As a tea-party, the half hour that followed was not a howling success.
Bobo crouched in his chair avoiding Jack's eye like a guilty spaniel.
Miriam kept her eyes down too, but for a different reason; she didn't
want Jack to see the hatred that burned there. The tapering white hand
trembled a little in the business of pouring tea.
The onus of keeping things going was therefore upon Jack. Something
humorous in the situation excited his risibilities. He experienced a
pleasant malice in making out to the others that he saw nothing out of
the way. He rattled on like a youth without a care in the world.
Anything furnished him with a cue.
"See that old girl in crimson velvet. The famous Mrs. Paul Towers.
Used to be Mrs. Peter Vesey. Sold herself to Peter in order to buy
Paul, the saying is around town. That's Paul Towers with her. Exactly
half her age. Poor devil! He pays high for his meals. They say he
has to turn in an itemized expense account like a traveling salesman."
"He's not the only parasite in town," remarked Miriam acidly.
Jack chuckled. "Bless your heart, no! The woods are full of us!
What's a handsome young man with delightful manners and not a cent to
his name going to do!"
Miriam snorted scornfully.
"But I tell you it's no cinch to be a parasite," continued Jack. "It
requires qualifications of a very high order. Firstly, a resolute
determination not to work. Any fool can work, but it needs character
to idle gracefully. Then a parasite must have A1 cheek, nerve, brass,
gall. It takes an unusual man to make a success of it."
"You're forgetting some of the qualifications," said Miriam.
"I daresay. It's an all round man's job."
"Meanness, obsequiousness, conceit!"
"All very fine qualities!" said Jack with inimitable gravity.
They had been at the table about half an hour when a boy passed through
the tea room paging Miss Culbreth. Miriam and Bobo both affected not
to hear him, but Jack, scenting developments, called him to their
table, and indicated Miriam to him.
"Mr. Spragge is calling," the boy said to Miriam. "Said he was
expected."
"Tell him I'm engaged, and he needn't wait," said Miriam languidly.
"Say that I will let him hear from me."
Jack noticed that Bobo was betraying an extraordinary agitation.
Following a sudden impulse, Jack said carelessly to the boy:
"Who is Mr. Spragge, son?"
Fire flashed from Miriam's eyes, but before she could stop the boy he
had answered involuntarily: "The reverend Mr. Spragge, sir. Parson
lives in the house here."
"Oh!" said Jack drily.
The boy departed.
There was silence at the table. The constraint which had formerly lain
upon them was as the gayety of a childish game to this. Miriam had
turned very pale, and she was breathing quickly--signs of rage in her.
Bobo's chin lay on his breast, and he was visibly desirous of slipping
right under the table cloth.
Jack enjoyed his little triumph in silence. A single word would have
precipitated an explosion from Miriam. For reasons of his own Jack
wished to avoid a general show-down, and he did not speak it.
He presently resumed the feather-brained rattle, and the tension was a
little relieved. The simple-minded Bobo cheered up, evidently having
persuaded himself that Jack had attached no significance to the mention
of the parson. But the girl knew better. She watched Jack with somber
eyes, waiting for him to unmask his guns.
When they had finished their tea Jack ostentatiously consulted his
watch. "By George! We'll have to be getting back to the Madagascar!"
he cried.
"Who's we?" asked Miriam with a sneer.
"Bobo and I. Mr. Delamare's dining with us to-night," Jack lied glibly.
"Is that true?" Miriam demanded of Bobo.
Poor Bobo lacked the backbone to come out flatly for either one side or
the other. He fidgetted miserably. "I don't know. Maybe. I forget."
Miriam's luscious mouth had become a thin red line. "He can't go. He
has an engagement with me."
"Now that's too bad!" said Jack with deceitful solicitude. "He can't
disappoint a big man like Mr. Delamare. Besides, there are important
matters to be decided."
Miriam was near the fulminating point. She looked stormily at Bobo.
"Well? Have you nothing to say? It's up to you!"
Bobo made a pitiable attempt to assert himself, but he could not meet
Jack's eye. "I didn't know he was coming," he muttered. "I can't go
now. Anyway you know about everything. You can talk to him."
"There are papers to be signed," said Jack. "I can't do that."
Bobo hung in an abject state of indecision.
Miriam could stand no more. She kept her voice low out of respect to
the other people in the tea room, but her words lost none of their
force thereby. "Are you going to sit there and let this nobody tell
you what to do? If you've got a spark of manliness, why don't you put
him in his place? He mocks you to your face! His very look is an
insult to me! Are you going to stand for that? Why don't you invite
him to kick you while he's at it?"
Jack thought: "Good Lord! Will he still want to marry her after
getting such a taste of her quality as that?"
Bobo still hung his head. Jack could not but feel a certain pity for
him. After all it was he, Jack, who had got him into this mess.
"If you won't tell him I will!" said Miriam. She turned her blazing
eyes on Jack. "Go! And the next time wait until you are asked, before
you thrust yourself on your betters! You are only an upper servant.
You have presumed on his good nature until now you think you are the
master. I warn you you'll find a different kind of person in me! I
can keep you in your place!"
