I
"In spite of my warnings you continue to follow me!" said Isabel when
they were established in the supper room.
"Are we to have another row? I don't believe I can go through with it."
"No; for rows haven't got us anywhere. And Ruth whispered to me a moment
ago to be very nice to you. While the gentleman on the other side of me
is occupied we might clear up matters a little."
"It's not in my theory of life to explain things; I tried explaining
myself at Portsmouth and again at Bennington but you were singularly
unsympathetic. Please be generous and tell me why you were skipping over
New England, darting through trains and searching hotel registers and
manifesting uneasiness when policemen appeared. You recommended a life
of lawlessness to me but I didn't know you meant to go in for that sort
of thing yourself."
"It occurred to me after the Bennington interview that I might have been
unjust, but I was in a humor to suspect every one. When you said you'd
shot Putney Congdon you frightened me to death. Of course you did
nothing of the kind!"
"This is wonderful chicken salad," he said, hastily. "I beg you to do
it full justice. The people about us mustn't get the idea that we're
discussing homicide. Now, to answer your question, I _had_ shot Mr.
Putney Congdon and in edging away from the scene of my bloodshed I was
guilty of other indiscretions that made me chatter like a maniac when I
saw you. It was such a joke that you should turn up when I was doing
just what you prescribed for me as a cure for my ills. I am quite calm
now, and my health is so good that when the waiter brings those little
pocket rolls this way I shall take a second and perhaps a third."
"My own nerves had gone to pieces or I shouldn't have flared as I did at
Portsmouth and I was even more irresponsible when I saw you in that
parlor car at Bennington."
"You saw me kiss a girl on the train. Miss Perry, I will not deceive you
about that. She was all but a stranger, and I had assisted her to elope.
Her husband was hiding in the baggage car."
"He would have thrown himself under the wheels if he had witnessed that
ardent kissing! I confess that I hadn't done justice to your
fascinations. And you were not her guardian, or anything like that?"
"Certainly not. She's a dairy maid I married to a diamond thief by
mistake. My ignorance of women is complete. Sally Walker's duplicity
wasn't necessary to convince me of that but your own conduct completely
crushed my vanity."
"The crushing has improved you, I think. Please don't think that because
I am showing you so much tolerance I am wholly satisfied that you
weren't trying to thwart my own criminal adventures. When we met at
Portsmouth I was trying to meet poor Mrs. Congdon somewhere to help
kidnap her little girl!"
"Edith--a lovely child," Archie remarked, and picked up the napkin that
slipped from her knees. He enjoyed her surprise. "Please don't scorn the
ice cream; you will find it very refreshing. As you were saying--"
"If I hadn't been warned by Ruth that you were to be trusted in this
business I should begin screaming. How did you know the child's name?
What do you know about the Congdons?"
"Volumes! Let my imagination play on your confession. You were trying to
find Mrs. Congdon and whisk the child away to your camp, when I ran into
you. You had missed connections with the mother and thought I was trying
to embarrass or frustrate you? I had troubles of my own and you couldn't
have done me a greater wrong!"
"Mrs. Congdon was in a panic, skipping about with the children to avoid
her husband; but it was really her father-in-law who was pursuing her.
He's a miserly, disagreeable wretch! I came here to meet Ruth, who is an
old friend of hers, hoping she might be able to deliver the little girl
to me undetected. I met both Mr. and Mrs. Congdon once, several years
ago, at a dinner in Chicago, but I can hardly say that I know them.
Ruth's to be the chief councilor of my camp--so interested in my scheme
that she insisted on going up there to help me. And Mrs. Congdon thought
that would be a fine place to hide her Edith while the family rumpus was
on. I was to run with Edith as hard as I could for Heart o' Dreams, my
girls' camp, you know, up in Michigan."
"How stupid I am! With a word you might have made unnecessary our two
altercations!"
"The matter, as you can see, is very delicate, even hazardous. I had
never been a kidnaper and when you saw me on those two occasions I was
terribly alarmed, not finding Mrs. Congdon where she expected to be. And
I must say that you added nothing to my peace of mind."
"Please note that I am drinking coffee at midnight! I shouldn't have
dared do that before your cheering advice in Washington. We have but a
moment more, and I shall give you in tabloid form my adventures to
date."
