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diff --git a/78752-0.txt b/78752-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..102ad75 --- /dev/null +++ b/78752-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6528 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78752 *** + + + + + + +THE FINDING + +OF + +_JASPER HOLT_ + + +By + +Grace Livingston Hill + + + +_GROSSET & DUNLAP * PUBLISHERS_ + +_NEW YORK_ + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY MCBRIDE, NAST & CO. + COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY + + + PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. + + + + +THE FINDING OF JASPER HOLT + + + +CHAPTER I + +Slowly the train rumbled out of the station, gathering speed with +every moment, and leaving behind the friendly faces on the platform. + +The girl who had just entered the car looked about her in dismay at +the rough looking crowd by whom she was surrounded. It was the last +long stretch of her journey now, out on the plains and across the +desert, and the porter of the sleeper had refused to let her enter +the Pullman coach without a Pullman ticket. Of course it would be +all right when the conductor came, but--suppose her brother-in-law +had forgotten to telegraph for the reservation and she should have to +spend the night in this car? + +She slipped into the only vacant seat and sat anxiously awaiting the +coming of the conductor, who was not anywhere in sight. + +For the most part the people about her were rough, stolid looking +men, with hard brown faces. Here and there a woman was huddled +wearily into a corner of the seat trying to sleep. They were +commonplace folk, nearly all of them, and their very ordinariness +brought her some measure of assurance, yet she shuddered at the +thought of spending her night huddled into a seat, like the other +women, with all those men about, free to gaze on her as she slept. + +She glanced across the aisle where the seat was turned over and two +men faced each other, an old man and a young one. The old man sat +just across from her, his coarse stubbly face turned boldly toward +her. He had crafty little eyes that intruded with their merest +glance, windows out of which Coarseness, Hate, Cruelty and Fear alike +might look; a sensual loose-hung mouth, and a whole repulsive +atmosphere of cunning that made his face seem utterly evil. +Insensibly she shrank farther away and looked hurriedly about to see +if perchance there might not after all be another vacant seat where +she could be entirely out of his range. Then her eyes suddenly met +the eyes of his companion who faced her, the young man in the +turned-over seat, and she wondered how she could have failed to +notice him at once. There was something about his face--perhaps it +was the splendid gray eyes that were looking at her so keenly and +respectfully, or was it the firm chin and almost stern set of the +beautiful lines of lip and brow--that gave her confidence in him at +once. For there was a strength and beauty in his face such as one +seldom sees blended in a man, which marked him at once as being +different from others. There was nothing weak nor womanish about +him, in spite of the perfect modelling of his features and the clear +coloring of his skin. The fine golden-brown hair that rippled back +from his forehead like a halo gave the impression of curling out of +perverseness rather than from the owner's wish. + +He was tall and lean and wiry, yet giving the idea of great strength +and fine training. If it had not been for an abnormal gravity and +the sternness about his mouth she would have judged him to be a mere +boy, yet there was an air of maturity about him that puzzled her. +But his gray eyes met hers kindly, understandingly, as if he knew +exactly what she was thinking--all her anxiety--and would let her +know that she was safe, that he would see that she was safe! It was +with an almost startled feeling that she met his eyes a second time +as if to be sure she had not been mistaken, and then settled back +into her seat, somehow comforted, assured; as if he had spoken to her +and told her not to fear. It was really as if something had looked +out of their two souls and acknowledged a sort of mute introduction. +And yet he had not been obtrusive, and almost immediately his eyes +had been withdrawn from her face as if he would not intrude. He was +looking now at the dreadful old man, rebuking him for his interest in +her it would seem, rebuking most effectually yet without a word, for +the old man wriggled around uneasily in his seat and turned his eyes +away to look out of the window, the hate in his face getting the +uppermost as he cast a furtive, fearsome glance at the younger man +and then turned back to the window. + +They were a curious pair; the younger man had the air of being the +keeper of the older one. The girl wondered how they came to be +travelling together, they seemed so absolutely alien to each other. +It was obvious that the young man had some power over the other, and +this fact gave the girl comfort. + +To these two men the entrance of the lovely girl into the monotony of +the journey was a refreshment. Even the old man, Scathlin, whose low +type of life received only fleshly impressions, and who had grown up +from his tainted babyhood without honor for any woman, felt the +fineness of her nature, the rareness of her modest beauty as she came +near. + +To Jasper Holt she was the sudden startling revelation of some pure +dream of his childhood, the reality of which he had come to doubt. +His knowledge of the world told him that probably she was frail and +human and selfish like all the rest if one came to know her, but for +the sake of what she seemed to be he was glad of the vision, and +would protect her at all costs because she was a woman and ought to +have been perfect. That was his attitude toward the world of women +at that time. + +Nevertheless as he looked again at the pure profile turned now toward +her window, and studied the sweet outline of the firm little chin, +pleasant lips, the gentle contour of cheek and lash and brow, the +luminous eyes that were glowing for the moment at the stain of sunset +beginning to trickle through the gloomy gray of the sky, he could not +but feel that here was something different. It was something for +which he had been hoping all his life--searching for, but never +finding. Something it was good just to know existed; something whose +existence would make even a stranger better and braver and purer. + +She was slight, small, exquisitely fashioned; dressed in some simple, +clinging, dark blue material of form so suitable as to make one fail +to notice just what it was. Sheer white rolled-back collar and cuffs +set out the white throat and the small gloved hands; the close, dark +blue hat with its graceful tilt and simple garnishing seemed just the +loveliest setting for the beautiful face framed in its soft dark +hair. Her face was wonderfully pure, free from self-consciousness +and pride; yet she looked as if she knew her own mind and could stand +like a rock for a principle. There was also a determined little +uplift to her chin that showed a spirit of her own, and a fleeting +dimple that promised a merry appreciation of humor if one knew her +well enough; but the whole dainty person was good to look upon and +Holt kept the vision within his consciousness while he covered +Scathlin with his gaze. + +He loathed his task of watching Scathlin, and somehow the sight of +the pure-faced girl had made it even more distasteful. For almost +two weeks now he had been at it, day and night. He had not let +Scathlin out of his sight for one moment since he had found him in +Pittsburgh two days after the theft of his wallet containing valuable +papers, land grants, water rights and other documents relating to his +silver mines and other property. + +Holt had suspected the old man at once when the wallet was missing, +partly because Scathlin had been seen twice in conversation with the +man Harrington who was Holt's sworn enemy and who was doing all he +could to ruin his prospects and dispute his rights to the water power +which made the working of his mines possible; and partly because +Scathlin had been dismissed summarily from Holt's employ but a few +days previous to the disappearance of the property. + +He had trailed Scathlin to Pittsburgh where he found him mounted on a +high stool in the station restaurant eating a comfortable breakfast. +The old rascal turned white under his tan and stubble, and dropped +his knife and fork loudly on the marble of the counter at the +appearance of his former employer; but the cunning in his face had +come at once to the front, and he welcomed Holt as if it were the +pleasantest thing in the world to have him appear just at that lonely +moment and eat breakfast with him. + +It was Holt's way not to settle the matter right then and there by +turning the old man over to the police on suspicion, but to attach +himself to Scathlin and find out exactly where those papers were, and +who were the man's employers in the theft. He was wary enough to +know that Scathlin might have already got rid of the wallet, and he +wished if possible to find out what he had done with the papers and +get Scathlin into his power until he could make him produce them or +tell their whereabouts. + +Harrington was superintendent of large mine interests in Hawk Valley, +located near Holt's veins of silver, and owned by an Eastern +syndicate. Holt knew that capital and cunning might do a great deal +to cripple his interests if they once got him in their power. +Therefore he had shadowed Scathlin day and night all these days. On +pretence of wanting company for a pleasure trip he had gone wherever +Scathlin professed to be going, giving him no opportunity to even +telegraph to any of the other conspirators for money or instructions; +eating with him, sleeping with him,--at least pretending to +sleep--sticking to him every minute and watching him every waking +second. + +It had not been a pleasant task. Scathlin was a foul-mouthed, +foul-souled companion for any man to tie to, and his personal habits +were anything but attractive. Time and again Holt had almost turned +from his task with disgust, resolved to let his rights and all go +rather than be tied to the creature another hour. Yet he had stuck +to him; and now, after these many days of cunning and craftiness, of +trickeries too numerous to mention, of attempted escape on Scathlin's +part; after taking side trips to funerals of Scathlin's relatives who +never had existed, except in imagination; visits to business men who +were supposed to be hounding Scathlin to his death and yet who were +never found,--after all this they were on their way back to Hawk +Valley! Scathlin had come to the end of his money and his wits, and +had been compelled to accept the escort and financial aid of Holt +back to the place from which he had started, because he did not dare +to do anything else. This he did both on his own account and for the +sake of his employers, who would not hesitate to leave him in the +lurch to save themselves, and who had warned him above all things not +to let Holt suspect his mission with those papers to the Eastern +syndicate. Besides, there was always the hope that he might yet +escape and make his way back in time to present those papers to the +man whom Harrington had said would pay him a big reward for bringing +them. Harrington and his men could not have done it without +suspicion, but the plan was that Scathlin should profess to have +found something valuable to the syndicate and be willing to sell it +at a good price. + +It was no wonder that Scathlin's eyes had a hunted look, and his bad +old face under its stubbly growth was almost pitifully desperate as +he looked at the fresh face of the sweet young girl, and for the +moment forgot his misery, gloating over her beauty, while Holt seemed +to be engaged with the sunset view. But Holt caught the gleam in his +victim's eye and his heart burned hotly within him. He could have +crushed the creature then and there for the insolence of his gaze. +He could have crushed him like vermin and felt no sin. All the man +in him roused to resent the evil look. + +"Scathlin!" His tone was cutting with command and the old man turned +cringing and met the steely glance of his captor, then impatient and +trembling with anger began to look again out of the window; again the +crimson wrath surged up his leathery neck and suffused his coarse +features. + +The girl, half aware of what had been going on, turned and took it +all in, a frightened color flickering up into her cheeks. Her eyes, +growing large with vague horror, met Holt's steely gaze, saw it +change and soften reassuringly, as if he were holding at bay a +loathsome blood-hound and wished her to understand she need not fear. +The girl, with one fleeting look of gratitude toward the young man, +turned back again to her window as if nothing had happened. In fact +no onlooker would have suspected that anything at all had happened, +and yet really a little drama had been enacted and all the actors +understood it as thoroughly as if it had been spoken. But one word +only had been audible, and the girl wasn't sure she had heard that +aright. + +The dusk dropped down and the train sped on over the plains. + +And now the sunset stains grew deeper and blended into gold and +crimson and lifted the gray into clear opal spaces of luminous +beauty, spreading the panoply of color far along the horizon of the +plain. It was a thing to make one look in awe, to hush evil thoughts +and bring a holiness to hearts. Something of its calm and strength +crept into the girl's expression as she watched it, and once she half +turned to see if Holt was watching too. But Holt was sitting facing +the other way and could see only the fading trails of glory in the +sky as it sped away from his gaze, though he had caught the +reflection of wonder from her face, and averted his own eyes as if +from too holy a sight. Those who knew Holt, or thought they knew +him, would have laughed loud and long at such an idea of him, but it +was true. The girl felt it as she turned safely back to her sunset. + +Scathlin was not enjoying the view. He was looking furtively on +every side to see if there could be by any chance a good place where +he might risk throwing out that cursed wallet and hope ever to find +it again. If only there would be a station--or he could risk +dropping it out of the window near some water tank or something. But +the plain slid by, a level monotony, broken only by the rose and +emerald and gold of the setting sun. Scathlin grew more and more +desperate. It was growing dark, and he dared not throw the wallet +where he could not find it again, or where someone else might find +it--and yet! They were nearing Hawk Valley. The morning would bring +them within the ranging of Holt's men--that band of trained and +devoted outlaws who were as relentless in their justice as they were +careless of their lives. No mercy was to be expected from their +hands if once he fell among them. He shivered as a tall shaft of a +bare tree, dead and stark, stood in the distance against the clear +gold of the sunset line. It was on such a tree he had seen a cattle +thief hang, ghastly against the sky, as he rode by once just at +nightfall. It might easily be his fate before another sunset. If he +could not get away in the night all chance of escape before they +reached Hawk Valley was gone, for well he knew Jasper Holt's men were +set at intervals along the way, sentinels ready to head him off. And +what treatment could he expect from either Jasper Holt or his men +with that incriminating wallet in his pocket? He had been a fool to +take up with Harrington's offer. Money or no money, it wasn't worth +the risk. He was getting to be an old man and not so ready to face +death as when his blood was hot and his hand steady. He had not even +any weapons of defence, thanks to his grim captor who had disarmed +him while he slept, the first night of their journey together. There +had never been any open recognition of the fact between them, save +that one glance as Scathlin put his hand to the pocket where it had +been and was not. He had charged with his eyes in one look of +helpless fury, and Holt's clear gray eyes had met his unflinchingly +in acknowledgment. That had been all, but Scathlin knew then that +there was nothing for him but to evade Holt and get away if possible. +He would stand no chance in an open conflict, and his captor was +untiringly vigilant. He glanced again at the stern face opposite +him, wondering what would be the fate to which he was surely, swiftly +hastening. States prison? Or would they take the law into their own +hands? He knew what that might mean only too well, and again the +desperate look passed over his face with Hate and Murder looking +dimly from his eyes. How he would like to spring at that slim brown +throat opposite him and throttle the life from the young fellow. +Only a kid,--a mere kid,--and yet he had withstood many, and had +power to crush Scathlin in spite of all his boasted cunning. The +look of a serpent crept into the little gleaming eyes of the old man +as he noticed the quick glance his companion cast at the girl across +the aisle; and his own eyes followed filled with hate. Yes, he would +like to drive his fat, hairy fingers into the white throat of the +girl before the eyes of her gallant defender if only he had Holt +helpless! But instead, here was he, helpless himself! And he must +find a way to escape before morning, or else get rid of that wallet +in some safe way. Surely, surely Holt would be off his guard +sometimes for a little space. He had scarcely slept a wink for four +days; how could he endure it much longer? + +But Scathlin's cogitations were cut short by the entrance of the +conductor at last and he turned to watch the girl as she spoke to him. + +"I was to have had a section reserved for me," she was saying to the +conductor. "My brother-in-law, Mr. James Harrington of Hawk Valley, +arranged for it, and telegraphed me that it was all right. See, I +have the telegram. But the porter said I must come in here until I +saw you because I had no ticket for the Pullman." + +She held out the yellow envelope and the conductor looked at it. + +"Your brother's name is Harrington? You are going to Hawk Valley?" + +He looked at her sharply. "Well, just wait a few minutes till I go +through the next car and then I'll see to it. It ought to be all +right." + +He bustled on his way attending to his passengers and the girl sat +back again to wait. + +At the name "Harrington" Scathlin had turned with a start and looked +toward the girl; but even in the act he caught the narrow gleam of +Holt's half-closed eyes, and, remembering, turned back again to his +window while his thoughts went pounding into new channels. He had +made a mistake, of course, to let Holt see that he had heard, so he +kept his eyes toward the window until it grew quite dark. But he had +a plan at last. In another minute he got upon his feet, yawning, and +declared his intention of getting a drink of water from the cooler at +the other end of the car. + +"Good idea!" said Holt, rising and following his captive down the +aisle lazily. + +Scathlin reached the cooler first and took his drink, while Holt +stood waiting for the cup and let Scathlin go back to his seat alone, +apparently not noticing him. Scathlin settled back in his seat with +one eye on Holt, and one eye on the girl. + +Holt stood drinking in a leisurely way, apparently interested in +looking through the glass of the door into the next car though he was +fully aware that Scathlin was fumbling in the inner pocket of his +flannel shirt. He lingered, hoping that the old man would do +something which would make him more certain of what he already +believed to be true, and saw Scathlin finally, after repeated +fumbling under the shirt, draw forth a small dark object that, in the +one swift glimpse Holt had of it, looked like his own leather wallet +in search of which he had come this long hard journey. Anxious to +see what Scathlin's next move was to be, he remained quietly standing +and still apparently looking through the car door, though not a move +of Scathlin's was lost upon him. To his amazement he suddenly saw +Scathlin bend forward and pick up something from the car floor, then +lean toward the girl in the opposite seat and put the object in her +lap, at the same time speaking to her. Had the man picked up +something the girl had dropped or was he----? Preposterous! The +fellow wouldn't dare, with a strange girl. She was smiling and +looking down at the thing in her lap and seemed to be thanking him. +She had probably dropped her handkerchief or pocketbook and Scathlin +had picked it up. Holt sauntered leisurely back to his seat and +found Scathlin fumbling with his shoe lace. He studied him narrowly +and fancied that he detected a look of cunning satisfaction on the +stubbly old face, yet was puzzled to know what caused it. Had the +scoundrel dared to give those papers to the girl when he stood in +full view? It seemed incredible,--and yet? If he had, Holt's hands +were pretty well tied and he had two to watch instead of one. He +didn't like the idea of shadowing this beautiful young woman. + +Just then the conductor returned and spoke to the girl. + +"Well, your berth's reserved for you all right, but it was in the +name of Harrington. It's section seven in the next car. This your +baggage? Come this way and I'll show you." + +The girl followed the conductor, with a half hesitating glance toward +Scathlin who was engaged with his shoe. Holt noticed she held her +hand bag clasped tightly as if she were afraid it might be taken from +her. When she was gone the night settled down unpleasantly about +them and Scathlin, apparently worn out, snored as he had not dared to +do for a week. But Holt sat up and studied his problem. He could +not afford to take any chances on sleep that night; moreover his +heart was in a tumult. This girl was coming to Hawk Valley, to visit +the Harringtons. She was a sister of Mrs. Harrington, the handsomest +woman, the best dressed woman, the most influential woman in all that +Valley. Would he ever see the girl? Sometimes, from afar +perhaps--and a bitter look swept over his face. + +Scathlin slept on, with his coarse lower jaw down dropped, and all +his unpleasant features relaxed. He was no charming picture to look +upon. Holt noticed that there was no longer that furtive grasp of +one hand upon his breast which had been since their journey together +had begun. Scathlin's horny hands, with their grasping look of +cunning, were lying idly by his side, and Scathlin himself was +enjoying a well-earned rest, his heavily shod feet sprawled out under +Holt's seat. + +The night droned on; the train sped on its way through the darkness, +and still Holt sat wide awake and thinking. + +"I can't quite dope things out," he said to himself as he settled +back in a new position. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Meanwhile Jean Grayson had followed her bustling conductor into the +sleeper with a sense of deep relief. She had been frankly frightened +since the rough old tramp-looking creature across the aisle had +landed a worn-looking wallet surreptitiously in her lap and asked if +he hadn't heard her say she was going to Mr. Harrington at Hawk +Valley, and would she be so good as to give that case of important +papers to him and not let anyone else know she had it? + +She had accepted the trust because she did not know what else to do; +and after all, it seemed a simple enough request. The man had +explained that he had to go off in another direction at the next stop +and could not deliver the goods himself and it was most important +that it get to her brother at once. There did not seem to be any +good reason why she should refuse, and yet it had frightened her, and +she wished with all her heart that she had gone with the conductor to +see about the sleeper and not stayed here to have this dirty old +leather case put into her keeping by that dirty old man. She did not +know what to do with it. She hated to put it in her dear little new +handbag, and she restrained her well cut nose from a shrinking sniff +as she hastily put it out of sight. + +She had sat looking out of the darkened window with her heart in a +tumult as the tall young man with the fine eyes and the air of +reckless assurance came back to his seat. What had he to do with the +old fellow? Could he be his son? No, never! But did he know about +the important papers? Could he have put the old man up to giving +them to her, so that, under some pretence or other, he himself might +speak to her? She did not dare to look his way lest he should +presume upon the old man's speaking. This, her first Western trip, +was a fearsome thing to her, although she revelled in the joy of it. + +Yet, when she arose to follow the conductor and gave one swift +comprehensive glance toward the opposite seat, she saw a respectful +pair of gray eyes looking interestedly at her, with nothing +presumptuous in them, and she instantly felt that there was no need +to fear that young man. He might be dressed like a cow-boy, but he +had eyes like a gentleman. + +Miss Grayson was tired, for she had come a long journey, stopping a +day on the way with relatives who had taken her sight-seeing and kept +her going every minute, so that she was glad to creep into her berth +as soon as the porter had made it up. + +She shrank in dislike from the leather case in her handbag, and after +some hesitation took it out and wrapped it in a leaf from a magazine +she had brought with her. She could not bear to have the thing in +with all her nice fresh handkerchiefs and dainty little articles. It +seemed contaminating. She had a half impulse to throw it away or +lose it; and then her conscience reproached her loudly for so +dishonorable a thought. The papers might be valuable, of course, and +in that case her brother would have just cause to blame her if she +did not bring them. At the same time she hated the thought of +carrying around anything that had been in the possession of that +repulsive-looking man. + +As she settled herself to sleep and drew around her the folds of the +soft silk Pullman robe that had been her mother's parting surprise, +loving thoughts of those she had left behind her filled her mind. +All the little tender words, looks and acts of loving sacrifice that +she might be well fitted out for this journey, came flocking to be +recognized, until unbidden tears filled her eyes. This silken robe +was an extravagance, she knew, and would be paid for by many a denial +on the part of father and mother, but it represented their great love +for her. A thought of what they would have felt about her being +accosted by that rough man and asked to carry that package for him +came to trouble her, yet what other possible thing was there for her +to do but to accept it? It certainly could not be dynamite or an +infernal machine. Her mother would have thought of something of that +nature the first thing,--or infection, perhaps smallpox or something +equally horrible. That was possible, of course. But still, the man +looked healthy enough. + +Her father? Yes, her father would undoubtedly have approved of her +taking the package. Her father was one who never thought of himself +when anything in the shape of duty demanded attention, and he had +brought her up with the same feeling. Anyway, now that she had taken +it and agreed to deliver it, there seemed nothing more to be done but +to keep her word, and it was a simple enough affair, of course, and +after all, quite reasonable. Why should it bother her so? + +Nevertheless, it mingled with her dreaming thoughts as she drifted +off to sleep, and a kind of assurance with regard to it came as she +remembered the steady, clear eyes of the younger man. + +Softly in her silken wrapping she lay and slept while the monotonous +hum of the rushing train only lulled her to deeper slumber. + +Suddenly, in the midst of the commonplace sounds of the journey there +came a grinding, grating shriek as of strong metal hard pressed and +unable to withstand. A crash, a jolt, then terrible confusion. The +very foundations of the earth seemed upshaken, the cars climbing +through the awful air, then pitching, writhing, tossing, and at last +settling uncertainly in strange positions, while the night was filled +with horrid sounds too varying to analyze. Cries of women and +children! Groans of men in mortal agony; breaking glass and +splintering timbers; rending of metal in reluctant, discordant clang! +And below, rising menacingly to threaten all, came the lurid glare of +flame, the wild, exultant crackle of fire that knows its opportunity +and power; the desperate hysterical clamor of those who have +discovered it, and the mad, brave shouts of those who would attempt +to conquer it. + +Jean Grayson awoke in dazed bewilderment. For a moment the noise +seemed a part of her dream; her strange, huddled position on the wood +at the foot of her berth, a figment of her imagination. But almost +at once the cold breath from the broken window brought her to her +senses. An accident! It had come then! The thing which her mother +had feared and tried to provide against. She was in a railroad +accident all alone and out in the wilds of the West where she was +utterly unacquainted with anyone! It was characteristic of Jean +that, when she realized her plight, she thought first of how her +mother would take the news, and not of how she would bear the +experience, or whether it meant life and death to herself. That she +must get out of danger and let her mother know of her safety was her +instant impulse, and from that moment her senses were keenly on the +alert for every detail. + +Her mother's horror of railroad accidents made the possibilities of +her present position as plain to her as if she had lived the whole +experience before. She seemed to comprehend in a flash just what had +happened, and about the position the car was in at the time. The +lurid glare that was already leaping and flickering outside showed +jagged glass in the window frame, and scattered gleaming fragments +all about her. She must move carefully not to be cut by them. Fire! +That was the next thing she took in. That meant that her only hope +of life was to get out at once. Cautiously she looked out of the +window to get a better idea of things and her heart stood still with +the horror of it all. For one little terrible second she forgot her +mother's fears and felt her own gasping, choking terror at what was +before her. One moment she faced a probable death, felt her +helplessness, and gave a cry of anguish for those who had always +protected her from peril, and who were far away. Then her own brave +courage rose and steadied her nerves. She resolved not to die if +there were any possible way out of it; and terror relaxed its hold +upon her at sight of her courage. + +With resolute determination she held her horror-stricken eyes to take +in the situation in detail. She must know everything, see +everything, if she were to save herself, for she comprehended readily +enough that as things were it was every one for himself. No one was +going to risk his life to hunt her up and drag her forth from the +pile of doomed cars. + +The train had been crossing a river when the crash came. There was +water down below, black and terrifying in the glare of flame that was +leaping like great tongues among the ruins just ahead. She could not +tell if the cause of the accident had been a broken bridge or a +collision, and knew little about such things to judge. The cars were +piled one upon another in wild confusion, and the Pullman in which +she was immured was standing on its forward end almost +perpendicularly. The engine was overturned and fire was creeping +upward and threatening the whole mass; while below, the great black +stretch of water reflected the sight, making doubly terrible every +feature. + +Jean drew back and attempted to look out into the car, but the +curtains were jammed tight by some heavy object which had fallen +against them, and she could get no idea of the situation on that +side. When she at last succeeded in pulling the curtain away enough +to look she saw only a dark precipice below, with writhing forms and +jumbled shapes. No one seemed to have thought of any way of escape +for the passengers, or to be making any attempt to get them out +before it was too late. The shouts and cries that came from below +had no authority among them. It was plain that the only hope of +escape was through the broken window and down into that abyss of +water and fire below. + +Jean drew back and felt carefully around for her shoes. She could +not take much with her, and she must work rapidly. The shoes and +little handbag were almost under her, and she drew on the shoes, +fastening a button or two. She hesitated a second with her hand on +the precious bag. All her money, her trunk check and her little bits +of jewelry were in it. She must save them if she could. Those +papers that had been trusted to her were there also. Quickly she +stuffed the bag within the breast of her garments and fastened it +there with a large safety pin, with which she had fastened the berth +curtain the night before, when a refractory button kept coming +undone. Her heart gave a leap of excitement. Now, in her need, she +remembered it, and, groping, found it there in the semi-darkness, big +enough to be found when wanted, and to hold the bag in safety. + +She gave one frightened look out the window at the growing, widening +horrors below, and then began slowly, cautiously to creep through, +feet first. It was a dangerous and painful task, as there was much +glass still adhering firmly to the window frame, and she found that +she had to draw back at first and hunt up her hair brush with which +to break away the sharp edges and make the opening large enough. + +It seemed an hour, though in reality it was but a moment or two, +before she finally succeeded in getting out of the window, so that +she clung, suspended, both arms still inside the berth, but her body +hanging over the abyss of black depths mingled with flames. + +Dark shapes were moving about down there, dark, moaning creatures +were dropping with sickening splashes into the water. She dared not +look to see if they rose. Her head grew light, and she felt her +fingers slipping. Her strength would not hold her long, and she was +almost on the point of trying to creep back inside the berth when a +long cry as of the lost, mingled with moans and screams of women and +children, arose from below, and she saw a great sheet of fire leap up +and lick the lower end of the very car to which she clung. She could +feel the heat of it where she was, and but for the slight inclination +of the car it would have been between her and the water. + +With a low moan of horror she closed her eyes and let herself drop. +Down, down, she felt herself falling, through æons of time and space, +and knew that she was wondering how her mother would bear it when she +heard. Then the shock of the water, and darkness closed over her in +a smothering chill. