ORIENTAL RUBIES
As the months drifted into summer, young Mrs. Percival often felt very
dull. She had not even the excitement of envy left her for, with the
engagement of Miss Elton and Mr. Norris, much of her old enmity for
Madeline faded. Ellery looked to her like a fate so inferior to her own
that she could afford to drop her jealousy; and since Mr. Early and Dick
were now wholly released from thrall, she considered Madeline a creature
too inoffensive to be reckoned an enemy. She could even share the
tolerant and amused pleasure with which the world surveys a love match.
This pair was so evidently and rapturously content that they diffused
their own atmosphere. Lena could not understand that variety of love,
but its presence was patent to her.
Most of the "real people" as Mrs. Appleton called them, in improvement
on their Maker's classification, were leaving town either for the lake
or for some more distant breathing place, but she was tied at home,
first because Mrs. Percival the elder, whom Dick refused to desert,
preferred the wide quiet of her rooms, and second because Dick himself
grew daily more absorbed in his political labors.
Lena went to say good-by for the summer to Mrs. Appleton and was bidden
to come up stairs to a disordered little room where that matron
superintended a flushed maid busy with packing.
"I am really quite played out with all this turmoil," Mrs. Appleton
sighed. "Truly, dear Mrs. Percival, I think you are to be congratulated
on staying at home. The game is not worth the candle."
"I think, if Madame is tired, I could finish alone." Marie lifted a face
that manifested hope from the bottom of a trunk, but Madame shook her
head. It was one of her principles to see to everything herself and so
gain the proud consciousness of utter exhaustion in doing her duty.
Lena glanced enviously about the heaped up gowns and lacy lingerie. It
made her own stock seem mean.
"Perhaps it will amuse you to look these over while I am busy," Mrs.
Appleton went on good-humoredly, pushing a leather-bound case across the
table toward Lena's arm. Mrs. Percival lifted out one little tray after
another with growing sullenness. The profusion of jewels gave her no
pleasure. She slammed the trays back in place.
"Did Mr. Appleton give you all of these?" she demanded.
"Yes. Isn't he generous? But he says that my type of beauty is one that
can stand lavish decoration."
"He's certainly more free than Dick," Lena said with bald envy,
reviewing her own small store that a few short months ago had seemed to
her like the wealth of Ormus and of Ind.
"My dear," Mrs. Appleton exclaimed with a self-conscious laugh, "you can
hardly expect Dick Percival to rival Humphrey."
Mrs. Percival felt bitterly her friend's loftiness of position. It was
of course impossible for a woman to feel superior to what she owns and
Mrs. Appleton owned more and always would own more than Lena Percival.
"Do you know, my love," Mrs. Appleton pursued, "I think your husband is
making a great mistake in going in for petty politics. With his pull,
and his fair amount of capital to start with, he ought to be able to
make a fortune. He's just throwing his life away."
"Don't you suppose I know it?" Lena cried tearfully. "I've told him so a
hundred times. He's just crazy over these nasty little things. He's
willing to sacrifice anything to get the place of ward alderman away
from some miserable Swede. Think of me tied in town all summer!"
"I wouldn't stand it," Mrs. Appleton answered absently, her eyes on
Marie, stuffing tissue paper in a sleeve. "A woman has such influence on
her husband. Take matters in your own hands, my dear."
Lena, rebellious at heart, found her only diversion in occasional
week-ends at other people's country houses, or in long flights by
evening in Dick's motor. Her husband was self-absorbed and often silent,
another person, as she frequently and querulously rubbed into him, from
the ardent creature of a few months before.
Sometimes he made attempts to open to her his subjects of thought, but
Lena never attempted to understand things that did not interest her, and
now that she was safely married, it was too much trouble to make much
pretense at it; so she was often alone, and frequently bored.
