II

Lady Lawless was an admirable hostess, and she never appeared to better

advantage in the character than during the time when Miss Gracia Raglan,

Mr. John Vandewaters, and Mr. Stephen Pride were guests at Craigruie.

The men accepted Mr. Vandewaters at once as a good fellow and a very

sensible man. He was a heavy-weight for riding; but it was not the

hunting season, and, when they did ride, a big horse carried him very

well. At grouse-shooting he showed to advantage. Mr. Pride never rode.

He went shooting only once, and then, as Mr. Vandewaters told him, he

got "rattled." He was then advised by his friend to remain at home

and cultivate his finer faculties. At the same time, Mr. Vandewaters

parenthetically remarked to Sir Duke Lawless that Mr. Pride knew the

poets backwards, and was smart at French. He insisted on bringing out

the good qualities of his comrade; but he gave him much strong advice

privately. He would have done it just the same at the risk of losing

a fortune, were it his whim--he would have won the fortune back in due

course.

At the present time Mr. Vandewaters was in the heat of some large

commercial movements. No one would have supposed it, save for the fact

that telegrams and cablegrams were brought to him day and night. He had

liberally salaried the telegraph-clerk to work after hours, simply to

be at his service. The contents of these messages never shook his

equanimity. He was quiet, urbane, dry-mannered, at all times. Mr. Pride,

however, was naturally excitable. He said of himself earnestly that he

had a sensitive nature. He said it to Mrs. Gregory Thorne, whose reply

was: "Dear me, and when things are irritating and painful to you do you

never think of suicide?" Then she turned away to speak to some one, as

if she had been interrupted, and intended to take up the subject again;

but she never did. This remark caused Mr. Pride some nervous moments.

He was not quite sure how she meant it. But it did not depress him as it

might otherwise have done, for his thoughts were running much in another

channel with a foolish sort of elation.

As Lady Lawless had predicted, he was assiduously attentive to her, and

it needed all her tact and cheerful frankness to keep him in line. She

managed it very well: Mr. Pride's devotion was not too noticeable to

the other guests. She tried to turn his attentions to some pretty girls;

but, although there were one or two who might, in some weak moments,

have compromised with his millions, he did no more than saunter with

them on the terrace and oppress them with his lisping egotism. Every one

hinted that he seemed an estimable, but trying, young man; and, as Sir

Duke said to his wife, the men would not have him at any price.

As for Mr. Vandewaters and Gracia Raglan, Lady Lawless was not very sure

that her delicate sympathy was certain of reward. The two were naturally

thrown together a good deal; but Miss Raglan was a girl of singular

individuality and high-mindedness, and she was keen enough to see from

the start what Lady Lawless suspected might happen. She did not resent

this,--she was a woman; but it roused in her a spirit of criticism, and

she threw up a barrier of fine reserve, which puzzled Mr. Vandewaters.

He did not see that Lady Lawless was making a possible courtship easy

for him. If he had, it would have made no difference: he would have

looked at it as at most things, broadly. He was not blind to the fact

that his money might be a "factor", but, as he said to himself, his

millions were a part of him--they represented, like whist-counters, so

much pluck and mother-wit. He liked the general appreciation of them: he

knew very well that people saw him in them and them in him. Miss Raglan

attracted him from the moment of meeting. She was the first woman of her

class that he had ever met closely; and the possibility of having as his

own so adorable a comrade was inspiring. He sat down sometimes as the

days went on--it was generally when he was shaving--and thought upon his

intention regarding Miss Raglan, in relation to his humble past; for

he had fully made up his mind to marry her, if she would have him.

He wondered what she would think when he told her of his life; and he

laughed at the humour of the situation. He had been into Debrett, and he

knew that she could trace her family back to the Crusades.

He determined to make a clean breast of it. One day he was obliged to

remain at the house in expectation of receiving important telegrams, and

the only people who appeared at lunch were Lady Lawless, Mrs. Gregory

Thorne (who was expecting her husband), Miss Raglan; Pride, and himself.

