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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of The hope of happiness, by Meredith
-Nicholson
-
-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 hope of happiness
-
-Author: Meredith Nicholson
-
-Release Date: July 1, 2022 [eBook #68399]
-
-Language: English
-
-Produced by: D A Alexander, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed
-             Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was
-             produced from images made available by the HathiTrust
-             Digital Library.)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOPE OF HAPPINESS ***
-
-
-
-
-
-_BY MEREDITH NICHOLSON_
-
-  THE HOPE OF HAPPINESS
-  BEST LAID SCHEMES
-  THE MAN IN THE STREET
-  BLACKSHEEP! BLACKSHEEP!
-  LADY LARKSPUR
-  THE MADNESS OF MAY
-  THE VALLEY OF DEMOCRACY
-
-_CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS_
-
-
-
-
-THE HOPE OF HAPPINESS
-
-
-
-
-  THE
-  HOPE OF HAPPINESS
-
-  BY
-  MEREDITH NICHOLSON
-
-  NEW YORK
-  CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
-  1923
-
-
-
-
-  COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY
-  CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
-
-  COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE CO.
-
-  Printed in the United States of America
-
-  Published October, 1923
-
-  [Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-TO
-
-FRANK SCOTT COREY WICKS
-
-
-  “Only themselves understand themselves, and the like of themselves,
-  As Souls only understand Souls.”
-
-
-
-
-THE HOPE OF HAPPINESS
-
-
-
-
-THE HOPE OF HAPPINESS
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER ONE
-
-
-I
-
-Bruce Storrs stood up tall and straight on a prostrate sycamore, the
-sunlight gleaming upon his lithe, vigorous body, and with a quick,
-assured lifting of the arms plunged into the cool depths of the river.
-He rose and swam with long, confident strokes the length of a pool
-formed by the curving banks and returned to the log, climbing up with
-the same ease and grace that marked his swimming. He dashed the water
-from his eyes and pressed his deeply-tanned hands over his shapely
-head. It was evident that he was the fortunate inheritor of clean
-blood in a perfectly fashioned body; that he had used himself well in
-his twenty-eight years and that he found satisfaction and pride in
-his health and strength. He surveyed the narrow valley through which
-the river idled and eddied before rushing into the broader channel
-beyond--surveyed it with something of the air of a discoverer who has
-found and appropriated to his own uses a new corner of the world.
-
-It was a good place to be at the end of a day that was typical of
-late August in the corn belt, a day of intense dry heat with faint
-intimations on the horizon of the approach of autumn. With a contented
-sigh he sat down on the log, his feet drawn up, his shoulders bent,
-and aimlessly tore bits of bark from the log and tossed them into the
-water. Lulled by the lazy ripple, he yielded himself to reverie and
-his eyes filled with dreams as he stared unseeingly across the stream.
-Suddenly he raised his head resolutely as if his thoughts had returned
-to the world of the actual and he had reached a conclusion of high
-importance. He plunged again and now his short, rapid strokes threshed
-the water into foam. One might have thought that in the assertion of
-his physical strength he was testing and reassuring himself of his
-complete self-mastery.
-
-Refreshed and invigorated, he clambered up the bank and sought a great
-beech by whose pillar-like trunk he had left his belongings, and
-proceeded to dress. From a flat canvas bag he produced a towel and a
-variety of toilet articles. He combed his thick curly hair, donned a
-flannel shirt and knotted a blue scarf under its soft collar. His shoes
-of brogan type bore the imprint of a metropolitan maker and his gray
-knickerbockers and jacket indicated a capable tailor.
-
-He took from the bag a package of letters addressed in a woman’s
-hand to Bruce Storrs, and making himself comfortable with his back
-to the tree, he began to read. The letters had been subjected to
-many readings, as their worn appearance testified, but selecting the
-bulkiest, he perused it carefully, as though wishing to make sure that
-its phrases were firmly fixed in his memory.
-
-“... Since my talk with you,” he read, “I have had less pain, but the
-improvement is only temporary--the doctors do not deceive me as to
-that. I may go quickly--any day, any hour. You heard my story the other
-night--generously, with a fine tolerance, as I knew you would. If I
-had not been so satisfied of your sense of justice and so sure of your
-love, I could never have told you. But from the hour I knew that my
-life was nearing its end I felt more and more that you must know. One
-or two things I’m afraid I didn’t make clear ... that I loved the man
-who is your father. Love alone could be my justification--without that
-I could never have lived through these years.
-
-“The man you have called father never suspected the truth. He trusted
-me. It has been part of my punishment that through all these years
-I have had to endure the constant manifestations of his love and
-confidence. But for that one lapse in the second year of my marriage, I
-was absolutely faithful in all my obligations to him. And he was kind
-to you and proud of you. He did all for you that a father could, never
-dreaming that you were not his own. It was one of my sorrows that I
-couldn’t give him a child of his own. Things went badly with him in
-his last years, as you know, and what I leave to you--it will be about
-fifty thousand dollars--I inherited from my father, and it will help
-you find your place in the world.
-
-“Your father has no idea of your existence.... Ours was a midsummer
-madness, at a time when we were both young. I only knew him a little
-while, and I have never heard from him. My love for him never wholly
-died. Please, dear, don’t think harshly of me, but there have been
-times when I would have given my life for a sight of him. After all you
-are his--his as much as mine. You came to me from him--strangely dear
-and beautiful. In my mind you have always been his, and I loved you the
-dearer. I loved him, but I could not bring myself to leave the man you
-have called father for him. He was not the kind of man women run away
-with....
-
-“When I’m gone I want you to put yourself near him--learn to know him,
-if that should be possible. I am trusting you. You would never, I
-know, do him an injury. Some day he may need you. Remember, he does not
-know--it may be he need never know. But oh, be kind to him....”
-
-He stared at the words. Had it been one of those unaccountable
-affairs--he had heard of such--where a gently reared woman falls prey
-to a coarse-fibered man in every way her inferior? The man might be
-common, low, ignorant and cruel. Bruce had been proud of his ancestry.
-The Storrs were of old American stock, and his mother’s family, the
-Bruces, had been the foremost people in their county for nearly a
-century. He had taken a pardonable pride in his background.... That
-night when he had stumbled out of the house after hearing his mother’s
-confession he had felt the old friendly world recede. The letters,
-sealed and entrusted to the family physician for delivery at her death,
-merely repeated what she had told him.
-
-In his constant rereadings he had hoped that one day he would find
-that he had misinterpreted the message. He might dismiss his mother’s
-story as the fabrication of a sick woman’s mind. But today he knew the
-folly of this; the disclosure took its place in his mind among the
-unalterable facts of his life. At first he had thought of destroying
-himself; but he was too sane and the hope of life was too strong for
-such a solution of his problem. And there had been offers--flattering
-ones--to go to New York and Boston. He convinced himself that his
-mother could not seriously have meant to limit the range of his
-opportunities by sending him to the city where his unknown father
-lived. But he was resolved not to shirk; he would do her bidding.
-There was a strain of superstition in him: he might invite misfortune
-by disregarding her plea; and moreover he had the pride and courage
-of youth. No one knew, no one need ever know! He had escaped from
-the feeling, at first poignant, that shame attached to him; that he
-must slink through life under the eyes of a scornful world. No; he had
-mastered that; his pride rallied; he felt equal to any demand fate
-might make upon him; he was resolved to set his goal high....
-
-Life had been very pleasant in Laconia, the Ohio town where John
-Storrs had been a lawyer of average attainments--in no way brilliant,
-but highly respected for his probity and enjoying for years a fair
-practice. Bruce had cousins of his own age, cheery, wholesome
-contemporaries with whom he had chummed from childhood. The Storrs,
-like the Bruces, his mother’s people, were of a type familiar in
-Mid-western county seats, kindly, optimistic, well-to-do folk, not too
-contented or self-satisfied to be unaware of the stir and movement of
-the larger world.
-
-The old house, built in the forties by John Storrs’s grandfather,
-had become suddenly to Bruce a strange and alien place that denied
-his right of occupancy. The elms in the yard seemed to mock him,
-whispering, “You don’t belong here!” and as quickly as possible he
-had closed the house, made excuses to his relatives, given a power of
-attorney to the president of the local bank, an old friend, to act for
-him in all matters, and announced that he’d look about a bit and take a
-vacation before settling down to his profession.
-
-This was all past now and he had arrived, it seemed inevitably, at the
-threshold of the city where his father lived.
-
-The beauty of the declining day stirred longings and aspirations,
-definite and clear, in his mind and heart. His debt to his mother was
-enormous. He remembered now her happiness at the first manifestation of
-his interest in form, color and harmony; her hand guiding his when he
-first began to draw; her delight in his first experiment with a box of
-colors, given him on one of his birthdays. Yes; he should be a painter;
-that came first; then his aptitude in modeling made it plain that
-sculpture was to be his true vocation. To be a creator of beautiful
-things!--here, she had urged, lay the surest hope of happiness.
-
-Very precious were all these memories; they brought a wistful smile to
-his face. She had always seemed to him curiously innocent, with the
-innocence of light-hearted childhood. To think of her as carrying a
-stain through her life was abhorrent. Hers was the blithest, cheeriest
-spirit he had known. The things she had taught him to reverence were
-a testimony to her innate fineness; she had denied herself for him,
-jealously guarding her patrimony that it might pass to him intact. The
-manly part for him was to live in the light of the ideals she had set
-for him. Pity and love for one who had been so sensitive to beauty in
-all its forms touched him now; brought a sob to his throat. He found a
-comfort in the thought that her confession might be attributable to a
-hope that in his life her sin might be expiated....
-
-He took up the letters and turned them over for the last time, his eyes
-caught and held now and then by some phrase. He held the sheets against
-his face for a moment, then slowly tore them into strips, added the
-worn envelopes and burned them. Not content with this, he trampled the
-charred fragments into the sandy turf.
-
-
-II
-
-The sun, a huge brazen ball, was low in the west when he set off along
-the river with confident, springy step. He stopped at a farmhouse
-and asked for supper. The evening meal was over, the farmer’s wife
-explained; but when he assured her that his needs were few and that he
-expected to pay for his entertainment, she produced a pitcher of milk
-and a plate of corn bread. She brought a bowl of yellow glaze crockery
-and he made himself comfortable on a bench by the kitchen door. He
-crumbled the bread into the creamy milk and ate with satisfaction.
-
-Her husband appeared, and instantly prejudiced by Bruce’s
-knickerbockers, doggedly quizzed him as to the nature and direction
-of his journey. Bruce was a new species, not to be confused with the
-ordinary tramp who demands food at farmhouses, and suddenly contrite
-that the repast she was providing was so meager, the woman rose and
-disappeared into the kitchen, returning with a huge piece of spice
-cake and a dish of sliced peaches. She was taken aback when he rose
-deferentially to accept the offering, but her tired face relaxed in a
-smile at his cordial expressions of gratitude. She joined her husband
-on the stoop, finding the handsome pilgrim’s visit a welcome break in
-the monotonous day. As he ate he answered their questions unhurriedly.
-
-“I guess the war left a lot o’ you boys restless,” she suggested.
-
-“Oh, it wasn’t the war that made a rover of me!” he replied with
-a smile. “It was this way with me. When I got home I found I had
-something to think out--something I had to get used to”--he frowned
-and became silent for a moment--“so I decided I could do it better by
-tramping. But I’ve settled things in my own mind pretty well now,” he
-ended, half to himself, and smiled, hardly aware of their presence.
-
-“Yes?” The woman’s tone was almost eager. She was curious as to the
-real reason for his wanderings and what it was that he had settled. In
-the luminous afterglow her dull imagination quickened to a sense of
-something romantic in this stranger, and she was disappointed when he
-told of an experience as a laborer in a great steel mill, just to see
-what it was like, he said--of loitering along the Susquehanna, and of a
-more recent tramp through the Valley of Virginia.
-
-“I reckon you don’t have to work?” the farmer asked, baffled in his
-attempts to account for a young man who strolled over the country so
-aimlessly, wearing what struck him as an outlandish garb.
-
-“Oh, but I do! I’ve done considerable work as I’ve sauntered around.
-I’m an architect--or hope to be! I’ve earned my keep as I’ve traveled
-by getting jobs as a draughtsman.”
-
-“Going to stop in the city?” the woman inquired. “I guess there’s lots
-of architects over there.”
-
-“Yes,” Bruce replied, following the direction of her glance.
-
-“You know folks there?” she persisted. “I guess it’s hard getting
-started if you ain’t got friends.”
-
-“There’s a chap living there I knew in college; that’s all. But when
-you strike a strange town where you don’t know anyone the only thing to
-do is to buckle in and make them want to know you!”
-
-“I guess you can do that,” she remarked with shy admiration.
-
-The farmer shuffled his feet on the brick walk. For all he knew the
-young stranger might be a burglar. He resented his wife’s tone of
-friendliness and resolved to deny the request if the young man asked
-the privilege of sleeping in the barn; but the stranger not only
-failed to ask for lodging, but produced a dollar bill and insisted
-that the woman accept it. This transaction served instantly to dispel
-the farmer’s suspicions. He answered with unnecessary detail Bruce’s
-questions as to the shortest way to town, and walked with him to a lane
-that ran along the edge of a cornfield and afforded a short cut to the
-highway.
-
-Bruce had expected to reach the city before nightfall, but already
-the twilight was deepening and the first stars glimmered in the pale
-sky. Now that he was near the end of his self-imposed wanderings, he
-experienced a sense of elation. The unhappy thoughts with which he had
-left his Ohio home a little more than a year earlier had gradually
-become dim in his memory. The letters he had burned at the riverside
-really marked in his consciousness a dispersion of doubts and questions
-that left his spirit free. His mother’s revelation had greatly shaken
-him; but she need never have told him; and it spoke for her courage
-and her faith in him that she had confessed the truth. They had been
-companions in an unusual sense. From his earliest youth she had
-interested him in the things that had been her delight--books, music,
-pictures. She was herself an accomplished musician, and strains of old
-melodies she had taught him recurred to him now, and as he swung along
-the country road he whistled them, happy for the first time in the
-awakening of old memories.
-
-With the cool breeze blowing upon him from fields of tall ripening
-corn, there was no bitterness in his soul. He had beaten down the
-bitter thoughts that had assailed him in the early days of his
-journeying--the sense that a stigma attached to him, not the less
-hateful because he alone had knowledge of it; and the feeling that
-there was something fantastic in the idea that he should put himself
-where, in any need, he could serve the father he had never known.
-
-This had now all the sanctity of a commission from the dead. Again he
-speculated as to what manner of man this could be who had awakened so
-deep a love in the heart of the good woman he knew his mother to have
-been--a love which she had carried in her heart to her last hours. In
-his long ponderings he had, he felt, come to understand her better than
-he ever had in her lifetime--her imaginative and romantic side, her
-swiftly changing moods, her innumerable small talents that had now a
-charm and a pathos in the retrospect. Age had never, to his eyes, laid
-hands upon her. Even through the last long illness she had retained the
-look and the spirit of youth.
-
-Rounding a bend in the river, the flare of an amusement park apprised
-him that he was close upon the city--a city he had heretofore never
-visited and knew of only from his newspaper reading as a prosperous
-industrial center. Here, for the strangest reason in the world, he was
-to make his home, perhaps spend the remainder of his days! He crossed a
-stone bridge with a sense that the act marked an important transition
-in his life, and quickly passing through the park, boarded a trolley
-car and rode into town.
-
-He had formed a very clear idea of what he meant to do, and arriving at
-the business center he went directly to the Hotel Fordham, to which he
-had expressed his trunk from Cincinnati.
-
-
-III
-
-He spent an hour unpacking and overhauling his belongings, wrote notes
-to his banker friend in Laconia and to the cousin there with whom he
-had maintained a correspondence since he first went away to school.
-
-The pencil with which he idly scribbled on a sheet of hotel paper
-traced his name unconsciously. _Bruce Storrs._
-
-It was not his name; he had no honest right to it. He had speculated
-many times in his wanderings as to whether he shouldn’t change it,
-but this would lead to endless embarrassments. Now, with his thoughts
-crystalized by the knowledge that this other man who had been his
-mother’s lover was within reach, he experienced a strong sense of
-loyalty to the memory of the man he had called father. It would be a
-contemptible thing to abandon the name of one who had shown him so
-tender an affection and understood so perfectly his needs and aims.
-
-Somewhere among the several hundred thousand people of the city
-about him was the man his mother had described. In the quiet room he
-experienced suddenly a feeling of loneliness. Usually in his wanderings
-he had stopped at cheap lodging houses, and the very comfort of his
-surroundings now added to his feeling of strangeness in having at last
-arrived at a goal which marked not merely the end of his physical
-wandering, but the termination of a struggle with his own spirit.
-
-He sent down for the evening papers and found himself scanning
-carefully the local news, thinking that he might find some clue to the
-activities of Franklin Mills.
-
-His attention was immediately caught by the caption, “Franklin Mills
-Sells Site of Old Homestead to Trust Company.” The name fell like a
-blow upon his consciousness. He seized the telephone book and hurriedly
-turned the pages.
-
-  Mills Franklin--r 5800 Jefferson Ave...King 1322
-  Mills Franklin--1821 First Ntl Bnk....Main 2222
-
-He stared at the two lines till they were a blur before his eyes. There
-was but one man of the name in the directory; there could be no mistake
-as to his identity.
-
-It was a disconcerting thought that by calling these numbers he might
-at any time hear Franklin Mills’s voice. The idea both fascinated and
-repelled him. What, after all, had he to do with Franklin Mills?
-
-He turned to the newspaper and reread the report of the real estate
-transaction, then opened to the personal and society page, where he
-found this item:
-
-  Miss Leila Mills of Jefferson Avenue gave a luncheon yesterday at the
-  Faraway Country Club for her house guest, Miss Helene Ridgeway of
-  Cincinnati. The decorations were purple asters and pink roses.
-
-Helene Ridgeway he knew; she had been the college chum of one of his
-Laconia cousins. He had not realized the strain he had undergone in the
-past year till he saw the familiar name. The nightmare pictures of his
-year-long speculations faded; whatever else Mills might be he was at
-least a reputable citizen, and this was something to be thankful for;
-and obviously he was not poor and helpless.
-
-The Leila referred to must be Mills’s daughter, and the same blood ran
-in her veins as in his own. Bruce flung the paper away; touched his
-forehead, found it covered with perspiration. He paced the floor till
-he had quieted himself, paused at the window, finding relief in the
-lights and sounds of the street, the bells and whistles of trains at
-the railway station somewhere in the distance. The world surged round
-him, indifferent to his hopes and aims and fears. He must keep tight
-hold of himself....
-
-His mother had urged him to think kindly of Franklin Mills; and yet,
-now that the man was within reach, a contempt that bordered upon
-hatred filled his heart. For his mother his love turned for the moment
-to pity. He recalled the look she had bent upon him at times when he
-and his putative father had talked happily together. John Storrs had
-lavished an unusual devotion upon his wife to the end of his life. The
-wrong done him seemed monstrous as Bruce thought of it, remembering
-Storrs’s pride in him, the sympathetic interest he had taken in his
-education, the emotion with which they had parted when Bruce went away
-to war. There was a vast pathos in all this--in the very ignorance of
-his wife’s infidelity that John Storrs had carried to his grave.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER TWO
-
-
-I
-
-Awake early, Bruce donned a freshly-pressed gray suit and went down to
-breakfast. His immediate concern was to find employment, for in work,
-he knew, lay his hope of happiness and peace. He had thrust into his
-pocket letters from architects who had employed him in various cities
-commending him as an excellent draughtsman; and he bore a letter
-certifying to his good character and trustworthiness from the president
-of the bank in his native town. He was not pressed by immediate need.
-His travels had been inexpensive; in fact, he had a little more than
-earned his way; and he had not only the fifty thousand dollars his
-mother had left invested in securities, but he carried drafts for the
-accumulated income--something over a thousand dollars--to tide him over
-any possible difficulties in finding an opening that promised well for
-the future. He had finished his breakfast, and lingered at the table,
-deep in thought, when a young man who had just entered the dining-room
-paused beside him.
-
-“Is it or is it not Bruce Storrs?” he demanded. “I spotted you from the
-door--didn’t think there could be another such head and shoulders.”
-
-“Bud Henderson!”
-
-Storrs was on his feet, wringing the hand of the young man, who was
-regarding him with a pleased grin.
-
-“You good old Indian! I was just about to go out and ask the nearest
-cop where to find you! You’re the only man in town I know!”
-
-“Thanks for the compliment. You might have warned me of your approach.
-I’ll sit right here and eat while you unfold yourself.”
-
-Henderson was short, lean and dark, with a curiously immobile face. His
-lips smiled oddly without any accompanying expression of humor in his
-rather small brown eyes. Without inquiring what had brought Storrs to
-town, he began talking of their years together at Boston, where they
-had been fellow students at the Tech. He had a dry, humorous way of
-saying things, particularly when he talked of himself, which puzzled
-strangers but delighted his friends. He was treating Storrs quite as
-though there had been no break in their intercourse.
-
-“Met some of our old Boston pals during the recent unpleasantness and
-heard of you occasionally on the other side,” he was saying. “Frankly,
-I’m not keen about war”--he was composedly eating a melon--“war is
-fatiguing. I hope the great nations will behave for the rest of my
-life, so I won’t be annoyed by having to go out and settle the row.”
-
-“Here too, Bud; I got enough. I want to have a try at the arts of
-peace.”
-
-“So say we all. By the way, are you married yet?”
-
-“No.”
-
-“That’s bad. Marriage is an honorable estate; I’m rather keen about
-it. I took me a wife as soon as I got back from France. Oh, Lord,
-no! None of the girls we knew around Boston. Couldn’t afford them,
-and besides it’s a mistake not to marry in your home town, and it’s
-also easier when you’re a bloomin’ pauper. I married into one of the
-strongest wholesale grocery houses in all these parts. I’ll drive you
-by the warehouse, an impressive pile--one of the biggest concerns west
-of Pittsburgh. Maybelle is the name of the lucky girl, and Maybelle
-is the only child of the Conrad of Conrad, Buxton and Pettibone. A
-wonderful girl--one of the really strong, powerful women of this great
-nation. She’s out of town at present, playing a golf tournament for the
-huckleberry association championship. That’s why I’m chasing downtown
-for breakfast--cook’s on a vacation. You’ll meet Maybelle; she’s a
-person, that girl! Married me out of pity; thinks I’m half-witted, and
-right, at that!”
-
-“Of course you’d have to marry a girl who’d make allowance for your
-mental infirmities,” Bruce replied. “Getting on in your profession, I
-suppose?”
-
-“Hell, no! I chucked that. There are too many really capable electrical
-experts, and after Maybelle’s father had tried me for six months in the
-grocery and I failed to show any talent for distributing the well-known
-Verbena Brand of canned stuff, he set me up in the automobile business.
-Shameful to relate, I really make money. I handle the Plantagenet--one
-of the worst cars on the market. You know it was a mistake--my feeling
-that I was called to be another Edison or Marconi. I was really cut out
-for the literary life--another sad case of mute, inglorious Milton.
-I exercise my talents now designing ‘ads’ and come-on letters as a
-lure to customers for the Plantagenet. Would you ride with kings? The
-Plantagenet is the car that takes you out and brings you back. That’s
-my latest slogan; you’ll find it glaring at you all over the landscape.”
-
-“Oh, what a fall, my countryman!”
-
-“Not at all. You know I always had a knack of making phrases. It’s a
-gift, my boy. I suppose you’re here to figure on a new state-house or
-perhaps a hospital for lame cats. I know nearly everybody in town, so
-if I can be of use to you, just warble.”
-
-“My aim isn’t so high,” said Bruce, who remembered Henderson as
-somewhat eccentric but the kindest of souls. His manner of talking was
-no indication of his true character. Bruce’s heart warmed to Henderson;
-already the town seemed less strange, and he at once disclosed his
-intention of establishing himself in the city, though without in the
-least surprising the imperturbable Bud.
-
-“Welcome!” he exclaimed with his mouth full of toast. “You shall be
-our Michelangelo, our Sir Christopher Wren! I see, as in a dream,” he
-went on as he thrust his fork into a poached egg, “I see our fair city
-adorned with the noble fruits of the genius of Bruce Storrs, the prince
-of architects. You will require a fleet of Plantagenets to whirl you
-from one rising edifice to another. I might make you a special price on
-six cars--but this must be confidential.”
-
-“I really want to get into a good office, and I’m not expecting to be
-taken right into the firm,” said Bruce, laughing. “It will take me a
-year or two to get acquainted, and then I’d like to set up for myself.”
-
-“Certainly a worthy ambition, Bruce. It’s a good thing I’m here on
-the ground to give you the true dope on the people who count in this
-teeming village. The old order changeth, yielding place to new, and
-there’s danger of getting pinched between the old hard-boiled bunch
-and the birds of gayer plumage who flew in when no one was looking
-and insist on twittering sweetly on our tallest trees. Let me be your
-social booster; no one better fitted. I’m the only scion of one of
-our earliest and noblest families. My grandfather’s bank busted in
-seventy-three with a loud bang and I had an uncle who was indicted for
-embezzling public funds. He hid in Patagonia and died there in sinful
-splendor at a ripe old age. Talk about the aristocracy--I’m it! I
-derive a certain prestige among what you might call the paralytic group
-from the fact that my ancestors were mixed up in all the financial
-calamities that ever befell this town. But it’s the crowd that are the
-spenders--build the lordly palaces and treat the Eighteenth Amendment
-with the contempt it so richly deserves--that you want to train with.
-Your profession is cursed with specialization and I’d warn you against
-public work. Too much politics there for one of your fastidious nature.
-Our best man in domestic architecture is Freeman--he’s a Tech man,
-about seven years ahead of our class. He has a weakness for sun parlors
-with antique Italian fountains that are made for him special by a
-pottery right here in town. You’re sure to like Freeman; he’s a whist
-fiend, but otherwise he’s a decent chap. His wife and Maybelle are
-chums and we play around together a good deal.”
-
-While listening to Henderson’s rambling talk Bruce had been turning
-over the pages of a memorandum book. He asked about several architects
-whose names he had noted. Henderson described them succinctly, praising
-or deriding them for reasons which struck Bruce as not necessarily
-final as to their merits.
-
-“I don’t expect to land a job the first day,” said Bruce. “I may have
-to go through the list before I find what I want.”
-
-“Oh, Freeman will take you on,” replied Henderson easily. “But he
-never does anything important without consulting his wife--one of
-his eccentricities. My own system is to go ahead and tell Maybelle
-afterward, being careful, of course, to conceal my mistakes.”
-
-“You haven’t changed a bit,” laughed Bruce. “I wish I could view the
-world as chipperly as you do.”
-
-“My dear Bruce”--with his forefinger Henderson swept Storrs’s breakfast
-check to his own side of the table with a single gesture--“never try
-to view the whole world at one glance; it’s too damned big. All I see
-at present on this suffering, sinning planet is a Plantagenet runabout
-with Maybelle and me rolling through fields of asphodel. Everything
-else is superfluous. My fellow creatures simply don’t exist except as
-prospects for the Plantagenet.”
-
-“Oh, rot! You’re the most unselfish biped I ever knew!”
-
-“Superficially, yes; but it’s all on the surface. Let’s go out and
-plant our feet firmly upon the city.”
-
-He led the way to his car and drove to the Plantagenet salesroom and
-garage. A young woman whom he introduced as Miss Ordway apparently ran
-the whole establishment. Henderson said that she did. He sat down at
-his desk and signed, without reading, a pile of letters which she had
-written the day before, talking to her meantime, not of business, but
-of a novel he had given her to read. Her attempts to interest him in
-the fact that one of the salesmen wanted his assistance in rounding
-up a certain difficult customer were provocative only of scornful
-comments, but when she handed him a memorandum of an appointment with
-the prospect at ten o’clock the next morning, he meekly thrust the
-paper into his pocket and said all right; he’d see what he could do.
-Miss Ordway was already busy with other matters; she seemed to make due
-allowance for her employer’s peculiarities.
-
-“This girl’s mighty firm with me,” he said in a tone perfectly audible
-to Miss Ordway. “A cruel tyrant; but she really does get some work out
-of me.”
-
-He sat on the edge of his desk as he talked over the extension
-telephone. Bruce inferred that he was speaking to Mrs. Freeman, and it
-was evident from his tone that Bud had not exaggerated in speaking of
-his intimacy with the architect and his wife.
-
-“Maybelle’s pushing the pill somewhere and won’t be back for a
-week. This being Friday, I’d like to be invited to your shanty for
-the week-end.... Ah! That’s nice of you. And may I bring a little
-friend?... Oh, a man, of course! And list, Dale, he’s an architect--a
-Tech grad and everything pretty, and I want Bill to take him on--see?
-Nice boy and perishing for a job. You fix it for me--that’s the
-girl!... Oh! my friend isn’t fussy; we’ll both sleep on the grass....
-What? Yes; I’ll bring some poison; my pet bootlegger broke through the
-entanglements yesterday.”
-
-“All set,” he remarked as he hung up the receiver. “Mighty nice girl,
-Dale.”
-
-Miss Ordway intercepted him on his way out to ask what she should do
-about a claim for damages to a car belonging to a man named Smythe,
-which had been scratched in the garage. The owner threatened to sue,
-and Miss Ordway expressed the belief that the valued patron was not
-bluffing.
-
-“We took the stand it wasn’t done in our shop and we can’t weaken,”
-said Henderson. “Also, we don’t want a row. Were my eyes deceiving me
-or have I seen Smythe looking longingly at that blue touring car in
-our front window? Yes? Well, suppose we send Briggs to call on him,
-carrying the olive branch. Tell him to roll home in the blue car and
-we’ll take his old junk and seven hundred berries cash on the counter.”
-
-“I think we could get eight hundred on the deal.” Miss Ordway’s tones
-were crisp and businesslike.
-
-“Sold! I despise Smythe, but it’s worth a thousand to have him riding
-in a Plantagenet. I’ll look in again at five.”
-
-
-II
-
-Henderson spent the morning exhibiting the city’s industries and wound
-up at the University Club for luncheon.
-
-“Now I’ll show you where the big frogs of our little puddle live,” he
-said as they started off again.
-
-In his racy description of the owners of the houses they passed, their
-ancestry, the skeletons in their closets, their wealth and how it was
-attained, Henderson shone effulgently. Bruce, marveling that one head
-could carry so much local history, was almost equally astonished by the
-sins and foibles of the citizens as Henderson pictured them.
-
-“Great Scott! Are there no perfectly normal people in this town?” he
-demanded.
-
-“A few, maybe,” Henderson replied, lifting his hand from the wheel to
-stroke his chin. “But they’re not what you’d call conspicuous.”
-
-Pausing before a handsome colonial house, the presence of an elderly
-gentleman calmly perusing a newspaper on the veranda, inspired
-Henderson to a typical excursion in biography. The owner, thinking
-visitors impended, pattered down the steps and stared belligerently at
-the car.
-
-“Note the carpet slippers,” remarked Henderson as the gentleman,
-satisfied that his privacy was not to be invaded, returned to his
-chair. “Here we have Bill Fielding, one of the most delightful old
-scoundrels in town. Observe his pants--sleeps in ’em to avoid the
-fatigue of disrobing. To keep off evil spirits he wears the first
-nickel he ever earned on a string around his neck. He’s the smoothest
-tax-dodger in America. His wife starved to death and his three children
-moved to California to get as far away from the old skunk as possible.
-Why does he live in a house like that? Bless your simple soul, he took
-it on a mortgage and camps in two rooms while he waits for a buyer.”
-
-“I don’t believe I’d like him! If you’ve got many such birds I’d better
-try another town,” laughed Bruce as Henderson started the car.
-
-“Oh, don’t worry! He’s the last of his school. Now we’re approaching
-a different proposition--one that baffles even my acute analytical
-powers.”
-
-He drew up before a handsome Georgian house that stood lengthwise to
-the street in a broad lot in which a dozen towering forest trees had
-been preserved when the land was subdivided. There were no frivolous
-lines in this residence, Bruce noted, surveying it with a professional
-eye; it was beyond criticism in its fidelity to type. The many windows
-were protected by awnings of deep orange and the ledges were adorned
-with boxes of flowers. The general effect was one of perfect order and
-uniformity. Bruce, with his interest in houses as an expression of the
-character of their owners whetted by Henderson’s slangy lectures before
-other establishments, turned expectantly to his friend.
-
-“Wind up the machine and put on the record! That’s a sound piece of
-architecture, anyhow, and I can see that you are dying to turn out the
-skeletons.”
-
-“Painful as it is for me to confess it, the truth is that in this
-case I can only present a few bald facts and leave you to make your
-own deductions.” Henderson lighted a fresh cigarette and drew a deep
-draught of smoke into his lungs. “Franklin Mills,” he said, and
-crossed his legs. “Mills is around fifty, maybe a shade more. The first
-of the tribe settled here in 1820 and Frank is the fourth of the name.
-The family always had money and this bird’s father never lost a cent
-in his life. Now Frank’s rich--nothing spectacular, but recognized as
-a rich man. His pop left him well fixed and he’s piled up considerable
-mazuma on his own hook. Does this interest you?”
-
-“You always interest me, Bud; please proceed.”
-
-“Well, you might call Franklin Mills the original man who couldn’t
-lose. No active business now, but he controls a couple of banks and a
-trust company without figuring in the picture at all, and he set his
-son up in a storage battery plant and is a silent factor in a dozen
-other flourishing contributors to the smoke nuisance. Nice chap, by
-the way, Shep Mills; pleasant little cuss. Franklin Mills isn’t one of
-the up-from-the-office-boy type nor the familiar variety of feverish
-business man; velvet glove stuff. Do you follow me? Only human touch
-I’ve discovered in this house is the billiard room, and Mills is a
-shark at the sport. I’ve poked the ivories with him now and then just
-for the fun of watching him play. His style of playing is a sort of
-clue to his character--cool, deliberate, never misses. One thing,
-though, I’ve never been able to figure out: once in a while he makes
-a wild shot, unnecessarily and with malice aforethought, as though to
-spite himself. If you’d tell Franklin Mills he’d lost his last cent he
-wouldn’t blink an eye, but before you got out of the room he’d have
-thought up a scheme for making it all back.”
-
-“A business genius,” commented Bruce, who had missed no word of
-Henderson’s sketch. “I can’t say your snapshot’s very alluring.”
-
-“Oh, I may be wrong! If you’d ask anybody else about him you’d hear
-that he’s a leading citizen and a cultivated gentleman, which he is!
-While of our city’s back-number or paralytic group, he’s far from being
-ripe for the mortician. One sees him around socially now and then--on
-occasions when our real nobility shake the moth balls from their dress
-suits. And that’s characteristic; he has the pride, you might say, of
-his long connection with the town. If it’s necessary for somebody to
-bunk a distinguished visitor, Frank Mills opens his door--not that he’s
-keen to get his name in the village sheet, but he likes for the town to
-make a good impression--sort of ‘I am a citizen of no mean city,’ like
-St. Paul or whoever the bird was that said it first. I doubt if the
-visitors enjoy his entertainments, but they’re probably used to being
-bored by the gloomy rich.”
-
-“There are other children, perhaps? A house like that rather suggests a
-big family,” Bruce remarked.
-
-“The size only indicates Frank’s pride. He’s given only two hostages to
-fortune. There’s Leila, the daughter. There must have been a naughty
-little devil in some of the Mills or Shepherd tribe away back yonder,
-for that girl certainly is a lively little filly. Shep, who is named
-for his mother’s people, never browsed in the wild-oat fields, but
-Leila makes up for it. Bounced from seven boarding schools--holds the
-champeen record there. Her mother passed hence when Leila was about
-fourteen, and various aunts took a hand in bringing the kid up, but all
-they got for their trouble was nervous prostration. Frank’s crazy about
-her--old stuff of doting father bullied by adorable daughter.”
-
-“I think I get the picture,” said Bruce soberly as his thoughts caught
-up and played upon this summary of the history of Franklin Mills.
-
-Glancing back at the house as Henderson drove away, Bruce was aware
-of the irony of his very presence in the town, sent there by the whim
-of a dying woman to be prepared to aid a man who in no imaginable
-circumstances could ever require any help it might be in his power
-to give. His mother had said that she had kept some track of Mills’s
-life; she could never have realized that he was so secure from any
-possibility of need. As Bruce thought of it, Henderson had not limned
-an attractive portrait. Only Mills’s devotion to the daughter,
-whom Henderson had described in terms that did not conceal his own
-admiration for the girl, brightened the picture.
-
-“What can such a man do with his time in a town like this?” asked Bruce
-meditatively. “No active business, you say. Shooting billiards and
-cutting coupons hardly makes an exciting day.”
-
-“Well,” Henderson replied, “I’ve seen him on the golf links--usually
-alone or with the club professional. Frank’s not one of these ha-ha
-boys who get together after the game with a few good sports and sneak
-a bottle of unlawful Scotch from the locker. Travels a bit; several
-times a year he beats it somewhere with Leila. Shep’s wife bores him,
-I think; and Shep’s not exciting; too damned nice. From all I can see,
-Leila’s her pop’s single big bet. Some say he’s diffident; others hold
-that he’s merely a selfish proposition. He’s missed a number of chances
-to marry again--some of the most dashing widows in our tall corn cities
-have made a play for him; but he follows G. Washington’s advice and
-keeps clear of entangling alliances.”
-
-“Interesting personality,” said Bruce carelessly. But Mills had fixed
-himself in his mind--he had even fashioned a physical embodiment for
-the traits Henderson had described. On the whole, Bruce’s dominant
-feeling was one of relief and satisfaction. Franklin Mills was as
-remote from him as though they were creatures of different planets,
-separated by vast abysses of time and space.
-
-
-III
-
-In spite of Henderson’s sweeping declaration that he needn’t waste
-time calling on architects, that Freeman would take care of him, Bruce
-spent the next morning visiting the offices of the architects on his
-list. Several of these were out of town; the others received him
-amiably; one of them promised him some work a little later, but was
-rather vague about it. When he returned to the hotel at noon he found
-Henderson waiting for him. He had nothing to do, he declared, but to
-keep Bruce amused. Everything was a little incidental with Henderson,
-but he seemed to get what he wanted without effort, even buyers for the
-Plantagenet. Bruce related the results of his visits to the offices of
-the architects and Henderson pursed his lips and emitted a cluck of
-disapproval.
-
-“Next time mind your Uncle Dudley. Bill Freeman’s the bird for you. You
-just leave every little thing to me. Now what else is troubling you?”
-
-“Well, I want a place to live; not too expensive, but a few of the
-minor comforts.”
-
-Two hours later Bruce was signing the lease for a small bachelor
-apartment that Henderson had found for him with, apparently, no effort.
-He had also persuaded some friends of his who lived across the street
-to give the young architect breakfast and provide a colored woman to
-keep his place in order.
-
-Henderson’s acquaintance with his fellow citizens appeared to
-be unlimited. He took Bruce to the State House to call on the
-Governor--brought that official from a conference from which he
-emerged good-naturedly to shake hands and hear a new story. From this
-interruption of affairs of state Henderson convoyed Bruce to a barber
-shop in the midst of an office building where there was a venerable
-negro workman who told a story about a mule which Henderson said was
-the funniest story in the world. The trimming of a prominent citizen’s
-hair was somewhat delayed by the telling of the yarn, but he, like
-everyone else, seemed to be tolerant of Henderson’s idiosyncrasies; and
-the aged barber’s story was unquestionably a masterpiece. Henderson
-began telephoning acquaintances who had offices in the building to
-come forthwith to meet an old college friend. When two men actually
-appeared--one an investment broker and the other a middle-aged
-lawyer--Henderson organized a quartette and proceeded to “get harmony.”
-Neighboring tenants assembled, attracted by the unwonted sounds,
-and Henderson introduced Bruce to them as a new man in town who was
-entitled to the highest consideration.
-
-“This is a sociable sort of village,” he said as they left the shop. “I
-could see you made a hit with those fellows. You’re bound to get on, my
-son.”
-
-At noon on Saturday Henderson drove Bruce to the Freemans’, where with
-the utmost serenity he exercised all the rights of proprietorship. The
-house, of the Dutch Colonial type, was on the river in a five-acre
-tract. A real estate operator had given Freeman the site with the
-stipulation that he build himself a home to establish a social and
-artistic standard for the neighborhood.
-
-“Don’t be afraid of these people,” remarked Henderson reassuringly.
-“Take your cue from me and act as though you had a deed for the house
-in your pocket. Bill’s a dreamy sort of cuss, but Dale’s a human
-dynamo. She looks fierce, but responds to kind treatment.”
-
-Bruce never knew when Henderson was serious, and when a diminutive
-young lady ran downstairs whistling he assumed that he was about to be
-introduced to the daughter of the house.
-
-“Dale, this is old Bruce Storrs, one of the meanest men out of jail.
-I know you’ll hate each other; that’s why I brought him. At the first
-sign of any flirtation between you two I’ll run you both through the
-meat chopper and take a high dive into the adjacent stream.”
-
-Mrs. Freeman was absurdly small and slight, and the short skirt of
-her simple linen dress and her bobbed hair exaggerated her diminutive
-stature. Having gathered from Henderson an idea that Mrs. Freeman was
-an assertive masculine person, Bruce was taken aback as the little
-woman smiled up at him and shook hands.
-
-“It really isn’t my fault that I broke in,” he protested. “It was this
-awful Henderson person who told me you’d be heart-broken if I didn’t
-come.”
-
-“I should have been! He’d have come alone and bored me to death. How is
-every little thing, Bud?”
-
-“Soaring!” mumbled Henderson, who had chosen a book from the rack on
-the table and, sprawling on a couch, became immediately absorbed in it.
-
-“That’s the way Bud shows his noble breeding,” remarked Mrs. Freeman,
-“but he is an easy guest to entertain. I suppose you’re used to him?”
-
-“Oh, we lived together for a couple of years! Nothing he does
-astonishes me.”
-
-“Then I needn’t apologize for him. Bud’s an acquired taste, but once
-you know him, he’s highly diverting.”
-
-“When I began rooming with him in Boston I thought he wasn’t all there,
-but finally decided he was at least three-quarters sane.”
-
-“One thing’s certain; he’s mastered the art of not being bored, which
-is some accomplishment!” said Mrs. Freeman, as Henderson rose suddenly
-and disappeared in the direction of the kitchen, whence proceeded
-presently a sound as of cracking ice.
-
-Mrs. Freeman had something of Henderson’s air of taking things for
-granted, and she talked to Bruce quite as though he were an old friend.
-She spoke amusingly of the embarrassments of housekeeping in the new
-quarter; they were pioneers, she said, and as servants refused to bury
-themselves so far from the bright lights, she did most of her own
-housework, which was lots of fun when you had everything electric to
-play with. There was an old colored man who did chores and helped in
-the kitchen. She told several stories to illustrate his proneness to
-error and his ingenuity in excusing his mistakes.
-
-“You’ve never lived here? Bud gave me that idea, but you never know
-when he’s telling the truth.”
-
-“I never saw the town before, but I hope to stay.”
-
-“It’s up to us to make you want to stay,” she said graciously.
-
-She had settled herself in the largest chair in the room, sitting on
-one foot like a child. She smoked a cigarette as she talked, one arm
-thrown back of her head. She tactfully led Bruce to talk of himself and
-when he spoke of his year-long tramp her eyes narrowed as she gave him
-a more careful inspection.
-
-“That sounds like a jolly lark. I want to know more about it, but we
-must wait for Bill. It’s the sort of thing he’d adore doing.”
-
-Freeman appeared a moment later. He had been cleaning up after a
-morning’s work in the garden. He was thirty-five, short and burly, with
-a thick shock of unruly chestnut hair over which he passed his hand
-frequently, smoothing it only to ruffle it again. He greeted Bruce
-cordially and began talking of the Tech and men he assumed Bruce might
-have known there. He produced pipe and tobacco from the pockets of his
-white flannel trousers and smoked fitfully. Mrs. Freeman answered the
-telephone several times and reappeared to report the messages. One
-had to do with changes in a house already under construction. Freeman
-began explaining to his wife the impossibility of meeting the client’s
-wishes; the matter had been definitely settled before the letting of
-the contract and it would be expensive to alter the plans now. He
-appealed to Bruce for support; people might be sane about everything
-else in the world, but they became maddeningly unreasonable when they
-began building houses.
-
-“Oh, you’d better fix it for them, Bill,” advised Mrs. Freeman quietly.
-“They pay the bills; and I’m not sure but you were wrong in holding out
-against them in the first place.”
-
-“Oh, well, if you say so, Dale!” and Freeman resumed his talk.
-
-Henderson reappeared wearing an apron and bearing a tray with a
-cocktail-shaker and four glasses.
-
-“Don’t flinch, Bill,” he said; “it’s my gin. You pay for the oranges.
-I say, Dale, I told Tuck to peel some potatoes. And you wanted those
-chops for lunch, didn’t you? There’s nothing else in the icebox and I
-told Tuck to put ’em on.”
-
-“He’ll probably ruin them,” said Mrs. Freeman. “Excuse me, Mr. Storrs,
-while I get some work out of Bud.”
-
-It was some time before Bruce got accustomed to Freeman’s oddities. He
-was constantly moving about with a quick, catlike step; or, if he sat
-down, his hands were never quiet. But he talked well, proved himself a
-good listener, and expressed approval by slapping his knee when Bruce
-made some remark that squared with his own views. He was pleased in a
-frank, boyish way when Bruce praised some of his houses which Henderson
-had pointed out.
-
-“Yes; clients didn’t bother me; I had my own way in those cases. I’ve
-got some plans under way now that I want to show you. Dale said you
-were thinking of starting in here. Well, I need some help right away.
-My assistant is leaving me--going to Seattle. Suppose you drop in
-Monday. We might be able to fix up something.”
-
-
-IV
-
-There was tennis in the afternoon and in the evening visitors began
-to drop in--chiefly young married people of the Freemans’ circle.
-Some of these were of well-to-do families and others, Henderson
-explained to Bruce, were not rich but “right.” The talk was lively and
-pitched in that chaffing key which is possible only among people who
-are intimately acquainted. This was Dale Freeman’s salon, Henderson
-explained. Any Saturday or Sunday evening you were likely to meet
-people who had something worth while to offer.
-
-He drew Bruce from one group to another, praising or abusing him with
-equal extravagance. He assured everyone that it was a great honor to
-meet a man destined, as he declared Bruce to be, to cut a big figure
-in the future of the town. He never backed a dead one, he reminded
-them. Bruce was the dearest friend he had in the world, and, he would
-ruefully add, probably the only one. It was for this reason that he had
-urged the young architect to establish himself in the city--a city that
-sorely needed men of Bruce’s splendid character and lofty ideals.
-
-A number of the guests had gone when late in the evening the depleted
-company was reinforced by the arrival of Shepherd Mills and his wife.
-
-“Shep and the Shepherdess!” Henderson cheerfully announced as he
-ushered them in.
-
-Mrs. Mills extended her hand with a gracious smile as Bruce was
-presented. She was tall and fair and moved with a lazy sort of grace.
-She spoke in a low, murmurous tone little broken by inflections. Bruce
-noted that she was dressed rather more smartly than the other women
-present. It seemed to him that the atmosphere of the room changed
-perceptibly on her appearance; or it might have been merely that
-everyone paused a minute to inspect her or to hear what she had to say.
-Bruce surmised from the self-conscious look in her handsome gray eyes
-as she crossed the room that she enjoyed being the center of attention.
-
-“Shep just would spend the day motoring to some queer place,” she was
-saying, “where a lot of people were killed by the Indians ages ago.
-Most depressing! Ruined the day for me! He’s going to set up a monument
-or something to mark the painful affair.”
-
-Shepherd Mills greeted Bruce in the quick, eager fashion of a diffident
-person anxious to appear cordial but not sure that his good intentions
-will be understood, and suggested that they sit down. He was not so
-tall as his wife; his face was long and rather delicate. His slight
-reddish mustache seemed out of place on his lip; it did not quite
-succeed in giving him a masculine air. His speech was marked by odd,
-abrupt pauses, as though he were trying to hide a stammer; or it might
-have been that he was merely waiting to note the effect of what he
-was saying upon the hearer. He drew out a case and offered Bruce a
-cigarette, lighted one himself, smoking as though it were part of a
-required social routine to which he conformed perforce but did not
-relish particularly.
-
-There was to be a tennis tournament at the country club the coming week
-and he mentioned this tentatively and was embarrassed to find that
-Bruce knew nothing about it.
-
-“Oh, I’m always forgetting that everyone doesn’t live here!” he laughed
-apologetically. “A little weakness of the provincial mind! I suppose
-we’re horribly provincial out here. Do we strike you that way, Mr.
-Storrs?”
-
-One might have surmised from his tone that he was used to having his
-serious questions ignored or answered flippantly, but hoped that the
-stranger would meet him on his own ground.
-
-“Oh, there isn’t any such thing as provincialism any more, is there?”
-asked Bruce amiably. “I haven’t sniffed anything of the sort in your
-city: you seem very metropolitan. The fact is, I’m a good deal of a
-hick myself!”
-
-Mills laughed with more fervor than the remark justified. Evidently
-satisfied of the intelligence and good nature of the Freemans’ guest,
-he began to discuss the effect upon industry of a pending coal strike.
-
-His hand went frequently to his mustache as he talked and the leg
-that he swung over his knee waggled nervously. He plunged into a
-discussion of labor, mentioning foreign market conditions and citing
-figures from trade journals showing the losses to both capital and
-labor caused by the frequent disturbances in the industrial world. He
-expressed opinions tentatively, a little apologetically, and withdrew
-them quickly when they were questioned. Bruce, having tramped through
-one of the coal fields where a strike was in progress, described the
-conditions as he had observed them. Mills expressed the greatest
-interest; the frown deepened on his face as he listened.
-
-“That’s bad; things shouldn’t be that way,” he said. “The truth of
-the matter is that we haven’t mastered the handling of business.
-It’s stupendous; we’ve outgrown the old methods. We forget the vast
-territory we have to handle and the numbers of men it’s necessary to
-keep in touch with. When my Grandfather Mills set up as a manufacturer
-here he had fifty men working for him, and he knew them all--knew their
-families, circumstances, everything. Now I have six hundred in my
-battery plant and don’t know fifty of them! But I’d like to know them
-all; I feel that it’s my duty to know them.”
-
-He shrugged his shoulders impatiently when Henderson’s sharp little
-laugh at the other end of the room broke in discordantly upon Bruce’s
-sympathetic reply to this.
-
-“Bud, how silly you are!” they heard Mrs. Mills saying. “But I don’t
-know what we’d do without you. You do cheer things up a bit now and
-then!”
-
-Mrs. Freeman effected a redistribution of the guests that brought Mrs.
-Mills and Bruce together.
-
-“Shep, you mustn’t monopolize Mr. Storrs. Give Connie a chance. Mr.
-Storrs is an ideal subject for you, Connie. Take him out on the terrace
-and put him through all your degrees.” And then to Bruce: “Mrs. Mills
-is not only our leading vamp but a terrible highbrow--reads all the
-queer stuff!”
-
-Shepherd Mills was not wholly successful in concealing his displeasure
-in thus being deprived of Bruce’s company. And noting this, Bruce put
-out his hand, saying:
-
-“That’s a deep subject; we shall have to tackle it again. Please don’t
-forget that we’ve left it in the air and give me another chance.”
-
-“My husband really wants so much to save the human race,” remarked Mrs.
-Mills as she stepped out on the tiled flooring of a broad terrace where
-there were rugs and comfortable places to sit. There was moonlight and
-the great phalanx of stars marched across the clear heavens; below
-flowed the river. She seated herself on a couch, suffered him to adjust
-a pillow at her back and indicated that he was to sit beside her.
-
-“I’m really done up by our all-day motor trip, but my husband insisted
-on dropping in here. The Freemans are a great resource to all of us.
-You’re always likely to find someone new and interesting here. Dale
-Freeman has a genius for picking up just the right sort of people and
-she’s generous about letting her friends know them. Are you and the
-Freemans old friends?”
-
-“Oh, not at all! Bud Henderson’s my only friend here. He vouched for me
-to the Freemans.”
-
-“Oh, Bud! He’s such a delightful rascal. You don’t mind my calling
-him that? I shouldn’t if I weren’t so fond of him. He’s absolutely
-necessary to our social existence. We’d stagnate without him.”
-
-“Bud was always a master hand at stirring things up. His methods are a
-little peculiar at times, but he does get results.”
-
-“There’s no question but that he’s a warm admirer of yours.”
-
-“That’s because he’s forgotten about me! He hadn’t seen me for five
-years.”
-
-“I think possibly I can understand that one wouldn’t exactly forget
-you, Mr. Storrs.”
-
-She let the words fall carelessly, as though to minimize their daring
-in case they were not wholly acceptable to her auditor. The point was
-not lost upon him. He was not without his experience in the gentle art
-of flirtation, and her technic was familiar. There was always, however,
-the possibility of variations in the ancient game, and he hoped that
-Mrs. Shepherd Mills was blessed with originality.
-
-“There’s a good deal of me to forget; I’m six feet two!”
-
-“Well, of course I wasn’t referring altogether to your size,” she said
-with her murmurous little laugh. “I adore big men, and I suppose that’s
-why I married a small one. Isn’t’ it deliciously funny how contrary we
-are when it comes to the important affairs of our lives! I suppose it’s
-just because we’re poor, weak humans. We haven’t the courage of our
-prejudices.”
-
-“I’d never thought of that,” Bruce replied. “But it is an interesting
-idea. I suppose we’re none of us free agents. It’s not in the great
-design of things that we shall walk a chalk line. If we all did, it
-would probably be a very stupid world.”
-
-“I’m glad you feel that way about it. For a long time half the world
-tried to make conformists of the other half; nowadays not more than a
-third are trying to keep the rest on the chalk line--and that third’s
-skidding! People think me dreadfully heretical about everything.
-But--I’m not, really! Tell me you don’t think me terribly wild and
-untamed.”
-
-“I think,” said Bruce, feeling that here was a cue he mustn’t miss, “I
-think you are very charming. If it’s your ideas that make you so, I
-certainly refuse to quarrel with them.”
-
-“How beautifully you came up on that! Something tells me that I’m not
-going to be disappointed in you. I have a vague sort of idea that we’re
-going to understand each other.”
-
-“You do me great honor! It will be a grief to me if we don’t.”
-
-“It’s odd how instantly we recognize the signals when someone really
-worth while swims into our ken,” she said pensively. “Dear old Nature
-looks after that! Bud intimated that you’re to be one of us; throw
-in your lot with those of us who struggle along in this rather nice,
-comfortable town. If you enjoy grandeur in social things, you’ll not
-find much here to interest you; but if just nice little companies and a
-few friends are enough, you can probably keep amused.”
-
-“If the Freemans’ friends are specimens and there’s much of this sort
-of thing”--he waved his hand toward the company within--“I certainly
-shall have nothing to complain of.”
-
-“We must see you at our house. I haven’t quite Dale’s knack
-of attracting people”--she paused a moment upon this note of
-humility--“but I try to bring a few worth while people together. I’ve
-educated a few men to drop in for tea on Thursdays with usually a few
-of my pals among the young matrons and a girl or two. If you feel
-moved----”
-
-“I hope you’re not trifling with me,” said Bruce, “for I shall
-certainly come.”
-
-“Then that’s all settled. Don’t pay any attention to what Bud says
-about me. To hear him talk you might think me a man-eater. My husband’s
-the dearest thing! He doesn’t mind at all my having men in for tea.
-He comes himself now and then when his business doesn’t interfere.
-Dear Shep! He’s a slave to business, and he’s always at work on some
-philanthropic scheme. I just talk about helping the world; but he, poor
-dear, really tries to do something.”
-
-Henderson appeared presently with a dark hint that Shepherd was peeved
-by their long absence and that the company was breaking up.
-
-“Connie never plays all her cards the first time, Bruce; you must give
-her another chance.”
-
-“Oh, Mr. Storrs has promised me a thousand chances!” said Mrs. Mills.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER THREE
-
-
-I
-
-Sunday evening the Freemans were called unexpectedly into town
-and Bruce and Henderson were left to amuse themselves. Henderson
-immediately lost himself in a book and Bruce, a little homesick for the
-old freedom of the road, set out for a walk. A footpath that followed
-the river invited him and he lounged along, his spirit responding
-to the beauty of the night, his mind intent upon the future. The
-cordiality of the Freemans and their circle had impressed him with the
-friendliness of the community. It would take time to establish himself
-in his profession, but he had confidence in his power to achieve; the
-lust for work was already strong in him. He was satisfied that he had
-done wisely in obeying his mother’s mandate; he would never have been
-happy if he had ignored it.
-
-His meeting with Shepherd Mills had roused no resentment, revived no
-such morbid thoughts as had troubled him on the night of his arrival
-in town. Shepherd Mills was his half-brother; this, to be sure,
-was rather staggering; but his reaction to the meeting was void of
-bitterness. He speculated a good deal about young Mills. The gentleness
-and forbearance with which he suffered the raillery of his intimates,
-his anxiety to be accounted a good fellow, his serious interest in
-matters of real importance--in all these things there was something
-touching and appealing. It was difficult to correlate Shepherd with his
-wife, but perhaps their dissimilarities were only superficial. Bruce
-appraised Connie Mills as rather shallow, fond of admiration, given to
-harmless poses in which her friends evidently encouraged and indulged
-her. She practiced her little coquetries with an openness that was in
-itself a safeguard. As they left the Freemans, Shepherd and his wife
-had repeated their hope of seeing him again. It was bewildering, but
-it had come about so naturally that there seemed nothing extraordinary
-in the fact that he was already acquainted with members of Franklin
-Mills’s family....
-
-Bruce paused now and then where the path drew in close to the river
-to look down at the moonlit water through the fringe of trees and
-shrubbery. A boy and girl floated by in a canoe, the girl singing as
-she thrummed a ukulele, and his eyes followed them a little wistfully.
-Farther on the dull put-put-put of a motor-boat broke the silence. The
-sound ceased abruptly, followed instantly by a colloquy between the
-occupants.
-
-“Damn this fool thing!” ejaculated a feminine voice. “We’re stuck!”
-
-“I had noticed it!” said another girl’s voice good naturedly. “But such
-is the life of the sailor. I wouldn’t just choose this for an all-night
-camp!”
-
-“Don’t be so sweet about it, Millicent! I’d like to sink this boat.”
-
-“It isn’t Polly’s fault. She’s already half-buried in the sand,”
-laughed the other.
-
-Bruce scrambled down to the water’s edge and peered out upon the river.
-A small power boat had grounded on a sandbar in the middle of the
-stream. Its occupants were two young women in bathing suits. But for
-their voices he would have taken them for boys. One was tinkering with
-the engine while the other was trying to push off the boat with an oar
-which sank ineffectually in the sand. In their attempts to float their
-craft the young women had not seen Bruce, who, satisfied that they were
-in no danger, was rather amused by their plight. They were presumably
-from one of the near-by villas and their bathing suits implied
-familiarity with the water. The girl at the engine talked excitedly
-with an occasional profane outburst; her companion was disposed to
-accept the situation philosophically.
-
-“We can easily swim out, so don’t get so excited, Leila,” said the girl
-with the oar. “And do stop swearing; voices travel a long way over the
-water.”
-
-“I don’t care who hears me,” said the other, though in a lower tone.
-
-She gave the engine a spin, starting the motor, but the power was
-unequal to the task of freeing the boat. With an exclamation of disgust
-she turned off the switch and the futile threshing of the propeller
-ceased.
-
-“Let’s swim ashore and send back for Polly,” said the girl addressed as
-Millicent.
-
-“I see myself swimming out!” the other retorted. “I’m not going to
-leave Polly here for some pirate to steal.”
-
-“Nobody’s going to steal her. This isn’t the ocean, you know.”
-
-“Well, no fool boat’s going to get the best of me! Where’s that flask?
-I’m freezing!”
-
-“You don’t need any more of that! Please give it to me!”
-
-“I hope you are enjoying yourself,” said the other petulantly. “I don’t
-see any fun in this!”
-
-“Hello, there!” called Bruce, waving his arms to attract their
-attention. “Can I be of help?”
-
-Startled by his voice, they did not reply immediately, but he heard
-them conferring as to this unlooked-for hail from the bank.
-
-“Oh, I’m perfectly harmless!” he cried reassuringly. “I was just
-passing and heard your engine. If there’s a boat near by I can pull you
-off, or I’ll swim out and lift your boat off if you say so.”
-
-“Better get a boat,” said the voice he had identified with the name of
-Millicent. “There’s a boathouse just a little farther up, on your side.
-You’ll find a skiff and a canoe. We’ll be awfully glad to have your
-help. Thank you ever so much!”
-
-“Don’t forget to come back,” cried Leila.
-
-“Certainly not!” laughed Bruce and sprang up the bank.
-
-He found the boathouse without trouble, chose the skiff as easier to
-manage, and rowed back. In the moonlight he saw Millicent standing
-up in the launch watching him, and as he approached she flashed an
-electric torch along the side of the boat that he might see the nature
-of their difficulty.
-
-“Do you need food or medical attention?” he asked cheerfully as he
-skillfully maneuvered the skiff and grounded it on the sand.
-
-“I think we’d better get out,” she said.
-
-“No; stay right there till I see what I can do. I think I can push you
-off. All steady now!”
-
-The launch moved a little at his first attempt to dislodge it and a
-second strong shove sent it into the channel.
-
-“Now start your engine!” he commanded.
-
-The girl in the middle of the boat muttered something he didn’t catch.
-
-“Leila, can you start the engine?” demanded Millicent. “I think--I
-think I’ll have to row back,” she said when Leila made no response. “My
-friend isn’t feeling well.”
-
-“I’ll tow you--that’s easy,” said Bruce, noting that her companion
-apparently was no longer interested in the proceedings. “Please throw
-me your rope!”
-
-He caught the rope and fastened it to the stern of the skiff and called
-out that he was ready.
-
-“Please land us where you found the boat,” said Millicent. She settled
-herself in the stern of the launch and took the tiller. No word was
-spoken till they reached the boathouse.
-
-“That’s all you can do,” said Millicent, who had drawn on a long bath
-wrapper and stepped out. “And thank you very, very much; I’m sorry to
-have caused you so much trouble.”
-
-This was clearly a dismissal, but he loosened the rope and tied up the
-skiff. He waited, holding the launch, while Millicent tried to persuade
-Leila to disembark.
-
-“Perhaps----” began Bruce, and hesitated. It seemed unfair to leave the
-girl alone with the problem of getting her friend ashore. Not to put
-too fine a point on the matter, Leila was intoxicated.
-
-“Now, Leila!” cried Millicent exasperatedly. “You’re making yourself
-ridiculous, besides keeping this gentleman waiting. It’s not a bit nice
-of you!”
-
-“Jus’ restin’ lil bit,” said Leila indifferently. “I’m jus’ restin’ and
-I’m not goin’ to leave Polly. I should shay not!”
-
-And in assertion of her independence she began to whistle. She seemed
-greatly amused that her attempts to whistle were unsuccessful.
-
-Millicent turned to Bruce. “If I could get her out of the boat I could
-put her in our car and take her home.”
-
-“Surely!” he said and bent over quickly and lifted the girl from the
-launch, set her on her feet and steadied her. Millicent fumbled in the
-launch, found a bath wrapper and flung it about Leila’s shoulders. She
-guided her friend toward the long, low boathouse and turned a switch.
-
-“I can manage now,” she said, gravely surveying Bruce in the glare of
-light. “I’m so sorry to have troubled you.”
