My mother had the reputation of being a skilful person in sickness,
or in any emergency. She devoted herself earnestly to the restoration
of Grace. I could not help looking at her, alarmed as I was, while
she lay pale and beautiful on the sofa. Captain Portman manifested a
deep interest in the sufferer, though he knew that she belonged to the
family of my persecutor, for the male members of which he had strongly
expressed his contempt and disgust.
I tried again to devise some explanation of the singular visit of Grace
at our house, and of the violent emotion which agitated her. Although I
knew that her father was indulgent to her, I was afraid that everything
was not pleasant at home. I had seen her brother strike her a severe
blow, and had heard him talk to her in the most violent manner. If he
would behave thus brutally to her in the presence of others, what would
he not do in the privacy of his own home? Grace was conscientious, and
with the highest views of truth and duty.
It was not difficult to believe, therefore, that some trouble had
occurred in the family of the great man of Middleport, and that poor
Grace had fled from her home in fear of personal violence. I began
to flatter myself, in view of the fact that she had come to me for
protection, and to fancy myself already a knight-errant. I had all
along rejoiced in the belief that she regarded me with favor and
kindness; but this last act of confidence crowned all my hopes. While
I was thinking what I should do for her, how I should shield her, she
opened her eyes.
My mother continued her benevolent ministrations until Grace was wholly
restored. Probably she was in the habit of fainting; at any rate, she
came out of the swoon with a facility which astonished me, and led me
to the conclusion that fainting was not the most serious thing in the
world, as I had supposed when I saw her silent and motionless on the
sofa. She seemed to gather up her faculties almost as suddenly as she
had been deprived of their use.
“Mr. Wolf, I came to see you,” said she, after she was able to speak.
“I am sorry I fainted; but I have not felt well to-day.”
“Rest yourself, Miss Toppleton,” interposed my mother. “Don’t try to
talk much yet.”
“I feel much better now, and shall do very well. I am much obliged to
you Mrs. Penniman, for your kindness.”
“Oh, not a bit!” exclaimed my mother.
“But I must do the errand which brought me here, and go home,” said
Grace, rising from the sofa.
“Don’t get up yet, Miss Toppleton; sit still,” added my mother, gently
compelling her to resume her place on the sofa.
“I feel quite well now. I always faint when anything disturbs me. Mr.
Wolf, I have something to say to you.”
“Well, I think I will go,” said Captain Portman.
“Not yet, if you please, sir,” interposed Grace. “What I have to say
concerns you, also. My father and my brother will be terribly incensed
against me if they know that I have been here.”
“They shall not know it from any of us,” I replied.
“I am sorry that my brother hates you, Mr. Wolf, and sorry that my
father indulges all his whims. My mother and I think that they do very
wrong; but we can’t help it. Just before I came away from home, I heard
them talking together about the gentleman who put my brother out of the
train at the time his leg was broken. That was you, sir, I believe?”
Captain Portman bowed his acknowledgment of the fact.
“They were talking about arresting you, sir, and taking you before the
court for an assault upon Tommy.”
The stout gentleman smiled, as though it were not a very serious matter.
“But I don’t think I should have come here if this had been all,”
continued Grace. “My brother saw and recognized you in the street, sir.”
“Very likely,” nodded Captain Portman.
“Dear me, I must hurry on with my story, or I shall be too late to do
any good!” exclaimed the fair visitor. “Well, my brother is determined
that you shall be arrested, too, Mr. Wolf. He insists that you were
concerned in the assault. They have gone to find an officer now. Tommy
says he shall prevent your running that steamboat this afternoon, and
perhaps for a week; and this is really what my brother wants to do, so
far as you are concerned, Mr. Wolf.”
Was this all? And Miss Grace had not been driven from her home by
the persecution of her father and brother! Tommy had not even struck
her again! I was really glad, when I came to think of it, that the
matter was no worse. If I had no opportunity to do desperate deeds in
the service of my beautiful friend, I had the consolation of knowing
that there was no occasion for any. I was happy to realize that peace
reigned in the great mansion.
When my anxiety for Grace would permit me to think of myself, I
appreciated the obligation under which she had placed me by this timely
warning. I was willing to be arrested for my agency in expelling Tommy
from the train, for, being entirely innocent, I could afford to face my
accusers.
“Now, what will you do, Mr. Wolf?” asked Grace, beginning to be much
agitated again.
“First, I shall be under everlasting obligations to you for your
kindness in taking all this trouble on my account.”
