"Miss Maturin's!" cried Stranleigh in astonishment.
"It was built years ago by her father, who went the right way about it,
having obtained in a quiet, effective way, the sanction of legislature.
Of course, when I say it belongs to Miss Maturin, I mean that it is
part of the estate left by her father, and the odd combination of
circumstances brought it about that she was one of my opponents in the
action-at-law, whereas in strict justice, she should have been a
defendant instead of a plaintiff. The poor girl was horrified to learn
her position in the matter, and my sister was dumbfounded to find in
what a dilemma she had placed me. Of course, the two girls should have
secured the advice of some capable, practical lawyer in the first place,
but they were very self-confident in those days, and Sis knew it was no
use consulting her husband, while her brother was too deeply immersed in
his own affairs to be much aid as a counsellor.
"Well, they kept on with their conservation scheme after a time, and
both on this property and on Miss Maturin's, dams have been erected on
all the streams that empty into the river; streams on either side that
take their rise from outlying parts of the estate. They have built roads
through the forest, and have caused to be formed innumerable lakes, all
connected by a serviceable highway that constitutes one of the most
interesting automobile drives there is in all the United States; a drive
smooth as a floor, running for miles through private property, and
therefore overshadowed by no speed limit."
"By Jove, Ned," exclaimed Stranleigh, "you must take me over that
course."
"I'll do better than that, my boy. Constance Maturin is one of the best
automobilists I know, and she will be your guide, for these dams are of
the most modern construction, each with some little kink of its own that
no one understands better than she does. There is a caretaker living in
a picturesque little cottage at the outlet of every lake, and in each
cottage hangs a telephone, so that no matter how far you penetrate
into the wilderness, you are in touch with civilisation. From this
house I could call up any one of these water-wardens, or send out a
general alarm, bringing every man of the corps to the 'phone, and the
instructions given from here would be heard simultaneously by the whole
force. I think the organisation is admirable, but it runs into a lot of
money."
"'But what good came of it at last,
Quoth little Peterkin,'"
asked Stranleigh. "Do these artificial lakes run any dynamos, or turn
any spindles? Now tell me all about the war, and what they dammed each
streamlet for."
"Ah, you have me there! The ladies have not taken me into their counsel:
I've got troubles enough of my own. One phase of the subject especially
gratifies me: their activities have in no instance despoiled the
landscape; rather the contrary. These lakes, wooded to their brims, are
altogether delightful, and well stocked with fish. A great many of them
overflow, causing admirable little cascades, which, although not quite
so impressive as Niagara, are most refreshing on a hot day, while the
cadence of falling waters serves as an acoustic background to the songs
of the birds; a musical accompaniment, as one might call it."
"Bravo, Ned; I call that quite poetical, coming as it does from a
successful man of business. I find myself eager for that automobile ride
through this forest lakeland. When do you say Miss Maturin will arrive?"
"I don't know. I expect my sister will call me up by telephone. Sis
regards this house as her own. She is fond of leaving the giddy whirl of
society, and settling down here in the solitude of the woods. I clear
out or I stay in obedience to her commands. You spoke of a house-party a
while ago. There is to be no house-party, but merely my sister and her
husband, with Miss Maturin as their guest. If you would rather not meet
any strangers, I suggest that we plunge further into the wilderness. At
the most remote lake on this property, about seven miles away, quite a
commodious keeper's lodge has been built, with room for, say, half a
dozen men who are not too slavishly addicted to the resources of
civilisation. Yet life there is not altogether pioneering. We could take
an automobile with us, and the telephone would keep us in touch with
the outside world. Fond of fishing?"
"Very."
"Then that's all right. I can offer you plenty of trout, either in pond
or stream, while in a large natural lake, only a short distance away, is
excellent black bass. I think you'll enjoy yourself up there."
Stranleigh laughed.
"You quite overlook the fact that I am not going. Unless ejected by
force, I stay here to meet your sister and Miss Maturin."
For a moment Trenton seemed taken aback. He had lost the drift of things
in his enthusiasm over the lakes.
"Oh, yes; I remember," he said at last. "You objected to meet anyone who
might wish you to invest good money in wild-cat schemes. Well, you're
quite safe as far as those two ladies are concerned, as I think I
assured you."