-
-She was tall and fair with markedly handsome brown eyes and a great
-wealth of fine-spun golden hair that escaped from her bathing cap and
-tumbled down upon her shoulders. Her dignity was in nowise diminished
-by her garb. She betrayed no agitation. Bruce felt that she was paying
-him the compliment of assuming that she was dealing with a gentleman
-who, having performed a service, would go his way and forget the whole
-affair. She drew her arm about the now passive Leila, who was much
-shorter--quite small, indeed, in comparison.
-
-“Our car’s here and we’ll get dressed and drive back into town. Thank
-you so much and--good-night!”
-
-“I was glad to help you;--good-night!”
-
-The door closed upon them. Bruce made the launch fast to the landing
-and resumed his walk.
-
-
-II
-
-When he returned to the Freemans, Henderson flung aside his book and
-complained of Bruce’s prolonged absence. “I had begun to think you’d
-got yourself kidnapped. Go ahead and talk,” he said, yawning and
-stretching himself.
-
-“Well, I’ve had a mild adventure,” said Bruce, lighting a cigarette;
-and he described his meeting with the two young women.
-
-“Not so bad!” remarked Henderson placidly. “Such little adventures
-never happen to me. The incident would make good first page stuff for a
-newspaper; society girls shipwrecked. You ought to have taken the flask
-as a souvenir. Leila is an obstreperous little kid; she really ought to
-behave herself. Right the first time. Leila Mills, of course; I think
-I mentioned her the other day. Her friend is Millicent Harden. Guess
-I omitted Millicent in my review of our citizens. Quite a remarkable
-person. She plays the rôle of big sister to Leila; they’re neighbors on
-Jefferson Avenue. That’s just a boathouse on the Styx that Mills built
-for Leila’s delectation. She pulls a cocktail tea there occasionally.
-Millicent’s pop made a fortune out of an asthma cure--the joy of all
-cut-rate druggists. Not viewed with approval by medical societies.
-Socially the senior Hardens are outside the breastworks, but Millicent
-is asked to very large functions, where nobody knows who’s there. They
-live in that whopping big house just north of the Mills place, and old
-Doc Harden gives Millicent everything she wants. Hence a grand organ,
-and the girl is a regular Cecelia at the keys. Really plays. Strong
-artistic bent. We can’t account for people like the Hardens having
-such a daughter. There’s a Celtic streak in the girl, I surmise--that
-odd sort of poetic strain that’s so beguiling in the Irish. She models
-quite wonderfully, they tell me. Well, well! So you were our little
-hero on the spot!”
-
-“But Leila?” said Bruce seriously. “You don’t quite expect to find the
-daughter of a prominent citizen tipsy on a river, and rather profane at
-that.”
-
-“Oh, thunder!” exclaimed Henderson easily. “Leila’s all right. You
-needn’t worry about her. She’s merely passing through a phase and
-will probably emerge safely. Leila’s hardly up to your standard, but
-Millicent is a girl you’ll like. I ought to have told Dale to ask
-Millicent here. Dale’s a broad-minded woman and doesn’t mind it at all
-that old Harden’s rolled up a million by being smart enough to scamper
-just a nose length ahead of the Federal grand jury carrying his rotten
-dope in triumph.”
-
-“Miss Mills, I suppose, is an acceptable member of the Freemans’
-group?” Bruce inquired.
-
-“Acceptable enough, but this is all too tame for Leila. Curious sort of
-friendship--Leila and Millicent. Socially Millicent is, in a manner of
-speaking, between the devil and the deep sea. She’s just a little too
-superior to train with the girls of the Longview Country Club set and
-the asthma cure keeps her from being chummy with the Faraway gang. But
-I’ll say that Leila’s lucky to have a friend like Millicent.”
-
-“Um--yes,” Bruce assented. “I’m beginning to see that your social life
-here has a real flavor.”
-
-“Well, it’s not all just plain vanilla,” Bud agreed with a yawn.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER FOUR
-
-
-I
-
-Henderson made his wife’s return an excuse for giving a party at the
-Faraway Country Club. Mrs. Henderson had brought home a trophy from
-the golf tournament and her prowess must be celebrated. She was a tall
-blonde with a hearty, off-hand manner, and given to plain, direct
-speech. She treated Bud as though he were a younger brother, to be
-humored to a certain point and then reminded a little tartly of the
-limitations of her tolerance.
-
-When Bruce arrived at the club he found his hostess and Mrs. Freeman
-receiving the guests in the hall and directing them to a dark end
-of the veranda where Bud was holding forth with a cocktail-shaker.
-Obedient to their hint, he stumbled over the veranda chairs until
-he came upon a group of young people gathered about Bud, who was
-energetically compounding drinks as he told a story. Bruce knew the
-story; it was the oldest of Bud’s yarns, and his interest wavered to
-become fixed immediately upon a girl beside him who was giving Bud her
-complete attention. Even in the dim light of the veranda there was no
-mistaking her: she was the Millicent Harden he had rescued from the
-sand bar. At the conclusion of the story she joined in the general
-laugh and turned round to find Bruce regarding her intently.
-
-“I beg your pardon,” he said and bowed gravely.
-
-“Oh, you needn’t!” she replied quickly.
-
-He lifted his head to find her inspecting him with an amused smile.
-
-“I might find someone to introduce us--Mr. Henderson, perhaps,” he
-said. “My name--if the matter is important--is Bruce Storrs.”
-
-“Possibly we might complete the introduction unassisted--my name is
-Millicent Harden!”
-
-“How delightful! Shall we dance?”
-
-After the dance he suggested that they step out for a breath of air.
-They found seats and she said immediately:
-
-“Of course I remember you; I’d be ashamed if I didn’t. I’m glad of this
-chance to thank you. I know Leila--Miss Mills--will want to thank you,
-too. We must have seemed very silly that night on the river.”
-
-“Such a thing might happen to anyone; why not forget it?”
-
-“Let me thank you again,” she said seriously. “You were ever so kind.”
-
-“The incident is closed,” he remarked with finality. “Am I keeping you
-from a partner? They’re dancing again. We might sit this out if I’m not
-depriving you----”
-
-“You’re not. It’s warm inside and this is a relief. We might even
-wander down the lawn and look for elves and dryads and nymphs. Those
-big trees and the stars set the stage for such encounters.”
-
-“It’s rather nice to believe in fairies and such things. At times I’m a
-believer; then I lose my faith.”
-
-“We all forget our fairies sometimes,” she answered gravely.
-
-He had failed to note at their meeting on the river the loveliness
-of her voice. He found himself waiting for the recurrence of certain
-tones that had a curious musical resonance. He was struck by a certain
-gravity in her that was expressed for fleeting moments in both voice
-and eyes. Even with the newest dance music floating out to them and
-the light and laughter within, he was aware of an indefinable quality
-in the girl that seemed somehow to translate her to remote and shadowy
-times. Her profile--clean-cut without sharpness--and her manner of
-wearing her abundant hair--carried back loosely to a knot low on her
-head--strengthened his impression of her as being a little foreign to
-the place and hour. She spoke with quiet enthusiasm of the outdoor
-sports that interested her--riding she enjoyed most of all. Henderson
-had intimated that her social life was restricted, but she bore herself
-more like a young woman of the world than any other girl he remembered.
-
-“Maybelle Henderson will scold me for hiding you away,” she said.
-“But I just can’t dance whenever the band plays. It’s got to be an
-inspiration!”
-
-“Then I thank you again for one perfect dance! I’m afraid I didn’t
-appreciate what you were giving me.”
-
-“Oh, I danced with you to hide my embarrassment!” she laughed.
-
-Half an hour passed and they had touched and dismissed many subjects
-when she rose and caught the hand of a girl who was passing.
-
-“Miss Mills, Mr. Storrs. It’s quite fitting that you should meet Mr.
-Storrs.”
-
-“Fitting?” asked the girl, breathless from her dance.
-
-“We’ve all met before--on the river--most shockingly! You might just
-say thank you to Mr. Storrs.”
-
-“Oh, this is _not_----” Leila drew back and inspected Bruce with a
-direct, candid gaze.
-
-“Miss Harden is mistaken; this is the first time we ever met,” declared
-Bruce.
-
-“Isn’t he nice!” Leila exclaimed. “From what Millie said I knew you
-would be like this.” And then: “Oh, lots of people are bragging about
-you and promising to introduce me! Here comes Tommy Barnes; he has this
-dance. Oh, Millie! if you get a chance you might say a kind word to
-papa. He’s probably terribly bored by this time.”
-
-“Leila’s a dear child! I’m sure you’ll like her,” said Millicent as the
-girl fluttered away. “Oh, I adore this piece! Will you dance with me?”
-
-As they finished the dance Mrs. Henderson intercepted them.
-
-“Aren’t you the limit, you two? I’ve had Bud searching the whole place
-for you and here you are! Quite as though you hadn’t been hiding for
-the last hour.”
-
-“I’m going to keep Mr. Storrs just a moment longer,” said Millicent.
-“Leila said her father was perishing somewhere and I want Mr. Storrs to
-meet him.”
-
-“Yes; certainly,” said Bruce.
-
-He walked beside her into the big lounge, where many of the older
-guests were gathered.
-
-“Poor Mr. Mills!” said Millicent after a quick survey of the room.
-“There he is, listening to one of Mr. Tasker’s interminable yarns.”
-
-She led the way toward a group of men, one of whom was evidently
-nearing the end of a long story. One of his auditors, a dark man of
-medium height and rather stockily built, was listening with an air of
-forced attention. His grayish hair was brushed smoothly away from a
-broad forehead, his neatly trimmed mustache was a trifle grayer than
-his hair. Millicent and Bruce fell within the line of his vision, and
-his face brightened instantly as he nodded to the girl and waved his
-hand. The moment the story was ended he crossed to them, his eyes
-bright with pleasure and a smile on his face.
-
-“I call it a base desertion!” he exclaimed. “Leila brings me here and
-coolly parks me. A father gets mighty little consideration these days!”
-
-“Don’t scold! Mr. Mills--let me present Mr. Storrs.”
-
-“I’m very glad to meet you, Mr. Storrs,” said Mills with quiet
-cordiality. He swept Bruce with a quick, comprehensive scrutiny.
-
-“Mr. Storrs has lately moved here,” Millicent explained.
-
-“I congratulate you, Mr. Storrs, on having fallen into good hands.”
-
-“Oh, Miss Harden is taking splendid care of me!” Bruce replied.
-
-“She’s quite capable of doing that!” Mills returned.
-
-Bruce was studying Franklin Mills guardedly. A man of reserves and
-reticences, not a safe subject for quick judgments. His manner was
-somewhat listless now that the introduction had been accomplished; and
-perhaps aware of this, he addressed several remarks to Bruce, asking
-whether the music was all that the jazzy age demanded; confessed with
-mock chagrin that his dancing days were over.
-
-“You only think they are! Mr. Mills really dances very well. You’d be
-surprised, Mr. Storrs, considering how venerable he is!”
-
-“That’s why I don’t dance!” Mills retorted with a rueful grin.
-“‘Considering his age’ is the meanest phrase that can be applied to a
-man of fifty.”
-
-Bud Henderson here interrupted them, declaring that dozens of people
-were disconsolate because Bruce had concealed himself.
-
-“Of course you must go!” said Millicent.
-
-“I hope to meet you again,” Mills remarked as Bruce bowed to him.
-
-“Thank you, Mr. Mills,” said Bruce.
-
-He was conscious once more of Mills’s intent scrutiny. It seemed to him
-as he walked away that Mills’s eyes followed him.
-
-“What’s the matter, old top?” Bud demanded. “You’re not tired?”
-
-“No; I’m all right,” Bruce replied, though his heart was pounding hard;
-and feeling a little giddy, he laid his hand on Henderson’s arm.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER FIVE
-
-
-I
-
-Franklin Mills stood by one of the broad windows in his private office
-gazing across the smoky industrial district of his native city. With
-his hands thrust into his trousers’ pockets, he was a picture of
-negligent ease. His face was singularly free of the markings of time.
-His thick, neatly trimmed hair with its even intermixture of white
-added to his look of distinction. His business suit of dark blue with
-an obscure green stripe was evidently a recent creation of his tailor,
-and a wing collar with a neatly tied polka-dot cravat contributed
-further to the impression he gave of a man who had a care for his
-appearance. The gray eyes that looked out over the city narrowed
-occasionally as some object roused his attention--a freight train
-crawling on the outskirts or some disturbance in the street below. Then
-he would resume his reverie as though enjoying his sense of immunity
-from the fret and jar of the world about him.
-
-_Bruce Storrs._ The name of the young man he had met at the Country
-Club lingered disturbingly in his memory. He had heard someone ask
-that night where Storrs came from, and Bud Henderson, his sponsor, had
-been ready with the answer, “Laconia, Ohio.” Mills had been afraid to
-ask the question himself. Long-closed doors swung open slowly along
-the dim corridor of memory and phantom shapes emerged--among them a
-figure Franklin Mills recognized as himself. Swiftly he computed the
-number of years that had passed since, in his young manhood, he had
-spent a summer in the pleasant little town, sent there by his father
-to act as auditor of a manufacturing concern in which Franklin Mills
-III for a time owned an interest. Marian Storrs was a lovely young
-being--vivacious, daring, already indifferent to the man to whom she
-had been married two years.... He had been a beast to take advantage
-of her, to accept all that she had yielded to him with a completeness
-and passion that touched him poignantly now as she lived again in his
-memory.... Was this young man, Bruce Storrs, her son? He was a splendid
-specimen, distinctly handsome, with the air of breeding that Mills
-valued. He turned from the window and walked idly about the room, only
-to return to his contemplation of the hazy distances.
-
-The respect of his fellow man, one could see, meant much to him. He was
-Franklin Mills, the fourth of the name in succession in the Mid-western
-city, enjoying an unassailable social position and able to command more
-cash at a given moment than any other man in the community. Nothing
-was so precious to Franklin Mills as his peace of mind, and here was a
-problem that might forever menace that peace. The hope that the young
-man himself knew nothing did not abate the hateful, hideous question
-... was he John Storrs’s son or his own? Surely Marian Storrs could not
-have told the boy of that old episode....
-
-Nearly every piece of property in the city’s original mile square had
-at some time belonged to a Mills. The earlier men of the name had
-been prominent in public affairs, but he had never been interested
-in politics and he never served on those bothersome committees that
-promote noble causes and pursue the public with subscription papers.
-When Franklin Mills gave he gave liberally, but he preferred to make
-his contributions unsolicited. It pleased him to be represented at the
-State Fair with cattle and saddle horses from Deer Trail Farm. Like
-his father and grandfather, he kept in touch with the soil, and his
-farm, fifteen miles from his office, was a show place; his Jersey herd
-enjoyed a wide reputation. The farm was as perfectly managed as his
-house and office. Its carefully tended fields, his flocks and herds and
-the dignified Southern Colonial house were but another advertisement of
-his substantial character and the century-long identification of his
-name with the State.
-
-His private office was so furnished as to look as little as possible
-like a place for the transaction of business. There were easy lounging
-chairs, a long leathern couch, a bookcase, a taboret with cigars and
-cigarettes. The flat-top desk, placed between two windows, contained
-nothing but an immaculate blotter and a silver desk set that evidently
-enjoyed frequent burnishing. It was possible for him to come and go
-without traversing the other rooms of the suite. Visitors who passed
-the office boy’s inspection and satisfied a prim stenographer that
-their errands were not frivolous found themselves in communication
-with Arthur Carroll, Mills’s secretary, a young man of thirty-five,
-trained as a lawyer, who spoke for his employer in all matters not
-demanding decisions of first importance. Carroll was not only Mills’s
-confidential man of business, but when necessary he performed the
-duties of social secretary. He was tactful, socially in demand as an
-eligible bachelor, and endowed with a genius for collecting information
-that greatly assisted Mills in keeping in touch with the affairs of the
-community.
-
-Mills glanced at his watch and turned to press a button in a plate on
-the corner of his desk. Carroll appeared immediately.
-
-“You said Shep was coming?” Mills inquired.
-
-“Yes; he was to be here at five, but said he might be a little late.”
-
-Mills nodded, asked a question about the survey of some land adjoining
-Deer Trail Farm for which he was negotiating, and listened attentively
-while Carroll described a discrepancy in the boundary lines.
-
-“Is that all that stands in the way?” Mills asked.
-
-“Well,” said Carroll, “Parsons shows signs of bucking. He’s thought of
-reasons, sentimental ones, for not selling. He and his wife moved there
-when they were first married and their children were all born on the
-place.”
-
-“Of course we have nothing to do with that,” remarked Mills, slipping
-an ivory paper knife slowly through his fingers. “The old man is a
-failure, and the whole place is badly run down. I really need it for
-pasture.”
-
-“Oh, he’ll sell! We just have to be a little patient,” Carroll replied.
-
-“All right, but don’t close till the title’s cleared up. I don’t buy
-law suits. Come in, Shep.”
-
-Shepherd Mills had appeared at the door during this talk. His father
-had merely glanced at him, and Shepherd waited, hat in hand, his
-topcoat on his arm, till the discussion was ended.
-
-“What’s that you’ve got there?” his father asked, seating himself in a
-comfortable chair a little way from the desk.
-
-In drawing some papers from the pocket of his overcoat, Shepherd
-dropped his hat, picked it up and laid it on the desk. He was trying to
-appear at ease, and replied that it was a contract calling for a large
-order which the storage battery company had just made.
-
-“We worked a good while to get that,” said the young man with a ring of
-pride in his voice. “I thought you’d like to know it’s all settled.”
-
-Mills put on his glasses, scanned the document with a practiced eye and
-handed it back.
-
-“That’s good. You’re running full capacity now?”
-
-“Yes; we’ve got orders enough to keep us going full handed for several
-months.”
-
-The young man’s tone was eager; he was clearly anxious for his father’s
-approval. He had expected a little more praise for his success in
-getting the contract, but was trying to adjust himself to his father’s
-calm acceptance of the matter. He drummed the edge of the desk as he
-recited certain figures as to conditions at the plant. His father
-disconcertingly corrected one of his statements.
-
-“Yes; you’re right, father,” Shepherd stammered. “I got the July
-figures mixed up with the June report.”
-
-Mills smiled indulgently; took a cigarette from a silver box on the
-taboret beside him and unhurriedly lighted it.
-
-“You and Constance are coming over for dinner tonight?” he asked. “I
-think Leila said she’d asked you.”
-
-His senior’s very calmness seemed to add to Shepherd’s nervousness. He
-rose and laid his overcoat on the couch, drew out his handkerchief and
-wiped his forehead, remarking that it was warm for the season.
-
-“I hadn’t noticed it,” his father remarked in the tone of one who is
-indifferent to changes of temperature.
-
-“There’s a little matter I’ve been wanting to speak to you about,”
-Shepherd began. “I thought it would be better to mention it here--you
-never like talking business at the house. If it’s going to be done it
-ought to be started now, before the bad weather sets in.”
-
-He paused, a little breathless, and Mills said, the least bit
-impatiently:
-
-“Do you mean that new unit at the plant? I thought we’d settled that.
-I thought you were satisfied you could get along this winter with the
-plant as it is.”
-
-“Oh, no! It’s not that!” Shepherd hastily corrected. “Of course that’s
-all settled. This is quite a different matter. I only want to suggest
-it now so you can think it over. You see, our employees were all
-mightily pleased because you let them have the use of the Milton farm.
-There’s quite a settlement grown up around the plant and the Milton
-land is so near they can walk to it. I’ve kept tab this summer and
-about a hundred of the men go there Saturday afternoons and Sundays;
-mostly married men who take their families. I could see it made a big
-difference in the morale of the shop.”
-
-He paused to watch the effect of his statements, but Mills made no
-sign. He merely recrossed his legs, knocked the ash from his cigarette
-and nodded for his son to go on.
-
-“I want you to know I appreciate your letting me use the property
-that way,” Shepherd resumed. “I was out there a good deal myself,
-and those people certainly enjoyed themselves. Now what’s in my mind
-is this, father”--he paused an instant and bent forward with boyish
-eagerness--“I’ve heard you say you didn’t mean to sell any lots in the
-Milton addition for several years--not until the street car line’s
-extended--and I thought since the factory’s so close to the farm, we
-might build some kind of a clubhouse the people could use the year
-round. They can’t get any amusements without coming into town, and
-we could build the house near the south gate of the property, where
-our people could get to it easily. They could have dances and motion
-pictures, and maybe a few lectures and some concerts, during the
-winter. They’ll attend to all that themselves. Please understand that I
-don’t mean this as a permanent thing. The clubhouse needn’t cost much,
-so when you get ready to divide the farm the loss wouldn’t be great.
-It might even be used in some way. I just wanted to mention it; we can
-talk out the details after you’ve thought it over.”
-
-In his anxiety to make himself clear Shepherd had stammered repeatedly.
-He waited, his face flushed, his eyelids quivering, for some
-encouraging word from his father. Mills dropped his cigarette into the
-tray before he spoke.
-
-“What would such a house cost, Shep?”
-
-“It can be built for twenty thousand dollars. I got a young fellow in
-Freeman’s office to make me some sketches--Storrs--you met him at the
-country club; a mighty nice chap. If you’ll just look at these----”
-
-Mills took the two letter sheets his son extended, one showing a floor
-plan, the other a rough sketch of the proposed building, inspected them
-indifferently and gave them back.
-
-“If you’d like to keep them----” Shepherd began.
-
-“No; that isn’t necessary. I think we can settle the matter now. It
-was all right for those people to use the farm as a playground during
-the summer, but this idea of building a house for them won’t do. We’ve
-got to view these things practically, Shep. You’re letting your
-sentimental feelings run away with you. If I let you go ahead with
-that scheme, it would be unfair to all the other employers in town.
-If you stop to think, you can see for yourself that for us to build
-such a clubhouse would cause dissatisfaction among other concerns
-I’m interested in. And there’s another thing. Your people have done
-considerable damage--breaking down the shrubbery and young trees I’d
-planted where I’d laid out the roads. I hadn’t spoken of this, for
-I knew how much fun you got out of it, but as for spending twenty
-thousand dollars for a clubhouse and turning the whole place over to
-those people, it can’t be done!”
-
-“Well, father, of course I can see your way of looking at it,” Shepherd
-said with a crestfallen air. “I thought maybe, just for a few years----”
-
-“That’s another point,” Mills interrupted. “You can’t give it to them
-and then take it away. Such people are bound to be unreasonable. Give
-them an inch and they take a mile. You’ll find as you grow older that
-they have precious little appreciation of such kindnesses. Your heart’s
-been playing tricks with your head. I tell you, my dear boy, there’s
-nothing in it; positively nothing!”
-
-Mills rose, struck his hands together smartly and laid them on his
-son’s shoulders, looking down at him with smiling tolerance. Shepherd
-was nervously fumbling Storrs’s sketches, and as his father stepped
-back he hastily thrust them into his pocket.
-
-“You may be right, father,” he said slowly, and with no trace of
-resentment.
-
-“Storrs, you said?” Mills inquired as he opened a cabinet door and took
-out his hat and light overcoat. “Is he the young man Millie introduced
-me to?”
-
-“Yes; that tall, fine-looking chap; a Tech man; just moved here--friend
-of Bud Henderson’s.”
-
-“I wasn’t quite sure of the name. He’s an architect, is he?” asked
-Mills as he slowly buttoned his coat.
-
-“Yes; I met him at the Freemans’ and had him for lunch at the club.
-Freeman is keen about him.”
-
-“He’s rather an impressive-looking fellow,” Mills replied. “Expects to
-live here, does he?”
-
-“Yes. He has no relatives here; just thought the town offered a good
-opening. His home was somewhere in Ohio, I think.”
-
-“Yes; I believe I heard that,” Mills replied carelessly. “You have your
-car with you?”
-
-“Yes; the runabout. I’ll skip home and dress and drive over with
-Connie. We’re going to the Claytons’ later.”
-
-When they reached the street Shepherd ordered up his father’s limousine
-and saw him into it, and waved his hand as it rolled away. As he turned
-to seek his own car the smile faded from his face. It was not merely
-that his father had refused to permit the building of the clubhouse,
-but that the matter had been brushed aside quite as a parent rejects
-some absurd proposal of an unreasoning child. He strode along with
-the quick steps compelled by his short stature, smarting under what
-he believed to be an injustice, and ashamed of himself for not having
-combated the objections his father had raised. The loss of shrubs or
-trees was nothing when weighed against the happiness of the people who
-had enjoyed the use of the farm. He thought now of many things that he
-might have said in defence of his proposition; but he had never been
-able to hold his own in debate with his father. His face burned with
-humiliation. He regretted that within an hour he was to see his father
-again.
-
-
-II
-
-The interior of Franklin Mills’s house was not so forbidding as
-Henderson had hinted in his talk with Bruce. It was really a very
-handsomely furnished, comfortable establishment that bore the marks
-of a sound if rather austere taste. The house had been built in the
-last years of Mrs. Mills’s life, and if a distinctly feminine note was
-lacking in its appointments, this was due to changes made by Mills
-in keeping with the later tendency in interior decoration toward the
-elimination of nonessentials.
-
-It was only a polite pretense that Leila kept house for her father.
-Her inclinations were decidedly not domestic, and Mills employed and
-directed the servants, ordered the meals, kept track of expenditures
-and household bills, and paid them through his office. He liked
-formality and chose well-trained servants capable of conforming to his
-wishes in this respect. The library on the second floor was Mills’s
-favorite lounging place. Here were books indicative of the cultivated
-and catholic taste of the owner, and above the shelves were ranged
-the family portraits, a considerable array of them, preserving the
-countenances of his progenitors. Throughout the house there were
-pictures, chiefly representative work of contemporary French and
-American artists. When Mills got tired of a picture or saw a chance to
-buy a better one by the same painter, he sold or gave away the discard.
-He knew the contents of his house from cellar to garret--roved over it
-a good deal in his many lonely hours.
-
-He came downstairs a few minutes before seven and from force of habit
-strolled through the rooms on a tour of inspection. In keeping with
-his sense of personal dignity, he always put on his dinner coat in the
-evening, even when he was alone. He rang and asked the smartly capped
-and aproned maid who responded whether his daughter was at home.
-
-“Miss Leila went to the Country Club this afternoon, sir, and hasn’t
-come in yet. She said she was dining here.”
-
-“Thank you,” he replied colorlessly, and turned to glance over some
-new books neatly arranged on a table at the side of the living-room. A
-clock struck seven and on the last solemn stroke the remote titter of
-an electric bell sent the maid to the door.
-
-“Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd Mills,” the girl announced in compliance with
-an established rule, which was not suspended even when Mills’s son and
-daughter-in-law were the guests.
-
-“Shep fairly dragged me!” Mrs. Mills exclaimed as she greeted her
-father-in-law. “He’s in such terror of being late to one of your
-feasts! I know I’m a fright.” She lifted her hand to her hair with
-needless solicitude; it was perfectly arranged. She wore an evening
-gown of sapphire blue chiffon,--an effective garment; she knew that it
-was effective. Seeing that he was eyeing it critically, she demanded to
-know what he thought of it.
-
-“You’re so fastidious, you know! Shep never pays any attention to my
-clothes. It’s a silly idea that women dress only for each other; it’s
-for captious men like you that we take so much trouble.”
-
-“You’re quite perfectly turned out, I should say,” Mills remarked.
-“That’s a becoming gown. I don’t believe I’ve seen it before.”
-
-Her father-in-law was regarding her quizzically, an ambiguous smile
-playing about his lips. She was conscious that he never gave her
-his whole approval and she was piqued by her failure to evoke any
-expressions of cordiality from him. Men usually liked her, or at least
-found her amusing, and she had never been satisfied that Franklin
-Mills either liked her or thought her clever. It was still a source of
-bitterness that Mills had objected strongly to Shepherd’s marrying her.
-His objections she attributed to snobbery; for her family was in nowise
-distinguished, and Constance, an only child, had made her own way
-socially chiefly through acquaintances and friendships formed in the
-Misses Palmers’ school, a local institution which conferred a certain
-social dignity upon its patrons.
-
-She had never been able to break down Mills’s reserves, and the tone
-which she had adopted for her intercourse with him had been arrived at
-after a series of experiments in the first year of her marriage. He
-suffered this a little stolidly. There was a point of discretion beyond
-which she never dared venture. She had once tried teasing him about
-a young widow, a visitor from the South for whom he had shown some
-partiality, and he hadn’t liked it, though he had taken the same sort
-of chaff from others in her presence with perfect good nature.
-
-Shepherd, she realized perfectly, was a disappointment to his father.
-Countless points of failure in the relationship of father and son were
-manifest to her, things of which Shepherd himself was unconscious.
-It was Mills’s family pride that had prompted him to make Shepherd
-president of the storage battery company, and the same vanity was
-responsible for the house he had given Shepherd on his marriage--a much
-bigger house than the young couple needed. He expected her to bear
-children that the continuity of the name might be unbroken, but the
-thought of bearing children was repugnant to her. Still, the birth of
-an heir, to take the name of Franklin Mills, would undoubtedly heighten
-his respect for her--diminish the veiled hostility which she felt she
-aroused in him.
-
-“Where’s Leila?” asked Shepherd as dinner was announced and they moved
-toward the dining-room.
-
-“She’ll be along presently,” Mills replied easily.
-
-“Dear Leila!” exclaimed Constance. “You never disciplined her as you
-did Shep. Shep would go to the stake before he’d turn up late.”
-
-“Leila,” said Mills a little defensively, “is a law unto herself.”
-
-“That’s why we all love the dear child!” said Constance quickly. “Not
-for worlds would I change her.”
-
-To nothing was Mills so sensitive as to criticism of Leila, a fact
-which she should have remembered.
-
-As they took their places Mills asked her, in the impersonal tone
-she hated, what the prospects were for a gay winter. She was on the
-committee of the Assembly, whose entertainments were a noteworthy
-feature of every season. There, too, was the Dramatic Club, equally
-exclusive in its membership, and Constance was on the play committee.
-Mills listened with interest, or with the pretense of interest, as
-she gave him the benefit of her knowledge as to the winter’s social
-programme.
-
-They were half through the dinner when Leila arrived. With a cheerful
-“Hello, everybody,” she flung off her wrap and without removing her
-hat, sank into the chair Shepherd drew out for her.
-
-“Sorry, Dada, but Millie and I played eighteen holes this afternoon;
-got a late start and were perfectly starved when we finished and just
-had to have tea. And some people came along and we got to talking and
-it was dark before we knew it.”
-
-“How’s your game coming on?” her father asked.
-
-“Not so bad, Dada. Millie’s one of these lazy players; she doesn’t care
-whether she wins or loses, and I guess I’m too temperamental to be a
-good golfer.”
-
-“I thought Millie was pretty strong on temperament herself,” remarked
-Shepherd.
-
-“Well, Millie is and she isn’t. She’s not the sort that flies all to
-pieces when anything goes wrong.”
-
-“Millie’s a pretty fine girl,” declared Shepherd.
-
-“Millicent really has charm,” remarked Constance, though without
-enthusiasm.
-
-“Millie’s a perfect darling!” said Leila. “She’s so lovely to her
-father and mother! They’re really very nice. Everybody knocks Doc
-Harden, but he’s not a bad sort. It’s a shame the way people treat
-them. Mrs. Harden’s a dear, sweet thing; plain and sensible and doesn’t
-look pained when I cuss a little.” She gave her father a sly look, but
-he feigned inattention. “Dada, how do you explain Millie?”
-
-“Well, I don’t,” replied Mills, with a broad smile at the abruptness of
-the question. “It’s just as well that everything and everybody on this
-planet can’t be explained and don’t have to be. I’ve come to a time of
-life when I’m a little fed up on things that can be reduced to figures.
-I want to be mystified!”
-
-Leila pointed her finger at him across the table.
-
-“I’ll say you like mystery! If there was ever a human being who just
-had to have the facts, you’re it! I know because I’ve tried hiding
-milliners’ bills from you.”
-
-“Well, I usually pay them,” Mills replied good-humoredly. “Now that
-you’ve spoken of bills, I’d like to ask you----”
-
-“Don’t!” Leila ejaculated, placing her hands over her ears with
-simulated horror. “I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to ask
-why I bought that new squirrel coat. Well, winter’s coming and it’s to
-keep me from freezing to death.”
-
-“Well, the house is well heated,” Mills replied dryly. “The answer is
-for you to spend a little time at home.”
-
-Leila was a spoiled child and lived her own life with little paternal
-interference. After Mills had failed utterly to keep her in school, or
-rather to find any school in which she would stay, he had tried tutors
-with no better results. He had finally placed her for a year in New
-York with a woman who made a business of giving the finishing touches
-to the daughters of the provincial rich. There were no lessons to learn
-which these daughters didn’t want to learn, but Leila had heard operas
-and concerts to a point where she really knew something of music, and
-she had acquired a talent that greatly amused her father for talking
-convincingly of things she really knew nothing about. He found much
-less delight in her appalling habit of blurting out things better left
-unsaid, and presumably foreign to the minds of well-bred young women.
-
-Her features were a feminized version of her father’s; she was dark
-like him and with the same gray eyes; but here the resemblance ended.
-She was alert, restless, quick of speech and action. The strenuous life
-of her long days was expressing itself in little nervous twitchings of
-her hands and head. Her father, under his benignant gaze, was noting
-these things now.
-
-“I hope you’re staying in tonight, Leila?” he said. “It seems to me
-you’re not sleeping enough.”
-
-“Well, no, Dada. I was going to the Claytons’. I told Fred Thomas he
-might come for me at nine.”
-
-“Thomas?” Mills questioned. “I don’t know that I’d choose him for an
-escort.”
-
-“Oh, Freddy’s all right!” Leila replied easily. “He’s always asking me
-to go places with him, and I’d turned him down until I was ashamed to
-refuse any more.”
-
-“I think,” said her father, “it might be as well to begin refusing
-again. What about him, Shep?”
-
-“He’s a good sort, I think,” Shepherd replied after a hasty glance at
-his wife. “But of course----”
-
-“Of course, he’s divorced,” interposed Constance, “and he hasn’t been
-here long. But people I know in Chicago say he was well liked there.
-What is it he has gone into, Shep?”
-
-“He came here to open a branch of a lumber company--a large concern, I
-think,” Shepherd replied. “I believe he _has_ been divorced, Father, if
-that’s what’s troubling you.”
-
-“Oh, he told me all about the divorce!” interposed Leila imperturbably.
-“His wife got crazy about another man and--biff! Don’t worry, Dada; he
-isn’t dangerous.”
-
-
-III
-
-When they had gone upstairs to the library for coffee, Leila lighted a
-cigarette and proceeded to open some letters that had been placed on a
-small desk kept in the room for her benefit. She perched herself on the
-desk and read aloud, between whiffs of her cigarette, snatches of news
-from a letter. Shepherd handed her a cup and she stirred her coffee,
-the cigarette hanging from her lip. Constance feigned not to notice
-a shadow of annoyance on her father-in-law’s face as Leila, her legs
-dangling, occasionally kicked the desk frame with her heels.
-
-“By the way, Leila,” said Constance, “the Nelsons want to sell their
-place at Harbor Hills. They haven’t been there for several years, you
-know. It’s one of the best locations anywhere in Michigan. It would
-solve the eternal summer problem for all of us--so accessible and a
-marvelous view--and you could have all the water sports you wanted. And
-they say the new clubhouse is a perfect dream.”
-
-Shepherd Mills’s cup tottered in its saucer with a sharp staccato. He
-had warned his wife not to broach the matter of purchasing the northern
-Michigan cottage, which she had threatened to do for some time and had
-discussed with Leila in the hope of enlisting her as an ally for an
-effective assault upon Mills.
-
-“It’s a peach of a place, all right,” Leila remarked. “I wonder if the
-yacht goes with the house. I believe I could use that yacht. Really,
-Dada, we ought to have a regular summer place. I’m fed up on rented
-cottages. If we had a house like the Nelsons’ we could all use it.”
-
-She had promised Constance to support the idea, but her sister-in-law
-had taken her off guard and she was aware that she hadn’t met the
-situation with quite the enthusiasm it demanded. Mills was lighting a
-cigar in his usual unhurried fashion. He knew that Constance was in the
-habit of using Leila as an advocate when she wanted him to do something
-extraordinary, and Leila, to his secret delight, usually betrayed the
-source of her inspiration.
-
-“What do the Nelsons want for the property?” he asked, settling himself
-back in his chair.
-
-“I suppose the yacht isn’t included,” Constance answered. “They’re
-asking seventy thousand for the house, and there’s a lot of land, you
-know. The Nelsons live in Detroit and it would be easy to get the
-details.”
-
-“You said yourself it was a beautiful place when you were there last
-summer,” Leila resumed, groping in her memory for the reasons with
-which Constance had fortified her for urging the purchase. “And
-the golf course up there is a wonder, and the whole place is very
-exclusive--only the nicest people.”
-
-“I thought you preferred the northeast coast,” her father replied.
-“What’s sent you back to fresh water?”
-
-“Oh, Dada, I just have to change my mind sometimes! If I kept the same
-idea very long it would turn bad--like an egg.”
-
-Constance, irritated by Leila’s perfunctory espousal of the proposed
-investment, tried to signal for silence. But Leila, having undertaken
-to implant in her father’s mind the desirability of acquiring the
-cottage at Harbor Hills, was unwilling to drop the subject.
-
-“Poor old Shep never gets any vacation to amount to anything. If we had
-a place in Michigan he could go up every week-end and get a breath of
-air. We all of us could have a perfectly grand time.”
-
-“Who’s all?” demanded her father. “You’d want to run a select boarding
-house, would you?”
-
-“Well, not exactly. But Connie and I could open the place early and
-stay late, and we’d hope you’d be with us all the time, and Shep,
-whenever he could get away.”
-
-“Shep, I think this is only a scheme to shake you and me for the
-summer. Connie and Leila are trying to put something over on us. And of
-course we can’t stand for any such thing.”
-
-“Of course, Father, the upkeep of such a place is considerable,”
-Shepherd replied conciliatingly.
-
-“Yes; quite as much as a town house, and you’d never use it more than
-two or three months a year. By the way, Connie, do you know those
-Cincinnati Marvins Leila and I met up there?”
-
-Connie knew that her father-in-law had, with characteristic deftness,
-disposed of the Harbor Hills house as effectually as though he had
-roared a refusal. Shepherd, still smarting under the rejection of his
-plan for giving his workmen a clubhouse, marveled at the suavity with
-which his father eluded proposals that did not impress him favorably.
-He wondered at times whether his father was not in some degree a
-superman who in his judgments and actions exercised a Jovian supremacy
-over the rest of mankind. Leila, finding herself bored by her father’s
-talk with Constance about the Marvins, sprang from the table, stretched
-herself lazily and said she guessed she would go and dress.
-
-When she reached the door she turned toward him with mischief in her
-eyes. “What are you up to tonight, Dada? You might stroll over and see
-Millie! The Claytons didn’t ask her to their party.”
-
-“Thanks for the hint, dear,” Mills replied with a tinge of irony.
-
-“I think I’ll go with you,” said Constance, as Leila impudently kissed
-her fingers to her father and turned toward her room. “Whistle for me
-at eight-thirty, Shep.”
-
-Both men rose as the young women left the room--Franklin Mills was
-punctilious in all the niceties of good manners--but before resuming
-his seat he closed the door. There was something ominous in this, and
-Shepherd nervously lighted a cigarette. He covertly glanced at his
-watch to fix in his mind the amount of time he must remain with his
-father before Constance returned. He loved and admired his wife and he
-envied her the ease with which she ignored or surmounted difficulties.
-
-Connie made mistakes in dealing with her father-in-law and Shepherd
-was aware of this, but his own errors in this respect only served to
-strengthen his reliance on the understanding and sympathy of his wife,
-who was an adept in concealing disappointment and discomfiture. When
-Shepherd was disposed to complain of his father, Connie was always
-consoling. She would say:
-
-“You’re altogether too sensitive, Shep. It’s an old trick of fathers
-to treat their sons as though they were still boys. Your father can’t
-realize that you’re grown up. But he knows you stick to your job and
-that you’re anxious to please him. I suppose he thought you’d grow up
-to be just like himself; but you’re not, so it’s up to him to take you
-as the pretty fine boy you are. You’re the steadiest young man in town
-and you needn’t think he doesn’t appreciate that.”
-
-Shepherd, fortifying himself with a swift recollection of his wife’s
-frequent reassurances of this sort, nevertheless wished that she had
-not run off to gossip with Leila. However, the interview would be
-brief, and he played with his cigarette while he waited for his father
-to begin.
-
-“There’s something I’ve wanted to talk with you about, Shep. It will
-take only a minute.”
-
-“Yes, father.”
-
-“It’s about Leila”--he hesitated--“a little bit about Constance, too.
-I’m not altogether easy about Leila. I mean”--he paused again--“as
-to Connie’s influence over your sister. Connie is enough older to
-realize that Leila needs a little curbing as to things I can’t talk
-to her about as a woman could. Leila doesn’t need to be encouraged
-in extravagance. And she likes running about well enough without
-being led into things she might better let alone. I’m not criticizing
-Connie’s friends, but you do have at your house people I’d rather Leila
-didn’t know--at least not to be intimate with them. As a concrete
-example, I don’t care for this fellow Thomas. To be frank, I’ve made
-some inquiries about him and he’s hardly the sort of person you’d care
-for your sister to run around with.”
-
-Shepherd, blinking under this succession of direct statements, felt
-that some comment was required.
-
-“Of course, father, Connie wouldn’t take up anyone she didn’t think
-perfectly all right. And she’d never put any undesirable acquaintances
-in Leila’s way. She’s too fond of Leila and too deeply interested in
-her happiness for that.”
-
-“I wasn’t intimating that Connie was consciously influencing Leila
-in a wrong way in that particular instance. But Leila is very
-impressionable. So far I’ve been able to eliminate young men I haven’t
-liked. I’m merely asking your cooperation, and Connie’s, in protecting
-her. She’s very headstrong and rather disposed to take advantage of
-our position by running a little wild. Our friends no doubt make
-allowances, but people outside our circle may not be so tolerant.”
-
-“Yes, that’s all perfectly true, father,” Shepherd assented, relieved
-and not a little pleased that his father appeared to be criticizing him
-less than asking his assistance.
-
-“For another thing,” Mills went on. “Leila has somehow got into the
-habit of drinking. Several times I’ve seen her when she’d had too much.
-That sort of thing won’t do!”
-
-“Of course not! But I’m sure Connie hasn’t been encouraging Leila to
-drink. She and I both have talked to her about that. I hoped she’d
-stop it before you found it out.”
-
-“Don’t ever get the idea that I don’t know what’s going on!” Mills
-retorted tartly. “Another thing I want to speak of is Connie’s way of
-getting Leila to back her schemes--things like that summer place, for
-example. We don’t need a summer place. The idea that you can’t have a
-proper vacation is all rubbish. I urged you all summer to take Connie
-East for a month.”
-
-“I know you did. It was my own fault I didn’t go. Please don’t think
-we’re complaining; Connie and I get a lot of fun just motoring. And
-when you’re at the farm we enjoy running out there. I think, Father,
-that sometimes you’re not--not--quite just to Connie.”
-
-“Not just to her!” exclaimed Mills, with a lifting of the brows. “In
-what way have I been unjust to her?”
-
-Shepherd knew that his remark was unfortunate before it was out of
-his mouth. He should have followed his habit of assenting to what his
-father said without broadening the field of discussion. He was taken
-aback by his father’s question, uttered with what was, for Franklin
-Mills, an unusual display of asperity.
-
-“I only meant,” Shepherd replied hastily, “that you don’t always”--he
-frowned--“you don’t quite give Connie credit for her fine qualities.”
-
-“Quite the contrary,” Mills replied. “My only concern as her
-father-in-law is that she shall continue to display those qualities.
-I realize that she’s a popular young woman, but in a way you pay for
-that, and I stand for it and make it possible for you to spend the
-money. Now don’t jump to the conclusion that I’m intimating that you
-and Connie wouldn’t have just as many friends if you spent a tenth of
-what you’re spending now. Be it far from me, my boy, to discredit your
-value and Connie’s as social factors!”
-
-Mills laughed to relieve the remark of any suspicion of irony. There
-was nothing Shepherd dreaded so much as his father’s ironies. The dread
-was the greater because there was always a disturbing uncertainty as to
-what they concealed.
-
-“About those little matters I mentioned,” Mills went on, “I count on
-you to help.”
-
-“Certainly, father. Connie and I both will do all we can. I’m glad you
-spoke to me about it.”
-
-“All right, Shep,” and Mills opened the door to mark the end of the
-interview.
-
-
-IV
-
-In Leila’s room Constance had said, the moment they were alone:
-
-“Well, you certainly gummed it!”
-
-“Oh, shoot! Dada wouldn’t buy that Nelson place if it only cost a
-nickel.”
-
-“Well, you didn’t do much to advance the cause!”
-
-“See here,” said Leila, “one time’s just as good as another with Dada.
-I knew he’d never agree to it. I only spoke of it because you gave me
-the lead. You never seem to learn his curves.”
-
-“If you’d backed me up right we could have got him interested and won
-him over. Anybody could see that he was away off tonight--even more
-difficult than usual!”
-
-“Oh, tush! You and Shep make me tired. You take father too seriously.
-All you’ve got to do with him is just to kid him along. Let’s have a
-little drink to drown our troubles.”
-
-“Now, Leila----”
-
-Leila had drawn a hat-box from the inner recesses of a closet and
-extracted from it a quart bottle of whiskey.
-
-“I’m all shot to hell and need a spoonful of this stuff to pep me up!
-Hands off, old thing! Don’t touch--Leila scream!” Constance had tried
-to seize the bottle.
-
-“Leila, _please_ don’t drink! The Claytons are having everybody of any
-consequence at this party and if you go reeking of liquor all the old
-tabbies will babble!”
-
-“Well, darling, let them talk! At least they will talk about both of us
-then!”
-
-“Who’s talking about me?” Constance demanded.
-
-“Be calm, dearest! You certainly wore the guilty look then. Let’s call
-it quits--I’ve got to dress!”
-
-She poured herself a second drink and restored the bottle to its hiding
-place.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER SIX
-
-
-I
-
-Several interviews with Freeman had resulted in an arrangement by which
-Bruce was to enter the architect’s office immediately. As Henderson had
-predicted, Mrs. Freeman was a real power in her husband’s affairs. She
-confided to Bruce privately that, with all his talents, Bill lacked
-tact in dealing with his clients and he needed someone to supply this
-deficiency. And the office was a place of confusion, and Bill was prone
-to forgetfulness. Bruce, Mrs. Freeman thought, could be of material
-assistance in keeping Bill straight and extricating him from the
-difficulties into which he constantly stumbled in his absorption in
-the purely artistic side of his profession. Bruce was put to work on
-tentative sketches and estimates for a residence for a man who had no
-very clear idea of what he wanted nor how much he wanted to spend.
-
-Bruce soon discovered that Freeman disliked interviews with contractors
-and the general routine necessary to keep in touch with the cost of
-labor and materials. When he was able to visualize and create he was
-happy, but tedious calculations left him sulky and disinclined to work.
-Bruce felt no such repugnance; he had a kind of instinct for such
-things, and was able to carry in his head a great array of facts and
-figures.
-
-On his first free evening after meeting Millicent Harden at the Country
-Club he rang the Harden doorbell, and as he waited glanced toward the
-Mills’ house in the lot adjoining. He vaguely wondered whether Franklin
-Mills was within its walls.
-
-He had tried to analyze the emotions that had beset him that night when
-he had taken the hand of the man he believed to be his father. There
-was something cheap and vulgar in the idea that blood speaks to blood
-and that possibly Mills had recognized him by some sort of intuition.
-But Bruce rejected this as preposterous, a concession to the philosophy
-of ignorant old women muttering scandal before a dying fire. Very
-likely he had been wrong in fancying that Mills had taken any special
-note of him. And there was always his mother’s assurance that Mills
-didn’t know of his existence. Mills probably had the habit of eyeing
-people closely; he shouldn’t have permitted himself to be troubled by
-that. He was a man of large affairs, with faculties trained to the
-quick inspection and appraisment of every stranger he met....
-
-The middle-aged woman who opened the door was evidently a member of the
-household and he hastily thrust into his pocket the card he had taken
-out, stated his name and asked if Miss Harden was at home.
-
-“Yes, Millie’s home. Just come in, Mr. Storrs, and I’ll call her.”
-
-But Millicent came into the hall without waiting to be summoned.
-
-“I’m so glad to see you, Mr. Storrs!” she said, and introduced him to
-her mother, a tall, heavily built woman with reddish hair turning gray,
-and a friendly countenance.
-
-“I was just saying to Doctor Harden that I guessed nobody was coming
-in tonight when you rang. You simply can’t keep a servant in to answer
-the bell in the evening. You haven’t met Doctor Harden? Millie, won’t
-you call your papa?”
-
-Millicent opened a door that revealed a small, cozy sitting-room and
-summoned her father--a short, thick-set man with a close-trimmed gray
-beard, who came out clutching a newspaper.
-
-“Shan’t we all go into the library?” asked Millicent after the two men
-had been introduced and had expressed their approval of the prolonged
-fine weather.
-
-“You young folks make yourselves comfortable in the library,” said Mrs.
-Harden. “I told Millie it was too warm for a fire, but she just has to
-have the fireplace going when there’s any excuse, and this house does
-get chilly in the fall evenings even when it’s warm outside.”
-
-Harden was already retreating toward the room from which he had
-been drawn to meet the caller, and his wife immediately followed.
-Both repeated their expressions of pleasure at meeting Bruce; but
-presumably, in the accepted fashion of American parents when their
-daughters entertain callers, they had no intention of appearing again.
-
-Millicent snapped on lights that disclosed a long, high-ceilinged room
-finished in dark oak and fitted up as a library. A disintegrating log
-in the broad fireplace had thrown out a puff of smoke that gave the air
-a fleeting pungent scent.
-
-The flooring was of white and black tiles covered with oriental rugs in
-which the dominant dark red brought a warmth to the eye. Midway of the
-room stood a grand piano, and beyond it a spiral stair led to a small
-balcony on which the console of an organ was visible. Back of this was
-a stained glass window depicting a knight in armor--a challenging,
-militant figure. Even as revealed only by the inner illumination, its
-rich colors and vigorous draughtsmanship were clearly suggested. And it
-was wholly appropriate, Bruce decided, and altogether consonant with
-the general scheme of the room. Noting his interest, Millicent turned
-a switch that lighted the window from a room beyond with the effect of
-vitalizing the knight’s figure, making him seem indeed to be gravely
-riding, with lance in rest, along the wall.
-
-“Do pardon me!” Bruce murmured, standing just inside the door and
-glancing about with frank enjoyment of the room’s spaciousness. The
-outer lines of the somewhat commonplace square brick house had not
-prepared him for this. The room presented a mingling of periods in both
-architecture and furnishing, but the blending had been admirably done.
-
-“Forgive me for staring,” he said as he sat down on a divan opposite
-her with the hearth between them. “I’m not sure even yet that I’m in
-the twentieth century!”
-
-“I suppose it is a queer jumble; but don’t blame the architect! He,
-poor wretch, thought we were perfectly crazy when we started, but I
-think before he got through he really liked it.”
-
-“I envy him the fun he had doing it! But someone must have furnished
-the inspiration. I’m going to assume that it was mostly you.”
-
-“You may if you’ll go ahead and criticize--tear it all to pieces.”
-
-“I’d as soon think of criticizing Chartres, Notre Dame, or the
-hand that rounded Peter’s dome!” Bruce exclaimed. “Alas that
-our acquaintance is so brief! I want to ask you all manner of
-questions--how you came to do it--and all that.”
-
-“Well, first of all one must have an indulgent father and mother. I’m
-reminded occasionally that my little whims were expensive.”
-
-“I dare say they were! But it’s something to have a daughter who can
-produce a room like this.”
-
-He rose and bowed to her, and then turning toward the knight in the
-window, gravely saluted.
-
-“I’m not so sure,” he said as he sat down, “that the gentleman up there
-didn’t have something to do with it.”
-
-“Please don’t make too much of him. Everyone pays me the compliment of
-thinking him Galahad, but I think of him as the naughty Launcelot. I
-read a book once on old French glass and I just had to have a window.
-And the organ made this room the logical place for it. Papa calls this
-my chapel and refuses to sit in it at all. He says it’s too much like
-church!”
-
-“Ah! But that’s a tribute in itself! Your father realizes that this is
-a place for worship--without reference to the knight.”
-
-She laid her forefinger against her cheek, tilted her head slightly,
-mocking him with lips and eyes.
-
-“Let me think! That was a pretty speech, but of course you’re referring
-to that bronze Buddha over there. Come to think of it, papa does rather
-fancy him.”
-
-When she smilingly met his gaze he laughed and made a gesture of
-despair.
-
-“That was a nice bit of side-stepping! I’m properly rebuked. I see my
-own worshiping must be done with caution. But the room is beautiful.
-I’m glad to know there’s such a place in town.”
-
-“I did have a good time planning and arranging it. But there’s nothing
-remarkable about it after all. It’s merely what you might call a
-refuge from reality--if that means anything.”
-
-“It means a lot--too much for me to grasp all at once.”
-
-“You’re making fun of me! All I meant was that I wanted a place to
-escape into where I can play at being something I really am not. We all
-need to do that. After all, it’s just a room.”
-
-“Of course that’s just what it isn’t! It’s superb. I’ve already decided
-to spend a lot of time here.”
-
-“You may, if you won’t pick up little chance phrases I let fall and
-frighten me with them. I have a friend--an awful highbrow--and he bores
-me to death exclaiming over things I say and can’t explain and then
-explaining them to me. But--why aren’t you at the Claytons’ party?”
-
-“I wasn’t asked,” he said. “I don’t know them.”
-
-“I know them, but I wasn’t asked,” she replied smilingly.
-
-“Well, anyhow, it’s nicer here, I think.”
-
-Bruce remembered what Henderson had said about the guarded social
-acceptance of the patent medicine manufacturer and his family; but
-Millicent evidently didn’t resent her exclusion from the Claytons’
-party. Social differentiations, Bruce imagined, mattered little to
-this girl, who was capable of fashioning her own manner of life, even
-to the point of building a temple for herself in which to worship gods
-of her own choosing. When he expressed interest in her modeling, which
-Dale Freeman had praised, Millicent led the way to a door opening into
-an extension of the library beyond the knight’s window, that served
-her as a studio. It was only a way of amusing herself, she said,
-when he admired a plaque of a child’s profile she confessed to be
-her work. The studio bore traces of recent use. Damp cloths covered
-several unfinished figures. There was a drawing-board in one corner
-and scattered among the casts on the wall were crayon sketches, merely
-notes, she explained, tacked up to preserve her impressions of faces
-that had interested her.
-
-He was struck by her freedom from pretense; when he touched on
-something of which she was ignorant or about which she was indifferent,
-she did not scruple to say so. Her imaginative, poetical side expressed
-itself with healthy candor and frequent flashes of girlish enthusiasm.
-She was wholly natural, refreshingly spontaneous in speech, with no
-traces of pedantry or conceit even in discussing music, in which her
-training had gone beyond the usual amateur’s bounds.
-
-“You haven’t been to see Leila yet? She asked you to call, and if you
-don’t go she’ll think it’s because of that little unpleasantness on the
-river. Leila’s altogether worth while.”
-
-Bruce muttered something about having been very busy. He had determined
-never to enter Franklin Mills’s house, and he was embarrassed by
-Millicent’s intimation that Leila might take it amiss that he ignored
-her invitation.
-
-“Leila’s a real person,” Millicent was saying. “Her great trouble is
-in trying to adjust herself to a way of life that doesn’t suit her a
-little bit.”
-
-“You mean----” he began and paused because he didn’t know at all what
-she meant.
-
-“I mean that living in a big house and going to teas and upholding the
-dignity of a prominent and wealthy family bores her to distraction. Her
-chief trouble is her way of protesting against the kind of life she’s
-born to. It’s screamingly funny, but Leila just hates being rich, and
-she’s terribly bored at having so much expected of her as her father’s
-daughter.”
-
-“His standard, then, is so high?” Bruce ventured, curious as to what
-further she might say of her neighbor.
-
-“Oh, Mr. Mills is an interesting man, and he worships Leila; but
-she worries and puzzles him. It isn’t just the difference between
-age and youth----” She paused, conscious perhaps of the impropriety
-of discussing her neighbor with a comparative stranger, but Bruce’s
-gravely attentive face prompted her to go on. “He’s one of those people
-we meet sometimes who don’t seem--how can one put it?--they don’t seem
-quite at ease in the world.”
-
-“Yes,” he said slowly, “but--where all the conditions of happiness are
-given--money, position, leisure to do as you please--what excuse has
-anyone for not finding happiness? You’d conclude that there was some
-fundamental defect----”
-
-“And when you reach that conclusion you’re not a bit better off!” she
-interrupted. “You’re back where you started. Oh, well!” she said,
-satisfied now that she had said quite enough about her neighbor and
-regretting that she had mentioned him at all, “it’s too bad happiness
-can’t be bought as you buy records to play on a machine and have
-nothing to do but wind it up and listen. You have to do a little work
-yourself.”
-
-“We’ve all got to play in the band--that’s the idea!” he laughed, and
-to escape from the thought of Mills, asked her whether she ever played
-for an ignorant heathen like himself.
-
-“You’re probably a stern critic,” she replied, “but I’ll take a chance.
-If you don’t mind I’ll try the organ. Papa and Mamma always like me to
-play some old pieces for them before they go to bed. Afterwards I’ll
-do some other things.”
-
-In a moment she was in the balcony with the knight towering above her,
-but he faded into the shadows as she turned off the lights in the
-studio below. Bruce’s eyes at once became attentive to her golden head
-and clearly limned profile defined by the lamp over the music rack.
-She seemed suddenly infinitely remote, caught away into a world of
-legendary and elusive things. The first reedy notes of the organ stole
-eerily through the room as though they too were evoked from an unseen
-world.
-
-The first things she played were a concession to her parents’ taste,
-but she threw into them all the sentiment they demanded--the familiar
-airs of “Annie Laurie,” “Ben Bolt,” and “Auld Lang Syne.” She played
-them without flourishes, probably in deference to the preferences of
-the father and mother who were somewhere listening. To these she added
-old revival songs--“Beulah Land,” and “Pull for the Shore”--these also
-presumably favorites of the unseen auditors. He watched her aureoled
-head, the graceful movement of her arms and shoulders as she gave
-herself to her task with complete absorption. She was kind to these
-parents of hers; possibly it was through her music that she really
-communicated with them, met them on ground of their simpler knowledge
-and aspirations.
-
-He was conscious presently of the faint ring of a bell, followed by
-the murmur of voices in the hall. Someone entered the room and sat
-down quietly behind him. Millicent, who had paid no heed to him since
-mounting to the organ, was just beginning the Tannhäuser overture. She
-followed this with passages from Lohengrin and Parsifal and classical
-liturgical music touched with a haunting mystery....
-
-She came down slowly into the room as though the spell of the music
-still held her.
-
-“I shan’t say anything--it might be the wrong word,” he said as he went
-to meet her. “But it was beautiful--very beautiful!”
-
-“You were a good listener; I felt that,” she replied.
-
-He had forgotten that there had been another listener until she
-smilingly waved her hand to someone behind him.
-
-“So I had two victims--and didn’t know it! Patient sufferers! Mr.
-Mills, you and Mr. Storrs have met--I needn’t introduce you a second
-time.”
-
-It was Franklin Mills, then, exercising a neighbor’s privilege, who had
-arrived in the middle of the recital and taken a seat by the door.
-
-“Mr. Storrs is a perfect listener,” Mills was saying as he shook hands
-with Bruce. “He didn’t budge all the time you were playing.”
-
-Mills’s easy, gracious manners, the intimacy implied in his chaffing
-tone as he complained that she played better when she didn’t know
-he was in the house, irritated Bruce. He had been enjoying himself
-so keenly, the girl’s talk had so interested him and he had been so
-thrilled and lifted by her music that Mills’s appearance was like a
-profanation.
-
-They were all seated now, and Millicent spoke of a book Mills had
-sent her which it happened Bruce had read, and she asked his opinion
-of it before expressing her own. Very likely Mills was in the habit
-of sending her books. She said that she hadn’t cared greatly for the
-book--a novel that discussed the labor question. The author evidently
-had no solution of his own problem and left the reader in the air as to
-his purpose.
-
-“Maybe he only meant to arouse interest--stir people up and leave the
-solution to others,” Bruce suggested.
-
-“That was the way I took it,” said Mills. “The fact is, nobody has any
-solution short of a complete tearing down of everything. And that,” he
-added with a smile and a shrug, “would be very uncomfortable.”
-
-“For us--yes,” Millicent replied quickly. “But a good many of our
-millions would probably welcome a chance to begin over again.”
-
-“What with,” Mills demanded, “when everything had been smashed?”
-
-“Oh, they’d be sure to save something out of the wreck!” Millicent
-replied.
-
-“Well,” Mills remarked, “I’m hoping the smash won’t come in my day. I’m
-too old to go out with a club to fight for food against the mob.”
-
-“You want us to say that you’re _not_ too old,” laughed Millicent; “but
-we’re not going to fall into that trap!”
-
-“But--what _is_ going to happen?” asked Bruce.
-
-“Other civilizations!” Mills replied, regarding the young man with an
-intent look. “We’ve had a succession of them, and the world’s about
-due to slip back into chaos and perhaps emerge again. It’s only the
-barbarians who never change; they know they’ll be on top again if they
-just wait.”
-
-“What an optimist you are!” cried Millicent. “But you don’t really
-believe such things.”
-
-“Of course I do,” Mills answered with a broad smile.
-
-She made it necessary for Bruce to assist her in combating Mills’s
-hopeless view of the future, though she bore the main burden of the
-opposition herself. Mills’s manner was one of good-natured indulgence;
-but Bruce was wondering whether there was not a deep vein of cynicism
-in the man. Mills was clever at fencing, and some of the things he
-said lightly no doubt expressed real convictions.
-
-Bruce was about to take his leave when Mills with assumed petulance
-declared that the fire had been neglected and began poking the embers.
-Carefully putting the poker and tongs back in the rack, he lounged
-toward the door, paused halfway and said good-night formally, bowing
-first to one and then the other.
-
-“Come in again sometime!” Millicent called after him.
-
-“Is that impudence?” Mills replied, reappearing from the hall with his
-coat and hat. In a moment the door closed and they heard the sound of
-his stick on the walk outside.
-
-“He’s always like that,” Millicent remarked after a moment of silence.
-“It’s understood that he may come in when I’m playing and leave when he
-pleases. Sometimes when I’m at the organ he sits for an hour without my
-knowing he’s here. It made me nervous at first--just remembering that
-he _might_ be here; but I got over that when I found that he really
-enjoyed the playing. I’m sorry he didn’t stay longer and really talk;
-he wasn’t at his best tonight.”
-
-Bruce made the merest murmur of assent, but something in Mills’s
-quizzical, mocking tone, the very manner of his entrance into the
-house, affected him disagreeably.
-
-He realized that he was staying too long for a first call, but he
-lingered until they had regained the cheery note with which the evening
-began, and said good night.
-
-
-II
-
-When he reached the street Bruce decided to walk the mile that lay
-between the Hardens’ and his apartment. His second meeting with
-Franklin Mills had left his mind in tumult. He was again beset by an
-impulse to flee from the town, but this he fought and vanquished.
-
-Happiness and peace were not to be won by flight. In his soldiering he
-had never feared bodily injury, and at times when he had speculated
-as to the existence of a soul he had decided that if he possessed
-such a thing he would not suffer it to play the coward. But this
-unexpected meeting at the Hardens’, which was likely to be repeated
-if he continued his visits to the house, had shaken his nerve more
-than he liked to believe possible. Millicent evidently admired Mills,
-sympathized with him in his loneliness, was flattered perhaps by his
-visits to her home in search of solace and cheer, or whatever it was
-Mills sought.
