The next two weeks passed uneventfully. The thieves did not manifest
themselves, and the Government authorities did nothing to suggest that
they had been informed of the Parmenter treasure.
Macloud had developed an increasing fondness for Miss Carrington's
society, which she, on her part, seemed to accept with placid
equanimity. They rode, they drove, they walked, they sailed when the
weather warranted--and the weather had recovered from its fit of the
blues, and was lazy and warm and languid. In short, they did everything
which is commonly supposed to denote a growing fondness for each
other.
Croyden had been paid promptly for the Virginia Development Company
bonds, and was once more on "comfortable street," as he expressed it.
But he spoke no word of returning to Northumberland. On the contrary,
he settled down to enjoy the life of the village, social and otherwise.
He was nice to all the girls, but showed a marked preference for Miss
Carrington; which, however, did not trouble his friend, in the least.
Macloud was quite willing to run the risk with Croyden. He was
confident that the call of the old life, the memory of the girl that
was, and that was still, would be enough to hold Geoffrey from more
than firm friendship. He was not quite sure of himself, however--that
he wanted to marry. And he was entirely sure she had not decided
whether she wanted him--that was what gave him his lease of life; if
she decided _for_ him, he knew that he would decide for her--and
quickly.
Then, one day, came a letter--forwarded by the Club, where he had left
his address with instructions that it be divulged to no one. It was
dated Northumberland, and read:
"My dear Colin--
"It is useless, between us, to dissemble, and I'm not going to
try it. I want to know whether Geoffrey Croyden is coming back to
Northumberland? You are with him, and should know. You can tell
his inclination. You can ask him, if necessary. If he is not
coming and there is no one else--won't you tell me where you are?
(I don't ask you to reveal his address, you see.) I shall come
down--if only for an hour, between trains--and give him his
chance. It is radically improper, according to accepted
notions--but notions don't bother me, when they stand (as I am
sure they do, in this case), in the way of happiness.
"Sincerely,
"Elaine Cavendish."
At dinner, Macloud casually remarked:
"I ought to go out to Northumberland, this week, for a short time,
won't you go along?"
Croyden shook his head.
"I'm not going back to Northumberland," he said.
"I don't mean to stay!" Macloud interposed. "I'll promise to come back
with you in two days at the most."
"Yes, I suppose you will!" Croyden smiled. "You can easily find your
way back. For me, it's easier to stay away from Northumberland, than to
go away from it, _again_."
And Macloud, being wise, dropped the conversation, saying only:
"Well, I may not have to go."
A little later, as he sat in the drawing-room at Carringtons', he
broached a matter which had been on his mind for some time--working
around to it gradually, with Croyden the burden of their talk. When his
opportunity came--as it was bound to do--he took it without
hesitation.
"You are right," he replied. "Croyden had two reasons for leaving
Northumberland: one of them has been eliminated; the other is stronger
than ever."
She looked at him, shrewdly.
"And that other is a woman?" she said.
He nodded. "A woman who has plenty of money--more than she can ever
spend, indeed."
"And in looks?"
"The only one who can approach yourself."
"Altogether, most desirable!" she laughed. "What was the
trouble--wouldn't she have him?"
"He didn't ask her."
"Useless?"
"Anything but useless."
"You mean she was willing?"
"I think so."
"And Croyden?"
"More than willing, I take it."
"Then, what was the difficulty?"
"Her money--she has so much!--So much, that, in comparison, he is a
mere pauper:--twenty millions against two hundred thousand."
"If she be willing, I can't see why he is shy?"
"He says it is all right for a poor girl to marry a rich man, but not
for a poor man to marry a rich girl. His idea is, that the husband
should be able to maintain his wife according to her condition. To
marry else, he says, is giving hostages to fortune, and is derogatory
to that mutual respect which should exist between them."
"We all give hostages to fortune when we marry!" Miss Carrington
exclaimed.
"Not all!" replied Macloud, meaningly.
She flushed slightly.
"What is it you want me to do?" she asked hastily--"or can I do
anything?"
"You can," he answered. "You can ask Miss Cavendish to visit you for a
few days."
"Can you, by any possibility, mean Elaine Cavendish?"
"That's exactly who I do mean--do you know her?"
"After a fashion--we went to Dobbs Ferry together."
"Bully!" exclaimed Macloud. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"You never mentioned her before."
"True!" he laughed. "This is fortunate, very fortunate! Will you ask
her down?"
"She will think it a trifle peculiar."
