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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The City of Fire, by Grace Livingston Hill
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The City of Fire
+
+Author: Grace Livingston Hill
+
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7008]
+This file was first posted on February 21, 2003
+Last Updated: June 11, 2013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CITY OF FIRE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Anne Folland, Tiffany Vergon, Charles Aldarondo,
+Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE CITY OF FIRE
+
+By Grace Livingston Hill
+
+
+[DP Postprocessor's Note:
+
+*renumbered chapters beginning with chapter 24: original text had two
+chapters numbered 23
+
+*changed Fenning to Fenner 3 times (11 instances of Fenner) on pages
+120, 122, and 133 of the original.]
+
+
+
+
+THE CITY OF FIRE
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+Sabbath Valley lay like a green jewel cupped in the hand of the
+surrounding mountains with the morning sun serene upon it picking out
+the clean smooth streets, the white houses with their green blinds, the
+maples with their clear cut leaves, the cosy brick school house wide
+winged and friendly, the vine clad stone church, and the little stone
+bungalow with low spreading roof that was the parsonage. The word
+manse had not yet reached the atmosphere. There were no affectations in
+Sabbath Valley.
+
+Billy Gaston, two miles away and a few degrees up the mountain side,
+standing on the little station platform at Pleasant View, waiting for
+the morning train looked down upon the beauty at his feet and felt its
+loveliness blindly. A passing thrill of wonder and devotion fled through
+his fourteen-year-old soul as he regarded it idly. Down there was home
+and all his interests and loyalty. His eyes dwelt affectionately on the
+pointing spire and bell tower. He loved those bells, and the one who
+played them, and under their swelling tones had been awakened new
+thoughts and lofty purposes. He knew they were lofty. He was not yet
+altogether sure that they were his, but they were there in his mind for
+him to think about, and there was a strange awesome lure about their
+contemplation.
+
+Down the platform was the new freight agent, a thickset, rubber-shod
+individual with a projecting lower jaw and a lowering countenance. He
+had lately arrived to assist the regular station agent, who lived in a
+bit of a shack up the mountain and was a thin sallow creature with sad
+eyes and no muscles. Pleasant View was absolutely what it stated, a
+pleasant view and nothing else. The station was a well weathered box
+that blended into the mountain side unnoticeably, and did not spoil the
+view. The agent's cabin was hidden by the trees and did not count.
+But Pleasant View was important as a station because it stood at the
+intersection of two lines of thread like tracks that slipped among the
+mountains in different directions; one winding among the trees and about
+a clear mountain lake, carried guests for the summer to and fro, and
+great quantities of baggage and freight from afar; the other travelled
+through long tunnels to the world beyond and linked great cities like
+jewels on a chain. There were heavy bales and boxes and many trunks to
+be shifted and it was obvious that the sallow station agent could not do
+it all. The heavy one had been sent to help him through the rush season.
+
+In five minutes more the train would come from around the mountain and
+bring a swarm of ladies and children for the Hotel at the Lake. They
+would have to be helped off with all their luggage, and on again to
+the Lake train, which would back up two minutes later. This was Billy's
+harvest time. He could sometimes make as much as fifty cents or even
+seventy-five if he struck a generous party, just being generally useful,
+carrying bags and marshalling babies. It was important that Billy should
+earn something for it was Saturday and the biggest ball game of the
+season came off at Monopoly that afternoon. Billy could manage the
+getting there, it was only ten miles away, but money to spend when he
+arrived was more than a necessity. Saturday was always a good day at the
+station.
+
+Billy had slipped into the landscape unseen. His rusty, trusty old
+bicycle was parked in a thick huckleberry growth just below the grade
+of the tracks, and Billy himself stood in the shelter of several immense
+packing boxes piled close to the station. It was a niche just big enough
+for his wiry young length with the open station window close at his ear.
+From either end of the platform he was hidden, which was as it should be
+until he got ready to arrive with the incoming train.
+
+The regular station agent was busy checking a high pile of trunks that
+had come down on the early Lake train from the Hotel and had to be
+transferred to the New York train. He was on the other side of the
+station and some distance down the platform.
+
+Beyond the packing boxes the heavy one worked with brush and paint
+marking some barrels. If Billy applied an eye to a crack in his hiding
+place he could watch every stroke of the fat black brush, and see the
+muscles in the swarthy cheeks move as the man mouthed a big black cigar.
+But Billy was not interested in the new freight agent, and remained in
+his retreat, watching the brilliant sunshine shimmer over the blue-green
+haze of spruce and pine that furred the way down to the valley. He
+basked in it like a cat blinking its content. The rails were beginning
+to hum softly, and it would not be long till the train arrived.
+
+Suddenly Billy was aware of a shadow looming.
+
+The heavy one had laid down his brush and was stealing swiftly,
+furtively to the door of the station with a weather eye to the agent on
+his knees beside a big trunk writing something on a check. Billy drew
+back like a turtle to his shell and listened. The rail was beginning to
+sing decidedly now and the telephone inside the grated window suddenly
+sat up a furious ringing. Billy's eye came round the corner of the
+window, scanned the empty platform, glimpsed the office desk inside and
+the weighty figure holding the receiver, then vanished enough to be out
+of sight, leaving only a wide curious ear to listen:
+
+"That you Sam? Yep. Nobody about. Train's coming. Hustle up. Anything
+doing? You _don't say_! Some big guy? _Say_, that's good news at last!
+Get on the other wire and hold it. I'll come as quick as the train's
+gone. S'long!"
+
+Billy cocked a curious eye like a flash into the window and back again,
+ducking behind the boxes just in time to miss the heavy one coming out
+with an excited air, and a feverish eye up the track where the train was
+coming into view around the curve.
+
+In a moment all was stir and confusion, seven women wanting attention
+at once, and imperious men of the world crying out against railroad
+regulations. Billy hustled everywhere, transferring bags and suit cases
+with incredible rapidity to the other train, which arrived promptly,
+securing a double seat for the fat woman with the canary, and the poodle
+in a big basket, depositing the baggage of a pretty lady on the shady
+side, making himself generally useful to the opulent looking man with
+the jewelled rings; and back again for another lot. A whole dollar and
+fifteen cents jingled in his grimy pocket as the trains finally moved
+off in their separate directions and the peace of Pleasant View settled
+down monotonously once more.
+
+Billy gave a hurried glance about him. The station agent was busy with
+another batch of trunks, but the heavy one was nowhere to be seen.
+He gave a quick glance through the grated window where the telegraph
+instrument was clicking away sleepily, but no one was there. Then a stir
+among the pines below the track attracted his attention, and stepping to
+the edge of the bank he caught a glimpse of a broad dusty back lumbering
+hurriedly down among the branches.
+
+With a flirt of his eye back to the absorbed station agent Billy was off
+down the mountain after the heavy one, walking stealthily as any cat,
+pausing in alert attention, listening, peering out eerily whenever he
+came to a break in the undergrowth. Like a young mole burrowing he wove
+his way under branches the larger man must have turned aside, and so his
+going was as silent as the air. Now and then he could hear the crash of
+a broken branch or the crackle of a twig, or the rolling of a stone
+set free by a heavy foot, but he went on like a cat, like a little
+wood shadow, till suddenly he felt he was almost upon his prey. Then he
+paused and listened.
+
+The man was kneeling just below him. He could hear the labored
+breathing. There was a curious sound of metal and wood, of a key turning
+in a lock. Billy drew himself softly into a group of cypress and held
+his breath. Softly he parted the foliage and peered. The man was down
+upon his knees before a rough box, holding something in his hand which
+he put to his ear. Billy could not quite see what it was. And now the
+man began to talk into the box. Billy ducked and listened:
+
+"Hello, Sam! You there! Couldn't come any quicker, lots of passengers.
+Lots of freight. What's doing, anyhow?"
+
+Billy could hear a faint murmur of words, now and then one gutteral
+burst out and became distinct, and gradually enough words pieced
+themselves together to become intelligible.
+
+"... Rich guy! High power machine ... Great catch ... Tonight!... Got a
+bet on to get there by sunrise.... Can't miss him!"
+
+Billy lay there puzzled. It sounded shady, but what was the line anyway?
+Then the man spoke.
+
+"Sounds easy Sammy, but how we goin' to kidnap a man in a high power
+machine? Wreck it of course, but he might get killed and where would be
+the reward? Besides, he's likely to be a good shot--"
+
+The voice from the ground again growing clearer:
+
+"Put something across the road that he'll have to get out and move, like
+a fallen tree, or one of you lie in the road beside a car as if you
+was hurt. I'm sending Shorty and Link. They'll get there about eight
+o'clock. Beat him to it by an hour anyway, maybe more. Now it's up to
+you to look after details. Get anyone you want to help till Shorty and
+Link get there, and pay 'em so in case anything gets them, or they're
+late. I'll keep you wise from time to time how the guy gets on. I've got
+my men on the watch along the line."
+
+"I'd like t' know who I'd get in this God forsaken place!" growled the
+heavy one, "Not a soul in miles except the agent, and _he'd_ run right
+out and telegraph for the State constab. Say, Sammy, who is this guy
+anyway? Is there enough in it to pay for the risk? You know kidnapping
+ain't any juvenile demeanor. I didn't promise no such stuff as this when
+I said I'd take a hand over here. Now just a common little hold-up ain't
+so bad. That could happen on any lonely mountain road. But this here
+kidnapping, you never can tell how its going to turn out. Might be
+murder before you got through, especially if Link is along. _You know
+Link!_"
+
+"That's all right, Pat, you needn't worry, this'll go through slick as
+a whistle, and a million in it if we work it right. The house is all
+ready--you know where--and never a soul in all the world would suspect.
+It's far enough away and yet not too far--. You'll make enough out of
+this to retire for life if you want to Pat, and no mistake. All you've
+got to do is to handle it right, and you know your business."
+
+"Who'd you say he was?"
+
+"Shafton, Laurence Shafton, son of the big Shafton, you know Shafton and
+Gates."
+
+A heavy whistle blended with the whispering pines.
+
+"You don't say? How much family?"
+
+"Mother living, got separate fortune in her own right. Father just dotes
+on him. Uncle has a big estate on Long Island, plenty more millions
+there. I think a million is real modest in us to ask, don't you?"
+
+"Where's he goin' to? What makes you think he'll come this way 'stead of
+the valley road?"
+
+"'Cause he's just started, got all the directions for the way, went over
+it carefully with his valet. Valet gave me the tip you understand, and
+has to be in on the rake-off. It's his part to keep close to the family,
+see? Guy's goin' down to Beechwood to a house party, got a bet on that
+he'll make it before daylight. He's bound to pass your mountain soon
+after midnight, see? Are you goin' to do your part, or ain't you? Or
+have I got to get a new agent down there? And say! I want a message on
+this wire as soon as the job is completed. Now, you understand? Can you
+pull it off?"
+
+It was some time after the key clicked in the lock and the bulky form
+of the freight agent lumbered up through the pines again before Billy
+stirred. Then he wriggled around through the undergrowth until he found
+himself in front of the innocent looking little box covered over with
+dried grass and branches. He examined it all very carefully, pried
+underneath with his jack knife, discovered the spot where the wire
+connected, speculated as to where it tapped the main line, prospected a
+bit about the place and then on hands and knees wormed himself through
+the thick growth of the mountain till he came out to the huckleberry
+clump, and recovering his bicycle walked innocently up to the station as
+if it were the first time that day and enquired of the surly freight man
+whether a box had come for his mother.
+
+In the first place Billy hadn't any mother, only an aunt who went out
+washing and had hard times to keep a decent place for Billy to sleep and
+eat, and she never had a box come by freight in her life. But the burly
+one did not know that. Just what Billy Gaston did it for, perhaps he did
+not quite know himself, save that the lure of hanging round a mystery
+was always great. Moreover it gave him deep joy to know that he knew
+something about this man that the man did not know he knew. It was
+always good to know things. It was always wise to keep your mouth shut
+about them when you knew them. Those were the two most prominent planks
+in Billy Gaston's present platform and he stood upon them firmly.
+
+The burly one gave Billy a brief and gruff negative to his query and
+went on painting barrel labels. He was thinking of other matters, but
+Billy still hung around. He had a hunch that he might be going to make
+merchandise in some way of the knowledge that he had gained, so he hung
+around, silently, observantly, leaning on old rusty-trusty.
+
+The man looked up and frowned suspiciously:
+
+"I told you NO!" he snapped threateningly, "What you standin' there
+for?"
+
+Billy regarded him amusedly as from a superior height.
+
+"Don't happen to know of any odd jobs I could get," he finally
+condescended.
+
+"Where would you expect a job around this dump?" sneered the man with an
+eloquent wave toward the majestic mountain, "Busy little hive right here
+now, ain't it?"
+
+He subsided and Billy, slowly, thoughtfully, mounted his wheel and rode
+around the station, with the air of one who enjoys the scenery. The
+third time he rounded the curve by the freight agent the man looked up
+with a speculative squint and eyed the boy. The fourth time he called
+out, straightening up and laying down his brush.
+
+"Say, Kid, do you know how to keep yer mouth shut?"
+
+The boy regarded him with infinite contempt.
+
+"Well, that depends!" he said at last. "If anybody'd make it worth my
+while."
+
+The man looked at him narrowly, the tone was at once so casual and yet
+so full of possible meaning. The keenest searching revealed nothing in
+the immobile face of the boy. A cunning grew in the eyes of the man.
+
+"How would a five look to you?"
+
+"Not enough," said the boy promptly, "I need twenty-five."
+
+"Well, ten then."
+
+"The boy rode off down the platform and circled the station again while
+the man stood puzzled, half troubled, and watched him:
+
+"I'll make it fifteen. What you want, the earth with a gold fence around
+it?"
+
+"I said I needed twenty-five," said Billy doggedly, lowering his eyes to
+cover the glitter of coming triumph.
+
+The thick one stood squinting off at the distant mountain thoughtfully,
+then he turned and eyed Billy again.
+
+"How'm I gonta know you're efficient?" he challenged.
+
+"Guess you'c'n take me er leave me," came back the boy quickly. "Course
+if you've got plenty help--"
+
+The man gave him a quick bitter glance. The kid was sharp. He knew there
+was no one else. Besides, how much had he overheard? Had he been around
+when the station telephone rang? Kids like that were deep. You could
+always count on them to do a thing well if they undertook it.
+
+"Well, mebbe I'll try you. You gotta be on hand t'night at eight o'clock
+sharp. It's mebbe an all night job, but you may be through by midnight."
+
+"What doing?"
+
+"Nothing much. Just lay in the road with your wheel by your side and act
+like you had a fall an' was hurt. I wanta stop a man who's in a hurry,
+see?"
+
+Billy regarded him coolly.
+
+"Any shooting?"
+
+"Oh, no!" said the other, "Just a little evening up of cash. You see
+that man's got some money that oughtta be mine by good rights, and I
+wantta get it."
+
+"_I_ see!" said Billy nonchalantly, "An' whatcha gonta do if he don't
+come across?"
+
+The man gave him a scared look.
+
+"Oh, nothin' sinful son; just give him a rest fer a few days where he
+won't see his friends, until he gets ready to see it the way I do."
+
+"H'm!" said Billy narrowing his gray eyes to two slits. "An' how much
+did ya say ya paid down?"
+
+The man looked up angrily.
+
+"I don't say I pay nothing down. If you do the work right you get the
+cash t'night, a round twenty-five, and it's twenty bucks more'n you
+deserve. Why off in this deserted place you ought ta be glad to get
+twenty-five cents fer doin' nothin' but lay in the road."
+
+The boy with one foot on the pedal mounted sideways and slid along the
+platform slowly, indifferently.
+
+"Guess I gotta date t'night," he called over his shoulder as he swung
+the other leg over the cross bar.
+
+The heavy man made a dive after him and caught him by the arm.
+
+"Look here, Kid, I ain't in no mood to be toyed with," he said gruffly,
+"You said you wanted a job an' I'm being square with you. Just to show
+I'm being square here's five down."
+
+Billy looked at the ragged green bill with a slight lift of his
+shoulders.
+
+"Make it ten down and it's a go," he said at last with a
+take-it-or-leave-it air. "I hadn't oughtta let you off'n less'n half,
+such a shady job as this looks, but make it a ten an' I'll close with
+ya. If ya don't like it ask the station agent to help ya. I guess he
+wouldn't object. He's right here handy, too. I live off quite a piece."
+
+But the man had pulled out another five and was crowding the bills upon
+him. He had seen a light in that boy's eye that was dangerous. What was
+five in a case of a million anyway?
+
+Billy received the boodle as if it had been chewing gum or a soiled
+handkerchief, and stuffed it indifferently into his already bulging
+pocket in a crumple as if it were not worth the effort.
+
+"A'rright. I'll be here!" he declared, and mounting his wheel with an
+air of finality, sailed away down the platform, curved off the high step
+with a bump into the road and coasted down the road below the tunnel
+toward Monopoly, leaving Sabbath Valley glistening in the sunshine off
+to the right. With all that money in his pocket what was the use of
+going back to Sabbath Valley for his lunch and making his trip a good
+two miles farther? He would beat the baseball team to it.
+
+The thick one stood disconsolately, his grimy cap in his hand and
+scratched his dusty head of curls in a troubled way.
+
+"Gosh!" he said wrathfully, "The little devil! Now I don't know what
+he'll do. I wonder--! But what else could I do?"
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+Over in Sabbath Valley quiet sweetness brooded, broken now and again by
+the bell-like sound of childish laughter here and there. The birds were
+holding high carnival in the trees, and the bees humming drowsy little
+tunes to pretend they were not working.
+
+Most of the men were away at work, some in Monopoly or Economy, whither
+they went in the early morning in their tin Lizzies to a little store or
+a country bank, or a dusty law office; some in the fields of the fertile
+valley; and others off behind the thick willow fringe where lurked the
+home industries of tanning and canning and knitting, with a plush mill
+higher up the slope behind a group of alders and beeches, its ugly stone
+chimneys picturesque against the mountain, but doing its best to
+spoil the little stream at its feet with all colors of the rainbow, at
+intervals dyeing its bright waters.
+
+The minister sat in his study with his window open across the lawn
+between the parsonage and the church, a lovely velvet view with the old
+graveyard beyond and the wooded hill behind. He was faintly aware of
+the shouting of the birds in glad carnival in the trees, and the busy
+droning of the bees, as he wrote an article on Modern Atheism for a
+magazine in the distant world; but more keenly alive to the song on the
+lips of his child, but lately returned from college life in one of the
+great universities for women. He smiled as he wrote, and a light came
+in his deep thoughtful eyes. She had gone and come, and she was still
+unspoiled, mentally, physically, or spiritually. That was a great deal
+to have kept out of life in these days of unbelief. He had been almost
+afraid to hope that she would come back the same.
+
+In the cool sitting-room his wife was moving about, putting the house
+in order for the day, and he knew that on her lips also was the smile of
+the same content as well as if he were looking at her beloved face.
+
+On the front veranda Marilyn Severn swept the rugs and sang her happy
+song. She was glad, glad to be home again, and her soul bubbled over
+with the joy of it. There was happiness in the curve of her red lips,
+in the softly rounded freshness of her cheek and brow, in the eyes that
+held dancing lights like stars, and in every gleaming tendril of her
+wonderful bright hair that burst forth from under the naive little
+sweeping cap that sat on her head like a crown. She was small, lithe,
+graceful, and she vibrated joy, health, eagerness in every glance of her
+eye, every motion of her lovely hands.
+
+Down the street suddenly sounded a car. Not the rattling, cheap affairs
+that were commonly used in those parts for hard work and dress affairs,
+with a tramp snuffle and bark as they bounced along beneath the maples
+like house dogs that knew their business and made as much noise about it
+as they could; but a car with a purr like a soft petted cat by the fire,
+yet a power behind the purr that might have belonged to a lion if the
+need for power arose. It stole down the street like a thing of the
+world, well oiled and perfect in its way, and not needing to make any
+clatter about its going. The very quietness of it made the minister
+look up, sent the minister's wife to raise the shade of the sitting-room
+window, and caused the girl to look up from her task.
+
+The morning flooded her face, the song was stayed, a great light came
+into her eyes.
+
+The man who was driving the car had the air of not expecting to stop
+at the parsonage. Even when he saw the girl on the porch he held to his
+way, and something hard and cold and infinitely sad settled down over
+his face. It even looked as though he did not intend to recognize her,
+or perhaps wasn't sure whether she would recognize him. There was a
+moment's breathless suspense and the car slid just the fraction past
+the gate in the hedge, without a sign of stopping, only a lifting of
+a correct looking straw hat that somehow seemed a bit out of place in
+Sabbath Valley. But Lynn left no doubt in his mind whether she would
+recognize him. She dropped her broom and sped down the path, and the
+car came to an abrupt halt, only a hair's breadth past the gate,--but
+still--that hair's breadth.
+
+"Oh, Mark, I'm so glad to see you!" she cried genuinely with her hand
+out in welcome, "They said you were not at home."
+
+The boy's voice--he had been a boy when she left him, though now he
+looked strangely hard and old like a man of the world--was husky as he
+answered gravely, swinging himself down on the walk beside her:
+
+"I just got in late last night. How are you Lynn? You're looking fine."
+
+He took her offered hand, and clasped it for a brief instant in a
+warm strong pressure, but dropped it again and there was a quick cold
+withdrawing of his eyes that she did not understand. The old Mark Carter
+would never have looked at her coolly, impersonally like that. What was
+it, was he shy of her after the long separation? Four years was a long
+time, of course, but there had been occasional letters. He had always
+been away when she was at home, and she had been home very little
+between her school years. There had been summer sessions twice and once
+father and mother had come to her and they had taken a wonderful trip
+together. But always there had seemed to be Mark Carter, her old friend
+and playmate, in the background. Now, suddenly he seemed to be removed
+to indefinite distances. It was as if she were looking at a picture that
+purported to be her friend, yet seemed a travesty, like one wearing a
+mask. She stood in the sunlight looking at him, in her quaint little cap
+and a long white enveloping house apron, and she seemed to him like a
+haloed saint. Something like worship shone in his eyes, but he kept
+the mask down, and looked at her with the eyes of a stranger while he
+talked, and smiled a stiff conventional smile. But a look of anguish
+grew in his young face, like the sorrow of something primeval, such as a
+great rock in a desert.
+
+The minister had forgotten his article and was watching them through the
+window, the tall handsome youth, his head bared with the glint of the
+sun on his short cropped gold curls making one think of a young prince,
+yet a prince bound under a spell and frozen in a block of ice. He was
+handsome as Adonis, every feature perfect, and striking in its manly
+beauty, yet there was nothing feminine about him. The minister was
+conscious of all this as he watched--this boy whom he had seen grow
+up, and this girl of his heart. A great still question came into the
+father's look as he watched.
+
+The minister was conscious of Lynn's mother standing in the doorway just
+behind him, although she had made no noise in entering. And at once she
+knew he was aware of her presence.
+
+"Isn't that Mark Carter?" she asked just above a breath.
+
+He nodded.
+
+"And she doesn't know! You haven't told her?"
+
+The minister shook his head.
+
+"He will tell her. See, he is telling her now!"
+
+The mother drew a shade nearer.
+
+"But how do you know? See, she is doing the talking. You think he will
+tell her? _What_ will he tell her, Graham?"
+
+"Oh, he will not tell her in words, but every atom of his being is
+telling her now. Can't you see? He is telling her that he is no longer
+worthy to be her equal. He is telling her that something has gone
+wrong."
+
+"Graham, what do you _think_ is the matter with him? Do you think he
+is--BAD?" She lifted frightened eyes to his as she dropped into her low
+chair that always stood conveniently near his desk.
+
+A wordless sorrow overspread the minister's face, yet there was
+something valiant in his eyes.
+
+"No, I can't think that. I must believe in him in spite of everything.
+It looks to me somehow as if he was trying to be bad and couldn't."
+
+"Well, but--Graham, isn't that the same thing? If he wants to be?"
+
+The minister shook his head.
+
+"He doesn't want to be. But he has some purpose in it. He is doing
+it--perhaps--well--it might be for _her_ sake you know."
+
+The mother looked perplexed, and hesitated, then shook her head.
+
+"That would be--preposterous! How could he hurt her so--if he cared. It
+must be--he does not care--!"
+
+"He cares!" said the man.
+
+"Then how do you explain it?"
+
+"I don't explain it."
+
+"Are you going to let it go on?"
+
+"What can be done?"
+
+"I'd do something."
+
+"No, Mary. That's something he's got to work out himself. If he isn't
+big enough to get over his pride. His self-consciousness. His--whatever
+he calls it--If he isn't big enough--Then he isn't _big_ enough--!" The
+man sighed with a faraway patient look. The woman stirred uneasily.
+
+"Graham," she said suddenly lifting her eyes in troubled question, "When
+your cousin Eugenie was here, you remember, she talked about it one
+day. She said we had no right to let Lynn become so attached to a mere
+country boy who would grow up a boor. She said he had no education,
+no breeding, no family, and that Lynn had the right to the best social
+advantages to be had in the world. She said Lynn was a natural born
+aristocrat, and that we had a great responsibility bringing up a child
+with a face like hers, and a mind like hers, and an inheritance like
+hers, in this little antiquated country place. She said it was one thing
+for you with your culture and your fine education, and your years of
+travel and experience, to hide yourself here if you choose for a few
+years, pleasing yourself at playing with souls and uplifting a little
+corner of the universe while you were writing a great book; but it was
+quite another for us to allow our gifted young daughter to know no other
+life. And especially she harped on Lynn's friendship with Mark. She
+called him a hobbledehoy, said his mother was 'common', and that coming
+from a home like that, he would never amount to anything or have an
+education. He would always be common and loaferish, and it wouldn't make
+any difference if he did, he would never be cultured no matter how much
+education he had. He was not in her _class_. She kept saying that over.
+She said a lot of things and always ended up with that. And finally she
+said that we were perfectly crazy, both of us. That she supposed
+Lynn thought she was christianizing the boy or something, but it was
+dangerous business, and we ought to be warned. And Graham, _I'm afraid
+Mark heard it!_ He was just coming up on the porch as she finished and
+I'm almost sure he heard it!"
+
+The eyes of the minister gave a startled flicker and then grew
+comprehending. "I wondered why he gave up college after he had worked so
+hard to get in."
+
+"But Graham! Surely, if he had heard he would have wanted to show her
+that she was wrong."
+
+"No, Mary. He is not built that way. It's his one big fault. Always to
+be what he thinks people have labeled him, or to seem to be. To be that
+in defiance, knowing in his heart he really isn't that at all. It's a
+curious psychological study. It makes me think of nothing else but when
+the Prince of the Power of the Air wanted to be God. Mark wants to be a
+young God. When he finds he's not taken that way he makes himself look
+like the devil in defiance. Don't you remember, Mary, how when Bob Bliss
+broke that memorial window in the church and said it was Mark did it,
+how Mark stood looking, defiantly from one to another of us to see if we
+would believe it, and when he found the elders were all against him
+and had begun to get ready for punishment, he lifted his fine young
+shoulders, and folded his arms, and just bowed in acquiescence, as if
+to say yes, he had done it? Don't you remember, Mary? He nearly broke
+my heart that day, the hurt look in his eyes; the game, mistaken, little
+devil! He was only ten, and yet for four long months he bore the blame
+in the eyes of the whole village for breaking that window, till Bob told
+the truth and cleared him. Not because he wanted to save Bob Bliss, for
+everybody knew he was a little scamp, and needed punishment, but because
+he was _hurt_--hurt way down into the soul of him to think anybody had
+_thought_ he would want to break the window we had all worked so hard to
+buy. And he actually broke three cellar windows in that vacant store by
+the post office, yes, and paid for them, just to keep up his character
+and give us some reason for our belief against him."
+
+The wife with a cloud of anxiety in her eyes, and disapproval in her
+voice, answered slowly:
+
+"That's a bad trait, Graham. I can't understand it. It is something
+wrong in his nature."
+
+"Yes, Mary, it is sin, original sin, but it comes at him from a
+different direction from most of us, that's all. It comes through
+sensitiveness. It is his reaction to a deep and mortal hurt. Some men
+would be stimulated to finer action by criticism, he is stimulated to
+defy, and he does not know that he is trying to defy God and all the
+laws of the universe. Some day he will find it out, and know that only
+through humility can he make good."
+
+"But he is letting all his opportunities go by."
+
+"I'm not so sure. You can't tell what he may be doing out in the world
+where he is gone."
+
+"But they say he is very wild."
+
+"They were always saying things about him when he was here, and most
+of them were not true. You and I knew him, Mary. Was there ever a finer
+young soul on earth than he with his clear true eyes, his eager tender
+heart, his brave fearlessness and strength. I can not think he has sold
+his soul to sin--not yet. It may be. It may be that only in the Far
+Country will he realize it is God he wants and be ready to say, 'I have
+sinned' and 'I will arise.'"
+
+"But Graham, I should think that just because you believe in him you
+could talk to him."
+
+"No, Mary. I can't probe into the depths of that sensitive soul and
+dig out his confidence. He would never give it that way. It is a matter
+between himself and God."
+
+"But Lynn--"
+
+"Lynn has God too, my dear. We must not forget that. Life is not all for
+this world, either. Thank God Lynn believes that!"
+
+The mother sighed with troubled eyes, and rose. The purring of the
+engine was heard. Lynn would be coming in. They watched the young man
+swing his car out into the road and glide away like a comet with a wild
+sophisticated snort of his engine that sent him so far away in a flash.
+They watched the girl standing where he had left her, a stricken look
+upon her face, and saw her turn slowly back to the house with eyes
+down--troubled. The mother moved away. The father bent his head upon his
+hand with closed eyes. The girl came back to her work, but the song
+on her lips had died. She worked silently with a far look in her eyes,
+trying to fathom it.
+
+The eyes of her father and mother followed her tenderly all that
+day, and it was as if the souls of the three had clasped hands, and
+understood, so mistily they smiled at one another.
+
+Billy Gaston, refreshed by a couple of chocolate fudge sundaes, a banana
+whip, and a lemon ice-cream soda, was seated on the bench with the
+heroes of the day at the Monopoly baseball grounds. He wore his most
+nonchalant air, chewed gum with his usual vigor, shouted himself
+hoarse at the proper places, and made casual grown-up responses to the
+condescension of the team, wrapping them tenderly in ancient sweaters
+when they were disabled, and watching every move of the game with a
+practised eye and an immobile countenance. But though to the eyes of the
+small fry on the grass at his feet he was as self-sufficient as ever,
+somehow he kept having strange qualms, and his mind kept reverting
+to the swart fat face of Pat at the Junction, as it ducked behind the
+cypress and talked into the crude telephone on the mountain. Somehow he
+couldn't forget the gloat in his eye as he spoke of the "rich guy." More
+and more uneasy he grew, more sure that the expedition to which he was
+pledged was not strictly "on the square."
+
+Not that Billy Gaston was afraid. The thrill of excitement burned along
+his veins and filled him with a fine elation whenever he thought of the
+great adventure, and he gave his pocket a protective slap where the "ten
+bones" still reposed intact. He felt well pleased with himself to have
+made sure of those. Whatever happened he had that, and if the man wasn't
+on the square Pat deserved to lose that much. Not that Billy Gaston
+meant to turn "yellow" after promising, but there was no telling whether
+the rest of the twenty-five would be forthcoming or not. He fell to
+calculating its worth in terms of new sweaters and baseball bats. If
+worst came to worst he could threaten to expose Pat and his scheme.
+
+During the first and second innings these reflections soothed his soul
+and made him sit immovable with jaws grinding in rythmic harmony with
+the day. But at the beginning of the third inning one of the boys from
+his Sunday-school class strolled by and flung himself full length on the
+grass at his feet where he could see his profile just as he had seen it
+on Sunday while he was listening to the story that the teacher always
+told to introduce the lesson. He could see the blue of Lynn Severn's
+eyes as she told it, and strangely enough portions of the tale came
+floating back in trailing mist across the dusty baseball diamond and
+obscured the sight of Sloppy Hedrick sliding to his base. It was a tale
+of one, Judas, who betrayed his best Friend with a kiss. It came with
+strange illogical persistence, and seemed curiously incongruous with the
+sweet air of summer blowing over the hard young faces and dusty diamond.
+What had Judas to do with a baseball game, or with Billy Gaston and what
+he meant to do on the mountain that night?--and earn good money--! Ah!
+That was it. Make good money! But who was he betraying he would like to
+know? Well if it wasn't on the square perhaps he was betraying that
+same _One_--Aw--Rats! He wasn't under anybody's thumb and Judas lived
+centuries ago. He wasn't doing any harm helping a man do something he
+wasn't supposed to know what. Hang it all! Where was Mark Carter anyway?
+Somehow Cart always seemed to set a fella straight. He was like Miss
+Lynn. He saw through things you hadn't even told him about. But this was
+a man's affair, not a woman's.
+
+Of course there was another side to it. He _could_ give some of the
+money to Aunt Saxon to buy coal--instead of the sweater--well, maybe
+it would do both. And he _could_ give some to that fund for the Chinese
+Mission, Miss Lynn was getting up in the class. He would stop on the way
+back and give her a whole dollar. He sat, chin in hand, gazing out on
+the field, quite satisfied with himself, and suddenly some one back by
+the plate struck a fine clean ball with a click and threw the bat with
+a resounding ring on the hard ground as he made for a home run. Billy
+started and looked keenly at the bat, for somehow the ring of it as it
+fell sounded curiously like the tinkle of silver. Who said thirty pieces
+of silver? Billy threw a furtive look about and a cold perspiration
+broke out on his forehead. Queer that old Bible story had to stick
+itself in. He could see the grieving in the Master's eyes as Judas gave
+Him that kiss. She had made the story real. She could do that, and
+made the boy long somehow to make it up to that betrayed Master, and he
+couldn't get away from the feeling that he was falling short. Of course
+old Pat had _said_ the man had money _belonging_ to _him_, and you had
+to go mostly by what folks _said_, but it did look shady.
+
+The game seemed slow after that. The two captains were wrangling over
+some point of rule, and the umpire was trying to pacify them both. Billy
+arose with well feigned languor and remarked, "Well, I gotta beat it.
+Guess we're gonta win all right. So long!" and lounged away to his
+wheel.
+
+He purchased another soda at the drug store to get one of his fives
+changed into ones, one of which he stowed away in his breast pocket,
+while the remainder was stuffed in his trousers after the manner of a
+man. He bent low over his handle bars, chewing rythmically and pedaled
+away rapidly in the direction of Sabbath Valley.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+The bells of the little stone church were playing tender melodies as he
+shot briskly down the maple lined street at a break neck pace, and the
+sun was just hovering on the rim of the mountain. The bells often played
+at sunset, especially Saturday evenings, when Marilyn Severn was at
+home, and the village loved to hear them. Billy wouldn't have owned it,
+but he loved to hear those bells play better than anything else in his
+young life, and he generally managed to be around when they were being
+played. He loved to watch the slim young fingers manipulating the glad
+sounds. A genius who had come to the quiet hill village to die of an
+incurable disease had trained her and had left the wonderful little pipe
+organ with its fine chime of bells attached as his memorial to the peace
+the village had given him in his last days. Something of his skill and
+yearning had fallen upon the young girl whom he had taught. Billy always
+felt as if an angel had come and was ringing the bells of heaven when
+Marilyn sat at the organ playing the bells.
+
+This night a ray of the setting sun slanting through the memorial window
+on her bronze gold hair gave her the look of Saint Cecilia sitting
+there in the dimness of the church. Billy sidled into a back seat still
+chewing and watched her. He could almost see a halo in yellow gold sun
+dust circling above her hair. Then a sudden revulsion came with the
+thought of "that guy Judas" and the possibility that he and the old
+fellow had much in common. But Bah! He would go to the mountain just to
+prove to himself that there was nothing crooked in it.
+
+The music was tender that night and Billy felt a strange constriction in
+his throat. But you never would have guessed, as Lynn Severn turned at
+the end of her melody to search the dimness for the presence she felt
+had entered, that he had been under any stress of emotion, the way he
+grinned at her and sidled up the aisle.
+
+"Yeah, we won awright," in answer to her question, "Red Rodge and Sloppy
+had 'em beat from the start. Those other guys can't play ball anyway."
+
+Then quite casually he brought forth the dollar from his breast pocket.
+
+"Fer the Chinese Fund," he stated indifferently.
+
+The look in her face was beautiful to see, almost as if there were tears
+behind the sapphire lights in her eyes.
+
+"Billy! All this?"
+
+He felt as if she had knighted him. He turned red and hot with shame and
+pleasure.
+
+"Aw, that ain't much. I earned sommore too, fer m'yant." He twisted his
+cap around on his other hand roughly and then blurted out the last thing
+he had meant to say:
+
+"Miss Lynn, it ain't wrong to do a thing you don't know ain't wrong, is
+it?"
+
+Marilyn looked at him keenly and laughed.
+
+"It generally is, Billy, if you think it _might_ be. Don't ever try to
+fool your conscience, Billy, it's too smart for that."
+
+He grinned sheepishly and then quite irrelevantly remarked:
+
+"I saw Cart last night."
+
+But she seemed to understand the connection and nodded gravely:
+
+"Yes, I saw him a moment this morning. He said he might come back again
+this evening."
+
+The boy grunted contentedly and watched the warm color of her cheek
+under the glow of the ruddy sunset. She always seemed to him a little
+bit unearthly in the starriness of her beauty. Of course he never put it
+to himself that way. In fact he never put it at all. It was just a fact
+in his life. He had two idols whom he worshipped from afar, two idols
+who understood him equally well and were understood by him, and for whom
+he would have gladly laid down his young life. This girl was one, and
+Mark Carter was the other. It was the sorrow of his young life that Mark
+Carter had left Sabbath Valley indefinitely. The stories that floated
+back of his career made no difference to Billy. He adored him but
+the more in his fierce young soul, and gloried in his hero's need of
+faithful friends. He would not have owned it to himself, perhaps, but
+he had spoken of Mark just to find out if this other idol believed those
+tales and was affected by them. He drew a sigh of deep content as he
+heard the steady voice and knew that she was still the young man's
+friend.
+
+They passed out of the church silently together and parted in the glow
+of red that seemed flooding the quiet village like a painting. She went
+across the stretch of lawn to the low spreading veranda where her mother
+sat talking with her father. Some crude idea of her beauty and grace
+stole through his soul, but he only said to himself:
+
+"How,--kind of--_little_ she is!" and then made a dash for his rusty old
+wheel lying flat at the side of the church step. He gathered it up and
+wheeled it around the side of the church to the old graveyard, threading
+his way among the graves and sitting down on a broad flat stone where he
+had often thought out his problems of life. The shadow of the church cut
+off the glow of sunset, and made it seem silent and dark. Ahead of him
+the Valley lay. Across at the right it stretched toward the Junction,
+and he could see the evening train just puffing in with a wee wisp of
+white misty smoke trailing against the mountain green. The people for
+the hotels would be swarming off, for it was Saturday night. The fat
+one would be there rolling trunks across and the station agent would
+presently close up. It would be dark over there at eight o'clock. The
+mountains loomed silently, purpling and steep and hazy already with
+sleep.
+
+To the left lay the road that curved up to the forks where one went
+across to the Highway and at right angles the Highway went straight
+across the ridge in front of him and sloped down to the spot where the
+fat one expected him to play his part at eight o'clock to-night. The
+Highway was the way down which the "rich guy" was expected to come
+speeding in a high power car from New York, and had to be stopped and
+relieved of money that "did not belong to him."
+
+Billy thought it all over. Somehow things seemed different now. He had
+by some queer psychological process of his own, brought Lynn Severn's
+mind and Mark Carter's mind together to bear upon the matter and gained
+a new perspective. He was pretty well satisfied in his own soul that the
+thing he had set out to do was not "on the level." It began to be pretty
+plain to him that that "rich guy" might be in the way of getting hurt or
+perhaps still worse, and he had no wish to be tangled up in a mess like
+that. At the same time he did not often get a chance to make twenty-five
+dollars, and he had no mind to give it up. It was not in his unyellow
+soul to go back on his word without refunding the money, and a dollar
+of it was already spent to the "Chinese Fund," to say nothing of sundaes
+and sodas and whips. So he sat and studied the mountain ahead of him.
+
+Suddenly, as the sun, which had been for a long time slipping down
+behind the mountains at his back, finally disappeared, his face cleared.
+He had found a solution.
+
+He sprang up from the cold stone, where his fingers had been
+mechanically feeling out the familiar letters of the inscription:
+"Blessed are the dead--" and catching up the prone wheel, strode upon it
+and dashed down the darkening street toward the little cottage near the
+willows belonging to his Aunt Saxon. He was whistling as he went, for he
+was happy. He had found a way to keep his cake and eat it too. It would
+not have been Billy if he had not found a way out.
+
+Aunt Saxon turned a drawn and anxious face away from the window at his
+approach and drew a sigh of momentary relief. This bringing up boys was
+a terrible ordeal. But thanks be this immediate terror was past and her
+sister's orphaned child still lived! She hurried to the stove where the
+waiting supper gave forth a pleasant odor.
+
+"Been down to the game at M'nop'ly," he explained happily as he flung
+breezily into the kitchen and dashed his cap on a chair, "Gee! That ham
+smells good! Say, Saxy, whad-ya do with that can of black paint I left
+on the door step last Saturday?"
+
+"It's in a wooden box in the corner of the shed, Willie," answered his
+Aunt, "Come to supper now. It'll all get cold. I've been waiting most an
+hour."
+
+"Oh, hang it! I don't s'pose you know where the brush is--Yes, I'm
+coming. Oh, here 'tis!"
+
+He ate ravenously and briefly. His aunt watched him with a kind of
+breathless terror waiting for the inevitable remark at the close: "Well,
+I gotta beat it! I gotta date with the fellas!"
+
+She had ceased to argue. She merely looked distressed. It seemed a part
+of his masculinity that was inevitable.
+
+At the door he was visited with an unusual thoughtfulness. He stuck his
+head back in the room to say:
+
+"Oh, yes, Saxy, I _might_ not be home till morning. I _might_ stay all
+night some place."
+
+He was going without further explanation, but her dismay as she murmured
+pathetically:
+
+"But to-morrow is the Sabbath, Willie--!" halted him once more.
+
+"Oh, I'll be home time fer Sunday-school," he promised gaily, and was
+off down the road in the darkness, his old wheel squeaking rheumatically
+with each revolution growing fainter and fainter in the night.
+
+But Billy did not take the road to the Junction in his rapid flight.
+Instead he climbed the left hand mountain road that met the Forks and
+led to the great Highway. Slower and slower the old wheel went, Billy
+puffing and bending low, till finally he had to dismount and put a drop
+of oil in a well known spot which his finger found in the dark, from the
+little can he carried in his pocket for such a time of need. He did not
+care to proclaim his coming as he crept up the rough steep way. And once
+when a tin Lizzie swept down upon him, he ducked and dropped into the
+fringe of alders at the wayside until it was past. Was that, could it
+have been Cart? It didn't look like Cart's car, but it was very dark,
+and the man had not dimmed his lights. It was blinding. He hoped it was
+Cart, and that he had gone to the parsonage. Somehow he liked to think
+of those two together. It made his own view of life seem stronger. So he
+slunk quietly up to the fork where the Highway swept down round a curve,
+and turned to go down across the ridge. Here was the spot where the
+rich guy would presently come. He looked the ground over, with his bike
+safely hidden below road level. With a sturdy set of satisfaction to his
+shoulders, and a twinkle of fun in his eye, he began to burrow into the
+undergrowth and find branches, a fallen log, stones, anything, and drag
+them up across the great state highway till he had a complete barricade.
+
+There had come a silverness in the sky over the next eastern mountain,
+and he could see the better what he was doing. Now and again he stopped
+cautiously and listened, his heart beating high with fear lest after
+all the rich guy might arrive before he was ready for him. When the
+obstruction was finished he got out a large piece of card board which
+had been fastened to the handle bars of his wheel, and from a box also
+fastened on behind his saddle he produced his can of paint and a brush.
+The moon was beginning to show off at his right, and gave a faint
+luminus gleam, as he daubed his letters in crudely.
+
+"DETOUR to SABBATH VALLEY. Rode flooded. Brige down."
+
+His card was large, but so were his letters. Nevertheless in spite of
+their irregularity he got them all on, and fastened the card firmly
+to the most obvious spot in the barricade. Then with a wicked gleam of
+mischief in his eye he looked off down the Highway across the ridge to
+where some two miles away one Pat must be awaiting his coming, and gave
+a single mocking gesture common to boys of his age. Springing on his
+wheel he coasted down the humps and into the darkness again.
+
+He reflected as he rode that no harm could possibly be done. The road
+inspector would not be along for a couple of days. It would simply mean
+that a number of cars would go around by the way of Sabbath Valley for a
+day or so. It might break up a little of the quiet of the Sabbath day at
+home, but Billy did not feel that that would permanently injure Sabbath
+Valley for home purposes, and he felt sure that no one could possibly
+ever detect his hand in the matter.
+
+The road at the forks led four ways, Highway, coming from New York and
+the Great North East, running North and South, and the Cross road coming
+from Economy and running through Sabbath Valley to Monopoly. He had
+made the Detour below the Cross Road, so that people coming from Economy
+would find no hindrance to their progress. He felt great satisfaction in
+the whole matter.
+
+And now there remained but to do his part and get his money. He thought
+he saw a way to make sure of that money, and his conscience had no
+qualms for extracting it from so crooked a thief as Pat.
+
+The clock on the church tower at Sabbath Valley was finishing the last
+stroke of eleven when Billy came slickly up the slope of the road from
+Sabbath Valley, and arrived on the station platform nonchalantly.
+
+By the light of the moon he could dimly see Pat standing uneasily off by
+the tracks, and the heads of two men down below in the bushes near the
+lower end of the Highway where it crossed the tracks and swept on South
+between two mountains.
+
+Pat held his watch in his hand and looked very ugly, but nothing fazed
+Billy. He didn't have to carry this thing out if he didn't want to, and
+the man knew he knew too much to be ugly to him.
+
+"There you are, you young Pill you!" was Pat's greeting, "What kinduva
+time is this 'ere to be coming along to your expensive job? I said
+_eight!_"
+
+"Oh," said Billy with a shrug and jumped to his wheel again, "Then I
+guess I'll be going back. Good night!"
+
+"Here! Wait up there, you young devil! You come mighty nigh dishing the
+whole outfit, but now you're here, you'll earn your ten bucks I was fool
+enough to give you, but nothing more, do you hear that?" and the man
+leered into his freckled young face with an ugly gun in his hand.
+
+Billy eyed the gun calmly. He had seen guns before. Moreover he didn't
+believe the man had the nerve to shoot. He wasn't quite so sure of the
+two dark shadows in the bushes below, but it was well to be on the safe
+side.
+
+"Keep yer shirt on," said Billy impertinently, "and save yer powder. You
+don't want the whole nation to know about this little affair of ours do
+you _Pat?_"
+
+The wide one glared.
+
+"Well, you better not have anything like shooting going on, fer I've
+got some friends back here a little way waiting to joy ride back with me
+when my work's over. They might get funny if they heard a gun and come
+too soon."
+
+"You little devil, you! I mighta known you'd give it away--!" he began,
+but he lowered the gun perceptibly. "Every little skunk like you is
+yella--yella as the devil--"
+
+But Pat did not finish his sentence, for Billy, with a blaze in his eyes
+like the lamps of a tiger, and a fierce young cat-like leap flew at the
+flabby creature, wrenched the gun out of his astonished hand, and before
+he could make any outcry held it tantalizingly in his face. Billy had
+never had any experience before with bullies and bandits except in
+his dreams; but he had played football, and tackled every team in the
+Valley, and he had no fear of anything. Moreover he had spent long hours
+boxing and wrestling with Mark Carter, and he was hard as nails and wiry
+as a cat. The fat one was completely in his hands. Of course those other
+two down across the tracks might have made trouble if Pat had cried
+out, but they were too far away to see or hear the silent scuffle on the
+platform. But Billy was taking no chances.
+
+"Now, keep on yer shirt, Pat, and don't make no outcry. My friends can
+get here's easy as yours, so just take it quiet. All you gotta do is
+take that remark back you just uttered. I ain't yella, and you gotta say
+so. Then you hand over those fifteen bones, and I'm yer man."
+
+It was incredible that Pat should have succumbed, but he did. Perhaps he
+was none too sure of his friends in the bushes. Certainly the time was
+getting short and he was in a hurry to get to his job on the Highway.
+Also he had no mind for being discovered or interrupted. At any rate
+with a hoarse little laugh of pretended courage he put his hand in his
+baggy pocket and pulled out the bills.
+
+"You win, Kid," he admitted, "I guess you're all white. Anything to
+please the baby and get down to biz. Now, sonny, put that gun away, it
+don't look well. Besides, I--got another." He put his hand insinuatingly
+to his hip pocket with a grin, but Billy's grin answered back:
+
+"That's all right, pard. I'll just keep this one awhile then. You don't
+need two. Now, what's wanted?"
+
+Pat edged away from the boy and measured him with his eye. The moon was
+coming up and Billy loomed large in the darkness. There was a determined
+set to his firm young shoulders, a lithe alertness about his build,
+and a fine glint in his eye. Pat was really a coward. Besides, Pat
+was getting nervous. The hidden telephone had called him several times
+already. He could hear even now in imagination its faint click in the
+moss. The last message had said that the car had passed the state line
+and would soon be coming to the last point of communication. After
+that it was the mountain highway straight to Pleasant View, nothing
+to hinder. It was not a time to waste in discussion. Pat dropped to an
+ingratiating whine.
+
+"Come along then, Kid. Yes, bring your wheel. We'll want it. Down this
+way, just over the tracks, so, see? We want you to fall off that there
+wheel an' sprawl in the road like you had caught yer wheel on the track
+an' it had skidded, see? Try her now, and just lay there like you was
+off your feed."
+
+Billy slung himself across his wheel, gave a cursory glance at the
+landscape, took a running slide over the tracks with a swift pedal or
+two and slumped in a heap, lying motionless as the dead. He couldn't
+have done it more effectively if he had practised for a week. Pat caught
+his breath and stooped over anxiously. He didn't want a death at the
+start. He wouldn't care to be responsible for a concussion of the brain
+or anything like that. Besides, he couldn't waste time fooling with
+a fool kid when the real thing might be along any minute. He glanced
+anxiously up the broad white ribbon of a road that gleamed now in the
+moonlight, and then pulling out his pocket flash, flooded it swiftly
+over Billy's upturned freckled face that lay there still as death
+without the flicker of an eyelash. The man was panic-stricken. He
+stooped lower, put out a tentative finger, turned his flash full in the
+boy's face again, and was just about to call to his helpers for aid when
+Billy opened a large eye and solemnly winked.
+
+Pat shut off his flash quickly, stuck it in his pocket backed off with a
+low relieved, "All right Kid, you'll do. I guess you're all right after
+all, now you jest lay--!" and slid away down the slope into the cypress
+clump.
+
+Billy with upturned face eyed the moon and winked; again, as if to a
+friend up there in the sky. He was thinking of the detour two miles up
+the road.
+
+It was very pleasant lying there in the cool moonlight with the evening
+breeze blowing his rough hair and playing over his freckles, and with
+the knowledge of those twenty-four bucks safely buttoned inside his
+sweater, and that neat little gun in his pocket where he could easily
+close his fingers about it. The only thing he regretted was that for
+conscience sake he had had to put up that detour. It would have been
+so much more exciting than to have put up this all-night camouflage and
+wait here till dawn for a guy that wasn't coming at all. He began to
+think about the "guy" and wonder if he would take the detour to
+Sabbath Valley, or turn back, or perhaps try Economy. That would be
+disappointing. He would stand no chance of even hearing what he was
+like. Now if he went through Sabbath Valley, Red or Sloppy or Rube would
+be sure to sight a strange car, particularly if it was a _high power_
+racer or something of that sort, and they could discuss it, and he might
+be able to find out a few points about this unknown, whom he was so
+nobly delivering for conscience sake--or Lynn Severn's--from an unknown
+fate. Of course he wouldn't let the fellows know he knew anything about
+the guy.
+
+He had lain there fifteen minutes and was beginning to grow drowsy after
+his full day in the open air. If it were not for the joke of the thing
+he couldn't keep awake.
+
+Pat stole out from the weeds at the slope of the road and whispered
+sepulchraly:
+
+"That's all right, Kid, jest you lay there and hold that pose. You
+couldn't do better. Yer wheel finishes the blockade. Nobody couldn't get
+by if he tried. That's the Kid! 'Clare if I don't give you another five
+bucks t'morrer if you carry this thing through. Don't you get cold feet
+now--!"
+
+Billy uttered a guttural of contempt in his throat and Pat slid away
+to hiding once more. The distant bells struck the midnight hour. Billy
+thrilled with their sweetness, with the fact that they belonged to him,
+that he had sat that very evening watching those white fingers among the
+keys, manipulating them. He thought of the glint on her hair,--the halo
+of dusty gold in the sunshine above--the light in her eyes--the glow of
+her cheek--her delicate profile against the memorial window--the
+glint of her hair--it came back, not in those words, but the vision of
+it--what was it like? Oh--of course. Cart's hair. The same color. They
+were alike, those two, and yet very different. When he had grown a man
+he would like to be like Cart. Cart was kind and always understood
+when you were not feeling right. Cart smoothed the way for people in
+trouble--old women and animals, and well--girls sometimes. He had seen
+him do it. Other people didn't always understand, but he did. Cart
+always had a reason. It took men to understand men. That thought had
+a good sound to the boy on his back in the moonlight. Although he felt
+somewhat a fool lying there waiting in the road when all the time there
+was that Detour. It would have been more a man's job if there hadn't had
+to be that Detour, but he couldn't run risks with strange guys, and men
+who carried guns, not even for--well, thirty pieces of silver--! But
+hark! What was that?
+
+There seemed to be a singing along the ground. Was he losing his nerve
+lying here so long? No, there it was again! It couldn't be possible that
+he could hear so far as two miles up that road. It was hard and smooth
+macadam of course, that highway, but it couldn't be that--what was it
+they called it?--vibrations?--would reach so far! It must be. He would
+ask Cart about that.
+
+The humming continued and grew more distinct, followed by a sort of
+throbbing roar that seemed coming toward him, and yet was still very far
+away. It must be a car at the Detour. In a moment it would turn down
+the bumpy road toward Sabbath Valley, and very likely some of those old
+broken whiskey bottles along the way would puncture a tire and the guy
+would take till morning getting anywhere. Perhaps he could even get away
+in time to come up innocently enough and help him out. A guy like that
+might not know how to patch a puncture.
+
+But the sound was distinctly coming on. Billy opened one eye, then the
+other, and hastily scanned the sky in either direction for an aeroplane,
+but the sky was as clear as crystal without a speck, and the sound was
+distinctly drawing nearer.
+
+A voice from the roadside hurtled sharply across:
+
+"Hist! There! He's coming! Lay still! Remember you get five more bucks
+if you pull this off!"
+
+A cold chill crept down Billy's back on tiny needle-pointed fringe of
+feet like a centipede. There was a sudden constriction in his throat
+and a leaden weight on each eye. He could not have opened them if he
+had tried, for a great white light stabbed across them and seemed to be
+holding them down for inspection. The thing he had wanted to have happen
+had come, and he was frightened; frightened cold clear to the soul of
+him--not at the thing that was about to come, but at the fact that he
+had broken faith with himself after all; broken faith with the haloed
+girl at the organ in the golden light; broken faith--for thirty pieces
+of silver! In that awful moment he was keenly conscious of the fact that
+when he got the other five there would be just thirty dollars for the
+whole! Thirty pieces of silver and the judgment day already coming on!
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+Lynn Severn was restless as she sat on the porch in the cool dark
+evening and heard unheeding the small village sounds that stole to her
+ears. The laughter of two children playing hide and seek behind the
+bushes across the way; the call of their mother summoning them to
+bed. The tinkle of a piano down the street; the whine of a Victrola in
+another home; the cry of a baby in pain; the murmur of talk on the porch
+next door; the slamming of a door; the creak of a gate; footsteps going
+down the brick pavement; the swinging to and fro of a hammock holding
+happy lovers under the rose pergola at Joneses. She could identify
+them all, and found her heart was listening for another sound, a smooth
+running car that purred, coming down the street. But it did not come!
+
+By and by she slipped out and into the church, opening one window to let
+in the moonlight, and unlocking the organ by the sense of feeling. Her
+fingers strayed along the keys in tender wandering melodies, but she
+did not pull the stop that controlled the bells. She would have liked
+to play those bells and call through them to Mark across the mountains
+where he might be riding, call to tell him that she was waiting, call
+to ask him why he was so strangely aloof, so silent, and pale in his
+dignity; what had come between them, old friends of the years? She felt
+she could say with the bells what her lips could never speak. But the
+bells would cry her trouble to the villagers also, and she could not let
+_them_ hear. So she played soft melodies of trust and hope and patience,
+until her father came to find her, and linking his arm in hers walked
+back with her through the moonlight, not asking anything, only seeming
+to understand her mood. He was that way always. He could understand
+without being told. Somehow she felt it and was comforted. He was that
+way with everybody. It was what made him so beloved in his parish, which
+comprised the whole Valley, that and his great sincerity and courage.
+But always his sense of understanding seemed keenest with this
+flower-faced girl of his. He seemed to have gone ahead of her way always
+to see that all was right--or wrong--and then walked with her to be sure
+she did not stumble or miss her way. He never attempted to reason her
+out of herself, nor to minimize her trials, but was just there, a strong
+hold when she needed it. She looked up with a smile and slipped her hand
+in his. She understood his perfect sympathy, as if his own past youth
+were touching hers and making her know that whatever it was she had to
+face she would come through. He was like a symbol of God's strength to
+her. Somehow the weight was lifted from her heart. They lingered on the
+piazza together in the moonlight a few minutes, speaking quietly of
+the morrow and its duties, then they went into the wide pleasant living
+room, and sat down, mother and daughter near together, while the father
+read a portion:
+
+  "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High
+    shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
+  "I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress:
+    my God; in him will I trust.
+  "Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the
+    fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
+  "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his
+    wings shalt thou trust."
+
+The words seemed to fill the room with a sweet peace, and to draw the
+hearts of the listeners as a Voice that is dear draws and soothes after
+a day of separation and turmoil and distress.
+
+They knelt and the minister's voice spoke familiarly to the Unseen
+Presence, giving thanks for mercies received, mentioning little
+throbbing personalities that belonged to them as a family and as
+individuals, reminding one of what it must have been in the days before
+Sin had come and Adam walked and talked with God in the cool of the
+evening, and received instruction and strengthening straight from the
+Source. One listening would instinctively have felt that here was the
+secret of the great strength of Lynn Severn's life; the reason why
+neither college nor the world had been able to lure her one iota from
+her great and simple faith which she had brought with her from her
+Valley home and taken back again unsullied. This family altar was the
+heart of her home, and had brought her so near to God that she _knew_
+what she had believed and could not be shaken from it by any flippant
+words from lovely or wise lips that only knew the theory of her belief
+and nothing of its spirit and tried to argue it away with a fine phrase
+and a laugh.
+
+So Lynn went up to her little white chamber that looked out upon the
+quiet hills, knelt awhile beside the white bed in the moonlight, then
+lay down and slept.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Out among the hills on the long smooth road in the white moonlight there
+shot a car like a living thing gone crazy, blaring a whiter light than
+the moonlight down the way, roaring and thundering as only a costly and
+well groomed beast of a machine can roar and thunder when it is driven
+by hot blood and a mad desire, stimulated by frequent applications from
+a handy flask, and a will that has never known a curb.
+
+He knew it was a mad thing he was doing, rushing across space through
+the dark at the beck of a woman's smile, a woman who was another man's
+wife, but a woman who had set on fire a whole circle of men of which
+he was a part. He was riding against all caution to win a bet, riding
+against time to get there before two other men who were riding as
+hard from other directions to win the woman who belonged to an
+absent husband, win her and run away with her if he could. It was the
+culmination of a year of extravagances, the last cry in sensations, and
+the telephone wires had been hot with daring, wild allurement, and mad
+threat in several directions since late the night before.
+
+The woman was in a great summer hotel where extravagances of all sorts
+are in vogue, and it had been her latest game to call with her lute-like
+voice over the phone to three of her men friends who had wooed her the
+strongest, daring them all to come to her at once, promising to fly with
+the one who reached her first, but if none reached her before morning
+dawned she remained as she was and laughed at them all.
+
+Laurence Shafton had closed with the challenge at once and given orders
+for his car to be ready to start in ten minutes. From a southern
+city about an equal distance from the lady, one Percy Emerson, of the
+Wellington-Emersons, started about the same time, leaving a trail of
+telegrams and phone messages to be sent after his departure. The third
+man, Mortimer McMarter, a hot-headed, hot-blooded scot, had started with
+the rest, for the lady knew her lovers well, and not one would refuse;
+but he was lying dead at a wayside inn with his car a heap of litter
+outside from having collided with a truck that was minding its own
+business and giving plenty of room to any sane man. This one was not
+sane. But of this happening not even the lady knew as yet, for Mortimer
+McMarter was not one to leave tales behind him when he went out of life,
+and the servants who had sent his messages were far away.
+
+The clock in the car showed nearly twelve and the way was long ahead.
+But he would make it before the dawn. He must. He stepped on the
+accelerator and shot round a curve. A dizzy precipice yawned at his
+side. He took another pull at the flask he carried and shot on wildly
+through the night. Then suddenly he ground on his brakes, the machine
+twisted and snarled like an angry beast and came to a stand almost into
+the arms of a barricade across the road. The young man hurled out an
+oath, and leaned forward to look, his eyes almost too blood-shot and
+blurred to read:
+
+"DETOUR to Sabbath Valley!"
+
+He laughed aloud. "Sabbath Valley!" He swore and laughed again, then
+looked down the way the rude arrow pointed, "Well, I like that! Sabbath
+Valley. That'll be a good joke to tell, but I'll make it yet or land in
+hell--!" He started his car and twisted it round to the rougher road,
+feeling the grind of the broken glass that strewed the way. Billy had
+done his work thoroughly, and anticipated well what would happen. But
+those tires were costly affairs. They did not yield to the first cut
+that came, and the expensive car built for racing on roads as smooth as
+glass bumped and jogged down into the ruts and started toward Sabbath
+Valley, with the driver pulling again at his almost empty flask, and
+swaying giddily in his seat. Half a mile farther down the mountain, the
+car gave a gasp, like the flitting soul of a dying lion, and came with
+sudden grinding breaks to a dead stop in the heart of a deep wood.
+
+Five minutes later another car, with a soft purring engine came up to
+the Crossroads from Economy, slowed just a fraction as it crossed the
+Highway, the driver looking keenly at the barricade, then stopping his
+car with a sudden jerk and swinging out. He turned a pocket flash on
+the big card board Billy had erected, its daubed letters still wet
+and blurring into the pasteboard. He looked a bit quizzical over the
+statement, "RODE FLOODED, BRIGE DOWN," because he happened to know there
+was no bridge and nothing to flood the road for several miles ahead. He
+examined the barricade carefully, even down to the broken glass in the
+road, then deliberately, swiftly, with his foot kicked away the glass,
+cleared a width for his car, and jumping in backed up, turned and
+started slowly down the condemned road to investigate. Something was
+wrong down the highway, and the sooner it was set right the better.
