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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/19204-8.txt b/19204-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..38f56a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/19204-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3970 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lady Larkspur, by Meredith Nicholson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lady Larkspur + +Author: Meredith Nicholson + +Release Date: September 7, 2006 [EBook #19204] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY LARKSPUR *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +LADY LARKSPUR +BY +MEREDITH NICHOLSON + +NEW YORK +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS +1919 + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +Published March, 1919 + +COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY P. F. COLLIER & SONS, INC. + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +TO BENNETT AND PEGGY GATES + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. THE "TROOPS" 1 + II. THE AMAZING WIDOW 38 + III. A FAN 79 + IV. PURSUING KNIGHTS 112 + V. ALICE 138 + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE "TROOPS" + + +"It was hard luck," said Searles, "that I should spend a year writing a +play for a woman only to find that she had vanished--jumped off the +earth into nowhere. This was my highest flight, Singleton, the best +writing I ever did, and after the vast pains I took with the thing, the +only woman I ever saw who could possibly act it is unavailable; worse +than that, absolutely undiscoverable! Nobody knows I have this script; +I've kept quiet about it simply because I'm not going to be forced into +accepting a star I don't want. I have a feeling about this play that I +never had about my other things. That girl was its inspiration. The +public has been so kind to my small offerings that I'm trying to lead +'em on to the best I can do; something a little finer and more +imaginative, with a touch of poetry, if you please. And now----" + +He rose from his broad work-table (he scorned the familiar type of desk) +and glared at me as though I were responsible for his troubles. As he +knew I had been flying in the French Aviation Corps for two years and +had just been invalided home, I didn't think it necessary to establish +an alibi. But I hastened to express my sympathy for his predicament. +Fate had been kind to Dick Searles. In college he had written a play or +two that demonstrated his talent, and after a rigid apprenticeship as +scene-shifter and assistant producer he had made a killing with "Let +George Do It," a farce that earned enough to put him at ease and make +possible an upward step into straight comedy. Even as we talked a +capacity house was laughing at his skit, "Who Killed Cock Robin?" just +around the corner from his lodgings. So his story was not the invention +of a rejected playwright to cover the non-appearance of a play which +nobody would produce. + +"Isn't it always a mistake to write a play for a particular star?" I +suggested. "Seems to me I've read somewhere that that is among the +besetting sins of you playwrights." + +"Old stuff, my boy; but this isn't one of those cases. The person I had +in mind for this play wasn't a star, but a beginner, quite unknown. It +was when I was in London putting on 'Fairy Gold' that I saw her; she had +a small part in a pantomime, and pantomime is the severest test of an +actor's powers, you know. A little later she appeared in 'Honourable +Women,' a capital play that died early, but there again I felt her +peculiar charm--it was just that. Her part was a minor one, but she wore +it as she might wear a glove; she was exquisite! No one ever captured my +imagination as she did. I watched her night after night. I was afraid +that when I heard her voice it would break the spell, and I actually +shook like a man with an ague when she tripped out on the stage as the +ingénue in 'Honourable Women.' And her laughter! You know how hollow the +usual stage mirth is, but that girl's laugh had the joy of the lark +ascending!" + +"By Jove!" I ejaculated, "there's more here than appears. You're in love +with the girl!" + +"Rubbish," he cried impatiently. "You'll think I'm talking rot, but +this girl was the visualization of a character I had dreamed of and +groped after for years. That's all; but it's a whole lot, I can tell +you!" + +"Of course, you established lines of communication and gave her a hint +that you meant to write a play for her?" + +"Certainly not! That would have spoiled the whole thing. It was her art, +not the woman, that interested me. I didn't want to take the chance of +being disillusioned. I have been through that experience, and I prefer +not to meet the people who act in my pieces. I want their art, not their +views on human destiny or the best place to get lobster à la Newburg." + +"Let us be practical for a moment, Searles," I urged. "Emperors, +presidents, and popular murderers are not more conspicuous than the +people of the stage. No girl talented enough to get two engagements, +even for small parts, in a first-class London theatre could vanish. With +your acquaintance in the profession you'd be able to trace her anywhere +on earth. By the way, what did the paragon call herself?" + +"Violet Dewing was her stage name and the only name the managers knew +her by. I assumed that, of course, all I had to do was to finish my play +and then have Dalton, who represents me over there, make an appointment +to read it to her; but Dalton worked for three months trying to find +her, without success. She clearly wasn't the product of the provincial +theatres--hadn't any of the marks. I wasn't the only person who was +interested in her. Dalton said half a dozen managers had their eye on +her, but after 'Honourable Women' closed she stepped into the void. I +know what you're thinking--that the other members of the two companies +she appeared with must have had some inkling of her identity, but I tell +you Dalton and I exhausted the possibilities. It was by accident that +she got her chance in the pantomime--some one wouldn't do at the last +minute, and they gave Miss Dewing a trial. She was well liked by her +associates in spite of the fact that she was a bit offish and vanished +from their world the minute the curtain fell." + +"A clever governess out of a job, satisfying a craving for excitement +and playing the mysterious rôle as part of the adventure. Am I to +assume that you've burned your play and that the incident is closed?" + +"Oh, I didn't burn it; I have a copy locked in a safety vault, and +Dalton left one heavily sealed at a small exclusive London hotel where, +he found after much difficulty, the girl had lodged during her two +engagements." + +"You're morbid," I said. "Show me her photograph." + +He laughed ironically. "Never a chance, Singleton! You haven't yet got +the idea that this young woman is out of the ordinary. She refused to be +photographed--wrote it into her two contracts that this was not to be +asked. I never saw her off the stage, and I can't give you a description +of her that would be of the slightest assistance to the keenest +detective alive. As I've tried to convey to your practical mind, it's +the spirit of the girl--the spirit of comedy, that I've dramatized--not +a girl you take out to supper only to find that she has no wit, no +charm, no anything but a monstrous appetite for indigestible food and a +silly ambition to play rôles the gods never intended her to play. In +that pantomime she was a frolic, the clown's daughter, and, though +nobody saw it, she was the whole piece, the elusive sprite that could +evoke laughter and tears by a gesture, a lifting of the brows, a +grimace. By utterly different methods in 'Honourable Women' she proved +her wide range of appeal. The chap who produced 'Honourable Women' told +me that after the first rehearsal Bayley, the author, begged him for +God's sake to let the girl do it her own way, so as not to lose her +freshness and spontaneity. Hers was the one true characterization in the +piece. When Terry was in her prime you remember how we used to say that +only one bird sang like that, and from paradise it flew? Well, this bird +sings on the same branch! Her voice was her charm made audible! She's +the most natural being I ever saw on the stage, and she can _look_ more +comedy than anybody else I ever saw act!" + +"Rave some more!" I pleaded. "You never talked better in your life." + +"Don't be an ass," he said sourly. "Let's forget her and take a squint +at your affairs. Just what do you mean to do with yourself?" + +"My shoulder still creaks a little, and the doctors advise me to sit +around for a while. They offered me some jobs in Washington, but desk +work and inspection duty are too tame after a couple of years spent in +star climbing. The doctors tell me to cultivate repose for a few months +and maybe they'll pass me into our flying corps, but they don't promise +anything. I'm going up to Barton-on-the-Sound and I'll camp in the +garage on my uncle's place. You remember that I built the thing myself, +and the quarters are good enough for a busted veteran." + +"Your uncle played you a nasty trick," interrupted Searles; "getting +married and then adding to the crime by dying. You couldn't beat that +for general spitefulness." + +"Do you remember the immortal lines: + + "'Oh, skip your dear uncle!' + The Bellman exclaimed + As he angrily tingled his bell"? + +"Oh, I'm not knocking the dead!" he protested. "Mr. Bashford always +struck me as a pretty decent, square sort of chap, and not at all the +familiar grouchy uncle of fiction and the drama. I made notes on him +from time to time with a view to building a play around him--the perfect +uncle, unobtrusive, never blustering at his nephew; translating the +avuncular relationship into something remote and chaste like a distant +view of Mount Washington in winter. As I recall, there were only two +great passions in your uncle's life--Japanese art and green-turtle soup. +It was just like him to retire from business on his sixtieth birthday +and depart for the Orient, there to commit the shameless indiscretion of +matrimony." + +"Like him! It was the greatest shock of my life. To the best of my +knowledge he never knew any women except the widow of his partner in the +importing house. He used to dine with her now and then, and I caught him +once sending her flowers at Easter--probably an annual stunt. She was +about eighty and perfectly safe. He spent twenty years in the Tyringham, +the dullest and most respectable hotel in the world, and his chief +recreation was a leisurely walk in the park before going to bed. You +could set your clock by him. Pretty thin picking for a dramatist, I +should think. He used to take me to the theatre regularly every other +Thursday--it was a date--and his favorite entertainment was vaudeville +with black-face embellishment preferred. You should add that to Japanese +pottery and potage à la tortue. He joined the yacht club just because +the green turtle at that joint is the best in New York. Yachts! He never +sailed in anything but the biggest steamers, and got no fun out of that. +I crossed with him twice, and he never left his bunk. But in his shy +fashion he was kind and generous and mighty good to me." + +"If you hadn't gone to war, but had kept right at his elbow, the +marriage might have been averted," suggested Searles. "He did leave you +something, didn't he?" + +"Fifty thousand cash and the right to use the garage at the Barton farm. +Calling it a farm is a joke; it's rocks mostly. He bought the house to +have a place to store his prints and ceramics. He hated motoring except +in taxis up and down town, and when I urged him to set up a machine, he +told me to go ahead and buy one and build the garage. He rather sniffed +at the writing I do, but told me I'd better fix up a studio in the +garage and have it as a place to work in. His will provides that I may +lodge in the garage for life." + +"The estate footed a million, as I remember, so I can't praise his +generosity. But the widow, your unknown auntie, the body-snatcher who +annexed the old boy--what of her?" + +"I've asked the trust company people whether she's in sight anywhere, +and they assure me that she is not on these shores. Torrence, the third +vice-president--you know Torry; he was in the class ahead of us at +college, the man who never smiles--Torry seemed anxious to learn about +her from me, which is certainly droll. He said she acknowledged her last +remittance three months ago from Bangkok--wherever that is. Torry +couldn't see that Bangkok is so absurdly remote that the idea of a +widow's strolling off there is funny. I suppose the old girl's resumed +her tour of the world looking for another retired merchant to add to her +list." + +"Very likely. To what nation, tribe, or human group does this predatory +person belong?" + +"I'll tell you all I know. Just as I was sailing for France I got a +letter from Uncle Bash stating in the most businesslike fashion that he +was about to be married to a lady he had met on his trip out to Japan. +The dire event was to occur at the American Embassy the following day. +From which I judged that my presence at the ceremony was neither +expected nor desired. Oddly enough, months afterward, I picked up an +English paper in a French inn that contained an announcement of the +marriage in the usual advertisement form. The lady was succinctly +described as Mrs. Alice Wellington Cornford, widow of the late Archibald +Reynolds Cornford, Pepperharrow Road, Hants. All Torrence knows of the +subsequent proceedings is what he got in official reports of Uncle +Bash's death from the consul-general at Tokyo. He was buried over there +and the life-insurance companies were rather fussy about the legal +proof, Torry says. Whether the widow expects to come to America +ultimately or will keep moving through the Orient marrying husbands and +burying them is a dark mystery. If she should turn up, the house at +Barton is hers, of course, but with her roving disposition I fancy my +aunt Alice wouldn't like the place. The Jap stuff is worth a bit of +money, and if the lady is keen for such things and not a mere +adventuress she may take it into her head one of these days to come over +and inspect the loot." + +"I can see the vampire," said Searles musingly, "landing at the Grand +Central with enough hand-luggage to fill a freight-car; a big, raw-boned +creature, with a horse face and a horrible mess as to clothes. You will +be there to meet her, deferential, anxious to please. You will pilot her +up the coast to Barton, tip the servants heavily to keep them from +murdering her, and twiddle your thumbs in your garage as you await her +further pleasure. By the way, are those ancient freaks still on the +place--those broken-down hotel employees who were your uncle's sole +experiment in philanthropy?" + +"Torrence