Jack received this with a smile. He was thinking: "You are not Mrs.
Norman yet, my lady!"
She read the thought as clearly as if it had been spoken. "I'm not
afraid of you! You can't stop me in anything I mean to do! I despise
you!"
"Well, there's virtue in frankness," murmured Jack. "But let's not
rattle the family skeleton in public."
It was true, people were beginning to look curiously towards their
table.
"After all, it's a simple matter," Jack went on, "and it's entirely up
to Bobo. Bobo, are you coming with me, or are you going to stay here?"
"I'll stay," muttered Bobo sullenly.
Miriam smiled triumphantly.
Jack appeared to give in good-humoredly. "Suits me," he said.
They rose from the table. Out in the corridor while Jack and Bobo were
obtaining their hats and coats, there was a brief moment during which
they were out of hearing of Miriam.
"Bobo," said Jack firmly, "if you don't come home with me, I swear I'll
tell her the truth and leave you to your fate!"
Bobo was like a poor little grain of wheat between two hard
mill-stones. He shivered. "How can I get away from her?" he whined.
Obviously he was more afraid of Miriam than of Jack.
"Leave that to me," said Jack.
Miriam was watching them suspiciously. They rejoined her. At the
elevator she said offhand to Bobo:
"You may come up. I have a sitting-room."
Miriam entered the elevator in advance, of course. Jack took a firm
grip of Bobo's arm.
"Well, good-by," said Jack pleasantly. He squeezed Bobo's arm
suggestively.
"G-good-by," stammered Bobo. "I have to go with Jack."
Whereupon Jack turned him about smartly, and marched him out towards
the main entrance. Miriam gasped. She could not very well run after
them, and grab Bobo's other arm. Indeed, while she stared speechless,
the elevator door was closed, and she was whirled aloft. If looks
could kill Jack had fallen dead in his tracks!
26
Jack and Bobo returned to the Madagascar without exchanging a word.
When they were alone in their rooms, Jack looked at him and said:
"What the deuce am I going to do with you?"
"Best to let me alone," said Bobo sullenly.
"Didn't I convince you to-day that she was a crook?"
"I don't care."
"That was a nice little sample of her temper that she gave us at the
table. Do you want to let yourself in for a lifetime of that?"
"I can't help myself."
Jack threw up his hands. There was a silence. Bobo was gloomily
drawing an imaginary pattern on the arm of his chair.
"You swore to me you would never see her again," Jack presently
resumed. "Yet an hour ago you were on your way downtown to get a
license, weren't you?"
Bobo's hang-dog silence was equal to a confession.
"How did you expect to keep it out of the papers?"
"Bribed the clerk."
"Do you know what the penalty is for marrying a woman under another
man's name?"
"I don't care."
"What cock and bull story did she tell you to-day to change you again?"
"She told me the truth."
Jack laughed.
"She admitted she'd been working for the old man. But when she found
out what his game really was she chucked him. Now she's actually in
danger of her life from him."
"Not too much danger, I guess," said Jack. "You still intend to marry
her?" he asked.
"I've got to. It's my fate."
"Lord preserve us!" cried Jack in a kind of helpless exasperation. "I
really don't see what there is to do, then, but kick you out!"
"You won't do that," said Bobo sullenly. "You bluffed me just now down
at the Bienvenu, but I've been thinking it over. I know you won't do
it now."
"Why won't I?"
"You can't afford to. It would spoil all your plans."
This was true, but Jack had not given Bobo credit for the shrewdness to
perceive it. He tried a new course.
"Do you still believe that Miriam is marrying you for love alone?"
"I don't care!" said Bobo recklessly. "I'm willing to take her on any
terms. What chance has a man like me of winning a woman like her
ordinarily? It's gone too far now. I've got to have her. She's in my
blood!"
Jack looked at him with a kind of respect. "Well, anyhow you're in
earnest. I will give you credit for that. But seriously, what are you
going to do afterwards? You don't suppose I'm going to lend you my
name and my money for the rest of your life?"
Bobo shook his head. "I know the show-down's got to come some day,
perhaps soon. But I'll make a sneak before that comes. At least I'll
be happy for awhile."
"On my money?"
"Oh, what's a few thousands to you? Anyhow you got me into this."
There was truth in this, and Jack felt certain compunctions. But he
was amused at the naïve villainy Bobo proposed.
"I don't grudge you the money," he said smiling. "In a way I
sympathize with you, since I see you're really hard hit. But I can't
be a party to any such scheme. In the first place as your friend I've
got to save you from yourself. You'll get over this, hard as it seems.
Secondly, even though she is a crook, she's entitled to be protected
from a game like this. Why it wouldn't be a marriage at all!"
"You'd best let me be," said Bobo sullenly. "You can't lock me up, and
I warn you I'll do it the first chance I get."
"Don't dare me to prevent you," said Jack softly. "I might find a way."
No more was said about the matter, but Jack continued to think about
it. "Bobo put the idea into my head himself," he considered. "Lock
him up! Why not? He's no better than a madman for the time being."
