A VISIT AND A VIOLIN
Prendergast's first view had been one of suspicion, but this had been
shaken, and thereafter he had studied Harry with a sneering tolerance.
There had been little talk between them during the meal which the
younger man had cooked, taking the saucepan from the other's hands.
Shrinking acutely from the details of the dismal past which he must
learn, Harry had asked no questions and Prendergast had maintained a
morose silence. The latter had soon betaken himself down the
mountain--to his audience in the general store.
As Harry stood in the cabin doorway, looking after him, toward the town
glistening far below in the morning sunlight, he thought bitterly of his
reception there.
"They all knew me," he thought; "every one knew me, on the street, in
the hotel. They know me for what I have been to them. Yet to me it is
all a blank! What shameful deeds have I done?" He shrank from memory
now! "What was I doing so far away, where was I going, on the night when
I was picked up beside the railroad track? I may be a drunkard," he
said to himself. "No, in the past month I have drunk hard, but not for
the taste of the liquor! I may be a gambler--the first thing I remember
is that game of cards in the box-car! I may be a cheat, a thief. Yet how
is it possible for bad deeds to be blotted out and leave no trace?
Actions breed habit, if they do not spring from it, and habit,
automatically repeated, becomes character. I feel no inherent propensity
to rob, or defraud. Shall I? Will these things come back to me if my
memory does? Shall I become once more one with this vile old man, my
'side-partner,' to share the evil secrets that I see in his eyes--as I
must once have shared them?" He shuddered.
There welled over him again, full force, the passionate resentment, the
agony of protest, that had been the gift of the resuscitated character.
He found himself fighting a wild desire to fling his resolution behind
him and fly from his reputation and its penalties.
In the battle that he fought now he turned, even in his weakness, to
manual labor, striving to dull his thought with mechanical movement. He
cleaned and put to rights both rooms and sorted their litter of odds and
ends. But at times the inclination to escape became well-nigh
insupportable. When the conflict was fiercest he would think of a
girl's face, once seen, and the thought would restrain him. Who was she?
Why had her look pierced through him? In that hateful career that seemed
so curiously alien, could she have had a part?
He did not know that she of whom he wondered, in the bitterest of those
hours had been very near him--that on her way up the mountain she had
stolen down to the Knob to look through the parted bushes to the cabin
with the blue spiral rising from its chimney. He could not guess that
she gazed with a strained, agitated interest, a curiosity even more
intense than his own, the look of a heart that was strangely learning
itself with mingled and tremulous emotions.
Though the homely task to which he turned failed to allay his struggle,
by nightfall Harry had put the warring elements under. When Prendergast
returned at supper-time the candle was lighted in its wall-box, the
dinted tea-kettle was singing over a crackling fire, and Harry was
perspiring over the scouring of the last utensil.
Prendergast looked the orderly interior over on the threshold with a
contemptuous amusement. "Almost thought I was in church," he said. He
took off his coat and lazily watched the other cook the frugal evening
meal. "Excuse my not volunteering," he observed; "you do it so nicely
I'm almost afraid you'll have another attack of that forgettery of
yours, and go back to the old line."
Presently he looked at the bunk, clean and springy with fresh cut
spruce-shoots. He went to it, knelt down and thrust an arm into the
empty space beneath it. He got up hastily.
"What have you done with that?" he demanded with an angry snarl.
"With what?" Harry turned his head, as he set two tin plates on the bare
table.
"With what was under here."
"There was nothing there but an old horse skin," said Harry. "It is
hanging on the side of the cabin."
With an oath Prendergast flung open the door and went outside. He
reentered quickly with the white hide in his arms, wrapped it in a
blanket and thrust it back under the bunk.
"Has any one been here to-day--since you put it out there?" he asked
quickly.
"No," said Harry, surprised. "Why?"
Prendergast chuckled. The chuckle grew to a guffaw and he sat down,
slapping his thigh. Presently he went to the wall, took the chamois-skin
bag from its hiding-place and poured some of its yellow contents into
his palm. "That's why. Do you remember that, eh?"
Harry looked at it. "Gold-dust," he said. "I seem to recall that. I am
going to begin work in the trench to-morrow; there should be more where
that came from."
Prendergast poured the gold back into the bag with a cunning look. The
other had asked for no share of it. At that moment he decided to say
nothing of the evening before, of the girl or the horseback
journey--lest Hugh, cudgelling his brains, might remember he had been
offered a half. If Hugh's peculiar craziness wanted to dig in the dirt,
very well. It might be profitable for them both. He put the pouch into
his pocket with a grin.
"There's plenty more where that came from, all right," he said, "and
I'll teach you again how to get it, one of these days."
Prendergast said little during the meal. When the table was cleared he
lit his pipe and took from a shelf a board covered with penciled figures
and scrutinized it.
"Hope you remember how to play old sledge," he said. "When we stopped
last game you owed me a little over seventeen thousand dollars. If you
forget it isn't a cash game some day and pay up, why, I won't kick," he
added with rough jocularity. He threw a pack of cards on to the table
and drew up the chairs.
Harry did not move. As they ate he had been wondering how long he could
abide that sinister presence. The garish cards themselves now smote him
with a shrinking distaste. As he was about to speak a knock came at the
cabin door and Prendergast opened it.
The visitor Harry recognized instantly; it was the man who had called
for fair play at the fight before the saloon, who had drawn him into the
hotel.
Felder carried a bundle under his arm. He nodded curtly to Prendergast
and addressed himself to Harry.
"I am the bearer of a gift from some one in the town," he said. "I have
been asked to deliver this to you." He put the bundle into the other's
hands.
Harry drew up one of the chairs hastily. "Please sit down," he said
courteously. He looked at the bundle curiously. "_Et eos dona
ferentes_," he said slowly. "A gift from some one in the town!"
A keen surprise flashed into the lawyer's glance. "The quotation is
classic," he said, "but it need not apply here." He took the bundle,
unwrapped it and disclosed a battered violin. "Let me explain," he
continued. "For the owner of this you fought a battle yesterday. You
tested its tone a little later--it seems that you are a master of the
most difficult of instruments. There was a time, I believe, when the old
man was its master also; he was once, they say, the conductor of an
orchestra in San Francisco. Drink and the devil finally brought him
down. For three years past he has lived in Smoky Mountain. Nobody knows
his name--the town has always called him 'Old Despair.' You did him what
is perhaps the first real kindness he has ever known at its hands. He
has done the only thing he could to requite it."
Harry had colored painfully as Felder began to speak. The words brought
back that playing and its strange rejuvenescence of emotion, with acute
vividness. His voice was unsteady as he answered:
"I appreciate it--I am deeply grateful--but it is quite impossible that
I accept it from him."
"You need not hesitate," said the lawyer. "Old Despair needs it no
longer. He died last night in Devlin's dance-hall, where he played--when
he was sober enough--for his lodging. I happened to be near-by, and I
assure you it was his express wish that I give the violin to you."
Rising, he held out his hand. "Good night," he said. "I hope your memory
will soon return. The town is much interested in your case."
The flush grew deeper in Harry's cheek, though he saw there was nothing
ironical in the remark. "I scarcely hope so much," he replied. "I am
learning that forgetfulness has its advantages."
As the door closed behind the visitor, Prendergast kicked the chair back
to the table.
"You're getting on!" he sneered, his oily tone forgotten. "Damn his
impertinence! He didn't offer to shake with _me_! Come on and play."
Harry opened the door again and sat down on the cool step, the violin in
his hands.
"I think I don't care for the cards to-night," he said. "I'd rather play
this."