+There was one thing, he wished he had his gun with him, but then--! And
+he swung on down for two miles, going faster and faster, seeing nothing
+but white still road, and quiet sleeping trees, with looming mountains
+against the sky everywhere. Then, suddenly, across the way in the blare
+of his lights a white face flashed into view, and a body, lying full
+across the road, with a bicycle flung to one side completing the block.
+He brought his car to a quick stand and jumped out, but before he
+could take one step or even stoop, someone caught him from behind, and
+something big and dark and smothering was flung over his head. A heavy
+blow seemed to send him whirling, whirling down into infinite space,
+with a long tongue of living fire leaping up to greet him.
+
+"Beat it, Kid, and keep yer face shut!" hissed Pat into Billy's ear, at
+the same time stuffing a bill into his hand.
+
+Billy had just sense enough left to follow the assisting kick and roll
+himself out of the road, with a snatch at his machine which pulled it
+down out of sight. He had a secret feeling that he was "yellow" after
+all in spite of his efforts, letting a guy get taken this way without
+even a chance to put up a fight. Where was that gun? He reached his hand
+into his pocket and was steadied by the feeling of the cold steel. Then
+he knew that the men were in the car and were about to start. They had
+dumped the owner into the back seat and were going to carry him
+off somewhere. What were they going to do? He must find out. He was
+responsible. He hadn't meant to let anything like this happen. If
+everything wasn't going to be on the square he might have to get into it
+yet. He must stick around and see.
+
+The men were having a whispered consultation over the car. They were
+not used to that kind, but a car was a car. They tried to start it with
+nervous glances down the road. It jerked and hissed and complained but
+began to obey. The wheels were beginning to move. In a flash it would be
+gone!
+
+Billy scrambled noiselessly up the bank behind the car, his move well
+covered by the noise of the engine. With a quick survey of the situation
+he tucked himself hastily into the spare tire on the back, just as the
+car gave a lurch and shot forward down across the tracks. He had all he
+could do to maintain his position and worm himself into a firmer holding
+for the first minute or two, and when he began to realize what he was
+doing he found his heart beating like a young trip hammer. He slid a
+groping hand into his pocket once more for reassurance. If anything
+really happened he had the gun.
+
+But his heart was heavy. Things had not gone right. He had planned to
+carry this thing through as a large joke, and here he was mixed up in a
+crooked deal if ever there was one. The worst of it was he wasn't out of
+it yet. He wished he knew whose car this was and where they were bound
+for. How about the license tag? Gripping his unstable seat he swayed
+forward and tried to see it just below him. In the dim light it
+looked like a New York license. It must be the guy they were after all
+right,--they had telephoned about a New York man--yet--_Cart_ had a New
+York license on his car! He was living in New York now,--and there must
+be lots of other guys--!
+
+A kind of sickening thud seemed to drop through his mind down to the
+pit of his stomach as he tried to think it out. His eyes peered into
+the night watching every familiar landmark--there was the old pine where
+they always turned off to go fishing: and yes, they were turning _away_
+from Economy road. Yes, they were going through Hackett's Pass. A chill
+crept through his thin old sweater as the damp breath of ferns and rocks
+struck against his face. His eyes shone grim and hard in the night,
+suddenly grown old and stern. This was the kind of thing you read about
+in novels. In spite of pricks of conscience his spirits rose. It was
+great to be in it if it had to be. The consciousness of Sabbath Valley
+bathed in peaceful moonlight, all asleep, of the minister and his
+daughter, and Aunt Saxon, fell away; even the memory of bells that
+called to righteousness--he was out in the night on a wild ride and his
+soul thrilled to the measure of it. He fairly exulted as he reflected
+that he might be called upon to do some great deed of valor--in fact
+he felt he _must_ do a great deed of valor to retrieve his self respect
+after having made that balk about the detour. How did that guy get
+around the detour anyway? _Some guy!_
+
+Hackett's Pass was far behind and the moon was going low when the car
+stopped for a moment and a hurried consultation took place inside. Billy
+couldn't hear all that was said, but he gathered that time was short and
+the conspirators must be back at a certain place before morning. They
+seemed somehow to have missed a trail that was to have cut the distance
+greatly. Billy clung breathlessly to his cramped position and waited.
+He hoped they wouldn't get out and try to find the way, for then some
+of them might see him, and he was so stiff he was sure he would bungle
+getting out of the way. But after a breathless moment the car started
+on more slowly, and finally turned down a steep rough place, scarcely
+a trail, into the deeper woods. For a long time they went along, slower
+and slower, into the blackness of night it seemed. There was no moon,
+and the men had turned off the lights. There was nothing but a pocket
+flash which one of them carried, and turned on now and again to show
+them the way. The engine too was muffled and went snuffing along through
+the night like a blind thing that had been gagged. Billy began to wonder
+if he would ever find his legs useful again. Sharp pains shot through
+his joints, and he became aware of sleep dropping upon his straining
+eyes like a sickening cloud. Yet he must keep awake.
+
+He squirmed about and changed his position, staring into the darkness
+and wondering if this journey was ever to end. Now they were bumping
+down a bank, and slopping through water, not very deep, a small mountain
+stream on one of the levels. He tried to think where it must be, but was
+puzzled. They seemed to have traveled part of the way in curves. Twice
+they stopped and backed up and seemed to be returning on their tracks.
+They crossed and recrossed the little stream, and the driver was
+cursing, and insisting on more light. At last they began climbing again
+and the boy drew a breath of relief. He could tell better where he was
+on the heights. He began to think of morning and Sabbath Valley bathed
+in its Sabbath peace, with the bells chiming a call to worship--and _he
+not there!_ Aunt Saxon would be _crazy!_ She would bawl him out! _He
+should worry!_ and she would weep, pink weak tears from her old thin
+eyes, that seemed to have never done much else but weep. The thought
+turned and twisted in his soul like an ugly curved knife and made him
+angry. Tears always made him angry. And Miss Lynn--she would watch for
+him--! He had promised to be there! And she would not understand--and
+there would come that grieved look in her eyes. She would think--Oh, she
+would think he did not _want_ to come, and did not _mean_ to keep his
+promise, and things like that--and she would have to think them! He
+couldn't help it, could he? He _had_ to come along, didn't he?
+
+In the midst of his miserable reflections the car stopped dead on a
+level place and with a cold perspiration on his forehead Billy peered
+around him. They must have reached the top of a ridge, for the sky was
+visible with the morning star pinned against a luminous black. Against
+it a blacker shape was visible, half hid in trees, a building of some
+sort, solid, substantial, but deserted.
+
+The men were getting out of the car. Billy gripped the gun and dropped
+silently to the ground, sliding as stealthily into the shadows of the
+trees as if he had been a snake.
+
+Pat, stepped heavily to the ground and began to give directions in a low
+growl. Billy crouched and listened.
+
+"Let's get him shifted quick! We gotta beat it outta here! Link, it's up
+to you an' Shorty to get this car over the state line before light, an'
+you'll have to run me back to the Crossing first, so I can be at the
+station in time for the early train. That'll be _going some!_"
+
+"Well, I guess _anyhow not_," said Link sullenly, "Whadda ya think we
+are? Fools? Run you back to the Crossing in a pig's eye. You'll foot it
+back if you get there, er come with us. We ain't gonta get caught with
+this car on our hands. What we gonta do with it anyhow, when we get
+crost the state line?"
+
+"Why, you run it into the field off behind that row of alders. Sam's
+got a man on the lookout. They'll have that little old car so she won't
+recognize her best friend before you can count three, so you should
+worry. And you'll run me back or you won't get the dough. See? _I'll_
+see to that. Pat said I wasn't to run no risks fer not bein' back in
+time. Now, shift that guy's feet out on my shoulder. Handle him quick.
+Nope, he won't wake up fer two hours yet. I give him plenty of dope. Got
+them bracelets tight on his feet? All right now. He's some hefty bird,
+ain't he?"
+
+They moved away in the direction of the building, carrying a long dark
+shape between them, and Billy breathless in the bushes, watched, turning
+rapid plans in his mind. Here he was in the midst of an automobile
+getaway! Many the time he had gone with Mark and the Chief of Police
+on a still hunt for car thieves, but this time he was of the party. His
+loyal young heart boiled hot with rage, and he determined to do what he
+could single-handed to stem the tide of crime. Just what he was going to
+do he was undetermined. One, thing was certain, he must get the number
+of that license tag. He looked toward the house.
+
+The group had paused with their burden at the door and Pat had turned
+on his pocket flash light for just an instant as they fumbled with an
+ancient lock. In that instant the whole front of the old stone house was
+lit up clearly, and Billy gasped. The _haunted house!_ The house on
+the far mountain where a man had murdered his brother and then hanged
+himself. It had stood empty and closed for years, ever since Billy could
+remember, and was shunned and regarded with awe, and pointed out by
+hunters as a local point of interest.
+
+Billy regarded with contempt the superstition that hung around the
+place, but he gasped when he saw where he was, for they must have come
+twenty miles round about and it was at least ten across the mountains
+by the short cut. Ten miles from home, and he had to foot it! If he had
+only brought old trusty! No telling now whether he would ever see it
+again. But what were bicycles at such a time as this!
+
+The flash had gone out and the house was in darkness again, but he
+could hear the grating of a rusty hinge as the door opened, and faint
+footfalls of rubbered feet shuffled on a dusty floor. Now was his time!
+He darted out to the back of the car, and stooping down with his face
+close to the license, holding his old cap in one hand to shelter it
+drew out his own pocket flash and turned it on the sign, registering the
+number clearly on his alert young mind. The flash light was on its last
+breath of battery, and blinked asthmatically, winking out into a thread
+of red as the boy pressed it eagerly for one more look. He had been so
+intent that he had not heard the rubbered feet till they were almost
+upon him, and he had barely time to spring back into the bushes.
+
+"Hist! What was that?" whispered Pat, and the three stopped motionless
+in their tracks. Billy held his breath and touched the cold steel in his
+pocket. Of course there was always the gun, but what was one gun against
+three?
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+
+The whistle of the Cannery at Sabbath Valley blew a relief blast five
+minutes ahead of midnight in deference to the church chimes, and the
+night shift which had been working overtime on account of a consignment
+of tomatoes that would not keep till Monday, poured joyously out into
+the road and scattered to their various homes.
+
+The outmost of these homegoers, Tom McMertrie and Jim Rafferty, who
+lived at the other extreme of the village, came upon a crippled car,
+coughing and crawling toward them in front of the Graveyard. Its driver,
+much sobered by lack of stimulant, and frequent necessity for getting
+out and pushing his car over hard bits of road, called to them noisily.
+
+The two workmen, pleasant of mood, ready for a joke, not altogether
+averse to helping if this proved to be "the right guy," halted and
+stepped into the road just to look the poor noble car over. It was the
+lure of the fine machine.
+
+"Met with an accident?" Jim remarked affably, as if it were something to
+enjoy.
+
+"Had toire thrubble?" added Tom, punching the collapsed tires.
+
+The questions seemed to anger the driver, who demanded loftily:
+
+"Where's your garage?"
+
+"Garage? Oh, we haven't any garage," said Jim pleasantly, with a mute
+twinkle in his Irish eye.
+
+"No garage? Haven't any garage! What town is this,--if you call it a
+town?"
+
+"Why, mon, this is Sawbeth Volley! Shorely ye've heard of Sawbeth
+Volley!"
+
+"No, I never heard of it!" said the stranger contemptuously, "but from
+what I've seen of it so far I should say it ought to be called Hell's
+Pit! Well, what do you do when you want your car fixed?"
+
+"Well, we don't hoppen to hove a cyar," said Tom with a meditative air,
+stooping to examine the spokes of a wheel, "Boot, ef we hod mon, I'm
+thenkin' we'd _fix_ it!"
+
+Jim gave a flicker of a chuckle in his throat, but kept his outward
+gravity. The stranger eyed the two malevolently, helplessly, and began
+once more, holding his rage with a cold voice.
+
+"Well, how much do you want to fix my car?" he asked, thrusting his hand
+into his pocket and bringing out an affluent wallet.
+
+The men straightened up and eyed him coldly. Jim turned indifferently
+away and stepped back to the sidewalk. Tom lifted his chin and replied
+kindly:
+
+"Why, Mon, it's the _Sawbeth,_ didn't ye know? I'm s'proised at ye! It's
+the Sawbeth, an' this is Sawbeth Volley! We don't wurruk on the Sawbeth
+day in Sawbeth Volley. Whist! Hear thot, mon?"
+
+He lifted his hand and from the stone belfry near-by came the solemn
+tone of the chime, pealing out a full round of melody, and then tolling
+solemnly twelve slow strokes. There was something almost uncanny
+about it that held the stranger still, as if an unseen presence with
+a convincing voice had been invoked. The young man sat under the spell
+till the full complement of the ringing was finished, the workman with
+his hand up holding attention, and Jim Rafferty quietly enjoying it all
+from the curb stone.
+
+When the last sweet resonance had died out, the Scotchman's hand went
+slowly down, and the stranger burst forth with an oath:
+
+"Well, can you tell me where I can go to get fixed up? I've wasted
+enough time already."
+
+"I should say from whut I've seen of ye, mon, that yer roight in thot
+statement, and if I was to advoise I'd say go right up to the parson,
+His loight's still burnin' in the windo next beyant the tchurtch, so
+ye'll not be disturbin' him. Not that he'd moind. He'll fix ye up ef
+anybody cun; though I'm doubtin' yer in a bad wy, only wy ye tak it.
+Good-night to ye, the winda wi' the leight, mon, roight next beyant the
+tchurtch!"
+
+The car began its coughing and spluttering, and slowly jerked itself
+into motion, its driver going angrily on his unthankful way. The two
+workmen watching him with amused expressions, waited in the shadow of a
+tree till the car came to a stop again in front of the parsonage, and a
+tall young fellow got out and looked toward the lighted window.
+
+"Oh, boy! He's going in!" gasped Jim, slapping his companion silently on
+the back. "Whatt'll Mr. Severn think, Tommy?"
+
+"It'll do the fresh laddie gude," quoth Tom, a trifle abashed but ready
+to stand by his guns, "I'm thenkin' he's one of them what feels they
+owns the airth, an' is bound to step on all worms of the dust whut comes
+in thur wy. But Jim, mon, we better be steppin' on, fer tomorra's the
+Sawbeth ya ken, an' it wuddent be gude for our souls if the parson shud
+cum out to investigate." Chuckling away into the silent street they
+disappeared, while Laurence Shafton stalked angrily up the little path
+and pounded loudly on the quaint knocker of the parsonage.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The minister was on his knees beside his desk, praying for the soul of
+the wandering lad who had been dear to him for years. He had finished
+his preparation for the coming day, and his heart was full of a great
+longing. As he poured out his desire he forgot the hour and his need for
+rest. It was often in such companionship he forgot all else. He was that
+kind of a man.
+
+But he came to his feet on the instant with the knock, and was ready
+to go out on any errand of mercy that was needing him. It was not an
+unusual thing for a knock to come interrupting his midnight devotions.
+Sometimes the call would be to go far out on the mountain to some one
+who was in distress, or dying.
+
+The minister swung the door wide and peered into the night pleasantly
+almost as if to welcome an unexpected guest. In the sudden flood of the
+porch light his face was illumined, and behind him the pretty living
+room gave a sweet homely setting. The stranger stood for an instant
+blinking, half astonished; then the memory of his rendezvous at break of
+day brought back his irritation at the delay.
+
+"Are you Parsons?" he demanded, just as if "Parsons" were at fault that
+he had not been on hand before.
+
+"Parsons?" said Mr. Severn reflectively. "I don't recall anyone of that
+name hereabouts. Perhaps you are on the wrong road. There is a Parsons
+at Monopoly."
+
+"Parsons is the name. Aren't you Parsons? A couple of men down the road
+said you were, and that you could fix me up. They said right next the
+church and that your light was still burning." The visitor's tone was
+belligerent.
+
+Severn's face cleared with a smile.
+
+"Oh, they must have said 'Parson,' they often call me that. Come in.
+What can I do for you?"
+
+The young man eyed him coldly and made no move to enter.
+
+"Parson or Parsons, it makes no difference does it? Mr. Parson, if
+you're so particular then, come out and look at my car. It seems to be
+in bad shape, and be quick about it. I've got over two hundred miles to
+make before daybreak, so get a hustle on. I'll pay you well if you don't
+waste any time."
+
+A queer look descended upon the minister in twinkles of amusement around
+his eyes and lips much like the smile that Tom MacMertrie had worn, only
+there was not a rag of hurt pride about it. With entire pleasantness he
+said:
+
+"Just wait a moment till I get a light."
+
+As he turned to go Shafton called after him:
+
+"Oh, by the way, got anything to drink? I'm thirsty as the devil."
+
+Severn turned, instant hospitality in his face.
+
+"What will you have? Water or milk? Plenty of both."
+
+He smiled and Shafton looked at him in haughty amazement.
+
+"Man! I said I wanted something to _drink!_" he thundered, "but don't
+stand there all night doddering. I've got to get started!"
+
+A slight lifting of the chin, a trifle of steel in the kind eyes, a
+shade of coolness in the voice, as the clear comprehension of heaven had
+sifted the visitor, and the minister said, almost sternly:
+
+"Oh, I see," and disappeared through a swinging door into the pantry.
+
+It was about this time that Lynn Severn awoke to near consciousness and
+wondered what kind of a queer noisy guest her father had now.
+
+The minister was gone sometime and the guest grew impatient, stamping
+up and down the piazza and kicking a porch rocker out of his path. He
+looked at his watch and frowned, wondering how near he was to the end of
+his detour, and then he started in pursuit of his man, tramping through
+the Severn house as if it were a public garage, and almost running into
+the minister as he swung the door open. Severn was approaching with a
+lighted lantern in one hand and a plate of brown bread and butter, with
+a cup of steaming coffee in his other hand.
+
+Laurence Shafton stopped abruptly, a curse on his lips, but something,
+either the genial face of the minister, or the aroma of the coffee,
+silenced him. And indeed there was something about Graham Severn that
+was worth looking at. Tall and well built, with a face at once strong
+and sweet, and with a certain luminousness about it that almost seemed
+like transparency to let the spirit shine through, although there was
+nothing frail about his well cut features.
+
+Laurence Shafton, looking into the frank kind eyes of the minister
+suddenly became aware that this man had taken a great deal of trouble
+for him. He hadn't brought any liquor, probably because he did not know
+enough of the world to understand what it was he wanted, or because he
+was playing a joke. As he looked into those eyes and noted with his half
+befuddled senses the twinkle playing at the corners he was not quite
+sure but the joke was on himself. But however it was the coffee smelled
+good and he took it and blundered out a brief "Thanks."
+
+Eating his brown bread and butter, the like of which had never entered
+his pampered lips before, and taking great swoops of the hot strong
+coffee he followed this strange new kind of a man out to the car in the
+moonlight, paying little heed to the careful examination that ensued,
+being so accustomed to ordering all his needs supplied and finding them
+forthcoming without delay.
+
+Finally the minister straightened up:
+
+"I'm afraid you won't go many miles to-night. You've burned out your
+bearings!"
+
+"Hell!" remarked the young gentleman pausing before the last swallow of
+coffee.
+
+"Oh, you won't find it so bad as that, I imagine," answered the steady
+voice of the minister. "I can give you a bed and take care of you over
+to-morrow, and perhaps Sandy McPherson can fix you up Monday, although I
+doubt it. He'd have to make new bearings, or you'd have to send for some
+to the factory."
+
+But Lawrence Shafton did not wait to hear the suggestions. He stormed
+up and down the sidewalk in front of the parsonage and let forth such a
+stream of choice language as had not been heard in that locality in many
+a long year. The minister's voice, cool, stern, commanding, broke in
+upon his ravings.
+
+"I think that will be about all, sir!"
+
+Laurence Shafton stopped and stared at the minister's lifted hand, not
+because he was overawed, simply because never before in the whole of
+his twenty-four years had any one dared lift voice to him in a tone of
+command or reproof. He could not believe his ears, and his anger rose
+hotly. He opened his mouth to tell this insignificant person who he was
+and where to get off, and a few other common arguments of gentlemen of
+his class, but the minister had a surprising height as he stood in the
+moonlight, and there was that something strange and spiritual about him
+that seemed to meet the intention and disarm it. His jaw dropped, and
+he could not utter the words he had been about to speak. This was
+insufferable--! But there was that raised hand. It seemed like some one
+not of this world quite. He wasn't afraid, because it wasn't in him
+to be afraid. That was his pose, not afraid of those he considered his
+inferiors, and he did not consider that anyone was his superior. But
+somehow this was something new in his experience. A man like this! It
+was almost as if his mere being there demanded a certain homage. It was
+queer. The young man passed a hand over his hot forehead and tried to
+think. Then the minister's voice went calmly on. It was almost as if he
+had not said that other at all. Perhaps he had not. Perhaps he dreamed
+it or imagined it. Perhaps he had been taking too much liquor and this
+was one of the symptoms--! Yet there still ringing in his ears--well
+his soul anyway,--were those quiet words, "That will be about all, sir!"
+Sternly. As if he had a _right_ to speak that way _to him_! To Laurence
+Shafton, son of the great Wilson J. Shafton, of New York! He looked up
+at the man again and found a sort of respect for him dawning in himself.
+It was queer, but the man was--well, interesting. What was this he was
+saying?
+
+"I am sorry"--just as if he had never rebuked him at all, "I am sorry
+that there seems to be no other way. If I had a car I would take you to
+the nearest railway station, but there are no trains to-night, not even
+twenty miles away until six in the morning. There are only four cars
+owned in the village. Two are gone off on a summer trip, the third is
+out of commission being repaired, and the fourth belongs to the doctor,
+who happens to be away on the mountain to-night attending a dying man.
+You see how it is."
+
+The young man opened his mouth to curse once more, and strangely enough
+closed it again: Somehow cursing seemed to have lost its force.
+
+"There is just one chance," went on the minister thoughtfully, "that a
+young man who was visiting his mother to-day may still be here. I can
+call up and find out. He would take you I know."
+
+Almost humbly the great man's son followed the minister back to the
+house and listened anxiously while he called a number on the telephone.
+
+"Is that you Mrs. Carter? I'm sorry if I have disturbed you. What?
+You hadn't gone to bed yet? Oh, waiting for Mark? Then he isn't there?
+That's what I called up for. There is some one here in trouble, needing
+to be taken to Monopoly. I was sure Mark would help him out if possible.
+Yes, please, if he comes soon, ask him to call me. Just leave a note for
+him, can't you? I wouldn't sit up. Mark will take good care of himself.
+Yes, of course, that's the mother of it. Well, good-night, Mrs. Carter."
+
+The young man strode angrily out to the door, muttering--but no words
+were distinct. He wanted to be away from the compelling calmness of
+those eyes that seemed to search him through. He dashed out the screen
+door, letting it slam behind him, and down the steps, intending
+to _make_ his car go on at all odds until he reached another town
+somewhere. It had gone so far, it could go on a little farther perhaps.
+This country parson did not know about cars, how should he?
+
+And then somewhere right on the top step he made a false step and
+slipped, or was it his blindness of rage? He caught at the vines with
+frantic hands, but as if they laughed at him they slipped from his
+grasp. His feet clattered against the step trying for footing, but he
+was too near the edge, and he went down straight into a little rocky
+nook where ferns and violets were growing, and a sharp jagged rock stuck
+up and bit him viciously as he slid and struggled for a firm footing
+again. Then an ugly twist of his ankle, and he lay in a humiliating
+heap in the shadow of the vines on the lawn, crying out and beginning to
+curse with the pain that gripped him in sharp teeth, and stung through
+his whole excitable inflamed being.
+
+The minister was there almost at once, bending over him. Somehow he
+felt as if he were in the power of somebody greater than he had ever met
+before. It was almost like meeting God out on the road somewhere.
+The minister stooped and picked him up, lightly, as if he had been a
+feather, and carried him like a baby, thrown partly over his shoulder;
+up the steps, and into that blasted house again. Into the bright
+light that sickened him and made the pain leap up and bring a mighty
+faintness.
+
+He laid him almost tenderly upon a soft couch, and straightened the
+pillows about him, seeming to know just how every bone felt, and how
+every nerve quivered, and then he asked a few questions in a quiet
+voice. "What happened? Was it your ankle? Here? Or _here?_ All right.
+Just be patient a minute, I'll have you all fixed up. This was my job
+over in France you know. No, don't move. It won't hurt long. It was
+right here you said. Now, wait till I get my bottle of lotion."
+
+He was back in an instant with bandages, and bottle, and seemed to know
+just how to get off a shoe with the least trouble.
+
+An hour later the scion of a great New York family lay sleeping in
+the minister's study, the old couch made up with cool sheets, and the
+swollen ankle comfortably bandaged with cool wet cloths. Outside in the
+moonlight the crippled car stood alone, and Sabbath Valley slept, while
+the bells chimed out a single solemn stroke.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+
+Billy was doing some rapid thinking while he stood motionless in the
+bushes. It seemed a half hour, but in reality it was but a few seconds
+before he heard a low whistle. The men piled rapidly into the car with
+furtive looks on either side into the dark.
+
+Billy gave a wavering glance toward the looming house in the darkness
+where the motionless figure had been left. Was it a dead man lying there
+alone, or was he only doped. But what could he do in the dark without
+tools or flash? He decided to stick with the machine, for he had no
+desire to foot it home, and anyway, with his bicycle he would be far
+more independent. Besides, there was the perfectly good automobile to
+think about. If the man was dead he couldn't be any deader. If he was
+only doped it would be some time before he came to, and before these
+keepers could get back he would have time to do something. Billy never
+doubted his responsibility in the matter. It was only a question of
+expediency. If he could just "get these guys with the goods on them," he
+would be perfectly satisfied.
+
+He made a dash for his seat at the back while the car was turning, and
+they were off at a brisk pace down the mountain, not waiting this time
+to double on their tracks, but splashing through the Creek only once and
+on up to the road again.
+
+Like an uneasy fever in his veins meantime, went and came a vision of
+that limp inert figure of the man being carried into the haunted
+house as it stood out in the flare of the flash light, one arm hanging
+heavily. What did that hand and arm remind him of? Oh--h! The time when
+Mark was knocked cold at the Thanksgiving Day Football game last year.
+Mark's hand and arm had looked like that--he had held his fingers like
+that--when they picked him up. Mark had the base-ball hand! Of course
+that rich guy might have been an athlete too, they were sometimes. And
+of course Mark was right now at home and in bed, where Billy wished
+he was also, but somehow the memory of that still dark "knocked cold"
+attitude, and that hanging hand and arm would not leave him. He frowned
+in the dark and wished this business was over. Mark was the only living
+soul Billy felt he could ever tell about this night's escapade, and he
+wasn't sure he could tell him, but he knew if he did that Mark would
+understand.
+
+Billy watched anxiously for a streak of light in the East, but none had
+come as yet. The moon had left the earth darker than darkness when it
+went.
+
+He tried to think what he should do. His bicycle was lying in the bushes
+and he ought to get it before daylight. If they went near the station he
+would drop off and pick it up. Then he would scuttle through the woods
+and get to the Crossroads, and beat it down to the Blue Duck Tavern.
+That was the only place open all night where he could telephone. He
+didn't like to go to the Blue Duck Tavern on account of his aunt. She
+had once made him promise most solemnly, bringing in something about his
+dead mother, that he would never go to the Blue Duck Tavern. But this
+was a case of necessity, and dead mothers, if they cared at all, ought
+to understand. He had a deep underlying faith in the principle of what
+a mother--at any rate a dead mother--would be like. And anyhow, this
+wasn't the kind of "going" to the Tavern his aunt had meant. He was
+keeping the spirit of the promise if not the letter. In his code the
+spirit meant much more than the letter--at least on this occasion.
+There were often times when he rigidly adhered to the letter and let the
+spirit take care of itself, but this was not one.
+
+But if, on the other hand they did not take Pat all the way back to the
+crossing by the station it would be even better for him, for the road on
+which they now were passed within a quarter of a mile of the Blue Duck
+Tavern, and he could easily beat the car to the state line, by dropping
+off and running.
+
+But suddenly and without warning it became apparent that Pat was to be
+let out to walk to the station crossing, and Billy had only a second to
+decide what to do, while Pat lumbered swearing down from the car. If he
+got off now he would have to wait till Pat was far ahead before he dared
+go after his wheel, and he would lose so much time there would be no use
+in trying to save the car. On the other hand if he stayed on the car he
+was liable to be seen by Pat, and perhaps caught. However, this seemed
+the only possible way to keep the car from destruction and loss, so he
+wriggled himself into his seat more firmly, tucked his legs painfully
+up under him, covered his face with his cap, and hid his hands in his
+pockets.
+
+"You've plenty of time," raged Pat, "You've only a little five miles
+run left. It's a good half hour before light. You're a pair of cowards,
+that's whut ye are, and so I'll tell Sam. If I get fired fer not being
+there fer the early milk train, there'll be no more fat jobs fer youse.
+Now be sure ye do as you're told. Leave the car in the first field
+beyond the woods after ye cross the state line, lift yer flash light
+and wink three times, count three slow, and wink three times more. _Then
+beat it!_ And doncha ferget to go feed that guy! We don't want he should
+die on us."
+
+The engine began to mutter. Pat with a farewell string of oaths rolled
+off down the road, too sleepy to look behind, and Billy held his breath
+and ducked low till the rolling Pat was one with the deep gray of the
+morning.
+
+The first streak of light was beginning to show in the East, and the
+all-night revellers at the Blue Duck were in the last stages of going
+home after a more than usually exciting season, when Billy like the
+hardened promise-breaker he felt himself to be, boldly slid in at the
+door and disappeared inside the telephone booth behind the last row of
+tables in the corner. For leave it to a boy, even though he be not a
+frequenter of a place, to know where everything needful is to be found!
+
+He had to wait several minutes to get the Chief of Police in Economy,
+and while he waited two gaunt habitues of the Tavern slid into seats at
+the table to the left of the booth, ordered drinks and began to discuss
+something in a low tone. Billy paid no heed till he happened to hear his
+friend's name:
+
+"Yep, I seen Mark come in with Cherry early in the evening. He set right
+over there and gotter some drink. The girl was mad because he wouldn't
+get her what she wanted to drink. I happened to be settin' direckly in
+front and I heard her gassin' about it. She tossed her head and made her
+eyes look little and ugly like a pig, and once she got up to go, and he
+grabbed her hands and made her set down; and just set there fer sometime
+alookin' at her hard an' holdin' her han's and chewin' the rag at her.
+I don't know what all they was sayin,' fer he talked mighty low, an'
+Ike called me to take a hand in the game over tother side the room, so
+I didn't know no more till I see him an' Cherry beatin' it out the side
+door, an' Dolphin standin' over acrost by the desk lampin' 'em with his
+ugly look, an' pretty quick, Dolph he slid out the other door an' was
+gone quite some time. When he come back Cherry was with him, laughin'
+and makin' eyes, and vampin' away like she always does, an' him an' her
+danced a lot after that--"
+
+A voice on the end of the wire broke in upon this amazing conversation,
+and Billy with difficulty adjusted his jaded mind, to the matter in
+hand:
+
+"'Z'is the Chief? Say, Chief, a coupla guys stole a
+machine--Holes-Mowbrays--license number 6362656-W--Got that? New York
+tag. They're on their way over to the State Line beyond the Cross Roads.
+They're gonta run her in the field just beyond the woods, you know.
+They're gonta give a flash light signal to their pal, three winks, count
+three slow, and three winks more, and then beat it. Then some guy is
+gonta wreck the machine. It's up to you and your men to hold the machine
+till I get the owner there. He don't know it's pinched yet, but I know
+where to find him, an' he'll have the license and can identify it.
+Where'll I find you? Station House? 'Conomy? Sure! I'll be there soon's
+I get'im. What's that? I? Oh, I'm just a kid that happened to get wise.
+My name? Oh rats! That don't cut any ice now! You get on yer job! They
+must be almost there by now. I gotta beat it! Gub-bye!"
+
+Billy was all there even if he had been up all night. He hung up with
+a click, for he was anxious to hear what the men were saying. They had
+finished their glasses and were preparing to leave. The old one was
+gabbling on in a querrilous gossipy tone:
+
+"Well, it'll go hard with Mark Carter if the man dies. Everybody knows
+he was here, and unless he can prove an alibi--!"
+
+They were crawling reluctantly out of their haunts now, and Billy could
+catch but one more sentence:
+
+"Well, I'm sorry fer his ma. I used to go to school with Mrs. Carter
+when we were kids."
+
+They were gone out and the room suddenly showed empty. The waiter was
+fastening the shutters. In a moment more he would be locked in. Billy
+made a silent dash among the tables and slid out the door while the
+waiter's back was turned. The two men were ambling slowly down the road
+toward Economy. Billy started on a dead run. His rubber soled shoes made
+no echo and he was too light on his feet to make a thud. He disappeared
+into the grayness like a spirit. He had more cause than ever now for
+hurry. Mark! Mark! His beloved Mark Carter! What must he do about it?
+Must he tell Mark? Or did Mark perhaps know? What had happened anyway?
+There had evidently been a shooting. That Cherry Fenner was mixed up in
+it. Billy knew her only by sight. She always grinned at him and said:
+"Hello, Billee!" in her pretty dimpled way. He didn't care for her
+himself. He had accepted her as a part of life, a necessary evil. She
+wore her hair queer, and had very short tight skirts, and high heels.
+She painted her face and vamped, but that was her affair. He had
+heretofore tolerated her because she seemed in some way to be under
+Mark Carter's recent protection. Therefore he had growled "Ello!" grimly
+whenever she accosted him and let it go at that. If it had come to
+a show down he would have stood up for her because he knew that Mark
+would, that was all. Mark knew his own business. Far be it from Billy to
+criticize his hero's reasons. Perhaps it was one of Mark's weaknesses.
+It was up to him. That was the code of a "white man" as Billy had
+learned it from "the fellas."
+
+But this was a different matter. This involved Mark's honor. It was up
+to him to find Mark!
+
+Billy did not take the High road down from his detour. He cut across
+below the Crossroads, over rough ground, among the underbrush, and
+parting the low growing trees was lost in the gloom of the woods. But he
+knew every inch of ground within twenty miles around, and darkness
+did not take away his sense of direction. He crashed along among the
+branches, making steady headway toward the spot where he had left his
+bicycle, puffing and panting, his face streaked with dirt, his eyes
+bleared and haggard, his whole lithe young body straining forward and
+fighting against the dire weariness that was upon him, for it was not
+often that he stayed up all night. Aunt Saxon saw to that much at least.
+
+The sky was growing rosy now, and he could hear the rumbling of the milk
+train. It was late. Pat would not lose his job this time, for he must
+have had plenty of time to get back to the station. Billy wormed himself
+under cover as the train approached, and bided his time. Cautiously,
+peering from behind the huckleberry growth, he watched Pat slamming the
+milk cans around. He could see his bicycle lying like a dark skeleton of
+a thing against the gravel bank. It was lucky he got there before day,
+for Pat would have been sure to see it, and it might have given him an
+idea that Billy had gone with the automobile.
+
+The milk train came suddenly in sight through the tunnel, like a lighted
+thread going through a needle. It rumbled up to the station. There was a
+rattling of milk cans, empty ones being put on, full cans being put off,
+grumbling of Pat at the train hands, loud retorts of the train hands,
+the engine puffed and wheezed like a fat old lady going upstairs
+and stopping on every landing to rest. Then slamming of car doors, a
+whistle, the snort of the engine as it took up its way again out toward
+the rosy sky, its headlight weird like a sick candle against the dawn,
+its tail light winking with a leer and mocking at the mountains as it
+clattered away like a row of gray ducks lifting webbed feet and flinging
+back space to the station.
+
+Pat rolled the loaded truck to the other platform ready for the Lake
+train at seven, and went in to a much needed rest. He slammed the door
+with a finality that gave Billy relief. The boy waited a moment more
+in the gathering dawn, and then made a dash for the open, salvaging his
+bicycle, and diving back into the undergrowth.
+
+For a quarter of a mile he and the wheel like two comrades raced under
+branches, and threaded their way between trees. Then he came out into
+the Highroad and mounting his wheel rode into the world just as the sun
+shot up and touched the day with wonder.
+
+He rode into the silent sleeping village of Sabbath Valley just as the
+bells from the church chimed out gently, as bells should do on a Sabbath
+morning when people are at rest, "One! Two! Three! Four! Five!"
+
+Sabbath Valley looked great as he pedalled silently down the street.
+Even the old squeak of the back wheel seemed to be holding its breath
+for the occasion.
+
+He coasted past the church and down the gentle incline in front of the
+parsonage and Joneses, and the Littles and Browns and Gibsons. Like a
+shadow of the night passing he slid past the Fowlers and Tiptons and
+Duncannons, and fastened his eyes on the little white fence with the
+white pillared gate where Mrs. Carter lived. Was that a light in the
+kitchen window? And the barn that Mark used for his garage when he was
+at home, was the door open? He couldn't quite see for the cyringa bush
+hid it from the road. With a furtive glance up and down the street he
+wheeled in at the driveway, and rode up under the shadow of the green
+shuttered white house.
+
+He dismounted silently, stealthily, rested his wheel against the trunk
+of a cherry tree, and with keen eyes for every window, glanced up to
+the open one above which he knew belonged to Mark's room. Strong grimy
+fingers went to his lips and a low cautious whistle, more like a bird
+call issued forth, musical as any wild note.
+
+The white muslin curtains wavered back and forth in the summer breeze,
+and for a moment he thought a head was about to appear for a soft
+stirring noise had seemed to move within the house somewhere, but the
+curtains swayed on and no Mark appeared. Then he suddenly was aware of a
+white face confronting him at the downstairs window directly opposite
+to him, white and scared and--was it accusing? And suddenly he began to
+tremble. Not all the events of the night had made him tremble, but now
+he trembled, it was Mark's mother, and she had pink rims to her eyes,
+and little damp crimples around her mouth and eyes for all the world
+like Aunt Saxon's. She looked--she looked exactly as though she had not
+slept all night. Her nose was thin and red, and her eyes had that awful
+blue that eyes get that have been much washed with tears. The soft waves
+of her hair drooped thinly, and the coil behind showed more threads of
+silver than of brown in the morning sun that shot through the branches
+of the cherry tree. She had a frightened look, as if Billy had brought
+some awful news, or as if it was his fault, he could not tell which, and
+he began to feel that choking sensation and that goneness in the pit of
+his stomach that Aunt Saxon always gave him when she looked frightened
+at something he had done or was going to do. Added to this was that
+sudden premonition, and a memory of that drooping still figure in the
+dark up on the mountain.
+
+Mrs. Carter sat down the candle on a shelf and raised the window:
+
+"Is that you Billy?" she asked, and there were tears in her voice.
+
+Billy had a brief appalling revelation of Mothers the world over. Did
+all Mothers--women--act like that when they were _fools_? Fools is what
+he called them in his mind. Yet in spite of himself and his rage and
+trembling he felt a sudden tenderness for this crumply, tired, ghastly
+little pink rimmed mother, apprehensive of the worst as was plain to
+see. Billy recalled like a flash the old man at the Blue Duck saying,
+"I'm sorry for his ma. I used to go to school with her." He looked at
+the faded face with the pink rims and trembling lips and had a vision of
+a brown haired little girl at a desk, and old Si Appleby a teasing boy
+in the desk opposite. It came over him that some day he would be an old
+man somewhere telling how he went to school--! And then he asked:
+
+"Where's Mark? Up yet?"
+
+She shook her head apprehensively, withholdingly.
+
+Billy had a thought that perhaps some one had beat him to it with news
+from the Blue Duck, but he put it from him. There were tears in her eyes
+and one was straggling down between the crimples of her cheeks where it
+looked as if she had lain on the folds of her handkerchief all night.
+There came a new tenderness in his voice. This was _Mark's_ mother, and
+this was the way she felt. Well, of course it was silly, but she was
+Mark's _mother_.
+
+"Man up the mountain had n'accident. I thought Mark ud he'p. He always
+does," explained Billy awkwardly with a feeling that he ought to account
+for his early visit.
+
+"Yes, of course, Mark would like to help!" purred his mother comforted
+at the very thought of every day life and Mark going about as usual,
+"But--" and the apprehension flew into her eyes again, "He isn't home.
+Billy, he hasn't come home at all last night! I'm frightened to death!
+I've sat up all night! I can't think what's happened--! There's so many
+hold-ups and Mark will carry his money loose in his trousers pocket--!"
+
+Billy blanched but lied beautifully up to the occasion even as he would
+have liked to have somebody lie for him to Aunt Saxon:
+
+"Aw! That's nothing! Doncha worry. He tol' me he might have t'stay down
+t'Unity all night. There's a fella down there that likes him a lot, an'
+they had somekinduva blowout in their church last night. He mightuv had
+ta take some girl home out of town ya know, and stayed over with the
+fella."
+
+Mrs. Carter's face relaxed a shade:
+
+"Yes, I've tried to think that--!"
+
+"Well, doncha worry, Mizz Carter, I'll lookim up fer ya, I know 'bout
+where he might be."
+
+"Oh, thank you Billy," her face wreathed in wavering smiles brought
+another thought of school days and life and how queer it was that grown
+folks had been children sometime and children had to be grown folks.
+
+"Billy, Mark likes you very much. I'm sure he won't mind your knowing
+that I'm worried, but you know how boys don't like to have their mothers
+worry, so you needn't say anything to Mark that I said I was worried,
+need you? You understand Billy. I'm not _really_ worried you know. Mark
+was always a good boy."
+
+"Aw sure!" said Billy with a knowing wink. "He's a prince! You leave it
+t'me, Mizz Carter!"
+
+"Thank you, Billy. I'll do something for you sometime. But how's it come
+you're up so early? You haven't had your breakfast yet have you?"
+
+She eyed his weary young face with a motherly anxiety:
+
+"Naw, I didn't have no time to stop fer breakfast," Billy spoke
+importantly, "Got this call about the sick guy and had to beat it. Say,
+you don't happen to know Mark's license number do you? It might help
+a lot, savin' time 'f'I could tell his car at sight. Save stoppin' to
+ast."
+
+"Well, now, I don't really--" said the woman ruminatively, "let me see.
+There was six and six, there were a lot of sixes if I remember--"
+
+"Oh, well, it don't matter--" Billy grasped his wheel and prepared to
+leave.
+
+"Wait, Billy, you must have something to eat--"
+
+"Aw, naw, I can't wait! Gotta beat it! Might miss 'im!"
+
+"Well, just a bite. Here, I'll get you some cookies!"
+
+She vanished, and he realized for the first time that he was hungry.
+Cookies sounded good.
+
+She returned with a brimming glass of milk and a plate of cookies. She
+stuffed the cookies in his pockets, while he drank the milk.
+
+"Say,--" said he after a long sweet draught of the foaming milk, "Ya,
+aint got enny more you cud spare fer that sick guy, have ya? Wait, I'll
+save this. Got a bottle?"
+
+"Indeed you won't, Billy Gaston. You just drink that every drop. I'll
+get you another bottle to take with you. I got extra last night 'count
+of Mark being home, and then he didn't drink it. He always likes a drink
+of milk last thing before he goes to bed."
+
+She vanished and returned with a quart of milk cold off the ice. She
+wrapped it well with newspapers, and Billy packed it safely into the
+little basket on his wheel. Then he bethought him of another need.
+
+"Say, m'y I go inta the g'rage an' get a screw driver? Screw loose on
+m'wheel."
+
+She nodded and he vanished into the open barn door. Well he knew where
+Mark kept his tools. He picked out a small pointed saw, a neat little
+auger and a file and stowed them hurriedly under the milk bottle. Thus
+reinforced without and within, he mounted his faithful steed and sped
+away to the hills.
+
+The morning sun had shot up several degrees during his delay, and
+Sabbath Valley lay like a thing new born in its glory. On the belfry a
+purple dove sat glistening, green and gold ripples on her neck, turning
+her head proudly from side to side as Billy rode by, and when he topped
+the first hill across the valley the bells rang out six sweet strokes
+as if to remind him that Sunday School was not far off and he must hurry
+back. But Billy was trying to think how he should get into that locked
+house, and wondering whether the kidnappers would have returned to
+feed their captive yet. He realized that he must be wary, although his
+instinct told him that they would wait for dark, besides, he had hopes
+that they might have been "pinched."
+
+Nevertheless he approached the old house cautiously, skirting the
+mountain to avoid Pleasant Valley, and walking a mile or two through
+thick undergrowth, sometimes with difficulty propelling the faithful
+machine.
+
+Arrived in sight he studied the surroundings carefully, harbored his
+wheel where it would not be discovered and was yet easily available, and
+after reconnoitering stole out of covert.
+
+The house stood gaunt and grim against the smiling morning. Its
+shuttered windows giving an expression of blindness or the repellant
+mask of death. A dead house, that was what it was. Its doors and windows
+closed on the tragedy that had been enacted within its massive stone
+walls. It seemed more like a fortress than a house where warm human
+faces had once looked forth, and where laughter and pleasant words had
+once sounded out. To pass it had always stirred a sense of mystery and
+weirdness. To approach it thus with the intention of entering to find
+that still limp figure of a man gave a most overpowering sense of awe.
+Billy looked up with wide eyes, the deep shadows under them standing out
+in the clear light of the morning and giving him a strangely old aspect
+as if he had jumped over at least ten years during the night. Warily he
+circled the house, keeping close to the shrubbery at first and listening
+as a squirrel might have done, then gradually drawing nearer. He noticed
+that the down stairs shutters were solid iron with a little half moon
+peep hole at the top. Those upstairs were solid below and fitted with
+slats above, but the slats were closed of all the front windows, and all
+but two of the back ones, which were turned upward so that one could
+not see the glass. The doors, both back and front, were locked, and
+unshakable, of solid oak and very thick. A Yale lock with a new look
+gave all entrance at the front an impossible look. The back door was
+equally impregnable unless he set to work with his auger and saw and
+took out a heavy oak panel.
+
+He got down to the ground and began to examine the cellar windows. They
+seemed to be fitted with iron bars set into the solid masonry. He went
+all around the house and found each one unshakable, until he reached the
+last at the back. There he found a bit of stone cracked and loosened
+and it gave him an idea. He set to work with his few tools, and finally
+succeeded in loosening one rusted bar. He was much hindered in his work
+by the necessity of keeping a constant watch out, and by his attempts to
+be quiet. There was no telling when Link and Shorty might come to feed
+their captive and he must not be discovered.
+
+It was slow work picking away at the stone, filing away at the rusty
+iron, but the bars were so close together that three must be removed
+before he could hope to crawl through, and even then he might be able to
+get no further than the cellar. The guy that fixed this house up for a
+prison knew what he was about.
+
+Faintly across the mountains came the echo of bells, or were they in the
+boy's own soul? He worked away in the hot sun, the perspiration rolling
+down his weary dirty face, and sometimes his soul fainted within him.
+Bells, and the sweet quiet church with the pleasant daily faces about
+and the hum of Sunday School beginning! How far away that all seemed
+to him now as he filed and picked, and sweated, and kept up a strange
+something in his soul half yearning, half fierce dread, that might have
+been like praying only the burden of its yearning seemed to be expressed
+in but a single word, "Mark! Mark!"
+
+At last the third bar came loose and with a great sigh that was almost
+like a sob, the boy tore it out, and cleared the way. Then carefully
+gathering his effects, tools, milk bottle and cap together, he let them
+down into the dungeon-like blackness of the cellar, and crept in after
+them, taking the precaution to set up in place the iron bars once more
+and leave no trace of his entrance.
+
+Pausing cautiously to listen he ventured to strike a match, mentally
+belaboring himself at the wasteful way in which he had always used his
+flash light which was now so much needed and out of commission. The
+cellar was large, running under the whole house, with heavy rafters and
+looming coal pits. A scurrying rat started a few lumps of coal in the
+slide, and a cobwebby rope hung ominously from one cross beam, giving
+him a passing shudder. It seemed as if the spirit of the past had arisen
+to challenge his entrance thus. He took a few steps forward toward a dim
+staircase he sighted at the farther end, and then a sudden noise sent
+his heart beating fast. He extinguished the match and stood in the
+darkness listening with straining ears. That was surely a step he heard
+on the floor above!
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+
+Laurence Shafton awoke late to the sound of church bells come alive and
+singing hymn tunes. There was something strangely unreal in the sound,
+in the utter stillness of the background of Sabbath Valley atmosphere
+that made him think, almost, just for an instant, that he had stumbled
+somehow into the wrong end of the other world, and come into the fields
+of the blessed. Not that he had any very definite idea about what the
+fields of the blessed would look like or what would be going on there,
+but there was something still and holy between the voices of the bells
+that fairly compelled his jaded young soul to sit up and listen.
+
+But at the first attempt to sit up a very sharp very decided twinge of
+pain caught him, and brought an assorted list of words which he kept for
+such occasions to his lips. Then he looked around and tried to take in
+the situation. It was almost as if he had been caught out of his own
+world and dropped into another universe, so different was everything
+here, and so little did he remember the happenings of the night before.
+He had had trouble with his car, something infernal that had prevented
+his going farther--he recalled having to get out and push the thing
+along the road, and then two loutish men who made game of him and sent
+him here to get his car fixed. There had been a man, a queer man who
+gave him bread and butter instead of wine--he remembered that--and he
+had failed to get his car fixed, but how the deuce did he get landed
+on this couch with a world of books about him and a thin muslin curtain
+blowing into the room, and fanning the cheeks of a lovely rose in a long
+stemmed clear glass vase? Did he try to start and have a smash up? No,
+he remembered going down the steps with the intention of starting, but
+stay! Now it was coming to him. He fell off the porch! He must have had
+a jag on or he never would have fallen. He did things to his ankle in
+falling. He remembered the gentle giant picking him up as if he had
+been a baby and putting him here, but where was _here_? Ah! Now he
+remembered! He was on his way to Opal Verrons. A bet. An elopement
+for the prize! Great stakes. He had lost of course. What a fool! If it
+hadn't been for his ankle he might have got to a trolley car or train
+somehow and made a garage. Money would have taken him there in time. He
+was vexed that he had lost. It would have been great fun, and he had the
+name of always winning when he set out to do so. But then, perhaps it
+was just as well--Verrons was a good fellow as men went--he liked him,
+and he was plain out and out fond of Opal just at present. It would have
+been a dirty shame to play the trick behind his back. Still, if Opal
+wanted to run away with him it was up to him to run of course. Opal was
+rare sport and he couldn't stand the idea of Smart-Aleck McMarter, or
+that conceited Percy Emerson getting there first. He wondered which had
+won. It made his fury rise to think of either, and he had promised the
+lady neither of them should. What was she thinking of him by now that he
+had sent her no word of his delay? That was inexcusable. He must attend
+to it at once.
+
+He glanced around the pleasant room. Yes, there on the desk was a
+telephone! Could he get to it? He sat up and painfully edged his way
+over to the desk.
+
+ "Safely through another week,
+  God has brought us on our way--"
+
+chimed the bells,
+
+ "Let us now a blessing seek,
+  Waiting in His courts to-day--"
+
+But Laurie Shafton had never sung those words in his life and had no
+idea what the bells were seeking to get across to him. He took down the
+receiver and called for Long Distance.
+
+ "Oh day of rest and gladness!"
+
+pealed out the bells joyously,
+
+  "Oh day of joy and light!
+   Oh balm for care and sadness,
+   Most beautiful, most bright--"
+
+But it meant nothing to Laurie Shafton seeking a hotel in a fashionable
+resort. And when he finally got his number it was only Opal's maid who
+answered.
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Verrons was up. She was out walking on the beach with a
+gentleman. No, it was not Mr. Emerson, nor yet Mr. McMarter. Neither
+of those gentlemen had arrived. No, it was not Mr. Verrons. He had just
+telegraphed that he would not be at the hotel until tomorrow night.
+Yes, she would tell Mrs. Verrons that he had met with an accident. Mrs.
+Verrons would be very sorry. Number one-W Sabbath Valley. Yes, she would
+write it down. What? Oh! The gentleman Mrs. Verrons was walking with?
+No, it was not anybody that had been stopping at the hotel for long, it
+was a new gentleman who had just come the night before. She hadn't heard
+his name yet. Yes, she would be sure to tell Mrs. Verrons at once when
+she came in, and Mrs. Verrons would be likely to call him up!"
+
+He hung up the receiver and looked around the room discontentedly. A
+stinging twinge of his ankle added to his discomfort. He gave an angry
+snarl and pushed the wavering curtain aside, wishing those everlasting
+bells would stop their banging.
+
+Across the velvet stretch of lawn the stone church nestled among
+the trees, with a background of mountains, and a studding of white
+gravestones beyond its wide front steps. It was astonishingly beautiful,
+and startlingly close for a church. He had not been so near to a church
+except for a wedding in all his young life. Dandy place for a wedding
+that would be, canopy over the broad walk from the street, charming
+architecture, he liked the line of the arched belfry and the slender
+spire above. The rough stone fitted well into the scenery. The church
+seemed to be a thing of the ages placed there by Nature. His mind
+trained to detect a sense of beauty in garments, rugs, pictures, and
+women, appreciated the picture on which he was gazing. Where was this
+anyway? Surely not the place with the absurd name that he remembered now
+on the mountain Detour. Sabbath Valley! How ridiculous! It must be the
+home of some wealthy estate, and yet there seemed a rustic loveliness
+about it that scarcely established that theory.
+
+The bells had ceased. He heard the roll of a deep throated organ
+skillfully played.
+
+And now, his attention was suddenly attracted to the open window of the
+church where framed in English ivy a lovely girl sat at the organ. She
+was dressed in white with hair of gold, and a golden window somewhere
+back of her across the church, made a background of beaten gold against
+which her delicate profile was set like some young saint. Her white
+fingers moving among the keys, and gradually he came to realize that it
+was she who had been playing the bells.
+
+He stared and stared, filled with admiration, thrilled with this new
+experience in his blase existence. Who would have expected to find a
+beauty like that in a little out of the way place like this? His
+theory of a great estate and a rich man's daughter with a fad for music
+instantly came to the front. What a lucky happening that he should have
+broken down close to this church. He would find out who the girl was and
+work it to get invited up to her house. Perhaps he was a fortunate loser
+of his bet after all.
+
+As he watched the girl playing gradually the music entered his
+consciousness. He was fond of music, and had heard the best of the world
+of course. This was meltingly lovely. The girl had fine appreciation and
+much expression, even when the medium of her melody was clumsy things
+like bells. She had seemed to make them glad as they pealed out their
+melodies. He had not known bells could sound like happy children, or
+like birds.
+
+His meditations were interrupted by a tap on the door, followed by the
+entrance of his host bearing a tray:
+
+"Good-morning," he said pleasantly, "I see you're up. How is the sprain?
+Better? Would you like me to dress it again?"
+
+He came over to the desk and set down the tray on which was beautifully
+brown buttered toast, eggs and coffee:
+
+"I've brought you just a bite. It's so late you won't want much, for we
+have dinner immediately after church. I suppose you wouldn't feel like
+going over to the service?"
+
+"Service?" the young man drawled almost insolently.
+
+"Yes, service is at eleven. Would you care to go over? I could assist
+you."
+
+"Naw, I shouldn't care to go," he answered rudely, "I'm pulling out of
+here as soon as I can get that machine of mine running. By the way, I've
+been doing some telephoning"--he slung a ten dollar note on the desk. "I
+didn't ask how much it was, guess that'll cover it. Now, help me to the
+big chair and I'll sample your breakfast."
+
+The minister picked up the young man easily and placed him in the big
+chair before the guest realized what was doing, and then turned and took
+the ten dollar bill between his thumb and finger and flipped it down in
+the young man's lap.
+
+"Keep it," he said briefly, "It's of no consequence."
+
+"But it was long distance," explained the guest loftily, "It'll be quite
+a sum. I talked overtime."
+
+"No matter," said the minister pulling out a drawer of the desk and
+gathering a few papers and his Bible. "Now, would you like me to look at
+that ankle before I go, or will you wait for the doctor? He's likely to
+be back before long, and I've left a call for him."
+
+"I'll wait for the doctor," the young man's tone approached the insolent
+note again, "and by the way, I wish you'd send for a mechanician. I've
+got to get that car running."
+
+"I'm sorry," said Severn, "I'm afraid you'll have to wait. The only one
+in this region that would be at all likely to help you out with those
+bearings is Carter. He has a car, or had one, of that make. He might
+happen to have some bearings, but it is not at all likely. Or, he could
+tow you ten miles to Monopoly. But Carter is not at home yet."
+
+The young man fairly frothed at the mouth: "Do you mean to tell me that
+there is no one can mend a broken machine around this forsaken dump?
+Where's your nearest garage? Send for a man to come at once. I'm willing
+to pay anything," he flourished a handful of bills.
+
+The minister looked at his watch anxiously: "I'm sorry," he said again,
+"I've got to go to the service now. There is a garage at Monopoly and
+their number is 97-M. You can phone them if you are not satisfied. I
+tried them quite early this morning while you were still sleeping, but
+there was nothing doing. The truth is the people around this region are
+a little prejudiced against working seven days out of the week, although
+they will help a man out in a case like yours when they can, but it
+seems the repair man, the only one who knows about bearings, has gone
+fifty miles in another direction to a funeral and won't be back till
+to-morrow morning. Now, if you're quite comfortable I'll have to leave
+you for a little while. It is time for my service to begin."
+
+The young man looked at his host with astonishment. He was not used to
+being treated in this off-hand way. He could hardly believe his ears.
+Throw back his money and lay down the law that way!
+
+"Wait!" he thundered as the door was about to close upon the departing
+minister.
+
+Severn turned and regarded his guest quietly, questioningly:
+
+"Who's that girl over there in the window playing the organ?" He pulled
+the curtain aside and revealed a glimpse of the white and gold saint
+framed in the ivy. Severn gave a swift cold glance at the insolent youth
+and then answered with a slightly haughty note in his courteous voice,
+albeit a quiver of amusement on his lip:
+
+"That is my daughter."
+
+Laurence Shafton dropped the curtain and turned to stare at his host,
+but the minister had closed the door and was already on his way to
+church. Then the youth pulled back the curtain again and regarded the
+lady. The man's daughter! And playing like that!
+
+The rich notes of the organ were rolling out into the summer day, a
+wonderful theme from an old master, grandly played. Yes, she could play.
+She had been well taught. And the looks of her! She was wonderful at
+this distance. Were these then wealthy people perhaps summering in this
+quiet resort? He glanced about at the simple furnishings. That was a
+good rug at his feet, worn in places, but soft in tone and unmistakably
+of the Orient. The desk was of fumed oak, somewhat massive and dignified
+with a touch of hand carving. The chairs were of the same dark oak with
+leather cushions, and the couch so covered by his bed drapery that he
+could not see it, but he remembered its comfort. There was nothing showy
+or expensive looking but everything simple and good. One or two fine old
+pictures on the wall gave evidence of good taste. The only luxury seemed
+books, rows and rows of them behind glass doors in cases built into the
+wall. They lined each space between windows and doors, and in several
+spots reached to the ceiling. He decided that these people must have had
+money and lost it. These things were old and had perhaps been inherited.
+But the girl! She teased his curiosity. She seemed of a type entirely
+new, and most attractive. Well, here was good luck again! He would stay
+till church was out and see what she might be like at nearer view. It
+might amuse him to play the invalid for a day or two and investigate
+her. Meantime, he must call up that garage and see what could be done
+for the car. If he could get it patched up by noon he might take the
+girl out for a spin in the afternoon. One could judge a girl much better
+getting her off by herself that way. He didn't seem to relish the
+memory of that father's smile and haughty tone as he said "My daughter."
+Probably was all kinds of fussy about her. But if the girl had any pep
+at all she surely would enjoy getting away from oversight for a few
+hours. He hoped Opal would call before they got back from their service.
+It might be awkward talking with them all around.
+
+But the organ was suddenly drowned in a burst of song:
+
+  "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the
+   Holy Ghost, As it was in the beginning, is now and
+   ever shall be--world without end, Amen!"
+
+Somehow the words struck him with a strange awe, they were so distinct,
+and almost in the room with him. He looked about half feeling that the
+room was filled with people, and felt curiously alone. There was an
+atmosphere in the little house of everybody being gone to church. They
+had all gone and left him alone. It amused him. He wondered about this
+odd family who seemed to be under the domination of a church service.
+They had left him a stranger alone in their house. The doors and windows
+were all open. How did they know but he was a burglar?
+
+Some one was talking now. It sounded like the voice of his host. It
+might be a prayer. How peculiar! He must be a preacher. Yet he had been
+sent to him to fix his car. He did not look like a laboring man. He
+looked as if he might be,--well almost anything--even a gentleman. But
+if he was a clergyman, why, that of course explained the ascetic type,
+the nun-like profile of the girl, the skilled musician. Clergymen were
+apt to educate their children, even without much money. The girl would
+probably be a prude and bore, but there was a chance that she might be a
+princess in disguise and need a prince to show her a good time. He would
+take the chance at least until after dinner.
+
+So he ate his delicate toast, and drank his delicious coffee, and wished
+he had asked that queer man to have his flask filled at the drug store
+before he went to his old service, but consoled himself with numerous
+cigarettes, while he watched the face of the musician, and listened idly
+to the music.
+
+It was plain that the young organist was also the choir leader, for her
+expressive face was turned toward the singers, and her lovely head kept
+time. Now and then a motion of the hand seemed to give a direction or
+warning. And the choir too sang with great sweetness and expression.
+They were well trained. But what a bore such a life must be to a girl.
+Still, if she had never known anything else--! Well, he would like
+to see her at closer range. He lit another cigarette and studied her
+profile as she slipped out of the organ bench and settled herself nearer
+the window. He could hear the man's voice reading now. Some of the words
+drew his idle attention:
+
+  "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but
+   the Lord weigheth the spirits."
+
+Curious sentence that! It caught in his brain. It seemed rather true.
+From the Bible probably of course, though he was not very familiar with
+that volume, never having been obliged to go to Sunday School in his
+childhood days? But was it true? Were all a man's ways clean in his
+own eyes? Take, for instance, his own ways? He always did about as he
+pleased, and he had never asked himself whether his ways were clean or
+not. He hadn't particularly cared. He supposed some people would
+think they were not--but in his own eyes, well--was he clean? Take for
+instance this expedition of his? Running a race to get another man's
+wife,--an alleged friend's wife, too? It did seem rather despicable
+when one thought of it after the jag was off. But then one was not quite
+responsible for what one did with a jag on, and what the deuce did the
+Lord have to do with it anyway? How could the Lord weigh the spirit?
+That meant of course that he saw through all subterfuges. Well, what of
+it?
+
+Another sentence caught his ear:
+
+  "When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his
+   enemies to be at peace with him."
