a quiet, middle-aged little nurse came out.</p> - -<p>“I’ll just pop in to see how my sister’s getting on,” said the young -man, and Lexy silently applauded his toploftical manner.</p> - -<p>“I’m sorry,” said the little nurse, “but Dr. Quelton has given strict -orders—”</p> - -<p>“Er—yes, quite so!” he interrupted suavely. “I shan’t stop a minute.”</p> - -<p>He came nearer, but the nurse drew back and stood with her back -against the door.</p> - -<p>“Dr. Quelton has given strict orders—” she repeated.</p> - -<p>“No more of that, please!” he said with a frown. “I’m going to see -Mrs. Quelton for a moment. Stand aside, please!”</p> - -<p>He did not raise his voice, but the quality of it was oddly changed. -Lexy felt a thrill of pleasure in its cool assurance and authority. -Perhaps he objected very much to “making a row,” but what a glorious -row he could make if he chose! If he would only once face Dr. Quelton -like this!</p> - -<p>“Stand aside, if you please!” he repeated, and the poor little nurse, -very much flustered, did so.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid Dr. Quelton will be—” she began, but Captain Grey had -already entered the room.</p> - -<p>The nurse followed him, closing the door after her. Lexy opened it at -once and went in after them. She caught a glimpse of the young man and -the nurse vanishing through one of the long windows that led out to -the balcony. For a moment she hesitated, looking about her at the big, -dim room. The dark shades were pulled down, and not a trace of the -spring’s brightness entered here.</p> - -<p>Then she heard Captain Grey’s voice speaking.</p> - -<p>“My dear, my dear!” he said. “Can I do anything in the world for you? -My dear!”</p> - -<p>There was no answer. Lexy crossed the room to the window and looked -out. The balcony, too, was dim, with Venetian blinds drawn down on -every side, and on a narrow cot lay Muriel Quelton. There was a -bandage over her forehead and covering her hair, and under it her face -had a mystic and terrible beauty. She was as white as a ghost, with -great dark circles beneath her eyes; and she was so still—so utterly -still—that Lexy was stricken with terror.</p> - -<p>Captain Grey was sitting beside her in a low chair, holding one of her -lifeless hands, and Lexy saw on his face such anguish as she had never -looked upon before.</p> - -<p>“My dear!” he said again.</p> - -<p>Her weary eyes opened and looked up at him. Then the shadow of a smile -crossed her face.</p> - -<p>“Stay!” she whispered.</p> - -<p>Lexy drew nearer. Tears were running down her cheeks. She tried to -read the nurse’s face, but she could not.</p> - -<p>“How is—she—getting on?” she asked, speaking very low.</p> - -<p>“Lexy!” came a voice from the cot, almost inaudible. “Take it—the top -drawer—of the bureau—for you.”</p> - -<p>“But do you mean—I don’t understand!” cried Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Hush, please!” said the nurse severely. “Mrs. Quelton is not to be -excited.”</p> - -<p>Lexy was silent for a moment. Then, just as she was about to speak, -her quick ear caught a very unwelcome sound—the sound of a horse’s -trot. She turned away and went back through the window into the room. -Dr. Quelton was coming home. She couldn’t wait to find out what Muriel -Quelton had meant. Once more she was compelled to do the best she -could amid a fog of misunderstanding.</p> - -<p>“Lexy—take it—the top drawer—of the bureau—for you.”</p> - -<p>That was what she thought Mrs. Quelton had said, and she acted upon -that premise. She crossed the room to the bureau, and opened the top -drawer. In the dim light that filled the shuttered room she could not -see very clearly; but, as far as she could ascertain, there was -nothing in the drawer except some neatly folded silk stockings, a -satin glove case, some little odds and ends of ribbons, and a pile of -handkerchiefs. She looked into the glove case—nothing there but -gloves. There was nothing hidden away among the stockings, nothing -among the ribbons.</p> - -<p>She heard the front door close and a step begin to mount the stairs, -deliberate and heavy, in the quiet house. In haste she went at the -pile of handkerchiefs. There were dozens of them, all of fine white -linen, all with a “2” embroidered in one corner—very uninteresting -handkerchiefs, Lexy thought; but halfway through the pile she came -upon one that she had seen before.</p> - -<p>It was so familiar to her that at first she was not startled or even -surprised. It was a handkerchief that she had embroidered for Caroline -Enderby.</p> - -<p>She took it up and looked at it with a frown. Then she heard Dr. -Quelton’s step in the hall outside. She tucked the handkerchief in her -belt, and tried to close the drawer, but it stuck. Her heart was -beating wildly, her knees felt weak. He would find her there, like a -thief!</p> - -<p>But the footsteps went on past the door. She waited for a moment, and -then went noiselessly across to the door, opened it, looked up and -down the empty corridor, and ran, like a hare, back to her own room.</p> - -<p>Caroline’s handkerchief! Was that what Mrs. Quelton had meant her to -find? Or had she discovered it by accident? Did it mean that Mrs. -Quelton was at heart her ally? Or was this little square of linen all -that was left of Caroline?</p> - -<p>Lexy took it out of her belt and looked at it again, and her tears -fell on it. Whatever else it might imply, it told her clearly enough -that her friend <i>had been there</i>. Poor Caroline—the helpless little -captive who had left her prison to be lost in the strange world -outside—had come here, and she had brought with her the handkerchief -that Lexy had embroidered for her. It had come now into Lexy’s hand, a -mute and pitiful emissary, whose message she could not understand.</p> - -<p>“What shall I do?” she thought. “Oh, what must I do? Perhaps it’s time -for the police. Perhaps, if I show this to Captain Grey, he’ll believe -me. There must be some one, somewhere, who’ll believe me and help me!”</p> - -<p>There was a knock at the door.</p> - -<p>“Yes?” she said.</p> - -<p>“Open the door!” ordered Dr. Quelton’s voice.</p> - -<p>“No!” Lexy promptly replied.</p> - -<p>She put the handkerchief inside her blouse and stood facing the closed -door, with her hands clenched. Now he knew! She heard him laugh -quietly.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps you’re right,” he said. “It is better, perhaps, for us not to -meet again. Even making every allowance for your hysterical, -unbalanced mind, I find it difficult to excuse this latest -manifestation which I have just this moment discovered. It was you, of -course, who filled that bottle with water?”</p> - -<p>She did not answer.</p> - -<p>“Why you did it, I don’t know,” he went on, “and probably you don’t -know yourself. It was the wanton mischief of an irresponsible child, -but the consequences in this instance are serious—very serious. Mrs. -Quelton will suffer for them. I doubt if she will recover. No, Miss -Moran, you are too troublesome a guest. You had better go—at once!”</p> - -<p>“All right!” said Lexy, in a defiant but trembling voice.</p> - -<p>“At once!” he repeated. “I shall send your bag this afternoon.”</p> - -<h2>XX</h2> - -<p>“I don’t care!” said Lexy to herself. “I’ll come back!”</p> - -<p>She did not wish to have her bag sent after her. She packed it in -great haste, put on her hat and coat, and, opening the door of her -room, stepped out cautiously and looked up and down the corridor. -There was no one in sight, so she picked up her bag and set forth.</p> - -<p>She was running away—worse than that, she was being driven away; but -just at the moment she could see no other course open to her. She -could not appeal to Captain Grey while he was in such distracting -anxiety about his sister. It would be cruel, and it would be useless. -What could he do? If Dr. Quelton did not want her in his house, -certainly his brother-in-law could not insist upon her staying.</p> - -<p>“No!” she reflected. “He would only think it was his duty as a -gentleman to leave with me, and he would be miserable, not knowing -what became of his sister. I’ve got to go, that’s all; but, by jiminy, -I’ll come back! And then we’ll see how much more wanton mischief this -irresponsible child can manage!”</p> - -<p>There was in her heart a steady flame of anger. Hatred was not natural -to her, but her feeling for Dr. Quelton came dangerously near to it. -For Caroline’s disappearance, for Mrs. Quelton’s pitiful state, for -her own humiliation and suffering, she held him responsible; and she -meant to settle that score.