-
-The sky was overcast and a keen autumn wind whipped the overhanging
-maples as Bruce strode homeward with head bent, his hands thrust deep
-into the pockets of his overcoat. He hummed and whistled phrases of the
-Parsifal, with his thoughts playing about Millicent’s head as she had
-sat at the organ with the knight keeping watch above her. After all,
-it was through beautiful things, man-made and God-made, as his mother
-had taught him, that life found its highest realizations. In this idea
-there was an infinite stimulus. Millicent had found for herself this
-clue to happiness and was a radiant proof of its efficacy. It had been
-a privilege to see her in her own house, to enjoy contact with her
-questioning, meditative mind, and to lose himself in her entrancing
-music.
-
-The street was deserted and only a few of the houses he passed
-showed lights. Bruce experienced again, as often in his night tramps
-during the year of his exile, a happy sense of isolation. He was
-so completely absorbed in his thoughts that he was unaware of the
-propinquity of another pedestrian who was slowly approaching as though
-as unheedful as he of the driving wind and the first fitful patter
-of rain. They passed so close that their arms touched. Both turned,
-staring blankly in the light of the street lamps, and muttered confused
-apologies.
-
-“Oh, Storrs!” Franklin Mills exclaimed, bending his head against the
-wind.
-
-“Sorry to have bumped into you, sir,” Bruce replied, and feeling that
-nothing more was required of him, he was about to go on, but Mills said
-quickly:
-
-“We’re in for a hard rain. Come back to my house--it’s only half a
-dozen blocks--and I’ll send you home.”
-
-There was something of kindly peremptoriness in his tone, and Bruce, at
-a loss for words with which to refuse, followed, thinking that he would
-walk a block to meet the demands of courtesy and turn back. Mills,
-forging ahead rapidly, complained good-naturedly of the weather.
-
-“I frequently prowl around at night,” he explained; “I sleep better
-afterwards.”
-
-“I like a night walk myself,” Bruce replied.
-
-“Not afraid of hold-ups? I was relieved to find it was you I ran into.
-My daughter says I’m bound to get sandbagged some night.”
-
-At the end of the first block both were obliged to battle against
-the wind, which now drove the rain in furious gusts through the
-intersecting streets. In grasping his hat, Mills dropped his stick, and
-after picking it up, Bruce took hold of his arm for their greater ease
-in keeping together. It would, he decided, be an ungenerous desertion
-to leave him now, and so they arrived after much buffeting at Mills’s
-door.
-
-“That’s a young hurricane,” said Mills as he let himself in. “When
-you’ve dried out a bit I’ll send you on in my car.”
-
-In response to his ring a manservant appeared and carried away their
-hats and overcoats to be dried. Mills at once led the way upstairs
-to the library, where a fire had been kindled, probably against the
-master’s return in the storm.
-
-“Sit close and put your feet to the blaze. I think a hot drink would be
-a help.”
-
-Hot water and Scotch were brought and Mills laughingly assured Bruce
-that he needn’t be afraid of the liquor.
-
-“I had it long before Prohibition. Of course, everybody has to say
-that!”
-
-In his wildest speculations as to possible meetings with his father,
-Bruce had imagined nothing like this. He was not only in Franklin
-Mills’s house, but the man was graciously ministering to his comfort.
-And Bruce, with every desire to resist, to refuse these courteous
-offices, was meekly submitting. Mills, talking easily, with legs
-stretched to the fire, sipped his drink contentedly while the storm
-beat with mounting fury round the house.
-
-“I think my son said you had been in the army; I should say that the
-experience hadn’t done you any harm,” Mills remarked in his pleasant
-voice.
-
-“Quite the contrary, sir. The knocking about I got did me good.”
-
-“I envy you young fellows the experience; it was a ghastly business,
-but it must mean a lot in a man’s life to have gone through it.”
-
-In response to a direct question Bruce stated concisely the nature of
-his service. His colorless recital of the bare record brought a smile
-to Mills’s face.
-
-“You’re like all the young fellows I’ve talked with--modest, even a
-little indifferent about it. I think if I’d been over there I should do
-some bragging!”
-
-Still bewildered to find himself at Mills’s fireside, Bruce was
-wondering how soon he could leave; but Mills talked on in leisurely
-fashion of the phenomenal growth of the town and the opportunities it
-offered to young men. Bruce was ashamed of himself for not being more
-responsive; but Mills seemed content to ramble on, though carefully
-attentive to the occasional remarks Bruce roused himself to make.
-Bruce, with ample opportunity, observed Mills’s ways--little tricks
-of speech, the manner in which he smoked--lazily blowing rings at
-intervals and watching them waver and break--an occasional quick
-lifting of his well-kept hand to his forehead.
-
-It was after they had been together for half an hour that Bruce
-noted that Mills, after meeting his gaze, would lift his eyes and
-look intently at something on the wall over the bookcases--something
-immediately behind Bruce and out of the range of his vision. It seemed
-not to be the unseeing stare of inattention; but whatever it was, it
-brought a look of deepening perplexity--almost of alarm--to Mills’s
-face. Bruce began to find this upward glance disconcerting, and
-evidently aware that his visitor was conscious of it, Mills got up and,
-with the pretence of offering his guest another cigarette, reseated
-himself in a different position.
-
-“I must run along,” said Bruce presently. “The storm is letting up. I
-can easily foot it home.”
-
-“Not at all! After keeping you till midnight I’ll certainly not send
-you out to get another wetting. There’s still quite a splash on the
-windows.”
-
-He rang for the car before going downstairs, and while he was waiting
-for the chauffeur to answer on the garage extension of the house
-telephone, Bruce, from the fireplace, saw that it must have been a
-portrait--one of a number ranged along the wall--that had invited
-Mills’s gaze so frequently. It was the portrait of a young man, the
-work of a painstaking if not a brilliant artist. The clean-shaven face,
-the long, thick, curly brown hair, and the flowing scarf knotted under
-a high turn-over collar combined in an effect of quaintness.
-
-There was something oddly familiar in the young man’s countenance.
-In the few seconds that Mills’s back was turned Bruce found himself
-studying it, wondering what there was about it that teased his
-memory--what other brow and eyes and clean-cut, firm mouth he had ever
-seen were like those of the young man who was looking down at him from
-Franklin Mills’s wall. And then it dawned upon him that the face was
-like his own--might, indeed, with a different arrangement of the hair,
-a softening of certain lines, pass for a portrait of himself.
-
-Mills, turning from the telephone, remarked that the car was on the way.
-
-“Ah!” he added quickly, seeing Bruce’s attention fixed on the portrait,
-“my father, at about thirty-five. There’s nothing of me there; I take
-after my mother’s side of the house. Father was taller than I and
-his features were cleaner cut. He died twenty years ago. I’ve always
-thought him a fine American type. Those other----”
-
-Bruce lent polite attention to Mills’s comments on the other portraits,
-one representing his maternal grandfather and another a great-uncle
-who had been killed in the Civil War. When they reached the lower
-floor Mills opened the door of a reception room and turned on the frame
-lights about a full-length portrait of a lady in evening dress.
-
-“That is Mrs. Mills,” he said, “and an excellent likeness.”
-
-He spoke in sophisticated terms of American portraiture as they went
-to the hall where the servant was waiting with Bruce’s hat and coat. A
-limousine was in the porte-cochère, and Mills stood on the steps until
-Bruce got in.
-
-“I thank you very much, Mr. Mills,” Bruce said, taking the hand Mills
-extended.
-
-“Oh, I owe you the thanks! I hope to see you again very soon!”
-
-Mills on his way to his room found himself clinging to the stair rail.
-When he had closed the door he drew his hand slowly across his eyes. He
-had spoken with Marian Storrs’s son and the young man by an irony of
-nature had the countenance, the high-bred air of Franklin Mills III. It
-was astounding, this skipping for a generation of a type! It seemed to
-Mills, after he had turned off the lights, that his father’s eyes--the
-eyes of young Storrs--were still fixed upon him with a disconcerting
-gravity.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER SEVEN
-
-
-I
-
-In the fortnight following his encounter with Mills at the Hardens’,
-and the later meeting that same night in the storm, Bruce had thrown
-himself with fierce determination into his work. There must be no
-repetitions of such meetings; they added to his self-consciousness,
-made him ill at ease even when walking the streets in which at a turn
-of any corner he might run into Mills.
-
-He had never known that he had a nerve in his body, but now he was
-aware of disturbing sensations, inability to concentrate on his work,
-even a tremor of the hands as he bent over his drawing-board. His
-abrupt change from the open road to an office in some measure accounted
-for this and he began going to a public golf links on Saturday
-afternoons and Sundays, and against the coming of winter he had his
-name proposed for membership in an athletic club.
-
-He avoided going anywhere that might bring him again in contact with
-the man he believed to be his father. Shepherd Mills he ran into at
-the University Club now and then, and he was not a little ashamed of
-himself for repelling the young man’s friendly overtures. Shepherd,
-evidently feeling that he must in some way explain his silence about
-the clubhouse, for which Bruce had made tentative sketches, spoke of
-the scheme one day as a matter he was obliged to defer for the present.
-
-“It’s a little late in the season to begin; and father’s doubtful about
-it--thinks it might cause feeling among the men in other concerns. I
-hadn’t thought of that aspect of the matter----”
-
-Shepherd paused and frowned as he waited for Bruce to offer some
-comment on the abandonment of the project. It was none of Bruce’s
-affair, but he surmised that the young man had been keenly disappointed
-by his father’s refusal.
-
-“Oh, well, it doesn’t matter!” Bruce remarked as though it were merely
-a professional matter of no great importance. But as he left Shepherd
-he thought intently about the relations of the father and son. They
-were utterly irreconcilable natures. Having met Franklin Mills, sat at
-his fireside, noted with full understanding the man’s enjoyment of ease
-and luxury, it was not difficult to understand his lack of sympathy
-with Shepherd’s radical tendencies. Piecing together what he had heard
-about Mills from Henderson and Millicent Harden with his own estimate,
-Bruce was confident that whatever else Franklin Mills might be he was
-no altruist.
-
-After he left Shepherd Bruce was sorry that he had been so brusque. He
-might at least have expressed his sympathy with the young man’s wish
-to do something to promote the happiness of his workmen. The vitality
-so evident in Franklin Mills’s vigorous figure, and his perfect poise,
-made Shepherd appear almost ridiculous in contrast.
-
-Bruce noted that the other young men about the club did not treat
-Shepherd quite as one of themselves. When Shepherd sat at the big
-round table in the grill he would listen to the ironic give and take of
-the others with a pathetic eagerness to share in their good fellowship,
-but unable to make himself quite one of them. This might have been
-due, Bruce thought, to the anxiety of Shepherd’s contemporaries--young
-fellows he had grown up with--to show their indifference to the fact
-that he was the son of the richest man in town. Or they felt, perhaps,
-that Shepherd was not equal to his opportunities. Clearly, however, no
-one ever had occasion to refer to Shepherd Mills as the typical young
-scion of a wealthy family whose evil ways were bound to land him in the
-poorhouse or the gutter.
-
-In other circumstances Bruce would have felt moved to make a friend of
-Shepherd, but the fact that they were of the same blood haunted him
-like a nightmare.
-
-
-II
-
-As the days went by, Bruce fell prey to a mood common to sensitive men
-in which he craved talk with a woman--a woman of understanding. It was
-Saturday and the office closed at noon. He would ask Millicent to share
-his freedom in a drive into the country; and without giving himself
-time to debate the matter, he made haste to call her on the telephone.
-
-Her voice responded cheerily. Leila had just broken an engagement with
-her for golf and wouldn’t he play? When he explained that he wasn’t a
-member of a club and the best he could do for her would be to take her
-to a public course, she declared that he must be her guest. The point
-was too trivial for discussion; the sooner they started the better,
-and so two o’clock found them both with a good initial drive on the
-Faraway course.
-
-“Long drives mean long talks,” she said. “We begin at least with the
-respect of our caddies. You’ll never guess what I was doing when you
-called up!”
-
-“At the organ, or in the studio putting a nose on somebody?”
-
-“Wrong! I was planting tulip bulbs. This was a day when I couldn’t have
-played a note or touched clay to save my life. Ever have such fits?”
-
-“I certainly do,” replied Bruce.
-
-Each time he saw her she was a little different--today he was finding
-her different indeed from the girl who had played for him, and yet not
-the girl of his adventure on the river or the Millicent he had met at
-the Country Club party. There was a charm in her variableness, perhaps
-because of her habitual sincerity and instinctive kindness. He waited
-for her to putt and rolled his own ball into the cup.
-
-“Sometimes I see things black; and then again there _does_ appear to be
-blue sky,” he said.
-
-“Yes; but that’s not a serious symptom. If we didn’t have those little
-mental experiences we wouldn’t be interesting to ourselves!”
-
-“Great Scott! _Must_ we be interesting to ourselves?”
-
-“Absolutely!”
-
-“But when I’m down in the mouth I don’t care whether I’m interesting or
-not!”
-
-“Nothing in it! Life’s full of things to do--you know that! I believe
-you’re just trying to psychoanalyze me!”
-
-“I swear I’m not! I was in the depths this morning; that’s why I called
-you up!”
-
-“Now----” She carefully measured a short approach and played it neatly.
-“Oh, you didn’t want to see me socially, so to speak; you just wanted
-someone to tell your troubles to! Is that a back-handed compliment?”
-
-“Rather a confession--do you hate it?”
-
-“No--I rather like that.”
-
-With an artistic eye she watched him drive a long low ball with his
-brassie. His tall figure, the free play of arms and shoulders, his
-boyish smile when she praised the shot, contributed to a new impression
-of him. He appeared younger than the night he called on her, when she
-had thought him diffident, old-fashioned and stiffly formal.
-
-As they walked over the turf with a misty drizzle wetting their faces
-fitfully it seemed to both that their acquaintance had just begun. When
-he asked if she didn’t want to quit she protested that she was dressed
-for any weather. It was unnecessary to accommodate himself to her in
-any way; she walked as rapidly as he; when she sliced her ball into
-the rough she bade him not follow her, and when she had gotten into
-the course again she ran to join him, as though eager not to break the
-thread of their talk. The thing she was doing at a given moment was, he
-judged, the one thing in the world that interested her. The wind rose
-presently and blew the mist away and there was promise of a clearing
-sky.
-
-“You’ve brought the sun back!” he exclaimed. “Something told me you had
-influence with the weather.”
-
-“I haven’t invoked any of my gods today; so it’s just happened.”
-
-“Your gods! You speak as though you had a list!”
-
-“Good gracious! You promised me once not to pick me up and make me
-explain myself.”
-
-“Then I apologize. I can see that it isn’t fair to make a goddess
-explain her own divinity.”
-
-“Oh-o-o-o,” she mocked him. “You get zero for that!”
-
-She was walking along with her hands thrust into the pockets of her
-sweater, the brim of her small sport hat turned up above her face.
-
-“But seriously,” she went on, “out of doors is the best place to think
-of God. The churches make religion seem so complicated. We can’t
-believe in a God we can’t imagine. Where there’s sky and grass it’s
-all so much simpler. The only God I can feel is a spirit hovering all
-about, watching and loving us--the God of the Blue Horizons. I can’t
-think of Him as a being whose name must be whispered as children
-whisper of terrifying things in the dark.”
-
-“The God of the Blue Horizons?” He repeated the phrase slowly. “Yes;
-the world has had its day of fear--anything that lifts our eyes to the
-blue sky is good--really gives us, I suppose, a sense of the reality of
-God....”
-
-They had encountered few other players, but a foursome was now
-approaching them where the lines of the course paralleled.
-
-“Constance Mills and George Whitford; I don’t know the others,” said
-Millicent.
-
-Mrs. Mills waved her hand and started toward them, looking very fit in
-a smart sport suit. Idly twirling her driver, she had hardly the air of
-a zealous golfer.
-
-“Ah!” she exclaimed. “Aren’t we the brave ones? Scotch blood! Not
-afraid of a little moisture. Mr. Storrs! I know now why you’ve never
-been to see me--you’re better occupied. It’s dreadful to be an old
-married woman. You see what happens, Millicent! I warn you solemnly
-against marriage. Yes, George--I’m coming. Nice to meet you, even by
-chance, Mr. Storrs. By-by, Millie.”
-
-“You’ve displeased her ladyship,” Millicent remarked. “You ought to go
-to see her.”
-
-“I haven’t felt strongly moved,” Bruce replied.
-
-“She doesn’t like being ignored. Of course nobody does, but Mrs. Mills
-demands to be amused.”
-
-“Is she being amused now?” Bruce asked.
-
-“I wish Leila could have heard that!”
-
-“Doesn’t Leila like her sister-in-law?”
-
-“Yes, of course she does, but Constance is called the most beautiful
-and the best dressed woman in town and the admiration she gets
-goes to her head a little bit. George Whitford seems to admire her
-tremendously. Leila has a sense of humor that sees right through
-Constance’s poses.”
-
-“Doesn’t Leila pose just a little herself?”
-
-“You might say that she does. Just now she’s affecting the fast young
-person pose; but I think she’s about through with it. She’s really the
-finest girl alive, but she kids herself with the idea that she’s an
-awful devil. Her whole crowd are affected by the same bug.”
-
-“I rather guessed that,” said Bruce. “Let me see--was that five for
-you?”
-
-
-III
-
-When they reached the clubhouse Millicent proposed that they go home
-for the tea which alone could fittingly conclude the afternoon. The
-moment they entered the Harden hall she lifted her arms dramatically.
-
-“Jumbles!” she cried in a mockery of delight. “Mother has been making
-jumbles! Come straight to the kitchen!”
-
-In the kitchen they found Mrs. Harden, her ample figure enveloped
-in a gingham apron of bright yellow checks that seemed to fill the
-immaculate white kitchen with color. Bruce was a little dismayed by his
-sudden precipitation into the culinary department of the establishment.
-Millicent began piling a plate with warm jumbles; a maid appeared and
-began getting the tea things ready. Mrs. Harden, her face aglow from
-its recent proximity to the gas range, explained to Bruce that it was
-the cook’s afternoon out and at such times she always liked to cook
-something just to keep her hand in. She was proud of the kitchen with
-its white-tiled walls and flooring and glittering utensils. The library
-and the organ belonged to Millie, she said, but Doctor Harden had given
-her free swing to satisfy her own craving for an up-to-date kitchen.
-
-Bruce’s heart warmed under these revelations of the domestic sanctuary.
-Mrs. Harden’s motherliness seemed to embrace the world and her humor
-and sturdy common sense were strongly evident. She regaled Bruce with a
-story of a combat she had lately enjoyed with a plumber. She warned him
-that if he would succeed as an architect he must be firm with plumbers.
-
-Alone in the living-room with their tea, Millicent and Bruce continued
-to find much to discuss. She was gay and serious by turns, made him
-talk of himself, and finding that this evidently was distasteful to
-him, she led the way back to impersonal things again.
-
-“Why go when there will be dinner here pretty soon?” she asked when he
-rose.
-
-“Because I want to come back sometime! I want some more jumbles!
-It’s been a great afternoon for me. I do like the atmosphere of this
-house--kitchen and everything. And the outdoors was fine--and you----”
-
-“I hoped you’d remember I was part of the scenery!”
-
-“I couldn’t forget it if I wanted to--and I don’t! Do you suppose we
-could do it all over again--sometime when you’re not terribly busy?”
-
-“Oh, I’ll try to bear another afternoon with you!”
-
-“Or we might do a theater or a movie?”
-
-“Even that is possible.”
-
-He didn’t know that she was exerting herself to send him away cheerful.
-When he said soberly, his hand on the door, “You don’t know how much
-you’ve helped me,” she held up her finger warningly.
-
-“Not so serious! Always cheerful!--that’s the watchword!”
-
-“All right! You may have to say that pretty often.”
-
-Her light laugh, charged with friendliness, followed him down the
-steps. She had made him forget himself, lifted him several times to
-heights he had never known before. He was sorry that he had not asked
-her further about the faith to which she had confessed, her God of
-the Blue Horizons. The young women he had known were not given to
-such utterances,--certainly not while playing very creditable golf!
-Her phrase added majesty to the universe, made the invisible God
-intelligible and credible. He felt that he could never again look
-at the heavens without recalling that phrase of hers. It wakened in
-him the sense of a need that he had never known before. It was as if
-she had interpreted some baffling passage in a mysterious book and
-clarified it. He must see her again; yes, very often he must see her.
-
-But on his way home a dark thought crossed his mind: “_What would
-Millicent say if she knew?_”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER EIGHT
-
-
-I
-
-Two weeks later Bud Henderson sought Bruce at Freeman’s office. Bruce
-looked up from his desk with a frown that cleared as he recognized his
-friend. With his cap pushed back on his head and buttoned up in a long
-ulster, Henderson eyed him stolidly and demanded to know what he was
-doing.
-
-“Going over some specifications; I might say I’m at work, if you knew
-what the word means.”
-
-“Thanks for the compliment, but it’s time to quit,” Henderson replied,
-taking a cigarette from a package on Bruce’s desk. “I happen to know
-your boss is playing handball this moment at the Athletic and he’ll
-never know you’ve skipped. I haven’t liked a certain look in your eye
-lately. You’re sticking too close to your job. Bill is pleased to death
-with your work, so you haven’t a thing to worry about. Get your bonnet
-and we’ll go out and see what we can stir up.”
-
-“I’m in a frame of mind to be tempted. But I ought to finish this
-stuff.”
-
-“Don’t be silly,” replied Bud, who was prowling about the room viewing
-the framed plans and drawings on the walls, peering into cabinets,
-unrolling blue prints merely to fling them aside with a groan of
-disgust.
-
-“My God! It doesn’t seem possible that Bill Freeman would put his name
-to such things!”
-
-“Don’t forget this is a _private_ office, Mr. Henderson. What’s
-agitating your bean?”
-
-“Thought I’d run you up to the art institute to look at some Finnish
-work they’re showing. Perhaps it’s Hottentotish; or maybe it’s Eskimo
-art. We’ve got to keep in touch with the world art movement.” Henderson
-yawned.
-
-“Try again; I pant for real excitement,” said Bruce, who was wondering
-whether his friend really had noticed signs of his recent worry.
-Henderson, apparently intent upon a volume of prints of English country
-houses, swung round as Bruce, in putting on his overcoat, knocked
-over a chair. He crossed the room and laid his hands on Bruce’s broad
-shoulders.
-
-“I say, old top; this will never do! You’re nervous; you’re damned
-nervous. Knocking over chairs--and you with the finest body known in
-modern times! I watched you the other day eating your lunch all alone
-at the club--you didn’t know I was looking at you. Your expression
-couldn’t be accounted for even by that bum club lunch. Now if it’s
-money----”
-
-“Nothing of the kind, Bud!” Bruce protested. “You’ll have me scared in
-a minute. There’s nothing the matter with me. I’m all right; I just
-have to get readjusted to a new way of living; that’s all.”
-
-“Well, as you don’t thrill to the idea of viewing works of art, I’ll
-tell you what I’m really here for. I’m luring you away to sip tea with
-a widow!”
-
-“A widow! Where do you get the idea that I’m a consoler of widows?”
-
-“This one doesn’t need consoling! Helen Torrence is the name; relict
-of the late James B. deceased. She’s been away ever since you lit in
-our midst and just got home. About our age and not painful to look
-at. Jim Torrence was a good fifty when he met her, at White Sulphur
-or some such seat of opulence, and proudly brought her home for local
-inspection. The gossips forcibly removed most of her moral character,
-just on suspicion, you understand--but James B.’s money had a soothing
-effect and she got one foot inside our social door before he passed
-hence three years ago and left her the boodle he got from his first
-wife. Helen’s a good scout. It struck me all of a heap about an hour
-ago that she’s just the girl to cheer you up. I was just kidding about
-the art stuff. I telephoned Helen I was coming, so we’re all set.”
-
-“Ah! I see through the whole game! You’re flirting with the woman and
-want me for a blind in case Maybelle finds you out.”
-
-“Clever! The boy’s clever! But--listen--I never try to put anything
-over on Maybelle. A grand jury hasn’t an all-seeinger eye than Mrs. Bud
-Henderson. Let’s beat it!”
-
-On the drive uptown Henderson devoted himself with his usual
-thoroughness to a recital of the history of Mrs. Torrence. The lady’s
-social status lay somewhere between the old and the new element, Bud
-explained. The president of the trust company that administered her
-affairs belonged to the old crowd--the paralytic or angina pectoris
-group, as Bud described it, and his wife and daughters just _had_ to
-be nice to Torrence’s wife or run a chance of offending her and losing
-control of the estate. On the other hand her natural gaiety threw her
-toward the camps of the newer element who were too busy having a good
-time to indulge in ancestor worship.
-
-Henderson concluded his illuminative exposition of Mrs. Torrence’s life
-history as they reached the house. They were admitted by a colored
-butler who took their coats and flung open a door that revealed a
-spacious living-room.
-
-“Helen!” exclaimed Henderson dramatically.
-
-It was possible that Mrs. Torrence had prepared for their entrance
-by posing in the middle of the room with a view to a first effect,
-an effect to which her quick little step as she came forward to meet
-them contributed. Her blue tea gown, parted a little above the ankles,
-invited inspection of her remarkably small feet adorned with brilliant
-buckles. She was short with a figure rounded to plumpness and with
-fluffy brown hair, caught up high as though to create an illusion as to
-her stature. Her complexion was a clear brilliant pink; her alert small
-eyes were a greenish blue. Her odd little staccato walk was in keeping
-with her general air of vivacity. She was all alive, amusingly abrupt,
-spontaneous, decisive.
-
-“Hello! Bud, the old reliable! Mr. Storrs! Yes; I _had_ been hoping for
-this!”
-
-She gave a hand to each and looked up at Bruce, who towered above her,
-and nodded as though approving of him.
-
-“This is delightful! A new man! Marvelous!”
-
-As she explained that she had been away since June and was only just
-home, Bruce became aware that Henderson had passed on and was standing
-by a tea table indulging in his usual style of raillery with a young
-woman whose voice even before he looked at her identified her as
-Constance Mills.
-
-“You know Mrs. Mills? Of course! If you’d only arrived this morning
-you’d know Connie. Not to know Connie is indeed to be unknown.”
-
-Constance extended her hand from the divan on which she was seated
-behind the tea table--thrust it out lazily with a minimum of effort.
-
-“Oh--the difficult Mr. Storrs! I’m terribly mortified to be meeting you
-in a friend’s house and not in my own!”
-
-“To meet you anywhere----” began Bruce, but she interrupted him,
-holding him with her eyes.
-
-“----would be a pleasure! Of course! I know the formula, but I’m not a
-debutante. You didn’t like me that night we met at Dale Freeman’s, and
-I was foolish enough to think I’d made an impression!”
-
-“Let’s tell him the truth,” said Henderson, helping himself to a slice
-of cinnamon toast. “Bruce, I bet a hundred cigarettes with Connie I
-could deliver you here and I win!”
-
-“Not a word of truth in that!” declared Constance. “Bud’s such a liar!”
-
-Mrs. Torrence said they must have tea, and Henderson protested that tea
-was not to be thought of. Tea, he declared, was extremely distasteful
-to him; and Bruce always became ill at the sight of it.
-
-“But when I told Connie you were bringing Mr. Storrs she said he was
-terribly proper and for me not to dare mention cocktails.”
-
-“Now, Helen, I didn’t say just that! What I meant, of course, was that
-I hoped that Mr. Storrs wasn’t too proper,” said Constance.
-
-“Proper!” Bruce caught her up. “This is an enemy’s work. Bud, I suspect
-you of this dastardly assault on my character!”
-
-“Not guilty!” Bud retorted. “The main thing right now is that we’re all
-peevish and need martinis. What’s the Volstead signal, Helen?”
-
-“Three rings, Bud, with a pause between the first and second.”
-
-The tea tray was removed and reappeared adorned with all the essentials
-for the concoction of cocktails. When the glasses were filled and all
-had expressed their satisfaction at the result, Henderson detained
-the negro butler for a conference on dice throwing. He seated himself
-on the floor the better to receive the man’s instructions. The others
-taunted him for his inaptitude. The butler retired finally with five
-dollars of Bud’s money, a result attained only after the spectators
-were limp with laughter.
-
-“You’re a scream, Bud! A perfect scream!” and Mrs. Torrence refilled
-the glasses.
-
-She took Bud to the dining-room to exhibit a rare Japanese screen
-acquired in her travels, and Bruce found himself alone with Constance.
-She pointed to her glass, still brimming, and remarked:
-
-“Please admire my abstemiousness! One is my limit.”
-
-“Let me see; did I really have three?” asked Bruce as he sat down
-beside her.
-
-“I want to forget everything this afternoon,” she began. “I feel that
-I’d like to climb the hills of the unattainable, be someone else for a
-while.”
-
-“Oh, we all have those spells,” he replied. “That’s why Prohibition’s a
-failure.”
-
-“But life is a bore at times,” she insisted. “Maybe you’re one of the
-lucky ones who never go clear down. A man has his work--there’s always
-that----”
-
-“Hasn’t woman got herself everything--politics, business, philanthropy?
-You don’t mean to tell me the new woman is already pining for her old
-slavery! I supposed you led a complete and satisfactory existence!”
-
-“A pretty delusion! I just pretend, that’s all. There are days when
-nothing seems of the slightest use. I thought there might be something
-in politics, but after I’d gone to a few meetings and served on a
-committee or two it didn’t amuse me any more. I played at being a
-radical for a while, but after you’ve scared all your friends a few
-times with your violence it ceases to be funny. The only real joy I got
-out of flirting with socialism was in annoying my father-in-law. And I
-had to give that up for fear he’d think I was infecting Shep with my
-ideas.”
-
-
-II
-
-A tinge of malice was perceptible in her last words, but she smiled
-instantly to relieve the embarrassment she detected in his face. He
-was not sure just how she wanted him to take her. The unhappiness she
-had spoken of he assumed to be only a pose with her--something to
-experiment with upon men she met on gray afternoons in comfortable
-houses over tea and cocktails. Mrs. Shepherd Mills might be amusing, or
-she might easily become a bore. The night he met her at the Freemans’
-he had thought her probably guileless under her mask of sophistication.
-She was proving more interesting than he had imagined, less obvious;
-perhaps with an element of daring in her blood that might one day get
-the better of her. She was quite as handsome as he remembered her from
-the meeting at the Freemans’ and she indubitably had mastered the art
-of dressing herself becomingly.
-
-He was watching the play of the shadow of her picture hat on her face,
-seeking clues to her mood, vexed that he had permitted himself to be
-brought into her company, when she said:
-
-“I’m not amusing you! Please forgive me. I can’t help it if I’m a
-little _triste_. Some little devilish imp is dancing through my silly
-head. If I took a second glass----”
-
-Bruce answered her look of inquiry with a shake of the head.
-
-“Are you asking my advice? I positively refuse to give it; but if you
-command me, of course----”
-
-He rose, took the glass, and held it high for her inspection.
-
-“The man tempts me----” she said pensively.
-
-“The man doesn’t tempt you. We’ll say it’s the little imp. Mrs. Mills,
-do you want this cocktail or do you not?”
-
-“It might cheer me up a little. I don’t want you to think me stupid; I
-know I’m terribly dull!”
-
-She drank half the cocktail and bade him finish it.
-
-“Oh, certainly!” he replied and drained the glass. “Now, under the
-additional stimulus, we can proceed with the discussion. What were we
-talking about, anyhow?”
-
-“It doesn’t matter. Life offers plenty of problems. How many people do
-you really think are happy--really happy? Now Bud’s always cheerful; he
-and Maybelle are happy--remarkably so, I think. Helen Torrence--well, I
-hesitate to say whether she’s really happy or not; she always appears
-gay, just as you see her today; and it’s something to be able to give
-the impression, whether it’s false or not.”
-
-“Yes; it’s well to make a front,” Bruce replied, determined to keep a
-frivolous tone with her. “The Freemans enjoy themselves; they’re quite
-ideally mated, I’d say.”
-
-“Yes, they’re making a success of their lives. Dale and Bill are always
-cheerful. Now there’s dear old Shep----”
-
-“Well, of course he’s happy. How could he be otherwise?”
-
-“You’re not taking me seriously at all! I’m disappointed. I was
-terribly blue today; that’s why I plotted with Bud to get you here--I
-shamelessly confess that I want to know you better.”
-
-“Come now! You’re just kidding!”
-
-“You’re incorrigible. I’m that rarest of beings--a frank woman. You
-refuse to come to my house, presumably because you don’t like me, so I
-have to trap you here.”
-
-“How you misjudge me! I haven’t been around because I’ve been busy; I
-belong to the toiling masses!”
-
-“You have time for Miss Harden; you two seemed ever so chummy on
-the golf course. Of course, I can’t compete with Millie--she’s so
-beautiful and so artistic--so many accomplishments. But you ought to be
-considerate of a poor thing like me. I’m only sorry I have so little to
-offer. I really thought you would be a nice playmate; but----”
-
-“A playmate? Aren’t we playing now?--at least you are playing with me!”
-
-“Am I?” she asked.
-
-She bent toward him with a slight, an almost imperceptible movement
-of her shoulders, and her lips parted tremulously in a wistful smile
-of many connotations. She was not without her charms; she was a very
-pretty woman; and there was nothing vulgar in her manner of exercising
-her charms. Bruce touched her hand, gently clasped it--a slender, cool
-hand. She made no attempt to release it; and it lay lingering and
-acquiescent in his clasp. He raised it and kissed the finger tips.
-
-“You really understand me; I knew you would,” she murmured. “It’s
-terrible to be lonely. And you are so big and strong; you can help me
-if you will----”
-
-“I have no right to help you,” he said. “It’s part of the game in this
-funny world that we’ve got to help ourselves.”
-
-“But if you knew I needed you----”
-
-“Ah, but you don’t!” he replied.
-
-Bud tiptoed in with a tray containing highball materials and placed
-it on the tea table. He urged them in eloquent pantomime to drink
-themselves to death and tiptoed out again. Bruce, wondering if he dared
-leave, hoped the interruption would serve to change the current of his
-talk with Constance, when she said:
-
-“Shep speaks of you often; he likes you and really Shep’s ever so
-interesting.”
-
-“Yes,” Bruce answered, “he has ideas and ideals--really thinks about
-things in a fine way.”
-
-He did not care to discuss Shepherd Mills with Shepherd’s wife, even
-when, presumably, she was merely making talk to create an atmosphere of
-intimacy.
-
-“Shep isn’t a cut-up,” she went on, “and he doesn’t know how to be a
-good fellow with men of his own age. And he’s so shy he’s afraid of the
-older men. And his father--you’ve met Mr. Mills? Well, Shep doesn’t
-seem able to get close to his father.”
-
-“That happens, of course, between fathers and sons,” Bruce replied.
-“Mr. Mills----”
-
-He paused, took a cigarette from his case and put it back. He was by
-turns perplexed, annoyed, angry and afraid--afraid that he might in
-some way betray himself.
-
-“Mr. Mills is a curious person,” Constance went on. “He seems to me
-like a man who lives alone in a formal garden with high walls on four
-sides and has learned to ignore the roar of the world outside--a
-prisoner who carries the key of his prison-house but can’t find the
-lock!”
-
-Bruce bent his head toward her, intent upon her words. He hadn’t
-thought her capable of anything so imaginative. Some reply was
-necessary; he would make another effort to get rid of a subject that
-both repelled and fascinated him.
-
-“I suppose we’re all born free; if we find ourselves shut in it’s
-because we’ve built the walls ourselves.”
-
-“How about my prison-house?” she asked. “Do you suppose I can ever
-escape?”
-
-“Why should you? Don’t you like your garden?”
-
-“Not always; no! It’s a little stifling sometimes!”
-
-“Then push the walls back a little! It’s a good sign, isn’t it, when we
-begin to feel cramped?”
-
-“You’re doing a lot better! I begin to feel more hopeful about you. You
-really could be a great consolation to me if--if you weren’t so busy!”
-
-“I really did appreciate your invitation. I’ll be around very soon.”
-
-After all, he decided, she was only flirting with him; her confidences
-were only a means of awakening his interest, stirring his sympathy.
-She had probably never loved Shepherd, but she respected his
-high-mindedness and really wanted to help him. The depression to which
-she confessed was only the common ennui of her class and type; she
-needed occupation, doubtless children would solve her problem to some
-extent. Her life ran too smooth a course, and life was not meant to be
-like that....
-
-He was impatient to leave, but Mrs. Torrence and Henderson had started
-a phonograph and were dancing in the hall. Constance seemed unmindful
-of the noise they were making.
-
-“Shall we join in that romp?” asked Bruce.
-
-“Thanks, no--if you don’t mind! I suppose it’s really time to run
-along. May I fix a drink for you? It’s too bad to go away and leave all
-that whisky!”
-
-The music stopped in the midst of a jazzy saxophone wail and Mrs.
-Torrence and Henderson were heard noisily greeting several persons who
-had just come in.
-
-“It’s Leila,” said Constance, rising and glancing at the clock. “She
-has no business being here at this time of day.”
-
-“Hello, Connie! Got a beau?”
-
-Leila peered into the room, struck her hands together and called over
-her shoulder:
-
-“Come in, lads! See what’s here! Red liquor as I live and breathe! Oh,
-Mr. What’s-your-name----”
-
-“Mr. Storrs,” Constance supplied.
-
-“Oh, of course! Mr. Storrs--Mr. Thomas and Mr. Whitford!”
-
-Bruce had heard much of Whitford at the University Club, where he was
-one of the most popular members. He had won fame as an athlete in
-college and was a polo player of repute. A cosmopolitan by nature,
-he had traveled extensively and in the Great War had won honorable
-distinction. Having inherited money he was able to follow his own bent.
-It was whispered that he entertained literary ambitions. He was one
-of the chief luminaries of the Dramatic Club, coached the players and
-had produced several one-act plays of his own that had the flavor of
-reality. He was of medium height and looked the soldier and athlete.
-Women had done much to spoil him, but in spite of his preoccupation
-with society, men continued to like George, who was a thoroughly good
-fellow and a clean sportsman.
-
-Whitford entered at once into a colloquy with Constance. Thomas, having
-expressed his pleasure at meeting Bruce, was explaining to Mrs.
-Torrence how he and Whitford had met Leila downtown.
-
-“Liar!” exclaimed Leila, who was pouring herself a drink. “You did
-nothing of the kind. We met at the Burtons’ and Nellie gave us a little
-drink--just a tweeney, stingy little drink.”
-
-The drink she held up for purposes of illustration was not
-infinitesimal. Mrs. Torrence said that everyone must have a highball
-and proceeded to prepare a drink for Thomas and Whitford.
-
-“You and Connie are certainly the solemn owls,” she remarked to Bruce.
-“Anyone would have thought you were holding a funeral in here. Say
-when, Fred. This is real Bourbon that Jim had for years. You’ll never
-see anything like it.”
-
-“Bruce,” cried Henderson, “has Connie filled you with gloom? She gets
-that way sometimes, but it doesn’t mean anything. A little of this
-stuff will set you up. This bird, Storrs, always did have glass legs,”
-he explained to Thomas; “he can drink gallons and be ready to converse
-with bishops. Never saw such a capacity! If I get a few more Maybelle
-will certainly hand it to me when I get home.”
-
-Constance walked round the table to Leila, who had drunk a glass of the
-Bourbon to sample it and, satisfied of its quality, was now preparing a
-highball.
-
-“No more, Leila!” said Constance, in a low tone. The girl drew back
-defiantly.
-
-“Go away, Connie! I need just one more.”
-
-“You had more than you needed at the Burtons’. Please, Leila, be
-sensible. Helen, send the tray away.”
-
-“Leila’s all right!” said Thomas, but at a sign from Mrs. Torrence he
-picked up the tray and carried it out.
-
-“I don’t think it pretty to treat me as though I were shot when I’m
-not,” said Leila petulantly. She walked to the end of the room and sat
-down with the injured air of a rebellious child.
-
-“Leila, do you know what time it is?” demanded Constance. “Your
-father’s having a dinner and you’ve got to be there.”
-
-“I’m going to be there! There’s loads of time. Everybody sit down and
-be comfortable!” Leila composedly sipped her glass as though to set an
-example to the others. Thomas had come back and Constance said a few
-words to him in a low tone.
-
-“Oh, shucks! I know what you’re saying. Connie’s telling you to take me
-home,” said Leila. She turned her wrist to look at her watch--frowned
-in the effort of focusing upon it and added with a shrug: “There’s all
-the time in the world. If you people think you can scare me you’ve
-got another guess coming. It’s just ten minutes of six; dinner’s at
-seven-thirty! I’ve got to rest a little. You all look so ridiculous
-standing there glaring at me. I’m no white mouse with pink eyes!”
-
-“Really, dear,” said Mrs. Torrence coaxingly, walking toward Leila with
-her hands outstretched much as though she were trying to make friends
-with a reluctant puppy. “Do run along home like a good girl!”
-
-Leila apparently had no intention of running along home like a good
-little girl. She dropped her glass--empty--and without warning caught
-the astounded lady tightly about the neck.
-
-“Step-mother! Dear, nice step-mamma!” she cried. “Nice, dear, sweet,
-kind step-mamma! Helen’s going to be awful good to poor little Leila.
-Helen not be bad step-mamma like story books; Helen be sweet, kind
-step-mamma and put nice, beautiful gin cocktails in baby’s bottle!”
-
-As she continued in cooing tones Leila stroked her captive’s cheek
-and kissed her with a mockery of tenderness. Henderson and Thomas were
-shouting with laughter; Constance viewed the scene with lofty disdain;
-Whitford was mildly amused; Bruce, wishing himself somewhere else,
-withdrew toward the door, prepared to leave at the earliest possible
-moment. When at last Mrs. Torrence freed herself she sank into a chair
-and her laughter attained a new pitch of shrillness.
-
-“Leila, you’ll be the death of me!” she gasped when her mirth had spent
-itself.
-
-“Leila will be the death of all of us,” announced Constance solemnly.
-
-“Oh, I don’t know!” said Leila, straightening her hat composedly at the
-mantel mirror.
-
-“Too bad Leila’s ‘step-mama’ couldn’t have heard that!” sighed
-Henderson.
-
-“Now, Leila,” said Constance severely, “do run along home. Please let
-me take you in my car; you oughtn’t to drive in the condition you’re
-in.”
-
-The remark was not fortunate. Leila had discovered a box of bonbons
-and was amusing herself by tossing them into the air and trying to
-catch them in her mouth. She scored one success in three attempts and
-curtsied to an imaginary audience.
-
-“My condition!” she said, with fine scorn. “I wish you wouldn’t speak
-as though I were a common drunk!”
-
-“Anyone can see that you’re not fit to go home. Your father will be
-furious.”
-
-“Not if I tell him I’ve been with you!” Leila flung back.
-
-“Say, Leila!” began Henderson, ingratiatingly. “We’re old pals, you and
-I--let’s shake this bunch. I’ll do something nice for you sometime.”
-
-“What will you do?” Leila demanded with provoking deliberation.
-
-“Oh, something mighty nice! Maybelle and I will give you a party and
-you can name the guests.”
-
-“Stupid!” she yawned. “Your hair’s mussed, Helen. You and Bud have been
-naughty.”
-
-“Your behavior isn’t ladylike,” said Thomas. “The party’s getting
-rough! Come on, let’s go.”
-
-“Oh, I’m misbehaving, am I? Well, I guess my conduct’s as good as
-yours! Where do you get this stuff that I’m a lost lamb? Even an
-expert like you, Freddy, wouldn’t call me soused. I’m just little bit
-tipsy--that’s all! If I had a couple more highballs----”
-
-
-III
-
-By a signal passed from one to the other they began feigning to ignore
-her. Constance said she was going; Bud, Whitford and Thomas joined
-Bruce at the door where he was saying good-night to Mrs. Torrence.
-Leila was not so tipsy but that she understood what they were doing.
-
-“Think you can freeze me out, do you? Well, I’m not so easily friz! Mr.
-What’s-your-name----” She fixed her eyes upon Bruce detainingly.
-
-“Storrs,” Bruce supplied good-naturedly.
-
-“You’re the only lady or gentleman in this room. I’m going to ask you
-to take me home!”
-
-“Certainly, Miss Mills!”
-
-With a queenly air she took his arm. Henderson ran forward and opened
-the door, the others hanging back, silent, afraid to risk a word that
-might reopen the discussion and delay her departure.
-
-“Shall I drive?” Bruce asked when they reached the curb.
-
-“Yes, thanks; if you don’t mind.”
-
-“Home?” he inquired as he got her car under way.
-
-“I was just doing a little thinking,” she said deliberatingly. “It will
-take only five minutes to run over to that little cafeteria on Fortieth
-Street. Some coffee wouldn’t be a bad thing; and would you mind turning
-the windshield--I’d like the air.”
-
-“A good idea,” said Bruce, and stepped on the gas. The car had been
-built for Leila’s special use and he had with difficulty squeezed
-himself into the driver’s seat; but he quickly caught the hang of it.
-He stopped a little beyond the cafeteria to avoid the lights of the
-busy corner and brought out a container of hot coffee and paper cups.
-
-“Like a picnic, isn’t it?” she said. “You won’t join me?”
-
-She sipped the coffee slowly while he stood in the street beside her.
-
-“There!” she said. “Thank you, ever so much. Quarter of seven?
-Forty-five minutes to dress! Just shoot right along home now. Would
-you mind driving over to the boulevard and going in that way? The air
-certainly feels good.”
-
-“Nothing would please me more,” he said, giving her a quick inspection
-as they passed under the lights at a cross-street. She was staring
-straight ahead, looking singularly young as she lay back with her hands
-clasped in her lap.
-
-“Constance was furious!” she said suddenly. “Well, I suppose she had a
-right to be. I had no business getting lit.”
-
-“Well, strictly speaking, you shouldn’t do it,” he said. It was not the
-time nor place and he was not the proper person to lecture her upon
-her delinquencies. But he had not been displeased that she chose him to
-take her home, even though the choice was only a whim.
-
-“You must think me horrid! This is the second time you’ve seen me teed
-up too high.”
-
-“I’ve seen a lot of other people teed up much higher! You’re perfectly
-all right now?”
-
-“Absolutely! That coffee fixed me; I’m beginning to feel quite bully. I
-can go home now and jump into my joy rags and nobody will ever be the
-wiser. This is an old folks’ party, but Dada always wants to exhibit me
-when he feeds the nobility--can you see me?”
-
-Her low laugh was entirely reassuring as to her sobriety, and he was
-satisfied that she would be able to give a good account of herself at
-her father’s table.
-
-“Just leave the car on the drive,” she said as they reached the house.
-“Maybe I can crawl up to my room without Dada knowing I’m late. I’m a
-selfish little brute--to be leaving you here stranded! Well, thanks
-awfully!”
-
-He walked with her to the entrance and she was taking out her key when
-Mills, in his evening clothes, opened the door.
-
-“Leila! You’re late!” he exclaimed sharply. “Where on earth have you
-been?”
-
-“Just gadding about, as usual! But I’m in plenty of time, Dada. Please
-thank Mr. Storrs for coming home with me. Good-night and thank you some
-more!”
-
-She darted into the house, leaving Bruce confronting her father.
-
-“Oh, Mr. Storrs!” The emphasis on the name was eloquent of Mills’s
-surprise that Bruce was on his threshold. Bruce had decided that any
-explanations required were better left to Leila, who was probably an
-adept in explanations. He was about to turn away when Mills stepped
-outside.
-
-“We’re entertaining tonight,” he said pleasantly. “I was a little
-afraid something had happened to my daughter.”
-
-A certain dignity of utterance marked his last words--my daughter. He
-threw into the phrase every possible suggestion of paternal pride.
-
-Bruce, halfway down the steps, paused until Mills had concluded his
-remark. Then lifting his hat with a murmured good-night, he hurried
-toward the gate. An irresistible impulse caused him to look back. Mills
-remained just inside the entry, his figure clearly defined by the
-overhead lights, staring toward the street. Seeing Bruce look back, he
-went quickly into the house and the heavy door boomed upon him.
-
-Bruce walked to the nearest street car line and rode downtown for
-dinner. The fact that Mills was waiting at the door for his daughter
-was not without its significance, hinting at a constant uneasiness for
-her safety beyond ordinary parental solicitude. What Constance had
-said that afternoon about Mills came back to him. He was oppressed by
-a sense of something tragic in Mills’s life--the tragedy of a failure
-that wore outwardly the guise of success.
-
-In spite of a strong effort of will to obliterate these thoughts he
-found his memory dragging into his consciousness odd little pictures
-of Mills--fragmentary snapshots, more vivid and haunting than complete
-portraits: the look Mills gave him the first time they met at the
-Country Club; Mills’s shoulders and the white line of his collar above
-his dinner coat as he left the Hardens’; and now the quick change from
-irritation to relief and amiable courtesy when he admitted Leila.
-
-Henderson and Millicent and now today Constance had given him hints
-of Mills’s character, and Bruce found himself trying to reconcile
-and unify their comments and fit them into his own inferences and
-conclusions. The man was not without his fascinations as a subject for
-analysis. Behind that gracious exterior there must be another identity
-either less noble or finer than the man the world knew.... Before he
-slept, Bruce found it necessary to combat an apprehension that, if he
-continued to hear Mills dissected and analyzed, he might learn to pity
-the man.
-
-
-IV
-
-That evening when Shepherd Mills went home he found Constance seated
-at her dressing table, her heavy golden-brown hair piled loosely upon
-her head, while her maid rubbed cold cream into her throat and face.
-She espied him in the mirror and greeted him with a careless, “Hello,
-Shep. How did the day go with you?”--the question employed by countless
-American wives in saluting their husbands at the end of a toilsome day.
-
-“Oh, pretty good!” he replied. No husband ever admits that a day has
-been wholly easy and prosperous.
-
-She put out her hand for him to kiss and bade him sit down beside her.
-He was always diffident before the mysteries of his wife’s toilet. He
-glanced at the gown laid across a chair and surveyed the crystal and
-silver on the dressing table with a confused air as though he had never
-seen them before.
-
-The room denoted Constance Mills’s love of luxury, and incidentally her
-self-love. The walls on two sides were set in mirrors that reached
-from ceiling to floor. The furniture, the rugs, the few pictures, the
-window draperies had been chosen with an exquisite care and combined in
-an evocation of the spirit of indolence. There was a much be-pillowed
-divan across one corner, so placed that when she enjoyed a siesta
-Constance could contemplate herself in the mirrors opposite. Scents--a
-mingling of faint exotic odors--hung upon the air.
-
-She was quick to note that something was on Shepherd’s mind and half
-from curiosity, half in a spirit of kindness, dismissed the maid as
-quickly as possible.
-
-“You can hook me up, Shep. I’ll do my hair myself. I won’t need you any
-more, Marie. Yes--my blue cloak. Now, little boy, go ahead and tell me
-what’s bothering you.”
-
-Shepherd frowned and twisted his mustache as he sat huddled on the
-divan.
-
-“It’s about father; nothing new, just our old failure to understand
-each other. It’s getting worse. I never know where I stand with him.”
-
-“Well, does anyone?” Constance asked serenely. “You really mustn’t let
-him get on your nerves. There are things you’ve got to take because we
-all do; but by studying him a little and practicing a little patience
-you’ll escape a lot of worry.”
-
-“Yes,” he assented eagerly. “You know he just pretends that I’m the
-head of the plant; Fields is the real authority there. It’s not the
-president but the vice-president who has the say about things. Father
-consults Fields constantly. He doesn’t trust me--I’m just a figurehead.”
-
-“Fields is such an ass,” remarked Constance with a shrug of her shapely
-shoulders. “An utterly impossible person. Why not just let him do all
-the explaining to your father? If any mistakes are made at the plant,
-then it’s on him.”
-
-“But that’s not the way of it,” Shepherd protested plaintively. “He
-gets the praise; I get the blame.”
-
-“Oh, well, you can’t make your father over. You ought to be glad you’re
-not of his hard-boiled variety. You’re human, Sheppy, and that’s better
-than being a magnificent iceberg.”
-
-“Father doesn’t see things; he doesn’t realize that the world’s
-changing,” Shepherd went on stubbornly. “He doesn’t see that the old
-attitude toward labor won’t do any more.”
-
-“He’ll never see it,” said Constance. “Things like that don’t hit him
-at all. He’s like those silly people who didn’t know there was anything
-wrong in France till their necks were in the guillotine.”
-
-“I told you about that clubhouse I wanted to build for our people on
-the Milton farm? I hate to give that up. It would mean so much to those
-people. And he was all wrong in thinking it would injure the property.
-I think it’s only decent to do something for them.”
-
-“Well, how can you do it without your father?” she asked, shifting
-herself for a better scrutiny of her head in the mirror.
-
-“You know that little tract of land--about twenty acres, back of the
-plant? I could buy that and put the clubhouse there. I have some stock
-in the Rogers Trust Company I can sell--about two hundred shares. It
-came to me through mother’s estate. Father has nothing to do with it.
-The last quotation on it is two hundred. What do you think of that?”
-
-“Well, I think pretty well of it,” said Constance. “Your father ought
-to let you build the clubhouse, but he has a positive passion for
-making people uncomfortable.”
-
-“I suppose,” continued Shepherd dubiously, “if I go ahead and build the
-thing--even with my own money--he would be angry. Of course there may
-be something in his idea that if we do a thing of this kind it would
-make the workmen at other plants restless----”
-
-“Piffle!” exclaimed Constance. “That’s the regular old stock whimper of
-the back-number. You might just as well say that it would be a forward
-step other employers ought to follow!”
-
-“Yes, there’s that!” he agreed, his eyes brightening at the suggestion.
-
-“If you built the house on your own land the storage battery company
-wouldn’t be responsible for it in any way.”
-
-“Certainly not!” Shepherd was increasingly pleased that she saw it all
-so clearly.
-
-She had slipped on her gown and was instructing him as to the position
-of the hooks.
-
-“No; the other side, Shep. That’s right. There’s another bunch on the
-left shoulder. Now you’ve got it! Thanks ever so much.”
-
-He watched her admiringly as she paraded before the mirrors to make
-sure that the skirt hung properly.
-
-“If there’s to be a row----” he began as she opened a drawer and
-selected a handkerchief.
-
-“Let there be a row! My dear Shep, you’re always too afraid of
-asserting yourself. What could he do? He might get you up to his
-office and give you a bad quarter of an hour; but he’d respect you
-more afterwards if you stood to your guns. His vanity and family pride
-protect you. Catch him doing anything that might get him into the
-newspapers--not Franklin Mills!”
-
-Relieved and encouraged by her understanding and sympathy, he explained
-more particularly the location of the property he proposed buying.
-It was quite as convenient to the industrial colony that had grown
-up about the storage battery plant as the Milton land his father had
-declined to let him use. The land was bound to appreciate in value, he
-said.
-
-“What if it doesn’t!” exclaimed Constance with mild scorn. “You’ll have
-been doing good with your money, anyhow.”
-
-“You think, then, you’d go ahead--sell the stock and buy the land? It’s
-so late now, maybe I’d better wait till spring?”
-
-“That might be better, Shep, but use your own judgment. You asked your
-father to help and he turned you down. Your going ahead will have a
-good effect on him. He needs a jar. Now run along and dress. You’re
-going to be late for dinner.”
-
-“Yes, I know,” he said, rising and looking down at her as she sat
-turning over the leaves of a book. “Connie----”
-
-“Yes, Shep,” she murmured absently; and then, “Oh, by the way, Shep, I
-was at Helen’s this afternoon.”
-
-“Helen Torrence’s? What was it--a tea?”
-
-“In a manner of speaking--tea! Dramatic Club business. George Whitford
-was there--he’s concentrating on theatricals. George is such a dear!”
-
-“One of the best fellows in the world!” said Shep.
-
-“He certainly is!” Constance affirmed.
-
-“Connie----” he stammered and took her hand. “Connie--you’re awfully
-good to me. You know I love you----”
-
-“Why, of course, you dear baby!” She lifted her head with a quick,
-reassuring smile. “But for goodness’ sake run along and change your
-clothes!”
-
-
-V
-
-When his guests had gone, Mills, as was his habit, smoked a cigar and
-discussed the dinner with Leila. He was aware that in asking her to
-join him on such occasions of state he was subjecting her to a trying
-ordeal, and tonight he was particularly well pleased with her.
-
-“They all enjoyed themselves, Dada; you needn’t worry about that
-party!” Leila remarked, smoking the cigarette she had denied herself
-while the guests remained.
-
-“I think they did; thank you very much for helping me.”
-
-Leila had charm; he was always proud of an opportunity to display her
-to her mother’s old friends, whose names, like his own, carried weight
-in local history. His son was a Shepherd; Leila, he persuaded himself,
-was, with all her waywardness and little follies, more like himself.
-Leila looked well at his table, and her dramatic sense made it possible
-for her to act the rôle of the daughter of the house with the formality
-that was dear to him. Whenever he entertained he and Leila received the
-guests together, standing in front of Mrs. Mills’s portrait. People who
-dared had laughed about this, speculating as to the probable fate of
-the portrait in case Mills married again.
-
-“I’d got nervous about you when you were so late coming,” Mills was
-saying. “That’s how I came to be at the door. I’d just called Millicent
-to see if you were over there.”
-
-“Foolish Dada! Don’t I always turn up?” she asked, kicking off her
-slippers. “I’d been fooling around all afternoon, and I hate getting
-dressed and waiting for a party to begin.”
-
-“I’ve noticed that,” Mills replied dryly. “Just what did you do all
-day? Your doings are always a mystery to me.”
-
-“Well--let me see--I went downtown with Millie this morning, and home
-with her for lunch, and we talked a while and I ran out to the Burtons’
-and there were some people there and we gassed; and then I remembered
-I hadn’t seen Mrs. Torrence since she got home, so I took a dash up
-there. And Connie was there, and Bud Henderson came up with Mr. Storrs
-and we had tea and Mr. Storrs was coming this way so I let him drive me
-home.”
-
-This, uttered with smooth volubility, was hardly half the truth. She
-lighted a fresh cigarette and blew a series of rings while waiting to
-see whether he would crossexamine her, as he sometimes did.
-
-“Constance was there, was she? Anyone else?”
-
-“Fred Thomas and Georgy Whitford blew in just as I was leaving.”
-
-“So? I shouldn’t have thought Mrs. Torrence would be interested in
-them.”
-
-“Oh, she isn’t!” replied Leila, who hadn’t intended to mention Thomas
-or Whitford. “Connie was trying to talk Helen into taking a perfectly
-marvelous part in a new play the Dramatic Club’s putting on soon, and
-they are in it, too. Highbrow discussion; it bored me awfully--Mr.
-Storrs and I managed to escape together. Oh, dear, I’m sleepy!”
-
-“Does this Storrs go about among people you know?” Mills asked,
-extending his arm to the ash tray.
-
-“Oh, I think so, Dada! He was in college with Bud Henderson, you know,
-and is in Mr. Freeman’s office. Dale’s crazy about him. You could
-hardly say he’s pushing himself. Millie and I met him at the Faraway
-Club--didn’t you meet him that same night? I asked him to call and he
-hasn’t and he _has_ been to see Millie. I guess the joke’s on me!”
-
-“I saw him again at the Hardens’,” Mills remarked carelessly. “And ran
-into him afterwards when I was strolling around, and I brought him back
-with me to get out of the storm. It was the night of the Claytons’
-party.”
-
-“Then you know as much about him as I do,” said Leila indifferently. “I
-think, Dada, if you don’t mind, I’ll seek the hay.”
-
-He stood to receive her good-night kiss. When he heard her door close
-he took several turns across the room before resuming his cigar. He sat
-down in the chair in which he had sat the night he brought Bruce into
-the house. Magazines and books were within easy reach of his hand, but
-he was not in a mood to read. He lifted his eyes occasionally to the
-portrait of his father on the opposite wall. It might have seemed that
-he tried to avoid it, averting his gaze to escape the frank, steady
-eyes. But always the fine face drew him back. When he got up finally
-and walked to the door it was with a hurried step as if the room or his
-meditations had suddenly become intolerable.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER NINE
-
-
-I
-
-The morning after his dinner party Franklin Mills rose at eight
-o’clock. He had slept badly, an unusual thing with him, and he found
-little satisfaction in an attempt to account for his wakefulness on
-the score of something he had eaten. As he shaved he found that he was
-not performing the familiar rite automatically as usual. He tried a
-succession of blades and became impatient when they failed to work with
-their usual smoothness.... Perhaps he was smoking too much, and he made
-a computation of the number of cigars and cigarettes he had smoked the
-day before, and decided that he had exceeded his usual allowance by a
-couple of cigars.
-
-The mental exercise necessary to reach this conclusion steadied him. He
-had no intention of breaking, as some of his friends and contemporaries
-had broken, from sheer inattention to the laws of health. He attained a
-degree of buoyancy as he dressed by thinking of his immunity from the
-cares that beset most men. No other man in town enjoyed anything like
-his freedom. He had not dreaded age because he never thought of himself
-as old. And yet the years were passing.
-
-He must study means of deferring old age. Marriage might serve to
-retard the march of time. The possibility of remarrying had frequently
-of late teased his imagination. Leila would leave him one of these
-days; he must have a care that she married well. Mills had plans for
-Carroll’s future; Carroll would be a most acceptable son-in-law. Leila
-had so far shown no interest in the secretary, but Leila had the Mills
-common sense; when it came to marrying, Leila would listen to reason.
-
-He called his man to serve breakfast in his room, read the morning
-paper, inspected his wardrobe and indicated several suits to be pressed.
-
-From his south window he viewed the Harden house across the hedge.
-Millicent was somewhere within.... It might be a mistake to marry a
-girl as young as Millicent. He knew of men who had made that mistake,
-but Millicent was not to be measured by ordinary standards. With all
-the charm of youth, she was amazingly mature; not a feather-brained
-girl who would marry him for his money. There was the question of
-her family, her lack of social background; but possibly he magnified
-the importance of such things. His own standing, he argued, gave him
-certain rights; he could suffer nothing in loss of dignity by marrying
-Millicent. It gave a man the appearance of youth to be seen with a
-young wife. Helen Torrence would not do; she lacked the essential
-dignity, and her background was far too sketchy--no better than the
-Hardens’. He had settled that....
-
-The remembrance of the young architect’s head superimposed upon the
-portrait of Franklin Mills III caused him an uneasiness which he was
-not able to dispel by a snap of the fingers. Any attempt to learn what
-had prompted Storrs to choose for his residence the city so long sacred
-to the Mills family might easily arouse suspicions. The portrait in
-itself was a menace. People were such fools about noting resemblances!
-If his sister, Alice Thornberry, met Storrs she might remark upon his
-resemblance to their father. And yet she was just as likely to note the
-removal of the picture if he relegated it to the attic....
-
-By the time he had interviewed the house servants and driven to the
-office Mills had passed through various moods ranging from his habitual
-serenity and poise to apprehension and foreboding. This puzzled him.
-Why should he, the most equable of men, suddenly fall a prey to moods?
-He put on a pair of library glasses that he kept in his desk, though he
-usually employed a pince-nez at the office--a departure that puzzled
-Carroll, who did not know that Mills, in the deep preoccupation of
-the morning, had left his pocket case at home. Mills, in normal
-circumstances, was not given to forgetfulness. Aware that something was
-amiss, Carroll made such reports and suggestions as were necessary with
-more than his usual economy of words.
-
-“Doctor Lindley telephoned that he’d be in to see you at eleven. You
-have no engagements and I told him all right.”
-
-“Lindley? What does Lindley want?” Mills demanded, without looking up
-from a bank statement he was scanning.
