with your friend's fate in your hands you will need to use great
judgment and tact in all that follows. I wash my hands of the whole
business."
She rose quickly and pointed to her coat.
"Drop it into the boat for me, Chimneys. We meet in funny places,
don't we? Papa expects me for luncheon, and I must row back and get my
bicycle. You? No, you can't go along; you've got a lot of thinking to
do, and you'd better be doing it."
XVIII
TROUBLE AT THE PRESCOTT ARMS
A few minutes later, as I swung along the highway toward the Prescott
Arms, I saw Cecilia Hollister riding toward me at a lively gallop. She
crossed the bridge without checking her horse, and then, with a hurried
glance over her shoulder, she pointed with her crop to a by-way that
led deviously into a strip of forest and vanished.
I hurried after her, and found her waiting for me in a quiet lane. She
had dismounted and seemed greatly disturbed as I addressed her. Her
horse, a superb Estabrook thoroughbred, had evidently been pushed hard.
Cecilia had taken off her hat, and was giving a touch to the wayward
strands of hair that had been shaken loose in her flight. The color
glowed in her dark cheeks, and her eyes were bright with excitement.
"I hadn't expected to meet you; I thought you rode off with your aunt
toward Mt. Kisco."
"We did; but on our way home Aunt Octavia stopped to call on a friend,
and as I did n't feel in a mood for visits this morning I rode on
alone."
She spoke further of her aunt's friend, of whom I had never heard
before, to calm herself before touching upon the cause of her wild ride
or her wish to speak to me. She pinned on her hat and drew on her
riding-gloves while I helped to make conversation, and soon regained
her composure. The haste with which she had withdrawn into the wood,
and the imperative wave of her crop by which she had bidden me follow
her, indicated that something of importance had happened and that she
wished to confide in me.
"I was walking my horse in the road beyond Bedford, just after I left
Aunt Octavia, when who should ride up beside me but Mr. Wiggins. He
had evidently been following me."
She expected me to express surprise; and with the information that
Hezekiah had just imparted fresh in my mind I dare say she was not
disappointed in the effect of her words. I was thinking rapidly and
fearfully. If my friend had sought her in the highway and offered
himself in some fresh accession of ardor, he might even now be a
rejected and hopeless man; but I was unwilling to believe that this had
happened.
"Hartley is fond of riding, and nothing could be more natural than for
him to have his horse sent out from town."
"Oh, it's natural enough," she cried; "but I was greatly taken aback
when he rode up beside me."
"An old friend joining you in the highway, on a bright October morning!
I can't for the life of me see anything surprising or alarming in that,
Miss Hollister."
"But only yesterday, you remember I told you I had seen him walking
with my sister."
"It's perfectly easy to talk to Hezekiah! It seems to me that that
only shows a friendly attitude toward all the family. Let us deal with
facts if I am to help you. I understand perfectly that Hartley Wiggins
wishes to marry you; and that being the case I see no reason why he
should n't be courteous to your sister. I 've always heard that it's
the proper thing to be polite to the sisters, cousins, and aunts of
one's prospective wife. I know of no more delightful occupation than
listening to Hezekiah. Just now, for an hour or so, I have been
enjoying her conversation myself. Nothing could be more refreshing or
stimulating. She is an unusual young woman, and most amazingly wise."
"You have seen Hezekiah this morning!" she exclaimed.
"I have indeed. I hope I may say that she and I are becoming good
friends. I am learning to understand her; though, believe me, I don't
speak boastingly. However, this morning we got on famously together.
But won't you continue and tell me what happened in the road when
Hartley rode up beside you?"
"Oh, nothing happened; really nothing! Nothing could have happened,
for the excellent reason that I ran away from him. It was n't what he
did or said; it was the fear of what he might say!"
"If it had been Mr. Dick who had joined you in exactly the same way in
the highway, you would not have minded in the least, Miss Hollister.
Is n't that the truth?"
Her hand that had rested on the pommel of her saddle dropped to her
side, and she stood erect, her eyes wide with wonder.
"What do you mean?" she gasped.
