MRS. ARLINGTON HAS A VISITOR.
The black maid stood over the little table at which mother and daughter
sat taking tea.
"Sugar, Jackson," said the lady wearily.
The maid lifted the sugar-bowl, but, finding no tongs, was compelled to
use a spoon.
"Why don't you use the tongs, Jackson?" asked the woman.
"Dar am no tongs, ma'am," answered the maid.
"No tongs? no tongs?" exclaimed Mrs. Arlington, in astonished surprise.
"And I directed that everything should be prepared here--that we should
have every convenience of a first-class hotel. Dear me! Why, I've found
nothing right! The hardship of spending some days in such a place will
prostrate me. I know it will!"
"But why have you come here, mother?" asked June Arlington, in a voice
that denoted culture and a refined nature. "I cannot understand it. You
told me in the first place that you were going to Mexico. Then I heard
you urging father to come here. When he said it was not possible, you
seemed to get angry, and you declared that you would come here yourself.
But why should you come because he could not? That I wonder at."
"He would not!" exclaimed Mrs. Arlington, sipping her tea. "It was his
duty. Never mind the particulars, June; you may know some time, but not
now."
"And I did not wish to come here, mother. You knew that."
"My daughter, I have decided that it is necessary to keep you with me. I
determined on that after your surprising behavior the last time you went
to Fardale. You deceived me, June! I cannot forget that."
The words were spoken with cold severity. June flushed a little.
"It was for Chester's good, as I explained to you," she said somewhat
warmly. "He has never thanked me for it, yet it is I who have kept him
in Fardale Academy. Had I not entreated Dick Merriwell to be easy with
him, Chester must have been compelled to leave or be expelled before
this."
"I cannot believe that, June. But, were it true, it is no excuse for
your action. I want no favors from either of the Merriwells. I will
accept nothing from them! Dick Merriwell is my boy's enemy, and he shall
know what it is to have an Arlington for a foe. I have determined on
that. I repeat that I'll accept nothing from him."
"Once----" June stopped short. She had been on the verge of telling her
mother that once that lady had accepted something from Dick
Merriwell--her life! For, as Mrs. Arlington slipped on the icy platform
of the railway-station at Fardale and was falling beneath the wheels of
a moving train, Dick had grasped and held her till the cars passed and
she was safe.
But June had seen her mother turn blue with anger at mention of this
affair, so she checked herself now, not wishing to arouse the lady.
Tea was finished in silence, mother and daughter being occupied with
their thoughts.
The maid moved softly about the table.
They had just finished when there came a tap on the door.
"See who it is, Jackson," directed Mrs. Arlington.
The man with the blue beak was at the door.
"I must speak with Mrs. Arlington," he said, and entered, hat in hand.
"What is it, Mr. Dodge?" asked the lady, frowning coldly and plainly
annoyed.
Eliot Dodge paused and looked at June significantly.
"Oh, is it a private matter?" asked the lady.
Flushing a bit, June arose at once and withdrew, from the room.
"William Lamson has arrived in town, and demands to see you," said
Dodge, when June had disappeared, the maid having likewise withdrawn.
"That man?" said Mrs. Arlington, with a little start and a slight
shiver. "I have brought you to do the business with him. You are a
regular attorney of the C. M. A. of A., and you have my instructions."
"So I told him."
"Well?"
"He refused pointblank to do any business whatever with me."
"He did."
"Yes. I talked to him pretty straight until--ahem!--until I could say no
more."
"You could say no more?"
"No, madam; it was impossible."
"Why impossible?"
"He had drawn and cocked a revolver and pointed it at me. He told me to
shut up and take word from him to you at once or he would shoot me."
"What a dreadful creature!"
"He is, indeed, madam; he's a typical ruffian of the worst sort."
"And, therefore, the very man to accomplish the work," said she, with
growing interest. "But I dislike very much to have dealings with such a
fellow."
"I thoroughly understand that, madam."
"You might attend to the matter fully as well."
"That is true, Mrs. Arlington."
"You told him so?"
"I did."
"And still----"
"And still he drew a gun on me. He is bound to see you. He says he will,
and I am sure he is a man to make his word good. Really I don't know how
you are going to get out of it."
"Then I shall not try," said the lady, composing herself.
"You mean----"
"I'll see him."
"Here?"
"Yes."
"Now?"
"Send him up at once. I may as well have it over."
Eliot Dodge hesitated.
"I shall be in my room," he said. "If you need me----"
"I understand. Go bring this man to my door."
Dodge departed, and Mrs. Arlington waited. When there came a knock on
the door she coldly said:
"Come in!"
Cimarron Bill entered the room!
Mrs. Arlington had not called her servant to let this man in. She
glanced toward the door of the room into which her daughter had retired,
and the look on her face was one of apprehension. Cimarron Bill was a
wicked man, as his every aspect betokened, and this woman could not
think without shame that June should have any knowledge of her dealings
with such a creature.
So she arose hastily, which was quite unlike her, and crossed the floor
to close the door, a strange thing, considering that she seldom did a
thing that another could do for her.
When June was thus shut out, the woman recrossed the floor to likewise
close the door of the room into which the colored maid had retired.
