AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE
That faculty which decides on the lawlessness of our actions: so the
noted etymologist described conscience. It fell to another distinguished
intellect to add that conscience makes cowards of us all. Ay. She may be
overcome at times, side-tracked for any special desire that demands a
clear way; but she's after us, fast enough, with that battered red
lantern of hers, which, brought down from all tongues crisply into our
own, reads--"Don't do it!" She herself is not wholly without cunning.
She rarely stands boldly upon the track to flag us as we come. She
realizes that she might be permanently ditched. No; it is far safer to
run after us and catch us. A digression, perhaps, but more pertinently
an application.
Temptation then no longer at his shoulder, George began to have qualms,
little chaps, who started buzzing into his moral ears with all that
maddening, interminable drone which makes one marvel however do
school-teachers survive their first terms. Among these qualms there was
none that pleaded for the desolate Turk or his minions whose
carelessness had made the theft possible. For all George cared, the
Moslem might grind his forehead in the soulless sand and make the air
palpitate with his plaints to Allah. No. The disturbance was due to the
fact that never before had he been wittingly the purchaser of stolen
goods. He never tried to gloze over the subtle distinction between
knowing and suspecting; and if he had been variously suspicious in
regard to certain past bargains, conscience had found no sizeable wedge
for her demurrers. The Yhiordes was confessedly stolen.
He paused, with his hand upon the door-knob of his room. If he didn't
keep the rug, it would fall into the hands of a collector less
scrupulous. To return it to the Pasha at Bagdad would be pure folly, and
thankless. It was one of the most beautiful weavings in existence. It
was as priceless in its way as any Raphael in the Vatican. And he
desired its possession intensely. Why not? Insidious phrase! Was it not
better that the world should see and learn what a wonderful craft the
making of a rare rug had been, than to allow it to return to the sordid
chamber of a harem, to inevitable ruin? As Ryanne said, what the deuce
was a fanatical Turk or Arab to him?
Against these specious arguments in favor of becoming the adventurer's
abettor and accomplice, there was first the possible stain of blood. The
man agreed that he had come away from Bagdad in doubt. George did not
like the thought of blood. Still, he had collected a hundred emeralds,
not one of which was without its red record. Again, if he carried the
rug home with his other purchases, he could pull it through the customs
only by lying, which was as distasteful to his mind as being a receiver
of stolen goods.
He had already paid a goodly sum against the purchase; and it was not
likely that a man who was down to reversing his collars and cuffs would
take back the rug and refund the money. The Yhiordes was his, happen
what might. So conscience snuffed out her red lantern and retired.
Some light steps, a rustle, and he wheeled in time to see a woman open a
door, stand for a minute in the full light, and disappear. It was she.
George opened the door of his own room, threw the rug inside, and
tiptoed along the corridor, stopping for the briefest time to ascertain
the number of that room. He felt vastly more guilty in performing this
harmless act than in smothering his mentor.
There was no one in the head-porter's bureau; thus, unobserved and
unembarrassed, he was free to inspect the guest-list. Fortune Chedsoye.
He had never seen a name quite like that. Its quaintness did not suggest
to him, as it had done to Ryanne, the pastoral, the bucolic. Rather it
reminded him of the old French courts, of rapiers and buckles, of
powdered wigs and furbelows, masks, astrologers, love-intrigues, of all
those colorful, mutable scenes so charmingly described by the genial
narrator of the exploits of D'Artagnan. And abruptly out of this age of
Lebrun, Watteau, Molière, reached an ice-cold hand. If that elderly
codger wasn't her father, who was he and what?
The Major--for George had looked him up also--was in excellent trim for
his age, something of a military dandy besides; but as the husband of so
young and exquisite a creature! Out upon the thought! He might be her
guardian, or, at most, her uncle, but never her husband. Yet (O
poisonous doubt!), at the table she had ignored the Major, both his
jests and his attentions. He had seen many wives, joyfully from a safe
distance, act toward their husbands in this fashion. Oh, rot! If his
name was Callahan and hers Chedsoye, they could not possibly be tied in
any legal bonds. He dismissed the ice-cold hand and turned again to the
comforting warmth of his ardor.