Even Mr. Early was away most of the time, and the great blank eyes of
closed windows blinked down at her from his closed house beyond the
dividing hedge that flanked the garden. His place stood on a corner, and
on the two sides that fronted the streets, Sebastian had hidden the
wonders of his terraces and trimmed trees by high walls, but toward the
Percivals he had been less exclusive. Most of the houses in St. Etienne,
like their own, had no property dividing line, but lawn melted into lawn
with a park-like openness that hinted at communistic kindliness. This
had its disadvantages in lack of privacy, and hence it was that in spite
of quite an extensive demesne, Lena found in her own garden no spot
absolutely hidden from curious eyes of passers, except in one thicket of
trees and shrubbery over near the Early boundary. Here there was
seclusion, and here, therefore, young Mrs. Percival had her hammock and
her group of chairs and tables; and here she spent long indolent
afternoons in sleepy reading and sleepier dreaming, which was only less
agreeable than the social triumphs of which she dreamed. And yet she
often found herself weary of nothing, and wished she had some one
exactly to her taste to keep her company and talk to her about little
things in that "fool's paradise of laziness" where, it is said, Satan is
entertainer in chief. Once in a while, on his brief home-stays, Mr.
Early illuminated her retreat with his presence.
Toward the middle of the summer, certain business interests called Dick
to North Dakota, and then life was duller than ever.
Therefore it was a not wholly unwelcome diversion when, late on an
August afternoon, she saw the thick laurels of the hedge near her part a
little and the form of Ram Juna stand in the cleft, snowy white from
turban to slippers save for the gleaming ruby and the polished bronze
face. He looked like the day itself, glowing, sultry, indolent.
"Pardon me, dear lady," he said, "that through the bush I spied you. I
was solitary. You are solitary. The heat suits not with the severer
thought. The weak body refuses to yield to the commands of mind. I fail
to write; and perhaps you fail to read."
"I guess your thinking is harder work than my reading. Won't you come
over and sit down?" said Lena cordially.
"Then you, like me, would welcome companionship?"
"Yes. Isn't this a nice shady place?" Lena answered. "The maid is just
bringing me some iced drinks, and I dare say they'll taste good to you
if you have been trying to write that wonderful book of yours in all
this blaze."
The Hindu pushed the hedge still farther asunder and swept with a sigh
of content over to a cushioned reclining chair.
"If one's heart were set on the things that fade, what greater
satisfaction? Shadow, deep shadow from the heat, cool drafts, the voice
of a fair woman."
"You must not count me among the things that fade, though," laughed
Lena, as she handed him a tall glass of clinking fragrance. "I shan't
like you a bit if you do."
"Everything fades, the rose, the lady, even thought, which is after all
but a grub on the tree of truth. All, all fade."
"I wish you wouldn't talk that way," objected Lena. "You make me feel
quite creepy."
"Ah," said Ram Juna, "you love the things of to-day. To me the thought
that all is transitory is bliss. Is it not so?"
"Yes," said Lena, "I'm sure I like roses and jewels and iced minty stuff
to drink. And Ram Juna, I wish you would tell me the really-truly
history of your ruby. I've heard so many stories about it." He put up
his hand, detached the great jewel from its place and laid it in her
small outstretched palm.
"That is a mark of my confiding," he said. "There are few to whom I
would give to handle my treasure. It may truly be called a stone of
blood. Such angry storms of greed and passion, such murders of father by
son and husband by wife link their story to it. And now it rests at last
on the head of a man of peace. For how long? For how long?" Lena looked
at it with the eyes of fascination as it lay in her open hand.
"It charms you like a serpent?" asked her companion, leaning forward
with indolent amusement. "You are true woman. You love the glitter.
Would you like to see others?"
"Have you others?" cried Lena. "Oh--oh, I should like to see them!" He
rose, made her a salaam of grace, parted the hedge once more and
disappeared only to return bringing in his hands a curious box of
carven ivory, which he set on the table between them and proceeded to
unlock with a key of quaint device.
Lena gave a cry of rapture and astonishment as the lid fell back. Ram
Juna laid his hand on her arm.
"Silence!" he commanded, "would it be well that the flippant public who
pass near at hand on the pavement should know that there are such
treasures in this thicket?"
"I did not know that there was so much splendor in the world," whispered
Lena in admiration.
"Rubies--all rubies! They were the stones beloved of my ancestors. This
dangled once on the neck of a maha-ranee, more beautiful than itself,
only, unfortunately, she lost her neck, murdered by a rival queen."
