THE MYSTERIOUS YOUNG WOMAN
Dr. Earl took a late dinner at his sister's house, after having spent an
hour with his fiancee on the way. There were just the four of them at
table, his sister and her husband, his brother and himself.
His sister was the oldest member of his family, which comprised but the
three of them, his father and mother having died some years before.
During the college days of both himself and his brother, who was two
years his junior, his sister had assumed the role of a mother to them,
and right devotedly had she filled the part. She had been more of a
"pal" to them than anything else, and some years' residence in England
during her schooldays had broadened her vision of the true meaning and
value of this relation between those of opposite sex and particularly
between brother and sister.
She possessed now, as always, the unbounded respect and confidence of
these two young men of thoroughly dissimilar character and temperament,
and she was the repository of the sacred secrets of each of them, which
she was warned she must never betray to the other. And she never did.
Eight years previous to these occurrences, she had married George
Ramsey, President of the Gotham Trust Company, which institution had
recently absorbed half a dozen weaker concerns doing a similar business,
and more recently had taken over from the New York bankers, who were
stockholders in the trust company, the handling of most of the public
utility securities that were floated in this country. But George Ramsey
was not the pretentious pawnbroker in spirit and manner that so often
presides over the destinies of American banks, but he was a
philosophical financier who understood perfectly the strength and
weakness of the system under which he worked, and who, while he wondered
at the supine idiocy of the people that would permit of the prevailing
Dick Turpin methods of high finance, never took his eye from the horizon
of public action, where daily he expected to see "the cloud no bigger
than a man's hand" that was to expand into the storm that would engulf
these and other long permitted public ills.
Many times recently he had sounded the alarm of the dangers attending
recapitalization of properties that already bore a heavy weight of
watered securities, but his colleagues had laughed at what they termed
his fears, and had attempted to reassure him of their complete
possession of the departments of government that controlled such
matters. Bred to the banking business, he had no thought of transferring
his abilities and energies to the realm of statesmanship, but in the
sanctum of his own home he would often pour forth his disgust with, and
his fear of, such methods, to the tall, clear-eyed, clear-brained and
beautiful woman from whom John and Frank Earl were wont to seek advice
in their perplexities. And from her he always received valuable
suggestions, a keener insight into the motives of men, a broader, more
humane view-point, and withal a firmness to set himself, in part, where
the law of the land should have been set wholly, as a barrier against
the worst of these public depredations.
Mr. and Mrs. George Ramsey were the same lovers now that they were
during their honeymoon. In the crowded ballroom, at the opera, in the
automobile after the harassing cares of the day, on land or sea, he was
always the admiring and devoted attendant, and gave expression to his
feelings in a variety of new and interesting ways. It was evident that
they had not run counter to the influence of the stars in waiting for a
natural affinity. In their home they entered into the spirit of whatever
was borne to them by their guests. With scholars and philosophers they
held their own in abstruse and abstract discussions. With musicians and
music lovers they were at ease, for both played and sang with more than
amateur skill. With young people bent on a frolic, they could be the
gayest of the party. Their outlook upon life was always across green
meadows or perfectly kept beds of beautiful flowers.
Every guest found ready sympathy for whatever was nearest and dearest to
him, and went away convinced that he had never rightly understood his
own hobby before.
In this atmosphere, and at table with this couple, John and Frank Earl
seated themselves at eight o'clock for dinner.
It would be difficult to imagine two brothers more widely separated in
physical and mental characteristics. John was tall, athletic, with dark
hair, large, dreamy brown eyes, perfect poise, a silent and dignified
bearing that easily commanded attention when he spoke, a low, musical
voice and an exceedingly strong and graceful hand.
Frank was of medium height, spare of figure, with light hair,
penetrating blue eyes, resilient voice, quick and nervous of speech,
with large hands and feet, and not a shadow of dignity in his bearing.
The one personified reflection; the other action. In the eyes of one
appeared the dreams of centuries; beaming from the eyes of the other was
the fun of the ages.
"Did any of you people, aside from Jack, see the suffragette parade
to-day?" asked Frank, with laughing eyes fixed upon his brother.
"I--how do you know I saw it?" asked John, and his confused manner
brought "Eh, Jack?" from the other two.
"It's all right, Jack; I won't tell Leonora, but how jealous she would
be if she could have seen you following the banner carried by those
three pretty girls," answered Frank. "Why, I followed you a dozen blocks
myself, almost touching you the whole time, just to see which one of the
three girls was making you join the parade. The next time get right out
into the street, old man, and don't block the view of us spectators, for
you know you were a part of that parade to-day, in mind at least."
The absurdity of the scene as depicted by Frank made even John throw
back his head and join in the unrestrained laughter of the others.
"I was in the Waldorf-Astoria at a tea-table near the window when the
head of the column came in view. I, too, liked the looks of those pretty
girls carrying the banner, but before I could decide which one I liked
best, my dearly beloved brother hove in sight, with eyes glued on the
third one, wandering down the Avenue like either a slow-hatching lunatic
or a good subject for a hypnotist. I knew Jack would need me in New York
to steer him right until all that Indian mysticism gets out of his
system, and that is the reason I left the delights of the wilds for the
barbarism of the city. Well, I excused myself and hurried out to take
possession of Jack, but when I got close to him and was just about to
slap him on the shoulder, I followed his eyes--and for the life of me, I
couldn't touch him!"