He had never spoken to young women without presentation, and on these
rare occasions he had broached the weather, suggested the possibilities
of the weather, and concluded with an apostrophe on the weather at
large. It was usually a valedictory. For he was always positive that he
had acted like a fool, and was afraid to speak to the girl again. Never
it failed, ten minutes after the girl was out of sight, the brightest
and cleverest things crowded upon his tongue, to be but wasted on the
desert air. He was not particularly afraid of women older than himself,
more's the pity. And yet, had he been as shy toward them as toward the
girls, there would have been no stolen Yhiordes, no sad-eyed maiden, no
such thing as The United Romance and Adventure Company, Ltd.; and he
would have stepped the even tenor of his way, unknown of grand passions,
swift adventure, life.
George was determined to meet Fortune Chedsoye, and this determination,
the first of its kind to take definite form in his mind, gave him a
novel sensation. He would find some way, and he vowed to best his old
enemy, diffidence, if it was the last fight he ever put up. He would
manoeuver to get in the way of the Major. He never found much trouble
in talking to men. Once he exchanged a word or two with the uncle or
guardian, he would make it a point to renew the acquaintance when he saw
the two together. It appeared to him as a bright idea, and he was rather
proud of it. Even now he was conscious of clenching his teeth strongly.
It's an old saying that he goes farthest who shuts his teeth longest. He
was going to test the precept by immediate practice.
He had stood before the list fully three minutes. Now he turned about
face, a singular elation tingling his blood. Once he set his mind upon a
thing, he went forward. He had lost many pleasurable things in life
because he had doubted and faltered, not because he had reached out
toward them and had then drawn back. He was going to meet Fortune
Chedsoye; when or how were but details. And as he discovered the Major
himself idling before the booth of the East Indian merchant, he saw in
fancy the portcullis rise and the drawbridge fall to the castle of
enchantment. He strolled over leisurely and pretended to be interested
in the case containing mediocre jewels.
"This is a genuine Bokhara embroidery?" the Major was inquiring.
"Oh, yes, sir."
"How old?"
The merchant picked up the tag and squinted at it. "It is between two
and three hundred years old, sir."
To George's opinion the gods themselves could not have arranged a more
propitious moment.
"You've made a mistake," he interposed quietly. "That is Bokhara, but
the stitch is purely modern."
The dark eyes of the Indian flashed. "The gentleman is an authority?"
sarcastically.
"Upon that style of embroidery, absolutely." George smiled. And then,
without more ado, he went on to explain the difference between the
antique and the modern. "You have one good piece of old Bokhara, but it
isn't rare. Twenty-pounds would be a good price for it."
The Major laughed heartily. "And just this moment he asked a hundred for
it. I'm not much of a hand in judging these things. I admire them, but
have no intimate knowledge regarding their worth. Nothing to-night," he
added to the bitter-eyed merchant. "The Oriental is like the amateur
fisherman: truth is not in him. You seem to be a keen judge," as they
moved away from the booth.
"I suppose it's because I'm inordinately fond of the things. I've really
a good collection of Bokhara embroideries at home in New York."
"You live in New York?" with mild interest. The Major sat down and
graciously motioned for George to do the same. "I used to live there;
twenty-odd years ago. But European travel spoils America; the rush
there, the hurry, the clamor. Over here they dine, there they eat.
There's as much difference between those two performances as there is
between _The Mikado_ and _Florodora_. From Portland in Maine to Portland
in Oregon, the same dress, same shops, same ungodly high buildings. Here
it is different, at the end of every hundred miles."
George agreed conditionally. (The Major wasn't very original in his
views.) He would have shed his last drop of blood for his native land,
but he was honest in acknowledging her faults.
Conversation idled in various channels, and finally became anchored at
jewels. Here the Major was at home, and he loved emeralds above all
other stones. He proved to be an engaging old fellow, had circled the
globe three or four times, and had had an adventure or two worth
recounting. And when he incidentally mentioned his niece, George wanted
to shake his hand.
Would Mr. Jones join him with a peg to sleep on? Mr. Jones certainly
would. And after a mutual health, George diplomatically excused himself,
retired, buoyant and happy. How simple the affair had been! A fellow
could do anything if only he set his mind to it. To-morrow he would
meet Fortune Chedsoye, and may Beelzebub shrive him if he could not
manage to control his recalcitrant tongue.