-
-“He didn’t say, sir; but as you always see him----”
-
-“I don’t know that I care to see him today,” Mills mumbled. Mills
-rarely mumbled; his speech was always clean-cut and definite.
-
-Carroll, listening attentively to his employer’s instructions as to
-answering letters and sending telegraphic orders for the sale of
-certain stocks, speculated as to what had caused Mills’s unwonted
-irascibility.
-
-A few minutes after eleven word was passed from the office boy to the
-stenographer and thence from Carroll to Mills that the Reverend Doctor
-Lindley was waiting.
-
-Mills detained Carroll rather unnecessarily to discuss matters of no
-immediate moment. This in itself was surprising, as the rector of St.
-Barnabas, the oldest and richest church in town, had heretofore always
-been admitted without delay. The Mills family had been identified with
-St. Barnabas from pioneer times and Doctor Lindley was entertained
-frequently by Mills, not only at home but at the men’s luncheons Mills
-gave at his clubs for visiting notables.
-
-“Ah, Mills! Hard at it!” exclaimed the minister cheerfully. He was
-short, rotund and bald, with a large face that radiated good nature.
-A reputation for breadth of view and public spirit had made him, in
-the dozen years of his pastorate, one of the best liked men in town.
-He gave Mills a cordial handshake, asked after Leila and assured Mills
-that he had never seen him looking better.
-
-Lindley was a dynamic person and his presence had the effect of
-disturbing the tranquility of the room. Mills wished now that he hadn’t
-admitted the rector of St. Barnabas, with his professional good cheer
-and optimism. He remembered that Lindley always wanted something when
-he came to the office. If it proved to be help for a negro mission St.
-Barnabas maintained somewhere, Mills resolved to refuse to contribute.
-He had no intention of encouraging further the idea that he could be
-relied upon to support all of Lindley’s absurd schemes for widening
-the sphere of the church. It was a vulgar idea that a sinner should
-prostrate himself before an imaginary God and beg for forgiveness.
-Where sin existed the main thing was to keep it decently out of sight.
-But the whole idea of sin was repellent. He caught himself up sharply.
-What had he to do with sin?
-
-But outwardly Mills was serene; Lindley was at least a diversion,
-though Mills reflected that someone ought to warn him against his
-tendency to obesity. A fat man in a surplice was ridiculous, though
-Mills hadn’t seen Lindley in vestments since the last fashionable
-wedding. At the reception following the wedding Mills remembered
-that he had been annoyed by Lindley’s appetite; more particularly by
-a glimpse of the rector’s plump hand extended for a second piece of
-cake--cake with a thick, gooey icing.
-
-Mills wondered what he had ever seen that was likable in the rector,
-who certainly suggested nothing of apostolic austerity. Lindley threw
-back his coat, disclosing a gold cross suspended from a cord that
-stretched across his broad chest. Mills’s eyes fixed upon the emblem
-disapprovingly as he asked his visitor to have a cigar.
-
-“No, thanks, Mills; I never smoke so early in the day--found it upset
-me. Moderation in all things is my motto. I missed you at the Clayton
-party the other night; a brilliant affair. Dear Leila was there,
-though, and Shepherd and his charming wife, to represent your family.
-Margaret and I left early.” The clergyman chuckled and lowering his
-voice continued: “I’ve heard--I’ve heard _whispers_ that later on the
-party got quite gay! I tell you, Mills, the new generation is stepping
-high. All the more responsibility for the forces that make for good
-in this world! I was saying to the bishop only the other day that the
-church never before faced such perplexities as now!”
-
-“Why do you say perplexities?” asked Mills in the quiet tone and
-indulgent manner of an expert cross-examiner who is preparing pitfalls
-for a witness.
-
-“Ah, I see you catch at the word! It’s become a serious question what
-the church dare do! There’s the danger of offending; of estranging its
-own membership.”
-
-“Yes, but why is it a danger?” Mills persisted.
-
-The minister was surprised at these questions, which were wholly
-foreign to all his previous intercourse with Mills. His eyes opened and
-shut quickly. The Reverend Stuart Lindley was known as a man’s man, a
-clergyman who viewed humanity in the light of the twentieth century and
-was particularly discerning as to the temptations and difficulties that
-beset twentieth century business men.
-
-“My dear Mills,” he said ingratiatingly, “you know and I know that
-this is an age of compromise. We clergymen are obliged to temper our
-warnings. The wind, you know, no longer blows on the lost sheep with
-the violence it once manifested, or at least the sheep no longer notice
-it!” A glint in Mills’s eyes gave him pause, but he went on hurriedly.
-“In certain particulars we must yield a little without appearing to
-yield. Do you get my point?”
-
-“Frankly, I don’t know that I do,” Mills replied bluntly. “You preach
-that certain things are essential to the salvation of my soul. What
-right have you to compromise with me or anyone else? You either believe
-the Gospel and the creeds that are used every day in our churches or
-you don’t. I didn’t mean to start a theological discussion; I was
-just a little curious as to what you meant by perplexities, when the
-obligation is as plain as that table.”
-
-“But--you see the difficulties! We have a right to assume that God is
-perfectly aware of all that goes on in His world and that the changing
-times are only a part of His purpose.”
-
-“Well, yes,” Mills assented without enthusiasm. “But I was thinking
-of what you and the church I was born into declare to be necessary
-to the Christian life. I go to church rarely, as you know, but I’m
-fairly familiar with the New Testament. I’ve got a copy with the words
-of Jesus printed in bold type, so you can’t miss His meaning. He was
-pretty explicit; His meaning hits you squarely in the eye!”
-
-“But, my dear friend, above all He preached tolerance! He knew human
-frailty! There’s the great secret of His power.”
-
-“Oh, that’s all true!” said Mills, with courteous forbearance. “But
-you know very well that few of us--no--I’ll admit that _I_ don’t live
-the Christian life except where it’s perfectly easy and convenient.
-Why talk of the perplexities of the ministry when there’s no excuse
-for any of us to mistake His teachings? You either preach Jesus or you
-don’t! We lean heavily on His tolerance because we can excuse ourselves
-with that; it’s only an alibi. But what of His courage? Whatever I may
-think of Him--divine or merely a foolish idealist--He did die for His
-convictions! It occurs to me sometimes that He’s served nowadays by a
-pretty cowardly lot of followers. Oh--not you, my friend!--I don’t mean
-anyone in particular--except myself! Probably there are other men who
-think much as I do, but we don’t count. We pay to keep the churches
-going, but we don’t want to be bothered about our duty to God. _That’s_
-a disagreeable subject!”
-
-He ended with a smile that was intended to put Lindley at ease.
-
-“You are absolutely right, Mills!” declared the minister
-magnanimously. “But as a practical man you realize that there _are_
-embarrassments in the way of doing our full duty.”
-
-“No; truly, I don’t!” Mills retorted. “We either do it or we don’t.
-But please don’t think I meant to quiz you or be annoying. I wouldn’t
-offend you for anything in the world!”
-
-“My dear _Mills_!” cried the clergyman with the disdain demanded by so
-monstrous a suggestion.
-
-“It never occurred to me before,” Mills went on, his good humor only
-faintly tinged with irony, “it never struck me in just this way before,
-but I suppose if you were to preach to your congregation just what
-Jesus preached you’d empty the church.”
-
-“Well, of course----” began Lindley, with difficulty concealing his
-surprise at the dogged fashion in which Mills was pursuing the subject.
-
-“Of course you can’t do it!” With a bland smile Mills finished the
-sentence for him. “Jesus is the Great Example of a perfect life; but do
-we any of us really want to live as He lived?”
-
-“Ah, Mills, we can only approximate perfection; that’s the best we can
-hope for!”
-
-“Thank you! There’s some consolation in that!” Mills laughed. “But if
-we really took the teachings of Jesus literally we wouldn’t be sitting
-here; we’d be out looking up people who need shelter, food, cheer.
-As it is I’m not bothering my head about them. I pay others to do
-that--Carroll hands me a list of organizations he considers worthy of
-assistance and all I do is to sign the checks--ought to be ashamed of
-myself, oughtn’t I?”
-
-“Well, now, Mills,” Lindley laughed pleasantly, “that’s a matter I
-leave to your own conscience.”
-
-“But you oughtn’t to! It’s your duty to tell me that instead of
-riding up to a comfortable club today to eat luncheon with a couple of
-bankers I ought first to be sure that every man, woman and child in the
-community is clothed and fed and happy.”
-
-“What would you do if I did?” Lindley demanded, bending forward and
-regarding Mills fixedly.
-
-“I’d tell you to go to the Devil!”
-
-“There you are!” cried Lindley with a gesture of resignation. “You know
-your duty to your neighbor as well as I do. The affair isn’t between
-you and me, after all, my dear friend--it’s between you and God!”
-
-“God?” Mills repeated the word soberly, his eyes turning to the window
-and the picture it framed, of a sky blurred by the smoke of factory
-chimneys. “I wonder----” he added, half to himself.
-
-Lindley was puzzled and embarrassed, uncertain whether to try to
-explain himself further. His intuitions were keen and in his attempt
-to adjust himself to a new phase of Mills’s character he groped for
-an explanation of the man’s surprising utterances. There had been
-something a little wistful in Mills’s use of the word _God_. Lindley
-was sincerely eager to help where help was needed, but as he debated
-whether Mills really had disclosed any need that he could satisfy,
-Mills ended the matter by saying a little wearily:
-
-“What was it you wanted to see me about, Lindley?”
-
-“It’s about the Mills memorial window in St. Barnabas; the transept
-wall’s settled lately and pulled the window out of plumb. Some of the
-panels are loose. The excavations for the new building across the alley
-caused the disturbance. Now that the building’s up we’ll hope the worst
-is over. That’s one of the finest windows in the West. The figure of
-our Lord feeding the multitude is beautifully conceived. I had Freeman
-look at it and he says we’ll have to get an expert out from New York
-to take care of it properly. The vestry’s hard up as usual, but I felt
-sure you’d want us to have the job well done----”
-
-“Certainly, Lindley. Go ahead and send me the bill. Of course I’m glad
-to take care of it.”
-
-
-II
-
-Mills was himself again. The mention of the Mills memorial window had
-touched his pride. The window not only symbolized the miraculous powers
-of Jesus, but quite concretely it visualized for the congregation of
-St. Barnabas the solid worth and continuity of the house of Mills.
-
-He detained Lindley, gave him a chance to tell a story, made sure
-before he permitted him to go that the minister had not been wounded
-by anything he had said. He had come out pretty well in his talk with
-the minister; it did no harm to ruffle the complacency of a man like
-Lindley occasionally. But he wanted to guard against a return of the
-vexatious thoughts with which the day had begun.
-
-A ride would set him up and he would find some cheerful companions to
-join him at the farm. Usually he planned his parties ahead, but the
-day was too fine to let pass. He rang for Carroll, his spirits already
-mounting at the thought of escaping from town.
-
-“I believe I’ll run out to Deer Trail this afternoon. I’ll ask some
-people who like to ride to join me. Will you call Mrs. Freeman, Mrs.
-Torrence, Leila and Miss Harden? I’ll be glad to have you go if you can
-arrange it--I’ll leave it all to you. As to men, try Doctor Armstrong,
-Mr. Turner, Ralph Burton--say that I’ll send machines to take them out
-unless they prefer using their own cars. You’ll look after that?”
-
-“Yes, sir.”
-
-“Oh, yes; if Shep calls up tell him I’ll see him later about those
-battery plant matters. I want to talk to Fields first....”
-
-“Yes; I understand, sir.”
-
-“Let me see; this was the day Freeman was to meet me out there to look
-over the superintendent’s house. I’ve promised Jackson to make the
-addition he wants this fall. Freeman’s probably forgotten it--he has a
-genius for forgetting engagements, and I’d overlooked your memorandum
-till just now. Freeman hates a horse, but if he goes it will only take
-a few minutes to show him what’s wanted.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER TEN
-
-
-I
-
-Bruce was finding his association with Freeman increasingly agreeable.
-The architect, amusingly indifferent and careless as to small things,
-was delighted to find that his new subordinate was not afraid to
-assume responsibility and grateful that Bruce was shielding him from
-the constant pecking of persons who called or telephoned about trivial
-matters.
-
-“By the way, Storrs, can you run into the country this afternoon?”
-Freeman asked. “I promised Franklin Mills I’d meet him at his farm to
-look at the superintendent’s house. I’ve put him off several times
-and now that Brookville man’s coming in to talk house and I’ve got to
-see him. There’s not much to do but get data and make my apologies to
-Mills. Mrs. Freeman just called up to say she’s going out there to
-ride. Mills is having a party, so he’ll get through with you quickly.
-I don’t want him to think me indifferent about his work. He’s been a
-loyal client.”
-
-“Yes, certainly,” Bruce replied, reluctant to trouble Freeman by
-refusing, but not relishing another meeting with Mills.
-
-“Everybody knows where Deer Trail is--you’ll have no trouble finding
-it. I think he said he’d be there by two-thirty. Listen carefully to
-what he says, and I’ll take the matter up with him tomorrow. Now about
-the specifications for that Sterling house----”
-
-It was thus that Bruce found himself at Deer Trail Farm on the
-afternoon of the day that Mills was giving his riding party. Mills,
-with whom punctuality was a prime virtue, came down the steps in his
-riding clothes and good-naturedly accepted Bruce’s excuses in Freeman’s
-behalf.
-
-“Freeman’s a busy man, of course, and a job like this is a good deal of
-a nuisance. You can get the idea just as well. Can you ride a horse?”
-
-Bruce, whose eyes had noted with appreciation the horses that had been
-assembled in the driveway, said that he could.
-
-“All right, then; we’ll ride over. It’s nearly a mile and we’ll save
-time.”
-
-He let Bruce choose a horse for himself from a dozen or more
-thoroughbreds, watched him mount with critical but approving eyes, and
-they set off over a road that led back through the fields. Mills sat a
-horse well; he had always ridden, he explained as they traversed the
-well-made gravel road at a trot. Finding that Bruce knew something
-of the American saddle stocks, he compared various breeds, calling
-attention to the good points of the horses they were riding.
-
-When they reached the superintendent’s house Bruce found that what was
-required was an extension that would provide the family with additional
-sleeping rooms. He took measurements, made notes, suggested a few
-difficulties, and in reply to Mills’s questions expressed his belief
-that the addition could be made without spoiling the appearance of the
-house.
-
-“I suppose I really ought to tear it down and build a new house, but
-this hundred acres right here has been in my family a long time and
-the place has associations. I hate to destroy it.”
-
-“I can understand that,” said Bruce, busy with his notebook. “I think I
-have all the data Mr. Freeman will need, sir.”
-
-As they rode back Mills talked affably of the country; spoke of the
-history and traditions of the neighborhood, and the sturdy character of
-the pioneers who had settled the region.
-
-“I used to think sometimes of moving East--settling somewhere around
-New York. But I’ve never been able to bring myself to it. This is my
-own country right here. Over there--you notice that timber?--well, I’ll
-never cut that. This whole region was forest in the early days. I’ve
-kept that strip of woodland as a reminder of the men who broke through
-the wilderness with nothing but their rifles and axes.”
-
-“They were a great race,” Bruce remarked....
-
-Mills called attention to a young orchard he had lately planted, and to
-his conservatories, where he amused himself, he said, trying to produce
-a new rose.
-
-“Won’t you stay and join in the ride?” he asked as they dismounted. “I
-can fit you out with breeches and puttees. I’d be delighted to have
-you.”
-
-“Thanks, but I must get into town,” Bruce replied.
-
-“Well, if you must! Please don’t let Freeman go to sleep on this job!”
-
-Bruce, glad that his duty had been performed so easily, was starting
-toward his car when a familiar voice hailed him from the broad pillared
-veranda.
-
-“Why the hurry? Aren’t you in this party?”
-
-He swung round to find Millicent Harden, dressed for the saddle,
-standing at the edge of the veranda a little apart from the animated
-group of Mills’s other guests. As he walked toward her she came down
-the steps to meet him. The towering white pillars made a fitting frame
-for her. Here, as in the library of her own house, the ample background
-served to emphasize her pictorial effectiveness. Her eyes shone with
-happy expectancy.
-
-“I don’t care if you are here on business, you shouldn’t be running
-away! On a day like this nobody should be in town.”
-
-“Somebody has to work in this world. How are the organ and the noble
-knight?”
-
-“Both would be glad to welcome you. Leila’s growing superstitious
-about you; she says you’re always saving her life. Oh, she confessed
-everything about last night!--how you ministered to her and set her on
-her father’s doorstep in fine shape. And she’s going to be a good girl
-now. We must see that she is!”
-
-At this moment Leila detached herself from the company on the veranda
-and called his attention to the fact that Mrs. Freeman was trying to
-bow to him. Mills, who had been discussing the fitness of one of the
-horses with his superintendent, announced that he was ready to start.
-
-“I wish you were coming along,” said Leila; “there’s scads of horses.
-We’d all adore having you!”
-
-“I’d adore coming!” Bruce answered. “But I’ve really got to skip.”
-
-“I’ll tell Dada to ask you another time. Dada isn’t at all bad when you
-know him, is he, Millie?”
-
-“Oh, one learns to tolerate him!” said Millicent teasingly.
-
-“You might like driving through the farm--good road all the way
-from that tall elm down there,” suggested Leila, “and it takes you
-through our woods. The maples are putting on their pink bonnets.
-There’s a winding stretch over yonder that’s a little wild, but it’s
-interesting, and you can’t get lost. It would be a shame to dash back
-to town without seeing something of this gorgeous day!”
-
-“All right, thanks; I’ll try it,” said Bruce.
-
-With his roadster in motion he wondered dejectedly whether there was
-any way of remaining in the town and yet avoiding Franklin Mills and
-his family. But the sight of Millicent had heartened him. The glowing
-woodlands were brighter for his words with her. He wished he might have
-taken her away from Mills and his party and ridden alone with her in
-the golden haze of the loveliest of autumn afternoons....
-
-Suddenly when he was beyond the Deer Trail boundaries and running along
-slowly he came upon a car drawn up close to the stake-and-rider fence
-that enclosed a strip of woodland. His quiet approach over the soft
-winding road had not been noted by the two occupants of the car, a man
-and a woman.
-
-Two lovers, presumably, who had sought a lonely spot where they were
-unlikely to be observed, and Bruce was about to speed his car past them
-when the woman lifted her head with an involuntary cry of surprise that
-caused him, quite as involuntarily, to turn his gaze upon her. It was
-Constance Mills; her companion was George Whitford.
-
-“Hello, there!” Whitford cried, and Bruce stopped his car and got out.
-“Mrs. Mills and I are out looking at the scenery. We started for the
-Faraway Club, but lost interest.”
-
-“Isn’t this a heavenly day?” remarked Mrs. Mills with entire serenity.
-“George and I have been talking poetry--an ideal time for it!” She held
-up a book. “Yeats--he’s so marvelous! Where on earth are you wandering
-to?”
-
-“I’ve been to Deer Trail--a little errand with Mr. Mills for my boss.”
-
-“Oh, is Mr. Mills at the farm? What is it--a party?” she asked
-carelessly.
-
-“Yes, Miss Mills, Miss Harden, Mrs. Torrence and Mrs. Freeman are there
-to ride--I didn’t make them all out.”
-
-“It sounds quite gay,” she said languidly. “I’ve thought a lot about
-our talk yesterday. You evidently delivered Leila home without trouble.
-It was awfully sweet of you, I’m sure. I don’t believe we’ll go in to
-the farm, George. I think a crowd of people would bore me today, and we
-must get back to town.”
-
-Whitford started his car, and as they moved away Constance leaned out
-and smiled and waved her hand. Bruce stood for a moment gazing after
-them, deep in thought. Constance Mills, he decided, was really a very
-clever woman.
-
-
-II
-
-After his visit to Deer Trail Farm Bruce found himself in a cynical
-humor with reference to his own life and the lives of the people
-with whom he had lately come in contact. Nothing was substantial or
-definite. He read prodigiously--poetry and philosophy, and the latest
-discussions of the problems of the time; caught in these an occasional
-gleam. It seemed centuries ago that he had walked in the Valley of the
-Shadow in France. The tragedy of war seemed as nothing weighed against
-the tragedy of his own life.
-
-Why had she told him? was a question he despairingly asked himself. His
-mother had had no right to go out of the world leaving him to carry the
-burden her confession had laid upon him. Then again, with a quickening
-of his old affection for her, he felt that some motive, too fine and
-high for his understanding, had impelled her to the revelation....
-
-He had settled himself to read one evening when Henderson, always
-unexpected in his manifestations of sociability, dropped in at his
-apartment.
-
-“Maybelle’s at Shep Mills’s rehearsing in a new Dramatic Club show,
-so I romped up here hoping to catch you in. I guessed you’d be here
-laughing heartily all to yourself. I’ve cut the booze; honest I have.
-My bootlegger strolled in today, but I kissed him good-bye forever. So
-don’t offer me any licker; my noble resolution isn’t so strong that I
-mightn’t yield to a whisper from the devil.”
-
-“You’re safe! There’s nothing stronger on the premises than a tooth
-wash warranted not to remove the enamel.”
-
-Henderson picked up the book Bruce had been reading, “A World in Need
-of God,” and ran his eye over the chapter headings.
-
-“‘The Unlit Lamp,’ ‘The Descent Perilous,’ ‘Untended Altars’--so you’ve
-got it too, have you?”
-
-“I’ve got the book, if that’s what you mean,” Bruce replied. “I paid
-two dollars for it. It’s a gloomy work; no wonder the author put it out
-anonymously.”
-
-“It’s a best seller,” Henderson replied mournfully as he seated himself
-and drew out his pipe. “The world is nervous about itself--doesn’t
-know whether to repent and be good or stroll right along to the fiery
-pit. Under my stoical exterior, Bruce, old boy, I trouble a good deal
-about the silly human race. That phrase, ‘The Descent Perilous,’ gives
-me a chill. If I’d edited that book I’d have made it ‘The Road to Hell
-is Easy’ and drawn a stirring picture of the universe returning to
-chaos to the music of jazzy bands. People seem anxious to be caught
-all lit up when our little planet jumps the track and runs amuck. But
-there really are a few imbeciles, like the chap who produced that book,
-who’re troubled about the whole business. We all think we’re playing
-comedy rôles, but if we’d just take a good square look at ourselves in
-the mirror we’d see that we’re made up for tragedy.”
-
-“Lordy! Hear the boy talk! If I’d known you were coming I’d have hidden
-the book.”
-
-“There’s a joke! I’ve been in several prosperous homes lately where
-I got a glimpse of that joyous work stuck under the sofa pillows.
-Everybody’s afraid to be caught with it--afraid it points to a state of
-panic in the purchaser. It’s the kind of thing folks read and know it’s
-all true, and get so low in their minds they pull the old black bottle
-from its hiding place and seek alcoholic oblivion.”
-
-“I bought the thing as a matter of business. If all creation’s going to
-shoot the chutes I want to be prepared. It’s silly for me to get all
-set to build houses for people if the world’s coming to an end.”
-
-“By Jove, when the crash comes I’m going to be stuck with a lot of
-Plantagenets!”
-
-“But this chap thinks the world can be saved! He says in the mad rush
-to find some joy in life we’re forgetting God. The spiritual spark
-growing dim--all that sort of thing.”
-
-“Um-m.” Henderson took the pipe from his mouth and peered into the
-bowl. “Now on this spiritual dope, I’m a sinner--chock full of sin,
-original and acquired. I haven’t been to church since my wedding except
-to a couple of funerals--relations where I couldn’t dodge the last
-sad rites. Cheerless, this death stuff; sort o’ brings you up with
-a jerk when you think of it. Most of us these days are frantically
-trying to forget man’s inevitable destiny by running as wild as we
-dare--blindfolded. It isn’t fashionable to be serious about anything.
-I tell you, my boy, I could count on the fingers of one hand all the
-people I know who ever take a good square look at life.”
-
-“Oh, not as bad as that!” said Bruce, surprised at Henderson’s unwonted
-earnestness. “There must be a lot of people who are troubled about the
-state of their souls--who have some sort of ideals but are ashamed to
-haul them out!”
-
-“Ashamed is the word!” Henderson affirmed. “We’re afraid of being
-kidded if anybody sneaks up on us and catches us admiring the Ten
-Commandments or practicing the Christian virtues! Now I know the rattle
-of all the skeletons in all the closets in this town. If they all
-took a notion to trot up and down our main thoroughfares some moonlit
-evening they’d make quite a parade. You understand I’m not sitting in
-judgment on my fellow man; I merely view him at times like this, when
-I’m addressing a man of intellect like you, with a certain cheerful
-detachment. And I see things going on--and I take part in them--that I
-deplore. I swear I deplore them; particularly,” he went on with a grim
-smile, “on days when I’m suffering from a severe case of hang-overitis.”
-
-“You must have been on a roaring tear last night. You have all the
-depressing symptoms.”
-
-“A cruel injustice! I’m never terribly wicked. I drink more than I need
-at times and I flirt occasionally to keep my hand in. Maybelle doesn’t
-mind if I wander a little, but when she whistles I’m right back at my
-own fireside pretending nothing happened.”
-
-“I’ll wager you do!” laughed Bruce.
-
-“Right now,” Henderson went on, “I can see a few people we both know
-who are bound to come a cropper if they don’t mind their steps.
-There’s Connie Mills. Not a bad sort, Connie, but a little bit too
-afraid she isn’t having as much fun as she’s entitled to. And Shep--the
-most high-minded, unselfish fellow I know--he, poor nut, just perishing
-for somebody to love him!”
-
-“What sort of a chap’s George Whitford?” Bruce asked.
-
-“First class,” Bud answered promptly. “A real fellow; about the best
-we’ve got. Something of the soldier of fortune about him. A variety of
-talents; brilliant streak in him. Why do you ask? George getting on
-your preserves?”
-
-“Lord, no! I was just wondering whether you’d knock him. I like him
-myself.”
-
-“Well, nearly everyone does. He appeals to the imagination. Just a
-little too keen about women, however, for his own good.”
-
-A buzzer sounded and Bruce went to the telephone by which visitors
-announced themselves from the hall below.
-
-“Mr. Carroll? Certainly; come right up!”
-
-“Carroll? Didn’t know you were so chummy with him,” Henderson grumbled,
-not pleased by the interruption.
-
-“I run into him at the club occasionally. He’s been threatening to drop
-in some evening. Seems to be a nice chap.”
-
-“Oh, yes, Carroll’s all right!” Bud grinned. “We might proceed with our
-discussion of the Millses. Arthur ought to know a few merry facts not
-disclosed to the general public. He wears the mask of meekness, but
-that’s purely secretarial, so to speak.”
-
-Carroll, having reached the apartment, at once began bantering
-Henderson about the Plantagenet Bud had lately sold him.
-
-“I’m another Plantag victim,” said Bruce. “Bud’s conscience is hurting
-him; he’s moaning over the general depravity of the world.”
-
-“He should worry!” said Carroll. “The Plantagenet’s shaken my faith in
-Heaven.”
-
-
-III
-
-Carroll, Bruce knew, was a popular man in town, no doubt deriving
-special consideration from his association with Mills. His name was
-written into local history almost as far back as that of the Mills
-family. In giving up the law to become Mills’s right-hand man it was
-assumed that he had done so merely for the benefit to be derived from
-contact with a man of Mills’s importance. He dabbled somewhat in
-politics, possibly, it was said, that he might be in a position to
-serve Mills when necessary in frustrating any evil designs of the State
-or the municipal government upon Mills’s interests.
-
-Bruce had wondered a little when Carroll intimated his purpose to look
-him up; he had even speculated as to whether Mills might not have
-prompted this demonstration of friendliness for some purpose of his
-own. But Carroll bore all the marks of a gentleman; he was socially in
-demand and it was grossly ungenerous to think that his call had any
-motive beyond a wish to be courteous to a new member of the community.
-
-Carroll was tall and slender, with light brown hair and deep-set blue
-eyes. His clean-shaven face was rather deeply lined for a man of his
-years; there was something of the air of a student about him. But when
-he spoke it was in the crisp, incisive tones of an executive. A second
-glance at his eyes discovered hints of reserve strength. Serving an
-exacting man had not destroyed his independence and self-respect. On
-the whole a person who knew what he was about, endowed with brains and
-not easily to be trampled upon or driven.
-
-“You mustn’t let Bud fool you about our home town. Most anything he
-says is bound to be wrong; it’s temperamental with him. But you know
-him of old; I needn’t tell you what a scoundrel he is.”
-
-“Certainly not! You can’t room with a man for four years without
-knowing all his weaknesses.”
-
-“Yes, I certainly know all yours,” Henderson retorted. “But he isn’t
-a bad fellow, Arthur. We must marry him off and settle him in life. I
-already see several good chances to plant him.”
-
-“You’d better let Maybelle do that,” replied Carroll. “Your judgment in
-such delicate matters can’t be trusted.”
-
-“Perhaps I’d better leave the room while you make a choice for me,”
-said Bruce.
-
-“What would you think of Leila Mills as a fitting mate for him?” asked
-Henderson.
-
-“Excellent,” Carroll affirmed. “It’s about time Leila was married.
-You’ve met Miss Mills, haven’t you, Storrs?”
-
-“Yes; several times,” said Bruce. He suspected Bud of turning the
-conversation upon Leila merely to gratify his passion for gossip.
-
-“Of course you’ve got the first call, Arthur,” said Henderson with
-cheerful impudence. “The town is getting impatient waiting for you to
-show your hand.”
-
-“I’m sorry to keep my fellow citizens waiting,” Carroll replied. “Of
-course there are always Miss Mills’s wishes to consider.”
-
-“Oh, well, there _is_ that! Bruce, with his known affection for the
-arts, may prefer the lovely Millicent. He’s not worth troubling about
-as a competitor. Well, I must skip back to Maybelle! Wait till I get
-downstairs before you begin knocking me!”
-
-“Don’t be in a rush,” said Bruce.
-
-“Oh, I’ll go now!” said Bud as he lounged out. “I want you to have
-plenty of time to skin me properly!”
-
-“Bud’s a mighty good fellow,” said Carroll when they were alone. “He
-and Maybelle give a real tang to our social affairs. I suppose we have
-Bud to thank for bringing you here.”
-
-“Oh, not altogether!” Bruce replied. “I was alone in the world and my
-home town hadn’t much to offer an architect.”
-
-“Your profession does need room. I was born right here and expect to be
-buried among my ancestors. Let me see--did I hear that you’re from the
-East?”
-
-The question on its face was courteously perfunctory; Mills would
-certainly not have done anything so clumsy, Bruce reflected, as to send
-Carroll to probe into his history.
-
-“I’m an Ohioan--born in Laconia,” he replied.
-
-“Not really! I have an uncle and some cousins there. Just today we had
-a letter at the office from Laconia, an inquiry about a snarl in the
-title to some property. Mr. Mills’s father--of the same name--once had
-some interests there--a stave factory, I think it was. Long before
-your day, of course. He bought some land near the plant--the Millses
-have always gone in strong for real estate--thinking he might need it
-if the business developed. Mr. Mills was there for a while as a young
-man. Suppose he didn’t like the business, and his father sold out. I
-was there a year ago visiting my relations and I met some Bruces--Miss
-Carolyn Bruce--awfully jolly girl--related to you?”
-
-“My cousin. Bruce was my mother’s name.”
-
-“The old saying about the smallness of the world! Splendid girl--not
-married yet?”
-
-“Not when I heard from her last week.”
-
-“We might drive over there sometime next spring and see her.”
-
-“Fine. Carolyn was always a great pal of mine. Laconia’s a sociable
-town. Everybody knows everybody else; it’s like a big family. We can’t
-laugh so gaily at the small towns; they’ve got a lot that’s mighty
-fine. I sometimes think our social and political regeneration has got
-to begin with the small units.”
-
-“I say that sometimes to Mr. Mills,” Carroll continued. “But he’s of
-the old ultra-conservative school; a pessimist as to the future, or
-pretends to be. He really sees most things pretty straight. But men of
-his sort hate the idea of change. They prefer things as they are.”
-
-“I think we all want the changes to come slowly--gradual evolution
-socially and politically,” Bruce ventured. “That’s the only safe way.
-The great business of the world is to find happiness--get rid of misery
-and violence and hatred. I’m for everything that moves toward that end.”
-
-“I’m with you there,” Carroll replied quickly.
-
-Bruce’s liking for Carroll increased. Mills’s secretary was not only
-an agreeable companion but he expressed views on many questions that
-showed knowledge and sound reasoning. He referred to Mills now and
-then, always with respect but never with any trace of subserviency.
-Bruce, now that his fear had passed, was deriving a degree of courage
-merely from talking with Carroll. Carroll, in daily contact with Mills,
-evidently was not afraid of him. And what had he, Bruce Storrs, to
-fear from Franklin Mills? There could not have been any scandal about
-Mills’s affair with his mother or she herself would probably have
-mentioned it; or more likely she would never have told him her story.
-Carroll’s visit was reassuring every way that Bruce considered it.
-
-“I got a glimpse of you at Deer Trail the other day,” Carroll was
-saying. “You were there about the superintendent’s house--Mr. Mills
-spoke of you afterward--said you seemed to know your business. He’s not
-so hard to please as many people think--only”--Carroll smiled--“it’s
-always safer to do things his way.”
-
-“I imagine it is!” Bruce assented.
-
-Carroll remained until the clock on the mantel chimed twelve.
-
-“I hope you’ve enjoyed this as much as I have!” he said. “If there’s
-anything I can do for you, give me a ring. Mr. Mills is a regular
-client of Freeman’s. We’ll doubtless meet in a business way from time
-to time.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER ELEVEN
-
-
-I
-
-On a Sunday afternoon a fortnight later Bruce, having been reproved by
-Dale Freeman for his recent neglect of her, drove to the architect’s
-house. He had hoped to see Millicent there and was disappointed not to
-find her.
-
-“You expected to see someone in particular!” said Dale. “I can tell by
-the roving look in your eye.”
-
-“I was merely resenting the presence of these other people. My eyes are
-for you alone!”
-
-“What a satisfactory boy you are! But it was Millicent, wasn’t it?”
-
-“Lady, lady! You’re positively psychic! Do you also tell fortunes?”
-
-“It’s easy to tell yours! I see a beautiful blonde in your life! Sorry
-I can’t produce Millie today. She’s not crazy about my Sunday parties;
-she hates a crowd. I must arrange something small for you two. You must
-meet that girl who just came in alone--the one in the enchanting black
-gown. She’s a Miss Abrams, a Jewess, very cultivated--lovely voice.”
-
-The rooms were soon crowded. Bruce was still talking to Miss Abrams
-when he caught sight of Shepherd and Constance Mills, who had drifted
-in with Fred Thomas. A young man with a flowing tie and melancholy
-dark eyes claimed Miss Abrams’s attention and Bruce turned to find
-Shepherd at his elbow.
-
-“Just the man I wanted to see!” Shepherd exclaimed. “Let’s find a place
-where we can talk.”
-
-“Not so easy to find!” said Bruce. However, he led the way to Freeman’s
-den, which had not been invaded, wondering what Franklin Mills’s son
-could have to say to him.
-
-“Do pardon me for cornering you this way,” Shepherd began. “I looked
-for you several days at the club, but you didn’t show up.”
-
-“I’ve been too busy to go up there for luncheon,” Bruce replied. “You
-could always get track of me at the office.”
-
-“Yes, but this was--is--rather confidential for the present.” Shepherd,
-clasping and unclasping his hands in an attempt to gain composure, now
-bent forward in his chair and addressed Bruce with a businesslike air.
-“What I want to talk to you about is that clubhouse for our workmen.
-You know I mentioned it some time ago?”
-
-“Yes; I remember,” Bruce replied, surprised that Shepherd still had the
-matter on his mind.
-
-“It’s troubled me a good deal,” said Shepherd, with the earnestness
-that always increased his stammering. “I’ve felt that there’s a duty--a
-real duty and an opportunity there. You know how it is when you get a
-thing in your head you can’t get rid of--can’t argue yourself out of?”
-
-“Those perplexities are annoying. I’d assumed that you’d given the
-thing up.”
-
-“Well, I thought I had! But I’m determined now to go on. There’s a
-piece of land I can get that’s just the thing. That neighborhood is so
-isolated--the people have no amusements unless they come to town. I’d
-like to go ahead so they can have some use of the house this winter.”
-
-Bruce nodded his sympathy with the idea.
-
-“Now since I talked with you I’ve found some pictures of such houses.
-I’ve got ’em here.” He drew from his pocket some pages torn from
-magazines. “I think we might spend a little more money than I thought
-at first would be available. We might go thirty thousand to get about
-what’s in this house I’ve marked with a pencil.”
-
-Bruce scrutinized the pictures and glanced over the explanatory text.
-
-“The idea seems to be well worked out. There are many such clubhouses
-scattered over the country. You’d want the reading room and the play
-room for children and all those features?”
-
-“Yes; and I like the idea of a comfortable sitting-room where the women
-can gather and do their sewing and that sort of thing. And I’d like you
-to do this for me--begin getting up the plans right away.”
-
-Shepherd’s tone was eager; his eyes were bright with excitement.
-
-“But, Mr. Mills, I can hardly do that! I’m really only a subordinate
-in Mr. Freeman’s office. It would be hardly square for me to take the
-commission--at least not without his consent.”
-
-Shepherd, who had not thought of this, frowned in his perplexity. Since
-his talk with Constance he had been anxious to get the work started
-before his father heard of it; and he had been hoping to run into Bruce
-somewhere to avoid visiting Freeman’s office. He felt that if he had an
-architect who sympathized with the idea everything would be simplified.
-His father and Freeman met frequently, and Freeman, blunt and direct,
-was not a man who would connive at the construction of a building,
-in which presumably Franklin Mills was interested, without Mills’s
-knowledge.
-
-His sensitive face so clearly indicated his disappointment that Bruce,
-not knowing what lay behind this unexpected revival of the clubhouse
-plan, said, with every wish to be kind:
-
-“Very likely Mr. Freeman would be glad to let me do the work--but I’d
-rather you asked him. I’d hate to have him think I was going behind his
-back to take a job. You can understand how I’d feel about it.”
-
-“I hadn’t thought of that at all!” said Shepherd sincerely. “And of
-course I respect your feeling.” Then with a little toss of the head and
-a gesture that expressed his desire to be entirely frank, he added:
-“You understand I’m doing this on my own hook. I think I told you my
-father thought it unwise for the battery company to do it. But I’m
-going ahead on my own responsibility--with my own money.”
-
-“I see,” said Bruce. “It’s fine of you to want to do it.”
-
-“I’ve _got_ to do it!” said Shepherd, slapping his hand on his knee.
-“And of course my father and the company being out of it, it’s no one’s
-concern but my own!”
-
-The door was open. Connie Mills’s laugh for a moment rose above the
-blur of talk in the adjoining rooms. Shepherd’s head lifted and
-his lips tightened as though he gained confidence from his wife’s
-propinquity. Mrs. Freeman appeared at the door, demanding to know if
-they wanted tea, and noting their absorption withdrew without waiting
-for an answer.
-
-It was clear enough that Shepherd meant to put the scheme through
-without his father’s consent, even in defiance of his wishes. The idea
-had become an obsession with the young man; but his sincere wish to
-promote the comfort and happiness of his employees spoke for so kind
-and generous a nature that Bruce shrank from wounding him. Seeing Bruce
-hesitate, Shepherd began to explain the sale of his trust stock to
-obtain the money, which only increased Bruce’s determination to have
-nothing to do with the matter.
-
-“Why don’t you take it up with Mr. Carroll?” Bruce suggested. “He might
-win your father over to your side.”
-
-“Oh, I couldn’t do that! Carroll, you know, is bound to take father’s
-view of things. Father will be all right about it when it’s all done.
-Of course after the work starts he’ll know, so it won’t be a secret
-long. I’m going ahead as a little joke on him. I think he’ll be tickled
-to know I’ve got so much initiative!”
-
-He laughed in his quick, eager way, hoping that he had made this
-convincing. Bruce, from his observation of Franklin Mills, was not so
-sanguine as to the outcome. Mills would undoubtedly be very angry. On
-the face of it he would have a right to be. And one instinctively felt
-like shielding Shepherd Mills from his own folly.
-
-“If you really want my advice,” said Bruce after a moment’s
-deliberation, “I’d take a little more time to this. Before you could
-get your plans we’ll be having rough weather. I’d wait till spring,
-when you can develop your grounds and complete the whole thing at once.
-And it would be just as well to look around a bit--visit other cities
-and get the newest ideas.”
-
-“You think that? I supposed there’d be time to get the foundations in
-if I started right away.”
-
-“I wouldn’t risk it; in fact I think it would be a serious mistake.”
-
-“Well, you are probably right,” assented Shepherd, though reluctantly,
-and there was a plaintive note in his voice. “Thanks ever so much. I
-guess I’ll take your advice. I’ll let it go till spring.”
-
-“Damon and Pythias couldn’t look more brotherly!” Constance Mills stood
-at the doorway viewing them with her languid smile. “It peeves me a
-good deal, Mr. Storrs, that you prefer my husband’s society to mine.”
-
-“This is business, Connie,” Shepherd said. “We’ve just finished.”
-
-“Let’s say the party is just beginning,” said Bruce. “I was just coming
-out to look you up.”
-
-“I can’t believe it! But Leila just telephoned for us to come out
-to Deer Trail and bring any of Dale’s crowd who look amusing. That
-includes you, of course, Mr. Storrs. Everyone’s gone but Helen Torrence
-and Fred Thomas and Arthur Carroll. Mr. Mills is at the farm; it’s a
-fad of his to have Sunday supper in the country. Leila hates it and
-sent out an S. O. S., so we can’t desert her. No, Mr. Storrs, you can’t
-duck! Millicent is there--that may add to the attractions!”
-
-This with a meaningful glance at Bruce prompted him to say that Miss
-Harden’s presence hardly diminished the attractions of the farm. There
-was real comedy in his inability to extricate himself from the net in
-which he constantly found himself enmeshed with the members of the
-house of Mills.
-
-In discussing who had a car and who hadn’t, Freeman said his machine
-was working badly, to which Shepherd replied that there was plenty of
-room in his limousine for the Freemans and any others who were carless.
-
-“Mr. Storrs will want to take his car,” said Constance. “He oughtn’t
-really to drive out alone----”
-
-“Not alone, certainly not!” Bruce replied. “I shall be honored if you
-will drive with me!”
-
-
-II
-
-“You didn’t mind?” asked Constance when Bruce got his car under way.
-
-“You mean do I mind driving you out? Please don’t make me say how great
-the pleasure is!”
-
-“You’re poking fun at me; you always do!”
-
-“Never! Why, if I followed my inclinations I’d come trotting up to your
-house every day. But it wouldn’t do. You know that!”
-
-“But I wouldn’t want you to do that--not unless you----”
-
-There was a bridge to cross and the pressure of traffic at the moment
-called for care in negotiating it.
-
-“What were you saying?” he asked as they turned off the brilliantly
-lighted boulevard. The town lay behind and they moved through open
-country.
-
-“You know,” she said, “I gave you the sign that I wanted to be friends.
-I had a feeling you knew I needed----”
-
-“What?” he demanded, curious as to the development of her technic.
-
-“Oh, just a little attention! I’ve tried in every way to tell you that
-I’m horribly lonely.”
-
-“But you oughtn’t to be!” he said, vaguely conscious that they were
-repeating themselves.
-
-“Oh, I know what you think! You think I ought to be very content and
-happy. But happiness isn’t so easy! We don’t get it just by wishing.”
-
-“I suppose it’s the hardest thing in the world to find,” he assented.
-
-It was now quite dark and the stars hung brilliant in the cloudless
-heavens. In her fur coat, with a smart toque to match, Constance had
-not before seemed so beguiling. His meeting with her in the lonely
-road with George Whitford and her evident wish not to be seen that
-day by Franklin Mills or the members of his riding party had rather
-shaken his first assumption that she could be classified as a harmless
-flirt. Tonight he didn’t care particularly. If Franklin Mills’s
-daughter-in-law wanted to flirt with him he was ready to meet her
-halfway.
-
-“It’s strange, but you know I’m not a bit afraid of you. And the other
-evening when the rest of us couldn’t do a thing with Leila she chose
-you to take her home. You have a way of inspiring confidence. Shep
-picks you out, when he hardly knows you, for confidential talks. I’ve
-been trying to analyze your--fascinations.”
-
-“Oh, come now! Your husband thought I might help him in a small
-perplexity--purely professional. Nothing to that! And your young
-sister-in-law was cross at the rest of you that day at Mrs. Torrence’s
-and out of pique chose me to take her home.”
-
-“But _I_ trust you!”
-
-“Maybe you shouldn’t!”
-
-“Well, that afternoon you caught me out here with Mr. Whitford I knew
-you wouldn’t tell on me. George was a trifle nervous about it. I told
-him you were the soul of discretion.”
-
-“But--I didn’t see you! I didn’t see you at all! I’m blind in both eyes
-and I can be deaf and dumb when necessary!”
-
-“Oh, I knew you wouldn’t rush over town telling on me! It’s really
-not that! It’s because I knew you wouldn’t that I’m wondering
-what--_what_--it is that makes even your acquaintances feel that they
-can rely on you. You know you’re quite a wonderful person. Leila
-and Millicent were talking about you only yesterday. Not schoolgirl
-twaddle, but real appreciation!”
-
-“That’s consoling! I’m glad of their good opinion. But you--what did
-_you_ say?”
-
-“Oh, I said I thought you were disagreeable and conceited and generally
-unpleasant!” She turned toward him with her indolent laugh. “You _know_
-I wouldn’t say anything unkind of you.” This in so low a tone that it
-was necessary for him to bend his head to hear. His cheek touched the
-furry edge of her hat thrillingly.
-
-“It seems strange, our being together this way,” she said. “I wish we
-hadn’t a destination. I’d like to go right on--and on----”
-
-“That would be all right as long as the gas held out!”
-
-“You refuse to take me seriously!”
-
-“I seem doomed to say the wrong thing to you! You’ll have to teach me
-how to act and what to say.”
-
-“But I’d rather be the pupil! There are many things you could teach me!”
-
-“Such as----”
-
-“There’s always love!” she replied softly, lingering upon the word; and
-again it was necessary to bend down to hear. She lifted her face; he
-felt rather than saw her eyes meeting his. Her breath, for a fleeting
-instant on his cheek, caused him to give hurried consideration to the
-ancient question whether a woman who is willing should be kissed or
-whether delicate ethical questions should outweigh the desirability of
-the kiss prospective. He kissed her--first tentatively on the cheek
-and then more ardently on the lips. She made no protest; he offered no
-apology. Both were silent for some time. When she spoke it was to say,
-with serene irrelevance:
-
-“How smoothly your car runs! It increases my respect for the
-Plantagenet.”
-
-“Oh, it’s very satisfactory; some of Bud’s claims for it are really
-true!”
-
-Bruce was relieved; but he was equally perplexed. It was an ungallant
-assumption that any man might, in like circumstances, kiss Constance
-Mills. On the other hand it eased his conscience to find that she
-evidently thought so little of it. She had been quite willing to be
-kissed.... She was a puzzling person, this young woman.
-
-
-III
-
-The Freemans and the others who had started with them had taken short
-cuts and were already at the house. They passed through an entry hall
-into a big square living-room. It was a fit residence for the owner
-of the encompassing acres and Bruce felt the presence of Franklin
-Mills before he saw him. This was the kind of thing Mills would like.
-The house was in keeping with the fertile land, the prize herds, the
-high-bred horses with which he amused himself.
-
-Mills welcomed the newcomers with a bluff heartiness, as though
-consciously or unconsciously he adopted a different tone in the country
-and wished to appear the unobtrusive but hospitable lord of the manor.
-Leila joined him as he talked a moment to Constance and Bruce.
-
-“You see you can’t dodge me! Awfully glad you came. Millie’s here
-somewhere and I think old Bud Henderson will drop in later.”
-
-“There’ll be supper pretty soon,” said Mills. “We’re just waiting for
-everybody to get here. I think you know everyone. It’s a pleasure to
-see you here, Mr. Storrs. Please make yourself at home. Constance, see
-that Mr. Storrs has a cocktail.”
-
-The members of the company gathered about the fire began twitting
-Constance and Bruce about the length of time it had taken them to drive
-out. They demanded to know what Connie had talked to him about. He
-answered them in kind, appealing to Constance to confirm his assertion
-that they had taken the most expeditious route. They had discussed the
-political conditions in Poland, he declared.
-
-“Come with me,” said Mrs. Torrence, drawing him away. “I want to talk
-to you! I’m sorry things happened as they did on your first call. I
-don’t want you to get the idea that my house is a place where I pull
-nothing but rough parties! Please think better of me than that!”
-
-“Heavens, woman! Such a thought never entered my head! I’ve been
-thinking seriously of coming back! I need some more of your spiritual
-uplift!”
-
-“Good! There’s more of that Bourbon! But I wanted to say that I was
-sorry Leila came to my house as she did. That is a problem--not a
-serious problem, but the child needs a little curbing. She has one good
-friend--Millicent Harden--that tall, lovely girl standing over there.
-Do you know Millie?”
-
-“Oh, yes; I’ve even played golf with her!”
-
-“My! You really have an eye! Well, you might come to call on me! I’m a
-trifle old to be a good playmate for you; but you might take me on as a
-sort of aunt--not too old to be unsympathetic with youth. When nothing
-better offers, look me up!”
-
-“I’d been thinking seriously of falling in love with you! Nothing is
-holding me back but my natural diffidence!”
-
-She raised her hand warningly.
-
-“Go no further! I can see that you’ve been well trained. But it isn’t
-necessary to jolly me. I’m not half the fool I look. My self-respect
-didn’t want you to get the idea that I’m a wild woman. I was worried
-that evening about Leila--she has a heart of gold, but I don’t dare
-take any special interest in her for the absurd reason--what do you
-think?--I’ve been suspected of having designs on--our host!”
-
-She laughed merrily. Her mirth was of the infectious sort; Bruce
-laughed with her; one had to, even when the provocation was slight.
-
-“One doesn’t talk of one’s host,” she said with a deep sigh, “but I
-was talked about enough when I married Mr. Torrence; I’ll never try it
-again. But why am I taking you into my confidence? Merely that I want
-you to know my house isn’t a booze shop all the time! I’m going to keep
-my eye on you. If I see you wandering too close to the rifle pits, I’ll
-warn you! May I?”
-
-“Of course you may!” said Bruce, conscious of an honest friendliness
-in this proffer, but not at once finding words to express his
-appreciation. “Tell me, do I look as though I might be gassed?”
-
-“I don’t know whether you’re susceptible or not. But I like you! I’m
-going to prove it by doing you a favor. Come with me!”
-
-The supper was a buffet affair and the butler was distributing plates
-and napkins. At one side of the room Franklin Mills was talking to
-Millicent. Bruce had glanced at them occasionally, thinking with a
-twinge how young Mills looked tonight, noting how easily he seemed
-to be holding the girl’s interest, not as a man much older but as a
-contemporary. And he had everything to offer--his unassailable social
-position and the wealth to support it. As he crossed the room beside
-Mrs. Torrence, accommodating his long stride to her pattering step, he
-saw a frown write itself fleetingly on Mills’s brow. Millicent--in a
-soft blue Jersey sport dress, with a felt hat of the same shade adorned
-with a brilliant pheasant’s wing--kept her eyes upon Mills until he had
-finished something he was saying.
-
-“What’s it all about?” demanded Mrs. Torrence, laying her hand
-upon Millicent’s arm. “We knew you two were talking of something
-confidential and important; that’s why we’re interrupting you.”
-
-“Oh, we’re discussing the horrors of Sunday--and whether it should be
-abolished!” said Millicent. “And Mr. Mills won’t be serious!”
-
-“Sunday’s always a hard day,” remarked Mrs. Torrence. “I’m always worn
-out trying to decide whether to go to church or stay at home.”
-
-“And today?” asked Mills.
-
-“I went! The sermon was most disagreeable. Doctor Lindley told us we
-all know our duty to God and can’t pretend that we don’t!”
-
-“Is that what he preached?” asked Mills with a vague smile. “What do
-you think of the proposition?”
-
-“The man’s right! But it doesn’t make me any happier to know it,” Mrs.
-Torrence replied. “Next Sunday I’ll stay in bed.”
-
-She took Mills away for the avowed purpose of asking his private
-counsel in spiritual matters.
-
-“Isn’t she nice?” said Millicent.
-
-“I’m bound to think so; she arranged this for me!”
-
-“Did she?” asked Millicent with feigned innocence. “She did it neatly!”
-
-“She promised to be my friend and then proved it,” Bruce said, and then
-added, “I’m not so sure our host quite liked being taken away.”
-
-“How foolish of you! He can always see me!” she replied indifferently.
-“Don’t scorn your food! It is of an exceeding goodness. Bring me up to
-date a little about yourself. Any more dark days?”
-
-“No-o-o.”
-
-She laughed at the prolongation of his denial.
-
-“Come now! I’m beginning to think I’m of no use to you!”
-
-“Right now I’m as happy as a little lark!” he declared.
-
-She had begun to suspect that he had known unhappiness. A love affair
-perhaps. Or it might have been the war that had taken something of the
-buoyancy of youth out of him. She was happy in the thought that she was
-able to help him. He was particularly responsive to a kind of humor she
-herself enjoyed, and they vied with each other in whimsical ridicule of
-the cubists in art and the symbolists in literature.
-
-... The guests were redistributing themselves and she suggested that he
-single out Leila for a little attention.
-
-“Don’t have prejudices! There’s nothing in that,” she said.
-
-“I haven’t a prejudice against Miss Mills!”
-
-“Not so formal! I’ll give you permission to call her Leila! She’ll like
-it!”
-
-“But you haven’t told me I might call you----”
-
-“Millicent let it be!”
-
-“Well, little one, how’s your behavior!” demanded Leila when Bruce
-found her.
-
-“Bad!” Bruce replied in her own key.
-
-“My example, I suppose. I’ve heard that I’m a bad influence in the
-community. Let’s sit. You and I have got to have an understanding some
-day; why not now?”
-
-“All right, but don’t get too deep--Leila!”
-
-“That’s good! I didn’t suppose you knew my name. Millie’s put you up to
-that.”
-
-“She did. I hope you like it.”
-
-“Intensely! Are you falling in love with Millie?”
-
-“That’s a secret. If I said I was, what would you say?”
-
-“Atta boy! But--I don’t think she is in love with you.”
-
-“Your penetration does you credit! I had thought of her as perishing
-for the hour when I would again dawn upon her sight!”
-
-“You’re going good! Really, though, she admits that she likes you ever
-so much.”
-
-“Is that the reason why you think she doesn’t love me?”
-
-“Of course! I’m in love myself. I’m simply wild about Freddy Thomas!
-But I’d die before I’d admit the awful fact to my dearest friend!
-That’s love!”
-
-“How about your Freddy? Is he aware of your infatuation?”
-
-“That’s the wonderful part. You see, it’s a secret. No one knows it but
-just Freddy and me!”
-
-“Oh, I see! You pretend to hate Freddy but really you love him?”
-
-“You’re a thinker! What would you say if I told you I had a cute little
-flask upstairs and asked you to meet me in the pantry and have a little
-nip just to celebrate this event? I had only one cocktail; my dearest
-Dada saw to that!”
-
-“I’d meet you in the pantry and confiscate the flask!”
-
-She regarded him fixedly for a moment, and her tone and manner changed
-abruptly.
-
-“You know about life, people, things; I know you do! It’s in your eyes,
-and I’d know it if Millie hadn’t said so. Do you really think it is
-disgraceful for me to get--well, soused--as you’ve seen me several
-times? Dada and my aunts lecture me to death--and I hate it--but,
-well--what do you think?”
-
-Her gravity demanded kindness. He felt infinitely older; she seemed
-very like a child tonight--an impulsive, friendly child.
-
-“I think I’d cut it out. There’s no good in it--for you or anyone else.”
-
-“I’ll consider that,” she replied slowly; then suddenly restless, she
-suggested that they go into the long enclosed veranda that connected
-the house with the conservatories.
-
-As they walked back and forth--Leila in frivolous humor now--Bruce
-caught a glimpse of her father and Millicent just inside the
-conservatory door. They were talking earnestly. Evidently they had
-paused to conclude some matter they had been discussing before
-returning to the house. Millicent held three roses in her hand and
-lifted them occasionally to her face.
-
-
-IV
-
-Still beset by uncertainties as to whether he would increase his
-chances of happiness by marrying again, Mills was wondering just
-how a man of his years could initiate a courtship with a girl of
-Millicent Harden’s age. It must be managed in such a way as to preserve
-his dignity--that must be preserved at all hazards. They had been
-walking through the conservatory aisles inspecting his roses, which
-were cultivated by an expert whose salary was a large item of the
-farm budget. Millicent was asking questions about the development of
-new floral types and he was answering painstakingly, pleased by her
-interest.
-
-“It’s unfortunate that the human species can’t be improved as easily.
-At least we don’t see our way to improving it,” he remarked.
-
-He had never thought her so beautiful as now; her charm was rather
-enhanced by her informal dress. It would be quite possible for him to
-love her, love her even with a young man’s ardor.
-
-“Oh, patience, sir!” she smiled. “Evolution is still going on.”
-
-“Or going back! There’s our old quarrel!” he laughed. “We always seem
-to get into it. But your idea that we’re not creatures of chance--that
-there’s some unseen power back of everything we call life--that’s too
-much for me. I can understand Darwin--but you!”
-
-“Honestly, now, are you perfectly satisfied to go on thinking we’re all
-creatures of chance?”
-
-“Sometimes I am and then again I’m not!” he replied with a shrug. “I
-can’t quite understand why it is that with everything we have, money
-and the ability to amuse ourselves, we do at times inquire about that
-Something that never shows itself or gives us a word.”
-
-“Oh, but He does!” She held up the three perfect roses Mills had
-plucked for her. “He shows Himself in all beautiful things. They’re all
-trying to tell us that the Something we can’t see or touch has a great
-deal to do with our lives.”
-
-“Millie,” he said in a tone of mock despair, tapping her hand lightly,
-“you’re an incorrigible mystic!”
-
-They were interrupted by a knock on the glass door, which swung open,
-disclosing Leila and Bruce.
-
-“Mr. Storrs and I are dying of curiosity! You’ve been talking here for
-ages!” cried Leila.
-
-“Millie’s been amusing herself at my expense,” said Mills. “Mr. Storrs,
-I wish you’d tell me sometime what Miss Harden means when she reaches
-into the infinite and brings down----”
-
-“Roses!” laughed Millicent.
-
-
-V
-
-His glimpse of Franklin Mills and Millicent at the conservatory door
-affected Bruce disagreeably. The fact that the two had been discussing
-impersonal matters did not lessen his resentment. Millicent with
-Mills’s roses in her hand; Mills courteously attentive, addressing the
-girl with what to Bruce was a lover-like air, had made a picture that
-greatly disturbed him.
-
-Very likely, with much this same air, with the same winning manner
-and voice, Mills had wooed his mother! He saw in Mills a sinister
-figure--a man who, having taken advantage of one woman, was not to be
-trusted with another. The pity he had at times felt for Mills went down
-before a wave of jealous anger and righteous indignation. The man was
-incapable of any true appreciation of Millicent; he was without wit or
-soul to penetrate to the pure depths of the girl’s nature.
-
-“You two are always talking about things I don’t understand!” Leila
-said to them; and led Bruce on through the conservatories, talking in
-her inconsequential fashion.
-
-When they returned to the house someone had begun playing old-fashioned
-games--blindman’s buff, drop the handkerchief and London Bridge. When
-these ceased to amuse, the rugs were cleared away and they danced to
-the phonograph. Mills encouraged and participated in all this as if
-anxious to show that he could be as young as the youngest. And what
-occasion could be more fitting than an evening in his handsome country
-house, with his children and their friends about him!
-
-With Millicent constantly before his eyes, entering zestfully into all
-these pleasures, Bruce recovered his tranquillity. For the thousandth
-time he convinced himself that he was not a weakling to suffer specters
-of the past and forebodings of the future to mar his life. He danced
-with Millicent; seized odd moments in which to talk to her; tried to
-believe that she had a particular smile for him....
-
-“I wonder if you’d drive me in?” asked Mrs. Torrence when the party
-began to break up.
-
-“I’d been counting on it!” said Bruce promptly.
-
-Constance came along and waived her rights to his escort, as she and
-Shepherd were taking the Freemans home.
-
-“I believe we’re a little better acquainted than we were,” she said
-meaningfully.
-
-“It seemed to me we made a little headway,” Bruce replied.
-
-“Come and see me soon! You never can tell when I’ll need a little
-consoling.”
-
-“That was a good party,” Mrs. Torrence began as Bruce got his car in
-motion. “Mr. Mills is two or three different men. Sometimes I think he
-consciously assumes a variety of rôles. He’s keen about this country
-gentleman stuff--unassuming grandeur and all that! But meet him out
-at dinner in town tomorrow night and you’d never think him capable of
-playing drop the handkerchief! Makes you wonder just which is the real
-Mills.”
-
-“Maybe we all lead two or three existences without knowing it,” Bruce
-remarked.
-
-“We do! We do, indeed!” the little woman cheerfully agreed. “All
-except me. I’m always just the same and too much of that!”
-
-“Well, you always come up with a laugh and that helps. Please let me
-into the secret.”
-
-“My dear boy, I learned early in life to hide my tears. Nobody’s
-interested in a cry-baby. And minding my own business saves a lot of
-bother. I think I’ve acquired that noble trait!”
-
-“That’s genius!” exclaimed Bruce.
-
-“But--in your case I may not do it! I like you, you know.”
-
-“Am I to believe that?” he asked seriously.
-
-“I hope you’ll believe it. I offered at the beginning of the evening to
-be your friend until death do us part; I’ve done some thinking since. I
-do think occasionally, though you’d never guess it.”
-
-“It’s an old trick of the world to be mistrustful of thinkers. I’ve
-suffered from it myself.”
-
-“Listen to me, young man! I’ve got my eye on you. I suggested to Connie
-that it would be simpler for her to go in with Shep. I love Connie;
-she’s always been nice to me. But Connie’s not just a safe chum for
-you. Your fascinations might be a trifle too--too----”
-
-“Too,” he supplied mockingly, “much for me?”
-
-“Don’t be silly! Connie’s a young woman of charm, and she likes to use
-it. And you’re not without a little of the same ingredient. You may
-be nice and friendly with Connie--_and_ Shep--but you mustn’t forget
-that there is Shep. Shep’s a nice, dear boy. I’m strong for Shepherd. I
-could cry when I see how much in love he is with Connie! And of course
-she doesn’t love him in any such way. She sort o’ mothers and pets him.
-She still has her grand love affair before her. Isn’t this nasty of me
-to be talking of her in this fashion! But I don’t want you to be the
-victim. One drive alone with her is enough for you in one evening!”
-
-“Oh, but----”
-
-“Oh, all the buts! We haven’t been talking of her at all! Aren’t the
-shadows of that tall tree interesting?”
-
-The shadows of the tall tree were not particularly interesting, but
-Bruce, speculating a little as to what Mrs. Torrence would say if she
-knew he had kissed Constance on the drive out, was guiltily glad that
-she had concluded what he felt to be a well-meant warning against
-getting in too deep with Mrs. Shepherd Mills.
-
-“You’ve got a big future,” Mrs. Torrence remarked later. “Nothing’s
-going to spoil it. But socially, walk softly. This is a city of
-illusions. It’s the fashion to pretend that everybody’s awfully good.
-Of course everybody isn’t! But it’s better to fall in with the idea.
-I’m just giving you the hint. Take Franklin Mills for your model.
-Always know the right people and do the right thing. There’s a man who
-never sinned in all his life. You’re lucky to have caught his eye so
-soon! I saw him watching you tonight--with approval, I mean. He’s a man
-of power. I advise you to cultivate him a little.”