"On the contrary, she'll think it more than kind--a positive favor. You
see, she knows I'm with Croyden, but she doesn't know where; so she
wrote to me at my Club and they forwarded it. Croyden left
Northumberland without a word--and no one is aware of his residence but
me. She asks that I tell her where _I_ am. Then she intends to come
down and give Croyden a last chance. I want to help her--and your
invitation will be right to the point--she'll jump at it."
"You're a good friend!" she reflected.
"Will you do it?" he asked.
She thought a moment before she answered.
"I'll do it!" she said at length. "Come, we'll work out the letter
together."
"Would I not be permitted to kiss you as Miss Cavendish's deputy?" he
exclaimed.
"Miss Cavendish can be her own deputy," she answered.--"Moreover, it
would be premature."
The second morning after, when Elaine Cavendish's maid brought her
breakfast, Miss Carrington's letter was on the tray among tradesmen's
circulars, invitations, and friendly correspondence.
She did not recognize the handwriting, and the postmark was unfamiliar,
wherefore, coupled with the fact that it was addressed in a
particularly stylish hand, she opened it first. It was very brief, very
succinct, very informing, and very satisfactory.
"Ashburton,
"Hampton, Md.
"My dear Elaine:--
"Mr. Macloud tells me you are contemplating coming down to the
Eastern Shore to look for a country-place. Let me advise
Hampton--there are some delightful old residences in this
vicinity which positively are crying for a purchaser. Geoffrey
Croyden, whom you know, I believe, is resident here, and is
thinking of making it his home permanently. If you can be
persuaded to come, you are to stay with me--the hotels are simply
impossible, and I shall be more than delighted to have you. We
can talk over old times at Dobbs, and have a nice little visit
together. Don't trouble to write--just wire the time of your
arrival--and come before the good weather departs. Don't
disappoint me.
"With lots of love,
"Davila Carrington."
Elaine Cavendish read the letter slowly--and smiled.
"Clever! very clever!" she mused. "Colin is rather a diplomat--he
managed it with exceeding adroitness--and the letter is admirably
worded. It tells me everything I wanted to know. I'd forgotten about
Davila Carrington, and I reckon she had forgotten me, till he somehow
found it out and jogged her memory. Surely! I shall accept."
To-morrow would be Thursday. She went to her desk and wrote this wire,
in answer:
"Miss Davila Carrington,
"Hampton, Md.
"I shall be with you Friday, on morning train. You're very, very
kind.
"Elaine Cavendish."
Miss Carrington showed the wire to Macloud.
"Now, I've done all that I can; the rest is in your hands," she said.
"I'll cooperate, but you are the general."
"Until Elaine comes--she will manage it then," Macloud answered.
And on Friday morning, a little before noon, Miss Cavendish arrived.
Miss Carrington, alone, met her at the station.
"You're just the same Davila I'd forgotten for years," said she,
laughingly, as they walked across the platform to the waiting carriage.
"And you're the same I had forgotten," Davila replied.
"But it's delightful to be remembered!" said Elaine, meaningly.
"And it's just as delightful to be able to remember," was the reply.
Just after they left the business section, on the drive out, Miss
Carrington saw Croyden and Macloud coming down the street. Evidently
Macloud had not been able to detain him at home until she got her
charge safely into Ashburton. She glanced at Miss Cavendish--she had
seen them, also, and, settling back into the corner of the phaeton, she
hid her face with her Marabou muff.
"Don't stop!" she said.
Miss Carrington smiled her understanding.
"I won't!" she answered. "Good morning!" as both men raised their
hats--and drove straight on.
"Who was the girl with Miss Carrington?" Croyden asked. "I didn't see
her face."
"I couldn't see it!" said Macloud. "I noticed a bag in the trap,
however, so I reckon she's a guest."
"Unfortunate for you!" Croyden sympathized. "Your opportunity, for the
solitariness of two, will be limited."
"I'll look to you for help!" Macloud answered.
"Humph! You may look in vain. It depends on what she is--I'm not
sacrificing myself on the altar of general unattractiveness." Then he
laughed. "Rest easy, I'll fuss her to the limit. You shan't have her to
plead for an excuse."
"An excuse for what?"
"For not winning the Symphony in Blue."
"You're overly solicitous. I'm not worried about the guest," Macloud
remarked.
"There was a certain style about as much of her as I could see which
promised very well," Croyden remarked. "I think this would be a good
day to drop in for tea."
"And if you find her something over sixty, you'll gallantly shove her
off on me, and preempt Miss Carrington. Oh! you're very kind."
"She's not over sixty--and you know it. You're by no means as blind as
you would have me believe. In fact, now that I think of it, there was
something about her that seems familiar."