Ned was interrupted, and seemed somewhat startled by a sound of murmured
conversation ending in a subdued peal of musical laughter.
"Why, there's Sis now," he said, "I can tell her laugh anywhere."
As he rose from his chair, the door opened, and there entered a most
comely young woman in automobile garb, noticeably younger than Trenton,
but bearing an unmistakable likeness to him.
"Hello, Ned!" she cried. "I thought I'd find you here," then seeing his
visitor, who had risen, she paused.
"Lord Stranleigh," said Trenton. "My sister, Mrs. Vanderveldt."
"I am very glad to meet you, Lord Stranleigh," she said, advancing from
the door and shaking hands with him.
"Why didn't you telephone?" asked her brother.
His sister laughed merrily.
"I came down like a wolf on the fold, didn't I? Why didn't I telephone?
Strategy, my dear boy, strategy. This is a surprise attack, and I'd no
wish that the garrison, forewarned, should escape. I am sure, Lord
Stranleigh, that he has been descanting on the distraction of the woods
and the camp, or perhaps the metropolitan dissipation of Philadelphia,
depending on whether the yearning for sport, or his business in town was
uppermost in his mind."
"My dear Sis," cried Ned with indignation, "that is a libellous
statement. I never so much as mentioned Philadelphia, did I, Stranleigh?
You can corroborate what I say."
"I'm not so sure about that," said Stranleigh, lightly. "Your attempt
to drag me into your family differences at this point of the game is
futile. I'm going to lie low, and say nothing, as Brer Rabbit did, until
I learn which of you two is the real ruler of this house. I shall then
boldly announce myself on the side of the leader. My position here is
much too comfortable to be jeopardised by an injudicious partisanship."
"As for who's boss," growled Ned, "I cravenly admit at once that Sis
here is monarch of all she surveys."
"In that case," rejoined Stranleigh, heaving a deep sigh of apparent
relief, "I'm on the side of the angels. Mrs. Vanderveldt, he did
mention Philadelphia and his office there, speaking much about business
interests, coal-mines, and what not, during which recital I nearly went
to sleep, for I'm no business man. He also descanted on the lakes and
the waterfalls and the fishing, and on trout and black bass, and would
doubtless have gone on to whales and sea-serpents had you not come in at
the opportune moment. Please accept me as your devoted champion, Mrs.
Vanderveldt."
"I do, I do, with appreciation and gratitude," cried the lady merrily.
"I've long wished to meet you, Lord Stranleigh, for I heard such glowing
accounts of you from my brother here, with most fascinating descriptions
of your estates in England, and the happy hours he spent upon them while
he was your guest in the old country. I hope we may be able to make some
slight return for your kindness to this frowning man. He is always on
nettles when I am talking; so different from my husband in that
respect."
"Poor man, he never has a chance to get a word in edgewise," growled
Ned. "My soul is my own, I'm happy to say."
"Ah, yes," laughed the lady, "_pro tem_. But although I am saying so
much for myself, I speak with equal authority for my friend Constance
Maturin."
"Did you bring her with you, or is she coming later?" asked Trenton with
some anxiety.
"She is here, dear brother, but I could not induce her to enter this
room with me. Doubtless she wishes to meet you alone. She is a dear
girl, Lord Stranleigh, and it will be my greatest joy to welcome her as
a sister-in-law."
A warm flush was added to the frown on her brother's brow, but he made
no remark.
"Gracious me!" cried the lady, laughing again "have I once more put my
foot in it? Why Ned, what a fine confidential friend you are. If I were
a young man, and so sweet a girl had promised to marry me, I should
proclaim the fact from the house-tops."
"You wouldn't need to," groaned Ned, "if you had a sister."
"Never mind him," said Stranleigh, "you have betrayed no secret, Mrs.
Vanderveldt. His own confused utterances when referring to the young
lady, rendered any verbal confession unnecessary. I suspected how the
land lay at a very early stage of our conversation."
"Well, I think he may congratulate himself that you do not enter the
lists against him. You possess some tact, which poor Ned has never
acquired, and now I'll make him sit up by informing him that Connie
Maturin took a special trip over to England recently, in order to meet
you."
