Abashed by Betty's unexpected appearance at his home and with a sudden
fear that something had happened to Consuello possessing him, John
waited for her to speak. He noticed that she had not dismissed the cab
that waited at the curb.
"Can you come with me immediately?" she asked, quickly. "I want you to
see Consuello, tonight."
"Did she send you for me?" he entreated.
"No, but I know that she wants you," she replied.
"Are you sure?" he persisted.
"Don't be a foolish boy," she said, with a gesture of impatience. "No
one in the world knows Consuello as well as I do. I am doing this for
her. Do you think for a moment that I would be here if I wasn't certain
I was doing the proper thing?"
"I know she trusts you," he said, reassured by her mild vexation.
"Hurry, then; I'll explain things while we're on our way. I'll wait for
you in the cab," she said.
Mrs. Sprockett's husband answered the door when he crossed the street to
the Sprockett home to tell his mother he had been called away.
"Tell mother that I'm going to see a friend and that I'll be home before
it is late," he said. "Tell her there's no need to worry about me."
"Just a minute and I'll call her," Mrs. Sprockett's husband suggested.
"No, just give her my message," he said, apprehensive of the probable
consequences of telling his mother that it was Consuello he was going to
meet.
As the cab started away from the curb he turned to Betty with the
question that, in his mind, had been begging for an answer from the
moment he recognized her.
"How is she?" he asked, his voice betraying his anxiety.
"She is very brave," Betty said, earnestly.
"Perhaps I should not ask you this, but has she seen--Gibson?" So much,
he felt, depended on her reply to this question. If Consuello had
already talked with Gibson and Betty divined that she wanted to see him,
then----
"Perhaps I should not tell you, but--she has talked to him. That's as
much as I will tell you. The rest must come from her," Betty replied.
She had talked with Gibson and yet she wanted to see him! Or, could
Betty be mistaken? Had she interpreted Consuello's mood erroneously in
coming for him?
"Forgive me for my doubtfulness," he said, "but are you certain that she
wants to see me?"
A shade of exasperation crossed Betty's face.
"You said a moment ago that you knew Consuello trusted me," she said.
"If she trusts me, then why can't you?"
Reassured by this pertinent counter question he deduced that Betty, with
the welfare of Consuello at heart, had concluded that he might be able
to furnish the solace her companion needed in her hour of trial. The
ecstasy that had thrilled him when he first realized that he loved
Consuello returned to him as the cab sped through the streets. She knew
now why he had beseeched her to think of him as doing what he thought
was right. And she had kept her promise! A glance through the window of
the cab at a lighted corner told him that they were nearing their
destination.
"I'm going to leave you alone with her," Betty said, with the frankness
that she had displayed when they first met. "I need not ask you to be
very considerate, to do everything you can to comfort her. In my heart I
feel that what has happened is all for the best. How dreadful it would
have been if she had been compelled to make this discovery for herself
after they were married.
"I told her that I would be away until late; that I was busy. We'll
stop at the corner to let you out, because she knows that I took a cab
when I left and she might suspect that I went for you. Here we are."
She called to the driver to stop.
"It was kind of you----" he began as he stood at the cab door after
alighting. She stopped him with a gesture of her hand. Then, leaning
forward a little, her eyes dancing with a smile, she said:
"Don't you know that I know you love her?"
The door closed quickly and the cab spurted away from the curb, leaving
him standing bewildered and yet overjoyed by the audacious words she had
spoken. So that was why she had called him to Consuello! If Betty knew
it, then Consuello, too, must realize that he loved her. The thought
frightened him. It had never occurred to him before that she might know.
Somehow, he had not dared to imagine that she cared enough even to guess
that he loved her.
He went slowly to the opening in the hedge of boxwood that lined the
sidewalk in front of Consuello's artistic little dream home and turned
into the pathway between the patches of rosebushes. A heavy fragrance
from the blossoms filled the still night air. As he stepped on to the
porch and reached for the knocker with his left hand he recalled
suddenly that his face bore strips of plaster over his wounds and that
his right hand was held rigid in splints. The hesitancy that this
recollection gave forsook him when he remembered that Betty had made no
comment on his appearance, probably because she had seen the photograph
of him that had been published in the paper. Emboldened he rapped with
the knocker.
