It is late that evening when Major Abbot returns to Willard's. He has
found time to write a brief note to the doctor, which it was his
intention to send by the orderly who bears the official order releasing
the Warrens from surveillance. It suddenly occurs to him, however, that
she may see the note. If so, what will be her sensations on finding that
the handwriting is utterly unlike that in which all her letters had come
to her. Abbot tears it into shreds, and contents himself with a message,
saying that he is compelled to see the adjutant-general on immediate
business, but will soon be with them.
It is true that the adjutant-general has business with Major Abbot, but
it is some time before audience is obtained. There is still a whirl of
excitement over Stuart's movements, and it is ten o'clock before the
young officer is able to see his chief. The general is courteous, but a
trifle formal and cold. Staff officers, he says, are now urgently
needed, and he desires to know how soon the major will feel able to
resume duty.
"At once, sir," is the answer.
"But you are still far from strong, and--I do not mean office duty here;
we have abundance of material for that sort of work."
"Neither do I, sir. I mean duty at the front. I can sit around
headquarters in the field as comfortably as I can anywhere, and, to the
best of my observation, the duty performed by the adjutant-general at
corps or division headquarters is not such as involves much physical
exertion."
The general smiles benignantly upon the younger officer, and with the
air of a man who would say, "How little you know of the importance and
responsibilities of the labors to which we are assigned; but you will
soon understand."
"But can you ride yet?" he asks.
"I can; if a forward movement is in contemplation; and every day will
bring me strength," answers Abbot. "In brief, general, if you have a
post for me at the front I can go at once."
"One other thing. Have you any idea of the whereabouts of Mr. Hollins of
your old regiment, or can you give us any idea as to where he would be
likely to go? He has forwarded his resignation, dated Keedysville,
Maryland, September 18. It was post-marked Baltimore, October 8, and
came direct. Of course it cannot be accepted. What is needed is some
clew as to his movements. Could he or would he have gone back to Boston?
Had he anything to draw him thither?"
Abbot reflects a moment. "I can form no idea where he has gone," he
answers.
"It was proposed to send an officer of your regiment back to confer with
the police authorities, Major Abbot, and there are reasons why I prefer
you should go. A few days' visit at your old home may not be
unacceptable, and you can probably render valuable service. I have been
told that there is reason to believe that Lieutenant Hollins is lurking
somewhere around Boston at this very minute, and that is the first duty
on which you are needed. Your instructions can be written later. Now can
you go in the morning?"
There is a moment's silence. This is not the duty which Major Abbot
expected, nor is it at all what he desires. He wonders if his father has
not been in collusion with the senator, and, between the two, if some
pretext has not been devised to get him home for a few days. It looks
vastly that way.
"I confess that my hopes were in the opposite direction, general. I had
visions of immediate employment at the front, when you spoke."
The bureau official is evidently pleased. He likes the timber the
younger soldier is made of, and his grim, care-worn face relaxes.
"Major Abbot, you shall have your wish, and, depend upon me, the moment
there is prospect of a forward move you shall join a division at the
front. Your old colonel will have one this very week if it can be
managed here, and he will be glad of your services; but I tell you,
between ourselves, that I do not believe McClellan can be made to budge
an inch from where he stands until positive orders are given from here.
You go--not on leave, but on duty--for a week, and then we'll have work
for you in the field. I have promised it."
Then the bewildered young major is notified that his father is waiting
for him at the senator's, and thither he drives, half determined to
upbraid them both; but the delight in the old gentleman's face is too
much for him. It is nearly eleven when they reach Willard's, and,
before he will consent to pack his soldier kit, Paul Abbot goes at once
to the Warrens' room, and his father follows.
The secret-service man has gone. The physician is there and the nurse,
both conversing with their patient, when the two gentlemen appear. Major
Abbot presents his father and looks around the room somewhat
disappointedly. Despite his excitement of the day, and possibly because
of it, Doctor Warren seems in higher spirits and better condition than
Abbot has imagined it possible for him to be. The two old gentlemen
shake hands, and Mr. Abbot speedily seats himself by the side of the
invalid, and frees himself of his impressions as to the extraordinary
charges that had been preferred, and his satisfaction at their speedy
refutation. The local physician, in low tones, is assuring Major Abbot
that a day or two will restore their patient to strength sufficient to
journey homewards, and that he believes the "set back" of the early
evening will be of no avail if he can get him to sleep by midnight.
