TURNING THE ODD TRICK
Thus it was Lord James found his friend when he came hurrying back into
the library. He did not rouse Blake to ask questions. One glance at the
shattered glass and Blake's bleeding hand was enough to tell him what
had happened. There could be no doubt that Blake had won. It was no
less certain, however, that the struggle had cost him the last ounce of
his strength. What he now needed was absolute rest.
With utmost gentleness, Lord James examined the cut hand for fragments
of glass and bound it up with his own handkerchief. As quietly, he
gathered up the broken glass and the dishes, and wiped the blood and
wine from the table. Another hour would see the end of the ball. Many
of the guests already had gone, and it was not probable that any of
those who remained would leave the ballroom or the cardroom to wander
into the secluded library. Yet he thought it as well to remove the
traces of Blake's struggle. He placed the bandaged hand of his
unconscious friend down on the chair-arm, in the shadow of the edge of
the table, and went out with the plates and glass, closing the door
behind him.
He had been gone only a few minutes when the door of the cardroom swung
open before a sharp thrust, and Mr. Leslie stepped into the library,
followed by Mrs. Gantry. Mr. Leslie closed the door, and each took
advantage of the seclusion to blink and yawn and stretch luxuriously.
They had just risen from the card table, and were both cramped and
sleepy. Also neither perceived Blake, who was hidden from them by the
back of the big chair.
"Ho-ho-hum!" yawned Mr. Leslie, in a last relaxing stretch. "That ends
it for this time." He wagged his head at his sister-in-law, and rubbed
his hands together exultantly. "For once you'll have to admit I _can_
play bridge."
"For once," she conceded, as she moved toward the table. "You're still
nothing more than a whist-player, yet had it not been for the honor
score, you'd have beaten us disgracefully. One is fortunate when one
has the honor score in one's favor."
"H'm! h'm!" he rallied. "I'll admit you women can _score_ honor, but
the question is, do you know what honor is?"
"Most certainly--when the score is in our favor. One would fancy you'd
been reading Ibsen. Of all the _bad_ taste--" Mrs. Gantry stopped
short, to raise her lorgnette and stare at the flaccid form of Blake.
"Hoity-toity! What have we here?"
"Hey?" queried Mr. Leslie, peering around her shoulder. "Asleep? Who is
he?"
Mrs. Gantry turned to him and answered in a lowered voice: "It's that
fellow, Blake. I do believe he's intoxicated."
"Intoxicated?" exclaimed Mr. Leslie. He went quickly around and bent
over Blake. He came back to her on tiptoe and led her away from the
table.
"You're mistaken," he whispered. "I'm certain he hasn't touched a drop."
"Certain?"
"Yes. Some one has spilled wine on the table; but his breath proves
that he hasn't had any. It's merely that he's worn out--fallen asleep.
Poor boy!"
"'Poor boy'?" repeated Mrs. Gantry, quizzing her brother-in-law through
her lorgnette.
"H'm. Why not?" he demanded. "I was most unjust to him. I've been
compelled to reverse my judgment of him on every point that was against
him. As you know, he refused everything I offered in the way of money
or position. He has proved that his intentions are absolutely
honorable,--and now he has proved himself a great engineer. By his
solution of the Zariba Dam problem, he has virtually put half a
million, dollars into my pocket."
"I understood that you turned that project over to some company."
"The Coville Company--of which I own over ninety-five per cent of the
stock. He would quit if he knew it, and I can't afford to lose him. The
solution of the dam is a wonderful feat of engineering. That's what's
the matter with him now. He worked at it to the point of
exhaustion--and then for him to come here, already worn out!"
"I'm sure he was quite welcome to stay away," put in the lady.
Mr. Leslie frowned, and went on: "Griffith tells me that he can stand
any amount of outdoor work, but that office work runs him down fast.
But I'll soon fix that. We arranged to put him in charge of the
Michamac Bridge."
"In charge? How will you get rid of Lafayette? You've grumbled so often
about his having a contract to remain there as chief builder, because
he drew the bridge plans."
"Copied them, you should say."
"Ah, is that the term?"
"For what he did, yes--unless one uses the stronger term."
"I quite fail to take you."
"You'll understand--later on. Griffith and I are figuring that Tom will
take the bridge and keep it."