-
-“Oh, my knowing him is just a matter of chance,” Bruce replied
-indifferently.
-
-“He’s the most interesting man in town and all the more so because
-he’s puzzling--not all on the surface. An unusual person. And to think
-he has a daughter like Leila and a son like Shep! I love them both;
-they’re so unlike him! You wouldn’t know them for the same breed. One
-couldn’t love _him_, you know; he’s far too selfish and self-satisfied
-for that!”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER TWELVE
-
-
-I
-
-As Bruce was driving past the Mills’s residence one evening several
-weeks later, Carroll hailed him. Mills, it appeared, had driven
-out with Carroll and the limousine waited at the curb to carry the
-secretary on home. Carroll asked Bruce whether he would go with him to
-a lecture at the art institute the following night; a famous painter
-was to speak and it promised to be an interesting occasion. Mills
-lingered while the young men arranged to meet at the club for dinner
-before the lecture, and Bruce was about to climb back into his car when
-Mills said detainingly:
-
-“Storrs, won’t you have pity on me? Carroll’s just refused to dine with
-me. My daughter’s going out and there’s just myself. Do you think you
-could stand it?”
-
-“The soil of the day is upon me!” said Bruce. “But----”
-
-He very much wished to refuse, but the invitation was cordially given,
-and taken by surprise, he was without a valid excuse for declining.
-
-“You don’t need to dress and you may leave the moment you’re bored,”
-said Mills amiably.
-
-“Sorry, but I’ve got to run,” said Carroll. “I’ll send your car right
-back, Mr. Mills. Thank you. I envy you two your quiet evening!”
-
-Mills led the way upstairs, opened the door of one of the bedrooms and
-turned on the lights.
-
-“The room’s supposed to be in order--it’s my son’s old room. Ring if
-you don’t find what you want.”
-
-Bruce closed the door and stared about him.
-
-Shepherd’s old room! It was a commodious chamber, handsomely furnished.
-The bath was a luxurious affair. As he drew off his coat Bruce’s mind
-turned back to his little room in the old frame house in Laconia; the
-snowy window draperies his mother always provided, and the other little
-tributes of her love, fashioned by her own hands, that adorned the room
-in which he had dreamed the long, long dreams of youth. Through the
-dormer windows he had heard the first bird song in the spring, and on
-stormy nights in winter had sunk to sleep to the north wind’s hoarse
-shout through the elms and maples in the yard.
-
-“My son’s room!” Franklin Mills had said carelessly as he turned away.
-The phrase still rang in Bruce’s ears. Mills could not know; he could
-not even suspect! No man would be callous enough to make such a remark
-if he believed he was uttering it to an unrecognized child of his own
-blood.
-
-Bruce laved his face and brushed his hair and went down the hall to the
-library where Mills had taken him on the memorable night they met in
-the storm. The portrait which had so disturbed Mills still hung in its
-place. Bruce turned his back on it and took up the evening newspapers.
-
-A maid appeared to say that Mr. Mills was answering a long-distance
-call, but would be free in a moment; and a little later the butler
-came in with a tray and began concocting a cocktail. While this was in
-preparation a low whistle from the door caused Bruce to glance round.
-Leila was peering at him, her head alone being visible.
-
-“I thought you were a burglar!” she whispered.
-
-Bruce pointed to the servant, who was solemnly manipulating the shaker,
-and beckoned her to enter.
-
-“Briggs! You lied to me again!” she said severely as she swept into the
-room. “You told me there wasn’t a drop in the house!”
-
-“It was the truth, Miss Leila, when I told you,” the man replied
-gravely. “A friend of Mr. Mills left this at the door this morning.”
-
-“I don’t believe it! It was more likely a friend of mine. I say, little
-one, how do I look?”
-
-“Queenly,” Bruce replied. “If you were more beautiful my eyes couldn’t
-bear it.”
-
-“Cut it! Am I really all right?”
-
-“I’d be ashamed if I didn’t know it!”
-
-“Good boy! You have a taste!”
-
-She was charming indeed in her evening gown, which he praised in
-ignorant terms that she might correct him. She remained standing,
-drawing on her gloves, and explaining that she was dining at the
-Tarletons and wasn’t highly edified at the prospect. Her going was
-a concession to her father. The Tarletons had a young guest whose
-grandfather had once been a business associate of her Grandfather
-Mills; hence she must sacrifice herself.
-
-“Dad’s keen about the old family stuff. Just look at those grand old
-relics up there.” She indicated the line of family portraits with a
-disdainful gesture. “I come in and make faces at them when I feel
-naughty. I can’t tell my grandfathers apart, and don’t want to!”
-
-“How lacking in piety!” said Bruce, who could have pointed out her
-Grandfather Mills! He bestowed a hasty glance at the portrait,
-satisfied that Leila at least would never detect her ancestor’s
-resemblance to himself. The servant, having sufficiently agitated the
-cocktails, withdrew. Leila, waiting till the door to the back stairs
-closed, began advancing with long steps and a rowdyish swagger toward
-the tray.
-
-“Alone with a cocktail! And I’m going to a dry party! Hist!” She bent
-her head toward the door, her hand to her ear. “What’s the Colonel
-doing?” she asked.
-
-“At the telephone; he’ll be here any minute.”
-
-“Quick! Fill that glass--that’s the good sport!”
-
-“Service for two only! You wouldn’t rob _me_!”
-
-“Please--I don’t want my gloves to reek of gin--please!”
-
-“You can’t touch that tray--you can’t touch that shaker! You’re
-hypnotized!” he declared solemnly.
-
-“Oh, tush!” With a quick movement she tried to grasp the shaker; but he
-caught her hand, held it a moment, then let it fall to her side while
-he smiled into her bright, eager eyes.
-
-“In the name of all your ancestors I forbid you!” he said.
-
-“You wouldn’t trust me with one?” she demanded, half defiant, half
-acquiescing.
-
-“Not tonight, when you’re meeting old family friends and all that!”
-
-“Pshaw!” She stamped her foot. “I can stop at half a dozen houses and
-get a drink----”
-
-“But you won’t; really you won’t!”
-
-“What’s it to you--why should you care?” she demanded, looking him
-straight in the eyes.
-
-“Aren’t we friends?” he asked. “A friend wouldn’t give it to you. See!
-You don’t really want it at all--it was just an hallucination!”
-
-“Oh, no!” she said, puckering her face and scowling her abhorrence of
-the idea while her eyes danced merrily. “I just _dreamed_ I wanted it.
-Well, score one for you, old top! You’re even nicer than I thought you
-were!”
-
-“Leila, haven’t you _gone_ yet?” exclaimed Mills, appearing suddenly in
-the room.
-
-“No, Dada! I was just kidding Bruce a little. Hope you have a nice
-dinner! Don’t be too solemn, and don’t scold your guest the way you do
-me. Yes, I’ve got my key and every little thing. Good-night. Come and
-see me sometime, Bruce.” She lifted her face for her father to kiss,
-paused in the doorway to shake her fist at Bruce and tripped down the
-hall singing.
-
-“Do pardon me for keeping you waiting,” said Mills. “I had a New York
-call and the connection was bad. Let’s see what we have here----”
-
-“Allow me, sir----”
-
-As Bruce gave the drinks a supplemental shake Mills inspected the two
-glasses, ostensibly to satisfy himself that the housekeeping staff had
-properly cared for them, but really, Bruce surmised, to see whether
-Leila had been tippling.
-
-
-II
-
-When they went down to the dining-room Bruce found it less of an ordeal
-than he had expected to sit at Mills’s table. Mills was a social
-being; his courtesy was unfailing, and no doubt he was sincere in his
-expressions of gratitude to Bruce for sharing his meal.
-
-The table was lighted by four tapers in tall candlesticks of English
-silver. The centerpiece was a low bowl of pink roses, the product
-of the Deer Trail conservatories. Mills, in spite of his austere
-preferences in other respects, deferred to changing fashions in
-the furnishing of his table, to which he gave the smart touch of
-a sophisticated woman. It was a way of amusing himself, and he
-enjoyed the praise of the women who dined with him for his taste, the
-discrimination he exercised in picking up novelties in exclusive New
-York shops. Even when alone he enjoyed the contemplation of precious
-silver and crystal, and the old English china in which he specialized.
-He invited Bruce’s attention, as one connoisseur to another, to the
-graceful lines and colors of the water glasses--a recent acquisition.
-The food was excellent, but doubtless no better than Mills ate every
-night, whether he dined alone or with Leila. The courses were served
-unhurriedly; Franklin Mills was not a man one could imagine bolting his
-food. Again Bruce found his dislike ebbing. The idea that the man was
-his father only fleetingly crossed his mind. If Mills suspected the
-relationship he was an incomparable actor....
-
-“I’ve never warmed to the idea that America should be an asylum for the
-scum of creation; it’s my Anglo-Saxon conceit, I suppose. You have the
-look of the old American stock----”
-
-“I suppose I’m a pretty fair American,” Bruce replied. “My home town is
-Laconia--settled by Revolutionary soldiers; they left their imprint.
-It’s a patriotic community.”
-
-“Oh, yes; Laconia! Carroll was telling me that had been your home. He
-has some relatives there himself.”
-
-“Yes, I know them,” Bruce said, meeting Mills’s gaze carelessly. “The
-fact is I know, or used to know, nearly everybody in the town.”
-
-“Carroll may have told you that I had some acquaintance with the place
-myself. That was a long time ago. I went there to look after some
-business interests for my father. It was a part of my apprenticeship.
-I seem to recall people of your name; Storrs is not so common--?”
-
-“My father was John Storrs--a lawyer,” said Bruce in the tone of one
-stating a fact unlikely to be of particular interest.
-
-“Yes; John Storrs----” Mills repeated musingly. “I recall him very
-well--and his wife--your mother--of course. Delightful people. I’ve
-always remembered those months I spent there with a particular
-pleasure. For the small place Laconia was then, there was a good deal
-doing--dances and picnics. I remember your mother as the leading spirit
-in all the social affairs. Is she----”
-
-“Father and mother are both gone. My mother died a little more than a
-year ago.”
-
-“I’m very sorry,” Mills murmured sympathetically. “For years I had
-hoped to go back to renew old acquaintances, but Laconia is a little
-inaccessible from here and I never found it possible.”
-
-Whether Mills had referred to his temporary residence in Laconia merely
-to show how unimportant and incidental it was in his life remained a
-question. But Bruce felt that if Mills could so lightly touch upon it,
-he himself was equal to gliding over it with like indifference. Mills
-asked with a smile whether Gardner’s Grove was still in existence, that
-having been a favorite picnic ground, an amateurish sort of country
-club where the Laconians used to have their dances. The oak trees there
-were the noblest he had ever seen. Bruce expressed regret that the
-grove was gone....
-
-Mills was shrewd; and Bruce was aware that the finely formed head
-across the table housed a mind that carefully calculated all the
-chances of life even into the smallest details. He wondered whether
-he had borne himself as well as Mills in the ordeal. The advantage
-had been on Mills’s side; it was his house, his table. Possibly he had
-been waiting for some such opportunity as this to sound the son of
-Marian Storrs as to what he knew--hoped perhaps to surprise him into
-some disclosure of the fact if she had ever, in a moment of weakness or
-folly, spoken of him as other than a passing acquaintance.
-
-“We’ll go down to the billiard room to smoke,” Mills remarked at the
-end of the dinner. “We’ll have our coffee there.”
-
-Easy chairs and a davenport at one end of the billiard room invited
-to comfort. On the walls were mounted animal heads and photographs of
-famous horses.
-
-“Leila doesn’t approve of these works of art,” said Mills, seeing Bruce
-inspecting them. “She thinks I ought to move them to the farm. They do
-look out of place here. Sit where you like.”
-
-He half sprawled on the davenport as one who, having dined to his
-satisfaction and being consequently on good terms with the world,
-wishes to set an example of informality to a guest. Bruce wondered
-what Mills did on evenings he spent alone in the big house; tried to
-visualize the domestic scene in the years of Mrs. Mills’s life.
-
-“You see Shepherd occasionally?” Mills asked when the coffee had been
-served. “The boy hasn’t quite found himself yet. Young men these
-days have more problems to solve than we faced when I was your age.
-Everything is more complicated--society, politics, everything. Maybe it
-only seems so. Shep’s got a lot of ideas that seem wild to me. Can’t
-imagine where he gets them. Social reforms and all that. I sometimes
-think I made a mistake in putting him into business. He might have been
-happier in one of the professions--had an idea once he wanted to be a
-doctor, but I discouraged it. A mistake, perhaps.”
-
-Mills’s manner of speaking of Shepherd was touched with a certain
-remoteness. He appeared to invite Bruce’s comment, not in a spirit of
-sudden intimacy, but as if he were talking with a man of his own years
-who was capable of understanding his perplexities. It seemed to Bruce
-in those few minutes that he had known Franklin Mills a very long
-time. He was finding it difficult to conceal his embarrassment under
-equivocal murmurs. But he pulled himself together to say cordially:
-
-“Shepherd is a fine fellow, Mr. Mills. You can’t blame him for his
-idealism. There’s a lot of it in the air.”
-
-“He was not cut out for business,” Mills remarked. “Business is a
-battle these days, and Shep isn’t a fighter.”
-
-“Must the game be played in that spirit?” asked Bruce with a smile.
-
-“Yes, if you want to get anywhere,” Mills replied grimly. “Shall we do
-some billiards?”
-
-
-III
-
-Mills took his billiards seriously. It was, Bruce could see, a
-pastime much to his host’s taste; it exercised his faculties of
-quick calculation and deft execution. Mills explained that he had
-employed a professional to teach him. He handled the cue with
-remarkable dexterity; it was a pleasure to watch the ease and grace
-of his playing. Several times, after a long run, he made a wild shot,
-unnecessarily it seemed, and out of keeping with his habitual even
-play. Bud Henderson had spoken of this peculiarity. Bruce wondered
-whether it was due to fatigue or to the intrusion upon Mills’s thoughts
-of some business matter that had caused a temporary break in the
-unity of eye and hand. Or it might have been due to some decision
-that had been crystallizing in his subconsciousness and manifested
-itself in this odd way. Mills was too good a player to make a fluke
-intentionally, merely to favor a less skillful opponent. He accepted
-his ill fortune philosophically. He was not a man to grow fretful or
-attempt to explain his errors.
-
-“We’re not so badly matched,” he remarked when they finished and he had
-won by a narrow margin. “You play a good game.”
-
-“You got the best there was in me!” said Bruce. “I rarely do as well as
-that.”
-
-“Let’s rest and have a drink.” Mills pressed a button. “I’m just tired
-enough to want to sit awhile.”
-
-Bruce had expected to leave when the game was ended, but Mills gave him
-no opportunity. He reestablished himself on the davenport and began
-talking more desultorily than before. For a time, indeed, Bruce carried
-the burden of the conversation. Some remark he let fall about the South
-caused Mills to ask him whether he had traveled much in America.
-
-“I’ve walked over a lot of it,” Bruce replied. “That was after I
-came back from the little splurge overseas. Gave myself a personally
-conducted tour, so to speak. Met lots of real tramps. I stopped to work
-occasionally--learned something that way.”
-
-Mills was at once interested. He began asking questions as to the
-living conditions of the people encountered in this adventure and the
-frame of mind of the laborers Bruce had encountered.
-
-“You found the experience broadening, of course. It’s a pity more of
-us can’t learn of life by direct contact with the people.”
-
-Under Mills’s questioning the whole thing seemed to Bruce more
-interesting than he had previously thought it. The real reason for his
-long tramp--the fact that he had taken to the road to adjust himself
-to his mother’s confession that he was the son of a man of whom he had
-never heard--would probably have given Mills a distinct shock.
-
-“I wish I could have done that myself!” Mills kept saying.
-
-Bruce was sorry that he had stumbled into the thing. Mills was
-sincerely curious; it was something of an event to hear first-hand of
-such an experience. His questions were well put and required careful
-answers. Bruce found himself anxious to appear well in Mills’s eyes.
-But Mills was leading toward something. He was commenting now on the
-opportunities open to young men of ability in the business world, with
-Bruce’s experiences as a text.
-
-“A professional man is circumscribed. There’s a limit to his earning
-power. Most men in the professions haven’t the knack of making money.
-They’re usually unwise in the investments they make of their savings.”
-
-“But they have the joy of their work,” Bruce replied quickly. “We can’t
-measure their success just by their income.”
-
-“Oh, I grant you that! But many of the doors of prosperity and
-happiness are denied them.”
-
-“But others are open! Think of the sense of service a physician must
-feel in helping and saving. And even a puttering architect who can’t
-create masterpieces has the fun of doing his small jobs well. He lives
-the life he wants to live. There are painters and musicians who know
-they can never reach the high places; but they live the life! They
-starve and are happy!”
-
-Bruce bent forward eagerly, the enthusiasm bright in his eyes. He
-had not before addressed Mills with so much assurance. The man was a
-materialist; his standards were fixed in dollars. It was because he
-reckoned life in false terms that Shepherd was afraid of him.
-
-“Oh, don’t misunderstand me! I realize the diversity of talents that
-are handed out to us poor mortals. But if you were tempted to become a
-painter, say, and you knew you would never be better than second-rate,
-and at the same time you were pretty sure you could succeed in some
-business and live comfortably--travel, push into the big world currents
-and be a man of mark--what would you do?”
-
-“Your question isn’t fair, because it’s not in the design of things
-for us to see very far ahead. But I’ll answer! If I had a real urge to
-paint I’d go to it and take my chance.”
-
-“That’s a fine spirit, Storrs; and I believe you mean it. But----”
-
-Mills rose and, thrusting his hands into his trousers’ pockets, walked
-across the room, his head bent, and then swung round, took the cigar
-from his lips and regarded the ash fixedly.
-
-“Now,” he said, “don’t think me ungracious”--he smiled
-benignantly--“but I’m going to test you. I happen right now to know of
-several openings in financial and industrial concerns for just such
-a young man as you. They are places calling for clear judgment and
-executive talent such as I’d say you possess. The chances of getting
-on and up would be good, even if you had no capital. Would you care to
-consider these places?”
-
-The smile had faded from his face; he waited gravely, with a scarcely
-perceptible eagerness in his eyes, for the answer.
-
-“I think not, sir. No, Mr. Mills, I’m quite sure of it.” And then,
-thinking that his rejection of the offer was too abrupt and not
-sufficiently appreciative, Bruce added: “You see, I’m going to make a
-strong effort to get close to the top in my profession. I may fall off
-the ladder, but--I’ll catch somewhere! I have a little money--enough
-to tide me over bad times--and I know I’d be sorry if I quit right at
-the start. It’s kind of you to make the suggestion. I assure you I’m
-grateful--it’s certainly very kind of you!”
-
-“Oh, I’m wholly selfish in suggesting it! In my various interests we
-have trouble finding young men of the best sort. I know nothing of your
-circumstances, of course; but I thought maybe a promising business
-opening would appeal to you. On the whole”--Mills was still standing,
-regarding Bruce fixedly as though trying to accommodate himself to some
-newly discovered quality in his guest--“I like to see a young man with
-confidence in his own powers. Yours is the spirit that wins. I hope you
-won’t take it amiss that I broached the matter. You have your engaging
-personality to blame for that!”
-
-“I’m glad to know it isn’t a liability!” said Bruce; and this ended the
-discussion.
-
-
-IV
-
-He left the house with his mind in confusion as to the meaning of
-Mills’s offer. He drove about for an hour, pondering it, reviewing the
-whole evening from the first mention of Laconia to the suggestion,
-with its plausible inadvertence, that business openings might be
-found for him. Mills was hardly the man to make such a proposition
-to a comparative stranger without reason. The very manner in which
-he had approached the subject was significant. _Mills knew!_ If he
-didn’t know, at least his suspicions were strongly aroused. Either his
-conscience was troubling him and he wished to quiet it by a display of
-generosity, or he was anxious to establish an obligation that would
-reduce to the minimum the chance that any demand might be made upon
-him. Bruce was glad to be in a position to refuse Mills’s help; his
-mother’s care and self-denial had made it unnecessary for him to abase
-himself by accepting Mills’s bounty.
-
-He wished he knew some way of making Mills understand that he was in no
-danger; that any fears of exposure he might entertain were groundless.
-His pride rose strong in him as he reviewed his hours spent with Mills.
-He had not acquitted himself badly; he had forced Mills to respect him,
-and this was a point worth establishing. When finally he fell asleep
-it was with satisfaction,--a comforting sense of his independence and
-complete self-mastery.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER THIRTEEN
-
-
-I
-
-Mills, too, though lately mistrustful of his own emotions, was well
-satisfied with the result of the long evening. He had spoken of Marian
-Storrs to Marian’s son and the effect had been to strengthen his belief
-that the young man knew nothing that could in any way prove annoying.
-He was a little sorry that he had suggested finding a business opening
-for Storrs; but decided that on the whole he had managed the matter in
-a manner to conceal his real purpose. Bruce had said that he was not
-wholly dependent upon his earnings for a livelihood, and this in itself
-was reassuring and weighed strongly against the possibility of his ever
-asserting any claim even if he knew or suspected their relationship.
-
-In his careful study of Bruce at their various meetings Mills had
-been impressed increasingly by the young man’s high-mindedness, his
-self-confidence and fine reticences, the variety and range of his
-interests. Ah, if only Shepherd were like that! It was a cruel fate
-that had given him a son he could never own, who had drifted across the
-smooth-flowing current of his life to suggest a thousand contrasts with
-Shepherd Mills--Shep with his pathetically small figure, his absurd
-notions of social equality and his inability to grasp and deal with
-large affairs!
-
-Ugly as the fact was, Bruce Storrs was a Mills; it wasn’t merely in
-the resemblance to the portrait of Franklin Mills III that this was
-evident. Young Storrs’s mental processes were much like those of the
-man who was, to face it frankly, his grandfather. Bruce Storrs, who had
-no right to the Mills name, was likely to develop those traits that had
-endeared Franklin Mills III to the community--traits that nature, with
-strange perversity, had failed utterly to transmit to his lawful son.
-
-Mills, in his new security, pondered these things with a degree of awe.
-The God in whom he had much less faith than in a protective tariff or
-a sound currency system might really be a more potent agent in mundane
-affairs than he, Franklin Mills, who believed in nothing very strongly
-that couldn’t be reduced to figures, had ever thought possible.
-
-As winter gripped the town Mills was uneasy in the thought that he
-wasn’t getting enough out of life. Even with eight million dollars
-and the tastes of a cultivated gentleman, life was paying inadequate
-dividends. And there across the hedge lived Millicent. He would marry
-Millicent; but there were matters to be arranged first....
-
-Millicent was the most beautiful young woman he knew, and she had
-brains and talents that added enormously to her desirability. Against
-this was the fact that the Hardens had risen out of nowhere, and
-Millicent’s possession of a father and mother could not be ignored.
-Their very simplicity and the possession of the homely parochial
-virtues so highly valued in the community by Mills and his generation
-made it possible to do something toward giving them a social status.
-
-Discreet inquiry revealed the consoling fact that Nathaniel Harden was
-taxed on approximately a million dollars’ worth of property. Not for
-nothing had he applied himself diligently for twenty-five years to
-the manufacture of the asthma cure! He was also the creator of a hair
-tonic, a liver accelerator and a liniment that were almost as well
-established in the proprietary drug market as the asthma remedy. Mills
-was amazed to find that there was so much money in the business.
-
-Harden had not brought his laboratory with him when he moved to the
-city, but it was still under his own direction. Fortunately, as Mills
-viewed the matter, the business was conducted under a corporate
-title, that of the International Medical Company, which was much less
-objectionable than if it bore Harden’s name, though the doctor’s
-picture did, regrettably, adorn the bottles in which the world-famous
-asthma cure was offered and exposed for sale.
-
-In his investigations Mills found that Harden had invested his money
-in some of the soundest of local securities. It spoke well for the
-Doctor’s business acumen that he owned stock in the First National
-Bank, which Mills controlled. A vacancy occurring in the directorate,
-Mills caused Harden to be elected to the board. Harden was pleased but
-not overcome by the honor. Mrs. Harden manifested a greater pleasure
-and expressed herself to Mills with characteristic heartiness.
-
-Mills, after much careful consideration, gave a dinner for Doctor and
-Mrs. Harden--made it appear to be a neighborly affair, though he was
-careful to ask only persons whose recognition of the Hardens was likely
-to add to their prestige. Mills had rather dreaded seeing Harden in a
-dress suit, but the Doctor clad in social vestments was nothing to be
-ashamed of. He revealed a sense of humor and related several stories
-of a former congressman from his old district that were really funny.
-Mrs. Harden looked as well and conducted herself with quite as much
-ease as the other women present. No one would have guessed that she
-made salt-rising bread once a week for her husband’s delectation and
-otherwise continued, in spite of her prosperous state, to keep in close
-touch with her kitchen.
-
-After giving the dinner Mills waited a little before venturing further
-in his attempt to lift the social sky line for the Hardens. Much as he
-disliked Constance, he was just the least bit afraid of her. Constance
-was not stupid, and he was not blind to the fact that she wielded a
-certain influence. His daughter-in-law could easily further his plans
-for imparting dignity to the Hardens. And he foresaw that if he married
-again it would be Connie, not Shepherd or Leila, who would resent the
-marriage as a complicating circumstance when the dread hour arrived for
-the parceling of his estate. Leila would probably see little more than
-a joke in a marriage that would make her best friend her stepmother.
-
-“Why isn’t Millie in the Dramatic Club?” he asked Leila one day when
-they were dining alone together.
-
-“Not so easy, Dada. I talked to some of the membership committee about
-it last spring and I have a sneaking idea that they don’t want her.
-Not just that, of course; it’s not Millie but the patent medicine they
-can’t swallow. I think the club’s a bore myself. There’s a bunch of
-girls in it--Connie’s one of them--who think they’re Ethel Barrymores
-and Jane Cowlses, and Millie, you know, might be a dangerous rival.
-Which she would be, all right! So they kid themselves with the idea
-that the club really stands for the real old graveyard society of our
-little village and that they’ve got to be careful who gets by.”
-
-“How ridiculous!” Mills murmured.
-
-“Silly! I do hate snobs! Millie isn’t asked to a lot of the nicest
-parties just because she’s new in town. Doctor Harden’s guyed a
-good deal about his fake medicines. I don’t see anything wrong with
-Doc myself.” Leila bent her head in a quick way she had when mirth
-seized her. “Bud Henderson says the Harden hair tonic’s the smoothest
-furniture polish on the market.”
-
-Mills laughed, but not heartily. The thought of Henderson’s ridicule
-chilled him. Henderson entertained a wide audience with his humor; he
-must be cautious....
-
-
-II
-
-Leila was an impossible young democrat, utterly devoid of the sense of
-social values. He must make an ally of Constance. Connie always wanted
-something; it was one of Connie’s weaknesses to want things. Connie’s
-birthday falling in the second week in December gave him a hint. Leila
-had mentioned the anniversary and reminded her father that he usually
-made Connie a present. Connie expected presents and was not satisfied
-with anything cheap.
-
-Mills had asked a New York jeweler to send out some pearls from which
-to make a selection for a Christmas present for Leila. They were still
-in his vault at the office. He chose from the assortment a string of
-pearls with a diamond pendant and bestowed it upon his daughter-in-law
-on the morning of her birthday. He had made her handsome presents
-before, but nothing that pleased her so much as this.
-
-While Connie’s gratitude was still warm, Mills found occasion to
-mention Millicent one evening when he was dining at Shepherd’s. Leila
-had been asked to some function to which Millicent was not bidden.
-Mills made the very natural comment that it was unfortunate that
-Millicent, intimate as she was with Leila, could not share all her
-pleasures; the discrimination against the Hardens’ daughter was unjust.
-Quick to see what was expected of her, Constance replied that it was
-Millicent’s own fault that she hadn’t been taken up more generally. It
-was perhaps out of loyalty to her parents that she had not met more
-responsively the advances of women who, willing to accept Millicent,
-yet couldn’t quite see her father and mother in the social picture.
-Now that she thought of it, Constance herself had never called on Mrs.
-Harden, but she would do so at once. There was no reason at all why
-Millicent shouldn’t be admitted to the Dramatic Club; she would see to
-that. She thought the impression had got around that Millicent was, if
-not Bohemian in her sympathies, at least something of a nonconformist
-in her social ideas. It was her artistic nature, perhaps.
-
-“That’s nonsense,” said Mills. “There isn’t a better bred girl in
-town. She’s studious, quite an intellectual young woman--but that’s
-hardly against her. I always feel safe about Leila when I know she
-and Millicent are together. And her father and mother are really very
-nice--unpretentious, kindly people. Of course the patent medicine
-business isn’t looked on with great favor--but----”
-
-“But--it’s about as respectable as canning our native corn or cutting
-up pigs,” Constance suggested.
-
-She was bewildered to find Mills, who had looked askance at her own
-claims to social recognition because her father’s real estate and
-insurance business was rather insignificant, suddenly viewing the
-asthma cure so tolerantly. However, a father-in-law who gave her
-valuable presents must be humored in his sudden manifestation of
-contempt for snobbery. This was the first time Mills had ever shown
-any disposition to recognize her social influence. No matter what had
-caused his change of heart, it was flattering to her self-esteem that
-he was, even so indirectly, asking her aid. She liked Millicent well
-enough and gladly promised to help her along.
-
-When Mills left she asked Shepherd what he thought was in the wind;
-but he failed to be aroused by the suggestion that his father might be
-thinking of marrying Millicent. His father would never marry again,
-Shepherd insisted; certainly not unless he found a woman of suitable
-age, for companionship and to promote his comfort when Leila was
-settled.
-
-“You don’t know your father any better than I do, Shep. He always has a
-motive for everything he does--you may be sure of that!”
-
-“Father means to be just and kind,” said Shepherd, half-heartedly, as
-if he were repeating a formula in which he didn’t believe.
-
-“When he’s moved to be generous he certainly lets go with a free
-hand,” Constance remarked. “That necklace wasn’t cheap. I’m afraid it
-wasn’t just a spontaneous outburst of affection for me. I think I owe
-it to Millicent!”
-
-“Oh, father likes you, Connie. You’re foolish to think he doesn’t,”
-Shepherd replied defensively.
-
-“I think your father’s getting nervous about Leila. He’s set his heart
-on having Carroll in the family. But Arthur’s too old. Leila ought to
-marry a younger man. Your father’s been suspecting me of promoting her
-little affair with Freddy Thomas--I’ve seen it in his eye. But I don’t
-think she’s serious about that. She says she’s crazy about him, but as
-she tells everyone, it doesn’t mean anything.”
-
-“Thomas--no,” Shepherd replied slowly. “I shouldn’t be for that myself.
-I don’t like the idea of her marrying a divorced man. Arthur would be
-quite fine, I think. He’s a gentleman and he understands Leila. The man
-who marries her has got to understand her--make a lot of allowances.”
-
-Constance smiled her amusement at his display of sagacity.
-
-“Wrong again, Shep! Leila will settle down and be the tamest little
-matron in town. She seems to have cut out her drinking. That was more
-for effect than anything else. She’s got about all the fun to be had
-out of making people think her a perfect little devil. By the way,
-speaking of marrying men, that young Storrs is a nice fellow--rather
-impressive. I think Leila’s a little tempted to try her hand at
-flirting with him. She was at the Henderson’s yesterday afternoon and
-Bud was shaking up some cocktails. Mr. Storrs came in and Leila refused
-to drink. She joked about it, but said he had made her promise to quit.
-He’s not a prig, but he knows the danger line when he sees it.”
-
-“Yes--yes,” Shepherd assented eagerly. “He’s one of the most attractive
-men I ever met. He’s the kind of fellow you’d trust with anything
-you’ve got!”
-
-“Yes--and be safe,” Constance replied. “He’s hardly likely to do
-anything rash.”
-
-They came again, as they often did, to a discussion of Franklin Mills.
-
-“Your father’s the great unaccountable,” sighed Constance. “I long
-since gave up trying to understand him. He’s a master hand at dodging
-round things that don’t strike him just right. The way he turned down
-your clubhouse scheme was just like him; and the way he spurned my
-little suggestion about buying a summer place. By the way, what are you
-doing about the clubhouse? I thought you were selling your Rogers Trust
-stock to get money to build it. You haven’t weakened, have you, Shep?”
-
-“No! certainly not. I’m going ahead as soon as the weather opens up. I
-sold my stock yesterday and I mean to do the thing right. When I was in
-Chicago last week I looked at a number of community houses and got a
-lot of ideas.”
-
-“Well, don’t get cold feet. That thing has worried you a lot. I’d do it
-or I’d forget it.”
-
-“Oh, I’m going to do it all right!” Shepherd replied jauntily.
-He greatly wished her to think him possessed of the courage and
-initiative to carry through large projects no matter how formidable the
-opposition.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER FOURTEEN
-
-
-I
-
-Franklin Mills was now on better terms with himself than at any time
-since Bruce Storrs’s appearance in town. Open weather had made it
-possible for him to go to Deer Trail once or twice a week for a ride,
-and he walked several miles every day. Leila had agreed to accompany
-him on a trip to Bermuda the first of February. In his absence the
-machinery he had set in motion would be projecting the Hardens a little
-further into the social limelight without his appearing to be concerned
-in it.
-
-He was hoping that the trip would serve effectually to break off
-Thomas’s attentions to Leila, and that within the next year he would
-see her engaged to Carroll. Leila couldn’t be driven; to attempt to
-force the thing would be disastrous. But the thought of her marrying
-Thomas, a divorced man, was abhorrent, while Carroll was in all ways
-acceptable. What Shepherd lacked in force and experience, Carroll would
-bring into the family. Mills was annoyed that he had ever entertained
-a thought that he could be denied anything in life that he greatly
-coveted, or deprived of the comfort and peace he had so long enjoyed.
-He would prolong his Indian Summer; his last years should be his
-happiest.
-
-He enjoyed the knowledge that he exercised, with so little trouble to
-himself, a real power in the community. In a directors’ meeting no one
-spoke with quite his authoritative voice. No other business man in town
-was so thoroughly informed in finance and economics as he. He viewed
-the life of his city with the tranquil delight of a biologist who in
-the quiet of his laboratory studies specimens that have been brought to
-the slide without any effort on his own part. And Mills liked to see
-men squirm--silly men who overreached themselves, pretentious upstarts
-who gestured a great deal with a minimum of accomplishment. Blessed
-with both brains and money, he derived the keenest satisfaction in
-screening himself from contact with the vulgar while he participated in
-the game like an invisible master chess player....
-
-Doctor Lindley had asked him to come in to St. Barnabas to look at the
-Mills Memorial window, which had been restored with Mills’s money. He
-stopped on his way to the office a few days before Christmas and found
-Lindley busy in his study. They went into the church and inspected the
-window, which was quite as good as new. While they were viewing it Mrs.
-Torrence came in, her vivacity subdued to the spirit of the place. She
-was on a committee to provide the Christmas decorations.
-
-“You’re just the man I want to see,” she said to Mills. “I was going to
-call you up. There’s some stuff in your greenhouses I could use if you
-don’t mind.”
-
-“Anything I’ve got! Tell me what you want and I’ll have the people at
-the farm deliver it.”
-
-“That’s fine! I knew you’d be glad to help. The florists are such
-robbers at Christmas.” She scribbled a memorandum of her needs on an
-envelope and left them.
-
-Mills stood with his hand resting on the Mills pew for a last glance
-at the transept window. The church, which had survived all the changes
-compelled by the growth of the city, was to Mills less of a holy place
-than a monument to the past. His grandfather and father had been buried
-from the church; here he had been married, and here Shepherd and Leila
-had been baptized. Leila would want a church wedding.... His thoughts
-transcribed a swift circle; then, remembering that the rector was
-waiting, he followed him into the vestry.
-
-“Can’t you come in for a talk?” asked Lindley after Mills had expressed
-his gratification that the window had been repaired so successfully.
-
-“No; I see there are people waiting for you.” Mills glanced at a row of
-men and women of all ages--a discouraged-looking company ranged along
-the wall outside the study door. One woman with a shawl over her head
-coughed hideously as she tried to quiet a dirty child. “These people
-want advice or other help? I suppose there’s no end to your work.”
-
-“It’s my business to help them,” the rector replied. “They’re all
-strangers--I never saw any of them before. I rather like that--their
-sense of the church standing ready to help them.”
-
-“If they ask for money, what do you do?” asked Mills practically. “Is
-there a fund?”
-
-“Well, I have a contingency fund--yes. Being here in the business
-district, I have constant calls that I don’t feel like turning over to
-the charity society. I deal with them right here the best I can. I make
-mistakes, of course.”
-
-“How much have you in hand now?” Mills asked bluntly. The bedraggled
-child had begun to whimper, and the mother, in hoarse whispers, was
-attempting to silence it.
-
-“Well, I did have about four dollars,” laughed Lindley, “but Mrs.
-Torrence handed me a hundred this morning.”
-
-“I’ll send you a check for a thousand for these emergency cases. When
-it gets low again, let me know.”
-
-“That’s fine, Mills! I can cheer a good many souls with a thousand
-dollars. This is generous of you, indeed!”
-
-“Oh--Lindley!” Mills had reached the street door when he paused and
-retraced his steps. “Just a word--sometime ago in my office I talked to
-you in a way I’ve regretted. I’m afraid I wasn’t quite--quite just, to
-you and the church--to organized religion. I realize, of course, that
-the church----”
-
-“The church,” said Lindley smilingly, “the church isn’t these walls;
-it’s here!” He tapped his breast lightly. “It’s in your heart and mine.”
-
-“That really simplifies the whole thing!” Mills replied, and with a
-little laugh he went on to his office.
-
-He thought it fine of the minister to give audience to the melancholy
-suppliants who sought him for alms and counsel. He didn’t envy Lindley
-his job, but it had to be done by someone. Lindley was really a very
-good fellow indeed, Mills reflected--a useful man in the community, and
-not merely an agreeable table companion and witty after-dinner speaker.
-
-
-II
-
-Before he read his mail Mills dispatched the check for a thousand
-dollars by special messenger. It was a pleasure to help Lindley in his
-work. A man who had to deal with such unpleasant specimens of humanity
-as collected at Lindley’s door shouldn’t be disregarded. He remembered
-having seen Lindley driving about in a rattletrap machine that was
-a disgrace to the parish and the town. It was a reflection upon St.
-Barnabas that its rector was obliged to go about his errands in so
-disreputable a car.
-
-When Carroll came in with some reports Mills told him to see Henderson
-and order a Plantagenet for Lindley to be delivered at the clergyman’s
-house Christmas morning.
-
-Carroll reported a court decision in Illinois sustaining the validity
-of some municipal bonds in which Mills had invested.
-
-“Christmas presents coming in early,” Mills remarked as he read the
-telegram. “I thought I was stung there.”
-
-He approved of the world and its ways. It was a pretty good world,
-after all; a world in which he wielded power, as he liked to wield it,
-quietly, without subjecting himself to the fever and fret of the market
-place. Among other memoranda Carroll had placed on his desk was a list
-of women--old friends of Mrs. Mills--to whom he had sent flowers every
-Christmas since her death. The list was kept in the office files from
-year to year to guard against omissions. Sentiment. Mills liked to
-believe himself singularly blessed with sentiment. He admired himself
-for this fidelity to his wife’s old friends. They probably spoke to one
-another of these annual remembrances as an evidence of the praiseworthy
-feeling he entertained for the old times.
-
-“You told me to keep on picking up Rogers Trust whenever it was in the
-market,” said Carroll. “Gurley called up yesterday and asked if you
-wanted any more. I’ve got two hundred shares here--paid three eighteen.
-They’re closing the transfer books tomorrow so I went ahead without
-consulting you.”
-
-“That part of it’s all right,” Mills remarked, scanning the
-certificate. “Who’s selling this?”
-
-“It was in Gurley’s name--he’d bought it himself.”
-
-“A little queer,” Mills remarked. “There were only a few old
-stockholders who had blocks of two hundred--Larsen, Skinner,
-Saintsbury; and Shep and Leila had the same amount. None of them would
-be selling now. Suppose you step over to the Trust Company and see
-where Gurley got this. It makes no particular difference--I’m just a
-little curious. There’s been no talk about the merger--no gossip?”
-
-“Nothing that I’ve heard. I’m pretty sure Gurley had no inkling of it.
-If he had, of course he wouldn’t have let go at the price he asked.”
-
-When Carroll went out Mills took a turn across the floor. Before
-resuming his chair he stood for a moment at the window looking
-off toward the low hills vaguely limned on the horizon. His mood
-had changed. He greatly disliked to be puzzled. And he was unable
-to account for the fact that Gurley, a broker with whom he rarely
-transacted any business, had become possessed of two hundred shares of
-Roger Trust just at this time.
-
-Larsen, Skinner and Saintsbury were all in the secret of the impending
-merger with the Central States Company. There was Shepherd; he hadn’t
-told Shepherd, but there had been no reason why he should tell Shepherd
-any more than he would have made a confidante of Leila, who probably
-had forgotten that she owned the stock. Having acquired two-thirds of
-the Rogers shares, all that was necessary was to call a meeting of the
-stockholders and put the thing through in accordance with the formula
-already carefully prepared by his lawyers.
-
-When Carroll came back he placed a memorandum on Mills’s desk and
-started to leave the room.
-
-“Just a moment, Carroll”--Mills eyed the paper carefully. “So it was
-Shep who sold to Gurley--is that right?”
-
-“Yes,” Carroll assented. “Gurley only held it a day before he offered
-it to me.”
-
-“Shepherd--um--did Shep tell you he wanted to sell?”
-
-“No; he never mentioned it,” Carroll replied, not relishing Mills’s
-inquiries.
-
-“Call Shep and tell him to stop in this afternoon on his way home,
-and--Carroll”--Mills detained his secretary to impress him with his
-perfect equanimity--“call Mrs. Rawlings and ask how the Judge is. I
-understand he’s had a second stroke. I hate to see these older men
-going----”
-
-“Yes, the Judge has been a great figure,” Carroll replied perfunctorily.
-
-Carroll was troubled. He was fond of Shepherd Mills, recognized the
-young man’s fine qualities and sympathized with his high aims. There
-was something pitiful in the inability of father and son to understand
-each other. And he was not deceived by Franklin Mills’s characteristic
-attempt to conceal his displeasure at Shepherd’s sale of the stock.
-
-It was evident from the manner in which the stock had passed through
-Gurley’s hands that Shepherd wished to hide the fact that he was
-selling. Poor Shep! There could have been no better illustration of
-his failure to understand his father than this. Carroll had watched
-much keener men than Shepherd Mills attempt to deceive Franklin
-Mills. Just why Shepherd should have sold the stock Carroll couldn’t
-imagine. Constance had, perhaps, been overreaching herself. No matter
-what had prompted the sale, Mills would undoubtedly make Shepherd
-uncomfortable about it--not explosively, for Mills never lost his
-perfect self-control--but with his own suave but effective method.
-Carroll wished there were something he could do to save Shep from the
-consequences of his folly in attempting to hide from Franklin Mills a
-transaction so obviously impossible of concealment.
-
-
-III
-
-Shepherd entered his father’s office as he always did, nervous and
-apprehensive.
-
-“Well, Father, how’s everything with you today?” he asked with feigned
-ease.
-
-“All right, Shep,” Mills replied pleasantly as he continued signing
-letters. “Everything all right at the plant?”
-
-“Everything running smoothly, Father.”
-
-“That’s good.” Mills applied the blotter to the last signature and rang
-for the stenographer. When the young woman had taken the letters away
-Mills filled in the assignment on the back of the certificate of stock
-in the Rogers Company which Carroll had brought him that morning and
-pushed it across the desk.
-
-“You seem to have sold your two hundred shares in the Rogers Trust,
-Shep--the two hundred you got from your mother’s estate.”
-
-“Why, yes, Father,” Shepherd stammered, staring at the certificate.
-There was no evidence of irritation in his father’s face; one might
-have thought that Mills was mildly amused by something.
-
-“You had a perfect right to dispose of it, of course. I’m just a trifle
-curious to know why you didn’t mention it to me. It seemed just a
-little--a little--unfriendly, that’s all.”
-
-“No, Father; it wasn’t that!” Shepherd replied hastily.
-
-It had not occurred to him that his father would discover the sale so
-soon. While he hadn’t in so many words asked Gurley to consider the
-transaction a confidential matter, he thought he had conveyed that idea
-to the broker. He felt the perspiration creeping out on his face; his
-hands trembled so that he hid them in his pockets. Mills, his arms on
-the desk, was playing with a glass paper weight.
-
-“How much did Gurley give you for it?” he asked.
-
-“I sold it at two seventy-five,” Shepherd answered. The air of the
-room seemed weighted with impending disaster. An inexorable fate had
-set a problem for him to solve, and his answers, he knew, exposed his
-stupidity. It was like a nightmare in which he saw himself caught in a
-trap without hope of escape.
-
-“It’s worth five hundred,” said Mills with gentle indulgence. “But
-Gurley, in taking advantage of you, blundered badly. I bought it
-from him at three eighteen. And just to show you that I’m a good
-sport”--Mills smiled as he reflected that he had never before applied
-the phrase to himself--“I’m going to sell it back to you at the price
-Gurley paid you. And here’s a blank check,--we can close the matter
-right now.”
-
-Mills pretended to be looking over some papers while Shepherd wrote
-the check, his fingers with difficulty moving the pen. A crisis was at
-hand; or was it a crisis? His fear of his father, his superstitious
-awe of Franklin Mills’s supernatural prescience numbed his will. The
-desk seemed to mark a wide gulf between them. He had frequently
-rehearsed, since his talk with Constance, the scene in which he would
-defend the building of the clubhouse for the battery employees; but
-he was unprepared for this discovery of his purpose. He had meant to
-seize some opportunity, preferably when he could drive his father to
-the battery plant and show him the foundations of the clubhouse, for
-disclosing the fact that he was going ahead, spending his own money.
-It hadn’t occurred to him that Gurley might sell the stock to his
-father. He had made a mess of it. He felt himself cowering, weak and
-ineffectual, before another of those velvety strokes with which his
-father was always able to defeat him.
-
-“You’d better go in early tomorrow and get a new certificate; they’re
-closing the transfer books. The Rogers is merging with the Central
-States--formal announcement will be made early in the new year. The
-combination will make a powerful company. The Rogers lately realized
-very handsomely on some doubtful securities that had been charged off
-several years ago. It was known only on the inside. Gurley thought he
-was making a nice turn for himself, but you see he wasn’t so clever
-after all!”
-
-Shepherd shrank further into himself. It was he who was not clever!
-He hoped to be dismissed like a presumptuous schoolboy caught in an
-attempt to evade the rules. Franklin Mills, putting aside the crystal
-weight, had taken up the ivory paper knife and was drawing it slowly
-through his shapely, well-kept hands.
-
-“I suppose it’s none of my business, Shep, but just why did you sell
-that stock? It was absolutely safe; and I thought that as it came to
-you from your mother, and her father had been one of the original
-incorporators, you would have some sentiment about keeping it. You’re
-not embarrassed in any way, are you? If you’re not able to live within
-your income you ought to come to me about it. You can hardly say that I
-haven’t always stood ready to help when you ran short.”
-
-“Well, no, Father; it wasn’t that. The fact is--well, to tell the
-truth----”
-
-Mills was always annoyed by Shepherd’s stammering. He considered it
-a sign of weakness in his son; something akin to a physical blemish.
-Shepherd frowned and with a jerk of the head began again determinedly,
-speaking slowly.
-
-“I wanted to build that clubhouse for the factory people. I felt that
-they deserved it. You refused to help; I couldn’t make you understand
-how I felt about it. I meant to build it myself--pay for it with my
-own money. So I sold my Rogers stock. I thought after I got the thing
-started you wouldn’t object. You see----”
-
-Shepherd’s eyes had met his father’s gaze, bent upon him coldly, and he
-ceased abruptly.
-
-“Oh, that’s why you sold! My dear boy, I’m surprised and not a little
-grieved that you should think of doing a thing like that. It’s not--not
-quite----”
-
-“Not quite straight!” Shepherd flung the words at him, a gleam of
-defiance in his eyes. “Well, all right! We’ll say it wasn’t square. But
-I did it! And you’ve beaten me. You’ve shown me I’m a fool. I suppose
-that’s what I am. I don’t see things as you do; I wanted to help those
-people--give them a little cheer--brighten their lives--make them more
-contented! But you couldn’t see that! You don’t care for what I think;
-you treat me as though I were a stupid child. I’m only a figurehead at
-the plant. When you ask me questions about the business you do it just
-to check me up--you’ve already got the answers from Fields. Oh, I know
-it! I know what a failure I am!”
-
-He had never before spoken so to his father. Amazed that he had gotten
-through with it, he was horror struck. He sank back in his chair,
-waiting for the sharp reprimand, the violent retort he had invited.
-It would have been a relief if his father had broken out in a violent
-tirade. But Mills had never been more provokingly calm.
-
-“I’m sorry, Shep, that you have this bitterness in your heart.” Mills’s
-tone was that of a man who has heard forbearingly an unjust accusation
-and proceeds patiently to justify himself. “I wouldn’t have you think I
-don’t appreciate your feeling about labor; that’s fine. But I thought
-you accepted my reasons for refusing. I’ve studied these things for
-years. I believe in dealing justly with labor, but we’ve got to be
-careful about mixing business and philanthropy. If you’ll just think
-it over you’ll see that for yourself. We’ve got to be sensible. I’m
-old-fashioned, I suppose, in my way of thinking, but----”
-
-His deprecatory gesture was an appeal to his son to be merciful to a
-sire so hopelessly benighted. Shepherd had hardly taken in what his
-father said. Once more it was borne in upon him that he was no match
-for his father. His anger had fallen upon Franklin Mills as impotently
-as a spent wave breaking upon a stone wall.
-
-“Well, I guess that’s all,” he said faintly.
-
-“One thing more, Shep. There’s another matter I want to speak of.
-It’s occurred to me the past year that you are not happy at the
-battery plant. Frankly, I don’t believe you’re quite adapted to an
-industrial career. The fact is you’re just a little too sensitive,
-too impressionable to deal with labor.” Mills smiled to neutralize
-any sting that might lurk in the remark. “I think you’d be happier
-somewhere else. Now I want someone to represent me in the trust company
-after the merger goes into effect. Carroll is to be the vice-president
-and counsel, perhaps ultimately the president. Fleming did much to
-build up the Rogers and he will continue at the head of the merged
-companies for the present. But he’s getting on in years and is anxious
-to retire. Eventually you and Carroll will run the thing. I never meant
-for you to stay in the battery plant--that was just for the experience.
-Fields will take your place out there. It’s fitting that you should be
-identified with the trust company. I’ve arranged to have you elected a
-vice-president when we complete the reorganization next month--a fine
-opportunity for you, Shep. I hope this meets with your approval.”
-
-Shepherd nodded a bewildered, grudging assent. This was the most
-unexpected of blows. In spite of the fact that his authority at the
-battery plant was, except as to minor routine matters, subordinate to
-that of Fields, he enjoyed his work. He had made many friends among the
-employees and found happiness in counseling and helping them in their
-troubles. He would miss them. To go into a trust company would mean
-beginning a new apprenticeship in a field that in no way attracted him.
-He felt humiliated by the incidental manner of his dismissal from one
-place and appointment to another.
-
-His father went on placidly, speaking of the bright prospects of the
-trust company, which would be the strongest institution of the kind in
-the State. There were many details to be arranged, but the enlargement
-of the Rogers offices to accommodate the combined companies was already
-begun, and Shepherd was to be ready to make the change on the first
-of February. Before he quite realized it his father had glided away
-from the subject and was speaking of social matters--inquiring about a
-reception someone was giving the next night. Shepherd picked up his hat
-and stared at it as though not sure that it belonged to him. His father
-walked round the desk and put out his hand.
-
-“You know, Shep, there’s nothing I have so much at heart as the welfare
-of my children. You married the girl you wanted; I’ve given you this
-experience in the battery company, which will be of value to you in
-your new position, and now I’m sure you’ll realize my best hopes for
-you in what I believe to be a more suitable line of work. I want you
-always to remember it of me that I put the happiness of my children
-before every other consideration.”
-
-“Yes, Father.”
-
-Shepherd passed out slowly through the door that opened directly into
-the hall and, still dazed, reached the street. He wandered about,
-trying to remember where he had parked his car. The city in which he
-was born had suddenly become strange to him. He dreaded going home and
-confessing to Constance that once more he had been vanquished by his
-father. Constance would make her usual effort to cheer him, laugh a
-little at the ease with which his father had frustrated him; tell him
-not to mind. But her very good humor would be galling. He knew what she
-would think of him. He must have time to think before facing Constance.
-If he went to the club it would be to look in upon men intent upon
-their rhum or bridge, who would give him their usual abstracted
-greeting. They cared nothing for him: he was only the son of a wealthy
-father who put him into jobs where he would do the least harm!
-
-
-IV
-
-He must talk to someone. His heart hungered for sympathy and kindness.
-If his father would only treat him as he would treat any other man;
-not as a weakling, a bothersome encumbrance! There was cruelty in the
-reflection that, envied as no doubt he was as the prospective heir to
-a fortune and the inheritor of an honored name, there was no friend to
-whom he could turn in his unhappiness. He passed Doctor Lindley, who
-was talking animatedly to two men on a corner. A man of God, a priest
-charged with the care of souls; but Shepherd felt no impulse to lay
-his troubles before the rector of St. Barnabas, much as he liked him.
-Lindley would probably rebuke him for rebelling against his father’s
-judgments. But there must be someone....
-
-His heart leaped as he thought of Bruce Storrs. The young architect,
-hardly more than an acquaintance, had in their meetings impressed him
-by his good sense and manliness. He would see Storrs.
-
-The elevator shot him up to Freeman’s office. Bruce, preparing to leave
-for the day, put out his hand cordially.
-
-“Mr. Freeman’s gone; but won’t you sit and smoke?”
-
-“No, thanks. Happened to be passing and thought I’d look in. Maybe
-you’ll join me in a little dash into the country. This has been an off
-day with me--everything messy. I suppose you’re never troubled that
-way?”
-
-Bruce saw that something was amiss. Shepherd’s attempt to give an air
-of inadvertence to his call was badly simulated.
-
-“That’s odd!” Bruce exclaimed. “I’m a little on edge myself! Just
-thinking of walking a few miles to pull myself together. What region
-shall we favor with our gloomy presences?”
-
-“That is a question!” Shepherd ejaculated with a mirthless laugh; and
-then striking his hands together as he recalled where he had parked his
-car, he added: “Let’s drive to the river and do our walking out there.
-You won’t mind--sure I’m not making myself a nuisance?”
-
-“Positive!” Bruce declared, though he smothered with some difficulty a
-wish that Shepherd Mills would keep away from him.
-
-It was inconceivable that Shepherd had been drinking, but he was
-clearly laboring under some strong emotional excitement. In offering
-his cigarette case as they waited for the elevator, his hand shook.
-Bruce adopted a chaffing tone as they reached the street, making light
-of the desperate situation in which they found themselves.
-
-“We’re two nice birds! All tuckered out by a few hours’ work. That’s
-what the indoor life brings us to. Henderson got off a good one about
-the new traffic rules--said they’ve got it fixed now so you can’t turn
-anywhere in this town till you get to the cemetery. Suppose the ancient
-Egyptians had a lot of trouble with their chariots--speed devils even
-in those days!”
-
-Shepherd laughed a little wildly now and then at Bruce’s efforts at
-humor. But he said nothing. He drove the car with what for him was
-reckless speed. Bruce good-naturedly chided him, inquiring how he got
-his drag with the police department; but he was trying to adjust
-himself to a Shepherd Mills he hadn’t known before....
-
-They crossed a bridge and Shepherd stopped the car at the roadside.
-“Let’s walk,” he said tensely. “I’ve got to talk--I’ve _got_ to talk.”
-
-“All right, we’ll walk and talk!” Bruce agreed in the tone of one
-indulging a child’s whims.
-
-“I wanted to come to the river,” Shepherd muttered. “I like being where
-there’s water.”
-
-“Many people don’t!” Bruce said, thinking his companion was joking.
-
-“A river is kind; a river is friendly,” Shepherd added in the curious
-stifled voice of one who is thinking aloud. “Water always soothes
-me--quiets my nerves”--he threw his hand out. “It seems so free!”
-
-It was now dark and the winter stars shone brightly over the
-half-frozen stream. Bruce remembered that somewhere in the neighborhood
-he had made his last stop before entering the city; overcome his
-last doubt and burned his mother’s letters that he had borne on his
-year-long pilgrimage. And he was here again by the river with the son
-of Franklin Mills!
-
-Intent upon his own thoughts, he was hardly conscious that Shepherd had
-begun to speak, with a curious dogged eagerness, in a high strained
-voice that broke now and then in a sob. It was of his father that
-Shepherd was speaking--of Franklin Mills. He was a disappointment to
-his father; there was no sympathy between them. He had never wanted to
-go into business but had yielded in good spirit when his father opposed
-his studying medicine. At the battery plant he performed duties of
-no significance; the only joy he derived from the connection was in
-the friendship of the employees, and he was now to be disciplined for
-wanting to help them. His transfer to the trust company was only a
-punishment; in the new position he would merely repeat his experience
-in the factory--find himself of less importance than the office boy.
-
-They paced back and forth at the roadside, hardly aware of occasional
-fast-flying cars whose headlights fell upon them for a moment
-and left them again to the stars. When the first passion of his
-bitter indignation had spent itself, Shepherd admitted his father’s
-generosity. There was no question of money; his father wished him to
-live as became the family dignity. Constance was fine; she was the
-finest woman alive, he declared with a quaver in his voice. But she
-too had her grievances; his father was never fair to Constance. Here
-Shepherd caught himself up sharply. It was the widening breach between
-himself and his father that tore his heart, and Constance had no part
-in that.
-
-“I’m stupid; I don’t catch things quickly,” he went on wearily. “But
-I’ve tried to learn; I’ve done my best to please father. But it’s no
-good! I give it up!”
-
-Bruce, astounded and dismayed by this long recital, was debating what
-counsel he could offer. He could not abandon Shepherd Mills in his
-dark hour. The boy--he seemed only that tonight, a miserable, tragic
-boy--had opened his heart with a child’s frankness. Bruce, remembering
-his own unhappy hours, resolved to help Shepherd Mills if he could.
-
-Their stay by the river must not be prolonged; Shepherd was shivering
-with cold. Bruce had never before been so conscious of his own physical
-strength. He wished that he might confer it upon Shepherd--add to his
-stature, broaden the narrow shoulders that were so unequal to heavy
-burdens! It was, he felt, a critical hour in Shepherd Mills’s life; the
-wrong word might precipitate a complete break in his relations with
-his father. Franklin Mills, as Bruce’s imagination quickened under the
-mystical spell of the night, loomed beside them--a shadowy figure,
-keeping step with them on the dim bank where the wind mourned like an
-unhappy spirit through the sycamores.
-
-“I had no right to bother you; you must think me a fool,” Shepherd
-concluded. “But it’s helped me, just to talk. I don’t know why I
-thought you wouldn’t mind----”
-
-“Of course I don’t mind!” Bruce replied, and laid his hand lightly on
-Shepherd’s shoulder. “I’m pleased that you thought of me; I want to
-help. Now, old man, we’re going to pull you right out of this! It’s
-disagreeable to fumble the ball as we all do occasionally. But this
-isn’t so terrible! That was a fine idea of yours to build a clubhouse
-for the workmen: but on the other hand there’s something to be said
-for your father’s reasons against it. And frankly, I think you made a
-mistake in selling your stock without speaking to him first. It wasn’t
-quite playing the game.”
-
-“Yes; I can see that,” Shepherd assented faintly. “But you see I’d got
-my mind on it; and I wanted to make things happier for those people.”
-
-“Of course you did! And it’s too bad your father doesn’t feel about it
-as you do. But he doesn’t; and it’s one of the hardest things we have
-to learn in this world, that we’ve got to accommodate ourselves very
-often to other people’s ideas. That’s life, old man!”
-
-“I suppose you’re right; but I do nothing but blunder. I never put
-anything over.”
-
-“Oh, yes, you do! You said a bit ago your father didn’t want you to
-marry the girl you were in love with; but you did! That scored for you.
-And about the clubhouse, it’s hard to give it up; but we passionate
-idealists have got to learn to wait! Your day will come to do a lot for
-humanity.”
-
-“No! I’m done! I’m going away; I want a chance to live my own life.
-It’s hell, I tell you, never to be free; to be pushed into subordinate
-jobs I hate. By God, I won’t go into the trust company!”
-
-The oath, probably the first he had ever uttered, cut sharply into
-the night. To Bruce it hinted of unsuspected depths of passion in
-Shepherd’s nature. The sense of his own responsibility deepened.
-
-Shepherd, surprised and ashamed of his outburst, sought and clutched
-Bruce’s hand.
-
-“Steady, boy!” said Bruce gently. “You’ll _take_ the job and you’ll go
-into it with all the pep you can muster! It offers you a bigger chance
-than the thing you’ve been doing. All kinds of people carry their
-troubles to a trust company. Such institutions have a big benevolent
-side,--look after widows and orphans and all that sort of thing. If you
-want to serve humanity you couldn’t put yourself in a better place!
-I’m serious about that. And with Carroll there you’ll be treated with
-respect; you can raise the devil if anybody tries any foolishness!
-Why, your father’s promoting you--showing his confidence in a pretty
-fine way. He might better have told you of his plans earlier--I grant
-that--but he probably thought he’d save it for a surprise. It was
-pretty decent of him to sell you back your stock. A mean, grasping man
-would have kept it and swiped the profit. You’ve got to give him credit
-for trying to do the square thing by you.”
-
-“It was a slap in the face; he meant to humiliate me!” cried Shepherd
-stubbornly.
-
-“All right; assume he did! But don’t be humiliated!”
-
-“You’d stand for it? You wouldn’t make a row?” demanded Shepherd
-quaveringly.
-
-“No: decidedly no!”
-
-“Well, I guess you’re right,” Shepherd replied after a moment’s
-silence. “It doesn’t seem so bad the way you put it. I’m sorry I’ve
-kept you so long. I’ll never forget this; you’ve been mighty kind.”
-
-“I think I’ve been right,” said Bruce soberly.
-
-He was thinking of Franklin Mills--his father and Shepherd’s. There was
-something grotesque in the idea that he was acting as a conciliator
-between Franklin Mills and this son who had so little of the Mills iron
-in his blood. The long story had given him still another impression
-of Mills. It was despicable, his trampling of Shepherd’s toys, his
-calm destruction of the boy’s dreams. But even so, Bruce felt that his
-advice had been sound. A complete break with his father would leave
-Shepherd helpless; and public opinion would be on the father’s side.
-
-Shepherd struck a match and looked at his watch.
-
-“It’s nearly seven!” he exclaimed. “Connie won’t know what’s become
-of me! I think she’s having a Dramatic Club rehearsal at the house
-tonight.”
-
-“That’s good. We’ll stop at the first garage and you can telephone
-her. Tell her you’re having dinner with me at the club. And--may I
-say it?--never tell her of your bad hour today. That’s better kept to
-ourselves.”
-
-“Of course!”
-
-With head erect Shepherd walked to the car. His self-confidence was
-returning. Before they reached the club his spirits were soaring. He
-was even eager to begin his work with the trust company.
-
-After a leisurely dinner he drove Bruce home. When he said good-night
-at the entrance to the apartment house he grasped both Bruce’s hands
-and clung to them.
-
-“Nothing like this ever really happened to me before,” he said
-chokingly. “I’ve found a friend!”