While at luncheon he made up his mind to have a talk with Miss Raglan.

In the library after luncheon the opportunity was given. It was a warm,

pleasant day, and delightful in the grounds.

After one or two vain efforts to escape, Mrs. Gregory Thorne and Lady

Lawless resigned themselves to the attentions of Mr. Pride; and for

once Lady Lawless did not check Mrs. Thorne's irony. It was almost a

satisfaction to see Mr. Pride's bewildered looks, and his inability

to know whether or not he should resent (whether it would be proper to

resent) this softly-showered satire.

Mr. Vandewaters and Gracia Raglan talked more freely than they had ever

done before.

"Do you really like England?" she said to him; then, waving her hand

lightly to the beeches and the clean-cropped grass through the window,

"I mean do you like our 'trim parterres,' our devotion to mere living,

pleasure, sport, squiring, and that sort of thing?"

He raised his head, glanced out, drew in a deep breath, thrust his hands

down in the pockets of his coat, and looking at her with respectful good

humour, said: "Like it? Yes, right down to the ground. Why shouldn't

I! It's the kind of place I should like to come to in my old days. You

needn't die in a hurry here. See?"

"Are you sure you would not be like the old sailors who must live where

they can scent the brine? You have been used to an active, adventurous,

hurried life. Do you think you could endure this humdrum of enjoyment?"

It would be hard to tell quite what was running in Gracia Raglan's mind,

and, for the moment, she herself hardly knew; but she had a sudden,

overmastering wish to make the man talk: to explore and, maybe, find

surprising--even trying--things. She was astonished that she enjoyed his

society so keenly. Even now, as she spoke, she remembered a day and a

night since his coming, when he was absent in London; also how the party

seemed to have lost its character and life, and how, when Mr. Pride

condescended, for a few moments, to decline from Lady Lawless upon

herself, she was even pleasant to him, making him talk about Mr.

Vandewaters, and relishing the enthusiastic loyalty of the supine young

man. She, like Lady Lawless, had learned to see behind the firm bold

exterior, not merely a notable energy, force, self-reliance, and

masterfulness, but a native courtesy, simplicity, and refinement

which surprised her. Of all the men she knew not a half-dozen had an

appreciation of nature or of art. They affected art, and some of them

went to the Academy or the private views in Bond Street; but they had

little feeling for the business. They did it in a well-bred way, with

taste, but not with warmth.

Mr. Vandewaters now startled her by quoting suddenly lines from an

English poet unknown to her. By chance she was turning over the Academy

pictures of the year, and came at last to one called "A Japanese Beauty

of Old Days"--an exquisite thing.

"Is it not fascinating?" she said. "So piquant and fresh."

He gave a silent laugh, as was his custom when he enjoyed anything, and

then replied:

"I came across a little book of verses one day in the States. A friend

of mine, the president of a big railway, gave it to me. He does some

painting himself when he travels in his Pullman in the Rockies. Well, it

had some verses on just such a picture as that. Hits it off right, Miss

Raglan."

"Verses?" she remarked, lifting her eyebrows. She expected something out

of the "poet's corner" of a country newspaper. "What are they?"

"Well, one's enough to show the style. This is it:

"'Was I a Samurai renowned,

Two-sworded, fierce, immense of bow?

A histrion angular and profound?

A priest? or porter? Child, although

I have forgotten clean, I know

That in the shade of Fujisan,

What time the cherry-orchards blow,

I loved you once in old Japan.'"

The verse on the lips of Mr. Vandewaters struck her strangely. He was

not like any man she had known. Most self-made Englishmen, with such a

burly exterior and energy, and engaged in such pursuits, could not, to

save themselves from hanging, have impressed her as Mr. Vandewaters did.