They patched up a temporary truce. Bobo agreed not to try to see
Miriam that night, provided Jack would let him make a date with her
over the telephone. He called her up in Jack's hearing.
"I'll be there to-morrow at eleven. No, I have not changed. Have him
there at eleven."
Jack made no further objections. Had Bobo been wiser, his friend's
apparent complaisance would have aroused his suspicions.
The two young men dined together, and spent the evening at the theater
in perfect amity. Before going to sleep that night Jack perfected his
plans.
"Having plenty of money certainly simplifies things," he said to
himself.
Jack was always up at least an hour before Bobo. His first act in the
morning was to telephone Mrs. Lizzie Regan, his landlady in humbler
days, and still his faithful friend.
"Mrs. Regan," said he, "I need your help. Can you give up to-day to
me?"
"Sure, Mr. Nor-Robinson, my dear! Anything to oblige."
"Well, come over to the Madagascar, and have breakfast with me."
"What, me! Eat in the Madagascar! I'll have to dress."
"Heavens, no! I'm in a hurry! We'll eat in our suite."
"And me a respectable widow woman! Laws, what would the neighbors say!"
"But you'll come?"
"Will a cat lap cream, my dear!"
While he waited for her, Jack collected every scrap of wearing apparel
in Bobo's room, and the closet adjoining, and carrying it all to
another clothes closet, locked it up and pocketed the key. Bobo slept
the sleep of the hearty eater throughout. Jack then cut the wires of
the telephone in his room, and removed the instrument. Finally he
locked the three doors leading out of Bobo's rooms, and carried away
the keys.
Bobo still slept on while Jack and Mrs. Regan discussed an excellent
breakfast in the Dutch room. The honest lady was greatly impressed by
her surroundings.
"Sure, it's a proud day for me to be eating in such style along with
one of my own boys that I once passed the beans to. Sure if I'd
foreseen this day, I would have given you two eggs to your breakfast,
though I will say I never tried to stint the normal appetite of a man!"
"My appetite must have been abnormal, I guess."
"Go along! I lost money on you regular!"
"Maybe you won't be so glad you came to-day, when you learn what I want
you to do."
"Anything short of murder, my dear. What is it?"
Jack told her the story of Miriam and Bobo--with reservations.
"Sure, if it was me, I'd let her marry him. Maybe it would teach the
hizzy a lesson. But I suppose you're right. If more hot-blooded young
people were locked up at such times, marriage wouldn't be such a joke
in the vaudeville houses."
"I've got to be out a good part of the day on business," Jack went on,
"so I've got to have somebody to look after him. I asked you to come
firstly, because you know the truth about us, and secondly because I
thought if he tried to assault you he'd find his match."
"Sure, I'll soothe him like his own mother.--I brought my umbrella.
It's a good strong one."
Before going out Jack went into Bobo's room. The plump youth, yawning
and stretching, was just beginning to think about getting up.
"Listen, Bobo," said Jack crisply. "You've got to stay in bed to-day.
I've hidden all your clothes. I've engaged a nurse to look after
you--and she'll see that you get your meals. You'd best take it
quietly, for I'm giving it out that you've been on a tear, and if you
make a racket people will think it's the D.T.'s."
"But--what--why----?" stammered Bobo.
Jack slipped out before he had fully recovered his power of speech. He
delivered the key of his room to Mrs. Regan.
On his way out Jack sought Baldwin the clerk. "Mr. Norman is sick," he
said. "To tell the truth, he's been hitting too swift a pace lately.
The doctor has ordered absolute quiet, and I want you to see that he is
not disturbed under any pretext whatever, while I'm out. I've left him
in charge of a nurse."
Baldwin, the discreet, raised no awkward questions about the suddenness
of Bobo's attack, nor where the doctor had come from, but assured Jack
that his orders would be obeyed.
"You remember the lovely lady we saw yesterday?" Jack went on.
"Rather!"
"Supposing she comes here and shows a disposition to make a scene,
introduce her to Connolly the house detective, see? Tip Connolly off
to ask her if she didn't once go under the name of Beatrice Blackstone
and do typewriting work for Silas Gyde here. That ought to calm her."
At the newsstand Jack bought a copy of a yachting magazine and from the
advertising pages picked out the address of a leading firm of yacht
brokers.
A few minutes later he was seated opposite the head of that firm, a
trig little man with apple cheeks and shiny pink pate--he need not be
named. Every yachtsman knows him.
"I represent a well-known millionaire," said Jack, "before I give you
his name, or open my business with you, I must ask you to pledge
yourself to regard it as confidential."
The broker agreed without reservations.
"Well," said Jack, "my name is Robinson, and my employer is Mr. John
Farrow Norman."
As always, this announcement produced a well-nigh magical effect.
"Mr. Norman is sick," Jack went on, "the fact is he's been going the
pace, rather, since he came into his money, and now he's got to pull up
with a round turn."
The broker expressed a discreet sympathy.
"He has instructed me to charter a steam yacht for a Southern cruise, a
roomy, comfortable boat. The main consideration is to get something
that's all ready to go."
"It is fortunate that you came to me, Mr. Robinson," said the little
broker solemnly. "As it happens I have the very thing you want. I
refer to the _Columbian_, Colonel Oliver Stackpoole's yacht. Perhaps
you know her?"