</p> - -<p>She met no one on her way through the house. She went down the stairs, -opened the door, and stepped out into the dazzling sunshine. It was a -warm day, her bag was very heavy, and the three-mile walk to Mrs. -Royce’s was not inviting. It had to be done, however, and off she -started.</p> - -<p>The lane was thick with dust, and it was hard walking with that heavy -bag, but she went on at a smart pace as long as she thought any one -could possibly see her from the cupola. Then she set down the bag and -rested for a moment.</p> - -<p>“There’s a certain way to carry things without strain,” she thought. -“I read about it in a magazine. You use the muscles of your back, or -your shoulders, or something.”</p> - -<p>But she couldn’t remember how this was to be done; so, picking up the -bag in her usual way, went on again. Obviously her way was a very -wrong way, for by the time she had reached the end of the lane her -fingers were cramped and painful, and her arms ached; and there was -the highway, stretching endlessly before her under the hot noonday -sun—two miles of it or more. There was no reasonable chance of a taxi, -and she knew no one in the neighborhood who might come driving by. -There was nothing in sight but a man walking along the road toward -her, and that didn’t interest her.</p> - -<p>She went on as far as she could, and then stopped under a tree, to rub -her stiffening arms.</p> - -<p>“I wonder,” she thought, “if I could hide this darned old bag -somewhere, and send Joe for it later!”</p> - -<p>But her nicest clothes were in it, and the risk was too great. With a -resentful sigh she lifted it and stepped out again. The man coming -along the road was quite close to her now. She stopped short, and so -did he.</p> - -<p>“Lexy!” he shouted, and came toward her on a run, with a wide grin on -his sunburned face.</p> - -<p>She dropped the bag with a thump, and stood waiting for him. He held -out both hands, and she took them.</p> - -<p>“Oh, golly!” she cried. “I’m so glad you’ve come, Mr. Houseman!”</p> - -<p>“So am I!” he said. “Ever since I got that last letter from you—”</p> - -<p>“Last! I only wrote one.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I got two,” he told her. “The second one came yesterday, about -this doctor, and the roses, you know.”</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Royce must have posted it!” said Lexy. “I wrote it, but I didn’t -mean it to be sent to you unless something happened to me.”</p> - -<p>“Enough has happened to you already!”</p> - -<p>“More things are going to happen,” said she. “Lots more!”</p> - -<p>It suddenly occurred to her that the proper moment had come for -withdrawing her hands from Mr. Houseman’s firm grasp. Indeed, she -thought the proper moment might already have passed, and a warm color -came into her cheeks.</p> - -<p>The young man flushed a little himself.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t mean to call you that,” he said; “but Caroline used to write -a lot about you, and she always called you ‘Lexy,’ so I got into the -way of thinking of you—like that.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t mind,” Lexy conceded.</p> - -<p>There was a moment’s silence.</p> - -<p>“Charles is my name,” he observed.</p> - -<p>Another silence.</p> - -<p>“Queer, isn’t it?” he said seriously.</p> - -<p>“Here we’ve only seen each other once, and yet somehow it seems to me -as if I’d known you for years!”</p> - -<p>“Well, the circumstances are rather unusual,” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>“You’re right! But look here—we’ve got to talk about all this. Where -were you going?”</p> - -<p>“Back to Mrs. Royce’s.”</p> - -<p>“Let’s go!” he said cheerfully, and picked up the bag as if it were -nothing at all.</p> - -<p>“But where were <i>you</i> going?” asked Lexy.</p> - -<p>“To find you. You see, we ran into some awfully bad weather, and the -engines broke down, and we came back for repairs; so I got your -letters. I explained to the old man that I’d have to have leave, for -some very important business, and off I came to Wyngate. Your Mrs. -Royce told me you’d gone out to the Queltons’. I didn’t like that. Why -did you go there, after what had happened?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you all about that later,” said Lexy; “but now you’ve got -to tell me things. How did you ever meet Caroline? How in the world -did she manage to write to you?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you see, I met her about a year ago, on board the Ormond. She -and her parents were coming back from France, and I was third officer, -you know. Her mother and father were seasick most of the time, so we -had a chance to—to talk to each other; and, you see—”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I see!” said Lexy gently.</p> - -<p>“One of the servants—a girl called Annie—used to post Caroline’s -letters for her, and I used to write to her in care of Annie’s mother. -We never had a chance to meet again, after that trip. I wanted to come -to the house and see her people, but she said it wasn’t any use; and -from what I saw of them on the Ormond I dare say she was right. I -wouldn’t have suited them. I haven’t any money, you know—nothing but -my pay; but it was enough for us to live on. Other fellows manage!”</p> - -<p>He was silent for a moment.</p> - -<p>“After all,” he said, “I’m not a beggar. I can hold my own pretty well -in the world, and I could look after a wife.”</p> - -<p>“I know it!” cried Lexy, with vehemence. She felt curiously touched by -his words, and quite indignant against the Enderbys and any one else -who did not appreciate him.</p> - -<p>“I asked Caroline to marry me,” he went on. “I told her I couldn’t -give her much, but we could have had a jolly sort of life. Look here! -Are you crying?”</p> - -<p>“A little bit,” Lexy admitted; “but don’t pay any attention to it. Go -on!”</p> - -<p>“That’s about all there is. She said she would meet me here in -Wyngate, because that’s the nearest station of the main line to some -little place where a nurse or a governess of hers lived.”</p> - -<p>“Miss Craigie!”</p> - -<p>“Never heard the name. Anyhow, she wanted to go there after we got -married, and—I wish you wouldn’t look like that!”</p> - -<p>“But I’m so <i>awfully</i> sorry for you!”</p> - -<p>“It was pretty hard, at first,” he said; “but—well, you see, I’ve -thought a bit about it, and after all I’m glad we didn’t get married.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” cried Lexy, profoundly shocked. “But that’s—”</p> - -<p>“Because I—you see, she didn’t—well, I don’t think she really liked me -very much.”</p> - -<p>Lexy was astounded.</p> - -<p>“Fact!” said he. “What she wanted was romance, and all that sort of -thing. She wanted to get away from home, and I was the only chance she -had; so there you are!”</p> - -<p>“That wasn’t very fair to you!”</p> - -<p>“I don’t blame her,” he said thoughtfully. “We were both—but what’s -the sense of talking about all that? The thing is to find her!”</p> - -<p>Lexy agreed to that promptly.</p> - -<p>“Now I’ll tell you everything that’s happened,” she said.</p> - -<p>He listened to her with alert attention. He interrupted her often to -ask questions, but they were always questions that she could answer. -He wanted all the facts, and what Lexy told him he unquestioningly -accepted as fact. When she said she had seen Caroline at the doctor’s -house, he believed her. He didn’t suggest that her eyes might have -deceived her. He trusted her—not only her good intentions, but her -good sense.</p> - -<p>At last she came to the part of her story about which she was most -doubtful—the episode of the emptied bottle. She told it with -reluctance.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know now,” she said. “Perhaps I did wrong. Perhaps that -really was wanton mischief. I did so hate that horrible drug that -changed her so! When I did it, it seemed right; but now—”</p> - -<p>“It was right,” said he. “Any one’s better off dead than being -drugged. Everything you’ve done was right and splendid. You’re the -pluckiest girl I ever heard of—the best and most loyal little pal to -poor Caroline! There’s no one like you!”</p> - -<p>After Mrs. Enderby’s cold and skeptical smile, after Dr. Quelton’s -parting sneer, after Captain Grey’s doubts and uncertainties, this -speech rather went to Lexy’s head. The world seemed a different place. -She glanced at the young man, and he happened at that moment to be -looking at her. They both looked away hastily.</p> - -<p>“This fellow—this Captain Grey,” said Charles. “He seems to me to be -rather a chump!