A PASSAGE AT ARMS
At Brindisi, a month later, Grace found Douglass's letter awaiting her.
She kissed it furtively and thrust it in her bosom, reserving its
reading for the privacy of her room. Not until she had crept into bed
did she open the prosaic government-stamped envelope which he
methodically used. She always read his letters so, punctuating each
tender sentence with a kiss and going to sleep with It tucked In her
nightdress next her heart.
This was an unusually bulky enclosure and she hugged it in anticipation;
how sweet it was of him to devote so much of his time to her in his
busiest season. Passionately she pressed her lips to it again and with a
sigh of delight drew out--a single sheet of note paper enclosing a
closely-folded page of printed matter.
As though doubting her senses, she sat erect in bed and unfolded the
newspaper; there was nothing enclosed therein and with perplexity writ
large all over her face she turned curiously to the written sheet.
Slowly, as one in a daze, she read and reread it a dozen times; it was
very short and in nowise ambiguously phrased, yet she did not seem able
to grasp its meaning:
"My congratulations on the speed and facility with which your very
astute and clever mother has extricated you from what must
certainly have been a very embarrassing entanglement. May you be as
happy in your new exalted station as you once made me imagine I was
going to be!
"Owing you, as I do, not only my life but my fortune as well, for
my mines are now in bonanza, I confess to even a greater
indebtedness: you gave me a six-month of the only happiness I have
ever known. But you would have rendered me an incalculably greater
service had you left those dynamite cartridges undisturbed that
day.
"If in the mutations of time and chance you should ever have need
of me, the life and fortune which you gave are at your command.
Good-by."
In an agony of bewilderment she took up the newspaper, intuitively
seeking the Society Columns.
Mrs. Robert Carter, leisurely preparing for her night's rest in the
adjoining apartment, looked up with a pleasant smile as the
communicating door opened, a word of loving greeting on her lips. But
there was little of answering affection in the glittering eyes and white
face of the girl who, with clenched hands and dilating nostrils,
advanced upon her. Something in the unnatural demeanor of Grace alarmed
her and she nervously dropped her hair brush and rose to her feet.
"Gracie! What is It?"
Very deliberately the girl thrust the printed sheet Into her mother's
hand and in a calm voice demanded:
"Tell me, what part did you have in this?"
In astonishment the elder woman ran her eye hurriedly over the item the
rigid finger was pointing out; her face hardened with anger and
annoyance.
"None whatever, my child," she said with an evident truthfulness that
carried with it instant conviction. "I am as much surprised and pained
as you are. Instead of sanctioning such an alliance it would have
received my firmest opposition. Lord Ellerslie scarcely approximates to
my ideals of a son-in-law. This is the work of some contemptible
penny-a-liner with a superfluity of space to fill; it is not worth
refuting, dear; women of our station are always exposed to these petty
annoyances and this may have been written with the very object of
inciting our space-filling denial. Don't be unduly exercised over such a
trifle." And then a bit reproachfully, "You really could not think me
accessory to such a contemptible thing as that, daughtie?"
At the endearing diminutive the hardness left the girl's face and her
lips trembled pitifully. Unable to speak she mutely held out Douglass's
letter and the mother, comprehending, took her shelteringly to her bosom
while she read it. At its conclusion she patted the silken hair
caressingly.
"Don't worry, dearie," she said reassuringly. "A cablegram will set this
matter right. It is unfortunate that he should have seen this particular
paper." She paused abruptly, a sudden suspicion intruding itself. But
she did not voice it, and bent to the consolation of the now weeping
girl.
"Oh! Mummy," she sobbed, "I love him so! I love him so! Let us go home
before my heart breaks!"
Mrs. Carter took up the letter again. "My mines are now in bonanza," she
read.
"We will take the next steamer," she said quietly. "And upon second
thought I think we had better not cable. Better make your denial in
person; it will be more effective."
