"And now, if you have all seen the coin and sufficiently admired it, you
may pass it back. I make a point of never leaving it off the shelf for
more than fifteen minutes."
The half dozen or more guests seated about the board of the genial
speaker, glanced casually at each other as though expecting to see the
object mentioned immediately produced.
But no coin appeared.
"I have other amusements waiting," suggested their host, with a smile in
which even his wife could detect no signs of impatience. "Now let Robert
put it back into the cabinet."
Robert was the butler.
Blank looks, negative gestures, but still no coin.
"Perhaps it is in somebody's lap," timidly ventured one of the younger
women. "It doesn't seem to be on the table."
Immediately all the ladies began lifting their napkins and shaking out
the gloves which lay under them, in an effort to relieve their own
embarrassment and that of the gentlemen who had not even so simple a
resource as this at their command.
"It can't be lost," protested Mr. Sedgwick, with an air of perfect
confidence. "I saw it but a minute ago in somebody's hand. Darrow, you
had it; what did you do with it?"
"Passed it along."
"Well, well, it must be under somebody's plate or doily." And he began
to move about his own and such dishes as were within reach of his hand.
Each guest imitated him, lifting glasses and turning over spoons till
Mr. Sedgwick himself bade them desist. "It's slipped to the floor," he
nonchalantly concluded. "A toast to the ladies, and we will give Robert
the chance of looking for it."
As they drank this toast, his apparently careless, but quietly astute,
glance took in each countenance about him. The coin was very valuable
and its loss would be keenly felt by him. Had it slipped from the table
some one's eye would have perceived it, some hand would have followed
it. Only a minute or two before, the attention of the whole party had
been concentrated upon it. Darrow had held it up for all to see, while
he discoursed upon its history. He would take Darrow aside at the first
opportunity and ask him----But--it! how could he do that? These were his
intimate friends. He knew them well, more than well, with one exception,
and he----Well, he was the handsomest of the lot and the most debonair
and agreeable. A little more gay than usual to-night, possibly a trifle
too gay, considering that a man of Mr. Blake's social weight and
business standing sat at the board; but not to be suspected, no, not to
be suspected, even if he was the next man after Darrow and had betrayed
something like confusion when the eyes of the whole table turned his way
at the former's simple statement of "I passed it on." Robert would find
the coin; he was a fool to doubt it; and if Robert did not, why, he
would simply have to pocket his chagrin, and not let a triviality like
this throw a shadow over his hospitality.
All this, while he genially lifted his glass and proposed the health of
the ladies. The constraint of the preceding moment was removed by his
manner, and a dozen jests caused as many merry laughs. Then he pushed
back his chair.
"And now, some music!" he cheerfully cried, as with lingering glances
and some further pokings about of the table furniture, the various
guests left their places and followed him into the adjoining room.
But the ladies were too nervous and the gentlemen not sufficiently sure
of their voices to undertake the entertainment of the rest at a moment
of such acknowledged suspense; and notwithstanding the exertions of
their host and his quiet but much discomfited wife, it soon became
apparent that but one thought engrossed them all, and that any attempt
at conversation must prove futile so long as the curtains between the
two rooms remained open and they could see Robert on his hands and knees
searching the floor and shoving aside the rugs.
Darrow, who was Mr. Sedgwick's brother-in-law and almost as much at home
in the house as Sedgwick himself, made a move to draw these curtains,
but something in his relative's face stopped him and he desisted with
some laughing remark which did not attract enough attention, even, to
elicit any response.
"I hope his eyesight is good," murmured one of the young girls, edging a
trifle forward. "Mayn't I help him look? They say at home that I am the
only one in the house who can find anything."
Mr. Sedgwick smiled indulgently at the speaker, (a round-faced,
round-eyed, merry-hearted girl whom in days gone by he had dandled on
his knees), but answered quite quickly for him:
"Robert will find it if it is there." Then, distressed at this
involuntary disclosure of his thought, added in his whole-hearted way:
"It's such a little thing, and the room is so big and a round object
rolls unexpectedly far, you know. Well, have you got it?" he eagerly
demanded, as the butler finally showed himself in the door.