She wore the same simple white frock that he had admired when they first
met. For a moment she stood with her hand on the knob of the door, the
look of surprise in her eyes fading to an expression of mingled pleasure
and perplexity.
"Come in," she invited.
He saw that a tender light, the softness of sympathy, came into her eyes
when she noticed the plasters on his forehead and cheek. Then, when she
extended her hand to him and he stood awkwardly unable to take it
without first disposing of the hat he held, she apologized for her
forgetfulness.
"I'm sorry," she said, quickly compassionate.
"It's nothing," he said. "Only a scratch or two, that's all."
They crossed to the fireplace, where she took a chair near the rose
shaded table lamp, the only illumination in the room. He sat opposite
her, his back toward the door, waiting for her to speak.
"I was thinking of you when you rapped on the door," she said. "I was
alone beside my window looking out toward my hill. The darkness of the
night prevented me from seeing it, but I knew it was there. Though I
could not see it, I looked to it for comfort."
"It won't be hidden from you long," he said. "When the morning comes it
will be there and the darkness will be gone."
"When the morning comes," she said, softly, "there'll be sunshine and
flowers and birds--and happiness. But it is there for me now, steadfast,
loyal, abiding. I know now why I love the hills more than the ocean.
They are so fixed, so permanent; unchanging, unmoving; while the ocean
storms and calms, thunders and ripples, lures you to its depths
and--drowns you."
John knew the inner meaning of her words. Sincerity and deceit.
Trustworthiness and treachery. Genuineness and make-believe.
"Was it difficult for you to keep your promise?" he asked, breaking the
silence that had followed after she had spoken.
"To understand that you did what you thought was right?" she inquired.
He nodded.
"No," she said, "I never doubted that. But I was never really put to
the test. My decision was made before I thought of what I had promised
you."
She paused and then, lifting her eyes to meet his, she continued:
"You see, I believe there is only one real love between a man and a
woman and that is the love that endures all things. I have always
thought--and I still do--that a woman who sincerely loves a man will
stay by his side even if the whole world is against him. Unless a woman
can do that willingly, gladly, I do not believe that it is real love.
"He came here early Sunday morning and asked me to go away with him. I
could not understand and he did not explain. He simply said that
something had happened that would prevent him from ever becoming mayor
of Los Angeles and that he was going away, never to return.
"'If you love me, you will come with me,' he said. I was bewildered, of
course, but I knew that he was right. It was the test, a test far
greater than I had ever dreamed would come to me.
"I asked him why it was that he should be compelled to leave the city.
He assured me that he had committed no crime. He was very earnest as he
spoke and so serious that I knew something terrible had happened. He
declared again and again that he loved me and that if I loved him I
would go with him and ask no questions. It was all so overwhelming that
I begged him to leave me, to let me decide alone.
"'I will let you know, tonight,' I told him. 'Unless you hear from me
you will know that I have decided I cannot do what you have asked me.'
"Soon after he was gone I realized that--that I did not love him with
the one great love. I knew that I didn't because I had not thrown myself
into his arms and told him, as Ruth told Naomi, 'For whither thou goest
I will go; and where thou lodgest I will lodge.'
"I need not tell you in details of how bewildered I was by his strange
request and what I went through when I found that I did not really love
him. Of course, I tried to imagine what had occurred that caused him to
ask me to leave everything and go away with him. Whatever it was, I felt
it was cowardly of him to leave unless it was all his own fault.
"So he did not hear from me last night and this morning I read of what
he stands accused. But I was prepared. I had chosen my course and what I
read only made me certain that I was right; that I did not truly love
him, never had and never could. I pitied his weakness. I could see how
he had gone astray. You see, I have often wondered how it was he had
money so suddenly after everything he once had had gone from him. The
source of his wealth was always a mystery to me."
She paused and looking toward the casement window with its red
geraniums, she added, softly: "That is my story. That is what has
happened."