While Grace Carter was speeding homeward with a heavy heart, out at the
VN ranch Constance Brevoort was In a delirium of feverish happiness, and
Douglass, thrilled by her passionate abandon, had not yet tired. Upon
him she showered all the affection so long repressed; and her fervor and
intensity, which awed him not a little, was very flattering to his
vanity. Too subtly wise to risk wearying him with too great exactions on
his time, she was rather shy and disposed to hold him aloof, thus
skillfully shifting the onus of importunity on to his shoulders and so
keeping alive and burning the flame at which she had lighted all her
hopes. But in the occasional moments of their intimate communion she
flooded him with sweetness even as the "Serpent of the old Nile" washed
reason from the mind of Antony and laved his soul with living fire. Of
what the world might think or say, of her husband's fury and probable
revenge, of her friends Inevitable ostracism she thought with
indifference if at all; in this new-found happiness everything else was
lost. She lived entirely in the present, obstinately refusing to reckon
with the future. Once, when he hesitatingly broached the subject of
their future relations, she stopped his mouth with kisses and breathed
Into his ear the sophistry of the old Tent-maker of Naishapur:
"Ah, fill the Cup; what boots it
to repeat
How Time is slipping underneath
our Feet?
Unborn TO-MORROW and dead
YESTERDAY,
Why fret about them if TO-DAY
be sweet?"
She was very frankly in love with him, and he not at all with her. So
far as she was concerned he was simply a wolf, with a wolf's wild
desire. Of course, the situation had Its attractions, and the risks
incurred lent an added charm to this danger-loving young animal. He was
infatuated with her physically, but that was all. Of this she was fully
conscious, but with a hope born of desperation she determined to hold
him while she could; who knows what a day may bring forth? Anselm
Brevoort was getting old; she would be a very wealthy widow; and this
man, despite his very humble station, had been reared in luxury and had
a keen appreciation of the higher amenities. She was more than content
to drift, leaving the ultimate harbor in the lap of the gods.
The story of a rich strike spreads very rapidly in a mining region;
within three months after the explosion of that wild-flung dynamite all
the Rocky Mountain country was agog with marvelous tales of Douglass's
luck and a great rush of prospectors was made to the new Eldorado. At
the time of the discovery of the quartz ledge, at Douglass's suggestion,
Brevoort, Carter and McVey had conjointly located three extension claims
on the vein, and the two women, Grace and Constance, had also located
two claims in their joint names. The assessment work legally required to
hold these claims had all been done and the necessary excavations had
shown all the five extensions to contain values. The additional work
required to make the holdings patentable was rushed to completion, and
before the inrush of the prospective Midases had fairly begun, the
titles had been made incontestibly secure.
In the parlance of the camps Douglass's original discoveries "paid from
grass-roots down" and his exploitation work was all in high grade ore.
With the proceeds derived from its sale he installed a diamond drilling
plant with which he thoroughly prospected the formation within his
boundary lines with the result of indisputably establishing the
continuity of the rich deposits. So extensive and valuable did these
prove that he was fairly inundated with offers of purchase from the
shrewd representatives of various syndicates, the figures rising with
each successive bid as the vein was definitely proved. But the offers as
yet were scarcely half the amount which Douglass had sturdily demanded
for his holdings, although at his advice the two women and Red McVey
sold out their interests to a syndicate headed and promoted by Anselm
Brevoort. His good judgment was fully vindicated later, when, after
extensive exploitation the consolidated five extension claims barely
yielded ore enough to pay the purchase price, the real ore chimney being
confined inside Douglass's property. And as the three lucky venders
received in the neighborhood of one hundred thousand dollars each, with
only a nominal outlay for assessment work and patenting, the
transaction was very satisfactory to them.
Before sailing for Europe, Grace had at her brother's suggestion given
Douglass power of attorney for the handling of her interests, and he had
duly deposited her share of the proceeds to her credit in Denver's best
bank, notifying her brother of the disposition of the fund and
suggesting that it be retained there until her return, when it could be
presented as an agreeable surprise. Constance's share simply swelled an
already very respectable private banking account, and Red McVey had very
wisely taken Douglass's earnest advice and Invested his entire fortune
in Denver Tramway stock, eventually buying with the resultant dividends
a splendid ranch. But that is another story.
Brevoort's syndicate was composed altogether of European investors, and
that astute financier, fully aware of the great value of Douglass's
holdings, was in conference with his colleagues in London, urging their
acceptance of the cool million demanded by the hard-headed owner. The
day Grace Carter and her mother landed in New York on their homeward
passage he had finally achieved his point and immediately cabled
Douglass and his Denver banking correspondent to that effect,
authorizing the latter to make an initial payment of one-tenth of the
required amount to bind the transaction pending his immediate return to
complete the deal. At his earnest request Douglass left immediately on
receipt of his advice for Denver.
