The last remark Roebuck had made to me--on his doorstep, as I was
starting on my mission--was: "Can't you and Lottie hurry up that
marriage of yours? You ought to get it over and out of the way." When I
returned home with my mission accomplished, the first remark my mother
made after our greeting was: "Harvey, I wish you and Lottie were going
to marry a little sooner."
A note in her voice made me look swiftly at her, and then, without a
word, I was on my knees, my face in her lap and she stroking my head. "I
feel that I'm going to--to your father, dear," she said.
I heard and I thought I realized; but I did not. Who, feeling upon him
the living hand of love, was ever able to imagine that hand other than
alive? But her look of illness, of utter exhaustion,--_that_ I
understood and suffered for. "You must rest," said I; "you must sit
quiet and be waited on until you are strong again."
"Yes, I will rest," she answered, "as soon as my boy is settled."
That very day I wrote Carlotta telling her about mother's health and
asking her to change the date of our wedding to the first week in
August, then just under a month away. She telegraphed me to come and
talk it over.
She was at the station in her phaeton to meet me. We had not driven far
before I felt and saw that she was intensely irritated against me. As I
unburdened my mind of my anxieties about mother, she listened coldly.
And I had to wait a long time before I got her answer, in a strained
voice and with averted eyes: "Of course, I'm sorry your mother isn't
well, but I can't get ready that soon."
It was not her words that exasperated me; the lightning of speech from
the storm-clouds of anger tends to clear the air. It was her expression.
Never have I known any one who could concentrate into brows and eyes and
chin and lips more of that sullen and aggressive obstinacy which is the
climax of provocativeness. Patience, in thought at least, with refusal
has not been one of my virtues. This refusal of hers, this denial of
happiness to one who had deserved so much and had received so little,
set temper to working in me like a quick poison. But I was silent, not
so much from prudence as from inability to find adequate words.
"I can't do it," repeated Carlotta, "and I won't." She made it clear
that she meant the "won't,"--that she was bent upon a quarrel.
But in my struggle to train those stanchest of servants and maddest of
masters, the passions, I had got at least far enough always to choose
both the time and the ground of a quarrel. So I said: "Very well,
Carlotta. Then, that is settled." And with an air sufficiently deceptive
to pass muster before angry eyes, I proceeded to talk of indifferent
matters.
As I sat beside her, my temper glowering in the straining leash, I
revolved her conduct and tried to puzzle out its meaning. It is clear,
thought I, that she does not care for me as people about to marry
usually profess to care. Then, does she wish to break the engagement?
That tamed my anger instantly.
Yes, I thought on, she wishes to be free--to free me. And, as my combine
is formed and my career well advanced in the way to being established,
what reason is there for trying to prevent her from freeing herself?
None--for I can easily explain the situation to mother. "Yes," I
concluded, "you can avoid a quarrel, can remain friends with Carlotta,
can give and get freedom." What had changed her? I did not know; I did
not waste time in puzzling; I did not tempt fate by asking. "You are
poor, she is rich," I reminded myself. "That makes it impossible for you
to hesitate. You must give her no excuse for thinking you lack pride."
Thus I reasoned and planned, my temper back in its kennel and peaceful
as a sheep. That evening I avoided being alone with her; just as I was
debating how to announce that I must be leaving by the first train in
the morning a telegram came from Roebuck calling me to Chicago at once.
When we were all going to bed, I said to Mrs. Ramsay: "I shall see you
and Ed in the morning, but"--to Carlotta--"you don't get up so early.
I'll say good-by now,"--this in the friendliest possible way.
I was conscious of Mrs. Ramsay's look of wonder and anxiety; of Ed's
wild stare from Carlotta to me and back again at her. She bit her lip
and her voice was unsteady as she said: "Oh, no, Harvey. I'll be up."
There was a certain meekness in her tone which would probably have
delighted me had I been what is usually called "masterful."
When I came down at seven o'clock after an unquiet night, Carlotta was
lying in wait for me, took me into the parlor and shut the door. "What
do you mean?" she demanded, facing me with something of her wonted
imperiousness.
"Mean?" said I, for once feeling no resentment at her manner.
"By leaving--this way," she explained with impatience.
"You heard Mr. Roebuck's telegram," said I.
"You are angry with me," she persisted.
"No, Carlotta," said I. "I was, but I am not. As soon as I saw what you
wished, I was grateful, not angry."
"What did I wish?"
"To let me know as gently and kindly as you could that you purposed to
end our engagement. And I guess you are right. We do not seem to care
for each other as we ought if we--"
"You misunderstood me," she said, pale and with flashing eyes, and in
such a struggle with her emotions that she could say no more.
