FREDERIC KAYE'S WELCOME HOME.
The excitement at Ardsley was intense. Never had its quiet precincts
been disturbed by a crime so unprovoked and dastardly.
"To strike a man in the dark."
"To waylay an old fellow like that. The man is a coward, whoever he be,
that did it."
"Poor old 'boss.' He wasn't to say over lovable, in ordinary, but I'd
pity even a scoundrel got treated that way."
"He ought to be punished with his own stripes."
"Oh, he'll get what he deserves. Never fear. If old man Wingate had been
poor--well, you might say. But a rich man has friends."
Such talk all through the mill, on that day after Christmas, interfered
seriously with the customary labor. But it was small wonder; and though
he tried to enforce discipline and keep things running smoothly, even
Mr. Metcalf himself was greatly disturbed and anxious.
The news of the assault upon the mill owner had spread rapidly. At
first the story told by the stranger, who had so suddenly and
opportunely appeared upon the scene, was given credence. Then, when it
was remembered that this stranger, now known to be Frederic Kaye, had
been injured and supplanted by Archibald Wingate, a faint suspicion
began to rise in men's minds.
Only those who have suffered from it know with what terrible rapidity an
unjust rumor grows and spreads. Inoculated by this evil germ, even the
fairest judgment becomes diseased. Those who had best known Frederic
Kaye, the old people who recalled his frank, impetuous, happy-go-lucky
boyhood, here in the town where he was born and bred; those who had
received good from his hand, and nothing but good; even these joined
with the baser sort in considering the night attack upon the mill owner
"quite natural. Just what might have been expected."
"Of course no one knows what sort of life Kaye's led out there in
Californy. The jumping-off place of creation."
So, instead of finding himself among friends, the returned citizen
discovered that he was among enemies, under the basest of suspicions. He
had remained all night at Fairacres, with the doctor so hastily summoned
there. This gentleman was an old acquaintance, and from him Mr.
Frederic, as he had always been called in distinction from Mr. Kaye, the
artist and his brother-in-law, learned the history of the past weeks.
Yes, even of years.
"It's a pity, a great pity! When I failed to pay what I owed on the
property here, and Salome, my sister, saw that I would lose everything
unless somebody came to my aid, she did so. I hoped, I fully expected,
to be able to return what she advanced. All the world knows now that I
was not."
"She was not the first person who has been ruined by injudicious
indorsement."
The Californian winced. His home-coming was proving a terrible
disappointment to him, and he little dreamed how much worse than
disappointment was yet in store.
"Well, bad luck has pursued me. I have lost in every speculation I ever
undertook. The last I tried was the evaporation of fruits. There's money
in it, if I had the capital--"
"Then you did not know how badly things were going with your sister?"
"I never dreamed it. You knew her well--Salome was never a whiner. If
she had even intimated the straits which she was in, I would have thrown
up every chance and come back at once, to put my shoulder to the wheel
in some shape. I wouldn't have permitted it."
"How happen you here just now?"
"My niece, Amy, wrote me of her mother's death. It was a brief,
heart-broken little letter. I have it here. It brought me home, but I
still fancied that home was this house." The gentleman took from his
pocket a small envelope and read its enclosure aloud. It was, as he had
stated, extremely short and gave only the facts.
"MY DEAR UNCLE FREDERIC: Our mother is dead. She is buried at Quaker
cemetery. My father and Hallam are well. So is Cleena. I don't know how
to write to you because you are really a stranger to me. The burros are
both well. Your loving
"AMY KAYE."
"There, that's all. It was enough to bring me clear across the
continent, however. My heart aches; I should have come sooner. Oh, for
one sight of Salome's beautiful face before--" He dropped his head on
his hand and a sob shook the strong frame.
The doctor rose and busied himself about his patient. He respected the
brother's grief, and he liked this man, unthrifty and neglectful as he
might have been.
Then Marshall made a sign, and the physician left the room so quietly
that Mr. Kaye did not hear him go. Outside, in the hall, the valet was
waiting, almost breathless with eagerness.
"Will he live?" he questioned in a whisper.
"Time will tell. I hope so," was the unsatisfactory response.
"Well, if he don't, that's his--murderer."
The other sprang back as if he had been struck.
"Man, take care what you say! How dare you?"
"Ain't it reasonable? Didn't he say he was the man that owned the mill,
this house, everything before master did? Who else had a grudge against
the poor old man?"