+
+How odd, the Lord,--if there was a Lord, he had never thought much about
+it--but how odd, if there was a Lord for Him to care about a man's ways.
+If he were Lord he wouldn't care, he'd only want them to keep out of his
+way. He would probably crush them like ants, if he were Lord. But the
+Lord--taking any notice of men's ways, and being pleased by them and
+looking out to protect him from enemies! It certainly was quaint--a
+quaint idea! He glanced again at the reverent face of the girl, the down
+drooped eyes, the lovely sensitive mouth. Quaint, that was the word for
+her, quaint and unusual. He certainly was going to enjoy meeting her.
+
+"Ting-aling-ling-ling!" burst out the telephone bell on the desk. He
+frowned and dropped the curtain. Was that Opal? He hobbled to the desk
+painfully, half annoyed that she had called him from the contemplation
+of this novel scene, not so sure that he would bother to call up that
+garage yet. Let it go till he had sampled the girl.
+
+He took down the receiver and Opal's voice greeted him, mockingly,
+tauntingly from his own world. The little ivy leaved church with its
+Saint Cecilia at the organ, and its strange weird message about a God
+that cared for man's ways, dropped away like a dream that was past.
+
+When he hung up the receiver and turned back to his couch again the girl
+had closed the window. It annoyed him. He did not know how his giddy
+badinage had clashed in upon the last words of the sermon.
+
+It seemed a long time after the closing hymn before the little throng
+melted away down the maple lined street. The young man watched them
+curiously from behind his curtain, finding only food for amusement in
+most of them. And then came the minister, lingering to talk to one
+here and there, and his wife--it was undoubtedly his wife, even the
+hare-brained Laurie knew her, in the gray organdie, with the white at
+her neck, and the soft white hat. She had a pleasant light in her eyes,
+and one saw at once that she was a lady. There was a grace about her
+that made the girl seem possible. And lastly, came the girl.
+
+She stepped from the church door in her white dress and simple white
+hat, white even to her little shoes, and correct in every way, he could
+see that. She was no country gawk! She came forth lightly into the
+sunshine which caught her hair in golden tendrils around her face as if
+it loved to hide therein, and she was immediately surrounded by half
+a dozen urchins. One had brought her some lilies, great white starry
+things with golden hearts, and she gathered them into her arms as if she
+loved them, and smiled at the boys. One could see how they adored her.
+She lingered talking to them, and laid her hand on one boy's shoulder,
+he walking like a knight beside her trying to act as if he did not know
+her hand was there. His head was drooped, but he lifted it with a grin
+at last and gave her a nod which seemed to make her glad, for her face
+broke forth in another smile:
+
+"Well, don't forget, to-night," she called as they turned to go, "and
+remember to tell Billy!"
+
+Then she came trippingly across the grass, a song on her lips. Some
+girl! Say! She certainly was a stunner!
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+
+Opal Verrons was small and slight with large childlike eyes that could
+look like a baby's, but that could hold the very devil on occasions. The
+eyes were dark and lustrous with long curling black lashes framing
+them in a face that might have been modeled for an angel, so round the
+curves, so enchanting the lips, so lofty the white brow. Angelé Potocka
+had no lovelier set to her head, no more limpal fire in her eye, than
+had Opal Verrons. Indeed her lovers often called her the Fire Opal. The
+only difference was that Angelé Potocka developed her brains, of which
+she had plenty, while Opal Verrons had placed her entire care upon
+developing her lovely little body, though she too had plenty of brains
+on occasion.
+
+And she knew how to dress! So simply, so slightly sometimes, so
+perfectly to give a setting--the right setting--to her little self.
+She wore her heavy dark hair bobbed, and it curled about her small head
+exquisitely, giving her the look of a Raphael Cherub or a boy page in
+the court of King Arthur. With a flat band of silver olive leaves about
+her brow, and the soft hair waving out below, nothing more was necessary
+for a costume save a brief drapery of silver spangled cloth with a
+strap of jewels and a wisp of black malines for a scarf. She was always
+startling and lovely even in her simplest costume. Many people turned to
+watch her in a simple dark blue serge made like a child's girded with a
+delicate arrangement of medallions and chains of white metal, her dark
+rough woollen stockings rolled girlishly below white dimpled knees, and
+her feet shod in flat soled white buckskin shoes. She was young enough
+to "get away with it," the older women said cattishly as they watched
+her stroll away to the beach with a new man each day, and noted her
+artless grace and indifferent pose. That she had a burly millionaire
+husband who still was under her spell and watched her jealously only
+made her more interesting, and they pitied her for being tied to a man
+twice her age and bulky as a bale of cotton. She who could dance like
+a sylph and was light on her little feet as a thistle down. Though wise
+ones sometimes said that Opal had her young eyes wide open when she
+married Ed Verrons, and she had him right under her little pink well
+manicured thumb. And some said she was not nearly so young as she
+looked.
+
+Her hands were the weakest point in Opal Verron's whole outfit. Not that
+they were unlovely in form or ungraceful. They were so small they hardly
+seemed like hands, so undeveloped, so useless, with the dimpling of a
+baby's, yet the sharp nails of a little beast. They were so plump and
+well cared for they were fairly sleek, and had an old wise air about
+them as she patted her puffy curls daintily with a motion all her
+own that showed her lovely rounded arm, and every needle-pointed
+shell-tinted finger nail, sleek and puffy, and never used, not even
+for a bit of embroidery or knitting. She couldn't, you know, with those
+sharp transparent little nails, they might break. They were like her
+little sharp teeth that always reminded one of a mouse's teeth, and made
+one shudder at how sharp they would be should she ever decide to bite.
+
+But her smile was like the mixing of all smiles, a baby's, a
+woman-of-the-world, a grieved child's, and a spirit who had put aside
+all moral purpose. Perhaps, like mixed drinks it was for that reason but
+the more intoxicating. And because she did not hide her charms and was
+lavish with her smiles, there were more poor victims about her little
+feet than about any other woman at the shore that summer. Men talked
+about her in the smoking rooms and billiard rooms and compared her to
+vamps of other seasons, and decided she had left them all in the shade.
+She was a perfect production of the modern age, more perfect than others
+because she knew how to do the boldest things with that cherubic air
+that bereft sin of its natural ugliness and made it beautiful and
+delicious, as if degradation had suddenly become an exalted thing, like
+some of the old rites in a Pagan Temple, and she a lovely priestess. And
+when each new folly was over there was she with her innocent baby air,
+and her pure childlike face that looked dreamily out from its frame of
+little girl hair, and seemed not to have been soiled at all. And so men
+who played her games lost their sense of sin and fell that much lower
+than those who sin and know it and are afraid to look themselves in the
+face. When a man loses his sense of shame, of being among the pigs, he
+is in a far country indeed.
+
+But Opal Verrons sauntering forth to the Hotel piazza in company
+with three of her quondam admirers suddenly lost her luxurious air of
+nestling content. The hotel clerk handed her two telegrams as she passed
+the desk. She tore them open carelessly, but her eyes grew wide with
+horror as she read.
+
+Percy Emerson had been arrested. He had run over a woman and a baby
+and both were in a hospital in a critical condition. He would be held
+without bail until it was seen whether they lived.
+
+She drew in her breath with a frightened gasp and bit at her red lip
+with her little sharp teeth. A pretty child with floating curls and
+dainty apparel ran laughing across her way, its hand outstretched to a
+tiny white dog that was dancing after her, and Opal gave a sharp cry
+and tore the telegram into small bits. But when she opened the second
+message her face paled under its delicate rouge as she read: "Mortimer
+McMarter killed in an accident when his car collided with a truck. His
+body lies at Saybrook Inn. We find your address on his person, with a
+request to let you know if anything happens to him. What do you wish
+done with the body?"
+
+Those who watched her face as she read say that it took on an ashen
+color and she looked years older. Her real spirit seemed to be looking
+forth from those wide limpid eyes for an instant, the spirit of a coward
+who had been fooling the world; the spirit of a lost soul who had grown
+old in sin; the spirit of a soul who had stepped over the bounds and
+sinned beyond her depth.
+
+She looked about upon them all, stricken, appalled,--not sorry but just
+afraid,--and not for her friends, but for herself! And then she gave a
+horrid little lost laugh and dropping the telegram as if it had burned
+her, she flung out her voice upon them with a blaze in her big eyes and
+a snarl in her lute-voice:
+
+"Well, I wasn't to blame was I? They all were grown men, weren't they?
+It was up to them. _I'm_ going to get out of here! This is an _awful_
+place!"
+
+She gave a shudder and turning swiftly fled to the elevator, catching
+it just as the door was being shut, and they saw her rising behind the
+black and gold grating and waving a mocking little white hand at them
+as they watched her amazed. Then one of them stooped and picked up the
+telegram. And while they still stood at the doorway wondering some one
+pointed to a brilliant blue car that was sliding down the avenue across
+the beach road.
+
+"She has gone!" they said looking at one another strangely. Did she
+really care then?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The dinner at Sabbath Valley parsonage was a good one. It was quite
+different from any dinner Laurie Shafton had ever eaten before. It had a
+taste that he hadn't imagined just plain chicken and mashed potatoes and
+bread and butter and coffee and cherry pie could have.
+
+Those were things he seldom picked out from a menu, and he met them as
+something new and delicious, prepared in this wonderful country way.
+
+Also the atmosphere was queer and interesting.
+
+The minister had helped him into the dining-room, a cheery room with a
+bay window looking toward the church and a window box of nasturtiums in
+which the bees hummed and buzzed.
+
+The girl came in and acknowledged the casual introduction of her father
+with a quite sophisticated nod and sat down across from him. And there
+was a _prayer_ at the beginning of the meal! Just as he was about to
+say something graceful to the girl, there was a _prayer_. It was almost
+embarrassing. He had never seen one before like this. At a boarding
+school once he had experienced a thing they called "grace" which
+consisted in standing behind their chairs while the entire assembled
+hungry multitude repeated a poem of a religious nature. He remembered
+they used to spend their time making up parodies on it--one ran
+something about "this same old fish upon my plate," and rhymed with
+"hate." He stared at the lovely bowed hair of the girl across the table
+while it was going on, and got ready a remark calculated to draw her
+smiles, but the girl lifted eyes that seemed so far away he felt as
+though she did not see him, and he contented himself with replying to
+his host's question something about the part of the chicken he liked
+best. It was a queer home to him, it seemed so intimate. Even the
+chicken seemed to be a detail of their life together, perhaps because
+there was only one chicken, and one breast. Where he dwelt there were
+countless breasts, and everybody had a whole breast if he wanted it, or
+a whole chicken for the matter of that. Here they had to stop and ask
+what others liked before they chose for themselves. This analysis went
+queerly on in his mind while he sat waiting for his plate and wondering
+over the little things they were talking about. Mrs. Severn said Miss
+Saxon had been crying all through church, and she told her Billy had
+been away all night. She was awfully worried about his going with that
+baseball team.
+
+A fleeting shadow passed over the girl's face:
+
+"Billy promised me he would be there to-day," she said thoughtfully,
+"something must have happened. I don't think Billy was with the baseball
+team--" then her eyes travelled away out the window to the distant
+hills, she didn't seem to see Laurence Shafton at all. It was a new
+experience for him. He was fairly good looking and knew it.
+
+Who the deuce was this Billy? And what did she care about Miss Saxon
+crying? Did she care so much for Billy already? Would it be worth his
+while to make her uncare?
+
+"Mrs. Carter wasn't out," said Mrs. Severn as she poured coffee, "I hope
+she's not having more trouble with her neuralgia."
+
+The minister suddenly looked up from his carving:
+
+"Did Mark come back yesterday, Marilyn?"
+
+The girl drew a quick breath and brought back her eyes from the hills,
+but she did not look at the young man: "No, father he didn't come."
+
+Who the deuce was _Mark_? Of course there would be several, but there
+was always _one_. Billy and Mark! It was growing interesting.
+
+But Billy and Mark were not mentioned again, though a deep gravity
+seemed to have settled into the eyes of the family since their names had
+come up. Laurie decided to speak of the weather and the roads:
+
+"Glorious weather we're having," he chirped out condescendingly, "But
+you certainly have the limit for roads. What's the matter with the
+highway? Had a Detour right in the best part of the road. Bridge down,
+it said, road flooded! Made the deuce of a time for me--!"
+
+"Bridge?" remarked Marilyn looking up thoughtfully.
+
+"Flood?" echoed the minister sharply.
+
+"Yes. About two miles back where the highway crosses this valley. Put
+me in some fix. Had a bet on you know. Date with a lady. Staked a lot
+of money on winning, too. Hard luck," Then he looked across at Marilyn's
+attentive face. Ah! He was getting her at last! More on that line.
+
+"But it'll not be all loss," he added gallantly with a gesture of
+admiration toward her, "You see I didn't have any idea I was going to
+meet _you_."
+
+But Marilyn's eyes were regarding him soberly, steadily, analytically,
+without an answering smile. It was as if she did not like what he had
+said--if indeed she had heard it at all--as if she were offended at it.
+Then the eyes look on an impersonal look and wandered thoughtfully to
+the mountains in the distance. Laurie felt his cheeks burn. He felt
+almost embarrassed again, like during the prayer. Didn't the girl know
+he was paying her a compliment? Or was she such a prude that she thought
+him presuming on so slight an acquaintance? Her father was speaking:
+
+"I don't quite understand," 'he said thoughtfully. "There is no bridge
+within ten miles, and nothing to flood the road but the Creek, which
+never was known to overflow its banks more than a few feet at most.
+The highway is far above the valley. You must have been a bit turned
+around."
+
+The young man laughed lightly:
+
+"Well, perhaps I had a jag on. I'm not surprised. I'd been driving for
+hours and had to drink to keep my nerve till morning. There were some
+dandy spilling places around those mountain curves. One doesn't care to
+look out and see when one is driving at top speed."
+
+Heavens! What had he said now? The girl's eyes came round to look him
+over again and went through to his soul like a lightning flash and away
+again, and there was actually scorn on her lips. He must take another
+line. He couldn't understand this haughty country beauty in the least.
+
+"I certainly did enjoy your music," he flashed forth with a little
+of his own natural gaiety in his voice that made him so universal a
+favorite.
+
+The girl turned gravely toward him and surveyed him once more as if she
+were surprised and perhaps had not done him justice. She looked like one
+who would always be willing to do one justice. He felt encouraged:
+
+"If it hadn't been for this blamed foot of mine I'd have hobbled over to
+the--service. I was sorry not to hear the music closer."
+
+"There is another service this evening," she said pleasantly, "Perhaps
+father can help you over. It is a rather good organ for so small a one."
+She was trying to be polite to him. It put him on his metal. It made him
+remember how rude he had been to her father the night before.
+
+"Delightful organ I'm sure," he returned, "but it was the organist that
+I noticed. One doesn't often hear such playing even on a good organ."
+
+"Oh, I've been well taught," said the girl without self-consciousness.
+"But the children are to sing this evening. You'll like to hear the
+children I'm sure. They are doing fairly well now."
+
+"Charmed, I'm sure," he said with added flattery of his eyes which she
+did not take at all because she was passing her mother's plate for more
+gravy. How odd not to have a servant pass it!
+
+"You come from New York?" the host hazarded.
+
+"Yes," drawled the youth, "Shafton's my name, Laurence Shafton, son of
+William J., of Shafton and Gates you know," he added impressively.
+
+The host was polite but unimpressed. It was almost as though he had
+never heard of William J. Shafton the multi-millionaire. Or was it?
+Dash the man, he had such a way with him of acting as though he knew
+everything and _nothing_ impressed him; as though he was just as good
+as the next one! As though his father was something even greater than a
+millionaire! He didn't seem to be in the least like Laurie's idea of a
+clergyman. He couldn't seem to get anywhere with him.
+
+The talk drifted on at the table, ebbing and flowing about the two
+ladies as the tide touches a rising strand and runs away. The girl and
+her mother answered his questions with direct steady gaze, and polite
+phrases, but they did not gush nor have the attitude of taking him
+eagerly into their circle as he was accustomed to being taken in
+wherever he went. Nothing he said seemed to reach further than kindly
+hospitality. When that was fulfilled they were done and went back to
+their own interests.
+
+Marilyn did not seem to consider the young man a guest of hers in any
+sense personally. After the dinner she moved quietly out to the porch
+and seated herself in a far chair with a leather bound book, perhaps
+a Bible, or prayer book. He wasn't very familiar with such things. She
+took a little gold pencil from a chain about her neck and made notes
+on a bit of paper from what she read, and she joined not at all in the
+conversation unless she was spoken to, and then her thoughts seemed to
+be elsewhere. It was maddening.
+
+Once when a tough looking little urchin went by with a grin she flew
+down off the porch to the gate to talk with him; she stood there some
+time in earnest converse. What could a girl like that find to say to a
+mere kid? When she came back there was a look of trouble in her eyes,
+and by and by her father asked if Harry had seen _Billy,_ and she shook
+her head with a cloud on her brow. It must be _Billy_ then. Billy was
+the one! Well, dash him! If he couldn't go one better than Billy he
+would see! Anyhow Billy didn't have a sprained ankle, and a place in
+the family! A girl like that was worth a few days' invalidism. His ankle
+didn't hurt much since the minister had dressed it again. He believed he
+could get up and walk if he liked, but he did not mean to. He meant to
+stay here a few days and conquer this young beauty. It was likely only
+her way of vamping a man, anyway, and a mighty tantalizing one at that.
+Well, he would show her! And he would show Billy, too, whoever Billy
+was! A girl like that! Why,--A girl like that with a face like that
+would grace any gathering, any home! He had the fineness of taste to
+realize that after he got done playing around with Opal and women like
+her, this would be a lady any one would be proud to settle down to. And
+why not? If he chose to fall in love with a country nobody, why could'nt
+he? What was the use of being Laurie Shafton, son of the great William
+J. Shafton, if he couldn't marry whom he would? Shafton would be enough
+to bring any girl up to par in any society in the universe. So Laurie
+Shafton set himself busily to be agreeable.
+
+And presently his opportunity arrived. Mrs. Severn had gone in the house
+to take a nap, and the minister had been called away to see a sick man.
+The girl continued to study her little book:
+
+"I wish you would come and amuse me," he said in the voice of an
+interesting invalid.
+
+The girl looked up and smiled absently:
+
+"I'm sorry," she said, "but I have to go to my Sunday-school class in a
+few minutes, and I was just getting my lesson ready. Would you like me
+to get you something to read?"
+
+"No," he answered crossly. He was not used to being crossed in any
+desire by a lady, "I want you to talk to me. Bother the Sunday-school!
+Give them a vacation to-day and let them go fishing. They'll be
+delighted, I'm sure. You have a wonderful foot. Do you know it? You must
+be a good dancer. Haven't you a victrola here? We might dance if only my
+foot weren't out of commission."
+
+"I don't dance, Mr. Shafton, and it is the Sabbath," she smiled
+indulgently with her eyes on her book.
+
+"Why don't you dance? I could teach you easily. And what has the Sabbath
+got to do with it?"
+
+"But I don't care to dance. It doesn't appeal to me in the least. And
+the Sabbath has everything to do with it. If I did dance I would not do
+it to-day."
+
+"But why?" he asked in genuine wonder.
+
+"Because this is the day set apart for enjoying God and not enjoying
+ourselves."
+
+He stared.
+
+"You certainly are the most extraordinary young woman I ever met," he
+said admiringly, "Did no one ever tell you that you are very beautiful."
+
+She gave him the benefit of her beautiful eyes then in a cold amused
+glance:
+
+"Among my friends, Mr. Shafton, it is not considered good form to say
+such things to a lady of slight acquaintance." She rose and gathered
+up her book and hat that lay on the floor beside her chair, and drew
+herself up till she seemed almost regal.
+
+Laurie Shafton stumbled to his feet. He was ashamed. He felt almost as
+he had felt once when he was caught with a jag on being rude to a friend
+of his mother's:
+
+"I beg your pardon," he said gracefully, "I hope you will believe me, I
+meant no harm."
+
+"It is no matter," said the girl graciously, "only I do not like it. Now
+you must excuse me. I see my class are gathering."
+
+She put the hat on carelessly, with a push and a pat and slipped past
+him down the steps and across the lawn. Her dress brushed against his
+foot as she went and it seemed like the touch of something ethereal. He
+never had felt such an experience before.
+
+She walked swiftly to a group of boys, ugly, uncomely, overgrown kids,
+the same who had followed her after church, and met them with eagerness.
+He felt a jealous chagrin as he watched them follow her into the church,
+an anger that she dared to trample upon him that way, a fierce desire to
+get away and quaff the cup of admiration at the hand of some of his own
+friends, or to quaff some cup, _any_ cup, for he was thirsty, thirsty,
+_thirsty_, and this was a dry and barren land. If he did stay and try to
+win this haughty country beauty he would have to find a secret source of
+supply somewhere or he never would be able to live through it.
+
+The Sunday-school hour wore away while he was planning how to revenge
+himself, but she did not return. She lingered for a long time on the
+church steps talking with those everlasting kids again, and after they
+were gone she went back into the church and began to play low, sweet
+music.
+
+It was growing late. Long red beams slanted down the village street
+across the lawn, lingered and went out. A single ruby burned on one of
+the memorial windows like a lamp, and went purple and then gray. It was
+growing dusk, and that girl played on! Dash it all! Why didn't she quit?
+It was wonderful music, but he wanted to talk to her. If he hobbled
+slowly could he get across that lawn? He decided to try. And then, just
+as he rose and steadied himself by the porch pillar, down the street in
+a whirl of dust and noisy claxon there came a great blue car and drew
+up sharp in front of the door, while a lute-like voice shouted gaily:
+"Laurie, Laurie Shafton, is that you?"
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+
+After Billy had listened a long time he took a single step to relieve
+his cramped toes, which were numb with the tensity of his strained
+position. Stealthily as he could he moved his shoe, but it seemed to
+grind loudly upon the cement floor of the cellar, and he stopped frozen
+in tensity again to listen. After a second he heard a low growl as if
+someone outside the house were speaking. Then all was still. After a
+time he heard the steps again, cautiously, walking over his head, and
+his spine seemed to rise right up and lift him, as he stood trembling.
+He wasn't a bit superstitious, Billy wasn't. He knew there was no
+such thing as a ghost, and he wasn't going to be fooled by any noises
+whatsoever, but anybody would admit it was an unpleasant position to be
+in, pinned in a dark unfamiliar cellar without a flash light, and steps
+coming overhead, where only a dead man or a doped man was supposed to
+be. He cast one swift glance back at the cobwebby window through which
+he had so recently arrived, and longed to be back again, out in the open
+with the bells, the good bells sounding a call in his ears. If he were
+out wouldn't he run? Wouldn't he even leave his old bicycle to any fate
+and _run_? But no! He couldn't! He would have to come back inevitably.
+Whoever was upstairs in that house alone and in peril he must save.
+Suppose--!--His heart gave a great dry sob within him and he turned
+away from the dusty exit that looked so little now and so inadequate for
+sudden flight.
+
+The steps went on overhead shuffling a little louder, as they seemed
+further off. They were climbing the stair he believed. They wore rubber
+heels! _Link_ had worn rubber heels! And Shorty's shoes were covered
+with old overshoes! Had they come back, perhaps to hide from their
+pursuers? His heart sank. If that were so he must get out somehow and go
+after the police, but that should be his last resort. He didn't want
+to get any one else in this scrape until he knew exactly what sort of a
+scrape it was. It wasn't square to anybody--not square to the doped
+man, not square to himself, not even square to Pat and the other two,
+and--yes, he must own it,--not square to _Cart_. That was his first
+consideration, Cart! He must find Cart. But first he must find out
+somehow who that man was that had been kidnapped.
+
+It seemed an age that he waited there in the cellar and everything so
+still. Once he heard a door far up open, and little shuffling noises,
+and by and by he could not stand it any longer. Getting down softly on
+all fours, he crept slowly, noiselessly over to the cellar stairs, and
+began climbing, stopping at every step to listen. His efforts were much
+hampered by the milk bottle which kept dragging down to one side
+and threatening to hit against the steps. But he felt that milk was
+essential to his mission. He dared not go without it. The tools were
+in his other pocket. They too kept catching in his sleeve as he moved
+cautiously. At last he drew himself to the top step. There was a crack
+of light under the door. Suppose it should be locked? He could saw out
+a panel, but that would make a noise, and he still had the feeling that
+someone was in that house. A cellar was not a nice place in which to
+be trapped. One bottle of milk wouldn't keep him alive very long. The
+haunted house was a great way from anywhere. Even the bells couldn't
+call him from there, once anybody chose to fasten him in the cellar, and
+find the loose window and fasten it up--!
+
+Such thoughts poured a torrent of hot fire through his brain while his
+cold fingers gripped the door knob, and slowly, fiercely, compellingly,
+made it turn in its socket till its rusty old spring whined in
+complaint, and then he held his breath to listen again. It seemed an
+age before he dared put any weight upon that unlatched door to see if it
+would move, and then he did it so cautiously that he was not sure it was
+opening till a ray of light from a high little window shot into his eyes
+and blinded him. He held the knob like a vise, and it was another age
+before he dared slowly release the spring and relax his hand. Then he
+looked around. He found himself in a kind of narrow butler's pantry with
+a swinging door opposite him into the room at the back, and a narrow
+passage leading around the corner next the door. He peeked cautiously,
+blinkingly round the door jamb and saw the lower step of what must be
+back stairs. There were no back stairs in Aunt Saxon's house, but before
+his mother died Billy Gaston had lived in the city where they always had
+back stairs. That door before him likely led to the dining-room. He took
+a careful step, pushed the swing door half an inch and satisfied himself
+that was the kitchen at the back. No one there. Another step or two
+gave him the same assurance about the dining-room and no one there. He
+surveyed the distance to the foot of the back stairs. It seemed long.
+What he was afraid of was that light space at the foot of those stairs.
+He was almost sure there was a hall straight through to the front door,
+and he had a hunch that that front door was open. If he passed the steps
+and anyone was there they would see him, and yet he wanted to get up
+those stairs now, right away, before anything more happened. It was too
+still up there to suit him. With trembling fingers he untied his shoe
+strings, and slipped off his shoes, knotting the strings together and
+slinging the shoes around his neck. He was taking no chances. He gripped
+the revolver with one hand and stole out cautiously. When he reached
+the end of the dining-room wall he applied an eye toward the opening of
+light, and behold it was as he had suspected, a hall leading straight
+through to the front door, and Shorty, with his full length profile cut
+clear against the morning, standing on the upper step keeping lookout!
+He dodged back and caught his breath, then made a noiseless dart toward
+those stairs. If Shorty heard, or if he turned and saw anything he must
+have thought it was the reported ghost walking, so silently and like a
+breath passed Billy up the stair. But when he was come to the top, he
+held his breath again, for now he could distinctly hear steps walking
+about in the room close at hand, and peering up he saw the door was
+open part way. He paused again to reconnoitre and his heart set up an
+intolerable pounding in his breast.
+
+He could dimly make out the back of a chair, and further against a patch
+of light where the back window must be he could see the foot board of
+a bed, the head of which must be against the opposite wall The door was
+open about a third of the way. There was a key in the lock. Did that
+mean that they locked the man in? It would be a great thing to get hold
+of that key!
+
+A moan in the direction of the bed startled him, and prodded his weary
+mind. He gave a quick silent spring across in front of the door and
+flattened himself against the wall. He knew he had made a slight noise
+in his going, and he felt the stillness in the room behind the half open
+door. Link had heard him. It was a long time before he dared stir again.
+
+Link seemed to lay down something on the floor that sounded like a dish
+and start toward the door. Billy felt the blood fly to the top of his
+head. If Link came out he was caught. Where could he fly? Not down
+stairs. Shorty was there, with a gun of course. Would it do to snap that
+door shut and lock Link in with the prisoner? No telling what he might
+do, and Shorty would come if there was an outcry. He waited in an agony
+of suspense, but Link did not come out yet. Instead he tiptoed back to
+the bed again, and seemed to be arranging some things out of a basket on
+a little stand by the bed. Billy applied an eye to the crack of the door
+and got a brief glimpse. Then cautiously he put out his stubby fingers
+and grasped that key, firmly, gently; turning, slipping, little by
+little, till he had it safe in his possession. Several times he thought
+Link turned and looked toward the door. Once he almost dropped the key
+as he was about to set it free from the lock, but his anxious fingers
+were true to their trust, and the key was at last drawn back and safely
+slid into Billy's pocket. Then he looked around for a place to hide.
+There were rooms on the front, and a door was open. He could slide in
+there and hide. It was dark, and there might be a closet. He cast one
+eye through the door crack and beheld in the dim light Link bending over
+the inert figure on the bed with a cup and spoon in his hand. Perhaps
+they were giving him more dope! If he only could stop it somehow! The
+man was doped enough, sleeping all that time! But now was the time for
+him and the key to make an exit.
+
+Slowly, cautiously he backed away from the door, down the hall and into
+the next open door, groping his silent way toward a little half moon
+in the shutter. He made a quick calculation, glanced about, did some
+sleight of hand with the door till it swung noiselessly shut, and then
+slipping back to the window he examined the catches. There was a pane of
+glass gone, but it was not in the right place. If he only could manage
+to slide the sash down. He turned the catch and applied a pressure to
+the upper sash, but like most upper sashes it would not budge. If he
+strained harder he might be able to move it but that would make a noise
+and spoil his purpose. He looked wildly round the room, with a feeling
+that something must help him, and suddenly he discovered that the upper
+sash of the other window was pulled all the way down, and a sweet breath
+of wild grape blossoms was being wafted to his heated forehead. With a
+quick move he placed himself under this window, which he realized must
+be almost over Shorty's head. It was but the work of an instant to grasp
+Pat's gun and stick its nose well through the little half moon of an
+opening in the shutter, pointed straight over Shorty's head into the
+woods, and pull the trigger.
+
+The report went rolling, reverberating down the valley from hill to hill
+like a whole barrage it seemed to Billy; and perhaps to Shorty waiting
+for his pard below, but at any rate before the echoes had ceased to roll
+Shorty was no longer on the door step. He had vanished and was far away,
+breaking through the underbrush, stumbling, and cutting himself, getting
+up to stumble again, he hurled himself away from that haunted spot.
+Ghosts were nothing to Shorty. He could match himself against a spirit
+any day, but ghosts that could shoot were another matter, and he made
+good his going without hesitation or needless waiting for his partner in
+crime. He was never quite sure where that shot came from, whether from
+high heaven or down beneath the earth.
+
+As for Link, if he was giving more dope, he did not finish. He dropped
+a cup in his hurry and darted like a winged thing to the head of the
+stairs, where he took the flight at a slide and disappeared into the
+woods without waiting for locks or keys or any such things.
+
+"He seems a little nervous," grinned Billy, who had climbed to the
+window seat with one eye applied to the half moon, watching his victims
+take their hurried leave. And lest they should dare to watch and return
+before he was ready for them he sent another shot into the blue sky,
+ricochetting along the hills; and still another, grimly, after an
+interval.
+
+Then swiftly turning he stole down the front stairs and took the key
+from the lock, shut the door, pushing a big bolt on the inside. With
+a hasty examination of the lower floor that satisfied him that he was
+safely ensconced in his stronghold and would not be open to immediate
+interruption he hurried upstairs again.
+
+His first act was to open a window and throw back the shutters. The
+morning sunlight leaped in like a friend, and a bird in a tree carolled
+out gladly. Something in Billy's heart burst into a tear. A tear! Bah!
+He brushed it away with his grimy hand and went over to the bed, rolling
+the inert figure toward him till the face was in plain view. A sudden
+fit of trembling took possession of him and he dropped nervelessly
+beside the bed with his hands outstretched and uttered a sob ending in a
+single syllable,
+
+_"Cart!"_
+
+For there on the bed still as the dead lay Mark Carter, his beloved
+idol, and _he had helped to put him there!_
+
+Thirty pieces of silver! And his dearest friend dead, perhaps! A Judas!
+All his life he would be a Judas. He knew now why Judas hanged himself.
+If Cart was dead he would have to hang himself! Here in this house of
+death he must hang himself, like Judas, poor fool. And he would fling
+that blood money back. Only, _Cart must not be dead!_ It would be hell
+forever for Billy if Cart was dead. He _could not stand it!_
+
+Billy sprang to his feet with tears raining down his cheeks, but his
+tired dirty face looked beautiful in its anxiety. He tore open Mark
+Carter's coat and vest, wrenched away collar, necktie and shirt, and
+laid his face against the breast. It was warm! He struggled closer and
+put his ear to the heart. It was beating!
+
+He shook him gently and called,
+
+"Cart! Cart! Oh, _Boy!"_ with sobs choking in his throat. And all
+the while the little bird was singing in a tree enough to split his
+feathered throat, and the sweet air full of wild grape was rushing into
+the long closed room and driving out the musty air.
+
+Billy laid Mark down gently on the dusty pillow and opened another
+window. He stumbled over the cup and spoon, and a bottle fell from the
+table and broke sending out a pungent odor. But Billy crept close to his
+friend once more and began rubbing his hands and forehead and crooning
+to him as he had once done to his dog when he suffered from a broken
+leg. Nobody would have known Billy just then, as he stood crooning over
+Mark.
+
+Water! He looked around. A broken pitcher stood on the table half
+filled. He tasted it dubiously. It was water, luke warm, but water! He
+soused a towel he found on the washstand into it and slopped it over
+Mark's face. He went through all the manoeuvres they use on the football
+field when a man is knocked out, and then he bethought him of the milk.
+Milk was an antidote for poisons. If he could get some down him!
+
+Carefully he rinsed out a glass he found on the bureau and poured some
+milk in it, crept on the bed and lifted Mark's head in his arms, put the
+glass to his lips, and begged and pled, and finally succeeded in prying
+the lips and getting a few drops down. Such joy as thrilled him when
+Mark finally swallowed. But it was a long time, and Billy began to think
+he must go for the doctor, leave his friend here at the mercy of who
+would come and go after all. He had hoped he might keep his shame, and
+Mark's capture from everybody, but what was that verse the teacher had
+taught them once awhile ago? "Be sure your sin will find you out." That
+was true. He couldn't let Mark die. He must go for the doctor. Doc would
+come, and he would keep his mouth shut, but Doc would _know_, and Billy
+liked Doc. Well, he would have to get him! Mark would hate it so, too,
+but Billy would have to!
+
+It was just then that Mark drew a long deep breath of the sweet air,
+sighed and drew another. Billy pressed the glass to his lips and Mark
+opened his eyes, saw the boy, smiled, and said in a weak voice:
+
+"Hullo, Billy, old boy, got knocked out, didn't I?" Then he closed his
+eyes and seemed to go away again. But Billy, with wildly beating heart
+poured some more milk and came closer:
+
+"Drink this, Cart. It's good. Drink it. We gotta get them dirty bums,
+Cart! Hurry up an' drink it!"
+
+Billy understood his friend. Mark opened his eyes and roused a little.
+Presently he drank some more, nearly a whole glass full and Billy took
+heart of hope.
+
+"Do ya think ya could get up now, Cart, ef I he'ped ya?" he asked
+anxiously, "We gotta get after those guys ur they'll make a getaway."
+
+"Sure!" said Mark rousing again. "Go to it, Kid. I'm with you," and he
+tried to sit up. But his head reeled and he fell back. Billy's heart
+sank. He must get him out of this house before the two keepers returned,
+perhaps with Pat or some other partner in their crime. Patiently he
+began again, and gradually by degrees he propped Mark up, fed him more
+milk, and urged him to rise; fairly lifted him with his loving strength,
+across the room, and finally, inch by inch down the stairs and out the
+back door.
+
+Billy felt a great thrill when he heard that door shut behind him and
+knew his friend was out in the open again under God's sky. Nothing ever
+quite discouraged Billy when he was out of doors. But it was a work of
+time to get Mark across the clearing and down in the undergrowth out
+of sight of the house, where the old bicycle lay. Once there Billy felt
+like holding a Thanksgiving service. But Mark was very white and lay
+back on the grass looking wholly unlike himself.
+
+"Say, Cart," said Billy after a brief silence of thought, "I gotta get
+you on my machine. We gotta get down to Unity an' phone."
+
+"All right, old man, just as you say," murmured Mark too dizzy to care.
+
+So Billy with infinite tenderness, and much straining of his young
+muscles got Mark up and managed to put him astride the wheel; but it
+was tough going and slow, over rough places, among undergrowth, and
+sometimes Billy had to stop for breath as he walked and pushed and held
+his friend.
+
+But Mark was coming to his own again, and by the time they reached a
+road he was able to keep his balance, and know what he was doing. It was
+high noon before they reached Unity and betook themselves to the drug
+store. While Mark asked for medicine Billy hied him to a telephone
+booth. His heart was beating wildly. He feared him much that Mark's car
+was gone.
+
+But the chief's voice answered him after a little waiting, and he
+explained:
+
+"Say, I'm the kid that phoned you early this morning. Didya get that
+car aw'right?" Billy held his breath, his jaded eyes dropped shut with
+anxiety and weariness. But the chief's voice answered promptly, "yes,
+we got yer car all right, but didn't get the men. They beat it when they
+heard us coming. What sort of men were they, do you know?"
+
+"Aw, that's aw'right, Chief, I'll tell ya when I gi'down there. Can't
+tell ya over the phone. Say, I'm Billy, Billy Gaston. You know me. Over
+to Sab'th Valley. Yes. You seen me play on the team. Sure. Well, say
+Chief, I'm here in Unity with the guy that owns the car. Mark Carter.
+You know him. Sure! Mark! Well, he's all in, an' he wants his car to get
+home. He's been up all night and he ain't fit to walk. He wants me to
+come over and bring his car back to Unity fer him. I got my bike here,
+See? Now, I ain't got a license of course, but I c'd bring his along.
+That be aw'right Chief, just over to Unity? Aw'right, Chief? Thank ya,
+Chief. Yas, I'm comin' right away. S'long!"
+
+Billy saw Mark comfortably resting on a couch in the back room of the
+drug store, where an old pal of his was clerk, and then stopping only
+for an invigorating gulp or two of a chocolate ice cream soda, he
+climbed on his old wheel and pedalled on his happy way to Economy. The
+winds touched him pleasantly as he passed, the sunshine had a queer
+reddish look to his feverish eyes, and the birds seemed to be singing in
+the top of his head, but he was happy. He might go to sleep on the
+way and roll off his wheel, but he should worry! Mark was safe. He had
+almost sold him for thirty pieces of silver, but God had somehow been
+good to him and Mark was alive. Now he would serve him all the rest of
+his life,--Mark or God,--it seemed all one to him now somehow, so long
+had he idealized his friend, so mixed were his ideas of theology.
+
+But Billy did not go to sleep nor fall off his wheel, and in due time
+he arrived in Economy and satisfied the Chief's curiosity with vague
+answers, a vivid description of Link and Shorty, and the suggestion
+that they might be found somewhere near the Haunted House on Stark's
+mountain. He had heard them talking about going there, he said. He got
+away without a mention of the real happening at Pleasant View or a
+hint that he had had anything to do with the stealing of the car. Billy
+somehow was gifted that way. He could shut his mouth always just in
+time, and grin and give a turn to the subject that entirely changed
+the current of thought, so he kept his own counsel. Not for his own
+protection would he have kept back any necessary information, but for
+Mark's sake. Yes--for Mark's sake--! Mark would not want it to be known.
+
+It was in the early evening, and the sky was still touched by the after
+glow of sunset, beneath the evening star, as Mark and Billy in the
+reclaimed car, finally started from Unity for home.
+
+In both their hearts was the thought of the bells that would be ringing
+now in Sabbath Valley for the evening service, and of the one who would
+be playing them, and each was trying to frame some excuse that would
+explain his absence to her without really explaining _anything_.
+
+And about this time the minister came forth from the parsonage,
+much vexed in spirit by the appearance of the outlandish lady in her
+outlandish car. She seemed to be insisting on remaining at the parsonage
+as if it were a common hostelry, and he and his wife had much perplexity
+to know just what to do. And now as he issued quietly forth from a side
+door he could hear her lute-like voice laughing from his front porch,
+and looking back furtively he saw to his horror that the lady, as well
+as the gentleman, was smoking a cigarette!
+
+He paused and tried to think just what would be the best way to meet
+this situation, and while he hesitated his senior elder, a man of narrow
+vision, hard judgments, yet staunch sincerity, approached him. The
+minister had grown to expect something unpleasant whenever this man
+sought him out, and to-night he shrank from the ordeal; but anything was
+better than to have him see the visitor upon his front steps, so Severn
+turned and hurried toward him cordially:
+
+"Good evening, Harricutt. It's been a good day, hasn't it?" he said
+grasping the wiry old hand:
+
+"Not so pleasant as you'd think, Mr. Severn," responded the hard old
+voice harshly, "I've come on very unpleasant business. Very unpleasant
+indeed; but the standard of the church must be kept up, and we must
+act at once in this matter! It is most serious, most serious! I've just
+called a meeting of the session to be held after church, and I've sent
+out for this _Mark Carter_ to be present. He must answer for himself the
+things that are being said about him, or his name must be stricken from
+our church roll. Do you know what they are saying about him, Brother
+Severn? Do you know what he's done?"
+
+But the arrow had entered the soul of the minister and his voice was too
+unsteady to respond, so the senior elder proceeded:
+
+"He has been keeping company with a young woman of dissolute character,
+and he has been to a place of public amusement with her and been seen
+drinking with her. He affects dance halls, and is known to live a
+worldly life. It is time he was cast out from our midst and become
+anathema. And now, it is quite possible he may be tried for murder! Have
+you heard what happened last night, Mr. Severn? Did you know that Mark
+Carter, a member of _our church_, tried to _kill a man_ down at the Blue
+Duck Tavern, and for jealousy about a girl of loose character? And now,
+Brother Severn, what are we going to do about it?"
+
+Said the minister, answering quietly, calmly:
+
+"Brother Harricutt, we are not going to do anything about it just now.
+We are going into the church to worship God. We will wait at least until
+Mark Carter comes back and see what he has to say for himself."
+
+And about that minute, Mark, now thoroughly restored and driving
+steadily along the road, turned to Billy and said quietly with a twinkle
+in his eye:
+
+"Kid, what made you put up that Detour?"
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+
+The service that evening had been one of peculiar tenderness. The
+minister prayed so earnestly for the graces of forgiveness, loving
+kindness and tender mercy, that several in the congregation began to
+wonder who had been hard on his neighbor now. It was almost uncanny
+sometimes how that minister spotted out the faults and petty differences
+in his flock. Many examined their own hearts fearfully during the
+prayer, but at its close the face of the senior Elder was stern and
+severe as ever as he lifted his hymn book and began to turn the leaves
+to the place.
+
+Then the organ mellowed forth joyously:
+
+ "Give to the winds thy fears,
+   Trust and be undismayed,
+  God hears thy prayers and counts thy tears
+   God shall lift up thy head."
+
+Elder Harricutt would much rather it had been "God the All Terrible."
+His lips were pursed for battle. He knew the minister was going to be
+soft hearted again, and it would fall to his lot to uphold the spotless
+righteousness of the church. That had been his attitude ever since he
+became a Christian. He had always been trying to find a flaw in
+Mr. Severn's theology, but much to his astonishment and perhaps
+disappointment, he had never yet been able to find a point on which
+they disagreed theologically, when it came right down to old fashioned
+religion, but he was always expecting that the next sermon would be the
+one wherein the minister had broken loose from the old dyed-in-the-wool
+creeds and joined himself to the new and advanced thinkers, than whom,
+in his opinion, there were no lower on the face of God's earth. And yet
+in spite of it all he loved the minister, and was his strong admirer and
+loyal adherent, self-appointed mentor though he felt himself to be.
+
+Over on the other side of the church Elder Duncannon, tall, gaunt,
+hairy, with kind gray eyes and a large mouth, reminding slightly of
+Abraham Lincoln, sang earnestly, through steel bowed spectacles adjusted
+far out on the end of his nose. Behind him Lemuel Tipton, also an elder,
+sandy, with cherry lips, apple cheeks and a fringe of grizzled red
+hair under his chin, sang with his head thrown back, looking like a big
+robin. The minister knew he could depend on those two. He scanned his
+audience. The elders were all present. Gibson. He had a narrow forehead,
+near-sighted eyes, and an inclination to take the opposite side from the
+minister. His lips were thin, and he pursed them often, and believed
+in efficiency and discipline. He would undoubtedly go with Harricutt.
+Jones, the short fat one who owned the plush mills and hated boys. He
+had taken sides against Mark about the memorial window. No hope from
+him! Fowler, small, thin, gray, with a retreating chin, had once lived
+next to Mrs. Carter and had a difference about some hens that strayed
+away to lay. Harricutt likely had him all primed. Jones, Gibson,
+Harricutt--three against three. Joyce's vote would decide it. Joyce
+was a new man, owner of the canneries. He was a great stickler
+for proprieties, yet he seemed to feel that a minister's word was
+law--Well--! _God_ was still above--!
+
+The benediction held a tenderness that fairly compelled the waiting
+congregation to attend with their hearts.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Let's go over there and hear that girl play," suggested Laurie
+suddenly, "Church is out and we'll make her play the bells. They're
+simply _great_. She's some _player!"_
+
+Opal leaned back in her chair and regarded him through the fringes of
+her eyelashes, laughing a silvery peal that shivered into the reverence
+of the benediction like a shower of icicles going down the back. Marilyn
+heard and blended the Amen into the full organ to break the shock as the
+startled congregation moved restlessly, with half unclosed eyes. Elder
+Harricutt heard, shut his eyes tighter, and pressed severe lips together
+with resistance. This doubtless was that woman they called Cherry. That
+irreverent Mark Carter must be close at hand. And on the rose-vined
+porch Laurence Shafton felt the sting of the laugh and drew himself
+together:
+
+"Oh, Laurie, Laurie!" she mocked, "You might as well be dead at Saybrook
+Inn or imprisoned for killing a family as fall in love with that girl.
+She isn't at all your kind. How would you look singing psalms? But come
+on, I'm game! I can see how she'll hate me. Can you walk?"
+
+They sauntered slowly over to the church in the fragrant darkness, he
+leaning on a cane he had found by the door. The kindly, curious people
+coming out eyed them interestedly, looking toward the two cars in front
+of the parsonage, and wondered. It was a neighborhood where everybody
+took a kindly interest in everybody else, and the minister belonged to
+them all. Nothing went on at his house that they did not just love and
+dote on.
+
+"Seems to me that girl has an awful low-necked dress for Sunday night,"
+said Mrs. Little to Mrs. Jones as they walked slowly down the street,
+"Did you catch the flash of those diamonds on her neck and fingers?"
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Jones contemptuously, "paint on her face too, thick as
+pie crust. I saw her come. She drove her own car and her dresses were
+up to her knees, and such stockings! With stripes like lace in them!
+And little slippers with heels like knitting needles! I declare, I don't
+know what this generation is coming to! I'm glad my Nancy never wanted
+to go away to boarding school. They say it's terrible, the boldness of
+young girls nowadays."
+
+"Well, if you'd ask me, _I'd_ say she wasn't so very _young!"_ declared
+Mrs. Little. "The light from the church door was full in her face when I
+was coming down the steps, and she looked as if she'd cut her eye teeth
+sometime past."
+
+"She had short hair," said Mrs. Jones, "for she pulled off her hat and
+ran her fingers through it just like a boy. I was cutting bread at the
+pantry window when she drove up and I couldn't help seeing her."
+
+"Oh, when my sister was up in New York this spring she said she
+saw several old gray-haired women with bobbed hair. She said it was
+something terrible to see how the world had run to foolishness."
+
+"Well, I don'no as it's wicked to bob your hair," said Mrs. Jones. "I
+suppose it does save some time taking care of it if you have curly hair,
+and it looks good on you, but mercy! It attracts so much attention.
+Well, I'm glad we don't live in New York! I declare, every time I come
+to church and hear Mr. Severn preach I just want to thank God that my
+lines are cast in Sabbath Valley. But speaking of going to boarding
+school, it didn't hurt Marilyn Severn to go. She's just as sweet and
+unspoiled as when she went away."
+
+"Oh, _her!_ You _couldn't_ spoil her. She's all _spirit_. She's got both
+her father's and mother's souls mixed up in her and you couldn't get
+a better combination. I declare I often wonder the devil lets two such
+good people live. I suppose he doesn't mind as long's he can confine 'em
+to a little place among the hills. But my soul! If those two visitors
+didn't need a sermon to-night I never saw folks that did. Do you know,
+when that man came last night in a broken down car he swore so he woke
+us all up, all around the neighborhood. If it had been anybody else in
+town but Mr. Severn he'd been driven out or tarred and feathered.
+Well, good-night. I guess you aren't afraid to walk the rest of the way
+alone."
+
+Back in the church Marilyn had lingered at the organ, partly because
+she dreaded going back to the house while the two strangers were there,
+partly because it was only at the organ that she could seem to let her
+soul give voice to the cry of its longing. All day she had prayed
+while going quietly about her Sabbath duties. All day she steadily
+held herself to the tasks that were usually her joy and delight, though
+sometimes it seemed that she could not go on with them. Billy and Mark!
+Where were they? What had their absence to do with one another? Somehow
+it comforted her a little to think of them _both_ away, and then again
+it disquieted her. Perhaps, oh, perhaps Mark had really changed as
+people said he had. Perhaps he had taken Billy to a baseball game
+somewhere. In New York or many other places that would not seem an
+unusual thing, she knew, not so much out of the way. Even church members
+were lenient about these things in the great world. It would not be
+strange if Mark had grown lax. But here in Sabbath Valley public opinion
+on the keeping of the Sabbath day was so strong that it meant a great
+deal. It amounted to public disgrace to disregard the ordinary rules of
+Sabbath; for in Sabbath Valley working and playing were alike laid aside
+for the entire twenty-four hours, the housewives prepared their dinner
+the day before, an unusually good one always, with some delectable
+dessert that would keep on ice, and everything as in the olden time was
+prepared in the home for a real keeping of a day of rest and enjoyment
+of the Lord. Even the children had special pasttimes that belonged to
+that day only, and Marilyn Severn still cherished a box of wonderful
+stone blocks that had been her most precious possessions as a child,
+and had been used for Sabbath amusement. With these blocks she built
+temples, laid out cities, went through mimic battles of the Bible until
+every story lived as real as if she had been there. There were three
+tiny blocks, one a quarter of a cube which she always called Saul, and
+two half the size that were David and Jonathan. So vivid and so happy
+were those Sunday afternoons with mother and father and the blocks.
+Sabbath devoted to the pursuance of heavenly things had meant real
+joy to Marilyn. The calm and quiet of it were delight. It had been the
+hardest thing about her years in the world that there seemed to be so
+little Sabbath there. Only by going to her own room and fencing herself
+away from her friends, could she get any semblance of what had been so
+dear to her, that feeling of leisure to talk and think about Christ, her
+dearest friend. I grant she was an unusual girl. There is now and then
+an unusual girl. We do not always hear about them. They are not always
+beautiful nor gifted. It chanced that Marilyn was all three.
+
+So she sat and played at her dear organ, played sweet and tender hymns.
+Played gentle, pleading, throbbing themes that almost spoke their words
+out, as she saw Elder Harricutt leading his file of elders into the
+session room which was just behind the organ. She knew that in all
+probability there was to be a time of trial for her father, and that
+some poor soul would be mauled over and ground up in the mill of
+criticism, or else some of her father's dearest plans were to be held up
+for an unsympathetic discussion. She thanked God for the strong homely
+face of Elder Duncannon as he stalked behind the rest with a look of
+uplift on his worn countenance, and she played on softly through another
+hymn, until suddenly somehow, she became aware that the two strangers on
+the parsonage porch had left their rockers and were coming slowly across
+the lawn. The woman's hard silvery laugh rang out and jabbed into the
+tender hymn she was playing, and she stopped short in the middle of a
+phrase, as if the poor thing had been killed instantly. The organ seemed
+to hold its breath, and the sudden silence almost made the little church
+tremble.
+
+She sat tense, listening, her fingers spread toward the stops to push
+them in and close the organ and be gone before they arrived if they
+contemplated coming in, for she had no mind to talk to them just now.
+Then coldly, harshly out from the cessation of great sound came Elder
+Harricutt's voice:
+
+"But Brother Severn, supposing that it turns out that Mark Carter is a
+murderer! You surely would not approve of keeping his name on the church
+roll then, would you? It seems to me that in order to keep the garments
+of the bride of Christ clean from soil we should anticipate such a
+happening and show the world that we recognize the character of this
+young man, and that we do not countenance such doings as she has been
+guilty of. Now, last night, it is positively stated that he and this
+person they call Cherry Penning were at the Blue Duck--!"
+
+_Crash!_ The bells!
+
+Lynn had heard so much through the open session-room door, had turned
+a quick frightened glance and caught the glimpse of two people coming
+slowly in at the open door of the church peering at her, had made one
+quick motion which released the bells, and dashed into the first notes
+that came to her mind, the old hymn, "Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me, Let
+Me Hide Myself in Thee!" But instead of playing it tenderly, grandly, as
+she usually did, with all the sweetness of the years in which saints and
+sinners have sung it and found refuge and comfort in its noble lines,
+she plunged into it with a mad rush as if a soul in mortal peril were
+rushing to the Refuge before the gates should be forever closed, or
+before the enemy should snatch it from the haven. The first note boomed
+forth so sharply, so suddenly, that Elder Harricutt jumped visibly from
+his chair, and his gossipy little details were drowned in the great tone
+that struck. Behind his hand, the troubled minister smiled in spite
+of his worries, to think of the brave young soul behind those bells
+defending her own.
+
+Down the aisle just under the tower Opal Verrons paused for an instant
+startled, thinking of prison walls, and of the dead man lying at
+Saybrook Inn that night. Suddenly the words of the telegram flashed
+across her: "What disposition do you want made of the body?" The body!
+The _body!_ Oh! Her eyes grew wide with horror. She ought to answer that
+telegram and give them his home address. But why should she? What had
+she to do with him now? Dead. He was _Dead_. He had passed to another
+world. She shuddered. She looked around and shrank back toward Shafton,
+but Laurie was wrapt in the vision of Saint Cecilia seated at the organ
+under the single electric light that the janitor had left burning over
+her head. She resembled a saint with a halo more than ever, and his
+easily excited senses were off chasing this new flower of fancy.
+
+Behind the organ pipes the session sat with the reputation of a man in
+their ruthless fingers, tossing it back and forth, and deliberating upon
+their own damning phrases, while the minister sat with stern white face,
+and sought to hold them from taking an action that might brand a human
+soul forever. Marilyn needed no more than those harsh words to know that
+her friend of the years was being weighed in the balance.
+
+Many a Sabbath afternoon in his childhood had Mark Carter spent with her
+playing the stone block play of David and Jonathan, and then eaten bread
+and milk and apple sauce and sponge cake with her and heard the evening
+prayers and songs and said good-night with a sweet look of the Heavenly
+Father's child on his handsome little face. Many a time as an older
+boy had he sung hymns with her and listened to her read the Bible, and
+talked it over with her afterward. He had not been like that when she
+went away. Could he so have changed? And Cherry Fenner! The little girl
+who had been but ten years old when she went away to college, Cherry a
+precocious little daughter of a tailor in Economy, who came over to take
+music lessons from her. Cherry at the Blue Duck! And with Mark! Could it
+be true? It could not be true! Not in the sense that Mr. Harricutt was
+trying to make out. Mark might have been there, but never to do wrong.
+The Blue Duck was a dance hall where liquor was sold on the quiet,
+and where unspeakable things happened every little while. Oh, it was
+outrageous! Her fingers made the bells crash out her horror and disgust,
+and her appeal to a higher power to right this dreadful wrong. And then
+a hopeless sick feeling came over her, a whirling dizzy sensation as if
+she were going to faint, although she never fainted. She longed to drop
+down upon the keys and wail her heart out, but she might not. Those
+awful words or more like them were going on behind the organ there, and
+the door was open--or even if the door was not open they could be heard,
+for the room behind the organ was only screened by a heavy curtain!
+Those two strangers must not hear! At all costs they must not hear a
+thing like this! They did not know Mark Carter of course, but at any
+rate they must not hear! It was like having him exposed in the public
+square for insult. So she played on, growing steadier, and more
+controlled. If only she could know the rest! Or if only she might steal
+away then, and lie down and bear it alone for a little! So this was what
+had given her father such a white drawn look during his sermon! She had
+seen that hard old man go across the lawn to meet him, and this was what
+he was bringing her father to bear!
+
+But the music itself and the words of the grand old hymns she was
+playing gradually crept into her soul and helped her, so that when the
+lame stranger made at last his slow progress up to the choir loft and
+stood beside her she was able to be coolly polite and explain briefly to
+him how the organ controlled the action of the bells.
+
+He listened to her, standing in open admiration, his handsome careless
+face with its unmistakable look of self indulgence was lighted up with
+genuine admiration for the beautiful girl who could play so well,
+and could talk equally well about her instrument, quite as if it were
+nothing at all out of the ordinary run of things that she were doing.
+
+Opal, sitting in the front pew, where she had dropped to wait till her
+escort should be satisfied, watched him at first discontentedly, turning
+her eyes to the girl, half wondering, half sneering, till all at once
+she perceived that the girl was not hearing the hot words of admiration
+poured upon her, was not impressed in the least by the man, did not even
+seem to know who he was--or care. How strange. What a very strange girl!
+And really a beautiful girl, too, she saw, now that her natural jealousy
+was for the moment averted. How extremely amusing. Laurie Shafton
+interested in a girl who didn't care a row of pins about him. What a
+shouting joke! She must take it back to his friends at the shore, who
+would kid him unmercifully about it. The thing had never been known in
+his life before. Perhaps, too, she would amuse herself a little, just as
+a pastime, by opening the eyes of this village maiden to the opportunity
+she was missing? Why not? Just on the verge of his departure perhaps.
+
+And now, with tender touch, the music grew softer and dropped into the
+sorrowful melody:
+
+ "The mistakes of my life have been many,
+   The sins of my heart have been more,
+  But I come as He has bidden.
+   And enter the open door.
+  I know I am weak and sinful,
+   It comes to me more and more
+  But since the dear Saviour has bid me come in
+   I'll enter the open door."
+
+It was one of the songs they used to sing together, Mark and she,
+on Sunday afternoons just as the sun was dropping behind the western
+mountain, and Marilyn played it till the bells seemed to echo out a
+heart's repentance, and a great forgiveness to one far, far away.
+
+At its first note the song was recognized by Mark Carter as he drove
+along through the night and it thrilled him to his sad sick soul. It was
+as if she had spoken to him, had swept his heart strings with her white
+fingers, had given him her sweet wistful smile, and was calling to him
+through the dark. As they came in sight of the church Billy pulled
+his cap a little lower and tried to keep the choke out of his throat.
+Somehow the long hours without sleep or food, the toil, the anxiety, the
+reaction, had suddenly culminated in a great desire to cry. Yes, _cry_
+just like a baby! Why, even when he was a baby he didn't cry, and now
+here was this sickening gag in his throat, this smarting in his eyelids,
+this sinking feeling. He cast an eye at Cart. Why, Cart looked that way
+too. Cart was feeling it also. Then he wasn't ashamed. He gulped and
+smudged his dirty hand across his smarting eyes, and got a long streak
+of wet on the back of his hand which he hastily dried on the side of
+his sweater, and so they sat, two still dark figures travelling along
+quietly through the night, for Carter had shut off the engine and let
+the natural incline of the road carry them down almost in front of the
+church.
+
+When they reached the church they saw a figure standing with a lifted
+hand. The janitor, ordered by Harricutt to keep a watch.
+
+The car stopped at once.
+
+"Mark, they're wantin' ye in there," he said with a flirt of his thumb
+over his shoulder and a furtive glance behind, "Keep yer eyes peeled,
+fer old Cutter-up is bossin' the job, an' _you know him!"_
+
+Billy sat up and took notice.
+
+Mark got out with a grave old look upon his face, and started up the
+walk. Billy made a move to follow, hesitated, drew back, held himself in
+readiness and watched, all his boy instincts and prejudices keen on the
+trail again.
+
+And so to the old sad song of his mistakes and sins Mark entered the
+door of the sessions room where once he and Marilyn had gone one happy
+summer morning to meet the session and confess their faith in Christ.
+
+As he had passed the window by the organ loft he gave one look up where
+Lynn's face was framed in the ivy of the window under the light. He
+drank in the sight hungrily. But the next instant he caught the vision
+of the young stranger standing with admiring eyes, saw Marilyn turn and
+look up and answer him, but could not see how far away and sad her eyes.
+
+And with this shadow upon his heart he passed in to that waiting group
+of hard critical men, with the white faced minister in their midst, and
+stood to meet their challenge.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+
+The janitor had gone in to put the church in order for the night and
+hover about to find out what was going on in the session room. He
+never told but he liked to know. The moon had gone under a cloud. Billy
+slipped out of the car, and slid up the side path like a wraith, his
+tired legs seeming to gather new vigor with the need. He gave a glance
+of content up to the window. He was glad the bells were ringing, and
+that _she_ was there. He wished she knew what peril their friend had
+been in last night, and how he was rescued and safe.
+
+And then _he_ sighted the stranger!
+
+_Who_ was that guy! Some sissy, that was sure! Aw _gee!_
+
+He slid into the shadow out of sight and flattened himself against the
+wall with an attentive ear to the door of the session room. He raised
+himself by chinning up to the window ledge and got a bird's eye view
+of the situation at a glance. Aw Gee! That old Hair-cut! He wished the
+bells would stop. That sissy in there with _her_, and all these here
+with Cart, and no telling what's up next? Aw _gee!_ Life was jest one--!
+He slumped his back to the wall and faced the parsonage. Say, what were
+those two cars over there in front of the parsonage? _Say!_ That must
+be the guy, the rich guy! Aw gee! In there with _her!_ If he only hadn't
+put up that detour! Pat knew what he was about after all, a little sissy
+guy like that--! _Aw, gee!_ But _two_ cars! What did two cars mean?
+
+And over on the parsonage piazza, at the far end in the shelter of the
+vines sat Aunt Saxon in the dark crying. Beside her was Mrs. Severn with
+her hand on the woman's shoulder talking in her gentle steady voice.
+Everybody loved the minister's wife just as much as they loved the
+minister:
+
+"Yes, he went away on his wheel last night just after dark," she sobbed.
+"Yes! he came home after the baseball game, and he made a great fuss
+gettin' some paint and brushes and contrapshions fixed on his old
+bicycle, and then he went off. Oh, he usually goes off awhile every
+night. I can't seem to stop him. I've tried everything short of lockin'
+him out. I reckon if I did he'd never come back, an' I can't seem to
+bring myself to lock out my sister's baby--!"
+
+"Of course not!" said Mrs. Severn tenderly.
+
+"Well, he stuck his head back in the door this time, an' he said mebbe
+he wouldn't be back till mornin', but he'd be back all right for Sunday
+School. That's one thing, Mrs. Severn," she lifted her tear stained
+face, "That's one thing he does like--his Sunday School, Billy does, and
+I'm that glad! Sometimes I just sit down an' cry about it I'm so
+glad. You know awhile back when Miss Lynn was off to college that Mr.