If I had not seen that only her pride and her vanity were engaged in the
struggle, and her heart not at all, I think I should have abandoned my
comfortable self-deception that my own pride forbade discussion with
her. As it was, I was able to say: "Don't try to spare me, Carlotta, I'm
glad you had the courage and the good sense not to let us both drift
into irrevocable folly. I thank you." I opened the door into the hall.
"Let us talk no more about it. We could say to each other only the
things that sting or the things that stab. Let us be friends. You must
give me your friendship, at least." I took her hand.
She looked strangely at me. "You want me to humble myself, to crawl at
your feet and beg your pardon," said she between her teeth. "But I
shan't." She snatched away her hand and threw back her head.
"I wish nothing but what is best for us both," said I. "But let us not
talk of it now--when neither of us is calm."
"You don't care for me!" she cried.
"Do _you_ love _me_?" I rejoined.
Her eyes shifted. I waited for her reply and, when it did not come, I
said: "Let us go to breakfast."
"I'll not go in just now," she answered, in a quiet tone, a sudden and
strange shift from that of the moment before. And she let me take her
hand, echoed my good-by, and made no further attempt to detain me.
That was a gloomy breakfast despite my efforts to make my own seeming of
good-humor permeate to the others. Mrs. Ramsay hid a somber face behind
the coffee-urn; Ed ate furiously, noisily, choking every now and then.
He drove me to the station; his whole body was probably as damp from his
emotions as were his eyes and his big friendly hand. The train got
under way; I drew a long breath. I was free.
But somehow freedom did not taste as I had anticipated. Though I
reminded myself that I had acted as any man with pride and self-respect
would have acted in such delicate circumstances, and though I knew that
Carlotta was no more in love with me than I was with her, this end to
our engagement seemed even more humiliating to me than its beginning had
seemed. It was one more instance of that wretched fatality which has
pursued me through life, which has made every one of my triumphs come to
me in mourning robes and with a gruesome face. In the glittering array
of "prizes" that tempts man to make a beast and a fool of himself in the
gladiatorial show called Life, the sorriest, the most ironic, is the
grand prize, Victory.
* * * * *
The parlor car was crowded; its only untaken seat was in the smoking
compartment, which had four other occupants, deep in a game of poker.
Three of them were types of commonplace, prosperous Americans; the
fourth could not be so easily classed and, therefore, interested
me--especially as I was in the mood to welcome anything that would crowd
to the background my far from agreeable thoughts.
The others called him "Doc," or Woodruff. As they played, they drank
from flasks produced by each in turn. Doc drank with the others, and
deeper than any of them. They talked more and more, he less and less,
until finally he interrupted their noisy volubility only when the game
compelled. I saw that he was one of those rare men upon whom amiable
conversation or liquor or any other relaxing force has the reverse of
the usual effect. Instead of relaxing, he drew himself together and
concentrated more obstinately upon his game. Luck, so far as the cards
controlled it, was rather against him, and the other three players took
turns at audacious and by no means unskilful play. I was soon admiring
the way he "sized up" and met each in turn. Prudence did not make him
timid. He advanced and retreated, "bluffed" and held aloof, with
acuteness and daring.
At a station perhaps fifty miles from Chicago, the other three
left,--and Doc had four hundred-odd dollars of their money.
I dropped into the seat opposite him--it was by the window--and amused
myself watching him, while waiting for a chance to talk with him; for I
saw that he was a superior person, and, in those days, when I was
inconspicuous and so was not compelled constantly to be on guard, I
never missed a chance to benefit by such exchanges of ideas.
He was apparently about forty years old, to strike a balance between the
youth of eyes, mouth, and contour, and the age of deep lines and
grayish, thinning hair. He had large, frank, blue eyes, a large nose, a
strong forehead and chin, a grossly self-indulgent mouth,--there was the
weakness, there, as usual! Evidently, the strength his mind and
character gave him went in pandering to physical appetites. In
confirmation of this, there were two curious marks on him,--a nick in
the rim of his left ear, a souvenir of a bullet or a knife, and a scar
just under the edge of his chin to the right. When he compressed his
lips, this scar, not especially noticeable at other times, lifted up
into his face, became of a sickly, bluish white, and transformed a
careless, good-humored cynic into a man of danger, of terror.
His reverie began, as I gathered from his unguarded face, in cynical
amusement, probably at his triumph over his friends. It passed on to
still more agreeable things,--something in the expression of the mouth
suggested thoughts of how he was going to enjoy himself as he "blew in"
his winnings. Then his features shadowed, darkened, and I had my first
view of the scar terrible. He shook his big head and big shoulders,
roused himself, made ready to take a drink, noticed me, and said, "Won't
you join me?" His look was most engaging.
I accepted and we were soon sociable, each taking an instinctive liking
to the other. We talked of the business situation, of the news in the
papers, and then of political affairs. Each of us saw that there he was
at the other's keenest interest in life. He knew the game,--practical
politics as distinguished from the politics talked by and to the public.