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +She came up again gasping, choking, aware of the shouts and the +noise, of the struggling figures and dropping objects; aware that she +was only one more in the way and might better have stayed where she +was; then struck out feebly; but something fell upon her head, +something soft like a-pillow perhaps, but enough to put her under +water again, and she felt that this was the end. + +When she could get her breath again a strong arm was pulling her away +from the crowd and noise. There were things in the way, people and +heavy objects, but she was being steered through them all, out of the +labyrinth of horror and into dark, still waters. + +There followed a long stretch of toiling through the water, which +seemed like ages, when her breath came in gasps, and her heart seemed +pounding her very life away as she ploughed through the blackness, +making a brave effort to keep up with the strong, steady strokes +beside her, though scarcely aware of what she was doing. Life seemed +going from her ebb by ebb and it was not worth while to try to hold +on to it any longer, and yet the memory of her mother's fears kept +her trying. After that she kept on, unconscious of anything save +that she must keep going, she must, she must--till finally even that +dim impulse flickered out and the water flowed about her very soul; +softly, dreamily, possessingly. Yet still she was drawn on and on +through the blackness to a distant shore. + +He dragged her up on the bank at last, the man who had saved her out +of the chaos of peril and brought her with him at the expense of his +own almost exhausted strength. He was gasping and all but finished, +himself; when he dropped beside her among the tall reeds that served +to shelter them from the night, and for a few moments they lay quiet, +passive; the girl unconscious, the man panting for breath and unable +as yet to think what to do next; two stranger souls in common peril, +knowing naught of each other or of what was before them. + +In a moment, however, the chill of the night roused the man, and he +shivered and sat up. Whoever it was that he had saved--a woman--her +long hair and trammelling garments had already told him that--she +would die if she lay long in that condition. What could he do? + +He shivered again and got up. He shook the water from himself. His +splendid strength reasserted itself, and his breath was steady now. +He was surprised that even a swim like that, encumbered as he was +with heavy clothing and shoes, and bearing another helpless creature, +should have knocked him out so completely. Then he reflected that he +had lost much sleep during the past few days; still, that was not +enough to make him feel so worthless. He shook himself again and +stretched his muscles, as he used to do on the football field in his +nearby boyhood days, after a knockout, when he heard the call back +into the game. If ever there was a call to come back into the game +it was now, for this woman would die if he did not do something at +once. + +The night was wild and chill. Across the river, farther away than he +dreamed they had come, the sky was lurid with the fire that flared +grotesquely against the darkness. The current must have carried them +downstream as they crossed. He had thought to go back and help save +others so soon as he had this one safe, but the way was far and this +woman was apparently helpless, perhaps unconscious, or at least +exhausted. If she lay here in her wet garments she would die from +the cold. He must get her to her feet and keep her warm somehow. + +Stooping, he lifted her light weight and bore her farther up the bank +into the woods, then laid her down on the ground and knelt to listen +to her heart. It was beating weakly. If only he had fire or +stimulant or both! Perhaps there was a house somewhere near. He +would carry her a little way and see. So he picked her up again, +holding her close to keep her warm, and struggled on through the +thick undergrowth in the darkness. + +That night was an experience to be remembered through a lifetime. +The young strength of the man seemed to revive with the necessity, +and he carried the woman a long distance before, with the warmth of +his body and the motion of the going, the girl came to her senses and +was able to walk for herself. + +For the first instant of her waking to consciousness her soul seemed +to stand still with horror. Where was she and who was carrying her? +What would happen to her? Would she ever see her home and friends +again? The questions rushed madly through her mind and almost +paralyzed her thoughts for an instant. Then memory reasserted +itself. All the facts of the disaster as she had seen them, came +back. She knew that whoever was carrying her must have saved her out +of kindness. She knew that he must have had to swim alone during at +least a part of the way through the water, for she could distinctly +remember, now, the horror of being unable to keep up any longer. +Then there was something else, a kindly, strong, impersonal clasp +that made her unafraid. After a minute she signified her ability to +walk, and he set her down at once, yet held her arm and put his own +about her for support. + +"If you can walk it will keep you warm," he said briefly; and with no +apology for his arm about her he hurried her on. It was all she +could do to keep up with his pace, and when her feet faltered he +seemed to almost lift her from the ground as he still strode on. + +"We must keep going," he said again, as if he had no more breath to +waste in words. On and on they went, but still they did not come to +any human habitation. Finally, when he saw that she could go no +further, and that she needed rest, he made her sit down in a +sheltered place behind some trees. Later, when she was almost +asleep, she knew her head was resting against his shoulder. Once in +the night she awoke and saw a fire blazing near her, and realized +that a man's coat was spread over her and she was warm and +comparatively dry. There was no one in sight, but she heard a step +not far away and the crackling of breaking branches. She did not +wonder how the fire came. She slept again. + +It was in the early dawn that she awoke sharply as if she had been +called, and stretching her stiff limbs looked wildly about her, +startlingly aware of the night that had passed and her strange +isolation with an unknown man. + +He lay upon the ground at the other side of the fire which had been +piled high with wood and was burning beautifully, his strong fine +figure stretched wearily at full length, the brown curly hair tumbled +back from his bronzed face, which in spite of its soil and grime +showed a manly beauty. The utter weariness and relaxation of his +body made him seem like a boy. + +The girl looked and wondered, and turned away to remember. He must +have had to swim with her quite a distance, and drag her to land +after she ceased to help herself. Also he must have carried her a +long journey. He had upheld her when she walked beside him, and had +sat against a tree and made her lean against him part of the time +while she slept. Then how did he get that fire? Some mystery known +to woodcraft no doubt. She glanced at herself with the thick brown +coat tucked carefully about her still. She touched it softly, almost +reverently with her finger-tips. It was dry! He had contrived to +dry it and put it about her! + +She looked over at the man again. He wore a brown flannel shirt and +heavy trousers like the coat. He must have been cold himself without +his coat while she slept in comfort. And he had stayed awake all +night to keep the fire going to dry her things and keep her warm! + +There were tears in her eyes as her glance lingered on the boyish +face. She pictured writing to her mother what he was like, this +strong man like an angel who had saved her. Then she shuddered at +the thought of the wreck and all she had gone through. What would +have been her fate if he had not put his arm beneath her when she was +sinking? + +Presently, as the dawn crept higher up the sky and lit the world with +rose and golden light, she stole shyly from her couch under the tree +and, stepping softly, came to where he was and tucked the coat +carefully about him, as he lay, one cheek pillowed on his arm. Her +hand brushed lightly against his hair, and she marvelled at its +softness--like a baby's. His skin, too, had that clear ruddy glow of +perfect health, even beneath the grime of the night. She looked down +on him with wonder and a great gratitude that seemed to almost +overwhelm her. Perhaps all people felt so toward men who had saved +their lives; but Jean Grayson had never before seen a man who seemed +one-half so strong and great and good as this mere boy looked to her +now in the early light of morning, asleep upon the ground and soundly +unaware of her tender ministration. + +She slipped away quietly without wakening him, and stood a moment +looking about her upon the strange unknown world, wondering where she +was. What State was this? She could not even be sure of that. Then +she looked down at herself. + +She wore the long black Pullman robe of soft silk, sadly draggled now +and torn in two or three places. How beautiful and fine it had been +but a few short hours before! And her other pretty clothes that had +been bought and made so carefully at the cost of such family +sacrifice? Were they all gone? Would her trunk burn up? Or had it +gone on ahead of her when she had stopped to visit her friends and so +escaped destruction? But she dismissed the thought as unworthy of +one who had but just escaped with her life. What were clothes beside +life? But how was she to go on with her journey looking like this? +Her pretty travelling gown! She felt a pang for that. Well, she +must do the best she could. + +Her hair was the worst of all, but she could put that right. Her +precious handbag! She put her hand to her breast to be sure it was +there safe. Yes, it was still fastened to her clothing, though the +pin had torn away and there was but a small hold of the cloth still +in it. She pulled it out and examined it, seated behind a tree away +from the fire and the sleeping man. Yes, the bag was safe, and its +contents, but its beauty was gone, for the thin leather finish was +blistered and peeling from the inner lining. The things inside were +all there, even the strange man's leather case, wrapped in a wet pulp +of paper. She took the paper off and threw it from her; then +realizing how few worldly goods she was now possessed of, she reached +and spread the paper out to dry. It would be needed, of course. + +Her small store of money was safe, and her bits of pins and watch, +the little timepiece ticking bravely on as if it were alive and +trying to be cheerful under adverse circumstances. + +Jean took out her combs and hair pins which she had stowed in the +pocket of her handbag that they might be easily found in the morning, +and felt rich indeed to have them. They would assist very materially +in her toilet. + +With the aid of the combs she presently had her hair soft and shining +in its accustomed coils and fluffy masses, for fortunately for her +appearance that morning, her hair was of the kind that tries to curl +in spite of floods and winds, and it fluffed its prettiest with the +first rays of the sun glinting over it. + +The handbag held, among other things, a needle and both black and +white thread. With their aid Jean mended the rents in her robe, and +managed to make herself look quite like a maiden of the present day. +Then wrapping the damp paper again about the displeasing leather case +she bestowed it with a shrug of dislike, in the disfigured bag once +more and started forth in search of water to wash off the stains of +the night. + +Her hands were badly scratched and one had been bleeding. She +remembered the glass and wondered now how she had escaped with as few +scratches as she had. + +But water she could not find within sight of the fire and she dared +not go further lest she get lost. She found, however, a dense growth +of bushes bearing great luscious berries, and though they were not +exactly like any berries with which she was familiar she decided that +they were probably edible, and gathered her hands full. Then, coming +softly back near the fire, she looked around for a suitable place for +the breakfast table. The sleeper had not awakened. She went about +cautiously and found a great flat rock quite near where he lay that +would do beautifully. Here she laid her berries on a dish of green +leaves, with their points all radiating from the centre and two large +leaves, one on each side, for plates. + +Then remembering something, she opened her handbag again. + +The day before, when her cousins had been taking her sightseeing, +they had treated her to ice cream soda, with which had been served a +tiny envelope of wax paper containing three small wafer crackers. +She had put hers in the bag, laughingly declaring that she would eat +them on the train when she was hungry, and one cousin had added her +envelope as well. She had not thought of them when she opened it +before, but now she hurried to bring them forth. Of course they +would be spoiled! But no--the envelopes were still about them, and +though somewhat damp they had retained their shape and looked +exceedingly good to a hungry mortal. + +Eagerly she set them forth, three on each leaf-plate, and hurried +back to the bush to get more berries. + +Either the soft stepping feet as they went lightly through the grass, +or the falling of a stick into the ashes of the fire disturbed the +sleeper, for he awoke suddenly and looked about him. + +The girl was gone! That was his first thought. + +The look of boyishness fell away from him in a flash, and he rose to +his feet and gazed about him anxiously, alertly, as if he feared +danger near. Then his eyes fell on the flat rock with its mimic +banquet spread forth! A flood of wonder and delight swept into his +face and a great tenderness, such as no one of his friends or foes +ever dreamed would be hid away anywhere in his nature. He had never +played dolls on a rock with some little girl, and moss and acorns for +carpet and dishes, but the "playhouse" spirit was there in his heart +and leaped at once into consciousness. A table for two! The woman +had provided a meal even in the wilderness! + +He had been turning about in his mind how he was to get something to +eat with neither powder nor hook, and here she had been quicker than +he and breakfast was all prepared! + +Something stirred in Jasper Holt's heart that he had not known was +there, a longing for companionship in his life and home; the table +set for two and someone to care! He had never felt its need before +and he did not call it by that name now--he merely experienced a +strangely beautiful thrill at the new possibilities that life +suddenly revealed to him; something higher and better and infinitely +sweeter than any of the ambitions and ideals he had hitherto +entertained. + +He was still standing, gazing in wonder at the table, when the quick +crackling of a twig made known her return. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +She stood for an instant, framed in the opening of the trees, her +eyes bright, her lips parted, her cheeks pink with the exertion of +picking the berries. Both her hands were full of the fruit. + +"Oh, good morning!" she said shyly before he could think what to say, +"I hope I didn't waken you. I am sure you needed to sleep longer." + +His eyes glowed with admiration, and he stood startled at her beauty, +marvelling that she had accomplished a toilet with so little at her +command. + +"How about you?" he said, watching her with admiring glance, "You +didn't need any sleep at all, I suppose. You were just about all in +last night and no mistake." + +"Yes, I guess I was," she answered penitently, "and I'm afraid I gave +you a lot of trouble, not being able to walk when I should. I can +never thank you enough! You saved my life, of course! I never +should have got to shore----" + +"Forget it!" he said with a smile, "it was nothing." + +"And you had to carry me a long distance, I am sure you did. I can +remember a long time when I know I was not walking. You must be worn +out!" + +"Why, you're not heavy," he said amusedly, eyeing her slender frame. +"I could carry you a good deal farther than that and not play out. +I'm glad to see you look so rested this morning. I didn't expect it +after what you went through. I see you have your nerve with you. It +was a pretty nervy thing you did, you know, that stunt of dropping +out the window. I had just got out myself further down and climbed +on shore to see if there was anything I could do for anyone, when I +saw you drop, and I thought you were gone for sure. There were rocks +and timbers all around there and heavy things falling, and I thought +I saw your finish." + +"And so you came and rescued me!" she said, with a look of gratitude +that brought a flush over his strong, tanned face. + +"Oh, I just floated over that way to see if I could pick up anybody. +I couldn't tell who I was fishing out when I took hold of you, there +were so many sounds and things around." + +"Well, I--I can't thank you enough now," she said, and there was a +glisten of tears in her eyes. "I know it was wonderful what you did." + +"Oh, forget it!" he said again, laughing lightly. "It was bad enough +all around, and we were lucky to get off as we did. But we aren't +out of the woods yet. We'd better let bygones be bygones for the +present anyway. Don't you want to sit down?" + +Jean smilingly acquiesced, dropping down beside the rock with her +berries, and leaning over to arrange them with the rest. + +"These ought to be washed," she said as she arranged them on the leaf +plate in the centre, "but I couldn't find any water." + +"Water won't be so hard to find, but we haven't anything to put it +in," he answered laughing, "and besides, we oughtn't to mind a little +dirt after all we've been through. I doubt if the berries I usually +get are washed anyway. But if I had anything to carry it in, I'd +find some water. I haven't even a hat----" + +"Why, I had a little drinking cup, but I don't remember whether it's +in my bag or not. Perhaps I put it in the suit case, though I think +I left it in my bag." + +She laid down the last berries, and wiping the stains from her +fingers on the grass she opened the bag which she had slipped through +the belt of her robe and made to hang at her side. It was rather +full and when it was opened the leather wallet, wrapped in its damp +paper, fell out on the ground, and the paper came unfolded, revealing +what it contained. + +The young man stooped gravely, a dark flush rising to his cheeks, and +picked it up. He did not look startled nor surprised and she noticed +nothing strange in his manner as he handed it to her. Afterward she +wondered at that. + +The cup did not materialize, but there were the two little wax paper +envelopes, which might hold water. She held them out to him, and +looking up, their eyes met. + +"Why, you are the man who sat opposite to me in the day coach," she +said in pleased surprise, "I didn't recognize you before without your +hat on. But I remember thinking when I went to the other car that +you had a face that one need not be afraid of. I was a little +frightened by the old man who sat with you--he spoke to me--but when +I saw you I was not afraid any more. Mother says I'm always going by +my intuitions, but I think this time you've proved them true. I knew +you were a person to be trusted." + +He looked at her wonderingly, a strange expression of wistfulness +crossing his face. + +"People don't often feel that way about me," he said in a strange low +tone that seemed to hide a good deal more behind the words than was +said. "I guess you're the first person who has trusted me in a long +time." + +"Oh," she said, looking at him seriously, "I guess you don't know--or +else--" she paused as if in doubt whether to finish the sentence. + +"Or else what, please?" he asked with compelling gaze. + +"I was going to say or else they don't know you; but that sounds +rather bold for a stranger to say when I've only known you a few +hours. But I've had opportunity to prove that what I thought about +you was true. Perhaps it's that you do not always let people see the +nice things in you the way you have had to let me because of my need." + +"Well, that's a new way of painting my character, I must say. I +rather like it myself but I doubt if anybody would recognize it for +me. I wouldn't mind being that way, believe me, and I thank you for +sizing me up in that style. I'll think it over, but I'm afraid +you've got your characters mixed and I'm not in your line at all. +However, I'm glad you think so. Now I'll see what I can do about +water." + +He took the two envelopes as if they had been cut glass goblets and +walked away into the woods. In a few minutes he returned with them +dripping, his own face ruddy with recent washing, and his curls still +damp and dark above his forehead; while the strong hands that held +the would-be cups were clean as water could make them. + +"Would you like to wash your face?" he asked as he held out the cup +for her to drink. "Never mind the berries, they are all right as +they are. I'll show you the water and then come back to guard the +food. We don't know what wild creature may find our table and clear +out with the whole set-out." + +"Oh, would they do that?" laughed Jean, interested. "Wouldn't that +be funny?" + +"It might not be so funny if we don't strike a ranch pretty soon," +said Holt, looking serious. "We need all that breakfast to help us +on our way after the night we've spent." + +"I will not wash my face until after breakfast," said Jean decidedly, +coming back to the rock and seating herself by one of the +leaf-plates. "Sit down, please, and break your fast for we are not +running any risks on this trip. I want to get to a telegraph office +and send word to my mother and father. They will hear about the +accident and will be terribly frightened about me. You won't mind my +eating with unwashed hands, will you?" + +"I should worry!" declared Holt, seating himself on the other side of +the rock with the ease of one who is as much at home on the ground as +on a chair. + +"These crackers are a little limp," said Jean, "but it was the best I +could do considering that they were submerged for a long time." + +"They're great," said Holt, sampling one, "but how did you happen to +have them?" + +She told him merrily of her visit the day before and how she had +saved them. + +"They're all you have!" said Holt suddenly, "you may need the rest of +them before we are through. Put these away and keep them till you +need them. I'll just eat the berries. I'm used to going without for +a long time." + +"Wasn't your life the only one you had when you risked it to save +me?" asked Jean, looking at him earnestly. "I guess you'll get half +of all there is or I won't have any." + +Holt looked at her admiringly. + +"That's all right, but I'd rather you saved them. You're a woman." + +"That may be all right, but I won't," said Jean decidedly, "and I +won't eat another bite until you eat yours." + +He looked at her with the glow of appreciation growing in his eyes. +He never had seen a girl like this. + +"You're all white!" he said at last. "You're the real thing. You're +a good fellow. I guess we're partners, then." + +He held out his hand as he would have done to a man, and the girl, +with a quick appreciation of his words, laid her small berry-stained +hand in the big, hard one. + +"Thank you," she said earnestly, "That rather puts us on an equality, +doesn't it? But I'm not so foolish as to think we really are. I +know it's only a very little bit that I can do on this expedition. +You do all the big, grand, hard things. But you mustn't deny me the +chance to do the little things I can do; and sharing, or even going +without sometimes, belongs to my part. I haven't forgotten yet that +you saved my life." + +He looked at the little hand wonderingly and held it gently in his +own, with just a slight, lingering, wistful closing of his strong +fingers around it; then let it go as though he were afraid he might +crush it, it seemed to him so frail and exquisite and fine. + +"I can tell you one thing," he said, "you're some improvement on the +last partner I had." Jean gave him a swift, relieved look. "That +horrid old man?" she asked comprehendingly. He nodded, but searched +her face keenly, as if he would make sure of something. He seemed +satisfied, however, with the frank look in her clear eyes and said no +more. Perhaps he hoped she would confide in him--or perhaps he liked +her all the better that she did not--who knows? They ate their +meagre breakfast hungrily, yet lingered over it happily. The morning +seemed to each as an exquisite treasure of time loaned to them for +this once, and there fell a charm upon them that neither quite +understood; only they were conscious of joy in being alive and having +each other. The experiences of the night and the unusual +surroundings did away with all conventionalities and feelings of +embarrassment they would otherwise have had in their strange plight; +and their laughter mingled and rang out among the trees joyously on +that early beautiful morning after the disaster. + +He led her down to the stream to wash while he made a basket of +leaves, pinned together with stems, and filled it full of berries. + +"We may need them for dinner," he remarked as he went back to the +bushes. + +Jean finished her ablutions, and, washing out her handkerchief, +filled it also with berries; and thus provided with a lunch, they +started on their way. + +After coming out of the woods they climbed first to the highest point +of ground near them and surveyed the landscape in every direction, +but nothing more serene on a summer morning could be found anywhere +than was before them. Turn which way they would there was no sign of +disaster or wreck. The soft, green hills on every side hid the +secret of its location, and the world lay spread before them without +a hint of ravage or distress. There was absolutely no way to tell +direction except in a general way by the sun; and where the wreck had +been it was impossible even to speculate, for they could not tell how +they had come in the darkness. + +This gave a new aspect to their situation. Holt had been thinking +during the night that if they could work their way back to the wreck +they would probably reach home more quickly, for surely by this time +a relief train must have come. But now he saw that it was useless to +consider that longer. They must just press on till they came to a +house, where possibly they could procure horses, and certainly +information as to their whereabouts. There was a reason why he +wished to get back to the world as quickly as possible; yet something +taught him to be glad that necessity had given him this day or part +of a day, whichever it was to be, with this girl. + +He looked down almost tenderly at the bright, trusting face that +smiled up at him so bravely. He had a sudden comprehending glimpse +of what it must be to a girl, such as he could see she was, to be +dropped down into a strange world, far from home and protection, in +company with a man about whom she knew nothing. + +"Tough luck," he said, answering the question in her eyes, "but don't +you worry, we'll get out sooner or later." + +"I'm not worrying," she answered earnestly, "but I was wishing we +knew how to send a wireless to my father. I wonder if some day they +won't perfect the system so that people can send messages from +anywhere without any instruments, if they just know how." + +"That would be great," said Holt, thoughtfully, "I'd send one this +minute to the nearest inhabited point for two good saddle horses. +Can you ride?" + +"A little. I've never had much opportunity. Father used to keep a +horse, but when we moved to our present home he had to give it up. +There wasn't really any need for it. But I'm to ride while I'm away +visiting my sister." Her face brightened at the thought, and then +clouded. "That is if we ever get there----" + +"Oh, we'll get there all right," said Holt easily, taking his +bearings and deciding which way to strike out. "You're Mrs. +Harrington's sister, aren't you?" + +"Why yes, how did you know?" said the girl with a ring of relief in +her voice. "You know my sister, then?" This was almost equivalent +to an introduction, and she knew her mother would be particular about +that. + +"I heard you tell the conductor," he said. "Shall we start? We've +got a good journey to travel judging by the look of things. This +way," and he led her down the slope out into the open where they +could see where they were going. + +"But you wouldn't have remembered all this time if you hadn't known +who she was," she flashed back, smiling. "How pleased Eleanor will +be when she knows one of her own friends took care of me and saved my +life." + +Holt's face darkened suddenly and he did not answer at once. When he +did his voice was cold and hard like a sudden storm on a sunny day. + +"I don't think she'd exactly call me her friend!" + +His eyes were narrowed, and his chin was set with a haughty lift. + +"Well, acquaintance, then," said Jean brightly. "Eleanor is a lot +older than you, of course. She was married and went away from home +when I was just a tiny girl. I haven't seen her all these years, and +of course she's changed a great deal." + +"Yes, I suppose you'd call us acquainted," answered Holt, still in +that queer, hard voice. Jean felt it intuitively, but talked on, +feeling her way to surer ground. + +"I wonder if my sister has ever mentioned you in her letters," she +said brightly. "She tells me about all the people." + +"Possibly!" You could have cut ice with the sharpness of his tone. +Then he added quietly: + +"My name is Holt. Jasper Holt!" + +He watched her with wide challenging eyes, but although there was a +puzzled look in her face the name evidently told her nothing. + +"Jasper! What a beautiful name! I always thought that was the most +beautiful word. The walls of the heavenly city are built of jasper, +you know." + +"No, I didn't know," he spoke slowly, almost worshipfully. This +truly was a new kind of girl. A citizen, more like, of that heavenly +city about which she spoke with such assurance as if it were an +actual place, than like a mortal girl. His face was softened, made +tender, as he looked at her, and saw the morning shining in her eyes. +His haughtiness fell away, and all the goodness and native truth and +purity that were hidden in his soul came out and sat upon his face. +The people who thought they knew Jasper Holt would not have +recognized him thus, walking beside the girl and looking down upon +her as one looks upon the face of an angel. + +Jean looked up, seeing in him only the beauty of his true self; and +looking, trusted, and was not afraid. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +He helped her over rough places and up the steep climbs. Hand in +hand they ran down the slopes like two children out for play; their +merry laughter ringing out, forgetful of the recent dangers through +which they had passed; forgetful, too, of perilous possibilities +before them. It was enough that the day was fresh, the sun was +shining, their strength renewed, and they were together. Each was +occupied most with the fact of the other and the day. + +They ate their berries before the heat of the noon was fully come, +and hurried on. But Holt could see that his companion was growing +weary, for the excitement of the night before had left her shaken, +and more and more she faltered and leaned heavily upon him up the +hills. Then he found a quiet resting place under some trees and bade +her sleep, and while she slept he hovered not far away. + +He found a pool where by a skill he had long practised he could catch +some very small fish; and with due patience he at last secured enough +to make a meal. Then with infinite pains and his knowledge of +woodcraft, he accomplished a fire once more and cooked the fish, so +that when she awoke there was dinner spread under a tree--broiled +fish, with clear water from the brook to drink. + +Holt was in a hurry to get on, for he was growing uneasy about the +direction they were taking. It seemed as if they were off the +regular line of habitation and travel. Was it possible he had turned +too much to the north and was set to enter the desert at the most +remote and lonely part, where they might travel for days without +meeting anyone? + +He changed the direction slightly and they started on again, the +young man watching the sun anxiously from time to time. And now he +kept the girl's arm, touching her elbow lightly to be ready with help +when it was needed. Often he drew her arm within his own and fairly +lifted her over hard places; and so they came to higher ground and +looked out before them once more. The sun was lower now, and growing +redder as it went down with premonition of the night. The man could +see that the girl's steps were slower, and that her face was pale +with weariness, though she said not a word and plodded cheerfully on +by his side. He could see that she looked anxiously about on all +sides whenever they came to the higher ground, and knew that she was +thinking all this time of her mother. + +The fair, weary face and bright, determined countenance touched his +heart deeply, and brought out all the latent tenderness in his +nature; and there arose in him a great longing to help her that made +him wonder at himself. + +At last as they reached another slight elevation he looked to the +west and to his relief saw a small house with horses and cattle +moving about in the fields. He showed it to her and her eyes lighted +with joy. + +"Oh, that is so good! I was worried, for I know I'm a burden. You +would have gone the distance twice if you had been alone." + +His hand touched her arm more reverently close. "I am glad I was not +alone," he said earnestly. "And I'm glad you were not alone." + +She looked up to meet his eyes and there leaped from each to the +other a wonderful realization of the beauty of the companionship they +had held that day. + +"Yes, I am glad I was not alone," she said with deep feeling, "for, +oh, it would have been dreadful! And this has been--beautiful," she +finished, and wondered at herself for speaking so freely. Then each +was suddenly silent at the appalling realization that the free +companionship of the day was almost at an end. They were coming to +the world of convention and form again, where words and actions were +weighed and motives questioned. There had been nothing of that here, +for necessity and common peril had blotted them out of existence for +the time, and it had been blessed. Now the thought came +simultaneously to both. Would they ever see one another again and be +friends? + +The way wound down into a ravine, and the heavy growth of trees +shadowed the path. It was rough and he guided her tenderly, +respectfully, as one might guide a little child one loved. She felt +his care in every step she took, and her heart responded gratefully +to his gentleness. Her own father could not have been more +thoughtful; and there was nothing familiar or presuming in his touch. +He might have been a mother, the tenderness he showed. Perhaps Jean +felt it more because she was so very tired, and realized her lonely +position now that night was coming on again. + +In the valley they came to the bank of a stream, deep and turbulent; +and standing upon its brink, looking either way, there seemed no +possible ford. How deep it was they could not guess, but there was +plainly a strong current. + +Holt stood a moment, surveying the barrier to their progress, walked +a few steps up the bank and down, and looked up at the westering sky. +Then he deliberately walked out into the stream. + +The girl on the bank caught her breath but said nothing. Must they +swim across? Was there no other way? She watched Holt standing, +strong and manly, in the middle of the stream, the water above his +waist. Presently, when he had gone more than half way across he +turned and came back to her. + +She was white with excitement, but her lips were set and her eyes +were bright with the intention of doing his bidding. + +"I am sorry. There is no other way, and we must hurry, for the sun +is getting low. We should reach that house before dark." + +He stooped and gathered her in his strong arms, lifting her shoulder +high, and stalked out into the stream before she knew what he was +doing. + +"Oh, please, I can walk as well as you," she deprecated. + +"Put your arms around my neck, please," he commanded, and waded in, +holding her high and dry above the water. + +She obeyed instantly, in trust and shy wonder, and the water rose +about them, but did not touch her. + +Once, when they were in the middle of the stream, Holt's foot slipped +and for an instant it seemed as though he would lose his balance, but +he lifted her the higher and almost instantly recovered himself. In +a moment more they had crossed the stream, and he had set her down +upon the bank and was shaking the water from his garments as if it +were a common thing which he had done and he enjoyed it. She looked +down at herself. Not a shred of her garments was wet, while he was +drenched almost to the arm-pits. + +"You are all wet!" she exclaimed, conscience-stricken. + +"You wouldn't expect me to keep dry in all that, would you?" he +asked, with his eyes dancing. + +Then they laughed like two children, and a frightened chipmunk ran +chattering away in the trees. + +"Are you all right?" he asked solicitously. "Are you perfectly dry?" +His voice was husky with emotion and his eyes tender. + +"Of course I'm dry," she answered dubiously, as if half ashamed of +the fact. "Why wouldn't I be when I'm treated like a baby? It seems +to me, you didn't quite keep to the terms of our partnership." + +"This was one of the big things," he said, "only I didn't want you to +know it. To tell you the truth, I didn't know whether that stream +was fordable or not; and, besides, I knew that if you got your +clothes wet again it would hinder you in walking. Come, we must make +that house before dark. I'm hungry, aren't you? And we're pretty +sure to find bacon and corn bread at least. How does that sound?" + +"Good!" she cried, laughing, and took the hand that was held out to +her. Together they ran on over the rough ground toward supper and +rest. + +But the way was longer than they thought, and Holt had not been able +to calculate on the slow steps of the girl who was unused to such +long tramps, nor to going without adequate food. The sun went down +and the darkness was upon them before they were anywhere near the +little house. + +Once Jean stumbled and almost fell, and a sound like a half sob came +from her throat as she clutched at his arm to save herself. It was +then he picked her up like a tired child and carried her over the +rough ground, until she protested so vigorously that he was forced to +set her down and both stopped to rest. For, indeed, Holt's own +strength was somewhat spent by this time, though he showed no outward +sign of fatigue, having been trained in a school that endures until +it drops. + +By this time they felt as if they had known each other for years, tor +there is nothing like a common peril and a common need to make souls +know one another, and to bring out the true selfishness or +unselfishness of each character. Because these two had been +absolutely forgetful of self, each felt for the other a most +extraordinary attraction and reverence. + +As they sat silently under the stars, resting, it came to their minds +how far from strangers they now seemed, and yet how little they knew +about each other's lives; and they felt they needed not to know +because of what each had been to the other during the night and the +day that were passed. + +When they started on their way again arm in arm, they walked silently +for a time, marvelling at what the day had brought them in knowledge +of the other's fineness. + +"I cannot be mistaken," thought Jean. "He is fine and noble--all +that a man ought to be. He looks as if he had never done anything +wrong, yet is strong enough to kill the devil if he would." + +By this time the little house in the distance had put a light in its +window, and guided them twinklingly to its door, where three great +dogs greeted them from afar and disputed their entrance. + +The house was not very large, only three rooms. A man and his wife +and some hired hands huddled around a kerosene light, the men smoking +and playing cards; the wife knitting silently in the rear. + +They looked up curiously to hear the stranger's story, half +incredulous. They had not heard of any railroad accident. They +lived twenty miles from the railroad and went to town only once a +fortnight. + +"This your wife?" questioned the householder of Holt. + +Jean's face flamed scarlet as a new embarrassment faced her. She had +not thought of proprieties until now. Of course they existed even in +the wilderness. + +Holt explained haughtily. + +"H'm!" said the man still incredulous. "Any more in your party? +Wal, my woman'll take keer your woman fer t'night, an' in the mornin' +we ken talk business. Yas, I've got horses, but I need 'em." The +man looked cunningly from one to the other of the men. + +Jean looked at Holt, and thought how far above these people he seemed +as he stood haughtily by the door in his wet and draggled clothing, +with the bearing of a young king. + +"Oh, I can pay for the horses," said Holt, "and see that they are +returned, too, if that is what is the matter." And he pulled out a +roll of bills and threw several carelessly on the table. + +"Wal, that alters the case," said the man more suavely, "of course, +fer a consideration----" + +"Can we get some supper?" asked Holt, cutting him short. "We've had +very little to eat all day, and this lady is tired and hungry." + +The man's wife bustled forward. + +"Fer the land sake!" she exclaimed, "hungry this time o' night? We +ain't got much ready, but there was some corn bread and po'k lef from +supper, ef they'll do. The men is powah'ful eatahs." + +She set out the best her house afforded, eyeing Jean's tattered silk +robe enviously between trips to the cupboard. The men went on with +their card game and Jean and Holt ate in silence. The girl was +beginning to dread the night and to wish for the silence of the +starlit world and the protection of her strong, true friend. She did +not like the look of the men who fumbled the dirty cards and cast +bold glances in her direction. + +She was even more frightened when she learned the arrangements that +were to be made for the night. She was assigned to a bunk in a small +closet-like room opening from the big room in which they were all +sitting--which appeared to be kitchen, parlor and dining-room +combined, and was to be, for that night at least, sleeping room for +Holt and the other men, several rolls of army blankets being the only +visible provision made for their comfort. + +Holt managed to get opportunity to whisper to her as the men were +disputing over their game while the housewife retired to the guest +chamber to "red up." + +"Don't you worry," he reassured her softly. "I'll bunk across in +front of your door. You can sleep and trust me." + +She flashed up at him a bright, weary smile that sent a thrill of joy +through him and made him feel that nothing in all life could be +better than to defend this girl who trusted him. + +In the early rose and gold of the morning Jean awoke to the smell of +cooking ham and the sizzle of eggs frying just the other side of her +thin partition, and knew that she had slept in safety under guard of +her new found friend. + +"Jasper! Jasper Holt!" said a strange sweet voice within her soul, +and she wondered at the beauty of the name and the thrill of +possession she felt in it. + +Jean had a little money carefully sewed inside her clothing. It was +to have done for her whole western trip and bought gifts for the dear +ones at home before her return. Now she realized it was her fortune. +She made a bargain with the woman of the cabin for a khaki skirt and +blouse, of doubtful cut and shabby mien, but whole and clean. For +these she gave two dollars and the remains of the once treasured, but +now tattered and travel-stained silk robe she wore. And so it was as +a Western girl, in riding skirt and blouse, that she emerged from the +little closet where she had slept, but so wholly was she able to +subjugate her clothes, and so exquisitely did her flower face and +golden-brown hair set them off that they took on a style and beauty +entirely out of their nature; and their former owner stared in wonder +and sighed with envy as she beheld. It had not been the silken +garment that made this girl a queen, but her own beauty of +countenance and regal bearing; for here were her own old clothes worn +like a royal robe, making the stranger lovely as the morning. + +Holt looked at the girl in startled wonder when she appeared, so trig +and sweet in her travelling garb, ready for the next stage of her +journey, and trembled with joy at the day that was before him; albeit +the end of the journey would bring sadness and parting, he knew. He +wanted to knock down the men who stared insolently, offering audible +comments on her complexion and bearing that made the swift, +frightened color come to her cheeks. He ate his breakfast in haughty +silence, sitting between Jean and one of the men, and shielding her +as far as possible from any need of conversation save with her +hostess who waited on them all and hovered admiringly round her young +guest's chair with offers of molasses and mush that were fairly +overwhelming. + +"Any need fer a clergyman?" asked the ugliest of the three men, +leaning forward across the table, his knife and fork held +perpendicular each side of his plate, a large piece of ham aloft on +his fork. He gave an ugly wink at the others and they laughed +coarsely and meaningly. + +"Yas, you could git the elder by goin' about ten mile out o' yer +way," added another, and devoted himself audibly to his thick cup of +muddy coffee. + +Holt ignored these remarks and began asking questions of his host +about the crops and the exact location of the house with regard to +railroads, wondering meanwhile, if Jean understood their rough jokes, +and hoping she did not. + +If she did she was serene with it all, and smiled her very sweetest +on her hostess, making her heart glad at the parting by the gift of a +pair of cheap, but pretty, little cuff pins that had been fastened on +the front of her travelling robe. + +So they mounted and rode away, Jean like the queen of a girl that she +was, and her companion no less noble in his bearing. The joy they +felt in the day and each other was only equalled by their own shyness +in speaking of it. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +They talked about many things that morning as they rode happily +toward Hawk Valley. Holt felt no anxiety, now, about reaching there +by night, for he knew exactly where he was and how to get there. He +had bargained with one of the men for fire-arms, and he could now +shoot enough to keep them from hunger even if they were delated. He +had matches in his pocket and an old cow-boy hat on his head, and he +felt rested and fit for the journey. For the first half of the way, +at least, he could give himself up to the bliss of a companionship +such as he had never known in the whole of his young life. +Reverence, awe, adoration were in his glance as he looked at the +girl, and a great, wistful sadness grew as the day lingered toward +evening. + +They rode first straight down to the telegraph station which was +about fifteen miles from the settler's cabin, and sent reassuring +telegrams from the forlorn little office set out alone in the middle +of the prairie; one to Jean's father and mother back in the eastern +home, and one to her sister, Eleanor Harrington, in Hawk Valley. + +"Don't worry about accident. Am safe and well and shall reach Hawk +Valley to-night.--Jean" said the first message. The second Holt +worded for himself, for he had left the girl outside the station on +her horse. She had asked him to be sure and tell her sister that he +was with her so she would not worry, but the message he sent was: + +"Safe and well, and on my way to you with a friend who will look out +for me. Expect to reach Hawk Valley to-night.--Jean." + +Enquiry concerning the accident brought little information. The +wreck had been on the "other road" and the agent "hadn't heard much." +He "didn't know whether many lives were lost or not," and he "guessed +it was the engineer's fault, any how,--it usually was." + +They rode on their way in happy converse. Jean was led to tell of +her home life. Not that Holt questioned her, but she seemed to love +to talk of home, and picture her family, her friends, the church +where her father preached, the companions of her girlhood, the +serious school life and church work to which she had been devoting +herself; and, above all, he saw and wondered over the sweet +confidence that existed between this girl and her parents. A wistful +look came into his eyes as he thought what might have been his life +if someone had cared for him and trusted in him that way; or if he +had had a sister like this girl. + +Suddenly, in the middle of the afternoon the girl looked up and +asked: "Will your mother worry? Did you send her a telegram, too?" + +He looked at her half startled. + +"My mother?" he said in a strange, cold voice, "My mother never +worries about me. She isn't that kind. I doubt if she even knows +where I am these days. I've been west for a long time. Father died +and mother married again since I left home. I don't suppose she +would even hear of the accident. There's no one to care where I am." +There was a bitterness in the young voice and a hardness on the +handsome features that cast a pall over the beauty of the afternoon +for Jean. + +"Oh," she said, looking at him earnestly. "Oh, don't say that! I'm +sure some one cares." + +There were tears in her eyes. He looked so noble and good to her, +and her heart went out to him utterly in his loneliness. In that +moment she knew that she cared with all her heart; that she would +always care. It was strange and wonderful, but she felt she would +always _care_! + +He looked at her with wonder again and a yearning that he could not +hide. + +"I believe _you_ would care!" he exclaimed. + +She smiled through a sudden mist of tears. + +"Yes, I should care, I couldn't help it," she said, "You have done so +much for me you know, and I--_know_ you so well----" she hesitated, +"I don't see how anybody who belonged to you could help caring." Her +cheeks were rosy with the effort to say what she meant without +seeming unmaidenly. + +His brow darkened. + +"Belonged!" he said bitterly. "Belonged! Yes, that's it. I don't +belong! I don't belong anywhere!" + +His voice was so different and so harsh that it almost frightened +her. She watched him, half afraid as he brought his horse to a +sudden stop and looked about him. Then he changed the subject +abruptly: + +"This is a good place to camp for supper and rest," he said, as if he +had quite forgotten what they had been saying. + +He swung down from the saddle, hobbled his horse, and came around to +her side to help her alight; but stood a moment looking earnestly, +tenderly into her eyes, and she looked back at him trustingly, +wonderingly with the worshipful homage a woman's eyes can hold for +the man who has won her tenderest thoughts. She did not know she was +looking that way, bless you, no! She would have been filled with +confusion if she had known it. It was unconscious and the man knew +so and treasured her look the more for that. + +"I believe you do care, now," he said in a voice filled with a sort +of holy awe that made the girl's heart leap up and the color flame +into her cheeks. + +Then before she could answer or think to be embarrassed, he lifted +her reverently from the saddle and put her on the ground. + +He hobbled her horse, unstrapped the pack of provisions and went off +to gather up firewood, but when he returned she was sitting where he +put her under the tree, her face buried in her hands, her slender +form motionless. + +He stood for a moment and watched her, then came over and knelt down +beside her, and taking her hands gently from her face, looked into +the dewy depths of her sweet eyes and spoke: + +"Don't!" he pleaded gently. "Let's have supper now, and then we'll +talk it all out. Will you come and help me make a fire?" + +There was something in his strong, tender glance that helped her to +rise to his call. A lovely smile grew in her eyes. She let him help +her to her feet, and casting aside the reserved shyness that had +fallen over her like a misty veil, she ran here and there, gathering +sticks and helping to make the fire blaze; talking merrily about the +supper they were preparing just as she had done all day; but her +heart was in a tumult of wonder. + +Holt shot a couple of rabbits and put them to roast before the fire. +Jean set herself to toast the soggy corn bread and make it more +palatable. Their merry laughter rang out again and again as they +prepared their simple meal. They were like two children playing +house. No one looking on would have seen any difference in their +demeanor from what it had been all day. It was only when Holt was +out in the open, shooting rabbits, that he allowed the sadness and +gloom to settle down upon his young face. It was only when he was +away gathering more wood that Jean, left to watch the sputtering +rabbits, let the corn bread burn, while her face grew thoughtful, and +her eyes sweet with a tender light. + +It was when the supper was eaten and the fire flickering low in the +dying light of sunset that Holt came and sat down beside the girl, +and again a great silence fell between them. + +Holt had planned their home-coming to be in the dark. For the girl's +sake he would not have witnesses to their arrival. This +thoughtfulness sprang from finer feelings than the people of Hawk +Valley dreamed that he possessed. There remained but a little over +an hour's ride now to reach Hawk Valley, and Holt did not mean they +should get there before nine o'clock at the earliest. + +He sat gravely quiet, his strong hands folded across his raised +knees, his back against a tree, looking bravely, wistfully, off into +the distance. He seemed a great deal older, now, with that grave, +sad expression. Jean stole a glance at him now and then, as she +plucked at the vegetation about her, and wondered why this appalling +silence, which she seemed powerless to break, had so suddenly fallen +upon them. + +Then the man's voice broke the stillness in a low tense tone. +"There's something I must tell you." + +The very air seemed waiting to hear what he would say. The girl +scarcely breathed. + +"It wouldn't have been the square thing for me to tell you that I +loved you if I had been the only one that cared; but we've been +through all this together, and it's as if we had known each other for +years--and--_you care too_! I can see it in your eyes. I'm not +worthy of it--but you care--and it's up to me to help you stop it. +It would be an easier job, perhaps, if I were used to being trusted, +but it's an honest fact that you're the first respectable person that +has really trusted me since I can remember, and it comes hard----" + +His voice broke as if an alien sob had wandered into his bronzed +throat. A sob swelled in the girl's throat, too, and her little +briar-scratched hand stole out and just touched his arm reassuringly +with a feather glance of pressure, and withdrew as if to say: "I will +bear my part of this trouble, whatever it is--please don't suffer +more than your own part." + +He turned at that and the cloud on his face cleared and brightened +into a smile that seemed to enfold her in his glance of tenderness, +yet he lifted not a finger to touch her. + +"I love you! _How_ I love you!" he said, in a low, lingering tone, +as if the speaking of the words were exquisite joy that he knew was +fleeting and must be treasured. + +"I never knew there was a girl like you. I loved you at once as soon +as I saw you in the train--but I knew, of course, you were not for +me. I'm not fit for you--I'm not in your class at all--and I +wouldn't have dreamed of anything but worshipping you, even after +these days together--only you _care_! You trust me! That broke me +all up! I'd give anything in this world if I could keep that and +take it to the end and die with it--to remember that look in your +eyes when you said you trusted me--and thought I was good--and all. +If you weren't going right where they know all about me and will tell +you, I'd never have opened my lips, I'd have stolen this one little +bit of trust and kept it for my own; for down in my heart I know it +isn't wrong, I know you may trust me. I'd give my life to keep that +trust----" + +He was looking straight into her clear eyes as he talked and his own +eyes were clear and good, showing his strong, true spirit at its +best. The appeal in his voice suddenly went to the girl's heart. +With a growing uneasiness she had listened to his words, and she felt +that she could bear no more. The tears rushed to her eyes and she +put up her hands to cover her face. + +"Please. Tell me quick!" she breathed softly. + +Puzzled, thrilled with the wonder of her tears, and longing +inexpressibly to comfort her, he put out his hand awkwardly and laid +it on her bowed head bending over her as he might have done to a +child in trouble. + +"There's nothing for you to feel bad about." he said in a voice of +wonderful tenderness. "I'm bearing this circumstance. I just wanted +to be the one to tell you myself that I'm not what you think me. I'm +not bad, really, the way I might be, but I've not been good, and I'm +not a gentleman, not the kind you're used to. Nobody thinks I'm +worth anything at all. Your people hate me, and would think it a +good thing if somebody would kill me, I know. You see how it is that +I can't be like other men who love you. I cannot ask you to marry +me; for after you've heard what your family will say about me you +won't look at me yourself--and I don't blame you. It's all my own +fault, I suppose. I can see it now, though I never thought so till I +looked in your eyes on the train. If I had known a girl like you was +coming my way I'd have made things different--I'd have been +ready--but I didn't know. Nobody ever told me! And now it's too +late. I'm not worthy of you." + +He took his hand from her head and dropped back against the tree +again, a bitter expression on his face. + +"Oh, don't," she pleaded softly, quick to see his changing mood, +"Please don't look like that. Won't you tell me what you have done +that makes them all feel so about you?" + +There was silence for a moment between them while the twilight grew +luminous with the coming of a pale, young moon battling with the +dying ruby of the sun. So, in the holy of the evening he came to his +confession, face to face with his sins before the pure eyes of the +girl he loved. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +The stars were large and vivid above them, like tapers of tall angels +bent to light a soul's confession up to God. + +The beautiful silence that brooded over the plain was broken now and +again by distant calls of some wild creature, but that only +emphasized the stillness and the privacy of the night. + +The two whose souls were thus come so strangely and unexpectedly into +a common crisis of their lives sat awed and stricken before the +appalling irrevocableness of deeds that are past. + +Jasper Holt broke the silence at last: + +"I was never as bad as they thought I was." he said in a broken +voice, though there was no hint in it of attempting to discount his +blame. "They laid a lot of things at my door that I never thought of +doing--some things I would have scorned to do." His voice was +haughty now with pride. "I suppose it was my fault they thought I +did them. I _let_ them think so--I grew to glory in their thinking +so, and sometimes helped it on just for the pleasure of feeling that +they, through their injustice, were more in the wrong than I. I +suppose I had no right to do that. At least I see now that for--your +sake--I should have kept my record clear." He lifted his gray eyes +in the starlight to her face for one swift look and then went on: + +"It was none of their business what I did though, and my theory +always has been to do as I pleased so long as I lived up to my creed. +For I had a creed, a kind of religion, if you want to call it that. +Put into a single word, perhaps nine-tenths of my creed is +Independence. What people thought of me didn't come into my scheme +of life. I thought it a slavery to bow to public opinion, and +gloried in my freedom. It seemed a false principle without cause or +reason. You see I never reckoned on your coming. I thought I was +living my life just for myself. I can see now that underneath all +the falseness of the world's conventionalities there runs some good +reason, and there may be circumstances where some of the things they +insist upon are right--even necessary. This is one. I never +considered anything like this. I couldn't see any reason why I +should ever need to care what people thought of me, or to go out of +my way to make them think well of me. I always relied on something +else to get me what I wanted, and so far it has not failed. _They_ +will tell you that. They will let you know that I have not been +powerless because some men hated me--for though they have hated me +they have also feared me----" + +The girl turned her eyes, tear-filled, and full of amazement, to look +at him, studying the fine outline of features against the starlit +background of the sky. She could see the power in his face; power +with gentleness was what she had seen when she first looked at him; +but Hate! Fear! How could men so misjudge him? What was there +about him to fear? + +He read her thought. + +"You don't see how that could be," he said sadly. "I don't look that +way to you now. But wait till you hear them talk. You'll get +another view-point. You won't see me this way at all any more. +You'll see me with their eyes----" + +"_Don't!_" she said with a sob in her voice, putting up her hands as +if to defend herself from his words. + +"I shall not blame you," he said lending tenderly, eagerly toward +her. "It will not be your fault. It will be almost inevitable. You +belong with them and not with me, and you cannot help seeing me that +way when you get with them. It is a part of my miserable folly. It +is my punishment. I have no right to make you think I am better than +they believe. It will be easier for you to forget me if you believe +what they do----" + +"I will never believe what they do!" said the girl vehemently, "I +will never listen to their opinion! You may have sinned; you may +have done a lot of things that you ought not to have done--I am not +wise to judge those things--but you are _not bad_! _I know_ you are +not! And I know I can trust you! I shall always trust you no matter +what anybody says, no matter how things look! I _know_ you are good +and true! _I know you!_" + +She put out her hands piteously toward him and her delicate face was +lifted with determination and intensity. There was something +glorious in the sparkle of her eyes. He took her hands reverently. + +"You _dear_!" he breathed tenderly. "You wonderful woman!" + +She caught her breath and her hands trembled in his, but she sat up +proudly as if she were defying the world in his defence. + +"Now, tell me the rest," she said. "Tell it _all_! And then I shall +believe just what you tell me, nothing more! If they tell me other +things I shall know they are false. I shall not be afraid when you +tell me what you have done because you are here and I can look into +your eyes and know you are sorry; so tell me the worst. But you +needn't ever think I shall listen to them." + +So, with her soft small hands in his, and her eyes bright as the +stars above them, looking straight into his, he looked back as +straightforwardly and told her. All the foolishness, the +stubbornness, and independence. All the fight against convention and +law. His gambling and wild, rough living. His companioning with men +who were outlaws and sinners. His revolutionary methods of dealing +with those who did not do as he thought they ought, or who tried to +interfere with him. His summary punishment of those who stirred his +soul to wrath. He told it in low tones and grave, searching out each +confession of his heart as though he would make a clean sweep of it, +and lifting his eyes bravely each time to meet the pain he could not +help seeing in hers. It was his real judgment, his first sense of +shame and sorrow and repentance. + +And then when it was told he bowed his head in silence for a moment, +still holding her hands, as though there yet remained something more +to say. At last he spoke. + +"There's one thing," he said, and he lifted his head with a sigh. +"Yes--two things, I might say--that I suppose you'll be glad to hear. +I haven't been a drinking man! I doubt if many of your friends will +believe that, for I'm often in the saloons, and with men who drink. +I haven't noised it abroad that I don't drink, and only those who +have been with me a good deal and know my ways, understand it. I +simply don't drink because I don't want to. I saw what it did to men +when I first came out here. I knew I needed my brains for what I +wanted to do, and I didn't like the idea of surrendering them for a +few hours' carouse and putting myself even temporarily out of my own +control, so I just determined I wouldn't drink and I didn't. But +your brother and sister won't believe that. My reputation is +understood to be of the worst, and drinking is a matter of course +when one is hard and wild as they think I am. There's another thing, +too. I've kept away from women. Some of them hurt me too much when +I was a kid, and when I grew a little older, and so I decided against +them all. That's kept me clean. I can look you in the eyes and not +be ashamed. I didn't do it because I had any idea there would ever +be one like you in my world. I did it just because the kind of thing +that some men liked, turned me sick to think of. This is probably +another thing your people wouldn't believe. They've heard otherwise +of me. They've shouldered every crime in the calendar on me. And +perhaps they've had some reason from their standpoint. I haven't +always tried to make things look right. I didn't care. It wasn't +their business. There was a girl came to the Valley once with a +travelling show who was all in. She was down on her luck and just +about ready to give up and take her own life. I helped her out a +bit, paid for her at the hotel a few days till she got rested, and +sent her on her way to her father in Missouri; but you ought to have +heard the rumpus the town raised! That added to my savory +reputation, you see. Well, I'm no saint, but I've kept clean! +So--there you have the worst of me--and the best--but it's bad +enough. Your father wouldn't stand for me a minute, and I guess he's +right. I don't blame him. I blame myself. As for your sister! +Why, if Harrington knew I was out here alone with you he'd bring a +posse of men and shoot me on the spot for daring to bring you home. +He would. He feels just that way about me." + +"I shall change all that," said Jean with a thrill in her voice, "I +shall tell them how mistaken they have been in you. I shall tell +them that was only a kind of rough outside that you wore--a mask that +hid your inner feelings. I shall make them understand that they have +not known the real man you are at all." + +"You cannot do that, little girl," said the man, gently leaning +toward her. "It would be best for you not to try. I tell you you do +not know in the least what the feeling is against me-- + +"But you will help to show them, too," said Jean, wide-eyed with +sorrow. "You will not go on doing those things--those--well--the +things that made them feel you were not right----" She paused in a +confusion of words, not liking to voice a thought against him. "You +will not do so any more?" She pleaded wistfully like a child. "You +will make them see--for my sake if not for your own you will let them +see how wonderful you are! How fine you have been to me! You will +not let them go on thinking. _You will change it all?_" + +Her voice choked off in a sob and for a moment she dropped her +tear-wet face down upon his hands that held hers. The strong man +thrilled and trembled with her touch and it was then he felt the most +crucial moment of his punishment. + +He sat white and silent for a moment, longing to gather her into his +arms and comfort her, to crush her to him; but he would not. The +nobleness in him held her sacred because he knew he was unworthy. +Then he spoke in a low, grave tone, and his voice had a hollow, +hopeless sound. + +"I'll change, of course," he said. "I couldn't do otherwise. Did +you think I could go on that way after having known you? I never +could do any of the things again that I know you wouldn't like. I +couldn't, now that you've trusted me. I wouldn't _want_ to. You +have made everything seem different. If it'll please you any I'll +promise anything you like. But of course I know that doesn't matter +so far as our ever having each other is concerned. Nothing I can do +can make people forget what they think I am. They would never feel +differently. They would feel it a disgrace for you to speak to me. +They'd always think you'd gone to perdition if you had anything to do +with me. I'm not fit for you. I know it and there's an end of it, +but I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make myself what I ought +to have been, if that will comfort you any." + +The girl's hands clung now with almost a painful clasp, and tears +were dropping down her face. + +"Don't! _Don't!_" he pleaded earnestly. "Don't take it so. I'm not +worth it, really I'm not. You'll find it out when you get to your +sister's and hear her talk, and--_forget_--about this"--his voice +broke and he lifted his face, white with sudden realization of what +that would mean to him. "Oh, God! What a fool I have been!" The +words were wrung from the depths of his soul. + +Then the girl spoke, her voice calm with a suddenly-acquired strength. + +"Listen!" she said, and he wondered at her quietness. "_I shall +never forget_. _Never!_ Nothing that anybody can say will ever make +me think as they do of you. I _know_ you--and you have saved my +life." + +He stirred impatiently, and almost roughly tried to draw his hands +away. + +"Don't talk of gratitude," he said huskily. + +"No," she said firmly, taking his hands again and laying her own +within them as before. Then he accepted them as if they were a +sacred trust, folding his reverently about them. + +"I am not talking of gratitude," she said, and her voice was tense +with feeling. "You saved my life and I know what you are, and what +you have done for me. Nothing can ever change that, not even what +you have done in the past; and nobody can ever make me feel +differently about you. I know you, I trust you--I--_love--you_!" +Her voice was low and sweet as she said this and she did not lift her +eyes. The young man felt her fingers tremble within his own strong +grasp, and he looked down wonderingly at the slender wrists and +thrilled with holy awe at her words. It humbled him, shamed him, +with a pain that was a solemn joy, to hear her. And he had nothing +to say. What gracious influence had been at work in his behalf that +miracle so great should have been wrought in a pure girl's heart for +him; an outlaw--a careless, selfish, wild man who had hitherto lived +as he pleased, for himself, caring for nobody, nobody caring for him. +He had held his head high and gone his independent way. He had held +the creed that the whole world was against him, and his chief aim in +life should be to circumvent and annoy that world. Nothing good and +holy had ever come into his life before. Knowledge he had, and a +certain amount of worldly wisdom learned in a hard school, and well +learned; but love, care, tenderness, trust, had never been given to +him even in his babyhood. No wonder he was confounded at the sudden +treasure thrust upon him. + +"I am only a very young girl," Jean's voice went on. "I know you are +right that I must not do anything to distress my father and mother. +They love me very much and I love them. You and I can go our +separate ways if we must, but nobody can hinder me from trusting you. +It is right I should. I owe it to you for what you have done for +me--and my love I could not help giving you. I know you are going to +be right and true forever; I know you will not do those things any +more that have made people think you were not good--I know you will +always be just what I think you are now, won't you?" + +His voice was low and solemn, and his eyes held depths of sincerity +as he lifted them to her pleading ones and answered: + +"I promise you." + +"And I promise you that I will trust you always," she said, and thus +their covenant was made. + +For a long moment they sat with clasping hands, unaware of the beauty +of the evening, aware only of their own two startled, suffering +spirits, that had found and lost each other and learned the +consequences of sin. They did not seem to need words, for each knew +what was in the other's heart. + +He raised her at last to her feet and, bending low, whispered: + +"I thank you." + +He stood a moment hesitating, then gave her hands one quick pressure +again and turned away. + +"I was going to ask something," he said, "but I guess that isn't +square." + +And she stood pondering what it might have been. + +Silently he helped her on the pony and without words they rode away +into the moonlight. + +There were tears in the girl's eyes when she lifted them at last and +asked: + +"And won't I see you at all? Won't you ever come to the house?" + +There was a sound almost of tears in the man's voice as he answered: + +"I am afraid not." + +After that they talked softly in tones that people use when they are +about to go apart on a long journey and may not ever meet again. +Monosyllables, half-finished sentences, of which each knew the +beginning or the ending without the words. Large understanding, +quick pain, wistfulness, longing, a question now and then--this was +their conversation. + +They came at last to the brow of a hill where below them at a gentle +slope Hawk Valley lay, its lights twinkling among the velvety shadows +of the night. In the clear moonlight it seemed so near, so sudden, +as it lay just below them that Jean caught her breath in a cry that +was almost a sob. She knew without being told that the parting of +their ways had come. By common consent they checked their horses and +made them stand side by side. Holt put out his hand and laid it on +hers. + +"Don't!" he said huskily. "I won't disappoint you. No matter what +anybody tells you, always remember that. I won't disappoint you! +You needn't think I've forgotten or changed. I don't forget the only +good thing that ever came into my life. _You can trust me!_" + +"I know," she replied softly. "I know I can trust you. And I've +been thinking. There's no reason why you couldn't come to see me. I +don't care what anybody thinks. You saved my life! I'm not ashamed +of you. I have the right to ask you to call and to receive you. My +father would approve of that, I am sure." + +"You're wonderful!" he exclaimed intensely. "You're not like any +other girl I ever saw. But, it wouldn't do. Your father might stand +for it, but your brother-in-law never would. He hates me like +poison, not so much because of my reputation as because I've stood in +the way of some of his plans. He would kick me out like a dog if I +darkened his doors. You'll understand when you hear them talk. It +would be just as well if you didn't say anything about me. It won't +be necessary for them to know who brought you home; just say a man +who was on the train----" + +Jean straightened up in her saddle and grasped his hand. + +"Indeed I shall tell them who brought me out of death, and just what +I think of him. They shall know all that you have done for me. Do +you think I would keep still about it? I couldn't. It would be +disloyalty. It would be cowardly!" + +He watched her kindling face and flashing eyes in the moonlight and +hungrily stored the picture away in his memory. + +"Darling!" he breathed reverently, as if the words were drawn from +his lips in spite of all resolution. Then, raising his voice a +trifle, and lifting his head to the night sky: + +"I never knew a girl could be like this! What a fool I have been!" +The words ended almost in a groan, and for answer the girl drew +nearer to him and laid her other hand gently upon his. + +Lights flashed below them in the village and voices rose; a coarse +laugh rang out and a child's cry; some people talked in an open +doorway in another place and called good-night. Then a door slammed +and other lights twinkled: just the commonplace noises of life +jarring in to break a moment of tremendous import in the lives of +these two. The time had come to go down to their valley and they +knew it. With one lingering hand-clasp they started on down to the +village. + +Holt selected the shadowed ways and quieter approach to the +Harrington home, and the two rode silently until they came to the +house. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Holt checked the horses and, dismounting, stood beside Jean in the +shadow of a great tree by the roadside. Within ten feet of them the +light from a wide window streamed out upon the grass in front of a +pleasant house built in bungalow style, with broad porches and +vine-clad approaches. Hammocks and easy rockers were dimly visible, +with a brighter hint of glow and warmth inside the swaying curtains +of the window where a piano was sounding pleasantly, and a man and +woman were sitting on either side of a table under a prettily shaded +reading lamp. A boy's voice called down the stairs and the little +girl at the piano stopped playing and answered him; then tinkled on +with her music. + +All this the two under the tree saw and heard without sensing it. +They were looking into one another's eyes in the semi-darkness, +realizing that across that streak of light was separation for them, +perhaps forever; and that probably this instant here and now was all +that was left to them together out of the eternity of the future +years. + +Jean put her hands timidly on Holt's shoulders. "I've been thinking +what it was you wanted to ask of me," she said so softly that if one +had been passing it would have seemed but the breathing of the +evening air. She waited and Holt looked at her wistfully. + +"I have no right," he said. "It wouldn't be square." + +The girl's eyes looked steadily, shyly into his, though in the shadow +they could see more with the spirit than with the material vision. + +"Was it----" she stopped, her heart beating fast. "Was it--this?" + +She leaned forward and kissed him softly on the forehead just where +the soft curls waved away; and her lips were like a benediction, that +seemed to bring forgiveness and a purging away of the past. + +With bowed head as at a sacrament he stood, then softly said: + +"You have understood, and I thank you. I had no right to ask, but I +can never forget or be false to that." + +He stooped and laid his lips reverently on her hands; then lifted her +down quickly as if he could not bear to make the sorrow of the +parting longer; and together they went forward across the patch of +light, up the path and the wide low steps to the porch. + +Holt knocked once on the door, not loudly, but there was in the sound +a menace that made Jean shudder as she heard it. She reached out her +hand to his as if she would take shelter there from something that +was coming, that she could not quite understand. Holt pressed her +fingers quickly, tightly in a clasp that almost hurt her, and then +dropping her hand, stepped back into the shadow of the vines as the +tinkling piano stopped. There was a sound of footsteps coming to the +door, and of voices in expectation. + +The door was flung wide and in the stream of light Mr. and Mrs. +Harrington stood looking eagerly out into the darkness, with a little +girl of twelve in a white dress, peering shyly but curiously around +her mother and a boy of five struggling to get into the centre of the +family group. Jean stood alone in the light on the porch, with Holt +in the shadow at her side. + +"I have brought Miss Grayson," said Holt in a grave, almost +challenging tone, from his dark position just outside the stream of +light. + +But the people in the doorway whose eyes had come from the lighted +room saw only the figure of the girl standing in the brightness. + +"Oh, Jean! My little sister! You have come at last!" cried Mrs. +Harrington, rushing forward to clasp her in her arms, and draw her +inside the door; and in the confusion of the greetings the girl's +escort was quite forgotten for the moment. + +Within the doorway at last they looked about for him and found no one. + +"Why, who came with you, child? Where has he gone?" asked her +brother-in-law solicitously. "We must ask him in and hear all about +your adventures." He stepped out on the porch and looked down the +path in the moonlight, but saw no one anywhere. + +"Yes, please ask him in," pleaded Jean, her face illumined with +eagerness, "he has been so wonderful! He saved my life. If it +hadn't been for him I shouldn't have been here." And she hurried to +the door and peered out into the darkness. + +"Of course," said her sister, going to the door to look. "How +thoughtless of us not to have welcomed him at once, but we were so +overwhelmed to have you at last, after all the anxiety--you can't +think how terrible it has been. Which way could he have gone? +James, look down the road either way. He can't be far away. What +was his name, Jean? Can't you call after him?" + +"He must be over there." Jean pointed toward the great tree where +the horses had stood but a short moment before. "We dismounted just +under that tree. He can't have gone far with two horses--so +soon----" and she hurried across the grass to the tree, but there was +no sign of horse or man in the deep shadow or the serene moonlight +anywhere. + +"Call, James!" commanded Mrs. Harrington, and her husband obeyed, but +no answering call came back, save the echoes of his voice. + +"What did you say his name was, Jean?" asked the puzzled householder +walking slowly back to the steps. "It seems very strange he could +get away so soon. Where was he going? Did he live near here? We +ought to put him up for the night, of course. It's most mortifying +to have him disappear in this manner when he has been so good to you. +He must have gone to find rest and food for his horses and himself. +I'll send the servant out to look him up. He'll surely find him. +What did he look like? What did you say was his name?" + +Jean, slowly climbing the steps to the porch, and comprehending that +Holt's disappearance had been intentional, answered in a strange low +voice that tried to be natural: + +"Holt, his name was Holt, Jasper Holt----" her voice lingered on the +words as if she would glorify the man by merely speaking his name, +and elevate him in their eyes to the place he occupied in her heart. + +"Holt!" exclaimed her brother-in-law. "Holt! Not Jasper Holt! +Impossible! There must be some mistake." + +"It couldn't have been Jasper Holt, of course," said his wife quite +decidedly. "He isn't capable of saving anybody's life, much less a +relative of ours, Jean dear. It _must_ have been some one else. Are +you sure about the name?" + +"Quite sure!" said Jean composedly, though she felt her whole frame +trembling. + +"Perhaps it was his father," suggested Eleanor, looking at her +husband. "Have you ever heard that Jasper Holt had a father living, +James? How old a man was he, Jean?" + +"He was a young man, Eleanor, tall and handsome, and very brave and +strong." Jean's eyes were lifted to meet her sister's smiling doubt, +and her chin was raised with an attitude of defiance. + +"Listen, Eleanor, he was wonderful. I dropped from the window of the +burning sleeper into a river, and something struck me on the head +when I rose and tried to swim." + +"You poor, dear little girl!" interpolated Eleanor, reaching out +yearning arms to clasp her sister again, but Jean held her gently +back and went on with her eager tale. + +"He caught me and dragged me along, helping me as far as I could go, +and when I couldn't swim any longer he brought me a long distance +himself to land, and carried me a great ways through the woods. He +built a fire, dried his own coat, and put it over me while I slept. +He took care of me just as my own father might have done; found food, +water, and a house where we slept the first night; and where we got +horses. He has been splendid to me all day." + +"Well, he can't be our Jasper Holt, dearie--it's impossible. He +isn't a bit like that----" + +"Yes," said Jean, looking earnestly, bravely at her sister. "Yes, +Eleanor, it is your Jasper Holt. He told me you did not like him, +but I'm sure you don't know what he really is--or you couldn't, you +_couldn't_ possibly think ill of him. Oh, Eleanor!