"No, sir; and it's not in the dining-room. I have cleared the table and
thoroughly searched the floor."
Mr. Sedgwick knew that he had. He had no doubts about Robert. Robert had
been in his employ for years and had often handled his coins and, at his
order, sometimes shown them.
"Very well," said he, "we'll not bother about it any more to-night; you
may draw the curtains."
But here the clear, almost strident voice of the youngest man of the
party interposed.
"Wait a minute," said he. "This especial coin is the great treasure of
Mr. Sedgwick's valuable collection. It is unique in this country, and
not only worth a great deal of money, but cannot be duplicated at any
cost. There are only three of its stamp in the world. Shall we let the
matter pass, then, as though it were of small importance? I feel that we
cannot; that we are, in a measure, responsible for its disappearance.
Mr. Sedgwick handed it to us to look at, and while it was going through
our hands it vanished. What must he think? What has he every right to
think? I need not put it into words; you know what you would think, what
you could not help but think, if the object were yours and it was lost
in this way. Gentlemen--I leave the ladies entirely out of this--I do
not propose that he shall have further opportunity to associate me with
this very natural doubt. I demand the privilege of emptying my pockets
here and now, before any of us have left his presence. I am a
connoisseur in coins myself and consequently find it imperative to take
the initiative in this matter. As I propose to spare the ladies, let us
step back into the dining-room. Mr. Sedgwick, pray don't deny me; I'm
thoroughly in earnest, I assure you."
The astonishment created by this audacious proposition was so great, and
the feeling it occasioned so intense, that for an instant all stood
speechless. Young Hammersley was a millionaire himself, and generous to
a fault, as all knew. Under no circumstances would any one even suspect
him of appropriating anything, great or small, to which he had not a
perfect right. Nor was he likely to imagine for a moment that any one
would. That he could make such a proposition then, based upon any such
plea, argued a definite suspicion in some other quarter, which could not
pass unrecognised. In vain Mr. Sedgwick raised his voice in frank and
decided protest, two of the gentlemen had already made a quick move
toward Robert, who still stood, stupefied by the situation, with his
hand on the cord which controlled the curtains.
"He is quite right," remarked one of these, as he passed into the
dining-room. "I shouldn't sleep a wink to-night if this question
remained unsettled." The other, the oldest man present, the financier of
whose standing and highly esteemed character I have already spoken, said
nothing, but followed in a way to show that his mind was equally made
up.
The position in which Mr. Sedgwick found himself placed was far from
enviable. With a glance at the two remaining gentlemen, he turned
towards the ladies now standing in a close group at the other end of the
room. One of them was his wife, and he quivered internally as he noted
the deep red of her distressed countenance. But it was the others he
addressed, singling out, with the rare courtesy which was his by nature,
the one comparative stranger, Darrow's niece, a Rochester girl, who
could not be finding this, her first party in Boston, very amusing.
"I hope you will appreciate the dilemma in which I have been placed by
these gentlemen," he began, "and will pardon----"
But here he noticed that she was not in the least attending; her eyes
were on the handsome figure of Hugh Clifford, her uncle's neighbour at
table, who in company with Mr. Hammersley was still hesitating in the
doorway. As Mr. Sedgwick stopped his useless talk, the two passed in and
the sound of her fluttering breath as she finally turned a listening ear
his way, caused him to falter as he repeated his assurances and begged
her indulgence.
She answered with some conventional phrase which he forgot while
crossing the room. But the remembrance of her slight satin-robed figure,
drawn up in an attitude whose carelessness was totally belied by the
anxiety of her half-averted glance, followed him into the presence of
the four men awaiting him. Four? I should say five, for Robert was still
there, though in a corner by himself, ready, no doubt, to share any
attempt which the others might make to prove their innocence.