+Harricutt had the boys' class, an' I couldn't get him to go anyhow. Why,
+once I offered to pay him so he could save fer a baseball bat if he'd
+go, but do you know he said he'd rather go without baseball bats fer
+ever than go listen to that old--Well, Mrs. Severn, I won't repeat what
+he said. It wasn't respectful, not to an elder you know. But Miss Lynn,
+why he just worships, an' anything she says he does. But that's one
+thing worries me, Mrs. Severn, he _didn't come back for her even!_ He
+said he'd be back fer Sunday School, an' he hasn't come back yet!"
+
+"Who does he go with most, Miss Saxon? Let's try to think where he might
+be. Perhaps we could call up some one and find out where he is."
+
+"Well, I tell you," wailed the Aunt, "That's just it. There's just one
+person he likes as well, or mebbe better'n Miss Mary Lynn, an' that's
+Mark Carter! Mrs. Severn I'm just afraid he's gone off with Mark
+Carter!" she lowered her voice to a sepulchral whisper, "And Mrs.
+Severn, they do say that Mark is real _wild!"_
+
+Mrs. Severn sat up a little straighter and put a trifle of assurance
+into her voice, or was it aloofness?
+
+"Oh, Miss Saxon!" she said earnestly, "I don't think you ought to feel
+that way about Mark. I've known him since he was a mere baby, and I've
+always loved him. I don't believe Mark will ever do Billy any harm.
+He's a boy with a strong character. He may do things that people don't
+understand, but I'd trust him to the limit!"
+
+She was speaking eagerly, earnestly, in the words that her husband had
+used to her a few days before, and she knew as she said it that she
+believed it was all true. It gave her a great comfort to know that she
+believed it was true. She loved Mark almost as though he were her own.
+
+Miss Saxon looked up with a sigh and mopped her pink wet face.
+
+"Well, I certainly am relieved to hear you say that! Billy thinks the
+sun rises and sets in 'Cart,' as he calls him. I guess if Cart should
+call him he'd go to the ends of the earth with him. I know _I_ couldn't
+stop him. But you see Mrs. Severn, I oughtn't to have to bring up
+children, especially boys? Billy always was headstrong, and he's getting
+worse every day."
+
+"I'm sure you do your best, Miss Saxon, and I'm sure Billy will turn out
+a fine man some day. My Lynn thinks a great deal of him. She feels he's
+growing very thoughtful and manly."
+
+"Does she now?" the tired pink face was lifted damply with a ray of
+cheer.
+
+Then the telephone bell rang. Mrs. Severn rose and excused herself to
+answer it.
+
+"Yes? Yes, Mrs. Carter. Mrs. Severn is speaking. Is anything the matter?
+Your voice sounds troubled. Oh, Mrs. Carter! I'm so sorry, but I'm
+sure you can trust Mark. He's a man you know and he's always been an
+unusually dependable boy, especially to us who know him well. He'll come
+back all right. What? Oh, Mrs. _Carter!_ No, I haven't heard any such
+reports, but I'm sure they're just gossip. You know how people will
+talk. What do you say? They phoned you from Economy? Who? The police?
+They asked for Mark? Well, I wouldn't let that worry you. Mark always
+was helpful to the police in finding people, or going with them after a
+lost car, you know. I wouldn't worry. Who? Billy? Billy Gaston? Oh, you
+saw Billy this, morning? Well, that's good. His aunt has worried all
+day about him. I'll tell her. Who? A sick man on the mountain? Well, now
+Mrs. Carter, don't you know Mark always was doing things for people in
+trouble? He'll come home safely, but of course we'll just turn the earth
+upside down to find him for we are not going to let you and Miss Saxon
+worry any longer. Just you wait till Mr. Severn gets back. He's in a
+session meeting and it oughtn't to last long, it was just a special
+meeting called hurriedly. He'll come right over as soon as it's out and
+see what he can do to help. Yes, of course he will. No don't bother to
+thank me. He would want to of course. Good-bye!"
+
+She came hopefully out to the piazza, to Miss Saxon. But just at that
+instant Billy's aunt jumped to her feet, her eyes large with excitement,
+and pointed toward the open session door, where framed against the
+light stood Mark Carter, straight and tall facing the circle of men, and
+behind him, out in the dark, with only his swaggy old sweater shoulder
+and the visor of his floppy old cap showing around the door jamb lurked
+Billy.
+
+"There! There!" Whispered Mrs. Severn, patting her shoulder. "I told you
+he'd come back all right. Now, don't you worry about it, and don't you
+scold him. Just go home and get him some supper. He'll be likely very
+hungry, and then get him to go right to bed. Wait till to-morrow to
+settle up. Miss Saxon, it's always better, then we have clearer judgment
+and are not nearly so likely to lose our tempers and say the wrong
+thing."
+
+The bells had stopped ringing, and Marilyn had closed the organ and
+drawn the window shut. The two strangers were trailing slowly across the
+lawn, the lady laughing loudly. Miss Saxon eyed them with the kind of
+fascination a wild rabbit has for a strange dog, pressed the hand of the
+minister's wife with a fervent little squeeze, and scurried away into
+the dark street. Marilyn lingered silently on the front steps after the
+janitor had locked the door inside and gone back to the session room.
+
+In the session room Mark Carter, white with the experiences of the night
+and day, yet alert, stern, questioning, stood looking from one man to
+another, keenly, uncompromisingly. This was a man whom any would
+notice in a crowd. Character, physical perfection, strength of will all
+combined to make him stand out from other men. And over it all, like
+a fire from within there played an overwhelming sadness that had a
+transparent kind of refining effect, as if a spirit dwelt there who by
+sheer force of will went on in the face of utter hopelessness.
+
+The stillness in the session room was tense as the self appointed jury
+faced their victim and tried to look him down; then slowly recognized
+something that made them uneasy, and one by one each pair of eyes
+save two, were vanquished and turned embarrassedly away, or sought the
+pattern of the mossy carpet.
+
+Those two pairs of eyes that were friendly Mark found out at once, and
+it was as if he embraced them with his own. His friends--Duncannon and
+the minister! He shot a grateful glance at them and faced the others
+down, but opened not his lips.
+
+At last Harricutt, his chief accuser, mustered up his sharp little eyes
+again from under the overhanging eaves of rough gray brow, and shot out
+a disagreeable under lip:
+
+"We have sent for you, here, to-night, Mark Carter," he began slowly,
+impressively, raising a loose jointed long forefinger accusingly, as he
+gained courage, "to inquire concerning the incriminating reports that
+are in circulation with regard to your character."
+
+Mark turned his hard eyes toward the elder, and seemed to congeal into
+something inflexible, impenetrable, as if he had suddenly let down a
+cold sheet iron door between his soul and them, against which the words,
+like shot or pebbles, rattled sharp and unharming and fell in a shower
+at the feet of the speaker. There was something about his bearing that
+became a prince or president, and always made a fault finder feel small
+and inadequate. The minister felt his heart throb with a thrill of pride
+in the boy as he stood there just with his presence hurling back the
+suspicions that had met to undo him. His stern young face was like a
+mask of something that had once been beautiful with life, whose utter
+sorrow and hopelessness pierced one at the sight. And so he stood and
+looked at Elder Harricutt, who shot him one glance and then looking down
+began to fiddle with his watch chain, halting in his speech:
+
+"They say--" he began again with a hiss, as he lifted his eyes, strong
+in the consciousness that he was not alone in his accusation,--"They
+_say_--!"
+
+"Please leave what they say out of the question, Mr. Harricutt. What do
+_you_ say?" Mark's voice was cold, incisive, there was nothing quailing
+in his tone.
+
+"Young man, we can't leave what they say out of the question! It plays
+a very important part in the reputation of the Church of Christ of which
+you are an unworthy part," shot back the hard old man, "We are here
+to know what you have to say concerning the things that are being said
+openly about you."
+
+"A man does not always know what is being said about him, Mr.
+Harricutt." Still that hard cold voice, still indifferent to the main
+issue, and ready to fight it.
+
+"A man ought to!" snapped Harricutt impatiently.
+
+Suddenly, without warning, the mask lifted, the curve of the lips drew
+up at the left corner revealing the row of even white teeth, and a
+twinkle at the corners of the gray, thoughtful eyes, giving in a flash
+a vision of the merry mischief-loving boy he had been, and his whole
+countenance was lit. Mark was never so attractive as when smiling. It
+brought out the lovingness of his eyes, and took away the hard oldness
+of his finely cut features.
+
+"Mr. Harricutt, I have often wondered if _you_ knew all that people say
+about _you?"_
+
+_"WHAT?"_
+
+There was sudden stir in the session room. The elders moved their chairs
+with a swishing sound, cleared their throats hastily, and put sudden
+hands up to hide furtive smiles. Elder Duncannon grinned broadly, there
+was a twinkle in even the minister's eyes, and outside the door Billy
+manfully stifled a snicker. Elder Harricutt shot his angry little eyes
+around in the mirthful atmosphere, starting at Mark's quizzical smile,
+and going around the uneasy group of men, back to Mark again. But the
+smile was gone! One could hardly be sure it had been there at all. Mark
+was hard cold steel again, a blank wall, impenetrable. There was no sign
+that the young man intended to repeat the mocking offense.
+
+"Young man! This is no time for levity!" he roared forth menacingly.
+"You are on the verge of being arrested for murder. Did you know it?"
+
+The minister watching, thought he saw a quiver go through the steady
+eyes, a slight contracting of the pupil, a hardening of the sensitive
+mouth, that was all. The boy stood unflinching, and spoke with steady
+lips:
+
+"I did not."
+
+"Well, you are!" reiterated the elder, "And even if the man doesn't
+die, there is plenty else. Answer me this question. It's no use beating
+around the bush. Where were you at three o'clock this morning?"
+
+The answer came without hesitation, steadily, frankly:
+
+"On Stark's Mountain, as nearly as I can make out."
+
+Billy held his breath and wondered what was coming next. He caught his
+hands on the window ledge and chinned himself again, his eyes and the
+fringe of his dishevelled brown hair appearing above the window sill,
+but the startled session was not looking out the window just then. Mr.
+Harricutt looked slightly put out. Stark's Mountain had nothing to do
+with this matter, and the young man was probably trying to prove an
+alibi. He sat up jerkily and placed his elbows on the chair arms,
+touching the tips of his long bony fingers, fitting them together
+carefully and speaking in aggravated detached syllables in rhythm with
+the movement of his fingers.
+
+"Young--man! An--swer me!--_Ware_--you--or ware
+you--_not_--at--the--Blue--Duck--Tavern--last--evening?"
+
+Blue and red lights seemed to flicker in the cold steel eyes of the
+young man.
+
+"I _was!_"
+
+"A--hemmm!" The elder glanced around triumphantly, and went on with the
+examination:
+
+"Well,--young _man!_--Ware you--or--ware you _not_--accompanied--by a
+young wumman--of--notorious--I may say--infamous character? In other
+words--a young girl--commonly called--Cherry? Cherry Fenner I believe is
+her whole name. Ware you with her?"
+
+Mark's face was set, his eyes were glaring. The minister felt that if
+Harricutt had dared look up he would almost be afraid, now.
+
+But after an instant's hesitation when it almost looked as if Mark were
+struggling with desire to administer corporal punishment to the little
+old bigot, he lifted his head defiantly and replied in hard tones as
+before:
+
+"I _was!"_
+
+"There!" said Elder Harricutt, wetting his lips and smiling fiendishly
+around the group, "There! Didn't I tell you?"
+
+"May I inquire," asked Mark startlingly, "What business of yours it is?"
+
+Harricutt bristled.
+
+"What business? What _business?"_ he repeated severely, "Why, this
+business, young man. Your name is on our church roll as a member in good
+and regular standing! For sometime past you have been dragging the name
+of our Lord and Saviour in the dust of dishonor by your goings on. It is
+our responsibility as elders of this church to see that this goes on no
+longer."
+
+"I see!" said Mark, "I haven't heard from any of the other elders on the
+subject, but assuming that you are all of one mind--" he swept the room
+with his glance, omitting the stricken faces of the minister and Mr.
+Duncannon, "I will relieve you of further responsibility in the matter
+by asking you to strike my name from the roll at once."
+
+He was turning, his look of white still scorn fell upon them like fire
+that scorches. Outside the door Billy, forgetful that he might be seen,
+was peering in, his brows down in deep scawls, his lower jaw protruded,
+his grimy fists clenched. A fraction of a second longer and Billy would
+butt into the session like some mad young goat. Respect for the session?
+Not he! They were bullying his idol, Cart, who had already gone through
+death and still lived! They should see! Aw Gee!
+
+But a diversion occurred just in the nick of time. It was Joyce, the new
+member, the owner of the canneries, who had just built a new house with
+electric appliances, and owned the best car in town. He was a stickler
+for proprieties, but he was a great admirer of the minister, and he had
+been watching Mr. Severn's face. Also, he had watched Mark's.
+
+"Now, now, _now,_ young brother!" he said soothingly, rising in his nice
+pleasant gentlemanly way, "don't be hasty! This can all be adjusted I
+am sure if we fully understand one another. I am a comparative stranger
+here I know, but I would suggest taking this thing quietly and giving
+Mr. Carter a chance to explain himself. You must own, Brother Carter,
+that we had some reason to be anxious. You know, the Bible tells us to
+avoid even the appearance of evil."
+
+Mark turned with perfect courtesy to this new voice:
+
+"The Bible also tells us not to judge one another!" he replied quickly.
+"Mr. Joyce, you are a stranger here, but I am not. They have known me
+since childhood. Also there are some items that might be of interest
+to you. Cherry Fenner five years ago was a little girl in this Sunday
+School. She stood up in that pulpit out there one Children's Sunday and
+sang in a sweet little voice, 'Jesus loves me this I know, for the
+Bible tells me so.' She was an innocent little child then, and everybody
+praised her. Now, because she has been talked about you are all ready
+to condemn her. And who is going to help her? I tell you if that is the
+kind of Christ you have, and the kind of Bible you are following I
+want no more of it and I am ready to have my name taken off the roll at
+once."
+
+Harricutt rose in his excitement pointing his long-flapping forefinger:
+
+"You see, gentlemen, you see! He defies us! He goes farther! He defies
+his God!"
+
+Suddenly the minister rose with uplifted hand, and the voice that never
+failed to command attention, spoke:
+
+"Let us pray!"
+
+With sudden startled indrawing of breath, and half obedient bowing of
+the heads, the elders paused, standing or sitting as they were, and Mark
+with high defiant head stood looking straight at his old friend.
+
+"Oh, God, our Father, O Jesus Christ our Saviour," prayed the minister
+in a voice that showed he felt the Presence near, "Save us in this
+trying moment from committing further sin. Give us Thy wisdom, and Thy
+loving-kindness. Show us that only he that is without sin among us
+may cast the first stone. Put thy love about us all. We are all Thy
+children. Amen."
+
+Into the silence that followed this prayer his voice continued quietly:
+
+"I will ask Mr. Harricutt to take the chair for a moment. I would like
+to make a motion."
+
+The elders looked abashed.
+
+"Why,--I,--" began Harricutt, and then saw there was nothing else for
+him to do, and stepped excitedly over to the minister's seat behind the
+table, and sank reluctantly down, trying to think how he could best make
+use of his present position to further his side of the question.
+
+The minister was still standing, seeming to hold within his gaze the
+eyes of every one in the room including Mark.
+
+"I wish to make a motion," said the minister, "I move that we have a
+rising vote, expressing our utmost confidence in Mr. Carter, and leaving
+it to his discretion to explain his conduct or not as he pleases! I have
+known this dear young brother since he was a boy, and I would trust him
+always, anywhere, with anything!"
+
+A wonderful shiny look of startled wonder, and deep joy came into the
+eyes of the young man, followed by a stabbing cloud of anguish, and
+then the hard controlled face once more, with the exception of a certain
+tenderness as he looked toward the minister.
+
+"Mr. Duncannon, will you second my motion?" finished Severn.
+
+The long gaunt dark elder was on his feet instantly:
+
+"Sure, Brother Severn, I second that motion. If you hadn't got ahead of
+me I'd have firsted it myself. I know Mark. He's _all right!_" and
+he put out a hairy hand and grasped Mark's young strong fingers, that
+gripped his warmly.
+
+Harricutt was on his feet, tapping on the table with his pencil:
+
+"I think this motion is out of order," he cried excitedly--but no
+one listened, and the minister said calmly, "Will the chair put the
+question?"
+
+Baffled, angry, bitter, the old stickler went through the hated words:
+"It is moved and seconded that we express our confidence--"
+
+"Utmost confidence, Brother Harricutt--" broke in the minister's voice.
+The red came up in the elder's face, but he choked out the words
+"utmost confidence," on through the whole motion, and by the time it
+was out four elders were on their feet, Duncannon and Joyce first, thank
+God, Gibson, more slowly, Fowler pulled up by the strong wiry hand of
+Duncannon who sat next him.
+
+"Stop!" suddenly spoke Mark's clear incisive voice, "I cannot let you
+do this. I deeply appreciate the confidence of Mr. Severn and Mr.
+Duncannon," he paused looking straight into the eyes of the new elder
+and added--"and Mr. Joyce, who does not know me. But I am not worthy of
+so deep a trust. I ask you to remove my name from your church roll that
+in future my actions shall not be your responsibility!" With that he
+gave one lingering tender look toward the minister, pressed hard the
+hairy hand of the old Scotch elder, and went out of the room before
+anyone realized he was going.
+
+Billy, with a gasp, and a look after his beloved idol, hesitated, then
+pulled himself together and made a dash into the session room, like a
+catapult landing straight in the spot where Mark had stood, but ignoring
+all the rest he looked up at the minister and spoke rapidly:
+
+"Mr. Severn, please sir. Mark was with me last night from twelve o'clock
+on. Me an' him passed the Pleasant View Station in a car going over to
+Stark's Mountain, just as the bells was ringing over here fer midnight,
+cause I counted 'em, and Mark was over to Stark's Mountain till most
+noon to-day, and I come home with him!"
+
+The minister's face was blazing with glory, and old Duncannon patted
+Billy on the shoulder, and beamed, but Harricutt arose with menace in
+his eye and advanced on the young intruder. However, before anyone could
+do anything about it a strong firm hand reached out from the doorway and
+plucked Billy by the collar:
+
+"That'll do, Kid, Keep your mouth shut and don't say another word!" It
+was Mark and he promptly removed Billy from the picture.
+
+"I move we adjourn," said Elder Duncannon, but the minister did not
+even wait for the motion to be seconded. He followed Mark out into
+the moonlight, and drew him, Billy and all, across the lawn toward
+the parsonage, one arm thrown lovingly across Mark's shoulder. He
+had forgotten entirely the two guests parked on the piazza smoking
+cigarettes!
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+
+As the shades of evening had drawn down two figures that had been
+lurking all day in the fastnesses of Lone Valley over beyond the state
+Highway, stole forth and crept stealthily under cover to Stark Mountain.
+
+A long time they lingered in the edge of the woods till the dark was
+velvet black around them, before the moon arose. Then slowly, cautiously
+they drew near the haunted house, observing it long and silently from
+every possible angle, till satisfied that no enemy was about. Yet taking
+no chances even then, the taller one crept forth from shelter while the
+other watched. So stealthily he went that even his companion heard no
+stir.
+
+It was some ten minutes that Shorty waited there in the bushes scarcely
+daring to breathe, while Link painfully quiet, inch by inch encircled
+the house, and listened, trying the front door first and finding it
+fast; softly testing the cellar windows one by one, beginning from the
+eastern end, going toward the front first, and so missing the window by
+which Billy had entered. A hundred times his operation was halted by the
+sound of a rat scuttling across the floor, or racketing in the wall, but
+the hollow echoes assured him over and over again that the house was not
+occupied, at least not by anyone awake and in his senses. Link had been
+in the business so long that he "felt" when there was an enemy near.
+That was what vexed him now. He had "felt" that morning that someone was
+near, but he had laid it to nerves and the reported ghost, and had not
+heeded his trained faculties. He was back now doubly alert to discover
+the cause and make good his failure in the morning. He had undertaken to
+look after this guy and see this job through and there was big money in
+it. He was heavily armed and prepared for any reasonable surprise. He
+meant to get this matter straight before morning. So, feeling his way
+along in the blackness, listening, halting at every moment with bated
+breath, he came at last to the back door, and drawing himself up to
+the steps, took the knob in his hand and turned it. To his surprise
+it yielded to his touch, and the door came open. And yet it was some
+seconds of tense listening before he let himself down to the ground
+again, and with his hand in the grass let out a tiny winking flashlight,
+no more than a firefly would flicker, and out again.
+
+This was answered by a wink from the bushes, as if the same firefly or
+its mate might be glowing, and after an instant another wink from the
+ground near the house. Slowly Shorty arrived without noise, his big bulk
+muffling in fat the muscles of velvet. It was incredible how light his
+step could be--_professionally._ It was as if he had been wafted there
+like down. Silently still and without communication the two drifted into
+the open door, sent a searching glowworm ahead into the crannies of
+the dusty, musty kitchen, surprising a mouse that had stolen forth
+domestically. The door being shut and fastened cautiously, the key in
+Link's pocket, they drifted through the swing door, as air might have
+circulated, identifying the mouse's scuttle, the rattle of a rat among
+the loose coal in the cellar bin, the throaty chirp of a cricket outside
+in the grass, and drifting on.
+
+Thus they searched the lower floor, even as Billy had done, though more
+thoroughly, and mounted to the landing above, here they divided, Shorty
+at watch in the hall, while Link went to the front rooms first and
+searched each hastily, not omitting closets, ending at the back room
+where the prisoner had been.
+
+"He's gone!" said Link in a hoarse whisper, speaking for the first time
+after a hasty scanning of the shadowy place.
+
+Shorty took the precaution to turn the key of the door leading to the
+third story before he entered to investigate.
+
+"Do you think it was him fired that shot?"
+
+Link shook his head.
+
+"Couldn't! I had him lifted up in my arms and was just handing him some
+more dope when the sound come. It seemed it was out front. It must a
+been somebody in the front room. Sure! That guy never coulda got them
+bracelets off hisself. Looka here! Them was filed off!" They stood with
+the flash light between them examining the handcuffs, and then turned
+their attention to the rest of the room, studying the bed and floors
+carefully for any traces of the possible assistant to the runaway but
+finding none. Then they went in the front room again, and this time
+discovered the lowered window and the little half moon aperture in the
+shutter.
+
+"How do you figger it?" asked Shorty turning a ghastly face toward Link
+in the plaided darkness of the flash light.
+
+"Pat!" said Link laconically.
+
+"Pat?"
+
+"Pat. He's yella! I told Sam, but he would have him! I ain't sure but
+Sam's yella! I think I'm about done with this outfit!"
+
+"But Pat? What would he do it for?"
+
+"Goin to run the whole game hisself, perhaps, or then again he might be
+in with Sam, so they won't have to divvy up. He could say we hadn't kept
+out contrac' you know, runnin' away like that."
+
+"We ain't to blame. How'd we know it want the police? We had a mighty
+close shave over that state line this A.M."
+
+"Well, that's what he could say, an' refuse to divvy up. But b'lieve me,
+Shorty! Nobody's goin' to do me dirty like that! Somebody's been doing
+us dirty, you and me, and it's good and right we beat 'em to it."
+
+"Yes, but how ya goin' to do it?"
+
+"I ain't sure yet, but I'm goin' to do it. The first thing, Shorty, is
+fer us to get outta here mighty good an' quick. Ef anybody's watchin'
+round, we better not be here. We'll fade away. See?"
+
+Without flash or noise they faded, going cautiously out by the front
+door this time and disappearing into the dark of the woods just as
+the horizon over Lone Valley began to show luminous in the path of the
+oncoming moon.
+
+They walked several miles, stealthily, and a mile or two more naturally,
+before they ventured on a word, and then Shorty impatiently:
+
+"I don't see what you can do. Whattirya goin' ta do?"
+
+"Don't get excited, Shorty, I see my way out," said Link affably, "I
+didn't come off here half cocked. I investigated before I took on the
+job."
+
+"Whaddaya mean?"
+
+"Well, I just looked up the parties in the blue book before I come off.
+Didn't have much time, but I just looked 'em up. Great thing that blue
+book. Gives ya lots of information. Then I got another thing, a magazine
+I always buy and keep on hand. It's called The House Lovely, an' it has
+all these grand gentlemen's places put down in pictures, with plans and
+everything. It's real handy when you wantta find out how to visit 'em
+sort of intimate like, and it kind of broadens yer mind. It's a real
+pity you never learned to read, Shorty. There's nothing like it fer
+getting valuable information. I read a lot and I always remember
+anything that's worth while."
+
+"I don't see how that's doin' us any good now," growled Shorty.
+
+"Don't get hasty, Shorty, I'm comin' to it. You see these here Shaftons
+have been on my mind fer some while back. I make it a point to know
+about guys like that. I read the society columns and keep posted about
+little details. It pays, Shorty. Now see! I happen to know that these
+here Shaftons have several summer homes, one in the mountains, one at
+the seashore, one up at an island out in the ocean, and a farm down in
+Jersey, where they go at Christmas fer the holidays sometimes. Well,
+just now I happen to know Mrs. Shafton--that's this guy's mother, is
+down at the Jersey house all alone with the servants. Real handy fer our
+purposes, ain't it? Not so far we can't get there by mornin' if we half
+try, and the old man is off out West on a business trip."
+
+"What you gonta do?" asked Shorty.
+
+"Well, I haven't exactly got it all doped out yet, but I reckon our
+business is with the old lady. Let's beat it as fast as we can to a
+trolley and dope it out as we go. You see this here old woman is nuts on
+her son, and she's lousy with money and don't care how she spends it,
+so her baby boy is pleased. Now, I figger if we could come off with
+five thousand apiece, you'n I we'd be doin' a good night's work and no
+mistake. Whaddayou say?"
+
+"Sure thing," grumped Shorty unbelievingly.
+
+"You see," continued Link, "We're in bad, this guy escaping and all, and
+like as not Pat swiping all the boodle and layin' the blame onto us. You
+can't tell what might happen with Pat an' Sam, the dirty devils. They
+might even let it come to a trial and testify against us. Sam has it in
+fer me an' you this long time, 'count of that last pretty little safe
+blow-out that didn't materialize. See?"
+
+Shorty growled gloomily.
+
+"Now on the other hand if we can step in before it is too late, or
+before the news of his havin' escaped gets to his fond parents, and get
+in our little work, we might at least make expenses out of it and beat
+it out of the country fer a while. I been thinkin' of South America fer
+my health fer some time past. How 'bout you?"
+
+"Suits me. But how you gonta work it?"
+
+"Well, you see I know a little bit about wimmen. An' I seen this woman
+oncet. If she was one of these here newfangled political kind you
+couldn't do nothin' with her, she'd be onta you in no time an' have you
+up before the supreme court 'fore she goddone, but this here woman is
+one o' them old fashioned, useless kind that's afraid of everything and
+cries easy, and gets scairt at her shadder. I seen her on the board
+walk once with her husband, took notice to her, thought I might need
+it sometime. She has gray hair but she ain't never growed up. She was
+ridin' in a wheeled chair, an' him walkin' beside her an' a man behind
+pushin' her, an' a maid comin' along with a fur coat. She never done
+a thing fer herself, not even think, an' that's the kind you can put
+anything over on from a teaparty to a blizzard without her suspectin' a
+thing. Shorty, I'm gonta make up to Mrs. Shafton an' see what I can get
+out of her. But we gotta get a trolley line down to Unity an' catch that
+evenin' train. See?"
+
+About half-past ten that night, with the moon at full sail, Shorty and
+Link, keeping the shady side of the street, slunk into a little obscure,
+and as yet unsuppressed saloon in a back street in a dirty little
+manufacturing city not many miles from Unity. Just off the side entrance
+was a back hall in which lurked a dark smelly little telephone booth
+under a staircase, too far removed from the noisy crowd that frequented
+the place to be heard. Here Link took instant refuge with Shorty bulking
+largely in front of the door, smoking a thin black twisted cigar, and
+looking anything but happy. He had figured greatly on getting his share
+of a million, and now at a single shot he had let it go through his
+fingers. There were reasons why he needed that part of a million at
+once. Link had all sorts of nerve. He called up the Shafton home in New
+Jersey and jollied the maid, calling her girlie, and saying he was in
+the employ of young Laurie Shafton and had a special private message
+from the young man to his mother. It was not long before a peevish
+elderly voice in his ear said:
+
+"Well? Mrs. Shafton at the phone."
+
+And Link sailed in:
+
+"Mrs. Shafton, I got a message from your son, a very private message.
+He said, would you please send your maid out of the room first before I
+told you?"
+
+She seemed annoyed and hesitant at this, but finally complied:
+
+"Now, Mrs. Shafton, you don't need to get worried at what I'm tellin'
+you. Your son ain't dead, nor nothing like that you know, but he's just
+met with a little accident. No, now, wait a minute till I tell you. You
+don't need to get excited ner nothing. If you just keep calm an' do as I
+tell you it'll all come out right in the end--"
+
+He could tell by her voice that she was much excited and that so far his
+scheme was working well. If he could only pull the rest off! He winked
+one eye jauntily at Shorty who was standing wide-mouthed, bulging-eyed
+listening, and went on:
+
+"No, he didn't have no collision, ma'am, he just got kidnapped you see.
+And not wanting to get found out, natchelly the kidnappers give him a
+little dope to keep his mouth shut fer a while. What's that? Who'm I?
+Well, now, Mrs. Shafton, that's tellin,' ain't it? I wouldn't want to
+go so far as that 'thout I was sure of your cooperation. What's that?
+You'll reward me? Oh, thanks, that's what I was figgering about. You see
+I'm in rather of a hole myself. That's what. You see, much against my
+will I was one of the kidnappers myself ma'am. Yes ma'am, much against
+my will! You see I'm a farmer's son myself, good an' honest and
+respectable. Never had nothin' to do with such doin's in my life, my
+word of honor, lady. But I come to town just to look around an' have a
+bit of fun an' I got in with a bad lot, an' they pract'cally _compelled_
+me to assist 'em in this here kidnappin.' Oh, I didn't do nothin', jest
+helped to carry him--Oh, ma'am, it ain't that bad. He's still livin'
+an' he'll be awwright if you just he'p me to get him away 'thout their
+knowin'. Yes ma'am. I'm honest. I'm offerin' to help you. You see,
+when I see him layin' there on the bed--Oh, yes, he's on a bed, I ain't
+sayin' how comfortable it is, but it's a bed, an' he ain't sufferin'
+now,--but of course if they don't get what they want they may put him to
+the torture jest to get more outta you all--No, ma'am don't scream that
+way ur I'll have to hang up. This is on the q.t. you know. What? You
+don't understand? Why, I was sayin' you mustn't let a soul know what's
+happened. Not a _soul._ If it should get out an' his kidnappers should
+find it out they'd kill him easy as a fly an' no mistake. You gotta go
+slow on this. Yes, lady, they're desperate characters, _I'm sayin' it!_
+an' the sooner you get your son outta their han's the better fer his
+future, lady, fer even if he should escape after they'd been found out
+they'd probably lame him fer life or put out his eyes or some little old
+thing like that, so you see, lady, you gotta talk low an' take care you
+don't let on to no one. If you should turn yella it ud be all up with
+little Laurie an' no mistake, so keep yer mouth shet an' do as I tell
+ye, and I'll help ye out. Yes, as I was sayin' when I seen little Laurie
+layin' there so still an' white, my conscience--There, there, lady,
+don't you take on--as I was sayin' my conscience troubled me, an' I
+says, I'm agonta get this fella free! So I figgered out a way. You see
+lady, there's two of us, me'n another feller set to watch 'im, an' feed
+him dope if he tries to wake up, an' when I get feelin' worried about it
+I says to the other fella I was agonta tell his folks, an' he says he'll
+shoot me, but I keeps on tellin' him how sinful 'twas to make a poor
+mother suffer--I gotta mother myself ma'am! Yes ma'am a good old mother,
+an' she taught me to be honest, so I says to thother fella, I says
+what'll you take an' git out, an' he says ten thousand dollars, an' I
+says, awwright, I'll get it fer ya, an' so now lady, 'f I was you I'd
+pay it right down quick 'fore he changes his mind. Cause the other
+fellas they was goin' to ast a million, an' kill 'im if you didn't fall
+fer it right to oncet. No ma'am I don't want nothin' fer myself. I just
+want to go back to the old farm with a clean conscience. What? Oh, yes,
+I want the money right away, that is before mornin'. If we can't get him
+out before mornin' it ain't no use, fer the other fellas is comin' back
+an' move him an' we can't do nothin'? What? Where is he? I couldn't'
+really say, lady, it wouldn't be allowed, an' my mate he's outside the
+telephone booth with a loaded revolver holdin' it up to my head, and
+he's listenin' an' ef I give anythin' away he'd shoot me on the spot.
+So where would your nice lookin' son be then? Mrs. Shafton hadn't you
+better--? That's right lady, I knew you'd thank me, an' yes, now I'll
+tell you what to do. First place, how much money ya got in the house?
+No, that's not 'nough. That wouldn't do a mite of good, it wouldn't be
+a drop in the bucket. Ain't ya got any bonds, ur jewels or papers? Yes,
+that's the talk! Now yer shoutin'--Yes, lady, that would do. No,--not
+that. You gotta have something that he can't get caught with. I know
+you're loosin' a lot lady, but you got lots left, and what's money an'
+jewels compared to your only son, ma'am? Why, think how he used to look
+when he wore little white dresses an' used to come to have his head
+kissed when he fell down! Wasn't he sweet, lady, and he had a pair of
+little blue shoes didn't he? I thought so. Say, lady, you'r the right
+sort! I knowed you must be to be a mother of such a handsome son. Now,
+lady, could you hustle those things together you spoke of an' any more
+you may happen to come on, and just put 'em in a little box or basket,
+and tie a string on 'em an' let 'em down outta yer winda? It's all I'll
+ask. Let 'em down outta yer winda. Then you turn out the lights and
+turn 'em on again three times real quick, out an' in, an' that'll be the
+signal. An' after ten minutes you look out yer front winda an' off as
+fur as ye can see an' I'll flash a signal light to ya jest to let ya
+know it's all right. An' I'll promise you on my word of honor that
+you'll hear your own son's voice over the telephone good an' early
+tomorrow mornin' an' no mistake. But lady, ye mustn't turn yella an'
+holler ner nothin or we'll fling yer jewels an' paper back in yer yard
+an' let yer son die. We ain't goin' to run no chances ye know. You ain't
+got no dogs, have ye? And which side is yer room on? The front? Yes,
+an' which is the easiest way to get to the house without comin' near the
+servants' quarters? To the right? Yes, I see. An' you'll play straight?
+All right lady. Your son's as good as home now. I'll give you just one
+hour by the clock to get yer stuff together, but mind ya, if ya weaken
+an' try to put the p'lice onto me, I got a way to signal my pal, an'
+he'll have that boy o' yours shot within five minutes after you call fer
+help? Understand? Oh, yes, I know lady, you wouldn't do no such a thing,
+but my pal he made me say that. He's a desperate man lady, an' there
+ain't no use toyin' with him. All right. One hour. It's just quarter to
+'leven. Good-bye!"
+
+Link came lounging out of the booth mopping his wet forehead:
+
+"She fell fer it all right," he said jerking a wan smile, but he
+looked as though the last of his own nerve had gone into the telephone
+receiver. "She wanted to put in an extra check, but I told her we'd be
+generous and let it go at what she could find without her name on it.
+Gosh, what fools some wommen are! I thought I got her number all right,
+a whimperin' fool! A whimperin' little old fool! Now, Shorty, all we
+gotta do is collect the boodle. It's up to you to watch outside the
+hedge. I'm takin' all the risks this time m'self, an' I'm goin' to
+ferret my way under that there madam's winder. You stay outside and
+gimme the signal. Ef you get cold feet an' leave me in the lurch you
+don't get no dividends, See?"
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+
+Billy, with that fine inner sense that some boys have, perceived that
+there was deep emotion of a silent sort between the minister and Mark,
+and he drifted away from them unnoticed, back toward the car.
+
+"Billy!" whispered Lynn, rising from the upper step in the shadow of the
+church.
+
+The boy turned with a quick silent stride and was beside her:
+
+"I couldn't help it, Miss Lynn, I really couldn't--There was something
+very important--Cart--That is--Cart needed me! I knew you'd understand."
+
+"Yes, Billy, I understand. Somehow I knew you were with Mark. It's good
+to have a friend like you, Billy!" She smiled wanly.
+
+Billy looked up half proud, half ashamed:
+
+"It's nothin'!" said Billy, "I just had to. Cart--well, I had to."
+
+"I know, Billy--Mark needed you. And Billy,--if there's any
+trouble--any--any--that is if Mark ever needs you, you'll stick by him I
+know?"
+
+"Sure!" said Billy looking up with a sudden searching glance, "Sure,
+I'll stick by him!"
+
+"And if there's anything--anything that ought to be done--why--I mean
+anything _we_ could do--Billy,--you'll let us know?"
+
+"Sure, I will!" There was utmost comprehension in the firm young voice.
+Billy kicked his heel softly into the grass by the walk, looking down
+embarrassedly. He half started on toward the car and then turning back
+he said suddenly, "Why doncha go see Cherry, Miss Lynn?"
+
+"Cherry?" she said startled, her face growing white in the darkness.
+
+The boy nodded, stuffing his hands deep into his pockets and regarding
+her with sudden boldness. He opened his lips as if he would speak
+further, then thought better of it and closed them again firmly,
+dropping his eyes as if he were done with the topic. There was a bit of
+silence, then Lynn said gravely:
+
+"Perhaps I will," and "Thank you, Billy."
+
+Billy felt as though the balm of Gilead had suddenly been poured over
+his tired heart.
+
+"G'night!" he murmured, feeling that he had put his troubles into
+capable hands that would care for them, as he would himself.
+
+There had been no word spoken between the minister and Mark as they
+went together toward the parsonage, but there had seemed to each to be
+a great clearing of the clouds between them, and a tender love springing
+anew, with warm understanding and sympathy. Mark felt himself a boy
+again, with the minister's arm across his shoulder, and a strong
+yearning to confide in this understanding friend, swept over him. If
+there had been a quiet place with no one about just then there is no
+telling what might have happened to change the story from that point
+on, but their silent intercourse was rudely interrupted by the voice of
+Laurie Shafton breaking in:
+
+"Oh, I say, Mr. Severn, who did you say that man was that could fix
+cars? I'd like to call him up and see if he doesn't happen to have some
+bearings now. He surely must have returned by this time hasn't he? I'd
+like to take these girls a spin. The moon is perfectly gorgeous. We
+could go in the lady's car, only it is smaller and I thought I'd ask
+your daughter to go along."
+
+"Oh!" said the minister suddenly brought back into the world of trivial
+things? "Why, _this_ is Mr. Carter, Mr. Shafton. He can speak for
+himself."
+
+Mark stood with lifted head and his princely look regarding the
+interloper with cold eyes. He acknowledged the introduction almost
+haughtily, and listened to the story of the burnt out bearings without a
+change of countenance, then said gravely:
+
+"I think I can fix you up in the morning."
+
+"Not to-night?" asked the spoiled Laurie with a frown of displeasure.
+
+"Not to-night," said Mark with a finality that somehow forbade even a
+Shafton from further parley.
+
+Opal had regarded Mark from the vine covered porch as he stood with
+bared head in the moonlight and clattered down on her tiny patent
+leather pumps to be introduced. She came and stood hanging pertly on
+Laurie Shafton's arm as if he were her private property, with her large
+limpid eyes fixed upon the stranger, this prince of a man that had
+suddenly turned up in this funny little country dump.
+
+She put her giddy little tongue into the conversation, something about
+how delicious it would be to take a little ride to-night, implying that
+Mark might go along if he would fix up the car. She was dressed in a
+slim, clinging frock of some rich Persian gauzy silk stuff, heavy with
+beads in dull barbaric patterns, and girt with a rope of jet and jade.
+Her slim white neck rose like a stem from the transparent neck line, and
+a beaded band about her forehead held the fluffy hair in place about
+her pretty dark little head. She wore long jade earrings which nearly
+touched the white shoulders, and gave her the air of an Egyptian
+princess. She was very gorgeous, and unusual even in the moonlight, and
+she knew it, yet this strange young man gave her one cold scrutinizing
+glance and turned away.
+
+"I'll see you again in the morning, Mr. Severn," he said, and wringing
+the minister's hand silently, he went back across the lawn. The spell
+was broken and the minister knew it would be of no use to follow. Mark
+would say no more of his trouble tonight.
+
+It was so that Lynn, coming swiftly from her shadow, with troubled
+thoughts, came face to face with Mark:
+
+He stopped suddenly as if something had struck him.
+
+"Oh, Mark!" she breathed softly, and put out her hand.
+
+He made a swift motion away from her, and said quickly:
+
+"Don't touch me, Marilyn,--I-am--not--_worthy_!"
+
+Then quickly turning he sprang into his car and started the engine.
+
+The minister stood in the moonlight looking sadly after the wayward boy
+whom he had loved for years.
+
+Lynn came swiftly toward her father, scarcely seeing the two strangers.
+She had a feeling that he needed comforting. But the minister, not
+noticing her approach, had turned and was hurrying into the house by the
+side entrance.
+
+"Come on girls, let's have a little excitement," cried Laurie Shafton
+gaily, "How about some music? There's a piano in the house I see, let's
+boom her up!"
+
+He made a sudden dive and swooped an arm intimately about each girl's
+waist, starting them violently toward the steps, forgetting the lame
+ankle that was supposed to make him somewhat helpless.
+
+The sudden unexpected action took Marilyn unaware, and before she could
+get her footing or do anything about it she caught a swift vision of a
+white face in the passing car. Mark had seen the whole thing! She drew
+back quickly, indignantly flinging the offending arm from her waist,
+and hurried after her father; but it was too late to undo the impression
+that Mark must have had. He had passed by.
+
+Inside the door she stopped short, stamping her white shod foot with
+quick anger, her face white with fury, her eyes fairly blazing. If
+Laurie had seen her now he would scarcely have compared her to a saint.
+To think that on this day of trouble and perplexity this gay insolent
+stranger should dare to intrude and presume! And before Mark!
+
+But a low spoken word of her mother's reached her from the dining-room,
+turning aside her anger:
+
+"I hate to ask Lynn to take her into her room. Such a queer girl! It
+seems like a desecration! Lynn's lovely room!"
+
+"She had no right to put herself upon us!" said the father in troubled
+tones. "She is as far from our daughter as heaven is from the pit. Who
+is she, anyway?"
+
+"He merely introduced her as his friend Opal."
+
+"Is there nothing else we can do?"
+
+"We might give her our room, but it would take some time to put it in
+order for a guest. There would be a good many things to move--and it
+would be rather awkward in the morning, cots in the living-room. I
+suppose Lynn could come in with me and you sleep on a cot--!"
+
+"Yes, that's exactly it! Do that. I don't mind."
+
+"I suppose we'll have to," sighed the mother, "for I know Lynn would
+hate it having a stranger among her pretty intimate things--!"
+
+Marilyn sprang up and burst into the dining-room:
+
+"Mother! Did you think I was such a spoiled baby that I couldn't be
+courteous to a stranger even if she was a detestable little vamp? You're
+not to bother about it any more. She'll come into my room with me of
+course. You didn't expect me to sail through life without any sacrifices
+at all did you, Motherie? Suppose I had gone to Africa as I almost did
+last year? Don't you fancy there'd have been some things harder than
+sharing my twin beds with a disagreeable stranger? Besides, remember
+those angels unaware that the Bible talks about. I guess this is up to
+me, so put away your frets and come on in. It's time we had worship and
+ended this day. But I guess those two self-imposed boarders of ours need
+a little religion first. Come on!"
+
+She dropped a kiss on each forehead lightly and fled into the other
+room.
+
+"What a girl she is!" said her father tenderly putting his hand gently
+on the spot she had kissed, "A great blessing in our home! Dear child!"
+
+The mother said nothing, but her eyes were filled with a great content.
+
+Marilyn, throwing aside her hat and appearing in the front door called
+pleasantly to the two outside:
+
+"Well, I'm ready for the music. You can come in when you wish."
+
+They sauntered in presently, but Marilyn was already at the piano
+playing softly a bit from the Angel Chorus, a snatch of Handel's Largo,
+a Chopin Nocturne, one of Mendelssohn's songs without words. The two
+came in hilariously, the young man pretending to lean heavily on the
+girl, and finding much occasion to hold her hands, a performance to
+which she seemed to be not at all averse. They came and stood beside the
+piano.
+
+"Now," said Opal gaily, when Marilyn came to the end of another
+Nocturne: "That's enough gloom. Give us a little jazz and Laurie and
+I'll dance awhile."
+
+Marilyn let her hands fall with a soft crash on the keys and looked
+up. Then her face broke up into a smile, as if she had put aside an
+unpleasant thought and determined to be friendly:
+
+"I'm sorry," she said firmly, "We don't play jazz, my piano and I. I
+never learned to love it, and besides I'm tired. I've been playing all
+day you know. You will excuse anything more I'm sure. And it's getting
+late for Sabbath Valley. Did you have any plans for to-night?"
+
+Opal stared, but Marilyn stared back pleasantly, and Laurie watched them
+both.
+
+"Why, no, not exactly," drawled Opal, "I thought Laurie would be
+hospitable enough to look me up a place. Where is your best hotel? Is it
+possible at all?"
+
+"We haven't a sign of a hotel," said Marilyn smiling.
+
+"Oh, horrors, nothing but a boarding house I suppose. Is it far away?"
+
+"Not even a boarding house."
+
+"Oh, heavens! Well, where do you stop then?"
+
+"We don't stop, we live," said Marilyn smiling. "I'm afraid the only
+thing you can do unless you decide to go back home tonight is to share
+my room with me,--I have twin beds you know and can make you quite
+comfortable. I often have a college friend to stay with me for a few
+weeks."
+
+Opal stared round eyed. This was a college girl then, hidden away in a
+hole like this. Not even an extra spare room in the house!
+
+"Oh my gracious!" she responded bluntly, "I'm not used to rooming with
+some one, but it's very kind of you I'm sure."
+
+Marilyn's cheeks grew red and her eyes flashed but she whirled back to
+her keyboard and began to play, this time a sweet old hymn, and while
+she was playing and before the two strangers had thought of anything to
+say, Mr. Severn came in with the Book in his hand, followed by his wife,
+who drew a small rocker and sat down beside him.
+
+Marilyn paused and the minister opened his Bible and looked around on
+them:
+
+"I hope you'll join us in our evening worship," he said pleasantly to
+the two guests, and then while they still stared he began to read: "Let
+not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me," on
+through the beautiful chapter.
+
+It was as Greek to the strangers, who heard and did not comprehend,
+and they looked about amazed on this little family with dreamy eyes all
+listening as if it meant great treasures to them. It was as if they saw
+the Severns for the first time and realized them as individuals, as a
+force in the world, something complete in itself, a family that was not
+doing the things they did, not having the things considered essential to
+life, nor trying to go after any of the things that life had to offer,
+but living their own beautiful lives in their own way without regard to
+the world, and actually enjoying it! That was the queer part about it.
+They were not dull nor bored! They were happy! They could get out
+from an environment like this if they choose, and _they did not_. They
+_wanted_ to stay here. It was incredible!
+
+Laurie got out his cigarette case, selected a cigarette, got out his
+match box, selected a match, and all but lit it. Then somehow there
+seemed to be something incongruous about the action and he looked
+around. No one was seeing him but Opal, and she was laughing at him.
+He flushed, put back the match and the cigarette, and folded his arms,
+trying to look at home in this strange new environment. But the girl
+Marilyn's eyes were far away as if she were drinking strange knowledge
+at a secret invisible source, and she seemed to have forgotten their
+presence.
+
+Then the family knelt. How odd! Knelt down, each where he had been
+sitting, and the minister began to talk to God. It did not impress the
+visitors as prayer. They involuntarily looked around to see to whom he
+was talking. Laurie reddened again and dropped his face into his hands.
+He had met Opal's eyes and she was shaking with mirth, but somehow it
+affected him rawly. Suddenly he felt impelled to get to his knees. He
+seemed conspicuous reared up in a chair, and he slid noiselessly to the
+floor with a wrench of the hurt ankle that caused him to draw his brows
+in a frown. Opal, left alone in this room full of devout backs, grew
+suddenly grave. She felt almost afraid. She began to think of Saybrook
+Inn and the man lying there stark and dead! The man she had danced with
+but a week before! Dead! And for her! She cringed, and crouched down in
+her chair, till her beaded frock swept the polished floor in a little
+tinkley sound that seemed to echo all over the room, and before she knew
+it her fear of being alone had brought her to her knees. To be like the
+rest of the world--to be even more alike than anybody else in the world,
+that had always been her ambition. The motive of her life now brought
+her on her knees because others were there and she was afraid to sit
+above lest their God should come walking by and she should see Him and
+die! She did not know she put it that way to her soul, but she did, in
+the secret recesses of her inner dwelling.
+
+Before they had scarcely got to their knees and while that awkward hush
+was yet upon them the room was filled with the soft sound of
+singing, started by the minister, perhaps, or was it his wife? It was
+unaccompanied, "Abide with me, Fast falls the eventide, the darkness
+deepens, Lord with me abide!" Even Laurie joined an erratic high tenor
+humming in on the last verse, and Opal shuddered as the words were sung,
+"Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes, Shine through the dark and
+point me to the skies." Death was a horrible thing to her. She never
+wanted to be reminded of death. It was a long, long way off to her. She
+always drowned the thought in whatever amusement was at hand.
+
+The song died away just in time or Opal might have screamed. She was
+easily wrought up. And then this strange anomoly of a girl, her
+young hostess, turned to her with a natural smile just as if nothing
+extraordinary had been going on and said:
+
+"Now, shall we say good-night and go upstairs? I know you must be tired
+after your long ride, and I know father has had a hard day and would
+like to get the house settled for the night."
+
+Opal arose with a wild idea of screaming and running away, but she
+caught the twinkle of Laurie's eyes and knew he was laughing at her. So
+she relaxed into her habitual languor, and turning haughtily requested:
+
+"Would you send your maid to the cyar for my bag, please?"
+
+Before anyone could respond the minister stepped to the door with a
+courteous "Certainly," and presently returned with a great blue leather
+affair with silver mountings, and himself carried it up the stairs.
+
+At the head of the stairs Marilyn met him, and put her head on his
+shoulder hiding her face in his coat, and murmured, "Oh, Daddy!"
+
+Severn smoothed her soft hair and murmured gently: "There, there little
+girl! Pray! Pray! Our Father knows what's best!" but neither of them
+were referring to the matter of the unwelcome guests.
+
+Mrs. Severn was solicitous about asking if there was anything the guest
+would like, a glass of milk, or some fruit? And Opal declined curtly,
+made a little moue at Shafton and followed up the stairs.
+
+"Well!" she said rudely, as she entered the lovely room and stared
+around, "so this is your room!" Then she walked straight to the wall
+on the other side of the room where hung a framed photograph of Mark
+at twelve years old; Mark, with all the promise of his princely bearing
+already upon him.
+
+"So this is the perfect icicle of a stunning young prince that was down
+on the lawn, is it? I thought there was some reason for your frantic
+indifference to men. Is his name Billy or Mark? Laurie said it was
+either Billy or Mark, he wasn't sure which."
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+
+Mark Carter and Billy as they rode silently down the little street
+toward Aunt Saxon's cottage did not speak. They did not need to speak,
+these two. They had utmost confidence in one another, they were both
+troubled, and had no solution to offer for the difficulty. That was
+enough to seal any wise mouth. Only at the door as Billy climbed out
+Mark leaned toward him and said in a low growl:
+
+"You're all right, Kid! You're the best friend a man ever had! I
+appreciate what you did!"
+
+"Aw!" squirmed Billy, pulling down his cap, "That's awright! See
+you t'morra' Cart! S'long!" And Billy stalked slowly down the street
+remembering for the first time that he had his aunt yet to reckon with.
+
+With the man's way of taking the bull by the horns he stormed in:
+
+"Aw, Gee! I'm tired! Now, I'spose you'll bawl me out fer a nour, an' I
+couldn't help it! You always jump on me worst when I ain't to blame!"
+
+Aunt Saxon turned her pink damp face toward the prodigal and broke into
+a plaintive little smile:
+
+"Why, Willie, is that you? I'm real glad you've come. I've kept supper
+waiting. We've got cold pressed chicken, and I stirred up some waffles.
+I thought you'd like something hot."
+
+Billy stared, but the reaction was too much. In order to keep the sudden
+tears back he roared out crossly:
+
+"Well, I ain't hungry. You hadn't oughtta have waited. Pressed chicken,
+did ya say? Aw _Gee_! Just when I ain't hungry! Ef that ain't _luck_!
+An' waffles! You oughtta known better! But bring 'em on. I'll try what I
+can do," and he flung himself down in his chair at the table and rested
+a torn elbow on the clean cloth, and his weary head on a grimy hand. And
+then when she put the food before him, without even suggesting that
+he go first and wash, he became suddenly conscious of his dishevelled
+condition and went and washed his hands and face _without being sent_!
+Then he returned and did large justice to the meal, his aunt eyeing
+furtively with watery smiles, and a sigh of relief now and then. At last
+she ventured a word by way of conversation:
+
+"How is the man on the mountain?" Billy looked up sharply, startled out
+of his usual stolidity with which he had learned from early youth to
+mask all interest or emotion from an officious and curious world.
+
+Miss Saxon smiled:
+
+"Mrs. Carter told me how you and Mark went to help a man on the
+mountain. It was nice of you Billy."
+
+"Oh! _that_!" said Billy scornfully, rallying to screen his agitation,
+"Oh, he's better. He got up and went home. Oh, it wasn't nothing. I just
+went and helped Cart. Sorry not to get back to Sunday School Saxy, but I
+didn't think 'twould take so long."
+
+After that most unusual explanation, conversation languished, while
+Billy consumed the final waffle, after which he remarked gravely that if
+she didn't mind he'd go to bed. He paused at the foot of the stair
+with a new thoughtfulness to ask if she wanted any wood brought in for
+morning, and she cried all the time she was washing up the few dishes
+at his consideration of her. Perhaps, as Mrs. Severn had told her, there
+was going to come a change and Billy was really growing more manly.
+
+Billy, as he made his brief preparation for bed told himself that he
+couldn't sleep, he had too much to worry about and dope out, but his
+head had no more than touched the pillow till he was dead to the world.
+Whatever came on the morrow, whatever had happened the day before, Billy
+had to sleep it out before he was fit to think. And Billy slept.
+
+But up the street in the Carter house a light burned late in Mark's
+window, and Mark himself, his mother soothed and comforted and sent to
+sleep, sat up in his big leather chair that his mother had given him on
+the last birthday before he left home, and stared at the wall opposite
+where hung the picture of a little girl in a white dress with
+floating hair and starry eyes. In his face there grew a yearning and a
+hopelessness that was beyond anything to describe. It was like a face
+that is suffering pain of fire and studying to be brave, yet burns and
+suffers and is not consumed. That was the look in Mark Carter's eyes
+and around his finely chiseled lips. Once, when he was in that mood
+travelling on a railway carriage, a woman across the aisle had called
+her husband's attention to him. "Look at that man!" she said, "He looks
+like a lost soul!"
+
+For a long time he sat and stared at the picture, without a motion of
+his body, or without even the flicker of an eyelash, as if he were set
+there to see the panorama of his thoughts pass before him and see them
+through to the bitter end. His eyes were deep and gray. In boyhood they
+had held a wistful expectation of enchanting things and doing great
+deeds of valor. They were eyes that dream, and believe, and are happy
+even suffering, so faith remain and love be not denied. But faith had
+been struck a deadly blow in these eyes now, and love had been
+cast away. The eyes looked old and tired and unbelieving, yet still
+searching, searching, though seeing dimly, and yet more dim every day,
+searching for the dreams of childhood and knowing they would never come
+again. Feeling sure that they might not come again because he had shut
+the door against them with his own hand, and by his own act cut the
+bridge on which they might have crossed from heaven to him.
+
+A chastened face, humbled by suffering when alone, but proud and
+unyielding still before others. Mark Carter looking over his past knew
+just where he had started down this road of pain, just where he had
+made the first mistake, sinned the first sin, chosen pride instead of
+humility, the devil instead of God. And to-night Mark Carter sat and
+faced the immediate future and saw what was before him. As if a painted
+map lay out there on the wall before him, he saw the fire through which
+he must pass, and the way it would scorch the faces of those he loved,
+and his soul cried out in anguish at the sight. Back, back over his past
+life he tramped again and again. Days when he and Lynn and her father
+and mother had gone off on little excursions, with a lunch and a dog
+and a book, and all the world of nature as their playground. A little
+thought, a trifling word that had been spoken, some bit of beauty at
+which they looked, an ant they watched struggling with a crumb too heavy
+for it, a cluster of golden leaves or the scarlet berries of the squaw
+vine among the moss. How the memories made his heart ache as he thought
+them out of the past.
+
+And the books they had read aloud, sometimes the minister, sometimes his
+wife doing the reading, but always he was counted into the little circle
+as if they were a family. He had come to look upon them as his second
+father and mother. His own father he had never known.
+
+His eyes sought the bookcase near at hand. There they were, some of them
+birthday gifts and Christmases, and he had liked nothing better than
+a new book which he always carried over to be read in the company. Oh,
+those years! How the books marked their going! Even way back in his
+little boyhood! "Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates." He touched its
+worn blue back and silver letters scarcely discernible. "The Call of the
+Wild." How he had thrilled to the sorrows of that dog! And how many life
+lessons had been wrapped up in the creature's experience! How had he
+drifted so far away from it all? How could he have done it? No one had
+pushed him, he had gone himself. He knew the very moment when after days
+of agony he had made the awful decision, scarcely believing himself that
+he meant to stick by it; hoping against hope that some great miracle
+would come to pass that should change it all and put him back where he
+longed to be! How he had prayed and prayed in his childish faith and
+agony for the miracle, and--_it had not come!_ God had gone back on him.
+He had not kept His promises! And then he had deliberately given up his
+faith. He could think back over all the days and weeks that led up to
+this. Just after the time when he had been so happy; had felt that he
+was growing up, and understanding so many of the great problems of life.
+The future looked rosy before him, because he felt that he was beginning
+to grasp wisdom and the sweetness of things. How little he had known of
+his own foolishness and sinfulness!
+
+It was just after they had finished reading and discussing Dante's
+Vision. What a wonderful man Mr. Severn was that he had taken two
+children and guided them through that beautiful, fearful, wonderful
+story! How it had impressed him then, and stayed with him all these
+awful months and days since he had trodden the same fiery way--!
+
+He reached his hand out for the book, bound in dull blue cloth, the
+symbol of its serious import. He had not opened the book since they
+finished it and Mr. Severn had handed it over to him and told him to
+keep it, as he had another copy. He opened the book as if it had been
+the coffin of his beloved, and there between the dusty pages lay a bit
+of blue ribbon, creased with the pages, and jagged on the edges because
+it had been cut with a jack knife. And lying smooth upon it in a golden
+curve a wisp of a yellow curl, just a section of one of Marilyn's, the
+day she put her hair up, and did away with the curls! He had cut the
+ribbon from the end of a great bow that held the curls at the back of
+her head, and then he had laughingly insisted on a piece of the curl,
+and they had made a great time collecting the right amount of hair, for
+Marilyn insisted it must not make a rough spot for her to brush. Then he
+had laid it in the book, the finished book, and shut it away carefully,
+and gone home, and the next day,--the very next day, the thing had
+happened!
+
+He turned the leaves sadly:
+
+ "In midway of this our mortal life,
+  I found me in a gloomy wood, astray
+  Gone from the path direct:--"
+
+It startled him, so well it fitted with his mood. It was himself, and
+yet he could remember well how he had felt for the writer when he heard
+it first. Terrible to sit here to-night and know it was himself all the
+time the tale had been about! He turned a page or two and out from the
+text there stood a line:
+
+ "All hope abandon ye who enter here."
+
+That was the matter with himself. He had abandoned all hope. Over the
+leaf his eye ran down the page:
+
+ "This miserable fate
+  Suffer the wretched souls of those who lived
+  Without praise or blame, with that ill band
+  Of angels mixed, who nor rebellious proved
+  Nor yet were true to God, but for themselves
+  Were only."
+
+How well he remembered the minister's little comments as he read, how
+the sermons had impressed themselves upon his heart as he listened,
+and yet here he was, himself, in hell! He turned over the pages again
+quickly unable to get away from the picture that grew in his mind, the
+vermilion towers and minarets, the crags and peaks, the "little brook,
+whose crimson'd wave, yet lifts my hair with horror," he could see it
+all as if he had lived there many years. Strange he had not thought
+before of the likeness of his life to this. He read again:
+
+ "O Tuscan! thou who through the city of fire
+  Alive art passing,--"
+
+Yes, that was it. A City of Fire. He dwelt in a City of Fire! Hell!
+There was a hell on earth to-day and mortals entered it and dwelt there.
+He lived in that City of Fire continually now. He expected to live there
+forever. He had sinned against God and his better self, and had begun
+his eternal life on earth. It was too late ever to turn back. "All
+Hope abandon, ye who enter here." He had read it and defied it. He had
+entered knowing what he was about, and thinking, poor fool that he was,
+that he was doing a wise and noble thing for the sake of another.
+
+Over in the little parsonage, the white souled girl was walking in an
+earthly heaven. Ah! There was nothing, _nothing_ they had in common now
+any more. She lived in the City of Hope and he in the City of Fire.
+
+He flung out the book from him and dropped his face into his hands
+crying softly under his breath, "Oh, Lynn, Lynn--Marilyn!"
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+
+For one instant Lynn stood against the closed door, flaming with anger,
+her eyes flashing fire as they well knew how to flash at times. Then
+suddenly her lips set close in a fine control the fire died out of her
+eyes, she drew a deep breath, and a quick whimsical smile lighted up her
+face, which nevertheless did not look in the least like one subdued:
+
+"You know I could get very angry at that if I chose and we'd have
+all kinds of a disagreeable time, but I think it would be a little
+pleasanter for us both if you would cut that out, don't you?" She said
+it in a cool little voice that sounded like one in entire command of the
+situation, and Opal turned around and stared at her admiringly. Then
+she laughed one of her wild silvery laughs that made them say she had a
+lute-like voice, and sauntered over toward her hostess:
+
+"You certainly are a queer girl!" she commented, "I suppose it would be
+better to be friends, inasmuch as we're to be roommates. Will you smoke
+with me?" and out from the depths of a beaded affair that was a part of
+her frock and yet looked more like a bag than a pocket, she drew forth a
+gold cigarette case and held it out.
+
+Marilyn controlled the growing contempt in her face and answered with
+spirit:
+
+"No, I don't smoke. And you won't smoke either--_not in here!_ I'm sorry
+to seem inhospitable, but we don't do things like that around here, and
+if you have to smoke you'll have to go out doors."