There was a big round sympathy in the tone, a timbre in the voice, which

made the words entirely fitting. Besides, he said them without any kind

of affectation, and with a certain turn of dry humour, as if he were

inwardly laughing at the idea of the poem.

"The verses are charming," she said, musingly; "and the idea put that

way is charming also. But do you think there would be much amusement

in living half-a-dozen times, or even twice, unless you were quite sure

that you remembered everything? This gentleman was peculiarly fortunate

to recall Fujisan, and the orange orchards--and the girl."

"I believe you are right. One life is about enough for most of us.

Memory is all very fine; but you'd want a life set apart for remembering

the others after awhile."

"Why do you not add, 'And that would bore one?' Most of the men I know

would say so."

"Well, I never used the word that way in my life. When I don't like a

thing, that ends it--it has got to go."

"You cannot do that with everything."

"Pretty much, if I set my mind to it. It is astonishing how things'll

come round your way if you keep on thinking and willing them so."

"Have you always got everything you wanted?" He had been looking off

into the grounds through the open window. Now he turned slowly upon her.

"So far I have got everything I set my mind to get. Little things don't

count. You lose them sometimes because you want to work at something

else; sometimes because, as in cards, you are throwing a few away to

save the whole game."

He looked at her, as she thought, curiously. In his mind he was

wondering if she knew that he had made up his mind to marry her. She was

suddenly made aware of the masterfulness of his spirit, which might, she

knew, be applied to herself.

"Let us go into the grounds," he added, all at once. Soon after, in

the shade of the trees, she broke in upon the thread of their casual

conversation. "A few moments ago," she murmured, "you said: 'One life is

about enough for most of us.' Then you added a disparaging remark about

memory. Well, that doesn't seem like your usual point of view--more like

that of Mr. Pride; but not so plaintive, of course. Pray do smoke,"

she added, as, throwing back his coat, he exposed some cigars in his

waistcoat pocket. "I am sure you always smoke after lunch."

He took out a cigar, cut off the end, and put it in his mouth. But he

did not light it. Then he glanced up at her with a grave quizzical look

as though wondering what would be the effect of his next words, and a

smile played at his lips.

"What I meant was this. I think we get enough out of our life to last

us for centuries. It's all worth doing from the start, no matter what

it is: working, fighting, marching and countermarching, plotting and

counterplotting, backing your friends and hating your foes, playing

big games and giving others a chance to, standing with your hand on the

lynch-pin, or pulling your head safe out of the hot-pot. But I don't

think it is worth doing twice. The interest wouldn't be fresh. For men

and women and life, with a little different dress, are the same as they

always were; and there's only the same number of passions working now,

as at the beginning. I want to live life up to the hilt; because it is

all new as I go on; but never twice."

"Indeed?" She looked at him earnestly for a moment, and then added: "I

should think you would have seen lost chances; and doing things a second

time might do them better."

"I never missed chances," he replied, simply: "never except twice, and

then--"

"And then?"

"Then it was to give the other fellow a chance."

"Oh!" There was a kind of dubiousness in her tone. He noticed it. "You

can hardly understand, Miss Raglan. Fact is, it was one of those deals

when you can make a million, in a straight enough game; but it comes out

of another man--one, maybe, that you don't know; who is playing just the

same as you are. I have had a lot of sport; but I've never crippled any

one man, when my engine has been dead on him. I have played more against

organisations than single men."

"What was the most remarkable chance you ever had to make a million, and

did not?"

He threw back his head, smiling shrewdly. "When by accident my enemy got

hold of a telegram meant for me. I was standing behind a frosted glass

door, and through the narrow bevel of clear glass I watched him read

it. I never saw a struggle like that. At last he got up, snatched

an envelope, put the telegram inside, wrote my name, and called a

messenger. I knew what was in the message. I let the messenger go, and

watched that man for ten minutes. It was a splendid sight. The telegram

had given him a big chance to make a million or two, as he thought. But

he backed himself against the temptation, and won. That day I could have

put the ball into his wicket; but I didn't. That's a funny case of the

kind."