assures me that they are all very much there." + +Searles yielded himself to laughter. "An Englishwoman with lofty ideas +of domestic service would certainly enjoy a romp with that crew. I +supposed the trust company had brushed them into the Sound before this." + +"Oh, they are in the same class with me," I explained. "The place can't +be sold till I die, and while I live they're to be harbored--about +thirty of them--clothed and victualled." + +"I think there's a farce in the idea, and I may try it one of these +days," he said, scribbling in his note-book. "A refuge for broken-down +chambermaids, venerable bell-hops grown gray in the service, and the +head waiter who amassed a fortune in tips and then toyed with the market +once too often and lost his ill-gotten gains. What was the head waiter's +name who presided with so much stateliness in the dining-room of the +Tyringham? I mean the white-haired chap who was so particular about the +foot-cushions for the nice old ladies in caps and lavender ribbons and +India shawls--I think I can work him in somewhere." + +"That's Antoine, who married the assistant housekeeper at the +Tyringham. He's the butler and has charge of the place--a sort of +commander-in-chief of the outfit. When I get settled I'll ask you up and +you can study the bunch at leisure." + +"Splendid! Reserve one room for me on the sunny side of the garage and +I'll be up in a couple of weeks. I'm going to Ohio to-morrow for a +family reunion and a look at the loved spots my infancy knew." + +"You're lucky to have home-folks even in Ohio," I remarked enviously. + +"Well, there's always your distant auntie, cruising the seven seas in +pursuit of husbands. Nobody with an aunt to his credit can pretend to be +alone in the world. There _is_ something about an aunt, Singleton! Aunts +must rank just a little below mothers in the heavenly kingdom. When I +was a boy out in Ohio there were two great occasions every year in my +life--one when I went to visit a grand old aunt I had in the country, +the other when she visited us, arriving with a wagon-load of jam, jelly, +salt-rising bread, pound-cake, and other unpurchasable manna." + +"Stop! or I'll call the food censor," I pleaded, picking up my hat. +"Send me your copy of 'Lady Geranium,' and I'll tell you whether it's a +classic or not." + +"'Lady Larkspur,'" he corrected with a shudder. "You shall have it by +trusted messenger to-morrow." + +I wired Antoine that I would reach Barton-on-the-Sound the following +day. This was September, 1917. The former servants of the Tyringham were +established on the place by my uncle the year before he dropped business +cares and departed for the Japan of his dreams, and as I had been often +at the hotel where he spent so many of the years of his life, I knew +most of the old retainers. They were deeply appreciative of his +kindness, and when I had gone to the farm for an uninterrupted month in +finishing some piece of writing they had shown me the greatest +consideration. + +As the train rolled along the familiar shore toward Barton I shook off +the depression occasioned by my enforced retirement from the great +struggle overseas. I had done under the French flag all that it was +possible for me to do; and there was some consolation in the fact that +by reason of my two years on the battle-line I was just so much ahead of +the friends I met in New York who were answering the call to the colors +and had their experience of war all before them. The tranquil life that +had been recommended by the doctors was not only possible at Barton, but +it was the only life that could be lived there. Plenty of exercise in +the open and regular habits would, I had been assured, set me up again, +and my leisure I meant to employ in beginning a novel that had been +teasing me ever since I sailed for home. + +Of my uncle Bash I had only the happiest and most grateful memories. +Quite naturally it had occurred to me at times, and my friends had +encouraged the idea, that my uncle would die some day and leave me his +money. There was no particular reason why he should do so, as he had +never manifested any unusual affection for me and I had certainly never +done anything for him. + +Antoine was at the Barton station with the touring-car Uncle Bash had +bought to establish communication with the village. Flynn, the big +Irishman who had been the doorman at the Tyringham for years and retired +because of rheumatism acquired from long exposure to the elements at the +hostelry's portals, was at the wheel. + +Antoine greeted me with that air of lofty condescension tempered with a +sincere kindliness that had made him a prince among head waiters. As I +shook hands with him his lips quivered and tears came to his eyes. +Flynn, standing beside the car, saluted with a welcoming grin. + +"Very glad to see you, sorr. The trunk came this mornin' all right, +sorr, and we put it in your room." + +I bade Antoine join me in the back seat that he might the more easily +bring me up to date as to affairs on the estate. + +"It must be a little slow up here after the years you lived in town," I +suggested, "but of course you're all old friends." + +"Well, yes; all friends," he acquiesced, but with so little enthusiasm +that I glanced at him quickly. He pretended to be absorbed in the flying +landscape at the moment. Flynn, I noticed, was giving ear to our +conversation from the wheel. + +"It was sad, very sad, Mr. Bashford passing away so far from home, sir. +It was a great shock. And he had looked forward for years to a quiet +life abroad. It must have been ten years ago he first mentioned his hope +of retiring to Japan." + +Uncle Bash had given me no such forecast of his intentions, and I felt +humble before this proof of Antoine's greater intimacy. Once at the +beginning of our acquaintance, when I had complimented Antoine on his +English, he explained that he was born in England of French parents. His +father had been chef and his mother housekeeper for an American banker +who lived for many years in London. Antoine's speech was that of a +well-trained English upper servant, and I imagined that in his youth he +had taken some English butler as his model. He used to pretend that he +knew French very imperfectly, and I was surprised when he now addressed +me quite fluently in that language. + +"You have been with the armies of dear France," he remarked. "The war is +very dreadful. My parents were of Verdun; it grieves me to know of the +suffering in the land of my people." + +As I replied sympathetically in French I saw Flynn straighten himself at +the wheel with an impatient fling of his head. Antoine indicated him +with a contemptuous nod: "Married Elsie, the German woman who worked in +the linen-room at the Tyringham! This has caused some trouble, and +there is a pantry girl, Gretchen, who was ill a long time before the +master left, and he sent her here for the country air. She is a little +devil with her dear Fatherland." + +I laughed at the old fellow's gravity and earnestness. That the war +should be making itself felt on the quiet acres at Barton-on-the-Sound +was absurd. + +"But there can be no trouble; everything is peaceful, of course, save +for a little foolish talk----" + +The Gaul asserted itself in a shrug, a form of expression rare in him. I +was pondering the recrudescence of race hatreds due to the upheaval in +Europe when he startled me by a statement uttered close to my ear: + +"There have been inquiries for the widow; these