+
+"Oh, really?" Opal arched her already permanently arched, plucked brows
+and laughed again. "Well, you certainly have lots of pep. I believe I'm
+going to like you. Let's sit down and you tell me about yourself?"
+
+"Why don't _you_ tell me about _yourself_?" hedged Marilyn relaxing into
+a chair and leaving the deep leather one for her guest, "I'm really a
+very simple affair, just a country girl very glad to get home after four
+years at college. There's nothing complex and nothing to tell I assure
+you."
+
+"You're entirely too sophisticated for all that simplicity," declared
+Opal, "I suppose it's college that has given you so much poise. But why
+aren't you impressed with Laurie? Simply _everybody_ is impressed with
+Laurie! I don't believe you even know who he is!"
+
+Lynn laughed:
+
+"How should I? And what difference would it make any way? As for being
+impressed, he gave me the impression of a very badly spoiled boy out
+trying to have his own way, and making a great fuss because he couldn't
+get it."
+
+"And you didn't know that his father is William J. Shafton, the
+multi-millionaire?" Opal brought the words out like little sharp points
+that seemed to glitter affluently as she spoke them.
+
+"No," said Marilyn, "I didn't know. But it doesn't matter. We hadn't
+anything better to offer him than we've given, and I don't know why I
+should have been impressed by that. A man is what he is, isn't he? Not
+what his father is. He isn't your--_brother_--is he? I was over at the
+church when you arrived and didn't hear the introductions. I didn't even
+get your name."
+
+Opal laughed uproariously as if the subject were overwhelmingly amusing:
+
+"No," she said recovering, "I'm just Opal. Fire Opal they call me
+sometimes, and Opalescence. That's Laurie's name for me, although lately
+he's taken to calling me Effervescence. No, he's not my brother little
+Simple Lady, he's just one of my friends. Now don't look shocked. I'm
+a naughty married lady run off on a spree for a little fun." Marilyn
+regarded her thoughtfully:
+
+"Now stop looking at me with those solemn eyes! Tell me what you were
+thinking about me! I'd lots rather hear it. It would be something
+original, I'm sure. You're nothing if not original!"
+
+"I was just wondering why," said Marilyn still thoughtfully.
+
+"Why what?"
+
+"_Why._ Why you did it. Why you wanted to be that kind of a married
+woman when the real kind is so much more beautiful and satisfactory."
+
+"What do you know about it?" blazed Opal, "You've never been married,
+have you?"
+
+"My mother has had such a wonderful life with my father--and my father
+with my mother!"
+
+Opal stared at her amazed for an instant, then shrugged her shoulders
+lightly:
+
+"Oh, _that!_" she said and laughed disagreeably, "If one wants to be a
+saint, perhaps, but there aren't many _men_-saints I can tell you! You
+haven't seen my husband or you wouldn't talk like that! Imagine living a
+saintly life with Ed Verrons! But my dear, wait till you're married! You
+won't talk that rubbish any more!"
+
+"I shall never marry unless I can," said Lynn decidedly, "It would be
+terrible to marry some one I could not love and trust!"
+
+"Oh, love!" said Opal contemptuously, "You can love any one you want
+to for a little while. Love doesn't last. It's just a play you soon get
+tired to death of. But if that's the way you feel don't pin your trust
+and your love as you call it to that princely icicle we saw down on the
+lawn. He's seen more of the world than you know. I saw it in his eyes.
+There! Now don't set your eyes to blazing again. I won't mention him any
+more to-night. And don't worry about me, I'm going to be good and run
+back to-morrow morning in time to meet my dear old hubby in the evening
+when he gets back from a week's fishing in the Adirondacks, and he'll
+never guess what a frolic I've had. But you certainly do amuse me with
+your indifference. Wait till Laurie gets in some of his work on you. I
+can see he's crazy already about you, and if I don't decide to carry him
+off with me in the morning I'll miss my guess if he doesn't show you
+how altogether charming the son of William J. Shafton can be. He never
+failed to have a girl fall for him yet, not one that he _went_ after,
+and he's been after a good many girls I can tell you."
+
+Lynn arose suddenly, her chin a bit high, a light of determination in
+her eyes. She felt herself growing angry again:
+
+"Come and look at my view of the moon on the valley," she said
+suddenly, pulling aside the soft scrim curtain and letting in a flood of
+moonlight. "Here, I'll turn out the light so you can see better. Isn't
+that beautiful?"
+
+She switched off the lights and the stranger drew near apathetically,
+gazing out into the beauty of the moonlight as it touched the houses
+half hidden in the trees and vines, and flooded the Valley stretching
+far away to the feet of the tall dark mountains.
+
+"I hate mountains!" shuddered Opal, "They make me afraid! I almost ran
+over a precipice when I was coming here yesterday. If I have to go back
+that same way I shall take Laurie, or if he won't go I'll cajole that
+stunning prince of yours if you don't mind. I loathe being alone. That's
+why I ran down here to see Laurie!"
+
+But Lynn had switched on the lights and turned from the window. Her face
+was cold and her voice hard:
+
+"Suppose we go to bed," she said, "will you have the bed next the window
+or the door? And what shall I get for you? Have you everything? See,
+here is the bathroom. Father and mother had it built for me for my
+birthday. And the furniture is some of mother's grandmother's. They had
+it done over for me."
+
+"It's really a dandy room!" said Opal admiringly, "I hadn't expected
+to find anything like this," she added without seeming to know she was
+patronizing. "You are the only child, aren't you? Your father and mother
+just dote on you too. That must be nice. We had a whole houseful at
+home, three girls and two boys, and after father lost his money and had
+to go to a sanitarium we had frightful times, never any money to buy
+anything, the girls always fighting over who should have silk stockings,
+and mother crying every night when we learned to smoke. Of course mother
+was old fashioned. I hated to have her weeping around all the time, but
+all our set smoked and what could I do? So I just took the first good
+chance to get married and got out of it all. And Ed isn't so bad. Lots
+of men are worse. And he gives me all the money I want. One thing the
+girls don't have to fight over silk stockings and silk petticoats any
+more. I send them all they want. And I manage to get my good times
+in now and then too. But tell me, what in the world do you do in this
+sleepy little town? Don't you get bored to death? I should think you'd
+get your father to move to the city. There must be plenty of churches
+where a good looking minister like your father could get a much bigger
+salary than out in the country like this. When I get back to New York
+I'll send for you to visit me and show you a real good time. I suppose
+you've never been to cabarets and eaten theatre suppers, and seen a real
+New York good time. Why, last winter I had an affair that was talked of
+in the papers for days. I had the whole lower floor decorated as a wood
+you know, with real trees set up, and mossy banks, and a brook running
+through it all. It took days for the plumbers to get the fittings in,
+and then they put stones in the bottom, and gold fish, and planted
+violets on the banks and all kinds of ferns and lilies of the valley,
+everywhere there were flowers blossoming so the guests could pick as
+many as they wanted. The stream was deep enough to float little canoes,
+and they stopped in grottoes for champagne, and when they came to a
+shallow place they had to get out and take off their shoes and stockings
+and wade in the brook. On the opposite bank a maid was waiting with
+towels. The ladies sat down on the bank and their escorts had to wipe
+their feet and help them on with their shoes and stockings again, and
+you ought to have heard the shouts of laughter! It certainly was a great
+time! Upstairs in the ball room we had garden walks all about, with all
+kinds of flowers growing, and real birds flying around, and the walls
+were simply covered with American beauty roses and wonderful climbers,
+in such bowers that the air was heavy with perfume. The flowers alone
+cost thousands--What's the matter? Did you hear something fall? You
+startled me, jumping up like that! You're nervous aren't you? Don't you
+think music makes people nervous?"
+
+Marilyn smiled pathetically, and dropped back to the edge of her bed:
+
+"Pardon me," she said, "I was just in one of my tempers again. I get
+them a lot but I'm trying to control them. I happened to think of the
+little babies I saw in the tenement districts when I was in New York
+last. Did you ever go there? They wear one little garment, and totter
+around in the cold street trying to play, with no stockings, and shoes
+out at the toes. Sometimes they haven't enough to eat, and their mothers
+are so wretchedly poor and sorrowful--!"
+
+"Mercy!" shuddered Opal, "How morbid you are! What ever did you go to a
+place like that for? I always keep as far away from unpleasant things as
+I can. I cross the street if I see a blind beggar ahead. I just loathe
+misery! But however did you happen to think of them when I was telling
+you about my beautiful ball room decorations?"
+
+Lynn twinkled:
+
+"I guess you wouldn't understand me," she said slowly, "but I was
+thinking of all the good those thousands of dollars would have done if
+they had been spent on babies and not on flowers."
+
+"Gracious!" said Opal. "I _hate_ babies! Ed is crazy about them, and
+would like to have the house full, but I gave him to understand what I
+thought about that before we were married."
+
+"I _love_ babies," said Marilyn. "They want me to go this Fall and do
+some work in that settlement, and I'm considering it. If it only weren't
+for leaving father and mother again--but I do love the babies and the
+little children. I want to gather them all and do so many things for
+them. You know they are all God's babies, and it seems pitiful for them
+to have to be in such a dreadful world as some of them have!"
+
+"Oh, _God_!" shuddered Opal quite openly now, "Don't talk about God!
+I _hate_ God! He's just killed one of my best men friends! I wish you
+wouldn't talk about God!"
+
+Marilyn looked at her sadly, contemplatively, and then twitched her
+mouth into a little smile:
+
+"We're not getting on very well, are we? I don't like your costly
+entertainments, and you don't like my best Friend! I'm sorry. I must
+seem a little prude to you I'm afraid, but really, God is not what you
+think. You wouldn't hate Him, you would love Him,--if you _knew_ Him."
+
+"Fancy knowing God--as you would your other friends! How _dreadful_!
+Let's go to bed!"
+
+Opal began to get out her lovely brushes and toilet paraphernalia and
+Lynn let down her wonderful golden mane and began to brush it, looking
+exquisite in a little blue dimity kimona delicately edged with'
+valenciennes. Opal made herself radiant in a rose-chiffon and old-point
+negligee and went through numerous gyrations relating to the complexion,
+complaining meanwhile of the lack of a maid.
+
+But after the lights were out, and Lynn kneeling silently by her bed in
+the moonlight, Opal lay on the other bed and watched her wonderingly,
+and when a few minutes later, Marilyn rose softly and crept into bed as
+quietly as possible lest she disturb her guest, Opal spoke:
+
+"I wonder what you would do if a man--the man you liked best in all the
+world,--had got killed doing something to please you. It makes you go
+_crazy_ when you think of it--someone you've danced with lying dead that
+way all alone. I wonder what _you'd do_!"
+
+Lynn brought her mind back from her own sorrows and prayers with a jerk
+to the problem of this strange guest. She did not answer for a moment,
+then she said very slowly:
+
+"I think--I don't know--but I _think_ I should go right to God and ask
+Him what to do. I think nobody else could show what ought to be done.
+There wouldn't be anything else to do!"
+
+"Oh, _murder_!" said Opal turning over in bed quickly, and hiding her
+face in the pillow, and there was in the end of her breath just the
+suggestion of a shriek of fear.
+
+But far, far into the night Marilyn lay on her sleepless pillow, her
+heart crying out to God: "Oh, save Mark! Take care of Mark! Show him the
+way back again!"
+
+Afar in the great city a message stole on a wire through the night, and
+presently the great presses were hot with its import, printing thousands
+and thousands of extras for early morning consumption, with headlines in
+enormous letters across the front page:
+
+"LAURENCE SHAFTON, SON OF WILLIAM J. SHAFTON, KIDNAPPED!"
+
+"Mrs. Shafton is lying in nervous collapse as the result of threats from
+kidnappers who boldly called her up on the phone and demanded a king's
+ransom, threatening death to the son if the plot was revealed before ten
+o'clock this morning. The faithful mother gathered her treasures which
+included the famous Shafton Emeralds, and a string of pearls worth a
+hundred thousand dollars, and let them down from her window as directed,
+and then fainted, knowing nothing more till her maid hearing her fall,
+rushed into the room and found her unconscious. When roused she became
+hysterical and told what had happened. Then remembering the threat of
+death for telling ahead of time she became crazy with grief, and it was
+almost impossible to soothe her. The maid called her family physician,
+explaining all she knew, and the matter was at once put into the hands
+of capable detectives who are doing all they know how to locate the
+missing son, who has been gone only since Saturday evening; and also to
+find the missing jewels and other property, and it is hoped that before
+evening the young man will be found."
+
+Meantime, Laurence Shafton slept soundly and late in the minister's
+study, and knew nothing of the turmoil and sorrow of his doting family.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+
+Though Mark had scarcely slept at all the night before he was on hand
+long before the city-bred youth was awake, taking apart the big machine
+that stood in front of the parsonage. Like a skillful physician he
+tested its various valves and compartments, went over its engine
+carefully, and came at last to the seat of the trouble which the
+minister had diagnosed the night before.
+
+Lynn with dark circles under her eyes had wakened early and slipped down
+to the kitchen to help her mother and the little maid of all work who
+lived down the street and was a member of the Sunday School and an
+important part of the family. It was Naomi who discovered the young
+mechanic at the front door. There was not much that Naomi did not
+see. She announced his presence to Marilyn as she was filling the salt
+cellars for breakfast. Marilyn looked up startled, and met her mother's
+eyes full of comfort and reassurance. Somehow when Mark came quietly
+about in that helpful way of his it was impossible not to have the old
+confidence in him, the old assurance that all would soon be right, the
+old explanation that Mark was always doing something quietly for others
+and never taking care for himself. Marilyn let her lips relax into a
+smile and went about less heavy of heart. Surely, surely, somehow, Mark
+would clear himself of these awful things that were being said about
+him. Surely the day would bring forth a revelation. And Mark's action
+last night when he refused to speak with her, refused to let her touch
+his arm, and called himself unworthy was all for her sake; all because
+he did not want her name sullied with a breath of the scandal that
+belonged to him. Mark would be that way. He would protect her always,
+even though he did not belong to her, even though he were not her
+friend.
+
+She was almost cheerful again, when at last the dallying guests
+appeared for a late breakfast. Mark was still working at the car, filing
+something with long steady grinding noises. She had seen him twice from
+the window, but she did not venture out. Mark had not wished her to
+speak to him, she would not go against his wish,--at least not now--not
+until the guests were out of the way. That awful girl should have no
+further opportunity to say things to her about Mark. She would keep out
+of his way until they were gone. Oh, pray that the car would be fixed
+and they pass on their way at once! Later, if there were opportunity,
+she would find a way to tell Mark that he should not refuse her
+friendship. What was friendship if it could not stand the strain of
+falsehood and gossip, and even scandal if necessary. She was not ashamed
+to let Mark know she would be his friend forever. There was nothing
+unmaidenly in that. Mark would understand her. Mark had always
+understood her. And so she cheered her heavy heart through the breakfast
+hour, and the foolish jesting of the two that sounded to her anxious
+ears, in the language of scripture, like the "crackling of thorns under
+a pot."
+
+But at last they finished the breakfast and shoved their chairs back to
+go and look at the car. Mr. Severn and his wife had eaten long ago and
+gone about their early morning duties, and it had been Marilyn's duty to
+do the honors for the guests, so she drew a sigh of relief, and, evading
+Laurie's proffered arm slid into the pantry and let them go alone.
+
+But when she glanced through the dining-room window a few minutes later
+as she passed removing the dishes from the table, she saw Mark upon his
+knees beside the car, looking up with his winning smile and talking
+to Opal, who stood close beside him all attention, with her little boy
+attitude, and a wide childlike look in her big effective eyes. Something
+big and terrible seemed to seize Marilyn's heart with a vise-like grip,
+and be choking her breath in her throat. She turned quickly, gathered up
+her pile of dishes and hurried into the pantry, her face white and set,
+and her eyes stinging with proud unshed tears.
+
+A few minutes later, dressed in brown riding clothes exquisitely
+tailored, and a soft brown felt hat, she might have been seen hurrying
+through the back fence, if anybody had been looking that way, across the
+Joneses' lot to the little green stable that housed a riding horse that
+was hers to ride whenever she chose. She had left word with Naomi that
+she was going to Economy and would be back in time for lunch, and she
+hoped in her heart that when she returned both of their guests would
+have departed. It was perhaps a bit shabby of her to leave it all on her
+mother this way, but mother would understand, and very likely be glad.
+
+So Lynn mounted her little brown horse and rode by a circuitous way,
+across the creek, and out around the town to avoid passing her own home,
+and was presently on her way up to the crossroads down which Laurie
+Shafton had come in the dark midnight.
+
+As she crossed the Highway, she noticed the Detour, and paused an
+instant to study the peculiar sign, and the partly cleared way around.
+And while she stood wondering a car came swiftly up from the Economy way
+past the Blue Duck Tavern. The driver bowed and smiled and she perceived
+it was the Chief of Police from Economy, a former resident of Sabbath
+Valley, and very much respected in the community, and with him in the
+front seat, was another uniformed policeman!
+
+With a sudden constriction at her heart Marilyn bowed and rode on. Was
+he going to Sabbath Valley? Was there truth in the rumor that Mark was
+in trouble? She looked back to see if he had turned down the Highway,
+but he halted the car with its nose pointed Sabbath Valleyward and got
+out to examine the Detour on the Highway. She rode slowly and turned
+around several times, but as long as she was in sight his car remained
+standing pointed toward the Valley.
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+
+Billy awoke to the light of day with the sound of a strange car going
+by. The road through Sabbath Valley was not much frequented, and Billy
+knew every car that usually travelled that way. They were mostly Economy
+and Monopoly people, and as there happened to be a mountain trolley
+between the two towns higher up making a circuit to touch at Brooktown,
+people seldom came this way. Therefore at the unusual sound Billy was on
+the alert at once. One movement brought him upright with his feet upon
+the floor blinking toward his window, a second carried him to shelter
+behind the curtain where he could see the stranger go by.
+
+Billy had reduced the science of dressing to a fine degree. He could
+climb into the limited number of summer garments in less time than any
+boy in the community, and when he saw that the car had halted just above
+the house and that the driver was interviewing Jim Rafferty, he reached
+for a handful of garments, and began to climb, keeping one eye out the
+window for developments. Was that or was it not the Chief's car out
+there? If it was what did it want?
+
+Billy was in socks, trousers and shirt by the time the car began to puff
+again for starting, and he stove his feet into his old shoes and dove
+down stairs three steps at a stride and out the door where he suddenly
+became a casual observer of the day.
+
+"Hullo, Billy! That you?" accosted the Chief driving slowly down the
+street, "Say, Billy, you haven't seen Mark Carter, have you? They said
+he had gone down to the blacksmith's to get something fixed for a car. I
+thought perhaps you'd seen him go by."
+
+Billy shook his head lazily:
+
+"Nope," he said, "I've been busy this morning. He mighta gone by."
+
+"Well I'll just drive down and see!" The car started on and turned into
+the Lane that led to the blacksmith shop.
+
+Billy dove into the house, made short work of his ablutions, gave his
+hair a brief lick with the brush, collected his cap and sweater, bolted
+the plate of breakfast Aunt Saxon had left on the back of the stove when
+she went away for her regular Monday's wash, and was ready behind the
+lilac bush with old trusty, down on his knees oiling her a bit, when
+the Chief drove back with Mark Carter in the back seat looking strangely
+white and haughty, but talking affably with the Chief.
+
+His heart sank. Somehow he knew something was wrong with Mark. Mark
+was in his old clothes with several pieces of iron in his hand as if he
+hadn't taken time to lay them down. Billy remained in hiding and watched
+while the Chief's car stopped at Carter's and Mark got out. The car
+waited several minutes, and then Mark came out with his good clothes on
+and his best hat, and got into the car and they drove off, Mark looking
+stern and white. Billy shot out from his hiding and mounting his steed
+flew down the road, keeping well behind the maples and hedges, and when
+the Chief's car stopped in front of the parsonage he dismounted and
+stepped inside Joneses' drive to listen. Mark got out, sprang up the
+steps, touched the bell, and said to someone who appeared at the door,
+"Mr. Shafton, I'm sorry, but I'll not be able to get those bearings
+fixed up to-day. The blacksmith doesn't seem to have anything that
+will do. I find I have to go over to Economy on business, and I'll look
+around there and see if anybody has any. I expect to be back by twelve
+o'clock, and will you tell the lady that I will be ready to start at
+half-past if that will suit her. I am sure we shall have plenty of time
+to get her to Beechwood by five or sooner. If anything occurs to keep
+me from going I'll telephone you in an hour, so that she can make other
+arrangements. Thank you, Mr. Shafton. Sorry I couldn't fix you up right
+away, but I'll look after the lady for you." Mark hurried back to the
+car again and they drove off.
+
+Billy escorted the Department of Justice distantly, as far as the
+Crossing at the Highway, from which eminence he watched until he saw
+that they stopped at the Blue Duck Tavern for a few minutes, after which
+they went on toward Economy; then he inspected the recent clearing of
+his detour, obviously by the Chief, and hurried down the Highway toward
+the railroad Crossing at Pleasant View. It was almost train time, and he
+had a hunch that there might be something interesting around that hidden
+telephone. If he only had had more time he might have arranged to tap
+the wire and listen in without having to go so near, but he must do the
+best he could.
+
+When he reached a point on the Highway where Pleasant View station
+was easily discernible he dismounted, parked his wheel among the
+huckleberries, and slid into the green of the Valley. Stealing
+cautiously to the scene of the Saturday night hold-up he finally
+succeeded in locating the hidden telephone, and creeping into a well
+screened spot not far away arranged himself comfortably to wait till the
+trains came. He argued that Pat would likely come down to report or get
+orders about the same time as before, and so in the stillness of the
+morning he lay on the ground and waited. He could hear a song sparrow
+high up on the telegraph wire, sing out its wild sweet lonely strain:
+Sweet--sweetsweetsweet--sweetsweet--sweetsweet--! and a hum of bees
+in the wild grape that trailed over the sassafras trees. Beside him a
+little wood spider stole noiselessly on her busy way. But his heart was
+heavy with new burdens and he could not take his usual rhapsodic joy in
+the things of Nature. What was happening to Mark and what could he do
+about it? Perhaps Mark would have been better off if he had left him
+in the old house on Stark's mountain. The chief couldn't have found him
+then and the kidnappers would have kept him safe for a good many days
+till they got some money. But there wouldn't have _been_ any money! For
+Mark wasn't the right man! And the kidnappers would have found it out
+pretty soon and _what_ would they have done to Mark? Killed him perhaps
+so they wouldn't get into any more trouble! There was no telling! And
+time would have gone on and nobody would have known what had become of
+Mark. And the murder trial--if it was really a murder--would come off
+and they couldn't find Mark, and of course they would think Mark had
+killed the man and then run away. And Mark would never be able to come
+home again! No, he was glad Mark was out and safe and free from dope.
+At least Mark would know what to do to save himself. Or would he? Billy
+suddenly had his doubts. Would Mark take care of himself, just himself,
+or not? Mark was always looking after other people, but he had somehow
+always let people say and do what they would with him. Aw gee! Now Mark
+wouldn't let them locate a thing like a murder on him, would he? And
+there was Miss Lynn! And Mark's mother! Mark oughtta think of them.
+Well, maybe he wouldn't realize how much they did care. Billy had a
+sudden revelation that maybe that was half the matter, Mark didn't know
+how much any of them cared. Back in his mind there was an uncomfortable
+memory of Aunt Saxon's pink damp features and anxious eyes and a
+possible application of the same principle to his own life, as in the
+case of Judas. But he wasn't considering himself now. There might come a
+time when he would have to change his tactics with regard to Aunt Saxon
+somewhat. She certainly had been a good sport last night. But this
+wasn't the time to consider that. He had a great deal more important
+matters to think of now. He had to find out how he could make it
+perfectly plain to the world that Mark Carter had not shot a man after
+twelve o'clock Saturday night at the Blue Duck Tavern. And as yet he
+didn't see any way without incriminating himself as a kidnapper. This
+cut deep because in the strict sense of the word he was not a kidnapper,
+because he hadn't meant to be a kidnapper. He had only meant to play a
+joke on the kidnappers, and at worst his only really intended fault
+had been the putting up of that detour on the Highway. But he had an
+uncomfortable conviction that he wouldn't be able to make the Chief and
+the Constable, and some of those people over at Economy Court House see
+it that way. As matters stood he was safe if he kept his mouth shut.
+Nobody knew but Mark, and he didn't know the details. Besides, Mark
+would never tell. Mark would even go to trial for murder before he would
+let himself out by telling on Billy, Billy knew that as well as he knew
+that the old mountain on whose feet he lay stretched now would stand up
+there for ages and always keep his secret for him. Mark was that
+way. That was why it made it worse for Billy. Judas again! Billy was
+surprised to find how much Judas-blood there seemed to be in him. He
+lay there and despised himself without being able to help himself out or
+think of anything he could do. And then quite suddenly as he was going
+over the whole circumstance from the time he first listened to Pat's
+message into the moss of the mountain, until now, the name Shafton
+came to him. Laurence Shafton. Shafton, son of William J., of Gates
+and Shafton. Those were the words the telephone had squeaked out quite
+plainly. And Shafton. Mr. Shafton. That was the name Mark had called the
+guy with the car at the parsonage. Mr. Shafton. The same guy, of course.
+Bah! What a mess he had made of it all. Got Mark kidnapped, landed that
+sissy-guy on the Severns for no knowing how long, and perhaps helped to
+tangle Mark up in a murder case. Aw Gee! There's the train! What could
+he do? That rich guy! Well, there wasn't anything to that. He would
+get out as soon as Mark got his car fixed up and never know he had
+been kidnapped. And what was he, Billy, waiting here for anyway? Just
+a chance! Just to see whether Pat and Sam had found out yet that their
+quarry had vanished. Just to wonder what had become of Link and Shorty.
+
+The trains came and went, and the hush settled down once more at the
+station. From where he lay, hidden under a ledge, with a thick growth
+of laurel and sumac between him and the world, Billy could not see the
+station platform, and had no means of telling whether Pat was about or
+not.
+
+He had lain still a long time and was beginning to think that his trip
+had been in vain, when he heard a soft crackling of the twigs above him,
+a heavy tread crashing through the bushes, a puffing snorting breath
+from the porpoise-like Pat, and he held his own breath and lay very
+still. Suppose Pat should take a new trail and discover his hiding
+place? His heart pounded with great dull thuds. But Pat slid heavily
+down to the little clearing below him, fumbled a moment with his key,
+and then in a gruff guarded voice called:
+
+"Hullo! Hullo! Sam? That you? Yes, aw'right! Yes, aw'right! How's
+things? What? Hell's to pay? Whaddaya mean hell? Ain't you gonta put
+it over? After all my trouble you ain't a gonta let that million slip
+through? What? Oh! Who? The Valet? He's beat it, has he? Whaddaya mean?
+_He_ took 'em? _He_ took the pearls an' diamonds? Well, Em'ruls then!
+What's tha diffrunce? _We_ ain't gottum have we? Oh, bonds too! Well,
+whattya gonta do about it? Move him? What, the rich guy? Move him where?
+_Why?_ We ain'ta gonta run no more risks. Link an' Shorty are sore 'za
+pup when they come. I don't think they'll stan' for it. Well, where'll
+ya move him? Who? Shorty? Oh, Link? Both? Well, I ain't seen 'em. I tol'
+'em to keep good an' far away from me. I don't build on loosin' this job
+just now, See? What? It's in the papers a'ready? You don't say! Well,
+who you figger done that? That Valet? Well, where's the harm? Can't
+you work it all the better? We got the guy, ain't we? _He_ ain't gottim
+that's certain. We c'n deliver the goods, so we get the reward. How much
+reward they offerin? You don't say! Well, I should say, get in yer work
+soon 'fore we get caught. Aw'right! I'm with ya. Well, s'long! I'll be
+down here at nine sharp. Take a trip to China with ya next week ef ya
+pull it off. Aw'right! Goobby!" and Pat hung up and puffed his way up
+the hill again, leaving Billy drenched with perspiration and filled with
+vague plans, and deep anxiety. He had got a clue but what good was it?
+How could he work it to the salvation of Mark? He could easily put the
+sissy over at the parsonage wise, do him a good turn, save his dad some
+money, but what good would that do Mark? Mark needed to establish an
+alibi, he could see that with half an eye, but how would anything Billy
+knew help that along unless--unless he told on himself? For a moment a
+long trail of circumstances that would surely follow such a sacrificial
+ordinance appeared before him and burned into his soul, most prominent
+among them being Aunt Saxon, hard worked and damp-pink-eyed, crying her
+heart out for the boy she had tried faithfully to bring up. And Miss
+Lynn. How sad her eyes would grow if Billy had to be tried and sentenced
+to prison. Not that Billy was afraid to go to prison, in fact the
+thought of it as an experience was rather exhilirating than not, but
+he was afraid to have those two know he had gone, afraid of their
+eyes, their sad eyes! Yes, and he was afraid of the thought of his own
+ingratitude, for down deep in his heart he could see a long line of
+things Aunt Saxon had done for him that she hadn't been obliged to do.
+Going without a new winter coat to get him an overcoat. His old one
+was warm, but his arms were out of it too far and he wouldn't wear it.
+Sitting up nights the time he drank swamp water and had the fever! That
+was fierce! How he did rag her! And how patiently she bore it! The scare
+she had when the dog bit him! As if a little dog bite was anything!
+Doggone it, why were women such fools!
+
+And now this! Billy sat up with a jerk and shook himself free from the
+dead moss and leaves, wending his way sulkily across to where he had
+left his wheel, and pondering--pondering. "Shafton!" There ought to be
+something there to work on, but there wasn't!
+
+Meantime Marilyn rode hard down the way to Economy, not slowing her
+pony till they reached the outskirts of Economy. Her mind was in such a
+tumult that she felt as if she were being whirled on with circumstances
+without having a will to choose one thing from another. Mark! The
+unwelcome guests! Mark and Opal! Mark and Cherry! _Cherry!_ The Chief of
+Police! Mark! And yes, Cherry! She was on her way to see _Cherry!_ But
+what was she going to do when she got there, and how was she to excuse
+her strange visit after almost five years since she had seen the child?
+If there was truth in the rumor that she was connected with a shooting
+affair at the Blue Duck, and especially if there was truth in the charge
+that Mark had been going with her, would it not seem strange--perhaps
+be misconstrued by Cherry? By her family? They had all known of her own
+intimacy with Mark in the past. She shrank from the idea. Yet Marilyn
+Severn had not been brought up to regard public opinion when it was a
+question of doing something that ought to be done. The only question
+was, was it really something that ought to be done or was she letting
+Billy influence her unduly? Billy was shrewd. He knew Mark. He knew a
+lot more than he ever told. What did Billy know? How she wished she had
+asked her father's advise before coming, and yet, if she had, he might
+have been unduly influenced by dreading to have her put herself in the
+position of prying into the matter.
+
+As she rode and pondered she came near to the little house on the
+village street where Cherry lived, a house set out plumb with the
+sidewalk, and a little gate at the side to go round to the back door
+where the family lived, the front room being the tailor shop. As she
+drew near she looked up and was sure she saw Cherry in a short narrow
+skirt and an old middy blouse scurrying through the gate to the back
+door, and her heart thumped so hard she was almost tempted to ride on to
+the store first before making her call. But something in her that always
+held her to a task until it was completed forced her to dismount and
+knock at the door.
+
+It seemed long to wait with her heart thumping so, and why did it thump?
+She found herself praying, "O God, show me what to say!" and then
+the door was open a crack and a sharp wizened face with a striking
+resemblance to Cherry's bold little beauty, was thrust at her. It must
+be Cherry's mother. Of course it was!
+
+"Mr. Fenner ain't in the shop!" said the woman, "He can't do nothin
+to-day. He's sick!"
+
+Marilyn smiled: "But I wanted to see Cherry," she said, "Aren't you
+her mother? Don't you remember me? I'm Marilyn Severn, her old music
+teacher. Is Cherry in?"
+
+A frightened look passed over the woman's face as she scanned the sweet
+face before her, and then a wily expression darted into her eyes:
+
+"Oh," she said with a forced smirk, "Yes, Miss Marilyn. Excuse me fer
+not recognizing you. You've grown a lot. Why no, Cherry ain't at home
+this morning. She'll be awful sorry not to see you. She thought a lot
+of you, she did. She got on so well with you in her music too. I says
+to her the other day, I says Cherry, I hear Miss Marilyn is home again,
+you'll have to take up yer music again, and she says yes, she guessed
+she would. She'll be round some day to see you. Sorry I can't ask you
+in, but Mr. Fenner's pretty sick. Oh, just the grip I guess. He'll soon
+be all right."
+
+She began to realize that the woman was in a hurry to get rid of her and
+she hastened away, relieved yet puzzled at the whole affair. She rode
+down into the village mechanically and bought a spool of silk and the
+coffee strainer which had been her legitimate errand to the village,
+and turning back had scarcely passed the last house before she saw the
+Chief's car coming toward her, and Mark, his face white and haggard,
+looking out from the back seat. He drew back as he recognized her,
+and tried to hide, and she rode on with only a passing bow which
+comprehended the whole car; but she was aware of Mark's eyes upon her,
+steadily, watching her. She would have known he was watching her from
+the darkness of the back seat if her own eyes had been shut. What was it
+all about and what were they doing to Mark?
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+
+The last house in the village on the road to Economy was the
+Harricutt's. It was built of gray cement blocks that the elder had taken
+for a bad debt, and had neither vine nor blossom to soften its grimness.
+Its windows were supplied with green holland shades, and its front
+door-yard was efficiently manned with plum trees and a peach, while
+the back yard was given over to vegetables. Elder Harricutt walked to
+Economy every day to his office in the Economy bank. He said it kept him
+in good condition physically. His wife was small and prim with little
+quick prying eyes and a false front that had a tendency to go askew.
+She wore bonnets with strings and her false teeth didn't quite fit; they
+clicked as she talked. She kept a watch over the road at all times and
+very little ever got by her unnoticed.
+
+In wholesome contrast next door was the trim little white cottage where
+Tom McMertrie and his mother Christie lived, smothered in vines and
+ablaze with geraniums all down the front walk. And below that, almost
+facing the graveyard was a little green shingled bungalow. Mary Rafferty
+kept her yard aglow with phlox, verbenas and pansies, and revelled in
+vines and flowering shrubs.
+
+These two women were wonderful friends, though forty years marched
+between them. Mary's hair was black as a crow's wing above her great
+pansy-blue eyes with their long curling lashes, while Christie's hair
+was sandy silver and her tongue full of brrrs. They had opposite pantry
+windows on the neighboring sides of their houses, where they often
+talked of a morning while Christie moulded her sweet loaves of bread
+or mixed scones and Mary made tarts and pies and cake for Jim's supper.
+Somehow without much being said about it they had formed a combination
+against their hard little knot of a neighbor behind the holland shades.
+
+The first house on the side street that ran at right angles to the main
+thoroughfare, just below Rafferty's, was Duncannon's. A picket fence
+at the side let into the vegetable gardens of the three, and the quiet
+little Mrs. Duncannon with the rippley brown hair and soft brown eyes
+often slipped through and made a morning call under cover of the kindly
+pole beans that hid her entrances and exits perfectly from any green
+holland shaded windows that might be open that way. Jane Duncannon
+formed a third in this little combination.
+
+On the Monday morning following the session meeting Mary Rafferty and
+Christie McMertrie were at their respective pantry windows flinging
+together some toothsome delicacies for the evening meal, that all might
+move smoothly during the busy day.
+
+A neat line of flopping clothes glimmered in each back yard over the
+trim "green" that stretched across in front of the back door, and the
+irons were on in both kitchens preparing for a finish as soon as a
+"piece" should show signs of dry.
+
+"Hev ye haird whut the extra session meetin' was called for, Mary?"
+asked the older woman looking up from her mixing bowl. "Tom went to the
+mill to tak the place of the noight watchman. His feyther's dyin' ye
+ken, and Tom's not come by yet. I thot ye might hev haird."
+
+Mary lifted her eyes with troubled glance:
+
+"Not yet," she said, "but I'm thinkin of running over to Duncannons as
+soon as I get these pies in the oven. The clothes won't be dry for a
+while, an' I'll take my pan of peas to shell. She'll know of course.
+Maybe it's nothing much,--but Jim said they held up Mark Carter and made
+him come in. It was ten minutes of ten before he got away--! You don't
+suppose anybody's taken the gossip to the session do you?"
+
+"There's one we know well would be full cawpable of the same," affirmed
+Christie patting her biscuits into place and tucking the bread cloth
+deftly over them, "But I'd be sorry to see a meenister an' a session as
+wud be held up by one poor whimperin' little elder of the like of him."
+
+"Mr. Severn won't, I'm sure o' that!" said Mary trustingly, "but there
+comes Mrs. Duncannon now, I'll run over and see what's in the wind."
+
+Mrs. Duncannon had grown a smile on her gentle face that was like as two
+peas to her husband's wide kindly grin, but there was no smile on her
+face this morning as she greeted her two friends, and dropped into a
+chair by the door of Christie's immaculate kitchen, and her soft
+brown eyes were snapping: She had an air of carrying kindly mysterious
+explosives:
+
+"Did ye hear that the old ferret held up Mark Carter last night and as
+good as called him a murderer in the face of the whole session?" she
+asked breathlessly.
+
+"And whut said our meenister to thot?" inquired Christie.
+
+Jane Duncannon flashed her a twinkle of appreciation:
+
+"He just clapped the senior elder in the chair as neat as a pin in a
+pincushion an' moved an expression of confidence, _utmost_ confidence
+was the word--!"
+
+"Mmmmmmmm! I thot as much!" commented Christie, "The blessed mon!"
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad!" sighed Mary Rafferty sinking into a chair, "Jim
+thinks the sun rises and sets in Mark Carter. They were kids together
+you know. He says people don't know Mark. And he said if they turned
+Mark down at the church now, if they didn't stand by him in his trouble,
+he had no more use for their religion!"
+
+"Don't you believe it, Mary Rafferty! Jim Rafferty loves the very ground
+the meenister walks on!"
+
+"What was that?" exclaimed Jane Duncannon running to the side window. "A
+strange car! Mary, come here! Is that the Chief of Police from Economy?"
+
+Mary darted to the window followed by the elder woman:
+
+"Yes, it is!" she exclaimed drawing back aghast, "You _don't_ suppose
+he's going to Carter's? He _wouldn't_ do that would he?"
+
+"He huz to do his dooty, doesn't he?" mused Christie, "But thot's not
+sayin' he _loikes_ it, child!"
+
+"Well, he might find a way not to frighten his mother--!"
+
+Mrs. Duncannon stretched her neck to see if he was really stopping at
+the parsonage, and Christie murmured: "Perhaps he will."
+
+The little group lingered a moment, till Mary bethought her of her pies
+in the oven and the three drifted thriftily back to their morning tasks,
+albeit with mind and heart down in the village.
+
+Presently on the glad morning air sounded again the chug chug of the
+motor, bringing them sharply back to their windows. Yes, there was the
+Chief's car again. And Mark Carter with white haggard face sat in the
+back seat! Apprehension flew to the soul of each loyal woman.
+
+But before the sound of the Chief's motor bearing Mark Carter
+Economyward had passed out of hearing, Jane Duncannon in a neat brown
+dress with a little round brown ribboned hat set trimly on her rippley
+hair, and a little round basket on her arm covered daintily with a white
+napkin, was nipping out her tidy front gate between the sunflowers and
+asters and tripping down Maple street as if it had been on her mind to
+go ever since Saturday night.
+
+Even before Mary Rafferty had turned from her Nottingham laced parlor
+window and gone with swift steps to her kitchen door Christie McMertrie
+stood on her back step with her sunbonnet on and a glass of jelly
+wrapped in tissue paper in her hand:
+
+"She's glimpsed 'em," she whispered briefly, with a nod toward the
+holland shades, "an' she's up in her side bedroom puttin' on her Sunday
+bunnit. She'll be oot the door in another two meenits, the little black
+crow! If we bide in the fields we can mak Carters' back stoop afore she
+gets much past the tchurch!"
+
+Mary Rafferty caught up her pan of peas, dashed them into a basket that
+hung on the wall by the door, and bareheaded as she was hastened out
+through the garden after her friend for all the world as if she were
+going to pick more peas. Down the green lane between the bean poles they
+hurried through the picket gate, pushing aside the big gray Duncannon
+cat who basked in the sun under a pink hollyhock with a Duncannon smile
+on its gray whiskers like the rest of the family.
+
+"Jane! Jane Duncannon!" called Christie McMertrie. But the hollow
+echoes in the tidy kitchen flung back emptily, and the plate of steaming
+cinnamon buns on the white scrubbed table spoke as plainly as words
+could have done that no one was at home.
+
+"She's gone!"
+
+The two hurried around the house, through the front gate, across the
+street with a quick glance up and down to be sure that the Petrie babies
+playing horse in the next yard were their only observers, and then
+ducking under the bars of the fence they scuttled down a slope, crossed
+a trickle of a brook that hurried creekward, and up the opposite bank.
+Behind Little's barn they paused to glance back. Some one was coming
+out the Harricutt door, some one wearing a bonnet and a black veil. They
+hurried on. There were two more fences separating the meadows.
+
+Mary went over and Christie between. They made quick work of the rest of
+the way and crept panting through the hedge at the back of Carter's just
+as Jane Duncannon swung open the little gate in front with a glimpse
+back up the street in triumph and a breath of relief that she had won.
+By only so much as a lift of her lashes and a lighting of her soft brown
+eyes did she recognize and incorporate the other two in her errand, and
+together the three entered the Carter house by the side entrance, with a
+neighborly tap and a call: "Miz Carter, you home?"
+
+Quick nervous steps overhead, a muffled voice calling catchily, "Yes,
+I'm coming, just set down, won't you?" and they dropped into three
+dining-room chairs and drew 'breath, mopping their warm faces with their
+handkerchiefs and trying to adjust their minds to the next move.
+
+Their hostess gave them no time to prepare a program. She came hurriedly
+down stairs, obviously anxious, openly with every nerve on the qui vive,
+and they saw at once that she had been crying. Her hair was damp about
+her forehead as if from hasty ablution. She looked from one to another
+of her callers with a frightened glance that went beyond them as if
+looking for others to come, as she paused in the doorway puzzled.
+
+"This is a s'prise party, Miz Carter," began Jane Duncannon laughing,
+"We all brought our work along and can't stay but a minute, but we
+got an idea an' couldn't keep it till Ladies' Aid. You got a minute
+to spare? Go get your knitting and set down. _Now_! It's Miz'Severn's
+birthday next Sat'day an' we thought 'twould be nice to get her a
+present. What do you think about it?"
+
+Mrs. Carter who had stood tensely in the doorway, her fingers whitely
+gripping the woodwork, her face growing whiter every minute, suddenly
+relaxed with relief in every line of her body, and bloomed into a smile:
+
+"Oh, why, _is_ it? Of course! What'll it be? Why, couldn't we finish
+that sunburst bed quilt we started last year while she was away? If we
+all get at it I think we could finish. There's some real fast quilters
+in the Aid. Wait, till I get my apples to pare. I promised Mark I'd have
+apple sauce for lunch!"
+
+A quick glance went from eye to eye and a look of relief settled down on
+the little company. She _expected Mark home for lunch_ then!
+
+They were in full tide of talk about the quilting pattern when a knock
+came on the front door, and Mary Rafferty jumped up and ran to open it.
+They heard the Harricutt voice, clear, sharp, incisive:
+
+"I came to sympathize--!" and then as Mary swung her face into the
+sunlight the voice came suddenly up as against a stone wall with a gasp
+and "Oh, it's _you_! Where's Mrs. Carter? I wish to see Mrs. Carter."
+
+"She's right back in the dining-room, Mrs. Harricutt. Come on back.
+We're talking over how to celebrate Miz Severn's birthday. Do you like
+a straight quilting or diamond, Miz Harricutt: It's for the sunburst
+coverlet you know!"
+
+"The sunburst coverlet!" exclaimed Mrs. Harricutt irately, as though
+somehow it were an indecent subject at such a time as this, but she
+followed Mary back to the dining-room with a sniff of curiosity. She
+fairly gasped when she saw Mrs. Carter with her small sensitive face
+bright with smiles:
+
+"Just take that chair by the window, Mrs. Harricutt," she said affably,
+"and _excuse me_ fer not getting up. I've got to get these apples on the
+fire, for I promised Mark some apple sauce for lunch, and he likes it
+stone cold."
+
+Mrs. Harricutt pricked up her ears:
+
+"Oh, Mark is coming home for _lunch_ then!" Her voice was cold, sharp,
+like a steel knife dipped in lemon juice. There was a bit of a curl on
+the tip of it that made one wince as it went through the soul. Little
+Mrs. Carter flushed painfully under her sensitive skin, up to the roots
+of her light hair. She had been pretty in her girlhood, and Mark had her
+coloring in a stronger way.
+
+"Oh, yes, he's coming home for lunch," she answered brightly, glad of
+this much assurance. "And he has to have it early because he has to
+drive that strange young woman from the parsonage back somewhere down in
+New Jersey. She came alone by herself yesterday, but the mountain passes
+sort of scairt her, and she asked Mark to drive back with her."
+
+"Oh!" There was a challenge in the tone that called the red to Mrs.
+Carter's cheek again, But Christie McMertrie's soft burring tongue slid
+in smoothly:
+
+"What wad ye think o' the briar pattern around the edge? I know it's
+some worruk, but it's a bonnie border to lie under, an' it's not so
+tedious whan there's plenty o' folks to tak a hand."
+
+They carried the topic along with a whirl then and Mrs. Harricutt had no
+more chance to harry her hostess. Then suddenly Mary arose in a panic:
+
+"I left my pies in the oven!" she cried, "They'll be burned to a crisp.
+I must go. Miz Harricutt, are you going along now? I'll walk with you.
+I want to ask you how you made that plum jam you gave me a taste of the
+other day. Jim thinks it is something rare, and I'll have to be making
+some or he'll never be satisfied, that is if you don't mind--!" and
+before Mrs. Carter realized what was happening Mary had marshalled the
+Harricutt vulture down the street, and was questioning eagerly about
+measures of sugar and plums and lemon peel and nuts:
+
+"Now," said Christie setting down her jelly glass that she had been
+holding all this time, "We'll be ganging awa. There's a bit jar of
+raspberry jam for the laddie with the bright smile, an' you think it
+over and run up and say which pattern you think is bonniest."
+
+"It was just beautiful of you all to come--" said little Mrs. Carter
+looking from one to another in painful gratitude--"why it's been just
+_dear_ for you to run in this way--"
+
+"Yes, a regular party!" said Jane Duncannon squeezing her hand with
+understanding. "See, Mary has left her peas. You'd best put them on to
+boil for Mark. He'll be coming back pretty soon. Come, Christie, wumman,
+it's time we was back at our worruk!" and they hurried through the hedge
+and across the meadows to their home once more, but as they entered the
+Duncannon gate they marked Billy Gaston, head down, pedalling along over
+on Maple Street, his jaws keeping rhythmic time with his feet.
+
+One hour later the smooth chug of a car that was not altogether
+unfamiliar to their ears brought those four women eagerly to their
+respective windows, and as the old clock chimed the hour of noon they
+beheld Mark Carter driving calmly down the street toward his own home in
+his own car. _His own car!_ and Billy Gaston lounging lazily by his side
+still chewing rhythmically.
+
+Mark's Car! Mark! Billy! _Ah Billy!_ Three of them mused with a note of
+triumph in their eyes.
+
+And Mrs. Harricutt as she rolled her Sunday bonnet strings mused:
+
+"Now, how in the world did that Mark Carter get his own car down
+to Economy when he went up with the Chief? He had it down here this
+morning, I know, for I saw him riding round. And that little imp of a
+Billy! I wonder why he always tags him round! Miss Saxon ought to be
+warned about that! I'll have to do it! But how in the world did Mark get
+his car?"
+
+Billy enjoyed his lunch that day, a bit of cold chicken and bread, two
+juicy red cheeked apples, and an unknown quantity of sugary doughnuts
+from the stone crock in the pantry. He sat on the side step munching the
+last doughnut he felt he could possibly swallow. Mark was home and all
+was well. Himself had seen the impressive glance that passed between
+Mark and the Chief at parting. The Chief trusted Mark that was plain.
+Billy felt reassured. He reflected that that guy Judas had been
+precipitate about hanging himself. If he had only waited and _done_ a
+little something about it there might have been a different ending to
+the story. It was sort of up to Judas anyway, having been the cause of
+the trouble.
+
+With this virtuous conclusion Billy wiped the sugar from his mouth,
+mounted his wheel and went forth to browse in familiar and much
+neglected pastures.
+
+He eyed the Carter house as he slid by. Mrs. Carter was placidly shaking
+out the table cloth on the side porch. Mark had eaten his apple sauce
+and gone. He passed Browns, Todds, Bateses, chasing a white hen that had
+somehow escaped her confines, but in front of Joneses he suddenly became
+aware of the blue car that stood in front of the parsonage. It had come
+to life and was throbbing. It was backing toward him and going to turn
+around. On the sidewalk leaning on a cane stood the obnoxious stranger
+for whose presence in Sabbath Valley he, Billy Gaston, was responsible.
+He lounged at ease with a smile on his ugly mug and acted as if he lived
+there! There was nothing about his appearance to suggest _his_ near
+departure. His disabled car still stood silent and helpless beside the
+curb. Aw _Gee_!
+
+Billy swerved to the other side of the road to avoid the blue car at a
+hair's breadth, but as it turned he looked up impudently to behold the
+strange girl with the flour on her face and the green baseball bats in
+her ears smiling up into the face of Mark Carter, who was driving. Billy
+nearly fell off his wheel and under the car, but recovered his balance
+in time to swerve out of the way without apparently having been observed
+by either Mark or the lady, and shot like a streak down the road. Beyond
+the church he drew a wide curve and turned in at the graveyard, casting
+a quick furtive eye toward the parsonage, where he was glad not to
+discover even the flutter of a garment to show that Lynn Severn was
+about. That guy was there, but Miss Lynn was not chasing him. That
+was as it should be. He breathed a sigh from his heavy heart and stole
+sadly, back to the old mossy stone where so many of his life problems
+had been thought out. Still, that guy _was there! He_ had the advantage!
+And Mark and that lady! Bah! He sat down to meditate on Judas and his
+sins. It seemed that life was just about as disappointing as it could
+be! His rough young hand leaned hard against the grimy old stone till
+the half worn lettering hurt his flesh and he shifted his position
+and lifted his hand. There on the palm were the quaint old letters,
+imprinted in the flesh, "Blessed are the dead--" Gosh yes! _Weren't_
+they? Judas had been right after all. "Aw Gee!" he said aloud, "Whatta
+fool I bin!" He glanced down at the stone as he rubbed the imprint
+from the fleshy part of his hand. The rest of the text caught his eye.
+"Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord!" There was a catch in that
+of course. It wasn't blessed if you didn't _die in the Lord_. "In the
+Lord" meant that you didn't do anything Judas-like. He understood. The
+people who didn't die in the Lord weren't blessed. They didn't go to
+heaven, whatever heaven was. They went to _hell_. Heaven had never
+seemed very attractive to Billy when he thought of it casually, and he
+had taken it generally for granted that he being a boy was naturally
+destined for the other place. In fact until he knew Lynn Severn he had
+always told himself calmly that he _expected_ to go to hell sometime,
+it had seemed the manly thing to do. Most men to his mind were preparing
+for hell. It seemed the masculine place of final destiny, Heaven was
+for women. He had ventured some of this philosophy on his aunt once in
+a particularly strenuous time when she had told him that he couldn't
+expect the reward of the righteous if he continued in his present ways,
+but she had been so horrified, and wept so long and bitterly that he
+hadn't ever had the nerve to try it again. And since Marilyn Severn had
+been his teacher he had known days when he would almost be willing to
+go to heaven--for her sake. He had also suspected, at times, that Mr.
+Severn was fully as much of a man as Mark Carter, although Mark was _his
+own_, and if Mark decided to go to hell Billy felt there could be no
+other destiny for himself.
+
+But now, face to face with realities, Billy suddenly began to realize
+what hell was going to be like. Billy felt hell surrounding him. Flames
+could not beat the reproach that now flared him in the face and stung
+him to the quick with his own sinfulness. He, Billy Gaston, Captain of
+the Sabbath Valley Base Ball team, prospective Captain of the Sabbath
+Valley Foot Ball team, champion runner, and high jumper, champion
+swimmer and boxer of the boy's league of Monopoly County, friend and
+often tolerated companion of Mark Carter the great, trusted favorite of
+his beloved and saintly Sunday School teacher, was _in hell_! He could
+never more hold up his head and walk proud of himself. He was in hell
+at fourteen for life, and by his own act! And Gosh hang it! Hell didn't
+look so attractive in the near vision stretching out that way through
+life, and _then some_, as it had before he faced it. He'd rather walk
+through fire somewhere and stand some chance of getting done with it
+sometime. "Aw Gee! Gosh! Whatta fool I bin!"
+
+And then he set himself to see just what he had done, while the high
+walls of sin seemed to rise closer about him, and his face burned with
+the heat of the pit into which he had put himself.
+
+There was that guy Shafton--sissyman!--He had put him in the parsonage
+along with his beloved teacher! If he only hadn't taken that ten dollars
+or listened to that devil of a Pat, he wouldn't have put up that detour
+and Shafton would have gone on his way. What difference if he had got
+kidnapped? His folks wouldda bailed him out with their old jewels and
+things. Whaddid anybody want of jewels for anyway? Just nasty little
+bits of stone and glass! Mark had seen the guy there in church. Mark
+didn't like it. He knew by the set of Mark's mouth. Of course Mark went
+with Cherry sometimes, but then that was different! Lynn was--well, Lynn
+was Miss Marilyn! That was all there was about it.
+
+And if he hadn't put up that detour Mark would have gone home that night
+before twelve and his mother would have known he was home, and likely
+other people would have seen him, and been able to prove he wasn't
+out shooting anybody, and then they wouldn't have told all those awful
+things about him. Of course now Mark was safe, _of course,_ but then it
+wasn't good to have things like that said about Mark. It was fierce to
+have a thing like that session meeting to remember! He wanted to kill
+that old ferret of a Harricutt whenever he thought about it. Then he
+would be a murderer, and be hanged, and he wouldn't care if he did
+mebbe. _Aw Gee!_
+
+A meadow lark suddenly pierced the sky with its wild sweet note high in
+the air somewhere, and Billy wondered with a sick thud of his soul how
+larks dared to sing in a world like this where one could upset a whole
+circle of friends by a single little turn of finance that he hadn't
+meant anything wrong by at all? The bees droned around the honeysuckle
+that billowed over the little iron fence about a family burying lot, and
+once Lynn Severn's laugh--not her regular laugh, but a kind of a company
+polite one--echoed lightly across to his ears and his face dropped into
+his hands. He almost groaned. Billy Gaston was at the lowest ebb he
+had ever been in his young life, and his conscience, a thing he hadn't
+suspected he had, and wouldn't have owned if he had, had risen up within
+him to accuse him, and there seemed no way on earth to get rid of it.
+A conscience wasn't a _manly_ thing according to his code, yet here he
+was, he Billy Gaston, with a conscience!
+
+It was ghastly!
+
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+
+Laurie Shafton had caught Lynn as she came down the stairs with a bit
+of sewing in her hand to give Naomi a direction from her mother, and had
+begged her to come out on the porch and talk to him. He pleaded that
+he was lonesome, and that it was her duty as hostess to amuse him for a
+while.
+
+Lynn had no relish for talking with the guest. Her heart was too sore
+to care to talk with any one. But her innate courtesy, and natural
+gentleness finally yielded to his pleading, for Laurie had put on a
+humility that was almost becoming, and made her seem really rude to
+refuse.
+
+She made him sit down in the hammock at the far end, however, and
+insisted on herself taking the little rocker quite near the front door.
+She knew her father would soon be returning from some parish calls and
+would relieve her, so she settled herself with the bit of linen she was
+hemstitching and prepared to make the best of it.
+
+"It's a shame my car is out of commission yet," began Laurie settling
+back in the hammock and by some strange miracle refraining from lighting
+a cigarette. It wouldn't have entered his head that Lynn would have
+minded. He didn't know any girls objected to smoking. But this girl
+interested him strangely. He wasn't at all sure but it was a case of
+love at first sight. He had always been looking for that to happen to
+him. He hoped it had. It would be such a delightful experience. He had
+tried most of the other kinds.
+
+"Yes, it is too bad for you to be held up in your journey this way,"
+sympathized Lynn heartily, "but father says the blacksmith is going
+to fix you up by to-morrow he hopes. Those bearings will likely come
+to-night."
+
+"Oh, but it has been a dandy experience. I'm certainly glad it happened.
+Think what I should have missed all my life, not knowing _you_!"
+
+He paused and looked soulfully at Lynn waiting for an appreciative
+glance from her fully occupied eyes, but Lynn seemed to have missed the
+point entirely:
+
+"I should think you might have well afforded to lose the experience of
+being held up in a dull little town that couldn't possibly be of the
+slightest interest to you," she said dryly, with the obvious idea of
+making talk.
+
+"Oh, but I think it is charming," he said lightly! "I hadn't an idea
+there was such a place in the world as this. It's ideal, don't you know,
+so secluded and absolutely restful. I'm having a dandy time, and you
+people have been just wonderful to me. I think I shall come back often
+if you'll let me."
+
+"I can't imagine your enjoying it," said Lynn looking at him keenly, "It
+must be so utterly apart from your customary life. It must seem quite
+crude and almost uncivilized to you."
+
+"That's just it, it's so charmingly quaint. I'm bored to death with life
+as I'm used to it. I'm always seeking for a new sensation, and I seem to
+have lighted on it here all unexpectedly. I certainly hope my car will
+be fixed by morning. If it isn't I'll telegraph for my man and have him
+bring down some bearings in one of the other cars and fix me up. I'm
+determined to take you around a bit and have you show me the country. I
+know it would be great under your guidance."
+
+"Thank you," said Lynn coolly, "But I haven't much time for pleasuring
+just now, and you will be wanting to go on your way--"
+
+He flushed with annoyance. He was not accustomed to being baffled in
+this way by any girl, but he had sense enough to know that only by
+patience and humility could he win any notice from her.
+
+"Oh, I shall want to linger a bit and let this doctor finish up this
+ankle of mine. It isn't fair to go away to another doctor before I'm on
+my feet again."
+
+He thought she looked annoyed, but she did not answer.
+
+"Did you ever ride in a racer?" he asked suddenly, "I'll teach you to
+drive. Would you like that?"
+
+"Thank you," she said pleasantly, "but that wouldn't be necessary, I
+know how to drive."
+
+He almost thought there was a twinkle of mischief in her eye:
+
+"You know how to drive! But you haven't a car? Oh, I suppose that young
+Carter taught you to drive his," he said with chagrin. He was growing
+angry. He began to suspect her of playing with him. After all, even if
+she was engaged to that chap, he had gone off with Opal quite willingly
+it would appear. Why should he and she not have a little fling?
+
+"No," said Marilyn, "Mr. Carter did not have a car until he went away
+from Sabbath Valley. I learned while I was in college."
+
+"Oh, you've been to college!" the young man sat up with interest, "I
+thought there was something too sophisticated about you to have come
+out of a place like this. You had a car while you were in college I
+suppose.".
+
+Lynn's eyes were dancing:
+
+"Why didn't you say 'dump' like this? That's what your tone said," she
+laughed, "and only a minute ago you were saying how charming it was. No,
+I had no car in college, I was--" But he interrupted her eagerly:
+
+"Now, you are misunderstanding me on purpose," he declared in a hurt
+tone. "I think this is an ideal spot off in the hills this way, the
+quaintest little Utopia in the world, but of course you know you haven't
+the air of one who had never been out of the hills, and the sweet
+sheltered atmosphere of this village. Tell me, when and where did you
+drive a car, and I'll see if I can't give you one better for a joy
+ride."
+
+Lynn looked up placidly and smiled:
+
+"In New York," she said quietly, "at the beginning of the war, and
+afterward in France."
+
+Laurie Shafton sat up excitedly, the color flushing into his handsome
+face:
+
+"Were you in France?" he said admiringly, "Well, I might have known. I
+saw there was something different about you. Y. M., I suppose?"
+
+"No," said Lynn, "Salvation Army. My father has been a friend of the
+Commander's all his life. She knew, that we believed in all their
+principles. There were only a very few outsiders, those whom they knew
+well, allowed to go with them. I was one."
+
+"Well," said Laurie, eyeing her almost embarrassedly, "You girls made
+a great name for yourselves with your doughnuts and your pies. The only
+thing I had against you was that you didn't treat us officers always the
+way we ought to have been treated. But I suppose there were individual
+exceptions. I went into a hut one night and tried to get some cigarettes
+and they wouldn't let me have any."
+
+"No, we didn't sell cigarettes," said Lynn with satisfaction, "That
+wasn't what we were there for. We had a few for the wounded and dying
+who were used to them and needed them of course, but we didn't sell
+them."
+
+"And then I tried to get some doughnuts and coffee, but would you
+believe it, they wouldn't let me have any till all the fellows in
+line had been served. They said I had to take my turn! They were quite
+insulting about it! Of course they did good, but they ought to have been
+made to understand that they couldn't treat United States Officers that
+way!"
+
+"Why not? Were you any better than any of the soldiers?" she asked
+eyeing him calmly, and somehow he seemed to feel smaller than his normal
+estimate of himself.
+
+"An _officer?_" he said with a contemptuous haughty light in his eye.
+
+"What is an officer but the servant of his men?" asked Lynn. "Would you
+_want_ to eat before them when they had stood hours in line waiting?
+They who had all the hard work and none of the honors?"
+
+Laurie's cheeks were flushed and his eyes angry:
+
+"That's rot!" he said rudely, "Where did you get it? The officers were
+picked from the cream of the land. They represent the great Nation. An
+insult to them is an insult to the Nation--!"
+
+Lynn began to smile impudently--and her eyes were dancing again.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Mr. Shafton, you must not forget I was there. I knew
+both officers and men. I admit that some of the officers were princely,
+fit men to represent a great Christian Nation, but some of them again
+were well--the scum of the earth, rather than the cream. Mr. Shafton
+it does not make a man better than his fellows to be an officer, and it
+does not make him fit to be an officer just because his father is able
+to buy him a commission."
+
+Laurie flushed angrily again:
+
+"My father did not buy me a commission!" he said indignantly, "I went to
+a training camp and won it."
+
+"I beg your pardon, Mr. Shafton, I meant nothing personal, but I
+certainly had no use for an officer who came bustling in on those long
+lines of weary soul-sick boys just back from the front, and perhaps off
+again that night, and tried to get ahead of them in line. However, let's
+talk of something else. Were you ever up around Dead Man's Curve? What
+division were you in?"
+
+Laurie let his anger die out and answered her questions. For a few
+minutes they held quite an animated conversation about France and the
+various phases of the war. Laurie had been in air service. One could
+see just how handsome he must have looked in his uniform. One would know
+also that he would be brave and reckless. It was written all over his
+face and in his very attitude. He showed her his "croix de guerre."