"Did he ever know?"

"He didn't. We are fighting yet. He is richer than I am now, and at this

moment he's playing a hard game straight at several interests of mine.

But I reckon I can stop him."

"You must get a great deal out of life," she said. "Have you always

enjoyed it so?" She was thinking it would be strange to live in contact

with such events very closely. It was so like adventure.

"Always--from the start."

"Tell me something of it all, won't you?" He did not hesitate.

"I was born in a little place in Maine. My mother was a good woman, they

said--straight as a die all her life. I can only remember her in a

kind of dream, when she used to gather us children about the big

rocking-chair, and pray for us, and for my father, who was away most

of the time, working in the timber-shanties in the winter, and at

odd things in the summer. My father wasn't much of a man. He was

kind-hearted, but shiftless, but pretty handsome for a man from Maine.

"My mother died when I was six years old. Things got bad. I was the

youngest. The oldest was only ten years old. She was the head of the

house. She had the pluck of a woman. We got along somehow, until one

day, when she and I were scrubbing the floor, she caught cold. She died

in three days."

Here he paused; and, without glancing at Miss Raglan, who sat very

still, but looking at him, he lighted his cigar.

"Then things got worse. My father took to drinking hard, and we had

mighty little to eat. I chored around, doing odd things in the village.

I have often wondered that people didn't see the stuff that was in me,

and give me a chance. They didn't, though. As for my relatives: one was

a harness-maker. He sent me out in the dead of winter to post bills for

miles about, and gave me ten cents for it. Didn't even give me a meal.

Twenty years after he came to me and wanted to borrow a hundred dollars.

I gave him five hundred on condition that he'd not come near me for the

rest of his natural life.

"The next thing I did was to leave home--'run away,' I suppose, is the

way to put it. I got to Boston, and went for a cabin-boy on a steamer;

travelled down to Panama, and from there to Brazil. At Brazil I got on

another ship, and came round to San Francisco. I got into trouble in San

Francisco with the chief mate of the Flying Polly, because I tried to

teach him his business. One of the first things I learned in life was

not to interfere with people who had a trade and didn't understand

it. In San Francisco I got out of the situation. I took to selling

newspapers in the streets.

"There wasn't enough money in it. I went for a cabin-boy again, and

travelled to Australia. There, once more, I resigned my position,

chiefly because I wouldn't cheerfully let the Mate bang me about the

quarter-deck. I expect I was a precocious youth, and wasn't exactly

the kind for Sunday-school prizes. In Melbourne I began to speculate.

I found a ticket for the theatre where an American actor--our biggest

actor today--was playing, and I tried to sell it outside the door of the

theatre where they were crowding to see him. The man who bought it was

the actor himself. He gave me two dollars more than the regular price.

I expect he knew from my voice I was an American. Is there anything

peculiar about my voice, Miss Raglan?"

She looked at him quickly, smiled, and said in a low tone: "Yes,

something peculiar. Please go on."

"Well, anyway, he said to me: 'Look here, where did you come from,

my boy?' I told him the State of Maine. 'What are you doing here?' he

asked. 'Speculating, said I, and seeing things.' He looked me up and

down. 'How are you getting on?' 'Well. I've made four dollars to-day,'

I answered. 'Out of this ticket?' I expect I grinned. He suddenly caught

me by the arm and whisked me inside the theatre--the first time I'd ever

been in a theatre in my life. I shall never forget it. He took me around

to his dressing-room, stuck me in a corner, and prodded me with his

forefinger. 'Look here,' he said, 'I guess I'll hire you to speculate

for me.' And that's how I came to get twenty-five dollars a month and

my living from a great American actor. When I got back to America--with

him--I had two hundred and fifty dollars in cash, and good clothes.

