MUTUAL ASSISTANCE
It was three days before she saw him again, he having left at daybreak
for a distant part of the range where he went to investigate a
disturbing report of mysteriously disappearing cattle whose loss puzzled
the most astute of his men. The news had come in over night, and
reasoning that she would be a late riser after her fatiguing trip, he
merely wrote her a short note saying that he was suddenly called away on
urgent business and could not say just when he would return. He was,
however, very explicit as to the horses that he deemed safe for her use,
particularly recommending a bay filly which he had broken especially for
her personal service. He did not deem it necessary to say that the filly
was his own personal property, originally designed as a gift for Grace.
An inexplicable disappointment wrinkled her smooth brows as she read the
carelessly polite words; this was such a note as her husband might have
written and she tossed it aside impatiently. Somehow or other it seemed
like a rebuff, this cold formality after their intimate conversation of
the preceding night, and she resented it strongly. Had she, after all,
made so little impression on this springald despite her tacit
encouragement of him! Could it be possible that he was only maliciously
amusing himself at her expense, playing even a more skillful game than
she was capable of doing against such an unusual antagonist? This man
was vastly different from those of her previous experience and she was
far from her habitual calm as she musingly weighed the possibilities.
At her request the filly was saddled and she rode over the ranch,
critically inspecting her new possessions. It was an unusually
well-situated property, and under Douglass's strenuous management it had
assumed an entirely new aspect. Everything was in perfect order and her
eye dwelt in pleased approval on the countless evidences of his
handiwork. With professional care and exactness he had reduced
everything to a science, and although not as extensive as the C Bar
holdings it was plain to the most casual observer that Constance
Brevoort's ranch was a close second in pecuniary value and even excelled
it in point of desirability as a place of habitation. Its income, in
proportion to the respective investments, was at least twice as great as
that of the Carter property, and promised to become even greater under a
proposed change of policy now in Douglass's contemplation.
"It is a labor of love," she said appreciatively. "He could not have
worked more faithfully or assiduously had the property been his own.
What heights an ambitious soul could attain to if working in loving
conjunction with so strong an executive nature as his." For a while she
sat musing introspectively, a rapt smile on her beautiful face; then of
a sudden she was filled with an unreasonable anger at Grace Carter. "To
think of his being wasted upon a colorless entity like that chit!"
On her return to the house she sought the seclusion of the little den
and wrathfully consumed a half dozen cigarettes. When dinner was
announced she ate perfunctorily and at its conclusion sought the den
again. It was far into the night when she finally arose and sought her
bedchamber. As she turned down the silken coverlet her ear caught
faintly that for which she had been waiting since the moon rose. She
hesitated a moment and then went swiftly to the open window. The cry had
come from the east, in the direction of the mountains where Douglass was
at work. With a warm color rioting across her face she opened her mouth
and made a queer little gurgling noise in her throat.
On the night of his return, tired, dusty and with a sullen anger burning
in his heart, he somewhat curtly declined her invitation to dine,
pleading fatigue and the necessity of a conference with his men. His
tour of investigation had resulted in the discovery that very extensive
depredations were being made upon the VN herds by what was evidently a
well-organized and shrewdly commanded band of rustlers far more
audaciously aggressive than any of his previous experience. At an
audience which he requested the next morning, he urged the advantage of
the immediate adoption of the change in policy previously referred to.
This policy was to dispose of the rather mediocre lot of cattle at
present in the VN brand for cash, and with the proceeds purchase a
smaller bunch of high-grade stock, which could be close-herded and
ranch-fed at a largely decreased expense and with an increased revenue,
the VN conditions being peculiarly adapted to such a policy. She
unhesitatingly authorized him to use his own discretion absolutely in
anything connected with her interests and he immediately ordered a
round-up with that end in view. He had already arranged for the sale of
the cattle, he somewhat abashedly confessed to her secret amusement, and
at a price rather above current quotations. The change could be made
without either delay or loss and he was openly sanguine of the outcome
of his new plans. During his absence he had partly succeeded in rounding
up the cattle to be sold, and in ten days more he had delivered into her
hand the buyer's check covering the transaction. To her great surprise
it was for an amount some five thousand dollars in excess of the
original purchase price of the whole ranch; evidently her manager had
driven a very good bargain.