He twisted the string of gems about her arm, bare to the elbow, and Lena
gasped with pleasure.
"Let me add this bracelet--a serpent. See of curious carved gold the
scales, and the eyes again two wicked rubies to beguile men's souls. Yet
it becomes the arm, does it not? Look, at your pleasure, at the rest of
the box."
He pushed the case toward her and Lena began to finger its profuse
contents with occasional sighs of envious delight and glances at her
white flesh enhanced by its ornaments. Ram Juna sat in silence.
"How do you dare to carry such things around with you?" she asked.
"Not much longer," he answered with a shrug. "To me they are delusions
inappropriate. I see that is your thought. Is it not so? What have I to
do with necklaces and rings of princesses? I had forgotten that I had
them, until a chance thought recalled it. I had long since meant to sell
them and give the money to the great cause for which I labor. That is my
treasure, is it not? I shall never take them back to India. I must
hasten to get rid of them, for I purpose to return there at once."
"Why, are you going away?"
"To-morrow I leave this city. My work here is done. It is the last of
work. Hereafter I shall find some solitary spot and end my life in
meditations. And the rubies--I might give them away; but perhaps the
trifle I should receive for them would help the Brothers in their
service. I shall not expect or wish their value."
"Oh, I wish I might buy some of them!"
"Why not? No lady could wear them with greater dignity. Young,
beautiful, beloved, and clothed with jewels. It is the frame for the
picture, Madame."
"Oh!" said Lena.
"To you, whom I reverence, they should cost but a trifle."
"How much?" gasped Lena.
"The necklace, now," said Ram Juna, and he leaned over and twisted it
about her arm as he seemed to hesitate, "I would give you that for five
thousand dollars--and you can see that it is worth--ah, I know not how
many times that sum. I do not understand these things."
"But my husband is away, and I have not any thing like that sum.
Besides, I could not buy it without asking him, you know. Oh, I should
like it!"
"Bah, it is a trifle to a lady in your position. You could in many ways
raise so paltry an amount. I can not, unfortunately, give you time to
deliberate." He was speaking very rapidly with many gestures, quite
unlike his usual calm. "I tell you I return to India without delay. If
you would wish those beautiful things you must hasten--to-day. Any
person, I think, would lend you such money. Mr. Early--ah, yes--Mr.
Early."
"Mr. Early is away, isn't he?"
Lena was growing confused. She turned the glittering string around and
around on her arm, and her heart was big with foolish longing. The
necklace seemed the only thing in life worth while. Ram Juna's quick
movements and urgent words quite took away her powers of reasoning.
"Mr. Early? Yes. He returned this morning. Shall I tell you a great
secret, Madame? A man loves the one for whom he does a favor. Would it
not be wise to let Mr. Early do this thing for you? I know he will lend
you without question. It will hereafter bind him to you. See. I make the
arrangements with him myself. Ladies know nothing of business, and I not
much. But I talk with him, he understands, and I make all smooth. Will
you? Shall I? Yes or no? Do not lose such a treasure by hesitancy. Your
husband shall thank you when he comes again. Yes? See the sunlight comes
through the trees and makes the rubies like itself."
"Oh, if Mr. Early would," said Lena. "I don't see why I shouldn't. And
if Mr. Percival thinks I can't afford it, the rubies are worth more
than I paid for them anyway."
"You are reasonable. Hold it. I trust you while I go to see Mr. Early,
and return. The necklace is yours, beautiful lady."
Ram Juna was awakened from his usual serenity and full of tiger-like
restlessness. Again he plunged through the hedge, and Lena saw the white
turban flying toward the house. Even Mr. Early looked around startled as
his usually torpid guest burst into the little den.
"Hello!" he said. "What's up?"
"Early, I bring you opportunity, the greatest of gifts. The favor I
shall confer, is it less than the favor I have received from you?"
"What do you mean?" asked Sebastian.
"Once you say that you will give much to get the young Percival in your
power."
"Yes. What of it?"
"It is done."
A look of real interest began to illuminate Mr. Early's face. "Well?" he
said sharply.
