JANE opened a small shabby handbag, and took out a folded newspaper,
opening it up and spreading it on the desk before him. "There!" she
said, and then watched his face critically.
Reyburn looked, and found himself looking into Betty's eyes. Only a
newspaper cut, and poor at that, but wonderfully real and mournful, as
they had struck him when she lifted them for that swift glance before
she sank in the church aisle.
"Where did you get this?" he asked, his voice suddenly husky.
"Out o' the mornin' paper." Her tone was low and excited. "Were you
wanting to try for the reward?" Reyburn asked.
There was a covert sneer in the question from which the girl shrank
perceptibly. She sprang to her feet, her eyes flashing:
"If that's what you take me for, I better be goin'!" she snapped and
reached out her hand for the paper. But Reyburn's hand covered the
paper, and his tone was respectful and apologetic as he said:
"Excuse me, I didn't quite understand, I see. Sit down, please. You and
I must understand each other or there is no use in our talking. You can
trust me to keep this conversation entirely to myself, whatever the
outcome. Will you tell me what it is you want of me?"
Jane subsided into a chair, tears of excitement springing into her eyes.
"Well, you see, it's pretty serious business," she said, making a dab at
the corner of one eye. "I thought I could trust you, or I wouldn't a
come. But you gotta take me on trust, too."
"Of course," said Reyburn. "Now, what have you to do with this girl? Do
you know where she is?"
"I certainly do!" said Jane, "but I ain't a-goin' ta tell until you say
if there's anything you can do fer her. 'Cause you see, if you can't
find a way to help her, I've gotta do it myself, an' it might get you
into trouble somehow fer you to know what you ain't supposed to know."
"I see," said Reyburn, meekly. "Well, what are you going to tell me? Am
I allowed to ask that?"
Jane grinned.
"Say, you're kiddin' me! I guess you are all right. Well, I'll just tell
you all about it. One night last November,--you can see the date there
in the paper, I was goin' home to my boardin' house in Camac Street,
an' I was passin' the side of that church on 18th an' Spruce, where the
weddin' was--you know, fer you was there!"
Reyburn looked at her astonished.
"How did you know I was there?"
"I saw you through the window, over against the wall to the street side
of the altar," said Jane calmly.
"How did you know me?"
"Oh, somebody I know pointed you out once an' said you was goin' to be
one of the risin' lawyers of the day," she answered nonchalantly, her
face quite serious.
A flicker of amusement passed like a ray of light through his eyes, but
his face was entirely grave as he ignored the compliment.
"Go on!"
"I saw there was a weddin' an' I stopped to watch a minute, 'cause I
expect to get married myself some day, an' I wanted to see how they did
things. But I couldn't get near the door, an' the windows were all high
up. I could only see folks who were standing up like you were. So I
thought I'd go on. I turned the corner and went long-side the church
listenin' to the music, an' just as I passed a big iron gate at the
back end of the church somebody grabbed me an' begged me to help 'em. I
looked round, an' there was the bride, all in her white togs, with the
prettiest white satin slippers, in the wet an' mud! I tried to get her
line, but she cried out somebody was comin' back in the passageway, so I
slipped off my coat an' hat and whisked her into 'em an' clapped my
rubbers over her satin shoes, and we beat it round the corner. I took
her to my room, an' gave her some supper. She was all in. Then I put her
to bed, an' she told me a little bit about it. She didn't tell me much.
Only that they had been tryin' fer a long time back to make her marry a
man she hated, an' now they'd almost tricked her into it, an' she'd die
if she had to do it. She wanted to exchange clothes with me, cause, of
course, she couldn't get anywhere togged out that way, so we changed
things, an' I fixed her up. In the mornin' I ran out an' got a paper,
an' found they was sayin' she was temporary insane, an' stuff like that,
an' so I saw their game was tryin' to get her in a 'sylum till they
could make her do what they wanted. I fixed her up an' got her off to a
place I know where she'd be safe. An' she's got a job an' doin' real
well. But now they've got this here reward business out everywhere in
the papers an' the movies, she ain't safe nowhere. An' I want somebody
that's wiser'n me to take a holt an' do somethin'. I can't pay much, but
I'll pay a little every month as long's I live ef it takes that long to
pay yer bill, an' I have a notion she may have some money herself,
though she didn't say nothin' about it. But there's a ring she left with
me to sell, to pay fer what I gave her. It oughtta be worth somethin'.
