I FORCE BILLIE TO LISTEN
There was a narrow settee against the wall, and I sat down upon it, to
think and to wait for Hardy's return. Eager as I was to discover the
cause of Le Gaire's death, yet it seemed almost more important that
Billie be brought to an understanding of conditions. Her father could
scarcely fail this time to relate in full the details of our encounter,
and the girl would realize at once her injustice toward me. I hardly
knew what I dared hope as a result, but she was impulsive, warm-hearted,
and would surely endeavor to make amends. Bell came back from the front
of the house.
"Some fight going on out there," indicating the north and east, "and
seems to be drifting this way."
"Our fellows are driving you," I replied. "Have been noticing that all
the morning; looks as if your left and centre were giving way."
"Wait until Chambers gets up, and you'll hear another tune," his pride
touched. "What's the sergeant doing?"
"Evidently going to get a look at the attic." Then, deciding
quickly,--"I am going to turn you all loose, and try to get back to our
lines, as soon as we can gain some understanding of this death mystery,
Bell. It looks as though the battle would end up somewhere about here,
and I can hardly expect to fight the entire Confederate army with ten
men and a sergeant. It's a dignified retreat for me. Where now?"
"To help your man. I am crazy to get away. I'm a soldier, Galesworth,
and they're wondering out there why I am not in my place. The earlier
you say go, the better pleased I'll be."
He clambered out the window to where Miles was perched on the steep
roof, and I was left alone, with no noise in my ears but the continuous
firing, the reverberations already jarring the house. I found it
difficult to collect my thoughts, or to reason out the situation.
Everything had occurred so swiftly, so unexpectedly, as to leave me
confused--the surging of battle our way, the affair with Le Gaire, his
strange death, the thought which had taken possession of Billie, the
skulking murderer hid somewhere within the house--all combined to leave
me in a state of perplexity. I should have withdrawn my men before
daylight; there was no sign of any Federal troops advancing up the
ravine, and probably my messenger had failed to get through. It looked
as though we were left to our fate. Every moment counted, and yet I
could not leave until this mystery was made clear, and Miss Willifred
convinced of my innocence. I was so involved in the tangled threads that
to run away was almost a confession, and must risk remaining, moment by
moment, in hope some discovery would make it all plain. Yet the longer I
thought the less I understood. Le Gaire had come to Billie wounded--but
how? His very condition had appealed to her as a woman. She had pitied,
sympathized, and he had taken advantage of her natural compassion to
falsely charge me with the whole trouble. How far he had gone, what foul
accusation he had made, could not be guessed, yet he had sufficiently
poisoned her mind against me. Then circumstances had combined to make
the case still blacker. Doubtless to her it was already conclusive. I
had been seeking the fellow alone, revolver in hand. She had overheard
what must have sounded like a struggle, and there was the dead man, his
skull crushed by a blow. Everything pointed directly toward me from her
point of view--motive, opportunity. Who else could it be? Even I,
anxious as I was, could not answer that question. I had seen no one, was
not aware the dead man had an enemy about the place, could discover no
clue except that bit of damp clay on the stairs. Yes, and my own boots
were stained with it also--only I knew that lump never came from mine.
These thoughts swept across my mind in lightning-like flashes, but
brought no solution to the problem. Then Major Hardy suddenly appeared,
closing the door, and mopping his face with a handkerchief. His eyes
met mine.
"By Gad, Galesworth," he began, "woman is the hardest creature to
comprehend on this foot-stool. I've been trying to understand them for
fifty years, and am still in the primary class. You'd never have thought
that girl of mine cared anything for Le Gaire to hear her talk last
night, yet, now the fellow is dead, she is crazy. Lying in there on the
bed, crying, and won't say a word. Only thing she asked me when I came
in was what he had been killed with. I said it looked as if he had been
struck from behind with a pistol butt, and then she collapsed. Couldn't
get a thing out of her--just cried, and begged me to go away; said she'd
be all right, if left alone. Blamed if I know what to do with a woman
like that--over such a fellow as Le Gaire too! By Gad, I supposed Billie
had more sense. When she wouldn't talk to me I proposed sending you in
to explain matters. You should have seen her eyes, Galesworth, through
the tears. Mad! I never waited to hear what she was trying to say. I
reckoned the best thing to do was to leave her alone a while."
"You explained nothing?"
"No--what was there to explain?"
"Major," I said, every nerve braced for conflict, "with your permission
I am going in there and have a talk with your daughter--may I?"
"Certainly, as far as I am concerned, but I don't envy you the job."
"I'll assume all risk, but I am not willing to leave her like this.
Perhaps I understand the situation better than you do. You stay where I
can call you if necessary, and look after the search for whoever got Le
Gaire. Bell and Miles are out on the roof trying for the attic. I won't
be gone long."
I have gone into battle with less trepidation than I approached that
door, but never with greater determination to bear myself as became a
man. Billie was going to know the truth just as clearly as I could tell
it to her. I could not convince myself it was love for Le Gaire which
had so affected her. I doubted if she had ever loved him. The fellow had
played upon her sympathy, her pity, and circumstances had conspired to
cause her to believe I was his murderer. This was amply sufficient to
account for her feeling of horror, her evident desire to escape further
contact with me. Hardy had been blind and blundering--had made things
worse, rather than better; now I must see what I could do. I rapped at
the panel, and thought I heard a faint response. A moment later I stood
within, and had closed the door behind me. She was on a couch at the
opposite side of the room, but arose to her feet instantly, her face
white, one hand sweeping back the strands of ruffled hair.
"You!" she exclaimed incredulously. "Why have you come here? I supposed
it would be my father."
