The case of "The United States _vs._ Ramund, _et al._," crawled up
slowly on the trial calendar until the work of getting the jury
began--three days before Christmas. I wired Howard when to be there,
and made arrangements at the Waldorf Hotel for him, also little Jim
and her escort, and sent for them as soon as I thought the jury would
be completed.
The two suites I engaged at the hotel were entered from a wing off the
main hall on that floor. A big front one for little Jim and her
escort, a smaller one across the hall I occupied until Howard came. A
maid I brought in saw to it that our witness was not molested.
The jockeying of the defense for time disgusted the court and
everyone else, though it suited me because our star witness, Howard,
was delayed. I knew little Jim had arrived, but did not actually see
her for reasons that will appear.
Howard did not arrive until the afternoon before Christmas, with the
defense still obstructing the progress of the trial. Pushed hard late
in the afternoon they admitted they could not produce a single one of
the defendants. Their bonds were immediately declared forfeited, and
court adjourned for the holidays. I had to attend to some detail. I
told Howard to go to the hotel and get cleaned up. I would meet him
there soon. He misunderstood me and before I knew it was assigned
rooms in another part of the hotel. Then I went for the first time to
see little Jim, ostensibly to tell her that she would not have to
appear as a witness.
She came to the door at my ring and was very much delighted to see me,
leading me to her teacher and escort in the front room of the suite
and introducing me with polite formality.
Her teacher started visibly at her clear pronunciation of the name and
asked me to be seated, her eyes trying to penetrate my incongruous
appearance.
"I--I once knew a Mr. Wood, but it is a long time since I have seen
him. It--it can't be that you--that you know him--I should like very
much to see him," she said, glancing with a sort of affectionate
apprehension at little Jim, who stood near me.
"Perhaps fifteen years of wear and tear has been more severe on me
than it has on yourself. It has laid a kindly hand on you, but if you
can imagine me as divested of this ancient coat and transfer these
whiskers to the bare spot on my head it may help you some," I said,
trying to get into lighter vein.
"Then you are----" she hesitated, almost devouring me with her
astonished eyes, "can it be possible you are the Mr. Wood I once knew,
the friend----"
"Yes; quite the same," I interrupted, in order to allow her plenty of
time in which to control herself.
"Have you--have you any news? I should like to see you alone, Mr.
Wood," she requested, looking at little Jim in a frightened way.
"It isn't necessary. This little girl and I are very good friends. She
can hear everything. In fact, I want her to," I replied, drawing
little Jim down on a hassock beside me, "I have important news for
you," I added, looking full at the wonderful, sweet, earnest and
time-refined Norma Byng.
"Tell me--tell me quickly. I don't care if the whole world hears--is
he alive and--is he well?" she asked excitedly, her bosom rising
spasmodically with the deep breathing of intense excitement.
"Yes, I will tell you, but you must be calm, and control yourself. You
may be put to a terrible test with the possibility of failure. And
you, little girl, must pay close attention and not miss a single
word," said I, laying my hand on little Jim's shoulder, who was
wide-eyed in wonder at the turn of things.
"Your husband, Howard, has returned after having completely
rehabilitated his magnificent self in all ways. He has even regained
control of his property, his plant in Georgia, and completely
recovered from a state of practical insanity that held him for several
years--but he has not recovered wholly from the shock given him by
this man Ramund----"
"And he still believes that I--oh, what shall I do! There has never
been a moment that I have not loved him and would now willingly give
my life--but my child, my little Norma, what of her? I have lived in
constant hope she would be restored to me."
"About two years ago in the course of my employment I learned where
you were. Afterward I found Howard and little Jim. She had to go to
school, so I conceived and was able to carry out a quiet or rather a
deceptive plan to bring all three of you together. You have had your
child in your care for more than four months. Little Jim, this is your
mother, of whom you wanted me to tell you," I said, raising her to
her feet for Norma Byng to embrace passionately in a flood of tears.