Considering the unattractive conditions at the ranch in event of his
absence for an indefinite time, it is scarcely to be wondered at that
Constance Brevoort elected to accompany him.
Three days after their arrival at the metropolis, Grace Carter
accompanied by her brother reached Denver on their way to the ranch,
having no intimation of the others' presence in the city. In order to
distract his sister's mind from her nervous brooding, Robert insisted
upon her attendance at the opera, the night of their arrival, and at her
listless acquiescence had procured box seats. It chanced to be Carmen,
with Calve in the title role. The assemblage was a brilliant one and
Calve was at her best. Always an emotional creature, Grace yielded to
the fascination of the story and had temporarily forgotten her own
troubles when she chanced to glance at the lower box immediately
opposite, into which had just entered a man and woman. The woman was
Constance Brevoort and her escort was Ken Douglass!
Even though clad in the conventional full dress in which she had never
before beheld him, there was no mistaking that lean, muscular form and
bronzed face. Eagerly she leaned forward, her lips parted and her face
flushed with excitement. How wonderful to find him here so unexpectedly;
it would shorten her agony at least five blessed days! But--but--why was
Constance with him? Unconsciously a chilling wave swept over her and she
drew back into the shelter of the box with a vague uneasiness tugging at
her heart. Carter, frankly interested in the voluptuous Carmen, had no
eyes except for the stage, and did not notice his sister's
perturbation. It is worthy of note that she did not call his attention
to the occupants of the other box.
For as she stealthily watched her betrothed husband's removal of
Constance's cloak there was something in the manner of both that drove
the color from her face. And when, in an intermission, as he leaned over
her, she saw Constance Brevoort's lips laid surreptitiously on his
throat, she gave a heart-broken gasp and nervously implored her brother
to take her back to the hotel.
All unconscious of the cause, and with never a look at the opposite box,
he instantly complied, reproaching himself with having subjected her to
this unadvisable strain on her nerves. On their arrival at their hotel
she pleaded a slight indisposition from weariness of travel and at once
retired.
With clenched hands and white face she lay staring into the darkness. It
was all plain to her now! For with an intuition that went straight to
the mark, she knew who was the instigator of the report of her
engagement to Lord Ellerslie; and she knew why! Curiously enough, she
attached no blame to him, but she felt a deep and increasing hatred for
the woman who had robbed her. There could be only one interpretation of
their relations and her whole nature resented it passionately. But her
love for him was very great and she was eager to give him the benefit of
the doubt, even while her whole sentience shrieked his guilt.
The next morning she called a bellboy and handed him a bank note upon
which lay a slip of paper.
"Find out for me, please," she said, with a forced smile, "the hotel
where these two friends of mine are registered, without letting them
know. I want to call upon them unexpectedly and surprise them." The lad
bowed his appreciation of her generosity and in less than a half hour
returned with the desired information. It was "dead easy to locate
swells of that kind," as he shrewdly remarked to an envious colleague
who had begrudged him that magnificent tip.
She was all honied complaisance when she called upon Constance that
morning immediately after breakfast, much to that lady's consternation
and surprise. For a moment Mrs. Brevoort was speechless and
panic-stricken, but she was an old campaigner and soon recovered her
composure. She professed her delight at the unexpected pleasure and then
boldly played a false card.
"Your coming was so unexpected, dear, that it has deprived me of my good
manners. I sincerely congratulate you on your engagement to Lord
Ellerslie. It was a great surprise to me; I was, er--under the
impression--"
Grace looked at her steadily, a cynical contempt faintly curling the red
lips. "Really! How strange! I should have imagined that my own surprise
would have been the greater, considering that, as you know, there was
not a word of truth in that announcement so maliciously dictated by some
contemptible wretch to subserve her own vicious purpose. By this time
our lawyers will have determined the responsibility for that pitiful
lie, although I have already a full conviction as to its authorship!
