BEGINNING THE DANCE.
It developed, luckily for me, that my lawyers had allowed themselves to
become unduly excited over a trifle. A discrepancy had been discovered
in my agent's accounts; it was clearly established that he had been
speculating; but the fellow's excessive modesty and moderation had
saved me from any serious inconvenience or loss.
Some twenty thousand or so was the amount, and I did not even put
myself to the trouble of recovering it. I placed a friend of mine, a
plodder and one of those chaps who are honest on account of lack of
imagination, in the position thus vacated and sighed with mild relief.
My experiment with Harry had proved a complete success. Left to the
management of his own affairs, he had shown a wisdom and restraint none
the less welcome because unexpected. He was glad to see me, and I was
no less glad to see him.
There was little new in town.
Bob Garforth, having gambled away his entire patrimony, had shot and
killed himself on the street; Mrs. Ludworth had publicly defied gossip
and smiled with favor on young Driscoll; the new director of the
Metropolitan Museum had announced himself an enemy to tradition and a
friend of progress; and Desiree Le Mire had consented to a two weeks'
engagement at the Stuyvesant.
The French dancer was the favorite topic of discussion in all circles.
The newspapers were full of her and filled entire columns with lists of
the kings, princes, and dukes who had been at her feet.
Bets were made on her nationality, the color of her eyes, the value of
her pearls, the number of suicides she had caused--corresponding, in
some sort, to the notches on the gun of a Western bad man. Gowns and
hats were named for her by the enterprising department stores.
It was announced that her engagement at the Stuyvesant would open in
ten days, and when the box-office opened for the advance sale every
seat for every performance was sold within a few hours.
In the mean time the great Le Mire kept herself secluded in her hotel.
She had appeared but once in the public dining-room, and on that
occasion had nearly caused a riot, whereupon she had discreetly
withdrawn. She remained unseen while the town shouted itself hoarse.
I had not mentioned her name to Harry, nor had I heard him speak of
her, until one evening about two weeks after my return.
We were at dinner and had been discussing some commonplace subject,
from which, by one of the freaks of association, the conversation
veered and touched on classical dancing.
"The Russians are preeminent," said I, "because they possess both the
inspiration--the fire--and the training. In no other nation or school
are the two so perfectly joined. In the Turkish dancers there is
perfect grace and freedom, but no life. In Desiree Le Mire, for
example, there is indeed life; but she has not had the necessary
training."
"What? Le Mire! Have you seen her?" cried Harry.
"Not on the stage," I answered; "but I crossed on the same ship with
her, and she was kind enough to give me a great deal of her time. She
seems to understand perfectly her own artistic limitations, and I am
taking her word for it."
But Harry was no longer interested in the subject of dancing. I was
besieged on the instant with a thousand questions.
Had I known Le Mire long? What was she like? Was it true that Prince
Dolansky had shot himself in despair at losing her? Was she beautiful?
How well did I know her? Would I take him to see her?
And within half an hour the last question was repeated so many times
and with such insistence that I finally consented and left Harry
delighted beyond words.
My own experience with Desiree Le Mire had been anything but exciting.
The woman was interesting; there could be no doubt of that; but she
possessed little attraction for me. Her charms, on close inspection,
were really quite too evident.
I require subtlety in a woman, and so far as I could discover Le Mire
knew not the meaning of the word. We had spent many hours during the
trip across in pleasant companionship; she had done me the honor to
tell me that she found my conversation amusing; and, after all, she was
undeniably a pretty woman. She had invited me with evident sincerity
to call on her in New York; but I had not as yet taken advantage of the
invitation.
I did not then think, and I do not now believe, that I acted foolishly
when I took Harry to see her. In any event, he would have seen her
sooner or later, and since all temptations meet us at one time or
another, it is best to have it out with them at as early a date as
possible. At the time, indeed, I gave the subject no thought whatever;
but if I had I should not have hesitated.
We took tea with her the following afternoon in her apartment, and I
must confess that I myself was more than a little impressed when I
entered. I realized then that on the ship nothing had been in her
favor; she had been completely out of her element, and she was not a
good sailor.
