A Tricky Game
The Prall apartment was on the eighth floor, but Richard Bates passed by
the elevator and went down the stairs. Only one flight, however, and on
the seventh floor, he walked along the hall, whistling in a subdued key.
The air was an old song, a one-time favorite, “Won’t you come out and
play wiz me?” and the faint notes grew stronger as he passed a certain
door. Then he went on, but soon turned, retraced his steps, and went up
again the one flight of stairs. Pausing at the elevator, he pushed the
down button and was soon in the car and smiling on the demure young
woman in uniform who ran it.
“This car of yours, Daisy,” he remarked, “is like the church of Saint
Peter at Rome, it has an atmosphere of its own. But if the church had
this atmosphere there’d be mighty few worshipers! How can you stand it?
Doesn’t it make you ill?”
“Ill?” and the girl rolled weary eyes at him; “I’m dead! You can bring
the flowers when you’re ready, Gridley!”
“Poor child,” and Bates looked compassionately at the white face, that
even a vanity case failed to keep in blooming condition, so moisty warm
was the stuffy elevator. “It’s wicked to shut you up in such a cage——”
“Oh, I’m all right,” she responded, hurriedly, as her bell sounded a
sharp, impatient ring. “I’m not complaining. But people are so trying on
a day like this. That’s Mr Binney’s ring.”
“How do you know. Do you know everybody’s touch?”
“Not everybody’s,—but lots of them. Mr Binney, he hates elevator
girls——”
“Oh, come now,—my uncle is a great admirer of all women——”
“Not if they work. He talks a good deal, you know,—talks all the
time,—and he’s everlastingly knocking girls who do the work he thinks
men ought to do.”
“But it’s none of his business,—in this house!”
“Mr Binney is particularly and especially interested in what’s none of
his business!”
The girl spoke so bitterly that Bates looked at her in surprise.
But he was at the ground floor, and as he left the elevator he forgot
all else in anticipation of a certain coming delight.
He strolled the length of the great onyx lobby, its sides a succession
of broad mirrors between enormous onyx columns with massive gilded
capitals. Tall palms were at intervals, alternating with crimson velvet
sofas and on one of these, near the vestibule, Bates sat down to wait
for the delight.
And in the course of time, she came, tripping along the black and white
diamonds of the marble floor, her high heels tapping quickly, her lithe
gracefulness hurrying to keep the tryst.
Dorcas Everett was of the type oftenest seen among the well-to-do young
girls of New York, but she was one of the best examples of that type.
Wise, sparkling eyes, soft, rounded chin held alertly up, dark, curly
hair arranged in a pleasant modification of the latest fashion, her
attire was of the most careful tailor-made variety, and her little
feathered toque was put on at just the right angle and was most
engagingly becoming.
She said no word but gave a happy smile as Bates rose and eagerly joined
her and together they passed out through the imposing portal.
“It’s awful,” she murmured, as they walked across to Fifth Avenue. “I
said I wouldn’t do it again, you know, and then—when I heard your
whistle,—I just couldn’t help it! But don’t do it any more—will you?
You promised you wouldn’t.”
“Oh, I didn’t promise, dear; I said I’d _try_ not to. And I did try,
but—it seems I failed.”
“Bad boy! Very bad Rikki-tikki-tavi. But what are we going to do?”
“First of all, where are we going? Tea Room? Some place where I can talk
to you.”
“No; it’s too stuffy to-day to be indoors. Let’s walk up to the Park and
go in.”
“All right. Now, Dorrie, we must face this thing. We can’t go on
meeting secretly,—neither of us likes it,——”
“I should say not! I hate it a thousand times worse’n you do. But Rick,
mother is more obstinate than ever. She says if I see you again, or
speak to you, she’ll pack up and move out of New York. Think of that!”
“I can’t think of it! It is unthinkable! Now, Dorcas, darling, there’s
only one thing to do. You must marry me——”
“Hush that nonsense! I don’t propose——”
“Naturally not! I’m doing the proposing——”
“Don’t think because you make me laugh you’re going to bamboozle me into
consent! I decline, refuse and renounce you, if you’re going to take
that tack. I shall never marry you without the consent of my mother and
your aunt, and you know it!”
“I do know it, Dork, and that’s what breaks me all up. Confound that old
Feud! But, I say, Uncle Binney is on our side. I sounded him and he
approves of my marrying at once,—doesn’t care who the girl is,—and
will make me his heir and all that,——”
“If you give up your inventing and go into his Bunny business.”
“Yes; that’s his game. Shall I do it?”
“No! A thousand times no. I don’t want to marry a bakery!”
“And anyway, it wouldn’t help the Feud——”
“No; nothing will help that. It would seem that we could move the hearts
of those two women, but my mother is hard as adamant.”
