Latisan, going to sleep, hoped that he would awake with a saner
viewpoint.
He did admit to himself in the morning that if Echford Flagg should show
the right spirit of compromise the thing could be patched up on terms
which would allow the drive master to be his own man instead of being a
spanked youngster.
The girl seized an opportunity to speak to him when she brought his
breakfast. "Things look better this morning--I'm sure they do. Tell me.
I worried half the night. I must not be the cause of trouble."
"Yes, they look better."
"And you're starting back to-day for the drive?" Her voice was low but
eager. "Tell me that you are!"
His smouldering suspicion! Red tongues of fire darted up from it!
"I'm afraid you won't be able to get rid of me to-day. Business is
keeping me here."
Her entreating smile faded; she backed way from him as if she had
received a rude thrust, and then she went about her work.
There was a real sensation in the tavern that morning! The exclusive
star boarder of the parlor came into the public room to eat her
breakfast. Her charms were enhanced by a becoming morning wrap, and,
following out her liberal code governing the relations of sex in modern
days, she seated herself at Latisan's table, greeting him with a
mingling of bright good humor and gentle rebuke.
"Give me a good reason why you have not been the advising friend you
promised to be, and I may not be too angry, Mr. Latisan."
"I--I thought I'd wait till this morning----"
"Thank you! Then I'm welcome at your table."
She lowered her voice after that. She was engrossed with ordinary topics
whenever the waitress's duties brought Lida to the table. If there was
to be rivalry between the operatives of Vose-Mern, Miss Elsham decided
that her tactics with the Flagg drive master should not be known. She
did the talking and Latisan gave the appearance of being an earnest
listener. At a matter of fact, he played up strongly his affectation of
devoted interest. Ingenuous amateur that he was in the subtleties of
love, he was trying out a method which he had heard commended; he was
wondering how much an aroused jealousy might accomplish in the case of
Miss Patsy Jones.
He cast side glances and saw that she seemed to be disturbed. He
bestowed on Mrs. Everett more profound attention. He even allowed
himself to say when the waitress was within earshot, "I think I'll know
by to-morrow whether I'm to keep on at the head of the drive. If I don't
and if matters allow, I'll be glad to take charge of your trip into the
north country."
Latisan, boyishly crude in his methods, felt that Miss Jones would have
an interpretation of her own for "matters" and would do some earnest
thinking before she turned him over to the companionship of a rich
young widow, even in the humble role of a chief guide.
In spite of Brophy's sign, "No Smoking in This Dining Room"--a
restriction intended for woodsmen--Miss Elsham lighted a cigarette in
her satisfaction; her failure to interest the man of the woods even to
the extent of a second interview had been worrying the seductress de
luxe of the Vose-Mern establishment after her unbroken successes with
the men of the city.
She went out of the room chatting with Latisan, and found an opportunity
to sweep Miss Kennard with a patronizing glance.
Latisan spent the forenoon on the tavern porch, smoking his pipe and
waiting--even hoping--for a message from Echford Flagg. Rickety Dick
passed the place several times on his usual errands. Flagg, therefore,
would be informed that the drive master was loafing in the village. But
old Dick did not bring any word from the big house to Latisan.
To be sure, the split of the evening before had seemed discouragingly
final. But after the girl's rebuke and appeal Ward was ashamed of the
persisting stubbornness which was making him an idler in that exacting
period when the thunderous Noda waters were sounding a call to duty. He
did not want her to think of him as vindictive in his spirit, and still
less did he desire her to consider him petty in his motives and notions.
On the other hand, the proposition was strictly a man-to-man affair, and
Echford Flagg had made relations unendurable.
Ward wished devoutly that he could clear his thoughts; they were
muddled. Back of the inertia which was hiding him in Adonia there seemed
to be reasons other than the new animosity toward his employer. Really,
he confessed to himself, he would like to go to Flagg and win to a
manlike and mutual understanding which would serve both of them. But he
muttered when he looked up at the big house, and he kept on waiting for
the master to offer an opening.
He confessed that his was a childish attitude toward an employer. Had he
allowed his infatuation to twist him into this being who was putting the
burden of an offer of compromise upon a poor old stricken man who ought
to be protected from his own intolerance?
However, the drive master was aware of a certain satisfaction in being
on hand to watch and weigh affairs in Adonia that day.
The raffle man, as the villagers called Crowley, seemed to have a great
deal on his mind, Latisan reflected. Crowley made several trips to the
telegraph office at the railroad station.
At dinner Miss Jones averted her eyes from Latisan and there was no talk
between them. Latisan tried to comfort himself, by the thought that
jealousy was operating. He saw her go out in the afternoon for a walk,
but he did not offer to accompany her. His naive conviction was that his
indifference and the threat of interest in Mrs. Everett would suffice to
bring Miss Patsy Jones down from her coquette's pedestal.