Jack shook his head.
"One of the finest yachts afloat, sir! Three hundred feet long, and a
veritable floating palace! Only yesterday Colonel Stackpoole and a
party of friends returned on her from a hunting trip to Jekyl Island.
I have just received the Colonel's note authorizing me to charter her
for the Florida season. She has a full complement of men, a complete
inventory of stores, she is coaling this minute, and actually has steam
up!"
"That sounds promising," said Jack. "How about terms?"
He agreed without batting an eye to the figure named, and the little
broker was sorry he had not asked double.
"Let's go and look at her," said Jack. "If everything is O.K. you
shall have a check this afternoon, and we'll sail to-night."
The yacht-broker wished that Heaven might send him such clients oftener.
The _Columbian_ was lying at a coal dock in Hoboken. It was a matter
of half an hour to reach her in the automobile. Jack fell in love with
her at sight, and registered a silent vow, that some day when his work
was done he would own her outright--or one like her.
Though really a great ocean-going vessel, her clipper bows, low hull,
raking masts and great funnel conveyed an impression of extreme
lightness and grace. She was painted black with a green streak at the
water line, and her funnel was yellow.
Going aboard, Jack was astonished at the great spread of her decks;
almost room enough to drive his car around her; and still more at the
size and number of her cabins. Outside, the designer's effort had been
to make the _Columbian_ as shipshape as possible, but below decks he
had aimed to make her passengers forget they were at sea.
On the main deck there was a long suite of lofty rooms; grand saloon,
music room, library, smoke room. Overhead forward was the
dining-saloon, and a sun parlor aft. All these rooms had open
fireplaces, windows, and other comforts not generally associated with
the sea. The furnishings were beautiful without being too
ostentatious. The sleeping cabins were marvels of spaciousness and
luxury.
Jack did not hesitate a moment about taking her. His one regret was
that he could not go on the first projected cruise. The fact that the
mere signing of his name put him in possession of this wonderful vessel
gave him a fuller realization of the power of his wealth than he had
yet experienced.
He learned that the _Columbian_ would finish coaling during the
afternoon. He arranged to have her continue to lie where she was until
nine o'clock that night. Thus he could get his party aboard in this
out-of-the-way spot after darkness had fallen. The _Columbian_ was
then to drop down-stream to an anchorage in the Bay, and proceed to sea
next morning. Her Captain was instructed to see to the necessary
clearance papers.
Jack repeated his story of Mr. Norman's illness to the captain. The
suggestion was that the millionaire's mind was slightly affected, and
they might be prepared for vagaries. The itinerary of the cruise was
to include Charleston, Jacksonville, Nassau and Havana.
All arrangements having been completed, Jack returned to the
Madagascar. Nothing untoward had occurred in his absence. Miriam had
come as he expected, no doubt with every intention of making a scene;
but his ruse to confront her with Connolly had worked effectually. She
had departed quicker than she came.
Upstairs Mrs. Regan reported all well. Finding his "nurse" proof
against the most tearful and passionate appeals, Bobo had resigned
himself to his lot. Indeed, who shall say but that he was not secretly
relieved thus to have the responsibility of making a decision taken
from him.
Jack told Mrs. Regan what he had done. An assiduous reader of the
newspapers, it appeared that she knew all about the magnificence of the
_Columbian_.
"How would you like to take a cruise in her?" Jack asked.
"Me! Oh law! What a life of adventure!"
"You shall have a stateroom de luxe, with a brass bedstead, and a
dressing-table furnished with gold!"
"What me! Lizzie Regan! Oh law!"
"Can you get away to-night?"
"I'd chuck a dozen boarding-houses for such a chance! Sure! As it
happens the house is full, and I've got a cook who is not quite
feeble-minded. My cousin will run in and keep an eye on things."
"That's settled then. Run along and get ready, and I'll watch Bobo
till you get back."
Bobo listened to the plan of the proposed cruise in sullen apathy.
Jack could not tell what he meditated doing. In order to be on the
safe side, Jack called on Hugh Brome, his lawyer, to assist him with
the evening's arrangements. It promised to be a great lark--for
everybody except Bobo.
At nine o'clock that night an invalid completely swathed in blankets
was tenderly carried out of the private side door of the Madagascar by
two friends, and placed in a waiting limousine. A comfortable-looking
nurse hovered over him solicitously. Any passerby might have been
surprised to hear convulsive giggles from the three attendants--but
perhaps he would have put it down to nervousness. Obviously the
patient was very sick. But if the wrappings had fallen away from his
head, the passerby would certainly have been astonished to see that he
was gagged!
An hour later Jack and Hugh Brome stood on the coal dock watching the
superb vessel back out into the river.
"Well, he's out of harm's way for awhile," said Jack. "He has no
clothes aboard but dressing-gowns and slippers!"
27
Nowadays it is difficult for the great to conceal their movements. In
spite of the precautions he had taken, the story of the chartering of
the _Columbian_, and the young millionaire's sudden departure on a
Southern cruise was in the next morning's papers. Jack silently cursed
the yacht-broker.