+
+"Mark was taken prisoner by the Germans," she said sadly as she handed
+it back, her eyes dreamy and faraway, then suddenly seeming to realize
+that she had spoken her thoughts aloud she flushed and hurried on to
+other experiences during the war, but she talked abstractedly, as one
+whose thoughts had suddenly been diverted. The young man watched her
+baffled:
+
+"You seem so aloof," he said all at once watching her as she sewed away
+on the bit of linen, "You seem almost as if you--well--_despised me_.
+Excuse me if I say that it's a rather new experience. People in my world
+don't act that way to me, really they don't. And you don't even know who
+I am nor anything about me. Do you think that's quite fair?"
+
+Lynn looked at him with suddenly arrested attention:
+
+"I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to be rude. But possibly you've
+come to the heart of the matter. I am not of your world. You know
+there's a great deal in not being able to get another's point of view.
+I hope I haven't done you an injustice. I haven't meant to. But you're
+wrong in saying I don't know who you are or anything about you. You are
+the son of William J. Shafton--the only son, isn't that so? Then you
+are the one I mean. There can't be any mistake. And I do know something
+about you. In fact I've been very angry at you, and wished I might meet
+you and tell you what I thought of you."
+
+"You don't say!" said Laurie getting up excitedly and moving over to
+a chair next to hers regardless of his lame ankle, "This certainly is
+interesting! What the deuce have I been doing to get myself in your bad
+graces? I better repent at once before I hear what it is?"
+
+"You are the one who owns the block of warehouses down on ---- street
+and won't sell at any price to give the little children in all that
+region a place to get a bit of fresh air, the grass and a view of the
+sky. You are the one who won't pull down your old buildings and try new
+and improved ways of housing the poor around there so that they can grow
+up decently clean and healthy and have a little chance in this world.
+Just because you can't have as many apartments and get as much money
+from your investment you let the little children crowd together in rooms
+that aren't fit for the pigs to live in, they are so dark and airless,
+and crowded already. Oh, I know you keep within the law! You just skin
+through without breaking it, but you won't help a little bit, you won't
+even let your property help if someone else is willing to take the
+bother! Oh, I've been so boiling at you ever since I heard your name
+that I couldn't hardly keep my tongue still, to think of that great
+beautiful car out there and how much it must have cost, and to hear you
+speak of one of your other cars as if you had millions of them, and to
+think of little Carmela living down in the basement room of Number 18
+in your block, growing whiter and whiter every day, with her great blue
+eyes and her soft fine wavy hair, and that hungry eager look in her
+face. And her mother, sewing, sewing, all day long at the little cellar
+window, and going blind because you won't put in a bigger one; sewing on
+coarse dark vests, putting in pockets and buttonholes for a living for
+her and Carmela, and you grinding her down and running around in cars
+like that and taking it out of little Carmela, and little Carmela's
+mother! Oh! How can I help feeling aloof from a person like that?"
+
+Laurie sat up astonished watching her:
+
+"Why, my dear girl!" he exclaimed, "Do you know what you're talking
+about? Do you realize that it would take a mint of money to do all the
+fool things that these silly reformers are always putting up to you?
+My lawyer looks after all those matters. Of course I know nothing about
+it--!"
+
+"Well, you _ought_ to know," said Lynn excitedly, "Does the money belong
+to your lawyer? Isn't it yours to be responsible for? Well, then if you
+are stealing some of it out of little Carmela and a lot of other little
+children and their mothers and fathers oughtn't you to know? Is your
+lawyer going to take the responsibility about it in the kingdom of
+heaven I should like to know? Can he stand up in the judgment day
+and exempt you by saying that he had to do the best he could for your
+property because you required it of him? Excuse me for getting so
+excited, but I love little Carmela. I went to see her a great deal last
+winter when I was in New York taking my senior year at the University.
+And I can't help telling you the truth about it. I don't suppose you'll
+do anything about it, but at least you ought to know! And _I'm not your
+dear girl, either!_"
+
+Marilyn rose suddenly from her chair, and stood facing him with blazing
+eyes and cheeks that were aflame. It was a revelation to the worldly
+wise young man that a saint so sweet could blossom suddenly into a
+beautiful and furious woman. It seemed unreal to find this wonderful,
+unique, excitable young woman with ideas in such a quiet secluded spot
+of the earth. Decidedly she had ideas.
+
+"Excuse me," he said, and rose also, an almost deprecatory air upon him,
+"I assure you I meant nothing out of the way, Miss Severn. I certainly
+respect and honor you--And really, I had no idea of all this about my
+property. I've never paid much heed to my property except to spend
+the income of course. It wasn't required of me. I must look into this
+matter. If I find it as you think--that is if there is no mistake, I
+will see what I can do to remedy it. In any case we will look after
+little Carmela. I'll settle some money on her mother, wouldn't that be
+the best way? I can't think things are as bad as you say--"
+
+"Will you really do something about it?" asked Lynn earnestly, "Will
+you go up to New York and see for yourself? Will you go around in _every
+room_ of your buildings and get acquainted with those people and find
+out just what the conditions are?"
+
+"Why--I--!" he began uncertainly.
+
+"Oh, I thought you couldn't stand that test! That would be too much
+bother--You would rather--!"
+
+"No, Wait! I didn't say I wouldn't. Here! I'll go if you'll go with me
+and show me what you mean and what you want done. Come. I'll take you at
+your word. If you really want all those things come on and show me just
+what to do. I'm game. I'll do it. I'll do it whether it needs doing or
+not, _just for you_. Will you take me up?"
+
+"Of course" said Lynn quickly, "I'll go with you and show you. I expect
+to be in New York next month helping at the Salvation Home while one
+of their workers is away on her vacation. I'll show you all over the
+district as many times as you need to go, if it's not too hot for you to
+come back to the city so early."
+
+He looked at her sharply. There was a covert sneer in her last words
+that angered him, and he was half inclined to refuse the whole thing,
+but somehow there was something in this strange new type of girl that
+fascinated him. Now that she had the university, and the war, and the
+world, for a background she puzzled and fascinated him more than ever.
+Half surprised at his own interest he bowed with a new kind of dignity
+over his habitual light manner:
+
+"I shall be delighted, Miss Severn. It will not be too hot for me if it
+is not too hot for you. I shall be at your service, and I hope you will
+discover that there is one officer who knows how to obey."
+
+She looked at him half surprised, half troubled and then answered
+simply:
+
+"Thank you. I'm afraid I've done you an injustice. I'm afraid I didn't
+think you would be game enough to do it. I hope I haven't been too rude.
+But you see I feel deeply about it and sometimes I forget myself?"
+
+"I am sure I deserve all you have said," said Laurie as gravely as
+his light nature could manage, "but there is one thing that puzzles me
+deeply. I wish you would enlighten me. All this won't do _you_ any good.
+It isn't for _you_ at all. _Why_ do you care?"
+
+Marilyn brought her lovely eyes to dwell on his face for a moment
+thoughtfully, a shy beautiful tenderness softening every line of her
+eager young face:
+
+"It's because--" she began diffidently, "It's because they all are God's
+children--and I love _Him_ better than anything else in life!"
+
+The swift color made her face lovely as she spoke, and with the words
+she turned away and went quickly into the house. The young man looked
+after her and dared not follow. He had never had a shock like that in
+his life. Girls had talked about everything under heaven to him at one
+time or another, but they had never mentioned God except profanely.
+
+Marilyn went swiftly up to her room and knelt down by her bed, burying
+her hot cheeks in the cool pillow and trying to pray. She was glad, glad
+that she had spoken for her poor city children, glad that there was a
+prospect or help perhaps; but beside and beyond it all her heart was
+crying out for another matter that was namelessly tugging away at the
+very foundations of her soul. Why, Oh _Why_ had Mark gone away with that
+queer girl? He must have seen what she was! He must have known that it
+was unnecessary! He must have known how it would hurt his friends, and
+that the man she came to see could have gone as well as he and better.
+Why did he go? She would not, she could not believe anything wrong of
+Mark. Yet _why did he go_?
+
+
+
+
+XX
+
+
+Billy had no appetite for the nice supper that Aunt Saxon had ready when
+he came dejectedly home that night. He had passed the parsonage and
+seen through the dining-room window that the rich guy was sitting at the
+supper table opposite Marilyn laughing and talking with her and his
+soul was sick within him. That was his doing! Nobody else but himself to
+blame!
+
+Aunt Saxon had apple dumplings with plenty of "goo," black with cinnamon
+just the way he loved it, but he only minced at the first helping and
+scarcely tasted the second. He chopped a great many kindling after
+supper, and filled the woodbox, and thoughtfully wound the clock. Then
+instead of going out with his usual "I gotta beat it!" he sat languidly
+on the doorstep in the dusk, and when she anxiously questioned if he
+were sick he said crossly:
+
+"Aw, Gee! Can't ya let a fella _alone_! I'm all in, can't ya _see_ it?
+I'm gonta _bed_!" and knowing he had said the most alarming thing in
+the whole category he slammed upstairs to his own room and flung himself
+across his bed.
+
+Aunt Saxon filled with vague fears crept softly up after him, tapping at
+his locked door:
+
+"Willie, what is the matter? Just tell auntie where the pain is and I'll
+get you some medicine that will fix you all up by morning. I'll get you
+a hot water bag--!"
+
+"DON'T WANT NO HOT WATER BAGS!" roared the sore hearted Billy. "Can't ya
+lemme _alone_?"
+
+Silence a moment while Aunt Saxon pondered tearfully and sighfully,
+then:
+
+"Willie, is it the tooth ache?"
+
+"NoooOH!" roared Billy.
+
+A pause, then:
+
+"Billy, you've had a fall off that wheel and hurt yer head or cut yer
+knee, I know, I've always thought you'd do that, that old wheel! You
+oughtta have a new one. But I'll bring the arnica and bathe it. And
+we'll paint it with iodine--where was it Willie? Yer knee?"
+
+Billy's shoes came to the floor with a bang:
+
+"Aw gee! Can't ya keep yer mouth shut an' let a fella have a little
+sleep. It ain't _Nowhere_! It ain't _Nothin'_ an' I didn't have no fall
+an' I don't want no new bicycle. D'ye hear? I don't want nothin' 'cept
+just to be let alone. I wantta go ta sleep. Ain't I ben tellin' ya
+fer the last half hour? It ain't _sinful_ fer a fella to wantta take a
+little sleep is it when he's been up half the night before taking care
+of a fella on the mountain?--But if I ain't allowed, why then I'll get
+up an' go out somewheres. I know plenty of places where they'll lemme
+sleep--"
+
+"Oh _Wil-lee_!" sobbed Aunt Saxon. "That's all right dear! Just you
+lie right down in your bed and take a good sleep. I didn't understand.
+Auntie didn't understand. All right Willie. I'll keep it real still. Now
+you lie down won't you? You will won't you? You'll really lie down and
+sleep won't you Willie?"
+
+"Didn't I say I would?" snapped Willie shamedly, and subsided on his bed
+again while Aunt Saxon stole painfully, noiselessly over the creak in
+the stair, closed the house for the night and crept tearfully to her
+own bed, where she lay for hours silently wiping the steady trickle of
+hopeless tears. Oh, Willie, Willie! And she had had such hopes!
+
+But Billy lay staring wide eyed at the open square of his window that
+showed the little village nestling among the trees dotted here and
+there with friendly winking lights, the great looming mountains in the
+distance, and Stark mountain, farthest and blackest of them all. He shut
+his eyes and tried to blot it out, but it seemed to loom through his
+very eyelids and mock him. He seemed to see Mark, his idol, carried
+between those other three dark figures into the blackness of that
+haunted house. He seemed to see him lying helpless, bound, on the musty
+bed in the deserted room, Mark, his beloved Mark. Mark who had carried
+him on his shoulder as a tiny child, who had ridden him on his back,
+and taught him to swim and pitch ball and box, Mark who let him go where
+even the big boys were not allowed to accompany him, and who never told
+on him nor treated him mean nor went back on him in any way! Mark! _He_
+had been the means of putting Mark in that helpless position, while
+circumstances which he was now quite sure the devil had been specially
+preparing, wove a tangled maze about the young man's feet from which
+there seemed no way of extrication.
+
+Billy shut his eyes and tried to sleep but sleep would not come. He
+began to doubt if he would ever sleep again. He lay listening to the
+evening noises of the village. He heard Jim Rafferty's voice going by to
+the night shift, and Tom McMertrie. They were laughing softly and once
+he thought he heard the name "Old Hair-Cut." The Tully baby across the
+street had colic and cried like murder. Murder! _Murder!_ Now why did
+he have to think of that word of all words? Murder? Well, it was crying
+like it wanted to murder somebody. He wished he was a baby himself so he
+could cry. He'd cry harder'n that. Little's dog was barking again. He'd
+been barking all day long. It was probably at that strange guy at
+the parsonage. Little's dog never did like strangers. That creak was
+Barneses gate with the iron weight hitched on the chain to make it shut,
+and somebody laughed away up the street! There went the clock, nine
+o'clock! Gee! Was that all? He thought it must be about three in the
+morning! And then he must have dozed off for a little, for when he woke
+with a start it was very still and dark, as if the moon had gone away,
+had been and gone again, and he heard a cautious little mouse gnawing at
+the baseboard in his room, gnawing and stopping and gnawing again, then
+whisking over the lath like fingers running a scale on the piano. He had
+watched Miss Lynn do it once on the organ.
+
+He opened his eyes and looked hard at the window. The dim outline of
+Stark mountain off in the distance began to grow into form, and what was
+that? A speck of light? It must be his eyes. He rubbed them sleepily and
+looked again. Yes, a light. Alert at once with the alertness that comes
+to all boys at the sound of a fire bell or some such alarm, he slid from
+his bed noiselessly and stole to the window. It was gone! Aw, Gee! He
+had been asleep and dreamed it. No, there it was again, or was it?
+
+Blackness all before his eyes, with a luminous sky dimly about the
+irregular mountain top fringed with trees. This was foolish. He felt
+chilly and crept back to bed, but could not keep his eyes from the dark
+spot against the sky. He tried to close the lids and go to sleep, but
+they insisted on flying open and watching. And then came what he had
+been watching for. Three winks, and stop, three winks, stop, and one
+long flash. Then all was dark. And though he watched till the church
+clock struck three he saw no more.
+
+But the old torment came back. Mark and Cherry and Lynn. The guy at the
+parsonage and the girl with the floured face and base ball bats in her
+ears! Aw Gee! He must have a fever! It was hours since the clock had
+struck three. It must be nearly four, and then it would soon be light
+and he could get up. There seemed to be a light somewhere down the
+street through the trees. Not the street lamp either. Somebody sick
+likely. Hark! What was that? He wished he hadn't undressed. He sat up
+in bed and listened. The purr of a car! Someone was stealing Mark's
+car! Mark was away and everybody knew it. Nobody in Sabbath Valley would
+steal, except, perhaps over at the plush mill. There were new people
+there--Was that Mark's car? _Some car_!
+
+With a motion like a cat he sprang into the necessary garment which
+nestled limply on the floor by the bed, and was at the window in a
+trice. A drop like a cat to the shed roof, down the rainwater spout to
+the ground, a stealthy step to the back shed where old trusty leaned,
+and he was away down the road a speck in the dark, and just in time to
+see the dim black vision of a car speeding with muffled engine down the
+road toward the church. It was too dark to say it was Mark's car. He had
+no way but to follow.
+
+Panting and puffing, pedalling with all his might, straining his eyes to
+see through the dark the car that was flying along without lights, his
+hair sticking endwise, his sleepy hungry face peering wanly through
+the dark, he plodded after. Over the Highway! He slowed down and wasn't
+quite sure till he heard the chug of the engine ahead, and a few seconds
+later a red light bloomed out behind and he drew a new breath and
+pedalled on again, his heart throbbing wildly, the collar of his pajamas
+sticking up wildly like his hair, and one pajama leg showing whitely
+below his trouser like a tattered banner. The pedals cut his bare feet,
+and he shivered though he was drenched with perspiration, but he leaned
+far over his handle bars and pedalled on.
+
+Down past the Blue Duck Tavern, and on into the village of Economy the
+car went, not rapidly now as though it were running away, but slower,
+and steadier like a car on legitimate business and gravely with a
+necessary object in view. Billy's heart began to quake. Not for nothing
+had he learned to read by signs and actions at the feet of the master
+Mark. An inner well-developed sense began to tell him the truth.
+
+The car stopped in front of the Chief's house, and a horn sounded softly
+once. Billy dismounted hastily and vanished into the shadows. A light
+appeared in the upper window of the house and all was still. Presently
+the light upstairs went out, the front door opened showing a dimmer
+light farther in, and showing the outline of the Chief in flannel shirt
+and trousers. He came down the walk and spoke with the man in the car,
+and the car started again and turned in at the Chief's drive way, going
+back to the garage.
+
+Billy left his wheel against a hedge and hiked noiselessly after,
+slinking behind the garage door till the driver came out. _It was Mark!_
+
+He went down the drive, met the Chief at the gate and they went
+silently down the dark street, their rubber heels making no noise on
+the pavement. Economy was asleep and no wiser, but Billy's heart was
+breaking. He watched the two and followed afar till they turned down the
+side street which he feared. He stole after and saw them enter the brick
+building that harbored the County Jail. He waited with shaking limbs and
+bleeding heart, waited, hoping, fearing, dreading, but not for long. The
+Chief came out alone! It was as he had feared.
+
+Then as if the very devil himself pursued him, Billy turned and fled,
+retrieving his bicycle and whirled away noiselessly down the road,
+caring not where he was going, ready to hang himself, wild with despair
+and self-condemnation.
+
+The dark lay over the valley like a velvet mantel black and soft with
+white wreaths of mist like a lady's veil flung aside and blown to the
+breeze, but Billy saw naught but red winking lights and a jail, grim and
+red in the midnight, and his friend's white face passing in beneath the
+arched door. The bang of that door as it shut was echoing in his soul.
+
+He passed the Fenner cottage. There were lights and moving about, but he
+paid no heed. He passed the Blue Duck Tavern, and saw the light in the
+kitchen where the cook was beginning the day's work just as the rest of
+the house had been given over to sleep. There was the smell of bacon on
+the air. Some one was going away on the milk train likely. He thought
+it out dully as he passed with the sick reeling motion of a rider whose
+life has suddenly grown worthless to him. Over bottles and nails, and
+bumping over humps old trusty carried him, down the hill to Sabbath
+Valley, past the grave yard where the old stones peered eerily up from
+the dark mounds like wakened curious sleepers, past the church in the
+gray of the morning with a pinkness in the sky behind. Lynn lying in
+a sleepless bed listening to every sound for Mark's car to return, and
+recognizing Billy's back wheel squeak. On down the familiar street, glad
+of the thick maples to hide him, hunching up the pajama leg that would
+wave below in the rapidly increasing light, not looking toward the
+Carters', plodding on, old trusty on the back porch; shinning up the
+water spout, tiptoeing over the shed roof, a quick spring in his own
+window and he was safe on his bed again staring at the red morning light
+shining weirdly, cheerily on his wall and the rooster crowing lustily
+below his window. Drat that rooster! What did it want to make that noise
+for? Wasn't there a rooster in that Bible story? Oh, no, that was Peter
+perhaps. He turned hastily from the subject and gave his attention to
+his toilet. Aunt Saxon was squeaking past his door, stopping to listen:
+
+"Willie?"
+
+"Well." In a low growl, not encouragingly.
+
+"Oh, Willie, you up? You better?"
+
+"Nothin' the matter with me."
+
+"Oh--"
+
+"Breakfast ready?"
+
+"Oh, yes, Willie! I'm so glad you're feeling better." She squeaked on
+down the stairs sniffing as if from recent tears! Doggone those tears!
+Those everlasting tears! Why didn't a woman know--! Now, what did he
+have to do next? Do! Yes, he must do something. He couldn't just sit
+here, could he? What about Stark's mountain and the winking light? What
+about that sissy-guy making up to Miss Lynn? If only Mark were here now
+he would tell him everything. Yes, he would. Mark would understand. But
+Mark was in that unspeakable place! Would Mark find a way to get out?
+He felt convinced he could, but would he? From the set of his shoulders
+Billy had a strong conviction that Mark would not. Mark seemed to be
+going there for a purpose. Would the purpose be complete during the day
+sometime and would Mark return? Billy must do something before night. He
+wished it might be to smash the face of that guy Shafton. Assuredly he
+must do something. But first he must eat his breakfast. He didn't want
+to, but he had to. Aunt Saxon would raise a riot if he didn't. Well,
+there was ham. He could smell it. Ham for breakfast. Aw gee! Saxy was
+getting extravagant. Somehow pretty soon if he didn't hang himself he
+must find a way to brighten up Saxy and pay her back for all those pink
+tears.
+
+And over on Stark's mountain as the morning dawned a heavy foot climbed
+the haunted stairs and a blood shot eye framed itself at the little
+half moon in the front window that looked out over Lone Valley toward
+Economy, and down over Sabbath Valley toward Monopoly commanding a
+strategic position in the whole wild lovely region.
+
+Down in the cellar where the rats had hitherto held sway a soft chip,
+chip, chipping sound went steadily forward hour by hour, with spaces
+between and chip, chip, shipping again, a new kind of rat burrowing into
+the earth, over close to the edge of the long deserted scanty coal pile.
+While up under the dusty beams in a dark corner various old parcels were
+stowed away awaiting a later burial. From the peep hole where the eye
+commanded the situation a small black speck went whirling along the road
+to Monopoly which might be a boy on a bicycle, but no one came toward
+Stark's mountain on that bright sunny morning to disturb the quiet
+worker in the dark cellar.
+
+Billy was on his way to Monopoly, his aunt appeased for the time being,
+with the distinct purpose of buying the morning paper. Not that he was
+given to literature, or perused the dairy news as a habit, but an idea
+had struck him. There might be a way of finding out about Mark without
+letting any one know how he was finding out. It might be in the paper.
+Down at Monopoly no one would notice if he bought a County paper, and he
+could stop in the woods and read it.
+
+But when he reached the news stand he saw a pile of New York papers
+lying right in front, and the great black headlines caught his eye:
+
+"FATE OF LAURENCE SHAFTON STILL UNKNOWN."
+
+"Son of multimillionaire of New York City who was kidnapped on Saturday
+night on his way from New York to a week-end house party at Beechwood,
+N. J., not yet heard from. No clew to his whereabouts. Detectives out
+with bloodhounds searching country. Mother in a state of collapse. It is
+feared the bandits have fulfilled their threats and killed him. Father
+frantically offering any reward for news of son!"
+
+Billy read no further. He clapped down a nickel and stuffed the paper
+indifferently into his pocket, almost forgetting in his disgust to
+purchase the county news. "Aw Gee!" he said to himself. "More o' that
+Judas stuff. I gotta get rid o' them thirty pieces!"
+
+He stepped back and bought a County paper, stood idly looking over
+its pages a moment with the letters swimming before his eyes, at last
+discovering the column where the Economy "murder" was discussed, and
+without reading it stuffed it in the pocket on the other side and rode
+away into the sunlight. Murder! It was called murder! Then Dolph must be
+dead! The plot thickened! Dead! Murder! Who killed him? Surely he wasn't
+responsible for that at least! He was out on the road with Mark when it
+happened. He hadn't done anything which in the remotest way had to do
+with the killing, he thanked his lucky stars for that. And Mark. But who
+did it? Cherry? She might be a reason for what Mark did last night.
+
+At a turn in the road where a little grove began he got off his wheel
+and seeking a sheltered spot dropped down under a tree to read his
+papers. His quick eye searched through the County paper first for the
+sensational account of the murder, and a gray look settled over his pug
+countenance as he read. So might a mother have regarded her child in
+deep trouble, or a lover his beloved. Billy's spirit was bowed to
+the depths. When he had devoured every word he flung the paper aside
+wrathfully, and sat up with a kind of hopeless gesture of his hard young
+hands. "Aw Gee!" he said aloud, and suddenly he felt a great wet blob
+rolling down his freckled cheek. He smashed it across into his hair with
+a quick slash of his dirty hand as if it had been a mosquito annoying
+him, and lest the other eye might be meditating a like trick he gave
+that a vicious dab and hauled out the other paper, more as a matter
+of form than because he had a deep interest in it. All through the
+description of those wonderful Shafton jewels, and the mystery that
+surrounded the disappearance of the popular young man, Billy could see
+the word "murder" dancing like little black devils in and out among the
+letters. The paragraph about Mrs. Shafton's collapse held him briefly:
+
+"Aw, gee!" he could see pink tears everywhere. He supposed he ought to
+do something about that. For all the world like Aunt Saxon! He seemed
+to sense her youth through the printed words as he had once sensed Mrs.
+Carter's. He saw her back in school, pretty and little. Rich women were
+always pretty and little to his mind, pretty and little and helpless and
+always crying. It was then that the thought was born that made him look
+off to the hills and ponder with drawn brows and anxious mien. He
+took it back to his home with him and sat moodily staring at the lilac
+bushes, and gave Aunt Saxon another bad day wondering what had come to
+Willie. She would actually have been glad to hear him say: "I gotta beat
+it! I gotta date with tha fellas!"
+
+That evening the rumor crept back to Sabbath Valley from who knows where
+that Dolph was dead and Mark Carter had run away!
+
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+
+Tuesday morning Lynn slipped down to Carters with a little cake she had
+made all white frosting and sprinkles of nuts. Her face was white but
+brave with a smile, and she said her mother wanted to know how Mrs.
+Carter's neuralgia was getting on.
+
+But Mrs. Carter was the only one in the village perhaps who had not
+heard the rumor, and she was gracious and pleased and said she wished
+Mark was home, he loved nut cake so much.
+
+"You know he was called back to New York suddenly last night didn't
+you?" she said. "He felt real sorry to leave so soon, but his partner
+wired him there was something he must see to himself, and he just took
+his car and went right away as soon as he got back from taking that girl
+home. He hoped he'd get back again soon though. Say, who was that girl?
+Wasn't she kind of queer to ask Mark to take her home? Seems somehow
+girls are getting a little forward these days. I know you'd never do a
+thing like that with a perfect stranger, Marilyn."
+
+The girl only stayed a few minutes, and went home with a braver heart.
+At least Mark was protecting his mother. He had not changed entirely. He
+wouldn't let her suffer! But what was he doing? Oughtn't he to be told
+what rumors were going around about him? But how could it be done? Her
+father? Perhaps. She shrank from that, Mark had so withdrawn from them,
+he might take it as an interference. Billy? Ah, yes, Billy!
+
+But Billy did not appear anywhere, and when she got back she found that
+Shafton's car had been finished and was ready to drive, and he wanted
+her to take a little spin with him to try it, he said. He warily invited
+her mother to go along, for he saw by her face that she was going to
+decline, and the mother watching her daughter's white face said: "Yes,
+Marilyn we will go. It will do you good. You have been housed up here
+ever since you came home." And there was nothing for the girl to do but
+succumb or seem exceedingly rude. She was not by nature rude, so she
+went.
+
+As they drove by the Saxon cottage Billy was just coming out, and he
+stared glumly at the three and hardly acknowledged Marilyn's greeting.
+He stared after them scowling.
+
+"Hell!" said Billy aloud, regardless of Aunt Saxon at the front window,
+"Yes _Hell_!" and he realized the meaning of his epithet far better than
+the young man he was staring after had the first night he had used it in
+Sabbath Valley.
+
+"What was that you said Willie?" called Aunt Saxon's anxious voice.
+
+"Aw, nothing!" said Billy, and slammed out the gate, his wheel by his
+side. _Now_! Something had to be done. He couldn't have _that_ going
+on. He was hurt at Mrs. Severn. She ought to take better care of her
+daughter! In sullen despair he mounted and rode away to work out his
+problem. It was certain he couldn't do anything with Saxy snivelling
+round. And _something had to be done!_
+
+Billy managed to get around the country quite a little that morning. He
+rode up to Economy and learned that Mr. Fenner, the tailor, was sick,
+had been taken two nights ago, was delirious and had to have two men to
+hold him down. He thought everybody was an enemy and tried to choke them
+all. He rode past the jail but saw nothing though he circled the block
+three times. The Chief stood out in front talking with three strange
+men. Billy sized them up for detectives. When there was nothing further
+to be gained in Economy he turned his steed toward Pleasant Valley and
+took in a little underground telephone communication between a very
+badly scared Pat and a very angry Sam at some unknown point at the end
+of the wire. It was then, lying hidden in the thick undergrowth, that a
+possible solution of his difficulties occurred to him, a form of noble
+self sacrifice that might in part do penance for his guilt. Folded
+safely in his inner pocket was the thirty pieces of silver, the blood
+money, the price of Mark Carter's freedom and good name. If he had
+not taken that he might have fixd this Pat so he would be a witness to
+Mark's alibi. But according to the code he had been taught it would not
+be honorable to squeal on somebody whose money he had taken. It wasn't
+square. It wasn't honorable. It was yella, and yella, he would not be if
+the sky fell. It was all the religion he had as yet, not to be "yella."
+It stood for all the fineness of his soul. But he had reasoned within
+himself that if in some way he could get that money back to Pat, then he
+would be free from obligation. Then he could somehow manage to put Pat
+where he would have to tell the right thing to save Mark. Just how it
+could be done he wasn't sure, but that was another question.
+
+When Pat had trundled away to the train he rolled himself out from
+ambush and went on his way across Lone Valley by a little tree-shaded
+path he knew that cut straight over to Stark mountain.
+
+Not a ripple of a leaf showed above him as he passed straight up the
+mountain to the old house, for the watchful eye looking out to see.
+Billy was a great deal like an Indian in his goings and comings, and
+Billy was wary. Had he not seen the winking light? Billy was taking no
+chances. Smoothly folded in his hip pocket he carried a leaf of the New
+York paper wherein was offered a large reward for information concerning
+jewels and bonds and other property taken from the Shafton country home
+on pretense of setting free the son. Also there was a stupendous reward
+offered for information concerning the son, and Billy's big thought as
+he crept along under the trees with all the stealth of a wild thing, was
+that here was another thirty pieces of silver multiplied many times, and
+_he wasn't going to take it!_ He _could, but he wouldn't!_ He was going
+to give these folks the information they wanted, but he wasn't going to
+get the benefit of it. That was going to be his punishment. He had been
+in hell long enough, and he was going to try to pull himself out of it
+by his good works. And he would do it in such a way that there wouldn't
+be any chance of the reward being pressed upon him. He would just fix
+it so that nobody would particularly know he had anything to do with the
+clews. That was Billy all over. He never did a thing half way. But first
+he must find out if there was anybody about the old house. He couldn't
+get away from those three winks he had seen.
+
+So, feeling almost relieved for a moment Billy left his wheel on guard
+and crept around to his usual approach at the back before he came out in
+the open. And then he crept cautiously to the cellar window where he had
+first entered the house. He gripped Pat's old gun with one hand in his
+pocket, and slid along like a young snake, taking precaution not to
+appear before the cellar window lest his shadow should fall inside. He
+flattened himself at last upon the grass a noticeless heap of gray khaki
+trousers and brown flannel shirt close against the house. One would have
+to lean far out of a window to see him, and there he lay and listened
+awhile. And presently from the depths beyond that grated window he
+heard a little scratch, scratch, scratch, tap, tap, tap, scratch, tap,
+scratch, tap, steadily, on for sometime like his heart beats, till he
+wasn't sure he was hearing it at all, and thought it might be the blood
+pounding through his ears, so strange and uncanny it seemed. Then, all
+at once there came a puff, as if a long breath had been drawn, like one
+lifting a heavy weight, and then a dull thud. A brief silence and more
+scratching in soft earth now.
+
+He listened for perhaps an hour, and once a footstep grated on the
+cement floor, and coals rattled down as if they were disturbed. Once
+too a soft chirrup from up above like the call of a wood bird, only
+strangely human and the sounds in the cellar ceased altogether, till
+another weird note sounded and they began again.
+
+When he was satisfied with his investigations he began slowly to back
+away from his position, lifting each atom of muscle slowly one at a time
+till his going must have been something like the motion picture of a bud
+unfolding, and yet as silent as the flower grows he faded away from
+that cellar window back into the green and no one was the wiser. An hour
+later the watchful eye at the little half moon opening in the shutter
+might have seen a little black speck like a spider whizzing along on the
+Highroad and turning down toward Sabbath Valley, but it never would have
+looked as if it came from Stark mountain, for it was headed straight
+from Lone Valley. Billy was going home to get cleaned up and make a
+visit to the parsonage. If that guy was still there he'd see how
+quick he would leave! If there wasn't one way to make him go there was
+another, and Billy felt that he held the trick.
+
+But as fate would have it Billy did not have to get cleaned up, for Miss
+Severn stood on the front porch looking off toward the mountains with
+that wistful expression of hers that made him want to laugh and cry and
+run errands for her anywhere just to serve her and make her smile, and
+she waved her hand at Billy, and ran down to the gate to speak to him.
+
+"Billy, I want to ask you,--If you were to see Mark Carter--of course
+you mightn't, but then you might--you'll let him know that we are of
+course his friends, and that anything he wants done, if he'll just let
+us know--"
+
+"Sure!" said Billy lighting off his wheel with a downward glance at
+his dirty self, all leaves and dust and grime, "Sure, he'd know that
+anyhow."
+
+"Well, Billy, I know he would, but I mean, I thought perhaps you might
+find something we _could do_,--something maybe without letting him know.
+He's very proud about asking any help you, know, and he wouldn't want
+to bother us. You may discover something he--needs--or wants
+done--while--he is away--and maybe we could help him out, Father or
+Mother or I. You'll remember, won't you Billy?"
+
+"Sure!" said Billy again feeling the warm glow of her friendliness and
+loyalty to Mark, and digging his toes into the turf embarrassedly. Then
+he looked up casually as he was about to leave:
+
+"Say is there a guy here named Shafton? Man from n'Yark?"
+
+"Why, yes," said Lynn looking at him curiously, "Did you want to see
+him?"
+
+"Well, if he's round I might. I got a message for him."
+
+She looked at him keenly:
+
+"You haven't _seen_ Mark to-day, have you, Billy?"
+
+"Aw, naw,'taint from him," he grinned reassuringly, "He's away just now.
+But I might see him soon ya know, ur hear from him."
+
+Lynn's face cleared. "Yes, of course. His mother told me he was suddenly
+called back to New York."
+
+"Yep. That's right!" said Billy as if he knew all about it, and pulled
+off his old cap with a glorious wave as she turned to call the stranger.
+
+Billy dropped his wheel at the curb and approached the steps as he
+saw Shafton coming slowly out leaning on a cane. He rustled the folded
+newspaper out from his pocket with one hand and shook it open as only
+a boy's sleight of hand can do, wafting it in front of the astonished
+Laurie, and saying with an impudent swag,
+
+"Say, z'your name Shafton? Well, _see that?_ Why don't you beat it home?
+Your ma is about t'croke, an' yer dad has put up about all his dough,
+an' you better rustle back to where you come from an' tell 'em not to
+b'leeve all the bunk that's handed out to 'em! Good night! They must
+need a nurse!"
+
+Laurie paused in the act of lighting one of his interminable cigarettes
+with which he supplied the lack of a stronger stimulant, and stared at
+the boy curiously, then stared at the paper he held in his hand with the
+flaring headlines, and reaching out his hand for it began to laugh:
+
+"Well, upon my word, Kid, where'd you get this? If that isn't a joke! I
+wonder if Opal's seen it. Miss Severn, come here! See what a joke! I'm
+kidnapped! Did you ever hear the like? Look at the flowery sentences.
+It's almost like reading one's own obituary, isn't it?"
+
+Marilyn, glancing over his shoulder at the headlines, took in the import
+of it instantly. "I should think you'd want to telephone your mother at
+once. How she must have suffered!" she said.
+
+Laurie somewhat sobered agreed that it would be a good idea:
+
+"The mater's a good old scout," he said lightly, "She's always helping
+me out of scrapes, but this is one too many to give up her emeralds, the
+Shafton Emeralds! Gosh but dad will be mad about them! And Oh, say, call
+that boy back will you? I want to give him a dollar!"
+
+But Billy had faded down the road with mortal indignation in his breast.
+To think of giving up a ten thousand dollar reward and having a dollar
+flung at you! It seemed to measure the very depth of the shame to which
+he had descended.
+
+The Severns came a few paces out of their indifference to this
+self-imposed guest and gathered around the sheet of newspaper while
+Laurie held an intensive conversation with his family beginning with
+several servants who were too excited at first to identify his voice.
+
+But at last he hung up the receiver and turned toward them:
+
+"Well, I guess there's nothing for it but for me to pull out. The mater
+doesn't think she'll be satisfied till she has her hands on me. Besides
+I've got to get things started about those jewels. Dad and mother are
+too excited to know what they're about. I declare, it's like being dead
+and seeing how they feel about it."
+
+There was a boyish eager look about the young man's face that made him
+for the first time seem rather loveable, Mrs. Severn thought. The mother
+in her rose to appreciation. Lynn was so glad that he was going away
+that she was almost friendly during lunch. And when the young man was
+about to depart he went to Mr. Severn's study and wrote a check for five
+hundred dollars:
+
+"Just in appreciation of your kindness," he said as he held it out to
+the minister.
+
+The minister looked amused but did not offer to take it:
+
+"That's all right," he said pleasantly, "We don't keep boarders you
+know. You were welcome to what we could give you."
+
+"But, my dear sir, I couldn't think of not remunerating you," declared
+Laurie.
+
+"And I couldn't think of taking it," smiled the minister.
+
+"Well, then take it for your poor people," he insisted.
+
+"From what Lynn tells me you have more of those than we have," answered
+the minister.
+
+The young man looked annoyed:
+
+"Well, then take it for something for your church, another bell or
+something, anything you're interested in."
+
+"I can give you an address of a young missionary out West who is having
+a hard time of it, and has a very needy parish," said the minister
+taking out his fountain pen and writing the address on a card, "but I
+should prefer that you would send it to him yourself. He wouldn't take
+it from me, but if you'd send it he'll write and tell you what he does
+with it, and he'll tell me too, so it will give pleasure all around.
+He's a game young chap, and he's given his life. You couldn't help but
+like him."
+
+Laurie had to be content with this, though he felt annoyed at having to
+write a letter to a missionary. He felt he shouldn't know how to address
+him.
+
+"I'll send it to-night when I get home," he declared, "or no, I'll send
+it now," and he sat down at the minister's desk, and scribbled a note.
+It read: "Your friend Severn won't take anything himself for kindness to
+me, so he's letting me send you this for your work. Here's wishing you
+good luck." This he signed and handed to the minister with a relieved
+air as if to say: "There! That's that!"
+
+"You see," said Laurie getting up and taking his hat again, "I want to
+come back here again and see your daughter. I may as well tell you I'm
+crazy about your daughter."
+
+"I see," said the minister gravely, albeit with a twinkle in his eye,
+"The fact is I'm somewhat crazy about her myself. But in all kindness
+I may as well tell you that you'll be wasting your time. She isn't your
+kind you know."
+
+"Oh, well," said Laurie with an assured shrug, "That's all right if I
+don't mind, isn't it?"
+
+"Well, no," said the minister smiling broadly now, "You forget that she
+might mind, you know."
+
+"I don't get you," said Laurie looking puzzled as he fitted on his
+immaculate driving glove, "She might mind, what do you mean?"
+
+"I mean that my daughter minds very much indeed whether her men friends
+ask in a certain tone of voice for something to _drink_ at midnight,
+and use language such as you used when you first arrived here, smoke
+continual cigarettes, and have friends like the young woman who visited
+you last Sunday."
+
+"Oh! I see!" laughed Laurie thoroughly amused, "Well, after all, one
+doesn't have to keep on doing all those things you know--if it were
+worth one's while to change them."
+
+"I'm afraid," said the minister still amused, "that it would have to
+be worth your while to change before she would even consider you as a
+possibility. She happens to have a few ideas about what it takes to make
+a man, her ideal man, you know."
+
+Laurie smiled gaily:
+
+"Perhaps I can change those ideas."
+
+"Help yourself young man. You'll find it a task, I assure you."
+
+"Well, I'm coming back, anyway."
+
+"We shall welcome you," said the minister politely, but not at all
+gladly, and Laurie departed without his usual complacency, assuring the
+minister that he had found Sabbath Valley the garden spot of the world
+and meant to return soon and often.
+
+Billy watched him from the graveyard enclosure whither he had retired
+to write a letter, and he made a face and wasted a gesture of defiance
+after his departing car. So much Billy felt he had accomplished toward
+reparation. He was now attempting a third act.
+
+On the smooth end of the old stone he had a newspaper spread, and upon
+that a sheet of letter paper which he had extracted from Aunt Saxon's
+ancient box in the old secretary in the corner of the kitchen. Kneeling
+beside the stone he carefully inscribed the following words:
+
+ "Yoors to cummand,
+  B. Gaston."
+
+He folded the paper with his smudgy fingers, and stuffed it into a
+soiled envelope on which he wrote Mark's name, and as he had seen Lynn
+write down in the corner of a note that he had taken to Monopoly for
+her, "Kindness of Billy," so he wrote "Kindnus of Cheef." Then he
+mounted his wheel and rode to Economy. After some apparently aimless
+riding he brought up at the back of the Chief's garage where he applied
+a canny eye to a crack and ascertained just how many and what cars were
+inside. He then rode straight to the bank where he was pretty sure the
+Chief would be standing near the steps at this hour. Waiting a time of
+leisure he handed him the envelope:
+
+"Say, Chief, c'n I trouble you to d'liver that?"
+
+The Chief looked at the envelope and then at Billy and opened his lips
+to speak, but Billy forestalled him:
+
+"I know you don't know where he is at all now, Chief, o' course, but I
+just thought you might happen to meet up with him sometime soon. That's
+all right, Chief. Thank ya." Billy ended with a knowing wink.
+
+The Chief turned the envelope over, noted that it was unsealed, grinned
+back and put it in his pocket. They had been good friends, these two,
+for several years, ever since Billy had been caught bearing the penalty
+for another boy's misdemeanor.
+
+"That's all right Billy," said the Chief affably, "I won't forget it--if
+I see him! Seen anything more of those automobile thieves?"
+
+"Nope," said Billy sadly, "but I gotta line on 'em. 'f'I find anythin'
+more I'll callyaup!"
+
+"Do!" said the Chief cordially, and the interview was closed.
+
+Billy bought some cakes at the bakery with ten cents he had earned
+running an errand from the grocery that morning, and departed on
+important business. He had definitely decided to give up his thirty
+pieces of silver. No more blood money for him. His world was upside down
+and all he loved were suffering, and all because he had been mercenary.
+The only way to put things right was to get rid of any gain that might
+accrue to himself. Then he would be in a position to do something. And
+Pat was his first object now. He meant to give back the money to Pat! He
+had thought it all out, and he meant to waste no time in getting things
+straight.
+
+He went to the Economy post office and on the back of a circular that he
+found in the waste basket he wrote another note:
+
+"Pat. This is blood money an' I can't kep it. I didunt no when I
+undertuk the job wot kind of a job it was. Thers only one way fur yoo to
+kep yur hid saf, an that is to tel the trooth abot wot hapuned. If yoo
+ar wiling to tel the trooth put a leter heer sayin so. If yoo don't I am
+havin' you watshed an you will los yoor job an likely be hanged. We are
+arumd so be keerful. This aint yella. This is rite.
+
+"THE KID."
+
+It was a long job and he was tired when it was finished, for his days
+at school had been full of so many other things besides lessons that
+literary efforts were always strenuous for him. When he had finished
+he went out and carried three parcels for the meat market, receiving in
+return thirty cents, which exactly made up the sum he had spent from his
+tainted money. With this wrapped bunglingly in his note he proceeded
+to ambush near Pleasant Valley. He had other fish to fry, but not till
+dark. Meantime, if that underground telephone was being used at other
+times in the day he wanted to know it.
+
+He placed the note and money obviously before the little hidden
+telephone from which he had cleared the leaves and rubbish that hid it,
+and then retired to cover where he settled himself comfortably. He knew
+Pat would be busy till the two evening trains had arrived, after that if
+he did not come there would likely be no calls before morning again, and
+he could go on his way. With a pleasant snack of sugar cookies and cream
+puffs he lay back and closed his eyes, glad of this brief respite from
+his life of care and perplexity. Of course he couldn't get away from
+his thoughts, but what a pleasant place this was, with the scent of
+sassafras and winter green all around him, and the meadow lark high in
+the air somewhere. There were bees in the wild honeysuckle not far away.
+He could hear their lazy drone. It would be nice to be a bee and fly,
+fly away from everything. Did bees care about things? Did they have
+troubles, and love folks and lose 'em? When a bee died did the other
+bees care? Aw Gee! Mark in--j--_No_! He wouldn't say it! Mark was in New
+York! Yes, of course he was. It would all come right some day. He would
+catch those crooks and put 'em in jail--no, first he'd use 'em to clear
+Mark. When he got done here he was going up to watch the old house and
+find out about that noise, and he'd see whether Link and Shorty would
+put anything more over! Link and Shorty and Pat, and that sissy Shafton
+and Sam, whoever Sam was! They were all his enemies! If Mark were only
+here how they would go to that old haunted house together and work this
+thing out. He ought to have told Mark everything. Fool! Just to save his
+own hide! Just to keep Mark from blaming him! Well, he was done saving
+himself or getting ill gotten gains. Him for honesty for the rest of his
+life.
+
+The bees droned on and the lark grew fainter and fainter. Billy's eyes
+drooped closer shut, his long curling lashes lay on his freckled cheeks
+the way they lay sometimes when Aunt Saxon came to watch him. That
+adorable sweep of lash that all mothers of boys know, that air of
+dignity and innocence that makes you forget the day and its doings and
+undoings and think only, this is a man child, a wonderful creature
+of God, beloved and strong, a gift of heaven, a wonder in daytime, a
+creature to be afraid of sometimes, but weak in sleep, _adorable!_
+
+Billy slept.
+
+The afternoon train lumbered in with two freight cars behind, and a lot
+of crates and boxes to manipulate, but Billy slept. The five o'clock
+train slid in and the evening express with its toll of guests for the
+Lake Hotel who hustled off wearily, cheerily, and on to the little Lake
+train that stood with an expectant insolent air like a necessary
+evil waiting for a tip. The two trains champed and puffed and finally
+scampered away, leaving echoes all along the valley, and a red stream of
+sun down the track behind them from a sky aflame in the west preparing
+for a brilliant sunset. The red fingers of the sun touched the freckles
+on Billy's cheek lightly as if to warn him that the time had come. The
+shutters slammed on at the little station. The agent climbed the hill
+to his shack among the pines. Pat came out the door and stood on the
+platform looking down the valley, waiting for the agent to get out of
+sight.
+
+And Billy slept on!
+
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+
+Three days later a pall hung over Sabbath Valley. The coroner's inquest
+had brought in a verdict of murder, and the day of the hearing had been
+set. Mark Carter was to be tried for murder--was _wanted_ for murder as
+Elder Harricutt put it. It was out now and everybody knew it but Mrs.
+Carter, who went serenely on her way getting her regular letters from
+Mark postmarked New York and telling of little happenings that were
+vague but pleasant and sounded so like Mark, so comforting and son
+like. So strangely tender and comforting and more in detail than Mark's
+letters had been wont to be. She thought to herself that he was growing
+up at last. He spoke of a time when he and she would have a nice home
+together somewhere, some new place where he would get into business and
+make a lot of money. Would she like that? And once he told her he was
+afraid he hadn't been a very good son to her, but sometime he would try
+to make it up to her, and she cried over that letter for sheer joy. But
+all the rest of the town knew that Mark was suspected of murder, and
+most of them thought he had run away and nobody could find him. The
+county papers hinted that there were to be strange revelations when the
+time of the trial came, but nothing definite seemed to come out from day
+to day more than had been said at first, and there was a strange lack of
+any mention of Mark in connection with it after the first day.
+
+Lynn Severn went about the house quiet and white, her face looking
+like an angel's prayer, one continual petition, but she was sweet and
+patient, and ready to do anything for anybody. Work seemed to be her
+only respite from the gnawing horror of her thoughts. To know that
+the whole village believed that Mark, her life long playmate, had been
+guilty of a crime so heinous was so appalling that sometimes she just
+stood at the window and laughed out into the sunshine at the crazy idea
+of it. It simply could not be. Mark, who had always been so gentle and
+tender for every living thing, so chivalrous, so ready to help! To think
+of Mark killing anyone! And yet, they might have needed killing. At
+least, of course she didn't mean that, but there were circumstances
+under which she could imagine almost anyone doing a deed--well what
+was the use, there was no way to excuse or explain a thing she didn't
+understand, and she could just do nothing but not believe any of it
+until she knew. She would trust in God, and yes, she would trust in Mark
+as she always had done, at least until she had his own word that he was
+not trustable. That haughty withdrawing of himself on Sunday night and
+his "I am not worthy" meant nothing to her now when it came trailing
+across her consciousness. It only seemed one more proof of his tender
+conscience, his care for her reputation. He had known then what they
+were saying about him, he must have known the day before that there was
+something that put him in a position so that he felt it was not good for
+her reputation to be his friend. He had withdrawn to protect her. That
+was the way she explained it to her heart, while yet beneath it all
+was the deep down hurt that he had not trusted her, and let her be his
+friend in trouble as well as when all was well.
+
+She had written him a little note, not too intimate, just as a sister
+might have written, expressing her deep trust, and her sincere desire to
+stand by and help in any time of need. In it she begged him to think her
+worthy of sharing his trouble as he used to share his happiness, and to
+know always that she was his friend whatever came. She had read it over
+and over to be sure she was not overstepping her womanly right to say
+these things, and had prayed about it a great deal. But when it came to
+sending it she did not know his New York address. He had been strangely
+silent during the last few months and had not written her. She did not
+want to ask his mother. So she planned to find it out through Billy. But
+Billy did not come. It had been two days since Billy had been around,
+or was it three? She was standing at the window looking down the road
+toward the Saxon cottage and wondering if she wanted to go down and hunt
+for Billy when she saw Miss Saxon coming up the street and turning in at
+the gate, and her face looked wan and crumpled like an old rose that had
+been crushed and left on the parlor floor all night.
+
+She turned from the window and hurried down:
+
+"Miss Marilyn," Aunt Saxon greeted her with a gush of tears, "I don't
+know what to do. Billy's away! He hasn't been home for three days and
+three nights! His bed ain't been touched. He never did that before
+except that last time when he stayed out to help Mark Carter that time
+on the mountain with that sick man, and I can't think what's the matter.
+I went to Miz Carter's, but she ain't seen him, and she says Mark's up
+to his business in New York, so Billy can't be with him, and I just know
+he's kilt, Miss Marilyn. I just know he's kilt. I dreamt of a shroud
+night before last and I can't help thinkin' he's _kilt!_" and the tears
+poured down the tired little face pitifully.
+
+Marilyn drew her tenderly into the house and made her sit down by the
+cool window, brought a palm leaf fan and a footstool, and told Naomi to
+make some iced orangeade. Then she called her mother and went and sat
+down by the poor little creature who now that somebody else was going
+to do something about it had subsided into her chair with relief born of
+exhaustion. She had not slept for three nights and two of those days she
+had washed all day.
+
+"Now, Miss Saxon, dear, you're not to worry," said the girl taking the
+fan and waving it gently back and forth, touching the work-worn hand
+tenderly with her other hand, "Billy is not dead, I'm sure! Oh, I'm
+quite sure! I think somehow it would be hard to kill Billy. He has ways
+of keeping alive that most of us don't enjoy. He is strong and young
+and sharp as a needle. No one can put anything over on Billy, and I
+have somehow a feeling, Miss Saxon that Billy is off somewhere doing
+something very important for somebody. He is that way you know. He does
+nice unusual things that nobody else would think of doing, and I just
+expect you'll find out some day that Billy has been doing one of those.
+There's that man on the mountain, for instance. He might be still very
+sick, and it would be just like Billy to stay and see to him. Maybe
+there isn't anybody else around to do it, and now that Mark has gone
+he would feel responsible about it. Of course he ought to have told you
+before he went, but he wouldn't likely have expected to stay long,
+and then boys don't think. They don't realize how hard it is not to
+understand--!"
+
+"Thas'so, Miss Marilyn," sniffed Miss Saxon, "He don't hardly ever
+think. But he mighta phomed."
+
+"Well, it isn't likely they have phones on the mountain, and you haven't
+any, have you? How could he?"
+
+"He mighta phomed to you."
+
+"Yes, he might, but you know how boys are, he wouldn't want to bother
+anybody. And if the man was in a lonely cabin somewhere he couldn't get
+to a phone."
+
+"Thas'so too. Oh, Miss Marilyn, you always do think up comfort. You're
+just like your ma and pa. But Billy, he's been so kinda peaked lately,
+so sorta gentle, and then again sorta crazy like, just like his mother
+useta be 'fore her husband left her. I couldn't help worryin'."
+
+"Well, now, Miss Saxon, I'll inquire around all I can without rousing
+any suspicion. You know Billy would hate that."
+
+"Oh, I know he would," flushed the little woman nervously.
+
+"So I'll just ask the boys if they know where he is and where they saw
+him last, and don't you worry. I'll tell them I have a message for him
+you know, and you just stop crying and rest easy and don't tell a soul
+yet till I look around. Here comes mother. She'll help you better than I
+can."
+
+Mrs. Severn in a cool white dimity came quietly into the room, bringing
+a restful calm with her, and while Lynn was out on her errand of mercy
+she slipped a strong arm around the other woman's waist and had her down
+on her knees in the alcove behind the curtains, and had committed the
+whole matter to a loving Heavenly Father, Billy and the tired little
+Aunt, and all the little details of life that harrow so on a burdened
+soul; and somehow when they rose the day was cooler, and life looked
+more possible to poor Aunt Saxon.
+
+Presently came Lynn, brightly. She had seen the boys. They had met Billy
+in Economy day before yesterday. He had said he had a job, he didn't
+know how long it would last, and he might not be able to come to base
+ball practice. He told them who to put in his place till he got back.
+
+"There, now, Miss Saxon, you go home and lie down and take a good sleep.
+You've put this whole thing in the hands of the Lord, now don't take
+it out again. Just trust Him. Billy'll come back safe and sound, and
+there'll be some good reason for it," said Mrs. Severn. And Aunt Saxon,
+smiling wistfully, shyly apologetic for her foolishness, greatly cheered
+and comforted, went. But Lynn went up to her little white room and
+prayed earnestly, adding Billy to her prayer for Mark. Where was Billy
+Gaston?
+
+When Miss Saxon went home she found a letter in the letter box out by
+the gate addressed to Billy. This set her heart to palpitating again
+and she almost lost her faith in prayer and took to her own worries once
+more. But she carried the letter in and held it up to the window, trying
+her best to make out anything written therein. She justified this to her
+conscience by saying that it might give a clue to Billy's whereabouts.
+Billy never got letters. Maybe, it might be from his long lost father,
+though they had all reason to believe him dead. Or maybe--Oh, what if
+Albert Gaston had come back and kidnapped Billy! The thought was too
+awful. She dropped right down in the kitchen where she stood by the old
+patchwork rocking chair that always stood handy in the window when she
+wanted to peel potatoes, and prayed: "Oh, God, don't let it be! Don't
+bring that bad man back to this world again! Take care of my Billy and
+bring him back to me, Amen!" Over and over again she prayed, and it
+seemed to comfort her. Then she rose, and put the tea kettle on and
+carefully steamed open the letter. She had not lost all hope when she
+took time to steam it open in place of tearing it, for she was still
+worse afraid that Billy might return and scold her for meddling with
+his precious letter, then she was afraid he would not return. While the
+steam was gathering she tried to justify herself in Billy's eyes for
+opening it at all. After her prayer it seemed a sort of desecration. So
+the kettle had almost boiled away before she mustered courage to hold
+the envelope over the steam, and while she did this she noticed for the
+first time significantly that the postmark was New York. Perhaps it was
+from Mark. Then Billy was not with Mark! But perhaps the letter would
+tell.
+
+So she opened the flap very carefully, and pulled out the single sheet
+of paper, stepping nearer the window to read it in the late afternoon
+light. It read: "Dear Kid, shut your mouth and saw wood. Buddy." That
+was all.
+
+Aunt Saxon lifted frightened eyes and stared at the lilac bush outside
+the window, the water spout where Billy often shinned up and down, the
+old apple tree that he would climb before he was large enough to be
+trusted, and then she read the letter again. But it meant nothing to
+her. It seemed a horrible riddle. She took a pencil and a scrap of paper
+and quickly transcribed the mysterious words, omitting not even the
+punctuation, and then hurriedly returned the letter to its envelope,
+clapped the flap down and held it tight. When it was dry she put the
+letter up in plain sight on the top of the old secretary where Billy
+could find it at once when he came in. She was taking no chances on
+Billy finding her opening his mail. It never had happened before,
+because Billy never had had a letter before, except notices about base
+ball and athletic association, but she meant it never should happen.
+She knew instinctively that if it ever did she would lose Billy, if not
+immediately, then surely eventually, for Billy resented above all things
+interference. Then Aunt Saxon sat down to study the transcription. But
+after a long and thorough perusal she folded it carefully and pinned
+it in her bosom. But she went more cheerily down to the market to get
+something for supper. Billy might come any time now. His letter was
+here, and he would surely come home to get his letter.
+
+Down at the store she met Marilyn, who told her she looked better
+already, and the poor soul, never able to hold her tongue, had to tell
+the girl about the letter.
+
+"He's had a letter," she said brightening, "about a job I guess. It was
+there when I got back. It's sawing wood. The letter doesn't have any
+head. It just says about sawing wood. I 'spose that's where he is, but
+he ought to have let me know. He was afraid I'd make a fuss about it, I
+always do. I'm afraid of those big saws they use. He's so careless. But
+he was set on a grown-up job. I couldn't get him to paste labels on cans
+at the factory, he said it was too much of a kid game."
+
+"Oh," said Marilyn, wondering, "Sawing wood. Well, that's where he is
+of course, and it's good healthy work. I wouldn't worry. Billy is pretty
+careful I think. He'll take care of himself."
+
+But to herself on the way home she said: "How queer for Billy to go off
+sawing wood just now! It doesn't seem like him. They can't be so
+hard up. There must be something behind it all. I hope I didn't start
+anything asking him to stick by Mark! Oh, _where_ is Mark?"
+
+That afternoon Marilyn took a horseback ride, and touched all the points
+she knew where there might be likely to be woodsawing going on, but no
+Billy was on the job anywhere.
+
+As she rode home through Economy she saw Mrs. Fenner scuttling down a
+side street from the jail, and hurrying into her own side gate like a
+little frightened lizard.
+
+Marilyn came back home heart sick and sad, and took refuge in the
+church and her bells. At least she could call to Billy across the hills
+somewhere by playing the songs he loved the best. And perhaps their
+echoes would somehow cross the miles to Mark too, by that strange
+mysterious power that spirit can reach to spirit across space or years
+or even estrangement, and draw the thoughts irresistibly. So she sat at
+the organ and played her heart out, ringing all the old sweet songs that
+Mark used to love when the bells first were new and she was learning to
+play them; Highland Laddie, Bonnie Bonnie Warld, Mavourneen, Kentucky
+Home, songs that she had kept fresh in her heart and sometimes played
+for Billy now and then. And then the old hymns. Did they echo far enough
+to reach him where he had gone, Mark sitting alone in his inferno? Billy
+holding his breath and trying to find a way out of his? Did they hear
+those bells calling?
+
+ "Oh, God our help in ages past,
+  Our hope for years to come!
+  Our refuge from the stormy blast,
+  And our eternal home!"
+
+The soul of the girl in the little dusky church went up in a prayer with
+the bells.
+
+ "Before the hills in order stood,
+  Or earth received her frame,
+  From everlasting Thou art God!
+  A thousand years the same!"
+
+Every mortal in the village knew the words, and in kitchens now,
+preparing savory suppers, or down in the mills and factories, or out on
+the street coming home, they were humming them, or repeating them over
+in their hearts. The bells did not ring the melody alone. The message
+was well known and came to every heart. Mark and Billy knew them too.
+Perhaps by telepathy the tune would travel to their minds and bring
+their words along:
+
+ "Under the shadow of Thy wings
+  Thy saints have dwelt secure,
+  Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
+  And Thy defense is sure!"
+
+The bells ceased ringing and the vibration slowly died away, hill
+answering to hill, in waves of softly fading sound, while the people
+went to their suppers with a light of blessing and uplift on their
+faces. But in the darkened church, Marilyn, with her fingers on the keys
+and her face down upon her hands was praying, praying that God would
+shelter Mark and Billy.
+
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+
+High in the tree over Billy's head a little chipmunk whisked with a nut
+in his mouth. He selected a comfortable rocking branch, unfurled his
+tail for a wind shield at his back, and sat up to his supper table as
+it were with the nut in his two hands. Something unusual caught his
+attention as he was about to attack the nutshell, and he cocked his
+little striped head around, up, and down, and took in Billy. Then a
+squirrel smile overspread his furry face and a twinkle seemed to come
+in his eye. With a wink down toward Billy he went to work. Crack, crack,
+crack! The shell was open. Crack! And a large section fell, whirling
+spinning down, straight down. The squirrel paused in his nibbling and
+cocked an eye again with that mischievous twinkle as if he enjoyed the
+joke, watching the light bit of shell in its swift descent, plump on the
+end of Billy's nose. It couldn't have hit straighter if Chippie had been
+pitcher for the Sabbath Valley base ball team.
+
+Billy opened his eyes with a start and a scowl, and there before him,
+glaring like a wild beast, thick lips agap showing gnarled yellow teeth,
+wicked eyes, red glittering and murderous, was Pat, ugly, formidable and
+threatening!
+
+"Come outta there you little varmint you!" roared Pat. "Come out and
+I'll skin the nasty yella hide off'n ya. I gotcha good and hard now
+right where I wantcha an' ye won't--"
+
+Bang! Click!--BANG!
+
+Billy had been lying among the thick undergrowth, flat on his back, his
+left arm flung above his head, but his right arm was thrust out from
+his body under a thick clump of laurel, and his right hand held the gun
+ready for any emergency when he inadvertently went to sleep. The gun
+was pointed down the Valley along the ground and his fingers wrapped
+knowingly, loving around the weapon,--he had so long wanted to own one
+of his own. That gun was not included in the blood money and was not to
+be returned. It was a perquisite of war.
+
+Billy was all there always, and even awakening suddenly from much needed
+sleep he was on the job. One glance at Pat's devilish face and his
+fingers automatically pulled the trigger. The report roared out along
+the Valley like a volley from a regiment.