-
-They remained silent for a moment. Then Bruce looked smilingly into
-Shepherd’s gentle, grateful eyes and turned slowly into the house.
-The roar of Shepherd’s car as it started rose jubilantly in the quiet
-street.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER FIFTEEN
-
-
-I
-
-Duty was a large word in Franklin Mills’s lexicon. It pleased him to
-think that he met all his obligations as a parent and a citizen. In
-his own cogitations he was well satisfied with his handling of his
-son Shepherd. Shepherd had needed just the lesson he had given him
-in the matter of the sale of the Rogers Trust Company stock. Mills,
-not knowing that Bruce Storrs was responsible for Shepherd’s change
-of mind, was highly pleased that his son had expressed his entire
-satisfaction with his transfer from the battery plant to the new trust
-company.
-
-The fact that Shepherd was now eager to begin his new work and
-evidently had forgotten all about the community house project increased
-Mills’s contentment with his own wisdom and his confidence in his
-ability to make things happen as he wanted them to happen. Shepherd
-was not so weak; he was merely foolish, and being foolish, it was
-lucky that he had a father capable of checking his silly tendencies.
-The world would soon be in a pretty mess if all the sons of rich men
-were to begin throwing their money to the birds. In the trust company
-Shepherd would learn to think in terms of money without the emotional
-disturbances caused by contact with the hands that produced it.
-Shepherd, Mills felt, would be all right now. Incidentally he had
-taught the young man not to attempt to play tricks on him--something
-which no one had ever tried with success.
-
-The social promotion of the Hardens was proceeding smoothly, thanks
-to Connie’s cooperation. Mrs. Harden had been elected a member of the
-Orphan Asylum board, which in itself conferred a certain dignity.
-Leila and Connie had effected Millicent’s election to the Dramatic
-Club. These matters were accomplished without friction, as Mills
-liked to have things done. Someone discovered that Doctor Harden’s
-great-grandfather, back in the year of the big wind, had collected more
-bounties for wolf scalps than had ever been earned by any other settler
-in Jackson County, and the Doctor was thereupon admitted to fellowship
-in the Pioneer Society. The Hardens did not climb; they were pushed up
-the ladder, seemingly by unseen hands, somewhat to their own surprise
-and a little to their discomfiture.
-
-
-II
-
-The only cloud on Mills’s horizon was his apprehension as to Leila’s
-future. Mills was increasingly aware that she couldn’t be managed as
-he managed Shepherd. He had gone as far as he dared in letting Carroll
-know that he would be an acceptable son-in-law, and he had perhaps
-intimated a little too plainly to Leila the desirability of such an
-arrangement. Carroll visited the house frequently; but Leila snubbed
-him outrageously. When it pleased her to accept his attentions it
-was merely, Mills surmised, to allay suspicion as to her interest
-elsewhere. It was his duty to see that Leila married in keeping with
-her status as the daughter of the house of Mills.
-
-In analyzing his duty with respect to Leila, it occurred to Mills
-that he might have been culpable in not laying more stress upon the
-merits of religion in the upbringing of Leila. She had gone to Sunday
-school in her earliest youth; but churchgoing was not to her taste.
-He was unable to remember when Leila had last attended church, but
-never voluntarily within his recollection. She needed, he decided,
-the sobering influence of religion. God, in Mills’s speculations,
-was on the side of order, law and respectability. The church frowned
-upon divorce; and Leila must be saved from the disgrace of marrying a
-divorced man. Leila needed religion, and the idea broadened in Mills’s
-mind until he saw that probably Constance and Shepherd, too, would be
-safer under the protecting arm of the church.
-
-The Sunday following Christmas seemed to Mills a fitting time for
-renewing the family’s acquaintance with St. Barnabas. When he
-telephoned his invitation to Constance, carefully putting it in the
-form of a suggestion, he found his daughter-in-law wholly agreeable
-to the idea. She and Shepherd would be glad to breakfast with him and
-accompany him to divine worship. When he broached the matter to Leila
-she did not explode as he had expected. She took a cigarette from her
-mouth and expelled the smoke from her lungs.
-
-“Sure, I’ll go with you, Dada,” she replied.
-
-He had suggested nine as a conservative breakfast hour, but Constance
-and Shepherd were fifteen minutes late. Leila was considerably later,
-but appeared finally, after the maid had twice been dispatched to her
-room. Having danced late, she was still sleepy. At the table she
-insisted on scanning the society page of the morning newspaper. This
-annoyed Mills, particularly when in spreading out the sheet she upset
-her water glass, with resulting deplorable irrigation of the tablecloth
-and a splash upon Connie’s smart morning dress that might or might not
-prove permanently disfiguring. Mills hated a messy table. He also hated
-criticism of food. Leila’s complaint that the scalloped sweetbreads
-were too dry evoked the pertinent retort that if she hadn’t been late
-they wouldn’t have been spoiled.
-
-“I guess that’ll hold me for a little while,” she said cheerfully. “I
-say, Dada, what do we get for going to church?”
-
-“You’ll get what you need from Doctor Lindley,” Mills replied, frowning
-at the butler, who was stupidly oblivious of the fact that the flame
-under the percolator was threatening a general conflagration. Shepherd,
-in trying to clap on the extinguisher, burned his fingers and emitted
-a shrill cry of pain. All things considered, the breakfast was hardly
-conducive to spiritual uplift.
-
-It was ten minutes after eleven when the Millses reached St. Barnabas
-and the party went down the aisle pursued by an usher to the chanting
-of the _Venite, exultemus Domino_. The usher, caught off guard, was
-guiltily conscious of having a few minutes before filled the Mills
-pew with strangers in accordance with the rule that reserved seats
-for their owners only until the processional. Mills, his silk hat on
-his arm, had not foreseen such a predicament. He paused in perplexity
-beside the ancestral pew in which five strangers were devoutly
-reinforcing the chanting of the choir, happily unaware that they were
-trespassers upon the property of Franklin Mills.
-
-The courteous usher lifted his hand to indicate his mastery of the
-situation and guided the Mills party in front of the chancel to seats
-in the south transept. This maneuver had the effect of publishing to
-the congregation the fact that Franklin Mills, his son, daughter-in-law
-and daughter, were today breaking an abstinence from divine worship
-which regular attendants knew to have been prolonged.
-
-Constance, Leila and Shepherd knelt at once; Mills remained standing. A
-lady behind him thrust a prayer book into his hand. In trying to find
-his glasses he dropped the book, which Leila, much diverted, recovered
-as she rose. This was annoying and added to Mills’s discomfiture
-at being planted in the front seat of the transept where the whole
-congregation could observe him at leisure.
-
-However, by the time the proper psalms for the day had been read he had
-recovered his composure and listened attentively to Doctor Lindley’s
-sonorous reading of the lessons. His seat enabled him to contemplate
-the Mills memorial window in the north transept, a fact which mitigated
-his discomfort at being deprived of the Mills pew.
-
-Leila stifled a yawn as the rector introduced as the preacher for the
-day a missionary bishop who had spent many years in the Orient. Mills
-had always been impatient of missionary work among peoples who, as
-he viewed the matter, were entitled to live their lives and worship
-their gods without interference by meddlesome foreigners. But the
-discourse appealed strongly to his practical sense. He saw in the
-schools and hospitals established by the church in China a splendid
-advertisement of American good will and enterprise. Such philanthropies
-were calculated to broaden the market for American trade. When Doctor
-Lindley announced that the offerings for the day would go to the
-visitor to assist in the building of a new hospital in his far-away
-diocese, Mills found a hundred dollar bill to lay on the plate....
-
-
-III
-
-As they drove to Shepherd’s for dinner he good-naturedly combated
-Constance’s assertion that Confucius was as great a teacher as Christ.
-Leila said she’d like to adopt a Chinese baby; the Chinese babies in
-the movies were always so cute. Shepherd’s philanthropic nature had
-been deeply impressed by the idea of reducing human suffering through
-foreign missions. He announced that he would send the bishop a check.
-
-“Well, I claim it was a good sermon,” said Leila. “That funny old bird
-talked a hundred berries out of Dada.”
-
-When they reached the table, Mills reproved Leila for asserting that
-she guessed she was a Buddhist. She confessed under direct examination
-that she knew nothing about Buddhism but thought it might be worth
-taking up sometime.
-
-“Millie says there’s nothing in the Bible so wonderful as the world
-itself,” Leila continued. “Millie has marvelous ideas. Talk about
-miracles--she says the grass and the sunrise are miracles.”
-
-“Millie is such a dear,” Constance murmured in a tone that implied a
-lack of enthusiasm for grass and sunrises.
-
-“Millicent has a poetic nature,” Mills remarked, finding himself
-self-conscious at the mention of Millicent. Millicent’s belief in
-a Supreme Power that controls the circling planets and guides the
-destinies of man was interesting because Millicent held it and talked
-of it charmingly.
-
-“_Did_ you see that outlandish hat Mrs. Charlie Felton was sporting?”
-Leila demanded with cheerful irrelevance. “I’ll say it’s some hat! She
-ought to hire a blind woman to buy her clothes.”
-
-“I didn’t see anything the matter with her hat,” remarked Shepherd.
-
-“You _wouldn’t_, dear!” said Constance.
-
-“Who’s Charlie Felton?” asked Mills. “It seemed to me I didn’t know a
-dozen people in church this morning.”
-
-“Oh, the Feltons have lately moved here from Racine, Fond du Lac or St.
-Louis--one of those queer Illinois towns.”
-
-“Those towns may be queer,” said her father gently. “But they are not
-in Illinois.”
-
-“Oh, well, give them to Kansas, then,” said Leila, who was never
-disturbed by her errors in geography or any other department of
-knowledge. “You know,” she continued, glad the conversation had been
-successfully diverted from religion, “that Freddy Thomas was in college
-with Charlie Felton and Freddy says Mrs. Felton isn’t as bad as her
-hats.”
-
-Mills frowned. Shepherd laughed at this more joyously than the remark
-deserved and stammeringly tried to cover up the allusion to Thomas. It
-was sheer impudence for Leila to introduce into the Sunday table talk
-a name that could only irritate her father; but before Shepherd could
-make himself articulate Mills looked up from his salad.
-
-“_Freddy?_ I didn’t know you were so intimate with anyone of that name.”
-
-This was not, of course, strictly true. Leila always referred to Thomas
-as Freddy; she found a mischievous delight in doing so before her
-father. Since she became aware of her father’s increasing displeasure
-at Thomas’s attentions and knew that the young man’s visits at the
-house were a source of irritation, she had been meeting Thomas at
-the homes of one or another of her friends whose discretion could be
-relied on, or at the public library or the Art Institute--it was a joke
-that Leila should have availed herself of these institutions for any
-purpose! Constance in giving her an admonitory prod under the table
-inadvertently brushed her father-in-law’s shin.
-
-“I meant Mr. Frederick Thomas, Dada,” Leila replied, her gentle tone in
-itself a species of impudence.
-
-“I hope you are about done with that fellow,” said Mills, frowning.
-
-“Sure, Dada, I’m about through with him,” she replied with intentional
-equivocation.
-
-“I should think you would be! I don’t like the idea of your name being
-associated with his!”
-
-“Well, it isn’t, is it?”
-
-Mills disliked being talked back to. His annoyance was increased by the
-fact that he had been unable to learn anything detrimental to Thomas
-beyond the fact that the man had been divorced. The decree of divorce,
-he had learned in Chicago, was granted to Thomas though his wife had
-brought the suit. While not rich, Thomas was well-to-do, and when it
-came to the question of age, Arthur Carroll was a trifle older. But
-Leila should marry Carroll. Carroll was ideally qualified to enter the
-family by reason of his familiarity with its history and traditional
-conservatism. He knew and respected the Franklin Mills habit of mind,
-and this in itself was an asset. Mills had no intention of being
-thwarted in his purpose to possess Carroll as a son-in-law....
-
-Gloom settled over the table. Mills, deeply preoccupied, ate his
-dessert in silence. Leila presented a much more serious and pressing
-problem than foreign missions. Constance strove vainly to dispel the
-cloud. Leila alone seemed untroubled; she repeated a story that Bud
-Henderson had told her which was hardly an appropriate addendum for
-a missionary sermon. Her father rebuked her sternly. If there was
-anything that roused his ire it was a risqué story.
-
-“One might think,” he said severely, “that you were brought up in a
-slum from the way you talk. The heathen are not all in China!”
-
-“Well, it is a funny story,” Leila persisted. “I told it to Doctor
-Harden and he almost died laffin’. Doc certainly knows a joke. You’re
-not angry--not really, terribly angry at your ’ittle baby girl, is ’ou,
-Dada?”
-
-“I most certainly am!” he retorted grimly. A moment later he added:
-“Well, let’s go to Deer Trail for supper. Connie, you and Shep are free
-for the evening, I hope?”
-
-“We’ll be glad to go, of course,” Constance replied amiably.
-
-
-IV
-
-The Sunday evening suppers at Deer Trail were usually discontinued
-after Christmas, and Leila was taken aback by the announcement. Her
-father had not, she noted, shown his usual courtesy in asking her if
-she cared to go. She correctly surmised that the proposed flight into
-the country was intended as a disciplinary measure for her benefit.
-She had promised to meet Thomas at the Burtons’ at eight o’clock, and
-he could hardly have hit upon anything better calculated to awaken
-resentment in her young breast. She began to consider the hazards of
-attempting to communicate with Thomas to explain her inability to keep
-the appointment. As there were to be no guests, the evening at Deer
-Trail promised to be an insufferably dull experience and she must dodge
-it if possible.
-
-“Oh, don’t let’s do that!” she said. “It’s too cold, Dada. And the
-house is always drafty in the winter!”
-
-“Drafty!” Her father stared at her blandly. The country house was
-steam-heated and this was the first time he had ever heard that it was
-drafty. The suggestion of drafts was altogether unfortunate. “Had you
-any engagement for this evening?” he asked.
-
-“Oh, I promised Mrs. Torrence I’d go there for supper--she’s having
-some people in to do some music. It’s just an informal company, but I
-hate dropping out.”
-
-Constance perceptibly shuddered.
-
-“When did she give this invitation?” asked Mills, with the utmost
-urbanity.
-
-“Oh, I met her downtown yesterday. It’s no great matter, Dada. If
-you’re making a point of it, I’ll be glad to go to the farm!”
-
-“Mrs. Torrence must be a quick traveler,” her father replied, entirely
-at ease. “I met her myself yesterday morning. She was just leaving for
-Louisville and didn’t expect to be back until Tuesday.”
-
-“How funny!” Leila ejaculated, though she had little confidence in her
-ability to give a humorous aspect to her plight. She bent her head in
-the laugh of self-derision which she had frequently employed in easing
-her way out of similar predicaments with her father. This time it
-merely provoked an ironic smile.
-
-Mills, from the extension telephone in the living room, called Deer
-Trail to give warning of the approach of four guests for supper; there
-was no possible escape from this excursion. Thomas filled Leila’s
-thoughts. He had been insisting that they be married before the
-projected trip to Bermuda. The time was short and she was uncertain
-whether to take the step now or postpone it in the hope of winning her
-father’s consent in the intimate association of their travels.
-
-Today Mills’s cigar seemed to be of interminable length. As he smoked
-he talked in the leisurely fashion he enjoyed after a satisfactory
-meal, and Constance never made the mistake of giving him poor food.
-He had caught Leila in a lie--a stupid, foolish lie; but no one would
-have guessed that it had impressed him disagreeably or opened a new
-train of suspicions in his mind. Constance was admiring his perfect
-self-restraint; Franklin Mills, no matter what else he might or might
-not be, was a thoroughbred.
-
-“If you don’t have to stop at home, Leila, we can start from here,” he
-said--“at three o’clock.”
-
-“Yes, Dada. I’m all set!” she replied.
-
-Constance and Shepherd left the room and Leila was prepared for a sharp
-reprimand, but her father merely asked whether she had everything
-necessary for the Bermuda trip. He had his steamer reservation and they
-would go to New York a few days ahead of the sailing date to see the
-new plays and she could pick up any little things she needed.
-
-“Arthur’s going East at the same time. We have some business errands in
-New York,” he continued in a matter of course tone.
-
-She was aware that he had mentioned Carroll with special intention, and
-it added nothing to her peace of mind.
-
-“That’s fine, Dada,” she said, reaching for a fresh cigarette. “Arthur
-can take me to some of the new dancing places. Arthur’s a good little
-hopper.”
-
-She felt moved to try to gloss over her blunder in pretending to have
-an engagement that evening with Helen Torrence, but her intuitions
-warned her that the time was not fortunate for the practice of her
-familiar cajoleries upon her father. She realized that she had outgrown
-her knack of laughing herself out of her troubles; and she had never
-before been trapped so neatly. Like Shepherd, she felt that in dealing
-with her father she never knew what was in his mind until he laid his
-cards on the table--laid them down with the serenity of one who knows
-thoroughly the value of his hand.
-
-She was deeply in love with Thomas and craved sympathy and help; but
-she felt quite as Shepherd always did, her father’s remoteness and the
-closing of the common avenues of communication between human beings.
-He had always indulged her, shown kindness even when he scolded and
-protested against her conduct; but she felt that his heart was as
-inaccessible as a safety box behind massive steel doors. On the drive
-to Deer Trail she took little part in the talk, to which Shepherd
-and Constance tried, with indifferent success, to impart a light and
-cheery tone. When they reached the country house, which derived a
-fresh picturesqueness from the snowy fields about it, Mills left them,
-driving on to the stables for a look at his horses.
-
-“Well, that was some break!” exclaimed Constance the moment they were
-within doors. “Everybody in town knows Helen is away. You ought to have
-known it yourself! I never knew you to do anything so clumsy as that!”
-
-“Oh, shoot! I didn’t want to come out here today. It’s a bore; nobody
-here and nothing to do. And I object to being punished like a child!”
-
-“You needn’t have lied to your father; that was inexcusable,” said
-Constance. “If you’ve got to do such a thing, please don’t do it when
-I’m around!”
-
-“See here, sis,” began Shepherd with a prolonged sibilant stutter,
-“let’s be frank about this! You know this thing of meeting Fred Thomas
-at other people’s houses is no good. You’ve got to stop it! Father
-would be terribly cut up if he found you out. You may be sure he
-suspects something now, after that foolish break about going to Helen
-Torrence’s.”
-
-“Well, I haven’t said I was going to meet anyone, have I?” Leila
-demanded defiantly.
-
-“You don’t have to. There are other people just as clever as you are,”
-Constance retorted, jerking off her gloves.
-
-“I can’t imagine what you see in Thomas,” Shepherd persisted.
-
-“I don’t care if you don’t. It’s my business what I see in him.” Leila
-nervously lighted a cigarette. “Freddy’s a fine fellow; father doesn’t
-know a thing against him!”
-
-“If you marry him you’ll break father’s heart,” Shepherd declared
-solemnly.
-
-“His heart!” repeated Leila with fine contempt. “You needn’t think
-he’s going to treat me as he treats you. I won’t stand for it! How
-about that clubhouse you wanted to build--how about this sudden idea of
-taking you out of the battery business and sticking you into the trust
-company? You didn’t want to change, did you? He didn’t ask you if you
-wanted to move, did he? I’ll say he didn’t! That’s dada all over--he
-doesn’t ask you; he tells you! And I’m not a child to be sent to bed
-whenever his majesty gets peevish.”
-
-“Don’t be ridiculous!” said Constance with a despairing sigh. “You’re
-going to make trouble for all of us if you don’t drop Freddy!”
-
-“You tell _me_ not to make trouble!”
-
-Leila’s eyes flashed her scorn of the idea and something more. Her
-words had the effect of bringing a deep flush to Constance’s face.
-Constance walked to the fire and sat down. There was no counting on
-Leila’s discretion; and if she eloped with Thomas the town would hum
-with talk about the whole Mills family.
-
-“Now, Leila,” began Shepherd, who had not noticed his wife’s
-perturbation or understood the nature of the spiteful little stab that
-caused it. “You’d better try to square yourself with father.”
-
-“I see myself trying! You two make me tired! Please don’t talk to me
-any more!”
-
-
-V
-
-She waited until Constance and Shepherd had found reading matter and
-were settled before the fireplace, and then with the remark that
-she wanted to fix her hair, went upstairs; and after closing a door
-noisily to allay suspicions, went cautiously down the back stairs to
-the telephone in the butler’s pantry. Satisfying herself by a glance
-through the window that her father was still at the stables, she called
-Thomas’s number and explained her inability to go to the Burtons’ where
-they had planned to meet. Happy to hear his voice, she talked quite as
-freely as though speaking to him face to face, and his replies over the
-wire soothed and comforted her....
-
-“No, dear; there’d only be a row if you asked father now. You’ll have
-to take my word for that, Freddy.”
-
-“I’m not so sure of that--if he knows you love me!”
-
-“Of course I love you, Freddy!”
-
-“Then let us be married and end all this bother. You’re of age; there’s
-nothing to prevent us. I’d a lot rather have it out with your father
-now. I know I can convince him that I’m respectable and able to take
-care of you. I’ve got the record of the divorce case; there’s nothing
-in it I’m ashamed of.”
-
-“That’s all right enough; but the very mention of it would make him
-furious. We’ve talked of this a hundred times, Freddy, and I’m not
-going to let you make that mistake. We’re going to wait a little
-longer!”
-
-“You won’t go back on me?”
-
-“Never, Freddy!”
-
-“You might meet someone on the trip you’d like better. I’m going to be
-terribly nervous about you!”
-
-“Then you don’t trust me! If you don’t trust me you don’t love me!”
-
-“Don’t be so foolish. I’m mad about you. And I’m sick of all this
-sneaking round for a chance to see you!”
-
-“Be sensible, dear; it’s just as hard for me as it is for you. And
-people _are_ talking!”
-
-In her absorption she had forgotten the importance of secrecy and the
-danger of being overheard. The swing doors had creaked several times,
-but she had attributed this to suction from an open window in the
-kitchen. Constance and Shepherd would wonder at her absence; the talk
-must not be prolonged.
-
-“I’ve got to go!” she added hurriedly.
-
-“Say you care--that you’re not just putting me off----”
-
-“I love you, Freddy! Please be patient. Remember, I love you with all
-my heart! Yes, always!”
-
-As she hung up the receiver she turned round to face her father. He had
-entered the house through the kitchen and might or might not have heard
-part of her dialogue with Thomas. But she was instantly aware that her
-last words, in the tense, lover-like tone in which she had spoken them,
-were enough to convict her.
-
-“Hello, Dada! How’s the live stock?” she asked with poorly feigned
-carelessness as she hung the receiver on the hook.
-
-Mills, his overcoat flung over his arm, his hat pushed back from his
-forehead, eyed her with a cold stare.
-
-“Why are you telephoning here?” he demanded.
-
-“No reasons. I didn’t want to disturb Connie and Shep. They’re reading
-in the living-room.”
-
-“That’s very thoughtful of you, I’m sure!”
-
-“I thought so myself,” she replied, and took a step toward the
-dining-room door. He flung out his arm arrestingly.
-
-“Just a moment, please!”
-
-“Oh, hours--if you want them!”
-
-“I overheard some of your speeches. To whom were you speaking--tell me
-the truth!”
-
-“Don’t be so fierce about it! And do take off your hat! You look so
-funny with your hat stuck on the back of your head that way!”
-
-“Never mind my hat! It will be much better for you not to trifle with
-me. Who was on the other end of that telephone?”
-
-“What if I don’t tell you?” she demanded.
-
-“I want an answer to my question! You told me one falsehood today; I
-don’t want to hear another!”
-
-“Well, you won’t! I was talking to Mr. Frederick V. Thomas!”
-
-“I thought as much. Now I’ve told you as plainly as I know how
-that you’ve got to drop that fellow. He’s a scoundrel to force his
-attentions on you. I haven’t wanted to bring matters to an issue with
-you about him. I’ve been patient with you--let him come to the house
-and go about with you. But you’ve not played fair with me. When I told
-you I didn’t like his coming to the house so much you began meeting
-him when you thought I wouldn’t know it--that’s a fact, isn’t it?”
-
-“Yes, Dada--only a few times, though.”
-
-“May I ask what you mean by that? That a girl brought up as you
-have been, with every advantage and indulgence, should be so basely
-ungrateful as to meet a man I disapprove of--meet him in ways that show
-you know you’re doing a wrong thing--is beyond my understanding. It’s
-contemptible; it’s close upon the unpardonable!”
-
-“Then why don’t you act decently about it?” She lifted her head and met
-his gaze unwaveringly. “If you didn’t hear what I said I’ll tell you! I
-told him I love him; I’ve promised to marry him.”
-
-“Well, you won’t marry him!” he exclaimed, his voice quavering in
-his effort to restrain his anger. “A man who’s left a wife somewhere
-and plays upon the sympathy of a credulous young girl like you is a
-contemptible hound!”
-
-“All right, then! He’s a contemptible hound!”
-
-Her insolence, her refusal to cower before him, increased his
-anger. His time-tried formula for meeting emergencies by superior
-strategy--the method that worked so well with his son--was of no use to
-him here. He had lost a point in letting her see that for once in his
-life his temper had got the better of him. He had been too tolerant of
-her faults; the bills for his indulgence were coming in now--a large
-sheaf of them. She must be handled with care--with very great caution,
-indeed; thus far in his life he had got what he wanted, and it was not
-for a girl whom he saw only as a spoiled child to circumvent him.
-
-But he realized at this moment that Leila was no longer a child. She
-was not only a woman, but a woman it would be folly to attempt to drive
-or frighten. He was alarmed by the composure with which she waited for
-the further disclosure of his purposes, standing with her back against
-the service shelf, eyeing him half hostilely, half, he feared, with a
-hope that he would carry the matter further and open his guard for a
-thrust he was not prepared to parry. He was afraid of her, but she must
-not know that he was afraid.
-
-He took off his hat and let it swing at arm’s length as he considered
-how to escape with dignity from the corner into which she had forced
-him. Sentiment is a natural refuge of the average man when other
-resources fail. He smiled benevolently, and with a quick lifting of the
-head remarked:
-
-“This isn’t the way for us to talk to each other. We’ve always been
-the best of friends; nothing’s going to change that. I trust your good
-sense--I trust”--here his voice sank under the weight of emotion--“I
-trust your love for me--your love for your dear mother’s memory--to do
-nothing to grieve me, nothing that would hurt her.”
-
-“Yes, Dada,” she said absently, not sure how far she could trust his
-mood. Then she walked up to him and drew her hand across his cheek
-and gave his tie a twitch. He drew his arm about her and kissed her
-forehead.
-
-“Let this be between ourselves,” he said. “I’ll go around and come in
-the front way.”
-
-She went up the back stairs and reappeared in the living-room,
-whistling. Constance and Shepherd were still reading before the fire
-where she had left them.
-
-After supper--served at the dining-room table tonight--Leila was
-unwontedly silent, and the attempts of Constance and Shepherd to be gay
-were sadly deficient in spontaneity. Mills’s Sunday, which had begun
-with high hopes, had been bitterly disappointing. Though outwardly
-tranquil and unbending a little more than usual, his mind was elsewhere.
-
-
-VI
-
-The happy life manifestly was not to be won merely by going to church.
-At the back of his mind, with all his agnosticism, he had entertained
-a superstitious belief that in Christianity there was some secret of
-happiness revealed to those who placed themselves receptively close
-to the throne of grace. This was evidently a mistake; or at least it
-was clear from the day’s experience that the boon was less easy of
-attainment than he had believed.
-
-He recalled what the rector of St. Barnabas had said to him the morning
-he had gone in to inspect the Mills window--that walls do not make
-the church, that the true edifice is within man’s own breast. Lindley
-shouldn’t say things like that, to perplex the hearer, baffle him,
-create a disagreeable uneasiness! This hint of a God whose tabernacle
-is in every man’s heart was displeasing. Mills didn’t like the idea
-of carrying God around with him. To grant any such premise would be
-to open the way for doubts as to his omnipotence in his own world;
-and Franklin Mills was not ready for that. He groped for a deity
-who wouldn’t be a nuisance, like a disagreeable guest in the house,
-upsetting the whole establishment! God should be a convenience, subject
-to call like a doctor or a lawyer. But how could a man reach Lindley’s
-God, who wasn’t in the church at all, but within man himself?
-
-In his pondering he came back to his own family. He didn’t know
-Shepherd; he didn’t know Leila. And this was all wrong. He knew
-Millicent Harden better than he knew either of his children.
-
-He had friends who were good pals with their children, and he wondered
-how they managed it. Maybe it was the spirit of the age that was the
-trouble. It was a common habit to fix responsibility for all the
-disturbing moral and social phenomena of the time on the receding World
-War, or the greed for gain, or the diminished zeal for religion. This
-brought him again to God; uncomfortable--the reflection that thought in
-all its circling and tangential excursions does somehow land at that
-mysterious door.... Leila must be dealt with. She was much too facile
-in dissimulation. He was confident that no other Mills had ever been
-like that.
-
-When they reached home he followed Leila into her room. He took the
-cigarette she offered him and sat down in the low rocking chair she
-pulled out for him--a befrilled feminine contrivance little to his
-taste. Utterly at a loss as to how he could most effectively reprimand
-her for her attempted deception and give her to understand that he
-would never countenance a marriage with Thomas, he was relieved when
-she took the initiative.
-
-“I _was_ naughty, Dada!” she said. “But Freddy was going over to the
-Burtons’ tonight and I had told him I’d be there--that’s all. I wasn’t
-just crazy about going to the farm.”
-
-She held a match for him, extinguished it with a flourish, and after
-lighting her own cigarette dropped down on the chaise longue with
-a weary little sigh. If she had remained standing or had sat down
-properly in a chair, his rôle as the stern, aggrieved parent would have
-been simpler. Leila was so confoundedly difficult, so completely what
-he wished she was not!
-
-“About this Thomas----” he began.
-
-“Oh, pshaw! Don’t you bother a little tiny bit about him. I’m just
-teasing him along.”
-
-“I must say your talk over the telephone sounded pretty serious to me!”
-
-“Oh, bunk! All the girls talk to men that way these days--it doesn’t
-mean anything!”
-
-“What’s that? You say the words you used don’t _mean_ anything?”
-
-“Not a thing, Dada. If you’d tell a man you didn’t love him he’d be
-sure to think you did!”
-
-“A dangerous idea, I should think.”
-
-“Oh, no! Everything’s different from what it was when you were young!”
-
-“Yes; I’ve noticed that!” he replied drily. “But seriously, Leila, this
-meeting a man--a man we know little about--at other people’s houses
-won’t do! You ought to have more self-respect and dignity than that!”
-
-“You’re making too much of it, Dada! It’s happened only two or three
-times. I thought you were sore about Freddy’s coming here so much, and
-I _have_ met him other places--always perfectly proper places!”
-
-“I should hope so!” he exclaimed with his first display of spirit.
-“But you can’t afford to go about with him. You’ve got to remember the
-community has a right to expect the best of you. You should think of
-your dear mother even if you don’t care for me!”
-
-“Now, Dada!” She leveled her arm at him, the smoking cigarette in her
-slim fingers. “Don’t be silly; you _know_ I adore you; I’ve always been
-perfectly crazy about you!”
-
-She spoke in much the same tone she would have used in approving of a
-new suit of clothes he had submitted for inspection.
-
-“Now, I have your promise----” he said, sitting up alertly in his chair.
-
-“Promise, Dada?” she inquired, her thoughts far afield. “Oh, about
-Freddy! Well, if you’ll be happier I promise you now never to marry
-him. Frankly--_frankly_--I’m not going to marry anybody right away.
-When I get ready I’ll probably marry Arthur if some widow doesn’t
-snatch him first. But please don’t crowd me, Dada! If there _is_
-anything I hate it’s being crowded!”
-
-“Nobody’s crowding you!” he said, feeling that she was once more
-eluding him.
-
-“Then don’t push!” she laughed.
-
-“Let’s not have any more nonsense,” he said. “I think you do a lot of
-things just to annoy me. It isn’t fair!”
-
-“Why, Dada!” she exclaimed in mock astonishment. “I thought you liked
-being kidded. I kid all your old friends and it tickles ’em to death.”
-
-“Go to bed!” he retorted, laughing in spite of himself.
-
-She mussed his hair before kissing him good-night, but even as he
-turned away he could see that her thoughts were elsewhere.
-
-
-VII
-
-Behind his own door, as he thought it over, the interview was about
-as unsatisfactory as an interview could be. She had kept it in her
-own hands, left him no opening for the eloquent appeal he had planned
-or the severe scolding she deserved. He wished he dared go back and
-put his arms about her and tell her how deeply he loved her. But he
-lacked the courage; she wouldn’t understand it. It was the cruelest of
-ironies that he dare not knock at his child’s door to tell her how
-precious she was to him.
-
-That was the trouble--he didn’t know how to make her understand! As he
-paced the floor, he wondered whether anyone in all the world had ever
-loved him! Yes, there was Marian Storrs; and, again, the woman who had
-been his wife. Beyond question each had, in her own way, loved him; but
-both were gathered into the great company of the dead. That question,
-as to whether anyone had ever loved him, reversed itself: in the whole
-course of his life had he, Franklin Mills, ever unselfishly loved
-anyone? This was the most disagreeable question that had forced itself
-upon Franklin Mills’s attention in a long time. As he tried to go to
-sleep it took countless forms in the dark, till the room danced with
-interrogation marks.
-
-He turned on the lights and got up. After moving about restlessly for
-a time he found himself staring at his reflection in the panel mirror
-in the bathroom door. It seemed to him that the shadow in the glass was
-not himself but the phantom of a man he had never known.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER SIXTEEN
-
-
-I
-
-At Christmas Bruce had sent Millicent a box of flowers, which she had
-acknowledged in a cordial little note, but he had not called on her,
-making the excuse to himself that he lacked time. But the real reason
-was a fear that he had begun to care too much for her. He must not
-allow himself to love her when he could never marry her; he could never
-ask any woman to take a name to which he had no honest right.
-
-But if he hadn’t seen Millicent he heard of her frequently. He was
-established as a welcome visitor at all times at the Freemans’ and
-the Hendersons’. The belated social recognition of the Hardens, in
-spite of the adroitness with which Mills had inspired it, had not gone
-unremarked.
-
-There was, Bud said, always some reason for everything Mills did; and
-Maybelle, who knew everything that was said and done in town, had
-remarked in Bruce’s hearing that the Hardens’ social promotion was
-merely an item in Mills’s courtship of Millicent.
-
-“I’ll wager he doesn’t make it! Millicent will never do it,” was
-Maybelle’s opinion, expressed one evening at dinner.
-
-“Why not?” Bruce asked, trying to conceal his suspicion that the
-remark was made for his own encouragement.
-
-“Oh, Millie’s not going to throw herself away on an old bird like Frank
-Mills. She values her youth too much for that.”
-
-“Oh, you never can tell,” said Bud provokingly. “Girls have done it
-before this.”
-
-“But not girls like Millicent!” Maybelle flung back.
-
-“That’s easy,” Bud acquiesced. “There never was a girl like Millie--not
-even you, Maybelle, much as I love you. But all that mazuma and
-that long line of noble ancestors; not a spot on the whole bloomin’
-scutcheon! I wonder if Mills is really teasing himself with the idea
-that he has even a look-in!”
-
-“What you ought to do, Bruce, is to sail in and marry Millie yourself,”
-said Maybelle. “Dale and I are strong for you!”
-
-“Thanks for the compliment!” exclaimed Bruce. “You and Dale want me to
-enter the race in the hope of seeing Mills knocked out! No particular
-interest in me! You don’t want me to win half as much as you want the
-great Mills to lose. Alas! And this is friendship!”
-
-“The idea warms my sporting blood,” said Bud. “Once the struggle begins
-we’ll post the bets on the club bulletin. I’ll start with two to one on
-you, old top!”
-
-“I’m surprised at Connie--she seems to be helping on the boosting of
-the Hardens,” said Maybelle. “It must occur to her that it wouldn’t
-help her own fortunes to have a healthy young stepmother-in-law prance
-into the sketch. When Frank Mills passes on some day Connie’s going
-to be all set to spend a lot of his money. Connie’s one of the born
-spenders.”
-
-“That’s all well enough,” remarked Bud. “But just now Connie’s only
-too glad to have Mills’s attention directed away from her own little
-diversions. She and George Whitford----”
-
-“Bud!” Maybelle tapped her water glass sharply. “Remember, boys, these
-people are our friends!”
-
-“Not so up-stage, darling!” said Bud. “I’m sure we’ve been talking only
-in a spirit of loving kindness!”
-
-“Honorable men and women--one and all!” said Bruce.
-
-“Absolutely!” Bud affirmed, and the subject was dropped.
-
-A few nights later Bruce was obliged to listen to similar talk at the
-Freemans’, though in a different key. Mrs. Freeman was indignant that
-Mills should think of marrying Millicent.
-
-“There’s just one right man in the world for every woman,” she
-declared. “And the right man for Millicent is you, Bruce Storrs!”
-
-Bruce met her gaze with mock solemnity.
-
-“Please don’t force me into a hasty marriage! Here I am, a struggling
-young architect who will soon be not so young. Give me time to become
-self-supporting!”
-
-“Of course Millie will marry you in the proper course of things,” said
-Freeman. “If that girl should throw herself away on Franklin Mills she
-wouldn’t be Millie. And she is very much Millie!”
-
-“Heavens!” exclaimed his wife. “The bare thought of that girl, with
-her beauty, her spiritual insight, her sweetness, linking herself to
-that--that----”
-
-“This talk is all bosh!” interrupted Freeman. “I doubt if Mills ever
-sees Millicent alone. These gossips ought to be sent to the penal farm.”
-
-“Oh, I think they’ve seen each other in a neighborly sort of way,” said
-Mrs. Freeman. “Mills is a cultivated man and Millicent’s music and
-modeling no doubt really interest him. I ran in to see her the other
-morning and she’s been doing a bust of Mills--she laughed when I asked
-her about it and said she had hard work getting sitters and Mr. Mills
-is ever so patient.”
-
-The intimacy implied in this kindled Bruce’s jealousy anew. Dale
-Freeman, whose prescience was keen, saw a look in his face that gave
-her instant pause.
-
-“Mr. Mills and Leila are leaving in a few days,” she remarked quickly.
-“I don’t believe he’s much of a success as a matchmaker. It’s been in
-the air for several years that Leila must marry Arthur Carroll, but he
-doesn’t appear to be making any headway.”
-
-“Leila will do as she pleases,” said Freeman, who was satisfied with a
-very little gossip. “Bruce, how do you feel about tackling that Laconia
-war memorial?”
-
-Bruce’s native town was to build a museum as a memorial to the soldiers
-in all her wars, from the Revolutionary patriots who had settled the
-county to the veterans of the Great War. Freeman had encouraged Bruce
-to submit plans, which were to be passed on by a jury of the highest
-distinction. Freeman kept strictly to domestic architecture; but
-Bruce’s ideas about the memorial had impressed him by their novelty.
-His young associate had, he saw, a natural bent for monumental
-structures that had been increased by the contemplation of the famous
-memorials in Europe. They went into the Freemans’ study to talk over
-the specifications and terms of the competition, and by midnight Bruce
-was so reassured by his senior’s confidence that it was decided he
-should go to work immediately on his plans.
-
-“It would be splendid, Bruce!” said Dale, who had sewed during the
-discussion, throwing in an occasional apt comment and suggestion.
-“The people of Laconia would have all the more pride in their heroes
-if one of them designed the memorial. It’s not big enough to tempt the
-top-notchers in the profession, but if you land it it will push you a
-long way up!”
-
-“Yes; it would be a big thing for you,” Freeman added. “You’d better
-drop your work in the office and concentrate on it....”
-
-Undeterred by the cold, Bruce drove daily into the country, left his
-car and walked--walked with a new energy begotten of definite ambition
-and faith in his power of achievement. To create beautiful things: this
-had been his mother’s prayer for him. He would do this for her; he
-would create a thing of beauty that should look down forever upon the
-earth that held her dust.
-
-The site of the proposed building was on the crest of a hill on the
-outskirts of Laconia and within sight of its main street. Bruce had
-known the spot all his life and had no trouble in visualizing its
-pictorial possibilities. The forest trees that crowned the hill would
-afford a picturesque background for an open colonnade that he meant to
-incorporate in his plans.
-
-Walking on clear, cold nights he fancied that he saw on every hilltop
-the structure as it would be, with the winds playing through its arches
-and wistful young moons coming through countless years to bless it anew
-with the hope and courage of youth.
-
-
-II
-
-On Shep’s account rather than because of any interest he felt in
-Constance, Bruce had twice looked in at the Shepherd Mills’s on
-Constance’s day at home.
-
-Constance made much of the informality of her “days,” but they were,
-Bruce thought, rather dull. The girls and the young matrons he met
-there gave Mrs. Shep the adoration her nature demanded; the few men who
-dropped in were either her admirers or they went in the hope of meeting
-other young women in whom they were interested. On the first of these
-occasions Bruce had found Leila and Fred Thomas there, and both times
-George Whitford was prominent in the picture.
-
-Thomas was not without his attractions. His cherubic countenance and
-the infantile expression of his large myopic blue eyes made him appear
-younger than his years. The men around the University Club said he had
-a shrewd head for business; the women of the younger set pronounced him
-very droll, a likely rival of Bud Henderson for humor. It was easy to
-understand why he was called Freddy; he had the look of a Freddy. And
-Bruce thought it quite natural that Leila Mills should fancy him.
-
-Constance’s attempts to attract the artistic and intellectual on
-her Thursdays had been a melancholy failure; such persons were much
-too busy, and it had occurred to the musicians, literary aspirants
-and struggling artists in town that there was something a little
-patronizing in her overtures. Her house was too big; it was not half so
-agreeable as the Freemans’, and of course Freeman was an artist himself
-and Dale was intelligently sympathetic with everyone who had an idea
-to offer. As Bud Henderson put it, Dale could mix money and social
-position with art and nobody thought of its being a mixture, whereas
-at Constance’s you were always conscious of being either a sheep or
-a goat. Connie’s upholstery was too expensive, Bud thought, and her
-sandwiches were too elaborate for the plebeian palates of goats inured
-to hot ham in a bun in one-arm lunch rooms.
-
-Gossip, like death, loves a shining mark, and Mrs. Shepherd Mills
-was too conspicuous to escape the attention of the manufacturers and
-purveyors of rumor and scandal. The parochial habit of mind dies
-hard in towns that leap to cityhood, and the delights of the old
-time cosy gossip over the back fence are not lightly relinquished.
-Bruce was appalled by the malicious stories he heard about people he
-was beginning to know and like. He had heard George Whitford’s name
-mentioned frequently in connection with Connie’s, but he thought little
-of it. He had, nevertheless, given due weight to Helen Torrence’s
-warning to beware of becoming one of Connie’s victims.
-
-There was a good deal of flirting going on among young married people,
-Bruce found, but it was of a harmless sort. Towns of two and three
-hundred thousand are too small for flirtations that pass the heavily
-mined frontiers of discretion. Even though he had weakly yielded to an
-impulse and kissed Connie the night he drove her from the Freemans’ to
-Deer Trail, he took it for granted that it had meant no more to her
-than it had to him. And he assumed that on the earlier afternoon, when
-he met Connie and Whitford on the road, Whitford had probably been
-making love to Connie and Connie had not been unwilling to be made love
-to. There were women like that, he knew, not infrequently young married
-women who, when the first ardor of marriage has passed, seek to prolong
-their youth by re-testing their charm for men. Shepherd Mills was
-hardly a man to inspire a deep love in a woman of Connie’s temperament;
-it was inevitable that Connie should have her little fling.
-
-On his way home from one of his afternoon tramps Bruce was moved to
-make his third call at the Shepherd Mills’s. It was not Connie’s day at
-home, but she had asked him to dinner a few nights earlier when it was
-impossible for him to go and he hadn’t been sure that she had accepted
-his refusal in good part. He was cold and tired--happily tired, for
-the afternoon spent in the wintry air had brought the solution of
-several difficult questions touching the Laconia memorial. His spirit
-had won the elation which workers in all the arts experience when hazy
-ideas begin to emerge into the foreground of consciousness and invite
-consideration in terms of the tangible and concrete.
-
-He would have stopped at the Hardens’ if he had dared; lights shone
-invitingly from the windows as he passed, but the Mills house, with
-its less genial façade, deterred him. The thought of Millicent was
-inseparable from the thought of Mills....
-
-He hadn’t realized that it was so late until he had rung the bell
-and looked at his watch under the entry light. The maid surveyed him
-doubtfully, and sounds of lively talk from within gave him pause. He
-was about to turn away when Constance came into the hall.
-
-“Oh, pleasantest of surprises!” she exclaimed. “Certainly you’re coming
-in! There’s no one here but old friends--and you’ll make another!”
-
-“If it’s a party, I’m on my way,” he said hesitatingly.
-
-“Oh, it’s just Nellie Burton and George Whitford--nothing at all to be
-afraid of!”
-
-At this moment Mrs. Burton and Whitford exhibited themselves at the
-living-room door in proof of her statement.
-
-“Bully!” cried Whitford. “Of course Connie knew you were coming!”
-
-“I swear I didn’t!” Constance declared.
-
-“No matter if you did!” Whitford retorted.
-
-Mrs. Burton clasped her hands devoutly as Bruce divested himself of his
-overcoat. “We were just praying for another man to come in--and here
-you are!”
-
-“And a man who’s terribly hard to get, if you ask me!” said Constance.
-“Come in to the fire. George, don’t let Mr. Storrs perish for a drink!”
-
-“He shall have gallons!” replied Whitford, turning to a stand on which
-the materials for cocktail making were assembled. “We needed a fresh
-thirst in the party to give us a new excuse. ‘Stay me with flagons’!”
-
-“Now, _Bruce_,” drawled Constance. “_Did_ I ever call you _Bruce_
-before? Well, you won’t mind--say you don’t mind! Shep calls you by
-your first name, why not I?”
-
-“This one is to dear old Shep--absent treatment!” said Mrs. Burton as
-she took her glass.
-
-“Shep’s in Cincinnati,” Constance was explaining. “He went down on
-business yesterday and expected to be home for dinner tonight--but he
-wired this forenoon that he has to stay over. So first comes Nellie and
-then old George blows in, and we were wishing for another man to share
-our broth and porridge.”
-
-“My beloved hubby’s in New York; won’t you be my beau, Mr. Storrs?”
-asked Mrs. Burton.
-
-“_Bruce!_” Constance corrected her.
-
-“All right, then, Bruce! I’m Nellie to all the good comrades.”
-
-“Yes, Nellie,” said Bruce with affected shyness. He regarded them
-amiably as they peppered him with a brisk fire of questions as to where
-he had been and why he made himself so inaccessible.
-
-Mrs. Burton he knew but slightly. She was tall, an extreme blonde and
-of about Constance’s age. Like Constance, she was not of the older
-order of the local nobility. Her father had been a manufacturer of
-horsedrawn vehicles, and when the arrival of the gasoline age destroyed
-his business he passed through bankruptcy into commercial oblivion.
-However, the law of compensations operated benevolently in Nellie’s
-favor. She married Dick Burton, thereby acquiring both social standing
-and a sound financial rating. She was less intelligent than Constance,
-but more daring in her social adventures outside the old conservative
-stockade.
-
-“George brought his own liquor,” said Constance. “We have him to thank
-for this soothing mixture. Shep’s terribly law-abiding; he won’t have
-the stuff on the place. Bruce, you’re not going to boast of other
-engagements; you’ll dine right here!”
-
-“That’s all settled!” remarked Whitford cheerfully.
-
-“If Bruce goes he takes me with him!” declared Mrs. Burton. “I’m not
-going to be left here to watch you two spoon. I’m some little spooner
-myself!”
-
-“You couldn’t drive me from this house,” protested Bruce.
-
-“There spoke a real man!” cried Constance, and she rang for the maid to
-order the table set for four.
-
-Mrs. Burton, whom Bruce had met only once before, became confidential
-when Constance and Whitford went to the piano in the reception parlor,
-where Whitford began improvising an air to some verses he had written.
-
-“Constance is always so lucky! All the men fall in love with her.
-George has a terrible case--writes poems to Connie’s eyes and
-everything!”
-
-“Every woman should have her own poet,” said Bruce. “I couldn’t make a
-rhyme to save my life!”
-
-“Oh, well, do me something in free verse; you don’t need even an idea
-for that!”
-
-“Ah, the reality doesn’t need metrical embellishment!”
-
-“Thanks so much; I ought to have something clever to hand back to you.
-Constance always know just what to say to a man. I have the courage,
-but I haven’t the brains for a first-class flirt.”
-
-“Men are timid creatures,” he said mournfully. “I haven’t the slightest
-initiative in these matters. You are charming and the light of your
-eyes was stolen from the stars. Does that have the right ring?”
-
-“Well, hardly! You’re not intense enough! You make me feel as though I
-were a freak of some kind. Oh, George----”
-
-“Yes, Nellie----” Whitford answered from the piano.
-
-“You must teach Bruce to flirt. His education’s been neglected.”
-
-“He’s in good hands now!” Whitford replied.
-
-“Oh, Bruce is hopeless!” exclaimed Connie, who was seated beside
-Whitford at the piano. “I gave him a try-out and he refused to play!”
-
-“Then I give up right now!” Mrs. Burton cried in mock despair.
-
-Bruce half suspected that she and Whitford had not met at Constance’s
-quite as casually as they pretended. But it was not his affair, and he
-was not averse to making a fourth member of a party that promised at
-least a little gaiety.
-
-Mrs. Burton was examining him as to the range of his acquaintance
-in the town, and what had prompted him to settle there, and what
-he thought of the place--evoking the admission (always expected of
-newcomers) that it was a place singularly marked by its generous
-hospitality--when she asked with a jerk of the head toward Constance
-and Whitford:
-
-“What would you do with a case like that?”
-
-“What would I do with it?” asked Bruce, who had been answering her
-questions perfunctorily, his mind elsewhere. Constance and Whitford,
-out of sight in the adjoining room, were talking in low tones to the
-fitful accompaniment of the piano. Now and then Constance laughed
-happily.
-
-“It really oughtn’t to go on, you know!” continued Mrs. Burton. “Those
-people are _serious_! But--what is one to do?”
-
-“My dear Nellie, I’m not a specialist in such matters!” said Bruce, not
-relishing her evident desire to discuss their hostess.
-
-“Some of their friends--I’m one of them--are _worried_! I know Helen
-Torrence has talked to Constance. She really ought to catch herself up.
-Shep’s so blind--poor boy! It’s a weakness of his to think everyone
-perfectly all right!”
-
-“It’s a noble quality,” remarked Bruce dryly. “You don’t think Shep
-would object to this party?”
-
-“There’s the point! Connie isn’t stupid, you know! She asked me to come
-just so she could keep George for dinner. And being a good fellow, I
-came! I’m ever so glad you showed up. I might be suspected of helping
-things along! But with you here the world might look through the
-window!”
-
-“Then we haven’t a thing to worry about!” said Bruce with finality.
-
-“It’s too bad,” she persisted, “that marriage isn’t an insurance of
-happiness. Now George and Constance are ideally suited to each other;
-but they never knew it until it was too late. I wish he’d go to Africa
-or some far-off place. If he doesn’t there’s going to be an earthquake
-one of these days.”
-
-“Well, earthquakes in this part of the world are never serious,” Bruce
-remarked, uncomfortable as he found that Constance’s friend was really
-serious and appealing for his sympathy.
-
-“You probably don’t know Franklin Mills--no one does, for that
-matter--but with his strict views of things there’d certainly be a big
-smash if _he_ knew!”
-
-“Well, of course there’s nothing for him to know,” said Bruce
-indifferently.
-
-The maid came in to announce dinner and Constance and Whitford
-reappeared.
-
-“George has been reciting lovely poetry to me,” said Constance.
-“Nellie, has Bruce kept you amused? I know he _could_ make love
-beautifully if he only _would_!”
-
-“He’s afraid of me--or he doesn’t like me,” said Mrs. Burton--“I don’t
-know which!”
-
-“He looks guilty! He looks terribly guilty. I’m sure he’s been making
-love to you!” said Constance dreamily as though under the spell of
-happy memories. “We’ll go in to dinner just as we are. These informal
-parties are always the nicest.”
-
-
-III
-
-Whitford was one of those rare men who are equally attractive to both
-men and women. Any prejudice that might have been aroused in masculine
-minds by his dilettantism was offset by his adventures as a traveler,
-hunter and soldier.
-
-“Now, heroes,” began Mrs. Burton, when they were seated, “tell us some
-war stories. I was brought up on my grandfather’s stories of the Civil
-War, but the boys we know who went overseas to fight never talk war at
-all!”
-
-“No wonder!” exclaimed Whitford. “It was only a little playful
-diversion among the nations. That your idea, Storrs?”
-
-“Nothing to it,” Bruce assented. “We had to go to find out that the
-French we learned in school was no good!”
-
-Whitford chuckled and told a story of an encounter with a French
-officer of high rank he had met one wet night in a lonely road. The
-interview began with the greatest courtesy, became violent as neither
-could make himself intelligible to the other, and then, when each
-was satisfied of the other’s honorable intentions, they parted with
-a great flourish of compliments. Bruce capped this with an adventure
-of his own, in which his personal peril was concealed by his emphasis
-on the ridiculous plight into which he got himself by an unauthorized
-excursion through a barbed wire entanglement for a private view of the
-enemy.
-
-“That’s the way they all talk!” said Connie admiringly. “You’d think
-the whole thing had been a huge joke!”
-
-“You’ve got to laugh at war,” observed Whitford, “it’s the only way.
-It’s so silly to think anything can be proved by killing a lot of
-people and making a lot more miserable.”
-
-“You laugh about it, but you might both have been killed!” Mrs. Burton
-expostulated.
-
-“No odds,” said Whitford, “except--that we’d have missed this party!”
-
-They played bridge afterward, though Whitford said it would be more fun
-to match dollars. The bridge was well under way when the maid passed
-down the hall to answer the bell.
-
-“Just a minute, Annie!” Constance laid down her cards and deliberated.
-
-“What’s the trouble, Connie? Is Shep slipping in on us?” asked Mrs.
-Burton.
-
-“Hardly,” replied Constance, plainly disturbed by the interruption.
-“Oh, Annie, don’t let anyone in you don’t know.”
-
-They waited in silence for the opening of the door.
-
-In a moment Franklin Mills’s voice was heard asking if Mr. and Mrs.
-Mills were at home.
-
-“Um!” With a shrug Constance rose hastily and met Mills at the door.
-
-“I’d like to see you just a moment, Connie,” he said without prelude.
-
-Whitford and Bruce had risen. Mills bowed to them and to Mrs. Burton,
-but behind the mask of courtesy his face wore a haggard look.
-
-Constance followed him into the hall where their voices--Mills’s low
-and tense--could be heard in hurried conference. In a moment Constance
-went to the hall telephone and called a succession of numbers.
-
-“The club--Freddy Thomas’s rooms----” muttered Whitford. “Wonder what’s
-up----”
-
-They exchanged questioning glances. Whitford idly shuffled and
-reshuffled the cards.
-
-“He’s looking for Leila. Do you suppose----” began Mrs. Burton in a
-whisper.
-
-“You’re keeping score, aren’t you, Storrs?” asked Whitford aloud.
-
-They began talking with forced animation about the game to hide their
-perturbation over Mills’s appearance and his evident concern as to
-Leila’s whereabouts.
-
-“Mr. Thomas is at the club,” they heard Constance report. “He dined
-there alone.”
-
-“You’re sure Leila’s not been here--she’s not here now?” Mills demanded
-irritably.
-
-“I haven’t seen Leila at all today,” Constance replied with patient
-deliberation. “I’m so sorry you’re troubled. She’s probably stopped
-somewhere for dinner and forgotten to telephone.”
-
-“She usually calls me up. That’s what troubles me,” Mills replied, “not
-hearing from her. There’s no place else you’d suggest?”
-
-“No----”
-
-“Thank you, Connie. Shep’s still away?”
-
-“Yes. He’ll be back tomorrow.”
-
-Mills paused in the doorway and bowed to the trio at the card table.
-“I’m sorry I interrupted your game!” he said, forcing a smile. “Do
-pardon me!”
-
-He turned up the collar of his fur-lined coat and fumbled for the
-buttons. There seemed to Bruce a curious helplessness in the slow
-movement of his fingers.
-
-Constance followed him to the outer door, and as it closed upon him
-walked slowly back into the living room.
-
-“That’s a pretty how-d’ye-do! Leila ought to have a whipping! It’s
-after eight and nothing’s been seen of her since noon. But she hasn’t
-eloped--that’s one satisfaction! Freddy’s at the club all right enough.”
-
-“She’s certainly thrown a scare into her father,” remarked Mrs. Burton.
-“He looked positively ill.”
-
-“It’s too bad!” ejaculated Whitford. “I hope she hasn’t got soused and
-smashed up her car somewhere.”
-
-“I wish Freddy Thomas had never been born!” cried Constance
-impatiently. “Leila and her father have been having a nasty time over
-him. And she had cut drinking and was doing fine!”
-
-“Is there anything we can do?--that’s the question,” said Whitford,
-taking a turn across the floor.
-
-Bruce was thinking hard. What might Leila do in a fit of depression
-over her father’s hostility toward Thomas?...
-
-“I think maybe----” he began. He did not finish, but with sudden
-resolution put out his hand to Constance. “Excuse me, won’t you? It’s
-just possible that I may be able to help.”
-
-“Let me go with you,” said Whitford quickly.
-
-“No, thanks; Mr. Mills may come back and need assistance. You’d better
-stay. If I get a clue I’ll call up.”
-
-It was a bitter night, the coldest of the year, and he drove his car
-swiftly, throwing up the windshield and welcoming the rush of cold air.
-He thought of his drive with Shepherd to the river, and here he was
-setting forth again in a blind hope of rendering a service to one of
-Franklin Mills’s children!...
-
-On the unlighted highway he had difficulty in finding the gate that
-opened into the small tract on the bluff above the boathouse where he
-had taken Leila and Millicent on the summer evening when he had rescued
-them from the sandbar. Leaving his car at the roadside, he stumbled
-down the steps that led to the water. He paused when he saw lights in
-the boathouse and moved cautiously across the veranda that ran around
-its land side. A vast silence hung upon the place.
-
-He opened the door and stood blinking into the room. On a long couch
-that stretched under the windows lay Leila, in her fur coat, with a
-rug half drawn over her knees. Her hat had slipped to the floor and
-beside it lay a silver flask and an empty whisky bottle. He touched her
-cheek and found it warm; listened for a moment to her deep, uneven
-breathing, and gathered her up in his arms.
-
-He reached the door just as it opened and found himself staring into
-Franklin Mills’s eyes--eyes in which pain, horror and submission
-effaced any trace of surprise.
-
-“I--I followed your car,” Mills said, as if an explanation of his
-presence were necessary. “I’m sure--you are very--very kind----”
-
-He stepped aside, and Bruce passed out, carrying the relaxed body
-tenderly. As he felt his way slowly up the icy steps he could hear
-Mills following.
-
-The Mills limousine stood by the gate and the chauffeur jumped out and
-opened the door. No words were spoken. Mills got into the car slowly,
-unsteadily, in the manner of a decrepit old man. When he was seated
-Bruce placed Leila in his arms and drew the carriage robe over them.
-The chauffeur mounted to his place and snapped off the tonneau lights,
-and Bruce, not knowing what he did, raised his hand in salute as the
-heavy machine rolled away.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
-
-
-I
-
-The day following his discovery of Leila Mills in the boathouse, Bruce
-remained in his apartment. He was not a little awed by the instinct
-that had led him to the river--the unlikeliest of places in which to
-seek the runaway girl. The poor little drugged body lying there in the
-cold room; her deep sigh and the touch of her hand on his face as he
-took her up, and more poignantly the look in Franklin Mills’s face when
-they met at the door, remained with him, and he knew that these were
-things he could never forget....
-
-There was more of superstition and mysticism in his blood than he had
-believed. Lounging about his rooms, staring down at the bleak street as
-it whitened in a brisk snowfall, his thoughts ranged the wide seas of
-doubt and faith. Life was only a corridor between two doors of mystery.
-Petty and contemptible seemed the old familiar teachings about God. Men
-were not rejecting God; they were merely misled as to his nature. The
-spirit of man was only an infinitesimal particle of the spirit that was
-God. No other person he had ever talked with had offered so reasonable
-a solution of the problem as Millicent.
-
-Again he went over their talk on the golf course. Millicent had the
-clue--the clue to a reality no less tangible and plausible because
-it was born of unreality. And here was the beginning of wisdom: to
-abandon the attempt to explain all things when so manifestly life would
-become intolerable if the walls of mystery through which man moves
-were battered down. As near as he was able to express it, the soul
-required room--all infinity, indeed, as the playground for its proper
-exercise. The freer a man’s spirit the greater its capacity for loving
-and serving its neighbor souls. Somewhere in the illimitable horizons
-of which Millicent dreamed it was imaginable that Something august
-and supreme dominated the universe--Something only belittled by every
-attempt to find a name for it....
-
-Strange reflections for a healthy young mind in a stalwart, vigorous
-young body! Bruce hardly knew himself today. The scent of Leila’s
-hair as he bore her out of the boathouse had stirred a tenderness in
-his heart that was strange to him. He hoped Franklin Mills had dealt
-leniently with Leila. He had no idea what the man would do or say
-after finding his daughter in such a plight. He considered telephoning
-Mills’s house to ask about her, but dismissed the thought. His duty was
-discharged the moment he gave her into her father’s keeping; in all the
-circumstances an inquiry would be an impertinence.
-
-Poor Leila! Poor, foolish, wilful, generous-hearted little girl! Her
-father was much too conspicuous for her little excursions among the
-shoals of folly to pass unremarked. Bruce found himself excusing and
-defending her latest escapade. She had taken refuge in the oblivion of
-alcohol as an escape from her troubles.... Something wrong somewhere.
-Shep and Leila both groping in the dark for the door of happiness
-and getting no help from their father in their search--a deplorable
-situation. Not altogether Franklin Mills’s fault; perhaps no one’s
-fault; just the way things happen, but no less tragic for all that.
-
-Bruce asked the janitor to bring in his meals, content to be alone,
-looking forward to a long day in which to brood over his plans for the
-memorial. He was glad that he had not run away from Franklin Mills. It
-was much better to have remained in the town, and more comfortable to
-have met Mills and the members of his family than to have lived in the
-same community speculating about them endlessly without ever knowing
-them. He knew them now all too well! Even Franklin Mills was emerging
-from the mists; Bruce began to think he knew what manner of man Mills
-was. Shepherd had opened his own soul to him; and Leila--Bruce made
-allowances for Leila and saw her merits with full appreciation. One
-thing was certain: he did not envy Franklin Mills or his children their
-lot; he coveted nothing they possessed. He thanked his stars that he
-had had the wit to reject Mills’s offer to help him into a business
-position of promise; to be under obligation of any sort to Franklin
-Mills would be intolerable. Through the afternoon he worked desultorily
-on his sketches of the Laconia memorial, enjoying the luxury of
-undisturbed peace. He began combining in a single drawing his memoranda
-of details; was so pleased with the result in crayon that he began
-a pen and ink sketch and was still at this when Henderson appeared,
-encased in a plaid overcoat that greatly magnified his circumference.
-
-“What’s responsible for this!” Bruce demanded.
-
-“Thanks for your hearty greeting! I called your office at five-minute
-intervals all day and that hard-boiled telephone girl said you hadn’t
-been there. All the clubs denied knowledge of your whereabouts, so I
-clambered into my palatial Plantagenet and sped out, expecting to find
-you sunk in mortal illness. You must stop drinking, son.”
-
-“That’s a good one from you! Please don’t sit on those drawings!”