Abbot hastily explains that he leaves at daybreak for Boston, and had
only come in fulfilment of a promise. Then he accosts his father.
"I know we have both a great deal to say to Doctor Warren, father, but
it is a pleasure only to be deferred. We must say good-night, so that he
can sleep, and will meet in New York next week."
Doctor Warren looks up inquiringly. He is far from willing to let them
go, but the physician interposes. They say their adieux and still Abbot
hesitates; his eyes wander to the door which communicates with Bessie's
room, and, as though in answer, it opens and she softly enters.
"I am so glad you have come," he says, in low, eager tone. "Let me
present my father," and the old gentleman bows with courtly grace and
comes forward to take her hand. She is a lovely picture to look at, with
the sweet, shy consciousness in her face. The very gaze in Abbot's eyes
has sent the color to her brows, and he holds her hand until he has to
transfer it to his father's out-stretched palm.
"The doctor tells us we must not stay, Miss Bessie," he continues, "but
I could not go without a word. I am ordered to Boston by first train in
the morning, but shall see you--may I not--in New York?"
Brave as she is, it comes too suddenly--this news that she must part
with her knight just as he has done her such loyal service, and before
she has even thanked him by look or word. All the radiance, all the
bright color fades in an instant, and Paul Abbot cannot but see it and
divine, in part at least, the reason. He has in his pocket letters from
her own fair hand, that he knows were written for him, and yet that he
has no right to see. He reads in her lovely eyes a trust in him, a pain
at this sudden parting, that he thrills in realizing, yet should steel
his heart against or be no loyal man. But he cannot go without a word
from her, and it is a moment before she can speak:
"Is--is it not very sudden? I shall never thank you enough for what you
have done for father--for _us,_ this evening. What would we have done
without you?"
"That is nothing. There is no time now--but next week--New York--I may
see you there, may I not?"
May he not? What man can look in her eyes and ask less? He holds her
hand in close pressure one instant and hastens from the room.
* * * * *
Forty-eight hours later he is in the presence of the woman who had
promised to be his wife. The evening has seemed somewhat long. She was
out when he called at an earlier hour, but was to be found at a
dinner-party in the neighborhood. Major Abbot feels indisposed to meet
her in presence of "society," and leaves word that he will return at ten
o'clock. He finds her still absent and has to wait. Mr. Winthrop is at
his club; Mrs. Winthrop has begged to be excused--she had retired early
with a severe headache. She does not want to see me, thinks Abbot, and
that looks as though Viva were obdurate. It is a matter that has served
to lose its potency for ill, and the major is angered at himself because
of a thrill of hope; because of the thought of another face that _will_
intrude. It is nearly eleven o'clock when he hears the rumble of
carriage wheels at the door. He steps to the front window and looks out
upon the pavement. Yes, there is the old family carriage drawn up in
front in the full glare of the gas lamp. The footman is opening its door
and Viva Winthrop steps quickly forth, glances up and down the street as
though expectant of some one's coming, and turns quickly to speak to
some one in the carriage. Abbot recognizes the face at the open window
as that of an old family friend nodding good-night. The footman still
stands, but Viva speaks to him; he touches his hat respectfully, but in
some surprise, and then springs to his perch; the two ladies nod and
exchange cordial good-nights again, and away goes the carriage, leaving
Miss Winthrop standing on the sidewalk, where she is still searchingly
looking up and down and across the street. As though in answer there
comes springing through the dim light the hulking, slouching,
round-shouldered figure of a big man. He is across the street and at her
side in a few vigorous leaps, and away as quick as he came. No word has
been interchanged, no sign on his part. He has handed her a small white
parcel. She has placed in his hand a dark roll of something that he
eagerly seizes and makes off with. It all happens before Abbot has time
to realize what is going on, then she scurries up the stone steps and
rings the bell. His first impulse is to go and open the door himself,
but that will produce confusion. She will have no time to dispose of
that packet, and Major Abbot will not take advantage of what he has
inadvertently seen. He hears the old butler shuffling along the marble
hallway, and his deferential announcement.
"Mr. Abbot is in the parlor, Miss Winthrop."
And then he steps forward under the chandelier to meet her.
It is a moment before she enters. Evidently his coming is a shock for
which she is unprepared. She comes in with swiftly changing color and
lips that tremble despite the unflinching courage of her eyes.
"This is indeed a surprise," she says, as she gives him her hand.