"You're an adept in many things," laughed Macloud, "but, I reckon,
you're not up to recognizing a brown coat and a brown hat. I think I've
seen the combination once or twice before on a woman."
"Well, what about tea-time--shall we go over?" demanded Croyden.
"I haven't the slightest objection----"
"Really!"
"----to your going along with me--I'm expected!"
"Oh! you're expected, are you! pretty soon it will be: 'Come over and
see us, won't you?'"
"I trust so," said Macloud, placidly.--"But, as you're never coming
back to Northumberland, it's a bit impossible."
"Oh! damn Northumberland!" said Croyden.
"I've a faint recollection of having heard that remark before."
"I dare say, it's popular there on smoky days."
"Which is the same as saying it's popular there any time."
"No, I don't mean that; Northumberland isn't half so bad as it's
painted. We may make fun of it--but we like it, just the same."
"Yes, I suppose we do," said Macloud. "Though we get mighty sick of
seeing every scatterbrain who sets fire to the Great White Way branded
by the newspapers as a Northumberland millionaire. We've got our share
of fools, but we haven't a monopoly of them, by any means."
"We had a marvelously large crop, however, running loose at one time,
recently!" laughed Croyden.
"True!--and there's the reason for it, as well as the fallacy. Because
half a hundred light-weights were made millionaires over night, and,
top heavy, straightway went the devil's pace, doesn't imply that the
entire town is mad."
"Not at all!" said Croyden. "It's no worse than any other big town--and
the fellows with unsavory reputations aren't representative. They just
came all in a bunch. The misfortune is, that the whole country saw the
fireworks, and it hasn't forgot the lurid display."
"And isn't likely to very soon," Macloud responded, "with the whole
Municipal Government rotten to the core, councilmen falling over one
another in their eagerness to plead _nolle contendere_ and escape the
penitentiary, bankers in jail for bribery, or fighting extradition; and
graft! graft! graft! permeating every department of the civic life--and
published by the newspapers' broadcast, through the land, for all the
world to read, while the people, as a body, sit supine, and meekly
suffer the robbers to remain. The trouble with the Northumberlander is,
that so long as he is not the immediate victim of a hold up, he is
quiescent. Let him be touched direct--by burglary, by theft, by
embezzlement--and the yell he lets out wakes the entire bailiwick."
"It's the same everywhere," said Croyden.
"No, it's not,--other communities have waked up--Northumberland hasn't.
There is too much of the moneyed interest to be looked after; and the
councilmen know it, and are out for the stuff, as brazen as the
street-walker, and vastly more insistent.--I'm going in here, for some
cigarettes--when I come out, we'll change the talk to something less
irritating. I like Northumberland, but I despise about ninety-nine one
hundredths of its inhabitants."
When he returned, Croyden was gazing after an automobile which was
disappearing in a cloud of dust.
"Ever see a motor before?" he asked.
Croyden did not hear him. "The fellow driving, unless I am mightily
fooled, is the same who stopped me on the street, in front of
Clarendon," he said.
"That's interesting--any one with him?"
"A woman."
"A woman! You're safe!" said Macloud. "He isn't travelling around with
a petticoat--at least, if he's thinking of tackling you."
"It isn't likely, I admit--but suppose he is?"
The car was rapidly vanishing in the distance. Macloud nodded toward
it.
"He is leaving here as fast as the wheels will turn."
"I've got a very accurate memory for faces," said Croyden. "I couldn't
well be mistaken."
"Wait and see. If it was he, and he has some new scheme, it will be
declared in due time. Nothing yet from the Government?"
"No!"
"It's a bluff! So long as they think you have the jewels, they will try
for them. There's Captain Carrington standing at his office door.
Suppose we go over."
"Sitting up to grandfather-in-law!" laughed Croyden. "Distinctly
proper, sir, distinctly proper! Go and chat with him; I'll stop for
you, presently."
* * * * *
Meanwhile, the two women had continued on to Ashburton.
"Did he recognize me?" Elaine asked, dropping her muff from before her
face, when they were past the two men.
"I think not," answered Davila.
"Did he give any indication of it?"
"None, whatever."
"It would make a difference in my--attitude toward him when we met!"
she smiled.
"Naturally! a very great difference." Elaine was nervous, she saw. The
fact that Croyden did not come out and stop them, that he let them go
on, was sufficient proof that he had not recognized her.
"You see, I am assuming that you know why I wanted to come to Hampton,"
Elaine said, when, her greeting made to Mrs. Carrington, she had
carried Davila along to her room.
"Yes, dear," Davila responded.
"And you made it very easy for me to come."
"I did as I thought you would want--and as I know you would do with me
were I in a similar position."