have caused me much +anxiety." + +"Widow! Whose widow?" + +"Madame, the widow of the dear master. It seems that there are persons +anxious to see her. There have been inquiries, one--two--three times." + +"Probably some of her American friends anxious to pay their respects, +or some of the neighbors making calls of courtesy," I suggested. + +"A foreign gentleman who acts very queerly," Antoine persisted. + +My uncle's widow was a vague, unknown being whom I had never expected to +cross my horizons. If she meditated a descent upon Barton-on-the-Sound, +the trust company would certainly have had some hint of her approach, +but Torrence clearly had had no tidings of her beyond her last +communication from Bangkok. Still, it was wholly possible that a +globe-trotting widow would have friends in many parts of the world, and +I could see nothing disturbing in the fact that inquiries had been made +for her. I said as much. Antoine's answer was another shrug and a jerk +of his head toward Flynn, as though even the employment of an alien +tongue might not conceal our conversation from the big Irishman. Antoine +was manifestly impatient at my refusal to be aroused by his hints of +discord among his associates and my lack of interest in the inquiries +for Mrs. Bashford. When we had reached the farm and were running +through the grounds Antoine spoke again: + +"We thought we would put you up at the house, Mr. Singleton, and not in +the garage," he said inquiringly. + +"Not at all, Antoine," I answered quickly. "We must stick close to the +law in such matters." + +"Very good, sir. Stop at the garage, Flynn." + +To the casual observer the garage was a charming two-story house +following the general lines of the plaster and timber residence, from +which it was separated by a strip of woodland and a formal garden. The +garage and quarters for the chauffeur were at one end and at the other +were a down-stairs living-room, with a broad fireplace, and three +chambers above so planned as to afford a charming view of the Sound, +whose shore curved in deeply at this point. On the chauffeur's side was +a small kitchen from which I had been served with my meals when I lodged +there. This thoroughly convenient establishment was the only place I +could call home, and I experienced a pleasurable sense of comfort as I +opened the door into the snug living-room. + +"The house is in order. You will have your meals at the residence, I +suppose, sir," Antoine suggested. + +I debated this a moment, and when he hinted that dinner could be more +conveniently served there than in my own quarters, I said that for the +present the Flynns might give me breakfast and luncheon at the garage, +but that I would dine at the house. The original owner of the property, +from whose executor my uncle had purchased it with all its belongings, +had accumulated a remarkable library, rich in the Elizabethan stuff for +which I have a weakness, and it occurred to me that it would be pleasant +to eat my solitary dinner at the residence and loaf in the library for +an hour afterward. Like most slaves of the inkpot, I habitually postpone +actual labor as long as possible, and if I were to dine at the garage I +should have no excuse for not plunging at once into my novel. The +Tyringham people were domiciled in cottages scattered over the estate, +though a full staff of house servants was established in the residence. + +It was five o'clock when I reached the garage, and Antoine left me after +opening my bags with the suggestion that I could summon Zimmerman, a +former valet of the Tyringham, for any service I might require. I knew +Zimmerman very well and said I would call him when occasion required. + +"He is of that race," said Antoine plaintively in the French which now +seemed to come readily enough to his lips. + +"Race? Botheration! You mustn't trouble yourself about race questions +out here, Antoine. Zimmerman is a good old chap, who's probably +forgotten the very name of the German town he was born in." + +"They do not forget," Antoine replied with emphasis. "There has been +much discussion--much----" + +"Forget it, Antoine! I supposed you were all living here like a happy +family. You've been sticking too close to the farm, and it would do you +good to run into town for a week. Please tell them at the residence that +I'll dine at seven." + +"Very good, sir," he said in his pompous Tyringham manner, but I saw +that he was miffed by my indifference. + +Flynn, having disposed of the car, came to ask if there was anything he +could do for me. When I had explained my arrangement with Antoine he +still lingered. + +"Tony's against the wife and me," he said mournfully. "It's the war, +sorr, and she and me that lile, sorr, the American flag floats from the +garage every day. And if a heart can be lile, Elsie's as true to America +as though she was born in Boston State-house." + +"I believe you, Flynn," I said, touched by his earnestness. "Don't you +worry about Antoine and the rest of them; they're just a little nervous; +I'll see what I can do to straighten things out." + +As I went about my unpacking I was sorry that I had discouraged +Antoine's confidences. That these old hotel servants, flung upon a farm +with little to do, should fall to quarrelling was not surprising, but +what he had said as to the inquiries for Mrs. Bashford had roused my +curiosity. In spite of my legal right to live on the farm, I had no +intention of remaining if my uncle's widow turned up. Alone on the +estate I could lodge in the garage without any loss of dignity, but with +an aunt on the premises my status would be decidedly uncomfortable. She +could hardly fail to regard me as an intruding poor relation, no matter +how strictly I kept to my own quarters. It was possible that she might +even confuse me with the veterans of the Tyringham, and, while I am no +snob, I did not relish the idea of being classed by a strange aunt with +a crowd of broken-down hotel employees. + +I whistled myself into good humor as I dressed and started for the house +along the driveway, which followed the shore, veering off for a look at +the sunken garden, one of the few features of the place that had ever +interested my uncle. + +As I paused on the steps I caught sight of a man sitting dejectedly on a +stone bench near a fountain whose jet tossed and caught a ball with +languid iteration. I had identified him as an old Tyringham bell-hop, +known familiarly as Dutch, before he heard my step and sprang to his +feet, grabbing a pitchfork whose prongs he presented threateningly. + +"Oh, it's you, sir," he faltered, dropping the implement. "Excuse me, +sir!" + +"What's your trouble, Dutch? You're not expecting burglars, are you?" + +"Well, no, sir, but things on the place ain't what they wuz. It's my +name, which ain't my name, not reg'lar, that's caused feelin'. They've +drove me out, an' I'm campin' in the tool-house. An' me born right there +in New York an' American clean through. My grandpap came across when he +wuz a kid, but it ain't my fault he wuz Goiman. I'd 'a' made 'im a +Frenchy or a Dago or somethin' else if I could 'a' done it. Mr. +Singleton, I don't know no Goiman except pretzel, sauerkraut, wiener +wurst, and them kind o' woids." + +"Those belong to the universal language, Dutch," I answered consolingly. +"What is your name, anyhow?" + +"Augustus Schortemeier, and I say it ain't no worse'n Longfellow," he +protested. + +The point was delicate and not one that I felt myself qualified