He had no more than read the story, he was still lingering over his
breakfast, when the telephone in the Dutch room rang, and the voice on
the wire said:
"Miss Culbreth is asking for you."
"What!" cried Jack. "You mean she's downstairs!"
"Yes, sir."
"You're sure it's me she wants?"
"Yes, sir, Mr. Robinson," she said.
Jack hesitated before answering. To tell the truth his courage sunk
slowly into his boots. He would sooner have faced five strong men than
the infuriated Miriam. But as soon as he realized he was afraid his
obstinacy came into play. He said to himself: "I'm not going to let
her bluff me." Aloud he said curtly: "Show her up."
Although she must have set out from home in a rage, Miriam had not on
that account neglected her appearance. She wore a little red hat with
a cunning flare to the brim, and was otherwise all in black. Her fine
eyes were dark with anger.
"By the Lord she's beautiful!" thought Jack. "It's all very well for
Kate to talk, but there's a dangerous delight in fighting a woman like
this!"
She lost no time coming to the point. "Is this story in the papers
about Bobo true?" she demanded, declining to sit.
"More or less," said Jack.
"What do you mean by that? Has he gone away?"
"Just a little trip for his health."
"I don't believe you!"
"Then why ask?"
"You've had him kidnapped!"
"Ahead of you, eh?"
"Spare me your impudence, please!"
Jack bowed low.
"I'll expose you in the newspapers!" she threatened
"Go ahead! You may be sure I know exactly what I'm doing."
His coolness made her pause. She stared at him stormily for a moment
"Maybe it's not true!" she said. "Maybe you gave out the story
yourself to put me off."
Jack smiled.
"I'll see!" she cried. She darted into the adjoining room, Bobo's
bedroom.
Jack let her go. There was nothing in any of the rooms that it
mattered if she saw. He heard her opening and slamming the doors, and
sat down to his interrupted breakfast. He could see that his cool airs
maddened her, and there was a kind of breathless fun in it. He was
less cool than he appeared. His heart hammered on his ribs.
She came running back angrier if possible than before. Jack affected
to be very much absorbed in an item in the newspaper, which he
relinquished with manifest reluctance to rise at her entrance.
"Well, did you find his corpse?"
Miriam's only reply was an inarticulate sound of rage. It was some
moments before she could command herself sufficiently to speak.
"Just you wait! I'll get square! I'll beat you yet!"
She turned to go.
Jack suddenly bethought himself that Kate had advised him to make
friends with Miriam. Just how far he was moved by a disinterested
desire to further his case, and how far by Miriam's angry beauty, it
would be well, perhaps, not to inquire.
"Don't go," he said.
She hesitated.
"I'll be bound you rushed away from home without any breakfast. Have
some of mine."
Apparently the wisdom of resuming diplomatic relations must have
occurred to her too, for she looked over her shoulder with a slow
smile. Her eyes were still dangerous.
"Come and sit down," said Jack. "I'll make fresh coffee on the
machine."
She swayed towards the table with inimitable nonchalance. Sitting, she
gave Jack an inscrutable glance of the strange eyes, and languidly
pulled off her gloves.
"By George! You're good to look at!" he said impulsively. It was
surprised out of him.
"So are you," she murmured, with a languorous look through her lashes.
It was exactly the wrong thing for her to say; but Miriam persistently
misread Jack. So long as she defied him and abused him he was
profoundly stirred; he longed to seize and tame her. But when she
displayed a disposition to woo him, he suddenly chilled and drew back.
He did not let her see it of course. To create a diversion he jumped
up to attend to the coffee machine.
"Silly for us to quarrel," she said, when he returned to the table.
"Yes, isn't it?" said Jack.
"Our real interests lie together. If we go on fighting each other,
we'll spoil both our games."
It just suited Jack to play up to this idea of their respective
positions. "You're right," he said.
"I offered before to join with you," she said.
"But you have me at a disadvantage," objected Jack. "If you marry Bobo
you'll have a legal hold over him. Where will I and my job be then?
You as good as told me you'd kick me out."
"That was when I was angry," she said blandly. "What a woman says when
she's angry doesn't count."
"But you might get angry again," suggested Jack dryly.
She favored him with a slow intoxicating glance of the hazel eyes.
"You fool!" she whispered.
"Eh?"
"Can't you see?"
"See what?"
"I couldn't really refuse you anything."
Jack was sorry now that he had asked her to stay. He saw the situation
approaching from which no man can extricate himself with dignity and
self-respect entire. But he was not sure that he wished to extricate
himself. In his confusion he chose the worst possible course: that is,
to laugh it off.
"That's good! Five minutes ago you hated me like a rattlesnake!"
"What's the difference?" she murmured. "I hate you because--because
you treat me so. When I--Oh, why do you make me say it!"
She was breathing quickly and her eyes were large and bright. Jack
wondered how much of this feeling was real, and how much art. But no
man wants to disbelieve a woman when she intimates that she loves him.
She suddenly leaned across the table, and took his hand between both of
hers. Her proud head was lowered in an affecting way. "Love--!