"I mean exactly what I have said; that if it had been that strutting
young philosopher from the West you would--well, you would have allowed
him to say what was in his mind, no matter whether it had been his
latest thought on Kantianism, the weather, or his admiration for
yourself. Am I not right?"
"I wonder, I wonder"--she faltered, drawing away, the better to observe
me.
"You wonder how much I know! To relieve your mind without parleying
further, I will say to you that I know everything."
"Then Aunt Octavia must have told you; and that seems incredible. It
was distinctly understood"--
"Your aunt told me nothing. Not by words did any one tell me."
"Not by words?" she asked, eyeing me wonderingly and clearly fearing
that I might be playing some trick upon her. "Then can it be that
Hezekiah--but no! Hezekiah does n't know!"
"Trust Hezekiah for not telling secrets," I answered evasively. "Give
me credit for some imagination. The air of Hopefield is stimulating,
and in the few days I have spent in your aunt's house I have learned
much that I never dreamed of before. I am not at all the person you
greeted with so much courtesy in the library when I arrived there, a
chimney-doctor and an ignorant person, a few afternoons ago,--called,
as I thought, to prescribe for flues that proved to be in admirable
condition, but really summoned by higher powers to assist the fates in
the proper and orderly performance of their duties to several members
of the house of Hollister,--yourself among them."
"I don't understand it; you are wholly inexplicable."
"I am the simplest and least guileful of beings, I assure you. Yet I
have done some things here not in the slightest way related to chimney
doctoring; and something else I expect to do for which I believe you
will thank me through all the years of your life."
"Ah, if you really know, that is possible!" she sighed wearily. "I am
very tired of it all. I was very foolish ever to have agreed to Aunt
Octavia's plan. You have seen those men,--any one of them might, you
know"-- And she shrugged her shoulders impatiently.
"Any one of them might be the seventh man! There, you see I do know!
And I mean to help you!"
She was immensely relieved; there was no question of that. Gratitude
shone in her eyes; and then, as I marvelled at their beautiful dark
depths, fear suddenly possessed them. The change in her was startling.
Several motors had swept by in the outer road while we talked; they
were faintly visible through the trees; and just now we both heard a
horse and caught a fleeting glimpse of Hartley Wiggins, riding slowly
with bowed head toward the inn. Cecilia's horse flung up his head, but
she clapped her hands upon his nostrils and held them there to prevent
his whinnying until that figure of despair had passed out of hearing.
I was smitten with sorrow for Hartley Wiggins. I could put myself in
his place and imagine his feelings as he rode like a defeated general
back to the inn, there to face the other suitors after the humiliating
experience which Cecilia Hollister had just described. In his
ignorance of the cause of her eagerness to escape from him, he no doubt
believed that he had all unconsciously made himself intolerable to her.
It was plain that that glimpse of him had touched Cecilia's pity; if I
had doubted the sincerity of her regard for him before, I spurned the
thought now. I was anxious to requicken hope in her,--an odd office
for me to assume when in my own affairs I had always yielded my sword
readily to the blue devils! Yet during my short stay at Hopefield I
had already found it possible to restore Miss Octavia's confidence in
her own chosen destiny, and in this delicate love-affair between
Cecilia Hollister and my best friend I proffered counsel and sympathy
with an assurance that astonished me.
"I have told you enough, Miss Hollister, to make it clear that I am in
a position to help you. Believe me, I have no other business before me
but to complete the service I have undertaken."
"But there is always"--she began, then ceased abruptly, and lifted her
head proudly--"there is always Mr. Wiggins's attitude toward my sister.
Not for anything in the world would I cause her the slightest
unhappiness. You must see that, now that you know her."
I laughed aloud. Cecilia's concern for Hezekiah's happiness was so
absurd that I could not restrain my mirth for a moment. Displeasure
showed promptly in Cecilia's face.
"I am sorry if you doubt my sincerity, Mr. Ames. I will put the matter
directly, to make sure I have not been misunderstood heretofore, and
say that if Hezekiah is interested in Hartley Wiggins and cares for him
in the least,--you know she is young and susceptible,--I shall take
care that he never sees me again."
"Pardon me, but maybe you don't quite understand Hezekiah!"
"Is it possible, then, that you do?" she inquired coldly. "I imagine
your opportunities for seeing her have not been numerous."