"I have rubies--rubies to lure the heart of a woman from her bosom.
Madame, the young wife would give her soul--if she but had one. That is
too hard. Let her give her note." The Swami laughed gently. "You would
lend her five thousand dollars, my friend, to buy rubies from me. That
is an empty show. She gives you the note. I give her the necklace that
she must have. That is all. There is no need to give me money. I return
your hospitality thus."
"Well, suppose I did all this. Dick Percival could easily discharge his
wife's debt."
"Not so fast. Not so fast. The young wife is a fool as well as a knave.
To the note she shall sign her husband's name. That I will bring to
pass. But you know nothing of this. Of course not. You suppose that the
signature is genuine. You are unaware that Percival is out of town. And
I--if I am guilty--I am with my guilty knowledge in the hut in the
mountains of India. Do you not think that while you hold that note young
Percival will gladly serve you in any fashion that you may choose,
rather than that so foolish a piece of wife's knavery should come
abroad?"
"Gee whizz!" exclaimed Mr. Early, gazing at the simple seeker after
truth, whose face shone with a radiant smile. "Gee whizz! Ram Juna, but
you are a business man! But she won't sign her husband's name."
Ram Juna's smile expanded cheerfully.
"Let that remain to me. You have but to play your part," he said.
Mr. Early thought hard for a moment.
"There is need to haste," said the Swami gently. "She is now in the
garden where access is easy. Make the note. I will take it to her to
sign. Hasten, my friend."
Mr. Early drew toward him pen and ink.
"It's a little flyer, and there may be something in it," he said. "I
don't see that I get into trouble any way. But see here, Swami, you
deserve something for your work. I'm not going to see you lose that five
thousand. When you bring me this I O U with Dick Percival's signature,
I'll give you my check for the amount. Understand?"
"Be that as you will," said the Hindu, and he caught the piece of paper
and fled toward the thicket where Lena still played with her toy.
"Have I not told you?" he began suavely. "The necklace, less fair than
its owner, is yours. But one moment. Will you first do me a favor?"
He lifted the great white turban from his hot forehead and set it on the
table before her.
"A simple bit of the skill of my country," he said. "Will you look
fixedly into the great ruby that remains mine? And, as you look, will
you yield your mind to me, and let me show you a vision? So--even deeper
let your eyes penetrate to the heart of the jewel. Deeper and yet
deeper."
He made a swift motion or two before her, and her eyes grew fixed.
"What do you see?"
"Myself," she answered.
"Naturally. What else could you ever see? But you are different. You are
a thousand times more beautiful. The world lies at your feet. It is a
world of adulation. Do you see this?"
"Yes."
"Very well. Now look away. We must not longer see the beautiful picture.
You remember we have business. Mr. Early, your friend, and my friend,
will lend you money. But how are you to repay him? You have nothing of
your own. It must be your husband who secures you. In the front of the
book which you are reading it is written 'Richard Percival'. You will
copy this with your utmost care, here on this paper. Ah, for you it is
not hard to do this thing. For some it would be hard to persuade them.
You make but a poor copy. That is of indifference. I will return this to
Mr. Early. You will await me here."
The August afternoon was closing, and the shadows grew strong here where
vines knit the trees into close brotherhood. Lena lay back in her chair
and clutched her treasure in a kind of stupor, until, in an incredibly
short time Ram Juna again appeared, tucking a scrap of yellow paper into
some inner pouch as he came. The Buddha smile still played about his
lips. He seated himself on the ground and stared unblinkingly at the
girl, and she gazed almost as fixedly back, except that once in a while
her eyes wandered to the big red stone which still hung in the turban on
the table. Ten minutes--fifteen minutes--they sat in silence, as though
the Swami enjoyed the experience, then the bronze man rose and moved
slowly toward her.
"Awake!" he whispered. "You must never forget that you wrote your
husband's name when you had not the right. Ah, in India, our knaves are
not also fools."
