“Hugh!” It was a cry of pain torn from the mother heart. But even in her
anguish for her children there came a pang for the man she loved as she
gazed at him wide-eyed, distressed. He seemed to have aged ten years
since his interview with her only a few hours before. His face was drawn
and haggard. Large, dark circles were about the eyes. The wife forced
herself to speak calmly. “What do you mean?” she queried.
“I mean,” he answered, coming slowly into the room with lagging
footsteps, “that this is all your work!” His gesture took in Elinor and
Howard. “And I hope it pleases you,” he repeated bitterly.
“Hugh, at a time like this, when we need all your strength and sympathy
to sustain us—you speak to me like this?” Marjorie’s voice was full of
reproach. “Why do you use such tones to me?”
“Because,” he replied and there was no suspicion of a softening heart in
his hard voice, “I hold you responsible for everything! If I had
listened to the dictates of my own heart, we would never have come to
New York—but I was weak enough to yield to your persuasions.”
“Surely, Hugh,—” Marjorie’s lips quivered pitifully as she started to
protest, but he authoritatively motioned her to silence.
“I tried to argue with you at the time and impress upon you just what an
environment such as this would mean to our children, but you wouldn’t
listen to me!” he raged. “You told me that you, their mother, should
know what was best for them. Well, there they are! Look at your
daughter, the pitiful creature of a dissolute man’s fancy, and your son,
a——”
“Stop, Hugh!” Marjorie commanded. “You seem to forget one thing, and
that is, that they are your children as well as mine.”
“On the contrary,—I have not forgotten it. I am simply trying to
impress upon them that I am not to blame for their misfortunes.”
“Then you believe that I alone am entirely responsible for this awful
calamity?”
“Entirely and absolutely,” he answered.
“And you call yourself a man!” Marjorie turned upon him, her eyes ablaze
with anger. “You inspire me only with contempt! Last night I thought
because of the children I could never leave you! But now, for the very
same reason, I refuse to remain or to allow them to remain with you
another day!”
This was rather more than the angry man had bargained for. In his way he
loved Howard and Elinor, and his pride, too, was at stake.
“Do you mean,” Hugh endeavored to conceal his anxiety but it was
nevertheless poignant, “that you will take Elinor and Howard away from
me?”
“That is precisely what I mean to do!”
“We shall see about _that_.” He strode forward angrily. “I think the
children themselves are the ones to choose between us.”
“Do you imagine for a moment,” Marjorie replied haughtily, “you could
persuade them to leave their mother?”
“Elinor and Howard,” Hugh began suddenly, “I want you both to listen to
me for a moment.”
Elinor sat up in her chair, dabbing at her eyes with her handkerchief,
while Howard turned and stood with his back to the fireplace, staring
sullenly in front of him.
“Children, your mother and I have come to the parting of the ways. As
you heard her remark a few minutes ago—you are _mine_ as well as hers.
I love you both, and—I want you—but you are old enough to decide for
yourselves.”
Silence, distressing in its intensity, followed the father’s brutal
ultimatum.
“Oh—I—I don’t know what to say?” Elinor was filled with confusion. Her
wail was faltering. “This is all so sudden—so strange!”
“You know, dear,” Hugh strode to her chair, and stood looking down upon
her, “I am willing to do anything for you—I will take you abroad until
this nasty scandal has a chance to blow over, and when we return, should
you have any enemies you will find that the best weapon with which to
fight them is your father’s money.”
“Elinor, darling,” Marjorie pleaded, “all that I can do is to offer you
my love and devotion—and when it comes to protection, you will find
that there isn’t a weapon in the world to compare with your mother’s
love.”
“Oh, mother—I—I don’t know what to say!” Once more the girl’s frail
body was racked with sobs as she sought to see the light—what best to
do. “Dad has always been wonderful to me! Ever since I can remember, he
has granted my every wish! I don’t know how to answer! Oh, what shall I
say?”
“This is a question that your heart must answer for you, dear.”
Marjorie’s reply was faint but her voice told of the heart yearning
behind the simple reply. “I—I didn’t believe,” she caught her breath
sobbingly, “you would hesitate an instant.”