“And my aunt is hard as nails. After all these years they’re not going
to be moved by a pair of broken young hearts.”
“No; mother says that because I’m so young, my heart will heal up in
plenty of time to break over somebody else.”
“Pleasant thought!”
“Oh, mother doesn’t try to be pleasant about it. She makes my life a
burden by harping on my undutifulness and all that,—and when she isn’t
bally-ragging me, Kate is.”
“Kate! A servant!”
“But Kate doesn’t look upon herself as a servant, exactly. She’s lady’s
maid now,—to mother and me,—but she was my nurse, you know, and she
thinks she sort of owns me. Anyway, she acts so.”
“And she stands for the feud?”
“Rath-er! She believes in the feud and all its works. And she’s a spy,
too. If she hadn’t believed my yarn that I was headed for Janet’s
to-day, she’d been downstairs trailing me!”
“Clever Dork, to outwit her!”
“That’s nothing—I’m clever enough to hoodwink her and mother, too, but
I don’t want to. I hate it, Rick; I hate anything underhanded or
deceitful. Only my love for you made me come out here to-day.”
The big, dark eyes looked wistfully into Bates’ blue ones. The troubled
look on Dorcas’ dear little face stirred the depths of his soul, and his
heart struggled between his appreciation of her high-mindedness and his
yearning love.
“I want you, Dorrie,” he said, simply; “I want you
terribly,—desperately,—and I—I admit it—would be willing to take you
on any terms. I’d run away with you in a minute, if you’d go! To be
sure, I honor your truthfulness and all that,—but, oh, little girl,
can’t you put me ahead of your mother?”
“I don’t know,——”
“You’re hesitating! You’ve thought about it! Oh, Dork, will you?”
“There, there, don’t go so fast! No, I won’t! But, tell me this: Would
your uncle stand for it,—and let you go on with your own work?”
“Oh, no! It’s Buns or nothing with him and me. But I’m his heir, if he
should drop off suddenly, I’d have his whole fortune——”
“Dead men’s shoes! Oh, Ricky, for shame?”
“Not at all. If he can make a will, I can talk about it. And he told me
he has made a will in my favor,—but he’s going to change it if I don’t
adopt his Buns.”
“What nonsense,—even to think about it. Let him change it, then, for
you’ll never be a Bun man!”
“I wonder if it would help matters if you met Uncle Binney?”
“Let’s try it. Though I’m sure I should call him Uncle Bunny! Does he
like girls?”
“Adores them,—that is, some sorts. He likes nice girls properly. He
likes naughty girls,—perhaps improperly. But the girls in the
house,—the elevator kids and the telephone girls, he just hates.”
“Hates?”
“They irritate him somehow. He thinks all such positions should be
filled by men or boys. He says the war is over, and he wants all the
girls taken off those jobs.”
“How unjust and unreasonable.”
“Uncle Herbert has both of those admirable qualities. But he’d adore
you,—unless he found out you disapprove of the Buns, and then he’d turn
and rend you!”
“I don’t disapprove of them,—except for you.”
“That’s what I mean,—for me.”
“Then I guess I’d better not meet Friend Bunny.”
“Oh, Dorcas, I don’t know what to do! There’s no light from any
direction. There’s no hope from your mother, my aunt or Sir Herbert. If
you won’t cut and run with me,—and if you’re in earnest about not
meeting me secretly any more,—what _can_ we do?”
“Nothing, Rick,—nothing at all.”
Dorcas spoke very seriously,—even sadly, and Bates realized how much in
earnest she was. They were in the Park now, and by tacit consent they
sat down on a bench near the Mall.
Their eyes met dumbly. Though Bates was only twenty-five and Dorcas
twenty-two, they were both older than their years, and were of fine
temper and innate strength of character.
They had known one another as children in their little home town, and
later, as the feud developed and gained strength, the young people had
been sent away to schools. Later, the war took Richard from home, and
only very recently had propinquity brought about the interest that soon
ripened to love. And a deeper, more lasting love than is often found
between two young hearts. Both took it very seriously, and each
thoroughly realized the tragedy of the attitude of their respective
guardians.
“Good gracious, Richard, I shall go straight home and tell your aunt!”
This speech was from the stern-faced woman who paused in front of the
pair on the bench.
“Good gracious, Eliza, go straight ahead and do so!”
Bates’ eyes shot fire and his face flushed with anger.
Eliza Gurney was his aunt’s companion, indeed, her tame cat, her
chattel, and partly from charity, partly because of need of her
services, Miss Prall kept Eliza with her constantly.