"The ladies will await us in the music-room," announced the host on
entering; and then paused, disconcerted by the picture suddenly
disclosed to his eye. On one side stood the two who had entered first,
with their eyes fixed in open sternness on young Clifford, who, quite
alone on the rug, faced them with a countenance of such pronounced
pallor that there seemed to be nothing else in the room. As his features
were singularly regular and his almost perfect mouth accentuated by a
smile as set as his figure was immobile, the effect was so startling
that not only Mr. Sedgwick, but every other person present, no doubt,
wished that the plough had never turned the furrow which had brought
this wretched coin to light.
However, the affair had gone too far now for retreat, as was shown by
Mr. Blake, the elderly financier whom all were ready to recognise as the
chief guest there. With an apologetic glance at Mr. Hammersley, the
impetuous young millionaire who had first proposed this embarrassing
procedure, he advanced to an empty side-table and began, in a quiet,
business-like way, to lay on it the contents of his various pockets. As
the pile rose, the silence grew, the act in itself was so simple, the
motive actuating it so serious and out of accord with the standing of
the company and the nature of the occasion. When all was done, he
stepped up to Mr. Sedgwick, with his arms raised and held out from his
body.
"Now accommodate me," said he, "by running your hands up and down my
chest. I have a secret pocket there which should be empty at this time."
Mr. Sedgwick, fascinated by his look, did as he was bid, reporting
shortly:
"You are quite correct. I find nothing there."
Mr. Blake stepped back. As he did so, every eye, suddenly released from
his imposing figure, flashed towards the immovable Clifford, to find him
still absorbed by the action and attitude of the man who had just
undergone what to him doubtless appeared a degrading ordeal. Pale
before, he was absolutely livid now, though otherwise unchanged. To
break the force of what appeared to be an open, if involuntary,
self-betrayal, another guest stepped forward; but no sooner had he
raised his hand to his vest-pocket than Clifford moved, and in a high,
strident voice totally unlike his usual tones remarked:
"This is all--all--very interesting and commendable, no doubt. But for
such a procedure to be of any real value it should be entered into by
all. Gentlemen"--his rigidity was all gone now and so was his pallor--"I
am unwilling to submit myself to what, in my eyes, is an act of
unnecessary humiliation. Our word should be enough. I have not the
coin----" Stopped by the absolute silence, he cast a distressed look
into the faces about him, till it reached that of Mr. Sedgwick, where it
lingered, in an appeal to which that gentleman, out of his great heart,
instantly responded.
"One _should_ take the word of the gentleman he invites to his house. We
will excuse you, and excuse all the others from the unnecessary ceremony
which Mr. Blake has been good enough to initiate."
But this show of favour was not to the mind of the last-mentioned
gentleman, and met with instant reproof.
"Not so fast, Sedgwick. I am the oldest man here and I did not feel it
was enough simply to state that this coin was not on my person. As to
the question of humiliation, it strikes me that humiliation would lie,
in this instance, in a refusal for which no better excuse can be given
than the purely egotistical one of personal pride."
At this attack, the fine head of Clifford rose, and Darrow, remembering
the girl within, felt instinctively grateful that she was not here to
note the effect it gave to his person.
"I regret to differ," said he. "To me no humiliation could equal that of
demonstrating in this open manner the fact of one's not being a thief."
Mr. Blake gravely surveyed him. For some reason the issue seemed no
longer to lie between Clifford and the actual loser of the coin, but
between him and his fellow guest, this uncompromising banker.
"A thief!" repeated the young man, in an indescribable tone full of
bitterness and scorn.
Mr. Blake remained unmoved; he was a just man but strict, hard to
himself, hard to others. But he was not entirely without heart. Suddenly
his expression lightened. A certain possible explanation of the other's
attitude had entered his mind.
"Young men sometimes have reasons for their susceptibilities which the
old forget. If you have such--if you carry a photograph, believe that we
have no interest in pictures of any sort to-night and certainly would
fail to recognise them."
A smile of disdain flickered across the young man's lip. Evidently it
was no discovery of this kind that he feared.
"I carry no photographs," said he; and, bowing low to his host, he added
in a measured tone which but poorly hid his profound agitation, "I
regret to have interfered in the slightest way with the pleasure of the
evening. If you will be so good as to make my excuses to the ladies, I
will withdraw from a presence upon which I have made so poor an
impression."