He was tempted to leap up and follow when he saw Crowley trailing after
the waitress; but Crowley went only a little distance, and then he came
back and went into the tavern and upstairs.
Again in midafternoon old Dick passed, but he brought no word to the
waiting drive master.
This insulting indifference, as Latisan considered it, indicated that
Echford Flagg was no longer depending on Ward as champion. There had
been no misunderstanding of language. Latisan had quit--and Flagg was
contented to let him stay quit.
The young man felt more acutely cheap and small. He had been setting
himself up as the one man who could drive down the Flagg logs. The fact
that he could not bring himself to break away instanter and go north to
his duty--without orders from Flagg and without considering further his
entanglement with a girl--was a fact that steadily lessened his
self-esteem. He had been able to go straightforwardly in all matters
till then; this new inability to handle complex affairs and to untangle
the situation made him distrust himself and wonder whether he was much
of a man, anyway!
Then came night--and he went to his room to brood.
At supper the girl of his thoughts had been conspicuously rude in the
manner with which she banged down dishes in front of him.
Lida had been doing some pondering of her own. She would not admit that
she had been piqued by his attentions to Elsham and by his partial
promise to that complacent young lady. But she was finding him to be
very much of a child, she told herself. He needed to be protected from
himself at that juncture. And he needed to be convinced that he was
wasting his time just then by staying away from duty and playing the
lover. Lida's first thought was that if he found no profit in lovemaking
he would go back to his work in spite of what he had told her. She could
not bring herself to believe that a man like Latisan would succumb to
Elsham's wiles.
In that mood, both as protectress and as stanch believer in his
uprightness, she found that her interest in him was becoming more vivid
than she had realized. Her warming heart sent a flush into her cheeks
when she remembered the passionate embrace. She noted that flush when
she looked into her mirror. She was making herself ready for slumber.
"Don't be a fool!" she warned the reflection in the mirror.
Having clarified the situation to that extent in her thoughts before
going to sleep, she awoke and began the new day with better confidence.
The spirit of the Open Places certainly did make folks honest, she told
herself! She felt that the morning must have brought common sense to
Latisan, as it had to her.
From her window she saw him walking to and fro in front of the tavern.
The early dawn was flushing the east. His being abroad at that hour
suggested that he was going back to his work instead of playing the
idling lover. She decided to be frank with him; she dressed in haste,
hurried down and faced him, and told him how glad she was that he had
come into his right senses; she had determined that her best course was
to take his reformed mental state for granted.
"Yes, I'm sensible enough to quit being a boss bulldog for a man like
Eck Flagg." He was sorry after he said it. But there was no word from
Flagg--and her insistence, as if she wanted to be rid of him, rasped his
raw temper.
"But you're going back to the drive!" she gasped.
"I am not."
"Don't you value your reputation among men?"
"I do!"
"They'll say you're a quitter." She spoke boldly and sharply.
"Let me tell _you_ something! When you told me that you wouldn't marry
me I came nigh quitting where you're concerned. But I am back in my
right senses, as you say! You're mine! I have told you so. I tell you
again this morning. It's something of a fix you've got yourself into,
eh?"
She grew pale and her wide eyes were filled with startled protest; he
was placid enough, but his calmness made the thing more grim and
threatening when she reflected on the suggestiveness of that word "fix."
She was unable to endure his scrutiny. He did not try to restrain her
when she turned away, hastening into the tavern.
Brophy came into the dining room when he heard her setting the tables.
"Well, by swanny! You're up without being called! You ain't much like
the others I've had here!"
He was silent for some time, and when she turned she found him surveying
her with curious intentness. "It ain't none of my business, of course,
but I hope you ain't of a marrying notion, just yet awhile."
"That remark seems a little uncalled for, Mr. Brophy."
"I'm speaking out because Ward Latisan doesn't seem to be the flirting
kind, miss. You can't fool with him."
"I thank you. I shall avoid Mr. Latisan from now on. I have
thoughtlessly taken walks with him."
"If it's such a thing as you're intending to get married I'd rather lose
you to Latisan than to anybody else in this region. He's solid goods,
miss! Solid!"
She was seeking confirmation to strengthen her resolves. "I hear that
his employer is an invalid. I suppose that makes Mr. Latisan pretty nigh
indispensable, doesn't it?"
"There'll be no Flagg drive down this spring without Ward on the
job--I'll say that much," declared Brophy, with vigor. "I can't afford
to make any loud talk about the Three C's, miss," he went on, lowering
his voice cautiously, "because I cater to all comers. But I don't know
another boss driver who couldn't be scared off or bought off at the
present time, considering the hold the big corporation has got on things
up this way. They're bound to monopolize the river--the Three C's gang.