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, he’s not!” protested Lexy. “He’s as nice as can be!”</p> - -<p>Charles Houseman, who had believed everything that Lexy had said, did -not appear convinced of this; and for some inexplicable reason Lexy -was not greatly displeased by his lack of belief.</p> - -<h2>XXI</h2> - -<p>Mrs. Royce was very much pleased to see her pet, Miss Moran, return. -She was well disposed toward Mr. Houseman, too, and willingly agreed -to put him up for a few days. She set to work at once to cook a good -lunch for them, but she did not hum under her breath, as was her usual -habit. In fact, she was greatly perplexed and worried.</p> - -<p>When her guests were seated at the table, she retired, leaving them -alone; but she did not go very far. She remained close to the door, so -that she could look through the crack. She observed that Miss Moran -seemed very lively and cheerful with this newcomer—though she had been -quite as lively and cheerful with Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t know, I’m sure!” said Mrs. Royce to herself, with a -sigh. “It beats <i>me</i>!”</p> - -<p>For the question which so troubled her was—which young man was <i>the</i> -young man?</p> - -<p>“Both of ’em as nice, polite young fellers as you’d want to see,” she -repeated. “T’ other one’s handsomer, but he’s kind of foreignlike and -gloomy. This one’s got more gumption. The way he walked in here, smart -as a whip, and asked for Miss Moran, an’ when I says she’s gone to -visit the Queltons, why, off he went, after her! I like a man with -gumption!”</p> - -<p>So did Miss Moran. Charles Houseman seemed to her the only living, -vigorous creature in a world of ghosts, the only one whom she could -really understand. There were no shadowy corners about him. He was -altogether honest, direct, and uncomplicated. He had no tact and no -caution. He had come now, in the midst of this wretched tangle, and -she completely believed that he would cut the Gordian knot.</p> - -<p>He had suggested that they should let the subject drop for a time.</p> - -<p>“I think I’ve got the facts straight,” he said; “and now I want to -think them over a bit. Let’s take a walk, and talk about something -else.”</p> - -<p>Lexy agreed to the entire program. If she was tired, she either didn’t -know it, or she forgot it in the joy of this beautifully careless -companionship. She could say exactly what came into her head to -Charles Houseman. He understood her. He was interested in every word -she spoke, and, what is more, she was aware of the profound admiration -that underlay his interest. He thought she was wonderful, and that -made her strangely happy.</p> - -<p>“Do you know,” he said, “the first time I saw you, there in the park, -I—I liked the way you talked to me!”</p> - -<p>“How?” asked Lexy, with great interest. “I thought I must have seemed -awfully irritating and mysterious.”</p> - -<p>He grinned.</p> - -<p>“You were awfully mad when I spoke to you,” he said; “but I liked -that. I don’t know—somehow you made me think of Joan of Arc.”</p> - -<p>“Me?” cried Lexy. “With freckles, and such a temper? You couldn’t -imagine me listening to angels, could you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said, “I could.”</p> - -<p>She glanced at him to see if he was laughing, but he was not. His eyes -met hers with a quiet and steady look.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t need to imagine much,” he said. “You’ve told me what you’ve -been through, and I can see for myself what you are. I don’t think -there ever was another girl like you!”</p> - -<p>“Nonsense!” said Lexy, looking away. “I’m just pig-headed—that’s all.”</p> - -<p>They had wandered across the fields until they came to a little river, -running clear and swift under the elm trees. By tacit consent they sat -down on the bank. They didn’t talk much. Houseman skipped stones with -skill and earnest attention, and Lexy watched the minnows flitting -past through the limpid water. The sky was an unclouded blue. The -sunlight came through the branches, where the leaves were scarcely -unfolded, and made little golden sparkles on the hurrying current. It -was all so quiet—and yet it wasn’t peaceful. The world seemed too -young, too warmly and joyously alive, for peace. The spring was -waiting in eagerness for the summer. This still, fresh, sunlit day was -only an interlude.</p> - -<p>Casually, Houseman told her a good deal about himself.</p> - -<p>“From Baltimore,” he said. “My people wanted me to go into the navy. -My father and grandfather were both navy, but I couldn’t see it. Too -cut and dried! I’m on a cargo steamer now, and I like it.”</p> - -<p>And this information—with the additional facts that he was twenty-six, -that he had two brothers in the navy and three married sisters, and -that both of his parents were living—was all that he had to give about -himself. Lexy was satisfied. There he was, and anyone with eyes to see -and ears to listen could understand him. Honest, blunt, and careless, -fearing nothing, shirking nothing, and facing life with cheerful -unconcern, he was, she thought, a comrade and an ally without an -equal.</p> - -<p>The sun was setting when they turned homeward. The sky was swimming in -soft, pale colors, and a little breeze blew, stirring the new leaves. -It was a poetic and even a melancholy hour; but Houseman found nothing -better to say than that he was hungry.</p> - -<p>“So am I!” said Lexy.</p> - -<p>They looked at each other as if they had discovered still another bond -between them. They were happy—so happy!</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce saw them from the kitchen window. They were strolling along -leisurely, side by side. They were quite composed and matter-of-fact, -and their desultory conversation was upon the subject of shellfish. -The young Baltimorean was an authority on oysters, but Lexy, as a New -Englander, had something to say on the subject of clam chowder.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce was suddenly enlightened.</p> - -<p>“He’s the one!” she said to herself. “Well, I’m real glad, I’m sure!”</p> - -<p>So glad was she that she at once began to make a superb chocolate -cake, and she hummed a song about a young man on Springfield Mountain, -who killed a “pesky sarpent.”</p> - -<p>George Grey heard her. He was in the sitting room, smoking, and -apparently reading a book; but he never turned a page. He lit one -cigarette after another, and his hand was steady. He looked as he -always looked—fastidiously neat, self-possessed, and a little haughty; -but in spirit he was suffering horribly.</p> - -<p>Lexy knew that as soon as she saw him, because she knew him and liked -him so well. She held out her hand to him, not even pretending to -smile, but searching his face with an anxious and friendly glance.</p> - -<p>“Here’s Mr. Houseman, Caroline Enderby’s <i>fiancé</i>,” she said. “I’ve -told him the whole thing, so if there’s anything new—”</p> - -<p>Captain Grey stiffened perceptibly. He couldn’t see what possible -connection anybody’s <i>fiancé</i> could have with his affairs. He shook -hands with Houseman, but not very nicely; and Houseman was not -excessively cordial.</p> - -<p>Lexy took no notice of this nonsense. Her mood of happy confidence had -passed now, and the dark and mysterious shadow had come back. There -was something of greater importance to think about than her personal -affairs.</p> - -<p>“Captain Grey,” she said, with a sort of directness, “I didn’t tell -you before, but I’m going to tell you now. I saw Caroline in that -house, and this morning I found—this.”</p> - -<p>He looked at the handkerchief, and then at Lexy.</p> - -<p>“But—” he began.</p> - -<p>“It means that she’s been there, or that she’s there now,” Lexy went -on. “It’s time we found out. Of course, I know how you feel about Dr. -Quelton. He’s your sister’s husband, and you didn’t want—”</p> - -<p>“It doesn’t make much difference now,” he said. “If you’ll wait a day -or so, she—”</p> - -<p>He turned away abruptly, and took out his cigarette case.</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?” cried Lexy.</p> - -<p>“It won’t be long,” he said quietly. “She—my sister—he says it won’t -be more than twenty-four hours, at the most.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no! It can’t be! Captain Grey, don’t believe him!”</p> - -<p>“I tried not to,” he said. “I—well, we had a bit of a row, and I made -him let me bring in another doctor from the village here. He said the -same thing.”</p> - -<p>“What did the doctor say it was?” asked Houseman.