He did not think it necessary to tell her that he had caught the cowboys
of a big syndicate in the act of running a bunch of VN steers out of the
country under the pretense of a general round-up, or that he had gone
directly to the headquarters of the outfit with a rather peremptory
request that they buy the rest of the cattle together with the brand, a
suggestion that the guilty parties found it advisable to accept in view
of the direct evidence with which he confronted them of not only this,
but several other shady transactions of a similar nature. Nor was she
aware, until several days later, that in the course of a slight argument
which he had indulged in with one of the syndicate's men, whom he had
caught red-handed in the act of branding a VN calf whose mother lay in a
nearby gully with a bullet hole in her head, he had resorted to a little
"six-gun suasion" with the result that the other fellow was in the
hospital at Leadville, while Douglass nursed an ugly flesh wound in his
shoulder. The syndicate, composed largely of eastern men who for obvious
reasons could not afford to have their acts unduly ventilated, were very
glad to close with his rather excessive demands, backed as they were by
the smoothest-working gun and handiest shot on the range.
She made the discovery In a rather unexpected way. They were out riding
together one pleasant afternoon, and seduced by the magnificent going
and delightful weather had prolonged their pasear into the twilight
hours. On the return canter, Douglass's horse, affrightened by a
viciously whirring rattlesnake on which it narrowly escaped treading,
began to "pitch" violently and for a few minutes Constance was treated
to an exhibition of superb horsemanship which made her blood tingle. It
was an unusually severe and long-sustained struggle between horse and
rider, but the man conquered as a matter of course and the rest of the
journey was without incident.
She had acquired the knack of dismounting by placing one hand on his
left shoulder; in doing so, this evening, her bare hand encountered
something wet and sticky. At that moment the door opened and a flood of
light from the living-room illuminated them sharply. Looking curiously
at her wet hand Constance caught her breath with a gasp.
"It is blood!" she cried in horror. "You are hurt!"
Despite his muttered assurance that it was nothing to be alarmed about
she drew him into the living-room, where she became almost hysterical at
the black-red blotch on his thin tan-colored silk shirt. Almost before
he suspected what she was about she had unknotted the kerchief from
around his throat and hastily bared his shoulder. In the violent
plunging of the horse the clumsily-fixed bandage had become displaced,
the wound had reopened and was bleeding freely.
Although entirely unaccustomed to the sight of any kind of wounds, she
knew intuitively from the tiny blue-rimmed red puncture on the massive
shoulder that this was a gun-shot injury. She ran over to her work
basket and secured a pair of scissors with which she unhesitatingly cut
away the shirt from the collar downwards, exposing the ragged gash of
exit on the other side. To 'Rastus, watching her with open mouth and
protruding eyes, she said sharply:
"Water, and some clean linen cloths, quick!"
She was a different woman now, and her subsequent ministrations were as
deft and as effectual as those of a trained nurse. Very tenderly she
bathed the shoulder, wondering all the while at its contrastive
whiteness with the bronzed face and throat, marveling at the silky
rippling of the muscles beneath as he obediently flexed his arm at her
command. In less than ten minutes she had completed her surgery and in
five more he was again rehabilitated in garments fetched by 'Rastus
from his room in the bunkhouse. She would not hear of his attending to
the horses, but had one of the men summoned, to whom their care was
delegated. If she detected Douglass's dejected wink at the smiling young
fellow, she made no sign, saying merely that she would be pleased to
have him dine with her as she wished to discuss some business matters of
importance with him.
Not until they had adjourned to the den did she evince the slightest
curiosity as to the time and cause of his mishap. Then when he had his
cigar nicely under way she demanded imperatively:
"And now be good enough to tell me, please, who shot you--why, where and
when! I want the whole truth with no evasions."
Thus cornered, he told her the story in its most important details,
ending with a regret that he had caused her so much apprehension and
unnecessary trouble. Her eyes were bright with wonder and admiration
when he finished but she nodded approval.
"Served the wretch right!" she snapped. "I almost wished you had killed
him."
"Well, ma'am," he said apologetically, "I tried all I knew how, but my
horse bucked outrageously at his shot--he got his work in first, you
know--and he seemed quiet enough when I shot. If you say so, I'll go and
finish him." She smiled at the grim pleasantry, knowing it to be such.
"And in all probability get your other arm shot off! No, thanks, I
prefer you as you are."
He brightened at this amazingly, but a mischievous twinkle stole into
his eye. "I am glad to hear that. Now that I am acquainted with your
preferences, I'll see that I keep in this winged condition. And yet, do
you know that your predilection for one-armed men is a surprise to me."
He looked quizzically at her sudden confusion. "Most ladies are partial
to men with two good arms; but just so that you keep on preferring me I
am content, no matter how anomalous the conditions."