It's really dreadful, Connie! But, as mamma says, women of our station
are proverbially exposed to such annoyances. And people have absolutely
no regard for the probable consequences of their malicious gossip. Think
of what it would mean to you, dear, for Instance, if someone were to
mercilessly convey to Mr. Brevoort an insinuation that you had been
guilty of--of a great indiscretion! Think of the publicity, the scandal,
the shame of it; the loss of home, rank, station and friends."
Under the lash of the bitterly deliberate words Constance Brevoort
winced and cringed. This thing of white flame and quiet fury was
scarcely the "colorless entity" of her misplaced contempt. How much did
she really know, anyway? The doubt was cutting her soul into ribbons.
Summoning all her really great courage to her aid, she affected to treat
the matter humorously and gave an exaggerated little shiver of
deprecation. But all the time her heart was quaking with a fear of the
outraged girl before her. Yet she had all the proverbial courage--or Is
it the desperation--of the cornered wolf she knew herself to be, and
metaphorically bared her teeth.
"How dramatically grewsome your suggestion, _cherie_! It really gives me
the shivers! But supposing the absurdly impossible; what then? Don't you
know that the world and all its hollow shams are well lost for a love
like the one you are intimating?" It was a distinct challenge; one could
read it diviningly in the set lips and flashing eyes as well. But love
fights doggedly and unconqueredly long after volatile and ephemeral
passion has fled a stubborn field, and this was the love of the daughter
of "the bravest man God ever made."
"You are jumping at conclusions, dear," she said, with a careless
indulgence which made her hearer's jaws meet with a venomous click. "I
have intimated nothing, not even the possibility of your ever being
tempted by the arising of such a contingency. And yet, having had many
lovers--if the tales be true--you should be able to speak
authoritatively!"
If looks could have slain, the world would have been forever lost to
Grace Carter at that moment. It took Constance quite a time to control
herself sufficiently to avoid betraying her rage at this chit's insolent
assurance. When she did speak her words were sweetly vitriolic:
"One can imagine the shock Ellerslie's vanity will encounter when he
learns of that canard! Such things require so much explanation, too! I
am really sorry, dear, at your humiliating predicament. And what in the
name of Venus are you going to say in conciliation to Kenneth Douglass?"
Grace flinched pitifully at this double _touche_ of her adversary's keen
weapon, but her eyes glinted like burnished steel. The duel was to be _a
l'outrance_ now, and she put all her indignation and subtlety behind
her blow. The older woman had noted with a malicious pleasure a dull
flushing of the fair face and throat but had wrongly ascribed its cause.
The battle ground was her bedchamber, and over on a chair, carelessly
thrown, lay a man's light topcoat and a pair of gloves many sizes too
large for Constance's dainty hands! With a world of scornful meaning the
girl looked at the chair, and the eyes of the woman following the
direction of that glance, grew black with confusion.
"I think he has been sufficiently appealed to in the name of your patron
goddess," she said, icily, "and as for Lord Ellerslie, I rejected his
proposal even before I had learned of his relations with the author of
that despicable lie. As for Mr. Douglass--"
The words died on her tongue as the door, evidently communicating with
another room adjoining, suddenly opened and a well-known voice said
familiarly:
"Did I leave my coat and gloves in here last night, Connie? There would
be the devil to pay if the chambermaid--!"
Standing there in his shirt sleeves, Ken Douglass was, for the first
time in his reckless life, at a disadvantage too great for even his
conceded adroitness to overcome. In a coma of stupefaction, with horror
and shame written all over his gray-white face, he stood staring at the
pale, haughty face so relentlessly directed toward him. For a full
minute she held him on the rack of her scorn; then with a hard composure
in her voice, which accorded but poorly with the unutterable loathing
and aversion in her eyes, she said coldly:
"I am doubly fortunate in this rencounter. It saves much unnecessary
waste of time, and fatigue, and verbiage to find you here! In justice to
us both I have come all the way from Europe to tell you that my reported
engagement to Lord Ellerslie was a cruel lie!"
And without another word she swept proudly out of the room without
deigning one look at the woman cowering on the cushioned divan.
"Take me home, Bobbie!" she sobbed piteously to her brother, as she
clung forsakenly to him in their sitting-room. And further explanation
she would vouch him none, despite his bewildered implorations. "Take me
home; I want Mummy!"