</p> - -<p>“Pernicious anæmia. There’s nothing to be done.”</p> - -<p>Captain Grey seemed to find some difficulty in lighting his cigarette; -but when he had done so, and had drawn in a deep breath, he turned -back toward Lexy with a smile that startled her. She had never -imagined he could look like that. It was a wolfish kind of smile, -lighting his dark face with a sort of savage mirth.</p> - -<p>“When it’s over,” he said, “I’ll be very pleased to help you to hang -him, if you can; or I’ll wring his neck myself.”</p> - -<p>The other two stared at him in silence for a moment.</p> - -<p>“You think he’s—” Houseman began.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know whether he has actually murdered her or not,” said -Captain Grey, “but he has destroyed her—utterly wasted and ruined her -life. He taught her to take that damned drug; and when Miss Moran -broke the bottle—”</p> - -<p>“Oh! Did he tell you?”</p> - -<p>“He did. He says you’ve killed her. There was some rare drug in it -that he can’t get for a fortnight or so, and she can’t live without -it.”</p> - -<p>“Captain Grey!” she cried, white to the lips. “I didn’t—”</p> - -<p>“I know,” he said gently. “You meant to help, and I’m glad you did it. -She’s better dead. This afternoon, for a little while, she -was—herself. She talked to me. She was very weak, but she was herself. -She asked me to help her not to take it again. She thought she was -getting better. Then that”—he paused—“that damned brute brought in a -lawyer, so that she could make her will. She couldn’t believe it. She -looked up at me. ‘Oh, I’m not going to <i>die</i>, am I?’ she said. Before -I could answer her, he told her she must be prepared. Then I—”</p> - -<p>Again he turned away.</p> - -<p>“And you let him alone?” inquired Houseman.</p> - -<p>“It’s not time to settle with him—yet,” said the other. “That’s why I -came away, because I don’t want to kill him—yet. She’s unconscious -now. She will be, until it’s finished. I’m going back later, but I -wanted to come, here—” He ceased speaking. “To you,” his eyes said to -Lexy.</p> - -<p>She forgot everything else, then, except this tormented and suffering -human being who had turned to her for comfort. She pushed him gently -down into a chair, and seated herself on the arm of it. She took both -his hands and patted them, while she racked her brain for the right -thing to say.</p> - -<p>“We’ll do <i>something</i>!” she said. “There’s no reason to be in despair. -That young country doctor was probably entirely under the influence of -Dr. Quelton. We’ll get some one else. We’ll telephone to one of the -big hospitals in New York and find out who’s the very best man, and -we’ll get him out here. Mr. Houseman will ring up—”</p> - -<p>But Mr. Houseman had disappeared. Worse still, Mrs. Royce’s telephone -was out of order.</p> - -<p>“Never mind!” said Lexy. “We’ll have a nice hot cup of tea, and then -we’ll go to the grocery store. There’s a telephone there.”</p> - -<p>She made the captain drink his tea and eat a little. Then she ran -upstairs for her hat; and she was very angry at Charles Houseman for -running away.</p> - -<h2>XXII</h2> - -<p>They set off together down the village street. There was no one about -at that hour. All Wyngate was partaking of its Sunday night supper -within doors, and one or two of the little wooden houses showed lights -in the front windows; but for the most part life was concentrated in -the kitchen.</p> - -<p>The drug store was locked, but a dim light was burning inside, and a -vigorous ringing of the night bell brought Mr. Binz, the owner, to -open the door. He was deeply interested in their errand. He suggested -St. Luke’s Hospital, for the reason that he had once been there -himself, and therefore held it almost sacred.</p> - -<p>“But,” he said, in his slow and impressive way, “if I was you, I’d -ring up Doc Quelton first, and find out how things are going up there; -because you may find out—”</p> - -<p>Lexy interrupted him hastily, for she didn’t want him to say what he -evidently wished to say.</p> - -<p>“There won’t be any change in Mrs. Quelton,” she said. “It would only -be a waste of time.”</p> - -<p>It was not so much for that poor woman, who she feared was beyond -hope, that she wanted the New York specialist, as for Captain Grey. It -would help him so much to feel that something was being done, that -some one was hurrying out here!</p> - -<p>“Might be more of a waste of time,” said Mr. Binz, “if some one was to -come all the way out here after she—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, all right!” cried Lexy impatiently. Then suddenly she remembered. -“They haven’t any telephone at the doctor’s house,” she said.</p> - -<p>“Suppose I go out there first, and see?” suggested Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>“No!” said Lexy. “Don’t!”</p> - -<p>But the idea impressed him as a good one, and go he would.</p> - -<p>“I’d rather see how she is, first,” he repeated. “If there’s no -change, I’ll come back.”</p> - -<p>Lexy looked at Mr. Binz with an angry and reproachful frown, which the -poor man did not understand. He had only wanted to give helpful -advice.</p> - -<p>“Come on, then!” she said to Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>“I’ll leave you at Mrs. Royce’s,” he told her.</p> - -<p>“No, you won’t!” she contradicted with a trace of severity. “If you -<i>will</i> go, I’m going with you!”</p> - -<p>He protested against this, but she would not listen, and so they went -to the garage for Joe’s taxi; but Joe and his taxi had gone out. An -interested bystander said that they could get a “rig” from the livery -stable with no trouble at all. They had only to find the proprietor, -and he, in turn, would find the driver, who would harness up the -horse.</p> - -<p>“No, thanks,” said Captain Grey. He turned to Lexy. “I can’t wait,” he -told her. “I’m going to walk. Thank you for—”</p> - -<p>“I can walk, too,” said Lexy. “It’s only three miles.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want you to, Miss Moran.”</p> - -<p>“I’m coming anyhow,” she replied.</p> - -<p>For that instinct in her, the thing which was beyond reason, drove her -forward. She could not let him go alone. She had walked that three -miles once before to-day, and she had walked farther than that with -Houseman in the afternoon. She was tired, terribly tired, and filled -with a queer, sick reluctance to approach that sinister house again; -but she had to go. She had said to herself that morning that she was -coming back, and now she was going to do so.</p> - -<p>They did not try to talk much on the way. What had they to say? They -were both filled with a dread foreboding. They hurried, yet they -wished never to come to the end of the journey.</p> - -<p>They turned down the lane, leaving the lights of the highway behind, -and went forward in thick darkness, under the shadow of the trees. The -sound of the sea came to them—the loneliest sound in all the world.</p> - -<p>“There’s a light in the house, anyhow!” said Lexy suddenly.</p> - -<p>Her own voice sounded so small, so pert, so futile, in the dark, that -she felt no surprise when Captain Grey showed a faint trace of -impatience in answering.</p> - -<p>“Naturally!” he said.</p> - -<p>Only, to her, it did not seem natural, that one little light shining -out through the glass of the front door. It would be more natural, she -thought, if there were only the darkness and the sound of the sea.</p> - -<p>They turned into the drive. Their footsteps sounded strangely and -terribly loud on the gravel, and became as sharp as pistol shots when -they mounted the veranda. The captain rang the bell, and the sound of -it ran through the house like a shudder; but no one came. He rang -again and again, but nothing stirred inside the house. He knocked on -the glass, and they waited, looking into the bright and empty hall; -but no one came.</p> - -<p>Captain Grey turned the knob, the door opened, and they went in. The -door of the library was open, showing only darkness. The stairs ran up -into darkness. Nothing moved, nothing stirred. Then, suddenly, a -little breeze rose, and the front door slammed with a crash behind -them. Lexy cried out, and caught the young man’s arm.</p> - -<p>“Don’t be afraid!” he said; but his face was ashen. For a moment they -stood where they were. “Miss Moran,” he went on, “would you rather -wait here while I go upstairs?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Lexy. “I’ll come with you.”</p> - -<p>He started up the stairs, and she followed him closely. At almost -every step she looked behind her, and she did not know which was the -more horrible to her, the brightly lit hall or the darkness before -them. Suppose she saw some one in the hall behind them!