Several thousand years ago a thinker defined virtue as the agreement of
the will and the conscience. If the will were coercible the definition
would be matchless. Unfortunately it is not. Will declines to be
reasoned with; it insists, and in its insistence conscience, horrified
or charmed, stands a witness to its acts.
For a fortnight Tristrem had been married to an impulse against which
his finer nature rebelled. It was not that the killing of such a one as
Weldon was unjustifiable; on the contrary, it was rather praiseworthy
than otherwise. His crime was one for which the noose is too good. But
to Weldon, in earlier days, he had felt as to a brother; and though
affection may die, does it not leave behind it a memory which should
thereafter serve as a protecting shield? It had been the bonds of former
attachment, bonds long loosened, it is true, but of which the old
impress still lingered, that seemed to Tristrem to tie his hands. Then,
too, was the horror of such a thing. There is nothing, a Scandinavian
poet has said, more beautiful than a beautiful revenge; yet when a man
is so tender of heart that if it be raining he will hesitate to shoo a
persistent fly out of the window, it is difficult for that man, however
great the aggravation, to take another's life. Besides, the impulse
which had acted in Tristrem was not one of revenge. He had not the
slightest wish to take the law into his own hands. The glaive of
atonement was not one which he felt himself called upon to wield. That
which possessed him was the idea that until the world was rid of Weldon
there was a girl somewhere who could not look her own mother in the
face. And that girl was the girl whom he loved, a girl who apparently
had no other protector than himself.
In the rehearsals, it was this that had strung his nerves to acting
pitch. When it was done he proposed to go to her with a reverence even
greater than before, with a sympathy unspoken yet sentiable, and leave
her with the knowledge that the injury had been obliterated and the
shame effaced. For himself, whatever he may have hoped, he determined to
ask for nothing. It was for her he defied the law; he was her agent, one
whom she might recompense or not with her lithe white arms, but one to
whom she would at least be grateful. And how beautiful her gratitude
might be! Though she gave him nothing else, would not the thanks of her
eyes be reward enough? And then, as he worked himself up with the
thought of these things to acting pitch, then would come the horror of
it all, the necessity of taking the life of one who had been his nearest
friend, the dread of the remorse which attaches to death, the soiling of
his own hands. It was in this fashion that he had wavered between
indecision and determination, until, at last, stung by the cynicism of
Weldon's speech, there had come to him a force such as he had never
possessed before, and suddenly the deed had been done.
The possible arraignment that might follow the inquest, he had never
considered. It is said that the art of killing has been lost. The
tribunals, assizes, and general sessions have doubtless led somewhat to
its discouragement, and yet it must be admitted that the office of
police justice in one way resembles that of lover in the tropics--it is
not exactly a sinecure. Perhaps, nowadays, it is only the blunderers
that are detected; yet, however numerous they may or may not be,
Tristrem, without giving a single thought as to how such a thing should
be done and remain undetected, had had such chances in his favor that
Vidocq himself might have tried in vain to fasten the death of Weldon on
him. No one had seen him enter the house, no one had seen him leave it.
Even the instrument which he had used, and which he had bought
hap-hazard, as one buys a knick-knack, had served his end as cleanly as
a paralysis of the heart. It had not spilled a drop of blood.
As Tristrem walked on, he did not think of these things; the possibility
of detection had not troubled him, and now the probability that Weldon's
death would be attributed to natural causes brought him no satisfaction.
Of himself he gave no thought. He had wondered, indeed, that his
presence of mind had not deserted him; he had marvelled at his own calm.
But now his thoughts were wholly with Viola, and when he reached Fifth
Avenue he determined to go to her at once.