She lit another papelito and smiled mockingly at him. "That was very
clumsy. I must get you well as soon as possible, poor wolf. You run
rather indifferently on one leg. What can such a benighted Ishmael as
you possibly know of the partialities of ladies?"
"Not much," he confessed humbly, "and yet a few have been undeservedly
generous to me. I am eager to learn, however, if the opportunity be
graciously accorded me." She evaded his bold glance a little nervously.
For a one-legged wolf he was coming disconcertingly fast. The water was
getting rather deep for drifting, and in the face of this baffling
head-wind she promptly tried another tack.
"Tell me," she asked curiously, "of the most wonderful thing in your
certainly unique experience."
"You," he said promptly, and the crimson suffused her face. "I think you
are the most wonderful thing that could ever happen to any man. There
are times when I can hardly believe the evidence of my senses. Imagine
me, a common menial, sitting here in the lap of luxury, holding familiar
converse with a queen like you and not feeling in the least embarrassed,
drinking in your ineffable loveliness unchecked, unrebuked, unafraid,
as the desert sands thirstily absorb the heavenly ram, drunk with the
rich wine of your sympathy and maddened with the subtle delirium of your
personal charms."
His voice, low and tense in the beginning, was now vibrant; he had risen
and was leaning across the low table, his muscles quivering, yet the
woman felt not the slightest fear of him. On the contrary, she was
thrilling to the core with a mad joy that she wanted to shout from the
housetops. Her face was very pale, but her eyes were jet black and
sparkling with a flame that burned down to the steel of the man,
inciting him to recklessness, and he threw reason to the winds.
"Constance!" His whisper was hoarse with suppressed emotion. He walked
swiftly to her side and held out his arms appealingly. She was quivering
all over, her bosom heaving tumultuously. He bent over her slowly until
his hot breath scorched her cheek. "Constance!"
Panting like a wounded animal she sprang to her feet; at the touch of
his encircling arms she gave a tremulous little sigh and her head sank
on his shoulder. Very tenderly, but firmly, he put one hand beneath her
soft chin and forced her face upward toward his. Almost had his lips
touched hers, when, with a gasping cry, she put both her hands against
his chest and violently pushed him away.
"No! My God, no!" The words were a broken sob. "We are both mad! It
cannot be! Think of my husband, of Grace!"
"It's a little late to think of them now. And what do they, or the rest
of the whole world, signify to us?" Smiling confidently he again
approached her with outstretched arms, but she swiftly evaded him, and
snatched up a pearl-handled stiletto which she had been utilizing as a
paper cutter. At his grim smile of contempt she flung it down on the
table and laid her hand on the call bell. He gave a shrug and dropped
his arms.
"That is unnecessary," he said quietly. "Your pitiful fear is an
efficient safeguard against any further importunity. Courage is an
indispensable quantity in the composition of a wolf. I have been
ludicrously mistaken. May I hope that you will forgive and forget?"
"There is nothing to forgive, but neither of us must forget, again. Not
ever again!" She was struggling for composure, her hard-clenched hand
pressed against her heart. "I never dreamed--"
He laughed harshly. "You never dreamed that in the veins of men there
could be red, as well as white corpuscles? Were there nothing but
emasculates among your circle of acquaintance in the vaunted 'Four
Hundred'?"
Wincing at his coarseness as though it had been a blow, she went over
and leaned against the casement of the window, looking silently out at
the stars. After a time he took up his sombrero and moved toward the
door, pausing at the threshold to courteously bid her good night. At the
sound of his voice she turned quickly.
"Wait!" She motioned to an easy chair. "Sit down, please. There is
something which in justice to us both, must be said before you go." He
took the seat indicated and she turned again to the window. For quite a
time she stared mutely into the night, the man waiting in patient
silence. When she finally spoke it was in a tone so low that he had to
bend forward to catch the words.
"You were right when you said that I was afraid; but it is not
convention that has made me a coward. It is of myself that I am afraid,
the new, strange self that has evolved since I came here, a year ago,
filled with the pitiful conceit that I knew life--and men--thoroughly.
"Remember that I lived In a different world, in an artificial and
enervating atmosphere where nothing is real but Rank, nothing sweet but
Station, nothing precious but Money. As a girl I was sold to the highest
bidder; he gave me all that wealth and genealogy could give, and up to
six months ago I kept faith. Not one of the countless men with whom I
amused myself ever aroused in me even one moment's serious thought; for
twelve weary years I played at the inane game of platonics, with no
further effect than to come finally to regard the vaunted 'love' of the
poets as a libel on human intelligence. It had been proffered me in all
tongues, in all climes, at all times, by all sorts and conditions of
men; at first to my listless amusement and at last to my contemptuous
disgust. It was part of my strained and unnatural environment; I wore
these 'loves' on my sleeve as I wore hothouse orchids on my corsage,
finding their emanations as nauseous and unwholesome.