I started a peanut-stand, and sold papers and books, and became a

speculator. I heard two men talking one day at my stall about a railway

that was going to run through a certain village, and how they intended

to buy up the whole place. I had four hundred and fifty dollars then.

I went down to that village, and bought some lots myself. I made four

thousand dollars. Then I sold more books, and went on speculating."

He paused, blew his cigar-smoke slowly from him a moment; then turned

with a quick look to Miss Raglan, and smiled as at some incongruous

thing. He was wondering what would be the effect of his next words.

"When I was about twenty-two, and had ten thousand dollars, I fell

in love. She was a bright-faced, smart girl. Her mother kept a

boarding-house in New York; not an up-town boarding-house. She waited on

table. I suppose a man can be clever in making money, and knowing how

to handle men, and not know much about women. I thought she was worth

a good deal more to me than the ten thousand dollars. She didn't know

I had that money. A drummer--that's a commercial traveller--came along,

who had a salary of, maybe, a thousand dollars a year. She jilted me.

She made a mistake. That year I made twenty-five thousand dollars. I saw

her a couple of years ago. She was keeping a boarding-house too, and her

daughter was waiting on table. I'm sorry for that girl: it isn't any fun

being poor. I didn't take much interest in women after that. I put my

surplus affections into stocks and shares, and bulling and bearing...

Well, that is the way the thing has gone till now."

"What became of your father and your brother?" she asked in a neutral

tone.

"I don't know anything about my father. He disappeared after I left, and

never turned up again. And Jim--poor Jim!--he was shiftless. Jim was a

tanner. It was no good setting him up in business. Steady income was the

cheapest way. But Jim died of too much time on his hands. His son is

in Mexico somewhere. I sent him there, and I hope he'll stay. If he

doesn't, his salary stops: he is shiftless too. That is not the kind of

thing, and they are not the kind of people you know best, Miss Raglan."

He looked at her, eyes full-front, bravely, honestly, ready to face the

worst. Her head was turned away.

He nodded to himself. It was as he feared.

At that moment a boy came running along the walk towards them, and

handed Mr. Vandewaters a telegram. He gave the lad a few pence, then,

with an apology, opened the telegram. Presently he whistled softly, in

a quick surprised way. Then he stuffed the paper into his waistcoat

pocket, threw away his cigar, and turned to Gracia Raglan, whose face as

yet was only half towards him. "I hope your news is good," she said very

quietly.

"Pretty bad, in a way," he answered. "I have lost a couple of

millions--maybe a little more."

She gasped, and turned an astonished face on him. He saw her startled

look, and laughed.

"Does it not worry you?" she asked.

"I have got more important things on hand just now," he answered. "Very

much more important," he added, and there was that in his voice which

made her turn away her head again.

"I suppose," he went on, "that the story you have just heard is not

the kind of an autobiography you would care to have told in your

drawing-room?"

Still she did not reply; but her hands were clasped tightly in front of

her. "No: I suppose not," he went on--"I--I suppose not. And yet, do you

know, Miss Raglan, I don't feel a bit ashamed of it, after all: which

may be evidence of my lost condition."

Now she turned to him with a wonderful light in her eyes, her sweet,

strong face rich with feeling. She put out her hand to his arm, and

touched it quickly, nervously.

"Your story has touched me inexpressibly," she said. "I did not know

that men could be so strong and frank and courageous as you. I did not

know that men could be so great; that any man could think more of what

a woman thought of--of his life's story--than of"--she paused, and then

gave a trembling little laugh--"of two millions or more."

He got to his feet, and faced her. "You--you are a woman, by heaven!" he

said. "You are finer even than I thought you. I am not worthy to ask you

what I had in my mind to ask you; but there is no man in God's universe

who would prize you as I do. I may be a poor man before sundown. If

that happens, though, I shall remember the place where I had the biggest

moment of my life, and the woman who made that moment possible."