A vagabond hansom was loitering near, and with its assistance he
presently reached her door. Even as he entered, it was evident that she
was not alone. On putting his hat down in the hall he noticed two
others, and through the portière came the sound of voices. But he pushed
the curtain aside, and entered the room with the air of one to whom the
conventional has lost its significance. Yet, as he did so, he felt that
he was wrong. If he wished to see Viola, would it not have been more
courteous to her to get into evening dress than to appear among her
guests in a costume suitable only for the afternoon? Society he knew to
be a despot. Though it has no dungeons, at least it can banish, and to
those that have been brought up in its court there are no laws rigider
than its customs. Besides, was he in a mood to thrust himself among
those whose chiefest ambition was to be ornate? He was aware of his
mistake at once, but not until it was too late to recede.
Among those present he recognized a man who, though well on in life,
devoted his entire time to matters appertaining to the amusements of the
selectest circles. He was talking to a girl who, moist as to the lips
and eyes, looked as had she just issued from a vapor-bath. Near to her
was Mrs. Raritan. Tristrem noticed that her hair had turned almost
white. And a little beyond, a young man with a retreating forehead and a
Pall Mall accent sat, splendidly attired, talking to Viola.
Mrs. Raritan was the first to greet him, and she did so in the motherly
fashion that was her own. And as she spoke Viola came forward, said some
simple word, and went back to her former place.
"Come with me," said Mrs. Raritan, and she led him to an S in
upholstery, in which they both found seats. "And now tell me about
yourself," she added. "And where have you been?"
Truly it was pitiful. She looked ten years older. From a handsome,
well-preserved woman she had in a twelvemonth been overtaken by age.
"I have been in Europe, you know," Tristrem answered; "I wrote to you
from Vienna, and again from Rome."
"I am sorry," Mrs. Raritan replied; "the bankers are so negligent. There
were many letters that must have gone astray. Were you--you had a
pleasant winter, of course. And how is your grandfather?"
"I have not seen him. I am just off the ship."
At this announcement Mrs. Weldon looked perplexed.
"Is it possible that you only arrived this evening?" she asked.
"Yes, I wanted to see Viola. You know it is almost a year
since--since--I tried to find you both in Europe, but----"
"Mr. Varick, did I hear you say that you arrived from Europe to-day?" It
was the gentleman who devoted himself to the interests of society that
was speaking.
"Yes, I came on the Bourgogne."
"Was Mrs. Manhattan on board?"
Tristrem answered that she was, and then the gentleman in question
entered into an elaborate discourse on the subject of Mrs. Manhattan's
summer plans. While he was still speaking a servant informed the
vaporous maiden that her maid and carriage had arrived, and presently
that young lady left the room. Soon after the society agent disappeared,
and a little later the youth that had been conversing with Miss Raritan
took his splendor away.
As yet Tristrem had had no opportunity of exchanging a word with Viola.
To his hostess he had talked with feverish animation on the subject of
nothing at all; but as the adolescent who had been engaging Viola's
attention came to Mrs. Raritan to bid that lady good-night, Tristrem
left the upholstered S and crossed the room to where the girl was
seated.
"Viola," he began, but she stayed his speech with a gesture.
The young man was leaving the room, and it was evident from Mrs.
Raritan's attitude that it was her intention to leave it also.
"I am tired," that lady said, as the front door closed; "you won't
mind?" And Tristrem, who had arisen when he saw her standing, went
forward and bowed over her hand, and then preceded her to the portière,
which he drew aside that she might pass.
"Good-night, Mrs. Raritan," he said; "good-night, and pleasant dreams."
Then he turned to the girl. She, too, looked older, or, perhaps, it
would be more exact to say she looked more mature. Something of the
early fragrance had left her face, but she was as beautiful as before.
Her gold eyes were brilliant as high noon, and her cheeks bore an
unwonted color. She was dressed in white, her girdle was red with roses,
and her arms and neck were bare.
As Mrs. Raritan passed from the room, Tristrem let the portière fall
again, and stood a moment feasting his famished eyes in hers. At last he
spoke.
"_He_ is dead, Viola."
The words came from him very gravely, and when he had uttered them he
looked down at the rug.
"Dead! Who is dead? What do you mean?"
"He is dead," he repeated, but still he kept his eyes lowered.
"He! What he? What are you talking about?" She had left her seat and
fronted him.
"Royal Weldon," he made answer, and as he did so he looked up at her.