In the silence that followed they were both startled to hear footsteps
on the porch outside. Consuello looked toward him, quickly, with an
expression that warned him. The door swung open and Gibson stepped in,
closing it behind him.
"I thought I'd find you here," he said.
His face was pale and a smile that was half a sneer was on his lips as
he stood looking at them. John was on his feet facing him and a glance
showed that Consuello had also risen from her chair at Gibson's
unexpected entrance.
"The girl who said that she loved me and the man who pretended he was my
friend," said Gibson, sarcastically.
John's muscles tightened and he bit his lip to restrain the words of
warning to Gibson that he was about to speak.
"If you have come here to----" he heard Consuello say, coolly, evenly.
"I came here to say good-by to you," Gibson interrupted, "and to make
certain that there had not been some mistake. I thought you might have
tried to reach me last night and failed, or that you might have changed
your mind." He paused a moment before adding, "But I know better now."
"You should have known last night," Consuello said. "You should have
known that if I had decided to do what you asked me I would have come to
you, found you wherever you were."
"I should have known months ago, if I had not been such a blind fool,"
said Gibson bitterly.
"You were a blind fool," said Consuello, "but not as I suspect you
think. You were blinded by your own selfish indolence. You said a moment
ago that I told you I loved you. I did tell you that and I thought that
I meant it, but when I found that I could not go with you as you asked I
knew I had been mistaken. You must remember that I decided against you
before I knew the reason you wanted me to leave."
The half-sarcastic smile curled Gibson's lips.
"Then you'll admit that something else--someone else, perhaps----" he
said.
"I saw no one, except Betty, from the time you left until Mr. Gallant
came this evening," Consuello said. "I'm thankful that I was able to
decide before I read what was in the paper today. Reggie, how often have
I told you my conception of love. Don't you know that if I cared for
you nothing would have kept me from you? I cannot tell you why it was; I
can only tell you how. I knew as soon as I realized that I had refused
to go with you blindly that it was not love, the real love, that I had
in my heart for you."
"And suppose I had not asked you to go away with me? Suppose I came to
you tonight and asked you to stand by me, right here in Los Angeles?"
"It would have been the same," Consuello replied quietly. "I would have
given you the same answer."
As she spoke Gibson gazed at her intently and the anger that had
smouldered in his eyes disappeared and he forced a smile to his lips as
he turned toward John.
"Gallant," he said, "I saw you take terrible punishment one night and
stagger to your feet until you were knocked senseless. I admired you
that night, Gallant; I envied your courage. When Charlie Murray made his
little talk I think I was the first to respond. If you found a $50 bill
in what Charlie turned over to you, you know now who tossed it into the
ring." He paused, looked to the floor and then back into John's face.
"Tonight you have watched me take my punishment," he continued. "I
stood on my feet and cheered when you came back into the ring and when
you left. I don't want pity or sympathy, but I want you to have a cheer
in your heart for me when I go."
Gibson's change from sarcasm and bitterness to a show of manliness
relieved the tenseness of the situation. Consuello sank into a chair and
gazing into the fireplace, where flames had once sparkled as bright as
her romance with Gibson and now only cold ashes remained, left the two
men facing each other.
"No one has ever doubted your courage," John said.
"I hope you do not think that I had anything to do with the death of
Murphy or the attack upon yourself," said Gibson. "If I had known what
they were going to do I would have died fighting them. I took Cummings'
gun from him when he fired at you and the others in the automobile. From
that minute I have neither seen nor heard from him. If I ever run across
him I'll bring him back and surrender him to the district attorney. That
is the way I hope to win condonement for what I've done. That is where
I'm going when I leave here tonight, to search for him, to the ends of
the earth if it is necessary."
"If ever, while you're away, you need help, let me know," John said,
with an impulsive desire to take Gibson's hand. But he stood still,
waiting for the other to continue.
"When I came here tonight and found you two together I said things that
I'm sorry ever escaped my lips," said Gibson. "I was a cad and no matter
what you may think of me for the other things I've done, I want you to
forgive me--both of you--for that alone."
Their silence assured him that they were anxious to forget his display
of bitterness.