"Major Hardy told me how you were feeling; that he could do nothing for
you--"
"Did he understand I wished to confer with you?"
"No, but--"
"You decided to invade my room without permission. Do you not think you
have persecuted me quite long enough?"
"Why do you say persecuted?"
"Because your acts have assumed that form, Lieutenant Galesworth. You
persist in seeking me after I have requested to be left alone."
"Miss Hardy," and my eyes met hers, "has it ever occurred to you that
you may be the one in the wrong, the one mistaken? I am simply here to
explain, to tell you the truth, and compel you to do justice."
"Indeed! how compel? With the revolver in your belt?"
"No; merely by a statement of facts, to be proven, if necessary, by the
evidence of your father and Captain Bell. I am not asking you to believe
me, but surely they have no occasion for falsifying. Why have you not
listened to them?"
"Listened!" startled by my words. "I would have listened, but they have
said nothing. They have seemed to avoid all reference to what has
occurred. I thought they were trying to spare me pain, humiliation. Is
there something concealed, something I do not know?"
"If I may judge from your words and action the entire truth has been
kept from you," and I advanced a step or two nearer. "I am not the one
to come with an explanation, but your father has failed, and I am not
willing to go away until this matter is made clear. Whether you believe,
or not, you must listen."
She stared at me, still trembling from head to foot, and yet there was a
different expression in her eyes--puzzled doubt.
"You--you will have much to explain," she said slowly. "If--if I were
you I should hardly attempt it."
"Which must mean, Miss Hardy, that you are already so prejudiced a fair
hearing is impossible. Yet I thought you, at least, a friend."
A deep flush swept into her cheeks, to vanish as quickly.
"You had reason to think so, and I was," earnestly. "I was deceived in
your character, and trusted you implicitly. It seems as though I am
destined to be the constant victim of deceit. I can keep faith in no
one. It is hard to understand you, Lieutenant Galesworth. How do you
dare to come here and face me, after all that has occurred?"
She was so serious, so absolutely truthful, that for the moment I could
only stare at her.
"You mean after what you said to me last night? But I am not here to
speak of love."
"No," bitterly. "That is all over with, forgotten. In the light of what
has happened since, the very memory is an insult. Oh, you hurt me so!
Cannot you see how this interview pains me! Won't you go--go now, and
leave me in peace."
"But surely you will not drive me away unheard!--not refuse to learn the
truth."
"The truth! It is the truth I already know, the truth which hurts."
"Nevertheless you are going to hear my story. If I have done a wrong to
you, or any one, I want it pointed out, so it may be made right. I
shall not leave this room, nor your presence, until I have uttered my
last word of explanation. I should be a coward to turn away. Will you
sit down and listen? You need not even speak until I am done."
She looked at me helplessly, her eyes full of questioning, yet, when I
extended a hand, she drew back quickly.
"Yes--I--I suppose I must."
She sank back upon the couch, these words barely audible, and I drew a
deep breath, hardly knowing where to begin.
"I am a Federal officer, Miss Hardy, and my uniform is no passport to
your favor, yet that is no reason you should be unjust. I do not think I
have ever been guilty of but one ungentlemanly act toward you, and that
was unavoidable--I mean listening to your conversation with Captain
Le Gaire."
She shuddered, and gave utterance to a little cry.
"I loved you; with all my heart I loved you," I went on swiftly, driven
by a sudden rush of passion. "What you said then gave me a right to
tell you so."
"And was it because I was unwilling to listen that--that you did what
you did later?" she broke in hastily.
"Did later! You mean that I consented to meet Le Gaire?"
"Yes--that you compelled him to fight you; that you--Oh, God! Why bring
this all up again?"
"Merely because nothing occurred of which I am ashamed. Without doubt it
was my love for you which caused the trouble. But I was not the
aggressor. Did you suppose otherwise? Le Gaire deliberately struck me
across the face."
She rose again to her feet, her cheeks blazing.
"It was the answer of a gentleman to an insult given the woman he was to
marry," proudly.
"The answer to an insult! What insult?"
"You know; I shall not demean myself to repeat the words."
So this was what she had been told! Well, I could block that lie with a
sentence.
"Miss Hardy," I asked soberly, "are you aware that your father refused
to act for Captain Le Gaire, but went to the field as my second?"
"No," her whole expression indicative of surprise. "Impossible!"
"But it was not impossible, for it was true. Captain Bell had to be send
for to second Le Gaire, and he did it under protest. Do you imagine your
father would have taken my part if I had uttered one word reflecting
upon you?"
She attempted to speak, but failed, and I took advantage of the silence.
"Major Hardy is in the hall, and will corroborate all I say. Perhaps I
ought not to attempt my own defence, but this misunderstanding is too
grave to continue. There is too much at stake in your life and mine.
From what you have already said it is evident you have been
deceived--probably that deception did not end merely with the
commencement of the quarrel."
"Did--did Major Hardy truly second you?" she interrupted, apparently
dazed. "I--I can hardly comprehend."
"He did; he even volunteered to do so. Le Gaire charged you with being
unduly intimate with me, and your father resented his words. The man
began threatening as soon as I entered the room, and finally struck me
across the face, daring me to an encounter. I am no duellist; this was
my first appearance in that role; but I could never have retained my
self-respect and refused to meet him."
"You--you forced him to accept pistols?"
"In a way, yes. Your father convinced him I was an expert swordsman, and
consequently he chose derringers, believing they would be to his
advantage. The truth is, I am not particularly skilled in the use
of either."
She looked at me a moment as though she would read clear down into the
depths of my soul; then she leaned over against the head of the couch,
her face hidden in her arm.
"I--I will listen," she said falteringly, "to all you have to say."