to +discuss. To cover my confusion I suggested that poets enjoy a certain +license, but I was honestly sorry for Dutch. If he was not the oldest +living bell-hop, he was at least entitled to honorable mention among the +most ancient veterans of the calling, vocation, or avocation of the +bell-hopper. I bade him cheer up and passed on. + +As I reached the house I heard a sharp command in an authoritative voice +and saw at a curve of the driveway a number of men in military formation +performing evolutions in the most sprightly manner. They carried +broomsticks, and at sight of me the commander brought his company to a +very ragged "Present arms!" Their uniform was that of the Tyringham +bell-hops and waiters, and it dawned upon me that this was an army of +protest representing the Allied armies on the shores of Connecticut. +There was a dozen of them, and the captain I recognized as Scotty, a hop +who had long worn the Tyringham livery. I waved my hand to them and +turned to find Antoine awaiting me at the door. + +"It's the troops, sir," he explained. "It's to keep Dutch and Gretchen +and Elsie--she's the wife of that Flynn--in proper order, sir." + +"Troops" was a large term for the awkward squad of retired waiters and +bell-hops, and it was with difficulty that I kept my face straight. + +"It's most unfortunate, but we was forced to it. Dinner is served, sir." + +From the table in the long dining-room I caught glimpses through the +gathering dusk of Scotty's battalion at its evolutions. + +"They keep a guard all night, sir," Antoine explained, not without +pride. "The goings on has been most peculiar." + +"Antoine!" I said sharply, "what do you mean by these hints of trouble +on the place? You're not silly enough to imagine that Dutch and a couple +of women can do anything out here to aid America's enemies! The rest of +you ought to be ashamed of yourselves for annoying them. And as for +these inquiries about Mrs. Bashford, they couldn't possibly have +anything to do with the war. Specifically, who are the persons who've +asked for her?" + +"There's the party I told you about, most persistent, who's motored here +three times, and another person who seems to be looking for _him_, sir. +It's most singular." + +"It's singularly ridiculous; that's all. They're probably piano-tuners +or rival agents for a rug house or something of that sort who don't know +that Mrs. Bashford isn't here or at all likely to be." + +"They may be agents, but not that kind, sir." His lips quivered, either +from fear or vexation at my refusal to take his story seriously. + +"If anything tangible happens, Antoine," I said kindly, "anything we can +really put our hands on, we'll certainly deal with it. But you mustn't +get nervous or allow yourself to suspect everybody who turns up here of +evil designs against the Republic. I've come here for quiet, you know, +and we can't have every passing stranger throwing the place into a +panic." + +I had no sooner reached the library, where he gave me coffee, than I +heard a slow, measured tread on the broad brick terrace that ran along +the house on the side toward the Sound. The windows were open and the +guard was in plain view. I glanced at Antoine, whose attitude toward me +was that of one benevolently tolerant of stupidity. He meant to save me +in spite of my obtuseness. "Tell the picket to remove himself where I +won't hear him, if you please, Antoine." + +He disappeared through one of the French windows and in a moment I saw +the guard patrolling a walk some distance from the house. I now made +myself comfortable with a book and a cigar, but I had hardly settled +myself for a quiet hour before I heard a commotion from the direction of +the gate, followed a few minutes later by a shout and a noisy colloquy, +after which a roadster arrived in haste at the front door. + +"Mr. Torrence, sir," announced Antoine. "I'm sorry, sir, but he ran by +the guard at the gate, and our man below the house stopped him. It's a +precaution we've been taking, sir." + +Torrence's sense of humor was always a little feeble, and I hastened +into the hall to reassure him as to his welcome. He was wiping the +perspiration from his face and swearing under his breath. + +"For God's sake, Singleton, what's happened here? A band of pirates +jumped on my running-board, and after I'd knocked them off a road-agent +stopped me right there in sight of the house and poked the muzzle of a +shotgun in my face." + +"Mighty sorry you were annoyed, but there have been some queer +characters about, tramps and that sort of thing, and the people on the +place are merely a little anxious. Have a cigar?" + +"All I can say is that you'd better send your friends the password! That +fool out there with the gun----" + +"Only a bell-hop, nothing more," I interrupted. + +"--That fool, I say, is likely to kill somebody. Antoine"--he turned to +the butler, who was drawing the curtains at the windows--"if the +property's been threatened, you should have informed me immediately." + +"Yes, sir; but it's only been quite recent, and, knowing Mr. Singleton +was coming, we didn't like to bother you." + +"We can only apologize, Torry," I interposed. "The employees have been +alarmed, but we're bound to commend their zeal." + +"Humph!" he ejaculated, the wounds to his dignity still rankling. + +I forced a cigar upon him and talked of the weather to cover Antoine's +retreat. I resolved not to tell him the real cause of the servant's +apprehensions, knowing his disposition to magnify trifles and fearing he +might send the police to investigate. He lived only five miles from +Barton, a fact to which he now referred. + +"Hadn't heard of any tramps over my way," he said, frowning. "These old +lunatics your uncle left here are simply hipped; that's all. Mr. +Bashford made a mistake in turning the place over to them; it was silly, +downright silly. It's a wonder you didn't think of upsetting his will on +the ground of mental unsoundness. It's not up to me to suggest such a +thing, but I believe you could knock it out!" + +"Oh, chuck it! They're well-meaning helpless people, and it's bully that +Uncle Bash provided a home for them. There's nobody else to use the +place." + +His cigar had proved soothing, but my last remark caused him to sit up +straight in his chair. + +"By George! my hold-up almost made me forget what I came for. I have +news for you, Singleton; good or bad, as you may take it; Mrs. Bashford +is in America." + +"Mrs. Bashford," I repeated faintly, "where do you get these pleasant +tidings?" + +"This," he answered, producing a telegram, "is all I know about it. Got +it just as I was leaving the office this afternoon, and thought I'd +motor over and give you a pleasant surprise." + +He seemed to enjoy my discomfiture. The message read: + + PITTSFIELD, MASS., Sept. 20. + + J. B. TORRENCE, + _Bainbridge Trust Co., New York._ + + Landed at Seattle a week ago, and have been motoring east from + Chicago to see the country. Will reach Barton in four or five days. + Please wire me at the Washington Inn, Lenox, whether house is in + order for occupancy. + + ALICE BASHFORD. + +"Well, what do you say to that?" he demanded. + +"I say it's taking unfair advantage," I answered savagely. "I've got to +clear out; that's the first thing." + +"Not necessarily. Your right to the garage is settled; she couldn't oust +you if she wanted to. You've got to stay here anyhow till she comes; +there's no ducking that. The widow of an uncle who did a lot for you, a +stranger to the country; it's up to you to see her established. There +are many little courtesies she would naturally expect from you." + +"I'm delighted that you see my duty so clearly! If you hadn't assured me +that she was safe at the end of the world I wouldn't have set foot +here." + +"The house is in order, I judge," he remarked, glancing about the room. +"I've got to wire her that we're ready for her." + +"You most certainly have! Your duty is as plain as a smoke-stack. You +might add that she's causing serious inconvenience to her late husband's +only nephew." + +"You really don't mean that?" he inquired anxiously. + +"Oh, thunder, no!" + +I had forgotten how trying Torrence could be. He now suggested that we +summon Antoine and take a look at the house. Torrence is a conscientious +fellow with an exact and orderly mind, and there was no corner of the +place from cellar to garret that we didn't explore. It was highly +creditable to the old Tyringham servants that the house was thoroughly +habitable. All that need be done before Mrs. Bashford arrived was to lay +linen on the beds and take the jackets from the furniture; a couple of +hours would suffice, Antoine said. + +As we were on our way down-stairs the old fellow detained me a moment. + +"Have you told him about the parties? Pardon me, sir," he whispered, +"but him and the trust company is responsible. I thought likely you'd +tell him." + +I shook my head in angry rejection of the idea that I should tell +Torrence about "the parties," and dismissed him as soon as we reached +the hall. + +"I suggest," said Torrence, "that when she comes you have flowers in all +the rooms; the conservatory will supply enough. And it occurs to me that +the more inconspicuous you make this bunch of lazy dependents the more +agreeable it will be for Mrs. Bashford." + +"You don't expect much of me! It was never in the contract that I should +become the patriarch of these venerable relics. But I'll warn them to +conceal themselves as much as possible. I fully expect to leave the +reservation for good just one hour after the lady arrives." + +"That's your affair, of course. As she's motoring, we can't just time +her arrival, but when I get a wire that she's on the way I'll telephone +you. And, of course, after she gets here I'll come at once to pay my +respects." + +"You can't come too soon!" I answered spitefully. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE AMAZING WIDOW + + +As soon as Torrence left I returned to the garage, feeling that with +Mrs. Bashford on American soil my use of the residence even as a +loafing-place was unbecoming. Mrs. Bashford was not only in America, but +with a motor at her command she might reach Barton at any hour. And the +vigorous, dominating woman who had captured my uncle Bash, buried him in +a far country, and then effected a hop, skip, and jump from Bangkok to +Seattle, was likely to be a prodigal spender of gasoline. Her propensity +for travelling encouraged the hope that she would quickly weary of +Barton and pine for lands where the elephant and jinrickisha flourish. + +I had brought with me the manuscript of Searles's play, and I fell upon +it irritably and began reading the first act. The dialogue moved +briskly, and I read on as though enfolded in the air of a crisp spring +morning. It was Searles's whimsical stroke, only with a better vehicle +than he had ever before found for it. My grouch over the upsetting of my +plans yielded under the spell of his humor. + +"Lady Larkspur" was the name assumed by the daughter of a recluse +naturalist in the valley of Virginia. She had known no life but that of +the open country, where she ran wild all summer, aiding her father in +collecting plants and butterflies. At twenty she had never seen a city, +and her social contacts had been limited to the country folk, who viewed +her with commiseration as the prisoner of her misanthrope father, who in +the fifteen years of his exile had maintained a hostile attitude toward +his neighbors. He had, however, educated the girl in such manner that +only the cheer and joy of life were known to her. Hating mankind, he had +encouraged her in nature-worship. She knew no literature except the +classics; all history, even the history of the storied valley in which +she lived, was a sealed book to her. + +The girl's curiosity is roused by the sudden appearance of strangers +from the unknown world beyond, whom she mystifies by her quaint +old-worldishness. Searles had taken an old theme and given a novel twist +to it. The solution of the mystery of the father's exile and an amusing +complication of lovers afforded a suspensive interest well sustained to +the end. There were innumerable charming scenes, as where the girl in +the outlandish costume in which she roamed the hills perches on a +boulder and recites the "Iliad" to her suitors. In the last act she +appears at a ball at a country house in sophisticated raiment, and the +story ends in the key of mirth in which it began. + +It was a delightful blending and modernization of Diana, Atalanta, +Cinderella, and Rosalind; but even in the typewritten page it was +amazingly alive and well calculated to evoke tears and laughter. That a +play so enthralling should be buried in a safety-vault was not to be +thought of, and I sat down and wrote Searles a long letter demanding +that he at once forget the lost star for whom he had written the piece, +suggesting the names of several well-known actresses I thought worth +considering for the difficult leading rôle. Not satisfied with this, I +telephoned a telegram to the agent at Barton for transmission to +Searles at the Ohio address he had given me. + +The next day passed without incident, and on the second, hearing nothing +from Torrence, I began to doubt Mrs. Bashford's proximity. On the third, +still hearing nothing, I harkened to an invitation from friends at New +London and drove over in the runabout for dinner. It was midnight when I +got back, and when I reached the gates several men dashed out of the +lodge and halted me. + +"She's come, sir," announced Antoine, emerging from the darkness, and +speaking under stress of deep emotion; "madame the widow has arrived, +sir!" + +"Why not Cleopatra or the Queen of Sheba?" I exclaimed testily to cover +my annoyance that my aunt had effected her descent in my absence. "Well, +she was expected; the house is hers; what do you want me to do about +it?" I ended with affected jocularity. + +"We received her the best we could; but it was most unfortunate, your +not being here, sir." + +"Is that your idea, Antoine, or do you reflect the lady's sentiments? +I'm properly humiliated either way. Tell me just what she said." + +"Well, sir, she just laughed when I took the liberty of apologizing." + +"The sneering laughter of outraged dignity! Go ahead and give me the +rest of it." + +"It was at ten she came, sir, and the guard held her up, not recognizing +her, here at the gate, and when the car didn't stop the boys chased her +and fired at the tires of her machine. It was very dreadful, sir. And at +the house--at the door, sir--the guard was very harsh with her, sir, +most regrettable." + +"You certainly made a mess of it!" I ejaculated. "But you did let her +in--into her own house, we must remember--you did grant her the courtesy +of a lodging for the night?" I inquired ironically. + +"She's retired, sir. There was a lady with her; maybe a maid; I can't +exactly say; and we did everything, sir, to make her