Mr. Sedgwick prized his coin and despised deceit, but he could not let a
guest leave him in this manner. Instinctively he held out his hand.
Proudly young Clifford dropped his own into it; but the lack of mutual
confidence was felt and the contact was a cold one. Half regretting his
impulsive attempt at courtesy, Mr. Sedgwick drew back, and Clifford was
already at the door leading into the hall, when Hammersley, who by his
indiscreet proposition had made all this trouble for him, sprang forward
and caught him by the arm.
"Don't go," he whispered. "You're done for if you leave like this. I--I
was a brute to propose such an asinine thing, but having done so I am
bound to see you out of the difficulty. Come into the adjoining
room--there is nobody there at present--and we will empty our pockets
together and find this lost article if we can. I may have pocketed it
myself, in a fit of abstraction."
Did the other hesitate? Some thought so; but, if he did, it was but
momentarily.
"I cannot," he muttered; "think what you will of me, but let me go." And
dashing open the door he disappeared from their sight just as light
steps and the rustle of skirts were heard again in the adjoining room.
"There are the ladies. What shall we say to them?" queried Sedgwick,
stepping slowly towards the intervening curtains.
"Tell them the truth," enjoined Mr. Blake, as he hastily repocketed his
own belongings. "Why should a handsome devil like that be treated with
any more consideration than another? He has a secret if he hasn't a
coin. Let them know this. It may save some one a future heartache."
The last sentence was muttered, but Mr. Sedgwick heard it. Perhaps that
was why his first movement on entering the adjoining room was to cross
over to the cabinet and shut and lock the heavily panelled door which
had been left standing open. At all events, the action drew general
attention and caused an instant silence, broken the next minute by an
ardent cry:
"So your search was futile?"
It came from the lady least known, the interesting young stranger whose
personality had made so vivid an impression upon him.
"Quite so," he answered, hastily facing her with an attempted smile.
"The gentlemen decided not to carry matters to the length first
proposed. The object was not worth it. I approved their decision. This
was meant for a joyous occasion. Why mar it by unnecessary
unpleasantness?"
She had given him her full attention while he was speaking, but her eye
wandered away the moment he had finished and rested searchingly on the
other gentlemen. Evidently she missed a face she had expected to find
there, for her colour changed and she drew back behind the other ladies
with the light, unmusical laugh women sometimes use to hide a secret
emotion.
It brought Mr. Darrow forward.
"Some were not willing to subject themselves to what they considered an
unnecessary humiliation," he curtly remarked. "Mr. Clifford----"
"There! let us drop it," put in his brother-in-law. "I've lost my coin
and that's the end of it. I don't intend to have the evening spoiled for
a thing like that. Music! ladies, music and a jolly air! No more dumps."
And with as hearty a laugh as he could command in face of the sombre
looks he encountered on every side, he led the way back into the
music-room.
Once there the women seemed to recover their spirits; that is, such as
remained. One had disappeared. A door opened from this room into the
main hall and through this a certain young lady had vanished before the
others had had time to group themselves about the piano. We know who
this lady was; possibly, we know, too, why her hostess did not follow
her.
Meanwhile, Mr. Clifford had gone upstairs for his coat, and was
lingering there, the prey of some very bitter reflections. Though he had
encountered nobody on the stairs, and neither heard nor saw any one in
the halls, he felt confident that he was not unwatched. He remembered
the look on the butler's face as he tore himself away from Hammersley's
restraining hand, and he knew what that fellow thought and also was
quite able to guess what that fellow would do, if his suspicions were
farther awakened. This conviction brought an odd and not very open smile
to his face, as he finally turned to descend the one flight which
separated him from the front door he was so ardently desirous of closing
behind him for ever.