Now she also rose. There was a brave high look in her face; but her

voice shook a little as she said: "You have never been a coward, why be

a coward now?"

Smiling, he slowly answered: "I wouldn't if I were sure about my

dollars."

She did not reply, but glanced down, not with coquetry, but because she

could not stand the furnace of his eyes.

"You said a moment ago," she ventured, "that you have had one big moment

in your life. Oughtn't it to bring you good fortune?"

"It will--it will," he said, reaching his hand towards hers.

"No, no," she rejoined archly. "I am going. Please do not follow me."

Then, over her shoulder, as she left him: "If you have luck, I shall

want a subscription for my hospital."

"As many thousands as you like," he answered: then, as she sped away: "I

will have her, and the millions too!" adding reminiscently: "Yes, Lady

Lawless, this is my biggest deal."

He tramped to the stables, asked for and got a horse, and rode away to

the railway station. It was dinner time when he got back. He came down

to dinner late, apologising to Lady Lawless as he did so. Glancing

across the table at Mr. Pride, he saw a peculiar excited look in the

young man's face.

"The baby fool!" he said to himself. "He's getting into mischief. I'll

startle him. If he knows that an army of his dollars is playing at

fox-and-geese, he'll not make eyes at Lady Lawless this way--little

ass."

Lady Lawless appeared oblivious of the young man's devotional exercises.

She was engaged on a more congenial theme. In spite of Miss Raglan's

excellent acting, she saw that something had occurred. Mr. Vandewaters

was much the same as usual, save that his voice had an added ring. She

was not sure that all was right; but she was determined to know. Sir

Duke was amused generally. He led a pretty by-play with Mrs. Gregory

Thorne, of whom he asked the details of the day, much to the

confusion, not admirably hid, of Mr. Pride; lamenting now and then Mr.

Vandewaters's absence from the shooting.

Mr. Vandewaters was cool enough. He said that he had been playing at

nine-pins with railways, which was good enough sport for him. Soon after

dinner, he was handed two telegrams. He glanced slowly up at Pride, as

if debating whether to tell him something. He evidently decided against

it, and, excusing himself by saying he was off to take a little walk in

Wall Street, went away to the telegraph office, where he stayed three

hours.

The magnitude of the concerns, the admirable stoicism with which

he received alarming news, his dry humour while they waited between

messages--all were so unlike anything the telegraph-clerk had ever seen,

or imagined, that the thing was like a preposterous dream. Even when,

at last, a telegram came which the clerk vaguely felt was, somehow, like

the fall of an empire, Mr. Vandewaters remained unmoved. Then he sent

one more telegram, gave the clerk a pound, asked that the reply be sent

to him as soon as it came, and went away, calmly smoking his cigar.

It was a mild night. When he got to the house he found some of the

guests walking on the veranda. He joined them; but Miss Raglan was not

with them; nor were Lady Lawless and Mr. Pride. He wanted to see

all three, and so he went into the house. There was no one in the

drawing-room. He reached the library in time to hear Lady Lawless say

to Mr. Pride, who was disappearing through another door: "You had better

ask advice of Mr. Vandewaters."

The door closed. Mr. Vandewaters stepped forward.

He understood the situation. "I guess I know how to advise him, Lady

Lawless," he said.

She turned on him quietly, traces of hauteur in her manner. Her

self-pride had been hurt. "You have heard?" she asked.

"Only your last words, Lady Lawless. They were enough. I feel guilty in

having brought him here."

"You need not. I was glad to have your friend. He is young and effusive.

Let us say no more about it.

"He is tragically repentant; which is a pity. There is no reason why he

should not stay, and be sensible. Why should young men lose their heads,

and be so absurdly earnest?"

"Another poser, Lady Lawless."

"In all your life you never misunderstood things so, I am sure."

"Well, there is no virtue in keeping your head steady. I have spent most

of my life wooing Madame Fortune; I find that makes a man canny."

"She has been very kind to you."