"Well, it is n't so much a matter of seeing her, when you've read of
her all your life and dreamed about her. She's in every fairy story
that ever was written; she dances through the mythologies of all races.
Hers is the kingdom of the pure in heart. Her mind is like a beautiful
bright meadow by the sea, and her thoughts the dipping of swallow-wings
on lightly swaying grasses."
Cecilia's manner changed, and she smiled.
"You seem to have an attack of something; it looks serious. You have
n't known her long enough to find out so much!"
"Longer than you would believe. She and I sat on the shore together
when Ulysses sailed by; we were among those present at the sack of
Troy; we heard Roland's ivory trumpet at Roncesvalles."
"Such words from you amaze me. I didn't imagine there was so much
romance in chimneys."
"They are full of it! Commend me to an open fire, with a flue that
knows its business, and a dream or two! I 've renounced my profession.
I shall hereafter offer myself as adviser to persons in need of
illusions; we 'd all be poets if we dared!"
I helped her into the saddle, and she looked down at me with amusement
in her eyes. My praise of Hezekiah had pleased her, and I felt, as
when we journeyed together into town, her kindly, human qualities. The
perplexities and embarrassments resulting from her compact with her
aunt had doubtless checked the natural flow of her spirits. She talked
on buoyantly, though I was eager to be off, to avert the catastrophe
that only her flight had prevented and which Wiggins might at any
moment precipitate. She gathered up her reins.
"You are not coming home for luncheon? Then I shall see you at four.
I hope the hiding-place of the ghost will prove interesting. Aunt
Octavia has built her hopes high, and I may add that she has expressed
the greatest admiration of you to me. On her ride this morning she
declared that great things are in store for you. I hope so, too, Mr.
Ames."
She gave me her hand and rode away, and before I had reached the
highway she was across the bridge and galloping rapidly homeward.
The inn was a mile distant, and I set off at a brisk pace, turning over
in my mind various projects for controlling the characters now upon the
stage in such manner that Wiggins should become the seventh man.
Cecilia could not always run away from him without violating the terms
of her aunt's stipulation; and it was unlikely that she would attempt
further to guide or thwart the pointing finger of fate. I relied
little upon any arrangement effected among the suitors to stand
together. Hume had already found a chance to speak. Lord Arrowood had
bitten the dust and turned his face homeward, and Wiggins had been near
the brink only that morning. It was unlikely that any of the active
candidates remaining would stumble upon the key to the situation, which
Hezekiah had given into my keeping.
It was well on toward two o'clock when I approached the inn. Before
long the suitors would depart for their afternoon call at the Manor,
which was an established event of the day. Just as I was about to
enter the gate I was arrested by an imperious voice calling, and John
Stewart Dick came running toward me. He had evidently been expecting
me, and I paused, thinking him about to renew his attack upon me. To
my surprise he greeted me cordially, even offering his hand.
"You thought you would come after all. Well, I'm glad you did. I've
decided that there should be peace between us."
In stature he was the shortest of the suitors, but what he lacked in
height was compensated for by a tremendous dignity. A dark Napoleonic
lock lay across his forehead, and his clear-cut profile otherwise
suggested the Corsican, the resemblance being, I wickedly assumed, one
that the philosopher encouraged.
"You have several times addressed me, Mr. Ames, in a spirit of
contumely which I have hesitated to punish by the chastisement you
deserve; but I am willing to let bygones be bygones."
His changed tone put me on guard, but it was impossible for me to take
him seriously. In spite of the fact that he was a vigorous muscular
young fellow who could have threshed me without trouble, I could not
resist the impulse he always roused in me to address him in language
any self-respecting man would resent.
"Chant the _dies irae_ with considerable _allegro_, Plato, for I am
hungry and would fain pay for food at the adjacent inn."
"I will overlook the coarseness of your humor," he rejoined haughtily.
"My own time is as valuable as yours. You have sneered at my
attainments as a philosopher; but I will pass that for the present. I
am disposed to treat you magnanimously. You have an excellent opinion
of yourself; you have come here as an intruder upon the rights of those
of us who followed Cecilia Hollister across Europe and home to America;
but in spite of this I waive my rights in your favor. I had intended
to offer myself to Miss Hollister this afternoon, with every hope of
success, but I yield to you. My only request is that you inform me at
once when you have learned her decision."