----" and suddenly +Jean's courage gave way in a flood of tears and she threw herself in +her sister's arms. + +"You poor, dear little girl! You are all worn out and we are letting +you stand here and talk when you ought to be in bed this minute," +exclaimed her sister, folding her in loving arms. "Never mind now, +dear, you just forget it till to-morrow. It was an awful experience +for you to go through all alone with a strange man, and you need a +lot of rest before you can tell us about it. Come now, James will +send the man out to hunt for your escort and you needn't worry any +more. We shall find out there is some mistake, I'm sure the Jasper +Holt we know would never turn out of his way to save anybody's +life--he'd much rather kill someone--unless he had some evil purpose +in it. It's possibly someone who has used his name for fun or +something. Come now, Jean dear, take off your hat. Why, child, +where did you get this ridiculous rig you have on? It's good it +wasn't daylight when you arrived. It was thoughtful of your escort +to bring you in the dark. Your trunk arrived yesterday. Come up to +your room and wash while I have your supper put on the table. I've +kept it nice and hot for I knew you would be hungry." + +Jean suddenly lifted up her head and wiped the tears away. + +"I'd like to tell you just a little first, if you please," she said. +"It's no use whatever for you to send out to find Mr. Holt. He will +not come back, I am sure. I suppose he meant to slip away. He told +me before he got here that you would not want him. He did not want +me to mention him at all, but I had to tell you how fine he has been." + +Mrs. Harrington and her husband stood looking at one another aghast; +while Jean, her hair dishevelled, her sweet face glowing with +eagerness, sketched most briefly but forcibly the peril through which +she had come and the faithfulness and care of her protector. More +than one glance of incredulity passed between husband and wife as the +girl went on with her story; and yet, as she came to her final +sentences, they perceived that her protector and savior must have +been the Jasper Holt they knew and despised. + +"I guess it was Holt all right!" said Harrington, with an ominous +frown, "and he did well to disappear like the coward that he is. He +knew he was not wanted around here!" + +"Coward?" exclaimed Jean, "coward! Jasper Holt is no coward! You do +not know him!" Her eyes were flashing fire; her whole slender body +tense with indignation. + +Eleanor looked alarmedly at her husband, but tried to smile +pacifically at her sister. "Never mind to-night, dear," she said +soothingly, "he's evidently appeared to you as an angel of light. He +is handsome, I must admit--in a kind of a dashing, dreadful way--and +of course any one who saved you and was kind to you would be under a +kind of glamour just now. I'm sure we're grateful to him for not +letting you drown. It's quite the unexpected; but really, when it +comes to bringing you home, you're quite attractive, you know; and +I've no doubt he thought it would be pleasant to have a little +flirtation with a pretty girl. Besides, I think he rather enjoyed +putting James under an obligation to him. I'm sure I hope he will +know enough not to presume upon this for further acquaintance. He +has been most unpleasant, not to say criminal, in a business +way,--but never mind now, Jean, we'll talk about it more tomorrow. +Wait until you hear what everybody says about him and then you will +see we are not prejudiced. We don't blame you for being grateful. +Be as grateful as you like--but _don't have anything more to do with +him_! Come now, this is the way to your room. Let me help you +unfasten this ridiculous frock. Where did you say you got it? I +know you never had this in your wardrobe when you started from home +and mother----" + +Mrs. Harrington chattered on, giving the girl time to recover her +calmness, for she saw that she was terribly excited; and Jean choked +back the hot tears that welled to her eyes, and the words of protest +against the injustice to Holt, and went about her toilet. + +In a few minutes more she had made a hasty toilet and, attired in one +of her own cool little muslins, she was seated in the dining-room +with an admiring audience about her asking questions about home, the +journey and the cousins she had visited on the way. The children +hung about her eagerly, patting her shyly, and watching her every +move with shining eyes. Almost, for a few minutes, the girl forgot +the perils through which she had passed, and the lover of whom she +must not speak. + +When supper was finished the children were sent to bed, and Jean +suddenly remembered the leather case she had been charged to convey +to her brother-in-law. + +"Oh, James," she said, "I've a package for you; 'very important +papers' the queer old man who gave it to me said they were. He was +going to get off at the next station, he said--he had been +telegraphed for, or something--and he heard me tell the conductor +that you had telegraphed for a berth for me, so he asked if I would +give you these papers at once. If he knows about the accident, he's +worrying about his precious bundle by this time, I suspect. Wait, +I'll get it. It's upstairs in my bag." + +Jean hurried up to her room and had a little difficulty in finding +the bag which she finally discovered under a trunk tray. The sight +of the little wax paper cups and her own little damp wad of a +handkerchief she and Holt had both used for a towel that afternoon +when they washed their hands at a spring, struck a pang to her heart. +The dampness and stuffed condition of the bag made it difficult to +get the bundle out, and giving it an impatient jerk she turned the +whole thing upside down on the little table that stood by the +bedside. The bundle rolled to the floor, opening as it fell, for the +edges of the leather case had loosened with the wetting they had +received, and let out the papers that it held. Jean stooped wearily +and gathered them up with a gingerly touch, remembering the uncouth +old man who had given it to her, and was rather surprised that the +papers themselves looked clean and were evenly folded. She hurried +down to the bright living-room, holding them out to Mr. Harrington, +and was startled at the look on his face as he saw what she gave him. + +"You needn't be afraid, it's not a ghost," she laughed as she put the +damp package in his hand. "It's rather dilapidated, but it's all +there. I did the best I could with it, but it was submerged for a +long time, and I had no opportunity to dry it." + +Harrington said nothing, but his face turned suddenly white and his +hand shook as he turned back the limp leather and looked at the +folded papers inside. She saw by his expression that he knew what it +was. + +"Are they so very important?" she asked. + +"Pretty important," he said briefly, opening the papers one at a time +and half turning away from her as if he did not wish her to see them. + +"I'm glad I saved them, then," she said fervently. "I came near +throwing them away when I dropped out of that window. The old man +was so dirty I couldn't bear to have anything he had handled. Well, +good-night." + +She turned away, feeling that he wished to be alone with the papers, +but he looked up and called her back. + +"Wait, Jean. What kind of a looking man was it who gave them to you?" + +She told him in detail. + +"Did you let anyone see this case?" he asked sharply. + +"No," said Jean, and then remembered. "Well, not exactly. It fell +out of my bag once and the paper I had wrapped it in fell off, but +there was no one by but Mr. Holt and he didn't notice it in the +least." + +"Are you sure?" questioned her brother, his face white, his +expression growing tense with anxiety. "How near was he?" + +"He was standing close by, not three feet away, and he stooped and +picked up the case and handed it back to me without saying a word," +said Jean, a hint almost of indignation in her tone that warned her +brother he had gone far enough in his inquiries. + +"Well, never mind," he said, turning away. "It's all right, of +course. They are very important; papers relating to some business my +company is carrying on, and Holt has been making a good deal of +trouble for us. I would rather he didn't know about them." + +Jean was vexed, she scarcely knew why, and stood for an instant +hesitating. Should she say more or go immediately upstairs? It was +very strange for James to act that way, as if it were her fault. And +it was most unreasonable and unjust for him to feel that way about +Jasper Holt. Her soul revolted against it. + +Harrington looked up, annoyed, as if he would be rid of the girl; and +then, realizing the look of wonder on her face, he tried to control +his expression and smile. + +"Well, good-night, Jean. Don't let this trouble you. I'm deeply +grateful that you were so faithful as to guard the papers through all +your experiences. Rest well and don't think any more about it." + +So dismissed, the girl turned slowly and mounted the stairs, but as +she glanced back she saw him fluttering the papers over as if he were +counting them two or three times. As she reached the landing she +heard him summon a servant and send him in hot haste for someone +named "Garrett." + +"Tell him he must come at once, it is important, urgent business," +was the message sent. Then she closed her door and went about her +preparations for the night, but her mind was strangely disturbed. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Eleanor Harrington came presently to the door and tapped. + +"You're not asleep yet, are you, Jean?" she called. "James just +wanted me to ask if there was any possibility that some of those +papers were lost on the way? Did they fall or did anything happen +where one might have slipped out? He thinks that two most important +ones are missing." + +"Not while they were in my possession, Eleanor," said Jean +positively, feeling a return of her annoyance at her brother's +manner. She opened the door and stood framed in the doorway, looking +adorable in her little, pale blue kimono, with her hair tumbling +about her shoulders. The elder sister fell on her neck and kissed +her affectionately. + +"You poor little girl, how tired you look. Get to bed quickly. It +was a shame to trouble you any more about those horrid papers. +There, good-night, dear! This is positively my last appearance," and +she closed the door and went downstairs. + +Five minutes later Jean turned to put out the light and saw, lying on +the floor on the farther side of the little bed-stand, a slip of +paper folded once across, and about the size of the wallet which she +had given her brother-in-law. She pounced upon it and took it nearer +the light. It looked more like an old letter that might have slipped +from her trunk tray than a business paper. + +As she opened the paper the name of Jasper Holt caught her eye, and +her interest was at once enlisted. How came a paper bearing that +name in the guest chamber of her brother's house? It could not +possibly have come through her. Nothing of his could have caught in +her garments, there was no place for anything to catch, and no way +that his possessions could get into her bag. It could not, of +course, be the missing paper from the wallet, since it bore his hated +name. Yet, her brother had spoken of disagreeable business +relations. Would this paper, perhaps, by any chance, explain to her +the animosity that had sprung up between the two men? She felt she +had the right to know. She glanced quickly down the page. + +It was a simple contract, the grant of certain water rights to Jasper +Holt in consideration of payment received, and to the veriest child +who could read at all it would be patent that the paper must be the +private property of Jasper Holt himself. How came it here in the +house of his enemy? + +She read the few lines over many times, until she knew them +thoroughly; and slowly there grew in her heart a conviction that +something was wrong somewhere. Her first impulse, to call her sister +and consult her, she could not bring herself to follow. It seemed, +somehow, that here was something she must think out for herself. + +However and whatever her brother and sister felt, _she_ owed a +loyalty to Jasper Holt. She might not do a wrong, even +inadvertently, to him who had saved her life and cared for her so +tenderly. If he were here she would unquestioningly have put the +paper into his hands and asked him what to do about it. She had +promised to trust him, and she felt such great confidence in him, +from what she already knew about him, that she was convinced he would +send the paper back to Harrington if it belonged to the latter. + +But Holt was not here, and the problem of the future was still +shrouded in difficulty. Would she ever see him to consult? Was +this, perhaps, one of the missing papers James wanted, and why did +she not trust James to give it back to Holt as quickly as she would +have trusted Holt to give it to James? The question brought a look +of trouble to her brow, and a flush to her cheek. Did she distrust +her brother-in-law just a little bit? Had she always done so without +knowing it? Or was it just a prejudice because he seemed not quite +so fine in his nature as her beloved sister? Besides, James was +prejudiced against Holt. It might be hard for him to be generous and +true under those circumstances. Yet her heart rebuked her for the +thought. + +She stood uncertainly holding the bit of paper for a long time and +finally put out the light and went and sat by the open window, trying +to clear her mental vision and understand what she ought to do. + +Out on the lawn the shadows were dark under the great tree where she +and Jasper Holt had said good-bye. She thrilled again as she +remembered. + +The stars were clear and friendly as though they, too, remembered. +The long stream of light still marked the divide between the shadows +and the path to the house, for the lamps were burning brightly +downstairs, though all seemed quiet. Jean had heard Eleanor come +upstairs again, and tiptoe softly by her door as if fearing to wake +her. She felt almost guilty, sitting there in the dark awake. + +The pillows were soft in the great willow, cushioned chair she +occupied, and the air was sweet that came in from the plains and +sifted through the lacy shadow-work of vines. The day had been long +and full of excitement, and the kindly night wrapped softly about the +young sweet thing sitting with an angel's problem to decide. With +the paper still held tightly in her hand, her head drooped back +against the chair and she was asleep. + +It might have been an hour later that she awoke, the gruff voice of a +man startling her into consciousness once more: + +"That you, Jim? What's the matter? It's fierce when one's having +the time of his life to have to turn and run at a moment's call. +What's up? Something pretty stiff or you never would have sent that +message. If I find it's any nonsense and squeamishness I'll----" + +"Sh----" + +The voice suddenly changed into a gruff whisper. Jean was +sufficiently awake to realize that the man Harrington had sent for +was come. Then she addressed herself to her problem again, and the +voices in low mumble, gradually rising to distinguishable sentences +now and then, continued under her window. + +She was not conscious of hearing them until suddenly she was startled +into sharp attention by a name. + +"I tell you if Jasper Holt gets onto this in time it will mean +State's prison at least for us. It looks bad." It was Harrington's +voice that spoke. + +"I don't see it that way," said the stranger. "Holt hasn't got onto +it, and Holt won't get onto it. You say the girl said he handed her +back the wallet and never said a word. Don't you know Holt would +never have let his own valuable private papers out of his hand if he +had suspected in the least that he held them? You know Holt better +than that. Ten to one he was so taken with the girl that he never +noticed the wallet; and why would he think she had his wallet, +anyway? I think it was pretty rare of old man Scathlin to think of +giving the papers to her. It threw Holt entirely off the track for +good. Now, what we want to do is to get hold of Blount. He's the +whole show up there in New York, anyway. I'll just wire him to come +on at once and talk it over, and we'll get to work and cut off the +water supply while little Jasper's training his roses and wondering +what has become of his perfectly good deeds to his perfectly good +silver mine." + +"But one of the missing papers is the grant of water rights. If that +were here we might talk----" + +Jean sat up suddenly with bated breath, and her arm hit against the +hairbrush which, in her excitement of preparing for bed, she had laid +down upon the window sill. The hairbrush fell with a sharp noise on +the polished floor just over the edge of the rug, and the two men in +the vine-draped porch below started fiercely and looked up, the +stranger with an oath. + +"What's that?" + +"Oh, nothing, I guess," said Harrington, his own voice a trifle +strained. "Probably my wife has gone in to tuck up the baby and +dropped something---- Oh, you needn't worry, my sister-in-law is +fast asleep hours ago. Her light went out just after I came out here +to watch for you, and there hasn't been a sound overhead since. She +was worn to a frazzle." + +"Where is her room. This window up here?" + +"No, just next, but she's asleep, I'm sure." + +Harrington rose and stepping off the porch, walked out on the lawn in +the edge of shadow next the path and looked up. Jean, huddled back +against her great window-chair, her face white with excitement, could +see his attitude as he surveyed the windows and then reassured came +back to the porch. + +"It's all right," he said in a low tone, "but maybe we had better go +to the other end of the porch. I was afraid of waking the baby over +there, and the rascal is a difficult problem when he wakes in the +night." + +"Well, talk lower anyway," said the stranger. "What did you say the +other missing paper was? You have the list of them all, haven't you?" + +"Yes, copies. I wish we'd sent the copies instead of the originals, +only Scathlin's story about finding them wouldn't have worked then. +The other lost paper is the claim, with the location of the ore--most +important. Strange that those two, the ones on which the others all +hinge, are gone! I can't understand. Do you suppose Scathlin has +something up his sleeve? Maybe he kept only those two and means to +get these later--but what object could he have had?" + +There was silence for a moment while the two men thought. + +At last Garrett spoke: + +"What do you suppose Holt was doing on that train--the same train +with Scathlin? Holt didn't leave home till Scathlin had been on his +way nearly two days. When was the last we heard from Scathlin?" + +"Pittsburgh. A telegram. He'd just arrived," answered Harrington +glumly. + +"What day was that? Could Holt have reached Pittsburgh before +Scathlin got away? He's sharp you know. Have you got the telegram?" + +"It's inside," said Harrington. "Just step in." And the two men +went into the house. Jean could hear their low, troubled voices, +rumbling on, but she could not hear any more words, and she sat +shivering over what she had heard. + +Scathlin! Scathlin! Why was that word so familiar? Scathlin! Ah! +She had heard it from the lips of Holt himself, before she went into +the sleeper. It was what he had called the old man. + +Was this wrong, this involuntary eavesdropping? She had not meant to +listen, had never thought there might be anything said that she would +understand, or that they would care if she did hear, until the whole +revelation was in her possession; and then she was too much +frightened to stir or think what she ought to do. Was it not right, +perhaps, that she should have heard; and, yet, what could she do? It +was all too evident that Jasper Holt was about to be cheated in some +way. That remark about his private papers was unmistakable. And the +little paper in her hand that had to do with water rights was his +also. Water rights were sacred things in the west, and most +important. The losing of them had often been the cause of the +sweeping away of whole fortunes she knew; and the little bit of paper +that proved his right was in her trembling hand to bestow where she +would! It was plain that if she should go down now and give it to +those two men she would be most welcome; but she was sure that it +would not be right for them to have it. They had admitted enough to +make her feel that there was some plot against Holt; and suddenly all +her latent dislike of her brother-in-law, which had been lying +dormant through the years because there was nothing to rouse it, +sprang into being. Her decision was made. She must somehow get that +paper to Jasper Holt, and that just as soon as possible. She must +not let her brother know that she had it. If she were mistaken about +this, Jasper Holt would be true and tell her so and return the paper. +She felt as sure of him as if she had known him all her life. But +there _could_ be no mistake. It _must_ be his. The men had +practically owned it! + +It made her shiver with cold to think how dreadful all this was. +Brought up to strictest integrity, it seemed terrible that one in +their own family should swerve from it; there must be some other +explanation to the talk she had heard. Things in the business world +were queer, and a lot of shady things were done under the name of +righteousness. She had heard her father talk about "graft"; maybe it +was something like that. Maybe James thought he was doing good +service to cut Jasper Holt out of his water right somehow; and maybe, +in some strange unexplainable way, he was justified. And yet--what +did they mean about the location of the silver mine? Oh, it was too +much for her! If she had never known and loved Jasper Holt, and +trusted him, she would have gone down and put the whole thing in +James's hands and gone to bed thinking nothing further about it. But +now her whole soul was roused to do the right thing toward her lover, +who, she saw, was under the ban, and who seemed to her to be in the +right in this case at least. + +It occurred to her how easily she might wash her hands of the whole +matter by dropping that bit of paper out of her window and letting it +be found or not; as the case might be. How easy to live sometimes if +one had no conscience to reckon with--and no heart! + +It seemed a long time that she sat trembling by the open window, +afraid to stir lest the men downstairs should hear her move; unable +to think connectedly and decide what she ought to do. But at last +the two men came out on the piazza, again, the guest apparently about +to take his leave. His voice had lost its easy assurance. + +"It looks bad!" he said, "very bad! It looks as if Scathlin had +bungled things. If Holt suspects we have anything to do with it, +why, our fish is dished. I guess there's nothing else to do but send +him back those papers, saying that a stranger put them into your +sister's hands to bring to you, and you know nothing about them, but +seeing his name among them you suppose they must be his. You could +add a word about being grateful for his care of the girl or something +of the sort to make it look natural." + +"But that throws all the responsibility on me," said Harrington +angrily. "And it looks mighty funny to have those two important +papers gone. These are no use to anybody without those----" + +"Of course, but you're not supposed to know that, and he can't do +anything but bluster. Anyhow, as far as I see, it's your only +chance, and you'll have to do it mighty quick or that won't do any +good. I wouldn't keep them a day----" + +"I shall do nothing of the kind," snarled Harrington. "I would +rather destroy them than play into his hand that way. I'm not in a +position to throw suspicion on myself in that style." + +"Do as you please," said the guest scornfully. "That's my advice. I +wash my hands of it. If you want to hang on to a lost cause for the +sake of pride you'll have to do it without me. I know when to quit." + +"But suppose Scathlin returns in a few days with Blount." + +"Scathlin won't return with Blount. You can take my word for that. +Either Scathlin's dead or he's sold those other two papers to Holt +and given away our secrets into the bargain. You may depend on it, +if Scathlin was all right he'd have telegraphed at intervals as he +was ordered. There's some reason why he quit telegraphing at +Pittsburgh." + +Garrett departed noisily, and after a few minutes pacing up and down +the piazza Harrington went in, put out the lights and went upstairs. + +Jean crept softly into bed, still grasping the paper close to her +breast; and weary, troubled, bewildered, she soon fell fast asleep. + +Later, when the moon had died and only the luminous mist in the East +proclaimed the dawn at hand, a rider came quietly down the road, his +horse stepping as if with padded feet, and stopped before the house. + +The rider dismounted silently in the darkness and with noiseless +tread came and laid something down in the dewy silence at the door. +Then mounted and slipped away into the darkness again. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Down the long silent road beyond the sleeping town the rider passed, +out to the plains. His horse knew the trail well, was rested and +glad to be used. He stepped away into the gray dawning carrying his +beloved master with willing feet. There was no need to hurry him. +He seemed to know as if by instinct just how fast to travel to arrive +at the Junction in time for the early morning train. It was not the +first time he had journeyed thus at that hour. + +The rider sat his horse as one who had entered upon a long quest +which may not end this side the other world. There was weariness in +his attitude, and profound thoughtfulness, with steady determination +to pursue his way to the end. + +Now and then he bent his head and laid his lips on the cool fragrance +of a great, dim bud stuck carelessly into his buttonhole, its branch +and thorns and leaves still attached as if it might have been plucked +from the vine by hasty impulse. Later, when the day came up and +houses were in sight, he tore it from its stem and wrapped it quickly +in his handkerchief to hide away in his pocket. + +The stars were paling when he started. They slipped one by one +silently into the oblivion of a background of light as he rode, but +before they left him they spoke many things to his sad, determined +soul. Sometimes it almost seemed to him that a girl rode at his side +and understood his thoughts. + +His thoughts were as one would go with lighted lamp and eyes suddenly +awake to see, through the long unvisited chambers of his soul, and +find with startled senses the dirt and cobwebs and musty, dusty +corners, cluttered with moth-eaten garments of a dead past; and, +searching closer in dark crannies, find the bones of dead things that +should have lived but for the unwatchful keeper of that house. + +The young face lost its boyishness and grew grave and haggard with +suffering. Then he laid his lips on the cool flower petals and heard +again the voice of the girl like music in his soul: "I will trust you +always, no matter what anybody says!" and it thrilled him and gave +him courage, so that when morning burst upon the plain and he came in +sight of the straggling houses surrounding the Junction, he lifted up +his face to the golden morning sky and breathed aloud solemnly the +words: + +"Oh God! Help me to keep my vow to her, always, even to the end of +life! Help me to be what she believes me to be! Help me to be +worthy of her trust!" + +With these words upon his lips and the memory of her kiss upon his +brow he went forward into the new day and the new life that was +before him. This duty that was his to-day was by no means a pleasant +one, and it might be long and hard, but he must do it in a different +way from that which he would have done it three days before, for +to-day he was a different creature. He had seen himself as he was +before God, and henceforth all things were become new. + +He was in time to make all his arrangements to leave the horse before +the train arrived. He had chosen to travel across country to the +Junction rather than to take the train at his home station, partly to +avoid publicity, and partly to save time, for there was no train from +Hawk Valley early enough to connect with this Eastern Express which +stopped at the Junction. Passengers from Hawk Valley wishing to +catch this train would be forced to leave the evening before and put +up at the Junction tavern, a most unpleasant experience for any +traveller. Jasper Holt preferred travelling on horseback at all +times to riding on the railroad, and besides, every minute counted +now in the errand he was on his way to perform. + +All the morning while the train glided over the level plain he was +going over his recent experience; going back to the moment when the +girl entered upon his vision and looked at him with that clear, +direct gaze that trusted him; thinking over every detail of his +finding her in the darkness and peril; the miracle that he and not +some other should have found and saved her; recalling every incident +of the beautiful, wearisome way by which they had gone home together; +and the wonder of the girl's faith in him, her love for him--his love +for her. + +Any one watching the absorbed, silent man sitting alone, his head +dropped back against the seat, his hat drawn down over his eyes, the +lines of gravity deep upon brow and lip and chin, would have judged +him for a much older man than he was, so maturing had life thus far +been to him. + +And now, the task that was before him was to find Scathlin--if, +indeed, he were still in the land of the living--or some evidence +that he was dead; and to know beyond a question of doubt what had +become of those papers, and just how far Harrington had been +responsible for the theft. + +He loathed his task, yet felt compelled by some inner urging to +finish it. Almost his soul revolted to the extent of giving up the +case and letting his enemies triumph over him. What to him now was +his silver mine, since he had found her--and lost her forever? Why +not let his property go and leave Hawk Valley forever, where his +reputation had undone him in his greatest opportunity? Why not go to +some new land where he was unknown and begin all over again? + +But his soul was too strong and true for that. He must face his +mistakes in the place where he had made them and undo, if might be, +some of the harm he had done. He had to do this whether he would or +no. It was right that he should find his papers and make good his +claim. It was a part of the true living he had set himself from this +time forth. He had promised to let people see that he was +trustworthy and this was the first step. If Harrington and his men +got their way he would be branded as a thief and a liar again and the +old reputation only fixed the firmer. + +It was toward evening when they passed the scene of the late disaster +and the long rays of the sun rested over the river and valley where +peril and death had brooded. A temporary way had been made for the +tracks, all signs of death and disaster swept hastily out of sight by +the wrecking train, and the tide of travel was already rolling calmly +on again. A swarm of workmen, like ants carrying grains of sand over +a wall, were at work on the broken bridge, and the passing traveller +looked cheerfully across and got no hint of fire and fear and sudden +death. Even the trainmen had had their orders and answered gruffly, +in brief sentences, when questioned about the wreck, turning it off +lightly as a small thing, until they heard that here was one of the +almost victims of the accident. Then they looked sharply a second +time and stole back to talk in low tones with guarded sentences about +where the blame should lie. But no one knew much about the details, +after all. The conductor reluctantly admitted that the victims, +those who had been saved, had been taken to the nearest city and +distributed among the hospitals. That was all. He implied that +there were many victims who had not even that comfort. + +So, on to the nearest city went Jasper Holt, arriving shortly after +sundown, and began his search among the hospitals at once, after +having visited the railroad office and got all the information they +could give him. + +Three days and two nights Jasper Holt searched, in hospitals and +morgue, and even private homes. Wherever he could learn of a person +who had been through the accident he went to see if they knew any +clue to the man he sought, but not a hint did he find. + +It was entirely reasonable to suppose that Scathlin had lost his life +in the fire or the river, and to feel that further search was +unnecessary. But Jasper Holt, standing at the window of his hotel +room and looking out on the busy streets of that Western city toward +evening of the third day, could not feel it so. More and more it +became necessary to find that man, or be sure of his death. The +three days of visiting hospitals and viewing suffering and death had +graven the sad lines even deeper in his fine, strong face. It began +to seem now to him that he might even have a duty toward that +loathsome creature Scathlin, though heaven knows why any such thought +should have entered his head, seeing he was the injured, not the +injuring. But the more he thought about it the more he felt that he +must search further. + +To look any longer in the city was absurd. He had already covered +every clue that he had found, and the railroad authorities were +beginning to grow weary of this assiduous young man with the firm jaw +and the blue-gray eyes of steel who steadily demanded the missing +man. They offered to send him back to the scene of the accident with +a man to help him, and authority to get assistance from their workmen +to search the river and vicinity. This offer Jasper finally accepted +and the next morning was on his way back. + +The last time Holt had seen Scathlin he had not really seen him at +all, he had merely sensed his presence in the darkness. + +They had both been sleeping--Scathlin with the relaxation of one who +no longer needs to be on the alert, Holt with half his senses on +guard--when the crash came. Splintering glass and a rush of cold air +brought Holt clearly to himself. The car had been turned on end and +was sinking, sinking down with creak and groan; and the two men were +thrown together for a moment into the aisle, clinging to the arms of +the seats. Holt had heard the terrible oaths with which Scathlin was +wont to embroider his speech even on calmer occasions. They sounded +now like a challenge to the Almighty. The younger man had reached +out a hand in the darkness to strike the other, and had uttered a +single sentence "Cut that out!" but the profanity continued, and +Scathlin had struck him a blow blindly across his eyes which +bewildered him for a second and made the confusion more black and +terrible. Then he had been aware that Scathlin was scrambling up +over the arm of the seat to the window, and was about climbing out. +The red glow from outside flared up and showed Scathlin's bulk +against the night, his head and shoulders already out the window, the +stream of oaths not so distinct now because they were flung to the +outdoor world. + +It was then that he realized that Scathlin was escaping from him and +he must not let him get away. Even in such a situation he remembered +his long quest, and pulling himself up by main force, caught Scathlin +by the foot. Suddenly he remembered the curious actions of Scathlin +the day before, and his fumbling with his shoe-strings afterwards. +The shoe Holt held in his firm grip was laced and tied in a hard +knot, but Holt's knife was ready and he cut the string in several +places. Scathlin did not stay for shoes. He left his footgear +readily in his pursuer's hands and made good his escape, but Holt, +forgetful of his peril for the moment, searched in the shoe and found +a folded paper. + +It was too dark to tell if the paper were one of those he sought. He +put it safely in his pocketbook for further investigation, felt in +the shoe carefully once more to make sure there was not another, and +then climbed out of the window after Scathlin. But when he dropped +into the melee below he could not see Scathlin anywhere. There were +some rocks far below, and down there he had thought he saw a white +face as he first looked from the window before he leaped, when the +fire broke out with a flare. But after he had dropped and found +himself in the water he could not quite locate the rocks again, and +while he was searching he saw another victim drop and sink and rise +again, and he went to her rescue. So had Scathlin had his wish and +escaped from the train before they reached the region of Hawk Valley. + +Holt and his assistant searched the scene of the wreck until the +young man was convinced that further search there was useless, and +sent the man back to the city. Then he dropped down to the river +bank and talked with one or two men on the wrecking crew while they +were waiting for the construction train to come and bear them back to +their camp, and here for the first time he got a clue. They had +found a man down on the rocks with a broken leg a whole day after the +others had been taken to the city hospital. Some bushes had hid him +and no one had noticed him till they heard him groaning and cursing. +A man who said he had a shack "up a piece" had taken him in his +wagon. He had promised to get a doctor and fix the man up. The man +himself had begged them to shoot him. He was almost out of his head +with suffering. Their vague description tallied with Scathlin's +rough appearance and Holt became convinced he had found his man. + +Making the best he could out of their indefinite directions, for they +really had not much idea of the locality of that shack themselves, +Holt started off in search. + +He found Scathlin before nightfall that same day, lying alone and +moaning with pain and fever in the deserted shack. The householder +had gone away at dawn on business, promising a speedy return, but had +not come back, and Scathlin, his broken bone set rudely by an +unskilled hand, lay suffering torments. When Holt pushed the door +open and looked in he started up with a yell, his eyes protruding in +fear. He thought that Holt was dead in the fire of the wreck, and +this was his spirit come to demand account. + +It was only when Holt laid his cool hand on the dirty, crusted brow +and spoke in his quiet voice of command, that Scathlin settled back, +the terror still in his eyes, and consented to be still. He began +gradually to realize that Holt was there in the flesh, and that not +for retribution either. He had not succeeded in escaping his captor. +He never could do that. But his captor would not be a tormentor. +That was plain. He had heard that Holt was "square" with his men, +but had never believed it. Now he had opportunity to judge for +himself. And so cunning and contemptible was the creature that when +he was once assured of the fact that Holt would not strike him when +he was down, he at once set about to take advantage of it. It was as +if he had found a spot of honor wherein Holt was vulnerable, and +there upon his bed of pain, in his loathsome helplessness, with no +one to relieve him but Holt, he attacked that one pregnable spot of +Holt's fortress. Day and night he moaned and fretted. Hour after +hour he demanded this and that, whining like a baby and cursing like +a demon by turns. + +The householder did not return. It is possible that something ill +befell him in that lonely plain over which he journeyed skirting the +desert; it is probable that he had had enough of Scathlin's +complaints and was glad to escape from his unwelcome guest. However +it was; Holt was there alone with him for many days, nursing him as +tenderly as a woman might have done; bearing with his varying moods; +washing him, feeding him, cooling his hot forehead. Only once did +Scathlin lapse from his role of pampered patient and beg with terror +and abject humility in his eyes and voice, and that was the day when +Holt declared his intention of going after a doctor. Scathlin was +sure that Holt meant to desert him, and he cried like a baby, swore +like a mad man, and then pleaded and promised contritely. But it was +all of no avail and Holt left him for a few hours, with a supply at +hand for every need, and went for a doctor. Scathlin's cries and +curses followed him as far as he could hear, and something like pity +came into his heart for the poor, wicked old criminal, so that he +hastened his steps with all his might. + +When he returned four hours later with a gruff but kindly doctor, the +cunning look came back into the little beady eyes, and the bristly +old jaw grew stubborn and selfish again. He saw that Holt's honor +still held and he meant to get the worth of his money out of him. + +The doctor came every few days after that and Scathlin improved +rapidly, growing more arrogant every day. + +Holt went about silently for the most part; nursing the patient, +cooking his meals--there were a few supplies in the shack and Holt +had bought more when he went for the doctor; besides there was game +to be had for the shooting. There was something about his set, stern +face even in his gentleness that sometimes shamed Scathlin and +silenced him for a while. It was as if his mind was far away on +higher things, and Scathlin's petty torments did not reach up into +the rarefied air where he really lived. + +Once when he was getting better and sitting up Scathlin attempted a +story, so vile and low that the devil himself must have originated +it. He laughed immoderately as he told it, hoping to break the stern +sadness of Holt's face, which fairly made him frantic to look at, but +Holt looked at him with a kind of pity for a second, and then the +sternness grew terrible. + +"Scathlin, cut that out, you beast!" he said, and left the cabin for +the open air. It was that day that Holt had a struggle with himself +to stick to his job. + +There was no longer the necessity that brought him. The papers, the +rest of them, wherever they were, were surely not here. Holt had +gone over every inch of Scathlin's clothes and possessions, and there +was no place where he could possibly have hid them about the shack +that Holt had not looked. He had watched Scathlin by night and by +day when he did not know he was being watched, and he was convinced +that Scathlin was no longer protecting any papers of his. The one +which he had taken from the toe of Scathlin's shoe had proved to be +his own and most important. What Scathlin had done with the rest he +was not sure, but it was probable that he had given some of them to +Jean with the wallet which he had, of course, recognized, when he +picked it up and handed it to her. It was also possible that the man +who owned the shack had, by some means, been wheedled into taking the +papers back to Harrington. Every circumstance made his speedy return +to Hawk Valley advisable, and yet here he was chained to this +helpless, peevish old man, who when he was done with him, would, if +he could, stab him in the back for all he had done for him. + +If anything of all this passed through Jasper Holt's mind as he paced +up and down alone outside the cabin, he kept it to himself, and it +made no mark upon his face. Just as patiently and just as kindly he +waited on that ungrateful old creature, all the time seeming to live +himself on a higher plane and breathe a higher air; and the old man +hated him for it. + +And so as the days at last came when the patient could walk about a +little, the beady old eyes took on new cunning, the grizzly jaw grew +more set, the whining complaints became more pitiful; and when Holt +urged that now the time had come when they might go home without harm +to the mending limb, Scathlin's eyes filled with fear, and he whined +and begged for just a little longer. For once more the vision of the +stark tree against the sky, the swinging body, the retreating backs +of Holt's strong men, haunted Scathlin's memory; and his terror +returned with each day of his recovery. + +One day when Holt had gone at last to a settlement to procure a wagon +and some other necessities for the journey, he returned to find the +cunning old ingrate gone! + +At first it seemed only a relief from a disagreeable task, and he +would have let him go, only again there seemed that inner sense of +finishing a task which made him go out and search. For he knew the +weak leg could not carry the man far, and he felt too that he must +keep hold of Scathlin