That night after she had retired he picked up from the floor, where it
had fluttered unnoticed, a scrap of paper containing two names and a
hotel address. He stared at it uncomprehendingly and then a cold sweat
stood on his wrinkled brow. He went over to his dressing-case and took
out a shining nickel-plated revolver. Tiptoeing cautiously into his
sister's room he gently kissed the tear-stained face. Then he went out
very softly and called for a cab.
In the ordinary of the vast hostelry he found Douglass sitting on an
easy-chair, staring into vacancy. At his curt address the man looked up
wearily and gravely motioned him toward the elevator. It was noticeable
that neither offered to shake hands, despite the closeness of their
relations and the further fact that they had not met in better than half
a year.
In silence Carter strode after him until they reached Douglass's
apartments; then turning to the silent man before him, he sternly asked:
"What have you done to my sister?"
Douglass, leaning against the window jamb, looking out into the soft
summer night, made no reply. Carter crossed over fiercely and wrenched
him around.
"Answer me! Or by God, I'll tear it out of you with my hands!"
His breath was coming thickly but there was no fear in the eyes of old
Bob Carter's boy.
Douglass looked at him with apathetic wonder.
"I've lost her!" he answered dully. Carter looked at him with impatient
amazement, mingled with suspicion. Was the man crazy, or was this only a
weak attempt at evasion? He was going to know and that without any more
foolishness. Savagely he caught hold of the other's coat lapel and shook
him with an incredible strength.
"She came across an ocean and two continents to tell you that she was
true to you, damn you! And she has just cried herself to sleep! I want
the truth, do you hear!" His boyish face was convulsed with passion and
his whole effeminate body was aquiver.
"I've lost her!" repeated Douglass, unemotionally, offering not the
slightest resistance to the other's vehemence. "I've lost her!" as
though that were the Alpha and Omega of all things. Then he turned
fiercely to the younger man.
"What in hell do you want?"
The boy blazed back at him as fiercely, fumbling the weapon in his
pocket.
"I want the whole truth of this miserable thing--the whole truth! And if
you have made my sister suffer through anything unworthy, I want your
heart's blood as well! Damn you, are you going to speak?" He clutched
frantically at Douglass's throat. Very calmly the bronzed giant circled
his wrists with a grip of steel and held him off at arms' length.
"Sit down, Carter," he said in a normal tone. "It is your right to know
and you shall. I have wronged your sister! No, you fool, not in that
way!" as the boy struggled furiously in his vice-like grip. "But I am
deserving of any punishment you may choose to inflict." And without
preamble he told Carter the whole story, only suppressing the name of
the woman concerned.
At its conclusion the boy breathed easier and the truculence went out of
him entirely as Douglass laid his head on his arms and muttered
hoarsely:
"I love her! I love her! And now I've lost her!"
Bobbie Carter rose and put his hand on the brawny shoulder. His voice
was harsh with sympathy, after the fashion of man.
"You've been all kinds of a senseless ass, Ken," he said,
affectionately, his faith in his hero once more restored, "but it is not
as bad as I thought. You want to break off with Mrs.--" he had almost
betrayed his knowledge of that which Douglass had been chivalrously
trying to conceal--"with that woman, whoever she is, and in course of
time, after she has bawled her foolish little eyes out, Gracie will
forgive you. I know her like a book. I'm her brother, you know! Buck up,
old man! She'll make it hard for you, and you are going to get a bitter
lesson. But it will come out all right in time--If you don't go loco
again and spoil it all."
But all his pleading and remonstrances were unavailing with his sister
when he sought to effect a reconciliation. She had been irremediably
hurt, and, in her misery, actually hoped that she would never see him
again. She insisted upon returning home; and then consented to go on to
the ranch for a short, and, as she firmly resolved, a final visit!
Douglass, watching her as he thought unseen, the next morning at the
Union Depot, as she entered the west-bound train, was filled with a
great repentance and remorse. He did not know that she stood at the
proper angle to see his disconsolate face until the train pulled out. It
must be confessed, however, that it was a hard, unrelenting mouth that
scornfully curved as he strode away with depressed head as the train
glided out with accelerating speed.
"Like as not he will go straight back to that shameless creature as soon
as we are safely out of sight!" she thought, with stiffly-erected head.
And as a curious vindication of that strange quantity in women, which,
for lack of some better name, we term "intuition," we are truthfully
compelled to admit that is just exactly what he did!