"I'm sadly afraid I should not have thought of you, were you----"
"Oh, yes, you would! If you had been in a small town, and Mr. Croyden
had told you of my difficulty----"
"As _Mr. Macloud_ told you of mine--I see, dear."
"Not exactly that," said Davila, blushing. "Mr. Macloud has been very
attentive and very nice and all that, you know, but you mustn't forget
there are not many girls here, and I'm convenient, and--I don't take
him seriously."
"How does he take you?" Elaine asked.
"I don't know--sometimes I think he does, and sometimes I think he
doesn't!" she laughed. "He is an accomplished flirt and difficult to
gauge."
"Well, let me tell you one fact, for your information: there isn't a
more indifferent man in Northumberland. He goes everywhere, is in great
demand, is enormously popular, yet, I've never known him to have even
an affair. He is armor-plated--but he is a dear, a perfect dear,
Davila!"
"I know it!" she said, with heightening color--and Elaine said no more,
then.
"Shall you prefer to meet Mr. Croyden alone, for the first time, or in
company?" Davila asked.
"I confess I don't know, but I think, however, it would be better to
have a few words with Colin, first--if it can be arranged."
Miss Carrington nodded. "Mr. Macloud is to come in a moment before
luncheon, if he can find an excuse that will not include Mr. Croyden."
"Is an excuse difficult to find--or is any, even, needed?"
Elaine smiled.
"He doesn't usually come before four--that's the tea hour in Hampton."
"Tea!" exclaimed Elaine. "If you've got him into the tea habit, you can
do what you want with him--he will eat out of your hand."
"I never tried him with tea," said Davila. "He chose a high ball the
first time--so it's been a high ball ever since."
"With gratifying regularity?"
"I admit it!" laughed Davila.
Elaine sat down on the couch and put her arm about Davila.
"These awful men!" she said. "But we shall be good friends, better
friends than ever, Davila, when you come to Northumberland to live."
"That is just the question, Elaine," was the quick answer; "whether I
shall be given the opportunity, and whether I shall take it, if I am. I
haven't let it go so far, because I don't feel sure of him. Until I do,
I intend to keep tight hold on myself."
"Do it--if you can. You'll find it much the happier way."
Just before luncheon, Macloud arrived.
"Bully for you!" was his greeting to Miss Cavendish. "I'm glad to see
you here."
"Yes, I'm here, thanks to you," said Elaine--and Davila not being
present, she kissed him.
"I'm more than repaid!" he said.
"But you wish it were--another?"
"No--but I wish the other--would, too!" he laughed.
"Give her the chance, Colin."
"You think I may dare?" eagerly.
"You're not wont to be so timid," she returned.
"I wish I had some of your bravery," he said.
"Is it bravery?" she demanded. "Isn't it impetuous womanliness."
"Not a bit! There isn't a doubt as to his feelings."
"But there is a doubt as to his letting them control--I see."
"Yes! And you alone can help him solve it--if any one can. And I have
great hopes, Elaine, great hopes!" regarding her with approving eyes.
"How any chap could resist you is inconceivable--I could not."
"You could not at one time, you mean."
"You gave me no encouragement,--so I must, perforce, fare elsewhere."
"And now?" she asked.
"How many love affairs have you come down here to settle?" he laughed.
"By the way, Croyden is impatient to come over this afternoon. The
guest in the trap with Miss Carrington has aroused his curiosity. He
could see only a long brown coat and a brown hat, but the muff before
your face, and his imagination, did the rest."
"Does he suspect?" she inquired, anxiously.
"That it's you? No! no! It's simply the country town beginning to tell
on him. He is curious about new guests, and Miss Carrington hadn't
mentioned your coming! He suggested, in a vague sort of way, that there
was something familiar about you, but he didn't attempt to
particularize. It was only a momentary idea."
She looked her relief.
"Shall you meet him alone?"
"I think not--we shall all be present."
"And _how_ shall you meet him?"
"It depends on how he meets me."
"I reckon you don't know much about it--haven't any plans?"
"No, I haven't. Everything depends on the moment. He will know why I'm
here, and whether he is glad or sorry or displeased at my coming, I
shall know instantly. I shall then have my cue. It's absurd, this
notion of his, and why let it rule him and me! I've always got what I
wanted, and I'm going to get Geoffrey. A Queen of a Nation must propose
to a suitor, so why not a Queen of Money to a man less rich than
she--especially when she is convinced that that alone keeps them apart.
I shall give him a chance to propose to me first; several chances,
indeed!" she laughed. "Then, if he doesn't respond--I shall do it
myself."