"Lots of people, I reckon. It won't hurt him to tell the truth. He was
as testy as a snapping turtle--you know that. Plenty of folks disliked
him. Most likely the person who attacked him was a tramp who hoped to
find money. By the way, did anybody look to see if there had been
robbery as well as assault?"
"I did. No; there wasn't anything stole, so far as I know. That's what,
one thing--why it must have been--"
Dr. Wise laid his hand on Marshall's shoulder.
"Look here, man, you stop that talk. Not another word of it. How dare
you, I say how dare you, thrust suspicion upon an innocent man? I'd
stake my life on the integrity of any Kaye was ever born. Unfortunate
this returned wanderer may be, but--If you let me hear one single word
more of such fol-de-rol, I'll make it hot for you. Understand? Haven't
we got enough on our hands to keep your master alive? There must be
quiet here, absolute quiet. It's your business to have it maintained;
and if you don't, I'll have you punished as accessory to the deed. Hear
me?"
All this had been delivered in the lowest tone possible, yet each
syllable was as distinctly enunciated as if it had been shouted. The
doctor knew Marshall. He chose that idle threat of "accessory" as the
safest means to accomplish his own object.
This was all very well, so far as it went. Unfortunately, the doctor was
not the only person to whom the valet had already announced his
suspicion. There were other servants in the kitchen, and they had been
swiftly poisoned by his opinion. So that when, after a sleepless night
of watching beside his kinsman's bed, Frederic Kaye set off for "Charity
House" and his relatives, he was even then a marked man.
Into the sacredness of reunion, when the little family on the knoll were
discussing all that had befallen them, on either side, and the two men
were renewing old affections, while Hallam and Amy were forming new ones
for this new uncle, there came an alarming summons.
A local officer of the law presented himself before the group and on
behalf of the public safety arrested the stranger.
"Arrest me? Why, what in the name of justice do you mean?"
"Just what I say. For the attack upon a peaceful citizen, who lies at
the point of death, brought there by your villainous hand," repeated the
sheriff, solemnly. He so seldom had opportunity to exercise his office
that he now embellished it with all the dignity possible.
"Indeed, take care of your words, friend! It was a case of rescue, not
attack. You are slightly mixed in your ideas, sir. I found him suffering
a terrible horsewhipping at the hands of somebody whom I do not know,
who slipped away from me when I seized him, and disappeared in the
darkness. I was too anxious over Mr. Wingate to notice, or even care,
which direction the rascal took. But--aha, it's too absurd!"
"Remember that whatever you say will be used against you," cautioned the
officer of the law.
"Let it. I could ask no better treatment."
"You say you grabbed a fellow. What was he like?"
"It was too dark to see distinctly. He appeared rather tall and slim. I
don't remember that he said a word, but he laughed harshly as he ran.
Somehow, that laugh gave me the impression that the man was demented.
But I have nothing else to judge by, and I would not be unjust. The
thing for which to be thankful is that Dr. Wise hopes my kinsman's
injuries are not fatal."
"Hmm. All the same, sir, you will have to go with me."
Frederic Kaye turned toward his friends a countenance which expressed as
much amusement as annoyance. Cuthbert Kaye had risen, and his face was
white with indignation. The sight of this, determined his brother-in-law
to yield quietly to the inevitable. He had heard much during his night
with Dr. Wise of the artist's recent condition, and he felt it would be
criminal to let him become excited now. So he laid his hand
affectionately upon the trembling shoulder, and remarked, with laughing
disdain:--
"Why, lad, don't think of it. It's a ludicrous mistake, of course, and
the best, the simplest way to correct it is for me to go with this
gentleman; and I doubt not I'll be back in time for dinner. Why, Cleena,
woman, take care! It's delightful to find you so loyal to your 'black
sheep,' but fisticuffs won't answer, nor even a shillalah."
This was a diversion, and everybody laughed. For Cleena had advanced
threateningly toward the sheriff, raising her rolling-pin, that she
happened to have in hand, as if she would bring it down upon his
offending head. Her hand dropped to her side, but her eyes did not cease
to hurl contempt upon the officer, as, under cover of the merriment
resulting, Frederic Kaye himself led the way out of the house toward the
"bar of justice."
Because Cleena fancied that Amy had taken cold, the girl had remained at
home that morning, but she now begged to be allowed to return to the
mill.