"Why--when did you come, and how did you come, and how well you look for
a man who has had so much suffering--I mean from your wounds," she
finishes, hurriedly. It is all said nervously and with evident purpose
of simply talking to gain time and think. "Won't you sit down? You must
be so fatigued. Take this chair, it's so much more comfortable than that
one you are getting. Have you seen mamma! No? Why? Does she know you are
here? Oh, true; she did speak of a headache before I went out. Mrs.
Laight and I have been to dinner at the Farnham's and have just
returned. Why didn't you come round there--they'd have been so delighted
to see you? You know you are quite a hero now."
He lets her run on, sitting in silence himself, and watching her. She
continues her rapid, nervous talk a moment more, her color coming and
going all the time, and then she stops as suddenly. "Of course you can
answer no questions when I keep chattering like a magpie."
She is seated now on the sofa facing him, as he leans back in one of
those old-fashioned easy-chairs that used to find their way into some
parlors in the _ante-bellum_ days. When silence is fully established,
and she is apparently ready to listen, he speaks:
"I came to-night, Viva, and to see _you_. Did you get my letter?"
"Your last one, from Washington? Yes. It came yesterday."
"I have come to see the letters."
"What letters?"
"Those which you must have received or been shown in order to make you
believe me disloyal to you."
"I have no such letters."
"Did you send them to me, Viva?"
"No."
"What did you do with them?"
She hesitates, and colors painfully; then seeks to parry.
"How do you know I ever saw any letters?
"Because nothing less could explain your action; nor does this justify
it. Still, I am not here to blame you. I want to get at the truth. What
did you do with them?"
"They--went back."
"When? Before or after you got my letter?"
No answer for a moment, then:
"Why do you ask that? What possible difference can it make? They were
shown me in strict confidence. I had long believed you cared more for
another girl than you did for me, and these letters proved it."
"I do not admit that, Viva," is the grave, almost stern reply. "But do
you mean that, after receiving my letter, you returned those that I
asked for--that I had a right to see?"
"They were called for; and they were not mine to do as I chose with."
"Will you tell me how and by whom they were called for?"
He has risen now, and is standing under the chandelier, drawn to his
full height.
"I do not wish to speak of it further. I have told the person that you
denied the truth of them, and that is enough."
"I am sorry that you mentioned me to the person, or weighed my
statements in any such scale."
"Paul Abbot!" she breaks in impetuously, rising too. "You say you never
wrote to this girl, and I believe you; but tell me this: have you never
seen her? do you not at this moment care for her infinitely more than
you do for me?"
He considers a moment. It is a leading question; one he had not
expected; but he will not stoop to the faintest equivocation. Still, he
wants her to understand.
"Listen, Viva. Up to the time of your letter's coming she was a stranger
to me. Now I have met her. She and her father were in the same hotel
with us at Washington; and she, too, has been victimized by forged
letters as you have."
"Enough, enough! Why not end it where it is? You know well that if you
cared for me _that_ would be the first assurance. Granted that we have
both been cheated, fooled, tricked, why keep up the farce of a loveless
engagement? That, at least, must end _now_."
"Even if it should, Viva, I am not absolved from a duty I owe you. It
is my conviction that you have been drawn into a correspondence with a
man against whom it is my solemn right and duty to warn you at once. You
have no brother. For Heaven's sake be guided by what I say. Whatever may
have been his influence in the past, you can never in the future
recognize Mr. Hollins. If not captured by this time, he is a disgraced
exile and deserter."
"He is nothing of the kind! You, and imperious men like you, denied to
him the companionship of his brother officers, and his sensitive nature
could not stand it. He has resigned and left the service, that is all."
"You are utterly mistaken, Viva. What I tell you is the solemn truth.
For your name's sake I implore you tell me what has been his influence
in the past. I well know he can be nothing to you in the future, Viva.
You are not in communication with him now, are you?"
A ring at the bell. The old butler comes sleepily shuffling along the
hall again, and appears at the parlor with a telegram. "They sent it
after you, sir," is the explanation. Abbot, with curious foreboding,
opens, and hurriedly reads the words,
"Rix also deserted; is believed to have gone to Boston."
"Viva!" he exclaims, "the man you gave that packet to was Rix, another
deserter. My God! Do you _know_ where Hollins is?"
But Viva Winthrop has fallen back on the sofa, covering her face with
her hands.