A moment and he would be down; but the steps were many and seemed to
multiply indefinitely as he sped below. Should his departure be noted,
and some one advance to detain him! He fancied he heard a rustle in the
open space under the stairs. Were any one to step forth, Robert
or----With a start, he paused and clutched the banister. Some one had
stepped forth; a woman! The swish of her skirts was unmistakable. He
felt the chill of a new dread. Never in his short but triumphant career
had he met coldness or disapproval in the eye of a woman. Was he to
encounter it now? If so, it would go hard with him. He trembled as he
turned his head to see which of the four it was. If it should prove to
be his hostess----But it was not she; it was Darrow's young friend, the
pretty inconsequent girl he had chatted with at the dinner-table, and
afterwards completely forgotten in the events which had centred all his
thoughts upon himself. And she was standing there, waiting for him! He
would have to pass her,--notice her,--speak.
But when the encounter occurred and their eyes met, he failed to find in
hers any sign of the disapproval he feared, but instead a gentle
womanly interest which he might interpret deeply, or otherwise,
according to the measure of his need.
That need seemed to be a deep one at this instant, for his countenance
softened perceptibly as he took her quietly extended hand.
"Good-night," she said; "I am just going myself," and with an entrancing
smile of perfect friendliness, she fluttered past him up the stairs.
It was the one and only greeting which his sick heart could have
sustained without flinching. Just this friendly farewell of one
acquaintance to another, as though no change had taken place in his
relations to society and the world. And she was a woman and not a
thoughtless girl! Staring after her slight, elegant figure, slowly
ascending the stair, he forgot to return her cordial greeting. What
delicacy, and yet what character there was in the poise of her spirited
head! He felt his breath fail him, in his anxiety for another glance
from her eye, for some sign, however small, that she had carried the
thought of him up those few, quickly-mounted steps. Would he get it? She
is at the bend of the stair; she pauses--turns, a nod,--and she is gone.
With an impetuous gesture, he dashed from the house.
In the drawing-room the noise of the closing door was heard, and a
change at once took place in the attitude and expression of all present.
The young millionaire approached Mr. Sedgwick and confidentially
remarked:
"There goes your precious coin. I'm sure of it. I even think I can tell
the exact place in which it is hidden. His hand went to his left
coat-pocket once too often."
"That's right. I noticed the action also," chimed in Mr. Darrow, who had
stepped up, unobserved. "And I noticed something else. His whole
appearance altered from the moment this coin came on the scene. An
indefinable half-eager, half-furtive look crept into his eye as he saw
it passed from hand to hand. I remember it now, though it didn't make
much impression upon me at the time."
"And I remember another thing," supplemented Hammersley in his anxiety
to set himself straight with these men of whose entire approval he was
not quite sure. "He raised his napkin to his mouth very frequently
during the meal and held it there longer than is usual, too. Once he
caught me looking at him, and for a moment he flushed scarlet, then he
broke out with one of his witty remarks and I had to laugh like
everybody else. If I am not mistaken, his napkin was up and his right
hand working behind it, about the time Mr. Sedgwick requested the return
of his coin."
"The idiot! Hadn't he sense enough to know that such a loss wouldn't
pass unquestioned? The gem of the collection; known all over the
country, and he's not even a connoisseur."
"No; I've never even heard him mention numismatics."
"Mr. Darrow spoke of its value. Perhaps that was what tempted him. I
know that Clifford's been rather down on his luck lately."
"He? Well, he don't look it. There isn't one of us so well set up.
Pardon me, Mr. Hammersley, you understand what I mean. He perhaps relies
a little bit too much on his fine clothes."
"He needn't. His face is his fortune--all the one he's got, I hear it
said. He had a pretty income from Consolidated Silver, but that's gone
up and left him in what you call difficulties. If he has debts
besides----"
But here Mr. Darrow was called off. His niece wanted to see him for one
minute in the hall. When he came back it was to make his adieu and hers.
She had been taken suddenly indisposed and his duty was to see her
immediately home. This broke up the party, and amid general
protestations the various guests were taking their leave when the whole
action was stopped by a smothered cry from the dining-room, and the
precipitate entrance of Robert, asking for Mr. Sedgwick.
"What's up? What's happened?" demanded that gentleman, hurriedly
advancing towards the agitated butler.
"Found!" he exclaimed, holding up the coin between his thumb and
forefinger. "It was standing straight up between two leaves of the
table. It tumbled and fell to the floor as Luke and I were taking them
out."