Hate--!" she murmured brokenly. "What's the difference? You drive me
wild with your cool airs, your indifference! Sometimes I could kill
you! But--but I wouldn't want you any different either. I want you to
master me!"
It was a heady draught. Jack's brain reeled.
She raised her head. Her eyes were embers in the wind. "Look at me!
Am I not beautiful? You said I was beautiful!"
The voice of the tempter whispered to Jack: "Take her at her word. She
deserves no consideration. Kate would have no right to blame you after
what she said."
"Look in my eyes," she whispered. "What do you see there?"
The fire of those strange eyes lighted a train of gunpowder in the man.
He forgot everything. "Oh--you beauty!" he murmured hoarsely.
They rose simultaneously and leaned towards each other over the little
table.
"It's all so simple," she whispered. "Let me marry Bobo. You will
still be his master and mine!"
Once more she fatally overreached herself. Every instinct of decency
in the man was revolted by the picture she called up. He firmly
unwound the white arms that had crept around his neck. He turned away
and took a cigarette.
Miriam stared at him frightened and angry. "What's the matter with
you?" she whispered.
"You'd better go," he said harshly.
She went to him swiftly. "You can't deny me! You love me! I saw it
in your eyes. Why do you fight against me? Look at me. I could be
everything to you!"
"Love!" said Jack with a grim laugh. "You're wasting your time now!
You almost had me--but you let me peep too far under the lid. Never
again! You're too good a hater. I want to keep a whole skin!"
She saw then that she had indeed failed. The humiliation was
intolerable. She burst into angry tears.
"Oh, I hate you! I hate you!" she cried. "I _will_ kill you if you
don't keep out of my way!"
She ran out of the room.
28
The _Columbian_ set sail early on a Friday morning. On Monday Jack
received the following telegram:
_Charleston, S.C._
_Came in here last night for coal. At daylight sick man discovered to
be missing. Must have climbed through port hole and dropped into
waiting boat. Wireless operator gone too. Captain thinks he was
bribed by wireless to liberate B. Have discovered that the two of them
took the Southern train North late last night. Wire instructions._
_Lizzie Regan._
Jack thought swiftly: "Late train North from Charleston last night.
That would bring them here late to-night. Bobo would telegraph Miriam
of course. She may go to meet him."
He jumped to the telephone, and calling up the Bienvenu, got Starr on
the wire.
"This is Robinson--at the Hotel Madagascar, you know."
"Yes, Mr. Robinson?"
"Is Miss Culbreth still in your hotel?"
"Yes, sir, but she's leaving. She just telephoned down for her bill to
be made out."
"Could you arrange to have her followed when she leaves?"
"Yet, sir, I have a smart boy here who can be depended on."
"Good! If she goes to the Pennsylvania station that's all right. I
will be there. But if she goes elsewhere have a message telephoned to
this hotel for me."
"Very good, sir. I will see to it."
Jack hastened into Kate's house and assumed the Pitman make-up. It had
outlived its usefulness so far as the old man was concerned, but he had
no reason to suppose that he had ever been pointed out to Miriam in
that character. At any rate he had no other disguise handy. With a
brief good-by to Kate he taxied to the Pennsylvania terminal. All
travelers to the South use this station.
Miriam was already there, walking impatiently up and down the
concourse. She was heavily veiled, but even so was a sufficiently
notable figure. Jack was beginning to be acquainted with her wardrobe,
extensive as that was. To-day she was wearing a green hat and black
furs that he had seen before.
When the gates were opened for the 10:08 Washington express she went
through. Jack bought a ticket for Washington and followed. Supposing
that she would ride in a parlor car, he got in a coach, as he did not
care to subject Mr. Pitman's disguise to a five hours' scrutiny on the
train.
After the train had started, he showed his police credentials to the
conductor, and describing Miriam, asked to be informed to what point
her ticket had been taken. Word was brought him later that it was to
Baltimore. He asked to be told if she got off before that.
But Miriam apparently had no suspicion that she was being followed. In
Baltimore she went openly to the Hotel Warwick and registered under own
name--or rather, under the name that Jack knew her by. The so-called
Mr. Pitman was close behind her.
After putting her bag in her room she reappeared unveiled, and started
to walk downtown at a leisurely pace, Mr. Pitman still in unsuspected
attendance. He heard her ask a policeman the way to the City Hall. In
that building she asked at the Information desk where marriage licenses
were to be procured.
Jack smiled to himself. "License number two!" he thought. He did not
risk discovery by following her through the unfrequented corridors, but
waited within watch of the main entrance for her to reappear.
For the next hour Miriam killed time in Charles Street, the fashionable
shopping thoroughfare. She visited several hat shops, and presumably
"tried on." Mr. Pitman could not very well follow her into such
places. Later a tea room held her for another half hour. At some time
during these peregrinations she must have become aware that she was
being followed.
Leaving the tea room she hailed a taxi, and ordered the chauffeur to
take her to the Hotel Minnert. Jack followed in another cab. When he
saw that the hotel was only around the corner, he began to suspect a
ruse. She entered by the Ladies' door, and he was less than half a
minute behind her. She was not visible inside. From the doorman he
learned that she had walked upstairs. He followed.