“Well, you see, mother,” Elinor’s mood changed to querulousness and she
pouted, “I’ve always been selfish and headstrong—you’ve told me so
yourself many times! So I—I think—if you don’t mind,” she dropped her
eyes and stared at the floor, “I—I shall stick to Dad! I guess he’ll
understand me better!”
“My little girl!” Hugh exclaimed tenderly, as he leaned over and
gathered her in his arms.
“Oh—my baby—my baby!” Marjorie moaned, her arms outstretched before
her, the tears rolling down her cheeks.
“Well, Howard! We’re waiting!” Hugh turned expectantly to his son.
Howard looked his father squarely in the eye as he demanded, with slow
deliberation: “Well—what are you waiting for?”
“This is an awful mess—that you have gotten yourself into,” Hugh
hastened to explain, but his eyes wavered before the steady gaze of his
son. “My attorney says there isn’t a doubt concerning your vindication.
All of the witnesses swear that it was either an accident or
self-defense—and your motive for quarreling was thoroughly
justifiable—but just the same, the law has peculiar twists and
angles—and it is going to take a fortune to save you.”
“Well?”
“I want to keep you with me, Howard—and my money——”
“Stop!” It was a son he had never known who took a menacing step toward
him, rage flaming in the eyes of scorn with which he searched out his
father’s soul. “You and your money!” He flung out. “You think that with
it you can conquer the world! You hold my mother responsible for all
this trouble—don’t you? Do you want to know the real cause of all the
suffering in this room to-night? I’ll tell you—it’s your money! The
thing that made me the good-for-nothing idler that I am—that made my
sister the frivolous callous-hearted woman you see before you! Your
money! You may buy another woman with it and break my mother’s heart!
You may make Elinor forget that some day she may have children of her
own—but if you think, for a moment, that you can make me forget my
manhood to the extent of deserting my mother, then even prison is far
too good for me!”
Marjorie stared at him in amazement! Slowly she awakened from her
apathy. In a dawning glory that transformed her, her face was aglow with
mother love. Her eyes, dim from grief and weeping, fairly beamed with
pride and joy. Hugh walked the length of the room twice without
speaking. He strove to master himself, but the selfish anger had not
been conquered when he came to a stop before his son.
“So that is the way you look at it. Isn’t this display of chivalry
rather sudden?” The sneer was in his voice and words.
“I know that I’ve never amounted to very much,” Howard was ready to
acknowledge his short-comings, “but I think, Dad, now that it has come
to a showdown—I’m more of a man than you are!”
Tiger and cub, they faced each other, glaring.
“I’ve had enough of this.” Hugh’s voice was thunder when he was first to
break under the strain. “Go with your mother! Play the hero as much as
you damned please! I’m through with you! You’ll find it pretty hard to
get out of this trouble without a penny of the money you scorn to help
you!”
“I’ll take my chances with hundreds of others—that’s all.” Howard’s
serene reply held the indulgence of the conqueror.
Marjorie Benton, too heartfull to speak, to stand between father and
son, could hardly realize that this wonderful boy, standing there,
superbly defending her, was her son! Never for a moment had she doubted
Elinor’s loyalty, and the blow she had received from her had been as
unexpected as crushing.
Now, as her husband stalked toward the door with the finality she knew
so well, she hurried across the space to place herself in the doorway,
obstructing his passage. There was no hint of pleading now, though. All
that had gone from Marjorie Benton forever. But there was in the
determination with which she barred Hugh Benton’s way something
greater—the greatest thing in all the world—the determination of the
mother to fight for the child she loves. Her voice was menacingly soft
as she spoke, ignoring his annoyed gesture to be allowed to past.
“Just a moment, Hugh,” she said, “we have not quite finished yet. Last
night,” she went on, “you made me an offer. You have not forgotten it?”
“An offer?” Hugh lifted eyebrows in puzzled surprise.
“You said if I would consent to a divorce, you would arrange everything
and settle three-quarters of your fortune upon me.”
“Yes—I believe I did say that.”
“Are you still willing to go through with it?”
“Most assuredly I am.”
“Then,” Marjorie’s voice rang clear as a bell, “I accept your
proposition! Get your divorce any way that you please! I don’t care what
the grounds are—only see that I am given every dollar that you promised
me!”
