BY RIGHT OF POSSESSION
Janet Hosmer made no effort to guess what her fiancé would say when
next he called, or to prepare a defense of explanations and excuses.
She was not that kind. What was necessary to be stated at the proper
time would arise to her lips. Nevertheless she had a heaviness of
heart, a natural distress as to the unpleasantness in prospect; and
had only the slightest hope that Ed would ignore or refuse to hear
Burkhardt's story. The man would tell her lover, of that she might
rest assured, out of hatred for the engineer if for no other reason.
She knew how passionately Ed was set against Steele Weir, for a score
of times she had heard his incensed opinions, increasing lately to
tirades. It had seemed strange at first that one could be so bitter
over a simple difference like that of who should work at the dam. But
ever since Weir had uttered his hoarse exclamation regarding her
engagement, words so full of protest and amazed indignation, she was
aware the cause went deeper.
At that moved ejaculation of her companion that night something, too,
had settled on her heart like a weight--an indefinable foreboding. The
anxiety aroused about Ed's father and his integrity came to include Ed
likewise. Loyalty of course required that she accept the man she had
promised to marry, without reservations. As between him and others
there should be but one choice. But did she really know him? Was he
simply the open, jolly, generous, upright adoring fellow he appeared?
Or were there less pleasant, more ignoble sides to his character? Was
he, as well as his father, capable of a mean, unworthy, selfish
persecution of another?
The engineer had made no open accusation against him--or against any
one, for that matter. She had done her best to get him to express
himself, but he had refused. Enemies he might have, but he would not
discuss the fact beyond admitting it was true. Only at moments when
his restraint slipped could she measure his feelings. Quite different
that from Ed Sorenson's voluble, heated denunciations of the other.
Yet, heavens, how appalled this reserved man had been at hearing of
her engagement! Far more than words, far more than any open charge,
did his face and incredulity, both so patently sincere, bespeak the
mistake she was making and justify gnawing doubts of her lover.
As she approached her home Ed Sorenson came dashing out to spring into
his runabout waiting before the gate. At sight of her he pulled up
short.
"Ah, here you are," he said.
"Yes, here I am," was her reply.
"You doubtless know what I've been told," he stated, significantly.
"No, I don't. I can only suspect."
"Is it true you've been meeting this man Weir on the quiet? Meeting
him while engaged to me? You know what I think of him, and what every
other respectable person thinks of him."
"Was that Mr. Burkhardt's report? That I am meeting Mr. Weir on the
quiet, to use your words?" she countered.
Sorenson made an angry gesture at what he considered an evasion.
"Janet, listen. He said he saw you at the edge of town, that you
were both bare-headed, standing close together, arms locked. Good
heavens, can't you imagine my feelings on hearing what he had to
say! He stopped me on the street and drew me aside to put me on my
guard, he said. Burkhardt wouldn't just make up a yarn like that
against you, and he's a good friend of mine. He didn't say half
what he suggested."
The girl turned her face towards the house, shut her eyes for an
instant. She could picture the rider's brutal leering face and
unspoken insinuations; and her brain also placed in the scene her
lover greedily if angrily drinking in the tale. Harkening to it
instead of knocking the man down, that was the worst of it.
Harkening--and believing.
"I'll not deign to resent your remark of meeting Mr. Weir 'on the
quiet'," said she, quietly. "I met him on the road accidentally."
"Don't you think I'm entitled to know something about it?" he asked,
with an edged tone.
"What is it you desire to know?"
Nearly an oath of wrath escaped his mouth, but he kept his control.
"Janet, you know what kind of a man he is," he said. "You know what I
feel against him, and father, and all our friends, and the town. And
the whole town, too, will probably hear of this, with a lot of gossip
added that isn't true."
"But I met him accidentally."
"You didn't have to chat with him like an old friend."
Janet Hosmer gave him a slow, meditative look.
"How do you know how I talked with him?"
"You talked with him. That in itself was too much."
"I don't view it in that light," she responded. "He was perfectly
civil. Whatever public opinion may be regarding the shooting, I know
he killed the man in self-defence. So that's nothing against him. You
would have done the same in his place."
Ed Sorenson leaned towards her.
"You were mistaken, Janet. I've said before that I feared you were,
but the prosecuting attorney has witnesses to the gun-play that he's
dug up. Martinez saw nothing; how could he from inside the office? And
remember that you're only a girl, Janet; in the darkness and with the
excitement you were confused. I haven't a doubt this scoundrel Weir
made you believe you saw what never occurred, when you appeared in
Martinez' office. When you've thought it over, you'll realize that
yourself. These new witnesses tell just the reverse of what you
fancied happened. I'm going to see that you're away from San Mateo
when the man's tried, as he will be."
No reply coming from her, he continued:
"He deceived you then and he'll endeavor to poison your mind right
along. You're too trustful. Now, I was angry at first, but if there
was anything in this meeting to-night that was out of the way, it was
his doing, I know. If he got familiar with you, as Burkhardt
hinted----"
"Well?"
"I'll kill the dog with my own hands!"
"You may rest easy. His conduct was irreproachable, Mr. Burkhardt to
the contrary."