-
-“My mistake. You’re terribly peevish. By the way--what was the row last
-night about Leila Mills?” Bud feigned deep interest in a cloisonné jar
-that stood on the table.
-
-“Well, what was?” asked Bruce. “I might have known you had something up
-your sleeve.”
-
-“Oh, the kid disappeared yesterday long enough to give her father heart
-failure. Mills called Maybelle to see if she was at our house; Maybelle
-called Connie, and Connie said you’d left a party at her house to chase
-the kidnappers. Of course I’m not asking any questions, but I do like
-to keep pace with the local news.”
-
-“I’ll say you do!” Bruce grinned at him provokingly. “Did they catch
-the kidnappers?”
-
-“Well, Connie called Maybelle later to say that Leila was all safe at
-home and in bed. But even Connie didn’t know where you found the erring
-lambkin.”
-
-“You’ve called the wrong number,” Bruce said, stretching himself. “I
-didn’t find Miss Leila. When I left Connie’s I went to the club to
-shoot a little pool.”
-
-“You certainly lie like a gentleman! Come on home with me to dinner;
-we’re going to have corn beef and cabbage tonight!”
-
-“In other words, if you can’t make me talk you think Maybelle can!”
-
-“You insult me! Get your hat and let’s skip!”
-
-“No; I’m taking my nourishment right here today. Strange as it may
-seem--I’m working!”
-
-“Thanks for the hint! Just for that I hope the job’s a failure.”
-
-
-II
-
-Bruce was engrossed at his drawing-board when, at half past eight, the
-tinkle of the house telephone startled him.
-
-“Mr. Storrs? This is Mr. Mills speaking--may I trouble you for a
-moment?”
-
-“Yes; certainly. Come right up, Mr. Mills!”
-
-There was no way out of it. He could not deny himself to Mills.
-Bruce hurriedly put on his coat, cleared up the litter on his table,
-straightened the cushions on the divan and went into the hall to
-receive his guest. He saw Mills’s head and shoulders below; Mills was
-mounting slowly, leaning heavily upon the stair rail. At the first
-landing--Bruce’s rooms were on the third floor--Mills paused and drew
-himself erect. Bruce stepped inside the door to avoid embarrassing his
-caller on his further ascent.
-
-“It’s a comfort not to have all the modern conveniences,” Mills
-remarked graciously when Bruce apologized for the stairs. “Thank you,
-no; I’ll not take off my coat. You’re nicely situated here--I got your
-number from Carroll; he can always answer any question.”
-
-His climb had evidently wearied him and he twisted the head of his cane
-nervously as he waited for his heart to resume its normal beat. There
-was a tired look in his eyes and his face lacked its usual healthy
-color. If Mills had come to speak of Leila, Bruce resolved to make the
-interview as easy for him as possible.
-
-“Twenty-five years ago this was cow pasture,” Mills remarked. “My
-father owned fifty acres right here when I was a boy. He sold it for
-twenty times its original cost.”
-
-Whatever had brought Franklin Mills to Bruce’s door, the man knew
-exactly what he had come to say, but was waiting until he could give
-full weight to the utterance. In a few minutes he was quite himself,
-and to Bruce’s surprise he rose and stood, with something of the
-ceremonial air of one about to deliver a message whose nature demanded
-formality.
-
-“Mr. Storrs, I came to thank you for the great service you rendered me
-last night. I was in very great distress. You can understand my anxious
-concern; so I needn’t touch upon that. Words are inadequate to express
-my gratitude. But I can at least let you know that I appreciate what
-you did for me--for me and my daughter.”
-
-He ended with a slight inclination of the head.
-
-“Thank you, Mr. Mills,” said Bruce, taking the hand Mills extended. “I
-hope Miss Mills is quite well.”
-
-“Quite, thank you.”
-
-With an abrupt change of manner that dismissed the subject Mills
-glanced about the room.
-
-“You bring work home? That speaks for zeal in your profession. Aren’t
-the days long enough?”
-
-“Oh, this is a little private affair,” said Bruce, noting that Mills’s
-gaze had fallen upon the drawings propped against the wall. It was
-understood between him and the Freemans that his participation in the
-Laconia competition was to be kept secret; but he felt moved to explain
-to Mills the nature of the drawings. The man had suffered in the past
-twenty-four hours--it would be ungenerous to let him go without making
-some attempt to divert his thoughts from Leila’s misbehavior.
-
-“This may interest you, Mr. Mills; I mean the general proposition--not
-my little sketches. Only--it must be confidential!”
-
-“Yes; certainly,” Mills smiled a grave assent. “Perhaps you’d rather
-not tell me--I’m afraid my curiosity got the better of my manners.”
-
-“Oh, not that, sir! Mr. and Mrs. Freeman know, of course; but I don’t
-want to have to explain my failure in case I lose! I’m glad to tell you
-about it; you may have some suggestions.”
-
-Mills listened as Bruce explained the requirements of the Laconia
-memorial and illustrated with the drawings what he proposed to offer.
-
-“Laconia?” Mills repeated the name quickly. “How very interesting!”
-
-“You may recall the site,” Bruce went on, displaying a photograph of
-the hilltop.
-
-“I remember the place very well; there couldn’t be a finer site. I
-suppose the town owns the entire hill? That’s a fine idea--to adjust
-the building to that bit of forest; the possibilities are enormous
-for effective handling. There should be a fitting approach--terraces,
-perhaps a fountain directly in front of the entrance--something to
-prepare the eye as the visitor ascends----”
-
-“That hadn’t occurred to me!” said Bruce. “It would be fine!”
-
-Mills, his interest growing, slipped out of his overcoat and sat down
-in the chair beside the drawing board.
-
-“Those colonnades extending at both sides give something of the effect
-of wings--buoyancy is what I mean,” he remarked. “I like the classical
-severity of the thing. Beauty can be got with a few lines--but they
-must be the right ones. Nature’s a sound teacher there.”
-
-Bruce forgot that there was any tie between them; Laconia became only
-a place where a soldiers’ memorial was to be constructed. Mills’s
-attitude toward the project was marked by the restraint, the diffidence
-of a man of breeding wary of offending but eager to help. Bruce had
-seen at once the artistic value of the fountain. He left Mills at the
-drawing table and paced the floor, pondering it. The look of weariness
-left Mills’s face. He was watching with frankly admiring eyes the tall
-figure, the broad, capable shoulders, the finely molded head, the
-absorbed, perplexed look in the handsome face. Not like Shep; not like
-any other young man he knew was this Bruce Storrs. He had not expected
-to remain more than ten minutes, but he was finding it difficult to
-leave.
-
-Remembering that he had a guest, Bruce glanced at Mills and caught the
-look in his face. For a moment both were embarrassed.
-
-“Do pardon me!” Bruce exclaimed quickly. “I was just trying to see my
-way through a thing or two. I’m afraid I’m boring you.”
-
-Mills murmured a denial and took a cigarette from the box Bruce
-extended.
-
-“How much money is there to spend on this? I was just thinking that
-that’s an important point. Public work of this sort is often spoiled by
-lack of funds.”
-
-“Three hundred thousand is the limit. Mr. Freeman warns me that
-it’s hardly enough for what I propose, and that I’ve got to do some
-trimming.”
-
-He drew from a drawer the terms of the competition and the
-specifications, and smoked in silence while Mills looked them over.
-
-“It’s all clear enough. It’s a joint affair--the county does half and
-the rest is a popular subscription?”
-
-“Yes; the local committee are fine people; too bad they haven’t enough
-to do the thing just right,” Bruce replied. “Of course I mean the way
-I’d like to do it--with your idea of the fountain that I’d rejoice to
-steal!”
-
-“That’s a joke--that I could offer a trained artist any suggestion of
-real value!”
-
-Bruce was finding his caller a very different Franklin Mills from the
-man he had talked with in the Jefferson Avenue house, and not at all
-the man whom, in his rôle of country squire, he had seen at Deer Trail.
-Mills was enjoying himself; there was no question of that. He lighted a
-cigar--the cigar he usually smoked at home before going to bed.
-
-“You will not be known as a competitor; your plans will go in
-anonymously?” he inquired.
-
-“Yes; that’s stipulated,” Bruce replied.
-
-Returning to the plans--they seemed to have a fascination for
-Mills--one of his questions prompted Bruce to seize a pencil and try
-another type of entrance. Mills stood by, watching the free swift
-movement of the strong hand.
-
-“I’m not so sure that’s better than your first idea. I’ve always heard
-that a first inspiration is likely to be the best--providing always
-that it is an inspiration! I’d give a lot if I could do what you’ve
-just done with that pencil. I suppose it’s a knack; you’re born with
-it. You probably began young; such talent shows itself early.”
-
-“I can’t remember a time when I didn’t like to fool with a pencil. My
-mother gave me my first lessons. She had a very pretty talent--sketched
-well and did water colors--very nice ones, too. That’s one of them over
-there--a corner of our garden in the old home at Laconia.”
-
-Mills walked slowly across the room to look at a framed water color
-that hung over Bruce’s writing table.
-
-“Yes; I can see that it’s good work. I remember that garden--I seem to
-remember this same line of hollyhocks against the brick wall.”
-
-“Oh, mother had that every year! Her flowers were famous in Laconia.”
-
-“And that sun-dial--I seem to remember that, too,” Mills observed
-meditatively.
-
-“Mother liked that sort of thing. We used to sit out there in the
-summer. She made a little festival of the coming of spring. I think all
-the birds in creation knew her as friend. And the neighbor children
-came in to hear her read--fairy stories and poetry. We had jolly good
-times there--mother and I!”
-
-“I’m sure you did,” said Mills gravely.
-
-As he stepped away from the table his eyes fell upon the photograph of
-a young woman in a silver frame. He bent down for a closer inspection.
-Bruce turned away, walked the length of the room and glanced round to
-find Mills still regarding the photograph.
-
-“My mother, as she was at about thirty,” Bruce remarked.
-
-“Yes; I thought so. Somewhat older than when I knew her, but the look
-of youth is still there.”
-
-“I prefer that to any other picture of her I have. She refused to be
-photographed in her later years--said she didn’t want me to think of
-her as old. And she never was that--could never have been.”
-
-“I can well believe it,” said Mills softly. “Time deals gently with
-spirits like hers.”
-
-“No one was ever like her,” said Bruce with feeling. “She made the
-world a kindlier and nobler place by living in it.”
-
-“And you’re loyal to the ideal she set for you! You think of her, I’m
-sure, in all you do--in all you mean to do.”
-
-“Yes, it helps--it helps a lot to feel that somewhere she knows and
-cares.”
-
-Mills picked up a book, scanned the title page unseeingly and threw it
-down.
-
-“I’ve just about killed an evening for you,” he said with a smile and
-put out his hand cordially. “My chauffeur is probably frozen.”
-
-“You’ve been a big help!” replied Bruce. “It’s been fine to have you
-here. I’ll see Mr. Freeman tomorrow and go over the whole thing again.
-He may be able to squeeze the fountain out of the appropriation! May I
-tell him it’s your idea?”
-
-“Oh, no! No, indeed! Just let my meddlesomeness be a little joke
-between us. I shall be leaving town shortly and may not see you again
-for several months. So good-bye and good luck!”
-
-Bruce walked downstairs with him. At the entrance they again shook
-hands, as if the good will on both sides demanded this further
-expression of amity.
-
-
-III
-
-A brief item in the “Personal and Society” column of an afternoon
-newspaper apprised Bruce a few days later of the departure of Mr.
-Franklin Mills and Miss Leila Mills for the Mediterranean, they having
-abandoned their proposed trip to Bermuda for the longer voyage. Bruce
-wondered a little at the change of plans, suspecting that it might in
-some degree be a disciplinary measure for Leila’s benefit, a scheme for
-keeping her longer under her father’s eye. He experienced a curious new
-loneliness at the thought of their absence and then was impatient to
-find himself giving them a second thought. A month earlier he would
-have been relieved by the knowledge that Mills was gone and that the
-wide seas rolled between them. An amazing thing, this! To say they were
-nothing to him did not help now as in those first months after he had
-established himself in Mills’s town. They meant a good deal to him and
-perhaps he meant something to them. It was very odd indeed how he and
-the Millses circled about each other.
-
-As he put down the newspaper a note was brought to him at his apartment
-by Mills’s chauffeur. It read:
-
-  Dear Bruce: You said I might; I can’t just Mr. Storrs you! Trunks at
-  the station and Dada waiting at the front door. I couldn’t bear the
-  idea of writing you a note you’d read while I was still in town--so
-  please consider that I’m throwing you a kiss from the tail end of the
-  observation car. I could never, never have had the courage to _say_
-  my thanks to you--if I tried I’d cry and make a general mess of it.
-  But--I want you to _know_ that I do appreciate it--what you did--in
-  saving my life and every little thing! I’d probably have died all
-  right enough in the frightful cold if you hadn’t found me. I really
-  didn’t know till yesterday, when I wormed it out of Dada, just how
-  it all happened! I’m simply crushed! I promise I’ll never do such a
-  thing again. Thank you _loads_, and be sure I’ll never forget. I wish
-  you were my big brother; I’d just adore being a nice, good little
-  sister to you. Love and kisses, from
-
-                                                                  Leila.
-
-He reread it a dozen times in the course of the evening. It was so
-like the child--the perverse, affectionate child--that Leila was. “_I
-wish you were my big brother._” The sentence had slipped from her
-flying pen thoughtlessly, no doubt, but it gave Bruce a twinge. Shep
-did not know; Leila did not know! and yet for both of these children of
-Franklin Mills he felt a fondness that was beyond ordinary friendship.
-Shep could never be, in the highest sense, a companion of his father;
-Mills no doubt loved Leila, but he loved her without understanding.
-Her warm, passionate heart, the very fact that she and Shep were the
-children of Franklin Mills made life difficult for them. Either would
-have been happier if they had not been born into the Mills caste. The
-Mills money and the Mills position were an encumbrance against which
-more or less consciously they were in rebellion.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
-
-
-I
-
-It was ten days later that a communication from the Laconia War
-Memorial Association gave warning that the stipulations for the
-contesting architects were being altered, and in another week Bruce
-received the supplemental data sent out to all the contestants. The
-amount to be expended had been increased by an unexpected addition to
-the private subscriptions.
-
-In one of his first fits of homesickness Bruce had subscribed for the
-Laconia Examiner to keep in touch with affairs in his native town. The
-paper printed with a proud flourish the news of the augmentation of
-the fund. One hundred thousand dollars had been contributed through
-a New York trust company by “a citizen” whose identity for good and
-sufficient reasons was not to be disclosed. The trust company’s
-letter as quoted in the Examiner recited that the donation was from a
-“patriotic American who, recognizing the fine spirit in which Laconia
-had undertaken the memorial and the community’s desire that it should
-be an adequate testimony to the valor and sacrifice of American youth,
-considered it a high privilege to be permitted to assist.”
-
-Mills! Though the Laconia newspaper was evidently wholly at sea as to
-the identity of the contributor, Bruce was satisfied that Mills was
-the unknown donor. And he resented it. The agreeable impression left
-by Mills the evening they discussed the plans was dispelled by this
-unwarranted interference. Bruce bitterly regretted having taken Mills
-into his confidence. Mills’s interest had pleased him, but he had never
-dreamed that the man might feel moved to add to the attractiveness of
-the contest by a secret contribution to the fund. He felt strongly
-moved to abandon the whole thing and but for the embarrassment of
-explaining himself to Freeman he would have done so. But the artist in
-him prevailed. Mills had greatly broadened the possibilities of the
-contest and in a few days Bruce fell to work with renewed enthusiasm.
-
-He was living in Laconia again, so engrossed did he become in his
-work. He dined with Carroll now and then, enjoyed long evenings at the
-Freemans’ and kept touch with the Hendersons; but he refused so many
-invitations to the winter functions that Dale protested. He dropped
-into the Central States Trust Company now and then to observe Shep
-in his new rôle of vice-president. Shep was happier in the position
-than he had expected to be. Carroll was seeing to it that he had real
-work to do, work that was well within his powers. He had charge of
-the savings department and was pleased when his old friends among the
-employees of the battery plant looked him up and opened accounts. The
-friends of the Mills family, where they took note of Shep’s transfer at
-all, saw in it a promotion.
-
-Bruce, specially importuned by telephone, went to one of Constance’s
-days at home, which drew a large attendance by reason of the promised
-presence of an English novelist whose recent severe criticism of
-American society and manners had made him the object of particular
-adoration to American women readers. Bud Henderson, who had carried
-a flask to the tea, went about protesting against the consideration
-shown the visitor. If, he said, an American writer criticized American
-women in any such fashion he would be lynched, but let an Englishman
-do it and women would steal the money out of their children’s banks
-to buy his books and lecture tickets. So spake Bud. If Bud had had
-two flasks he would have broken up the tea; restricted as he was, his
-protest against the Briton took the form of an utterly uncalled for
-attack upon the drama league delivered to an aunt of Maybelle’s who was
-president of the local society--a strong Volsteadian who thought Bud
-vulgar, which at times Bud, by any high social standard, indubitably
-was. However, if amid so many genuflections the eminent Briton was
-disturbed by Bud’s evil manners or criticisms, Bud possibly soothed his
-feelings by following him upstairs when the party was dispersing and
-demonstrating the manner in which American law is respected by drawing
-flasks from nine out of fifteen overcoats laid out on Constance’s
-guest room bed and pouring half a pint of excellent bourbon into the
-unresisting man of letters.
-
-This function was only an interlude in the city’s rather arid social
-waste. The local society, Bruce found, was an affair of curiously
-close groupings. The women of the ancestral crowd were so wary of the
-women who had floated in on the tide of industrial expansion that one
-might have thought the newcomers were, in spite of their prosperity,
-afflicted with leprosy....
-
-While Bruce might bury himself from the sight of others who had
-manifested a friendly interest in him, Helen Torrence was not so
-easily denied. She had no intention of going alone to the February
-play of the Dramatic Club. She telephoned Bruce to this effect and
-added that he must dine with her that evening and take her to the club.
-Bud had already sent him an admission card with a warning not to come
-if anything better offered, such as sitting up with a corpse--this
-being Bud’s manner of speaking of the organization whose politics he
-dominated and whose entertainments he would not have missed for a
-chance to dine with royalty.
-
-Bruce, having reached the Torrence house, found Millicent there.
-
-“You see what you get for being good!” cried Helen, noting the surprise
-and pleasure in Bruce’s face as he appeared in her drawing room.
-
-“I thought you’d probably run when you saw me,” said Millicent. “You
-passed me at the post office door yesterday and looked straight over my
-head. I never felt so small in my life.”
-
-“Post office?” Bruce repeated. “I haven’t been near the place for
-weeks!”
-
-“That will do from you!” warned Helen. “We all thought you’d be a real
-addition to our sad social efforts here, but it’s evident you don’t
-like us. It’s very discouraging. You were at Connie’s, though, to hear
-her lion roar. I saw you across the room. Connie always gets the men!
-Your friend Bud insulted everybody there; I see him selling any more
-Plantagenets!”
-
-“Bud’s patriotism leads him astray sometimes; that’s all. Any more
-scolding, Millicent?” Bruce asked. “Let me see--we had arrived at the
-stage of first names, hadn’t we?”
-
-“Yes, Bruce! But after the long separation it might be as well to
-go back to the beginning. As for scolding, let’s consider that we’ve
-signed an armistice.”
-
-“I don’t like the military lingo; it sounds as though there had been
-war between us.”
-
-“Dear me!” Helen interposed mournfully. “You’re not going to spend the
-whole evening in preliminaries! Let’s go out to dinner.”
-
-After they were seated Bruce was still rather more self-conscious than
-was comfortable. Nothing had happened; or more truthfully, nothing had
-happened except that he had been keeping away from Millicent because of
-Franklin Mills. She evidently was not displeased to see him again. He
-had not realized how greatly he had missed her till her voice touched
-chords that had vibrated at their first meeting. Her eyes had the same
-steady light and kindled responsively to any demand of mirth; her hair
-had the same glint of gold. He marveled anew at her poise and ease.
-Tonight her gown, of a delicate shade of crimson, seemed a subdued
-reflection of her bright coloring. He floundered badly in his attempts
-to bring some spirit to the conversation. It seemed stupid to ask
-Millicent about her music or inquire how her modeling was coming on or
-what she had been reading. He listened with forced attention while she
-and Helen compared notes on recent social affairs in which they had
-participated.
-
-“Millie, you don’t really like going about--teas and that sort of
-thing,” said Helen. “I know you don’t. All you girls who have ideas are
-like that.”
-
-“Ideas! Dearest Helen, are you as easily deceived as that! Sometimes
-there are things I’d rather do than go to parties! Does one really have
-to keep going to avoid seeming queer?”
-
-“I go because I haven’t the brains to do anything else. I like
-wandering with the herd. It just thrills me to get into a big jam. And
-I suppose I show myself whenever I’m asked for fear I’ll be forgotten!”
-
-“My sole test of a social function is whether they feed me standing or
-sitting,” said Bruce when appealed to. “I can bear anything but that
-hideous sensation that my plate is dripping.”
-
-“That’s why men hate teas,” observed Helen. “It’s because of the silly
-refreshments no one wants and everybody must have or the hostess is
-broken-hearted.”
-
-“That’s probably where jailers got the idea of forcible feeding,”
-Millicent suggested.
-
-“At the Hendersons’,” Bruce added, “only the drinks are compulsory.
-Bud’s social symbol is the cocktail-shaker!”
-
-“Everybody drinks too much;” said Helen, “except us. Bruce, help
-yourself to the sherry.”
-
-“What is a perfect social occasion?” Bruce asked. “My own ideas are a
-little muddled, but you--Helen?”
-
-“If you must know the truth--there is no such thing! However, you might
-ask Millicent; she’s an optimist.”
-
-“A perfect time is sitting in the middle of the floor in my room
-cutting paper dolls,” Millicent answered. “I’m crazy about it. Leila
-says it’s the best thing I do.”
-
-“Do you ever exhibit your creations?” asked Bruce solicitously.
-
-“We’ve got her in a trap now,” exclaimed Helen. “Millie takes her
-paper dolls to the sick children in the hospitals. I know, because the
-children told me. I was at the City Hospital the other day and peeped
-into the children’s ward. Much excitement--a vast population of paper
-dolls dressed in the latest modes. The youngsters were so tickled! They
-said a beautiful lady had brought them--a most wonderful, beautiful
-lady. And she was going to come back with paper and scissors and show
-them just how they were made!”
-
-“They’re such dear, patient little angels,” murmured Millicent. “You
-feel better about all humanity when you see how much courage there is
-in the world. It’s a pretty brave old world after all.”
-
-“It’s the most amazing thing about life,” said Bruce, “that so many
-millions rise up every morning bent on doing their best. You’d think
-the whole human race would have given up the struggle long ago and
-jumped into the sea. But no! Poor boobs that we are, we go whistling
-right along. Frankly, I mean to hang on a couple of weeks longer. Silly
-old world--but--it has its good points.”
-
-“Great applause!” exclaimed Helen, satisfied now that her little party
-was not to prove an utter failure. These were two interesting young
-people, she knew, and she was anxious to hear their views on matters
-about which she troubled herself more than most people suspected.
-
-“I’ve wondered sometimes,” Millicent said, “what would happen if the
-world could be made altogether happy just once by a miracle of some
-kind, no heartache anywhere; no discomfort! How long would it last?”
-
-“Only till some person among the millions wanted something another one
-had; that would start the old row over again,” Bruce answered.
-
-“I see what you children mean,” said Helen seriously. “Selfishness is
-what makes the world unhappy!”
-
-“Now--we’re getting in deep!” Bruce exclaimed. “Millicent always swims
-for the open water.”
-
-“Millie ought to go about lecturing; telling people to be calm, to look
-more at the stars and less at their neighbors’ new automobiles. I
-believe that would do a lot of good,” said Helen.
-
-“A splendid idea!” Bruce declared, laughing into Millicent’s eyes. “But
-what a sacrifice of herself! A wonderful exhibition of unselfishness,
-but----”
-
-“I’d be stoned to death!”
-
-“You’d be surer of martyrdom if you told them to love their neighbors
-as themselves,” said Helen. “Seriously now, that’s the hardest thing
-there is to do! Love my neighbor as myself! Me! Why, on one side my
-neighbor’s children snowball my windows; on the other side there’s a
-chimney that ruins me paying cleaner’s bills. Perhaps you’d speak to
-them for me, Millie?”
-
-“See here!” exclaimed Millicent. “Where do you get this idea of using
-me as a missionary and policeman! I don’t feel any urge to reform the
-world! I’m awful busy tending to my own business.”
-
-“Oh, all right,” said Bruce with a sigh of resignation. “Let the world
-go hang, then, if you won’t save it!”
-
-Helen was dressing the salad, and Bruce was free to watch Millicent’s
-eyes as they filled with dreams. As at other times when some grave
-mood touched her, it seemed that she became another being, exploring
-some realm alien to common experience. He glanced at her hands, folded
-quietly on the edge of the table, and again at her dream-filled eyes.
-Hers was the repose of a nature schooled in serenity. The world might
-rage in fury about her, but amid the tempest her soul would remain
-unshaken....
-
-Helen, to whom silence was always disturbing, looked up, but stifled an
-apology for the unconscionable time she was taking with the salad when
-she saw Millicent’s face, and Bruce’s intent, reverent gaze fixed upon
-the girl.
-
-“Saving the world!” Millicent repeated deliberatingly. “I never quite
-like the idea. It rather suggests--doesn’t it?--that some new machinery
-or method must be devised for saving it. But the secret came into the
-world ever so long ago--it was the ideal of beauty. A Beautiful Being
-died that man might know the secret of happiness. It had to be that way
-or man would never have understood or remembered. It’s not His fault
-that his ideas have been so confused and obscured in the centuries that
-have passed since He came. It’s man’s fault. The very simplicity of His
-example has always bewildered man; it was too good to be true!”
-
-“But, Millie,” said Helen with a little embarrassed laugh, “does the
-world really want to live as Jesus lived? Or would it admire people who
-did? Somebody said once that Christianity isn’t a failure because it’s
-never been tried. Will it _ever_ be tried--does anyone care enough?”
-
-“Dear me! What have I gotten into?” Millicent picked up her fork and
-glanced at them smilingly. “Bruce, don’t look so terribly solemn! Why,
-people are trying it every day, at least pecking at it a little. I’ve
-caught you at it lots of times! While we sit here, enjoying this quite
-wonderful salad, scores of people are doing things to make the world
-a better place to live in--safer, kinder and happier. I saw a child
-walk out of the hospital the other day who’d been carried in, a pitiful
-little cripple. It was a miracle; and if you’d seen the child’s delight
-and the look in the face of the doctor whose genius did the work, you’d
-have thought the secret of Jesus is making some headway!”
-
-“And knowing the very charming young woman named Millicent who found
-that little crippled girl and took her to the hospital. I’d have
-thought a lot more things!”
-
-“I never did it!” Millicent cried.
-
-“She’s always up to such tricks!” Helen informed Bruce. “Paper dolls
-are only one item of Millie’s good works.”
-
-“Be careful!” Millicent admonished. “I could tell some stories on you
-that might embarrass you terribly.” She turned to Bruce with a lifting
-of the brows that implied their hostess’s many shameless excursions in
-philanthropy.
-
-“How grand it would be if we could all talk about serious things--life,
-religion and things like that--as Millie does,” remarked Helen. “Most
-people talk of religion as though it were something disgraceful.”
-
-“Or they take the professional tone of the undertaker telling a late
-pallbearer where to sit,” Bruce added, “and the pallbearer is always
-deaf and insists on getting into the wrong place and sitting on
-someone’s hat.”
-
-“How jolly! Anything to cheer up a funeral,” said Helen. “Go on,
-Millie, and talk some more. You’re a lot more comforting than Doctor
-Lindley.”
-
-“The Doctor’s fine,” said Millicent spiritedly. “I don’t go to
-church because half of me is heathen, I suppose.” She paused as
-though a little startled by the confession. “There are things about
-churches--some of the hymns, the creed, the attempts to explain the
-Scriptures--that don’t need explaining--that rub me the wrong way. But
-it isn’t fair to criticize Doctor Lindley or any other minister who’s
-doing the best he can to help the world when the times are against him.
-No one has a harder job than a Christian minister of his training and
-traditions who really knows what’s the trouble with the world and the
-church but is in danger of being burned as a heretic if he says what he
-thinks.”
-
-“People can’t believe any more, can they, what their grandfathers
-believed? It’s impossible--with science and everything,” suggested
-Helen vaguely.
-
-“Why should they?” asked Millicent. “I liked to believe that God moves
-forward with the world. He has outgrown His own churches; it’s their
-misfortune that they don’t realize it. And Jesus, the Beautiful One,
-walks through the modern world weighted down with a heavier cross than
-the one he died on--bigotry, intolerance, hatred--what a cruel thing
-that men should hate one another in His name! I’ve wondered sometimes
-what Jesus must think of all the books that have been written to
-explain Him--mountains of books! Jesus is the only teacher the world
-ever had who got His whole story into one word--a universal word, an
-easy word to say, and the word that has inspired all the finest deeds
-of man. He rested His case on that, thinking that anything so simple
-would never be misunderstood. At the hospital one day I heard a mother
-say to her child, a pitiful little scrap who was doomed to die, ‘I
-love you so!’ and the wise, understanding little baby said, ‘Me know
-you do.’ I think that’s an answer to the charge that Christianity is
-passing out. It can’t, you see, because it’s founded on the one thing
-in the world that can never die.”
-
-The room was very still. The maid, who had been arrested in the serving
-of the dinner by a gesture from Helen, furtively made the sign of the
-cross. The candle flames bent to some imperceptible stirring of the
-quiet air. Bruce experienced a sense of vastness, of the immeasurable
-horizons of Millicent’s God and a world through which the Beautiful One
-wandered still, symbolizing the ineffable word of His gospel that was
-not for one people, or one sect, not to be bound up into one creed,
-but written into the hearts of all men as their guide to happiness.
-It seemed to him that the girl’s words were part of some rite of
-purification that had cleansed and blessed the world.
-
-“I hadn’t thought of it in quite that way,” said Bruce thoughtfully.
-
-Helen was a wise woman and knew the perils of anticlimax. She turned
-and nodded to the maid.
-
-“Please forgive me! I’ve been holding back the dinner!” Millicent
-exclaimed. “You must always stop me when I begin riding the clouds.
-Bruce, are you seeing Dale Freeman these days? Of course you are!
-Helen, we must study Dale more closely. She knows how to bring Bruce
-running!”
-
-“I cheerfully yield to Dale in everything,” said Helen. “I must watch
-the time. They promise an unusually good show tonight--three one-act
-pieces and one of them by George Whitford; he and Connie are to act in
-it.”
-
-“Connie ought to be a star,” Millicent remarked, “she gives a lot of
-time to theatricals.”
-
-“There’s just a question whether Connie and George Whitford are
-not--well, getting up theatricals does make for intimacy!” said Helen.
-“I wish George had less money! An idle man--particularly a fascinating
-devil like George--is a dangerous playmate for a woman like Connie!”
-
-“Oh, but Connie’s a dear!” exclaimed Millicent defensively. “Her
-position isn’t easy. A lot of the criticism you hear of her is unjust.”
-
-“A lot of the criticism you hear of everybody is unjust,” Bruce
-ventured.
-
-“Oh, we have a few people here who pass for respectable but start all
-the malicious gossip in town,” Helen observed. “They’re not all women,
-either! I suspect Mort Walters of spreading the story that Connie and
-George are having a big affair, and that Mr. Mills gave Connie a good
-combing about it before he went abroad!”
-
-“Ridiculous!” murmured Millicent.
-
-“Of course,” Helen went on. “We all know why Leila’s father dragged
-her away. But Connie ought really to have a care. It’s too bad Shep
-isn’t big enough to give Walters a thrashing. The trouble with Walters
-is that he tried to start a little affair with Connie himself and she
-turned him down cold. Pardon me, are we gossiping?”
-
-“Of course not!” laughed Millicent.
-
-“Just whetting our appetites for anything new that offers at the club,”
-said Bruce. “I’m glad I’m a new man in town; I can listen to all the
-scandal without being obliged to take sides.”
-
-“Millie! You hate gossip,” said Helen, “so please talk about the saints
-so I won’t have a chance to chatter about the sinners.”
-
-“Don’t worry,” said Bruce. “If there were no sinners the saints
-wouldn’t know how good they are!”
-
-“We’d better quit on that,” said Helen. “It’s time to go!”
-
-
-II
-
-At the hall where the Dramatic Club’s entertainments were given they
-met Shepherd Mills, who confessed that he had been holding four seats
-in the hope that they’d have pity on him and not let him sit alone.
-
-“I’ve hardly seen Connie for a week,” he said. “This thing of having a
-wife on the stage is certainly hard on the husband!”
-
-The room was filled to capacity and there were many out of town guests,
-whom Shep named proudly as though their presence were attributable to
-the fact that Connie was on the program.
-
-Whitford, in his ample leisure, had been putting new spirit into the
-club, and the first two of the one-act plays that constituted the
-bill disclosed new talent and were given with precision and finish.
-Chief interest, however, lay in the third item of the bill, a short
-poetic drama written by Whitford himself. The scene, revealed as the
-curtain rose, was of Whitford’s own designing--the battlements of a
-feudal castle, with a tower rising against a sweep of blue sky. The set
-transcended anything that the club had seen in its long history and was
-greeted with a quick outburst of applause. Whitford’s name passed over
-the room, it seemed, in a single admiring whisper. George was a genius;
-the town had never possessed anyone comparable to George Whitford, who
-distinguished himself alike in war and in the arts of peace and could
-afford to spend money with a free hand on amateur theatricals.
-
-His piece, “The Beggar,” written in blank verse, was dated vaguely in
-the Middle Ages and the device was one of the oldest known to romance.
-A lord of high degree is experiencing the time-honored difficulty in
-persuading his daughter of the desirability of marriage with a noble
-young knight whose suit she has steadfastly scorned. The castle is
-threatened; the knight’s assistance is imperatively needed; and the
-arrival of messengers, the anxious concern of the servitors, induce at
-once an air of tensity.
-
-In the fading afternoon light Constance Mills, as the princess, who has
-been wandering in the gardens, makes her entrance unconcernedly and
-greets her distracted lover with light-hearted indifference. She begins
-recounting a meeting with a beggar minstrel who has beguiled her with
-his music. She provokingly insists upon singing snatches of his songs
-to the irritated knight, who grows increasingly uneasy over the danger
-to the beleagured castle. As the princess exits the beggar appears
-and engages the knight in a colloquy, witty and good-humored on the
-vagrant’s part, but marked by the knight’s mounting anger. Whitford,
-handsome, jaunty, assured, even in his rags, with his shrewd retorts
-evokes continuous laughter.
-
-A renewed alarm calls the knight away, leaving the beggar thrumming his
-lute. The princess reappears to the dimming of lights and the twinkle
-in the blue background of the first tremulous star. The beggar, who of
-course is the enemy prince in disguise, springs forward as she slips
-out of her cloak and stands forth in a flowing robe in shimmering
-white. Her interchange with the beggar passes swiftly from surprise,
-indifference, scorn, to awakened interest and encouragement.
-
-No theatre was ever stilled to an intenser silence. The audacity of
-it, the folly of it! The pictorial beauty of the scene, any merit it
-possessed as drama, were lost in the fact that George Whitford was
-making love to Constance Mills. No make-believe could have simulated
-the passion of his wooing in the lines that he had written for himself,
-and no response could have been informed with more tenderness and charm
-than Constance brought to her part.
-
-Whitford was declaiming:
-
-    “My flower! My light, my life! I offer thee
-  Not jingling coin, nor lands, nor palaces,
-  But yonder stars, and the young moon of spring,
-  And rosy dawns and purple twilights long;
-  All singing streams, and their great lord the sea--
-  With these I’d thee endow.”
-
-And Constance, slowly lifting her head, an enthralling picture of young
-trusting love, replied:
-
-    “I am a beggar in my heart!
-  My soul hath need of thee! Teach me thy ways,
-  And make me partner in thy wanderings,
-  And lead me to the silver springs of song,
-  I would be free as thou art, roam the world,
-  Away from clanging war, by murmuring streams,
-  Through green cool woodlands sweet with peace and love....
-  Wilt thou be faithful, wilt thou love me long?”
-
-To her tremulous pleading he pledged his fealty and when he had taken
-her into his arms and kissed her they exited slowly. As they passed
-from sight his voice was heard singing as the curtain fell.
-
-The entire cast paraded in response to the vociferous and long
-continued applause, and Whitford and Constance bowed their
-acknowledgments together and singly. Cries of “author” detained
-Whitford for a speech, in which he chaffed himself and promised that
-in appreciation of their forbearance in allowing him to present so
-unworthy a trifle, which derived its only value from the intelligence
-and talent of his associates, he would never again tax their patience.
-
-As the lights went up Bruce, turning to his companions, saw that
-Shepherd was staring at the stage as though the players were still
-visible. Helen, too, noticed the tense look in Shep’s face, and touched
-him lightly on the arm. He came to with a start and looked about
-quickly, as if conscious that his deep preoccupation had been observed.
-
-“It was perfectly marvelous, Shep! Connie was never so beautiful, and
-she did her part wonderfully!”
-
-“Yes; Connie was fine! They were all splendid!” Shep stammered.
-
-“I’ve seen her in plays before, but nothing to match tonight,” said
-Helen. “You’ll share her congratulations--it’s a big night for the
-family!”
-
-They had all risen, and Millicent and Bruce added their
-congratulations--Shep smiling but still a little dazed, his eyes
-showing that he was thinking back--trying to remember, in the way of
-one who has passed through an ordeal too swiftly for the memory fully
-to record it.
-
-“Constance was perfectly adorable!” said Millicent sincerely.
-
-“Yes, yes!” Shep exclaimed. “I had no idea, really. She has acting
-talent, hasn’t she?”
-
-The question was not perfunctory; he was eager for their assurance that
-they had been watching a clever piece of acting.
-
-The room was being cleared for the dancing, and others near by were
-expressing their admiration for his wife. Helen seized a moment to
-whisper to Bruce:
-
-“It rather knocked him. Be careful that he doesn’t run away. George
-ought to be shot--Heaven knows there’s been enough talk already!”
-
-“The only trouble is that they were a little too good, that’s all,”
-said Bruce. “That oughtn’t to be a sin--when you remember what amateur
-shows usually are!”
-
-“It’s not to laugh!” Helen replied. “Shep’s terribly sensitive! He’s
-not so stupid but he saw that George was enjoying himself making love
-to Connie.”
-
-“Well, who wouldn’t enjoy it!” Bruce answered.
-
-The dancing had begun when Constance appeared on the floor. She had
-achieved a triumph and it may have been that she was just a little
-frightened now that it was over. As she held court near the stage,
-smilingly receiving congratulations, she waved to Shep across the crowd.
-
-“Was I so very bad?” she asked Bruce. “I was terribly nervous for fear
-I’d forget my lines.”
-
-“But you didn’t! It was the most enthralling half hour I ever spent.
-I’m proud to know you!”
-
-“Thank you, Bruce. Do something for me. These people bore me; tell Shep
-to come and dance with me. Yes--with you afterwards.”
-
-Whether it was kindness or contrition that prompted this request did
-not matter. It sufficed that Connie gave her first dance to Shep and
-that they glided over the floor with every appearance of blissful
-happiness. Whitford was passing about, paying particular attention to
-the mothers of debutantes, quite as unconcernedly as though he had not
-given the club its greatest thrill....
-
-As this was Millicent’s first appearance since her election to the
-club, her sponsors were taking care that she met such of the members
-as had not previously been within her social range. Franklin Mills’s
-efforts to establish the Hardens had not been unavailing. Bruce,
-watching her as she danced with a succession of partners, heard an
-elderly army officer asking the name of the golden-haired girl who
-carried herself so superbly.
-
-Bruce was waiting for his next dance with her and not greatly
-interested in what went on about him, when Dale Freeman accosted him.
-
-“Just look at the girl! Seeing her dancing just like any other
-perfectly healthy young being, you’d never think she had so many
-wonderful things in her head and heart. Millie’s one of those people
-who think with their hearts as well as their brains. When you find that
-combination, sonny, you’ve got something!”
-
-“Um--yes,” he assented glumly.
-
-Dale looked up at him and laughed. “I’ll begin to suspect you’re in
-love with her now if you act like this!”
-
-“The suspicion does me honor!” he replied.
-
-“Oh, I’m not going to push you! I did have some idea of helping you,
-but I see it’s no use.”
-
-“Really, none,” he answered soberly. And for a moment the old
-unhappiness clutched him....
-
-At one o’clock he left the hall with Helen and Millicent.
-
-“I suppose the tongues will wag for a while,” Helen sighed wearily.
-“But you’ve got to hand it to Constance and George! They certainly put
-on a good show!”
-
-At the Harden’s Bruce took Millicent’s key and unlocked the door.
-
-“I’ve enjoyed this; it’s been fine,” she said and put out her hand.
-
-“It was a pretty full evening,” he replied. “But there’s a part of it
-I’ve stored away as better than the plays--even better than my dances
-with you!”
-
-“I know!” she said. “Helen’s salad!”
-
-“Oh, better even than that! The talk at the table--your talk! I must
-thank you for that!”
-
-“Oh, please forget! I believe I’d rather you’d remember our last dance!”
-
-She laughed light-heartedly and the door closed.
-
-“They’ve done it now!” exclaimed Helen as the car rolled on. “Why will
-people be such fools! To think they had to go and let the whole town
-into the secret!”
-
-“Cease worrying! If they’d really cared anything for each other they
-couldn’t have done it.”
-
-“George would--it was just the dare-devil sort of thing that George
-Whitford _would_ do!”
-
-“Well, you’re not troubled about me any more!” he laughed. “A little
-while ago you thought Connie had designs on me! Has it got to be
-someone?”
-
-“That’s exactly it! It’s got to be someone with Connie!”
-
-But when he had left her and was driving on to his apartment it was of
-Millicent he thought, not of Constance and Whitford. It was astonishing
-how much freer he felt now that the Atlantic rolled between him and
-Franklin Mills.
-
-
-III
-
-Bruce, deeply engrossed in his work, was nevertheless aware that the
-performance of “The Beggar” had stimulated gossip about Constance Mills
-and Whitford. Helen Torrence continued to fret about it; Bud Henderson
-insisted on keeping Bruce apprised of it; Maybelle deplored and Dale
-Freeman pretended to ignore. The provincial mind must have exercise,
-and Bruce was both amused and disgusted as he found that the joint
-appearance of Constance and Whitford in Whitford’s one-act play had
-caused no little perturbation in minds that lacked nobler occupation or
-were incapable of any very serious thought about anything.
-
-It had become a joke at the University Club that Bruce, who was looked
-upon as an industrious young man, gave so much time to Shepherd
-Mills. There was a doglike fidelity in Shep’s devotion that would have
-been amusing if it hadn’t been pathetic. Bud Henderson said that Shep
-trotted around after Bruce like a lame fox terrier that had attached
-itself to an Airedale for protection.
-
-Shep, inspired perhaps by Bruce’s example, or to have an excuse for
-meeting him, had taken up handball. As the winter wore on this brought
-them together once or twice a week at the Athletic Club. One afternoon
-in March they had played their game and had their shower and were in
-the locker room dressing.
-
-Two other men came in a few minutes later and, concealed by the
-lockers, began talking in low tones. Their voices rose until they
-were audible over half the room. Bruce began to hear names--first
-Whitford’s, then unmistakably Constance Mills was referred to. Shep
-raised his head as he caught his wife’s name. One of the voices was
-unmistakably that of Morton Walters, a young man with an unpleasant
-reputation as a gossip. Bruce dropped a shoe to warn the men that they
-were not alone in the room. But Walters continued, and in a moment a
-harsh laugh preluded the remark:
-
-“Well, George takes his pleasure where he finds it. But if I were Shep
-Mills I certainly wouldn’t stand for it!”
-
-Shep jumped up and started for the aisle, but Bruce stepped in front of
-him and walked round to where Walters and a friend Bruce didn’t know
-were standing before their lockers.
-
-“I beg your pardon, Mr. Walters, but may I remind you that this is a
-gentleman’s club?”
-
-“Well, no; you may not!” Walters retorted hotly. He advanced toward
-Bruce, his eyes blazing wrathfully.
-
-The men, half clothed, eyed each other for a moment.
-
-“We don’t speak of women in this club as you’ve been doing,” said
-Bruce. “I’m merely asking you to be a little more careful.”
-
-“Oh, you’re criticizing my manners, are you?” flared Walters.
-
-“Yes; that’s what I’m doing. They’re offensive. My opinion of you is
-that you’re a contemptible blackguard!”
-
-“Then that for your opinion!”
-
-Walters sprang forward and dealt Bruce a ringing slap in the face.
-Instantly both had their fists up. Walters’s companion grasped him by
-the arm, begging him to be quiet, but he flung him off and moved toward
-Bruce aggressively.
-
-They sparred for a moment warily; then Walters landed a blow on Bruce’s
-shoulder.
-
-“So you’re Mrs. Mills’s champion, are you?” he sneered.
-
-Intent upon the effect of his words, he dropped his guard. With
-lightning swiftness Bruce feinted, slapped his adversary squarely
-across the mouth and followed with a cracking blow on the jaw that sent
-him toppling over the bench. His fall made considerable noise, and the
-superintendent of the club came running in to learn the cause of the
-disturbance. Walters, quickly on his feet, was now struggling to shake
-off his friend. Several other men coming in stopped in the aisle and
-began chaffing Walters, thinking that he and Bruce were engaged in a
-playful scuffle. Walters, furious that his friend wouldn’t release him,
-began cursing loudly.
-
-“Gentlemen, this won’t do!” the superintendent admonished. “We can’t
-have this here!”
-
-“Mr. Walters,” said Bruce when Walters had been forced to sit down, “if
-you take my advice you’ll be much more careful of your speech. If you
-want my address you’ll find it in the office!”
-
-He went back to Shep, who sat huddled on the bench by his locker,
-his face in his hands. He got up at once and they finished dressing
-in silence. Walters made no further sign, though he could be heard
-blustering to his companion while the superintendent hovered about to
-preserve the peace.
-
-Shep’s limousine was waiting--he made a point of delivering Bruce
-wherever he might be going after their meetings at the club--and he got
-into it and sat silent until his house was reached. He hadn’t uttered a
-word; the life seemed to have gone out of him.
-
-Bruce walked with him to the door and said “Good night, Shep,” as
-though nothing had happened. Shep rallied sufficiently to repeat the
-good-night, choking and stammering upon it. Bruce returned to the
-machine and bade the chauffeur take him home.
-
-He did no work that night. Viewed from any angle, the episode was
-disagreeable. Walters would continue to talk--no doubt with increased
-viciousness. Bruce wasn’t sorry he had struck him, but as he thought it
-over he found that the only satisfaction he derived from the episode
-was a sense that it was for Shep that he had taken Walters to task.
-Poor Shep! Bruce wished that he did not so constantly think of Shep in
-commiserative phrases....
-
-Bud Henderson, who was in the club when the row occurred, informed
-Bruce that the men who had been in the locker room were good fellows
-and that the story was not likely to spread. It was a pity, though, in
-Bud’s view, that the thing had to be smothered, for Walters had been
-entitled to a licking for some time and the occurrence would make Bruce
-the most popular man in town.
-
-“If the poor boob had known how you used to train with that
-middle-weight champ in Boston during our bright college years he
-wouldn’t have slapped you! I’ll bet his jaw’s sore!”
-
-Bruce was not consoled. He wished the world would behave itself; and in
-particular he wished that he was not so constantly, so inevitably, as
-it seemed, put into the position of aiding and defending the house of
-Mills.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER NINETEEN
-
-
-I
-
-Bruce worked at his plans for the Laconia memorial determinedly and,
-he hoped, with inspiration. He looked in at the Hardens’ on a Sunday
-afternoon and found Millicent entertaining several callow youths--new
-acquaintances whom she had met at the functions to which Mills’s
-cautious but effective propaganda had admitted her. Bruce did not
-remain long; he thought Millicent was amused by his poorly concealed
-disappointment at not finding her alone. But he was deriving little
-satisfaction from his self-denial in remaining away and grew desperate
-for a talk with her. He made his next venture on a wild March night,
-and broke forth in a pæan of thanksgiving when he found her alone in
-the library.
-
-“You were deliciously funny when you found me surrounded! Those were
-nice boys; they’d just discovered me!”
-
-“They had the look of determined young fiends! I knew I couldn’t stay
-them out. But I dare ’em to leave home on a night like this!”
-
-“Oh, I know! You’re afraid of competition! After you left that Sunday
-mamma brought in ginger cookies and we popped corn and had a grand old
-time!”
-
-“It sounds exciting. But it was food for the spirit I needed; I
-couldn’t have stood it to see them eat!”
-
-“Just for that our pantry is closed to you forever--never a cookie!
-Those boys were vastly pleased to meet you. They knew you as a soldier
-of the Republic and a crack handball player--not as an eminent
-architect. That for fame! By the way, you must be up to something
-mysterious. Dale gave me just a tiny hint that you’re working on
-something prodigious. But of course I don’t ask to be let into the
-secret!”
-
-“The secret’s permanent if I fail!” he laughed.
-
-He was conscious that their acquaintance had progressed in spite of
-their rare meetings. Tonight she played for him and talked occasionally
-from the organ--running comment on some liturgical music with which
-she had lately been familiarizing herself. Presently he found himself
-standing beside her; there seemed nothing strange in this--to be
-standing where he could watch her hands and know the thrill of her
-smile as she invited his appreciation of some passage that she was
-particularly enjoying....
-
-“What have you been doing with your sculpting? Please bring me up to
-date on everything,” he said.
-
-“Oh, not so much lately. You might like to see some children’s heads
-I’ve been doing. I bring some of the little convalescents to the house
-from the hospital to give them a change.”
-
-“Lucky kids!” he said. “To be brought here and played with.”
-
-“Why not? They’re entitled to all I have as much as I am.”
-
-“Revolutionist! Really, Millicent, you must be careful!”
-
-Yes; no matter how little he saw of her, their amity and concord
-strengthened. Sometimes she looked at him in a way that quickened his
-heartbeat. As they went down from the organ his hand touched hers and
-he thrilled at the fleeting contact. A high privilege, this, to be near
-her, to be admitted to the sanctuary of her mind and heart. She had her
-clichés; harmony was a word she used frequently, and colors and musical
-terms she employed with odd little meanings of her own.
-
-In the studio she showed him a plaque of her mother’s head which he
-knew to be creditable work. His praise of it pleased her. She had none
-of the amateur’s simpering affectation and false modesty. She said
-frankly she thought it the best thing she had done.
-
-“I know mamma--all her expressions--and that makes a difference. You’ve
-got to see under the flesh--get the inner light even in clay. I might
-really get somewhere if I gave up everything else,” she said pensively
-as they idled about the studio.
-
-“Yes; you could go far. Why not?”
-
-“Oh, but I’d have to give up too much. I like life--being among people;
-and I have my father and mother. I think I’ll go on just as I am. If I
-got too serious about it I might be less good than now, when I merely
-play at it....”
-
-In their new familiarity he made bold to lift the coverings of some of
-her work that she thought unworthy of display. She became gay over some
-of her failures, as she called them. She didn’t throw them away because
-they kept her humble.
-
-On a table in a corner of the room stood a bust covered with a cloth to
-which they came last.
-
-“Another _magnum opus_?” he asked carelessly. She lifted the cloth and
-stood away from it.
-
-“Mr. Mills gave me some sittings. But this is my greatest fizzle of
-all; I simply couldn’t get him!”
-
-The features of Franklin Mills had been reproduced in the clay with
-mechanical fidelity; but unquestionably something was lacking. Bruce
-studied it seriously, puzzled by its deficiencies.
-
-“Maybe you can tell me what’s wrong,” she said. “It’s curious that a
-thing can come so close and fail.”
-
-“It’s a true thing,” remarked Bruce, “as far as it goes. But you’re
-right; there’s something that isn’t there. If you don’t mind, it’s
-dead--there’s--there’s no life in it.”
-
-Millicent touched the clay here and there, suggesting points where the
-difficulty might lie. She was so intent that she failed to see the
-changing expression on Bruce’s face. He had ceased to think of the
-clay image. Mills himself had been in the studio, probably many times.
-The thought of this stirred the jealousy in Bruce’s heart--Millicent
-and Mills! Every kind and generous thought he had ever entertained for
-the man was obliterated by this evidence that for many hours he had
-been there with Millicent. But she, understanding nothing of this, was
-startled when he flung round at her.
-
-“I think I can tell you what’s the matter,” he said in a tone harsh and
-strained. “The fault’s not yours!”
-
-“No?” she questioned wonderingly.
-
-“The man has no soul,” he said, as though he were pronouncing sentence
-of death.
-
-That Millicent should have fashioned this counterfeit of Mills,
-animated perhaps by an interest that might quicken to love, was
-intolerable. Passion possessed him. Lifting the bust, he flung it with
-a loud crash upon the tile floor. He stared dully at the scattered
-fragments.
-
-“God!” he turned toward her with the hunger of love in his eyes.
-“I--I--I’m sorry--I didn’t mean to do that!”
-
-He caught her hand roughly; gently released it, and ran up the steps
-into the library.
-
-Millicent remained quite still till the outer door had closed upon
-him. She looked down at the broken pieces of the bust, trying to
-relate them to the cause of his sudden wrath. Then she knelt and began
-mechanically, patiently, picking up the fragments. Suddenly she paused.
-Her hands relaxed and the bits of clay fell to the floor. She stood up,
-her figure tense, her head lifted, and a light came into her eyes.
-
-
-II
-
-He had made a fool of himself: this was Bruce’s reaction to the sudden
-fury that had caused him to destroy Millicent’s bust of Franklin
-Mills. He would never dare go near her again; and having thus fixed
-his own punishment, and being very unhappy about it, a spiteful fate
-ordained that he should meet her early the next morning in the lobby
-of the Central States Trust Company, where, out of friendly regard for
-Shepherd Mills, he had opened an account.
-
-“So--I’m not the only early riser!” she exclaimed, turning away from
-one of the teller’s windows as he passed. “This is pay day at home and
-I’m getting the cook’s money. I walked down--what a glorious morning!”
-
-“Cook--money?” he repeated stupidly. There was nothing extraordinary
-in the idea that she should be drawing the domestic payroll. Her
-unconcern, the deftness with which she snapped her purse upon a roll of
-new bills and dropped it into a bead bag were disconcerting. Her eyes
-turned toward the door and he must say something. She was enchanting
-in her gray fur coat and feathered hat of vivid blue; it hadn’t been
-necessary for her to say that she had walked four miles from her house
-to the bank; her glowing cheeks were an eloquent advertisement of that.
-
-“Please,” he began eagerly. “About last night--I made a dreadful
-exhibition of myself. I know--I mean that to beg your forgiveness----”
-
-“Is wholly unnecessary!” she finished smilingly. “The bust was a
-failure and I had meant to destroy it myself. So please forget it!”
-
-“But my bad manners!”
-
-She was making it too easy for his comfort. He wished to abase himself,
-to convince her of his contrition.
-
-“Well,” she said with a judicial air, “generally speaking, I approve of
-your manners. We all have our careless moments. I’ve been guilty myself
-of upsetting bric-a-brac that I got tired of seeing in the house.”
-
-“You ought to scold me--cut my acquaintance.”
-
-“Who’d be punished then?” she demanded, drawing the fur collar closer
-about her throat.
-
-“I might die!” he moaned plaintively.
-
-“An irreparable loss--to the world!” she said, “for which I refuse to
-become responsible.” She took a step toward the door and paused. “If
-I may refer to your destructive habits, I’ll say you’re some critic!”
-She left him speculating as to her meaning. To outward appearances, at
-least, she hadn’t been greatly disturbed by the smashing of Mills’s
-image.
-
-When he had concluded his errand he went to the enclosure where the
-company’s officers sat to speak to Shep, whom he had been avoiding
-since the encounter with Walters at the Athletic Club. Shep jumped up
-and led the way to the directors’ room.
-
-“You know,” he began, “I don’t want to seem to be pursuing you,
-but”--he was stammering and his fine, frank eyes opened and shut
-quickly in his agitation--“but you’ve got to know how much I
-appreciate----”
-
-“Now, old man,” Bruce interrupted, laying his hand on Shep’s shoulder,
-“let’s not talk of ancient history.”
-
-Shep shook his head impatiently.
-
-“No, by George! You’ve _got_ to take my thanks! It was bully of you to
-punch that scoundrel’s head. I ought to have done it myself, but----”
-He held out his arms, his eyes measuring his height against Bruce’s
-tall frame, and grinned ruefully.
-
-“I didn’t give you a chance, Shep,” said Bruce, drawing himself onto
-the table and swinging his legs at ease. “I don’t believe that bird’s
-been looking for me; I’ve been right here in town.”
-
-“I guess he won’t bother you much!” exclaimed Shep with boyish pride in
-his champion’s prowess. “You certainly gave him a good one!”
-
-“He seemed to want it,” replied Bruce. “I couldn’t just kiss him after
-he slapped me!”
-
-“I told Connie! I didn’t care for what Walters said--you
-understand--but I wanted Connie to know what you did--for her!”
-
-His eyes appealed for Bruce’s understanding. But Bruce, who had hoped
-that Shep wouldn’t tell Connie, now wished heartily that Shep would
-drop the matter.
-
-“You made too much of it! It wasn’t really for anyone in particular
-that I gave Walters that little tap--it was to assert a general
-principle of human conduct.”
-
-“We’ll never forget it,” declared Shep, not to be thwarted
-in his expression of gratitude. “That anyone should speak of
-Connie--_Connie_--in that fashion! Why, Connie’s the noblest girl in
-the world! You know that, the whole world knows it!”
-
-He drew back and straightened his shoulders as though daring the world
-to gainsay him.
-
-“Why, of course, Shep!” Bruce replied quietly. He drew a memorandum
-from his pocket and asked about some bonds the trust company had
-advertised and into which he considered converting some of the
-securities he had left with his banker at Laconia which were now
-maturing. Shep, pleased that Bruce was inviting his advice in the
-matter, produced data from the archives in confirmation of his
-assurance that the bonds were gilt-edge and a desirable investment.
-Bruce lingered, spending more time than was necessary in discussing the
-matter merely to divert Shep’s thoughts from the Walters’ episode.
-
-
-III
-
-Bruce had never before worked so hard; Freeman said that the designer
-of the Parthenon had been a loafer in comparison. After a long and
-laborious day he would drive to the Freemans with questions about his
-designs for the memorial that he feared to sleep on. Dale remarked to
-her husband that it was inspiring to see a young man of Bruce’s fine
-talent and enthusiasm engrossed upon a task and at the same time in
-love--an invincible combination.
-
-Carroll had kept in mind the visit to Laconia he had proposed and they
-made a week-end excursion of it in May. Bruce was glad of the chance
-to inspect the site of the memorial, and happier than he had expected
-to be in meeting old friends. It was disclosed that Carroll’s interest
-in Bruce’s cousin was not quite so incidental as he had pretended.
-Mills’s secretary had within the year several times visited Laconia,
-an indication that he was not breaking his heart over Leila.
-
-Bruce stole away from the hotel on Sunday morning to visit his mother’s
-grave. She had lived so constantly in his thoughts that it seemed
-strange that she could be lying in the quiet cemetery beside John
-Storrs. There was something of greatness in her or she would never
-have risked the loss of his respect and affection. She had trusted
-him, confident of his magnanimity and love. Strange that in that small
-town, with its brave little flourish of prosperity, she had lived
-all those years with that secret in her heart, perhaps with that old
-passion tormenting her to the end. She had not been afraid of him,
-had not feared that he would despise her. “O soul of fire within a
-woman’s clay”--this line from a fugitive poem he had chanced upon in a
-newspaper expressed her. On his way into town he passed the old home,
-resenting the presence of the new owner, who could not know what manner
-of woman had dwelt there, sanctified its walls, given grace to the
-garden where the sun-dial and the flower beds still spoke of her....
-Millicent was like Marian. Very precious had grown this thought, of the
-spiritual kinship of his mother and Millicent.
-
-Traversing the uneven brick pavements along the maple arched street,
-it was in his mind that his mother and Millicent would have understood
-each other. They dreamed the same dreams; the garden walls had not
-shut out Marian Storrs’s vision of the infinite. A church bell whose
-clamorous peal was one of his earliest recollections seemed subdued
-today to a less insistent note by the sweetness of the spring air. Old
-memories awoke. He remembered a sermon he had heard in the church of
-the sonorous bell when he was still a child; the fear it had wakened in
-his heart--a long noisy discourse on the penalties of sin, the horror
-in store for the damned. And he recalled how his mother had taken his
-hand and smiled down at him there in the Storrs pew--that adorable
-smile of hers. And that evening as they sat alone in the garden on the
-bench by the sun-dial she had comforted him and told him that God--her
-God--was not the frightful being the visiting minister had pictured,
-but generous and loving. Yes, Millicent was like Marian Storrs....
-
-After this holiday he fell upon his work with renewed energy--but
-he saw Millicent frequently. It was much easier to pass through the
-Harden gate and ring the bell now that the windows of the Mills
-house were boarded up. Mrs. Harden and the doctor made clear their
-friendliness--not with parental anxiety to ingratiate themselves with
-an eligible young man, but out of sincere regard and liking.
-
-“You were raised in a country town and all us folks who were brought
-up in small towns speak the same language,” Mrs. Harden declared. She
-conferred the highest degree of her approval by receiving him in the
-kitchen on the cook’s day out, when she could, in her own phrase,
-putter around all she pleased. Millicent, enchantingly aproned, shared
-in the sacred rites of preparing the evening meal on these days of
-freedom, when there was very likely to be beaten biscuit, in the
-preparation of which Bruce was duly initiated.
-
-Spring repeated its ancient miracle in the land of the tall corn. A
-pleasant haven for warm evenings was the Harden’s “back yard” as the
-Doctor called it, though it was the most artistic garden in town, where
-Mrs. Harden indulged her taste in old-fashioned flowers; and there
-was a tea house set in among towering forest trees where Millicent
-held court. Bruce appearing late, with the excuse that he had been
-at work, was able to witness the departure of Millicent’s other
-“company” as her parents designated her visitors, and enjoy an hour
-with her alone. Their privacy was invaded usually by Mrs. Harden, who
-appeared with a pitcher of cooling drink and plates of the cakes in
-which she specialized. She was enormously busy with her work on the
-orphan asylum board. She was ruining the orphans, the Doctor said; but
-he was proud of his wife and encouraged her philanthropies. He was
-building a hospital in his home town--thus, according to Bud Henderson,
-propitiating the gods for the enormity of his offense against medical
-ethics in waxing rich off the asthma cure. The Doctor’s sole recreation
-was fishing; he had found a retired minister, also linked in some way
-with the Hardens’ home town, who shared his weakness. They frequently
-rose with the sun and drove in Harden’s car to places where they had
-fished as boys. Bruce had known people like the Hardens at Laconia.
-Even in the big handsome house they retained their simplicity, a
-simplicity which in some degree explained Millicent. It was this
-quality in her that accounted for much--the sincerity and artlessness
-with which she expressed beliefs that gained sanctity from her very
-manner of speaking of them.
-
-On a June night he put into the mail his plans for the memorial and
-then drove to the Hardens’. Millicent had been playing for some callers
-who were just leaving.
-
-“If you’re not afraid of being moonstruck, let’s sit out of doors,” she
-suggested.
-
-“It’s a habit--this winding up my day here! I’ve just finished a little
-job and laid it tenderly on the knees of the gods.”
-
-“Ah, the mysterious job is done! Is it anything that might be assisted
-by a friendly thought?”
