"A GAME OF BLUFF AND THE GAMBLER WINS!"
The spirit of unrest which Wanda had felt vaguely the night before did
not depart with the passing of the darkness. Something was wrong,
radically wrong at the Echo Creek ranch house. Since the unexpected
home coming of Red Reckless there had been a subtle difference, a
ruffling of the waters which usually ran so placidly at the country
home, a darkening and disturbation of the surface which hinted at
hidden whirlpools and cross currents.
It was from the master of the household that the day took its colour.
In his own room last night he had been restless, sleepless until very
late. Mrs. Leland had heard him walking up and down, had heard the
noise of his pipe against his tobacco jar many times after the hour
when Martin was in the habit of having his last smoke. In the morning
he was up and dressed before Julia had built her fire. All day he was
strangely pre-occupied and silent. He seemed scarcely to notice Wanda
when she came into the dining room to give him his good morning kiss.
That was unlike him. Both women noticed it.
After breakfast he did not go out. Instead he went immediately to his
study, telling Julia sharply that she need not come in to sweep this
morning as he was going to be busy. It was one of the few times he had
spoken at all that morning, but not the first time he had spoken
irritably. Mrs. Leland's eyes, following him were troubled.
In his private room he sat long at his big oaken table, his brows drawn
thoughtfully, his eyes narrowed in deep speculation. The tenseness of
the man's still figure, the gleam of the darkening eyes, the obvious
moody abstraction told that some vital question had come to him for its
answer, that he was fighting it out sternly, that the issue was one of
those great issues of life which come soon or late and which must be
decided, yes or no, upon the battle ground of a man's soul.
Three months ago he had done a thing from which, at first, his finer
manhood had drawn back rebelliously. But--he had done it. There had
been a struggle then between the two nicely balanced qualities which go
to make up a human personality. The nice balance had been disturbed by
clever generalship rather than by open battle. Specious reasoning,
aided and abetted by the temptation of a rare opportunity, further
reinforced by an emotion which was more or less selfish even while it
masked itself as a public and private duty, had routed the sterner
sense of justice of which the man was, not without reason, proud. He
had in the end taken the step; being done it had since then been
dismissed to a shadowy corner of his mind by his own strength of
character; when he had thought of it had only grown stronger in his
belief that he had done rightly. And now a man whom he had never
expected to see again had come home; the question closed three months
ago was still an open question.
A grave, strong minded man, calm by nature, after sixty years of the
life of the mountains and forests, he thought to decide each action
upon its own merit or demerit and to see that quality clearly, keeping
his vision free of emotional mists. With such a man right and wrong
are two distinct entities, sharply separate, with no debateable land.
An action may not partake of each; it must stand forth black or white.
A motive may not be enshrouded in uncertainty; it must be right or it
must be wrong.
He questioned himself sternly to-day, frowningly concentrating his mind
upon each point as he struggled with it. The time had come now when
the decision he made must be one of absolute finality.
"What I am doing is a grave thing," he told himself over and over. "An
unscrupulous man would do it in a flash; a weak man might be afraid of
it. I must be neither unscrupulous nor cowardly; I must be just. And
is not justice with me? Would I not be punishing the guilty, would I
not be in a position to reward Garth Conway for a life of faithful
service, would I not be justified in protecting my own interests, the
interests of my wife and daughter?"
Already, unconsciously, he was seeking to discover for his groping mind
the arguments which would acquit him in his own judgment and justify
him.
"I hate him," he muttered, "God knows I hate him. But is that the
reason I am striking at him? I should be wrong if for purely personal
motives I sought to wreck vengeance upon him. But he is guilty, as
guilty as hell! It would not be vengeance, it would be retribution. I
should but be taking into my hands the work which God had set at my
fingers' ends."
His problem instead of clarifying became complicated with involved
motives. He told himself grimly that the thing which he had begun was
just, merely just. If the courts of law did what he was doing and
stopped with it men's voices would cry out against a retribution gone
blind and decrepit, maudlin with mercy.
He went once to his safe in the corner, took out a document and stood
looking at it thoughtfully for a long time. Finally he replaced it.
"I can ruin him, I can break him utterly," he said slowly. "I can
wrest from him the thing which he took brutally with bloody hands.