But they can't freeze out the independents this year if Ward Latisan
stays on the job for Eck Flagg. The death clinch comes this season!"
"Where's your law up this way, Mr. Brophy?" she demanded.
"I guess neither side dares to call on the law right now. Law might tie
up everything. Logs have got to come along with the spring driving
pitch, and high water won't wait till lawyers get done arguing."
He took down a gong and pounded on it with a padded mallet while he
marched through the office to the porch and back again. It was the
breakfast call.
"I'll say about Eck Flagg," he stated, when he hung the gong back on its
hook, "that he ain't so much to blame for his sour temper as some folks
are bound to have it. Old Job of the Bible had nothing on Eck for
troubles. No matter what he has done, Eck has been a square fighter.
Probably you ain't interested, even to the extent of a hoot, in gossip
about the neighbors. But Eck had a bad one put over on him years ago. He
hasn't been right since that time. Square dealing is his religion. But
to get his worst trimming right in his own family, it was awful.
Son-in-law done it. But I reckon I'd better hang up on that subject,
miss. Here comes Latisan for breakfast."
The landlord plodded out.
This man who seated himself, waiting to be served by her, who was
determined to possess her, had been unwittingly alienated by her from
the duty which was owed to that helpless grandfather in his extremity.
The reminder which Brophy had tossed at her carelessly had served to
rouse her to desperation. She clung to a service table to keep from
falling. She staggered when she started to cross the room to Latisan;
her hands and feet were prickling as the blood resumed its course in her
veins.
"You're sick," he suggested, solicitously.
She shook her head. She turned her face from him, afraid of his
questioning gaze. "Give your order, please!"
"Bring anything."
She started away, but turned and hurried back to his table, her face
hard with resolution. She feared that the resolution would be weakened
by delay; in a few moments others would come into the room.
"I have changed my mind about that offer of marriage. This morning I
say, 'Yes!'"
He gaped at her and started to rise.
"Don't leave that chair!" she commanded, her low tones tense. "There are
men in the office looking this way. I'll marry you when the Flagg drive
is down, with you at the head of it, doing your duty. You may think that
over while I'm in the kitchen."
When she returned with food, Latisan, flushed, eager, only partially
assured, looked her in the eye, challenging her candor. "That's straight
talk, is it?"
"It is!"
"I thank God! But why--right here in the open--where I can't----"
"I'll answer no questions."
"I'd like to know why you picked out this place to tell me. I can't be
shut away from all the glory in the grandest moment of my life! I want
to get up and yell for joy. I want to take you in my arms."
"I'll not allow that. Furthermore, you are to leave for the drive
immediately after you have eaten your breakfast." Her manner cowed him.
"Very well!" he returned, meekly. "When I looked into your eyes I knew
that your word to me was good!"
She was finding the fixity of his gaze disconcerting and leaned above
the table, arranging the dishes which contained his food. She was
grateful for the protection the public room was affording; she would not
have been able to declare herself in the privacy which love, in most
circumstances, demands.
"Who are you?" he asked, in a half whisper, taking advantage of her
nearness. "You are more than you seem to be. You are, I say! You are not
silly and selfish like most girls in a time like this. You are able to
make me do anything you ask. I'll go north and fight because you want me
to. But an ordinary girl wouldn't take a big view of things, as you do."
"Yes--for the sake of having a man be what he ought to be."
He wagged his head doubtfully. "But if you'll tell me the honest truth
about----"
"Hush! Here comes a man."
It was Crowley. He had looked from his chamber window and had seen the
two in conversation in front of the tavern. He was strictly on the job
that day; he had dressed in such a hurry that he was tying his necktie
as he entered the room. He sat down at a table and glared grimly at
Latisan and the girl; provided with ammunition that fortified his
courage, Crowley had resolved to make his bigness in the matter,
unafraid.
His appearance at that moment and the manner of his espionage and the
memory of what had been said concerning his pursuit of the girl stirred
Latisan to the depths. His emotions had been in a tumult ever since the
girl had declared her promise. He was in no mood to reason calmly. He
could not control himself. He purposed to go to what he thought was his
duty as her accepted champion. Therefore, he leaped from his chair, put
his arm about her waist, and pulled her across the room, in spite of her
resistance.
"Listen to me, you sneak!" he adjured Crowley. "This young lady and I
are engaged to be married."
"Hush!" she cried, in mingled fright and fury. "You promised----It
isn't----"
"I made no promise except to go north because you have asked me to go.
I'm going back to my job, and I'll have the Flagg logs down if I have to
smash the bottom out of the river," he boasted, in his new pride.
"Crowley--as I believe your name is--you have heard me announce the
engagement. If you give this young lady another twisted look or crooked
word while I'm away, may God have mercy on your soul!"