On the next floor there were no public rooms but only endless corridors
with bedrooms opening off. There was not a soul in sight and he
hesitated which way to turn. Finally a chambermaid appeared around a
corner, and a piece of silver procured him information.
"Yes, sir, she just went down the corridor on the right. She asked me
if there was another stairs, and I told her yes, at the end of that
corridor."
Jack hastened in the direction named. At the foot of the rear stairs
he found a door giving on a quiet back street. The door-keeper
supplied the next link of information.
"Yes, sir, there was a taxi waiting for her. She just drove away."
"Hm!" thought Jack ruefully, "that's a good one on me! Either she
knows this place of old, or else she fixed it up on the way with the
taxi-driver."
He was not greatly concerned by this mishap, for he knew the time the
Southern train was due to arrive in Baltimore, and he expected to meet
her again there. The time was six-thirty. He spent the interim in
buying himself an overcoat of striking cut, and a tweed hat that would
pull down low on his head. These articles changed his appearance not a
little. On the way uptown he stopped in at the Warwick, but Miriam had
not returned there.
When he got to the station Miriam was not to be seen among the crowd.
The train was forty-five minutes late. Informing himself as to which
gate the passengers would be discharged through, he took a seat
commanding it, and affected to busy himself with a magazine.
As the time for the coming of the train drew near, and no Miriam showed
up, a sharp anxiety attacked him. He wondered if he could have erred
in his calculations. He knew she had not had time since he lost her,
to telegraph down the line for Bobo to get off at Washington.
The train drew in, and the passengers began mounting the steps. Still
no sign of Miriam. But suddenly Jack caught sight of Bobo among the
passengers and his spirits rebounded.
"Is she going to let me carry him off?" he wondered.
The wireless operator accompanied Bobo, and Bobo was clad in one of his
uniforms. As there was about thirty pounds difference in weight
between the two--in Bobo's favor, the plump youth cut rather a comic
figure, and was acutely conscious of the fact.
As they reached the top of the stairs, a lady clad in deep mourning
with a thick black veil concealing her whole head and face stepped
forward and laid her hand on Bobo's arm. At first Bobo shrank back
from this sable apparition, but she pushed the veil aside sufficiently
for him to see her face, and he grinned from ear to ear.
"You fool!" said Jack to himself. "Not to have seen through that!"
Miriam and the two young men went quickly down the way to the side
entrance of the station. Jack was not far behind them. In that
confusion of people there was little danger of their spotting him.
Outside among the waiting automobiles was a big Macklin touring car,
and Miriam led the two men towards it. Jack swore at himself again.
"She had the wit to hire a special car, while you have to trust to a
taxi!"
He jumped in a taxi. "Follow that Macklin car that's just turning
out," he said. "Ten dollars bonus, if you stick to it."
The touring car did not turn South towards the center of town, but
headed North by the bridge over the railway tracks. At the first wide
street, North avenue, Jack read on the street lamps, it turned East,
then North again on another wide thoroughfare which finally brought
them out into the country.
"Double fare outside the City limits," the chauffeur said laconically.
"Let her go," said Jack. "I'm good for it."
A short turn through a lane brought them to another main highway.
"Belair Road," said the chauffeur, "main road to the North."
"Have you a full tank?" asked Jack.
He nodded.
"Follow them to New York then if necessary!"
On this dark road the occupants of the touring car soon discovered that
they were being followed. They put on speed.
"Give her all she'll take," said Jack.
Fortunately the taxi was of a good make, and the engine was tight and
clean. The little car gave a good account of itself. Moreover the
road was smoothly paved, which further helped equalize the chances of
light car and heavy one. Pursued and pursuer roared down the dark
highway with cut-outs open. For several miles the way lay over one
steep hill after another. They precipitated themselves recklessly down
each declivity, gaining a momentum at the bottom that carried them
almost to the top again without slackening.
"This is faster than I'm allowed to run her," said Jack's chauffeur.
"That's all right. I'll be responsible for the damage."
The man grinned and stepped a little harder on his accelerator.
At first the big Macklin car set up a pace they were unable to match,
but apparently the driver was unfamiliar with the road, and after he
had narrowly escaped flinging his car in the ditch on several sharp
turns, he was compelled to slow down somewhat. This gave them an even
chance. They kept about a hundred feet behind the red eye of the
tail-light ahead.
"We're holding them all right," said Jack's chauffeur.
The words were scarcely out of his mouth when there came a report like
a small field piece beneath them.
"Damn that tire!" cried the man.
"There goes Bobo's last chance of salvation!" said Jack.
The blow-out had been heard in the car ahead. They swept out of sight
around a bend tooting their horn triumphantly.
It took them the usual half an hour to change tires.
"Back to town I suppose," said the driver when he was ready to start
again.
"No!" said Jack. "They might blow up a tire, too. Keep on!"
In a village called Kingsville they stopped long enough to make sure
that the Macklin car was still ahead of them. At the next place,
Belair, they came upon it resting demurely in front of a dwelling.