</p> - -<p>Captain Grey did not once glance behind. He went on steadily. When he -reached the top of the flight, he took a box of matches from his -pocket and lit the gas. There was the long corridor, with the row of -closed doors. He turned down in the direction of Mrs. Quelton’s room, -but Lexy touched him on the shoulder.</p> - -<p>“I think you had better let me go first,” she suggested. “Perhaps she -won’t be ready to see you.”</p> - -<p>Their eyes met.</p> - -<p>“Thank you, Lexy!” he said simply, and went on again.</p> - -<p>He had never used her name before. He was trying to tell her that he -understood what she had wished to do for him. She had offered to go -first, alone, into the silent room, to see whatever might be there—to -spare him something, if she could.</p> - -<p>But he would not have it so. He stopped outside the door, and knocked -twice. Then he went in.</p> - -<p>It was dark and still in there, with the night wind blowing in through -the open windows. He struck a match and lit the gas. The room was -empty.</p> - -<p>He went across to the long windows and out on the balcony. There was -no gas connection there. He struck one match after another, and went -from one end of the balcony to the other. There was nothing.</p> - -<p>“Not here!” he said, in a dazed, flat voice.</p> - -<p>Lexy could not speak at all. She had come out on the balcony, and -stood beside him. The sound of the sea was loud in her ears—or was it -the beating of her own heart? She held her breath and strained her -eyes in the darkness.</p> - -<p>“There’s—something—here!” she whispered tensely.</p> - -<p>“No!” he said aloud. “I looked. Come! We’ll go through the house.”</p> - -<p>She followed close at his heels. He went into every room, lit the gas, -looked about, and found nothing. Lexy grew confused with the opening -and closing of doors, the sudden flare of light in the darkness, the -succession of empty rooms.</p> - -<p>He went up into the cupola. Nothing there, nor in the servants’ rooms. -Then downstairs, through the long library, the dining room, the -sitting room, the kitchen, the pantry. He proceeded with a sort of -merciless deliberation, opened every door, looked into every cupboard.</p> - -<p>Finding a stable lantern in the kitchen, he lighted it and carried it -with him. The door to the cellar stood open. He went through it, down -the steep wooden stairs, and Lexy followed him.</p> - -<p>To her exhausted and frightened gaze the cellar seemed enormous—as -vast and august as some great ancient tomb. The lantern made a little -pool of light, and outside it the shadows closed in on them thickly. -She came near to him and caught him by the sleeve.</p> - -<p>“Oh, let’s go away!” she cried. “Let’s go away! We’ve looked—”</p> - -<p>“This is the last place,” he said gently. “After this, we’ll give it -up.”</p> - -<p>Fighting down the sick terror that had come over her, she walked -beside him in the little circle of light, and tried not to look at the -shadows.</p> - -<p>“What’s that?” he exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“Oh, what?” she cried.</p> - -<p>He went back a few paces and set down the lantern. Then he advanced -again and bent over, staring at the floor.</p> - -<p>“Do you see?” he asked.</p> - -<p>She did see. A narrow strip of light lay along the floor.</p> - -<p>“It comes up from below,” he said. “There must be a subcellar. Let’s -see!”</p> - -<p>He brought back the lantern and examined the floor by its light, going -down on his hands and knees.</p> - -<p>“Stand back!” he said suddenly. “It’s a trapdoor. See—here’s a ring to -lift it.”</p> - -<p>Captain Grey pulled at the ring, but nothing happened.</p> - -<p>“I’m on the wrong side,” he said.</p> - -<p>Moving over, he pulled again, and a square of stone lifted. A clear -light came from below, showing a short ladder clamped to the floor.</p> - -<p>“Stay there, please,” he told Lexy. “You have the lantern. I shan’t be -a minute.”</p> - -<p>But as soon as he had reached the foot of the ladder, Lexy climbed -down after him; and just at the same moment, they saw—</p> - -<p>They were standing in a tiny room with roughly mortared walls. A -powerful electric torch stood on end in one corner, and at their feet -lay the body of a man, face downward across a wooden chest. It was Dr. -Quelton.</p> - -<p>With a violent effort Captain Grey lifted the doctor’s heavy shoulder, -while Lexy covered her eyes. She knew that he was dead. No living -thing could lie so.</p> - -<p>Her head swam, her knees gave way, and she tottered back against the -wall, half fainting, when the captain’s voice rang out, with a note of -agony and despair that she never forgot.</p> - -<p>“My God! My God!” he wailed. “Oh, Muriel!”</p> - -<p>She opened her eyes. For a moment she was too giddy to see. Then, as -her vision cleared, she saw him on his knees beside the chest.</p> - -<p>Not a chest—it was a coffin; and on it was a strange little plate -glittering like gold, with an inscription:</p> - -<div class='ce'> -<div>MURIEL QUELTON</div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;'>BELOVED WIFE OF PAUL QUELTON </div> -</div> -<h2>XXIII</h2> - -<p>When she looked back upon the experiences of that dreadful night, it -seemed to Lexy that both she and her companion displayed almost -incredible endurance. Since morning they had lived through a very -lifetime of emotion, to end now in this tragedy more horrible than -anything they could have feared.</p> - -<p>Yet, not five minutes after his cry of agony, Captain Grey had -recovered his self-control. He was able to speak quietly to Lexy, and -she was able to answer him no less quietly.</p> - -<p>“We’d better go,” he said. “We can do nothing here. It’s a case for -the police now.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to go back to the balcony,” Lexy told him. “There was -something there.”</p> - -<p>“Very well!” he agreed, and, without another word or a backward -glance, he went up the ladder.</p> - -<p>They returned through the house. He had left the lights burning and -the doors open, so that there was a monstrous air of festivity in the -emptiness. They went into Mrs. Quelton’s room again, and crossed -through it to the balcony. He carried the lantern with him, and by its -steady yellow flame they could see into every corner. There was the -couch upon which she had lain—disarranged, as if she had just risen -from it. There was a little table with medicine bottles on it. All the -usual things were in the usual places.</p> - -<p>“Nothing here,” said Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>Lexy was sure, however, that there was. She stepped to the balcony -railing, to look down into the garden below, and there, on the white -paint of the railing, she found something.</p> - -<p>“Look!” she said, in a matter-of-fact voice. “What’s this?”</p> - -<p>He came to her side.</p> - -<p>“It’s the print of a hand,” he said. “In blood, I should imagine.”</p> - -<p>For a moment they stared at the ghastly mark, a strange evidence of -pain and violence in this quiet place.</p> - -<p>“We’d better look in the garden,” he suggested.</p> - -<p>They went down. The grass beneath the balcony was beaten down in one -place, but there was nothing else. Some one had come and gone. They -could not even guess who it had been. They knew nothing.</p> - -<p>“Come, Lexy!” the captain said.</p> - -<p>They both turned for one last look at the accursed house, blazing with -spectral lights. Then they set off, away from it, over that weary road -again.</p> - -<p>“There’s no police station in the village, is there?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“I’ve never seen one, but I’ve heard Mrs. Royce talk about the -constable. Anyhow, she can tell us.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said, and was silent for a moment. “Rather a pity, isn’t -it,” he went on, “that there has to be—all that? Because it doesn’t -matter now. It’s finished. Better if the house burned down to-night!”</p> - -<p>In her heart Lexy agreed with him. She had no curiosity left, and -scarcely any interest. As he had said, it was finished. She wanted to -rest, not to speak, not to think, not to remember; but it couldn’t be -so. They would both have to tell what they had seen, to answer -questions. It wasn’t enough that two people lay dead in that house of -horror. All the world, which knew and cared nothing about them, must -have a full explanation.</p> - -<p>“I suppose we couldn’t wait till morning?” she suggested.</p> - -<p>He took her hand and drew it through his arm.