Of a fawning, parasitic nature, the companion made the best of her
opportunities, and, without being an avowed spy, she kept watch on
Richard’s movements as far as she conveniently could. And in this
instance, suspecting his intent, she had followed the young couple at a
discreet distance, and now faced them with an accusing eye.
“No, don’t,” pleaded Dorcas, as Miss Gurney turned to follow up
Richard’s suggestion. “Oh, dear Miss Gurney, help us, won’t you? We’re
in such a hopeless tangle. You were young once, and——”
Dorrie could scarcely have chosen a worse argument,—for that her youth
had slipped away from her, was Miss Gurney’s worst fear.
“I am forbidden to speak to this girl, Richard,” Miss Gurney said, with
pursed lips and heightened color. She addressed herself carefully to
Bates and ignored the presence of Dorcas. “You are, too, as you well
know, and though you have so far forgotten yourself as to disobey your
aunt, I’ve no intention of committing a like sin.”
“Fudge, Eliza, don’t go back on me like that. You used to be my
friend,—have you forsaken me entirely?”
“If you’ve forsaken your aunt,—not unless. Leave this girl instantly
and go home with me, and there’ll be no question of ‘forsaking.’”
“Forsake Miss Everett! Not while this machine is to me! Go home
yourself, Eliza; be a tattletale, if you want to, but get out of here!”
Bates became furious because of a malevolent gleam in Miss Gurney’s eye
as she looked at Dorcas.
“I’ll go, Richard,—and I shall not only tell your aunt what I have
seen, but I shall feel it my duty to acquaint Mrs Everett with the
facts.”
“Don’t you dare!” cried Dorcas, springing up, and facing the unpleasant
faced one with uncontrollable indignation. “What I do, I tell my mother
myself,—I don’t have the news carried to her by her enemy’s spy!”
“Hoity-toity, miss, you’re a chip off the old block, I see!”
“And you’re a trustworthy soul, to be talking to me when you’re
forbidden to do so!”
The triumph in Dorcas’ tone was quite as galling to Eliza Gurney as her
own chagrin at having broken her word. But, once in the moil, she saw no
reason for backing out, and proceeded to pick an open quarrel.
“I can explain my speech with you to Miss Prall’s satisfaction,” she
went on, acidly, “and I’ll inform you, Miss Everett, that you’ve spoiled
Mr Bates’ life by this clandestine affair of yours. I happen to know
that his uncle, Sir Herbert Binney, was just about to make him his heir,
but he will change his mind when he hears of this escapade.”
“Oh, clear out, Eliza,” stormed Bates; “you’ve given us enough of that
drivel, now hook it! Hear me?”
Miss Gurney stared at him. “Your companionship with this young woman has
corrupted your good manners,” she began, quite undeterred by his wrath.
Whereupon Bates took her firmly by the shoulder, spun her round, and
said, “Go!” in such a tone that she fairly scurried away.
“I vanquished her,” he said, a little ruefully, “but I’m afraid it’s a
frying pan and fire arrangement. She’ll tell Aunt Letitia, and either
aunt or Eliza herself will go at once to your mother with the tale,——”
“Well, I’d really rather they’d be told. I had to tell mother,—for
truly, Rick, I can’t live in an atmosphere of deceit. I may be a crank
or a craven, but much as I love you, I can’t stand keeping it a secret.”
“I know it, dear, and I don’t like it a bit better than you do, only to
tell is to be separated,—at once, and maybe, forever.”
“No!” cried Dorcas, looking at his serious face. “Not forever!”
“Yes; even you don’t realize the lengths to which those two women will
go. I hate to speak so of your mother, I hate to speak so of my
aunt,—but I know they’ll move out of town, one or both, and they’ll go
to the ends of the earth to keep us apart.”
“But they’ve always lived near each other,—for years, in the same
building.”
“Yes; that was so they could quarrel and annoy and tantalize each other.
But now the necessity of separating us two will be their paramount
motive, and you’ll see;—they’ll do it!”
“Then—then——”
“Then let’s get married, and go off by ourselves? Darling, if we only
could! And I’ll go into the Buns, in a minute, if you say so. Much as I
hate to give up my own work, I’d not hesitate, except for your sake——”
“No, I don’t want to marry a bakery man! And, I’ve too much ambition for
you to let you throw your talent away! Yet, we couldn’t live on nothing
a year! And, until your inventions are farther along, you can’t realize
anything on them.”
“Bless me, what a little business woman it is! Well, we’ve both common
sense enough not to make fools of ourselves,—but oh, Dork, I do want
you so! And if it were not for that foolish, ridiculous feud, we could
be so happy!”
“It isn’t exactly the feud,—I mean, of course it is that, but it’s back
of that,—it’s the determined, never-give-up _natures_ of the two women.