“I understand,” Hugh sneered. “You intend using that money for Howard.”
“What difference can it make to you—how I intend using it?” she
inquired coldly.
His voice was cold as her own as he rejoined:
“Nothing matters to me—except my freedom. Come, baby!” He looked
pityingly at Elinor. “You’re completely worn out—I’m going to take you
upstairs.”
Alone with his mother, Howard’s diffidence returned. In spite of all his
newly-found chivalry he did not feel at ease.
“Mother,” he began, “I can’t let you do this for me. You don’t believe
in divorce.”
“I believe in a _great many_ things,” Marjorie answered, her eyes filled
with unshed tears, “that I never believed before. I believe that it
takes a great sorrow to bring forth the real character of a true man or
woman.”
“You never would have given father his freedom if this hadn’t happened
with me.”
Marjorie placed both hands tenderly upon Howard’s shoulders and looked
up at him with eyes brimming with love.
“I’m so proud of you—my son!” she murmured.
“Gee whiz, mater,” Howard was the boy once more,—the boy who shied at
too much display of emotion! “I only did what any fellow would do.”
“Your father has always been such a pal to you, while I have never
been—very close—and yet you turn to me. I—I can’t understand why!”
she murmured on softly.
“Oh—well—you know, father’s all right—but there’s something about a
boy’s mother—Gee!—that gets him, from the time he’s born till he’s an
old man.”
“Do you know, dear, that at this moment, when I should be heart-broken,
I am the happiest woman in the world!”
“But mother, you’re crying,” he protested.
“Tears of joy, dear—because—I am _your_ mother!”
“I’ve never done a thing in my life to make you proud of me, mother, and
now I’ve brought this new disgrace upon you. It seems almost too bad
that Druid didn’t get me first.”
“Hush, dear!” Marjorie shivered. “You are all that I have, now, and we
will face this thing bravely—together.”
There was little sleep for any members of the Benton family that night,
or rather morning, as it was close to five o’clock before they retired.
When Mr. Hammond called at ten o’clock, he found Hugh waiting in the
library for him.
“Good morning, Benton,” he began in his abrupt manner. “Hope you managed
to get some rest? I’ve been busy since before eight, and I’m afraid
things are not going to be quite as simple as they seemed a few hours
ago.”
“Why—what do you mean?” Hugh asked anxiously.
“Well it seems that Howard did a lot of talking at the club before he
went to Druid’s apartment. He spoke to two of the members, and the
entire conversation was overheard by the coat-boy.”
“What could he have said?”
“Oh, many things—all leading up to the statement ‘that he intended to
get Druid and settle with him for ruining his sister’s reputation.’
Mind—I don’t say this will make any difference in the outcome of it
all—it will just complicate matters. If it hadn’t been for the
influence we brought forward last night, I don’t believe we should have
been able to bail him out until after the coroner’s inquest.”
“When does that take place?”
“This afternoon.”
“Just what do you think their verdict will be, Hammond?”
“I expect it to be ‘death by accident,’” the lawyer answered
confidently. “Then this thing will never have to be tried. Now I’d like
to have a talk with both Elinor and Howard. Are they up yet?”
“I believe so,” Hugh answered. “Would it be possible for you to give me
about half an hour of your time before seeing them?”
“Why, yes!” Hammond pulled out his watch. “We don’t have to be downtown
until two o’clock.”
Hugh opened the bottom drawer of his desk and brought out a box of
choice Havanas. He offered them to the lawyer, then lighted one himself.
But he was apparently ill at ease as Hammond waited inquiringly.
“You and I have been friends a great many years, haven’t we, Hammond?”
was his beginning.
“Indeed, we have,” Hammond replied warmly. “I am happy to have you look
upon me as your friend instead of merely your attorney.”
“I need your friendship now, Hammond, more than I ever needed anything
in my life.”
Hammond grasped his hand firmly: “You can depend upon me, Hugh. Had
Howard been anyone’s son but yours, I should never have bothered with
this case. You know it is entirely out of my line of work.”
“It is not about Howard at all that I wish to speak,” Hugh announced
calmly.
“No? Of whom then?”
“Myself——”
“Yourself?” Hammond inquired, surprisedly.