It was the Isabel of the Washington dinner party who listened. She was
deeply interested and amused, and at times he had the satisfaction of
reading in her face what he hopefully interpreted as solicitude for his
safety. He confined himself to essentials so rigidly that she protested
constantly that he was not doing his story justice. Of the Governor he
spoke guardedly, finding that Isabel knew nothing about him beyond a
shadowy impression she had derived from Ruth that he was a wanderer who
had charmed her fancy.
"If he hasn't told you of the beginning of their acquaintance, I must
have a care," said Isabel. "He and Ruth met oddly enough in a settlement
house--I needn't say where it was--where Ruth was a volunteer worker.
Your friend turned up there as a tramp and she didn't know at once that
he was masquerading. Afterward he threw himself in her path, most
ingeniously, in his proper rôle of a gentleman, in a summer place where
she was visiting, and that added to the charm of the mystery. I can see
that he's very unusual. You've told me more than she knows about him,
but even that leaves a good deal to be desired. In all the world there's
no girl like Ruth; there must be no question of her happiness!"
"You needn't be afraid. In spite of his singular ways I'd trust him
round the world. We can't stay here longer, I suppose; there's a young
blade at the door looking for you now. Is there any way I can serve
you?"
"Ruth has explained all that to Mr. Saulsbury by now. She felt sure that
he would help; and, believe me, I have confidence in you."
"The first thing is to find Edith Congdon and you may trust us for that.
I will seize this moment to say," he added quietly, "that you are even
lovelier than I remembered you!"
"You are very bold, sir! You wouldn't have said that a very little while
ago."
"You complained once that I wasn't bold enough! Now that I come to you
red handed and for all you know with stolen silver in my pocket, you
can't complain of my forwardness. I am a rascal of high degree, as you
would have me be. And I now declare myself your most relentless suitor!
I trust my frankness pleases you?"
"Your adventures in rascality have added to your plausibility. I almost
believe you--but not quite. You seem to be extremely vulnerable to
feminine blandishments. There's Sally, the milkmaid. Remember that I saw
you kiss her with rather more than brotherly warmth. Still, I suppose
you'd earned some reward for your daring."
"A bluff old man-at-arms ought to be forgiven for pausing in his wild
career to kiss a pretty lass at the wayside!" he growled.
His mock-heroic attitude toward his exploits kept her laughing, until
she said, quite soberly:
"Please don't think I'm so awfully frivolous, for I really am not. And
to be sitting in a place like this among all these highly proper people
talking of the dreadful things you've done is simply ridiculous. When I
undertook to hide Edith Congdon from her father I couldn't see that
there would be anything wrong in it! And yet I would have been a
kidnaper, I suppose."
"And you've cheerfully turned the job over to me," he said, finding it
now his turn to be amused. "When you gave me your warrant to destroy all
the kingdoms of the world you forgot that there might be unpleasant
consequences. But I assure you that after a few days you don't care
much!"
"It's so deliciously dreadful! And only the other day you were in mortal
terror of sudden death."
"I've forgotten I ever had a nerve. To be sure our little
misunderstandings nearly broke my heart, but now that you've smiled
again I'm ready for anything. I might say further that in the end I
shall expect my reward. If there are other men who love you they will do
well to keep out of my path. We shall meet somewhere or other soon, I
hope!"
"From what you say of your friend's faith in the stars there's no use
planning. I shall remain here a day or two in the hope of hearing from
Mrs. Congdon. She loves her husband and from what Ruth says he's really
devoted to her, but the father-in-law is a malicious mischief maker."
"If I shot the wrong man I shall always deplore the error. I hope you
take into consideration the fact that he might have shot me! He thought
he had a man at the end of his gun when he popped away at the mirror."
"I'm ashamed that I find it all so funny. Shooting any one can't really
be a pleasant performance for a gentleman of your up-bringing; and yet
you speak of it now as though it were only a trifling incident of the
day's work. The Marquis of Montrose would certainly be vastly tickled if
he knew what his little rhyme has done for you."
"The Marquis isn't in the sketch at all; it's far more important that
you should approve of me in every particular. You spoke of buried
treasure at that never-to-be-forgotten dinner at my sister's. I've kept
that in mind as rather a pretty prospect."
"That cousin of mine is a great nuisance. He's not only bent upon
finding my grandfather's buried money, but he thinks he is in love with
me."
"I have a rival then?" asked Archie, with a sinking of the heart.
"You may call him that," she laughed. "A girl always likes to think
there are others."
"Your camp--you haven't yet told me how to find it?" he said eagerly.