"I was fed on sweets of flattery and wine of adulation, when all the
time I was thirsting for pure affection, hungry for the strong meat of a
real love. Yesterday I heard one of your men singing a plaintive ditty
whose refrain absolutely portrays my miserable existence:
"'A bird in a gilded cage'!"
She threw out her hand passionately, her eyes filling with tears. It was
with great effort that she recovered her self-control sufficiently to
continue.
"I never realized what possibilities Life held until six months ago.
Then for the first time I learned the difference in men--and the
bitterness that comes with knowledge acquired too late. The confession
may be unwomanly, but I glory in it. No, keep your seat." He had eagerly
arisen and was holding out his arms. "I have been disloyal to my husband
in the learning and this is part of my atonement."
She went over and stood beside him, breathing softly. In the subdued
light her pallor only accentuated her ravishing beauty. Douglass thought
he had never beheld so heavenly a thing. Very gently he leaned forward
and touched her hand but she as gently shook her head in negation.
"I was foolishly, criminally weak to come back here. But I had to see
you again. Oh! I am mad! mad! mad! I know only too well the nature of
the passion I have inspired in you, and the humiliation of it is the
bitterest part of my deserved punishment. Yet even your avid, brutal
lust is a thousand times dearer to me than the refined insipidity of any
other man's purest love. Stop! I say, or--!" She placed her hand
resolutely on the bell, her determination indubitable.
"It is the hour of my shame and you must know all. I had rather be your
running mate--Oh! you grand, lovable, vicious, merciless beast--than be
queen regnant in heaven. But that can never be. I am the wife of Anselm
Brevoort and you are the betrothed husband of another woman. But she
will breed you no wolves, my lost Ishmael; your getlings will be
bleating lambs. Ah, God! the shame of it!"
She struck the bell savagely as he sprang to his feet with a choking
cry.
"And, now that you know, I confidently invoke your honor, your clean
manliness, for my protection. You will help me against myself, will you
not, dear?"
"And who will help me?" he muttered hoarsely. The perspiration was
standing in white beads on his forehead. Swift as a flash she crossed
over to him and laid her hand trustfully on his arm.
"We will help each other, beloved. Good night."
But hours after he had succumbed to the seductions of his coarse
blankets she lay on her dainty bed with clenched hands and sleepless
eyes, trying to pierce the gloomy veil of futurity and tearfully
striving to reconcile a great misery with a greater joy.
"I love him! I love him!" she moaned passionately, "and if it were not
for that milk-and-water baby he would love me with all the savage
strength and intensity of his fierce nature. Oh! my Wolf, my strong,
wild Wolf! What can that vapid ninny offer you in comparison to what I
would give?"
She sat up erect, her eyes blazing in the darkness like those of a
hunted wild beast.
"She shall not--I swear it! Home, station, wealth, honor, body and
soul--I will sacrifice all! He is mine! mine! mine!" After awhile, in
sheer exhaustion of passion, she fell into a troubled sleep.
The next day he obtained leave of absence for a fortnight's inspection
of his mines. En route he mailed several letters entrusted by Mrs.
Brevoort, one of which was addressed to a woman in New York. She was one
of those inveterate gossips of high station who act as purveyors of
"exclusive information" to the society editors of the great fashionable
journals.
Some days later he stopped at Tin Cup for the ranch mail; it included a
rather short and unsatisfactory note from Grace, written hurriedly in
transit, announcing her party's embarkation on Lord Ellerslie's yacht
for a cruise on the Mediterranean. The girl was really homesick in
truth, but relying too implicitly on Love's divination had omitted to
make that fact clear, ending her missive with the ambiguous sentence: "I
wish we had never left home. I am so unhappy." It was the first
communication he had received from her for over six weeks. He did not
know that her customary budget, a sort of daily diary mailed once a
month, had gone down with the fated _Peruvia_ in mid-ocean, and he was
uneasy and resentful.
Mrs. Brevoort was out riding when he reached the ranch, so he merely
instructed 'Rastus to inform her of his return, and dined at the common
mess house. In the interim of waiting he glanced casually over the
contents of the New York papers which he had received in the mail.
Unto Constance Brevoort, awaiting him with a great trepidation in the
little den, came a white-lipped, stern-faced man with a paper crushed In
his hand.
