When Mrs. McMahon, Mrs. Schmidt and Miss Ferguson were ushered into the
drawing-room of the Hamilton house, Cicily was there, ready to welcome
her guests warmly.
"And how is Madam President of our club?" she said with a delightful
assumption of deference to Mrs. McMahon, who bridled and simpered in
proud happiness over this recognition of the honor she enjoyed.
"Indeed, she's as proud as a peacock, that she is," she avowed candidly.
"And, if you noticed, Mrs. Hamilton, I didn't so much as say how do you
do to the man at the door, as I always have before, nor even so much as
look at him.... For such is the high-society way of it, they're after
telling me."
Cicily smiled, and then addressed Sadie with a like cordiality.
"Everything is shipshape, Miss Secretary?" she inquired.
"This club could go ten rounds without turning a hair," was the
spirited reply. Then, the ambitious girl recalled her most esteemed
author, and paraphrased her statement: "I mean, every thing is really
quite splendid."
Mrs. Schmidt, too, smiled in appreciation, although without committing
herself to words, when she was addressed as Madam Vice-President. Then,
after all were seated, the Irishwoman delivered herself of a message of
gratitude.
"Mrs. Hamilton," she said, and her great, round face was very kindly,
"we want to thank you here and now for that last cheque. You'll be glad
to know that Murphy's babies are fine and dandy; and those Dagos--you
know, the ones in the sixth floor front in Sadie's house--faith, the
wife come home from the hospital last night looking just grand."
"And say, Mrs. Hamilton," Sadie interrupted enthusiastically, again
forgetful of niceties in diction by reason of her excess of feeling,
"maybe you ain't in strong with that bunch! They were all singing and
praying for you all last night to beat the band. They made so much fuss
Pop had to go up with a club, and threaten to bust some heads in before
anybody could get to sleep in the house. Of course, father didn't
understand. He heard them say something about Hamilton, and guessed they
might be some sort of poor connection of the boss."
Cicily, pleased by this information as to the gratitude of those whom
she had sought to serve, yet tried to change the subject for modesty's
sake.
"You, Mrs. McMahon," she directed briskly, "must be in charge. You must
let me know about the sick ones and the hungry ones, and then I'll see
what can be done."
"'Deed, and I will that," was the eager response. Then, the Irishwoman
shook her huge head admiringly. "Sure, when the women get the votes,
you'll be elected alderman from the ward." But, as Cicily would have
laughingly protested against this arrant flattery, a sudden thought came
to the President of the new club, and she spoke with an increase of
seriousness: "And, oh, I was forgetting one thing! What do you think
now, Mrs. Hamilton? Carrington's men have been around!" In answer to her
hostess's look of bewildered inquiry, she explained the significance of
the fact: "Yes, Carrington--bad luck to him!--is getting ready to start
another factory, they say; and, so, he wanted to see how many of the
boys he could get." Cicily uttered an exclamation of astonishment,
mingled with alarm, at the news. "Yes, ma'am. I was talking to Mike
McMahon, and telling him that, after all, I thought Mr. Hamilton was on
the level, and that it would be a good thing to take the cut for a
little while. And, then, he got mad, and he blurted out the whole thing
to me. It's Tim Doolin, him what used to work in the Hamilton factory,
and was discharged, and so went over to Carrington's. He's come around
as a sounder. He's been advancing the boys a little on the side, and
promising them good jobs and steady wages, if they'll hold out until
Carrington is ready to use them at his place." The Amazon, who had raced
through her narrative, paused, panting for breath.
Cicily was tense in her chair, with her cheeks flaming indignation, her
golden eyes darkened with excitement.
"So," she exclaimed fiercely, "that's the way they are fighting!
Shameful!"
Cicily was in the throes of a righteous wrath. Unaccustomed to the sharp
practices that are endured almost without rebuke in the world of
business affairs, this revelation of trickery on the part of her
husband's enemies filled her with a disgusted horror. There was in the
girl-wife a strong quality of the protecting maternal love in her
attitude toward her husband. It was in obedience to its impelling force
that she had followed so steadfastly her ambition to help him in his
business, to be his partner. It was the dominance of this feeling that
had caused her to stay on in her husband's house to comfort him, and if
possible to save him, in the time of his tribulation. So, now, this
phase of character caused her to resent as something unspeakably vile
the machinations just revealed to her. There and then, she uttered a
silent vow to worst these sinister foes by fair means or by foul. Her
will commanded their undoing, no matter how unscrupulous the method; and
conscience voiced no protest.