-
-“Just a bunch of papers in the mail; that’s all.”
-
-They talked listlessly, in keeping with the langurous spirit of the
-night. The Mills house was plainly visible through the shrubbery. In
-his complete relaxation, his contentment at being near Millicent,
-Bruce’s thoughts traveled far afield while he murmured assent to what
-she was saying. The moonlit garden, its serenity hardly disturbed
-by the occasional whirr of a motor in the boulevard, invited to
-meditation, and Millicent was speaking almost as though she were
-thinking aloud in her musical voice that never lost its charm for him.
-
-“It’s easy to believe all manner of strange things on a night like
-this! I can even imagine that I was someone else once upon a time....”
-
-“Go right on!” he said, rousing himself, ready for the game which
-they often played like two children. He turned to face her. “I have a
-sneaking idea that a thousand years ago at this minute I was sitting
-peacefully by a well in an oasis with camels and horses and strange
-dark men sleeping round me; that same lady moon looking down on the
-scene, making the sandy waste look like a field of snow.”
-
-“That sounds dusty and hot! Now me--I’m on a galley ship driving
-through the night; a brisk cool wind is blowing; a slave is singing a
-plaintive song and the captain of the rowers is thumping time for them
-to row by and the moon is shining down on an island just ahead. It’s
-all very jolly! We’re off the coast of Greece somewhere, I think.”
-
-“I suppose that being on a ship while I’m away off in a desert I really
-shouldn’t be talking to you. I couldn’t take my camel on your yacht!”
-
-“There’s telepathy,” she suggested.
-
-“Thanks for the idea! If we’ve arrived in this pleasant garden after a
-thousand-year journey I certainly shan’t complain!”
-
-“It wouldn’t profit you much if you did! And besides, my feelings
-would be hurt!” she laughed softly. “I do so love the sound of my own
-voice--I wonder if that’s because I’ve been silent a thousand years!”
-
-“I hope you weren’t, for--I admire your voice! Looking at the stars
-does make you think large thoughts. If they had all been flung into
-space by chance, as a child scatters sand, we’d have had a badly
-scrambled universe by this time--it must be for something--something
-pretty important.”
-
-“I wonder....” She bent forward, her elbow on the arm of the chair, her
-hand laid against her cheek. “Let’s pretend we can see all mankind,
-from the beginning, following a silken cord that Some One ahead is
-unwinding and dropping behind as a guide. And we all try to hold fast
-to it--we lose it over and over again and stumble over those who have
-fallen in the dark places of the road--then we clutch it again. And
-we never quite see the leader, but we know he is there, away on ahead
-trying to guide us to the goal----”
-
-“Yes,” he said eagerly, “the goal----”
-
-“Is happiness! That’s what we’re all searching for! And our Leader has
-had so many names--those ahead are always crying back a name caught
-from those ahead of them--down through the ages. But it helps to know
-that many are on ahead clutching the cord, not going too fast for fear
-the great host behind may lose their hope and drop the cord altogether!”
-
-“I like that; it’s bully! It’s the life line, the great clue----”
-
-“Yes, yes,” she said, “and even the half gods are not to be sneered at;
-they’ve tangled up the cord and tied hard knots in it---- Oh, dear!
-I’m soaring again!”
-
-There had been some question of her going away for the remainder of
-the summer, and he referred to this presently. He was hoping that she
-would go before the return of Mills and Leila. The old intimacy between
-the two houses would revive: it might be that Millicent was ready to
-marry Mills; and tonight Bruce did not doubt his own love for her--if
-only he might touch her hand that lay so near and tell her! In the
-calm night he felt again the acute loneliness that had so beset him in
-his year-long pilgrimage in search of peace; and he had found at the
-end a love that was not peace. After the verdict of the judges of the
-memorial plans was given it would be best for him to leave--go to New
-York perhaps and try his fortune there, and forget these months that
-had been so packed with experience.
-
-“We’re likely to stay on here indefinitely,” Millicent was saying. “I’d
-rather go away in the winter; the summer is really a joy. A lot of
-the people we know are staying at home. Connie and Shep are not going
-away, and Dale says she’s not going to budge. And Helen Torrence keeps
-putting off half a dozen flights she’s threatened to take. And Bud and
-Maybelle seem content. So why run away from friends?”
-
-“No reason, of course. The corn requires heat and why should we be
-superior to the corn?”
-
-“I had a letter from Leila today. She says she’s perishing to come
-home!”
-
-“I’ll wager she is!” laughed Bruce. “What’s going to happen when she
-comes?”
-
-He picked up his hat and they were slowly crossing the lawn toward the
-gate.
-
-“You mean Freddie Thomas.”
-
-“I suppose I do mean Fred! But I didn’t mean to pump you. It’s Leila’s
-business.”
-
-“I’ll be surprised if a few months’ travel doesn’t change Leila. She
-and Freddy had an awful crush on each other when she left. If she’s
-still of the same mind--well, her father may find the trip wasn’t so
-beneficial!”
-
-From her tone Bruce judged that Millicent was not greatly concerned
-about Leila. She went through the gates with him to his car at the curb.
-
-“Whatever it is you sent shooting through the night--here’s good luck
-to it!” she said as he climbed into his machine. “Do you suppose that’s
-the train?”
-
-She raised her hand and bent her head to listen. The rumble of a
-heavy train and the faint clang of a locomotive bell could be heard
-beyond the quiet residential neighborhood. He was pleased that she had
-remembered, sorry now that he had not told her what it was that he had
-committed to the mails. She snapped her fingers, exclaiming:
-
-“I’ve sent a wish with it, whether it’s to your true love or whatever
-it is!”
-
-“It wasn’t a love letter,” he called after her as she paused under the
-gate lamps to wave her hand.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER TWENTY
-
-
-I
-
-Franklin Mills landed in New York feeling that his excursion abroad
-had been well worth while. Leila had been the cheeriest of companions
-and Mills felt that he knew her much better than he had ever known
-her before. They had stopped in Paris and he had cheerfully indulged
-her extravagance in raiment. Throughout the trip nothing marred their
-intercourse. Mills’s pride and vanity were touched by the admiring eyes
-that followed them. In countries where wine and spirits were everywhere
-visible Leila betrayed no inclination to drink, even when he urged some
-rare vintage upon her. The child had character; he detected in her the
-mental and physical energy, the shrewdness, the ability to reason,
-that were a distinguishing feature of the Mills tradition. Shep hadn’t
-the swift, penetrating insight of Leila. Leila caught with a glance of
-the eye distinct impressions which Shep would have missed even with
-laborious examination. Shep, nevertheless, was a fine boy; reluctant
-as he was to acknowledge an error even to himself, Mills, mellowed by
-distance, thought perhaps it had been a mistake to forbid Shep to study
-medicine; and yet he had tried to do the right thing by Shep. It was
-important for the only son of the house of Mills to know the worth of
-property.
-
-The only son.... When Mills thought of Shep and Leila he thought, too,
-of Storrs--Bruce Storrs with his undeniable resemblance to Franklin
-Mills III. There were times when by some reawakening of old memories
-through contact with new scenes--in Venice, at Sorrento, in motoring
-into Scotland from the English lake country--in all places that invited
-to retrospective contemplation he lived over again those months he had
-spent in Laconia.
-
-Strangely, that period revived with intense vividness. Released from
-the routine of his common life, he indulged his memories, estimating
-their value, fixing their place in his life. That episode seemed
-the most important of all; he had loved that woman. He had been a
-blackguard and a scoundrel; there was no escaping that, but he could
-not despise himself. Sometimes Leila, noting his deep preoccupation on
-long motor drives, would tease him to tell her what he was thinking
-about and he was hard put to satisfy her that he hadn’t a care in the
-world. Once, trying to ease an attack of homesickness, she led him into
-speculation as to what their home-folks were doing--Shep and Connie,
-Millicent, and in the same connection she mentioned Bruce.
-
-“What an awful nice chap he is, Dada. He’s a prince. You’d know him for
-a thoroughbred anywhere. Arthur Carroll says his people were just nice
-country town folks--father a lawyer, I think Arthur said. The Freemans
-back him strong, and they’re not people you can fool much.”
-
-“Mr. Storrs is a gentleman,” said Mills. “And a young man of fine
-gifts. I’ve had several talks with him about his work and ambitions.
-He’ll make his mark.”
-
-“He’s good to look at! Millicent says there’s a Greek-god look about
-him.”
-
-“Millicent likes him?” asked Mills with an effort at indifference which
-did not wholly escape Leila’s vigilant eye.
-
-“Oh, I don’t think it’s more than that. You never can tell about
-Millie.”
-
-This was in Edinburgh, shortly before they sailed for home. All things
-considered the trip abroad had been a success. Leila had not to the
-best of his knowledge communicated with Thomas--she had made a point
-of showing him the letters she received and giving him her own letters
-to mail. Very likely, Mills thought, she had forgotten all about her
-undesirable suitor, and as a result of the change of scene and the new
-amity established between them, would fulfill her destiny by marrying
-Carroll.
-
-
-II
-
-The town house had been opened for their return, this being a special
-concession to Leila, who disliked Deer Trail. Mills yielded graciously,
-though he enjoyed Deer Trail more than any other of his possessions;
-but there was truth in her complaint that when he was in town all day,
-as frequently happened, it was unbearably lonely unless she fortified
-herself constantly with guests.
-
-Mills found all his business interests prospering. Though Carroll
-was no longer in the office in the First National Building, the
-former secretary still performed the more important of his old
-functions in his rôle of vice-president of the trust company. Mills
-was not, however, to sink into his old comfortable routine without
-experiencing a few annoyances and disturbances. His sister, Mrs.
-Granville Thornberry, a childless widow, who had taken a hand in
-Leila’s upbringing after Mrs. Mills’s death--an experience that had
-left wounds on both sides that had never healed--Mrs. Thornberry had
-lingered in town to see him. She had become involved in a law suit by
-ignoring Mills’s advice, and now cheerfully cast upon him the burden of
-extricating her from her predicament. The joy of reminding her that she
-would have avoided vexatious and expensive litigation if she had heeded
-his counsel hardly mitigated his irritation. But for his sense of the
-family dignity he would have declined to have anything to do with the
-case.
-
-Carroll had been present at their interview, held in Mills’s office,
-and when he left Mrs. Thornberry lingered. She was tall and slender,
-quick and incisive of speech. She absorbed all the local gossip and in
-spite of her wealth and status as a Mills was a good deal feared for
-her sharp tongue. It was a hot day and Mills’s patience had been sorely
-tried by her seeming inability to grasp the legal questions raised in
-the law suit.
-
-“Well, Alice,” he said, with a glance at his desk clock. “Is there
-anything else?”
-
-“Yes, Frank; there’s a matter I feel it my duty to speak of. You know
-that I never like to interfere in your affairs. After the trouble we
-had about Leila I thought I’d never mention your children to you again.”
-
-“That’s very foolish,” Mills murmured with a slight frown. He thought
-she was about to attack Leila and he had no intention of listening to
-criticism of Leila. Alice had made a mess of Leila’s education and
-he was not interested in anything she might have to say about her.
-And Alice was richly endowed with that heaven-given wisdom as to the
-rearing of children which is peculiar to the childless. Mills wished
-greatly that Alice would go.
-
-“The matter’s delicate--very delicate, Frank. I hesitate----”
-
-“Please, Alice!” he interrupted impatiently. “Either you’ve got
-something to say or you haven’t!”
-
-At the moment she was not his sister, but a woman who had precipitated
-herself into a law suit by giving an option on a valuable piece of
-property and then selling it to a third party, which was stupid and he
-hated stupidity. He thought she was probably going to say that Leila
-drank too much, but knowing that Leila had been a pattern of sobriety
-for months he was prepared to rebuke her sharply for bringing him stale
-gossip.
-
-“It’s about Shep--Shep and Connie!” said Mrs. Thornberry. “You know how
-fond I’ve always been of Shep.”
-
-“Yes--yes,” Mills replied, mystified by this opening. “Shep’s doing
-well and I can’t see but he and Connie are getting on finely. He’s
-quite surprised me by the way he’s taken hold in the trust company.”
-
-“Oh, Shep’s a dear. But--there’s talk----”
-
-“Oh, yes; there’s talk!” Mills caught her up. “There’s always talk
-about everyone. I even suppose you and I don’t escape!”
-
-“Well, of course there have been rumors, you know, Frank, that you are
-considering marrying again.”
-
-“Oh, they’re trying to marry me, are they?” he demanded, in a tone that
-did not wholly discourage her further confidences.
-
-“I can’t imagine your being so silly. But the impression is abroad
-that you’re rather interested in that Harden girl. Ridiculous, of
-course, at your age! You’d certainly throw your dignity to the winds if
-you married a girl of Leila’s age, whose people are said to be quite
-common. They say Dr. Harden used to travel over the country selling
-patent medicine from a wagon at country fairs and places like that.”
-
-“I question the story. The Doctor’s a very agreeable person, and his
-wife’s a fine woman. We have had very pleasant neighborly relations.
-And Millicent is an extraordinary girl--mentally the superior of any
-girl in town. I’ve been glad of Leila’s intimacy with her; it’s been
-for Leila’s good.”
-
-“Oh, I dare say they’re all well enough. Of course the marriage would
-be a big card for the Hardens. You’re a shrewd man, Frank, but it’s
-just a little too obvious--what you’ve been doing to push those people
-into our own circle. But the girl’s handsome--there’s no doubt of that.”
-
-“Well, those points are settled, then,” her brother remarked, taking
-up the ivory paper cutter and slapping his palm with it. Alice was
-never niggardly with her revelations and he consoled himself with the
-reflection that she had shown her full hand.
-
-“This other matter,” Mrs. Thornberry continued immediately, “is rather
-more serious. I came back from California the week after you sailed and
-I found a good deal of talk going on about Connie.”
-
-“Connie?” Mills repeated and his fingers tightened upon the ivory blade.
-
-“Connie’s not behaving herself as a married woman should. She’s been
-indulging in a scandalous flirtation--if that’s not too gentle a name
-for it--with George Whitford.”
-
-“Pshaw, Alice! Whitford’s always run with Shep’s crowd. He’s a sort of
-fireside pet with all the young married women. George is a fine, manly
-fellow. I don’t question that he’s been at Shep’s a good deal. Shep’s
-always liked him particularly. And Connie’s an attractive young woman.
-Why, George probably makes love to all the women, old and young, he’s
-thrown with for an hour! You’re borrowing trouble quite unnecessarily,
-Alice. It’s too bad you have to hear the gossip that’s always going
-around here; you take it much too seriously.”
-
-“It’s not I who take it seriously; it’s common talk! Shep, poor boy, is
-so innocent and unsuspecting! George hasn’t a thing to do but fool at
-his writing. He and Connie have been seen a trifle too often on long
-excursions to other towns when Shep, no doubt, thought she was golfing.
-What I’m telling you is gossip, of course; I couldn’t prove anything.
-But it’s possible sometimes that just a word will save trouble. You
-must acquit me of any wish to be meddlesome. I like Connie; I’ve always
-tried to like her for Shep’s sake.”
-
-She was probably not magnifying the extent to which talk about his
-son’s wife had gone. His old antagonism to Constance, the remembrance
-of his painful scenes with Shep in his efforts to prevent his marriage,
-were once more resurgent. Mrs. Thornberry related the episode of
-the dramatic club play which had, from her story, crystalized and
-stimulated the tales that had previously been afloat as to Connie’s
-interest in Whitford. Mills promptly seized upon this to dismiss
-the whole thing. Things had certainly come to a fine pass when
-participation in amateur theatricals could give rise to scandal; it
-merely showed the paucity of substantial material.
-
-He was at pains to conceal his chagrin. His pride took refuge behind
-its fortifications; he would not have his sister, of all persons,
-suspect that he could be affected by even the mildest insinuation
-against anyone invested with the sanctity of the Mills name. He told
-her of having met some old friends of hers in London as he accompanied
-her to the elevator. But when he regained his room he stood for some
-time by the window gazing across the town to the blue hills. The
-patriarchial sense was strong in him; he was the head and master of his
-house and he would tolerate no scandalous conduct on the part of his
-daughter-in-law. But he must move cautiously. The Whitfords were an old
-family and he had known George’s father very well. With disagreeable
-insistence the remembrance of his adventure in Laconia came back to him.
-
-
-III
-
-Several weeks passed in which Mills exercised a discreet vigilance in
-observing Shep and Connie. Whitford was in town; Mills met him once and
-again at Shep’s house, but there were others of the younger element
-present and there was nothing in Whitford’s conduct to support Mrs.
-Thornberry’s story. He asked Carroll incidentally about the dramatic
-club play--as if merely curious as to whether it had been a successful
-evening, and Carroll’s description of Whitford’s little drama and of
-Connie’s part in it was void of any hint that it concealed a serious
-attachment between the chief actors.
-
-The usual social routine of the summer stay-at-homes was progressing in
-the familiar lazy fashion--country club dances, motor trips, picnics
-and the like. On his return Mills had called at once upon the Hardens.
-Millicent’s charms had in nowise diminished in his absence. With
-everything else satisfactorily determined, there would be no reason
-why he should not marry Millicent. His sister’s disapproval did not
-weigh with him at all. But first he must see Leila married, and he
-still hoped to have Carroll for a son-in-law. Leila had entered into
-the summer gaieties with her usual zest, accepting the escort of one
-and another available young man with a new amiability. One evening at
-the Faraway Country Club Mills saw her dancing with Thomas; but it was
-for one dance only, and Thomas seemed to be distributing his attentions
-impartially. A few nights later when they had dined alone at Deer
-Trail--Leila had suggested that they go there merely to please him--as
-they sat on the veranda all his hopes that her infatuation for Thomas
-had passed were rudely shattered.
-
-“Well, Dada,” she began, when he was half through his after-dinner
-cigar, “it’s nice to be back. It’s a lot more fun being at home in
-summer. There is something about the old home town and our own country.
-I guess I’m a pretty good little American.”
-
-“I guess you are,” he assented with a chuckle that expressed his entire
-satisfaction with her. The veranda was swept fitfully by a breeze warm
-sweet with the breath of ripening corn. It was something to be owner
-of some part of the earth; it was good to be alive, master of himself,
-able to direct and guide the lives of others less fortunately endowed
-than he with wisdom and power.
-
-Leila touched his hand and he clasped and held it on the broad arm of
-his favorite rocker.
-
-“Dada, what a wonderful time we had on our trip! I was a good little
-girl--wasn’t I? You know I was trying so hard to be good!”
-
-“You were an angel,” he exclaimed heartily. “Our trip will always be
-one of the happiest memories of my life.”
-
-At once apprehensive, he hoped these approaches concealed nothing more
-serious than a request for an increase in her allowance or perhaps a
-new car.
-
-“I want to speak about Freddy Thomas,” she said, freeing her hand and
-moving her chair the better to command his attention.
-
-“Thomas!” he said as though repeating an unfamiliar name. “I thought
-you were all done with him.”
-
-“Dada,” she said very gently, “I love Freddy. All the time I was away I
-was testing myself--honestly and truly trying to forget him. I didn’t
-hear from him and I didn’t send him even a postcard. But now that I’m
-back it’s all just the same. We do love each other; he’s the only man
-in the world that can ever make me happy. Please--don’t say no!”
-
-He got up slowly, and walked the length of the veranda and came back to
-find her leaning against one of the pillars.
-
-“Now, Leila,” he began sharply, “we’ve been all over this, and
-I thought you realized that a marriage with that man would be a
-mistake--a grave blunder. He’s playing upon your sympathy--telling you,
-no doubt, what a great mistake he made in his first venture.”
-
-“I’ve seen him only once since I got back and that was the other night
-at the club,” she replied patiently. “Freddy’s no cry-baby; you know
-you couldn’t find a single thing against him except the divorce, and
-that wasn’t his fault. He’s perfectly willing to answer any questions
-you want to ask him. Isn’t that fair enough?”
-
-“You expect me to treat with him--listen to his nasty scandal! I’ve
-told you it won’t do! There’s never been a divorce in our family--nor
-in your mother’s family! I feel strongly about it. The thing has got
-too common; it’s taken away all the sanctity of marriage! And that I
-should welcome as a husband for a young girl like you a man who has
-had another wife--a woman who’s still living--keeping his name, I
-understand--I tell you, Leila, it won’t do! It’s my duty to protect you
-from such a thing. I have wanted you to take a high position in this
-community--such a position as your mother held; and can you imagine
-yourself doing it as the second wife of a man who’s not of our circle,
-not our kind at all?”
-
-He flung round, took a few quick steps and then returned to the attack.
-
-“I want this matter to be disposed of now. What would our friends think
-of me if I let you do such a thing? They’d think I’d lost my mind! I
-tell you it’s not in keeping with our position--with your position as
-my daughter--to let you make a marriage that would change the whole
-tone of the family. If you’ll think a little more about this I believe
-you’ll see just what the step means. I want the best for you. I don’t
-believe your happiness depends on your marrying this man. I may as well
-tell you bluntly now that I can never reconcile myself to the idea of
-your marrying him. I’ve thought it all over in all its aspects. You’ve
-never had a care nor a worry in your life. When you marry I want you to
-start even--with a man who’s your equal in the world’s eyes.”
-
-He had delivered this a little oratorically, with a gesture or two,
-and one might have thought that he was pleased with his phrases. Leila
-in her simple summer gown, with one hand at her side, the other thrust
-into the silk sash at her waist, seemed singularly young as she stood
-with her back to the pillar. The light from the windows, mingled with
-the starlight and moonlight playing upon her face, made it possible to
-watch the effect of his words. The effect, if any, was too obscure for
-his vision. Her eyes apparently were not seeing him at all; he might
-as well have addressed himself to one of the veranda chairs for any
-satisfaction he derived from his speech.
-
-It was on his tongue to pile up additional arguments against the
-marriage; but this unresisting Leila with her back to the pillar
-exasperated him. And all those months that they had traveled about
-together, with never a mention of Thomas; when she had even indulged in
-mild flirtations with men who became their fellow travelers for a day,
-she had carried in her heart this determination to marry Thomas. And
-he, Franklin Mills, had stupidly believed that she was forgetting the
-man....
-
-He again walked the length of the veranda, and as he retraced his steps
-she met him by the door.
-
-“Well, Dada, shall we drive in?” she asked, quite as though nothing had
-happened.
-
-“I suppose we may as well start,” he said and looked at his watch to
-hide his embarrassment rather than to learn the time.
-
-On the way into town she recurred to incidents of their travels
-and manifested great interest in changes he proposed making in his
-conservatories to embrace some ideas he had gathered in England; but
-she did not refer in any way to Thomas. When they reached home she
-kissed him good-night and went at once to her room.
-
-The house was stifling from the torrid day and Mills wished himself
-back at the farm. His chief discomfort was not physical, however; Leila
-had eluded him, taken refuge in the inconsequential and irrelevant in
-her own peculiar, capricious fashion. It was not in his nature to
-discuss his affairs or ask counsel, but he wished there were someone he
-could talk to.... Millicent might help him in his perplexity. He went
-out on the lawn and looked across the hedge at the Hardens’, hearing
-voices and laughter. The mirth was like a mockery.
-
-
-IV
-
-On the following day Bruce and Millicent drove to the Faraway club for
-golf. He was unable to detect any signs indicating that Mills’s return
-had affected Millicent. She spoke of him as she might have spoken of
-any other neighbor. Bruce wasn’t troubled about Mills when he was with
-Millicent; it was when he was away from her that he was preyed upon by
-apprehensions. He could never marry her: but Mills should never marry
-her. This repeated itself in his mind like a child’s rigamarole. Their
-game kept them late and it was after six when they left the club in
-Bruce’s roadster.
-
-Millicent was beside him; their afternoon together had been unusually
-enjoyable. He had every reason to believe that she preferred his
-society to that of any other man she knew. He had taken a route into
-town that was longer than the one usually followed, and in passing
-through a small village an exclamation from Millicent caused him to
-stop the car.
-
-“Wasn’t that Leila and Fred at the gas station?” she asked. “Let’s go
-back and see.”
-
-Leila saluted them with a wave of the hand. Thomas was speaking to the
-keeper of the station.
-
-“Hello, children!” Leila greeted them. “Pause and be sociable. What
-have you been up to?”
-
-“Shooting a little golf,” Millicent answered. “Why didn’t you drop the
-word that you were going to the club for dinner? You might have had a
-little company!”
-
-Bruce strolled over to Thomas, who was still conferring with the
-station keeper. He heard the man answer some question as to the best
-route to a neighboring town. Thomas seemed a trifle nervous and glanced
-impatiently toward Leila and Millicent.
-
-“Hello, Bruce,” he said cheerfully, “how’s everything?”
-
-“Skimming!” said Bruce, and they walked back to the car, where Thomas
-greeted Millicent exuberantly. Leila leaned out and whispered to Bruce:
-
-“We’ll be married in an hour. Don’t tell Millie till you get home!”
-
-“Are you kidding?” Bruce demanded.
-
-“Certainly not!”
-
-“But why do it this way?”
-
-“Oh--it’s simpler and a lot more romantic--that’s all! Tell Millie that
-everything is all right! Don’t look so scared! All right, Freddy, let’s
-go!”
-
-Their car was quickly under way and Millicent and Bruce resumed their
-homeward drive.
-
-“Leila didn’t tell me she was going to the club with Freddy,” remarked
-Millicent pensively.
-
-“One of those spontaneous things,” Bruce replied carelessly.
-
-When they reached the Hardens’ he walked with her to the door.
-
-“That was odd--meeting Leila and Fred,” said Millicent. “Do you think
-they were really going to the club for supper?”
-
-“They were not going there,” Bruce replied. “They’re on their way to be
-married.”
-
-“Oh, I’m sorry!” she said and her eyes filled with tears. The privilege
-of seeing tears in Millicent’s eyes was to Bruce an experience much
-more important than Leila’s marriage.
-
-“It will be a blow to Mr. Mills,” said Bruce thoughtfully. “Let’s hope
-he accepts it gracefully.”
-
-Both turned by a common impulse and their eyes rested upon the Mills
-house beyond the hedge....
-
-The town buzzed for a few days after Leila’s elopement, but in her
-immediate circle it created no surprise. It was like Leila; she could
-always be depended upon to do things differently. Mills, receiving the
-news from Leila by telephone, had himself conveyed the announcement to
-the newspapers, giving the impression that there had been no objection
-to the marriage and that the elopement was due to his daughter’s wish
-to avoid a formal wedding. This had the effect of killing the marriage
-as material for sensational news. It was not Mills’s way to permit
-himself to be flashed before his fellow citizens as an outraged and
-storming father. Old friends who tried to condole with him found their
-sympathy unwelcome. He personally saw to the packing of the effects
-Leila telegraphed for to be sent to Pittsburg, where she and her
-husband, bound for a motor trip through the east, were to pause for a
-visit with Thomas’s parents.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
-
-
-I
-
-Bruce returned late one afternoon in August from a neighboring town
-where Freeman had some houses under construction, found the office
-deserted, and was looking over the accumulation of papers on his desk
-when a messenger delivered a telegram.
-
-He signed for it and let it lie while he filled his pipe. The
-potentialities of an unopened telegram are enormous. This message,
-Bruce reflected, might be from one of Freeman’s clients with whom he
-had been dealing directly; or it might be from a Tech classmate who had
-written a week earlier that he would be motoring through town and would
-wire definitely the hour of his arrival. Or it might be the verdict of
-the jury of architects who were to pass on the plans for the Laconia
-memorial--an honorable mention at best. The decision had been delayed
-and he had been trying to forget about it. He turned the envelope
-over--assured himself that it didn’t matter greatly whether he received
-the award or not; then, unable to prolong the agony, he tore it open
-and read:
-
-  It affords the committee great pleasure to inform you that your plans
-  submitted for the Laconia memorial have been accepted. You may
-  regard our delay in reaching the decision as complimentary, for the
-  high merit of some half dozen of the plans proposed made it extremely
-  difficult to reach a conclusion. We suggest that you visit Laconia as
-  soon as possible to make the acquaintance of the citizens’ committee
-  with whom you will now take up the matter of construction. With our
-  warm cordial congratulations and all good wishes....
-
-He flung his pipe on the floor with a bang, snatched the telephone and
-called Freeman’s house. Dale answered, gave a chirrup of delight and
-ran to carry the news to Bill on the tennis court. Bruce decided that
-Henderson should know next, and had called the number when Bud strolled
-into the room.
-
-“Looking for me--most remarkable! I was on this floor looking for
-a poor nut who needs a little stimulus as to the merits of the
-world-famous Plantag!”
-
-“Fool!” shouted Bruce, glaring at him. “Don’t speak to me of
-Plantagenets. Read that telegram; read it and fall upon your knees!
-I’ve won a prize, I tell you! You called me a chicken-coop builder,
-did you? You said I’d better settle down to building low-priced
-bungalows---- Oh, yes, you did!”
-
-He was a boy again, lording it over his chum. He danced about, tapping
-Bud on the head and shoulders as if teasing him for a fight. Bud
-finally managed to read the message Bruce had thrust into his hands,
-and emitted a yell. They fell to pummeling each other joyfully until
-Bud sank exhausted into a chair.
-
-“Great Jupiter!” Bud panted. “So this is what you were up to all
-spring! We’ll have a celebration! My dear boy, don’t bother about
-anything--I’ll arrange it all!”
-
-He busied himself at the telephone while Bruce received a newspaper
-reporter who had been sent to interview him. A bunch of telegrams
-arrived from Laconia--salutations of old friends, a congratulatory
-message from the memorial committee asking when they might expect him.
-The members of the committee were all men and women he had known from
-childhood, and his heart grew big at the pride they showed in him. In
-the reception room he had difficulty in composing himself sufficiently
-to answer the reporter’s questions with the composure the occasion
-demanded....
-
-“Small and select--that’s my idea!” said Bud in revealing his plans for
-the celebration. “We’re going to pull it at Shep Mills’s--Shep won’t
-listen to anything else! And the Freemans will be there, and Millie,
-and Helen Torrence, and Maybelle’s beating it from the country club to
-be sure she doesn’t miss anything. Thank God! something’s happened to
-give me an excuse for acquiring a large, juicy bun.”
-
-“Oh, thunder! You’re going to make an ass of me! I don’t want any
-party!”
-
-“No false modesty! We’re all set. I’ll skip around to the Club and
-nail Carroll and Whitford and any of the boys who are there. I’ll bet
-your plans are rotten, but we’ll pretend they’re mar-ve-li-ous! You’ll
-probably bluff your way through life just on your figure!”
-
-“But there’s no reason why the Shep Millses should be burdened with
-your show! Why didn’t you ask me about that?”
-
-“Oh, their house is bigger than mine. And Shep stammered his head off
-demanding that he have the honor. Don’t worry, old hoss, you’re in the
-hands of your friends!”
-
-The party overflowed from the house into the grounds, Bud having
-invited everyone he thought likely to contribute to its gaiety. Many
-did not know just what it was all about, or thought it was one of Bud’s
-jokes. He had summoned a jazz band and cleared the living-room for
-dancing.
-
-“Bud was unusually crazy when he telephoned me,” said Millicent. “I
-don’t quite know what you’ve done, but it must be a world-shaking
-event.”
-
-“All of that! The good wishes you sent after the mail train on a
-certain night did the business. I’d have told you of my adventure, only
-I was afraid I’d draw a blank.”
-
-“I see. You thought of me as only a fair-weather friend. Square
-yourself by telling me everything.”
-
-Their quiet corner of the veranda was soon invaded. Carroll, Whitford,
-Connie and Mrs. Torrence joined them, declaring that Millicent couldn’t
-be allowed to monopolize the hero of the hour.
-
-“It’s only beginner’s luck; that’s all,” Bruce protested. “The
-pleasantest thing about it is that it’s my native burg; that does
-tickle me!”
-
-“It’s altogether splendid,” said Carroll. “Having seen you on your
-native heath, and knowing how the people over there feel about you, I
-know just how proud you ought to be.”
-
-“What’s the name of the place--Petronia?” asked Constance.
-
-“Laconia,” Carroll corrected her. “You will do well to fix it in your
-memory now that Bruce is making it famous. I might mention that I have
-some cousins there--Bruce went over with me not so long ago just to
-give me a good character.”
-
-“How very interesting,” Constance murmured.
-
-“Mr. Mills once lived for a time in Laconia,” Carroll remarked. “That
-was years ago. His father had acquired some business interests there
-and the place aspired to become a large city.”
-
-“I don’t believe I ever heard Mr. Mills speak of it; I thought he was
-always rooted here,” said Constance.
-
-The party broke up at midnight, and Bruce drove Millicent home through
-the clear summer night. When he had unlocked the door for her she
-followed him out upon the steps.
-
-“I’m afraid I haven’t said all I’d like to say about your success. It’s
-a big achievement. I want you to know that I realize all that. I’m
-glad--and proud. Many happy returns of the day!”
-
-She gave him both her hands and this more than her words crowned the
-day for him. He had never been so happy. He really had hold of life;
-he could do things, he could do much finer things than the Laconia
-memorial! On his way to the gate he saw beyond the hedge a shadowy
-figure moving across the Mills lawn. When he reached the street he
-glanced back, identified Mills, and on an impulse entered the grounds.
-Mills was pacing back and forth, his head bowed, his hands thrust into
-his pockets. He started when he discerned Bruce, who walked up to him
-quickly.
-
-“Oh--that you, Storrs? Glad to see you! It’s a sultry night and I’m
-staying out as long as possible.”
-
-“I stopped to tell you a little piece of news. The Laconia memorial
-jury has made its report; my plans are accepted.”
-
-“How fine! Why--I’m delighted to hear this. I hope everything’s as you
-wanted it.”
-
-“Yes, sir; the fund was increased and the thing can be done now without
-skimping. I put in the fountain--I’m greatly obliged to you for that
-suggestion. You ought to have the credit for it.”
-
-“Oh, no, no!” Mills exclaimed hastily. “You’d probably have thought of
-it yourself--merely a bit of supplementary decoration. You’ll be busy
-now--supervising the construction?”
-
-“Yes; I want to look after all the details. It will keep me busy for
-the next year. Carroll is going over to Laconia with me tomorrow.”
-
-“Good! It will be quite an event--going back to your old home to
-receive the laurel! I hope your work will stand for centuries!”
-
-“Thank you, sir; good-night.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
-
-
-I
-
-Brief notes from Leila announced the happy course of her honeymoon in
-the New England hills. She wrote to her father as though there had
-been nothing extraordinary in her flight. Mills’s mortification that
-his daughter should have married over his protest was ameliorated by
-the satisfaction derived from dealing magnanimously with her. The
-Mills dignity required that she have a home in keeping with the family
-status, and he would provide for this a sum equal to the amount he had
-given Shep to establish himself. He avoided Shep and Connie--the latter
-misguidedly bent upon trying to reconcile him to the idea that Leila
-had not done so badly. He suspected that Connie, in her heart, was
-laughing at him, rejoicing that Leila had beaten him.
-
-He saw Millicent occasionally; but for all her tact and an evident
-wish to be kind, he suspected that her friendliness merely expressed
-her sympathy, and sympathy from any quarter was unbearable. He felt
-age clutching at him; he questioned whether Millicent could ever
-care for him; his dream of marrying again had been sheer folly. The
-summer wore on monotonously. Mills showed himself at the country club
-occasionally, usually at the behest of some of his old friends, and
-several times he entertained at Deer Trail.
-
-Shep and Connie were to dine with him in the town house one evening,
-and when he had dressed he went, as he often did, into Leila’s room. He
-sat down and idly drew the books from a rack on the table. One of them
-was a slender volume of George Whitford’s poems, printed privately and
-inscribed, “To Leila, from her friend, the author.” Mills had not heard
-of the publication and he turned over the leaves with more curiosity
-than he usually manifested in volumes of verse. Whitford’s lyrics were
-chiefly in a romantic and sentimental vein. One of them, the longest
-in the book, was called “The Flower of the World,” and above the title
-Leila had scrawled “Connie.”
-
-The lines were an ardent tribute to a lady whom the poet declared to be
-his soul’s ideal. Certain phrases underscored by Leila’s impious pencil
-were, when taken collectively, a very fair description of Constance.
-Mills carried the book to the library for a more deliberate perusal.
-If Leila knew that Constance was the subject of the verses, others
-must know it. What his sister had said about Whitford’s devotion to
-Constance was corroborated by the verses; and there had been that joint
-appearance of Constance and Whitford in the dramatic club play--another
-damning circumstance. Mills’s ire was aroused. He was standing in
-the middle of the room searching for other passages that might be
-interpreted as the author’s tribute to Constance when Shep entered.
-
-“Good evening, father,” he said. “We’re a little early--I thought we
-might take a minute to speak of those B. and F. bonds. You know----”
-
-He paused as his father, without preliminary greeting, advanced toward
-him with an angry gleam in his eyes.
-
-“Look at that! Have you seen this thing?”
-
-“Why, yes, I’ve seen it,” Shepherd answered, glancing at the
-page. “It’s a little book of George’s; he gave copies to all his
-friends--said nobody would ever buy it!”
-
-“Gave copies to all his friends, did he? Do you see what Leila’s
-written here and those marked lines? Do you realize what it means--that
-it’s written to your wife?”
-
-“That’s ridiculous, father,” Shep stammered. “It’s not written to
-Connie any more than to any other young woman--a sort of ideal of
-George’s, I suppose. Connie’s name written there is just a piece of
-Leila’s nonsense.”
-
-“How many people do you suppose thought the same thing? Don’t you know
-that there’s been a good deal of unpleasant talk about Connie and
-Whitford? There was that play they appeared in--written by Whitford!
-I’ve heard about that! It caused a lot of talk, and you’ve stood by,
-blind and deaf, and haven’t done a thing to stop it!”
-
-“I can’t have you make such statements about Connie! There was nothing
-wrong with that play--absolutely nothing! It was one of the finest
-things the club ever had. As for George having Connie in mind when he
-wrote that poem--why, that’s ridiculous! George is my friend as much
-as Connie’s. Why, I haven’t a better friend in the world than George
-Whitford!”
-
-“You’re blind; you’re stupid!” Mills stormed. “How many people do you
-suppose have laughed over that--laughed at you as a fool to let a man
-make love to your wife in that open fashion? I tell you the thing’s
-got to stop!”
-
-“But, father,” said Shep, lowering his voice, “you wouldn’t insult
-Connie. She’s downstairs and might easily hear you. You know, father,
-Connie isn’t exactly well! Connie’s going--Connie’s going--to have a
-baby! We’re very, very happy--about it----”
-
-Shep, stammering as he blurted this out, had endeavored to invest the
-announcement with the dignity it demanded.
-
-“So there’s a child coming!” There was no mistaking the sneer in
-Mills’s voice. “Your wife has a lover and she is to have a child!”
-
-“You shan’t say such a thing!” cried Shep, his voice tremulous with
-wrath and horror. “You’re crazy! It’s unworthy of you!”
-
-“Oh, I’m sane enough. You ought to have seen this and stopped it long
-ago. Now that you see it, I’d like to know what you’re going to do
-about it!”
-
-“But I don’t see it! There’s nothing to see! I tell you I’ll not listen
-to such an infamous charge against Connie!”
-
-“I’ll say what I please about Connie!” Mills shouted. “You
-children--you and Leila--what have I got from you but disappointment
-and shame? Leila runs away and marries a scoundrel out of the divorce
-court and now your wife--a woman I tried to save you from--has smirched
-us all with dishonor. I didn’t want you to marry her; I begged you not
-to do it. But I yielded in the hope of making you happy. I wanted you
-and Leila to take the place you’re entitled to in this town. Everything
-was done for you! Look up there,” he went on hoarsely, pointing to the
-portraits above the book shelves, “look at those men and women--your
-forebears--people who laid the foundations of this town, and they
-look down on you and what do they see? Failure! Disgrace! Nothing but
-failure! And you stand here and pretend--pretend----”
-
-Mills’s arm fell to his side and the sentence died on his lips.
-Constance stood in the door; there were angry tears in her eyes and her
-face was white as she advanced a little way into the room and paused
-before Mills.
-
-“I did not know how foul--how base you could be! You needn’t fear him,
-Shep! Only a coward would have bawled such a thing for the servants
-to hear--possibly the neighbors. You’ve called upon your ancestors,
-Mr. Mills, to witness your shame and disgrace at having admitted
-me into your sacred family circle! Shep, have you ever noticed the
-resemblance--it’s really quite remarkable--of young Mr. Storrs to your
-grandfather Mills? It’s most curious--rather impressive, in fact!”
-
-She was gazing at the portrait of Franklin Mills III, with a
-contemptuous smile on her lips.
-
-“Connie, _Connie_----” Shep faltered.
-
-“Storrs! What do you mean by that?” demanded Mills. His mouth hung
-open; with his head thrust forward he gazed at the portrait as if he
-had never seen it before.
-
-“Nothing, of course,” she went on slowly, giving every effect to
-her words. “But when you spent some time in that town with the
-singular name--Laconia, wasn’t it?--you were young and probably quite
-fascinating--Storrs came from there--an interesting--a wholly admirable
-young man!”
-
-“Connie--I don’t get what you’re driving at!” Shep exclaimed, his eyes
-fastened upon his grandfather’s portrait.
-
-“Constance is merely trying to be insolent,” Mills said, but his hand
-shook as he took a cigarette from a box and lighted it. When he looked
-up he was disconcerted to find Shep regarding him with a blank stare.
-Constance, already at the door, said quietly:
-
-“Come, Shep. I think we must be going.”
-
-The silence of the house was broken in a moment by the closing of the
-front door.
-
-
-II
-
-Shep and Constance drove in silence the few blocks that lay between
-Mills’s house and their own. Constance explained their return to the
-maid by saying that she hadn’t felt well and ordered a cold supper
-served in the breakfast room. Shep strolled aimlessly about while she
-went upstairs and reappeared in a house gown. When they had eaten they
-went into the living-room, where she turned the leaves of a book while
-he pretended to read the evening newspaper. After a time she walked
-over to him and touched his arm, let her hand rest lightly on his head.
-
-“Yes, Connie,” he said.
-
-“There’s something I want to say to you, Shep.”
-
-“Yes, Connie.”
-
-He got up and she slipped into his chair.
-
-“It’s a lie, Shep. What your father said is a lie!”
-
-“Yes; of course,” he said, but he did not look at her.
-
-“You’ve got to believe me; I’ll die if you don’t tell me you believe in
-me!” and her voice broke in a sob.
-
-He walked away from her, then went back, staring at her dully.
-
-“I’ve been foolish, Shep. George and I have been good friends; we’ve
-enjoyed talking books and music. I like the things he likes, but that’s
-all. You’ve got to believe me, Shep; you’ve got to believe me!”
-
-There was deep passion in the reiterated appeal.
-
-When he did not reply she rose, clasped his cheeks in her hands so that
-he could not avoid her eyes.
-
-“Look at me, Shep. I swear before God I am telling you the truth!”
-
-“Yes, Connie.” He freed himself, walked to the end of the room, went
-back to her, regarding her intently. “Connie--what did you mean by what
-you said to father about Bruce Storrs?”
-
-“Oh, nothing! Your aunt Alice spoke of the resemblance one night at the
-country club, where she saw Bruce with Millicent. It’s rather striking
-when you think of it. And then at Bruce’s jollification the other night
-Arthur said your father once spent some time at Laconia. I thought
-possibly he had relatives there.”
-
-“No; never, I think.”
-
-“That’s what your aunt Alice said; but the portrait does suggest Bruce
-Storrs.”
-
-“Or a hundred other men,” Shep replied with a shrug. “You must be
-tired, Connie--you’d better go to bed.”
-
-“I don’t believe we’ve quite finished, Shep. I can’t leave you like
-this! Your father is a beast! A low, foul beast!”
-
-“I suppose he is,” he said indifferently.
-
-“Is that all you have to say to me--Shep?”
-
-She regarded him with growing terror in her eyes. He had said he
-believed her, but it was in a tone of unbelief.
-
-“I suppose a wife has a right to the protection of her husband,” she
-said challengingly.
-
-“You heard what I said to father, didn’t you? I told him it was a lie.
-I’ll never enter his house again. That ought to satisfy you,” he said
-with an air of dismissing the matter finally.
-
-“And this is all you have to say, Shep?”
-
-“It’s enough, isn’t it? I don’t care to discuss the matter further.”
-
-“Then this is the end--is that what you mean?”
-
-“No,” he replied in a curious, strained tone. “It’s foolish to say what
-the end of anything is going to be.”
-
-She looked at him a moment pleadingly and with a gesture of
-helplessness started toward the door. He opened it for her, followed
-her into the hall, pressed the buttons that lighted the rooms above,
-and returned to the living-room....
-
-
-III
-
-Their routine continued much as it had been for the past two years, but
-to her tortured senses there was something ominous now in the brevity
-of their contacts. Shep often remained away late and on his return
-crept softly upstairs to his room without speaking to her, though she
-left her light burning brightly.
-
-Constance kept to her room, she hadn’t been well, and the doctor told
-her to stay in bed for a few days. For several nights she heard Shep
-moving about his room, and the maid told her that he had been going
-over his clothing and was sending a box of old suits to some charitable
-institution. A few days later he went into her room as she was having
-breakfast in bed. She asked him to shift the tray for her, more for
-something to say than because the service was necessary, and inquired
-if he were feeling well, but without dispelling the hard glitter that
-had become fixed in his eyes.
-
-“Do you know when Leila’s coming home?” he inquired from the foot of
-the bed.
-
-“No; I haven’t heard. I’ve seen no one; the doctor told me to keep
-quiet.”
-
-“Yes; I suppose you have to do that,” he said without emotion. He went
-out listlessly and as he passed her she put out her hand, touched his
-sleeve; but he gave no sign that he was aware of the appeal the gesture
-implied....
-
-It was on a Saturday morning that he went in through his dressing room,
-bade her good morning in much his old manner and rang for her coffee.
-He had breakfasted, he said, and merely wanted to be sure that she was
-comfortable.
-
-“Thank you, Shep. I’m all right. I’ve been troubled about you,
-dear--much more than about myself. But you look quite fit this morning.”
-
-“Feeling fine,” he said. “This is a half day at the office and I want
-to get on the job early. I’m dated up for a foursome this afternoon
-with George, Bruce and Carroll; so I won’t be home till after the game.
-You won’t mind?”
-
-“Why, I’m delighted to have you go, Shep!”
-
-“I always do the best I can, Connie,” he went on musingly. “I probably
-make a lot of mistakes. I don’t believe God intended me for heavy work;
-if he had he’d have made me bigger.”
-
-“How foolish, Shep. You’re doing wonderfully. Isn’t everything going
-smoothly at the office?”
-
-“Just fine! I haven’t a thing to complain of!”
-
-“Is everything all right now?” she asked, encouraged to hope for some
-assurance of his faith in her.
-
-“What isn’t all right will be--there’s always that!” he replied with a
-laugh.
-
-He lingered beside the bed and took her hand, bent over and kissed her,
-let his cheek rest against hers in an old way of his.
-
-“Good-bye,” he said from the door, and then with a smile--Shep’s
-familiar, wistful little smile--he left her.
-
-
-IV
-
-Shep and Whitford won the foursome against Bruce and Carroll, a result
-due to Whitford’s superior drives and Carroll’s bad putting. They were
-all in high humor when they returned to the clubhouse, chaffing one
-another about their skill as they dressed. Shep made a tour of the
-verandas, greeting his friends, answering questions as to Connie’s
-health. The four men were going in at once and Shep, who had driven
-Carroll out, suggested that he and Bruce change partners for the drive
-home.
-
-“There are a few little points about the game I want to discuss with
-George,” he explained as they walked toward the parking sheds.
-
-“All right,” Bruce assented cheerfully. “You birds needn’t be so set
-up; next week Carroll and I will give you the trimming of your young
-lives!”
-
-“Ah, the next time!” Shep replied ironically, and drove away with
-Whitford beside him....
-
-“Shep’s coming on; he’s matured a lot since he went into the trust
-company,” remarked Carroll, as he and Bruce followed Shep’s car.
-
-“Good stuff in him,” said Bruce. “One of those natures that develops
-slowly. I never saw him quite as gay as he was this afternoon.”
-
-“He was always a shy boy, but he’s coming out of that. I think his
-father was wise in taking him out of the battery plant.”
-
-“No doubt,” Bruce agreed, his attention fixed on Shep’s car.
-
-Shep had set a pace that Bruce was finding it difficult to maintain.
-Carroll presently commented upon the wild flight of the car ahead,
-which was cutting the turns in the road with reckless abandon, leaving
-a gray cloud behind.
-
-“The honor of my car is at stake!” said Bruce grimly, closing his
-windshield against the dust.
-
-“By George! If Shep wasn’t so abstemious you’d think he’d mixed alcohol
-with his gas,” Carroll replied. “What the devil’s got into him!”
-
-“Maybe he wants a race,” Bruce answered uneasily, remembering Shep’s
-wild drive the night of their talk on the river. “There’s a bad turn at
-the creek just ahead--he can’t make it at that speed!”
-
-Bruce stopped, thinking Shep might check his flight if he found he
-wasn’t pursued; but the car sped steadily on.
-
-“Shep’s gone nutty or he’s trying to scare George,” said Carroll. “Go
-ahead!”
-
-Bruce started his car at full speed, expecting that at any minute Shep
-would stop and explain that it was all a joke of some kind. The flying
-car was again in sight, careening crazily as it struck depressions in
-the roadbed.
-
-“Oh, God!” cried Carroll, half-rising in his seat. Shep had passed
-a lumbering truck by a hair’s breadth, and still no abatement in
-his speed. Bruce heard a howl of rage as he swung his own car past
-the truck. A danger sign at the roadside gave warning of the short
-curve that led upward to the bridge, and Bruce clapped on his brakes.
-Carroll, on the running board, peering ahead through the dust, yelled,
-and as Bruce leaped out a crash ahead announced disaster. A second
-sound, the sound of a heavy body falling, greeted the two men as they
-ran toward the scene....
-
-Shep’s car had battered through the wooden fence that protected the
-road where it curved into the wooden bridge and had plunged into the
-narrow ravine. Bruce and Carroll flung themselves down the steep bank
-and into the stream. Shep’s head lay across his arms on the wheel;
-Whitford evidently had tried to leap out before the car struck. His
-body, half out of the door, had been crushed against the fence, but
-clung in its place through the car’s flight over the embankment.
-
-
-V
-
-To the world Franklin Mills showed what passed for a noble fortitude
-and a superb resignation in Shep’s death. Carroll had carried the news
-to him; and Carroll satisfied the curiosity of no one as to what Mills
-had said or how he had met the blow. Carroll himself did not know what
-passed through Franklin Mills’ mind. Mills had asked without emotion
-whether the necessary things had been done, and was satisfied that
-Carroll had taken care of everything. Mills received the old friends
-who called, among them Lindley. It was a proper thing to see the
-minister in such circumstances. The rector of St. Barnabas went away
-puzzled. He had never understood Mills, and now his rich parishioner
-was more of an enigma than ever.
-
-A handful of friends chosen by Constance and Mills heard the reading
-of the burial office in the living-room of Shep’s house. Constance
-remained in her room; and Mills saw her first when they met in the hall
-to drive together to the cemetery, an arrangement that she herself had
-suggested. No sound came from her as she stood between Mills and Leila
-at the grave as the last words were said. A little way off stood the
-bearers, young men who had been boyhood friends of Shep, and one or
-two of his associates from the trust company. When the grave was filled
-Constance waited, watching the placing of the flowers, laying her
-wreath of roses with her own hands.
-
-She took Mills’s arm and they returned to their car. No word was spoken
-as it traversed the familiar streets. The curtains were drawn; Mills
-stared fixedly at the chauffeur’s back; the woman beside him made no
-sign. Nothing, as he thought of it, had been omitted; his son had been
-buried with the proper rites of the church. There had been no bungling,
-no hysterical display of grief; no crowd of the morbidly curious. When
-they reached Shep’s house he followed Constance in. There were women
-there waiting to care for her, but she sent them away and went into
-the reception parlor. The scent of flowers still filled the rooms, but
-the house had assumed its normal orderly aspect. Constance threw back
-her veil, and Mills saw for the first time her face with its marks of
-suffering, her sorrowing eyes.
-
-“Had you something to say to me?” she asked quietly.
-
-“If you don’t mind----” he answered. “I couldn’t come to you
-before--but now--I should like you to know----”
-
-As he paused she began to speak slowly, as if reciting something she
-had committed to memory.
-
-“We have gone through this together, for reasons clear to both of us.
-There is nothing you can say to me. But one or two things I must say to
-you. You killed him. Your contempt for him as a weaker man than you, as
-a gentle and sweet soul you could never comprehend; your wish to manage
-him, to thwart him in things he wanted to do, your wish to mold him and
-set him in your own little groove--these are the things that destroyed
-him. You shattered his faith in me--that is the crudest thing of all,
-for he loved me. So strong was your power over him and so great was his
-fear of you that he believed you. In spite of himself he believed you
-when you charged me with unfaithfulness. You drove him mad,” she went
-on monotonously; “he died a madman--died horribly, carrying an innocent
-man down with him. The child Shep wanted so much--that he would have
-loved so dearly--is his. You need have no fear as to that. That is all
-I have to say, Mr. Mills.”
-
-She left him noiselessly, leaving behind her a quiet that terrified and
-numbed him. He found himself groping his way through the hall, where
-someone spoke to him. The words were unintelligible, though the voice
-was of someone who meant to be kind. He walked to his car, carrying his
-hat as if he were unequal to the effort of lifting it to his head. The
-chauffeur opened the door, and as he got in Mills stumbled and sank
-upon the seat.
-
-When he reached home he wandered aimlessly about the rooms, oppressed
-by the intolerable quiet. One and another of the servants furtively
-peered at him from discreet distances; the man who had cared for his
-personal needs for many years showed himself in the hope of being
-called upon for some service.
-
-“Is that you, Briggs?” asked Mills. “Please call the farm and say that
-I’m coming out. Yes--I’ll have dinner there. I may stay a day or two.
-You may pack a bag for me--the usual things. Order the car when you’re
-ready.”
-
-He resumed his listless wandering, found himself in Leila’s old room,
-and again in the room that had been Shep’s. It puzzled him to find
-that the inspection of these rooms brought him no sensations. He felt
-no inclination to cry out against the fate that had wrought this
-emptiness, laid this burden of silence upon his house. Leila had gone;
-and he had seen them put Shep into the ground.
-
-“_You killed him._” This was what that woman in black had said. She had
-said other things, but these were the words that repeated themselves
-in his memory like a muffled drum-beat. On the drive to the farm he
-did not escape from the insistent reiteration. He was mystified,
-bewildered. No one had ever spoken to him like that; no one had ever
-before accused him of a monstrous crime or addressed him as if he were
-a contemptible and odious thing. And yet he was Franklin Mills. This
-was the astounding thing,--that Franklin Mills should have listened to
-such words and been unable to deny them....
-
-At the farm he paused on the veranda, turned his face westward where
-the light still lingered in pale tints of gold and scarlet. He remained
-staring across the level fields, hearing the murmur of the wind in the
-maples, the rustle of dead leaves in the grass, until the chauffeur
-spoke to him, took his arm and led him into the house.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
-
-
-I
-
-Carroll and Bruce dined at the University Club on an evening early
-in October. The tragic end of Shepherd Mills and George Whitford had
-brought them into a closer intimacy and they were much together. The
-responsibility of protecting Shep’s memory had fallen upon them; and
-they had been fairly successful in establishing in local history a
-record of the tragedy as an accident. Only a very few knew or suspected
-the truth.
-
-“Have you anything on this evening?” asked Carroll as they were leaving
-the table.
-
-“Not a blessed thing,” Bruce replied.
-
-“Mr. Mills, you know, or rather you don’t know, is at Deer Trail. The
-newspaper story that he had gone south for the winter wasn’t true. He’s
-been ill--frightfully ill; but he’s better now. I was out there today;
-he asked about you. I think he’d like to see you. You needn’t dread it;
-he’s talked very little about Shep’s death.”
-
-“If you really think he wants to see me,” Bruce replied dubiously.
-
-“From the way he mentioned you I’m sure it would please him.”
-
-“Very well; will you go along?”
-
-“No; I think he’d like it better if you went alone. He has seen no one
-but Leila, the doctor and me; he’s probably anxious to see a new face.
-I’ll telephone you’re coming.”
-
-As Bruce entered Mills’s room a white-frocked nurse quietly withdrew.
-The maid who had shown him up drew a chair beside the bed and left
-them. He was alone with Mills, trying to adjust himself to the change
-in him, the pallor of the face against the pillow, the thin cheeks, the
-hair white now where it had only been touched with gray.
-
-“This is very kind of you! I’m poor company; but I hoped you wouldn’t
-mind running out.”
-
-“I thought you were away. Carroll just told me you were here.”
-
-“No; I’ve been here sometime--so long, in fact, that I feel quite out
-of the world.”
-
-“Mrs. Thomas is at home--I’ve seen her several times.”
-
-“Yes, Leila’s very good to me; runs out every day or two. She’s full of
-importance over having her own establishment.”
-
-Bruce spoke of his own affairs; told of the progress that had been made
-with the Laconia memorial before the weather became unfavorable. The
-foundations were in and the materials were being prepared; the work
-would go forward rapidly with the coming of spring.
-
-“I can appreciate your feeling about it--your own idea taking form.
-I’ve thought of it a good deal. Indeed, I’ve thought of you a great
-deal since I’ve been here.”
-
-“If I’d known you were here and cared to see me I should have come
-out,” said Bruce quite honestly.
-
-While Mills bore the marks of suffering and had plainly undergone a
-serious illness, his voice had something of its old resonance and
-his eyes were clear and alert. He spoke of Shep, with a poignant
-tenderness, but left no opening for sympathy. His grief was his own;
-not a thing to be exposed to another or traded upon. Bruce marveled at
-him. The man, even in his weakness, challenged admiration. The rain had
-begun to patter on the sill of an open window and Bruce went to close
-it. When he returned to the bed Mills asked for an additional pillow
-that he might sit up more comfortably, and Bruce adjusted it for him.
-He was silent for a moment; his fingers played with the edge of the
-coverlet; he appeared to be thinking intently.
-
-“There are things, Storrs,” he remarked presently, “that are not helped
-by discussion. That night I had you to dine with me we both played
-about a certain fact without meeting it. I am prepared to meet it now.
-You are my son. I don’t know that there’s anything further to be said
-about it.”
-
-“Nothing,” Bruce answered.
-
-“If you were not what you are I should never have said this to you. I
-was in love with your mother and she loved me. It was all wrong and the
-wrong was mine. And in various ways I have paid the penalty.” He passed
-his hand slowly over his eyes and went on. “It may be impertinent, but
-there’s one thing I’d like to ask. What moved you to establish yourself
-here?”
-
-“There was only one reason. My mother was the noblest woman that ever
-lived! She loved you till she died. She would never have told me of you
-but for a feeling that she wanted me to be near you--to help in case
-you were in need. That was all.”
-
-“That was all?” Mills repeated, and for the first time he betrayed
-emotion. He lay very still. Slowly his hand moved along the coverlet
-to the edge of the bed until Bruce took it in his own. “You and I have
-been blessed in our lives; we have known the love of a great woman.
-That was like her,” he ended softly; “that was Marian.”
-
-The nurse came in to see if he needed anything, and he dismissed her
-for the night. He went on talking in quiet, level tones--of his early
-years, of the changing world, Bruce encouraging him by an occasional
-question but heeding little what he said. If Mills had whined, begged
-forgiveness or offered reparation, Bruce would have hated him. But
-Mills was not an ordinary man. No ordinary man would have made the
-admission he had made, or, making it, would have implored silence,
-exacted promises....
-
-“Millicent--you see her, I suppose?” Mills asked after a time.
-
-“Yes; I see her quite often.”
-
-“I had hoped you did. In fact Leila told me that Millie and you are
-good friends. She said a little more--Leila’s a discerning person and
-she said she thought there was something a little more than friendship.
-Please let me finish! You’ve thought that there were reasons why you
-could never ask Millicent to marry you. I’ll take the responsibility of
-that. I’ll tell her the story myself--if need be. I leave that to your
-own decision.”
-
-“No,” said Bruce. “I shall tell her myself.”
-
-Instead of wearying Mills, the talk seemingly acted as a stimulus.
-Bruce’s amazement grew. It was incomprehensible that here lay the
-Franklin Mills of his distrust, his jealousy, his hatred.
-
-“Millicent used to trouble me a good deal with some of her ideas,” said
-Mills.
-
-“She’s troubled a good many of us,” Bruce agreed with a smile. “But
-sometimes I think I catch a faint gleam.”
-
-“I’m sure you do! You two are of a generation that looks for God in
-those far horizons she talks about. The idea amused me at first. But
-I see now that here is the new religion--the religion of youth--that
-expresses itself truly in beautiful things--in life, in conduct,
-in unselfishness. The spirit of youth reveals itself in beautiful
-things--and calls them God. Shep felt all that, tried in his own way to
-make me see--but I couldn’t understand him. I--there are things I want
-to do--for Shep. We’ll talk of that later.... Every mistake I’ve made,
-every wrong I’ve done in this world has been due to selfishness--I’ve
-been saying that to myself every day since I’ve been here. I’ve found
-peace in it. There’s no one in the world who has a better right to hear
-this from me than you. And this is no death-bed repentance; I’m not
-going to die yet a while. It’s rather beaten in on me, Bruce”--it was
-the first time he had so addressed him--“that we can’t just live for
-ourselves! No! Not if we would find happiness. There comes a time when
-every man needs God. The wise thing is so to live that when the need
-comes we shan’t find him a stranger!”
-
-The hour grew late, and the wind and rain made a continual clatter
-about the house. When Bruce rose to go Mills protested.
-
-“There’s plenty of space here--a room next to mine is ready for a
-guest. You’ll find everything you want. We seem to meet in storms!
-Please spend the night here.”
-
-And so it came about that for the first time Bruce slept in his
-father’s house.
-
-
-II
-
-Bruce and Millicent were married the next June. A few friends gathered
-in the garden late on a golden afternoon--Leila and Thomas, the
-Freemans, the Hendersons, a few relatives of the Hardens from their old
-home, and Carroll and Bruce’s cousin from Laconia. The marriage service
-was read by Dr. Lindley and the music was provided by a choir of robins
-in the elms and maples. Franklin Mills was not present; but before
-Bruce and Millicent drove to the station they passed through the gate
-in the boundary hedge--Leila had arranged this--and received his good
-wishes.
-
-The fourth of July had been set as the time for the dedication of the
-memorial. The event brought together a great company of dignitaries,
-and the governor of the state and the Secretary of War were the
-speakers. Mills had driven over with Leila and Thomas, and he sat with
-them, Millicent beside him.
-
-Bruce hovered on the edges of the crowd, listening to comments on his
-work, marveling himself that it was so good. The chairman of the local
-committee sent for him at the conclusion of the ceremonies to introduce
-him to the distinguished visitors. When the throng had dispersed,
-Millicent, with Carroll and Leila, paused by the fountain to wait until
-Bruce was free.
-
-“This is what you get, Millie, for having a famous husband,” Leila
-remarked. “He’s probably signing a contract for another monument!”
-
-“There he is!” exclaimed Carroll, pointing up the slope.
-
-Bruce and Mills were slowly pacing one of the colonnades. Beyond
-it lay the woodland that more than met Bruce’s expectations as a
-background for the memorial. They were talking earnestly, wholly
-unaware that they were observed. As they turned once more to retrace
-their steps Mills, unconsciously it seemed, laid his arm across Bruce’s
-shoulders; and Millicent, seeing and understanding, turned away to hide
-her tears.
-
-
-THE END
-
-
-
-
-TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
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-
-  Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
-
-  Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.
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