As he passed out of sight, Major Callahan smiled. It was that old
familiar smile which, charged with gentle mockery, we send after
departing fools. It was plain that he needed another peg to keep company
with the first, for he rose and gracefully wended his way down-stairs to
the bar. Two men were already leaning against the friendly, inviting
mahogany. There was a magnum of champagne standing between their
glasses. The Major ordered a temperate whisky and soda, drank it,
frowned at the magnum, paid the reckoning, and went back up-stairs
again.
"Don't remember old friends, eh?" said the shorter of the two men,
caressing his incarnadined proboscis. "A smile wouldn't have hurt him
any, do you think?"
"Shut up!" admonished Ryanne. "You know the orders; no recognition on
the public floors."
"Why, I meant no harm," the other protested. He took a swallow of wine.
"But, dash it! here I am, more'n four thousand miles from old Broadway,
and still walking blind. When is the show to start?"
"Not so loud, old boy. You've got to have patience. You've had some good
pickings for the past three months, in the smoke-rooms. That ought to
soothe you."
"Well, it doesn't. Here I come from New York, three months ago, with a
wad of money for you and a great game in sight. It takes a week to find
you, and when I do.... Well, you know. No sooner are you awake, than
what? Off you go to Bagdad, on the wildest goose-chase a man ever heard
of. And that leaves me with nothing to do and nobody to talk to. I could
have cried yesterday when I got your letter saying you'd be in to-day."
"Well, I got it."
"The rug?"
"Yes. It was wild; but after what I'd been through I needed something
wild to steady my nerves; some big danger, where I'd simply have to get
together."
"And you got it?" There was frank wonder and admiration in the pursy
gentleman's eyes. "All alone, and you got it? Honest?"
"Honest. They nearly had my hide, though."
"Where is it?"
"Sold."
"Who?"
"Percival."
"Horace, you're a wonder, if there ever was one. Sold it to Percival!
You couldn't beat that in a thousand years. You're a great man."
"Praise from Sir Hubert."
"Who's he?"
"An authority on several matters."
"How much did he give you for it?"
"Tut, tut! It was all my own little jaunt, Wallace. I should hate to lie
to you about it."
"What about the stake I gave you?"
Ryanne made a sign of dealing cards.
"Threw it away on a lot of dubs, after all I've taught you!"
"Cards aren't my _forte_."
"There's a yellow streak in your hide, somewhere, Horace."
"There is, but it is the tiger's stripe, my friend. What I did with my
money is my own business."
"Will she allow for that?"
"Would it matter one way or the other?"
"No, I don't suppose it would. Sometimes I think you're with us as a
huge joke. You don't take the game serious enough." Wallace emptied his
glass and tipped the bottle carefully. "You're out of your class,
somehow."
"So?"
"Yes. You have always struck me as a man who was hunting trouble for one
end."
"And that?" Ryanne seemed interested.
Wallace drew his finger across his throat. Ryanne looked him squarely in
the eye and nodded affirmatively.
"I don't understand at all."
"You never will, Wallace, old chap. I am the prodigal son whose brother
ate the fatted calf before I returned home. I had a letter to-day. She
will be here to-morrow sometime. You may have to go to Port Saïd, if my
little plan doesn't mature."
"The _Ludwig_?"
"Yes."
"Say, what a _Frau_ she would have made the right man!"
Ryanne did not answer, but glowered at his glass.
"The United Romance and Adventure Company." Wallace twirled his glass.
"If you're a wonder, she's a marvel. A Napoleon in petticoats! It does
make a fellow grin, when you look it all over. But this is going to be
her Austerlitz or her Waterloo. And you really got that rug; and on top
of that, you have sold it to George P. A. Jones! Here's----"
"Many happy returns," ironically.
They finished the bottle without further talk. There was no conviviality
here. Both were fond of good wine, but the more they drank, the tighter
grew their lips. Men who have been in the habit of guarding dangerous
secrets become taciturn in their cups.
From time to time, flittingly, there appeared against one of the
windows, just above the half-curtain, a lean, dark face which, in
profile, resembled the kite--the hooked beak, the watchful, preyful
eyes. There were two hungers written upon that Arab face, food and
revenge.
"Allah is good," he murmured.