and take him back to face what he should find +awaiting him in Hawk Valley of good or ill. He might need the old +man for a witness. + +And so he drew him from his crouching shelter, spoke to him firmly, +and made a compact with him, for he recognized his fear. That night +saw the two again on their way to Hawk Valley. Scathlin was to have +shelter and food, and work when he was able, but in return he must +abide by certain rules. Scathlin, relieved and cunning still, +promised eagerly, with many mental reservations; and so the +pilgrimage at last was ended, and Holt was going back--back where the +girl he loved was staying--the girl he loved, but might not see! + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +There had been no fuss made over Jasper Holt when he was born. They +handed him an honored name from some fierce old warrior of a +forebear, relegated him to a fourth-story back nursery with a trained +nurse, and left him to himself. + +His mother paused long enough before returning to her interrupted +social career to look him over, declare that he had nice eyes and she +believed his hair was going to curl; then she was swallowed up in the +world from which she had reluctantly stepped aside. She had little +use for a son except to dress him in velvets and Lord Fauntleroy +collars and make of him a toy to amuse her guests. Until he reached +that stage she saw very little of him. + +Of his stern father he saw less. He was immersed in business. He +was rich, but what of that? He had to make more riches to keep the +social whirl fed. + +The baby had a face and form worth noticing, even in his first days. +The great blue eyes that had attracted his mother's flitting +attention, could be gray sometimes, and had in them depths of light +and wisdom that fairly startled his practical nurse. He had the brow +of a philosopher, and gold hair rippled around the fine little head +like a halo. The old warrior-namesake must have bestowed upon him +that firm chin beneath the cupid's bow of the lips, and surely an +angel had lent him that smile! + +But as he grew older there came into his eyes a wistfulness that was +almost pathetic at times. He was an affectionate child, quite +embarrassing his cold, reserved nurse with his demonstrations, but +winning the utmost devotion always from all who had to serve him. + +He was not a good boy in the conventional acceptation of the word. +He sweetly and serenely had his own way in everything from the time +he could walk and talk. He would neither eat what he did not like, +nor wear what he did not fancy. He did not take kindly to his +mother's velvets and curls and lace collars. He always disappeared +hopelessly when made ready for a dress parade. He would fight any +bully on the back street who undertook to cheat the little lame +newsboy, and he was always trying to take the part of some weak dog +or child. He could run down the street with the swiftness of a +swallow, his pockets full of sharp stones, and hit every electric +light in the block as he ran, and he was forever taking the blame +frankly of all the broken windows and looted garden plots in the +neighborhood. In these days his acquaintance with his father was +limited to severe interviews in which stern threats and scathing +reprimands mingled with a galling sarcasm were dealt abundantly. It +was as his clear eyes looked steadily, unafraidly, into the angry +steel ones of the man that his young face hardened, his warrior-chin +took a firm set, and the light in his face was deadened by a stab of +pain. He was growing wise and losing his faith in the love he had +taken for granted in both father and mother. It was at that time +that he lived mostly upon the street, and companioned with boys of +the rougher class. No one but his nurse knew it, and she but seldom. +She was only too glad to have the time off duty. + +It was when they discovered a childish plot in the neighborhood to +mob the president of a defaulting bank in which the hard-working +parents of some of his playmates had lost their all, that Jasper was +taken hold of by the law as leader and financier of the whole +enterprise. Bravely, proudly, he took the whole blame, exonerating +the other boys, and declaring himself instigator of the affair. + +His father paid a heavy fine to hush it up and took his son in +charge. A merciless whipping was the beginning of that interview +between them, which the son received like a gentleman. But when it +was over he lifted reproachful eyes, steadied his quivering +warrior-chin and said determinedly: "But all the same, father, I +think I was right! That man had been stealing those poor people's +money!" + +The father looked at the little son with the unbroken will and swore! +He took away the cheap little firearms that the boy had purchased +with his allowance for himself and the other boys, and he declared +the allowance should cease until such time as the boy would own to +his fault and come to his senses. One isn't just quite sure, but, +perhaps after all, the removal of his allowance was the very best +thing that father ever did for his little, lonely son who had begun +so early to reform the world with a high hand. + +Jasper went up to his room and thought. Then he went out and +consulted with a newsboy friend of his, and presently he was +established on a paper route of his own. For several weeks he sold +papers till he had enough money to replace his lost revolver. Then +he was satisfied and retired from business for the time, but this was +not his first business venture, and his father began to discover that +the threat of taking away the allowance had no effect whatever on his +determined young son. + +Yet in spite of his bravery and strength, in spite of his high +purposes and anarchistic tendencies, there was in the boy's nature a +great wealth of love and a desire to be loved. He was, in his +younger days, forever throwing his arms about his beautiful mother's +neck and kissing her to her great disgust and the severe detriment of +her complexion; until finally he became shy about showing his +affection, and the lines of loneliness and yearning grew deeper about +the young mouth. + +It was the time he ran away that made him sure that no one cared for +him. + +Jasper had been up before the paternal tribunal for some trivial +offense, and his word had not been taken in explanation, against the +word of his younger brother--who had arrived on the scene some three +years later than himself, and through some strange fantasy of +selfishness was the beloved darling of his mother. + +Perry Holt had sharp little effeminate features like his mother's, +and had been petted and spoiled from the moment his whimsical mother +first saw him. If there was any trouble Perry was usually at the +bottom of it and Jasper was blamed for it, because Jasper was "so +queer" and "so wild" and "always getting into trouble and doing what +he ought not to do." That was the way his mother put it. And so she +had ordered Jasper to his father's den for a reprimand for something +Perry really had done, and Jasper's word was doubted! + +He took his punishment silently and went to his room and his bed, +where he lay motionless staring into the darkness. If he had been a +girl he might have sobbed, so hurt was his soul; but being Jasper he +held back the stinging tears that burned his eyes and stared hard +into the dark. At midnight, when the servants were asleep, he arose +and stole softly from the house before his mother and father had +returned from some social function they were attending. + +He stayed away three days, companioning with waifs who had no homes, +and then his homesick heart brought him back again with longing to +see his mother. He reached the house at early dusk and found his +mother and Perry getting into the car to ride to the station where +they were to meet his father and take a pleasure trip to Washington +for a few days! They had not even missed him and were going off +without knowing where he was! His mother looked at him with disgust +and told him to go into the house and wash his face, that he "looked +a perfect fright"; and then the car whirled off and left him gazing +after his dream of what a mother ought to be. + +After that Jasper never expected anything more from his mother or his +family. He began to see that life was meant to be a lonely job and +it "was up to him" how it turned out. He seemed to grow up and be +wise beyond his years in that few seconds that he stood gazing after +the car vanishing in the dusk. + +When it was discovered that he was spending most of his time on the +street in the company of newsboys and working men's sons, he was +fitted out expensively and sent away to boarding school where he +began a lively career. Those who understood him adored him, but they +were few, and were mostly confined to small boys and the working +class. The little boys in the school followed him like flies after +molasses and obeyed him abjectly. The teachers dreaded and feared +and hated him almost to a man, with the exception of now and then a +woman who had an unusual amount of fine instinct and saw the yearning +for love in his eyes. + +From school to school he went, out of one scrape into another, yet no +one stopped to enquire what it was all about or to discover that +almost every trouble he got into was for the sake of someone else, or +some real principle. That his efforts at reform were against the +rules of the school, and could therefore but fail, made no difference +to him. He went right on setting things right as far as he could and +then taking the consequences. He saw the futility of his efforts and +sometimes clenched his sturdy fists and thought of the future when he +should be able to "lick" those unfair teachers who couldn't see that +they were letting some fellows go scot free who were more to blame +than the ones who were punished. Some day he would be bigger than +they, and then he would back up his protests with a strength that +could not be gainsaid. And so he went on fighting bullies who were +bigger than himself and who did not hesitate to put the whole story +in a good light for themselves; and taking the consequences in such a +way that when he left a school the principal had beneath his open +relief a troubled undertone of smallness, and of feeling that, after +all, the boy had got the better of him, for there had been the look +of a conqueror in Jasper's eye as he parted from him at the station. + +Somehow he got himself through with his preparatory studies and was +allowed to pass on. It surely was not from any great scholastic +attainments, for he never bothered himself to learn lessons that he +did not care for, nor to recite them after he had learned them, and +examinations meant nothing at all to him. If he chose to take one he +did so, and then spoiled the whole paper by some erratic tirade of +his own on some special question; or else took the whole thing as a +joke. If he did not choose to take an examination he calmly sat +through the allotted time intent upon his own thoughts and handed in +no paper at the close. His teachers raved and ranted. They punished +and they threatened. But Jasper went calmly on and did as he +pleased; and strange to say in all that checkered career there were +but two teachers who understood, the soul with whom they had to deal, +and could lead him like a lamb by a mere smile or word to do the +hardest tasks. For those two he slaved, not because he saw any +reason in their demands always, but because he desired to please +them, for they had proved themselves what he called "square." + +Nevertheless he had acquired through it all a most marvellous and +varied amount of knowledge. Nothing escaped him. He never forgot +anything he heard, and the classes through which he had sat, +perpetrating many of his jokes upon the teachers, had all left their +impress upon him. What he had heard the other students recite, that +he knew. If you began to quote a line of poetry which had been +studied in English class he would promptly finish it and, when he +chose, tell you much about the author. His teachers would have been +amazed if they could have heard him. And often when another fellow +took a high rank in the class in mathematics it had been Jasper who +had showed him how to work his problems--problems that he had not +taken the trouble to work out for himself. + +"Why should I?" he once answered a troublesome principal who was +admonishing him about preparing his lessons, "I get what I need out +of them, and that's all that's necessary, isn't it? It's my +education, isn't it? My teacher isn't getting any good out of my +writing out all that junk, is he? It isn't doing him any good, why +should I take the trouble?" + +And this was his hopeless attitude whenever he had to deal with +teachers whom he did not reverence. + +In college he was much the same, only that it did not matter there so +much. There were more men and he was less under authority. It was +expected that he should have some independence. Yet even here he was +mixed up in a great many of the troubles. Finally, in his third +year, his college career came to a sudden and final ending in the +midst of a disgrace that was not his own, but which he took upon his +own sturdy shoulders to save another youth who had a widowed mother +dependent upon him, and must get through college before he could +support her. Whether or not his action was justified by the +following chapters of that weak and careless youth's life is not a +part of this story to tell. It may be that Jasper himself learned +some lessons by the disgrace he took upon himself and the lightness +with which the real criminal accepted his sacrifice. However that +may be, Jasper's mother, by that time an attractive widow, was so +thoroughly outraged by her son's behavior--she never knew, of course, +that he himself had not been at fault--that she drove him from his +home in scorn and contempt. + +Hurt to the heart the boy obeyed; too proud to explain; knowing she +would be but the angrier if she knew the truth; knowing there was no +mother heart in her for him, nor ever had been. + +He went straight to the great, wide, free west, and roamed for a year +from one place to another restlessly, still expecting some day to +return when his mother should feel differently. Then he saw in the +papers the notice of her marriage to a man he never had liked, and so +he settled down on the claim he had already taken, and built up +around his young, lonely life a something which he called home. + +Gradually the outcasts of society had been drawn to him for help or +comfort in dire need and peril from the law; and always he had +sympathy with any who were without the pale of the respectable world, +even though in no other way could he feel anything congenial about +them. His home came to be the refuge for sinners, and because their +crimes were many and his hearth was wide, their sins were fastened to +him in name if not in deed; as when a child he bore the blame for +others and himself grew strong. + +He built them rude dwellings on his land, and some he chose to be his +trusted ones. One by one he tested them and found them true to him +and to his few simple principles of life. Sternly he ruled them, and +greatly did they love and reverence their boy leader, and were proud +to follow him. If one of them transgressed again he was dealt with +justly; and once a body swayed and hung stark against the sky in +justice for a deed of shame. It was this memory that Scathlin held +and feared, although it had happened long before he came to take +refuge from some petty deed of his. Scathlin had never entered the +closer brotherhood of men who guarded Holt's own private quarters. +His place had been upon the outer edge of things. He was not +trusted--never had been--and knew he was not trustworthy. So it was +that he dreaded going back to those relentless men, who, if they once +found out that he had robbed their leader of valuable property and +betrayed him into the hands of an enemy who had long looked with +hungry eyes at the rich silver mine and abundant water supply that +were his, would stop at nothing till justice had been done upon his +contemptible head. But by that same honor that made men love and +serve him, old Scathlin knew that Holt had not yet told his men about +his loss of the wallet, nor whom he suspected. + +This was Jasper Holt, and this his story up to the time that he met +Jean and laid his roses at her threshold. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +It was late when Jean awoke. The household had been quiet on her +account, and breakfast was delayed. Jean came down white with her +vigil, but sweet and smiling notwithstanding. + +The morning had brought clear vision and she was sure now that the +paper in her possession must be given to Holt and no other. She had +settled so much and would await her opportunity. This decided, her +mind was at peace, and she entered the dining-room with a smile of +greeting for everyone. + +Late as it was, the master of the house had not yet appeared and the +family stood about waiting for him. But as Jean entered the servant +came in from an opposite door with his arms full of roses, and stood +before her. + +Such roses! Jean had never seen such wealth of beauty, such +luxuriance of coloring. They all exclaimed in wonder over them! +Clear golden-yellow with a deep, rosy tint at heart like liquid +rubies spilled into them. Great heavy-headed buds and full blown +roses in abundance, many of them still on the trailing vines, as if +they had been plucked with ruthless hand to offer to a queen; their +fragrance filled the room like a burst of incense from some oriental +shrine. The servant laid them in her arms as though he were offering +her a crown and sceptre. + +"How wonderful!" murmured the girl, receiving them and laying her +face reverently down to their exquisite beauty. "Where did they come +from? Are they mine? Do they grow here?" + +"I found them at the door, Miss," said the man respectfully. +"There's only a card with your name." + +"Why, how strange!" said Mrs. Harrington, stepping forward to inspect +the card. "Who could have sent them? I have told a number of the +young men about your coming, and they are all eager to see you; but +it's strange that whoever sent these beautiful roses shouldn't have +given his name. They are wonderfully rare. Somebody must have +squandered his month's earnings on them. They couldn't have been +bought around here. I suppose they came from some florist a long way +off." + +The discreet servant narrowed his eyes and turned away suddenly as he +saw his master enter. + +"Just look here, James, what beautiful roses someone has sent Jean! +Wasn't that lovely of him, whoever he is? They were at the door when +John opened it this morning, and no name on them! Who do you suppose +could have sent them? Stockton Holmes, or Gartney Fowler, or even +Captain Wetherill, perhaps?" + +But the master of the house glanced sharply at the roses and a frown +came between his brows. + +"There's only one place around here where roses like that grow," he +announced ominously. + +His wife looked at him with a frightened expression. + +"You don't mean----?" + +"Yes," said Harrington. "They're Holt's Golden Sunset!" + +There was an ominous silence as the husband and wife looked at each +other. Then Mrs. Harrington turned to her sister, who stood behind +her roses with an exquisite flush on her cheeks and a soft, burning +light of battle in her eyes. + +"Jean, did you know where they came from?" her sister asked, almost +haughtily. + +But Jean's lovely face showed no sign of intimidation as she raised +it, gravely sweet, from the roses which she held as she might have +held a little child. + +"I thought perhaps Mr. Holt sent them," she said simply. "He told me +about his roses. But excuse me just a minute till I put them in +water. I won't keep you waiting." + +When Jean returned after laying her roses tenderly in the wash-bowl +in her room and bending to touch her lips to their petals, there was +no look on her face as if anything unusual had passed except a kind +of glorified light in her eyes. She began at once to give her sister +a message from their mother, tactfully ignoring the flowers and their +donor. But Harrington's set look did not relax during the entire +meal. + +After breakfast there was the whole place to be seen; the garden, the +horses, the rabbits, and the new lawn-tennis court, the only one in +town, where the young officers from the Fort came down to play +sometimes. + +The children came out of their shyness and adopted their new relative +ecstatically, monopolizingly. They drew her down on the garden seat +and plied her with questions, and they chattered away happily, +feeling her hair, touching her cheek softly now and then, playing +with the ribbons at her throat. + +"Papa's awfully angry that Jasper Holt brought you home," confided +Betty. "I heard him tell mamma he'd rather have lost fifty thousand +dollars than had it happen." + +The color stole into Jean's cheeks and a flash came in her eyes, but +she tried to control herself. She did not want to discuss this +matter with the children, and yet she felt that she must be true to +the man who had saved her life. + +"Mr. Holt was very kind to me, Betty," she said quietly. "I'm sorry +he is not a friend of your papa's. If he hadn't taken care of me I +would probably have drowned, and I'm sure I never would have got +safely here. He was wonderful!" + +"Jasper Holt's a bad, wicked man," said Jamie, looking at her with +round eyes and a frown that was a very good imitation of his +father's. "He-he-he _hanged_ a man once! On a _tree_! Yes, he +_did_! Tied a string around his neck and hung him up hard till he +died! He's a _nawful_ bad man. Nicky Deens told me that. My mamma +don't know he told me. Nicky said not to tell. But Nicky Deens saw +the tree once when he went with his papa out to the desert riding, +and he heard the men tell all about it. They didn't know he heard +it, but he _did_." + +"I don't think much of a little boy that tells you not to tell your +mother things," said Jean in a choking voice. "I don't believe I +shall like Nicky Deens." + +"Oh, you will," said Jamie in distress for his friend. "He's a +_nawful_ nice boy. He can ride a horse just like his papa----" and +Jamie launched into a description of the prowess of Nicky Deens, but +Jean, although she tried to smile, was not listening. Her heart was +in a tumult and her eyes were full of fire and indignation. Jasper +had told her about that man who hung on the tree. She knew the whole +story with all its circumstances, and she knew that Nicky Deens had +heard a false account of the affair. Suddenly she turned on her +astonished young nephew and spoke: + +"Jamie," she said looking earnestly into his big, blue eyes, "Jamie, +I want to tell you something. That story you heard about Mr. Holt is +not true. He is not a bad man. People don't know. He is good and +kind, and he has been Auntie Jean's friend. It isn't right nor fair +for you to listen to stories about him. Little boys like Nicky Deens +don't know about things always, and maybe they don't mean to tell +what isn't true, but if you love Auntie Jean and believe she tells +you what is true you will not let anybody say bad things any more +about Mr. Holt. It isn't necessary for you to talk about it at all +if your papa doesn't like Mr. Holt, but you don't need to listen to +unpleasant things about him. People have not understood Mr. Holt, or +they would not have talked that way." + +Jamie looked at her with round, wondering eyes, and his paternal +frown grew. He did not like to have his thrilling story spoiled by +being told it was not true, but then, this new aunt had pretty eyes +and a smile that was good. Besides, she had promised to tell him a +story, so, with mental reservations, he said: + +"Aw right, I won't!" and sighed to relinquish this choice bit of +gossip, even during the period of his aunt's stay. + +It was a relief to Jean that her sister came just then and sent the +children off to play, sitting down for a real visit about home and +their dear ones. + +Finally there came a pause in their conversation about home and the +two sisters looked at each other contentedly, glad to be together +again after the long separation. + +"Jean, dear," said Eleanor eagerly, "I hope you're going to have a +lovely time while you're here. I've told every man in the region +about you and they are dying to call on you. I don't know how many +have tried to bribe me to let them be first. There are no end of +charming young fellows here. The Post being so near brings some of +them, you know, and they love to come over to our house and get a +real home meal and a glimpse of something like what they are used to. +There's Charlie Evans, you'll like him I know. He's quite +serious--thought of studying for the ministry at one time, but I +understand he began to be rather skeptical and gave it up. You'll be +just the one to do a little missionary work on him. You have great +talents in that direction I remember. Mother has been telling me +what wonders you've worked in your Sunday School class at the +mission. And there's Freeman Thorne, he's grave and serious enough +to suit your solemnest mood; and there are scores of others. You'll +have flowers and invitations, more than you can attend to, pretty +soon. We've lots of plans made already to help you have a good time. +But I want to give you a little warning, dear." A kind of constraint +came in her voice. "Don't speak about Jasper Holt unless you have +to, and then the very briefest word. He isn't in good repute at all, +indeed, he isn't! I understand how grateful you feel, of course; you +weren't in a position to judge what kind of a fellow he was. I don't +suppose one's manners would show up very badly in the woods when two +people had been drowning and barely escaped with their lives. People +don't think of manners at such a time----" + +"Eleanor, he was a perfect gentleman," put in Jean indignantly. +"There were lots of chances to show unrefinement, and he was a +_perfect gentleman_ every time. You don't understand, Eleanor." + +"Well, now dear, you'll have to trust me a little. I know just what +he is, _a bad man_--a really _bad_ young man! Papa wouldn't have +your name mixed up with his for _anything in the world_! I know you +can't be convinced, just now, because you've come through an unusual +experience together, and I'm sure I'm glad if he was half decent--it +wasn't to be expected--though it's what I've always claimed, that a +really nice girl always has the upper hand of a man, even a bad man, +and he dare not be rude to her. Then, of course, it was quite +thoughtful of him to leave those roses the way he did and go away +without any message. I'll give him credit for that. But it was most +unfortunate that he should have been the one to save you! Papa would +not at all approve of your having anything more to do with him +whatever." + +"That is just what he said," said Jean quietly. + +"What _he_ said!" exclaimed her sister. "Really! Then he does +realize a little what people think of him! Well, that is a +commendable attitude, of course, and if you think it necessary, you +might write a formal little note, very brief, and thank him for +bringing you home, but make him understand that he is not to +presume--or, if you prefer, I might do it for you. On second thought +I think mamma would prefer that I----" + +"It is not in the least necessary, Eleanor; I have thanked Mr. Holt +already, and he understands perfectly that it would not be agreeable +to you to have him come here. You said you had sewing to do, don't +you want me to help you with something? I'd love to." + +There was a dignity in the set of the head and the firm curve of lip +that made Mrs. Harrington survey her young sister with wonder and +silence as they arose and went toward the house. The way Jean had +set aside the topic of young Holt was masterly. Mrs. Harrington had +not said nearly all she meant to say on the subject, but somehow she +did not see the way clear to open the subject again at present. She +looked at Jean uneasily from time to time as they sat together in the +house, or went about from room to room, flying from one topic to +another as people will do who have been long separated. Three +distinct times did Mrs. Harrington essay to give an extended +dissertation on the evil deeds and reputation of Jasper Holt, and +each time the subject was as summarily closed, and quietly set aside +by Jean as if she had no interest whatever in the young man. It gave +the woman almost an uncanny feeling, and actually disturbed her +seriously, so that she was threatened with one of her nervous +headaches; and after lunch, having had to confess to her husband that +she had made no headway in doing his bidding about enlightening her +sister with regard to his enemy, she retired to her darkened room to +sleep. Jean, glad of escape to quiet, fled to her roses. + +Broodingly, as a mother would touch her little child while it sleeps, +Jean hovered over those flowers. The door was locked safe from +intrusion, and the children sent to a neighbor's that the house might +be quiet. She drew the little table near the great window chair, and +placed the bowl of roses upon it. + +They filled the bowl, lying heavy-headed in great sheaves over its +rim on their cool, luscious leaves, those leaves of that peculiar +green touched with burnt sienna on tips and veins, that speak of a +high state of cultivation, and rare stock. She laid her cheek +against the cool yellow of the flowers, then her lips, then her +closed eyelids, while she let her thoughts rove back to the yesterday +and the time when their giver had been at her side; the words he had +spoken, the way he had looked, the sound of his voice, and the firm +clasp of his hand. It all rushed over her in a tumult of joy and +sorrow. This was the man she knew, so kind, so tender, so strong, so +true; and that other was the one they thought he was! She could +never feel that way about him no matter what people told her, for she +had seen what they had not. If they had been there in her place and +he had been that strong companion and friend they might have +understood. She would, of course, respect their wishes, and not do +anything to trouble those who loved her; but she would trust him +always. + +And now there stirred in her mind the remembrance of that paper, the +disposition of which she must decide at once. How should she get it +to him? It would not do to send for him. He could not, probably +would not, come if she did. Even a letter which did not explain too +much would be a difficult thing to manage, at least until she knew +the way to the post-office and could mail it herself. If it were +carried by a servant or a member of the family it might be subject to +inspection. Yet the paper ought to go to him at once. Still, of +course, in her keeping it was at least out of his enemies' hands, if +enemies they were, these dear people of her own family. Oh, why were +things at once so bitter and so sweet in this hard, bright world? +She buried her face in the roses again and let their sweetness rush +over her. As she did so a slight rustling sound startled her, and +when she lifted up her face and then pressed it close again she heard +it once more. Curious, with a wild fleeting hope floating through +her brain, she sat up and began to touch the buds and blossoms +softly, eagerly, searchingly with her fingers. Yes, there it was, +that sound of crackling paper! + +She folded back the petals of the largest bud, and there, laid deftly +in like another flower-leaf, she found a tiny bit of folded paper. +Eagerly she took it out and opened it, for it was very thin and +folded close, and there was writing, small and fine, but boldly, +distinctly clear: + +"I have to go away. For how long I do not know. I shall not forget +my promise. You may trust me. I hope you have a happy time." + +The tears were in her eyes as she read the brief message over and +over again, and laid her lips upon it. Bright drops fell upon the +roses and stood like dew drops. + +She searched the other blossoms carefully, but there were no more +messages, and she had known there would not be. He would not think +it "square" to write more of the things that were in his heart, and +she loved him the more for his sense of honor toward her. + +Then she remembered the water contract. + +Now, what should she do with the paper? She could not give it to him +while he was away. It might await his return and be lost if she +trusted it to the mail. She must wait for a few days and see if he +came back; and meantime she would listen and watch as far as it lay +in her power, that no harm came near his rights. If worst came to +worst she would confide in her father. He was wise, and he would +understand. He would feel as she did about this matter if he knew +all. The difficulty would be to make him know all through the medium +of a mere letter. But for the present she would wait. + +A sense of desolation settled down upon her when she realized that +Holt was gone away; yet she was at peace about it. At least she need +not always be fearing lest her relatives should be unpleasant to him, +or that embarrassing circumstances might arise where she would be +obliged to choose between her sense of loyalty to her lover and her +sense of loyalty to her relatives in whose home she was a guest. But +for a little time she put away these thoughts and let her happy heart +dwell on the fact that he had sent these glorious roses with their +secret message; and finally she lay down for a rest and slept, with +one great yellow bud nestled against her cheek. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +The days which followed fulfilled all Mrs. Harrington's prophecies so +far as gaiety was concerned. One round of pleasure succeeded +another. The days were filled with picnics and rides and the +evenings with merry makings of all descriptions at all the houses in +the region round about Hawk Valley. There were not wanting many +young officers and others who were eager to teach the sweet young +stranger from the east to ride. Horses especially trained and +gentled for her use were brought as offerings at her shrine, and +flowers from near and far were sent to her. The Harrington children +were in danger of becoming chronic dyspeptics on the surplus of the +confections with which she was constantly supplied; and there was no +opportunity for her to become lonely or morbid as the summer days +sped by in a round of pleasure. + +Yet through it all Jean moved, lovely and serene as a summer morning. + +"She acts as if she had been in society for years," complained +Eleanor to her husband. "Nothing moves her out of her quiet dignity. +She doesn't gush or become enthusiastic at anybody. The sky and the +flowers and the children please her more than all the adulation she +receives. One would almost judge her engaged or married already. I +wonder if it can be there is a sweetheart at home that we don't know +about. I must write and ask mamma. I can't make it out. I thought +Captain Hawthorne would surely make an impression, he has such +charming manners, and is so deferential to women; but she looked at +him to-day with that sweet far-away expression, exactly as she might +have looked at her grandfather. Of course it made him desperately +determined to get her attention, but she never seemed to know nor +care. One would almost think it was a studied pose to get as many at +her feet as possible, if one didn't know Jean better." + +"Did you ever think that perhaps her thoughts are with that scoundrel +Holt?" her husband asked. + +"Nonsense!" said his wife sharply. "She never mentions him. She has +forgotten all about him. I think she was extremely annoyed at our +making so much of his bringing her home." + +"Well, don't you be too sure. I wonder where the deuce he is. I'll +be willing to bet he's up to some mischief."' + +"Don't worry," said his wife, "I'm only too glad he's taken himself +away. I hope he'll keep hidden until Jean is safely home again so we +won't be annoyed." + +"I hope he'll come back and let us see what he's up to," growled her +husband as she left the room. + +And at last one day shortly before Jean was to return to her father's +house, Holt came back. + +With him appeared Scathlin, riding into town daily, side by side with +the younger man, on one of Holt's horses; looking older, with a +sheepish expression and a shifty eye that failed to meet men's gaze. +It was rumored that Holt had found him with a broken leg, nursed him +into strength again and brought him home. Those who knew Scathlin +felt that Holt's power over him was more than that of gratitude. + +It happened that Jean was riding with the Captain one morning when +they came down to the post-office together, and the glad smile with +which she greeted Holt was followed by a frightened expression as she +recognized Scathlin. Her escort was so astonished at having to lift +his hat to Holt that he failed to notice her startled glance. + +No one could have told by Holt's grave bow that he was meeting the +one of all the earth to him. Only the light in his eyes told of his +joy in seeing her once more, and reassured the girl as she glanced +from Scathlin back to his own face. It was Captain Hawthorne's +annoyed drawl that recalled her to the present out of the whirl of +joy that the sight of Holt brought. + +"Where in the world did you ever meet that scoundrel that he should +presume to speak to you?" + +A flush of indignation rose to her cheeks, her chin tilted just the +slightest bit haughtily, and her eyes held a dangerous light in them. + +"Excuse me, Captain Hawthorne, Mr. Holt is my friend. He did me the +greatest service one can do for another. He saved my life." + +"I beg your pardon, Miss Grayson, I didn't mean to offend you. That +alters the case of course. One is always grateful for one's life, +and may thank even a dog. You can afford to be generous, sometimes, +but have a care! You do not know Holt! It's the only good thing I +ever heard of him, that he saved your life. I would it had been my +privilege instead of his." + +"Thank you, Captain Hawthorne," Jean spoke frigidly, "but you +misunderstand me. I am not speaking to Mr. Holt because I am +grateful or generous, but because I honor and trust him as a friend." + +"You do not know him, Miss Grayson. He is not a man whom anyone +trusts." + +"It is you who do not know him, Captain Hawthorne. I know him better +than you, and I trust him entirely. During our terrible experience +together at the time of the wreck I had ample opportunity to test Mr. +Holt, and I found him a gentleman and a true friend in every trying +situation." + +And now indeed Jean's tone was unmistakable, and the alarmed Captain, +who had congratulated himself that he was making pretty good headway +with the fair lady, made hasty apologies. + +"I beg your pardon, of course," he said humbly. "I'm sure I'm glad +to hear that he behaved decently. To tell you the truth I don't know +much personally about Holt. I've only taken what others say; and +I've always thought his reckless appearance bore out their +insinuations. Forgive me if I have annoyed you, and try to forget +what I've said. This day is perfect and the road is particularly +fine. Shall we try a gallop?" + +Jean was glad of the relief from conversation, and kept her horse on +a wild gait the most of the way; for her mind was in a tumult. How +was she to get that paper to Holt and what should she say in +explanation of its being in her possession? The question had been +much in her mind during Holt's absence, and she had been unable to +decide just what she should do when he returned, but now it must be +decided at once, for there ought to be no delay about the paper. The +sinister look in the faded blue eye of Scathlin as he looked at her +made her fear to keep it in her possession any longer. + +The ride at last was ended. It had not been a very great success +from the Captain's point of view and he went away dejected, while +Jean hurried to her room and tried to plan what to do. The sight of +Scathlin worried her. If the old man knew what papers the wallet had +contained he probably knew the significance of each. The +conversation she had overheard seemed to include him in the plot, if +plot there was, against Holt. Of course, since he had returned, he +would seek out the other two men and explain why he had sent the +wallet; and perhaps he had the other missing paper himself, the one +that contained valuable information about the location of ore. It +was even possible that he knew already that she, his unwilling +messenger, had the water contract. He must have known it was in the +wallet when he gave it to her and it would be entirely natural for +him to think she had taken it out. Something in the gleam of his eye +as he looked at her had made her tremble; and she longed to fly +straight to Holt and give him the paper frankly and openly, but it +was a matter that could not be handled openly, and she was not a +diplomat, therefore she trembled. + +Finally, after careful thought, and much writing and tearing up of +what she had written she framed a brief note to Holt. + +On the morning that she mailed it Scathlin happened to be in the +village. + +Holt had gone away very early in the morning, on a matter of +business, leaving word that he might not return until the next