"It's a girls' camp, you know, and the male species is rigidly excluded.
But Ruth will give Mr. Saulsbury full particulars."
"Crusoe found a footprint in the sand! By the way, did my sister May
ever find a summer cottage?"
"She found a house at Cape May, which is much more accessible from
Washington than Bailey Harbor. Do you imagine you can ever tell her all
you've just told me?"
"There are certain confidences permissible between sisters-in-law, so
it's really up to you!" he replied glibly. "Don't trouble to answer; the
Governor's waiting for me."
They walked back to the hotel in the best of humor. As they crossed the
lobby the Governor suddenly slapped his pockets and walked to the cigar
stand. A tall man in a gray traveling cap was talking earnestly to the
clerk, meanwhile spinning a twenty-dollar gold piece on the show case.
The Governor purchased some cigarettes and while waiting for change
nodded to the stranger, who absently responded and began tapping the
coin with the handle of a penknife.
"Not many of those things in circulation nowadays," the Governor
remarked, thrusting the cigarettes into his pocket. The stranger
carelessly inspected the two gentlemen in evening dress and handed the
coin to the Governor.
"What d'ye think of that?" he asked.
The Governor turned the gold disk to the light and then flung it sharply
on the wooden end of the counter, where it rang musically. He handed it
back with a smile.
"The real thing, all right! Wish I had a couple of million just like
it."
"It's a good thing you haven't!" the man remarked with a grin.
He resumed his talk with the clerk, speaking in a low tone, while the
Governor loitered at the magazine counter. Archie went to the desk for
their keys and received a bundle of mail for Mr. Saulsbury, who walked
slowly toward him apparently absorbed in the periodical he had
purchased.
"It doesn't seem possible we can lose!" he said when they reached their
rooms. "There will be cross-currents yet; but a strong tide has set in,
bearing us on."
He threw the magazine with well-directed aim into a desk in the corner,
and meditatively smoothed his hat on his sleeve.
"That chap was Dobbs, a Government specialist in counterfeiters, and
that twenty-dollar piece had almost the true ring, but not quite. The
man who turned it out showed me the difference only yesterday. Perky?
Certainly! He said Eliphalet Congdon had taken a bagful to pass on the
unwary. The old boy had changed a lot of them in New England and the
Government is not ignoring the matter. Eliphalet Congdon presents just
such a case as we find occasionally where some perfectly sound
conservative country banker feels the call of the wild and does a loop
of death in high finance."
"You don't think old man Congdon has been here lately?" asked Archie.
"Only a day or two ago! I picked that up while I was buying my magazine.
Congdon bought some stogies at the cigar stand and changed that twenty.
We're all loaded for Eliphalet, Archie. After you told me your kidnaping
story, I telegraphed to Perky for all the possible places where the old
man might be. Perky has ranged the country with him and from his data we
can keep tab on the old boy. Dobbs knows nothing of the kidnaping; it's
the gold piece that interests him. I overheard enough to know we're on
the right track. Eliphalet Congdon owns a farm in Ohio. Perky spent a
month there boring out gold pieces. What we've got to do, Archie, is to
find the Congdon child and turn her over to your Isabel and my Ruth. A
very pretty job, demanding our best attention."
He paced the floor for a moment, his hands thrust deep in his trousers
pockets, his silk hat tipped rakishly on one side of his head.
"A strange thing is happening; something the stars gave no hint of.
We're being driven by circumstances utterly beyond our control from the
side of the lawless to the side of the lawful and benevolent. In spite
of ourselves, you understand!"
"But we're not leaving here until--"
"You were about to say that we can't shake the dust of Rochester from
our sandals before we've made our party calls. Alas, no! We shall not
communicate with our ladies again. First we must justify their
confidence in us and find the Congdon child. Our wool can only change
from black to white when we have performed some act of valor in a good
cause. That is clearly indicated by my latest pondering of the zodiacal
signs. Let me say that your Isabel is beyond question a girl worth
living or dying for. I am delighted that she and Ruth speak the language
of those of us who love the life adventurous, children of stars and sun.
I shall be up early to make a few discreet inquiries as to the recent
visit of Eliphalet and then I must buy a machine powerful enough to
carry us far and fast. Luckily I brought a bundle of cash for just such
emergencies."
"But a day's delay can't matter," Archie pleaded. "Every hour matters
when the woman I love sets a task for me. It's still the open road for
us, Archie. Good-night and pleasant dreams!"