Because I am to profit where he loses must I hold back? The law may
never reach him. Is it right then that he should go unpunished? The
fortune which one day I shall leave to Wanda will be either swelled or
diminished as I decide. Have I the right to draw back now?"
The day dragged on, the conflict within the man's soul continued.
Until noon he was in his study. At the dinner table he was silent,
morose, and ate little. He made no comment upon Wanda's absence;
perhaps he did not notice it. Mrs. Leland, understanding readily that
Wayne Shandon's return had its bearing upon her husband's heavy mood,
found little to say. She could only hope wistfully that for a little
Wayne would come to the house seldom, that Martin would grow used to
having him in the neighbourhood, and that in the end he would content
himself with ignoring the man whom she knew he disliked, distrusted and
suspected. She thought that she understood fully what she grasped only
in part.
In the afternoon again, Leland withdrew to his private room, again the
battle between motives and desires raged hotly. It so happened that
Wayne Shandon, appearing at a critical moment, brought about a decision.
Leland was standing before his window, his smouldering eyes frowning at
the meadow down which Spring had come, scattering buttercups to mark
her passing. He had not noticed the glossy chalices brimming with
sunlight; the springtime had had no softening effect upon his absorbed
and troubled mood. But presently the sight of two figures riding side
by side down through the pasture whipped a new look into his eyes.
He watched them sharply as they rode toward the house. Their gay
voices came to him lifted into soft laughter; their light merriment, so
in tune with the springtime, fell jarringly on Leland's ears.
"The fellow has the insolence of Satan," he muttered angrily.
For a moment he lost sight of them as they passed behind the stable.
Then, walking, Wanda's face lifted in rosy happiness, Wayne's like a
boy's, eager and glad, they came on to the house. Leland stood stone
still at the window; Wanda, catching sight of him, threw him a kiss.
Wayne, with a brief word to Wanda left her under the cedars in the yard
and came swiftly to the study, the light buoyancy of his step
bespeaking the exhilaration that danced through his blood. He swept
off his hat, put out his hand eagerly as he came into the room, his
eyes filled with the brightness of a supreme happiness.
"I am glad that I found you in," he began impetuously. "I don't know
how I could have waited . . . What's the matter, Mr. Leland?"
For Martin Leland, directing at him a piercing glance whose meaning was
unmistakable, did not unclasp the hands behind his back.
"You had something to say to me," Leland reminded him briefly. "What
is it?"
Shandon met his stare with silent surprise. Then, forcing himself to
speak quietly, as though the insult of Leland's attitude had been
unnoticed, he said:
"I wanted to tell you that I love Wanda, that some day I hope to make
her my wife."
"What!" shouted Leland incredulously. "You--_you_ want to marry my
daughter! _You_!"
"Yes," said Wayne steadily. "I."
Martin's scornful laugh, forced and hard, drove the happiness from
Shandon's eyes and a quick hot flush into his cheeks.
"I knew that you didn't like me," he said sharply. "But I didn't
know--"
"That I have no feeling but utter loathing for you," Leland cut in
coldly. "That I'd kill you like a dog before I'd allow you to disgrace
my name, to wreck my daughter's life. Are you crazy or drunk?"
"I don't understand you," replied Shandon bluntly.
"Then I'll explain so that you will have no difficulty in
understanding." Leland's voice, lifted a little, was hard and bitter.
"I don't desire the continuance of your acquaintance. I don't want
ever to see you again if it can be helped. I don't want you to come to
my home, to speak to my wife or my daughter. I don't want your
presence sullying the air they breathe. I don't want to have any
dealings whatever with you. Have I explained?" he concluded with
cutting sharpness.
"Everything and nothing!" Shandon returned, the flush seeping out of
his face, leaving it grey. "What has happened? Why do you say such
things to me? Good God, man, what have I done?"
For a moment Martin Leland made no reply; nor did his steady gaze waver
from the eyes now as stern as his own which looked straight back at him.
"I don't care to discuss the thing with you, Shandon. You know as well
as I do why I say them. When you pretend not to know you are at once a
liar and a hypocrite."
"I am not a trouble seeker, Mr. Leland." Shandon's voice had grown
husky as he strove with the anger within him. "But I think you know
that you are the first man who has talked to me like that and got away
with it. If I did not know that you are a fair minded man, and that
there has been some hideous mistake somewhere, I'd not listen to those
words even from you. Tell me what you mean."