+
+Billy hardly felt the rebound of the weapon before he realized that
+Patrick was no more between his vision and the sun's last rays. Patrick
+was legging it down the Valley with all the strength he had left, and
+taking no time to look back. Billy had presence of mind to let off
+another volley before he rose to investigate; but there was nothing left
+of Pat but a ruffled path in the undergrowth and a waving branch or two
+he had turned aside in his going. So that was that! Doggone it, why did
+he have to go to sleep? If he had only been ready he could have managed
+this affair so much better for his own ends. He wanted a heart to heart
+talk with Pat while he had him good and frightened, and now it was
+too late. He must get back to the other job. He shinned up a tree and
+observed the broad shoulders of Pat wallowing up the bank over by the
+railroad. He was going back to the station. It was as well. He might
+see him again tomorrow perhaps, for Pat he must have as evidence. And
+besides, Pat might read the note and conclude to come back and answer
+it.
+
+Billy parted the bushes to see if Pat had taken the money and note with
+him, and lo, here was the rude mountain telephone box wide open with
+the bunch of keys in the lock just as Pat must have left it when he
+discovered the paper and money, or perhaps Pat had been going to report
+to Sam what had happened, who knew? You see Billy knew nothing of his
+little red and brown striped partner up in the tree who had dropped a
+nut to warn him of danger, and did not realize that Chippie had also
+startled Pat, and set him looking among the bushes for the sources of
+the sound.
+
+But Billy knew how to take advantage of a situation if he didn't know
+what made it, and in a trice he was down on his knees with the crude
+receiver in his hands. It was too late to ride down to the Blue Duck and
+telephone, but here was a telephone come to him, and now was a chance to
+try if it was a telephone at all, or only a private wire run secretly.
+He waited breathless with the long hum of wires in his ears, and then
+a quick click and "Number please." Billy could hardly command his
+voice but he murmured "Economy 13" in a low growl, his hard young hands
+shaking with excitement. "Your letter please!" Billy looked wildly at
+the rough box but could see no sign of number. "Why, it's the station,
+doncha know? What's thamatterwithya?" His spirits were rising.
+"J" stated the operator patiently. "Well, jay then," said Billy,
+"WhaddoIcare?" "Just-a-minute-please," and suddenly the Chief's voice
+boomed out reassuringly. Billy cast a furtive eye back of him in the
+dusk and fell to his business with relief.
+
+"Say, Chief, that you? This's Bill! Say, Chief, I wantcha he'p right
+away pretty quick! Got a line on those guys! You bring three men an'
+ge'down on the Lone Valley Road below Stark mountain an' keep yer eye
+peeled t'ward the hanted house. Savvy? Yes, old hanted house, you know.
+You wait there till I signal. Yes, flash! Listen, one wink if you go
+to right, two come up straight, and three to the left. If it's only one
+repeated several times, you spread all round. Yep. I'm goin' up there
+right now. No, Chief, I wouldn't call ye f'I didn't think t'was pretty
+sure. Yep! I think they'll come out soon's it gets real dark. Yep, I
+think they ben there all day. I ain't sure, but I think. You won't fail
+me, will you Chief. No, sure! I'll stick by. Be sure to bring three
+men, there's two of 'em, I ain't rightly sure but three. I jus' stirred
+another up. Whatssay? No, I'm 'lone! Aw, I'm awright! Sure. I'll be
+careful. Whatssay? Where? Oh' I'm at a hole in the ground. Yes, down
+below Pleasant Valley station. Some telephone! I'll show it to you
+t'morra! S'long, Chief, I gotta go! It's gettin' dark, goobbye!"
+
+Billy gave hurried glances about and rustled under the branches like a
+snake over to where old trusty lay. In ten minutes more he was worming
+his way up the side of Stark mountain, while Pat was fortifying himself
+well within the little station, behind tables and desks for the night,
+and scanning the Valley from the dusty window panes.
+
+Billy parked his wheel in its usual place and continued up the hill to
+the opening at the back, then stood long listening. Once he thought he
+heard something drop inside the kitchen door, but no sound followed it
+and he concluded it had been a rat. Half way between himself and the
+back door something gleamed faintly in the starlight. He didn't remember
+to have seen anything there before. He stole cautiously over, moving so
+slowly that he could not even hear himself. He paused beside the gleam
+and examined. It was an empty flask still redolent. Ummm! Booze! Billy
+wasn't surprised. Of course they would try to get something to while
+away their seclusion until they dared venture forth with their booty.
+He continued his cautious passage toward the house and then began to
+encircle it, keeping close to the wall and feeling his way along, for
+the moon would be late and small that night and he must work entirely
+by starlight. It was his intention after going around the house to enter
+and reconnoitre in his stocking feet. As he neared the front of the
+house he dropped both hands to his sweater pockets, the revolver in his
+right hand with its two precious cartridges, the flash light which he
+had taken care to renew in Economy in his left hand, fingers ready to
+use either instantly. He turned the corner and stole on toward the front
+door, still noiseless as a mouse would go, his rubber sneakers touching
+like velvet in the grass.
+
+He was only two feet from the front stoop when he become aware of
+danger, something, a familiar scent, a breathlessness, and then a sudden
+stir. A dark thing ahead and the feeling of something coming behind.
+Billy as if a football signal had been given, grew calm and alert.
+Instantly both arms flashed up, and down the mountain shot two long
+yellow winks of light, and simultaneously two sharp reports of a gun,
+followed almost instantly by another shot, more sinister in sound, and
+Billy's right arm dropped limply by his side, while a sick wave of pain
+passed over him.
+
+But he could not stop for that. He remembered the day when Mark had been
+coaching the football team and had told them that they must not stop
+for _anything_ when they were in action. If they thought their legs
+were broken, or they were mortally wounded and dying, they must not even
+think of it. Football was the one thing, and they were to forget they
+were dead and go ahead with every whiff of punch there was in them,
+blind or lame, or dead even, because when they were playing, football
+was the only thing that counted. And if they were sick or wounded or
+bleeding let the wound or the sickness take care of itself. _They_ were
+_playing football!_ So Billy felt now.
+
+He hurled himself viciously at the dark shadow ahead, which he mentally
+registered as Link because he seemed long to tackle, and then kicked
+behind at the thing that came after, and struggled manfully with a
+throttling hand on his throat till a wad of vile cloth was forced into
+his mouth--and just as he had a half Nelson on Shorty, too! If he could
+have got Shorty down and stood on him he might have beaten off Link
+until Chief got there. Where was Chief? Where was the gun? Where was he?
+His head was swimming. Was it his head he had hit against the wall, or
+did he bang Shorty's? How it resounded! There were winding stairs in his
+head and he seemed to be climbing them, up, up, up, till he dropped in
+a heap on the floor, a hard floor all dust, and the dust came into his
+nostrils. He was choking with that rag! Why couldn't he pull it out?
+What was cutting his wrists when he tried to raise his hand? And what
+was that queer pain in his shoulder?
+
+There were shouts outside. How did he get inside? Was that more
+shooting? Perhaps he had found his gun after all. Perhaps he was
+shooting the men before the Chief got there, and that was bad, because
+he didn't feel competent to judge about a thing as serious as shooting
+with that dirty rag in his mouth. He must get rid of it somehow. Doggone
+it! He had somehow got his hands all tangled up in cords, and he must
+get them out no matter if they did cut. He had to give the Chief a
+signal.
+
+He struggled again with all his might, and something somewhere gave
+way. He wasn't sure what, but he seemed to be sinking down, perhaps down
+stairs or down the mountain, somehow so it was down where the Chief--!
+where Mark! The light in his brain went out and he lay as one dead in
+the great dusty front bedroom where a man who had sinned, hanged himself
+once because he couldn't bear his conscience any longer.
+
+And outside in the front door yard five men struggled in the dark, with
+curses, and shots, and twice one almost escaped, for Link was desperate,
+having a record behind him that would be enough for ten men to run away
+from.
+
+But after the two were bound and secured in the car down at the foot of
+the mountain, the Chief lingered, and looking up said in a low tone to
+one of his men: "I wonder where that boy is!"
+
+"Oh, he's all right," said his assistant easily, "he's off on another
+piece of business by this time, Chief. He likes to seem mysterious. It's
+just his way. Say, Chief, we gotta get back if we wantta meet that train
+down at Unity t'night."
+
+That was true too, and most important, so the Chief with a worried
+glance toward the dark mountain turned his car and hurried his captives
+away. Now that they were where he could get a glance at them in the dim
+light of the car, he felt pretty sure they were a couple of "birds" he
+had been looking for for quite a while. If that was so he must reward
+Billy somehow. That boy was a little wonder. He would make a detective
+some day. It wouldn't be a bad idea to take him on in a quiet sort of
+way and train him. He might be a great help. He mustn't forget this
+night's work. And what was that the kid had said about a secret
+underground wire? He must look into it as soon as this murder trial was
+off the docket. That murder trial worried him. He didn't like the turn
+things were taking.
+
+
+
+
+XXIV
+
+
+In the gray of the morning Billy came to himself and stared around in
+the stuffy grimness everywhere. The gag was still in his mouth. He put
+up his hand involuntarily and pulled it out, and then remembered that
+his hands had been tied. Then he must have succeeded in breaking
+the cord! The other hand was still encumbered and his feet were tied
+together, but it happened that the well hand was the freed one, and so
+after a hard struggle he succeeded in getting out of the tangle of knots
+and upon his feet. He worked cautiously because he wasn't sure how much
+of what he remembered was dream and how much was reality. The two men
+might be in the house yet, very likely were, asleep somewhere. He must
+steal down and get away before they awoke.
+
+There was something warm and sticky on the floor and it had got on his
+clothes, but he took no notice of it at first. He wondered what that
+sick pain in his shoulder was, but he had not time to stop and see now
+or even to think about it. He must call the Chief before the men were
+awake. So he managed to get upon his feet land steady himself against
+the wall, for he felt dizzy and faint when he tried to walk. But he
+managed to get into the hall, and peer into each room, and more and more
+as he went he felt he was alone in the house. Then he had failed and
+the men were gone! Aw Gee! Pat too! What a fool he had been, thinking
+he could manage the affair! He ought to have taken the Chief into his
+confidence and let him come along, Aw Gee!
+
+Down in the kitchen he found a pail of water and a cup. He drank
+thirstily. His head felt hot and the veins in his neck throbbed. There
+seemed to be a lump on his forehead. He bathed his face and head. How
+good it felt! Then he found a whiskey bottle on the table half full.
+This after carefully smelling he poured over his bruised wrists, sopping
+it on his head and forehead, and finally pouring some down his shoulder
+that pained so, and all that he did was done blindly, like one in a
+dream; just an involuntary searching for means to go on and fulfill his
+purpose.
+
+After another drink of water he seemed to be able to think more clearly.
+That tapping in the cellar yesterday! What had that been? He must look
+and see. Yes, that was really what he had come about. Perhaps the men
+were down there yet hidden away. He opened the cellar door and listened.
+Doggone it where was that gun of his? But the flash light! Yes, the
+flash light!
+
+He shot the light ahead of him as he went down, moving as in a dream,
+but keeping true to type, cautious, careful, stealthy. At last he was
+down. No one there! He turned the little flash into every nook and
+cranny, not excepting the ledges above the cellar wall whereon the floor
+beams rested. Once he came on a tin box long and flat and new looking.
+It seemed strange to meet it here. There was no dust upon it. He poked
+it down with his torch and it sprawled open at his feet. Papers, long
+folded papers printed with writing in between, like bonds or deeds or
+something. He stooped and waved the flash above them and caught the name
+Shafton in one. It was an insurance paper, house and furniture. He felt
+too stupid to quite understand, but it grew into his consciousness that
+these were the things he was looking for. He gathered them up, stuffing
+them carefully inside his blouse. They would be safe there. Then he
+turned to go upstairs, but stumbled over a pile of coal out in the floor
+and fell. It gave him a sick sensation to fall. It almost seemed that
+he couldn't get up again, but now he had found the papers he must. He,
+crawled to his knees, and felt around, then turned his light on. This
+was strange! A heap of coal out in the middle of the floor, almost a
+foot from the rest! A rusty shovel lay beside it, a chisel and a big
+stone. Ah! The tapping! He got up forgetting his pain and began to kick
+away the coal, turning the flash light down. Yes, there was a crack in
+the cement, a loose piece. He could almost lift it with his foot. He
+pried at it with the toe of his shoe, and then lifted it with much
+effort out of the way. It was quite a big piece, more than a foot in
+diameter! The ground was soft underneath as if it had been recently
+worked over. He stooped and plunged the fingers of his good hand in and
+felt around, laying the light on the floor so it would shed a glare
+over the spot where he worked. He could feel down several inches. There
+seemed to be something soft like cloth or leather. He pulled at it and
+finally brought it up. A leather bag girt about with a thong of leather.
+He picked the knot and turned the flash in. It sent forth a million
+green lights. There seemed also to be a rope of white glistening things
+that reminded him of Saxy's tears. That brought a pang. Saxy would be
+crying! He must remember that and do something about it. He must have
+been away a long time and perhaps those men would be coming back. But
+it wouldn't do to leave these things here. They were the Shafton jewels.
+What anybody wanted of a lot of shiny little stones like that and a rope
+of tears! But then if they did they did, and they were theirs and they
+oughtta have 'em. This was the thing he had come to do. Get those jewels
+and papers back! Make up as far as he could for what he had done! And he
+must do it now quick before he got sick. He felt he was getting sick and
+he mustn't think about it or he would turn into Aunt Saxon. That was the
+queerest thing, back in his mind he felt this _was_ Aunt Saxon down here
+in the haunted cellar playing with green stones and ropes of tears, and
+he must hurry quick before she found him and told him he couldn't finish
+what he had to do.
+
+He did the work thoroughly, feeling down in the hole again, but found
+nothing more. Then he stuffed the bag inside his blouse and buttoned up
+his sweater with his well hand and somehow got up the stairs. That
+arm pained him a lot, and he found his sweater was wet. So he took his
+handkerchief and tied it tight around the place that hurt the most,
+holding one end in his teeth to make the knot firm.
+
+The sun blinded him as he stumbled down the back steps and went to get
+his wheel, but somehow he managed it, plunging through the brakes and
+tangles, and back to the road.
+
+It ran in his brain where the Shaftons lived out in the country on the
+Jersey shore. He had a mental picture in the back of his mind how to get
+there. He knew that when he struck the Highroad there was nothing to do
+but keep straight on till he crossed the State Line and then he would
+find it somehow, although it was miles away. If he had been himself he
+would have known it was an impossible journey in his present condition,
+but he wasn't thinking of impossibilities. He had to do it, didn't
+he? He, Billy, had set out to make reparation for the confusion he
+had wrought in his small world, and he meant to do so, though all hell
+should rise against him. Hell! That was it. He could see the flames in
+hot little spots where the morning sun struck. He could hear the bells
+striking the hour in the world he used to know that was not for him any
+more. He zigzagged along the road in a crazy way, and strange to say he
+met nobody he knew, for it was early. Ten minutes after he passed the
+Crossroads Elder Harricutt went across the Highway toward Economy to his
+day's work, and he would have loved to have seen Billy, and his rusty
+old wheel, staggering along in that crazy way and smelling of whiskey
+like a whole moonshiner, fairly reeking with whiskey as he joggled down
+the road, and a queer little tinkle now and then just inside his blouse
+as if he carried loaded dice. Oh, he would have loved to have caught
+Billy shooting crap!
+
+But he was too late, and Billy swam on, the sun growing hotter on his
+aching head, the light more blinding to his blood shot eyes, the lump
+bigger and bluer on his grimy forehead.
+
+About ten o'clock a car came by, slowed down, the driver watching
+Billy, though Billy took no note of him. Billy was looking on the ground
+dreaming he was searching for the state line. He had a crazy notion it
+oughtta be there somewhere.
+
+The man in the car stopped and called to him:
+
+"How about putting your wheel in the back seat and letting me give you a
+lift? You look pretty tired."
+
+Billy lifted bleared eyes and stopped pedalling, almost falling off his
+wheel, but recovering himself with a wrench of pain and sliding off.
+
+"Awwright!" said Billy, "Thanks!"
+
+"You look all in, son," said the man kindly.
+
+"Yep," said Billy laconically, "'yam! Been up all night. Care f'I
+sleep?"
+
+"Help yourself," said the man, giving a lift with the wheel, and putting
+it in behind.
+
+Billy curled down in the back seat without further ceremony.
+
+"Where are you going son?"
+
+Billy named the country seat of the Shaftons, having no idea how far
+away it was. The man gave a whistle.
+
+"What! On that wheel? Well, go to sleep son. I'm going there myself, so
+don't worry. I'll wake you up when you get there."
+
+So Billy slept through the first long journey he had taken since he came
+to live with Aunt Saxon, slept profoundly with an oblivion that almost
+amounted to coma. Sometimes the man, looking back, was tempted to stop
+and see if the boy was yet alive, but a light touch on the hot forehead
+showed him that life was not extinct, and they whirled on.
+
+Three hours later Billy was awakened by a sharp shake of his sore
+shoulder and a stinging pain that shot through him like fire. Fire!
+Fire! He was on fire! That was how he felt as he opened his eyes and
+glared at the stranger:
+
+"Aw, lookout there, whatterya doin'?" he blazed, "Whadda ya think I am?
+A football? Don't touch me. I'll get out. This the place? Thanks fer tha
+ride, I was all in. Say, d'ya know a guy by the name of Shafton?"
+
+"Shafton?" asked the man astonished, "are you going to Shafton's?"
+
+"Sure," said Billy, "anything wrong about that? Where does he hang out?"
+The look of Billy, and more than all the smell of him made it quite
+apparent to the casual observer that he had been drinking, and the man
+eyed him compassionately. "Poor little fool! He's beginning young. What
+on earth does he want at Shaftons?"
+
+"I'spose you've come down after the reward," grinned the man, "I could
+have saved you the trouble if you'd told me. The kidnapped son has got
+home. They are not in need of further information."
+
+Billy gave him a superior leer with one eye closed:
+
+"You may not know all there is to know about that," he said impudently,
+"where did you say he lived?"
+
+The man shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
+
+"Suit yourself," he said, "I doubt if they'll see you. They have had
+nothing but a stream of vagrants for two days and they're about sick of
+it. They live on the next estate and the gateway is right around that
+corner."
+
+"I ain't no vagrant," glared Billy, and limped away with old trusty
+under his left arm.
+
+No one molested him as he walked in the arched and ivied gateway, for
+the gate keeper was off on a little private errand of his own at a place
+where prohibition had not yet penetrated. Billy felt too heavy and dizzy
+to mount his wheel, but he leaned on the saddle as he walked and tried
+to get things straight in his head. He oughtn't to have gone to sleep,
+that's what he oughtn't. But this job would soon be over and then he
+would hike it for home. Gee! Wouldn't home feel good! And Aunt Saxon
+would bathe his head with wych hazel and make cold things for him to
+drink! Aw, Gee!
+
+The pedigreed dogs of which the place boasted a number came suddenly
+down upon him in a great flare of noise, but dogs were always his
+friends, why should he worry? A pity he couldn't stop to make friends
+with them just now. Some dogs! Here pup! Gee! What a dog to own! The
+dogs whined and fawned upon him. Pedigree or no pedigree, rags and
+whiskey and dirt notwithstanding, they knew a man when they saw one, and
+Billy hadn't batted an eyelid when they tried their worst tramp barks
+on him. They wagged their silky tails and tumbled over each other to get
+first place to him, and so escorted proudly he dropped old trusty by a
+clump of imported rhododendrons and limped up the marble steps to the
+wide vistas of circular piazzas that stretched to seemingly infinite
+distances, and wondered if he should ever find the front door.
+
+An imposing butler appeared with a silver tray, and stood aghast.
+
+"Shafton live here?" inquired Billy trying to look business like. "Like
+to see him er the missus a minute," he added as the frowning vision
+bowed. The butler politely but firmly told him that the master and
+mistress had other business and no desire to see him. The young
+gentleman had come home, and the reward had been withdrawn. If it was
+about the reward he had come he could go down to the village and find
+the detective. The house people didn't want to interview any more
+callers.
+
+"Well, say," said Billy disgusted, "after I've come all this way too!
+You go tell 'er I've brought her jewels! You go tell 'er I've _gottum
+here!_"
+
+The butler opened the door a little wider: he suggested that seeing was
+believing.
+
+"Not on yer tin type!" snapped Billy, "I show 'em to nobody an' I give
+'em to nobody but the owner! Where's the young fella? He knows me. Tell
+'im I brang his ma's string o' beads an' things."
+
+Billy was weary. His head was spinning round. His temper was rising.
+
+"Aw,--you make me tired! Get out of my way!" He lowered his head and
+made a football dive with his head in the region of the dignified
+butler's stomach, and before that dignitary had recovered his poise
+Billy with two collies joyously escorting him, stood blinking in wonder
+over the great beautiful living room, for all the world as pretty as the
+church at home, only stranger, with things around that he couldn't make
+out the use of.
+
+"Where'ur they at? Where are the folks?" he shouted back to the butler
+who was coming after him with menace in his eye.
+
+"What is the matter, Morris? What is all this noise about?" came a
+lady's voice in pettish tones from up above somewhere. "Didn't I tell
+you that I wouldn't see another one of those dreadful people to-day?"
+
+Billy located her smooth old childish face at once and strode to the
+foot of the stairs peering up at the lady, white with pain from his
+contact with the butler, but alert now to the task before him:
+
+"Say, Miz Shaf't'n, I got yer jools, would ya mind takin' 'em right now?
+'Cause I'm all in an' I wantta get home."
+
+His head was going around now like a merry-go-round, but he steadied
+himself by the bannister:
+
+"Why, what do you mean?" asked the lady descending a step or two, a
+vision of marcelled white hair, violet and lace negligee, and well
+preserved features, "You've got them _there_? Let me see them."
+
+"He's been drinking, Sarah, can't you smell it?" said a man's voice
+higher up, "Come away and let Morris deal with him. Really Sarah, we'll
+have to go away if this keeps up."
+
+"Say, you guy up there, just shut yer trap a minute won't ya! Here, Miz
+Shaf't'n, are these here yours?"
+
+Billy struggled with the neck of his blouse and brought forth the
+leather bag, gripped the knot fiercely in his teeth, ran his fingers in
+the bag as he held it in his mouth, his lamed arm hanging at his side,
+and drew forth the magnificent pearls.
+
+"William! My pearls!" shrieked the lady.
+
+The gentleman came down incredulous, and looked over her shoulder.
+
+"I believe they are, Sarah," he said.
+
+Billy leered feverishly up at him, and produced a sheaf of papers,
+seemingly burrowing somewhere in his internal regions to bring them
+forth.
+
+"And here, d'these b'long?"
+
+The master of the house gripped them.
+
+"Sarah! The bonds! And the South American Shares!" They were too busy to
+notice Billy who stood swaying by the newel post, his duty done now, the
+dogs grouped about him.
+
+"Say, c'n I get me a drink?" he asked of the butler, who hovered near
+uncertain what to be doing now that the tide was turned.
+
+The lady looked up.
+
+"Morris!"
+
+He scarcely heard the lady's words but almost immediately a tall slim
+glass of frosty drink, that smelled of wild grapes, tasted of oranges,
+and cooled him down to the soul again, was put into his hand and he
+gulped it greedily.
+
+"Where did you say you found these, young man?" The gentleman eyed him
+sternly, and Billy's old spirit flamed up:
+
+"I didn't say," said Billy.
+
+"But you know we've got to have all the evidence before we can give the
+reward--!"
+
+"Aw, cut it out! I don't want no reward. Wouldn't take it if you give it
+to me! I just wantta get home. Say, you gotta telephone?"
+
+"Why certainly." This was the most astonishing burglar!
+
+"Well, where is't? Lemme call long distance on it? I ain't got the tin
+now, but I'll pay ya when I git back home!"
+
+"Why, the idea! Take him to the telephone Morris. Right there! This
+one--!"
+
+But Billy had sighted one on a mahogany desk near at hand and he toppled
+to the edge of the chair that stood before it. He took down the receiver
+in a shaky hand, calling Long Distance.
+
+"This Long Distance? Well, gimme Economy 13."
+
+The Shaftons for the instant were busy looking over the papers,
+identifying each jewel, wondering if any were missing. They did not
+notice Billy till a gruff young voice rang out with a pathetic tremble
+in it: "That you Chief? This is Billy. Say, c'n I bother you to phone to
+Miss Severn an' ast her to tell m'yant I'm aw'wright? Yes, tell her I'll
+be home soon now, an' I'll explain. And Chief, I'm mighty sorry those
+two guys got away, but I couldn't help it. We'll get 'em yet. Hope you
+didn't wait long. Tell you more when I see ya, S'long--!"
+
+The boyish voice trailed off into silence as the receiver fell with a
+crash to the polished desk, and Billy slipped off the chair and lay in a
+huddled heap on the costly rug.
+
+"Oh, mercy!" cried the lady, "Is he drunk or what?"
+
+"Come away Sarah, let Morris deal--"
+
+"But he's sick, I believe, William. Look how white he is. I believe he
+is dead! William, he may have come a long way in the heat! He may
+have had a sunstroke! Morris, send for a doctor quick! And--call the
+ambulance too! You better telephone the hospital. We can't have him
+here! William, look here, what's this on his sleeve? Blood? Oh, William!
+And we didn't give him any reward--!"
+
+And so, while the days hastened on Billy lay between clean white sheets
+on a bed of pain in a private ward of a wonderful Memorial Hospital put
+up by the Shaftons in honor of a child that died. Tossing and moaning,
+and dreaming of unquenchable fire, always trying to climb out of the hot
+crater that held him, and never getting quite to the top, always knowing
+there was something he must do, yet never quite finding out what it was.
+And back in Sabbath Valley Aunt Saxon prayed and cried and waited and
+took heart of cheer from the message the Chief had sent to Lynn. And
+quietly the day approached for the trial of Mark Carter, but his mother
+did not yet know.
+
+
+
+
+XXV
+
+
+Mrs. Gibson, the wife of the comparatively new elder of the Sabbath
+Valley church was a semi-invalid. That is she wasn't able to do her own
+work and kept "help." The help was a lady of ample proportions whose
+husband had died and whose fortunes were depleted. She consented to
+assist Mrs. Gibson provided she were considered one of the family, and
+she presented a continual front of offense so that the favored family
+must walk most circumspectly if they would not have her retire to her
+room with hurt feelings and leave them to shift for themselves.
+
+On the morning of the trial she settled herself at her side of the
+breakfast table, after a number of excursions to the kitchen for things
+she had forgotten, the cream, the coffee, and the brown bread, of which
+Mr. Gibson was very fond. She was prepared to enjoy her own breakfast.
+Mr. Gibson generally managed to bolt his while these excursions of
+memory were being carried on and escape the morning news, but Mrs.
+Gibson, well knowing which side her bread was buttered, and not knowing
+where she could get another housekeeper, usually managed to sit it out.
+
+"Well, this is a great day for Sabbath Valley," said Mrs. Frost
+mournfully, spreading an ample slice of bread deep with butter, and
+balancing it on the uplifted fingers of one hand while she stirred
+the remainder of the cream into her coffee with one of the best silver
+spoons. She was wide and bulgy and her chair always seemed inadequate
+when she settled thus for nourishment.
+
+"A great day," she repeated sadly, taking an audible sip of her coffee.
+
+"A great day?" repeated little Mrs. Gibson with a puzzled air, quickly
+recalling her abstracted thoughts.
+
+"Yes. Nobody ever thought anybody in Sabbath Valley would ever be tried
+for murder!"
+
+"Oh!" said Mrs. Gibson sharply, drawing back her chair as if she were in
+a hurry and rolling up her napkin quickly.
+
+"Yes, poor Mark Carter! I remember his sweet little face and his long
+yellow curls and his baby smile as if it were yesterday!" narrowing her
+eyes and harrowing her voice, "I wonder if his poor mother knows yet."
+
+"I should hope not!" said Mrs. Gibson rising precipitately and wandering
+over to the window where hung a gilded canary cage. "Mrs. Frost, did you
+remember to give the canary some seed and fresh water?"
+
+"Yes, I b'lieve so," responded the fat lady, "But you can't keep her
+from knowing it always. Whatt'll you do when he's _hung?_ Don't you
+think it would be easier for; her to get used to it little by little?"
+
+"Mrs. Frost, if you were a dog would you rather have your tail cut off
+all at once, or little by little?" said Mrs. Gibson mischievously.
+
+"I shouldn't like to have it cut off at all I'm quite sure," said Mrs.
+Frost frostily.
+
+"Well, perhaps Mrs. Carter might feel that way too," said the lady
+bending over a rose geranium and pinching a leaf to smell.
+
+"I don't understand you," said Mrs. Frost from her coffee cup, "Oh, you
+mean that perhaps Mark may not be convicted? Why, my dear lady, there
+isn't a chance at all, not a chance in the world for Mark, and while I'm
+real sorry I can't say I'd approve. Think of how he's carried on, going
+with that little huzzy of a Cherry. Mrs. Harricutt says she saw him have
+her out riding in his automobile one day--!"
+
+"Oh,--_Mrs. Harricutt!"_ said Mrs. Gibson impatiently, "Mrs. Frost,
+let's find something pleasanter to talk about. It's a wonderful morning.
+The air's like wine. I wonder If I couldn't take a little walk. I mean
+to ask the doctor."
+
+"My dear woman," said Frost patronizingly, "You can't get away from the
+unpleasant things in this world by just not talking about them!"
+
+"It seems not," said the Gibson lady patiently, and wandered out on the
+porch.
+
+Down the street Marilyn lingered by her mother's chair:
+
+"Are you--going to Economy to-day, mother?"
+
+"Yes, dear, your father and I are both going. Did you--think you
+ought--wanted to--go dear?"
+
+"Oh, I should _hate it!"_ cried Lynn flinging out her hands with a
+terrible little gesture of despair, "But I wanted to go just to stand by
+Mark. I shall be there anyway, wherever I am, I shall see everything and
+feel everything in my heart I know. But in the night it came to me that
+some one ought to stay with Mrs. Carter!"
+
+"Yes, dear! I had hoped you would think of that. I didn't want to
+mention it because I wanted you to follow your own heart's leading, but
+I think she needs you. If you could keep her from finding out until it
+was over--"
+
+"But suppose--!"
+
+"Yes, dear, it is possible. I've thought of that, and if it comes there
+will be a way I'm sure, but until it does--_then_ suppose--"
+
+"Yes, mother, I'll go and make her have one happy day first anyway. If
+any of those old vultures come around I'll play the piano or scream all
+the while they are there and keep them from telling her a thing!"
+
+"I think, dear, the vultures will all be in Economy to-day."
+
+"All except Mrs. Frost, mother dear. She can't get away. But she can
+always run across the street to borrow a cup of soda."
+
+So Lynn knelt for a moment in her quiet room, then came down, kissed her
+mother and father with a face of brave serenity, and went down the maple
+shaded street with her silk work bag in her hand. And none too soon. As
+she tapped at the door of the Carter house she saw Mrs. Frost ambling
+purposefully out of the Gibson gate with a tea cup in her hand.
+
+"Oh, hurry upstairs and stay there a minute till I get rid of Mrs.
+Frost," Lynn whispered smiling as her hostess let her in. "I've come to
+spend the day with you, and she'll stay till she's told you all the news
+and there won't be any left for me."
+
+Mrs. Carter, greatly delighted with Lynn's company, hurried obediently
+up the stairs and Lynn met the interloper, supplied her with the cup of
+salt she had come for this time, said Mrs. Carter was upstairs making
+the beds and she wouldn't bother her to come down,--_beds,_ mind you,
+as if Mark was at home of course--and Mrs. Frost went back across the
+street puzzled and baffled and resolved to come back later for an egg
+after that forward young daughter of the minister was gone.
+
+Lynn locked the front door and ran up stairs. She tolled her hostess up
+to the attic to show her some ancient gowns and poke bonnets that she
+hadn't seen since she was a little girl in which she and Mark used to
+dress up and play history stories.
+
+Half the morning she kept her up there looking at garments long folded
+away, whose wearers had slept in the church yard many years; trinkets of
+other days, quaint old pictures, photographs and daguerreotypes, and a
+beautiful curl of Mark's--:
+
+"Marilyn, I'm going to give that to you," the mother said as she saw the
+shining thing lying in the girl's hand, "There's no one living to care
+for it after I'm gone, and you will keep it I know till you're sure
+there's no one would want it I--mean--!"
+
+"I understand what you mean," said Marilyn, "I will keep it and
+love it--for you--and for him. And if there is ever anybody else
+that--deserves it--why I'll give it to them--!" Then they both laughed
+to hide the tears behind the unspoken thoughts, and the mother added a
+little stubbed shoe and a sheer muslin cap, all delicate embroidery and
+hemstitching:
+
+"They go together," she said simply, and Lynn wrapped them all carefully
+in a bit of tissue paper and laid them in her silk bag. As she turned
+away she held it close to her heart while the mother closed the
+shutters. She shuddered to think of the place where Mark was sitting
+now, being tried for his life. Her heart flew over the road, entered the
+court and stood close by his side, with her hand on his shoulder, and
+then slipped it in his. She wondered if he knew that she was praying,
+praying, praying for him and standing by him, taking the burden of what
+would have been his mother's grief if she had known, as well as the
+heavy burden of her own sorrow.
+
+The air of the court room was heavy for the place was crowded. Almost
+everybody from Sabbath Valley that could come was there, for a great
+many people loved Mark Carter, and this seemed a time when somehow they
+must stand by him. People came that liked him and some that did not like
+him, but more that liked him and kept hoping against hope that he would
+not be indicted.
+
+The hum of voices suddenly ceased as the prisoner was led in and a
+breath of awe passed over the place. For until that minute no one was
+quite sure that Mark Carter would appear. It had been rumored again and
+again that he had run away. Yet here he was, walking tall and straight,
+his fine head held high as had been his wont. "For all the world like he
+walked when he was usher at Mary Anne's wedding, whispered Mrs. Hulse,
+from Unity."
+
+The minister and his wife kept their eyes down after the first glimpse
+of the white face. It seemed a desecration to look at a face that had
+suffered as that one had. Yet the expression upon it now was more as if
+it had been set for a certain purpose for this day, and did not mean to
+change whatever came. A hopeless, sad, persist look, yet strong withal
+and with a hint of something fine and high behind it.
+
+He did not look around as he sat down, merely nodded to a few close
+to him whom he recognized. A number, pressed close as he passed, and
+touched him, as if they would impress upon him their loyalty, and it was
+noticeable that these were mostly of a humble class, working men, boys,
+and a few old women, people to whom he had been kind.
+
+Mrs. Severn wrote a little note and sent it up to him, with the message,
+"Lynn is with your mother." Just that. No name signed. But his eyes
+sought hers at once and seemed to light, and soon, without any apparent
+movement on his part a card came back to her bearing the words: "I thank
+you," But he did not look that way again all day it seemed. His bearing
+was quiet, sad, aloof, one might almost have said disinterested.
+
+Mark's lawyer was one whom he had picked out of the gutter and literally
+forced to stop drinking and get back on his job. He was a man of fine
+mind and deep gratitude, and was having a frantic time with his client,
+for Mark simply wouldn't talk:
+
+"I wasn't there, I was on Stark mountain, I am, not guilty," he
+persisted, "and that is all I have to say."
+
+"But my dear friend, don't you realize that mere statements unadorned
+and uncorroborated won't get you anywhere in court?"
+
+"All right, don't try to defend me then. Let the thing go as it will.
+That is all I have to say." And from this decision no one had been able
+to shake him. His lawyer was nearly crazy. He had raked the county for
+witnesses. He had dug into the annals of that night in every possible
+direction. He had unearthed things that it seemed no living being would
+have thought of, and yet he had not found the one thing of which he was
+in search, positive evidence that Mark Carter had been elsewhere and
+otherwise employed at the time of the shooting.
+
+"Don't bother so much about it Tony," said Mark once when they were
+talking it over, or the lawyer was talking it over and Mark was
+listening. "It doesn't matter. Nothing matters any more!" and his voice
+was weary as if all hope had vanished from him.
+
+Anthony Drew looked at him in despair:
+
+"Sometimes I almost think you _want_ to die," he said. "Do you think
+I shall let you go when you pulled me back from worse than death? No,
+Mark, old man, we're going to pull you through somehow, though I don't
+know how. If I were a praying man I'd say that this was the time to
+pray. Mark, what's become of that kid you used to think so much of, that
+was always tagging after you? Billy,--was that his name?"
+
+A wan smile flitted across Mark's face, and a stiff little drawing of
+the old twinkle about eyes and lips:
+
+"I think he'll turn up some time."
+
+The lawyer eyed him keenly:
+
+"Mark, I believe you've got something up your sleeve. I believe that kid
+knows something and you won't let him tell. Where is he?"
+
+"I don't know, Tony" and Mark looked at him straight with clear eyes,
+and the lawyer knew he was telling the truth.
+
+Just at the last day Anthony Drew found out about the session meeting.
+But from Mark he got no further statement than the first one. Mark would
+not talk. An ordinary lawyer, one that had not been saved himself, would
+have given up the defense as hopeless. Anthony simply wouldn't let Mark
+go undefended. If there were no evidence he would make some somehow, and
+so he worked hoping against hope up to the very last minute. He stood
+now, tall, anxious, a fine face, though showing the marks of wreck
+behind him, dark hair silvered at the edges, fine deep lines about his
+eyes and brows, looking over the assembled throng with nervous hurrying
+eyes. At last he seemed to find what he wanted and came quickly down to
+where the minister sat in an obscure corner, whispering a few words with
+him. They went out together for a few minutes and when they came back
+the minister was grave and thoughtful. He himself had scoured the
+country round about quietly for Billy, and he was deeply puzzled. He had
+promised to tell what he knew.
+
+The business of the day went forward in the usual way with all the red
+tape, the cool formalities, as if some trifling matter were at stake,
+and those who loved Mark sat with aching hearts and waited. The Severns
+in their corner sat for the most part with bended heads and praying
+hearts. The witnesses for the prosecution were most of them companions
+of the dead man, those who had drank and caroused with him, frequenters
+of the Blue Duck, and they were herded together, an evil looking crowd,
+but with erect heads and defiant attitude, the air of having donned
+unaccustomed garments of righteousness for the occasion, and making a
+great deal of it because for once every one must see that they were in
+the right. They were fairly loud mouthed in their boasting about it.
+
+There was the little old wizened up fellow that had been sitting with
+the drinks outside the booth the night Billy telephoned. There were the
+serving men who had waited on Mark and Cherry. There was the proprietor
+of the Blue Duck himself, who testified that Mark had often been there
+with Cherry, though always early in the evening. Once he had caught him
+outside the window looking in at the dancers as late as two o'clock at
+night, the same window from which the shot was fired that brought Dolph
+to his death. They testified that Mark had been seen with Cherry much of
+late driving in his car, and that she had often been in deep converse as
+if having a hot argument about something.
+
+The feeling was tense in the court room. Tears were in many eyes,
+hopeless tears in the eyes of those who had loved the boy for years.
+
+But the grilling order marched on, and witness after witness came,
+adding another and another little touch to the gradually rising
+structure that would shut Mark Carter away from the world that loved him
+and that he loved forever.
+
+Cherry was called, a flaunting bit of a child with bobbed golden hair
+and the air of a bold young seraph, her white face bravely painted, her
+cherry lips cherrier even than the cherry for which she had been named.
+She wore a silk coat reaching to the bottom of her frock, which was
+shorter than the shortest, and daring little high-heeled many strapped
+shoes with a myriad of bright buckles. Her hat was an insolent affair of
+cherry red. She made a blinding bit of color in the dreary court room.
+She appeared half frightened, half defiant. Her sharp little face seemed
+to have lost its round curves and childlike sweetness. She testified
+that she had been with Mark on the night of the shooting, but that he
+had taken her home early and she had seen no more of him that night. She
+admitted that she had returned later to the Blue Duck Tavern with Dolph
+and had danced late and eaten supper with him afterwards, and that it
+was while they were eating that the shot was fired and Dolph fell over
+on the table. No, she didn't see any face at the window. She had
+covered her face with her hands and screamed. She guessed she fainted.
+Questioned further she admitted that she had had an argument with Mark
+earlier in the evening, but she "didn't remember what it was about."
+They often argued. Yes, Dolph was jealous of Mark and tried to stop her
+going with him. Yes, Mark had tried to stop her going with Dolph too,
+but he never acted jealous--On and on through the sorry little details
+of Cherry's career. The court room vultures receiving it avidly, the
+more refined part of the company with distaste and disgust. Mark sat
+with stern white face looking straight at Cherry all the time she was
+on the stand as if he dared her to say other than the truth. When she
+happened to look that way she gave a giggling little shudder and half
+turned her shoulder away, avoiding his eyes. But when she was done she
+had said nothing against Mark, and nothing to clear him either.
+
+The sharp unscrupulous lawyer who acted for the prosecution had secured
+some fellows "of the baser sort" who testified that they had seen Mark
+Carter buying a gun, that they had seen him creep softly to the window,
+peer into the room, and take aim. They had been on their way home, had
+seen Mark steal along in a very suspicious manner and had followed him
+to find out what it meant. There were three of them; fellows whom Mark
+had refused to play against on a County team because they were what is
+called "dirty" players. There had been hot words between Mark and them
+once when one of them had kicked a man in the face with spiked shoes who
+was just about to make a goal. Mark had succeeded in winning the umpire
+to his point of view and the others had lost their game and incidentally
+some money, and they had a grudge against him. Moreover there was money
+in this testimony for The Blue Duck Tavern could not afford to have its
+habitues in the public eye, and preferred to place the blame on a man
+who belonged more to the conservative crowd. The Blue Duck had never
+quite approved of Mark, because though he came and went he never drank,
+and he sometimes prevented others from doing so. This was unprofitable
+to them. So matters stood when the noon-hour came and court adjourned
+for lunch.
+
+
+
+
+XXVI
+
+
+And while the long morning dragged itself away in Economy listening to
+a tale of shame, over on the bright Jersey coast the waves washed lazily
+on a silver strand reflecting the blueness of the September sky, and
+soft breezes hovered around the classic little hospital building
+that stood in a grove of imported palms, and lifted its white columns
+picturesquely like some old Greek temple.
+
+There was nothing in the life he was living now to remind Billy of
+either hell or Sabbath Valley, yet for long days and weeks he had
+struggled through flames in a deep dark pit lighted only by lurid glare
+and his soul had well nigh gone out under the torture. Once the doctors
+and nurses had stood around and waited for his last breath. This was
+a marked case. The Shaftons were deeply interested in it. The boy had
+mysteriously brought back all their valuable papers and jewels that
+had been stolen from them, and they were anxious to put him on his feet
+again. It went sadly against the comfortable self-complacent grain of a
+Shafton to feel himself under such mortal obligation to any one.
+
+But Billy was tougher than anyone knew, and one night after he had made
+the usual climb through the hot coals on his bare knees to the top of
+the pit, and come to the place where he always fell back, he held on a
+little tighter and set his teeth a little harder, and suddenly, with
+a long hard pull that took every atom of strength in his wasted young
+body, he went over the top. Over the top and out into the clean open
+country where he could feel the sea breeze on his hot forehead and know
+that it was good. He was out of hell and he was cooling off. The first
+step in the awful fight that began that night in the old haunted house
+on the mountain had been won.
+
+For three days he lay thus, cooling off and resting. He was fed and
+cared for but he took no cognizance of it except to smile weakly.
+Swallowing things was like breathing. You had to do it and you didn't
+think about it. The fourth day he began to know the nurses apart, and to
+realize he was feeling better. As yet the past lay like a blurr of pain
+on his mind, and he hadn't a care about anything save just to lie and
+know that it was good to smell the salt, and see the shimmer of blue
+from the window. At times when he slept the sound of bells in old hymns
+came to him like a dream and he smiled. But on the fifth morning he
+lifted his light head uncertainly and looked out of the window. Gee!
+That was pretty! And he dropped back and slept again. When he awoke
+there was a real meal for him. No more slops. Soup, and potato and a
+bit of bread and butter. Gee! It tasted good! He slept again and it was
+morning, or was it the same morning? He didn't know. He tried to figure
+back and decided he had been in that hospital about three days, but
+when the next morning dawned and he felt the life creeping back into his
+veins he began to be uncertain. He asked the nurse how soon he could
+get up and get dressed. She smiled in a superior way and said the doctor
+hadn't said. It would likely be sometime yet, he had been pretty sick.
+He told her sharply he couldn't spare much more time, and asked her
+where his clothes were.
+
+She laughed and said:
+
+"Oh, put away. You'll have some new clothes when you get well. I heard
+Mrs. Shafton talking about it this morning when she was in the office.
+She's coming to see you pretty soon, and they mean to do a lot for you.
+You brought back her jewels didn't you? Well, I guess you'll get your
+reward all right."
+
+Billy looked at her blankly. Reward! Gosh! Was that reward going to meet
+him again?
+
+"Say," said he frowning, "I want my own clothes. I don't want any new
+ones. I want my own! Say, I got some stuff in my pockets I don't wantta
+have monkeyed with!"
+
+"All right," she said cheerily, "They're put away safe. You can have
+them when you're well." But when he asked her suddenly what day it was
+she said vaguely "Tuesday," and went away. He was so tired then he
+went to sleep again and slept till they brought his dinner, a big one,
+chicken and fixings and jelly, and a dish of ice cream! Oh, Gee! And
+then he went to sleep again. But in the morning--how many days was it
+then? He woke to sudden consciousness of what he had to do and to sudden
+suspicion of the time. Billy was coming back to his own. His wilyness
+had returned. He smiled at the nurse ravishingly and asked for a
+newspaper, but when she brought it he pretended to be asleep, so she
+laid it down and went away softly. But he nabbed that paper with a weak
+hand as soon as her back was turned and read the date! His heart fell
+down with a dull thud. The third! This was the day of the trial! It
+couldn't be! He read again. Was it really the day of the trial? The
+paper that had the court program had been in his trousers pocket. He
+must have it at once. Perhaps he had made a mistake. Oh, gee! What it
+was to be helpless! Why, he was weaker than Aunt Saxon!
+
+He called the nurse crossly. She bustled in and told him the doctor had
+just said he might sit up to-morrow if he kept on without a temperature
+for twenty-four hours longer. But he paid no heed to her. He demanded
+his clothes with a young roar of a voice that made her open her eyes.
+Billy had heretofore been the meekest of meek patients. She was getting
+the voice and manner now that he generally retained for family use. He
+told her there was something in the pocket he must see right away, and
+he made such a fuss about it that she was afraid he would bring up his
+temperature again and finally agreed to get the clothes if he would lie
+real still and rest afterward. Billy dropped his head back on the pillow
+and solemnly said: "Aw'wright!" He had visions of going to court in blue
+and white striped pajamas. It could be done, but he didn't relish it.
+Still, if he had to--!
+
+The nurse brought his jacket and trousers. The sweater was awfully dirty
+she said, but she was finally prevailed upon to bring that too, and
+Billy obediently lay down with closed eyes and his arm stretched out
+comfortingly over the bundles. The nurse hovered round till he seemed to
+be asleep and then slipped out for a moment, and the instant her white
+skirt had vanished from the doorway Billy was alert. He fumbled the
+bundles open with nervous fingers and searched eagerly for the bit of
+paper. Yes, there it was and the date the third of September. Aw Gee!
+
+He flung back the neatly tucked sheets, poked a slim white foot that
+didn't look like his at all into a trouser leg, paused for breath and
+dove the other in, struggled into his jacket and lay down again quickly
+under the sheet. Was that the nurse?
+
+He had to admit that he felt queer, but it would soon pass off, and
+anyhow if it killed him he had to go. Aw bah! What was a little sickness
+anyhow? If he stayed in the hospital any longer they'd make a baby out
+of him!
+
+The nurse had not returned. He could hear the soft plunk, plunk of her
+rubber heels on the marble steps. She was going down stairs. Now was
+his time! Of course he had no shoes and stockings, but what was a little
+thing like that? He grasped the bundle of sweater tightly and slid out
+of bed. His feet felt quite inadequate. In fact he began to doubt their
+identity. They didn't seem to be there at all when he stood on them, but
+he was not to be foiled by feet. If they meant to stick by him they'd
+gotta obey him.
+
+Slowly, cautiously, with his head swimming lightly on ahead of him and a
+queer gasp of emptiness in the region of his chest that seemed to need a
+great deal of breath, he managed a passage to the door, looked down the
+long white corridor with its open doors and cheerful voices, saw a pair
+of stairs to the right quite near by, and with his steadying hands
+on the cool white wall slid along the short space to the top step. It
+seemed an undertaking to get down that first step, but when that was
+accomplished he was out of sight and he sat down and slid slowly the
+rest of the way, wondering why he felt so rotten.
+
+At the foot of the long stairs there was a door, and strange it was made
+so heavy! He wondered a nurse could swing it open, just a mere girl! But
+he managed it at last, almost winded, and stumbled out on the portico
+that gave to the sea, a wide blue stretch before him. He stopped,
+startled, as if he had unexpectedly sighted the heavenly strand, and
+gazed blinking at the stretch of blue with the wide white shore and the
+boom of an organ following the lapping of each white crested wave. Those
+palm trees certainly made it look queer like Saxy's Pilgrim's Progress
+picture book. Then the panic for home and his business came upon him and
+he slid weakly down the shallow white steps, and crunched his white feet
+on the gravel wincing. He had just taken to the grass at the edge and
+was managing better than he had hoped when a neat little coupe rounded
+the curve of the drive, and his favorite doctor came swinging up to the
+steps, eyeing him keenly. Billy started to run, and fell in a crumpled
+heap, white and scared and crying real tears, weak, pink tears!
+
+"Why Billy! What are you doing here?" The stern loving voice of his
+favorite doctor hung over him like a knife that was going to cut him
+off forever from life and light and forgiveness and all that he counted
+dear.
+
+But Billy stopped crying.
+
+"Nothin," he said, "I just come out fer a walk!"
+
+The doctor smiled.
+
+"But I didn't tell you you might, Billy boy!"
+
+"Had to," said Billy.
+
+"Well, you'll find you'll have to go back again, Billy. Come!" and the
+doctor stooped his broad strong shoulders to pick up the boy. But Billy
+beat him off weakly:
+
+"Say, now, Doc, wait a minute," he pleaded, "It's jus' this way. I
+simply _gotta_ get back home t'day. I'm a very 'mportant witness in a
+murder case, See? My bes' friend in the world is bein' tried fer life,
+an' he ain't guilty, an' I'm the only one that knows it fer sure, an'
+can prove it, an' I gotta be there. Why, Doc, the trial's _going on now_
+an' I ain't there! It ud drive me crazy to go back an' lay in that soft
+bed like a reg'lar sissy, an' know he's going to be condemned. I put it
+to you, Doc, as man to man, would you stand fer a thing like that?"
+
+"But Billy, suppose it should be the end of you!"
+
+"I sh'd worry, Doc! Ef I c'n get there in time an' say what I want I
+ain't carin' fer anythin' more in life I tell ye. Say, Doc, you wouldn't
+stop me, would ya? Ef you did I'd get thar anyhow _someway!_"
+
+The earnestness of the eager young face, wan in its illness, the light
+of love in the big gray eyes, went to the doctor's heart. He gave the
+boy a troubled look.
+
+"Where is it you want to go, Billy?"
+
+"Economy, Doc. It ain't far, only two or three hours' ride. I c'n get a
+jitney somewheres I guess ta take me. I'll pay up ez soon as I get home.
+I got thirty dollars in the bank my own self."
+
+"Economy!" said the Doctor. "Impossible, Billy, it would kill you--!"
+
+"Then I'm goin' anyhow. Good-by Doc!" and he darted away from the
+astonished doctor and ran a rod or so before the doctor caught up with
+him and seized him firmly by his well shoulder:
+
+"Billy, look here!" said the Doctor, "If it's as bad as that I'll take
+you!"
+
+"Oh, would ya, Doc? Would ya? I'll never forget it Doc--!"
+
+"There now, Billy, never mind, son, you save your strength and let me
+manage this thing the right way. Couldn't I telephone and have them hold
+up things a few days? That can be done you know."
+
+"Nothin' doing Doc, there's them that would hurry it up all the more if
+they thought I was comin' back. You get in Doc and start her up. I c'n
+drive myself if you'll lend me the m'chine. P'raps you ain't got time to
+go off 'ith me like this."
+
+"That's all right, Billy. You and I are going on a little excursion.
+'But first I've got to tell the nurse, or there'll be all kinds of a
+time. Here, you sit in the machine." The doctor picked him up and put
+him in and ran up the steps. Billy sat dizzily watching and wondering if
+he hadn't better make his escape. Perhaps the Doc was just fooling him,
+but in a moment back he came again, with a nurse trailing behind with
+blankets and a bottle.
+
+"We're going to get another car, son, this one's no good for such a
+trip. We'll fix it so you can lie down and save your strength for when
+you get there. No,--son--I don't mean the ambulance," as he saw the
+alarm in Billy's face, "just a nice big car. That's all right, here she
+comes!"
+
+The big touring car came round from the back almost immediately, and the
+back seat was heaped with pillows and blankets and Billy tenderly placed
+among them where he was glad enough to lie down--and close his eyes. It
+had been rather strenuous. The nurse went back for his shoes, bringing
+a bottle of milk and his medicine. The Doctor got in the front seat and
+started.
+
+"Now, son," he said, "You rest. You'll need every bit of strength when
+you get there if we're going to carry this thing through. You just leave
+this thing to me and I'll get you there in plenty of time. Don't you
+worry."
+
+Billy with a smile of heavenly bliss over his newly bleached freckles
+settled back with dreamy eyes and watched the sea as they were passing
+swiftly by it, his lashes drooping lower and lower over his thin young
+cheeks. The doctor glancing back anxiously caught that look the mothers
+see in the young imps when they are asleep, and a tenderness came into
+his heart for the staunch loyal little sinner.
+
+Doctor Norris was a good scout. If he had got a soft snap of a job in
+that Shafton hospital, it was good practice of course, and a step to
+really big things where he wouldn't be dependent upon rich people's
+whims, but still he was a good scout. He had not forgotten the days
+of the grasshopper, and Billy had made a great appeal to his heart. He
+looked at his watch, chose his roads, and put his machine at high speed.
+The sea receded, the Jersey pines whirled monotonously by, and by and
+by the hills began to crop up. Off against the horizon Stark mountain
+loomed, veiled, with a purple haze, and around another curve Economy
+appeared, startlingly out of place with its smug red brick walks and its
+gingerbread porches and plastered tile bungalows. Then without warning
+Billy sat up. How long had that young scamp been awake? Had he slept at
+all? He was like a man, grave and stern with business before him. The
+doctor almost felt shy about giving him his medicine.
+
+"Son, you must drink that milk," he said firmly. "Nothing doing unless
+you drink that!" Billy drank it.
+
+"Now where?" asked the doctor as they entered the straggling dirty
+little town.
+
+"That red brick building down the next block," pointed Billy, his face
+white with excitement, his eyes burning like two dark blue coals.
+
+The big car drew up at the curb, and no one there to notice, for every
+body was inside. The place was jammed to the door.
+
+Cherry had come back late after lunch, her hat awry and signs of tears
+on her painted face. Her eyes were more obviously frightened and she
+whispered a message which was taken up to Mark. Mark lifted a haggard
+face to hear it, asked a question, bowed his head, and continued
+listening to the cross-examination of a man who said he had heard him
+threaten to kill Dolph the week before the murder down at Hagg's Mills.
+When the witness was dismissed Mark whispered a word to his lawyer,
+the lawyer spoke to the judge and the judge announced that the prisoner
+wished to speak. Every eye was turned toward Mark as he rose and gave a
+sweeping glance around the room, his eyes lingering for just a shadow of
+an instant wistfully on the faces of the minister and his wife, then on
+again as if they had seen no one, and round to the judge's face.
+
+It was just at this instant that Billy burst into the room and wedged
+his way fiercely between elbows, using his old football methods, head
+down and elbows out, and stood a moment breathless, taking it all in.
+
+Then Mark spoke:
+
+"Your Honor, I wish to plead guilty to the charge!"
+
+A great sigh like a sob broke over the hush in the court room and many
+people half rose to their feet as if in protest, but Billy made a dive
+up the aisle, self and sickness forgotten, regardless of courts or law
+or anything, and stood between the Judge and Mark:
+
+"It ain't so, an' I can prove it!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.
+
+The prosecuting attorney rose to a point of order like a bull dog
+snapping at his prey, the sergeant-at-arms rushed around like corn
+popping off in a corn popper, but Anthony Drew whispered a word to the
+Judge, and after order was restored Billy was called to the witness
+stand to tell his story.
+
+Doctor Norris standing squeezed at the back of the room looking for
+his quondam patient, recognized with a thrill the new Billy standing
+unafraid before all these people and speaking out his story in a clear
+direct way. Billy had etherealized during his illness. If Aunt Saxon had
+been there--she was washing for Gibsons that day and having her troubles
+with Mrs. Frost--she would scarcely have known him. His features had
+grown delicate and there was something strong and sweet about his mouth
+that surely never had been there before. But the same old forceful boy
+speech wherewith he had subdued enemies on the athletic fields, bullied
+Aunt Saxon, and put one over on Pat at the station, was still his own.
+He told the truth briefly and to the point, not omitting his own wrong
+doing in every particular, and he swayed that crowd as a great orator
+might have been proud to sway a congregation. They laughed till they
+cried and cried till they laughed again at Billy's quaint phrases, and
+they enjoyed the detour--Oh how they enjoyed that detour! Even the Judge
+had twinkles in his eyes.
+
+For the first time since the trial began Mark was sitting up proudly,
+a warm look of vivid interest in his face, the cold mask gone. His eyes
+dwelt upon Billy with a look almost fatherly, at least brotherly. It was
+a startling contrast to what he had been all day. This was a different
+man.
+
+Suddenly from the corner of the prosecution the low growl which had been
+gradually rising like a young storm, broke, and the prosecuting attorney
+arose and lifted his voice above all others:
+
+"I protest your Honor, against this witness. He has mentioned no less
+than five different lies which he has told, and has narrated a number
+of episodes in which he deliberately broke the law. Is it or is it not
+a misdemeanor for anyone to meddle with our Highroads in the manner
+that has just been described? By his own confession this young man is
+disqualified for a witness! By his own confession he is a law breaker
+and a liar!"
+
+"Aw Gee!" broke forth Billy furiously, "Didn't I tell ya I come here to
+tell the truth n' get it off'n my chest?"
+
+Someone put a strong hand on Billy and silenced him, and some one else
+rose to protest against the protestor, and the air grew tense with
+excitement once more.
+
+The prosecution declared that Billy was in league with Mark, that
+everybody knew he trailed him everywhere, therefore his testimony was
+worthless. He was probably bribed; there was nothing, absolutely nothing
+in the story the boy had told to prove anything.
+
+Billy was growing whiter and angrier, his eyes flashing, his fists
+clenched. His testimony was not going to be accepted after all! It had
+been vain to bear the shame himself. Nothing, _nothing_ that he could
+do would blot out the trouble because he had unfitted himself to blot it
+out. It had to be a witness who told the truth who would be believed.
+It had to be one with a good record to take away the shame! That was
+something like what Miss Marilyn said in Sunday School once, that only
+Jesus Christ could take the place of a sinner and make it right about
+our sinning because He had never sinned. It had sounded like rot when
+she said it, but he began to understand what she meant now. Yes, that
+was it. Only God's Son could do that and he, Billy Gaston, had tried to
+do it himself!
+
+The court room seemed to be very dark now. His head was whirling away
+and getting beyond his control. When he looked up he seemed to see it
+on the other side of the room. He did not recognize the two men in
+handcuffs that the Chief was bringing into the room. He did not hear
+what the Judge was saying. He had slumped in a little heap on the
+witness stand with his eyes closed, and his hands groping together. He
+thought that he was praying to God's Son to come and help Mark because
+he had failed. _He_ wasn't good enough and he _had failed!_
+
+The doctor had come with a bound up the aisle and was kneeling with
+Billy in his arms. Mark was leaning over the rail with a white anxious
+face. The minister was trying to make a way through the crowd, and the
+sergeant-at-arms was pushing the crowd back, and making a space about
+the unconscious boy. Some-one opened a window. The Chief and one of his
+men brought a cot. There was a pillow from the car, and there was that
+medicine again--bringing him back--just as he thought he had made God
+hear--! Oh, _why_ did they bother him?
+
+Suddenly down by the door a diversion occurred. Someone had entered with
+wild burning eyes dressed in a curious assortment of garments. They were
+trying to put him out, but he persisted.
+
+The word was brought up: "Someone has a very important piece of evidence
+which he wishes to present."
+
+Billy's gray eyes opened as the man mounted to the witness stand. He
+was lying on the cot at one side and his gaze rested on the new witness,
+dazedly at first, and then with growing comprehension. Old Ike Fenner,
+the tailor, Cherry Fenner's father!
+
+Mark was looking at Billy and had not noticed:
+
+But the man began to speak in a high shrill voice:
+
+"I came to say that I'm the man that killed Dolph Haskins! Mark Carter
+had nothin' to do with it. I done it! I _meant_ to kill him because he
+ruined the life of my little girl! _My baby!_"
+
+There was a sudden catch in his voice like a great sob, and he clutched
+at the rail as if he were going to fall, but he went on, his eyes
+burning like coals:
+
+"I shot him with Tom Petrie's gun that I found atop o' the door, an' I
+put it back where I found it. You take my finger prints and compare 'em
+with the marks on the gun an' the winder sill. You ask Sandy Robison!
+He seen me do it. You ask Cherry! She seen me too. She was facin' the
+winder eatin' her supper with that devil, and I shot him and she seen
+me! _I_ did it--"
+
+His voice trailed off. He swayed and got down from the stand, groping
+his way as if he could not see. The crowd gave way with a curious
+shudder looking into his wild burning eyes as he passed. A girl's scream
+back by the door rang through the court. The man moaned, put out his
+hands and fell forward. Kindly hands reached to catch him. The doctor
+left Billy and came to help.
+
+They carried him outside and laid him on the grass in front of the court
+house. The doctor used every restorative he had with him. Men hurried to
+the drug store. They tried everything, but all to no avail. Ike Fenner
+the tailor was dead! He had gone to stand before a higher court!
+
+When it was all over, the finger prints and the red tape, and the case
+had been dismissed, Mark came to Billy where he was lying in the big car
+waiting, with his eyes closed to keep back weak tears that would slip
+out now and then. He knelt beside the boy and touched his hand, the hand
+that looked so thin and weak and so little like Billy's:
+
+"Kid," he said gently, "Kid, you've been a wonder! It was really you
+that saved me, Buddy! _My Buddy!"_
+
+Billy's tears welled over at the tone, the words, the proud intimate
+name, but he shook his head slowly, sadly.
+
+"No," he said, "No, it wasn't me. I tried, but I wasn't fit! It had to
+be _Him_. I didn't understand! They wouldn't believe me. But _He_ came
+as soon as I ast!"
+
+Mark looked at the doctor.
+
+"Is he wandering a little?" he asked in a low tone:
+
+"I shouldn't wonder. He's been through enough to make anyone wander.
+Here, son, take this."