"I knew it--I felt it! From the moment I saw her first I felt a bond;
we have loved each other deeply without knowing what we were to each
other!" she exclaimed, holding little Jim so that she could see her
face, and who by this time was also in tears of joy.
"I was afraid you would trace the great resemblance to yourself when
her tan came off and her hair grew out," I said, trying to be calm
myself.
"Then this is my mother!" screamed the delighted little Jim. "Oh, I
have wished a hundred times I could call you mother and now I have my
wish!" Then she began to dance up and down as though on springs,
finally throwing her arms about her mother's neck and kissing her
repeatedly between happy little sobs of joy unconfined.
Holding tightly to her darling child there came into the face of Norma
Byng an intense sadness, her lips quivered. Intuitively, I knew what
she was going to ask.
"Where is Howard? Is he unrelenting--is he not yet convinced?"
"No, he is not. His fierce Georgia nature, the hot blood of the South,
stands in the way. I have tried and I am going to try again, so you
must be prepared--even for failure. I am not at all sure of success. I
am going out to try and find him now. While I am gone you might tell
little Jim the whole story. She is a big little girl--just like her
truly great mother and father. She will understand and it may help. He
loves little Jim as his only love," I said, starting away from the
reunited mother and child. It was time for them to be alone.
"Shall we wait?" asked Norma Byng, weeping softly.
"Yes, wait till I return."
After a lot of telephoning and explaining to clerks and bell boys, I
finally succeeded in getting Howard's things transferred to the suite
intended for him. He was looking for me and I for him with the result
that it was late when we got together.
His first question was of little Jim. I had to be very careful when
telling him how I had informed her about her new name. But he was much
pleased and relieved that she knew. Then he began to talk about
business. His disappointment at the turn things had taken in court was
somewhat assuaged by the information that two hundred thousand dollars
in cash had been forfeited to the United States by Ramund's default in
appearance.
He then began to tell me of the great progress he had made on his
property, the stump pullers were again at work and things were going
very well at the plant in Georgia.
"Did you hear of anyone moonshining in the swamps?"
"Well, I guess they are making a little liquor over there somewhere,
but the old gang, the one you and I knew about, is not there," he
replied, smiling.
"You didn't have time to go up to Alligator Island for a shot, did
you?"
"No--and I don't believe I ever will go there again," he replied,
sobering quickly, his face even saddening. "By the way, did you learn
anything--of her? I suppose you have been too busy?"
"Yes, I have heard--I have some very important news. I know where she
is. She is now, and always has been employed, and she is a more
cultured, more wonderful woman than ever, Howard."
"It's a terrible thing, Wood. I wish that snake Ramund had been sent
up for life, or hung, as he should be. It is strange how life
continually presents great difficulties and disappointments."
"Howard, your case is not as bad as others. Your wife still loves you,
and I don't believe she has ever wavered a moment. I wish you would
see it that way."
"But, Wood, I may be able to forgive, but such a wrong I could not
forget. It's the way of the South. We never forget. I have thought
this terrible matter over ten thousand times, but was unable to
deceive my own eyes--I saw. Sometimes I wish I had not seen."
Howard sat at the corner of the table and rested his powerful jaw in
his palm gloomily. He was obstinate and so was I and thus matters
stood when I began to pace the floor. I had become just as determined
as he. Abruptly I stopped and looked him in the eye.
"Howard," said I, "there is no need of your being deceived. Norma Byng
was then and is now as pure as driven snow--pure as an angel."
"You can only guess at that. You did not see--as I did. I would give
up my hope of a future life not to have seen what I did. I will admit
I love her as much as I ever did. I know it now--I wish I didn't," he
said sadly. "It is one thing I must bear--one of the burdens of life,"
he added, depressed, but terribly firm.