He clapped on his cap and folded his arms, clearly satisfied with the
expressions of surprise to which my feelings betrayed me. Could it be
possible that he had guessed the truth, perhaps by deductive processes
of which I was ignorant? Whether he had reasoned from some remark
thrown out by Miss Octavia as to the influence of seven in the affairs
of life and her application of that fateful principle to the choice of
a husband for Cecilia, I could not guess, but assuming that he had
caught that clue, he might readily enough have managed the rest.
Having crossed on the steamer with the suitor host, a man of his
intelligence might readily enough have kept track of the vanquished.
In any case he had hit upon me as a likely victim, and on the plea of
generously waiting till I had tried my luck he hoped to thrust me
forward as the sixth suitor, and immediately thereafter project himself
as the inevitable seventh man. The whole situation was rendered
perilously complex by the knowledge that, unaided, he had possessed
himself of so much dangerous information. I must not, however, allow
him to see what I suspected.
"My dear professor, there's an ancient warning against the Greeks
bearing gifts. You must give me time to inspect the horse."
"Are you questioning my good faith?"
"Be it far from me! I'm a good deal tickled though by your genial
assumption that if I offered myself to this lady I should be declined
with thanks. You have fretted yourself into a state of mind that bodes
ill for American philosophy."
He was again belligerent. It may have occurred to him that I might
know as much as he, but at any rate he grinned; it was a saturnine grin
I did not like.
"I'm starving to death at the door of an inn, and you must excuse me.
Have you seen Hartley Wiggins lately?"
"I have, indeed! He's taken to lonely horseback rides; he's off
somewhere now. He has n't the stamina for a contest like this. One by
one the autumn leaves are falling," he added, with special intention,
"and I have given you your chance."
"Thanks, light-bringing Socrates from the lands of the Ogalallas! For
so much courtesy I shall take pleasure in reading all your posthumous
works. Let us cease being absurd."
He laid his hand on my arm and lowered his tone.
"Don't be an ass. If you and I both know what's underneath all this
mystery we might come to an understanding."
"I don't follow you. Please make a light, like a man about to have an
idea."
"You mean that you don't understand?" He eyed me doubtfully, uncertain
whether I knew or not.
"You have implied that I am incapable of understanding; suppose we let
it go at that."
With this I left him and entered the low-raftered office--it was really
a pleasant lounging-room, unspoiled by the usual hotel-office
paraphernalia. Dick had followed close behind, and as I paused,
hearing voices raised angrily in the dining-room beyond, I turned to
him for an explanation. As the suitors had been the only guests of the
inn since their advent, having stipulated that the proprietor should
exclude other applicants for meals or lodging, I attributed the
commotion to strife in their own ranks. Dick nodded sullenly and bade
me keep on.
"You 'd better take a look at those fellows. I 've quit them--quite
out of it; remember that."
The dining-room door was slightly ajar, and I flung it open.
Ormsby, Shallenberger, Henderson, Hume, Gorse, and Arbuthnot had been
engaged with cards at a round table in an alcove, but some dispute
having apparently risen, they stood in their places engaged in
acrimonious debate. As near as I could determine, some one of them--I
think it was Ormsby--wished to abandon the game, which had been
undertaken to determine in what order they should be permitted to pay
visits to Hopefield in future, the calls _en masse_ having grown
intolerable. They were so absorbed in their argument that they failed
to note my appearance, and I stood unobserved within the door. The
dialogue between the card-players was swift and hot.
"It's no good, I tell you!" cried Ormsby. "There's no fairness in this
unless all take their chances together!"
"You ought to have thought of that before we began. This was your
scheme, but because the cards are running against you, you want to
quit. I say we'll go on!" This from Henderson, who struck the table
sharply as he concluded.
"You knew Wiggins and Dick were n't going in when we started, and you
are not likely to get them in now. Your anxiety to cut the rest of us
out by any means seems to have unsettled your mind," shouted Gorse. "I
say let's drop this and stand to our original agreement that no man
speak till the end of the fortnight."