day, +and Scathlin felt like a prisoner let out of jail. It was his first +opportunity to go about without Holt's eyes upon him. True, he was +under oath to do and not to do certain things, with penalty of a +judgment which he knew would not be light. Yet his natural cunning +found many ways to carry on his schemes without violating the letter +of his contract with Holt. He knew that Holt had brought him there +as a witness against his enemies in the case of the stolen papers--he +knew this, though Holt had said no word of it to him--and he knew +that Holt would watch him closely--that he probably had him under +espionage even during this brief absence; yet he longed to outwit his +keeper and get the better of him. If it only had not been for the +loss of that water contract his way would have been plain. He had +already managed an interview with Harrington and learned the facts +without revealing all the facts in his own possession. He professed +to Harrington that all the original papers were in the wallet when he +gave it to the girl, and that it had been his only hope of saving +them from Holt. That Holt had managed to save the girl and bring her +home only proved that he was as hard to get away from as the devil +himself. This explanation Scathlin devised while he listened to +Harrington's story, secretly realizing, with bitterness, his own +blunder in leaving the water contract in the wallet. His excuse was +that he had no time to take out another paper and secrete it safely +before Holt saw him. + +Might and day Scathlin worried over that water contract, coming +always back to the conclusion that Holt must have it or know where it +was; and he had searched every available hiding place in Holt's house +for it, but failed as yet to discover it. When they met Jean riding, +the old man had noted carefully the expression on his companion's +face as he touched his hat to her, and the lighting up of the girl's +face. His keen little eyes searched, and found an idea. + +Therefore, that first morning of his freedom from Holt, when he sat +on the curbstone with one of the men from the Divide, talking over +the latest cattle stealing, his eye took in with keen interest the +figure of Jean coming down the street accompanied by her little +niece, a bundle of letters in her hand to be mailed. He watched her +furtively as she passed him, though she did not see him, and as soon +as she was inside the post-office door he got up hurriedly and +followed her, professing that he had an errand. + +He watched her slipping her letters one by one into the post box, and +kept his eye upon her as she turned and went out again. + +He made a small purchase at the counter on the other side of the +post-office room, and went out, but an hour later, when he returned +that way, the postmaster leaned from his window and called him. +"Hey, there, Scathlin, goin' up home? Here's a letter fer Holt." + +Scathlin, wary as any fox, concealed the start he almost gave, and +turned with indifference. + +"'Spose I might's well take it," he said, and receiving the letter, +went on his way toward home. + +The way was long and bright and hot, and Scathlin was not feeling up +to a hard walk yet after his weeks in bed; but he managed it in an +incredibly short space of time, and as he walked he studied that +letter. + +It was dainty and white, the writing unmistakably feminine, and +mailed in Hawk Valley. Scathlin's imagination stirred within him, +and he was almost sure he needed to know what was in that letter. He +held it up to the light but nothing was revealed. He tried to pry +open a corner of the flap that was not closely sealed, and squint in, +but not a glimpse of writing was visible. He went home, laid it on +the desk in Holt's office and sat down to watch it and think. Then +just before the return for dinner of the other two men who were about +the place he quietly put it in his pocket. He preferred to think +about that letter awhile longer before any one else saw it. When +they came in Scathlin had the fire going and a fine steam ascending +from the tea-kettle, an unusual attention on his part toward other +members of his group, unless he was pressed to service. + +But Scathlin had exhausted his capacity for work with putting on the +teakettle, for he sat dreamily meditating in a chair tilted back +against the wall, his feet on the rounds, a straw in his mouth, and +his eyes narrow and gleaming. + +"Dear friend: I have something that I am sure belongs to you. Is it +safe for me to send it to you through the mail? I think it must be +valuable. Please let me know quickly for I am going home in a few +days." + +Those were the magic words the steam had revealed to Scathlin, and on +which he meditated with his eyes half closed while his companions +scornfully cooked the corn bread and bacon and cursed him for a lazy +good-for-nothing. He continued his meditations unmoved until the men +had eaten and were gone on their way. When they were out of sight he +arose with alacrity and prepared a hasty meal, keeping his eye on the +clock. He ate hurriedly, cleaned and loaded a pistol which he took +from a hiding place behind a loose brick of the chimney, and went out +the back door toward the woods. + +About the same time Jean Grayson mounted the pony that had been set +aside for her use while in Hawk Valley, and started out for her daily +call on an old lady who had taken a great fancy to her, because of +her likeness to a daughter long since dead. She was fond of the +sweet old lady, and found her quiet little home a refuge from the +round of society that sometimes became almost oppressive at her +sister's house. She had discovered that she could avoid certain +annoyingly frequent callers by being thus absent a little while, and +especially during the last two weeks she had made this pleasant +pilgrimage almost every day. Perhaps a part of the pleasantness of +the trip was in the fact that the road lay back of Holt's land, and +his house, though almost a mile from where she had to pass, was +plainly to be seen at one high point on the road, as it stood boldly +against the sky, its wide verandas shrouded in rose vines. + +Jean never ventured on the road that led past the house itself, for +it was off the general highway; but she had often longed to see the +spot where he lived at closer range. + +As she rode along she mused about the letter she had written and +whether that had been the right way and the only way to do about +getting the paper into the hands of its owner. + +She had once heard a great speaker say that there was never a +situation where there was not a right thing to do next. She felt +sure she had done the right thing so far as her light showed her; and +yet she could not lay it aside and be at peace, but was in a tremor +of excitement awaiting Holt's reply. + +As she reached the high point in the road she looked as usual off +toward the rose-vined dwelling, half hoping to see a sign of the +master of the house; but the vines lay shimmering in the sun of the +warm mid-day, and nothing seemed stirring about the place. She +walked the pony slowly along until the house was out of sight, and +the road entered the shady quiet where wooded land on either side hid +the glare of the afternoon. Just beyond the woods a few rods away +was the home of the old lady. It was early yet and Jean lingered, +the pony nothing loath to follow her will. + +They had gone perhaps fifty feet into the shadow of the wooded road +when suddenly, out from behind a great tree with stocky, brushwood +growth around it, slunk forth Scathlin, close to the pony, and laid +hands upon his bridle. + +"I beg pardon, Miss, but Mr. Holt sent me on a message," lied +Scathlin, shifting his eyes hastily from the clear ones that looked +in horror upon him. + +Jean's heart was beating wildly, not reassured by his words. + +"He said would you please give me the paper you had for him. It +would be safer for me to get it, as no one would suspect." + +A great doubt seized Jean's soul. Holt had not sent this bad old +man. Hold could never trust such a man as this. But if he did trust +him, she did not. + +"Did Mr. Holt send me a letter?" Jean looked keenly into the old +cunning face. + +"Mr. Holt had to go away in a hurry and so he sent me," said Scathlin +glibly. "He didn't have no time to write letters. He said you +knowed me; that you'd seen me with him, an' you'd know 'twas all +right." + +"Tell Mr. Holt, please," said Jean, making up her mind hurriedly, +"that there is nothing, and no message I can give to anyone. I wish +to speak with him. If that is not possible we will have to let the +matter pass." + +She drew the rein and signed to her horse to go on, but Scathlin +jerked the birdie sharply: + +"Not much, you don't go on," he threatened, "not till I get that +paper. I was sent here to get it and I mean to have it. You can't +come any of your pretty little tricks on me. I want that paper and I +mean to have it. Ef I can't get it one way I kin another!" His +voice and eyes were ominous, and Jean was so frightened that her +throat trembled and she could scarcely control her lips to speak. + +"Of what paper are you speaking?" + +"That there paper you wrote about in the letter. You know well +enough what I mean. You've got it about you now. I know you dassent +go off and leave it to home, where that fine brother-in-law of yours +could find it. Come, are you going to fork over, or do you want me +to search you for it? I'll find it quick enough." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Jean turned white with deadly sickening fear, but kept her head +courageously up. She whipped up her pony and tried to get away, but +the strong hand held the bridle and the little beast could only rear, +almost throwing her. Moreover, a gleaming pistol shone into Jean's +terrified eyes, and Scathlin in gloating voice spoke low: + +"Oh, no, my pretty, you don't come any of your little tricks on me. +You've stole a paper I give you to give to your brother, an' I mean +to have it without any further nonsense. Hand it over!" and he +grasped her roughly by the arm. + +"Help! Mr. Holt! _Jasper!_" she screamed. + +Something was stuffed into her mouth and the barrel of the pistol +gleamed between her eyes. She could feel the cold steel against her +flesh. The earth seemed reeling beneath her, and her senses were +going from her. Was there no hope of help from anywhere? + +"Now, my pretty, I'll just he'p myself to that paper." Scathlin's +voice was malevolent, his eyes gleaming. Like the cold slimy length +of a serpent coiling around her soul, the meaning of his words slid +about her consciousness. She felt she was sinking out of the world +of knowledge into a blackness where she could not protect herself. + +Then quickly, sharply, a voice brought her back to consciousness. + +"Drop that pistol! Let go of that lady! Now, march!" + +It was Holt's voice, low, merciless, commanding; and a revolver was +in his hand. + +Scathlin fell away like water, turning deadly white and cringing. +The day of his judgment had come swiftly, and there was no escape. +He knew that look in Holt's eye. He had sinned away his last +probation. Holt would never trust him again. There was not even +time to destroy the letter which he had wanted to keep and give to +Harrington as evidence against the girl. + +"March!" said Holt's voice again, and the revolver came uncomfortably +near to Scathlin's temple. + +Scathlin marched. + +"Go straight to the house and wait there till I come," commanded Holt +as Scathlin backed weakly away. "If you attempt to escape I'll turn +the bloodhounds loose after you." + +Scathlin turned a shade paler. He had had experience with one of +those bloodhounds. He had no desire to meet the whole pack. He +hastened his footsteps. + +Jean sat with wild eyes watching, her hand upon her heart. + +"You didn't send him for the paper, did you?" she demanded eagerly. +"I knew you would never have sent him." + +"Send for the paper, what paper?" asked Holt in wonder. "I never +sent him for anything." + +"Then how did he know what was in my letter to you?" + +"Letter? What letter? I never received a letter from you." + +"Then he must have opened it and read it. Oh, _he will show it to my +brother!_" + +But Holt's voice rang out clearly before her sentence was fairly +finished: + +"Halt! Scathlin!" + +Scathlin had almost reached the turning at the edge of the woods, but +he paused instantly. + +"Come back here." + +Scathlin came, cringing and white with fear. When he was within ten +yards of the two Holt spoke again, and all the time the sinister +weapon kept guard in his hand aimed straight at Scathlin. + +"Give me my letter." + +"W-what l-let-tt-ter?" chattered Scathlin with ill concealed attempt +to use his cunning. + +"The letter you have in your pocket. Take it out instantly and drop +it on the ground or I shall fire," said Holt sternly. + +"Well, put down that gun," whimpered Scathlin, fumbling nervously in +his inside pocket, "you make me n-n-nervous!" + +"Be quick! Drop that letter!" said Holt, still holding the revolver. + +Scathlin took out the letter and dropped it on the ground, but his +bad little eyes gleamed green and yellow hate at the girl in one look +of wrath as he turned and stumbled back again. + +Holt, still holding the revolver and watching the retreating man, +advanced and picked up the letter. When Scathlin was out of sight he +read it, then turned with softened eyes to the girl who had meantime +secured the paper from its hiding place pinned within her blouse. +She held it out to him, her hand still trembling with the fright she +had been through. + +Holt took the paper, but gathered the little hand into his tenderly +and, stooping, kissed it. + +"To think you have been through all this for me." There was awe in +his voice. "To think you trusted me instead of your own people!" + +For an instant they looked into each other's eyes; then Holt's horse, +trained to stand and await his master's will, whinnied softly. + +"We must not stand here," said Holt, looking up sharply, "some one +might come. I will take you on to Mrs. Foster's, and then go back +and see that Scathlin is where he can do no further harm. How long +will you wish to be there? Can you stay an hour and then ride back? +I will be waiting just in the shadow of the woods and see you to the +edge of town where you will be safe. Please don't ride out of town +alone again." + +"But I shall not be afraid to go back," protested Jean. "You need +not take all that trouble. Now that you have the paper I shall not +be afraid." + +"Trouble!" said Holt, looking at her with eyes that adored. "You +know it is no trouble. But what is this paper that has made so much +disturbance?" He had mounted his horse and was riding by her side +now. He unfolded the paper, but it needed only a glance to show him +what it was. + +"How did you happen to have it?" he asked, looking at her startled. +"Have you the others?" + +"No," she said, a cloud of trouble coming into her eyes. "I had +them, I suppose, but I did not know they were yours. I had the +wallet, with them in. That man gave them to me on the train before +the wreck. You picked the wallet up once when it fell, don't you +remember? Didn't you know they were yours?" + +"Yes," said Holt, "I knew. At least I supposed I knew." + +"Why didn't you tell me?" + +"I didn't want to mix you up in the trouble," he said, looking at her +tenderly, "and besides, I knew they were safe in your possession for +the present." + +"But they weren't. I didn't know they were yours, and I gave them to +my brother." + +"I knew you would, of course. But I was pretty sure I could stop any +harm he would do before he could do it. The only thing I was +troubled about was this paper. I didn't think Scathlin was fool +enough to leave all the papers in the wallet. I was pretty sure he +had kept this and one other himself and only sent the rest back to +throw me off the track and make me think he had sent all of them. He +knew I saw him give you the wallet and he meant I should see. He +thought I would stop watching him and give my attention to you, but I +knew Scathlin better than that. I kept my eye on him. But how did +you happen to have this one paper?" + +"I'm not sure. When I came back to my room, after giving my brother +the wallet, I found this on my floor. It may have fallen when I +dumped the things out of my bag. The wallet fell apart and all the +papers went out on the table, but I thought I picked up every one. +Then when I came back to my room I found this on the floor just as I +was about to turn out the light. Later I overheard a conversation in +which this paper and another were described as missing. The other +was something to do with a mine----" + +"Yes, I have it," said Holt. + +"You have it? Oh, I am so glad! Then they can't trouble your claim, +can they? I suppose that was what they meant, I'm not very much of a +business person. But how did you get it? They said it was in the +wallet." + +"It was," said Holt, "till Scathlin took it out. I think he intended +taking this, also, and leaving with you only the other papers which +were utterly valueless without these two; but he had to work quickly +while I was at the other end of the car, and he blundered. I got it +out of Scathlin's shoe, just after the accident occurred, and before +I left the car we were in. We had a struggle in the dark, but I +secured my paper before he flung me off and crawled out of the +window. After that, I lost sight of him. I was hunting for him in +the water when I found you. I didn't know who you were till I drew +you up on the bank. But I never dreamed you had this paper. I +thought, of course, it was still with Scathlin. That is why I was +away so long, hunting him. I didn't know once but I'd lost him +completely, but I finally got on his track. I was sure he knew where +this paper was and I didn't dare to lose him. I brought him home to +watch him; and I've kept him in sight all day to-day. He thought I +was away from home for two days, but I've been in hiding. I had him +watched when he went to town and I knew he came home. If he had had +this paper he would have gone straight to your brother. A field +glass and a whistle will do a good deal to keep track of a man. When +he stole out of the house toward the woods I knew something was +happening and signalled my men. They are waiting now. They'll look +after Scathlin till I get back." + +He raised a tiny whistle to his lips and blew a long, silvery blast, +followed by two more, and in a moment there came back two answers +from slightly different directions. + +They were come now to the open road, and Holt drew his horse to one +side. Mrs. Foster's home was but a stone's throw away and she was +sitting on the porch in her reclining chair. + +"I will be here when you are ready to go home," said Holt, looking at +her tenderly; then, touching his hat, he wheeled his horse and was +out of sight in a twinkling. + +The next hour was always a blur in the memory of Jean. Somehow she +drew her senses together and dismounted at her friend's door, going +through the formalities of meeting, and adjusting herself to the +occasion; but not for an instant did her subconsciousness cease to +rehearse the events just passed. Her whole body quivered again with +the fear that swept over her at sight of Scathlin; she shrank once +more from his touch as the full realization of her escape was made +known to her; and the look and voice of Holt thrilled her as nothing +had ever done in her life. How could they say he was not good when +he was like that? She had seen the soul of him looking out of his +wonderful eyes and she knew. But how had it come about that others +had not seen, also? Oh, if they knew once; if they could just get a +real glimpse of the true man, they would never again feel as they did +about him. + +She recognized fully the separation there was between them and it +brought a constriction of tears in her throat; but in her heart was a +glad glow that he cared for her, and for the time it seemed enough to +fill her with deep joy. She was going to see him again in a few +minutes, and she could thank him for saving her life again, this time +perhaps from something worse than death. She had had no words +wherewith to tell him of the infinite relief his appearing had +brought; everything had happened so quickly; but it seemed as if a +lifetime would be too brief to voice her gratitude for her +deliverance. She shivered as she remembered the look on Scathlin's +face when he took hold of her. + +Mrs. Foster said: "Why, you're not cold, are you, dearie, this warm +day? I believe they are letting you do too much, with all their +parties and things. You look white. You'd better come down and stay +with me a week and get rested up." + +But Jean's laugh rang silverly. + +"Oh, no, I'm not cold, Mrs. Foster, I'm just glad over something. +It's very nice of you to ask me to visit you, and I would be +delighted, but you know I'm going home next week, and I'm afraid +Eleanor wouldn't want to spare me when the time is so short." + +"Going home next week!" exclaimed the old lady, in dismay. "Why, I +thought you were going to stay till Christmas." + +"So I was, but father has to go to New York to a convention. He's +been made a delegate, and it's a splendid thing for him. He hasn't +had an outing in a long time. He needs it; and we couldn't leave +mother alone you know. Mother is an invalid. So of course I'm going +home a little sooner. But I've had a beautiful time here, and maybe +I can come again sometime." + +All the time that Jean was talking her real self was thinking how +wonderful it had been that it was Holt who saved her again and not +just some passing stranger. + +The hour was over at last and Jean joyously mounted her pony and bade +her friend good-bye; but when she rode into the shadow of the woods +and saw Holt on his shining black horse waiting quietly beside the +road for her, a great shyness overcame her, and she knew she would +never be able to put into words the great thoughts of her heart, and +that perhaps it was as well; for he would understand and words were +not necessary for them. There could not be much said without saying +too much. + +After all they said very little. The way was short till they came to +the edge of town though they walked their horses as slowly as +possible; but there were looks and glances of the soul, trustful, +grateful, worshipful; and each felt the blessedness of these few +minutes alone together. + +Holt told her briefly of Scathlin. He was safe? She need fear him +no more. He would not be abroad to trouble her during the rest of +her stay. His eyes more than his words informed her how he regretted +the brevity of that stay. His eyes told her also that Scathlin's +judgment would be tempered with mercy and righteousness. + +There was one question she wished to ask him. She hesitated long but +finally risked it. + +"You will enter the tournament?" she asked, lifting her eyes full of +pleading that his answer should be yes. "You know about it, of +course? You know they are giving me a tournament before I go home?" + +He bowed gravely. + +"Yes, I know. You will like it. It is one of the most interesting +affairs they have in town. I am glad you will see it." + +She saw he was evading her question. + +"You will enter?" she asked again anxiously. + +He searched her face keenly. + +"You want me to?" + +"I do, very much," she said, and the rich color in her cheeks told +him how much she wanted it. + +"Your friends will not like it," he said. + +"But the tournament is given for me, and I shall like it," she said +with spirit. "I am sure you can ride." + +"I can ride a little," he said indifferently. + +"Then you will enter?" + +"If you really wish it." + +"I certainly wish it," she said gladly. + +Then suddenly out from the woods rode two men; fine, tall, sturdy +fellows they were, perhaps ten or more years older than Holt, but +with strong faces, keen eyes, and muscles that looked like iron. + +They saluted Holt as if he were their military officer, and one rode +close to him and said a few words in a low tone. Holt nodded +gravely, his fine, boyish face taking on maturer lines as he gave +attention to the message, and uttered his brief, ready directions, +utterly unintelligible to the girl who looked on in bewilderment at +this new phase of the young man's character. + +The second rider had halted at a respectful distance, without a +glance in her direction, and waited as a trained servitor should do. +Devotion to Holt and absolute obedience were in the attitude of both. + +The interview occupied scarcely a minute; then the two men wheeled, +saluted, and rode away once more into the woods. + +"A little trouble at the mine," Holt explained, in answer to her +questioning glance. "It'll be all right now, since I have this paper +again. We haven't dared to exercise our water privileges as we +should and have been moving under difficulties, but now that I have +the grant there will be no further trouble. I'll take care it's put +where no one can steal it again." + +"Oh, I'm so glad," breathed Jean, "but who are they?" pointing after +the two riders who were just disappearing behind the trees. + +"My men," said Holt. "I have fifty-four of them, fine fellows every +one." + +"Your men?" questioned Jean in surprise. + +"They work for me--in the mine and around the place. I've picked +them up here and there. That big fellow that waited--I took him down +from a tree where they'd hung him up for stealing a horse. He's the +one I told you of--I thought he was dead, but there he is! He +wouldn't take a pin now that belonged to anyone else. He's the +straightest fellow on the place. The other one was almost gone with +fever when I met up with him. We've nursed each other twice apiece +since then. There are others I'd like you to know if things weren't +as they are. You'd see the good in them, I'm sure. You seem to +understand." + +Jean's eyes were alight as she watched him. + +"They know you!" she exclaimed. "They've seen the real _you_, and +they trust you! I saw it in their eyes." + +"Maybe," he said, returning her look. "They'd fight for me any time +I asked it; and they'd die for me if it came to that." + +"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for +his friends." The words seemed to come of themselves from the girl's +lips as she watched the man in wonder and admiration. + +"You took a mighty slim chance on yours for me about an hour ago." +Holt's eyes spoke volumes. "Why didn't you give him the paper? It +was by far the safest thing for you to do. Didn't you know that?" + +"Yes," said the girl, her soft lips setting in a firm line and her +chin taking the tilt that gave her sweet face its strength and +fineness. "But the paper was yours, and I was sure it was valuable. +I didn't trust him." + +"And you trust me yet, in spite of all the things I know you must +have heard about me?" + +"I trust you _forever_!" + +Her eyes were clear and steady, and her voice was sweet with a ring +of triumph in it as she made the declaration. + +For a moment they looked at one another with a great blinding light +of deep gladness shining from their eyes; then the man bowed his head +gravely and, reaching over, took her hand in a strong, quick clasp. + +"You shall never have cause to lose that trust," he murmured +solemnly, and turning, rode back into the woods and left her to go on +alone through the town. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +When Jean reached the Harrington home she found a group of girls on +the piazza, waiting for her, who chattered and laughed and took +absolute possession of her. They were planning an all-day trip on +horseback with lunches and all sorts of interesting things by the +way, and Jean must help them. Then they gave her no chance to speak, +but told her all in chorus, until she could scarcely make out what it +was about. She smiled and agreed, but half the time she did not know +what they were saying, for something still and beautiful within her +soul was claiming her attention, something that seemed too high and +holy to be affected by any of these foolish little things wherewith +the others wanted to while away the time--the brief, dear time left +her to be in _his_ neighborhood! Yet she smiled and agreed, and they +all thought her charming, and went on making their plans. + +They made out their list of men who were to be invited. She heard +the names read, and took no account of whom they had selected for her +escort. What did it matter? _His_ name was not among them! She +heard their talk about their horses. + +"Robin Hood has gone lame," declared one maiden pettishly, "isn't +that a shame? Father says it's my fault, but I know better. He's +going to get me a new horse pretty soon when he can find one to suit +him. I know just the one I want, coal-black and shines like satin. +He can go like the wind and take a river as if he had wings. I'm +dead in love with him. I'm just dying to ride him, but his owner +won't sell him. Isn't that mean? He belongs to Jasper Holt. Father +has offered him a fabulous price, but he won't sell him at any price, +he says. I think he's perfectly horrid. Of course he only does it +just to be disagreeable because he thinks I want him. That man makes +me tired!" + +There was a soft color on Jean's cheeks and she looked up as if a +challenge to defend her friend had been flung to her. + +"Perhaps he's fond of the horse," she said gently, as she glanced +around on all those scornful young faces. + +"He, fond of anything! Oh my dear! You don't know him!" declared +one of the girls. + +"He never was fond of anything in his life," laughed another. "Why, +he's the cruellest thing! You don't know, Jean." + +"Men grow very fond of horses," said Jean, holding her head high and +the roses in her cheeks deepening, "and their horses grow fond of +them. A horse loves one who is kind to him." + +She was remembering the proud arch of Jasper Holt's black as he rode +beside her in the woods but a short half hour before. + +Her words were met by a shout of merriment, and a boisterous young +voice with a sneer in it pierced above the laughter: + +"Kind to them! Jasper Holt was never kind to anything in his life! +My dear, you simply don't know him!" + +"But I _do_ know him!" said Jean now, rising from her rocker and +standing slim and straight against the vine-covered pillar of the +porch. "I know him better than you all, and I know he is kind. He +was kind and splendid to me! No man could have done more! I am +sorry you feel that way about him. It isn't right! He is my friend!" + +She had spoken! She had always meant to, ever since she came; but +there had been little opportunity without being deliberately +disagreeable and dragging the subject in. Perhaps Eleanor had warned +her callers not to mention Jasper Holt, for they usually seemed to +avoid speaking of him; but she had always felt the time would come +when she could speak and let them all know what she thought about +him, and now it had come and she had spoken. Her heart beat wildly, +her cheeks were rosy red, and her eyes shining starrily, but she +stood unabashed and faced them all. + +A sudden silence fell upon the little group and they exchanged +furtive glances of understanding as if a mutual agreement sealed +their lips to things that they might say if she were not with them. + +"Oh, well, of course you're grateful," said one girl in a +conciliatory tone. "One couldn't help being grateful under such +circumstances; but he would have been a brute not to have pulled you +out of the water and showed you the way to Hawk Valley." + +"Perhaps he wants his black to ride in the tournament," said another +girl mischievously, hoping to lift the cloud that had fallen over +them all. "He has audacity enough for anything, though he has never +seemed to care for anything going on in the town. Of course he has +never been encouraged to have." + +"He wouldn't dare!" said another with flashing eyes. + +"Why wouldn't he dare?" asked Jean, turning steady eyes to the +haughty young speaker. + +"Because it wouldn't be tolerated," declared the girl still haughtily. + +"I have seen him dare greater things than that," said Jean with a +far-away look in her eyes and something like a smile on her lips. + +The girls looked at her a minute in silence and wonder, interchanged +quick glances that said: "She does not know," and changed the +subject. They liked Jean too well, and she was too popular among the +men for them to risk angering her, so they chattered on about what +they would have in the lunch boxes, and who should bring what; but +Jean, with that far-away look in her eyes and that half smile on her +lips, as if she knew things that were hidden from others, said no +more. + +They chattered and giggled and chorused to the end of their subject +and their time at last, and took themselves away; but it was the +dinner hour and Harrington was coming up the walk with two men who +were to be their guests for dinner. There was just time for Jean to +change her riding habit for a dinner dress and hurry down again, no +chance for the rest and the quiet thoughts that cried out to have +their way. + +The evening was filled with callers, as every evening had been since +she came that was not actually taken up by some entertainment or +invitation. It seemed a wearisome time to Jean, who longed for her +quiet room and her own thoughts. She watched the men who were +talking to her, trying to please her; saw that they were good to look +upon, cultured, and refined: saw that any one of them would be a good +friend to her if she would let him; and yet, when she considered it, +there was not one who came up to the standard of the man who had +saved her life. She tried to look at the matter from their +standpoint and understand why it was that she could not like any of +them as she liked him; why they all seemed rather tedious in their +intercourse and tiresome in their coming; and the great thought came +down upon her that it was because she had first known him, and he was +so much larger and finer a man in every way than they. + +She had no more thought than at the beginning that she would ever see +more of Holt. The future showed no bright hope that they might come +together. He had said it would not do, and she trusted him. +Whatever he willed concerning their friendship she bowed to, for she +trusted him utterly; but there was something vivid and both strong +and gentle in him that made all others vapid beside him. + +She roused herself to be pleasant and entertaining, but her heart was +not in it. Her sister, noticing as the evening went on that she +looked white and tired, finally managed to send their guests away. +And indeed, there had been moments when all the gaiety and laughter +seemed far away to her, and she had only seen the evil face of +Scathlin and heard his voice demanding the paper and threatening to +find it for himself. Once she had shuddered and shivered visibly as +if she were chilly, and the Captain hastened to pick up a gauze scarf +and throw it around her shoulders, while Freeman Thorne pulled down +the window. + +But when they were all gone Eleanor was not at peace about her sister +and in pretty negligee she came in presently to perch upon the bed +and question her. + +"Is anything troubling you, Jean?" she asked anxiously. "You seemed +so white and tired to-night?" + +"Nothing at all, dearest," said Jean brightly. "What a big +responsibility I am to you, you precious big sister! You mustn't +worry about me, I have had a lovely visit. But I get a little tired +of talking to so many people sometimes, and having to say the same +things over to all those men." + +"You queer child!" said her sister, looking at her curiously. +"Almost any girl would be proud, to have so many admirers and you +take them as a matter of course and don't seem to care a bit for any +of them." + +She studied the fair face of the girl keenly for any trace of +self-consciousness, but Jean's smile was as placid as ever. + +"They are all nice, Eleanor," said the girl wearily, "but they do +grow a little tiresome; all day long some of them, and every day. I +wouldn't mind if you and I had a day or two now and then just all to +ourselves." + +"Well, you certainly are hopeless!" said her sister. "Tell me, +child, is there someone at home to whom you have given your heart?" + +"Oh, no!" said Jean quickly, laughing at the thought. "Who would +there be? You know all the boys, and there isn't one I could care +for." + +"Well, I didn't know but that new bank cashier--" + +"Tom Lloyd? Why he's engaged to Bella Harkness. Did no one tell +you? Besides, he's years older than I am." + +"Well, there's that oldest Shafton boy. Mother wrote he had come +home from college and started in business. They are a good family, +Jean." + +"Jimmy Shafton? Oh, Eleanor! You ought to see him! He's the +biggest snob! But there! I suppose he's nice enough, but I don't +like him, that's all. He has a weak chin, and somehow I don't trust +him. Now, Eleanor, you funny little match-maker, just give me up as +a hopeless case. You can't marry me off yet awhile and you'll have +to make up your mind to it. I'm going home where I belong to take +care of my mother and teach my Sunday School class; but I've had a +glorious time while I was here and I shall enjoy thinking it over a +lot when I get home." + +Eleanor was baffled, but persistent. + +"Don't you like the Captain?" she asked. + +"Yes, a lot. He's going to take me a ride through the canyon +to-morrow. Will you go along? He promised to ask you." + +"Well, probably he didn't want me," said Eleanor significantly. + +"Well, _I_ do," said Jean decidedly. "I told him I wouldn't go +without you." + +"Why, yes, I suppose I could take Betty on her pony." + +"Do," said Jean, "I love to ride with Betty, and then you can talk to +the Captain when I get tired." + +"You funny little girl! Well, don't you like Freeman Thorne?" + +"Of course," said Jean. "He's going to bring me some Indian +arrow-heads to give to my boys at home." + +Eleanor sat back and surveyed her inscrutable little sister +hopelessly. There was one more question she wanted to ask, but +somehow she didn't dare, because she hated to see that look of hurt +dignity come into Jean's eyes whenever she spoke of Jasper Holt; but +there lingered in her heart just a little uneasiness about the +handsome outlaw whose part the girl had so loyally taken on her +arrival, and about whom her lips had remained so significantly sealed +ever since. Yet, despite her uneasiness, she went to her room with +the question unasked, and Jean locked her door and turned out her +light with a sigh of relief that at last she was alone. + +Down on her knees beside the open window she knelt, her arms on the +window seat, her face raised to the eternal stars. There was a kind +of triumph in her face, for though she knew that great sadness was +coming rapidly on its way, yet over all the excitement of the day, +the terror of peril and escape, there was a great exultation. For +just this one night at least she must exult in the thought of her +lover and his second saving of her life; she must rejoice in his love +and the fact that she could trust him. Memory brought back now in a +flood of joy every glance of his true eyes, every word and gesture, +every movement and attitude of the perfect body. He seemed so much +stronger and finer and nobler in every way than all those others. +What a pity that he must rest under their disapproval. How dreadful +that they could not know him as he really was--that she must +presently go on her lonely way home, and see no more of him, know no +more of him--perhaps never on this earth again. He had it in him to +be true to this terrible separation because he thought it ought to +be, and she was proud of him for it, but her heart already ached in +anticipation of the sorrow that was in store for her. + +With a sob she put her head down on the window sill and prayed softly: + +"Dear God, take care of him, and help people to know him. Help him +to be true always and let others find it out and be ashamed of the +way they have treated him. Bless him, and keep him--my dear friend!" + +Then with one lingering look away to where the stars shone quietly +above his dwelling as above hers, she went to her sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +The tournament was set for the day before Jean started home. + +It was to be a great event, the biggest thing the town of Hawk Valley +could devise in the way of entertainment for its most honored guests. +It was an all-day affair, with contests and games of every kind, +races and matches and a big procession with everyone wearing the +gayest and most fantastic garments the resources of the town afforded. + +The climax of the program was to be late in the afternoon when the +great feats of riding were performed and the prizes and wreaths given +out to the victors. + +The highest honor had been allotted to Jean, for she had been +selected to give out the prizes and crown the victor of the final +riding contest. + +It had been the custom heretofore in other similar contests that a +lady so honored should ride once around the running track in company +with the victor and share with him the triumph of the occasion. +Great was the eagerness of all the young men to win this privilege on +this occasion, for Jean's delicate beauty and sweet, gentle ways had +made her most popular, and everyone was striving for the