There was a sudden sharp noise and a cry in the garden behind the hedge;
and the Swami leaped into attention with the swift motionlessness of a
wild animal. Lena roused herself heavily and blinked about. There was no
Swami to be seen. His turban lay on the table, but he himself had
disappeared in a twinkling. She heard a rush of feet and voices raised
in excitement and then a sharp command. Even while she listened,
confused, a blue-coated starred man appeared at the opening in the hedge
and over his shoulder she saw Mr. Early's face, startled out of its
decorum into bewildered anxiety.
"Beg pardon, miss," said the officer. "Have you seen anything of that
nigger preacher?"
"The Swami?" asked Lena.
The man nodded.
"He was here a moment ago--at least I think he was. I--I'm not sure. And
he seems to have gone away. I don't know where he is." She looked
vaguely around.
"Left this in his hurry, I guess," said the man, taking possession of
the turban. "He must be hiding somewhere near. With your permission, I
will search the house, miss," and he moved off without waiting for the
said permission.
"Mrs. Percival," said Mr. Early.
"Beg pardon, Mrs. Percival," the man threw back with an added air of
respect. "It is an unpleasant duty, ma'am, but you'll not object, I
know." He beckoned sharply to two or three others who stood behind Mr.
Early, and turned toward the open door.
"What does all this mean, Mr. Early?" Lena gasped.
He tumbled as if exhausted into the same easy chair that Ram Juna had
occupied a few moments before.
"I am completely staggered," he exclaimed. "The police seem to think
they have reason to suspect my guest of being implicated with a gang of
counterfeiters. In fact they say that it is his extraordinary cunning of
hand that produced the bills that have been appearing everywhere.
And--great heavens!--he used my house as--as--as a fence! My house!
Pardon me, my dear Mrs. Percival, but I am horribly upset. They've found
dies and all kinds of queer things in the little room that he kept
sacred to his meditations. But of course I can't be suspected of
knowing. Why, all my servants can bear testimony to the fact that I know
nothing about that room."
"Of course, Mr. Early, no one would think of accusing you."
"Still, my house, you know--and my friend. It's horrible!" In fact Mr.
Early was shivering as though he had the ague. "It would drive me mad if
any one should think--why, Mrs. Percival, think of the scandal of having
him with me for months. Of course, if they catch him, I'll make him
clear me at once. But, take it how you will, it is awful. The least I
can expect is to be laughed at over the whole civilized world for being
his dupe. I've always prided myself on my clean skirts. You think I'm
raving, Mrs. Percival. I am nearly mad." Mr. Early suddenly leaped up
with horror newly reborn in his eyes. "And I had just given him a large
check. That is bound to look bad. There is no knowing how it may be
misconstrued. Great heavens, what am I to do?"
Lena flushed.
"I'm afraid that check was for me," she said. "Mr. Early, I want to
thank you--for--for being so generous to me; and when Dick comes back
from North Dakota, he will repay you at once."
Mr. Early caught himself up and remembered that he had a part to play in
the present drama.
"When Dick comes back," he said in a stupefied way, "what do you mean by
'when Dick comes back'? Isn't he here now? Why, he must be. It isn't an
hour since he signed--"
"Didn't you know he was away?" asked Lena timidly, her heart sinking,
for Mr. Early's tone was sharp.
"I certainly thought he signed a note made out to me. Was it another
piece of the Swami's clever forgery?"
"He--I--" cried poor Lena in confusion. "Oh, Mr. Early, do you call it
forgery?--my own husband's name? Oh, I--oh, Mr. Early, what are you
thinking?" At this moment she was the picture of confused innocence.
Mr. Early looked at her and gave a long-drawn breath of astonishment.
"I understand," he said at last, while Lena hung her head. "You wrote
Dick's name for him, and he knows nothing about it. Well, let it go at
that. It is a matter of no consequence. And, my dear Mrs. Percival, I
would suggest that this matter be kept a secret between you and me.
We'll never mention the debt again. I'm sure you will accept the rubies
as a little gift from one of the most humble of your admirers." He bent
forward and kissed her finger-tips in his most gallant manner.
"Oh, Mr. Early, you are so good!" Lena's voice expressed manifest
relief. The memory came back to her of what Ram Juna had said about the
bond created by favor. It flashed into her mind, "He thinks it is sweet
and innocent and womanly in me to do such a thing in ignorance. Dick
would think so, too. How should I know?"