comfortable. She +was not what you might say fussy, sir, but quite human-like. We was all +relieved, sir, the way she took everything. I hope you'll pardon us, +sir, which was due to not being warned." + +"Oh, it's all right with me, but in the morning she'll probably bounce +the whole lot of us. An old lady fatigued from a journey cross country +and shot at on her own premises--it's a very pretty story." + +They were a picturesque lot, the ancient waiters and bell-hops grouped +about Antoine with their lanterns and garden implements and firearms. +Antoine was swallowing hard in his effort to continue his recital. + +"You say an old lady, sir; the mistress is not really what you would +call so old--not exactly, sir." + +"Really a youngish party, I should say," volunteered Graves, the +gardener. + +Just what these veterans would call old was a matter of conjecture. +"Um," I murmured, and considered the situation. + +"Young or old, she would hardly relish her reception. There was a maid, +and they came in a machine? Did you put up the chauffeur or did you +shoot him on the spot?" + +"It was a hired machine, sir; and madame sent it away. The driver was a +good deal upset over the shooting. One of the rear tires was quite +blown away." + +"You're in luck if he doesn't have you all arrested to-morrow," I +remarked consolingly. + +"Mrs. Bashford seemed quite amused by the occurrence," Antoine +continued. "'Wonderful America!' she kept saying after we'd got her +inside. We gave her tea, which was all she asked for. She takes her tea +with cream, sir. We did our best to make her comfortable. And there was +a dog, sir. I recall that the master was not fond of dogs. There was +never one on the place." + +Antoine spoke truly; if there was anything my Uncle Bash detested it was +a dog, but I reflected that a world-skipping widow who could corral so +difficult a subject as my uncle would be quite capable of inspiring him +with delight in the canine species. My respect for the woman's powers of +persuasion was intensified by this disclosure. + +She had failed to wire Torrence as she promised or he had neglected to +warn me of her coming; either way it was a pretty kettle of fish, and I +shuddered at the thought of facing her wholly pardonable indignation. + +To make sure that nothing was required of me until morning, I drove past +the house with the army hanging to the footboard. The lower rooms were +dark, but lights twinkled through the second-story shutters. My aunt was +established on the premises, and her coming and the circumstances of her +advent constituted a good joke of which I and not she was the victim. +When I reached my quarters in the garage I sat down and laughed until +Flynn appeared, frightened by my noisy mirth that had penetrated to his +quarters. I got rid of him and smoked a pipe and began the packing I +meant to finish early in the morning. + +I wakened early, rang a bell connecting my rooms with the chauffeur's +end of the garage as a warning to the Flynns to prepare breakfast, and +was dressed when the Irishman came in with the tray. In the absence of a +morning paper I clung to him for company. + +"I trust you will not be leaving, sorr," he remarked, eyeing my +half-packed trunk. + +"Very soon, Flynn." + +"Then Elsie and I will be going too, sorr. It's most uncomfortable +they're making us--Dutch and the rest. That Antoine and his army keep +pesterin' us and callin' us Huns." + +"You raise a very interesting question, Flynn, a very delicate question +of fact and propriety. Satisfied as you and Elsie are of your entire +loyalty to the United States and the associated Powers, I think you +should remain, a martyr, if need be, to the great cause of world +democracy." + +"It's most disagreeable we find it, the wife and me," he said +mournfully. + +"Suffer and be strong--that's the watchword! We will hope that Mrs. +Bashford is a woman of sound sense and tact who will exert herself to +restore peace on her property. When I call to pay my respects and make +my adieus I shall speak to her of the situation and vouch for your +loyalty. You may count on me. You haven't, I suppose, seen the widow +yet--she's probably sleeping late." + +"Quite the contrary, sorr. She's been up and around for an hour an' +more. She's been all over the place and stopped for a squint at the +garage, her and the pup." + +"She's been here, inspecting the garage?" I asked, glancing at my watch. +It was not yet eight o'clock. The banter died out of me; clearly it had +been my duty to be on hand to pilot her over the estate, or at least to +receive her at the garage. "Just what was the lady's frame of mind--as +to things generally. Peeved, was she, over the row last night?" + +"Oh, no, sorr; quite cheerful an' friendly. She's ordered a big car from +New York and told me it would be coming up to-day and to make a place +for it." + +Here was news indeed, destroying all my hopes that she meditated only a +brief sojourn. The purchase of a machine meant definitely that she would +remain for some time, perhaps for the winter. I poured a second cup of +coffee, swallowed it, grabbed my hat and stick, and asked enlightment as +to the course taken by Mrs. Bashford when she left the garage. + +"She took the lower road, sorr, toward the Sound and stepped off quite +brisk-like." + +It was the serenest of September mornings, and I hurried away, thinking +the cloudless blue arch, the twinkling sea, and the crisp air might +serve to soften my aunt's displeasure at her hostile reception. From the +conservatories I caught a glimpse of a woman on the beach--a slender, +agile woman throwing a ball for the amusement of a fox-terrier. She +threw the ball with a boy's free swing, occasionally varying a hot one +down the shore with a toss high in air which she caught up herself +before the terrier could reach it. The two were having no end of a good +time. She laughed joyfully when the ball fell into her hands and the +terrier barked his discomfiture and eagerness for a chance to redeem +himself. + +Antoine's equivocal statement as to Mrs. Bashford's age was ridiculous. +Instead of the middle-aged woman whom I was prepared to meet, here was +beyond question a vigorous, healthy being whose every movement spoke for +youth and the joy of life. It might, after all, be the maid of whom +Antoine had spoken; I advanced slowly, anxious not to break in upon her +romp with the terrier--they made a charming picture--and trying to +formulate an introduction. I reached a low stone wall that separated the +lawn from the beach just as she effected a running pick-up of the ball. +She turned swiftly and flung it straight at my head. Involuntarily I +put up my hand and caught it just as she saw me and cried out--a cry of +warning and contrition. I tossed the ball to the dog. + +"What must you think of me!" she exclaimed. "I was blinded by the +sunlight and I didn't see you--really I did not!" + +"I had no business being in the way," I laughed, noting first her +glowing color, her violet eyes--amazingly fine eyes they were--her fair +hair with its golden glint, her plain black gown with lawn collar and +wristbands. It was her age, however, that roused me to instant +speculation. Twenty-five, I decided, was a maximum; more likely she was +not more than twenty-two, and if I had been told that eighteen was the +total of her years I shouldn't have had the heart to dispute it. + +"Bob Singleton," I said and stupidly added, "and you are Mrs. Bashford?" +unable for the life of me to avoid