I don’t know which is more obstinate, mother or Miss Prall, but I
know,—oh, Ricky, I know neither of them will ever surrender!”
“Of course they won’t,—I know that, too. So, must we give up?”
“What choice have we? What alternative?”
“None.” Bates’ face was blankly hopeless. “But, Dork, dear, I can’t live
without you! Can’t you look ahead to—to something?”
“Don’t see anything to look ahead to. We might say we’ll wait for each
other,—I’m willing,—and something tells me you are! But,—that’s an
unsatisfactory arrangement——”
“It’s all of that! Oh, hang it all, Dork, I’ll go into some respectable
business and earn a living. I’ll give up my plans and——”
“If you do that, you may as well go in for Buns.”
“Buns! I thought you scorned the idea!”
“Principally because I want you to be an inventor. But if you give up
your life work,—oh, Rick, what could you do?”
“Nothing much at first. I’d have to take a clerk-ship or something and
work up.”
“I’m willing to share poverty with you,—in theory,—but you don’t
realize what the reality would mean to us. Not only because we’re both
accustomed to having everything we want, but more especially because in
these days it’s too dangerous. Suppose we lived on the tiniest possible
income, and then you fell ill,—or I did,—or you lost your
position,—or anything that interrupted our livelihood,—then, we’d have
to go back to mother or to your aunt,—and—dost like the picture?”
“I dost not! It’s out of the question. I love you too much, and too
truly to take such desperate chances. I think, after all, Dork, the Buns
are our one best bet!”
“Binny’s Buns! ‘Get a Bun!’ Oh, Rikki, couldn’t hold up my head!”
“I know it,—you little inborn aristocrat! And I feel the same way about
it. Well, we’ve got to go home and face the music, I suppose.”
“Yes, and we’ve got to go now. I’ll get more and worse scolding for
every minute I stay here.”
“Also, if Eliza tells your mother, she’ll be sending Kate for you.”
“Yes, or coming herself. Come along, let’s start.”
The walk home was saddened by the thought that it was the last. Able to
face the situation, both knew there was no hope that they should be
allowed to continue their acquaintance, and knew that now it was
discovered, they would very soon be as widely separated as the efforts
of their elders could arrange.
Their pace slowed down as they neared The Campanile.
“Dear old place,” said Dorcas, as the house came into their ken.
“Dear old nothing,” returned Bates. “I think it’s an eyesore, don’t you?
That bunch of Mexican onyx ought to be taken away to make kings’
sarcophagi!”
“What a thought! Yes, it’s hideous,—but I didn’t mean its appearance.
Its dear to me because we’ve lived here together, and I’ve a premonition
that before long widely separated roofs will cover our heads.”
“I’ll conquer somehow!” Bates declared. “I haven’t made many
protestations, but I tell you, Dork, I’m coming out on top of this
heap!”
“What are you going to do? Something desperate?”
“Maybe so,—maybe only something queer. But get you, I shall and I will!
You’re intended for my mate by an Omniscient Fate, and I’m going to find
some way to help said Fate along. She seems to be sidetracked for the
moment.”
“I wish I had more faith in your Fate helping. Oh, don’t look like that!
I’ve faith enough in _you_,—but helping Fate is a tricky game.”
“All right, I’m willing to play a tricky game, then!”
“You are, son! Against whom?”
And the pair entering the wide doorway, met Sir Herbert Binney coming
out.
“Oh, hello, Uncle,” cried Bates, grasping the situation with both hands.
“Let me present you to Miss Everett; Dorcas, this is my uncle.”
“How do you do, Uncle Bunny?” said Dorcas, quite unwitting that, in her
surprised embarrassment, she had used the very word she had feared she
would utter!
And an unfortunate mistake it proved. The smiling face of the Englishman
grew red and wrathful, assuming, as he did, and not without cause, that
the young woman intended to guy him.
“Daughter of your own mother, hey?” he said to her. “Ready with a sharp
tongue for any occasion!”
Apology was useless, all that quick-witted Dorcas could think of was to
carry it off as a jest.
“No, sir,” she said, with an adorable glance of coquetry at the angry
face, “but I have an unbreakable habit of using nicknames,—and as I’ve
heard of you from Ricky, and I almost feel as if I knew you,—I, why, I
just naturally called you Bunny for a pet name.”
“Oho, you did! Well, I can’t believe that. I think you’re making fun of
my trade! And that’s the one thing I won’t stand! Perhaps when your
precious Ricky depends on those same buns for his daily food, you won’t
feel so scornful of them!”
“I never dreamed you were ashamed of them, sir,” and Dorcas gave up the
idea of peacemaking and became irritating.
“Nor am I!” he blazed. “You are an impertinent chit, and I bid you
good-day!”
“Now you _have_ done it!” said Bates.