“Myself and my wife. Hammond, you will no doubt be very much surprised
to hear that Mrs. Benton and I have agreed—to separate.”
“Separate! Why I can’t believe it!” The lawyer seemed dumfounded at the
news. “You have a grown son and daughter, and you have been married a
great many years. Why I thought that you and Mrs. Benton——”
“You thought the same thing as everyone else who knows us,” Hugh
interrupted with undisguised bitterness, “that we are an absolutely
mismated couple endeavoring to drag out an unhappy existence together.”
“You’re wrong, Benton. I never thought that. I knew that Mrs. Benton was
different from the majority of the women of to-day, and candidly
speaking, I admired her for that very reason.”
“But don’t you think Mrs. Benton carries her ideas of propriety rather
to the extreme?” Hugh asked irritably.
“That depends entirely upon the way you look at it. I must confess that
I am somewhat of the old school myself, and therefore I don’t
particularly approve of your modern ‘feminists,’ as I believe they
choose to call themselves.”
“Just what is your definition of ‘feminist,’” asked Hugh. “And why the
disapproval?”
“Because,” and there was a dreaminess in Hammond’s eyes that would have
astonished many a judge and lawyer in New York city, could they but have
seen it, “they have tried to replace the most wonderful women of all
times—the women of bygone years—the women our mothers were. Instead of
glorying in wifehood and motherhood—the true mission of every womanly
woman—they launch forth into politics or business or professions with
ambitions and determinations worthy of men, or else they fritter their
lives away, becoming more and more useless every day.”
“Why, Hammond, you speak as though you have been the victim of a bitter
experience.”
“No,” was the answer, with a shake of the head, “I’m not speaking from
experience at all—I’m speaking from observation. In my career, I can
view the drama of Life from a front-seat.”
“Strange,” Hugh meditated. “In all the years that I have known you, John
Hammond, I never once suspected that you, with your abrupt manner and
stern demeanor could be an idealist.”
“Well,” he laughed, “I wouldn’t go quite so far as to say I am an
idealist, but I do admire and hold in the highest esteem a true woman.”
“But you won’t permit your ideas to influence you—you’ll be perfectly
fair with me?” Hugh demanded.
“I always try to be fair, Benton—but in this case I’ll be more than
fair, inasmuch as we will not consider this an interview between client
and attorney, but a talk—between friends.”
“Fine, Hammond—I couldn’t ask for more. Now, then, as I told you
before, Mrs. Benton and myself have agreed to separate.”
“Yes? May I ask why?”
“Incompatibility, for one thing,” answered Benton, his eyes roving about
the room. Those searching orbs of the lawyer made him nervous, he
fretted to himself.
Hammond was silent a moment: then abruptly he asked: “Just how many
years have you been married?”
“Almost twenty-two.”
“And it has taken you two people twenty-two years to discover that you
are incompatible? You asked me to be fair, Benton—I in return must ask
you to be honest with me?”
“But—I don’t——”
“You’re asking for my advice,” Hammond continued sharply. “Why don’t you
come out at once and tell me plainly that you have lost your head over
another woman?”
“Why—I—” Hugh blushed and stammered uneasily, “I thought to give you
the facts as delicately as possible. Your method seems—er—pardon
me—almost crude.”
“Come, come, Benton,” Hammond replied impatiently. “I don’t believe in
beating about the bush! You can’t change a deed or a statement by
attempting to glaze it over with a polish. The fundamental fact remains
the same no matter what you do. Just a minute, please,” as Hugh
endeavored to interrupt him, “let me tell you that I’ll have a great
deal more respect for you if you stop this quibbling and come out with
the plain truth!”
“Very well, then. I have fallen in love with another woman, and I want
to marry her.”
“Of course, you know you could never obtain a divorce from Mrs. Benton?”
“Mrs. Benton has agreed to obtain the divorce from me. I will arrange
all of the details, and I want you to help me.”
“Does Mrs. Benton know on what grounds she will have to bring suit?”
Hammond inquired in surprise.
“Certainly she knows!” Benton was becoming irascible. He was unused to
being talked to like a naughty child, and Hammond’s tone, to say the
least, was not the kind the financier usually heard. “We have discussed
the New York State laws,” he replied.