</p> - -<p>“You’re worn out,” he told her. “It’s altogether wrong. There’s no -reason why you should be troubled any more, Lexy. Slip into the house -quietly, and get to bed and to sleep. Nobody need know that you went -there.”</p> - -<p>“No!” she said. “We’ll see it through together.”</p> - -<p>The thought of Charles Houseman came to her, but she disowned it with -a listless sort of resentment. She felt, somehow, that he had failed -her. He had not been there when she needed him. He had not taken his -part in this ghastly and unforgettable sight.</p> - -<p>There was a light in Mrs. Royce’s front parlor. Perhaps he was in -there, waiting for her, cheerful and cool, a thousand miles away from -the nightmare world in which she had been moving. She did not want to -see him or speak to him just now. He hadn’t seen. He wouldn’t -understand.</p> - -<p>Captain Grey opened the gate, and they went up the flagged walk. -Before they had mounted the veranda steps, the front door was flung -wide, and Mrs. Royce appeared.</p> - -<p>“Oh, my goodness!” she cried. “I thought you’d never come!”</p> - -<p>Her tone and her manner were so strange that they both stopped and -stared at her.</p> - -<p>“Oh, my goodness!” she cried again.</p> - -<p>“Oh, <i>do</i> come in! I don’t know what to do with her, I’m sure!”</p> - -<p>“Who?” asked Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Poor Mis’ Quelton. There she is, lyin’ upstairs—”</p> - -<p>“Mrs. <i>Quelton</i>?”</p> - -<p>“Joe, he brought her in his taxi, jest a little while after you’d -gone.”</p> - -<p>“Brought Mrs. Quelton here?”</p> - -<p>“Brought her here and carried her up them very stairs,” declared Mrs. -Royce impressively; “right up into the east bedroom, and there she -lies!”</p> - -<p>She stood aside, and Lexy and Captain Grey entered the house. The -young man turned aside into the parlor, sank into a chair, and covered -his face with his hands. Lexy stood beside him, looking down at his -bent head, her face haggard and white.</p> - -<p>“Why did Joe do that?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“Don’t ask <i>me</i>, Miss Moran!” replied Mrs. Royce. “It beats me!”</p> - -<p>There was a silence.</p> - -<p>“But ain’t you going upstairs to see what she wants?” inquired Mrs. -Royce anxiously.</p> - -<p>Captain Grey sprang to his feet.</p> - -<p>“Good God!” he shouted. “What are you talking about?”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce backed into a corner, regarding him with alarm.</p> - -<p>“I jest thought you’d like to talk to her,” she faltered.</p> - -<p>“Do you mean she’s <i>not dead</i>?”</p> - -<p>“Dead? Oh, my goodness gracious me!” cried Mrs. Royce. “I never—”</p> - -<p>“Wait here,” Lexy told the captain.</p> - -<p>“No!” he replied. “I must—”</p> - -<p>But, disregarding him, Lexy turned to Mrs. Royce.</p> - -<p>“Let me see her,” she said.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce led the way upstairs. She went at an unusual rate of speed, -so that she was panting when she reached the top.</p> - -<p>“Kind of vi’lent!” she whispered, pointing downstairs, where Captain -Grey was.</p> - -<p>“This room?” asked Lexy. “Shall I go in?”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Mrs. Royce, “seems to me I’d knock, if I was you.”</p> - -<p>Knock on the door of the room where Mrs. Quelton lay? Knock, and -expect an answer from that voice? It seemed to Lexy, for a moment, -that she could not raise her hand.</p> - -<p>But she did. She knocked, and she was answered. She turned the handle -and went in. An oil lamp stood on the bureau, and outside the circle -of its mellow light, in the shadow, Mrs. Quelton was sitting on the -edge of the bed; and it seemed to Lexy that she had never seen such a -forlorn and pitiful figure.</p> - -<p>“Oh, my dear!” she cried impulsively, and held out her arms.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Quelton rose. She came toward Lexy, her hands outstretched—when a -sudden cry from Mrs. Royce arrested her.</p> - -<p>“But that ain’t Mrs. Quelton!” cried the landlady.</p> - -<h2>XXIV</h2> - -<p>If Lexy had not caught the unhappy woman, she would have fallen; but -those sturdy young arms held her, and, with Mrs. Royce’s help, they -got her on the bed. White as a ghost, incredibly frail in her black -dress, she lay there, scarcely seeming to breathe.</p> - -<p>“It <i>ain’t</i> Mrs. Quelton!” repeated Mrs. Royce, in a whisper.</p> - -<p>“I know!” said Lexy softly. “Will you get me water and a towel, -please?”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce went out of the room, and Lexy knelt down beside the bed. -She did know now—the woman whom they had all called Muriel Quelton was -really Caroline Enderby.</p> - -<p>Lexy did not blame herself for not having known before. Looking at -that face now, in its terrible stillness, she could trace the familiar -features easily enough, but how changed! How worn and lined, how -<i>old</i>! The brows, the lashes, the soft, disordered hair, were black -now instead of brown; but that merely physical alteration was of no -significance, compared with that other awful change. It was Caroline -Enderby, the gentle and pitifully inexperienced girl of nineteen, but -it was Mrs. Quelton, too, that tragic and somber figure.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Royce came back with a basin of water, clean towels, and a -precious bottle of eau de Cologne.</p> - -<p>“Poor lamb!” she whispered. “Ain’t she pretty?”</p> - -<p>Lexy wet a towel and passed it over that unconscious face again and -again. Mrs. Royce watched, spellbound; for the dark and haggard -stranger was passing away before her very eyes, and some one else was -coming into life—some one quite young and—</p> - -<p>The closed lids fluttered, and then opened.</p> - -<p>“Lexy!” murmured the metamorphosed one.</p> - -<p>“I’m here, Caroline!” said Lexy, with a stifled sob. “Everything’s all -right, dear! Don’t worry—just rest!”</p> - -<p>“I can’t, Lexy! I can’t!” she answered, and from her eyes, now closed -again, tears came running slowly down her cheeks.</p> - -<p>“Yes, you can!” said Lexy. “We’ll—”</p> - -<p>“Supposing I get her some nice hot soup?” whispered Mrs. Royce, and, -at a nod from Lexy, she was off again.</p> - -<p>Caroline reached out and caught Lexy’s hand.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Lexy, Lexy!” she said. “Can you ever forgive me?”</p> - -<p>“No!” her friend replied cheerfully. “Never! But don’t bother now. You -can tell me later, when you feel better.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll never, never feel better till I’ve told you! Oh, Lexy, I knew -yesterday, and I didn’t tell you! Oh, Lexy, Lexy, I don’t understand! -I want to tell you! I want you to help me!”</p> - -<p>A flush had come into her cheeks. She was growing painfully excited. -She tried to sit up, but Lexy firmly prevented that.</p> - -<p>“Lie down, darling!” she said. “We’ll get a doctor.”</p> - -<p>“No! No! I’m not ill—not ill, Lexy, only tired. Oh, you don’t know! -You won’t let <i>him</i> come here, Lexy?”</p> - -<p>“I promise you he’ll never trouble you again,” replied Lexy quietly.</p> - -<p>She saw Captain Grey standing in the doorway, behind the head of the -bed. She glanced at him, and then at Caroline again. Let him stay! -Whatever had happened, he ought to know.</p> - -<p>“I don’t understand,” said Caroline, clinging fast to Lexy’s hand. “I -want to tell you—all of it. You know, Lexy, I did a horrible, wretched -thing. I said I’d marry a man. I promised to meet him here in Wyngate, -because it was near to dear Miss Craigie’s. I didn’t tell you, but it -wasn’t because I didn’t trust you, Lexy—truly it wasn’t! It was only -because I knew mother would be so angry with you. I told him I’d take -the train that got here at eleven o’clock that night; but after I’d -left the house, I got frightened. I’d never gone out alone before. I -couldn’t bear it. If I hadn’t promised him, I’d have gone home again. -I <i>wanted</i> to go home. I was sorry I’d promised.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t try to go on now, dear!”</p> - -<p>“I must! So I took a taxi. I thought I’d get here as soon as the -train, but when it was eleven o’clock we were still miles away. I -thought perhaps Charles wouldn’t wait, and there’d be nobody in -Wyngate, and I didn’t dare go home again; so I kept begging the driver -to go faster. Oh, Lexy, it was all my fault! He did go—terribly fast. -It was wonderful to be alone, and rushing along like that; and then I -think he ran into a telegraph pole, turning a corner. There was a -crash, and I didn’t know anything more for—I don’t know how long it’s -been.”