"To meet me?" cried Stranleigh in astonishment.
"Yes, indeed, and an amazed girl she was to learn that you had sailed
for America. She came right back by the next boat. She has a great plan
in her mind which requires heavy financing. My brother here isn't rich
enough, and I, of course, am much poorer than he is, so she thought if
she could interest you, as the leading capitalist of England----"
"Good heavens, girl," interrupted Ned, the perspiration standing out on
his brow, "do show some consideration for what you are saying! Why, you
rattle on without a thought to your words. Lord Stranleigh just made it
a proviso that----. Oh, hang it all, Sis; you've put your foot in it
this time, sure enough."
The lady turned on him now with no laughter on her lips, or merriment in
her tone.
"Why, Ned, you're actually scolding me. I promised Connie Maturin to
help her, and my way of accomplishing anything is to go directly for
it."
"Oh, heaven help me," murmured Ned, "the law courts have already taught
me that."
"Mrs. Vanderveldt," said the Earl of Stranleigh, very quietly, "please
turn to your champion, and ignore this wretched man, whose unnecessary
reticence is finding him out."
The only person to be embarrassed by this tangle of concealments and
revelations was Constance Maturin, who had indulged in neither the one
nor the other. The Earl of Stranleigh found it difficult to become
acquainted with her. She seemed always on her guard, and never even
approached the subject which he had been given to understand chiefly
occupied her thoughts.
On the day set for their automobile ride, Miss Maturin appeared at the
wheel of the very latest thing in runabouts; a six-cylindered machine
of extraordinary power, that ran as silently and smoothly as an
American watch, and all merely for the purpose of carrying two persons.
Stranleigh ran his eye over the graceful proportions of the new car with
an expert's keen appreciation, walking round it slowly and critically,
quite forgetting the girl who regarded him with an expression of
amusement. Looking up at last, he saw a smile playing about her pretty
lips.
"I beg your pardon," he said.
"I'm not sure that I shall grant it," she replied, laughing. "To be
ignored in this callous fashion for even the latest project of
engineering, is not in the least flattering."
"Not ignored, Miss Maturin," said Stranleigh, "for I was thinking of
you, although I may have appeared absorbed in the machine."
"Thinking of me!" she cried. "You surely can't expect me to believe
that! The gaze of a man fascinated by a piece of machinery is quite
different from that of a man fascinated by a woman. I know, because I
have seen both."
"I am sure you have seen the latter, Miss Maturin. But what I have just
been regarding is an omen."
"Really? How mysterious! I thought you saw only an automobile."
"No, I was looking through the automobile, and beyond, if I may put
it that way. I am quite familiar with the plan of this car, although
this is the first specimen that I have examined. The car is yours by
purchase, I suppose, but it is mine by manufacture. Your money bought
it, but mine made it, in conjunction with the genius of a young engineer
in whom I became interested. Perhaps you begin to see the omen. Some
time ago I was fortunate enough to be of assistance to a young man, and
the result has been an unqualified success. To-day perhaps I may be
permitted to aid a young woman with a success that will be equally
gratifying."
Stranleigh gazed steadily into the clear, honest eyes of the girl, who
returned his look with a half-amused smile. Now she seemed suddenly
covered with confusion, and flushing slightly, turned her attention to
the forest that surrounded them. Presently she said--
"Do you men worship only the god of success? You have used the word
three or four times."
"Most men wish to be successful, I suppose, but we all worship a
goddess, too."
"I'm sorry," said Miss Maturin, "that Mrs. Vanderveldt mentioned my
search for a capitalist. I have abandoned the quest. I am now merely
your guide to the lakes. Please take a seat in this automobile of yours,
Lord Stranleigh, and I will be your conductor."
The young man stepped in beside her, and a few moments later they were
gliding, rather than running over a perfect road, under the trees, in a
machine as noiseless as the forest. The Earl of Stranleigh had seen many
beautiful regions of this world, but never any landscape just like this.
Its artificiality and its lack of artificiality interested him. Nothing
could be more businesslike than the construction of the stout dams, and
nothing more gently rural than the limpid lakes, with the grand old
forest trees marshalled round their margins like a veteran army that had
marched down to drink, only to be stricken motionless at the water's
edge.