"I want to go and see Mr. Metcalf. He'll be the very one to help Uncle
Frederic, if he needs help, and I'd rather tell him the story myself."
"If you go, I will too," said Hallam, quickly. "I'll have no holidays
you do not share."
"Nonsense! Your work is 'piece work.' If you get behind at one time,
you can make it up at another. The superintendent told me you could soon
bring it home to do, if you wished."
"But I shall not wish--not for the present. Let us both go."
Mr. Kaye looked up as if he would remonstrate. Then he took up a western
newspaper that their guest had laid down, and began to read. But his
children had seen his glance, and interpreted it to themselves by a
swift exchange of their own. Amy's eyes spoke to her brother's, as
plainly as words:--
"We mustn't leave him alone to-day," and Hallam's had telegraphed
back:--
"No, I see that. One of us must stay."
"Well, father, Hal is not half so necessary to the success of Ardsley
Mill as I am. He's going to help you mount those sketches this morning,
while I hunt up Uncle Frederic, and try to get a 'day off' to visit with
him. Cleena must dish up the remains of the yesterday dinner for us, and
we'll keep Christmas over again. Isn't it just lovely, lovely, to have
one's relatives turn up in this delightful fashion? First, Cousin
Archibald, behaving just like other folks; and now this romantic arrival
of the long-lost uncle. Good-by. I'll be back as soon as I can."
Mr. Kaye and Hallam repaired to the upper floor as Amy went away, but
Cleena remained standing for a long time, motionless in the middle of
the room. Her head was bent, and her gaze fixed, as if she were studying
some matter deeply. Finally she roused with a mighty sigh and stalked
out of the room.
"Sure, the pother o' life. It's an' up an' down, so fast it makes a body
dizzy in their wits. That boy, Fayetty, one day as good as a fine fish
o' Friday; the next--eatin' me heart out with the worry. Never a doubt I
doubt 'twas himself belabored the old man on his road home. There's bad
blood 'twixt 'em. But I'll aye see if he's in his bed the now."
So she ascended to the back chamber that Fayette used. To her knock
there came, at first, no response; but she kept on with her tapping and
interspersed this with coaxing tones, and finally a voice answered her.
"What you want?"
"Yerself, avick."
"Well, you can't have me."
"Can I no? It's two makes a bargain."
"Clear out."
"After you is manners for me. Come by."
"Leave me alone."
"I'd take shame to myself. Have ye heard the fine doin's? No?"
"What doings?"
"The lad's back from foreign parts, Miss Amy's uncle. He's the one has
donkeys in his pocket. Heard ye ever o' him?"
"Where's he at?"
"Faith, I d' know. Belike he's after takin' a stroll about, meetin' old
friends. What for no? Come on an' help me get a fine dinner out o'
scraps."
"Suppose he'd give me one?"
"Never a doubt I doubt, _he'll give ye all ye deserve_. Come by. There's
kindlin' to split an' praties to peel, an'--Whist! What's that I hear?"
Fayette's curiosity was very strong. It had led him into trouble more
than once. It now induced him to open the door and peep through.
"What's that, Cleena? Anything happenin'?"
"Arrah musha, but I think yes!"
"What?"
"Sure, if ye're askin', I'm believin' it's Willyum Gladstone happenin'
down in your minin' hole."
"Huckleberries!"
The door flew open, Fayette rushed by as if he could not move half fast
enough. It seemed to Cleena he cleared the stairs with two bounds, and
an instant after she heard him hurrying into the cellar at the same
headlong pace.
"Hmm. I thought that'd fetch him," she chuckled. Then she suddenly
remembered that she had once heard the lad speak of using "giant
powder," or some such explosive in his work of the underground passage.
She had strictly forbidden this, and had carefully watched lest any
suspicious material might be brought upon the premises. She had even
persuaded Teamster John to examine the trench and the articles which
Fayette had placed there. He had found nothing wrong, and the pick and
the shovel had been so long disused that they had rusted. Of late Cleena
had let William Gladstone play down there in the soft dirt, while she
was busy at other things.
"Alanna, the day!"
Cleena followed her leader only a trifle less swiftly, and reached the
top of the cellar stairs just in time to receive a whirling object plump
in her arms. The object was the incipient statesman, and in a second
more the half-wit had also reached the kitchen floor and had shut the
door behind him.
"I'll teach him to interfere with my gold mine!"