He was talking to the one man who ought to hear that news, so the lover
felt, but his voice was raised in his emotion and Brophy and the
loungers in the office heard, too.
Latisan kissed her once, swiftly and rapturously.
According to the code of social procedure in Adonia, as the office
onlookers viewed the matter of congratulation, the occasion called for
three cheers; they were proposed and given and even Brophy joined, but
with sour grace.
She had endeavored ineffectually to check Latisan's outburst,
understanding fully the interlocking perils involved in the promulgation
to Crowley that the drive master was going back to his work. It had
become her own personal, vital affair, this thing! She was far from
admitting even then that love was urging her to the promise she had
made so precipitately. The wild spirit of sacrifice had surged in her.
She was able to pay--to redeem! It was all for the sake of the family!
But this love-cracked idiot, babbling his triumph, had thrown wide the
gate of caution--had exposed all to the enemy; she feared Crowley in his
surly, new mood!
Poor Ward turned to her a radiant, humid stare of devotion; she
responded by flashing fury at him from her eyes. Her cheeks were
crimson. "Haven't you any wit in you?" she raged, holding her tones in
leash with effort, her convulsed face close to his amazed countenance.
"It was to put you right----" he stammered.
"It has made everything all wrong!"
Men had come into the room. She hurried away from the dumfounded lover.
While she went about her work, sedulously keeping her gaze from Latisan,
she heard the men jocosely canvassing the matter. They called to the
drive master, giving him clumsy congratulation. There were timber
cruisers who were going into the north country; they declared with
hilarity that they would spread the news. They ate and went stamping
away, news bureaus afoot.
She marched to the pathetic incarnation of doubt and dolor after a time;
he was lingering at table in a condition that was near to stupefaction.
"Why aren't you on your way?" she demanded, with ireful impatience.
"You'll have to tell me what the matter is with you!"
"I'll tell you nothing--not now! But you have something to tell Mr.
Flagg, haven't you?"
"You're right! I'll go and tell him that I'm starting for the drive. If
I have to smash the hinges off the door of Tophet I'll put our logs----"
"That's it!" she cried, eagerly. "Our logs! We'll call them our logs.
Don't mind because I seemed strange a little while ago. You'll
understand, some day. But now hurry! Hurry!" She forced herself to
smile. She was eagerly in earnest, almost hysterical. She spoke his
name, though with effort. "Remember, Ward! Our logs! Bring them
through!"
He leaped out of his chair. The other breakfasters were gone. She stood
on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.
Immediately after Latisan had left on his way to assure Echford Flagg,
the girl was reminded of her putative Vose-Mern affiliations. Crowley
lounged back into the room, taking advantage of the fact that she was
alone. "Put me wise as to why you're playing this shot with the reverse
English."
"Hands off, Crowley! You're only a watchdog, paid to guard me."
"I don't propose to have our folks double-crossed. You have started that
drive boss back onto his job, and you and he announce an engagement this
morning! You're cagy or crazy! I won't have anything put over! If you're
straight, come through to me and I'll back you. Otherwise----" He tossed
his hands in an eloquent gesture.
"I'll wire to have you pulled down to the city."
"I have done some wiring ahead of you. It's up to our folks to find out
what's the big idea."
"Crowley, won't you leave it all to me?" she pleaded, fighting to the
last ditch for her secret and for time. "Can't you see that I'm placing
a double-crosser in the enemy's camp?"
He looked at her hard and long and his lips curled into a sardonic grin.
"You're a good one. I'll admit that. But you can't stand there and give
me the straight eye and make me believe you have made over Latisan to
that extent. I've got him sized. It can't be done!"
Crowley was right--she could not meet his sophisticated gaze.
"What do you expect me to do?" she asked, lamely.
"Keep him off the drive. If he starts to leave this village to-day I'm
going to grab in."
She knew Crowley's obstinacy in his single-track methods. There was no
telling what he would undertake nor what damage might be wrought by his
interference. She tried to force from him his intentions; he paid no
heed to her appeals or her threats.
She was fighting for her own with all the wit and power that were in
her; she was standing in the path by which the enemies must advance,
resolved to battle as long as her strength might last, serving as best
she could to distract attention from the main fight to herself, willing
to sacrifice herself utterly.
Crowley walked with a bit of a swagger from the room, lighted a
cigarette in the office, puttered for a few moments with some old
newspapers on a table, and then went out of doors and strolled along the
road in the direction of the big house on the hill. She observed his
course from a side window. She felt the impulse to run after him and
beat her fists against that broad and stubborn back.
She saw Latisan come striding down from the Flagg mansion, determination
in his manner.
The two men met. They halted.
Her apprehension became agony, but she did not dare to interfere between
them.