It seemed that the silence of the motor-car had enchanted into silence
its occupants. The girl devoted her whole attention to the machine and
its management. Stranleigh sat dumb, and gave himself up to the full
enjoyment of the Vallombrosic tour.
For more than half an hour no word had been spoken; finally the
competent chauffeur brought the auto to a standstill at a view-point
near the head of the valley, which offered a prospect of the brawling
main stream.
"We have now reached the last of the lakes in this direction," she said
quietly. "I think your automobile is admirable, Lord Stranleigh."
The young man indulged in a deep sigh of satisfaction.
"As a landscape gardener on a marvellous scale, you are without a
competitor, Miss Maturin."
The girl laughed very sweetly.
"That is a compliment to nature rather than to me. I have merely let
the wilderness alone, so far as road-making and dam-building would
allow me."
"In that very moderation lies genius--the leaving alone. Will you
forgive the inquisitiveness of a mere man whom you suspected at our
outset of success-worship, if he asks what practical object you have in
view?"
"Oh, I should have thought that was self-evident to an observant person
like yourself," she said airily. "These lakes conserve the water,
storing it in time of flood for use in time of scarcity. By means of
sluices we obtain partial control of the main stream."
"You flatter me by saying I am observant. I fear that I am rather the
reverse, except where my interest is aroused, as is the case this
morning. Is conservation your sole object, then?"
"Is not that enough?"
"I suppose it is. I know little of civil engineering, absorbing craft
though it is. I have seen its marvels along your own lines in America,
Egypt, India, and elsewhere. As we progressed I could not help noticing
that the dams built to restrain these lakes seemed unnecessarily
strong."
A slight shadow of annoyance flitted across the expressive countenance
of Constance Maturin, but was gone before he saw it.
"You are shrewder than you admit, Lord Stranleigh, but you forget what I
said about freshets. The lakes are placid enough now, but you should see
them after a cloud-burst back in the mountains."
"Nevertheless, the dams look bulky enough to hold back the Nile."
"Appearances are often deceitful. They are simply strong enough for the
work they have to do. American engineering practice does not go in for
useless encumbrance. Each dam serves two purposes. It holds back the
water and it contains a power-house. In some of these power-houses
turbines and dynamoes are already placed."
"Ah, now I understand. You must perceive that I am a very stupid
individual."
"You are a very persistent person," said the young woman decisively.
Stranleigh laughed.
"Allow me to take advantage of that reputation by asking you what you
intend to do with the electricity when you have produced it?"
"We have no plans."
"Oh, I say!"
"_What_ do you say?"
"That was merely an Anglicised expression of astonishment."
"Don't you believe me?"
"No."
They were sitting together on the automobile seat, deep in the shade
of the foliage above them, but when he caught sight of the indignant
face which she turned towards him, it almost appeared as if the sun
shone upon it. She seemed about to speak, thought better of it, and
reached forward to the little lever that controlled the self-starting
apparatus. She found his hand there before she could carry out her
intention.
"I am returning, Lord Stranleigh," she said icily.
"Not yet."
She leaned back in the seat.
"Mr. Trenton told me that you were the most polite man he had ever met.
I have seldom found him so mistaken in an impression."
"Was it a polite man you set out to find in your recent trip to Europe?"
As the girl made no reply, Stranleigh went on--
"My politeness is something like the dams we have been considering. It
contains more than appears on the surface. There is concealed power
within it. You may meet myriads of men well qualified to teach me
courtesy, but when this veneer of social observance is broken, you come
to pretty much the same material underneath. I seldom permit myself the
luxury of an escape from the conventions, but on rare occasions I break
through. For that I ask your pardon. Impressed by your sincerity, I
forgot for the moment everything but your own need in the present
crisis."
"What crisis?" she asked indignantly.
"The financial crisis caused by your spending every available resource
on this so-called conservation policy. To all intents and purposes you
are now a bankrupt. Mrs. Vanderveldt has contributed all she can, and
both you and she are afraid to tell her brother the true state of the
case. You fear you will get little sympathy from him, for he is absorbed
in coal-mines and railways, and both of you have already felt his
annoyance at the law-suit in which you have involved him. Hence your
desperate need of a capitalist. A really polite man would be a more
pleasant companion than I, but he is not worth that, Miss Maturin!"