"Will you do me this favor, Gallant?" he continued. "Will you publish
tomorrow that you have seen me and that I've started search for Cummings
and won't return to Los Angeles until I bring him back with me? Just
that much and no more."
"That much and no more," John promised.
Then Gibson turned toward Consuello. She had bowed her head in her hand.
He hesitated a moment and then walked slowly to the side of her chair.
"Good-by, Conny," he said.
She looked up at him, tears brimming in her eyes, her under lip caught
between her teeth. He tried to force a smile to his lips, but it balked.
"Good-by," she said, and her voice trembled.
He turned away quickly, as if he felt he could not trust himself to be
at her side a second longer. He stopped again, facing John.
"Just one thing more, Gallant," he said.
"Yes," said John, his voice queerly out of pitch.
Gibson looked him straight in the eyes.
"You love her, don't you?" he asked.
Unable to speak what was in his heart, John stood silent. He moistened
his lips with his tongue and wondered why it was he could not shout back
his answer. Flustered by the boldness of the question put to him so
directly, a thought flashed into his mind of Betty's frank declaration
that she knew he loved Consuello. Then he discovered the reason why his
mother had been so perturbed by his frequent meetings with her. She,
too, undoubtedly knew he was in love!
While these thoughts were racing through his head, Gibson put his hand
on his shoulder.
"You need not answer, Gallant," he said, "because your silence is
enough. Regardless of how incongruous it seems in view of the great
wrong I have done her, I love her, too. And, because I love her I can
tell that you do. I can see it by the way you speak to her, the way you
look at her and unless I am greatly mistaken she knows it as well as you
and I do."
He grasped John's left hand in his own.
"Take care of her, Gallant; love her and try to make her happy," he
said. He turned and walked to the door, leaving John speechless and
motionless, staring after him. At the threshold he wheeled to face them
again.
"Exit, the villain," he said slowly and smiling.
The door closed behind him and his footsteps, taking him steadily, not
too fast, not too slowly, from the house, diminished until the only
sound audible in the room was the ticking of the clock on the mantel of
the fireplace.
John, his back toward Consuello, his eyes on the door, wondering whether
it was all a dream, a cheer in his heart for the man who had left them
so dramatically, feared to move.
"Exit, the villain"--Gibson's last words--echoed in his brain.
He imagined he heard Brennan saying: "A grandstander, a grandstander to
the last."
When he finally turned around, Consuello was standing by the open
casement window, looking out into the night, her fingers touching the
petals of the geraniums on the sill, in the same position in which she
had stood when she had recited to him the little verse with its simple,
homely philosophy.
He moved to her side, marveling at her unaffected beauty.
Looking out of the window he saw that the moon, which had been hidden by
the clouds an hour before, had crested her "green and friendly hill"
with an outline of silvery-blue.
Something in her pose that suggested to him that she was waiting for him
to speak gave him the courage. Yet he was afraid to look at her as he
spoke, afraid to see what effect his words had upon her.
"I do--love you," he said.
That little gasp as she caught her breath, what did it mean? Still
unable to face her, he continued:
"He knew it; Betty knows it; mother knows it and I want the whole world
to know it--I love you." He could say no more.
Gently, caressingly, her small white fingers touched his unbandaged
hand. Tremulously he turned his head and saw her answer in her eyes and
slowly, almost reverently, he lifted her hand to his lips. A mocking
bird broke into joyous song in a tree outside, a golden flood of music
to mock the silent song in his heart.
* * *
Lights were shining through the curtains on the windows of the Sprockett
house and his mother was waiting up for him when he returned home. As he
took her in his arms to kiss her forehead tenderly he had a fantasy that
the wonderfulness of his requited love had miraculously altered his
mother's opinion of Consuello. But it was a fantasy, only that.
"Mother, dearest," he whispered, "I'm the happiest man in the world,
tonight."
His mother drew back from him and the intuition that had advised her
that her son was in love with Consuello, long before he realized it
himself, told her the reason for his happiness. She turned away and
pressing a handkerchief to her eyes left him with a discordant note
breaking the harmony of his ecstasy.