Here all was different. The stiffly ostentatious hotel rooms, by her
own genius or that of her maid, had been transformed into something
very nearly approaching perfection. I was amazed at the excellent
taste displayed in her furniture and its arrangement, for it was clear
that these were no hotel properties. Certainly a woman is at her best
only when she is able to choose or create her own surroundings.
Harry was captivated, and I can scarcely blame him. But the poor lad
betrayed himself so frankly! Though I suppose Le Mire was more or less
accustomed to immediate surrender.
On that day, at least, she had reason to expect it. She satisfied the
eye, which is saying a great deal and is the highest praise possible
for a woman's beauty, when you consider the full strength of the word.
She was radiant, adorable, irresistible; I had to own that my first
impression of her had been far too weak.
We talked for an hour. Harry had little to say as he sat devouring Le
Mire with his eyes, and whenever she turned to him for an answer to a
question or confirmation of an opinion he stammered and kept his
composure with difficulty. Never, I suppose, did woman have clearer
evidence of her power, nor sweeter, for Harry was by no means a fool to
be carried away by the first pretty face that came in his way.
She simply overwhelmed him, and I repeat that I do not wonder at it,
for my own pulse was not exactly steady. She asked us to dine with her.
I pleaded an engagement at the club and signed to Harry to do likewise;
but he was completely gone and paid no attention to me.
He accepted the invitation gratefully, with frank delight, and I left
them together.
It was about ten o'clock when he came home that evening. I was seated
in the library and, hearing him enter the hall, called to him.
What a face was his! His lips trembled with nervous feeling, his eyes
glowed like the eyes of a madman. I half started from my chair in
amazement.
"I have no time," said he in answer to my invitation to join me with a
bottle. "I have a letter or two to write, and--and I must get some
sleep."
"Did you just leave Le Mire?"
"Yes."
I looked at my watch.
"What under the sun did you find to talk about?"
"Oh, anything--nothing. I say, she's charming."
His essay at indifference was amusing.
"You find her so?"
"Rather."
"She seems to have taken a fancy to you."
Harry actually grew red.
"Hardly," he said; but there was hope in the word.
"She is hardly your kind, Harry. You know that. You aren't going in
for this sort of thing?"
"This sort--I don't know what you mean."
"Yes, you do, Hal. You know exactly what I mean. To put the thing
plainly, Le Mire is a dangerous woman--none more so in all the world;
and, Harry boy, be sure you keep your head and watch your step."
He stood for a moment looking at me in silence with a half-angry frown,
then opened his mouth as though to speak, and finally turned, without a
word, and started for the door. There he turned again uncertainly,
hesitating.
"I am to ride with Desiree in the morning," said he, and the next
moment was gone.
"Desiree!"
He called her Desiree!
I think I smiled for an hour over that; and, though my reflections were
not free from apprehension, I really felt but little anxiety. Not that
I underrated Le Mire's fascination and power; to confess the truth, my
ease of mind was the result of my own vanity. Le Mire had flattered me
into the belief that she was my friend.
A week passed--a dull week, during which I saw little of Harry and Le
Mire not at all. At the time, I remember, I was interested in some
chemical experiments--I am a dabbler with the tubes--and went out but
little. Then--this was on Friday--Harry sought me out in the
laboratory to tell me he was going away. In answer to my question,
"Where?" he said, "I don't know."
"How long will you be gone?"
"Oh, a week--perhaps a month."
I looked at him keenly, but said nothing. It would have done no good
to force him into an equivocation by questions. Early the next morning
he departed, with three trunks, and with no further word to me save a
farewell. No sooner was he gone than I started for the telephone to
call up Le Mire; but thought better of it and with a shrug of the
shoulders returned to the laboratory.
It was the following Monday that was to see the first appearance of Le
Mire at the Stuyvesant. I had not thought of going, but on Monday
afternoon Billy Du Mont telephoned me that he had an extra ticket and
would like to have me join him. I was really a little curious to see
Le Mire perform and accepted.
We dined at the club and arrived at the theater rather late. The
audience was brilliant; indeed, though I had been an ardent
first-nighter for a year or two in my callow youth, I think I have
never seen such a representation of fashion and genius in America,
except at the opera.