Stranleigh removed his hand from the lever long enough to snap fingers
and thumb, but he instantly replaced it when he saw her determination to
start the machine.
"The man of the moment, Miss Maturin, is a large and reckless
capitalist. I am that capitalist."
He released his hold of the lever, and sat upright. The sternness of his
face relaxed.
"Now, Miss Maturin, turn on the power; take me where you like; dump me
into any of those lakes you choose; the water is crystal clear, and I'm
a good swimmer," and with this Stranleigh indulged in a hearty laugh,
his own genial self once more.
"You are laughing at me," she said resentfully.
"Indeed I am not. Another contradiction, you see! I am laughing at
myself. There's nothing I loathe so much as strenuousness, and here I
have fallen into the vice. It is the influence of that brawling river
below us, I think. But the river becomes still enough, and useful
enough, when it reaches the great lake at Powerville, which is big
enough to swallow all these little ponds."
The girl made no motion towards the lever, but sat very still, lost in
thought. When she spoke, her voice was exceedingly quiet.
"You complimented Nature a while ago, intending, as I suppose, to
compliment me, but I think after all the greater compliment is your
straight talk, which I admire, although I received it so petulantly.
I shall make no apology, beyond saying that my mind is very much
perturbed. Your surmise is absolutely correct. It isn't that I've spent
the whole of my fortune and my friend's fortune in this conservation
scheme. It is because I have built a model city on the heights above
Powerville. I was promised assistance from the banks, which is now
withheld, largely, I suspect, through the opposition of John L.
Boscombe, a reputed millionaire. To all intents and purposes Boscombe
and I are the owners of Powerville and the mills there, but although
this place was founded and built up by my father, I am a minority
stock-holder, and powerless. Boscombe exercises control. Any suggestions
or protests of mine are ignored, for Boscombe, like my father, has
little faith--no faith at all, in fact--in the business capacity of a
woman.
"I have tried, as I hinted, to enlist the co-operation of other
capitalists, but experience has taught me that any appeal is futile that
does not impinge directly upon cupidity. If there is the least hint of
philanthropy in the project, every man of money fights shy of it."
"I am an exception," said Stranleigh, eagerly. "Philanthropy used to be
a strong point with me, though I confess I was never very successful in
its exercise. What humanitarian scheme is in your mind, Miss Maturin?"
Again she sat silent for some moments, indecision and doubt on her fair
brow. Presently she said, as if pulling herself together--
"I will not tell you, Lord Stranleigh. You yourself have just admitted
disbelief, and my plan is so fantastic that I dare not submit it to
criticism."
"I suppose your new city is in opposition to the old town down in the
valley? You alone are going to compete with Boscombe and yourself."
"That is one way of putting it."
"Very well, I am with you. Blow Boscombe! say I. I've no head for
business, so I sha'n't need to take any advice. I shall do exactly what
you tell me. What is the first move?"
"The first move is to set your brokers in New York at work, and buy a
block of Powerville stock."
"I see; so that you and I together have control, instead of Boscombe?"
"Yes."
"That shall be done as quick as telegraph can give instructions. What
next?"
"There will be required a large sum of money to liquidate the claims
upon me incurred through the building of the city."
"Very good. That money shall be at your disposal within two or three
days."
"As for security, I regret----"
"Don't mention it. My security is my great faith in Ned Trenton, also in
yourself. Say no more about it."
"You are very kind, Lord Stranleigh, but there is one thing I must say.
This may involve you in a law-suit so serious that the litigation of
which Ned complains will appear a mere amicable arrangement by
comparison."
"That's all right and doesn't disturb me in the least. I love a legal
contest, because I have nothing to do but place it in the hands of
competent lawyers. No personal activity is required of me, and I am an
indolent man."
The second part of the programme was accomplished even sooner than
Stranleigh had promised, but the first part hung fire. The brokers in
New York could not acquire any Powerville stock, as was shown by their
application to Miss Maturin herself, neither had their efforts been
executed with that secrecy which Stranleigh had enjoined. He realised
this when John L. Boscombe called upon him. He went directly to the
point.