"Howard, my whole life has been spent in learning what people think as
much as what they do. And you have had plenty of evidence that I
succeed. I tell you Norma Byng is innocent--guilty of nothing except
one great indiscreet effort to aid you. She was led to believe she
could. Time has not dimmed her ardent love for you one iota."
"I wish I were sure of it, but I could never be. I am, as I should be,
very glad I have little Jim to love, for a man must have someone to
love and work for."
"Howard, you have got to be bigger than that. You have succeeded a
second time, and you are now more re-established materially; besides,
you have done yourself honor--you have been the means of performing
for this country a service that cannot be estimated----"
"No--Wood, you did it. It was all you, and I offer you again a half
interest in the business, and this time you have got to take it. It's
yours. I would never have regained it without your help."
"Howard," I said, grabbing him by the arms and raising him to his feet
in a supreme determination to break his will, "from the first time I
saw you until this moment you have had plenty of evidence of my
friendship. I have never advised you wrong. I am not doing so now. As
you stand there, resisting all reason, I spurn your offer and fling it
from me as I would plunge tempered steel into the enemy. Our
friendship is now being weighed for real values." My voice shook, for
I was terribly in earnest as I continued:
"I tell you that you are wrong! As she has no one else to defend her,
I shall. Hear me when I say that Norma Byng never had an impure or
unchaste thought in her life. The Hun's proposal stunned her; shocked
her beyond the power to move or speak. You ought to understand such a
possibility. I have heard her story. Dissimulation in her is
unthinkable. And what I say I know is not guesswork, but the result of
a careful, painstaking search for your happiness, hers, and little
Jim's. Howard, it is Christmas eve. Do you hear those bells ringing
out to the world--peace and good will to men? Look at these papers,"
said I, taking out the original warrants for one Canby. "Take a look
at them and judge for yourself whether or not I was won to your cause
by little Jim first--her little Jim as much as yours--because she
looked like, and reminded me of Norma Byng. Suppose I had given these
papers to the marshall to serve. Can't you see why--it was little Jim,
whom she brought into the world. Drop your distrust. Let your love
light the way and come with me," I said impulsively, taking him by the
hand and leading him across the hall.
Little Jim came to the door again, as soon as she heard my voice.
"Oh, Daddy, how late you are. We have been waiting for you so long. I
know everything now. Come in here, Daddy, we have been waiting for
you--my mother and I," she cried, leading her father by the hand just
as I had done. I followed them into the front room. Little Jim led him
straight to Norma, took her mother's hand and placed it in his. My
emotions were hard to control. I knew that the child had done more in
a moment than I could ever have done. What had been torn asunder was
now reunited in holy bond.
Little Jim told me afterward she had seen a wonderful transformation
and was thrilled by heavenly voices, just as she had been when she
visited Nereid, at the bottom of the sea. It was then that Norma and
Howard Byng became truly great, and sacred to little Jim and me. We
tiptoed out and went over to Howard's room across the hall. Anyone who
in sheer ghoulishness would have desecrated this holy reunion by
listening to their tender words and witness their caresses must indeed
stand in need of better manners, to say the least.
It seemed but a short time until they came to where we were and
together they placed their hands in mine, with joyous little Jim
standing between us. They were about to speak of their obligation to
me when there floated up from the great music room below a glorious
chorus, clear as a bell, and of infinite sweetness----"Peace on Earth
Good Will to Men."
Next morning I found Howard and little Jim in the office looking over
timetables. They both came toward me smiling, Howard a changed man--a
wonderful transformation had taken place. He took my hand, offered in
congratulation, and squeezed it hard. Said he, "Wood, I am going away;
no more business for a long time. I am going to celebrate a real
wedding."
Then, in a voice coming from his heart, soft with emotion, he added,
"The remainder of my life shall be spent righting a tremendous wrong.
I have just commenced to live."
* * * * *
Transcribers note:
Minor spelling inconsistencies, mainly hyphenated and accented words,
have been made consistent.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.