He had but one eye in use, the other was bandaged. In fact, the face,
exhibited general indications of rough warfare, the skin broken on the
bridge of the nose, a freshly healed cut under the seeing eye, a long
strip of plaster extending from the ear to the mouth. There was nothing
of the beggar in his mien. His lean throat was erect, his chin
protrusive, the set of his shoulders proud and defiant. Ordinarily, the
few lingering guides would rudely have told him to be off about his
business; but they were familiar with all turbans, and in the peculiar
twist of this one, soiled and ragged though it was, they recognized some
prince from the eastern deserts. Presently he strode away, but with a
stiffness which they knew came from long journeys upon racing-camels.
George dreamed that night of magic carpets, of sad-eyed maidens, of
fierce Bedouins, of battles in the desert, of genii swelling
terrifically out of squat bottles. And once he rose and turned on the
lights to assure himself that the old Yhiordes was not a part of these
vivid dreams.
He was up shortly after dawn, in white riding-togs, for a final canter
to Mena House and return. In two days more he would be leaving Egypt
behind. Rather glad in one sense, rather sorry in another. Where to put
the rug was a problem. He might carry it in his steamer-roll; it would
be handier there than in the bottom of his trunk, stored away in the
ship's hold. Besides, his experience had taught him that steamer-rolls
were only indifferently inspected. You will observe that the luster of
his high ideals was already dimming. He reasoned that insomuch as he was
bound to smuggle and lie, it might be well to plan something
artistically. He wished now that he was going to spend Christmas in
Cairo; but it was too late to change his booking without serious loss of
time and money.
He had a light breakfast on the veranda of the Mena House, climbed up to
the desert, bantered the donkey-boys, amused himself by watching the
descent of some German tourists who had climbed the big Pyramid before
dawn to witness the sunrise, and threw pennies to the horde of blind
beggars who instantly swarmed about him and demanded, in the name of
Allah, a competence for the rest of their days. He finally escaped them
by footing it down the incline to the hotel gardens, where his horse
stood waiting.
It was long after nine when he slid from the saddle at the side
entrance of the Semiramis. He was on his way to the bureau for his key,
when an exquisitely gloved hand lightly touched his arm.
"Don't you remember me, Mr. Jones?" said a voice of vocal honey.
George did. In his confusion he dropped his pith-helmet, and in stooping
to pick it up, bumped into the porter who had rushed to his aid.
Remember her! Would he ever forget her? He never thought of her without
dubbing himself an outrageous ass. He straightened, his cheeks afire;
blushing was another of those uncontrollable asininities of his. It was
really she, come out of a past he had hoped to be eternally
inresuscitant; the droll, the witty woman, to whom in one mad moment of
liberality and Galahadism he had loaned without security one hundred and
fifty pounds at the roulette tables in Monte Carlo; she, for whom he had
always blushed when he recalled how easily she had mulcted him! And here
she was, serene, lovely as ever, unchanged.
"My dear," said the stranger (George couldn't recall by what name he had
known her); "my dear," to Fortune Chedsoye, who stood a little behind
her, "this is the gentleman I've often told you about. You were at
school at the time. I borrowed a hundred and fifty pounds of him at
Monte Carlo. And what do you think? When I went to pay him back the next
day, he was gone, without leaving the slightest clue to his whereabouts.
Isn't that droll? And to think that I should meet him here!"
That her name had slipped his memory, if indeed he had ever known it,
was true; but one thing lingered incandescently in his mind, and that
was, he _had_ written her, following minutely her own specific
directions and inclosing his banker's address in Paris, Naples, and
Cairo; and for many passings of moons he had opened his foreign mail
eagerly and hopefully. But hope must have something to feed upon, and
after a struggle lasting two years, she rendered up the ghost.... It
wasn't the loss of money that hurt; it was the finding of dross metal
where he supposed there was naught but gold. Perhaps his later shyness
was due as much to this disillusioning incident as to his middle names.
"Isn't it droll, my dear?" the enchantress repeated; and George grew
redder and redder under the beautiful, grateful eyes. "I must give him
a draft this very morning."
"But.... Why, my dear Madame," stammered George. "You must not....
I...!"
Fortune laughed. Somehow the quality of that laughter pierced George's
confused brain as sometimes a shaft of sunlight rips into a fog,
suddenly, stiletto-like. It was full of malice.