But he evaded, without seeming to do so, all the ingenious traps I laid
for drawing from him some admission that would give me a clue to where
he "fitted in." I learned no more about him than I thought he learned
about me.
"I hope we shall meet again," said I cordially, as we parted at the
cab-stand.
"Thank you," he answered, and afterward I remembered the faint smile in
his eyes.
I, of course, knew that Roebuck was greatly interested in my project for
putting political business on a business basis; but not until he had
explained why he sent for me did I see how it had fascinated and
absorbed his mind. "You showed me," he began, "that you must have under
you a practical man to handle the money and do the arranging with the
heelers and all that sort of thing."
"Yes," said I; "it's a vital part of the plan. We must find a man who is
perfectly trustworthy and discreet. Necessarily he'll know or suspect
something--not much, but still something--of the inside workings of the
combine."
"Well, I've found him," went on Roebuck, in a triumphant tone. "He's a
godless person, with no character to lose, and no conception of what
character means. But he's straight as a string. Providence seems to have
provided such men for just such situations as these, where the devil
must be fought with fire. I've been testing him for nearly fifteen
years. But you can judge for yourself."
I was the reverse of pleased. It was not in my calculations to have a
creature of Roebuck's foisted upon me, perhaps--indeed, probably--a spy.
I purposed to choose my own man; and I decided while he was talking,
that I would accept the Roebuck selection only to drop him on some
plausible pretext before we began operations. I was to meet the man at
dinner,--Roebuck had engaged a suite at the Auditorium. "It wouldn't do
to have him at my house or club," said he; "neither do we want to be
seen with him."
Coincidence is so familiar a part of the daily routine that I was not
much surprised when my acquaintance, the astute poker player with the
scar, walked in upon us at the Auditorium. But Roebuck was both
astonished and chagrined when we shook hands and greeted each other like
old friends.
"How do you do, Mr. Sayler?" said Woodruff.
"Glad to see you, Doctor Woodruff," I replied. "Then you knew me all the
time? Why didn't you speak out? We might have had an hour's business
talk in the train."
"If I'd shown myself as leaky as all that, I guess there'd have been no
business to talk about," he replied. "Anyhow, I didn't know you till you
took out your watch with the monogram on the back, just as we were
pulling in. Then I remembered where I'd seen your face before. I was up
at your state house the day that you threw old Dominick down. That's
been a good many years ago."
That chance, easy, smoking-compartment meeting, at which each had
studied the other dispassionately, was most fortunate for us both.
The relation that was to exist between us--more, much more, than that of
mere employer and employé--made fidelity, personal fidelity, imperative;
and accident had laid the foundation for the mutual attachment without
which there is certain to be, sooner or later, suspicion on both sides,
and cause for it.
The two hours and a half with Woodruff, at and after dinner, served to
reinforce my first impression. I saw that he was a thorough man of the
world, that he knew politics from end to end, and that he understood the
main weaknesses of human nature and how to play upon them for the
advantage of his employers and for his own huge amusement. He gave a
small exhibition of that skill at the expense of Roebuck. He appreciated
that Roebuck was one of those unconscious hypocrites who put conscience
out of court in advance by assuming that whatever they wish to do is
right or _they_ could not wish to do it. He led Roebuck on to show off
this peculiarity of his,--a jumbling, often in the same breath, of the
most sonorous piety and the most shameless business perfidy. All the
time Woodruff's face was perfectly grave,--there are some men who refuse
to waste any of their internal enjoyment in external show.
Before he left us I arranged to meet him the next morning for the
settlement of the details of his employment. When Roebuck and I were
alone, I said: "What do you know about him? Who is he?"
"He comes of a good family here in Chicago,--one of the best. Perhaps
you recall the Bowker murder?"
"Vaguely," I answered.
"It was Woodruff who did it. We had a hard time getting him off. Bowker
and Woodruff's younger brother were playing cards one day, and Bowker
accused him of cheating. Young Woodruff drew,--perhaps they both drew at
the same time. At any rate, Bowker shot first and killed his man,--he
got off on the plea of self-defense. It was two years before Bowker and
Doc met,--in the lobby of the Palmer House,--I happened to be there. I
was talking to a friend when suddenly I felt as if something awful was
about to happen. I started up, and saw Bowker just rising from a table
at the far end of the room. I shan't ever forget his look,--like a bird
charmed by a snake. His lips were ajar and wrinkled as if his blood had
fled away inside of him, and his throat was expanding and contracting."
Roebuck wiped beads of sweat from his forehead. "It was Doc Woodruff
walking slowly toward him, with a wicked smile on his face, and that
scar--you noticed the scar?"