Hammond pondered seriously and there was a chilling change from the
friendliness of a moment before when he asked:
“Just when did you reach this decision? I can readily understand your
not mentioning it to me last night in all the excitement, but you were
in my office two days ago and never said a word. If I remember rightly,
I inquired after Mrs. Benton, which would have given you an opening
should you have desired to speak?”
“We only reached an understanding early this morning,” Hugh answered
hurriedly, “after I came home with Howard. I had talked it over with
Marjorie—before—but she refused to listen. Something happened this
morning—and she changed her mind.”
“If it is not too personal, would you mind telling me just what that
‘something’ was?”
Hugh Benton threw all subterfuge to the winds. This man was too good a
cross-examiner. He would make a clean breast of it and have done with it
once and for all. It was an abominable mess, however it was taken.
“Oh, well, if you must know,” and his wide shoulders lifted, “I may as
well tell you now as any time, for you will have to know it in order to
help me arrange my affairs. You see, Hammond, when we first came to New
York to live, it was entirely against my wishes. We had been married
five years at the time, and the heated discussion and argument
concerning this move caused our first quarrel. Being young and very much
in love, I couldn’t hold out long against my wife’s desires. She was
filled with ambitions for us all, and to her New York spelled one word
in capital letters, and that was ‘Success.’”
“Well, from all that I happen to know about your affairs,” the lawyer
glanced about the sumptuously furnished room, “you seem to have given
her her desire.”
“Yes,” Hugh answered bitterly, “from a financial viewpoint, I suppose I
am a success—but—outside of that——” He compressed his lips tightly
for a moment. “Oh, I’m not going to play upon your sympathy, Hammond,
and go into every little detail regarding the misery of many years! All
I’ll say is that it has been—hell.”
The lawyer looked his surprise.
“Apparently you’ve always been the happiest of men—why everyone——”
Hugh Benton broke in irritably. “Surely you don’t expect me to go about
like a woman carrying my heart on my sleeve! I’ll tell you one thing,
Hammond,” and he jumped up excitedly, “when two people cease to care for
one another—when they reach a state of absolute indifference and still
continue to live together under the same roof—it’s a crime! They go
on—either because they think they owe a duty to children—God,
children!” He covered his face with his hands, and there was weariness
in all his features as he looked up to continue: “Or else, they fear the
censorship of the world! And for one of these two damnable creeds, they
condemn themselves to years of torture!”
“I’m sorry, old man, to think that things have been as bad as that,”
Hammond was not unsympathetic, but he was beginning to wonder if
sympathy would not be wasted here.
“I didn’t mean to drift into all this,” Hugh sighed, impatient at his
own garrulity as he went on: “But the remark you passed about my success
started me off! Let’s get back to where we were and finish this thing.”
“Exactly—where were we? Oh, yes, I remember. You are to furnish the
grounds, and Mrs. Benton is to divorce you.”
“I’ll tell you just what I propose doing.” Hugh drew his chair closer
and proceeded to lay out his plan. It was a lengthy recital, during
which he kept his gaze focused on his desk. He wouldn’t have admitted
even to himself that he was doing something of which he should feel
ashamed, and yet there was that within him which prevented him from once
lifting his eyes and looking the lawyer in the face.
“I understand.” It was with difficulty Hammond managed to subdue the
ring of contempt in his voice. “You have thought it all out admirably;
it should do you credit.”
Benton looked up quickly, but Hammond’s expression was blank. He must be
mistaken in thinking that last remark revealed a tinge of veiled
sarcasm.
“Have you any suggestions to offer?” he asked, lighting a fresh cigar.
“I may have several to offer—but first it will be necessary for me to
ask you a few questions.” Hammond’s reply was calmly non-committal.
“Very well—go ahead.”
“I asked you this question before, but you happened to drift away from
the subject. What I want to know is—just what was it that caused Mrs.
Benton to change her mind?”
“Early last evening, I went to my wife honestly,” Hugh was angry to feel
himself blushing at the word, “told her exactly what had happened and
pleaded with her to grant me my freedom. She refused, absolutely, and I
left the house indignant and determined to find some way or means by
which I could compel her to listen to me. When I came home with Howard
this morning, I lost complete control of myself and accused her openly
of being responsible for all the misfortune which had come to us.”