Here Frank's tone became half serious and his changed manner hushed the
laughter of the others. "I have always ridiculed the idea of hypnotism
and in every experiment where I have been present I have set myself to
disprove its effects. But candidly, folks, I was hypnotized.
Unconsciously I followed that parade a whole dozen blocks myself, and
when I finally came out of the trance, or whatever it was, and started
back to the hotel, the entire atmosphere seemed filled with some kind of
uncanny dope. I never witnessed such contagious energy and earnestness,
and every step emanated spiritual sparks that blinded my eyes and took
possession of my faculties. Who is she, Jack?"
"That is what I want to know. I call her my 'Mystery.' One day while I
was in London and near Trafalgar Square I saw a demonstration of women
down toward the parliament buildings. I went that way to see what was up
and soon discovered that it was a body of English suffragettes making an
attempt to exercise their claimed right to petition parliament. As
usual, the demonstration was more or less strenuous and the police
interfered. When I got close enough to identify them, I saw my 'Mystery'
in the front ranks, exhorting the women, protesting and pleading with
the policemen, and gradually getting nearer and nearer the parliament
buildings until they had almost reached one of the entrances. It looked
very much as if they might get entirely in and vindicate their claim,
but just at that moment a fresh squad of police arrived under an officer
superior to any present, and ordered the arrest of the leaders. My
'Mystery' was the first arrested. It was then that I discovered that she
was an American girl. The speech she delivered to those police officers
on human rights and human liberties and women's rights and women's
liberties is worthy a place among the world's great orations. They took
her and the rest of them away, but I noticed that they treated her with
marked respect. I don't think any of them were jailed on that occasion,
but she defied them to jail her. The next time I saw her was at the
Grand Opera House in Paris, two months later. She was with some friends
in an adjoining stall. It was a gala performance for the benefit of the
flood sufferers and the most noted singers in the world had volunteered
their services, and single acts from a number of operas were given. It
was difficult to believe that this beautiful, stylish, richly-gowned
girl was the one I saw arrested in a suffrage disturbance on the streets
of London. Throughout the performance I watched her closely, and her
expressive face reflected the emotion of every leading role. She partook
of the abandon of the gayer airs in 'Carmen,' and her cheeks were
flooded with tears at the misfortunes of Marguerite in 'Faust.' I was
dying to know who she was, but I was with foreign surgeons, and saw no
Americans that I knew. To-day is the first time I have seen her since.
Who is she, Hilda?" eagerly he asked of his sister.
"You and Frank give me a lot of exclamation points, with a vivid
description of how the atmosphere affected you, and then want me to name
a vision for you. Please describe the physical girl, leaving out all
adjectives, mystical pieces of air, _et cetera_, and perhaps I can tell
who she is."
Jack described the girl in the parade, somewhat repressing his
enthusiasm under Frank's amused scrutiny.
"I don't wonder at your captivation. That is Silvia Holland, one rich
American girl who is determined to justify her existence, live a life
that is worth while, and demonstrate the ability of women to be
economically independent, for although her father has a half-dozen city,
country and resort residences, she insists in maintaining at her own
expense a modest apartment in the Whittier Studios, and keeps up her own
country home on the Hudson at Nutwood. Just now her parents are on a
trip around the world. You know she is a graduate of the law school at
Columbia and was admitted to practice a few months ago. You should thank
your stars, Jack, that it is not the medical profession she is seeking
to enter, or the dry bones there would be worse shaken up than they will
be by your new theories, and you would have a formidable rival."
"She is not the daughter of John J. Holland, the steel magnate?" he
inquired.
"Yes, his daughter and only child."
"Whew! There is hope of the American woman after all. There certainly is
a big social revolution on in America," and Jack arose with the others
to go into the library for coffee.
"It might interest you young men to know that these suffragists are to
finish their day's work with a ball and a bazaar to-night, and I have
tickets for a box," suggested Hilda.
"Of course Jack can't go, but I shall be delighted to bask in the smiles
of this modern Semiramis a while," answered Frank. "Then, too," he
added, "she may convert me to suffrage, which living in Colorado among
suffragists for two years has failed to do."
"Oh, that is because you are looking at the matter through a railroad
attorney's eyes; long ago it was truly written that 'no man can serve
two masters,' and your railroad employment is your master just now,"
answered his sister.
"I have heard reports that indicate that woman's suffrage in Colorado is
apt quite soon to cause not only you railroad lawyers but our holders of
railroad securities some concern about the quantity of water we inject
into any one issue of stocks and bonds," laughingly suggested Mr.
Ramsey.
"Come, gentlemen, your charming Amazon will not stay up all night, and
it is ten-thirty now," called Hilda, who had already garbed herself for
the automobile.