A contemptuous smile broke the rigid line of Leland's set lips.
"Your theatrical ranting won't get you anywhere with me, Shandon. It
is the thing to be expected. I am the master of my own house and it is
quite enough when I say that your presence is not wanted here. If you
want more you can supply it yourself. Idler, spendthrift, gambler,
brawler, I have until now tolerated you. But there are some things
that no man can tolerate. You have said that I am fair minded; the
more reason I should wish to be rid of you."
"But," cried Shandon hotly, "the man accused has a right to know--"
"I am not accusing you," interrupted Martin coldly. "I do nothing but
tell you that you are not the kind of man I want my womenfolk to
associate with, not the kind I want to associate with, and that I want
this to be the last time you set foot on my property. If you are not
absolutely without pride of any sort you will not make it necessary for
me to have you put off the ranch!"
"And you won't tell me--"
"So far as I am concerned the conversation is closed. And," drily,
"the door is open."
The anger in Wayne Shandon's heart, unchecked at last, blazed in his
eyes.
"I'll go now," he said shortly. "I have no wish to enter a man's house
where I am not welcome. But what I have said I have meant. I shall
see Wanda when I can, and when she will come to me as she will some
day, I shall marry her."
"You are a fool as well as a scoundrel," shouted Leland as he saw the
other turn toward the door. "Wanda, when she marries, will marry a
gentleman, and not a cur and a coward!"
"Those are hard names, Mr. Leland!"
"Not so hard as another which belongs to you," came the vibrant
rejoinder. "If you dare speak to her again--"
"As I most certainly shall," coolly.
"By God!" cried the old man, his clenched fist raised. "You leave my
girl alone or--"
Caught in a sudden gust of rage such as had not half a dozen times in
his lifetime touched his blood, he strode to his table, snatched open
the drawer and whipped out a revolver.
"Go!" he shouted, his face a fiery red. "Go now, without another word,
or I'll shoot you."
Wayne Shandon's head was flung up with the old gesture, his eyes grew
steely and steady, and his answer was a cool contemptuous laugh.
"You have called me a coward," he said. "You called me a liar." He
came back into the room and sat down upon the edge of the table, not
three feet from Martin Leland. "Now, prove me the coward--or yourself
the liar!"
It was a challenge of sheer reckless impudence, the tempting of a man
whose reason was blind drunk with rage. He looked coolly into Leland's
eyes ignoring the deadly weapon in Leland's hand.
"I am going to roll a cigarette," he said quietly. "I'll stay just
that long."
The fingers which brought out tobacco and papers were unhurried. He
opened the muslin bag, poured the tobacco into the trough of his paper,
and his hands were steady. His eyes left Leland's a moment to make
sure that he was not spilling any of the brown particles; he lifted
them again as he sealed his finished cigarette with the tip of his
tongue. He swept a match along his thigh; then he went out, closing
the door softly, leaving a thin wisp of smoke trailing behind him.
Leland, alone in the study, put his hand to his forehead. It came away
wet with sweat.
"A game of bluff and the gambler wins!" he muttered fiercely. "And
now--God curse me if I spare him!"
His buoyant stride carried Red Reckless swiftly down into the yard
where he had left Wanda. She looked up eagerly as he came swinging on.
Then suddenly her heart stood still, chilled with the quick fear of her
premonition. The smile which Shandon summoned was at once a brave
attempt and a pitiful failure.
"What is it, Wayne?" asked Wanda quickly.
"Your father has forbidden me the ranch," he told her bitterly. "I
don't know exactly why. It came out of a clear sky so far as I am
concerned. He does not want me to come here again; he does not want
you to see me at all, anywhere."
"Wayne!"
"He called me an idler, a spendthrift, a gambler and a brawler," he
went on swiftly. "As I suppose I have been.--There has never been
anything to make me care--until to-day! You won't let what he says
make any difference, Wanda?"
She came closer to him, her eyes brilliant.
"I don't have to answer that question, Wayne," she whispered.
He took her into his arms and kissed the mouth turned up to him, and so
left her. She watched him go down to the stable, watched the tall,
upright form until Lady Lightfoot carried him out of sight through the
pines. Then, her head as erect as her lover's had been, she went
slowly to the house.