Silence which could be felt for a moment. Then each man turned and
surveyed his neighbour, while the women's voices rose in little cries
that were almost hysterical.
"I knew that it would be found, and found here," came from the hallway
in rich, resonant tones. "Uncle, do not hurry; I am feeling better,"
followed in unconscious naivete, as the young girl stepped in, showing a
countenance in which were small signs of indisposition or even of
depressed spirits.
Mr. Darrow, with a smile of sympathetic understanding, joined the others
now crowding about the butler.
"I noticed the crack between these two leaves when I pushed about the
plates and dishes," he was saying. "But I never thought of looking in it
for the missing coin. I'm sure I'm very sorry that I didn't."
Mr. Darrow, to whom these words had recalled a circumstance he had
otherwise completely forgotten, anxiously remarked: "That must have
happened shortly after it left my hand. I recall now that the lady
sitting between me and Clifford gave it a twirl which sent it spinning
over the bare table-top. I don't think she realised the action. She was
listening--we all were--to a flow of bright repartee going on below us,
and failed to follow the movements of the coin. Otherwise, she would
have spoken. But what a marvel that it should have reached that crack in
just the position to fall in!"
"It wouldn't happen again, not if we spun it there for a month of
Sundays."
"But Mr. Clifford!" put in an agitated voice.
"Yes, it has been rather hard on him. But he shouldn't have such keen
sensibilities. If he had emptied out his pockets cheerfully and at the
first intimation, none of this unpleasantness would have happened. Mr.
Sedgwick, I congratulate you upon the recovery of this valuable coin,
and am quite ready to offer my services if you wish to make Mr. Clifford
immediately acquainted with Robert's discovery."
"Thank you, but I will perform that duty myself," was Mr. Sedgwick's
quiet rejoinder, as he unlocked the door of his cabinet and carefully
restored the coin to its proper place.
When he faced back, he found his guests on the point of leaving. Only
one gave signs of any intention of lingering. This was the elderly
financier who had shown such stern resolve in his treatment of Mr.
Clifford's so-called sensibilities. He had confided his wife to the care
of Mr. Darrow, and now met Mr. Sedgwick with this remark:
"I'm going to ask a favour of you. If, as you have intimated, it is your
intention to visit Mr. Clifford to-night, I should like to go with you.
I don't understand this young man and his unaccountable attitude in this
matter, and it is very important that I should. Have you any objection
to my company? My motor is at the door, and we can settle the affair in
twenty minutes."
"None," returned his host, a little surprised, however, at the request.
"His pride does seem a little out of place, but he was among comparative
strangers, and seemed to feel his honour greatly impugned by
Hammersley's unfortunate proposition. I'm sorry way down to the ground
for what has occurred, and cannot carry him our apologies too soon."
"No, you cannot," retorted the other shortly. And so seriously did he
utter this that no time was lost by Mr. Sedgwick, and as soon as they
could get into their coats, they were in the motor and on their way to
the young man's apartment.
Their experience began at the door. A man was lolling there who told
them that Mr. Clifford had changed his quarters; where he did not know.
But upon the production of a five-dollar bill, he remembered enough
about it to give them a number and street where possibly they might find
him. In a rush, they hastened there; only to hear the same story from
the sleepy elevator boy anticipating his last trip up for the night.
"Mr. Clifford left a week ago; he didn't tell me where he was going."
Nevertheless the boy knew; that they saw, and another but smaller bill
came into requisition and awoke his sleepy memory.
The street and number which he gave made the two well-to-do men stare.
But they said nothing, though the looks they cast back at the
second-rate quarters they were leaving, so far below the elegant
apartment house they had visited first, were sufficiently expressive.
The scale of descent from luxury to positive discomfort was proving a
rapid one and prepared them for the dismal, ill-cared-for, altogether
repulsive doorway before which they halted next. No attendant waited
here; not even an elevator boy; the latter for the good reason that
there was no elevator. An uninviting flight of stairs was before them;
and on the few doors within sight a simple card showed the name of the
occupant.
Mr. Sedgwick glanced at his companion.
"Shall we go up?" he asked.