A MOONLIGHT MEETING.
In truth, the game had livened Carson up and taken his thoughts from
unpleasant things.
The remainder of the afternoon was fully occupied, for Merry showed
Berlin through the buildings and explained the methods of the school.
At dinner Carson seemed much brighter and joined in the talk and
laughter. After dinner he accompanied Frank and Inza to see the baby.
Little Frank was sound asleep, and one of the maids was watching over
him.
"Where's Lizette, Maggie?" asked Inza.
"Th' poor crather do have a headache," answered Maggie. "She axed me
would Oi look afther th' choild whoile she rested a bit."
"A headache? That's strange. Lizette has told me she never had an ache
or a pain in all her life."
"Did yez notice, ma'am, if she touched wood whin she said it?" asked
Maggie.
"I didn't notice."
"Thot's it, thot's it," declared the maid, with conviction. "Oi'm not
superstitious, but Oi nivver brag about mesilf thot Oi don't touch wood.
Mark me worruds, whin a person boasts and fergits to touch wood,
something happens to thot person. I nivver knew it to fail."
"A fine baby, Frank," said Berlin, as he stood looking at the child.
"You ought to be proud of him."
"No peacock was ever prouder," laughed Merry. "We hope to make a star of
him, eh, Inza?"
"Oh, the star--the birthmark!" exclaimed Inza. "Can't you show it to Mr.
Carson without waking the baby, Maggie?"
"Oi kin try, ma'am."
The maid gently slipped the clothes from the baby's left shoulder and
revealed the tiny, perfectly formed pink star.
"Wonderful! wonderful!" declared Berlin. "Why, one would think it
stamped there. I never saw anything so perfect in all my life. Frank,
Inza, that child is marked for something great."
"Let us hope you're right," said Merry.
That night, after retiring to his room, Carson sat a long time at the
open window, gazing out through the whispering trees toward the fall
moon that was rising in the east. The old feeling of sadness and
disappointment stole over him and gave him a sensation of uncontrollable
loneliness in the world.
"I suppose I was mistaken about Lizette," he finally muttered. "I shall
be able to tell when I see her again. I hoped to see her when they took
me to look at the baby. Rather strange she wasn't there. Still, I
presume it's true that she had a headache."
Finally he undressed, donned his pajamas, and got into bed.
Sleep did not come readily at his command. His brain was busy with many
thoughts. He recalled the old days at college, when he first met Frank
Merriwell. In those happy days ere meeting Bessie he was heart-free and
care-free. It seemed so long ago--so long ago. It was something like a
dream. Dimly he recalled the classroom, the campus, and the field. He
saw his youthful comrades gathering about him at the old fence in the
dusk of a soft spring evening. He heard their light talk and careless
laughter. He heard them singing beneath the windows of the dormitories.
He heard them cheering on the field as Old Eli battled for baseball
honors or struggled to win new gridiron glory.
Ah, those were happy days, Carson, my boy! They were the happiest you
have ever known. You did not appreciate those glorious days as they were
passing, but you appreciate them now, and the memory is a precious one.
Can such happy days as those ever again be yours?
Then he recalled old times on the ranch. He thrilled as he remembered
his first meeting with dark-eyed Bessie. How she had bewitched him! How
she had puzzled and fascinated him! At the very first he had felt her
fascination dangerous, yet it was so delightful that he did not mind the
danger.
Thinking of Bessie, he finally fell asleep and dreamed of her. On the
bed he tossed restlessly, murmuring her name. He seemed to see her near
at hand, yet gliding away before him as he vainly sought to overtake
her. She turned her bewitching face and smiled at him alluringly.
Desperately he strove to reach her, but always she kept just beyond his
grasp. Yet she beckoned him on with her smile and with her hypnotic
eyes. Finally, in mad desperation, he made one last great leap and
seized her. He had her now! She was his! She could not get away! In that
moment of triumph a marvelous metamorphosis took place, and as his arm
bound her to his side he beheld her transformed into a boy. She was no
longer Bessie, but young Tom King, reckless, taunting, derisive, and
mocking.
In that mysterious way of dreams, he now beheld himself gazing down upon
a dying man, who lay stretched upon the ground, a bullet having passed
through his body. He knew the man. It was Colonel King, the cattle
rustler, who had carried on his criminal work disguised as Laramie Dave.
There were other men standing about--armed men. The sheriff was there
with his posse. At last, through the revelation and information
furnished by Frank Merriwell, this cattle stealer had been captured and
shot. And now he was gasping his life away, and soon his stain-spotted
soul would stand naked before the judgment bar above.
Through his dream--if dream it was--a voice sounded, cutting him to the
heart. That voice cried, "You have killed him, you devils!" Then young
Tom King threw himself on his father's prostrate body, weeping bitterly.
Carson attempted to lift the boy, but once more before his eyes a change
took place, and Tom King became Lizette, the French nurse.
He awoke, shaking in every limb, with cold perspiration on his face.
"Did I dream," he hoarsely muttered, "or did I live the past over
again?"
There was no more sleep for him. He rose and went to the window. The
cool night beckoned to him. The soft moon smiled at him. The whispering
leaves said, "Come out, come out."
Carson dressed, softly descended the stairs, and left the house.
He filled his lungs and stretched his arms. The moon had mounted into
the eastern sky, and there were deep shadows beneath the trees. The
restless young man walked amid those shadows.
Suddenly he paused, startled by the sound of voices. Near at hand two
persons were talking. One voice, hoarse, harsh, suppressed, was that of
a man. The other was a woman's voice.
"What does it mean?" thought Carson. "Who is here at this hour? I must
know--I'll investigate."
Cautiously he stole forward, keeping deep within the shadows. He had not
proceeded far before these words, spoken by the woman, came distinctly
to his ears:
"I cannot--I will not do it!"
An instant later a shadowy figure came rustling toward him. It was the
woman, and she was right upon him ere she discovered the silent man who
stood there beneath the trees. With a little gasp, she turned and fled
on. A patch of moonlight, shimmering through the branches, had shown him
her face.
The face of Lizette!