Her hands fluttered like falling leaves. An increased color mounted to
her cheeks, and disappearing, left them white. Her lips trembled.
"I do not understand," she gasped. And then, as her dilated eyes stared
into his own, he saw that she understood at last. Her fluttering hands
had gone to her throat, as though to tear away some invisible clutch.
Her lips had grown gray. She was livid.
"It is better so, is it not?" he asked, and searched her face for some
trace of the symptoms of joy. As he gazed at her, she retreated. Her
hands had left her throat, her forehead was pinioned in their grasp, and
in her eyes the expression of terrified wonder was seamed and obscured
by another that resembled hate.
"And it was you," she stammered, "it was you?"
"Yes," he answered, with an air of wonder that equalled her own;
"yes----"
"You tell me that Royal Weldon is dead, and that you--that you----"
"It was this way," he began, impelled, in his own surprise, to some form
of explanation. "It was this way--you see--well, I went to Riva. That
man that brought back your hat----Good God, Viola, are you not glad?"
She had fallen into a chair, and he was at her feet.
"Are you not glad?" he insisted. "Now, it will be----" But whatever he
intended to say, the speech remained uncompleted. The girl had drawn
from him as from an adder unfanged.
"Assassin!" she hissed. "Assassin!" she hissed again. "What curse----"
"Viola, it was for your sake."
She clinched her hand as though she sought the strength wherewith to
strike. And then the fingers loosened again. She moved still farther
away. The hatred left her eyes, as the wonder had done before. With the
majesty which Mary Stuart must have shown when she bade farewell to
England, to the sceptre, and to life, Viola Raritan turned to him again:
"I loved him," she muttered, yet so faintly that she had left the room
before Tristrem, who still crouched by the chair which she had vacated,
fully caught the import of her words.
"Viola!" he called. But she had gone. "Viola! No, no; it is impossible.
It is impossible," he repeated, as he rose up again; "it is impossible."
He staggered to the door and let himself out. And then, as the night-air
affects one who has loitered over the wine, he reeled.
In a vision such as is said to visit the ultimate consciousness of they
that drown, a riot of long-forgotten incidents surged to his mind. He
battled with them in vain; they were trivial, indeed, but in their
onslaught he saw that the impossible was truth.
With the aimlessness of a somnambulist, and reasoning with himself the
while, he walked down through Madison Avenue until he reached the
square. There, turning into Lexington, he entered Gramercy Park.
Presently he found himself standing at Weldon's door. "But what am I
doing here?" he mused. For a little time, he leaned against the rail,
endeavoring to collect his thoughts. Then, as an individual, coated in
blue and glistening as to his buttons, sauntered by, he seemed to
understand. He left the railing at which he had stood, and, circling the
park, set out in the direction of the river. As he reached Second
Avenue, a train of the elevated railway flamed about an adjacent corner,
and swept like a dragon in mid-air, on, beyond, and out of sight. To the
right was a great factory, and as Tristrem continued his way through the
unfamiliar street he wondered what the people in the train, what the
factory-hands, and the dwellers in the neighborhood would say if they
could surmise his errand. The river was yet some distance away. It was
such a pity, he told himself, such a pity, that he had not accepted the
invitation of the sea. That would have been so much better, so much
surer, and so much more discreet. And then he fell to wondering about
his grandfather, and his heart was filled with anguish. He would have
done anything to save that old man from pain. But it was too late now. A
gas-jet that lighted a wide and open door attracted his attention; he
looked in, the building seemed empty as a lecture-hall. After all, he
decided, perhaps that would be best.
Half an hour later, Tristrem Varick was the occupant of a room that was
not as large as one of the closets in his grandfather's house. The
furniture consisted of a wooden bench. The sole fixture was an apparatus
for drawing water. The floor was tiled and the upper part of the walls
was white; the lower, red. The room itself was very clean. There was no
window, and the door, which was of grated iron, had been locked from
without. From an adjoining cell, a drunken harlot rent the night with
the strain of a maudlin ditty.