It looks real. I ain't sold it. I couldn't. I thought she might want it
sometime----"
But Reyburn interrupted her excitedly.
"Do you mean to say that Miss Stanhope is in the city and you know where
she is?"
"Now, don't get excited," warned Jane coolly. "I didn't say she was in
this city, did I? I didn't say where she was, did I? I said she was
safe."
"But are you aware that you have told me a very strange story? What
proof can you give me that it is true?"
Jane looked at him indignantly.
"Say, I thought you was goin' to trust me? I have to trust you, don't I?
Course you don't know who I am, an' I haven't told you, but I've got a
good p'sition myself, an' I don't go round tellin' privarications! An'
there's the weddin' dress, an' veil and fixin's! I got them. You can see
'em if you like,--that is pervided I know what you're up to! I ain't
taking any chances till I see what you mean to do."
"I beg your pardon," said Reyburn, trying to smile assurance once more.
"You certainly must own this whole thing is enough to make anybody
doubt."
"Yes, it is," said Jane. "I was some upset myself, havin' a thing like
that happen to me, a real millionairess bride drop herself down on my
hands just like that, an' I 'spose it _is_ hard to b'lieve. But I can't
waste much more time now. I gotta get back to my job. Is there anything
can be done to keep 'em from gettin' her again?"
"I should most certainly think so," said Reyburn, "but I would have to
know her side of the story, the whole of it, before I could say just
what!"
"Well, s'pose you found there wasn't anythin' you could do to help her,
would you go an' tell on her?"
Reyburn leaned back in his chair and smiled at his unique client:
"I shall have to quote your own language. 'What do you take me for?'"
"A white man!" said Jane suddenly, and showed all her fine teeth in an
engaging smile. "Say, you're all right. Now, I gotta go. When will you
tell me what you can do?" She glanced anxiously at her little
leather-bound wrist watch. It was almost time for Jimmie to return.
Jimmie mustn't find her here. He wouldn't understand, and what Jimmie
didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
"Well, this ought to be attended to, at once, if anything is to be
done," he said eagerly. "Let me see. I have an engagement at five. How
would seven o'clock do? Could I call at your boarding-house? Would there
be any place where we could talk uninterrupted?"
"Sure," said Jane, rising. "I'll get my landlady to let me have her
settin' room fer an hour."
"Meantime, I'll think it over and try to plan something."
Jane started down the long flights of stairs, not daring to trust to the
elevator, lest she should come face to face with Jimmie and have to
explain.
Reyburn stood with his back to the room, his hands in his pockets,
frowning and looking out the window, when Jimmie entered a moment later.
"I hope I'm not late, sir?" he said anxiously, as he hung up his hat and
sat down at his typewriter. "I had to wait. The man was out."
"Oh, that's all right, Ryan," said his employer, obviously not listening
to his explanation. "I'm going out now, Ryan. I may not be back this
afternoon. Just see that everything is all right."
"Very well, sir."
Reyburn went out, then opened the door and put his head back in the
room.
"I may have to go out of town to-night, Ryan. I'm not sure. Something
has come up. If I'm not in to-morrow, could you--would you mind just
staying here all day and looking after things? I may need you. Of course
you'll lock up and leave the card out when you go to lunch."
"Very well, sir."
"I'll keep in touch with you in case I'm delayed," and Reyburn was off
again. When the elevator had clanked down to the next floor Jimmie went
to the window and looked dreamily out over the roofs of the city:
"Aw!" he breathed joyously. "Now I'll bet he's going to do something
about that reward!"