A movement of expectancy among the three visitors aroused Cicily from
the fit of abstraction into which she had fallen, and on which the
others had not ventured to obtrude themselves. She looked up, and then,
following the direction of her guests' gaze, turned to see her husband,
standing motionless just within the doorway of the drawing-room. He was
staring with obvious amazement at the trio of women in his wife's
company. Moreover, it was easy to judge from the expression on his face,
with the brows drawn and the mouth set sternly, that his amazement was
not builded on pleasure.... Cicily immediately rose, forgetful for the
moment of her plans for vengeance against the plotters, and went forward
with a pleased smile. She was well aware that her husband would not
regard this visitation with equanimity, but she hoped to prevent any
overt act on his part that might fatally antagonize these women, whose
good will she had struggled so hard to regain for his sake. So, she
faced him with an air of happy self-confidence, and spoke with the most
musical cadences of her voice, the while the caress of her eyes sought
to beguile the frown from his face.
"Charles, you know Mrs. McMahon, and Mrs. Schmidt, and Miss Ferguson."
"Yes, I know them," came the uncompromising answer. The grimness of his
face did not relax. He had had a day of tedious worries, and the sight
of the women here in his own home exasperated him almost beyond the
point of endurance. "An unexpected pleasure!" he added, with an
inflection that was unmistakable.
"Oh, we didn't come to see you, Mr. Hamilton," Sadie declared
resentfully, in answer to that inflection. "We came to see your wife."
"These are the officers of our new woman's club," Cicily interposed,
hastily. "Do sit down for a moment, Charles." She returned to her own
chair; but Hamilton made no movement to obey her request. Instead, he
addressed the visitors in a tone even more unpleasant than that which he
had used hitherto.
"Oh, you came to get something from Mrs. Hamilton," he sneered.
"Indeed, and we did not!" the Irishwoman retorted roughly, furious at
the insinuation. But her anger melted as she caught Cicily's pleading
eyes. There was a grateful softness in the brogue as she added: "Sure,
she's given too much already, and that's the truth."
There was no hint of relaxing in the tense severity of Hamilton's face,
as he replied, without a glance toward his wife:
"So, Mrs. Hamilton has been helping the wives of the men?"
"'Tis that same she's been doing--the saints preserve her!" Mrs. McMahon
answered, with pious fervor. "Faith, if the women could vote, it's
president they'd make her, so it is."
Cicily could not resist a temptation to appeal.
"Charles," she urged, "if only you'll have a little patience, you'll
find that they can be of service--of great service!"
Still, Hamilton ignored his wife utterly, while he addressed the three
women impersonally.
"I did not know that the men were in the habit of using their wives in a
strike like this." His manner was designedly offensive.
Again, it was Sadie who was first to retort, which she did with a manner
that aped his own insolence.
"Well, if Mrs. Hamilton can butt into it, it's a cinch we can!"
The man's face darkened with wrath. His voice, when he spoke, sounded
dangerously low and controlled.
"Mrs. Hamilton has nothing whatever to do with my business affairs," he
declared, explicitly. "She has nothing whatever to do with this strike.
If you women come from the men, go back and tell them that I'm not
dealing with women--neither now nor in the future. If they want anything
at any time, let them come for it themselves."
"Can you beat it?" Sadie demanded wonderingly, of the universe at large.
But the Irishwoman took it on herself to answer, with an explicitness
equal to Hamilton's own:
"Faith, and we didn't come to see you, as you know very well, I'm
thinking. If it wasn't for Mrs. Hamilton--God bless her--we wouldn't be
here at all.... And 'tis sorry I am we are."
"Then, you'd better go, and relieve your feelings," was the tart
rejoinder. "And you will please remember one thing: Mrs. Hamilton has
absolutely no influence of any kind in this strike. I do not know in the
least what she may have been doing; but, whatever it is, it's entirely
apart from me."
"Charles, please--" Cicily would have protested. It seemed to her a
vicious violation of good taste thus to air their marital disagreements
in the presence of others. There was a perilous fire in the golden eyes;
but Hamilton had no heed just now for niceties of conduct. He went on
speaking, ruthlessly breaking in on his wife's attempted plea:
"Whatever Mrs. Hamilton has accomplished has been done without my
consent and with her own money--entirely apart from me.... Good-day!"
Now, at last, Hamilton moved from the position he had steadily
maintained before the doorway. He stepped to one side, and bowed
formally to the three women, who rose promptly as they realized the
significance of his action. Cicily, too, stood up, wordless in her
suffering. For the moment, at least, her indomitable spirit was
overwhelmed by this crowning misfortune, and she felt all her ambition
hopelessly baffled. Through this last catastrophe, her benevolent
scheming must be brought to nought. It was impossible for her to believe
that these women, on whose support she had relied for so much that was
vital to her plans, could remain loyal to her after the gross insult to
which they had been subjected in her own house. She realized that,
deprived of their aid, she could not hope to cope with the situation
that threatened ruin to the man whom she loved. In that instant of
disaster, she hated her husband as much as she loved him, for his folly
had destroyed all the structure of safety that her devotion had builded.
So, she stood silent, watching the discarded guests as they walked
toward the door. Her slender form was drawn to its full height; the
scarlet lips were set tensely; the clear gold of her eyes burned with
the fires of bitter resentment against this man whose blundering had
wrought calamity.