Billy and I sat in the orchestra--about the twelfth row--and half the
faces in sight were well known to me. Whether Le Mire could dance or
not, she most assuredly was, or had, a good press-agent. We were soon
to receive an exemplification of at least a portion of the reputation
that had preceded her.
Many were the angry adjectives heaped on the head of the dancer on that
memorable evening. Mrs. Frederick Marston, I remember, called her an
insolent hussy; but then Mrs. Frederick Marston was never original.
Others: rash, impudent, saucy, impertinent; in each instance
accompanied by threats.
Indeed, it is little wonder if those people of fashion and wealth and
position were indignant and sore. For they had dressed and dined
hastily and come all the way down-town to see Le Mire; they waited for
her for two hours and a half in stuffy theater seats, and Le Mire did
not appear.
The announcement was finally made by the manager of the theater at a
little before eleven-o'clock. He could not understand, he said--the
poor fellow was on the point of wringing his hands with agitation and
despair--he could not understand why the dancer did not arrive.
She had rehearsed in the theater on the previous Thursday afternoon,
and had then seemed to have every intention of fulfilling her
engagement. No one connected with the theater had seen her since that
time, but everything had gone smoothly; they had had no reason to fear
such a contretemps as her nonappearance.
They had sent to her hotel; she was gone, bag and baggage. She had
departed on Friday, leaving no word as to her destination. They had
asked the police, the hotels, the railroads, the steamship
companies--and could find no trace of her.
The manager only hoped--he hoped with all his heart--that his frank and
unreserved explanation would appease his kind patrons and prevent their
resentment; that they would understand--
I made my way out of the theater as rapidly as possible, with Billy Du
Mont at my side, and started north on Broadway.
My companion was laughing unrestrainedly.
"What a joke!" he exclaimed. "And gad, what a woman! She comes in and
turns the town upside down and then leaves it standing on its head.
What wouldn't I give to know her!"
I nodded, but said nothing. At Forty-Second Street we turned east to
Fifth Avenue, and a few minutes later were at the club. I took Du Mont
to a secluded corner of the grill, and there, with a bottle of wine
between us, I spoke.
"Billy," said I, "there's the deuce to pay. You're an old friend of
mine, and you possess a share of discretion, and you've got to help me.
Le Mire is gone. I must find her."
"Find Le Mire?" He stared at me in amazement. "What for?"
"Because my brother Harry is with her."
Then I explained in as few words as possible, and I ended, I think,
with something like this:
"You know, Billy, there are very few things in the world I consider of
any value. She can have the lad's money, and, if necessary, my own
into the bargain. But the name of Lamar must remain clean; and I tell
you there is more than a name in danger. Whoever that woman touches
she kills. And Harry is only a boy."
Billy helped me, as I knew he would; nor did he insist on unnecessary
details. I didn't need his assistance in the search, for I felt that I
could accomplish that as well alone.
But it was certainly known that Harry had been calling on Le Mire at
her hotel; conjectures were sure to be made, leading to the assertions
of busy tongues; and it was the part of my friend to counteract and
smother the inevitable gossip. This he promised to do; and I knew
Billy. As for finding Harry, it was too late to do anything that
night, and I went home and to bed.
The next morning I began by calling at her hotel. But though the
manager of the theater had gotten no information from them, he had
pumped them dry. They knew nothing.
I dared not go to the police, and probably they would have been unable
to give me any assistance if I had sought it. The only other possible
source of information I disliked to use; but after racking my brain for
the better part of the day I decided that there was nothing else for
it, and started on a round of the ticket offices of the railroads and
steamship companies.
I had immediate success. My first call was at the office where Harry
and I were accustomed to arrange our transportation. As I entered the
head clerk--or whatever they call him--advanced to greet me with a
smile.
"Yes," said he in response to my question; "Mr. Lamar got his tickets
from me. Let's see--Thursday, wasn't it? No, Friday. That's
right--Friday."
"Tickets!" I muttered to myself. And in my preoccupation I really
neglected to listen to him. Then aloud: "Where were the--tickets for?"
"Denver."
"For Friday's train?"
"Yes. The Western Express."
That was all I wanted to know. I hurried home, procured a couple of
hastily packed bags, and took the afternoon train for the West.