"He has my heartfelt wish that he will take it soon, and remain in
personal possession for all time!"
"H'm. I presume Genevieve could come down to visit us occasionally."
"Herbert! You surely cannot mean--?"
"Griffith has told me something in connection with this bridge that
proves Thomas Blake to be one of the greatest engineers, if not the
greatest, in America. I'd be proud to have him for a son-in-law."
"Impossible! _impossible!_ It can't be you'll withdraw your opposition!"
"Not only that; I'll back him to win. I like your earl. He's a fine
young fellow. But, after all, Blake is an _American_."
"He's a brute! Herbert, it is impossible!"
"They said that dam was impossible. He has mastered it. He's big; he's
got brains. He'll be a gentleman within six months. He's a genius!"
"_Poof!_ He's a degenerate!"
"You'll see," rejoined Mr. Leslie. He went back to the table and tapped
the sleeper sharply on the shoulder.
Blake stirred, and mumbled drowsily: "Huh! what--whatcha want?"
"Wake up," answered Mr. Leslie. "I wish to congratulate you."
Blake slowly heaved himself up and blinked at his disturber with
haggard, bloodshot eyes. He was still very weary and only half roused
from his stupor.
"Huh!" he muttered. "Must 'uv dropped 'sleep--Dog tired." His bleared
gaze swung around and took in Mrs. Gantry. He started and tried to sit
more erect. "Excuse me! Didn't know there was a lady here."
"Don't apologize. That's for me to do," interposed Mr. Leslie, offering
his hand. "My--that is, the Coville Company officers tell me you've
worked out a wonderful piece of engineering for them."
Blake stared hard at the bookcase behind Mrs. Gantry and answered
curtly, oblivious of the older man's hand. "That remains to be seen.
It's only on paper, so far."
"But I--h'm--it seems they are sufficiently satisfied to wish to put
you in charge of the Michamac Bridge."
"In charge?"
"Yes."
"How about Ashton--their contract with him?"
"That's to be settled later. I wish--h'm--I understand that you are to
be sent nominally as Assistant Engineer."
"I am, eh? Excuse _me_!"
"At double the salary of Ashton, and--"
"Not at ten times the salary as _his_ assistant!"
"But you must know that Griffith's doctor has ordered him to Florida,
and with the work rushing on the bridge--He tells me it has reached the
most critical stage of construction--that suspension span--"
"You seem mighty interested in a project you got rid of," remarked
Blake, vaguely conscious of the other's repressed eagerness.
"Yes. I was the first to consider the possibility of bridging the
strait."
"Your idea, was it?" said Blake, with reluctant admiration. "It was a
big one, all right."
"Nothing as compared to the invention of that bridge," returned Mr.
Leslie.
"Your young friend Ashton sure is a great one," countered Blake.
"The man who planned that bridge is a genius," stated Mr. Leslie with
enthusiasm. "That's one fact. Another is that Laffie Ashton is unfit to
supervise the construction of the suspension span. I'll see to it
myself that the matter is so arranged that you--"
"Thanks, no. You'll do nothing of the kind," broke in Blake. He spoke
without brusqueness yet with stubborn determination. "I don't want any
favors from you, and you know why. I can appreciate your
congratulations, long as you seem to want to be friendly. But you
needn't say anything to the company."
"Very well, very well, sir!" snapped Mr. Leslie, irritated at the
rebuff. He jerked himself about to Mrs. Gantry. "There's time yet. What
do you say to another rubber?"
"You should have spoken before we rose," replied the lady. "There'll be
others who wish to go. You'll be able to take over some one's hand. I
prefer to remain in here for a _tete-a tete_ with Mr. Blake."
Blake and Mr. Leslie stared at her, alike surprised. The younger man
muttered in far other than a cordial tone: "Thanks. But I'm not fit
company. Ought to've been abed and asleep hours ago."
"Yet if you'll pardon me for insisting, I wish to have a little chat
with you," replied Mrs. Gantry.
At her expectant glance, Mr. Leslie started for the door of the
cardroom. As he went out and closed the door, Mrs. Gantry took the
chair on the other side of the table from Blake, and explained in a
confidential tone: "It is about this unfortunate situation."