"Perhaps it would surprise you if I told you that at this moment I am

not worth ten thousand dollars." She looked greatly astonished. "I do

not understand," she said. She was thinking of what this might mean to

Gracia Raglan.

"You see I've been playing games at a disadvantage with some ruffians

at New York. They have combined and got me into a corner. I have made my

last move. If it comes out right I shall be richer than ever; if not I

must begin all over again."

Lady Lawless looked at him curiously. She had never met a man like him

before. His power seemed almost Napoleonic; his imperturbability was

absolute. Yet she noticed something new in him. On one side a kind of

grim forcefulness; on the other, a quiet sort of human sympathy. The

one, no doubt, had to do with the momentous circumstances amid which he

was placed; the other, with an event which she had, perhaps prematurely,

anticipated.

"I wonder--I wonder at you," she said. "How do you keep so cool while

such tremendous things are happening?"

"Because I believe in myself, Lady Lawless. I have had to take my

measure a good many times in this world. I never was defeated through my

own stupidity. It has been the sheer luck of the game."

"You do not look like a gamester," she said.

"I guess it's all pretty much a game in life, if you look at it right.

It is only a case of playing fair or foul."

"I never heard any Englishmen talk as you do."

"Very likely not," he responded. "I don't want to be unpleasant; but

most Englishmen work things out by the rule their fathers taught them,

and not by native ingenuity. It is native wit that tells in the end, I'm

thinking."

"Perhaps you are right," she rejoined. "There must be a kind of genius

in it." Here her voice dropped a little lower. "I do not believe there

are many Englishmen, even if they had your dollars--"

"The dollars I had this morning," he interposed.

"--who could have so strongly impressed Gracia Raglan."

He looked thoughtfully on the ground; then raised his eyes to Lady

Lawless, and said in a low, ringing tone:

"Yes, I am going to do more than 'impress': I am going to convince her."

"When?" she asked.

"To-morrow morning, I hope," was the reply. "I believe I shall have my

millions again."

"If you do," she said slowly, "do you not think that you ought to run no

more risks--for her sake?"

"That is just what I mean to do, Lady Lawless. I'll settle millions

where they ought to be settled, drop Wall Street, and--go into

training."

"Into training?" she asked.

"Yes, for a house on the Hudson, a villa at Cannes, a residence in

Grosvenor Square, and a place in Devonshire--or somewhere else. Then,"

he added, with a twinkle in his eye, "I shall need a good deal of time

to cultivate accent."

"Don't!" she said. "You are much more charming as you are."

They passed into the drawing-room.

"Are these things to be told?" she asked, with a little suggestion in

her voice.

"I can trust your discretion."

"Even in such circumstances?" she asked. She paused, with a motion of

her fan back towards the room they had left.

"You have taught him a lesson, Lady Lawless. It is rough on him; but he

needs it."

"I hope he will do nothing rash," she said.

"Perhaps he'll write some poetry, and refuse to consider his natural

appetite."

"Will you go and see him now?" she asked. "Immediately. Good night, Lady

Lawless." His big hand swallowed hers in a firm, friendly clasp, and

he shook it once or twice before he parted from her. He met Sir Duke

Lawless in the doorway. They greeted cheerfully, and then Lawless came

up to his wife.

"Well, my dear," he said, with an amused look in his face, "well, what

news?"

She lifted her eyebrows at him.

"Something has happened, Molly, I can see it in your face."

She was very brief. "Gracia Raglan has been conquered; the young man

from Boston has been foolish; and Mr. Vandewaters has lost millions."

"Eh? That's awkward," said Sir Duke.

"Which?" asked his wife.

Vandewaters found Mr. Pride in his bedroom, a waif of melancholy. He

drew a chair up, lighted a cigar, eyed the young man from head to foot,

and then said: "Pride, have you got any backbone? If you have, brace up.

You are ruined. That's about as mild as I can put it."