“Never mind that, Mr. Wolf,” she said, blushing. “I know you had nothing
to do with injuring my brother, and I do not want you to suffer for
this, or to have your steamboat stopped for nothing. The constable
and Tommy are going to wait for you at the corner of the street,” she
added, indicating the place where I was to be captured. “You must go
some other way.”
“I will, Miss Grace.”
“And I will go and throw myself into the hands of the Philistines at
once,” added Captain Portman, laughing.
“I suppose they can’t hurt you, sir,” said Grace.
“Well, I am certainly guilty of the offense charged upon me,” replied
Captain Portman. “I will not now pretend to justify it, though your
brother was very unreasonable, and detained me, as well as a crowd of
others, without the slightest excuse for doing so. The act was done in
the anger and excitement of the moment, and I shall cheerfully submit
to the penalty of the law, as a good citizen should do.”
I thanked Miss Grace again for her interest in me, and for the trouble
she had taken on my account. What she had done was no trivial thing to
her, as her fainting fully proved, and I could not but be proud of the
devotion she had exhibited in my cause. She took her leave; and after
she had been gone a few minutes, Captain Portman departed.
Tommy’s plan included me in the arrest for an assault upon him; but
that was only a conspiracy to injure the steamboat line on the other
side of the lake. I deemed it my duty to defeat this little scheme, in
the interests of my employers. I ate my dinner hastily, and then left
the house by the back door, making my way to the lake, where I had left
my skiff, by a round-about course. I pulled across, and as I went on
board of the _Ucayga_, I hoped the constable who was waiting for me
would have a good time.
I was not quite sure that Grace had not made a mistake, so far as I
was to be connected with the arrest. She might have misunderstood the
conversation she had heard; for I could hardly believe it possible that
Major Toppleton intended to have me arrested. Everybody knew that I had
had no hand in putting Tommy out of the car. No one had ever asserted
such a thing. But they could affirm that I was in company with Captain
Portman at the time, and that I had instigated him to do the deed. Of
course this was nonsense; but it might be a sufficient pretense to
detain me long enough for the _Ucayga_ to lose her afternoon trip. The
warning I had received induced me to prepare for the future, and I
instructed the mate to run the boat through, if at any time I should be
absent when it was time to start.
I went into the engine-room, and told my father what had transpired
during my absence. He listened to me, and seemed to be much annoyed by
my story; for it looked like the first of the petty trials to which we
were to be subjected, in accordance with Tommy’s threats. While I was
thus employed, Waddie Wimpleton appeared, excited and anxious under the
defeat we had that day sustained.
“I am sorry your father did not come down this morning,” said I, after
he had expressed his dissatisfaction at the movement of Major Toppleton.
“Why?” asked Waddie hopefully.
“Because I have a plan to propose to him.”
“Can’t you propose it to me?” said he, laughing.
“I am the president of the steamboat company.”
“I know you are; but I did not think you would be willing to take a
step so decided as the one I shall propose, without the advice and
consent of your father.”
“Let me hear what it is, and then I can tell you whether I will or not.”
“Come to my stateroom, then, and I will show you all the figures. If
I mistake not, we can do a big thing, even before the keel of the
_Hitaca_ is laid down.”
“I have been thinking a good deal about our affairs to-day, Wolf,”
said Waddie, as we went upon the hurricane-deck. “I have tried to feel
kindly toward the folks on the other side. It’s hard work, and I’m not
up to it yet--by the great horn spoon I’m not!”
“You must not try to overdo the matter,” I replied, pleased with his
enthusiasm.
“They are endeavoring to injure us all they can. If Major Toppleton had
not prevented his boat from coming to Centreport this morning, it would
have been easier to feel right toward him.”
“You need not feel unkindly toward him on that account. Major
Toppleton, as an individual, is one affair; his railroad and steamboat
line is quite another. A fair competition is all right. We will not
say a word, or do a thing, against the major or his son, personally;
but we must do the best we can for the success of our line. We are in
duty bound to do it, as much for the public good as our own. If we
lessen the time between Hitaca and Ucayga by an hour, so far we confer
a benefit upon the traveling community. We need have no ill-will toward
any person. If the major and his son need our help, our kind words, let
them be given. We will not say anything to injure their line; but we
will do the best we can to build up our own.”
“But we don’t shorten the time between Hitaca and Ucayga by an hour, or
even a minute,” said Waddie.
“Perhaps we shall. Sit down, and I will show you the figures,” I
replied, as I took my program from the desk.