BETWEEN DARKNESS AND DAYLIGHT
Sally Gardner had found time during this short scene to recover from
her moment of excitement. She had heard, and she thought she
understood. Being a many-sided young matron, the best one of all came
to the surface now--the one that even her best friends had never
supposed her to possess. Underneath her fun-and-laughter-loving
nature, Sally was gifted with more than her share of rugged
common-sense, inherited, doubtless, from her Montana ancestors.
Even as Duncan bent above Beatrice's unconscious form, and before he
spoke to her, Sally had started to her feet and pressed the
electric-button in the wall, with the consequence that, at the instant
when Beatrice became unconscious the second time, two of the servants
entered the room.
"Miss Brunswick has only fainted," she told them, rapidly. "Lift her,
and carry her to my room. Tell Pauline to care for her, and that I
shall be there, immediately." She stood aside while they carried out
her commands; then, she turned upon Duncan.
"You are a great fool, Roderick!" she exclaimed, without stopping to
weigh her words. "I thought you had some sense; but it seems that you
have none at all. Leave the house at once; and don't you dare to seek
Beatrice Brunswick, until you have settled, in one way or another,
your affairs with Patricia Langdon. Now, go! Really, I thought I liked
you, immensely, but, for the present moment, I am not sure whether I
hate you, or despise you! Do go, there's a good fellow; and I'll send
you word, in the morning, how Beatrice is."
"Sally, what a little trump you are!" he exclaimed. "I know I'm a
fool; I have certainly found it out during the last twelve or fourteen
hours. You'll have to help me out of this muddle, somehow; you seem to
be the only one in the lot of us who has any sense."
"Then, help yourself out of the house, as quickly as you know how,"
she retorted; and she ran past him up the stairs, toward the room
where she had directed that Beatrice should be taken.
Duncan sighed. He looked around him for his hat, to find that it was
still crushed down on the back of his head, and, smiling grimly to
himself, he passed out of the house upon the street.
* * * * *
Only one of the great dailies of New York City, published that Sunday
morning, contained any reference whatever to the supposed incident of
the wedding ceremony between Roderick Duncan and Miss Brunswick, at
"The Little Church Around the Corner." The editors had been afraid to
use Radnor's story, without verification. To them, it had seemed
preposterous and unnatural, and especially were they reluctant to
print anything concerning it when Radnor was forced to admit to them
that Jack Gardner had ultimately denied the truth of the story he had
first told.
But there is one paper in the city that is always eager for
sensations, and unfortunately it is not very particular concerning the
use of them. This paper published a "story," as a newspaper would call
it, which was told so ambiguously and with such skill as to preclude
any possibility of a libelous action, while the suggestions it
contained were so strongly made that the article was entertaining, at
least, and it supplied, in many quarters, an opportunity for
discussion and gossip. It hinted at scandal in association with
Roderick Duncan and his millions. What more could be desired of it?
The story was merely a relation of the events as we know them, at the
outset. It told of the party in the box at the opera-house, of the
departure therefrom of Duncan and Miss Brunswick and of their
destination when they entered the taxicab; after that, everything
contained in the article, was surmise, but it was couched in such
terms that many who read it actually believed a marriage-ceremony had
taken place. During Sunday, Duncan was sought by reporters of various
newspapers. He readily admitted them to his presence, but would submit
to no interview further than to state that the rumor was absolutely
false, was utterly without foundation, and that he would prosecute any
newspaper daring to uphold it. Miss Brunswick could not be found by
these news-gatherers. Old Steve Langdon laughed when they sought him,
and assured them that there was no truth whatever in the rumor.
Patricia, naturally regarded as an interested party, declined to be
seen.
Radnor himself sought out Jack Gardner, but it is not necessary that
we should relate the particulars of that interview. Suffice it to say
that no further reference was made to the supposed incident by any
newspaper, and that it was quickly forgotten, save by a very few
individuals, who made it a point to remember.
During the day, Duncan sought to communicate with Sally Gardner over
the telephone, but succeeded only in obtaining a statement from one of
the footmen, to the effect that Mrs. Gardner presented her compliments
to Mr. Duncan, and wished it to be said that she would communicate
with him by letter; and that, in the meantime, there existed no cause
whatever, for anxiety on his part.