HAUNTED BY A FACE.
It was the day of Miss Manvers' garden party, and a brighter or more
auspicious one could not have dropped from the hand of the Maker of
days.
Never did the earth seem fairer, and seldom did the sun shine upon a
lovelier scene than that presented to my gaze as I turned aside from the
dusty highway, and paced slowly up the avenue leading to the Hill House.
Even now the picture and the scenes and incidents of the day, rise
before my mental vision, a graceful, sunlit, yet fateful panorama.
I see the heiress, as she glides across the lawn to greet me, her
brunette cheeks glowing, her lips wreathed in smiles. She wears a
costume that is a marvel of diaphanous creamy material, lighted up here
and there with dashes of vivid crimson. Crimson roses adorn the loops
and rippling waves of her glossy hair, and nestle in the rich lace at
her throat. And, as I clasp her little hand, and utter the commonplaces
of greeting, I note that the eye is even more brilliant than usual, the
cheek and lip tinged with the vivid hue left by excitement, and,
underneath the gay badinage and vivacious hospitality, a suppressed
something:--anxiety, expectation, displeasure, disappointment; which, I
can not guess. I only see that something has ruffled my fair hostess,
and given to her thoughts, even on this bright day, an under current
that is the reverse of pleasant.
The grounds are beautiful and commodious, tastefully arranged and
decorated for the occasion, and the _elite_ of Trafton is there; all,
save Louise Barnard and Dr. Bethel.
"Have you heard from Dr. Barnard since noon?" queries my hostess, as we
cross the lawn to join a group gathered about an archery target. "I have
almost regretted giving this party. It seems unfeeling to be enjoying
ourselves here, and poor Louise bowed down with grief and anxiety beside
a father who is, perhaps, dying."
"Not dying, I hope."
"Oh, we all shall hope until hope is denied us. I suppose his chance for
life is one in a thousand. I am so sorry, and we shall miss Louise and
Dr. Bethel so much."
"Bethel is in close attendance?"
"Yes, Dr. Barnard has all confidence in him; and then--you know the
nature of his relation with the family?"
"His relation; that of family physician, I suppose?"
Miss Manvers draws back her creamy skirts as we brush past a thorny rose
tree.
"That of family physician; yes, and prospective son-in-law."
"Ah! I suspected an attachment there."
"It appears they have been privately engaged for some time, with the
consent of the Barnards, of course. It has only just been publicly
announced; rather it will be; I had it from Mrs. Barnard this morning.
Dr. Barnard desires that it should be made known. He believes himself
dying, and wishes Trafton to know that he sanctions the marriage."
Her voice has an undertone of constraint which accords with her manner,
and I, remembering the scene of a week before, comprehend and pity. In
announcing her friend's betrothal she proclaims the death of her own
hope.
I do not resume the subject, and soon we are in the midst of a gay
group, chattering with a bevy of fair girls, and receiving from one or
two Trafton gallants, glances of envious disfavor, which I, desiring to
mortify vanity, attributed to my new Summer suit rather than to my own
personal self.
Arch Brookhouse is the next arrival, and almost the last. He comes in
among us perfumed and smiling, and is received with marked favor. My new
costume has now a rival, for Arch is as correct a gentleman of fashion
as ever existed outside of a tailor's window.
He is in wonderful spirits, too, adding zest to the merriment of the gay
group of which he soon becomes the center.
After a time bows and quivers come more prominently into use. Archery
is having its first season in Trafton. Some of the young ladies have yet
to be initiated into the use of the bow, and presently I find myself
instructing the pretty sixteen-year-old sister of my friend, Charlie
Harris.
She manages her bow gracefully, but with a weak hand; her aim is far
from accurate, and I find ample occupation in following the erratic
movements of her arrows.
Brookhouse and Miss Manvers are both experts with the bow. They send a
few arrows flying home to the very center of the target, and then
withdraw from the sport, and finally saunter away together, the hand of
the lady resting confidingly upon her escort's arm.
"Arn't they a pretty couple?" exclaims my little pupil, twanging her
bow-string as she turns to look after them. "I do wonder if they are
engaged."
"So do I," I answer, with much fervor.
She favors me with a quick roguish glance, and laughs blithely.
"I don't know," turning back to her momentarily forgotten pastime. "Mr.
Brookhouse has been very attentive, and for a long time we all thought
him the favored one, until Dr. Bethel came, and since _you_ appeared in
Trafton. Ah! I'm afraid Adele is a bit of a flirt."
And astute Miss sixteen shoots me another mischievous glance, and poises
her arrow with all the _nonchalance_ of a veteran.
Again I glance in the direction taken by my hostess and her cavalier,
but they have disappeared among the plentiful shrubbery.
I turn back to my roguish little pupil, now provokingly intent upon her
archery practice.
Once more the arrow is fixed; she takes aim with much deliberation, and
puts forth all her strength to the bending of the bow. Twang! whizz! the
arrow speeds fast and far--and foul. It finds lodgment in a thicket of
roses, that go clambering over a graceful trellis, full ten feet to the
right of the target.
There is a shout of merriment. Mademoiselle throws down the bow with a
little gesture of despair, and I hasten toward the trellis intent upon
recapturing the missent arrow.
As I am about to thrust my hand in among the roses, I am startled by a
voice from the opposite side; startled because the voice is that of my
hostess, thrilling with intensest anger, and very near me.
"It has gone far enough! It has gone _too_ far. It must stop now, or--"
[Illustration: "It has gone far enough! It has gone _too_ far. It must
stop now, or--" page 227.]
"Or you will make a confounded fool of yourself."
The voice is that of Arch Brookhouse, disagreeably contemptuous,
provokingly calm.