"Read that!" he said curtly, pointing to a paragraph at the head of the
"Society Column." She caught her breath sharply but with no other
visible evidence of emotion held the paper up to the light. He watched
her grimly, a mirthless smile on his lips. With a well-simulated gasp of
horror she let the sheet fall on the floor and turned to him
breathlessly.
"It cannot be true! It is a lie! Oh! my poor friend!" Her voice was a
curious commingling of fear and exultation. The gossip had done her work
with artistic efficiency.
He picked up the paper and calmly read the paragraph aloud. It was short
but succinct:
"We have it on indisputable authority that the engagement of one of
Gotham's most lovely daughters, the beautiful Miss Grace Carter, to
lord Yare Ellerslie, of ellesmere, Surrey, one of Britain's most
eligible scions, will be formally announced on the return of his
lordship's yacht from the Mediterranean, where he is at present
cruising in company with his fiancee, her mother, and a party of
mutual friends. It is said to be one of those delightful
love-at-first-sight affairs, and society is all agog over the
romantic outcome of what was merely intended to be a short pleasure
trip. Lord Ellerslie is said to be immensely wealthy in his own
right and will, besides, succeed to the title and vast estates of
his father, the present earl. Miss Carter is a joint heiress of the
millions of the famous 'cattle king,' Robert Carter. We understand
that the honeymoon will include a cruise around the world in his
lordship's magnificent yacht, which has been rechristened the
'Gracie' in honor of his prospective bride."
He laid the paper down on the table and stood looking silently at It. It
seemed to the woman watching him nervously that he aged a dozen years
since she last saw him. She almost relented at the sight of his
fiercely-controlled misery, but she shut her teeth with determination.
One cannot make an omelet without the breaking of eggs. The game was a
desperate one, but she had everything at stake. She would play it out
and win.
She was about to speak when he looked up with a harsh laugh.
"Your nobleman wasn't so very 'innocuous' after all, it seems. Her
mother certainly lost no time. What is the accepted form of a letter of
congratulation on such occasions?"
"Oh! it cannot be true!" she faltered, evading his eyes unaccountably.
"There has been some terrible mistake!"
"And I have made It." He handed her Grace's little note. "This is the
amount of her correspondence in the last two months. It seems to clinch
the certainty of the glad tidings. And to think that I was fool enough
to imagine that there was one pure, true heart among your fair, false
sex." He turned upon her scornfully. "I wonder how much of what you said
the other night was a lie. It is a rare accomplishment, this clever
ability to turn an impending tragedy into a harmless comedy. Tell me,
how long did you laugh after I had gone?"
She paled, for his mood was a dangerous one and a single false move
might imperil everything. But she was a past-master of the gentle craft
of love-making and all her finesse had been to this very end. She had
calculated on the ease with which a heart may be caught in the rebound,
and her opportunity was at hand. And she knew now, with a certainty that
terrified and yet emboldened her, that she loved this man better than
life and that existence without him would be one eternal curse. She was
a brave woman and her hesitation was only momentary.
"Suffering has made you unjust, my friend," she said quietly. "I take
bitter shame to myself for having bared my heart so nakedly to you that
dreadful night, since it has been so pitiably unavailing. I did not
laugh that night--I cried. I only wish I could lie to you, dear. It
might be the means of conserving my honor and self-respect in those
hours of danger--the every hour I spend in your company. Must I abase
myself more? Must I tell you that I have prayed that this pain should
come to you so that I might comfort you with a love so tender, so
all-giving that you would blush in self-commiseration of your callow
infatuation for that foolish fledgling who deserted the eyrie of an
eagle for the flat commons of an English goose pasture? And now that the
measure of my shame is complete, go--and leave me to the agony of it.
Oh! my Wolf! my Wolf! I could have given so much, and so willingly! But
now I hate you! I hate you! Go, I say! Go!" She pointed imperiously to
the door with streaming eyes. "Will you go or must I summon the
servants?"
But with eyes flaming and extended arms he advanced Instead. With a
little cry of alarm she evaded him and took refuge on the divan, where
she cowered with covered eyes. With a strange forced smile he sank on
his knee beside her. Very gently he removed her hands from her face and
compelled her to look at him. She was quivering all over and her eyes
were gleaming like stars.
"What is the need of other servants when you have a loving slave here at
your feet? Connie! Connie!"
Afar in the distance rang a familiar cry; at the eerie sound their
pulses leaped in unison. The man put his whole soul into one fierce
appeal:
"Connie! my Queen!"
From without stole the answering call of the she-wolf.
With a soft little cry that was half a laugh, half a sob, she drew his
face down upon her bosom.