</p> - -<p>“Soup!” whispered Mrs. Royce, but Caroline was too intent upon her -confession to stop.</p> - -<p>Lexy took the broth and set it on the table.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know how long it was,” Caroline went on. “It must have been -days, or perhaps weeks. Sometimes I seemed to knew, in a sort of -dream. Oh, it was horrible! Oh, Lexy, I can’t explain! I didn’t really -know anything, only that sometimes my mind seemed to be struggling—”</p> - -<p>“Take some of this soup,” said Lexy. “You’ve <i>got</i> to, Caroline, or I -won’t listen.”</p> - -<p>Obediently Caroline allowed herself to be fed. She took fully half of -that excellent soup, and it did her good.</p> - -<p>“Yesterday,” she said, “I did know. I couldn’t sleep all night. I felt -so ill, I thought I was going to die; and all the time it was coming -back to me. I couldn’t think why I was there in that place. I was -frightened—worse than frightened. The nurse kept calling me ‘Mrs. -Quelton,’ and I told her I wasn’t Mrs. Quelton—I was Caroline Enderby. -She must have told him. He came, he kept looking at me, and saying, -‘You are Muriel Quelton, I tell you!’ Then he sent the nurse away, and -he said: ‘If you insist that you are Caroline Enderby, you’re mad, and -I’ll send you to an asylum.’ I was—oh, Lexy, I’m not brave!—I was -afraid of him. When you came that morning, I didn’t dare to tell you. -I hoped you’d find the handkerchief, and know; and then—”</p> - -<p>Suddenly she turned and buried her face in the pillow.</p> - -<p>“Then I didn’t want you to know!” she sobbed. “Captain Grey—he sat -there with me. Lexy! Lexy! I didn’t know there was any one like him in -the world! I wanted to stay, then. I thought, if you found out, I’d -have to go away—to go home again, or to marry Charles. I’d promised to -marry him, Lexy, but I can’t! Not now!”</p> - -<p>“Hush, darling!” said Lexy hastily.</p> - -<p>This was something Captain Grey had no right to hear, but he did hear -it. He was still standing outside the door, motionless.</p> - -<p>“He was so kind!” Caroline went on. “And his face—”</p> - -<p>“Never mind that!” Lexy interrupted sternly. “Tell me how you got -away.”</p> - -<p>“When <i>he</i> came back, he found George there—I had to call him George.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I see. Never mind!”</p> - -<p>“George went away, and then—he told me. He said his wife had died a -few months ago, and that in her will she’d left some jewel—a ruby—”</p> - -<p>“An emerald,” corrected Lexy.</p> - -<p>“Yes—it was an emerald. She’d left it to her brother, and he—Dr. -Quelton—had taken it long ago, and sold it, to get money for his -horrible drugs. She never knew that, and he didn’t tell her lawyer -that she’d died. I don’t know how he managed, or what he did, but -nobody knew. Then there came a letter from her brother, to say that he -was coming; and the doctor said—I’ll never forget it:</p> - -<p>“‘Consequently, Muriel Quelton had to be here, and she was; and she’ll -remain here until her purpose is served!’</p> - -<p>“He told me what had happened. He said that as soon as he knew Captain -Grey was coming, he began to look for some one to take his poor wife’s -place. The captain hadn’t seen his sister since she was a baby, you -know, and all he knew was that she was tall and dark. Dr. Quelton said -he had arranged for some one to come from a hospital; and then he -found me. He drove by just a little while after the accident, and he -found the poor driver dead and me unconscious. He found a letter to -mother in my purse, and he mailed it afterward. Then he heard another -car coming along the road, and he started the engine and sent the -taxi—with the dead driver in his seat—crashing down the hill, to run -into the other car. He wanted the driver’s death to look like an -accident. He didn’t care if the other man were killed. He’s—he’s not -human, Lexy! He told me he had never in his life cared for any one -except his wife. He told me what a beautiful, wonderful woman she -was—and yet he had stolen her emerald when she was dying. Love! He -couldn’t love any one!”</p> - -<p>But Lexy remembered her last glimpse of Dr. Quelton, lying dead across -the coffin of the woman he had robbed. Who would ever know, who was to -judge now, what might have been in his warped and utterly solitary -heart?</p> - -<p>“He told me,” Caroline went on, “that he had never felt any great -interest in me. A mediocre mind, he said I had. He told me he had -never so much as touched my finger tips. He sat there, talking so -calmly! He said he had kept me under the influence of some drug that -made my mind suggestible—I think that’s the word. He meant that -whoever took that drug would believe anything, accept anything. He had -told me I was Muriel Quelton, and I believed I was. Then he told me to -dye my hair, and to make up my face with things he gave me. He told me -I was ill and tired and growing old, and I felt so. Lexy, he said that -even without that, without making the least change in my appearance, -no one would have known me, because my <i>mind</i> was changed. He said -there was no disguise in the world like that. Was it true, Lexy? Was I -old, and—and horrible to every one?”</p> - -<p>“No,” Lexy briefly replied.</p> - -<p>“Then he went on. He said he had no more of the drug left, and that -he’d have to dispose of me. ‘You know you’re very ill,’ he said. ‘The -nurse and that young fool of a doctor agree with me. I think you’re -likely to grow worse—very much worse—to-night. You’re very likely to -die.’ Oh, Lexy! What could I do but agree? I was shut up—so weak and -ill— I knew he could so easily give me something to kill me! He said -that if I would make a will and sign it as he told me, he would let me -go and be—be myself again. I couldn’t help it! And his wife was dead. -It couldn’t do her any harm if I signed her name. He wrote it, and I -traced it on another sheet of paper. I had to, Lexy! I knew it was -wrong, but what else could I possibly do?”</p> - -<p>“Never mind, Caroline!” said Lexy. “It didn’t do any harm, dear. And -then did he let you go?”</p> - -<p>An odd smile came over Caroline’s face.</p> - -<p>“Not exactly,” she said. “After I’d signed the will, leaving him the -emerald, he sent away the nurse. Then he came out on the balcony, sat -down, and began to talk to me. He was so pleasant and kindly! He made -plans for my getting away unnoticed, and brought me some sandwiches -and a cup of tea. He said I would have to eat a little, or I wouldn’t -have strength enough to go. It was getting dark then, and he couldn’t -see my face. I pretended to believe him, but I knew all the time. He -kept urging me to hurry up, and to eat the sandwiches and drink the -tea. I <i>knew</i>! I had made the will, and now, of course, I had to die. -I tried to think of a way out; and at last, when he saw that I didn’t -eat or drink, he spoke out plainly. He said that he had sent the -servants away for the afternoon, and that we were alone in the house. -He got up; he stood there and looked down at me.</p> - -<p>“‘That tea is an easy way out—quite painless and easy,’ he said; ‘but -if you won’t take it, there’s another way—not so easy!’</p> - -<p>“He had some sort of hypodermic needle; but just then some one began -pounding on the door downstairs, and he had to go. He locked the door -after him, and he knew I was too weak to move. I tried. I got off the -couch, but I fell on the floor beside it; and then Charles came—”</p> - -<p>“Charles?”</p> - -<p>“He climbed up over the balcony. It was too dark to see him, but I -heard his voice, whispering, ‘Where are you?’ He found me, lifted me -up, and helped me over to the railing. Then we heard Dr. Quelton -coming back. There was another man, down in the garden, with a taxi. -Charles called out to him, and he stood below there. I heard Dr. -Quelton unlock the door, and I was so frightened that I felt strong -enough to do anything to get away. Charles helped me over, and the -other man caught me. Then I heard Charles shout, ‘Quick! Get her -away!’ The other man pushed me into the taxi and started off across -the lawn. I fainted, and I didn’t know anything more until I opened my -eyes here.”</p> - -<p>“But where <i>is</i> he?” cried Lexy. “What happened to him?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know.”</p> - -<p>“And you don’t seem to care, either!” said Lexy hotly. “He saved your -life, and now—”</p> - -<p>She thought of that bloody hand print, and the grass beaten down. The -young man who had no caution, no regard for the proprieties, had done -the direct and simple thing which appealed to his audacious mind. -Perhaps he had been killed in doing it. He would know how to face -death in the same straightforward way.