"No matter. What will it make of you?"
The words begin wrathful and sibilant, and end with a hiss. Can that be
the voice of my hostess?
Making a pretense of search I press my face closer to the trellis and
peer through.
I see Adele Manvers, her face livid with passion, her eyes ablaze, her
lips twitching convulsively. There is no undercurrent of feeling now.
Rage, defiance, desperation, are stamped upon her every feature.
Opposite her stands Arch Brookhouse, his attitude that of careless
indifference, an insolent smile upon his countenance.
"If I were you, I would drop that nonsense," he says, coolly. "You might
make an inning with this new city sprig, perhaps. He looks like an easy
fish to catch; more money than brains, I should say."
"I think his brains will compare favorably with yours; he is nothing to
me--"
Brookhouse suddenly shifts his position.
"Don't you see the arrow?" calls a voice behind me, and so near that I
know Miss Harris is coming to assist my search.
I catch up the arrow and turn to meet her.
No rustle of the leaves has betrayed my presence; the sound of our
voices, and their nearness, is drowned by the general hilarity.
We return to our archery, and the two behind the screen finish their
strange interview. How, I am unable to guess from their faces, when,
after a time, they are once more among us, Brookhouse as unruffled as
ever, Miss Manvers flushed, nervous, and feverishly gay.
Throughout the remainder of the _fete_, the face of my hostess is
continually before me; not as her guests see it, fair, smiling, and
serene, but pallid, passionate, vengeful, as I saw it from behind the
rose thicket. And I am haunted by the thought that somewhere, sometime,
I have seen just such a face; just such dusky, gleaming, angry eyes;
just such a scornful, quivering mouth; just such drawn and desperate
features.
Now and then I find time to chuckle over the words, uncomplimentary in
intent, but quite satisfactory to me--"a city sprig with more money than
brains."
So this is the ultimatum of Mr. Brookhouse? Some day, perhaps, he may
cherish another opinion, at least so far as the money is concerned.
Then, while the gayety goes on, I think of Groveland and its mystery; of
the anonymous warning, the album verse, the initials A. B. Again I take
my wild John Gilpin ride, with one arm limp and bleeding.
"Ah," I say to myself, thinking wrathfully of his taunting words and
insolent bearing, which my hostess had seemed powerless to resent, "Ah,
my gentleman, if I _should_ trace that unlucky bullet to you, then shall
Miss Manvers rejoice at your downfall!"
What was the occasion of their quarrel? What was the meaning of their
strange words?
Again and again I ask myself the question as I go home through the
August darkness, having first seen pretty Nettie Harris safely inside
her father's cottage gate.
But I find no satisfactory answer to my questions. I might have
dismissed the matter from my thoughts as only a lover's quarrel, save
for the last words uttered by Brookhouse. But lovers are not apt to
advise their sweethearts to "make an inning" with another fellow. If
jealousy existed, it was assuredly all on the side of the lady.
Having watched them narrowly after their interview behind the rose
trellis, I am inclined to think it was not a lover's quarrel; and if not
that, what _was_ it?
I give up the riddle at last, but I can not dismiss the scene from my
mental vision, still less can I banish the remembrance of the white,
angry face, and the tormenting fancy that I have not seen it to-day for
the first time.
I am perplexed and annoyed.
I stop at the office desk to light a cigar and exchange a word with
"mine host." Dimber Joe is writing ostentatiously at a small table, and
Blake Simpson is smoking on the piazza.
The sight of the two rogues, so inert and mysterious, gives me an added
twinge of annoyance. I cut short my converse with the landlord and go up
to my room.
Carnes is sitting before a small table, upon which his two elbows are
planted; his fingers are twisted in his thick hair, and his head is bent
so low over an open book that his nose seems quite ready to plow up the
page.
Coming closer, I see that he is glowering over a pictured face in his
treasured "rogues' gallery."
"If you want to study Blake Simpson's cranium," I say, testily, "why
don't you take the living subject? He's down-stairs at this moment."
"I've been studying the original till my head got dizzy," replies
Carnes, pushing back the book and tilting back in his chair. "The fact
is, the fellow conducts himself so confoundedly like a decent mortal,
that I have to appeal to the gallery occasionally to convince myself
that it _is_ Blake himself, and not his twin brother."
I laugh at this characteristic whim, and, drawing the book toward me,
carelessly glance from page to page.
Carnes prides himself upon his "gallery." He has a large and motley
collection of rogues of all denominations: thieves, murderers, burglars,
counterfeiters, swindlers, fly crooks of every sort, and of both sexes.
"They've been here four days now," Carnes goes on, plaintively, "and
nothing has happened yet. It's enough to make a man lose faith in 'Bene
Coves.' I wonder--"
"Ah!" The exclamation falls sharply from my lips, the "gallery" almost
falls from my hands.
[Illustration: "Ah!" The exclamation falls sharply from my lips, the
"gallery" almost falls from my hands.--page 233.]
Carnes leaves his speech unfinished and gazes anxiously at me, while I
sit long and silently studying a pictured face.
By-and-by I close the book and replace it upon the table.
One vexed question is answered; I know now why the white, angry face of
Adele Manvers has haunted me as a shadow from the past.
I arise and pace the floor restlessly; like Theseus, I have grasped the
clue that shall lead me from the maze.
After a time, Carnes goes out to inform himself as to the movements of
Blake and Dimber Joe.
Midnight comes, but no Carnes.
The house is hushed in sleep. I lock the door, extinguish my light, and,
lowering myself noiselessly from the window to the ground, turn my steps
toward the scene of the afternoon revel.
In the darkness and silence I reach my destination, and scaling a
high paling, stand once more in the grounds of The Hill.