Sorenson regarded her in perplexity, divided between anger and doubts.
Too, a new feeling unaccountably sprang into his breast--jealousy. In
the end apprehension all at once filled his mind, darkening his face
and bringing down his brows.
Uneasy as at first he had been after the row in the restaurant, he had
eventually dismissed the matter from his mind, for no rumor of it had
reached San Mateo. Neither Weir nor Johnson, the girl's father, had
blabbed of it, so his alarm passed; they didn't want to talk of it for
the girl's sake, any more than he wished it known, was his grinning
conclusion. The deuce would have been to pay if Janet had got wind of
the business. But now his fears came winging back a hundred-fold as he
stared at her.
"What did he say to you?" he asked, in a tense voice.
"Not that tone with me, if you please."
Sorenson, however, was past observation of her mood or temper.
"He told you a lot of lies about me, didn't he?" he went on, not
hiding the sneer. "And you believed them."
"He didn't say much, but what he did say was to the point. I don't
recall that there were any lies."
"There were, of course. It would be just his chance to give you his
made-up story about me and that Johnson girl. That was what so
interested you."
"No, he didn't say anything about you and any girl except me. Then
he only said he was sorry he couldn't have the pleasure of my
friendship----"
"Ay-ee," the other grated. His lips worked above his teeth.
A shudder passed over Janet Hosmer's skin at the sound and the sight,
for she had never seen him like this. A cold hand might have been
closing about her heart: his glare was animal-like and bestial. His
nature at the instant stood unclothed.
"And he said he would be at pains to avoid even chance meetings with
me, because it would make talk and cause me annoyance."
"He'll not meet you another time if I have anything to say about it."
"I see. But I wanted you to understand that he told me no lies, nor
repeated any story--about you and a Johnson girl, I think you said."
A visible breath of relief lifted his breast. He now would have
been glad for some one to boot him along the street for ever
mentioning the thing. He almost had put his foot in it. Apparently
she was not interested in seeking further knowledge of the subject
that he so ill-advisedly had brought up. Lucky for him she hadn't the
inquisitiveness of some girls.
The narrow escape restored a trace of his good humor, and he was
shrewd enough to divert her mind before the incident made an
impression. He reached out and patted her shoulder.
"Don't think me a scold, darling," said he. "Burkhardt upset me with
his news, that was all. He hates that gun-man so much that it's no
wonder he was angry at seeing him hoodwink you. He probably imagined a
lot. Just don't speak to Weir if he tries to stop you again. And
pretty soon we'll have him where he won't interfere with anybody."
"When will that be?"
"The county attorney's still collecting evidence. Nothing will be done
before the grand jury meets, which is in a couple of weeks. You must
arrange to go off on a visit about that time."
"Why?"
"So you won't have to go through the ordeal of appearing in court.
There are ways of fixing such things." He laughed softly. "Especially
here in San Mateo County. It's too rotten a business for you to have
to step into, this murder. Come along down to the drug store and have
some ice cream."
"Not to-night. I'm feeling a little tired."
"Then let us rest on your porch. I haven't seen you twice in the last
week."
"Some other evening, Ed. I promised father to help get up his account
books."
"You're not angry with me?" he asked. "If you're not, give me a kiss
before I go."
A sharp smile showed on her lips.
"I'm not angry, but I'm going to penalize you to that extent. If you
must have a cheek to press, go kiss----" She paused, while the
conviction darted into his mind that she had remembered that Johnson
girl blunder after all, then said: "Mr. Burkhardt's cheek."
Again relief swept him.
"Come, be kind, Janet," he began. But she was already through the gate
and skipping up the walk, vanishing in the gloom of the veranda. The
screen door clapped shut. "Peeved, all right. I'll have to be
extra-nice to her for a day or so until she calms down," he murmured
to himself. "Must send her a box of chocolates and some magazines
to-morrow to show my contrite heart; that always gets 'em. Hang it,
it's time to fix a day, too. We've been engaged long enough. She sure
has a figure and face--a beaut! I guess she didn't smell the booze on
my breath. Got to be careful about that till we're married." He jumped
into his car.
The screen door had clapped shut, but Janet had not entered. She had
employed the artifice to convey the impression it had. She did not
wish to go in to her work just yet, for calm as she had appeared
during the interview her emotions were running full tide. Love Ed
Sorenson? Marry him? She groped for and dropped into a wicker chair,
her head sinking in shame and self-abasement. Never--never!
And before her mind swam another face, a face with the hair ruffled
about the brow, clear of eyes and strong-lined, as she had beheld it
in the moonlight of the road.
All at once she tugged at a finger, fiercely pulling off the
engagement ring. She rubbed her cheek as well, with an angry hand, for
the memory of kisses was burning her as by fire.
Then she sat quite motionless for a long time.
"I'll just ask father," she exclaimed. "There can't be more than a
dozen Johnsons around here."
Which would have given Ed Sorenson a fresh jolt in his breathing
apparatus if he had overheard, and shriveled the cocky self-assurance
with which he sipped a high-ball that moment at Vorse's bar.