</p> - -<p>Lexy would be as straightforward as he. She would find him, and she -wouldn’t try to think how much she cared about finding him.</p> - -<p>She rose.</p> - -<p>“I’ll get Mrs. Royce to stay with you, Caroline,” she said.</p> - -<p>“But where are you going, Lexy?”</p> - -<p>“I’m going to find Charles.”</p> - -<p>In the doorway she encountered Captain Grey.</p> - -<p>“Do you think she could stand seeing me?” he asked anxiously. “I mean -do you—”</p> - -<p>But Lexy didn’t even answer.</p> - -<h2>XXV</h2> - -<p>After all, Lexy’s search for Charles Houseman was neither difficult -nor heroic, except in intention. She found him in the Lymewell -Hospital. Joe told her where he was, and Joe took her there.</p> - -<p>Houseman himself was rigidly determined not to be heroic. He had -refused to go to bed, and Lexy found him in a bare, whitewashed -waiting room, where he sat on a bench.</p> - -<p>“Just came in to get the hand dressed,” he said. “I’ll go back with -you now.”</p> - -<p>The doctor advised him not to, but Charles was not very susceptible to -advice. He wished to be entirely casual and matter-of-fact, and Lexy -tried to humor him. They stood together in the hall of the hospital -while a nurse went to get him a bottle of lotion from the dispensary, -and he talked in what he intended to be an offhand manner; but Lexy -could see that he was in pain, and almost exhausted, and his hair was -all on end.</p> - -<p>Somehow, that was the thing she couldn’t bear—that his hair should be -so ruffled. She could respect his determination to ignore the -throbbing anguish of his hand, she would, if he liked, pretend that -there was nothing at all tragic or unusual in the night’s adventure; -but his hair—</p> - -<p>The nurse returned with the bottle, gave him directions for its use, -and told him sternly that he must come back the next morning for a -dressing.</p> - -<p>“All right!” he said impatiently. “Come on, Lexy!”</p> - -<p>They got into Joe’s cab together, and off they went.</p> - -<p>“What happened to your hand?” inquired Lexy, as if it didn’t much -matter.</p> - -<p>“Knife through it,” he answered. “You see, I held the old fellow, to -give Mrs. Quelton a chance to get away. When I thought it was all -right, I gave him a shove backward, and started to climb over the -balcony; and he jabbed a knife through my hand. That’s what kept me so -long—I couldn’t get it out; and after I did, I—rested for a while. -Then I started for Wyngate, and I met Joe coming back to look for me. -He said he’d landed Mrs. Quelton all right. So that’s all!”</p> - -<p>Lexy was silent for a moment.</p> - -<p>“Of course you didn’t know it <i>wasn’t</i> Mrs. Quelton,” she said. “It -was Caroline all the time.”</p> - -<p>“Caroline?” he cried. “What do you mean? It couldn’t have been -Caroline!”</p> - -<p>Lexy gave him a very brief, very bare account of Caroline’s narrative.</p> - -<p>“Oh!” he said, when she had done; and again there was silence for a -time. “Does she still want to go on with the thing—marrying me, I -mean?” he asked finally, in a queer, flat tone.</p> - -<p>“No,” said Lexy pleasantly. “No—she does not.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” he said again, with undisguised relief. “Well, then—it’s all -right, then!”</p> - -<p>“You don’t seem to be much surprised,” said Lexy. “Don’t you think -it’s the most extraordinary story you ever heard?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you see—I’m a bit tired,” he explained. “I haven’t grasped it -all yet; only, if she doesn’t want to marry me now, Lexy, dear, will -you?”</p> - -<p>At last Lexy could do what she had longed to do for the last half -hour—she could stroke down his ruffled hair.</p> - -<p>And this, as far as they were concerned, was the last act and the -fitting climax of the play. They were ready now for the curtain to -rise upon another play; but there were other people not so young, or -not so sturdy, for whom the first drama was not so readily dismissed.</p> - -<p>There was Captain Grey, who was never to see his sister now, never to -know if she had really wanted him and needed him. He did not soon -forget what had happened at the Tower.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby was sent for, and arrived that morning before sunrise, -with her husband. She listened to Caroline’s strange story, and made -what she could of it. She had not one word of reproach for her -daughter.</p> - -<p>“We shall not cry over the spilled milk,” she said. “Let us see what -is to be done, before the police come.” She had a thoroughly European -point of view about the police. “If we are fortunate enough to find an -officer with discretion,” she added, “even yet a scandal may be -averted.”</p> - -<p>For that was still her passionate resolve—that there should be no -scandal. She thought and planned with desperate energy; she directed -every one as to the part he or she should play; and in the end she -succeeded. Nobody knew that Caroline had disappeared, and nobody ever -would know. Nobody knew that the so-called Mrs. Quelton was Caroline, -and that, too, would never be known. Only let Joe and Mrs. Royce be -persuaded to hold their tongues; as for Lexy, Captain Grey, and -Houseman, she could of course rely upon them.</p> - -<p>So the police were, as they say, baffled. Mr. Houseman told them a -tale. He had been alarmed about the lady whom he knew as Mrs. Quelton, -and he had climbed up on the balcony, hoping to see her alone; but he -had met Dr. Quelton instead, and had been hurt in trying to escape -from him.</p> - -<p>Captain Grey also had a tale. He, too, had been alarmed about the lady -whom he believed to be his sister. He had gone with Miss Moran to call -upon her, and they had found the doctor dead, lying across the coffin.</p> - -<p>There was an inquest, and Mr. Houseman had a very unpleasant time of -it, being the last one who had seen the doctor alive; but there was no -really serious suspicion against him. The <i>post-mortem</i> showed that -the doctor had died of some unknown poison, at least half an hour -after the young man had arrived at the hospital. The verdict was -suicide, although the coroner’s jury had its own opinion about the -mysterious dark woman who had posed as the doctor’s wife. An autopsy -revealed that Mrs. Quelton had died from a natural cause—phthisis of -the lungs. In short, as far as could be discovered, there was no -murder at all.</p> - -<p>This was a disappointment to the public, but there was always the -mysterious dark woman. The police instituted a search for her, and -there was much about her in the newspapers, but she was never found.</p> - -<p>Miss Enderby returned to the city from her visit to Miss Craigie, and -friends of the family were interested to learn that while away she had -met such a nice young man—a Captain Grey, from India. He had to return -to his regiment, but, before he went, Caroline’s engagement to him was -announced. Later he was to retire from the army and come back to live -in New York.</p> - -<p>There was another item of news, of minor importance. That pretty -little secretary of Mrs. Enderby’s got married, and the Enderbys were -wonderfully kind about it—surprisingly so. It didn’t seem at all like -Mrs. Enderby to let the girl be married from her own house, and to -give her a smart little car for a wedding present. What is more, Mr. -Enderby found a very good position in his office for the young man.</p> - -<p>“My dear Sophie,” said one of Mrs. Enderby’s old friends, with the -peculiar candor of an old friend, “I’ve never known <i>you</i> to do so -much for any one before!”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Enderby was standing on the top doorstep of her house, looking -after the car in which Lexy and her Charles had driven off for their -honeymoon, with Joe, of Wyngate, as their chauffeur.</p> - -<p>“So much for her?” she said. “It’s not enough—not half enough!”</p> - -<p>And there were actually tears in her eyes as she went back into the -house where Caroline was.</p> - -<div class='tn'> -<div style='text-align:center'>Transcriber’s Notes</div> -<ol> -<li>This story appeared in the February 1926 issue of <em>Munsey’s Magazine</em>.</li> -<li>The cover image was created by the transcriber and placed in the public domain.</li> -</ol> -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THING BEYOND REASON ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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