Reyburn hurried down the street to the office of an old friend where he
had a bit of business as an excuse, and asked a few casual questions
when he was done. Then he went on to a telephone booth and called up a
friend of his mother's, with whom he had a brief gossip, ostensibly to
give a message from his mother, contained in her last letter to him.
None of the questions that he asked were noticeable. He merely led the
conversation into certain grooves. The lady was an old resident and well
known in the higher social circles. She knew all there was to know about
everybody and she loved to tell it. She never dreamed that he had any
motive in leading her on.
He dropped into a bank and asked a few questions, called up an address
they gave him and made another inquiry, then dropped around to his
cousin's home for a few minutes, where he allowed her to tell all she
knew about the Stanhope wedding they had attended together, and the
different theories concerning the escaped bride. Quite casually he asked
if she knew whether the bride had property of her own, if so who were
her guardians. His cousin thought she knew a lot, but, sifting it down,
he discovered that it was nearly all hearsay or surmise.
When he reached Jane Carson's boarding house he found that young woman
ensconced in a tiny room, nine by twelve, a faded ingrain carpet on the
floor, a depressed looking bed lounge against the bleary wall-paper,
beneath crayon portraits of the landlady's dead husband and sons. There
was a rocking-chair, a trunk, a cane-seat chair, and an oil stove turned
up to smoking point in honor of the caller, but there was little room
left for the caller. On the top of the trunk reposed a large pasteboard
box securely tied.
Jane, after a shy greeting, untied the strings and opened the cover,
having first carefully slipped the bolt of the door.
"You can't be too careful," she said. "You never can tell."
Reyburn stood beside her and looked in a kind of awe at the glistening
white, recognized the thick texture of the satin, the rare quality of
the rose-point lace with which it was adorned, caught the faint
fragrance of faded orange blossoms wafting from the filmy mist of the
veil as Jane lifted it tenderly; then leaned over and touched a finger
to the pile of whiteness, reverently, as though he were paying a tribute
at a lovely shrine.
Jane even unwrapped the little slippers, one at a time, and folded them
away again, and they said no word until it was all tied back in its
papers, Reyburn assisting with the strings.
"Now, ef you don't mind waitin' a minute I guess it would be safer to
put it away now," she said as she slipped the bolt and ran upstairs.
She was back in a minute and sat down opposite to him, drawing out from
the neck of her blouse a ribbon with a heavy glittering circlet at its
end.
"Here's the ring." She laid it in his palm. He took it, wondering, a
kind of awe still upon him that he should be thus handling the intimate
belongings of that little unknown bride whom he had seen lying
unconscious in a strange church a few short months before. How strange
that all this should have come to him when many wiser, more nearly
related, were trying their best to get some clue to the mystery!
He lifted the ring toward the insufficient gas jet to make out the
initials inside, and copied them down in his note-book.
"Take good care of that. It is valuable," he said as he handed it back
to her.
"Mebbe I better give it to you," she half hesitated.
"You've taken pretty good care of it so far," he said. "I guess you've a
better right to it than I. Only don't let anybody know you've got it.
Now, I've been making inquiries, and I've found out a few things, but
I've about come to the conclusion that I can't do much without seeing
the lady. Do you suppose she would see me? Is she very far away?"
"When do you want to go?" asked Jane.
"At once," he answered decidedly. "There's no time to waste if she is
really in danger, as you think."
Jane's eyes glittered with satisfaction.
"There's a train at ten-thirty. You'll get there in the morning. I've
written it all down here on a paper so you can't make any mistakes. I've
written her a letter so she'll understand and tell you everythin'. I'll
wire Ma, too, so she'll let you see her. Ma might not size you up
right."
Reyburn wondered at the way he accepted his orders from this coolly
impudent girl, but he liked her in spite of himself.
In a few minutes more he was out in the street again, hurrying to his
own apartment, where he put together a few necessities in a bag and went
to the train.