"You know all?"--said the young man helplessly, his hands clasped

between his knees in aesthetic agony.

"Yes; I know more than you do, as you will find out. You're a nice sort

of man, to come into a man's house, in a strange land, and make love

to his wife. Now, what do you think of yourself? You're a nice

representative of the American, aren't you?"

"I--I didn't mean any harm--I--couldn't help it," replied the stricken

boy.

"O, for God's sake, drop that bib-and-tucker twaddle! Couldn't help it!

Every scoundrel, too weak to face the consequences of his sin, says he

couldn't help it. So help me, Joseph, I'd like to thrash you. Couldn't

help it! Now, sit up in your chair, take this cigar, drink this glass of

whiskey I'm pouring for you, and make up your mind that you're going to

be a man and not a nincompoop--sit still! Don't fly up. I mean what I

say. I've got business to talk to you. And make up your mind that, for

once, you have got to take life seriously."

"What right have you to speak to me like this?" demanded the young man

with an attempt at dignity. Vandewaters laughed loudly.

"Right? Great Scott! The right of a man who thinks a damned sight more

of your reputation than you do yourself, and of your fortune than you

would ever have wits to do. I am the best friend you've got, and not the

less your friend because I feel like breaking your ribs. Now, enough of

that. This is what I have to say, Pride: to-night you and I are beggars.

You understand? Beggars. Out in the cold world, out in the street. Now,

what do you think of that?"

The shock to Mr. Pride was great. Mr. Vandewaters had exaggerated the

disaster; but he had done it with a purpose. The youth gasped "My God!"

and dropped his glass. Vandewaters picked it up, and regarded him a

moment in silence. Then he began to explain their financial position. He

did not explain the one bold stroke which he was playing to redeem their

fortunes: if possible. When he had finished the story, he said, "I guess

that's a bit more serious than the little affair in the library half an

hour ago?"

He rose to his feet. "Look here, Pride, be a man. You've never tried

it yet. Let me teach you how to face the world without a dollar; how to

make a fortune. Then, when you've made it, you'll get what you've never

had yet--the pleasure of spending money dug out of your own wits."

He carried conviction into a mind not yet all destroyed by effeminacy

and indulgence of the emotions. Something of the iron of his own brain

got into the brain of the young man, who came to his feet trembling a

little, and said: "I don't mind it so much, if you only stick to me,

Vandewaters."

A smile flickered about the corners of Vandewaters's mouth.

"Take a little more whiskey," he said; "then get into bed, and go to

sleep. No nonsense, remember; go to sleep. To-morrow morning we will

talk. And see here, my boy,"--he caught him by both arms and fastened

his eyes,--"you have had a lesson: learn it backwards. Good night."

Next morning Mr. Vandewaters was early in the grounds. He chatted with

the gardener, and discussed the merits of the horses with the groom,

apparently at peace with the world. Yet he was watching vigilantly

the carriage-drive from the public-road. Just before breakfast-time a

telegraph messenger appeared. Vandewaters was standing with Sir Duke

Lawless when the message was handed to him. He read it, put it into his

pocket, and went on talking. Presently he said: "My agent is coming

from town this morning, Sir Duke. I may have to leave to-night." Then he

turned, and went to his room.

Lady Lawless had heard his last words.

"What about your ranche in Colorado, Duke?"

"About as sure, I fancy, as your millionaire for Gracia."

Miss Raglan did not appear at breakfast with the rest. Neither did Mr.

Pride, who slept late that morning. About ten o'clock Mr. Vandewaters's

agent arrived. About twelve o'clock Mr. Vandewaters saw Miss Raglan

sitting alone in the library. He was evidently looking for her. He came

up to her quietly, and put a piece of paper in her lap.

"What is this?" she asked, a little startled.

"A thousand for your hospital," was the meaning reply.

She flushed, and came to her feet.

"I have won," he said.

And then he reached out and took both her hands.