Since there was a church next door, it was not difficult to guess that
this house was a parsonage.
"I thought so," said Jack grimly.
He jumped out and rang the bell. When the door was opened by a maid
there was no need for him to make any inquiry. Through an open archway
he could see into the living-room of the house. Bobo and Miriam were
standing hand in hand before the parson with his book. Even as Jack
looked, he finished pronouncing the benediction, and the couple turned
around. Miriam had evidently left her woeful headgear in the car
outside. She was wearing the dashing green hat again.
Jack, forgetting for the moment that he was disguised, stepped into the
room. Bobo did not know him, but Miriam did. Her face lighted up with
a wicked triumph.
"What a pity you were late!" she said with mocking sweetness, "I would
so much have liked you to be present!"
"What--who--who's this?" stammered Bobo.
"This is Jack. All dressed up! Don't you recognize his beautiful
eyes?"
Bobo saw that it was Jack, turned pale, and looked furtively about him
for a way out, in case things went suddenly against him.
"Be the first to congratulate me," said Miriam to Jack. "Most of all I
want to hear it from you."
Poor Bobo in his skin-tight uniform was an absurd figure of a
bridegroom. With humble eyes, he was mutely imploring Jack not to give
him away.
Jack had no intention of doing so. Knowing himself to be the real
master of the situation, he could well afford to put up with the girl's
outrageous triumphant air.
Jack's smile irritated her. She lost her joyful look. The commoner
aspect of her broke through. "I'm Mrs. Norman," she said with a
disagreeable laugh. She displayed her wedding-ring. "You can't get
around that! Remember it, the next time you start out to get the
better of me."
"Miriam, for God's sake, don't provoke him!" whispered poor Bobo.
"Provoke him!" she said, raising her voice. "You seem strangely afraid
of hurting the feelings of your secretary. He needs to be provoked.
He's too big for his shoes! Let him understand that I'm the mistress
now, and his chance of keeping his job depends on his pleasing me!"
Bobo almost fainted.
Jack met her eyes squarely. "All right, my lady!" he was thinking.
"My turn will come later!" He foresaw that his game in the future
would be furthered if he appeared to submit. So he bowed--but he could
not quite iron out the mocking smile.
"I only aim to please!" said he.
Miriam looked at him suspiciously.
"What do you wish me to do, Mr. Norman?" he asked Bobo.
To that youth it was like a ray of light breaking through. He lifted
his eyes to Jack with a kind of sheeplike gratitude. But he seemed
incapable of speech.
Miriam answered for him. "Go back to New York, and wait for us at the
Madagascar."
Jack bowed again, and returned to his taxi.
29
Jack returned to New York on the night train. At the hotel he found a
message from Starr of the Bienvenu Hotel reading:
"A.D.T. boy 791 came with a package for Miss Culbreth to-day. When he
was told she was out of town he took it back with him."
Jack's police credentials smoothed the way for him with the A.D.T.
officials, and within two hours of the time he received the message,
No. 791, otherwise Tommy Mullulus, was on his way to the Madagascar to
be questioned.
He was a small, thin boy with a wary eye that testified to a wide
experience of the world, and an insinuating grin that was still
childlike. His meager limbs were lost in his faded, flapping trousers,
but he had a doughty air far beyond his years. His official age was
fifteen; had he not to swear to that to get his "working papers"? But
actually he was about two years short of it.
He was disposed to be evasive in answering Jack's questions.
"You brought a package to the Hotel Bienvenu yesterday?"
"Yes, sir."
"Where did you get it?"
"At the office. Fella at the desk handed it to me."
"That means it was brought into the office by the person who wanted it
delivered?"
"I guess so."
"Where is your office?"
"1118 Broadway."
"Did you see the person that brought the package in?"
"Didn't take no particular notice."
"Well, was it a man or a woman?"
"I didn't rightly look."
"Isn't it a fact when you boys are waiting for a call, that you size up
everybody that comes in to see what kind of a job you're going to get,
and what's likely to be in it?"
"We gen'ally does," said Tommy with an innocent air, "but Fat Harris
was pushin' me on the bench, and I was pushin' him back, so I didn't
take no notice of who come in."
It suggested itself to Jack that the boy was under the spell of a
generous tip. To offer him a larger tip was the most obvious course,
but Jack, knowing something about boys, hesitated. Tommy would take
the money, of course, but it would probably make him suspicious, and
therefore more secretive than before. A better way was to win his
confidence if it could be done.
"Tommy," said Jack, "the guy that gave you that package is a crook, and
I'm trying to land him, see?"
Tommy looked interested but wary. He required to be shown.
"Did they tell you at the office who I was?" asked Jack.
"No more than your name was Robinson."
"Did you ever hear of John Farrow Norman?"
"The poor boy that came in for a hundred million! You bet!"
"Well, I work for him. I'm his secretary."
A noiseless whistle escaped through Tommy's lips. But he still looked
a little incredulous.
"You can find that out at the office on your way out," suggested Jack.
Tommy looked impressed by this evidence of good faith. "Say, boss, can
I see him himself--Norman I mean?"
"He's out of town to-day. But you'll see him all the time if you work
for me."