+
+Billy smiled and obediently accepted his medicine. Mark held his hand
+all the way home. He knew that Mark didn't understand but he was too
+tired to tell him now. Sometime he would explain. Or perhaps Miss Lynn
+would explain it for him. He was going home, home to Saxy and Sabbath
+Valley and the bells, and Mark was free! He hadn't saved him, but Mark
+was free!
+
+It was like a royal passage through the village as they came into
+Sabbath Valley, for everybody came out to wave at Mark and Billy. Even
+Mrs. Harricutt watched grimly from behind her Holland shades. But Billy
+was too weak to notice much, except to sense it distantly, and Mark
+would only lift his hat and bow, gravely, quietly as if it didn't
+matter, just as he used to do when they carried him round on their
+shoulders after a football game, and he tried to get down and hide. Why
+did Mark still have that sad look in his eyes? Billy was too tired to
+think it out. He was glad when they reached Aunt Saxon's door and
+Mark picked him up as he used to do when he was just a little kid, and
+carried him up to his room. Carried him up and undressed him, while
+Saxy heard the story from the doctor's lips, and laughed and cried and
+laughed again. The nervy little kid! He would always be a "little kid"
+to Saxy, no matter what he did.
+
+He turned over in his own bed, _his bed_, and smelt the sweet breath
+of the honeysuckle coming in at the window, heard the thrushes singing
+their evening song up the street. The sea had been great, but Oh, you
+Sabbath Valley! Out there was the water spout, and some day he would be
+strong enough to shin down it, and up it again. He would play football
+this Fall, and run Mark's car! Mark, grave, gentle, quiet, sitting
+beside him till he got asleep, and his mother not knowing, down the
+street, and Miss Lynn--!
+
+"Mark--you'll tell Miss Marilyn about it all?" He opened his eyes to
+murmur lazily, and Mark promised still gravely.
+
+He shut his eyes and drifted away. What was that the Chief had told him
+down at Economy in the car? Something about three strange detectives
+stepping off the train one day and nabbing Pat? And Pat was up at Sing
+Sing finishing his term after A.W.O.L. Was that straight or only
+a dream? And anyhow he didn't care. He was home again, Home--_and
+forgiven!_
+
+Night settled sweetly down upon Sabbath Valley, hiding the brilliant
+autumn tinting of the street. Lynn had made a maple nut cake and set the
+table for two before she left the Carters, for her mother had slipped
+out of the court room and telephoned her, and a fire was blazing in the
+little parlor with the lace curtains and asters in every vase all gala
+for the returning son. The mother and son sat long before the fire,
+talking, pleasant converse, about the time when Mark would send for her
+to come and live with him, but not a word was said about the day. He
+saw that his friends had helped to save his mother this one great sorrow
+that she could not have borne, and he was grateful.
+
+Marilyn, up at the parsonage, with a great thankfulness upon her, went
+about with smiling face. The burden seemed to have lifted and she was
+glad.
+
+But that night at midnight there came the doctor from Economy driving
+hard and stopping at the parsonage. Cherry Fenner was dying and wanted
+to see Miss Marilyn. Would she come?
+
+
+
+
+XXVII
+
+
+Cherry's little bedroom under the roof was bright with the confusion of
+cheap finery scattered everywhere and swept aside at the sudden entrance
+of the death angel. A neighbor had done her best to push away the crude
+implements of complexion that were littering the cheap oak bureau top,
+and the doctor's case and bottles and glasses crowded out the giddy
+little accessories of beauty that Cherry had collected. Two chairs piled
+high with draggled finery, soiled work aprons and dresses made a forlorn
+and miscellaneous disorder in one corner, and the closet door sagged
+open with visions of more clothing hung many deep upon the few hooks.
+
+Mrs. Fenner stood at the head of the bed wringing her hands and moaning
+uncontrolledly, and Cherry, little Cherry, lay whitely against the
+pillow, the color all gone from her ghastly pretty little face, that had
+lately hid its ravished health and beauty behind a camouflage of paint.
+There were deep dark circles under the limpid eyes that now were full
+of mortal pain, and pitiful lines around the cherry mouth that had been
+wont to laugh so saucily.
+
+The doctor stood by the window with the attitude of grave waiting. The
+helpful neighbor lingered in the doorway, holding her elbows and taking
+minute note of Marilyn's dress. This might be a sad time, but one had to
+live afterward, and it wasn't every day you got to see a simple little
+frock with an air like the one the minister's daughter wore. She studied
+it from neck to hem and couldn't see what in the world there was about
+it anyway to make her look so dressed up. Not a scratch of trimming, not
+even a collar, and yet she could look like that!
+
+Mercy! Was that what education and going to college did for folks?
+
+The light of a single unshaded electric bulb shone startlingly down to
+the bed, making plain the shadow of death even to an inexperienced eye.
+
+Marilyn knelt beside the bed and took Cherry's cold little hand in her
+own warm one. The waxen eyelids fluttered open, and a dart of something
+between fright and pain went over her weird little face.
+
+"Can I do anything for you Cherry?" Marilyn's voice was tender, pitiful.
+
+"It's _too late_," whispered the girl in a fierce little whisper, "Send
+'em out--I--wantta--tell--you--someth--!" The voice trailed away weakly.
+The doctor stepped over and gave her a spoonful of something, motioned
+her mother and the neighbor away, tiptoeing out himself and closing the
+door. The mother was sobbing wildly. The doctor's voice could be heard
+quieting her coldly:
+
+The girl on the bed frowned and gathered effort to speak:
+
+"Mark Carter--didn't mean no harm--goin'--with me--!" she
+broke out, her breath coming in gasps, "He was tryin'--to stop
+me--goin'--with--_Dolph--!_" The eyes closed wearily. The lips were
+white as chalk. She seemed to have stopped breathing!
+
+"It's all right--Cherry--" Marilyn breathed softly, "It's all right--I
+understand! Don't think any more about it!"
+
+The eyes opened fiercely again, a faint determination shadowed round the
+little mouth:
+
+"You gotta know--!" she broke forth again with effort. "He was good to
+me--when I was a little kid, and when he found I was in trouble--" the
+breath came pitifully in gasps--"he--offered--to--_marry me!_"
+
+Marilyn's fingers trembled but she held the little cold hand warmly and
+tried to keep back the tears that trembled in her eyes.
+
+"He--didn't--_want to_--! He--just--_done it to be kind!_ But
+I--couldn't--see--it--! That's--what--we--_argued--!_" Her voice grew
+fainter again. Marilyn with gentle controlled voice pressed the little
+cold hand again:
+
+"Never mind, Cherry dear--it's all right!"
+
+Cherry's eyes opened with renewed effort, anxiously:
+
+"You won't--blame--Mark--? He never--did--nothin'--wrong--!
+He's--_your_--friend!"
+
+"No, Cherry! It's all right!"
+
+The girl seemed to have lost consciousness again, and Marilyn wondered
+if she ought not to call the doctor, but suddenly Cherry screamed out:
+
+"There he is again! He's _come for me!_ Oh--I'm--a--gon' ta--_die!_ An'
+I'm _afrrrr-aid!"_
+
+Cherry clutched at Marilyn's arm, and looked up with far off gaze in
+which terror seemed frozen.
+
+The minister's daughter leaned farther over and gathered the fragile
+form of the sick girl in her arms tenderly, speaking in a soothing
+voice:
+
+"Listen Cherry. Don't be afraid. Jesus is here. He'll go with you!"
+
+"But I'm afraid of Jesus!" the sharp little voice pierced out with a
+shudder, "I haven't been--_good!"_
+
+"Then tell Him you are sorry. You _are_ sorry, aren't you?"
+
+"Oh, _yes!"_ the weak voice moaned. "I--never--_meant_--no--harm! I
+only--wanted--a little--good time--!"
+
+The eyes had closed again and she was almost gone. The doctor had come
+in and he now gave her another spoonful of medicine. Marilyn knew the
+time was short.
+
+"Listen, Cherry, say these words after me!" Cherry's eyes opened again
+and fastened on her face, eagerly:
+
+"Jesus, I'm sorry--!"
+
+"Jesus--I'm--sor-ry--!" repeated the weak voice in almost a whisper.
+
+"Please forgive me," said Marilyn slowly, distinctly.
+
+"Please--for--give--!" the slow voice repeated.
+
+"And save me--save--!" the voice was scarcely audible.
+
+The doctor came and stood close by the bed, looking down keenly, but
+Cherry roused once more and looked at them, her sharp little voice
+stabbing out into the silence piercingly,
+
+"Is that--_all?_"
+
+"That is all," said Marilyn with a ring in her voice, "Jesus died to
+take care of all the rest! You can just rest on Him!"
+
+"_Oh-h!_" The agony went out of the pinched little face, a half smile
+dawned and she sank into rest.
+
+As Marilyn went home in the dawn with the morning star beginning to
+pale, and the birds at their early worship, something in her own heart
+was singing too. Above the feeling of awe over standing at the brink
+of the river and seeing a little soul go wavering out, above even the
+wonder that she had been called to point the way, there sang in her soul
+a song of jubilation that Mark was exonerated from shame and disgrace.
+Whatever others thought, whatever she personally would always have
+believed, it still was great that God had given her this to make her
+know that her inner vision about it had been right. Perhaps, sometime,
+in the days that were to come, Mark would tell her about it, but there
+was time enough for that. Mark would perhaps come to see her this
+morning. She somehow felt sure that at least he would come to say he
+was glad she had stayed with his mother. It was like Mark to do that. He
+never let any little thing that was done for him or his pass unnoticed.
+
+But the morning passed and Mark did not come. The only place that Mark
+went was to see Billy.
+
+"Billy, old man," he said, sitting down by the edge of the bed where
+Billy was drowsing the early morning away, just feeling the bed, and
+sensing Saxy down there making chicken broth, and knowing that the young
+robins in the apple tree under the window were grown up and flown away.
+"Billy, I can't keep my promise to you after all. I've got to go away.
+Sorry, kid, but she'll come to see you and I want you to tell her for me
+all about it. I'm not forgetting it, Kid, either, and you'll know, all
+the rest of my life, _you and I are buddies!_ Savvy, Kid?"
+
+Billy looked at Mark with big understanding eyes. There was sadness
+and hunger and great self control in that still white face that he
+worshipped so devotedly. All was not well with his hero yet. It came to
+him vaguely that perhaps Mark too had even yet something to learn, the
+kind of thing that was only learned by going through fire. He struggled
+for words to express himself, but all he could find were:
+
+"I say, Mark, why'n't'tya get it off'n yer chest? It's _great!_"
+
+Perhaps there wouldn't have been another human in Sabbath Valley, except
+perhaps it might have been Marilyn who would have understood that by
+this low growled suggestion Billy was offering confession of sin as a
+remedy for his friend's ailment of soul, but Mark looked at him keenly,
+almost tenderly for a long minute, and shook his head, his face taking
+on a grayer, more hopeless look as he said:
+
+"I can't, Kid. It's _too late!_"
+
+Billy closed his eyes for a moment. He felt it wasn't quite square to
+see into his friend's soul that way when he was off his guard, but he
+understood. He had passed that way himself. It came to him that nothing
+he could say would make any difference. He would have liked to tell of
+his own experience in the court room and how he had suddenly known that
+all his efforts to right his wrong had been failures, that there was
+only One who could do it, but there were no words in a boy's vocabulary
+to say a thing like that. It sounded unreal. It had to be _felt_, and he
+found his heart kept saying over and over as he lay there waiting with
+closed eyes for Mark to speak: "Oh, God! Why'n'tchoo show him Yerself?
+Why'n'tchoo show him Yerself?" He wondered if Miss Lynn couldn't have
+shown Mark if he had only gone and talked it over with her. But Mark
+said it was too late, "Well, Why'n'tchoo show him Yerself, then?
+Why'n'tchoo show him Yerself, God,--_please!_"
+
+Mark got up with a long sigh:
+
+"Well, s'long, Kid, till I see you again. And I won't forget Kid, you
+know I won't forget! And Kid, I'm leaving my gun with you. I know you'll
+take good care of it and not let it do any damage. You might need it you
+know to take care of your Aunt, or--or--Miss Severn--or!"
+
+"Sure!" said Billy with shining eyes clasping the weapon that had been
+Mark's proud possession for several years. "Aw Gee! Ya hadn't oughtta
+give me this! You might need it yourself."
+
+"No, Kid, I'd rather feel that you have it. I want to leave someone here
+to kind of take my place--watching--you know. There'll be times--!"
+
+"Sure!" said Billy, a kind of glory overspreading his thin eager face.
+"_Aw Gee!_ Mark!"
+
+And long after Mark had gone, and the sound of his purring engine had
+died away in the distance, Billy lay back with the weapon clasped to
+his heart, and a weird kind of rhythm repeating itself over and over
+somewhere in his spirit: "Why'n'tchoo show him Yerself, God? Why'n'tchoo
+show him Yerself? You will! I'll bet You _will_! yet!"
+
+And was that anything like the prayer of faith translated into
+theological language?
+
+Aunt Saxon went up tiptoe with the broth and thought he was asleep and
+tiptoed down again to keep it warm awhile. But Billy lay there and felt
+like Elisha after the mantle of the prophet Elijah had fallen upon
+him. It gave him a grand solemn feeling, God and he were somehow taking
+Mark's place till Mark got ready to come back and do it himself. He
+was to take care of Sabbath Valley as far as in him lay, but more
+particularly of Miss Marilyn Severn.
+
+And then suddenly, without warning, Miss Marilyn herself went away, to
+New York she said, for a few weeks, she wasn't sure just how long. But
+there was something sad in her voice as she said it, and something white
+about the look she wore that made him sure she was not going to the part
+of New York where Mark Carter lived.
+
+Billy accepted it with a sigh. Things were getting pretty dry around
+Sabbath Valley for him. He didn't seem to get his pep back as fast as he
+had expected. For one thing he worried a good deal, and for another the
+doctor wouldn't let him play baseball nor ride a bicycle yet for quite
+a while. He had to go around and act just like a "gurrull!" Aw Gee!
+Sometimes he was even glad to have Mary Little come across the street
+with her picture puzzles and stay with him awhile. She was real
+good company. He hadn't ever dreamed before that girls could be as
+interesting. Of course, Miss Marilyn had to be a girl once, but then she
+was Miss Marilyn. That was different.
+
+Then too, Billy hadn't quite forgotten that first morning that Saxy got
+her arms around him and cried over him glad tears, bright sweet tears
+that wet his face and made him feel like crying happy tears too. And the
+sudden surprising desire he felt to hug her with his well arm, and how
+she fell over on the bed and got to laughing because he pulled her hair
+down in his awkwardness, and pulled her collar crooked. Aw Gee! She was
+just Aunt Saxy and he had been rotten to her a lot of times. But now it
+was different. Somehow Saxy and he were more pals, or was it that he was
+the man now taking care of Saxy and not the little boy being taken care
+of himself? Somehow during those weeks he had been gone Saxy had cried
+out the pink tears, and was growing smiles, and home was "kinda nice"
+after all. But he missed the bells. And nights before he got into bed he
+got to kneeling down regularly, and saying softly inside his heart: "Aw
+Gee, God, please why'n'tcha make Mark understand, an' why'n'tcha bring
+'em both home?"
+
+
+
+
+XXVIII
+
+
+Marilyn had not been in New York but a week before she met Opal. She was
+waiting to cross Fifth Avenue, and someone leaned out of a big limousine
+that paused for the congestion in traffic and cried:
+
+"Why, if that isn't Miss Severn from Sabbath Valley. Get in please, I
+want to see you."
+
+And Lynn, much against her will, was persuaded to get in, more because
+she was holding up traffic than because the woman in the limousine
+insisted:
+
+"I'll take you where you want to go," she said in answer to Lynn's
+protests, and they rolled away up the great avenue with the moving
+throng.
+
+"I'm dying to know what it is you're making Laurie Shafton do," said
+Opal eagerly, "I never saw him so much interested in anything in my
+life. Or is it you he's interested in. Why, he can't talk of anything
+else, and he's almost stopped going to the Club or any of the house
+parties. Everybody thinks he's perfectly crazy. He won't drink any more
+either. He's made himself quite _notorious_. I believe I heard some one
+say the other day they hadn't even seen him smoking for a whole week.
+You certainly are a wonder."
+
+"You're quite mistaken," said Lynn, much amused, "I had nothing to do
+with Mr. Shafton's present interest, except as I happened to be the one
+to introduce him to it. I haven't seen him but twice since I came to New
+York, and then only to take him around among my babies at the Settlement
+and once over to the Orphans' Home, where I've been helping out while
+an old friend of mine with whom I worked in France is away with her sick
+sister."
+
+"For mercy's sake! You don't mean that Laurie consented to go among the
+poor? I heard he'd given a lot of money to fix up some buildings, but
+then all the best men are doing things like that now. It's quite the
+fad. But to go himself and see the wretched little things, Ugh! I don't
+see how he could. He must be quite crazy about you I'm sure if he did
+all that for you."
+
+"Oh, he seemed to want to see them," said Lynn lightly, "and he
+suggested many of the improvements that he is making himself. They
+tell me he has proved a great helper, he is on hand at all hours
+superintending the building himself, and everybody is delighted with
+him--!"
+
+"Mmmm!" commented Opal looking at Marilyn through the fringes of her
+eyes. "You really are a wonder. And now that you are in New York I'm
+going to introduce you to our crowd. When can you come? Let's see.
+To-morrow is Sunday. Will you spend the evening with me to-morrow? I'll
+certainly show you a good time. We're going to motor to--"
+
+But Lynn was shaking her head decidedly:
+
+"I couldn't possibly spare a minute, thank you. I'm only out on an
+errand now. I'm needed every instant at the Home!"
+
+"For mercy sake! Hire someone to take your place then. I want you.
+You'll be quite a sensation I assure you. Don't worry about clothes,
+if you haven't anything along. You can wear one of my evening dresses.
+We're almost of a size."
+
+"No," said Lynn smiling, "It simply isn't possible. And anyway, don't
+you remember Sabbath Valley? I don't go out to play Sunday nights you
+know."
+
+"Oh, but this is New York! You can't bring Sabbath Valley notions into
+New York."
+
+Lynn smiled again:
+
+"You can if they are a part of you," she said, "Come in and see how
+nicely I'm fixed."
+
+Opal looked up at the beautiful building before which they were
+stopping.
+
+"Why, where is this?" she asked astonished, "I thought you were down in
+the slums somewhere."
+
+"This is a Home for little orphan children kept up by the Salvation
+Army. Come in a minute and see it."
+
+Following a whim of curiosity Opal came in, and was led down a long hall
+to a great room where were a hundred tiny children sitting on little
+chairs in a big circle playing kindergarten games. The children were
+dressed in neat pretty frocks such as any beloved children would wear,
+with bright hair ribbons and neckties, and each with an individuality
+of its own. The room was sunny and bright, with a great playhouse at
+one end, with real windows and furniture in it and all sorts of toboggan
+slides and swings and kiddy cars and everything to delight the soul of
+a child. On a wide space between two windows painted on the plaster in
+soft wonderful coloring blended into the gray tint of the wall, there
+glowed a life size painting of the Christ surrounded by little children,
+climbing upon His knees and listening to Him as He smiled and talked to
+them.
+
+Opal paused in the doorway and looked at the picture first, shyly,
+shamedly, as though it were no place for her to enter, then curiously
+at the little children, with a kind of wistful yearning, as if here were
+something she had missed of her own fault. Lynn called out a charming
+baby and made her shake hands and bow and say a few listing smiling
+words. Opal turned to Lynn with a strangely subdued look and spoke in a
+moved tone:
+
+"I guess you're right," she said, "You wouldn't fit at my company.
+You're different! But some day I'm coming after you and bring you home
+all by yourself for a little while. I want to find out what it is you
+have that I need."
+
+Then she turned with swift steps and went down the hall and out the door
+to her waiting limousine, and Lynn smiled wonderingly as she saw her
+whirled away into the world again.
+
+Lynn had not seen Mark.
+
+Laurie Shafton had called upon her many times since those two trips
+they had taken around the settlements and looking over his condemned
+property, but she had been busy, or out somewhere on her errands of
+mercy, so that Laurie had got very little satisfaction for his trouble.
+
+But Mark had seen Lynn once, just once, and that the first time she had
+gone with Laurie Shafton, as they were getting out of his car in front
+of one of his buildings. Mark had slipped into a doorway out of sight
+and watched them, and after they passed into the building had gone on,
+his face whiter and sadder than before. That was all.
+
+Marilyn was to spend only a month in New York, as at first planned, but
+the month lengthened into six weeks before the friend whose place she
+was taking was able to return, and two days before Marilyn was expecting
+to start home there came a telephone message from her mother:
+
+"Lynn, dear, Mrs. Carter is very low, dying, we think, and we must
+find Mark at once! There is not a minute to lose if he wants to see
+her alive. It is a serious condition brought on by excitement. Mrs.
+Harricutt went there to call yesterday while everybody else was at
+Ladies' Aid. And Lynn, _she told her about Mark!_ Now, Lynn, can you get
+somebody to go with you and find Mark right away? Get him to come home
+at once? Here is the last address he gave, but they have no telephone
+and we dare not wait for a telegram. See what you can do quickly!"
+
+It was four o'clock in the afternoon when this message came. Lynn put on
+a uniform of dark blue serge and a poke bonnet that was at her disposal
+whenever she had need of protection, and hurried out.
+
+She found the address after some trouble, but was told that the young
+gentleman was out. No one seemed to know when he would return.
+
+Two or three other lodgers gathered curiously, one suggesting a
+restaurant where he might be found, another a club where he sometimes
+went and a third laughed and called out from half way up the stairs:
+
+"You'll find him at the cabaret around the corner by ten o'clock
+to-night if you don't find him sooner. He's always there when he's in
+town."
+
+Sick at heart Lynn went on her way, trying carefully each place that had
+been suggested but finding no trace of him. She met with only deference
+for her uniform wherever she went, and without the slightest fear she
+travelled through streets at night that she would scarcely have liked
+to pass alone in the daytime in her ordinary garb. But all the time her
+heart was praying that she might find Mark before it was too late. She
+tried every little clue that was given her, hoping against hope that
+she would not have to search for her old friend in a cabaret such as she
+knew that place around the corner must be. But it was almost ten o'clock
+and she had not found Mark. She went back to the first address once
+more, but he had not come, and so she finally turned her steps toward
+the cabaret.
+
+Sadly, with her heart beating wildly, hoping, yet fearing to find him,
+she paused just inside the doors and looked around, trying to get used
+to the glare and blare, the jazz and the smoke, and the strange lax
+garb, and to differentiate the individuals from the crowd.
+
+Food and drink, smoke and song, wine and dance, flesh and odd perfumes!
+Her soul sank within her, and she turned bewildered to a servitor at the
+door.
+
+"I wonder, is there any way to find a special person here? I have a very
+important message."
+
+The man bent his head deferentially as though to one from another world,
+"Who did you want, Miss?"
+
+"Mr. Mark Carter," said Marilyn, feeling the color rise in her cheeks at
+letting even this waiter see that she expected to find Mark Carter here.
+
+The man looked up puzzled. He was rather new at the place. He summoned
+another passing one of his kind:
+
+"Carter, Carter?" the man said thoughtfully, "Oh, yes, he's the guy that
+never drinks! He's over there at the table in the far corner with the
+little dancer lady--" The waiter pointed and Lynn looked, "Would you
+like me to call him, Miss?" Lynn reflected quickly. Perhaps he might try
+to evade her. She must run no risks.
+
+"Thank you, I will go to him," she said, and straight through the maze
+of candle lighted tables, and whirling dancers, in her quiet holy garb,
+she threaded her way hastily, as one might have walked over quicksands,
+with her eye fixed upon Mark.
+
+She came and stood beside him before he looked up and saw her, and then
+he lifted his eyes from the face of the girl with whom he was talking,
+and rose suddenly to his feet, his face gone white as death, his eyes
+dark with disapproval and humiliation.
+
+"Marilyn!" His voice was shaking. He knew her instantly in spite of poke
+bonnet and uniform. She was the one thought present with him all the
+while, perhaps for years wherever he had been. But he did not look glad
+to see her. Instead it was as if his soul shrank shamedly from her clear
+eyes as she looked at him:
+
+Marilyn had not known what she was going to say to him when she found
+him. She did not stop to think now.
+
+"Mark, your mother wants you. She is dying! You must come quick or she
+will be gone!"
+
+Afterwards she repeated over the words to herself again and again as one
+might do penance, blaming herself that she had not softened it, made
+it more easy for him to bear. Yet at the time it seemed the only thing
+there was to say, at such a time, in such a place. But at the
+stricken look upon his face her heart grew tender. "Come," she said
+compassionately, "We will go!"
+
+They went out into the night and it was as if they had suddenly changed
+places, as if she were the protector and he the led. She guided him the
+quickest way. There was only a chance that they might catch the
+midnight train, but there was that chance. Into the subway she dived, he
+following, and breathless, they brought up at the Pennsylvania station
+at their train gate as it was being closed, and hurried through.
+
+All through that agonized night they spoke but few words, those two who
+had been so much to one another through long happy years.
+
+"But you are not going too?" he spoke suddenly roused from his daze as
+the train started.
+
+"Yes, I am going too, of course, Mark," she said.
+
+He bowed his head and almost groaned:
+
+"I am not worthy,--Marilyn!"
+
+"That--has nothing to do with it!" said Marilyn sadly, "It never will
+have anything to do with it! It never did!"
+
+Mark looked at her, with harrowed eyes, and dropped his gaze. So he
+sat, hour after hour, as the train rushed along through the night. And
+Marilyn, with head slightly bent and meek face, beneath the poke bonnet
+with its crimson band, was praying as she rode. Praying in other words
+the prayer that Billy murmured beside his bed every night.
+
+But Billy was not lying in his bed that night, sleeping the sleep of
+the just. He was up and on the job. He was sitting in the Carter kitchen
+keeping up the fires, making a cup of tea for the nurse and the doctor,
+running the endless little errands, up to the parsonage for another hot
+water bag, down to the drug store for more aromatic spirits of ammonia,
+fixing a newspaper shade to dull the light in the hall, and praying, all
+the time praying: "Oh, God, ain'tcha gonta leave her stay till Mark
+gets here? Ain'tcha gonta send Mark quick? You know best I 'spose, but
+ain'tcha _gonta?_" and then "Aw Gee! I wisht Miss Lynn was here!"
+
+In the chill before the dawning the two stepped down from the train at
+a little flag station three miles from Sabbath Valley on the upper road
+that ran along the Ridge. They had prevailed upon the conductor to let
+them off there. Mark had roused enough for that. And now that they were
+out in the open country he seemed to come to himself. He took care
+of Lynn, making her take his arm, guiding her into the smooth places,
+helping her over rough places. He asked a few questions too. How did she
+know of his mother's condition? How long had she been this way? Had she
+any idea that his mother's heart was affected? Did she have a shock?
+
+Lynn did not tell all she knew. It was hard enough without that. He need
+not know that it was the knowledge of his disgrace that had brought her
+to the brink of death.
+
+So, walking and talking almost as in the old days, they passed into
+Sabbath Valley and down the street, and Christie McMertrie listening
+perhaps for this very thing, crept from her bed in her long flannel
+night gown, and big ruffled night cap, and looked out the window to see
+them go by. "Bless them!" she breathed and crept back to her bed again.
+She had nursed all day, and all the night before, and would have been
+there too to-night, only Mary Rafferty took things in her own hands and
+had her go to bed, herself taking charge. Mrs. Duncannon was there too.
+There really was no need of her, but Christie could not sleep, and after
+they passed she rose and dressed and slipped down the street with a hot
+porridge that had been cooking on the stove all night, and the makings
+of a good breakfast in her basket on her arm.
+
+Mark Carter reached home in time to take his mother in his arms and
+bid her good-bye. That was all She roused at his voice and touch, and
+reached out her little pretty hands toward him. He took her in his big
+strong arms and held her, kissed her with tender lips and she drew a
+beautiful smile of perfect content, and slipped away, with the graying
+golden hair straying out over Mark's sleeve to the pillow in a long
+curl, and a quiver of her last smile on the pretty curve of her lips, as
+if this was all that she had waited for, the little pretty girl that had
+gone to school so long ago with golden hair and a smile. Billy, standing
+awed in the doorway whither he had come to say there was more hot water
+ready, caught the vision of her face, remembered those school days, and
+felt a strange constriction in his throat. Some day Saxy would have to
+go like that, and would show the little girl in her face too, and he
+maybe would have to hold her so and think of how cross he had been. Aw
+Gee! Whattaqueer thing life was anyhow! Well, hadn't his prayer been
+answered? Didn't Mark get here in time? Well, anyhow it was likely
+better for Mrs. Carter to go. But it was rotten for Mark. Aw Gee!
+_Mark_! Was _this_ the way he had to learn it? Aw Gee! Well, God would
+have to show him. _He_ couldn't dope it out anyhow.
+
+During the days that followed Mark hardly stirred from the side of the
+pretty little clay that had been his mother except when they forced him
+for a little while. An hour before the service he knelt alone beside
+the casket, and the door opened and Marilyn came softly in, closing it
+behind her. She walked over to Mark and laid her hand on his hand that
+rested over his mother's among the flowers, and she knelt beside him and
+spoke softly:
+
+"Oh, God, help Mark to find the light!"
+
+Then the soul of Mark Carter was shaken to the depths and suddenly his
+self control which had been so great was broken. His strong shoulders
+began to shake with sobs, silent, hard sobs of a man who knows he has
+sinned, and tears, scalding tears from the depths of his self-contained
+nature.
+
+Marilyn reached her arm out across his shoulders as a mother would try
+to protect a child, and lifted her face against his, wet with tears and
+kissed him on his forehead. Then she left him and went quietly out.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Harricutt with satisfaction as she walked home after
+the funeral with Christie McMertrie, "I'm glad to see that Mark Carter
+has a little proper feeling at last. If he'd showed it sooner his Ma
+mighta ben in the land of the living yet."
+
+Christie's stern face grew sterner as she set her teeth and bit her
+tongue before replying. Then she said with more brrrr than usual in her
+speech:
+
+"Martha Harricutt, there's na land that's sa livin' as tha land where
+Mark Carter's mither has ganged tae, but there's them that has mair
+blame to bear fer her gaein' than her bonny big son, I'm thinkin', an'
+there's them in this town that agrees with me too, I know full well."
+
+Down in front of the parsonage the minister had his arm around Mark
+Carter's shoulders and was urging him:
+
+"Son, come in. We want you. Mother wants you, I want you. Marilyn wants
+you. Come son, come!"
+
+But Mark steadily refused, his eyes downcast, his face sad, withdrawn:
+
+"Mr. Severn, I'll come to-morrow. I can't come tonight. I must go home
+and think!"
+
+"And you will promise me you will not leave without coming, Mark?" asked
+the minister sadly when he saw that it was no use.
+
+"Yes, I will promise!" Mark wrung the minister's hand in a warm grip
+that said many things he could not speak, and then he passed on to his
+lonely home. But it was not entirely empty. Billy was there, humbly,
+silently, with dog-true eyes, and a grown up patient look on his tired
+young face. He had the coffee pot on the stove and hot sausages cooking
+on the stove, and a lot of Saxy's doughnuts and a pie on the table.
+Billy stayed all night with Mark. He knew Saxy would understand.
+
+
+
+
+XXIX
+
+
+In the middle of the night the fire bell rang out wildly. Three minutes
+later Mark and Billy were flying down the street, with Tom McMertrie and
+Jim Rafferty close after and a host of other tried and true, with the
+minister on the other side of the street. The Fire Company of Sabbath
+Valley held a proud record, and the minister was an active member of it.
+
+The fire was up in the plush mill and had already spread to a row of
+shackley tenements that the owners of the mills had put up to house the
+foreign labor that they had put in. They called them "apartment" houses,
+but they were so much on the order of the city tenements of several
+years back that it made Lynn's heart ache when she went there to see
+a little sick child one day. Right in the midst of God's trees and
+mountains, a man _for money_ had built a death trap, tall, and grim and
+dark, with small rooms and tiny windows, built it with timbers too small
+for safety, and windows too few for ventilation, and here an increasing
+number of families were herded, in spite of the complaints of the town.
+
+"I ben thenkin' it would coom," said Tom as he took long strides. "It's
+the apartmints fer sure, Jimmy. We better beat it. There'll be only a
+meenit er so to get the childer oot, before the whole thing's smoke!"
+
+They were all there, the doctor, the blacksmith, the postmaster, the men
+from the mills, and the banks, and the stores. Economy heard the bells
+for Marilyn had hurried to the church and added the fire chime to the
+call and came over with their little chemical engine. Monopoly heard and
+hurried their brand new hook and ladder up the valley road, but the fire
+had been eating long in the heart of the plush mill and laughed at their
+puny streams of water forced up from the creek below, laughed at the
+chemicals flung in its face like drops of rain on a sizzling red hot
+stove. It licked its lips over the edge of the cliff on which it was
+built, and cracked its jaws as it devoured the mill, window by window,
+section by section, leaping across with an angry red tongue to the first
+tall building by its side.
+
+The fire had worked cunningly, for it had crept out of sight to the
+lower floors all along the row, and unseen, unknown, had bitten a hold
+on each of those doomed buildings till when the men arrived it went
+roaring ghoulishly up the high narrow stairs cutting off all escape
+from above, and making entrance below impossible. Up at the windows the
+doomed people stood, crying, praying, wringing their hands, and some
+losing their heads and trying to jump out.
+
+The firemen were brave, and worked wonders. They flung up ladders in the
+face of the flames. They risked their lives every step they took, and
+brought out one after another, working steadily, grimly, rapidly. And
+none were braver among them all than Mark Carter and the minister, each
+working on the very top of a tall treacherous ladder, in the face of
+constant danger, bringing out one after another until the last.
+
+The next house to the mill had caved in, and Mark had come down just
+in time with an old woman who was bedridden and had been forgotten. The
+workers had paused an instant as the horrible sound of falling timbers
+rent through the other noises of that horrible night, and then hurried
+to increase their vigilance. There were people in the top floor of the
+next house and it would go next. Then the word went forth that no more
+must go up the ladder. The roof was about to fall in, and a young mother
+shrieked, "My baby! My baby! She's up in the bed. I thought Bob had
+her, but he couldn't get up!" Mark Carter looked at her sharply. "Which
+window?" he asked, and was up the ladder before detaining hands could
+reach him, and Billy, sliding under the arm of the Fire Chief, swung up
+just behind.
+
+The crowd watched breathless as they mounted round after round, Aunt
+Saxon standing with a shawl over her head and gasping aloud, "Oh
+_Willie!_" and then standing still in fear and pride, the tears
+streaming down a smiling countenance on which the red glare of the fire
+shone. The ladder was set crazily against the flaming window and swayed
+with their weight. Every step seemed as if it would topple the building,
+yet the ladder held, and Mark sprang through the blazing window out of
+sight. It seemed an eternity till he returned bringing a tiny bundle
+with him, and handing it out to Billy waiting below.
+
+The boy received as it had been a holy honor, that little bundle of
+humanity handed through the fire, and came solemnly down amid the
+breathless gaze of the crowd, but when they looked to the top again Mark
+had disappeared!
+
+A murmur of horror went round the throng, for the flames were licking
+and snapping, and the roof seemed to vibrate and quiver like a human
+thing. Then before any one could stop him or even saw what he was going
+to do, the minister sprang forward up the ladder like a cat, two rounds
+at a time,--three! He dashed through the fire and was gone!
+
+For an instant it seemed that the people would go mad with the horror of
+it. _Those two!_ Even the Fire Chief paused and seemed petrified. It was
+Billy who sensed the thing to do.
+
+"Getcher canvas man? Are ya' asleep?"
+
+And instantly a great piece of canvas was spread and lifted. But the
+building tottered, the flames ate on, and the window seemed entirely
+enveloped. The moment lasted too long for the hearts that waited. A
+groan rent the air. Then suddenly a breath seemed to part the flames and
+they saw the minister coming forward with Mark in his arms!
+
+It was just at this instant that Lynn came flying down the street. She
+had kept the bells going till she knew all the help had come from a
+distance, and now she was coming to see if there was anything else for
+her to do. There before her she saw her father standing in that awful
+setting of fire, with Mark limp and lifeless in his arms! Then the
+flames licked up and covered the opening once more. _Oh, God!_ Were they
+_both gone_?
+
+Only for an instant more the suspense lasted, and then the cateclysm of
+fire came. The roof fell carrying with it the floors as it went, down,
+down, down, shuddering like a human thing as it went, the rain of fire
+pouring up and around in great blistering flakes and scorching the
+onlookers and lighting their livid faces as they stood transfixed with
+horror at the sight.
+
+The canvas fluttered uselessly down and fire showered thick upon it.
+Timbers and beams crumbled like paper things and were no more. The whole
+flimsy structure had caved in!
+
+Paralyzed with terror and sorrow the firemen stood gazing, and suddenly
+a boy's voice rang out: "Aw Gee! Git to work there! Whatterya doin'?
+Playin' dominoes? Turn that hose over there! That's where they fell.
+Say, you Jim, get that fire hook and lift that beam--! _Aw Gee_! Ya
+ain't gonta let 'em _die,_ are ya,--? _Them two!"_
+
+Billy had seized a heavy hose and was turning it on a central spot and
+Jim Rafferty caught the idea and turned his stream that way, and into
+the fire went the brave men, one and another, instantly, cheerfully,
+devotedly, the men who loved the two men in there. Dead or alive they
+should be got out if it killed them all. They would all die together.
+The Fire Chief stood close to Billy, and shouted his directions, and
+Billy worked with the tallest of them, black, hoarse and weary.
+
+It seemed ages. It was hours. It was a miracle! But they got those two
+men out alive! Blackened and bruised and broken, burned almost beyond
+recognition, but they were alive. They found them lying close to the
+front wall, their faces together, Mark's body covered by the minister's.
+
+Tender hands brought them forth and carried them gently on stretchers
+out from the circle of danger and noise and smoke. Eagerly they were
+ministered to, with oil and old linen and stimulants. There were doctors
+from Economy and one from Monopoly besides the Sabbath Valley doctor,
+who was like a brother to the minister and had known Mark since he was
+born. They worked as if their lives depended upon it, till all that
+loving skill could do was done.
+
+Billy, his eyelashes and brows gone, half his hair singed off, one eye
+swollen shut and great blisters on his hands and arms, sat huddled and
+shivering on the ground between the two stretchers. The fire was still
+going on but he was "all in." The only thing left he could do was to bow
+his bruised face on his trembling knees and pray:
+
+_"Oh God_, Ain't You gonta let 'em live--_please!"_
+
+They carried Mark to the Saxon cottage and laid him on Billy's bed.
+There was no lack of nurses. Aunt Saxon and Christie McMertrie, the
+Duncannons and Mary Rafferty, Jim too, and Tom. It seemed that everybody
+claimed the honors. The minister was across the street in the Little
+House. They dared not move him farther. Of the two the case of the
+minister was the most hopeless. He had borne the burden of the fall. He
+had been struck by the falling timbers, his body had been a cover for
+the younger man. In every way the minister had not saved himself.
+
+The days that followed were full of anxiety. There were a few others
+more or less injured in the fire, for there had been fearless work, and
+no one had spared himself. But the two who hung at the point of death
+for so long were laid on the hearts of the people, because they were
+dear to almost every one.
+
+Little neighborhood prayer meetings sprang up quietly here and there,
+beginning at Duncannons. The neighbor on either side would come in and
+they would just drop down and pray for the minister, and for "that other
+dear brave brother." Then the Littles heard of it and called in a few
+friends. One night when both sufferers were at the crisis and there
+seemed little hope for the minister, Christie McMertrie called in the
+Raffertys and they were just on the point of kneeling down when Mrs.
+Harricutt came to the door. She had been crying. She said she and her
+husband hadn't slept a wink the night before, they were so anxious
+for the minister. Christie looked at her severely, but remembering the
+commands about loving and forgiving, relented:
+
+"Wull then, come on ben an' pray. Tom, you go call her husband! This is
+na time fer holdin' grudges. But mind, wumman, if ye coom heer to pray
+ye must pray with as _mooch fervor_ for the healin' o' _Mark Carter_ as
+ye do fer the meenister! He's beloved of the Lord too, an' the meenister
+nigh give his life for him."
+
+And Mrs. Harricutt put up her apron to her eyes and entered the little
+haircloth parlor, while Tom, with a wry face went after the elder. The
+elder proved that underneath all his narrowness and prejudice he had a
+grain of the real truth, for he prayed with fervor that the Lord would
+cleanse their hearts from all prejudice and open their minds to see with
+heavenly vision that they might have power in prayer for the healing of
+the two men.
+
+So, through the whole little village breaches were healed, and a more
+loving feeling prevailed because the bond of anxiety and love held them
+all together and drew them nearer to their God.
+
+At last the day came when Mark, struggling up out of the fiery pit of
+pain, was able to remember.
+
+Pain, fire, flame, choking gases, smoke, remorse, despair! It was all
+vague at first, but out of it came the memory slowly. There had been
+a fire. He had gone back up the ladder after Mrs. Blimm's baby. He
+remembered groping for the child in the smoke filled room, and bringing
+it blindly through the hall and back to the window where the ladder
+was, but that room had all been in flames. He had wished for a wet
+cloth across his face. He could feel again the licking of the fire as
+he passed the doorway. A great weight had been on his chest. His heart
+seemed bursting. His head had reeled, and he had come to the window just
+in time. Some one had taken the child--was it Billy?--or he would have
+fallen. He _did_ fall. The memory pieced itself out bit by bit. He
+remembered thinking that he had entered the City of Fire literally at
+last, "the minarets" already he seemed to descry "gleaming vermilion as
+if they from the fire had issued." It was curious how those old words
+from Dante had clung in his memory. "Eternal fire that inward burns." He
+thought he was feeling now in his body what his soul had experienced for
+long months past. It was the natural ending, the thing he had known he
+was coming to all along, the road of remorse and despair. A fire that
+goes no more out! And this would last forever now! Then, someone, some
+strong arm had lifted him--God's air swept in--and for an instant there
+seemed hope. But only that little breath of respite and there came a
+cry like myriads of lost souls. They were falling, falling, down through
+fire, with fire above, below, around, everywhere. Down, down,--an
+abysmal eternity of fire, till his seared soul writhed from his tortured
+body, and stood aside looking on at himself.
+
+There, there he lay, the Mark Carter that had started with life so fair,
+friends, prospects, so proud that he was a man, that he could conquer
+and be brave--so blest with opening life, and heaven's high call! And
+then--in one day--he had sinned and lost it all, and there he lay, a
+white upturned face. That was himself, lying there with face illumined
+by the fire, and men would call him dead! But he would not be dead! He
+would be living on with that inward fire, gnawing at his vitals, telling
+him continually what he might have been, and showing him what high
+heaven was that he had had, and lost. He saw it now. He had deliberately
+thrown away that heaven that had been his. He saw that hell was hell
+because he made it so, it was not God that put him there, but he had
+chosen there to go. And still the fire burned on and scorched his poor
+soul back into the body to be tortured more. The long weeks upon that
+bed seemed like an infinite space of burning rosy, oily flames poured
+upward from a lake of fire, down through which he had been falling in
+constant and increasing agony.
+
+And now at last he seemed to be flung upon this peaceful shore where
+things were cool and soothing for a brief respite, that he might look
+off at where he had been floating on that molten lake of fire, and
+understand it all before he was flung back. And it was all so very real.
+With his eyes still closed he could hear the rushing of the flames that
+still seemed ascending in columns out a little way from shore, he could
+see through his eyelids the rosy hue of livid waters--of course it was
+all a hallucination, and he was coming to himself, but he had a feeling
+that when he was fully awake it would be even more terrible than now.
+Two grim figures, Remorse and Despair, seemed waiting at either hand
+above his bed to companion him again when he could get more strength
+to recognize them. And so he lay thus between life and death, and faced
+what he had done. Hours and hours he faced it, when they knew not if he
+was conscious yet, going over and over again those sins which he knew
+had been the beginning of all his walk away from Hope. On through the
+night and into the next morning he lay thus, sometimes drowsing, but
+most of the time alert and silent.
+
+It was a bright and sparkling morning. There was a tang of winter in
+the air. The leaves were gone from the apple trees at the window and the
+bare branches tapped against the water spout like children playing with
+a rattle. A dog barked joyously, and a boy on the street shouted out to
+another--_Oh, to be a boy once more!_ And suddenly Mark knew Billy was
+sitting there. He opened his eyes and smiled: There were bandages around
+his face, but he smiled stiffly, and Billy knew he was smiling.
+
+"Kid," he said hoarsely from out the bandages, "This is God's world."
+It seemed to be a great thought that he had been all this time grasping,
+and had to utter.
+
+"Sure!" said Billy in a low happy growl.
+
+A long time after this, it might have been the next day, he wasn't sure,
+or perhaps only a few minutes, he came at another truth:
+
+"Kid, you can't get away from God--even when you try."
+
+"I'll say not," said Billy.
+
+"But--when you've sinned--!" speculatively.
+
+"You gotta get it off yer chest."
+
+"You mean--confess?"
+
+"Sure thing. Miss Lynn tells us in Sunday School about a fella in the
+Bible got downta eatin' with the pigs in a far country, an' when he come
+to himself he thought about his father's servants, an' he said 'I'll get
+up and beat it home an' say I'm sorry!'"
+
+"I know," said Mark, and was still the rest of the day. But the next
+morning he asked the doctor how soon he might get up. This was the first
+real indication that Mark was on the mend, and the doctor smiled with
+satisfaction. He meant to take off some of the bandages that morning.
+
+That afternoon with his head unswathed, Mark began to ask questions.
+Before that he had seemed to take everything for granted:
+
+"Billy, where's the minister?" For Billy have never left his idol's side
+except when Aunt Saxon needed him to help.
+
+"Oh, he's up to tha parsonage," responded Billy carelessly.
+
+"But why hasn't he been to see me, Kid?"
+
+"Why--he--hasn't been feelin' very good." Billy's voice was brisk as if
+it wasn't a matter of much moment.
+
+Mark turned his thoughtful gray eyes steadily on Billy:
+
+"Now, look here, Kid, I'm well, and there's no further need to
+camouflage. Billy, is the minister dead?"
+
+"Not on yer tin type, he ain't dead!"
+
+"Well, is he hurt?"
+
+"Well, _some_," Billy admitted cheerfully.
+
+"Kid, look me in the eye."
+
+Billy raised a saucy eye as well masked as Mark's own could be on
+occasion.
+
+"Kid, how much is he hurt! _Tell me the truth!_ If you don't I'll get
+right up and go and see."
+
+"I'll tell the world, you won't!" said Billy rising lazily and taking a
+gentle menacing step toward the bed.
+
+"Kid!"
+
+"Well--he's some hurt--but he's getting along fine now. He'll be
+aw'wright."
+
+"How'd he get hurt?"
+
+"Oh, the fire, same's you."
+
+"How?" insisted Mark.
+
+"Oh, he went up again after a fella when it was too late--"
+
+"Billy, was it me?"
+
+"Ugh huh!" nodded Billy.
+
+Mark was so still that Billy was frightened. When he looked up worried
+he saw that a great tear had escaped out from under the lashes which
+were growing nicely now, and had rolled down Mark's cheek. _Mark
+crying!_
+
+In consternation Billy knelt beside the bed:
+
+"Aw Gee! Mark, now don't you feel like that. He's gettin' all right now
+they hope, an' Gee! He was _great!_ You oughtta seen him!"
+
+"Tell me about it," said Mark huskily.
+
+"He just ran up that there ladder when it was shaking like a leaf,
+an' the wall beginning to buckle under it, an' he picked you up. Fer a
+minute there the flames kinda blew back, and we seen ya both, and then
+the roof caved, an' you all went down. But when we gotcha out he was
+layin' right atop of ya, 'ith his arms spread out, trying t'cover
+ya! Gee, it was _great!_ Everybody was just as still, like he was
+preachin'!"
+
+After a long time Mark said:
+
+"Billy, did you ever hear the words, 'Greater love hath no man than
+this, that a man lay down his life for his friend?'"
+
+"Yep," said Billy, "That's in the Bible I think, if 'taint in
+Shakespeare. Miss Lynn said it over last Sunday. She says a lot of
+things from Shakespeare sometimes, and I kinda get'em mixed."
+
+But Mark did not talk any more that day. He had a great deal to think
+about.
+
+But so did Billy, for looking out the window in the direction of the
+parsonage he had sighted the big Shafton car stopping before the door
+that morning. "Aw Gee!" he said. "That sissy-guy again? Now, how'm I
+gonta get rid of him this time? Gee! Just when Mark's gettin' well too!
+If life ain't just _one thing after another!"_
+
+
+
+
+XXX
+
+
+It was a bright frosty morning in the edge of winter when at last they
+let Mark go to see the minister, and Billy took care that no hint of the
+Shafton car should reach his knowledge. Slowly, gravely he escorted Mark
+down the street and up the parsonage steps.
+
+The minister was lying on a couch in the living room and there was a
+low chair drawn up near by with a book open at the place, and a bit of
+fluffy sewing on the low table beside it. Mark looked hungrily about
+for the owner of the gold thimble, but there was no sign of either Mrs.
+Severn or Marilyn about.
+
+There was a bandage over the minister's eyes. They hadn't told Mark
+about that yet.
+
+The minister held out a groping hand with his old sweet smile and hearty
+welcoming voice:
+
+"Well, son, you've come at last! Beat me to it, didn't you? I'm glad.
+That was fair. Young blood you know."
+
+Mark knelt down by the couch with his old friend's hand held fast: Billy
+had faded into the landscape out on the front steps somewhere, and was
+even now settling down for an extended wait. If this interview went well
+he might hope to get a little rest and catch up on sports sometime soon.
+It all depended on this.
+
+Mark put up his other hand and touched the bandage:
+
+"Father!" he said, "Father!" and broke down "Father, I have sinned--" he
+said brokenly.
+
+The minister's arm went lovingly up across the young man's shoulders:
+
+"Son, have you told your heavenly Father that?" he asked gently.
+
+"I've tried," said Mark, "I'm not sure that He heard."
+
+"Oh, He _heard_," said the minister with a ring of joy in his voice,
+"While you were a great way off He came to meet you, son."
+
+"You don't know yet," said Mark lifting a white sad face--
+
+"If you've told Him I'll trust you son. It's up to you whether you tell
+me or not."
+
+"It is your right to know, sir. I want you to know. I cannot rest again
+until you do."
+
+"Then tell." The minister's hand folded down tenderly over the boy's,
+and so kneeling beside the couch Mark told his story:
+
+"I must begin by telling you that I have always loved Marilyn."
+
+"I know," said the minister, with a pressure on the hand he covered.
+
+"One day I heard someone telling Mrs. Severn that I was not good enough
+for her."
+
+"I know," said the minister again.
+
+"You know?" said Mark in surprise.
+
+"Yes, go on."
+
+"I went away and thought it over. I felt as if I would die. I was mad
+and hurt clear through, but after I thought it over I saw that all she
+had said was true. I wasn't good enough. There was a great deal of pride
+mixed with it all of course, I've seen that since, but I wasn't good
+enough. Nobody was. Lynn is,--_wonderful--!_ But I was just a common,
+insignificant nobody, not fit to be her mate. I knew it! I could see
+just how things were going too. I saw you didn't realize it, you nor
+Mrs. Severn. I knew Marilyn cared, but I thought she didn't realize it
+either, and I saw it was up to me. If she wasn't to have to suffer by
+being parted from me when she grew older, I must teach her not to care
+before she knew she cared. For days I turned it over in my mind. Many
+nights I lay awake all night or walked out on the hills, threshing it
+all over again. And I saw another thing. I saw that if it was so hard
+for me then when I was not much more than a kid it would be harder for
+her if I let her grow up caring, and then we had to be parted, so I
+decided to make the break. The day I made the decision I went off in the
+hills and stayed all day thinking it out. And then I looked up in the
+sky and told God I was done with Him. I had prayed and prayed that He
+would make a way out of this trouble for me, and He hadn't done anything
+about it, and I felt that He was against me too. So when I had done
+that I felt utterly reckless. I didn't care what happened to me, and I
+decided to go to the bad as fast as I could. I felt it would be the best
+way too to make Marilyn get over being fond of me. So I went down to
+Monopoly that night and looked up a fellow that had been coaching the
+teams for a while and was put out by the association because he was
+rotten. He had always made a fuss over me, wanted to make a big player
+out of me, and I knew he would be glad to see me.
+
+"He was. He took me out to supper that night and gave me liquor to
+drink. You know I had never touched a drop. Never had intended to as
+long as I lived. But when he offered it to me I took it down as if I had
+been used to it. I didn't care. I wanted to do all the wrong I could.
+
+"I drank again and again, and I must have got pretty drunk. I remember
+the crowd laughed at me a great deal. And they brought some girls
+around. It makes me sick to think of it now. We went to a place and
+danced. I didn't know how, but I danced anyway. And there was more
+drinking. I don't remember things very distinctly. I did whatever the
+coach said, and he had been going a pretty good pace himself.--That
+night--!" His voice choked with shame and it seemed as though he could
+not go on--but the minister's clasp was steady and the boy gathered
+courage and went on--"That night--we--went--to a house of shame--!"
+
+He dropped his head and groaned. The minister did not attempt to break
+the pause that followed. He knew the struggle that was going on in
+the bitterness of the young man's soul. He maintained that steady hand
+clasp:
+
+"In the morning--when I came to myself--" he went on "I knew what I had
+done. I had cut myself off forever from all that made life worth while.
+I would never be worthy again to even speak to you all whom I loved so
+much. I would never be able to look myself in the face again even. I was
+ashamed. I had given up God and love, and everything worth while.
+
+"That was when I went away to New York. Mother tried to stop me, but I
+would go. I tried when I got to New York to plunge into a wild life,
+but it didn't attract me. I had to force myself. Besides, I had resolved
+that whatever came, wherever I went I would not drink and I would _keep
+clean_. I thought that by so doing I might in time at least win back my
+self respect. Later I conceived the idea of trying to save others from
+a life of shame. I did succeed in helping some to better ways I think,
+both men and girls. But I only won a worse reputation at home for it,
+and I'm not sure I did much good. I only know I walked in hell from
+morning to night, and in time I came to dwell among lost souls. It
+seemed the only place that I belonged.
+
+"You remember when you read us Dante 'Thou who through the City of Fire
+alive art passing'? You used to preach in church about beginning the
+eternal life now, and making a little heaven below, I'm sure that is
+as true of hell. I began my eternal life five years ago, but it was in
+hell, and I shall go on living in that fire of torture forever, apart
+from all I love. I tried to get out by doing good to others, but it was
+of no avail. I thought never to tell you this, but something made me,
+after you--you gave your life for me--!"
+
+"And had you forgotten," said the minister tenderly, "That the blood of
+Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin? And that he said, 'Come
+now and let us reason together, Though your sins be as scarlet they
+shall be as white as snow?'"
+
+"I gave up all right to that when I gave up God on the mountain."
+
+"But God did not give up you," said the minister. "Do you think a true
+father would cast out a child because it got angry and shook its fist in
+his face? You will find Him again when you search for Him with all your
+heart. You have told Him you were sorry, and He has promised to forgive.
+You can't save yourself, but He can save you. Now, son, go and tell
+Marilyn everything."
+
+"Do you mean it,--_Father?"_
+
+"I mean it--_Son_. The doctor is coming by and by to take off these
+bandages, and I want the first thing that my eyes rest upon after my
+dear wife's face, to be the faces of you two. My beloved children."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Sabbath Valley lay tucked warm and white beneath a blanket of snow.
+All the week it had been coming down, down, in great white flakes of
+especially sorted sizes, filling the air mightily with winter clean and
+deep. Here in the fastnesses of the hills it seemed that the treasure
+troves of the sky had been opened to make all beautiful and quiet while
+winter passed that way. Lone Valley was almost obliterated, pierced with
+sharp pine trees in bunches here and there, like a flock of pins in
+a pincushion, and the hills rose gently on either side like a vast
+amphitheatre done in white and peopled thick with trees in heavy white
+furs.
+
+The Highway was almost impassable for a day or two, but the state snow
+plow passed over as soon as the snow stopped falling, and left a white
+pavement with white walls either side. The tunnel through the mountains
+was only a black dot in the vast whiteness, and Pleasant View Station
+wore a heavy cap of snow dripping down in lavish fringes edged with
+icicles. The agent's little shanty up the mountain was buried out of
+sight behind a snow drift and had to be dug out from the back, and no
+Lake Train ran any more. The express was five hours late. Stark Mountain
+loomed white against the sky. And over in Sabbath Valley the night it
+stopped snowing all the villagers were out shovelling their walks and
+calling glad nothings back and forth as they flung the white star dust
+from their shovels, and little children came out with rubber boots and
+warm leggings and wallowed in the beauty. The milkman got out an old
+sleigh and strung a line of bells around his horse. The boys and girls
+hurried up the mountain to their slide with home made sleds and laughing
+voices, and the moon came up looking sweetly from a sudden clearing sky.
+
+Over in the church the windows shone with light, and the bells were
+ringing out the old sweet songs the villagers loved. Marilyn was at the
+organ and Mark by her side. In the body of the church willing hands were
+working, setting up the tall hemlocks that Tom and Jim had brought in
+from the mountain, till the little church was fragrant and literally
+lined with lacey beauty, reminding one of ancient worship in the woods.
+Holly wreaths were hanging in the windows everywhere, and ropes of
+ground pine and laurel festooned from every pillar and corner and peak
+of roof.
+
+Laurie Shafton had sent a great coffer of wonderful roses, and the
+country girls were handling them with awe, banking them round the
+pulpit, and trailing them over the rail of the little choir loft,
+wonderful roses from another world, the world that Marilyn Severn
+might have married into if she had chosen. And there sat Marilyn as
+indifferent as if they were dandelions, praising the _trees_ that had
+been set up, delighting in their slender tops that rose like miniature
+spires all round the wall, drawing in the sweetness of their winter
+spicy breath, and never saying a word about the roses. "Roses? Oh, yes,
+they look all right, Girls, just put them wherever you fancy. I'll be
+suited. But aren't those trees too beautiful for words?"
+
+When the work was done they trooped out noisily into the moonlight,
+bright like day only with a beauty that was almost unearthly in its
+radiance. The others went on down the street calling gay words back and
+forth, but Mark and Marilyn lingered, bearing a wreath of laurel, and
+stepping deep into the whiteness went over to the white piled mound
+where they had laid Mrs. Carter's body to rest and Mark stooped down and
+pressed the wreath down into the snow upon the top:
+
+"Dear little mother," he said brokenly, "She loved pretty things and I
+meant to give her so many of them sometime to make up--"
+
+"But she'll be glad--" said Marilyn softly, "We loved each other very
+much--!"
+
+"Yes, she'll be glad!" he answered. "She often tried to find out why I
+never went to the parsonage any more. Poor little mother! That was her
+deepest disappointment--! Yes, she'll be glad--!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When morning came it seemed as though the very glory of God was spread
+forth on Sabbath Valley for display. There it lay, a shining gem of a
+little white town, in the white velvet cup of the Valley, dazzling and
+resplendent, the hills rising round about reflecting more brightness and
+etched with fringes of fine branches each burdened with a line of heavy
+furry white. Against the clear blue sky the bell tower rose, and from
+its arches the bells rang forth a wedding song. Marilyn in her white
+robes, with a long white veil of rare old lace handed down through the
+generations, falling down the back and fastened about her forehead, and
+with a slim little rope of pearls, also an heirloom, was ringing her
+own wedding bells, with Mark by her side, while the villagers gathered
+outside the door waiting for the wedding march to begin before they came
+in.
+
+The minister and his wife stood back in his little study behind the
+pulpit, watching their two with loving eyes, and down by the front door
+stood Billy in a new suit with his hair very wet and licked back from an
+almost crimson countenance, waiting the word to fling open the door and
+let the congregation in.
+
+"_Tum_, diddy_dum_--Diddy_dum_--diddy_dum_--Diddy_dum_--diddy_dum_--
+Diddydum--_dum_--_dum_--Dum--Dum--Dum!" began the organ and Billy flung
+the portals wide and stood aside on the steps to let the throng pass in,
+his eyes shining as if they would say, "Aw Gee! Ain't this great?"
+
+And just at that moment, wallowing through the snow, with the air of
+having come from the North Pole there arrived a great car and drew up
+to the door, and Laurie Shafton jumped anxiously out and flung open the
+door for his passengers.
+
+"Aw Gee! That Fish! Whadde wantta come here for? The great _chump_!
+Don't he know he ain't _in it?_"
+
+Billy watched in lofty scorn from his high step and decided to hurry in
+and not have to show any honors to that sissy-guy.
+
+Then out from the car issued Opal, done in furs from brow to shoe and
+looking eagerly about her, and following her a big handsome sporty man
+almost twice her age, looking curiously interested, as if he had come to
+a shrine to worship, Opal's husband. Billy stared, and then remembering
+that the wedding march was almost over and that he might be missing
+something:
+
+"Aw, Gee! Whadduw I care? He ain't little apples now, anyhow. He
+couldn'ta bought her with _barrels_ of roses, an' he knows it too,
+the poor stiff. He must be a pretty good scout after all, takin' his
+medicine straight!"
+
+Then Billy slid in and the quiet little ceremony began.
+
+The organ hushed into nothing. Marilyn arose, took Mark's arm, and
+together they stepped down and stood in front of the minister, who had
+come down the steps of the pulpit and was awaiting them, with Marilyn's
+mother sitting only a step away on the front seat.
+
+It was all so quiet and homey, without fuss or marching or any such
+thing, and when the ceremony was over the bride and groom turned about
+in front of the bank of hemlock and roses and their friends swarmed up
+to congratulate them. Then everybody went into the parsonage, where the
+ladies of the church had prepared a real country wedding breakfast with
+Christmas turkey and fixings for a foundation and going on from that.
+It wasn't every day in the year that Sabbath Valley got its minister's
+daughter married, and what if the parsonage _was_ small and only fifty
+could sit down at once, everybody was patient, and it was all the more
+fun!
+
+The three guests from out of town, self imposed, looked on with wonder
+and interest. It was a revelation. Marilyn looked up and found big Ed
+Verrons frankly staring at her, a puzzled pleased expression on his
+large coarse face. She was half annoyed and wondered why they had come
+to spoil this perfect day. Then suddenly the big man stepped across the
+little living room and spoke:
+
+"Mrs. Carter, we came over to-day because Opal said you had something
+that would help us begin over again and make life more of a success. I
+want to thank you for having this chance to see a little bit of heaven
+on earth before I die."
+
+
+
+Later, when the city guests were fed and comforted perhaps, and had
+climbed back into the big car, Billy stood on the front porch with a
+third helping of ice cream and watched them back, and turn, and wallow
+away into the deep white world, and his heart was touched with pity:
+
+"Aw, Gee! The poor fish! I'spose it is hard lines! And then it was sorta
+my faultchu know," and he turned with a joyful sigh that they were gone,
+and went in to look again at Mary Louise Little, and see what it was
+about her in that new blue challis that made her look so sorta nice
+to-day.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The City of Fire, by Grace Livingston Hill
+
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