"After that whole scheme has been torn to pieces like paper! There's
been nothing fair in this business from the start! We ought to have
kept Arrowood here and held together. And we ought to have got rid of
that Ames fellow--he did n't belong in this at all; and instead of
protecting ourselves against outsiders we have sat here like a lot of
fools while he's been making himself agreeable there in the
house--right there in the house!"
Ormsby's voice rose to a disagreeable squeak as he closed with this
indictment of me. Hume fidgeted uneasily, and met my eye so warily
that I wondered whether he suspected that I knew of his breach of faith
with the other suitors. Much dallying with Scandinavian literature had
not lightened his heart, and there was nothing in Ibsen to which he
could refer his present plight. Shallenberger seemed to be the only
one of the group who had not lost his senses. He was in the farther
corner of the alcove, out of sight from the door, but I heard him
distinctly as he addressed the other suitors with rising anger.
"We're acting like cads, and cads of the most contemptible sort! I
only agreed to this game to satisfy Ormsby. The idea of our sitting
here to draw cards to determine the order in which we shall offer
ourselves to the noblest and most beautiful woman in the world would be
coarse and vulgar if it were not so ridiculous! The men who had their
chance on the steamer or after we came here--and I don't pretend to
know who they are--ought in decency to have left the field. We seem to
have forgotten that we pretend to be gentlemen; or, far less
pardonable, that we pay court to a lady. Damn you all! I refuse to
have anything more to do with you, and if you try to interfere with my
affairs in any way I'll smash your heads collectively or separately as
you prefer!"
My interest in this colloquy had led me further into the room, and
hearing my step they all turned and faced me. Dick had continued at my
side, but the black looks they sent our way were intended, I thought,
rather for me. Shallenberger, having taken himself out of the tangle,
leaned against the wall and filled his pipe with unconcern. My
appearance roused Ormsby to a fresh outburst.
"You're responsible! If you had n't forced yourself upon the ladies at
Hopefield there would n't have been any of this trouble!"
"You're only an impostor anyhow. You went to the house to fix a
chimney, and seem to think you 're engaged to spend the rest of your
natural life there!" protested Henderson, twisting the ends of his
moustache.
Then they dropped me and assailed Dick.
"We'd like to know what you expect to gain by dropping out! You got
cold feet mighty sudden!" bellowed Ormsby.
Gorse and Henderson paid similar tributes to the apostate, whose
melancholy grin only deepened. Shallenberger was pacing the floor
slowly and puffing his pipe. Hume and Arbuthnot growled occasionally,
but shared, I thought, Shallenberger's changed feeling.
My silence had been effective up to this time, but I was afraid to risk
it longer. Dick, I imagined, had kept close to me for fear of missing
any part of the altercation he knew my appearance would provoke. The
more vociferous suitors had howled themselves hoarse and glared at me
while I considered the situation. Henderson rallied for a final shot.
"A good horsewhipping is what you deserve," he cried, leveling his
finger at me.
"Gentlemen," I began, not without inward quaking, "you have spoken loud
naughty words to me, and in reply I must say that your vocal efforts
suggest only the melodies of the braying jackass, and that your
manners, to speak mildly, are susceptible of considerable improvement."
"You leave this neighborhood within an hour!" boomed Ormsby; and in his
efforts to free himself from his chair it fell backward with a crash
that echoed through the long room.
"Then summon the coroner by telephone, for I shall not be taken alive,"
I answered quietly, trying to recall my youthful delight in Porthos,
Athos, and Aramis. "I should dislike to change the mild color-scheme
of this pleasant dining-room, but as sure as you lay hands on me, these
walls will become a playground for any corpuscles you carry in your
loathsome persons."
"Come along, let us put him out," Henderson was saying in an aside to
Ormsby.
"You were playing a game here for a stake not yours for the winning," I
continued. "Now I suggest that you shuffle the pack,--you three, who
are so full of valor,--shuffle the pack, I say, and draw for the jack
of clubs. Whoever is the fortunate man I shall take pleasure in
pitching through yonder very charming casement."
"Agreed!" cried Henderson, and the three flung themselves into their
chairs.