Blake stared at her, with a puzzled frown. "Unfortunate what?"
"Unfortunate situation," she replied, making an effort to moderate her
superciliousness to mere condescension. "I assure you, I too have
learned that first impressions may err. I cannot now believe that you
are torturing my niece purposely."
Blake roused up on the instant, for the first time wide awake.
"What!" he demanded. "I--torturing--her?"
"Most unfortunately, that is, at least, the effect of the situation."
"But I--I don't understand! What is it, anyhow? I'd do anything to save
her the slightest suffering!"
"Ah!" said Mrs. Gantry, and she averted her gaze.
"Don't you believe me?" he demanded.
"To be sure--to be sure!" she hastened to respond. "Had I not thought
you capable of that, I should not have troubled to speak to you."
"But what is it? What do you mean?" he asked, with swift-growing
uneasiness.
"I do not say that I blame you for failing to see and understand," she
evaded. "No doubt you, too, have suffered."
"Yes, I've--But that's nothing. It's Jenny!" he exclaimed, fast on the
barbed hook. "Good God! if it's true I've made her suffer--But how?
Why? I don't understand."
Mrs. Gantry studied him with a gravity that seemed to include a trace
of sympathy. There was an almost imperceptible tremor in her voice.
"Need I tell you, Mr. Blake, how a girl of her high ideals, her high
conception of noblesse oblige, of duty (you saved her life as
heroically as--er--as a fireman)--need I point out how grateful she
must always feel toward you, and how easily she might mistake her
gratitude for something else?"
"You mean that she--that she--" He could not complete the sentence.
Mrs. Gantry went on almost blandly. "A girl of her fine and generous
nature is apt to mistake so strong a feeling of gratitude for what you
no doubt thought it was."
"Yet that morning--on the cliffs--when the steamer came--"
"Even then. Can you believe that if she really loved you then, she
could doubt it now?"
"You say she--does--doubt it? I thought that--maybe--" The heavy words
dragged until they failed to pass Blake's tense lips.
"Doubt it!" repeated Mrs. Gantry. "Has she accepted you?"
"No. I--"
"Has she promised you anything?"
"No. She said that, unless she was sure--"
"What more do you need to realize that she is _not_ sure? Can you fancy
for a moment that she would hesitate if she really loved you--if she
did not intuitively realize that her feeling is no more than gratitude?
That is why she is suffering so. She realizes the truth, yet will not
admit it even to herself."
Blake forced himself to face the worst. "Then what--what do you--?"
"Ah! so you really are generous!" exclaimed Mrs. Gantry, beaming upon
him, with unfeigned suavity. "Need I tell you that she is extremely
fond of Lord Avondale? With him there could be no doubts, no
uncertainties."
"Jimmy is all right," loyally assented Blake. "Yes, he's all right.
Just the same, unless she--" He stopped, unable to speak the word.
"In accepting him she would attain to--" The tactful dame paused,
considered, and altered her remark. "With him she would be happy."
"I'm not saying 'no' to that," admitted Blake. "That is, provided--"
"Ah! And you say you love her!" broke in Mrs. Gantry. "What love is it
that would stand between her and happiness--that would compel her to
sacrifice her life, out of gratitude to you?"
Blake bent over and asked in a dull murmur: "You are sure it's that?"
"Indeed, yes! How can it be otherwise?--a girl of her breeding; and
you--what you are!"
Blake bent over still lower, and all his fortitude could not repress
the groan that rose to his lips. Mrs. Gantry watched him closely, her
face set in its suave smile, but her eyes hard and cold. She went on,
without a sign of compunction: "But I now believe you are possessed of
sterling qualities, else I should not have troubled to speak the truth
to you."
She paused to emphasize what was to follow. "There is only one way for
you to save her. She is too generous to save herself. I believe that
you really love her. You can prove it by--" again she paused--"going
away."
Blake bent over on the table and buried his face in his arms. His
smothered groan would have won him the compassion of a savage. It was
the cry of a strong man crushed under an unbearable burden. Mrs. Gantry
was not a savage. Her eyes sparkled coldly.
"You will go away. You will prove your love for her," she said.
Certain that she had accomplished what she had set out to do, she
returned to the cardroom, and left her victim to his misery and despair.