privilege of +riding with her and being crowned by her fair hand. All in a +friendly way there had been much merriment about it, much betting and +chaffing, much practising of horsemanship, much boasting, and many a +gallant gentleman had besought her to wear his flowers on the gala +day that he might stand the better chance of winning. + +But Jean had smiled upon them all and would promise none. She took +it all as a beautiful piece of pleasantry in her honor, though +sometimes she was secretly distressed at the earnestness with which +many of her admirers pressed their suit. They were splendid fellows, +all of them, and it was hard to be refusing and disappointing them +all the time. Hard, too, it was, to disappoint her sister Eleanor +continually, who was an enthusiastic match-maker and felt real +chagrin that her beloved sister should go back home from all that +adulation still apparently heart-free, when she had been given so +many perfectly good chances to fall in love. Eleanor would have +liked nothing better than to have Jean marry and settle out near +herself. Then the father and mother would eventually come, of +course, and the family would be reunited. It was most aggravating to +her that Jean remained so unimpressionable. + +The day before the tournament great boxes of flowers began to arrive +for Jean, embarrassing her with their riches, profusion and +costliness. Orchids and lilies, gardenias and roses of rare +varieties, carnations, jessamine, even delicate wild flowers and +wonderful poppies. Each admirer had spent much thought and care upon +his offering, hoping to have it chosen for wearing upon the great +occasion; and each had tried to have his flowers unusual and +noticeable enough to draw her choice away from all others. With each +great box came card or note or sometimes letter bearing the name and +earnest plea of the giver, three even offering themselves with their +flowers. + +Jean stood among her blossoms, her cheeks vying with the roses, her +eyes as starry as the lilies, distressed and touched, but not quite +pleased. It was terrible to her that she seemed to have wrought such +havoc in the hearts of men. + +Eleanor and the children hovered excitedly around, far more pleased +than Jean over the honors that were heaped upon her. Eleanor talked +in a high, sweet soprano about the merits of the different flowers, +and the reasons why each should be worn in preference to the others. + +"There were the Captain's orchids--so expensive, poor fellow--and he +was so handsome!" Eleanor always ended with the Captain where she +had begun. It was plain that Eleanor favored the Captain most +mightily. + +Jean stood and touched the flowers, tenderly, compassionately, as +though in some way they were human things that had been cheated into +coming without a cause; as she might have looked at and touched +something very beautiful that did not belong to her. It seemed a big +responsibility to have all these lovely blossoms with all they +represented, and as she filled each vase and jar and bowl to +overflowing till almost every available receptacle in the house was +filled, her eyes grew more and more troubled and thoughtful. Somehow +it seemed wrong for her to have all these perishing beauties, knowing +that the lasting treasure they were here to plead for their donors +was not hers to give. + +"Which flowers are you going to wear, Jean?" asked Eleanor vexedly +that night, as they went upstairs together after tucking the blossoms +all away under damp papers. "You know you'll have to decide in the +morning, and there really aren't any more to come in, unless Mr. +Frazer sends some. Everybody, literally every man in the region that +could have a shadow of right to do so, has sent you some. It shows +how popular you are! I don't believe any girl that ever came here +before was so well treated, and so universally admired. It's +wonderful, Jean. You little, quiet, sweet child, but you've got them +all under your small thumb! I never would have suspected it of you." + +Jean smiled wearily. She was tired and her sister's idea of triumph +was not hers. It savored too much of counting the scalps of those +she had slain. She did not want to have men at her feet to be turned +away. She looked at life more seriously than just a game where she +was to win all no matter who lost. + +She turned away with a gentle good-night, and Eleanor's eyes followed +her dissatisfiedly. + +"You know, you might wear one of each and satisfy them all," she +suggested. + +Jean smiled and shuddered inwardly. The scalps again! A display of +them! + +"Never!" she murmured. + +"Well, what are you going to do?" Her sister was all out of patience +with her dallying. + +"I'll sleep over it," she said brightly. "Aren't you tired, dear?" + +And Eleanor had to let it go at that. + +Young Frazer sent his flowers in the morning: wonderful violets, blue +as the sky over Hawk Valley; dewy and sweet, and raised with careful +tending; and there were more roses from several men at a distance who +had not been reckoned upon. But Eleanor was not told of the roses +that the servant found upon the doorstep when he went to sweep the +piazza, early in the morning; the roses with the dew upon them and +the golden ruby glow of sunset in their hearts. They were not +wrapped, or in a box, or accompanied by a card; nor was there even +any name upon them. They simply lay upon the doorstep and made their +mute appeal of fragrance; and the man servant, who, like all the +other men in Hawk Valley, servant though he was, had surrendered to +the gentle, beautiful girl, understood and carried them straight up +to her door without telling anyone. He knew from whom they came, and +he knew, by the starry look in her eyes when the others like them had +come, that she would know. + +She gathered them into her willing arms and thanked him. Her problem +was solved, and she could go down to breakfast with a light heart. + +"Have you decided which flowers to wear, Jean?" her sister asked +sharply the minute she came into the room. + +"Yes," said the girl with a smile, "but it's a secret. I'm not going +to tell. You will see when I wear them." + +Eleanor looked anxiously at the bright face with the firm lips, and +the decided set of the pretty head, and sighed. She knew she would +have to wait. + +Jean was to go on her pony to the scene of the day's festivities, +that she might be ready for the triumphal ride at the end; and the +Captain had begged the privilege of accompanying her, being confident +that he should both see his costly orchids adorning her, and win the +right to ride home by her side, triumphant. It seemed to him that in +that case it would be but a short way to the other heights he hoped +to attain. + +He arrived at the house on the minute appointed, but Jean, usually +punctual, kept him waiting. The Harringtons were all packed +comfortably in their motor-car. They kept calling impatiently. + +"We'll be late, Jean, and James has to see about the signals and put +up some more ribbons. You know he's marshal of the day." + +"Go on," called Jean sweetly from her window, "I'm just fastening on +my flowers. I'll be there in a minute. Don't wait, we'll catch you." + +They heard her footsteps flying down the stairs and Harrington +started the car. + +"Wait, James, I must see what flowers she chose." + +"Nonsense!" said her husband, sending the car shooting forward at a +pace. "You can wait till she gets there. What difference does it +make anyway?" + +"Why, if she doesn't take the right ones I can send her back," said +Eleanor, twisting her neck to see her sister, who was just mounting +her pony. + +"The right ones? You don't know which ones you want her to wear +yourself; you've said so a dozen times this morning," laughed her +husband, jeeringly. + +"Well, I know, but there are some quite impossible ones, you know, +and Jean is so queer and unconventional. It would be just like her +to wear John Beard's poppies because she felt sorry for him on +account of his lameness. She always was that way. Mamma let her +choose a canary when she was little, and she chose a poor, little +faded thing that wouldn't sing a note, because she said it wasn't +pretty like the others and would enjoy a nice cage." + +"Well, I guess you'll have to let her choose her own husband, anyway. +She's got to live with him, and she's got a big will of her own." + +"I know," said Eleanor, sighing. "I shall be relieved when she gets +safely married. Mamma is so shut in that she doesn't realize how +unworldly Jean is. But, James, I do wish you'd slow up a little. I +must see those flowers. Betty, dear, can you tell what they are Aunt +Jean is wearing?" + +The little girl craned her neck. + +"I think they're just roses, mamma," said Betty indifferently. + +"Roses? Are you sure, child? Aren't they orchids? The poor +Captain! But there were multitudes of roses. I wonder whose they +are." + +They had turned into the main street, now. Banners were flying and a +band playing martial music. The question of the flowers must +perforce become a side issue, for there were numberless little things +to be decided, and Mrs. Harrington was consulted many times before +she finally mounted the grand stand and took her seat among the +prominent people of the place, looking around with satisfaction to +see Jean ascending the steps followed by the handsome captain, whose +dejected face still showed his disappointment about the orchids. For +the moment she was too much taken up with the captain to look closely +at the wonderful roses that Jean wore; then suddenly she turned her +attention to them. Where had she seen roses like those? Who could +have sent them? + +Then memory leaped on duty. Roses yellow as gold and with a heart of +ruby! Holt's Golden Sunset! She could hear her husband's sharp +voice repeating the hateful name. Could it be possible that he had +had the audacity to send Jean roses on this day, when all eyes would +be turned to the girl? And Jean, knowing how they felt about him, +had dared to wear them! + +Her cheeks grew red and her eyes flashed. She looked daggers at the +girl, and then, realizing that the captain could see her, tried to +control her face; and even now Jean was moving away to the seat on +the right, the seat of honor for the lady who was to present the +prizes. + +"Jean, wait! I must speak to you," she called. Jean, two chairs +away, leaned over, smiling. Perhaps she knew what was coming, but +her lips had that firm little twist as she said: "What is it?" that +indicated courage to stick to a decision. + +Eleanor Harrington leaned over the two chairs, speaking low and +vehemently: + +"Jean, take those flowers off and give them to me at once! I'll send +the man back for the orchids. People will just think you have +forgotten your flowers. Quick, give them to me." + +Jean drew back with pretty dignity, and laid her hand protectingly +over the flowers at her waist: + +"I'm sorry, Eleanor," she said gently and decidedly. "I can't do +what you ask. These are the flowers I intend to wear. Captain +Wetherill understands me perfectly. I told him beforehand not to +send me flowers." + +And she turned away. + +"But, Jean," cried her sister frantically, "you simply must not wear +those roses! Send the man back for any others, but don't wear those. +You don't understand! Everybody will know those are Jasper Holt's +roses. People will think it very strange. Why, he isn't even here. +It isn't respectable for you to have anything to do with him." + +Jean looked her sister straight in the eyes. + +"I understand perfectly, Eleanor," she said softly, for a group of +people were coming in and taking possession of the seats around them. +"I cannot and will not wear any of those other flowers." + +"Then take them off entirely and don't wear any," said Eleanor, the +vexed tears coming into her eyes. + +"I'm sorry, Eleanor, but I must wear them," said Jean, and went +quietly, almost sadly to her seat. She hated to hurt her sister, and +to seem to do violence to her wishes, but the wearing of these +flowers had become a thing of moment to her, a sacred duty and +privilege. She knew that to Holt, if he should see her, it would be +a symbol of her trust in him. If he did not come to the tournament +at least she would have the satisfaction of knowing in her own heart +that she had been loyal to him, in the only way vouchsafed her, that +of wearing his flowers before them all. + +Eleanor settled back, defeated, in her chair, two red spots glowing +on her cheeks, and angry flashes in her eyes. She was mortified +beyond expression. That her young sister, who had the adulation of +the whole county poured at her feet, should choose, before the +assembled multitude, to wear the favor of a man whom nobody +recognized or favored filled her socially-aspiring soul with rage. +What would James say when he found her sister had been wearing his +enemy's flowers? Well, it was all James' fault anyway, for if he had +kept the car waiting a minute she would have discovered Jean's folly +in time to stop it. If she had seen those yellow roses glowing on +her sister's gown before she mounted her pony they would never have +come to the tournament, no, not if she had to detain Jean forcibly at +home for the day and tell people she was taken suddenly ill! This +came of bringing the girl up in a purely domestic and religious +atmosphere and not teaching her a little worldly wisdom. Well, she +would tell James it was his fault; that would be some satisfaction. +Yes, and she would tell Jean just what she thought of her headstrong +folly, too, when she got her home. + +The waves of angry color had not yet ceased to flow over Eleanor's +handsome face when the Thornes bustled in and took the next seats. +Mrs. Thorne was a large, imposing person and had much to say of her +son's admiration for Jean. She purred eagerly about the girl's +beauty: + +"So simple and sweet in that white dress with those beautiful yellow +roses! Freeman wouldn't tell me what flowers the sent her. I wonder +if they can be his. I never saw any like them around here, did you? +The boy is completely gone about her. I suspect he spent a fabulous +sum on flowers. He sent to Kansas City for them." + +It was then that Eleanor began to take heart of hope. If Mrs. Thorne +didn't know whose roses Jean wore perhaps the other women wouldn't. +Women didn't visit Jasper Holt's home, and men didn't notice those +things much. + +She settled back relieved, and allowed herself to think how well Jean +was looking and how devoted the Captain seemed in spite of his floral +setback. Perhaps, after all, he would only be the more keen that +Jean was not in a hurry to land him. Was she, after all, a little +deeper than they thought and did she plan her campaign with a view to +making her admirers all the more eager? Eleanor Harrington never had +been able to comprehend a nature higher than her own. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Into the midst of Eleanor's troubled thoughts came the herald, a boy +from a neighboring ranch, fantastically attired, who rode on a white +pony with fluttering blue ribbons for reins, and blew three sharp +blasts on a silver bugle, the signal for the opening of the sports. +Eleanor Harrington whispered a few words to Betty, and helped her to +slip quietly out of the seat into the aisle, then settled back +relieved. She had sent a message to Jean not for anything in the +world to tell any one whose flowers she wore, and Jean looked up and +smiled brightly across the heads of the people between them, nodding +her consent. Betty came back to her seat, pleased to have been the +centre of all eyes for a moment, and her mother patted her hand and +reflected that, after all, it was wise in Jean not to wear any of her +special admirers' flowers, for then they could none of them be angry +with her; and if it should come out that she wore Holt's roses a +little judicious hint of "gratitude" and "a sense of duty toward one +who had saved her life" would only add charm to the lovely character +of the girl. As Holt was not present what harm could come of it? + +The day's sports went forward briskly. Each feature of the program +had been put into separate and capable hands, and each vied with the +other to make his or her stunt the best of all. There were +children's games, marches and dances. There were folk dances, +speeches, contests, and races of all sorts, each highly entertaining +in its way; and there was the great picnic dinner when the entire +company adjourned to the edge of the woods where tables had been +prepared and where the good things of the town had been set forth to +tempt the appetite. Everybody was hungry and everybody laughed and +talked gaily. + +Eleanor had had a vague hope that she might induce Jean to send home +at noon for some other flowers on the plea that the ones she wore +were faded, but Jean was surrounded by a company of gay young people +and there really was no opportunity to speak to her. Harrington, +too, who might have taken the matter in hand and convinced Jean of +the error of her ways, had been summoned to the grounds to perfect +some arrangement for the afternoon, so there was nothing to be done. + +When the bugle blew for the afternoon program to begin Harrington was +beside his wife, his work done, ready to enjoy the best part of +things without any more responsibility. But Eleanor, knowing well +his moods, thought it unwise to tell him about the flowers for the +present. It was too late now to change, and James would simply be +furious; it was best to save that stroke about its being his fault +until another time when she needed to convince him of something else. + +The children had finished their entertainment in the morning, and the +remainder of the program was to be by the men. + +When the first set of riders came out in line there was one among +their number whom the crowd did not at first recognize; a man with +bright, curly hair and fine bearing, dressed in white flannels and +riding a jet black, long-limbed horse. Everywhere among the seats +could be heard the murmur: "Who is he?" but no one answered. + +Harrington raised his field glass and looked; then dropped his hand +with an exclamation of dismay. Eleanor, watching her husband's face, +reached for the glass, looked a moment, then she too dropped the +glass in her lap and gave her attention to controlling her +countenance. No one must suspect what a bitter drop in the day's cup +of pleasure this was to them. + +Harrington sat, grimly reflecting that he might have prevented this +possibility if he had framed the entrance qualifications aright; but +Holt had been away indefinitely when the tournament was planned and +he had not thought of him. Now it was too late to do a thing; and +there were reasons that made it unwise for him to show displeasure or +unfriendliness to Holt, lest suspicion of a worse character fall upon +himself. + +For the remainder of the afternoon life to Eleanor Harrington became +a matter of self-control. Now and then she managed to glance +furtively at her husband and wonder why he hadn't flown into a rage; +but she was wise enough to say nothing, knowing that as he did not +there must be a reason. Nevertheless she mentally resolved to give +her young sister such a piece of her mind on their return home as +would not easily be forgotten; and for the first time since the date +of Jean's early departure had been set, she was reconciled to it. +What made matters so very much worse was that Jasper Holt looked +distractingly handsome in those unaccustomed white flannels, wearing +them as though he had grown up in them, and sitting his mount like a +young god. There wasn't a man of the whole line who seemed so +thoroughly a part of his horse as Holt, and every line of his head +and body, every controlled, easy movement that he made was beautiful. +Of course Jean was taken with his looks. Girls were such fools; that +is, girls who had no worldly wisdom. + +Up on the grandstand a group of girls looked and exclaimed and +whispered eagerly together: "Do you suppose Jean knew all the time he +was going to enter? Do you suppose maybe she's in love with him? +_Really?_ Wouldn't that be exciting? But of course it couldn't ever +amount to anything but a little romance! And she looks so innocent! +I don't believe she knew, after all." And so they speculated. + +Jean had known him the first moment he appeared upon the scene and +her heart stood still, as if this were the moment for which she had +waited all her life. He was here, and how splendid he looked! The +rough flannel shirt and corduroys in which she was accustomed to see +him were becoming, but he fairly took her breath away in his new +costume. There wasn't a man among them, no matter what he wore, who +could match him for looks. Her heart swelled with joy beneath his +roses. This was her little moment to rejoice. To-morrow she was +going away, and she might not see him any more, but to-day it was +right that she should have this beautiful sight of him to carry away +with her. So she watched, her eyes shining and her cheeks glowing +warmly. + +There was no question at any time but that he was the rider of them +all. His horse skimmed the hurdles as though they had been mere +imaginary lines, and flew over the highest bar like a swallow in the +air. He sat the black creature with ease and grace, and from the +start all eyes were following his every move. The crowd forgot for +the time its prejudice and animosity, and sat in absorbed admiration +of his skill and courage. + +They all knew him as a daring rider, for often women held their +breath to see him go tearing through the street on some wild beast of +a horse whose mad flight seemed uncanny; but the incomparable riding +he did now was beyond all he had ever done for them before. They +watched and glowed and applauded, and the heart of the girl he loved +swelled with pride so that the tears of joy came into her eyes and +blinded her from seeing him. She was glad that everyone was watching +him, and no one would be looking at her. She did not know that her +sister had the field glass focussed straight upon her, and was +studying her closely. Alas, for the tears that were so hastily +brushed away. Eleanor looked and her heart sank in dismay, poor, +troubled lady. She began to rejoice that Jean was going on the +morrow; in fact, the afternoon could not come too soon to a close for +her now. + +The final race, the hardest of them all, intricate and amazing in its +plan and wonderful in its working out, in which the obstacles were +many and the skill required was great, was at its climax. Holt had +kept easily abreast, often ahead of all the others, and the next to +the last round was almost finished. People leaned forward in their +seats, then rose upon their feet, shouting and cheering and waving +their hands. Jean, with the others, leaned over the front rail of +the grandstand, in the centre of the judges' bench waving her +handkerchief excitedly; the bit of sheer linen slipped from her +trembling fingers and fluttered to the ground. Quick as a flash Holt +spurred ahead and wheeling in a circle in front of the judges' stand, +swinging his body lithely he leaned and picked up the bit of linen +from the ground, wheeled shortly again and handed it to its owner. +Then he was off like a flash down the track on the last round but a +quarter of the way behind the rest, his wonderful advantage lost! + +"Oh-hh-hhh!" went up in dismay from a hundred throats; and "Ah-hh-h!" +in appreciation. It was a pretty bit of gallantry; a skilful trick +of horsemanship, but, oh, the pity of it, to lose the race for a +handkerchief! The crowd could hardly forgive him. Who cared about +all the rest? They were but secondary now even though he had fallen +behind. What madness and folly when the handkerchief could have +waited, or was he doing it to be smart? The crowd were angry at +their sudden loss, and began to think how just like Jasper Holt it +was to trifle with them so, when suddenly they sat up and took +notice. Was the race lost after all? Jasper Holt had passed the +last two riders and was running neck and neck with the third, and now +he passed the fourth from the end. There were but two more to pass. +Still, the others were nearly to the three-quarter line, and the +foremost was Captain Wetherill with his powerful roan mare. He was +riding hard and meant to win. There was a bitter, haughty look upon +his face. His triumph would be spoiled by all that gallery play that +had preceded it, though it was plain he felt the victory easy now. +Would Holt attempt to pass him? It seemed impossible, yet on he +came, his black skimming like a swallow on the outside of the ring, +gaining, gaining, every second, and the rider with his easy, +nonchalant air, sitting as if the winning were a matter of +indifference to him. The crowd stood up and shouted now, a deafening +din, and Jean stood with them, holding her breath in wonder and +excitement. The man who rode second was but a few paces ahead when +his horse suddenly swerved outward, staggered and fell, carrying the +rider down with him straight in the track of Holt, coming on at his +terrible pace. + +The shouting hushed in tightening throats as the crowd waited for the +terrible catastrophe that seemed inevitable. Then, before they were +fully aware of the danger, the black horse had leaped over the sudden +obstacle, and was racing neck and neck with the Captain's horse and +gaining every step. + +Only fifty yards remained to be run. + +Breathlessly the crowd stood and watched as the two leaders sped +forward. Would he make it? Would it be possible after all the +hindrances for mortal rider to compass that? + +The Captain was on his mettle now, spurring his horse to its utmost, +but still the black kept easily with him. Like two motes in the +sunshine set to swim in unison the racers looked to the excited crowd +as they skimmed along together. + +Jean clutched the rail in front of her, her eyes blinded once more by +sudden tears of excitement, her heart thumping wildly till it seemed +as if all those about her must hear it. + +Suddenly, incredibly, the black seemed to take on new speed! + +A gasp from the crowd, a breath of satisfaction, and then through her +tears Jean saw the black leap ahead of his rival and clear the line +with a lead of fully ten feet! + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +For a moment there was silence, as if the crowd could not grasp the +import of the amazing feat it witnessed; as if senses had not yet +registered results in human brains. Then a great shout arose, +gathering force as it swept along. They stamped, they cheered, they +yelled, they waved wild, excited hands with handkerchiefs, umbrellas, +canes, anything that was in them. They went mad and prolonged the +sound until it was deafening. And there did not seem to be one in +that whole crowd who remembered that the man for whom they were +shouting had been for years despised by them all. + +No one noticed Jean, with her face wreathed in smiles, sparkling with +tears, and her heart beating wildly with joy. She stood on her +railed platform, one hand upon her breast to still its excitement, +the other hand wiping away her foolish tears which she hoped to get +rid of before anybody had time to notice them. It was all so +wonderful, so beautiful to her to have her lover recognized in this +way. To be sure, it was only an athletic feat, no recognition of his +sterling worth the crowd were giving him in this ovation. She was +not deceived. She knew it did not mean any change of their +relations; no difference in the circumstances that divided them; but +it was something great and beautiful to her to have even his riding +recognized thus enthusiastically. + +The cheering continued in round after round for several minutes. + +Holt had dismounted, halting his horse for a moment, and stood facing +the shouting mob, reluctant, yet as if it were something that had to +be performed in order to stop their noise. Then with a slight, +dignified bow he turned away, and walked toward the fallen rider. + +Already a doctor had been called and a crowd was gathering. Holt +dispersed them with a wave of his hand, and kneeling beside the +injured man, began ministering to him with skilful, tender hand, +regardless of the shouting of the throng who cheered this new action +yet more madly. + +A delegation came in hot haste to bring the hero to the judges' stand +where Jean, with shining eyes and excited, happy face, stood waiting +with the wreath in her hand to crown him, but he paid not the +slightest attention to them. Instead he raised a silver whistle to +his lips and blew a keen, sweet blast, that even in their excitement +startled the crowd and made them remember the tales connected with +that whistle and the deeds it had summoned men to do. + +Two men jumped down instantly from the front seat of the grandstand +and were at his side before the echo of the whistle had died away. +Jean saw them and knew them for the men who had ridden out of the +woods the day that Scathlin attacked her. They were his special +bodyguard, his faithful, tried and true. He sent them off with a +word, and in a moment they were back with a hastily improvised +stretcher and, lifting the injured man from the ground, bore him away +to the tent that had been set up for the use of the ladies. Holt +would have followed but for the detaining committee, who laid hands +upon him now and insisted eagerly, compellingly, that he was holding +up the whole performance and he had no right to spoil the day and +keep the lady waiting. Even then Holt might have resisted had they +not made mention of the lady, and he looked up and caught her eye and +wistful smile--for he had no mind to be further in the public eye--he +had ridden for Jean, but he wanted not their favors. He took off his +hat to her and came forward, and the action touched off the crowd +again into a hoarser cry of excitement than before. Someone, madder +than the rest, even ventured to bring his name into the cry: "Holt! +Holt! Holt! _Hurrah!_" + +Holt lifted up his head proudly at that and went forward, not as a +man goes who is ashamed before his fellow men. His bearing was of +one who dares to face others, a "gentleman, unafraid." The shout +died down in hushed surprise, and then rose on a higher wave that had +in it something of the honor and respect his bearing had demanded. +And so he came and knelt before her. + +In all that wild, excited company only Eleanor Harrington sat unmoved. + +"What are they shouting again for?" she asked her husband +impatiently. "Isn't this thing almost over? I'm tired." + +"They are calling Holt to come to the stand and receive the prize," +said Harrington, under his breath, as if it were a bitter thing for +him to see. + +"How annoying!" said Eleanor, rising to look. "And I suppose Jean +will have to present it. If I had foreseen any such thing as this I +would have forbidden her to take such a prominent position. I think +they have made altogether too much fuss over that creature already. +It was an _impertinence_ in him to come to-day and he knew it. He +oughtn't to be encouraged. I wonder you didn't take steps to have +him put out at the start, James. But, James! There is one thing, +Jean _must not_ ride around the track with him! I simply _will not +have it_! You must go down there quickly and tell her not to. +_Forbid_ it! Tell her to say she is sick or anything, only she must +not ride with him. Quick! Go, James! or it will be too late! She +won't have sense enough herself. It will be just like her to think +she must, she is so afraid of hurting people's feelings. See, she is +standing up with the wreath in her hands. Why don't you go?" + +"Hush!" said Harrington, drawing his wife down into her seat again +and speaking in a low tone: "Hush! Somebody will hear you. Don't +you see she's got to go now? Don't you understand that public +opinion will demand it? She'd be a fool to turn back now, she must +go the whole show. Besides, I can't afford to get his ill-will, and +if she didn't go with him Holt would know I had prevented her." + +"You can't _afford_!" said his wife angrily. "You can't afford!" and +she raised her voice in astonishment and dismay. "What do you mean? +I thought you told me only a few days ago that you had him where he +couldn't do you any more harm?" + +"Hush, Eleanor, haven't you any sense at all? This is no place to +discuss business matters. Don't say another word. Things have +changed. I had a message from Scathlin. It's all up! Don't mention +the matter to Jean, let her ride with him if she likes. I've got to +make friends with him somehow or I'm in a bad hole." + +Eleanor's face would have been a sight for the neighbors if they had +not been too busy shouting to notice. + +"Well, I think things have come to a pretty pass if my sister's +reputation has to be sacrificed for business," she retorted. + +The white, furious look her husband gave her silenced her, however, +and she sat back struggling to master her own feelings and understand +what her husband had meant. + +Dazed and indignant she beheld what was going on at the judges' stand. + +Jasper Holt was kneeling almost reverently before the girl whom he +had twice saved from death, his bright head bowed, and she, with her +eyes all starry bright and a little pink flush stealing into her +cheeks, bent and laid the laurel wreath upon his brow. + +The crowd hushed its sound while the little ceremony was performed +and then shouted aloud again, while Jasper Holt arose and, gracefully +as any of the gentlemen assembled could have done it, helped the lady +down the steps and to her saddle; then mounting rode beside her, +bowing gravely to right and left where were drawn up in line those +other contestants over whom he had won his so-great victory. These, +in spite of their chagrin, were bowing and smiling graciously, for +they would not have the lady know how bitter was their defeat; and so +together rode the two, silently, amid the storm of cheers, out into +the arena and around the track. + +Holt did not presume upon the occasion nor his position to show his +intimacy with the girl beside him. Instead he rode with respectful +mien, save for one grave, understanding smile at the start, by which +she knew how much he hated all this publicity and would have slipped +away without it but for her sake. As if their every word and look +could have been heard in all that din, they rode with downcast eyes +and silent lips, and there was nothing in the whole journey around +the course that could in the least offend the watching, anxious, +mortified sister. + +Not until they were almost back to the judges' stand did Holt attempt +to even glance her way, and then he spoke quite low: + +"You are going on the morning train?" + +She bowed assent because she could not speak. A rush of tears was in +her throat at thought of leaving. + +"I shall see you again to say good-bye," he said, and gave her one +look and smile that filled her heart joy. Then he left her at the +judges' stand with a low bow and rode out of the arena alone; a long, +appreciative shout following him out of sight. + +Jean, her heart too full for words, watched him; then turned to face +her host of friends, who, making the best of their disappointment, +were clustering around her and saying pleasant things. + +The madness of the crowd over the late hero was dying down even now +with his disappearance from the arena. Habit and prejudice were +having sway once more. Men laughed deprecatorily over their recent +frenzy and said: "Well that certainly was great riding. It takes a +dare-devil to do the impossible. Of course, we know Holt can ride; +still I didn't really think he could do as well as that." + +By the time they were out on the street and back in their homes they +had recovered their sanity enough to agree with their wives that it +was a great piece of impudence for him to ride in and take all the +honors away from the men who had worked so hard to make the affair a +success. Yet all in their hearts felt again the thrill of excitement +as they thought of those last fifty yards of the race, and secretly +rejoiced that, impudence or not, Holt had entered the lists. + +"You poor little girl," gushed Mrs. Thorne over Jean. "It certainly +was a shame that you couldn't have had a more respectable escort in +your ride around the track. Of course he looked very well and all +that, I wasn't meaning his clothes; and he really behaved much better +than I would have expected for him, quite modest, getting out of the +way and not presuming at the end. It was so much better than if he +had had to be asked to leave, you know, but still, it was a great +disappointment that some of your _friends_ couldn't have shared the +honor with you. Freeman, I know, will be terribly down about not +winning." + +"Thank you, Mrs. Thorne," said Jean sweetly, "I am sorry your son had +to be disappointed, but of course everyone couldn't win, although +they all did well, don't you think? But, after all, you know Mr. +Holt _is_ one of my friends, in fact my first friend, because he +saved my life in the wreck when I was on my way here, and helped me +to get here. I really felt it quite an honor to ride with him +to-day." + +She turned pleasantly to greet the wife of one of the officers from +the Fort and left poor Mrs. Thorne to gasp and roll her eyes in +astonishment. "Of course she doesn't know him; she doesn't +understand," said the poor woman in an aside to Eleanor who came up +just then. "And perhaps it's just as well she shouldn't, as she's +going home so soon. Poor Freeman! I don't know what he'll do. He's +completely gone over her!" + +Then all those fluttering girls came around Jean and began to talk at +once. + +"Oh, wasn't he simply great! And isn't he handsome in those togs? +And isn't it a shame he has to be so wicked? And such a woman hater? +I declare I thought he was going to refuse to ride around with you. +And, oh, Jean, you sly thing! You knew he was going to enter when +you talked about it the other day, didn't you?" + +They chattered and buzzed, and the young men came presently and bore +them away one at a time. It was the Captain, patient and +persevering, who at last, by his very persistence, won the right to +ride back to the house by Jean's side. Poor Captain, his last ride, +and that glorious smile in her eyes, but not for him! + +She was gentle with him when he tried again to persuade her to accept +his love. She told him with a wistful sigh that all happiness in +this world was not in getting what we wanted, but in knowing things +were real and true and fine. She said she should always think of him +as her friend, and she hoped he would forget that he had wanted +anything else; and she thanked him for his beautiful orchids so +sweetly that she left a warm glow in his heart, notwithstanding his +double defeat. + +Later, as she knelt before her window-seat and looked out into the +sweet starry night, and over toward the cottage where the Golden +Sunset roses grew, she forgot all the petty things that had been +bothering her all day, and just let herself be glad for a little +while. Then she bowed her head and prayed: "Dear Father, I thank +Thee for letting them see so much. Please, some day let them all +know him as he really is. Bless him and keep him. I trust him with +Thee, dear Lord." + +And when she fell asleep at last weary with the long day and the +excitement, against her pillow under her cheek there lay soft cool +petals of the golden roses, and their fragrance mingled with her +dreams and brought a smile to her lips. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +The breath of the roses on her pillow and the fresh ones on the stand +near the bed wakened Jean softly in the early morning, and she lay +still, thinking joyously that she was to see Jasper once more before +she left. She would have some word, some glance to carry with her on +the way. She would have all the beautiful day that was past to put +with their other experience together and keep, and she would have +that good-bye. It was the knowledge that he had promised to see her +again that brought the smile to her lips and the eternal hope of +youth to her eyes, when she remembered that this was her last day in +Hawk Valley, perhaps forever. + +There were not many minutes for such happy thoughts. Her trunk was +packed, save a few little things, but they must be put in; and the +children were already clamoring for her to come downstairs, they +could not spare her any longer on this, her last morning. + +Before she was entirely ready to go down people began to come to the +house to say good-bye and attend her to the station, and when she was +finally ready she had gathered quite an escort so that her going +through the street seemed quite like a little triumphal procession, a +fit continuation of the festivities of the day before. + +Eleanor was proud and pleased and weeping all in one, and there was +laughing and chatter and banter and many invitations for her to +return. + +There had been more flowers sent this morning, and boxes of candy and +books for her to read on the way. Just before she had left the house +Eleanor brought to her more orchids that the Captain had sent, and +begged her to wear them just this one last time, but she was already +wearing a glorious mass of fresh Golden Sunset roses that she had +saved at home the day before for this purpose. Eleanor tried to make +her take them off, but Harrington interfered unexpectedly. + +"What do you do that for?" he said. "It's all right if she wants to +wear them. People will sort of expect it. It's a piece of her +triumph of yesterday. It won't do her any harm." + +Jean looked up surprised, caught a shifty, uneasy glance in her +brother's eye, and read his mean, cringing little soul. He would +sacrifice her readily to his worst enemy if it suited his needs, and +she had always felt it--now she knew it. He colored under her +glance, and tried to affect an elderly air of petting her, but Jean +was not deceived. + +The train was twenty minutes late. There was laughter and chatter +and a renewal of yesterday's merriment around the station while they +waited. Jean was enthroned on a pile of packing cases with her +flowers about her like some queen, and her admirers at her feet. But +though her eyes searched the landscape in every direction, from her +vantage height, she could nowhere see Holt, and when the train at +last was sighted, a mere speck down the track, she felt her heart +sinking in dismay. He had promised and he had not come! It seemed +as though she could not go without that last look from his eyes that +she had known would be there for her, the covenant for the lonely +future. + +She tried to smile at the last and say all the bright things that +were expected of her, but she could not keep her eyes away from the +road that led to Holt's house. When the train finally pulled out, +amid the waving multitude of friends, and the shouting of last +messages and fond good-byes, the tears sprang into her eyes unbidden +and dimmed the faces of those on the platform into a great blur. + +"Well, I'm glad she's safely off," sighed Eleanor, climbing into the +car beside the children, "and I must say that man behaved pretty well +not to come down to the train. I didn't think he had that much +sense!" + +But her husband answered not a word. He drove his car with grim +silence. He was wishing Holt had come, and wondering if his absence +portended evil for himself. + +The travellers on the Eastern Express watched with delight the +beautiful girl surrounded by her bank of flowers who had come to +brighten the monotony of their long trip. They wondered where she +was going, and if she had left a lover behind, that she wiped the +tears away furtively and kept her head turned, looking out of the +window at the landscape, which she could not see for tears. + +Captain Wetherill had assumed the care of putting Jean on the train, +and had turned over a seat, giving her plenty of room to pile the +flowers the other men brought on board, in the empty seat. She +seemed like a young queen in her garden, with roses and lilies and +violets all about her; but at none of them did she look. Her lips +were touching the petals of the golden rose on her breast and her +thoughts were with its giver. His fine bearing as he skimmed the +ground on his black steed, the touch of his soft, bright hair as she +laid the wreath on his brow, the look of homage in his eyes as he +raised her hand and led her to her horse, the thrill of his voice +when he promised to see her again to say good-bye; and then the +leaden fact that he had not come! Over and over she went the round +and always came back to that, with the choke in her throat and the +tears in her eyes. Excuse after excuse for his not coming were +conjured in her mind and rejected; and vague fear for his safety +mingled with them too. But the fact remained--he had not--and now +she would see him no more! + +She tried again and again to gather herself together, and finally +succeeded in mastering the tears so that there was only a bright +suspicion of them in her eyes, but the sense of sadness and something +dear, unfinished and now impossible, pervaded her entire thoughts. + +Fifty miles from Hawk Valley the train came to a halt at a tiny flag +station, and a young man entered, tall, handsome, eager, wearing a +dark blue suit and a soft Panama hat--a perfect gentleman in every +detail; a light in his eyes and a smile of welcome on his lips. + +Jean did not look up until he was almost beside her seat, and then +her heart leaped with a light of welcome in her eyes, when she saw +that it was Holt! + +With a soft little cry she hustled the overflow of flowers that lay +on the seat beside her into the opposite one and made room for him. +The car looked and was satisfied. Her lover had not been left behind +after all, and he was good to look upon. All was as it should be. +They settled back to watch the world-old look on the two young faces, +with a contentment and zest that never flags for the sweetest story +of all. And there were no unkind critics here, for none of them had +ever heard of Jasper Holt. + +In the still dark of the evening before, Holt had ridden forth in the +opposite direction from that he intended to take, and skirting the +town in a wide trail well known to himself, he had taken his way +across country to the little flag station, where he left his horse to +be cared for until he should return. + +Very quietly they sat together, after the first wonderful greetings, +and talked. There was over them the sadness of a coming separation +which each felt might be forever; and they spoke no word of hope that +it might be otherwise. The day before them was a precious treasure +they meant to have and keep for life. Many things they learned in +that brief time, of each other's hopes, longings and desires. +Quietly Holt drew from her many thoughts of her own pure heart +wherewith to build his ideal for the future. + +Once he looked meaningly at the great bank of flowers before him and +then down at the golden roses on her gown. They did not need to talk +much about such things, for their eyes could say it all, and Holt +read thoughts quickly, keenly, and spoke the language of a glance to +perfection. The words that he felt he had not a right to speak she +might read in his face if she chose. + +And she chose. + +Once, as the afternoon was drawing to a close, he said suddenly: +"Harrington sent the papers back to me last evening." + +Jean looked up startled, questioning, and met amusement in Holt's +eyes. + +"He didn't dare to keep them. He professes that he sent them the +minute he knew I was at home, and that he has been much disturbed by +their presence in his house lest his possession of them might be +misunderstood by me." + +A little cloud of apprehension came into Jean's eyes. + +"Don't be afraid to trust me," Holt said softly, with gentleness in +his eyes, "I'm not going to make any trouble for your sister. You +know that." + +Then a great light of joy came into her face, and the tears which had +caused her so much annoyance earlier in the day came rushing back for +very joy. + +It was in the late afternoon that they reached the city where Jean +was to change to the sleeper. + +Holt gathered up the flowers to take with her, but she put out a +protesting hand: + +"Oh, please, I don't want any of them but these," and she laid her +hand tenderly over the golden roses at her waist. + +A look of love and appreciation came into Holt's eyes, and he dropped +the flowers quite happily, to gather up her suit case and umbrella. + +"Let the brakeman take them home to his wife, then," he said joyously. + +He left her, at last, in the sleeper, and as he stood beside the +train until it moved out of the station, their eyes made promises of +trust and loyalty long after their lips were forced to remain silent. + +Jean did not weep when she saw the last glimpse of his splendid +figure on the dim station platform. She had entered upon her desert, +but she had the light of his look to shine in her heart, and her +courage rose. Her eyes were bright and undaunted. No tears should +break her down now. He had kept tryst and she was content. He would +be true and she would trust him always, even if she never saw him +again. + +Just what the future would hold for her she did not care to think. +This strange vow she had made with a man she could not hope to marry +with her parents' consent, and whom she would not marry without, she +had made on trust and on trust she would keep it. + +She did not mean to trouble her dear ones with the story. They had +been far away and they could not understand. She would not have them +looking at her pityingly, nor thinking of him unworthily. She would +trust and live her life, and know that somewhere, somehow he was +being true also. + +Most unpractical, of course, but dear and ideal. Her sister Eleanor +would have said it was foolish, and been glad it was no worse, +hoping, of course, that now when she saw no more of him she would get +over it very soon. But Jean was not made like that. She knew the +heartache that was before her, and knowing, dared to rejoice in it. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Three days later Jasper Holt rode into Hawk Valley from a Westerly +direction, serious and silent, with a light of purpose in his eyes +and a new dignity about him; and Harrington, meeting him in +trepidation, was surprised and not a little disturbed by the steady +look of understanding that accompanied the grave bow he gave him. + +The tournament had accomplished one thing in Holt's favor, for many +men meeting him now acknowledged his presence by a formal greeting +who had formerly been wont to ignore him utterly or treat him with +contempt. A few even went so far as to try to talk with him in a +friendly way when they met him in the post-office, though perhaps +there was the least bit of condescension about their manner when they +did it. But Jasper Holt held on his reserved way, mingling little +with any save his chosen few, and presuming not at all on his +popularity on the day of the tournament. That incident was closed +and he wished it to be as if it were not so far as they were +concerned. The greetings of his fellow men he answered coolly, +almost curtly, always briefly, and was gone. Would-be friends found +little encouragement in any advances they made. A recognition won by +mere physical skill was not what he desired. His pride lay not in +that direction. There were things he intended to do, but they would +take time, and meantime he went on his independent way and men saw +little of him. + +Time passed on and Jean's languishing lovers recovered from their +various heartbreaks. Other maidens visited Hawk Valley and were +feasted and fêted and cherished with flowers and tournaments; but +Jasper Holt came no more to dispute their victories. He was keeping +on his quiet, steady way, and gaining their respect every day. + +Not a word passed between Holt and the girl in the East whom he +loved. Eleanor never mentioned him in her letters, although her +conscience hurt her now and then that she did not; for she was an +honest woman and liked to give even the devil his due. Moreover +Harrington, after a period of restlessness and unstrung nerves, +appeared to have settled down to the fact that his enemy was not +going to bring him to justice, and had developed a most extraordinary +way of saying pleasant things about him now and then. He even +suggested once that Eleanor include him in a dinner they were giving +for business purposes; but his wife promptly vetoed the idea. Even +for business purposes she would not lay aside her principles, she +said, and shut her lips in a firm line that reminded Harrington of +her younger sister. + +Jean in her quiet, safe home had not expected letters from Holt and +so had nothing to be disappointed about; but sometimes when her +sister's letters came she listened eagerly, hoping for just some +little word that would tell her how he was faring; and after they +were read she would invariably sit looking wistfully off out of the +window. Her father and mother noticed it and wondered if she had +left her heart behind her with any of the many lovers of whom Eleanor +had written. They talked it over at dusk sometimes when they were +alone, and looked ahead to the years when their girl would be without +them. + +"I'd like her to find a strong, noble man," said her father, "I +cannot bear to think of her treading her years alone. And yet, there +are very few men of that kind," and he sighed. + +"Perhaps we ought to send her back to Eleanor's for another visit," +suggested her mother anxiously. "We called her home so soon before +her visit was done you know. It may be there was someone there. It +may be she would like to go." + +Yet when they suggested it to Jean, although her face lighted +wistfully she shook her head. + +"No, Mother dear," she said firmly, "I'm going to stay with you. I'm +not going off there again to get my head turned," and from that +purpose they could not turn her, although they tried more than once; +and so they settled back relieved and happy that she was content to +stay with them. + +Nevertheless, although she would not go, she cried her heart out that +night with longing; yet knew it was better that she should stay. + +A year and more had passed with Jean continuing on her quiet way in +the home and church. It was not an unhappy place to be. The manse +in which they lived was beautiful for situation, built of stone with +pretty rooms and many windows, the rooms all cheerful and light and +everything pleasant in a simple, unpretentious way. The people of +the church loved Jean as they loved her father and mother, and she +was welcome everywhere in all the merrymakings. She had a large +Sunday School class in the church and another in a mission in the +lower part of the town, and her boys were her most devoted followers. + +Neither was she without older admirers, for all the young men in the +church and neighborhood were her friends, and she was as popular at +home as she had been in the west. The little manse reception room +was never for long unadorned with flowers of some kind that had been +sent to her, and she was never without an escort to anything she +cared to attend. Yet, though she had a pleasant circle of young +friends and seemed to enjoy their company moderately, she never was +deeply interested in any of them; and one by one those who had tried +their fortune at her hand, went sadly away and seldom came any more. + +Jean seemed happy. She spent much time with her music and her books, +when she was not actually busy about the house or in the parish +helping her father with some plan for his poor people or his sick +people. But she was growing thin, and the wistful look was ever in +her eyes now. Her mother watched her anxiously and petted her more +every day, and her father sighed and wished he could afford to take +her off on a foreign trip for a little while. Jean only smiled, and +went on her way, doing every day the duty that came next. + +Sometimes the longing to hear from Holt grew intolerable. Sometimes +she almost yielded to her mother's suggestion that she make Eleanor +another visit; but something always held her back. What was she +waiting for? A sign from Holt? No, that would probably never come. +He had said he was unworthy, and he would not of himself cross her +path again. But she could not go after him. He might have +forgotten, yet she believed in her heart he had not. Her faith in +him glowed bright as ever. Even when her common sense got to work +and told her he was but human and by this time the incident of their +days together was a thing of the past to him and she ought to be +satisfied if her influence had helped him even for a time to let +people know the good that was in him; still she did not believe that +he had forgotten. She believed he was doing just what he had +promised to do, and she must stay here and trust him. At least, if +he had forgotten, she would rather never know. + +So she lived her life, and struggled with her heartache, and when the +pain was too much she knelt and prayed for him she loved. Then at +last one day there came a great, fat letter from Eleanor, addressed +to Jean. Most of Eleanor's letters were addressed to their mother, +so that when Jean took this one from the post-office she caught her +breath and her heart beat a trifle faster than usual. What could +Eleanor have to say to make such a nice, thick letter, and why was it +sent to her instead of to mother? Perhaps she was worried about +mother, or perhaps she wanted to tell some trouble to her and not +worry their parents. But always when a letter came from her sister, +she felt there was that blessed chance that perhaps she might say +some little word about Holt, just to let her know he was alive. It +was foolish, of course, because she never had done so, and yet hope +is a subtle thing and often abides without reason for its hiding and +springs forth at the least encouragement. Then, there was always a +little comfort that she said nothing against him, for she knew that +Eleanor was so constituted that if Holt had done anything which the +town considered very atrocious Jean would have had to hear of it +within the next twenty-four hours; for Eleanor liked to establish her +theories by facts even if it were years after they were uttered. + +Jean did not open her letter at the office. Her hand was trembling +too much and her heart beating too wildly. She did not wish to have +any one watch her while she read that letter, for she had a feeling +that her face might tell its secrets when she was off guard, reading. +So she held the letter with a firm little grip and walked down the +leaf-strewn street among the falling golden foliage, trying to grow +calm, and remember that this was probably just a regular commonplace +letter about everyday affairs and nothing unusual in it at all; and +she must not be disappointed nor expect anything great. + +She did not open the letter until she was safe on the vine-covered +piazza at home, sitting in the hammock where she would not be +disturbed. Some strange power held her from taking it to her mother +and sharing its first reading with her as she usually did any letters +she received, especially one of Eleanor's. Afterward she wondered at +this; wondered too, as she remembered how cold her hand had been, and +how it had trembled when she tried to open the envelope with her hat +pin. She was so agitated, so sure by this time that something was +the matter, that as she took the folded sheets from the envelope she +closed her eyes and breathed a quick petition: + +"Oh, dear Father, make me strong for whatever it is." + +Then she unfolded the thick sheets and read the letter. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +"DEAR LITTLE SISTER: + +"I have a strange task before me, to tell you of the fineness and +greatness and goodness of a man I once told you was not good enough +to save your life. I feel as if I must ask your forgiveness and his. +You were keener sighted than we all and we are ashamed! + +"Jean, what will you say when I tell you that Jasper Holt lies in our +guest chamber, your old room--dying, I am afraid? And that we have +him to thank that our precious baby did not die a horrible death? + +"Let me go back and tell you the whole story. + +"After you went away James had the most extraordinary change of mind +about Jasper Holt I ever saw in him. He just turned right around and +began to talk in his favor, even wanted me to invite him to dinner +once. It was some business, of course, that he thought he could help +him in; but he really got to liking him a little I could see. I +suppose it was that tournament and his riding so well; though I never +could understand why men make so much of sports. But after it +happened you didn't hear nearly so many people talking against Jasper +Holt. I think, too, your being so good as to ride around the track +with him had something to do with it. People saw you were not +ashamed and they had a good look at him and saw the possibilities. +They say he was asked, yes, just actually begged, to come in the next +tournament and ride, but he wouldn't do it. He hasn't appeared that +way since you left. He just went about his business gravely, and +everybody began to have a lot of respect for him. They say he has +done a lot of good to those men he has living on his place, and they +simply worship him. Somebody told James there wasn't one of them but +would give his life for him any day. Well, that's something, of +course. Strange we never heard about it before. Why, people used to +be actually afraid of him and his men. But he has been doing some +splendid things here lately. When Mr. Whateley died, just before the +harvest, and Mrs. Whateley was left to look after her five little +children he took his full force of men over to her place and +harvested everything, and fixed up things a great deal better than +they were ever fixed up before, for Mr. Whateley wasn't much of a +manager. And when Lucy Whitcorn was lost for three days he organized +his men and went out and searched till he found her. They took hold +of hands and marched across country, through the wheat fields, over +every spot so they couldn't miss her; and her grandmother just put +her arms around Jasper Holt's neck and cried and kissed him when he +brought Lucy back asleep in his arms. + +"But the greatest thing was when he made the raid on the saloons. +You remember Slosson's and The Three Geese? They used to have +terrible carouses there. Slosson built a concert room over his +saloon, and advertised--had balls and dinners there, and The Three +Geese got a moving picture show over their place; and between them +they made a pretty fair imitation of the bottomless pit in Hawk +Valley for a while. People got together and talked about it, and +said something ought to be done to stop it, and Sallie White even +started a petition about it and got some people to sign, but it was +near election and no one dared do much. Then one night when things +were at their height, and there had been a shooting affair or two, we +heard the silver whistle of Jasper Holt's men, and the whole +cavalcade of them cantered by on horseback. They went like a streak +on their dark horses, and they rode straight up to The Three Geese +and dismounted. Before anybody knew what was happening they had +marched into the bar-room and the concert hall and taken possession. +They handcuffed everybody in the place and bound them, men and women, +and then they set to work and emptied out all the liquor and turned +the big fire hose into every room till there wasn't a smell of +whiskey left, and it was cleaner than it ever was since it was built. +They went to Slosson's and did the same thing. Slosson, and Craven +of The Three Geese, they put into jail, and some of the others who +had been most criminal, and they cleaned the whole place out. Jasper +Holt took some of the prisoners to his own house and kept them there +till he reformed them, and he has been keeping an eye on them right +along ever since. Of course after that people rallied around him and +were only too glad to be counted in with him. They all admired his +nerve, and they saw he could make things go, so they turned to work +and last month they made him mayor of the town, and he has reformed +everything in the place, till you wouldn't know it for the same town. +Now, that's the preface and I ought to have told you long ago, little +sister, but I suppose I was ashamed to, after all I had said. + +"But now I'm coming to the real story, the one that brings the tears +to my eyes and makes me feel like sobbing; and I have to stop writing +and go and kiss my baby before I can go on. + +"This morning (it seems a week ago) I sat at my desk writing my paper +for the next Club meeting. Baby was out in the yard in his white +rompers and his little white hat, with his new red cart that James +brought him from Chicago on his last trip. The window was open and I +could see him gathering leaves and carrying them in his cart to the +sidewalk, where he dumped them in a pile at the edge of the road. I +had been having a terrible search for a word in the dictionary, and +when I looked up again I saw baby standing out in the middle of the +road working away with all his might to back up his cart, the way he +saw the big carts do, and dump his leaves on the outside of the pile. +I didn't think much about it, because there are no teams around in +the early morning usually, and the autos, the few we have in town, +don't come on this street much; but just as I was beginning to write +again I heard a horrible roaring sound, and horse's feet flying down +the street. Something gripped my throat with fear and I could +scarcely get out of my chair. I could see the baby standing +perfectly still, looking at something coming towards him. His little +red wagon was standing on end, the red paint gleaming in the sun. +Then I heard that roar again and I called to Jamie to come in +quickly, but he didn't seem to know just what to do. He took hold of +the handle of his cart and seemed to be worried for fear it would be +run over. He tried to hurry with it on to the side walk, but being +on end it wouldn't work quickly. On came that terrible roar! I +don't know how I got out on the porch, but there I saw a great, angry +bull bearing down straight upon the baby. I screamed and tried to +run down the steps, but I was so frightened my knees just sank under +me, and there I was in a heap on the steps struggling to get up, and +my baby standing still, not ten feet from that snorting, fiery +creature, with its horns lowered at him. I shut my eyes, it was so +terrible, like a nightmare, you know, when you can't do a thing. I +thought I was going to faint, and I tried to call James, though I +knew he wasn't at home. Then a wonderful thing happened. A horse +was flying down the street from the opposite direction, straight at +the bull, but baby was between. I hadn't time to think before the +man on the horse swung over from his saddle, gathered up the baby and +dashed sideways out of the bull's way. It was Jasper Holt, and he +picked up Jamie just as he did your handkerchief that day at the +tournament. The poor little mite held on to his dear red cart handle +till he was up in the saddle, hindering the horse's movements, of +course, and it dangled for a minute right in front of the infuriated +bull's eyes, who charged at it viciously. Then the weight of the +cart wrenched it from Jamie's hand, and it fell clattering under the +horse's feet, but the bull turned and made for the horse, who dashed +back and forth from side to side, dodging those awful horns as if he +were a human being and knew how to reason. Jasper Holt tried to get +near the fence to drop the baby over, but every time he came near the +bull was in the way. It was only a second of time that it all took, +of course, but it seemed hours; and I could only scream, but the bull +roared so loud that I couldn't be heard. Then the dear black horse +plunged right over the bull and started down the street; but the bull +turned and caught him in the thigh with his horn and tore a great +gash--oh, Jean, I can't describe it all! It makes me faint even to +think of it again. The horse stumbled on bravely for a few paces, +but you could see he hadn't a chance with the bull any more for he +was crippled, and Jasper Holt saw it, too. + +"By that time some men had come with guns, and that splendid fellow, +with the horse staggering under him and the bull charging straight at +him, held the baby up in the air and told the men to shoot. It meant +a terrible risk to himself, of course, because he was in the line of +fire. But there was nothing else to do. They shot as carefully as +they could, and in a minute or two the bull gave one awful roar and +lurched back. The horse sank, too, and some one took the baby. It +is all confusion in my mind. I don't really know what happened, only +that after I got Jamie in my arms and had hugged him and kissed him +till he cried, I looked up and saw them bringing Jasper Holt in at +the gate. His eyes were shut and one arm hung at the side. They +said he had been shot, but had held up the baby till the bull was out +of the fight. + +"I made them take him to your room, and someone brought the doctor +almost at once, but it was a serious thing, I could see from the +first. They wouldn't let me in the room. I telephoned for James, +and put the baby to sleep, for he was all worn out with the +excitement, and kept starting awake and crying out, 'Naughty cow! +Naughty cow!' but just as I laid him down in his crib the doctor came +and said Jasper Holt wanted to see me. + +"Jean, I didn't think a few minutes could make a difference like that +in a great, big, strong man. He lay there so still I thought he was +dead at first; and white under all his fine tan he was white as a +ghost, with his head all done up in bandages and his beautiful hair +clotted with blood--one of the shots plowed deep into the scalp, it +seems. He opened his eyes--what wonderful eyes he has!--and looked +at me as if he were pinning his last hope upon me, and he smiled just +faintly. I never knew what perfect lips and teeth he had before--and +his smile just like a little child's! + +"One could see it was a great effort for him to speak. + +"'Will you tell your sister that I've kept my promise?' he said, +slowly and distinctly. + +"When I told him I would, his eyes lighted up, as if the sun were +shining behind them, and then they fell shut and I think he must have +fainted again. I came quite close and tried to tell him how grateful +I was to him for saving the baby's life, but his eyelids never even +quivered. Then the doctor drew me away and said it wasn't any use to +talk, that he couldn't hear me, so I came away, but I couldn't do a +thing but just hover around the door till James came. Then he went +in and found out how things were. It seems the bull gored him--that +is they call it a 'scratch,' but by their faces I know its a pretty +serious scratch. + +"Three shots entered his body, one a deep scalp wound, one in his +shoulder, and one in his arm. They have been probing the wound and +having some kind of an operation. They don't know whether he will +pull through or not. They say the only thing that is in his favor is +his splendid health. The men are talking now about his fine clean +life, and way he has been doing lately, especially. It seems he +never drank nor did a lot of things that people took for granted he +did. Oh, Jean, I can't stand it if he doesn't get well so I can +thank him for saving my baby to me. To think that if it weren't for +him lying there dying now I should have nothing left of my beautiful +baby but a little mangled corpse! + +"Jean, I know now why you looked that way when you said I did not +know Jasper Holt--the fine, true, strong, brave, tender----" + +But the tears blinded Jean's eyes and she could read no more. For a +moment she bent her head and sobbed behind the vines. But only for a +moment. A frenzy of fear seized her. He was dying perhaps, and he +needed her! + +She lifted her head with sudden resolve and hastily read the closing +sentences of the letter. Then gathering up the scattered sheets she +hurried in to her father. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +"Father!" said Jean, closing the study door and standing guard in +front of it lest her mother enter suddenly and be frightened at what +she was saying, "Father, I must go to Hawk Valley at once,--to-day! +No, it isn't Eleanor, nor any of them----" she added hastily, as she +saw the quick apprehension in her father's face. "They are all well. +I've just had a long letter from Eleanor. Father, it's the man who +saved my life! He is dying and he needs me. I know he wants me. I +love him, father, and he loves me! He didn't think you would like +him, and so we never said anything about it--but now he's dying and I +_must go_!" + +The look in her eyes and the tilt of her chin were her father's own +when he felt he must fulfil some high calling and would not be +gainsaid. He knew at a glance that it was useless to try to stop +her. Besides, he had all confidence in her. + +"I see, daughter," he said with instant comprehension and a swift +vision of what the wistfulness in her face had meant all these long +months. "How soon can you be ready? There is a train at six, I +think." + +"I will be ready, father," she said, and then, turning, laid her head +for an instant on his shoulder and hid her face in his neck. "Oh, +father _dear_!" + +He folded her close and kissed her. "Courage, daughter! Trust in +our Father's tenderness." + +"Thank you so much, father, for understanding," she said, lifting her +eyes to his face. + +"You will want me to go with you, daughter?" he asked, trying to +think how it would be possible. + +"No, father, you couldn't. You have that funeral to-morrow, and they +need you," she answered, drying her tears, "and then, it wouldn't do +to leave mother. No, I can go alone perfectly well. Here is +Eleanor's letter. Read it with mother. That will explain a good +deal. I will tell you more on the way to the station. He is the one +who won the laurel wreath at the tournament. I told you a little +about him----" + +"Yes, I know. I understand! Poor little child! Now go quickly and +I will explain to your mother about it. You haven't much time. +Don't try to pack more than a suit case. We can send your trunk on +after you." + +There are not many fathers so wise as this one, who seemed to know +without asking just what was needed, who refrained from needless +questions, calmed the frail mother's fears, and helped his girl away +to her pain or her rejoicing as it should prove to be, with a +blessing upon her as she left. + +It was in the sunset gloaming that she arrived in Hawk Valley and the +gold of the sky lay behind the hills, ruby lined, like the gold of +Jasper Holt's roses whose sweet withered leaves lay stored among her +linen in her bureau drawer at home. + +They met her at the station, for a telegram had heralded her coming. +Quietly, with hushed voices, they met her; for death waited beside +the couch in the guest room of their home, and they had guessed how +it must be between these two. + +"He seems to be sleeping his life away," said Eleanor, folding a +cloak about her sister, for she saw that it was going hard with her. +"They cannot rouse him. He seems content to go. He does not want to +live. It is strange with one so strong and young----" + +The light of battle came into the younger sister's eyes, but she +answered nothing. + +"Better come and get something to eat first," said Eleanor, when they +reached the house, but Jean shook her head and fled up the stairs. + +There could not have been anything quieter than the way she opened +the door and slipped into that room. Her very garments seemed to +cling and hush about her as she walked. But he opened his eyes at +once; a strange, wondering look came into them as she came across the +room and knelt beside him with a smile. Then she bowed her head and +laid her lips upon his. + +The doctors and the nurse who stood by were as nothing. There were +just these two in the universe and all else was hushed. + +So she moved about his room, or sat close beside his couch. She was +there when he woke in the night, and looked at her, murmuring very +low: + +"Are you real or a dream?" + +"I'm real, dear. I will not go away," she breathed, and laid her +soft lips on his again. This time his own responded feebly. + +It was in the morning that the doctors said there was hope, though +they confessed afterward that recovery began with his first sight of +Jean's face. + +Jean scarcely left his side day or night, and seemed tireless. Often +she slept on a low stool beside the bed, with her head against his +pillow. One bright morning he awoke to find her sleeping so, and +laid his weak uncertain hand softly upon her head. She opened her +eyes, met his smile, and knew that he was better. + +"A life for a life," he said softly. "Dear, you must go to your bed +and rest. I will get well now. You are killing yourself." + +But her smile shone forth radiantly. + +"I couldn't rest away from you," she said, giving him a dazzling +look. "I'm not going to leave you any more, ever!" Then she paused +and looked shyly up again. "Unless," she added archly, +"unless--you've changed your mind and don't want me. In that case +I'll go back home as soon as you are able to be out." + +"Oh, _my dear_!" he said softly, and drew her down to his breast with +his one good arm. "Do you mean it? Not leave me again ever? Are +you willing to be my wife? Can you really trust me now?" + +"I've trusted you always," she said softly, nestling her face against +his cheek. "I trusted you the first time I saw you." + +"But your people, Jean?" + +"My people all love you and honor you," said Jean, with shining eyes. +"They think you are magnificent! They cannot say enough about you. +Eleanor would bow down and kiss your feet, and my father and mother +know all about you and have sent me to you willingly. But, Jasper, +listen, if every one in this wide world were against you, even my +dear people, I should marry you anyway and stay with you! I couldn't +live any longer without you!" + +He looked into her eyes, and he drank in her trust and loveliness, +and beautiful self-surrender as if it had been some life-giving +draught; then he laid his hand upon her hair and pressed her closer +to him. + +"Oh, you wonderful woman!" he said. + +It did not take Jasper Holt long to get well after that. Hope and +joy shone in his eyes so that his face was dazzling to look upon, and +those who came into his room walked softly, filled with awe, that a +man who had come and gone among them for years and been held almost +in contempt, could have within him a soul so great and noble as to +shine like that in his face. + +Jean's father and mother came west for a visit about that time, for +Jean wrote that there was no use expecting her to return now, and +when the two met, Jean's father and her lover, and stood hand in +hand, looking into one another's eyes for a full, long minute before +either spoke, each felt entirely satisfied. + +Of course all this could not go on without the town knowing something +of the state of things, for everybody came to find out how the hero +was getting on; and Jasper Holt's men, as they came and went in grave +concern were beset with questions. And when Jean arrived, then her +parents, the town opened eyes of understanding and nodded gravely, +thinking it was well. + +So when it was announced most informally that a wedding would take +place no one was surprised. Indeed, Jean's girl friends had been +embroidering and chattering away over wedding gifts for a week before +it was whispered officially that they would be needed. Once more the +Harrington house was smothered in flowers for Jean. Gifts came from +far and near, from all her old admirers who were now also with one +consent become Holt's admirers. But the flowers that Jean carried in +her arms when she came down the stairs, white clad and smiling, to +meet her bridegroom, were great Golden Sunset roses, gathered by +Holt's faithful men for her; and among the guests were all those men, +fifty-four of them, standing grim and embarrassed outside the door to +watch their leader stand among the flowers and take his beautiful +girl bride by the hand. + +It was sunset again, gold and ruby sunset, when they went home to his +house, after the wedding supper. + +The sky was broad and clear translucent gold, with a deep heart of +pure ruby blazing out behind the rose-wreathed cottage when Jean saw +it for the first time. The roses hung in heavy-headed wealth about +the doorway, and the men stood double ranked each side of the path. +They had decked the house for her coming, those rough men who loved +her lord, with boughs of sweet-smelling branches; heaped up blazing +logs in the big stone fireplace, and sand-strewn the floor all clean +and fresh. There alone at last together in their own home they stood +with ruby and golden light from the sunset windows mingling with the +soft flicker of firelight, and looked into each other's eyes and knew +that their heavenly Father had been good to them. + + + + + BOOKS BY + GRACE LIVINGSTON HILL + + April Gold + Happiness Hill + The Beloved Stranger + The Honor Girl + Bright Arrows + Kerry + Christmas Bride + Marigold + Crimson Roses + Miranda + Duskin + The Mystery of Mary + Found Treasure + Partners + A Girl to Come Home To + Rainbow Cottage + The Red Signal + White Orchids + Silver Wings + The Tryst + The Strange Proposal + Through These Fires + The Street of the City + All Through the Night + The Gold Shoe + + Astra + Homing + Blue Ruin + Job's Niece + Challengers + The Man of the Desert + Coming Through the Rye + More Than Conqueror + Daphne Deane + A New Name + The Enchanted Barn + The Patch of Blue + Girl from Montana + The Ransom + Rose Galbraith + The Witness + Sound of the Trumpet + Sunrise + Tomorrow About This Time + Amorelle + Head of the House + Ariel Custer + In Tune with Wedding Bells + Chance of a Lifetime + + Maris + Crimson Mountain + Out of the Storm + Exit Betty + Mystery Flowers + The Prodigal Girl + Girl of the Woods + Re-Creations + The White Flower + Matched Pearls + Time of the Singing of Birds + Ladybird + The Substitute Guest + Beauty for Ashes + Stranger Within the Gates + The Best Man + Spice Box + The Seventh Hour + Dawn of the Morning + The Search + Brentwood + Cloudy Jewel + The Voice in the Wilderness + + + BOOKS BY + RUTH LIVINGSTON HILL + + Mary Arden (_with Grace Livingston Hill_) + Morning Is for Joy + John Nielson Had a Daughter + Bright Conquest + + + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78752 *** |