All the while Cimarron Bill, hat in hand, stood watching her closely
with his evil eyes. For him it must have been a most exceedingly
strange thing to come thus into the presence of a woman whose husband
was known far and wide as a money king, a woman whose every wish that
wealth could serve was sure to be granted almost as quickly as
expressed.
When she had closed the doors she turned about and faced him, surveying
him from head to feet with her cold and penetrating eyes. He looked back
at her with a sort of boldness, for this man was not one to be in the
least downcast in the presence of a human being of whatever degree.
Mrs. Arlington motioned toward a chair.
"Will you sit down, sir?" she invited.
"Thank you, madam," said Bill, casting aside the rough manner of speech
that he sometimes assumed and now using very decent English. "I don't
care if I do."
Whereupon he placed his hat upon the table and sat upon a chair, with a
certain pantherish undulation of his body, as if his muscles flowed
beneath his skin.
"Mr. Dodge saw you," said the woman, remaining standing. "I directed him
to inform you that he was my accredited agent and prepared to transact
any business with you. I thought it better for him to attend to this
affair."
"And I, madam, if you will excuse me, thought it best that we should
come face to face and have our dealings thus. That is why I declined to
do any business whatever with the gent with the blue nose."
"I did not suppose it would be necessary for me to go so far into this
matter until I was informed of your failure to take possession of the
property that rightfully belongs to the Consolidated Mining Association
of America. I must say, sir, that I am very much displeased over your
failure."
"And you can be no more so than am I myself," returned Bill, civilly
enough, yet with a sort of boldness that did not please her, as she was
accustomed to much deference and respect. "But you must know it is
difficult, even in this country, to find men who are eager to put on
themselves the brand of outlaws, and I acknowledge that my force was not
sufficient. The young dog is a stiff fighter, and that I had not counted
on, him being a tenderfoot to a certain degree--though," he added, as if
on second thought, "he's not so very tender, after all."
"You were told to collect an army, if necessary. Mr. Dodge informs me
that you were directed to get together a force sufficient to make
failure out of the question. Yet you were repulsed and beaten off when
you went to seize the mine."
"Twice," said Bill grimly. "And the second time a full half of my men
were dropped cold or hurt so bad that they were put out of the fight. It
was not just my fault that I failed then, for the treachery of a Mexican
girl betrayed my plans to Merriwell, so he was ready with a trap when I
expected to take him by surprise. That is how it came about, madam. I
had his foreman bribed and should have walked into possession of the
mine with little or no trouble but for the girl I mention. It was a bad
piece of business."
"Bad!" she exclaimed, nodding a little. "It was very unfortunate!"
"A word that scarce expresses it, madam. The rest of my men, the curs,
with one or two exceptions, weakened and gave it up as a bad job. And
then, on top of that, I was informed that the syndicate had grown
disinclined to press the matter further in such a manner, fearing to get
itself into serious trouble."
"That's it!" said the woman sharply. "But I have taken hold of this
matter. The syndicate seems willing to obtain the mine by some other and
slower method. I am not. I cannot brook delay! I have a reason why I
wish the taking of the mine with the smallest possible delay, and it
makes no difference to me how the work is accomplished. That is why I am
here on the scene of action. I shall remain here until I triumph! If you
are able to accomplish the work, well and good. If you are not, then
another man must be found for it."
Cimarron Bill smiled in a most evil manner.
"Madam," he said, "I think you will have trouble to find in all this
country another man so well prepared to accomplish the task."
"Yet you confess that you have failed twice."
He shrugged his shoulders.
"For which reason," he averred, "I am all the more dangerous. There is
an old saying that the third time never fails. I am ready for the third
trial."
"I am glad to hear you speak this way. What will you do?"
"Gather a stronger force and lay my plans so there can be no failure."
"It is well."
"But that will take much money, madam. You have it at your command. It
is almost certain that all of us, to the last man, will bear the brand
of outlaws. We may be hunted. It may be necessary for me to hasten into
Mexico and lose myself there for a time. I must have money in abundance
for myself. As for the men who take part with me, they will all demand
high prices. When it is over and the mine is delivered into the
possession of the syndicate, I shall not trouble about any one save
myself. The men who are with me may look out for themselves."
This was said in a most cold-blooded manner, speaking plainly the real
character of the wretch.
"I care nothing about that," said the woman. "Fix that matter as you
choose. How much money will you require?"
"Let me see," said Bill, as if meditating. "It will take, I am sure, at
least fifty men. They may be got at various prices, some more, some
less; but there will be the bringing of them together and other
expenses. I should say that they must cost at least two hundred dollars
each, which makes a pretty little sum of ten thousand dollars."
"Then it will cost ten thousand dollars?" said Mrs. Arlington quickly.
"I'll draw the sum from my own private account."
"Wait a bit, madam," said the chief of desperadoes. "I have reckoned for
the men, but that does not include myself. I have said that I must be
well paid. I value myself quite as much as fifty common men, and that is
another ten thousand, or twenty thousand dollars in all, for which sum I
am ready to undertake the job. I'll add, also, that I guarantee it shall
not fail this time."
It seemed that such a sum must have staggered the woman. Indeed, her
face went a trifle pale, but her lips were pressed together, and she
coldly said:
"It is a bargain! You shall have the money, but not until you have
accomplished the work. Understand that, not until the work is done!"