"But suppose Dick shouldn't like to have me take them from you, such a
magnificent gift?"
"I would suggest," Mr. Early's manner was regaining some of its
self-possession, "that you speak of the necklace--is that it in your
hand? a really wonderful thing, with curious settings, carved by
hand--as I was saying, I would suggest that you speak of it as a gift
from the Swami, who, as is well known, was much impressed by your
charms. A present from such a creature, who hardly comes into the
category of ordinary men, would create no such remark as might a gift
from me. Do you not see? We will let the truth remain a little secret
between us two. I have an idea that we shall not be likely to see Ram
Juna again. I fancy he is a fellow of greater cunning than any of us
dreamed; and if he has a little start of the detectives, I doubt if they
have so much as a glimpse of his heels; though, to be sure, he is rather
a marked figure, and difficult to disguise. Now don't forget. The Swami,
with oriental profuseness, gave you the rubies."
"You are a dear," gushed Lena. "Oh, I do hope he is gone!" After all, it
was a relief that Dick should not know.
"One favor I must ask, my dear Mrs. Percival," Mr. Early went on
hesitatingly. "If, by any chance, Dick should ever come to know of this,
will you assure him that I supposed his signature to be genuine? I
wouldn't have him suspect that I--that I was a party--or at least that I
knew that you wrote it for him. For really, little woman, it wasn't
strictly honest, you know."
"I'm afraid it wasn't," Lena confessed with charming blushes. "But I
didn't think. I don't know much about such things, you know."
"Of course you don't. No nice woman does," said Mr. Early comfortingly.
"And now let us forget it."
"Here come the officers," said Lena.
"It ain't no use," said the captain disgustedly. "He's given us the
slip, somehow. And we'd watched the house and made sure we'd nab him."
"What are you going to do?" asked Mr. Early.
"Take his kit, and set guards and send telegraph descriptions of him in
all directions. 'Taint likely he can get clean away. He'll be a marked
man wherever he goes."
"If there is anything I can do to help you," said Mr. Early
grandiloquently, "you can command me, though you may imagine that it is
very offensive to me to be mixed up in this kind of affair."
"Well, rather," said the officer dryly. Then, seeing the flush rising on
Mr. Early's face, he went on with the patronage of the majesty of the
law: "You needn't fear that you'll suffer any personal inconvenience.
We've had you under surveillance for a long time--ever since we began to
suspect your nigger friend; and we know you are all right." But the
assurance seemed to add to Mr. Early's discomfiture. "Looks as if it was
going to blow up a storm. A dark night would be a good thing for him and
a nuisance to us. But we'll catch him sure."
They were gone, and Lena lingered a moment, fastening her dearly-bought
bauble around her neck and gathering her books, while a maid came
scudding from the house to bundle rugs and cushions away in face of the
thunder-heads looming in the southwest. A sudden sibilant sound brought
Lena to attention.
"Mrs. Percival!" she heard. "Look up."
Among the branches over her head the leaves were drawn so closely
together that only a few faint glimmers of white showed, and the
brilliant eyes that glared down at her were the most conspicuous things
she saw.
"Listen and reply not," he said. "You will bring a dark and large
great-coat, and other dark garments that you can find, and leave them
here with swiftness and secrecy. I command you. If you do not obey, I
will make it the worse for you."
He snarled suddenly, and Lena jumped back as though a tiger had sprung
at her throat.
The face disappeared among the leaves, and Lena sped toward the house,
hastened by a crash of thunder and a few great drops, that seemed to her
frightened imagination like the servants of the savage creature that
she had left in the tree-tops. She slipped out again, in spite of wind
and rain, obedient to his command, and as she dropped her bundle at the
foot of the tree trunk, she whispered,
"I hope, oh, I hope that you will get away!" But she heard no reply. The
storm came down and the night fell, seamed with lightning.
Lena quietly ate her dinner, and listened to the well-bred calm voice of
her mother-in-law as she wondered what Dick was doing, and when he would
be at home again. But Lena wondered what Ram Juna was doing, and whether
she should ever see him again.