“Did that seem fair—to you?” Hammond demanded sternly.
“Yes—it did.” Stubbornly Hugh held to his fatuous belief and condoning
of himself. “She was entirely to blame for our coming here, and——”
“For Heaven’s sake, Benton.” Irritably the lawyer jumped from his chair
to pace the floor. “You can’t mean to sit there—a man of your
intelligence—and tell me, with all sincerity, that you hold your coming
to New York responsible for the existing conditions?”
“Absolutely! If we had remained in——”
“What about Fate or Destiny, or whatever you choose to call it, playing
a part in your life, and all the other lives about you? New York!
Ridiculous, I tell you! Had you been in Paris, France, or Trenton, New
Jersey, you would have stood just exactly where you stand to-day. Don’t
you believe at all in predestination?”
“I do, in every instance—but this.”
“How interesting! But go on—we’ll come back to this later—After you
upbraided Mrs. Benton, _et cetera_—what happened?”
“One word led to another,” Hugh answered, pretending to ignore Hammond’s
sarcasm, “and finally she declared that ‘she would leave me and take the
children with her!’”
“Mm, I see! And then?”
“I told her the children were no longer babies—that they were old
enough to decide for themselves, and then I endeavored to make the
situation clear to them. Elinor came to the conclusion that she would
prefer to remain with me——”
Hammond merely smiled, but Hugh did not see the movement of the lips
under the grizzled mustache that formed: “Selfish little beast.”
“Howard handed me the surprise of my life,” Hugh continued in a tone of
self-pity. “When I explained to him that this mess he had gotten himself
into would cost me a fortune, but that I was willing to spend it if he
would remain with me, why, he turned on me like a maniac and denounced
me shamefully! Acted like the hero in a dime novel—played heroics to a
fare-thee-well—ending up by telling me plainly just what he thought of
me and my money!”
Hammond’s eyes shone bright as he urged: “Yes! Yes! Go on—I’m greatly
interested.”
“He had tried my patience a bit too far, so I ordered him to go and see
just where he would find himself without my money. Then Mrs. Benton made
her entrance dramatically, as I daresay she believed. She declared she
would accept my offer of the early evening, and grant me my freedom
providing I gave her the money I had promised her.”
“It is like her, to do a thing like that,” Hammond murmured, almost
inaudibly, “and you consented—I suppose?” He turned inquiringly to
Benton.
“Certainly—I wanted my freedom, and if Fate chose to bring——”
“Ah!” the lawyer interrupted him. “There you are! Now you believe in
Fate! This is evidently one of the instances when you choose to believe
in it.” In a twinkling the lawyer’s attitude changed. All semblance of
friendship dropped from him like a cloak. He turned on the financier
with accusingly uplifted hand while the voice that so often had brought
terror to the heart of a culprit, had swayed juries and filled
courtrooms, thundered. “You’re a coward, Hugh Benton! You want to leave
this woman, who has been your wife for twenty-two years, and the mother
of your children, for another woman and you’re afraid to acknowledge
that you yourself are to blame and——”
“But I’m _not_ to blame,” Hugh insisted. “I told you that we have been
uncongenial for years——”
“You managed to stand the uncongeniality in your home for twenty-two
years, and you would have stood it to the very end—if some other woman
hadn’t aroused your passion.”
“See here, Hammond,” Hugh turned white. Hammond was going too far
entirely. “I don’t like your tone. You’re my attorney, and you said you
were my friend. That is why I am telling you all this. I didn’t ask you
for your opinion of me, and it’s immaterial whether my conduct meets
with your approval or not! If you don’t wish to handle my affairs, say
so—I shall be able to find another attorney in the city.”
“Precisely!” Hammond roared. “You haven’t an inducement you could offer
with which to retain my services! I’ve curbed my impatience with
difficulty in order to let you reach the end of your narrative. Now I
want to tell you that after twenty-five years of practice, I find myself
unable to read a man’s character correctly. I was never so deceived in
all my life as I have been in you, Hugh Benton, and I blush to think I
called you—friend!”