turning the statement into an +inquiry. + +"I am your aunt Alice," she said with a smile, putting out her hand. +"Down, Rex!" she commanded the dancing terrier; "lie down; school's over +now"; whereupon Rex obediently sprawled in the sand and began trying to +swallow the ball. + +"Wasn't that silly of me to try to kill you the first time we met!" Her +eyes danced with merriment. "I didn't know, of course, that any one was +about. But you made a very nice catch of it! I had expected to receive +you most formally in the drawing-room, but this really serves very well. +That tree down yonder is inviting; suppose we stay out here and talk a +bit." + +This struck me as the pleasantest thing imaginable, though I was still +dazed and my tongue seemed to have died in my mouth. This girl, this +wholly charming and delightful young woman, was the monstrous being I +had conjectured as the globe-trotting widow who had kidnapped and +married my uncle! Not only had she married my uncle Bash and in due +course buried him; she had been a widow when she married him! I +furtively studied her face--a face that invited scrutiny--and her candid +eyes that met my gaze of wonder and frank admiration easily and without +a trace of self-consciousness. On the third finger of her left hand was +a slender band of gold. The thing was staggering, bewildering. She was +clearly anxious to be friendly, but nothing that I had thought of saying +to her fitted the situation. + +"In the first place," I finally began, "I must apologize most humbly for +the earnest efforts of the servants to murder you last night. Mr. +Torrence had promised to let me know when you would reach here, but he +must have forgotten it. I had motored to a friend's house to dine and +didn't get back until the mischief was done. I'm very sorry. You must +have thought you had driven into a camp of savages!" + +"Not for worlds would I have missed that," she exclaimed with a merry +laugh. "It was perfectly delicious! And it was all my fault. I meant to +remain a day at Hartford, you know, and send a message to Mr. Torrence +from there, but I found that by pushing on I could reach here yesterday. +Then the machine I hired showed every weakness that motors are subject +to and we were hours later than the Hartford garage man promised. And +you know we English always expect strange things to happen in America. I +don't understand yet why those people at the gates were so jolly +anxious to kill us; but it doesn't matter; you would only spoil the joke +by explaining it." + +However, I did my best--it was a weak attempt--to explain the +nervousness of the veteran servants and their display of violence. Her +arrival made it likely that we should soon know more about the "parties" +whose visits and inquiries had so alarmed Antoine and his comrades. Now +that I saw Mrs. Bashford the idea that any one could entertain +malevolent designs upon her was more preposterous than ever, and I +resolved that she must be shielded from annoyances of every kind. I told +her with all the humor I could throw into the recital of the drilling of +the bell-hops and of the uncomfortable relations between the Allied +forces and the Teutonic minority on the estate. + +"It was dear of Mr. Bashford to provide a home for these people; wasn't +he really the kindest soul that ever lived?" she said softly. + +She gazed wistfully seaward, and I saw the gleam of tears on her long +lashes. My uncle had, then, meant something to her! No one, in speech +or manner, could have suggested the adventuress less; Uncle Bash was a +gentleman, a man of æsthetic tastes, and the girl was adorable. More +remarkable things had happened in the history of love and marriage than +that two such persons, meeting in a far corner of the world, would +honestly care for each other. My respect for Uncle Bash grew; he had +married the most attractive girl in the world, and here she was with the +bloom of her girlhood upon her, tripping alone through a world that +might have been created merely that she might confer light and cheer +upon it. + +"You stopped at Hartford," I began, breaking a long silence. "You have +friends there----?" + +"Not one! I had made a pious pilgrimage to Mark Twain's last home at +Redding, and, hearing that he had lived at Hartford, I came through +there to render my fullest homage. He has always been one of my heroes, +you know." She laughingly lifted her hands and counted upon her +fingers--"'The Jumping Frog,' Tom and Huck, and 'Mulberry Sellers,' 'The +Prince and the Pauper,' and 'Pudd'nhead Wilson'! I know them all by +heart!" + +"Our introduction is complete," I said reverently. "Let's consider +ourselves old friends." + +"I rather thought we'd understand each other," she said in her even, +mellow tones. "You know, we had your photograph out East--a very good +one, it seems--so I had an idea of what you looked like." + +"The photograph gave you an unfair advantage! And I didn't know Uncle +Bash carried one away with him." + +"He was very fond of you," she said gravely. "He was very proud that you +had gone into the war." + +"I am glad to hear that; I thought he disapproved of me for refusing to +go into business. He offered me a substantial interest before he sold +out." + +"I know that; but I think he liked you rather better for refusing it. +Business with him was merely a means to an end. And it was doubly sad +that he should die just when he was free to enjoy the beautiful things +he loved." + +It was at the tip of my tongue to say that the loss of her companionship +was even more grievous; but nothing in her manner invited such a +comment. Her grave moods were to be respected, and she talked for some +time of Uncle Bash's life in the East, of his short illness and quite +unexpected death. + +"But I'm keeping you," she exclaimed suddenly, jumping down from the +wall. "And I must finish my unpacking." + +As we walked to the house I answered her questions about the +neighborhood, and promised to telephone Torrence immediately of her +arrival. + +"You will have luncheon with us--or maybe dinner would be better--or +both? Antoine told me of your bachelor establishment, but eating alone +is bad for the digestion. I shall think you resent my coming if you +don't dine at the house every day. Mrs. Farnsworth--my friend and +companion--is a very interesting woman. I am sure you will like her." + +The information that she was protected in her youthful widowhood by a +companion was imparted neatly. + +"It was really much nicer, meeting this way," she said, giving me her +hand. "We shall expect you at seven." + +I found them on the veranda, which had been transformed since my last +glimpse of it. Rugs, wicker furniture, wall-pockets of flowers, and +paper lanterns dropped over the electric lights gave it the appearance +of a prettily set scene. She came toward me, a slender figure in white. +She seemed taller in white; as she took a few steps toward me, I was +aware of a stateliness I had missed at the shore. A queenly young +person, but as unaffectedly cordial and friendly as in the bright +morning sunlight. + +"Mrs. Farnsworth, Mr. Singleton." + +Mrs. Farnsworth was a pleasant-faced, white-haired woman with remarkably +fine, dark eyes. If the positions had been changed--if Mrs. Farnsworth +had been my uncle's choice of a wife, the situation would have been much +more real. I instantly liked Mrs. Farnsworth. She uttered a few +commonplaces in an uncommonplace tone without pausing in her knitting. +Mrs. Bashford had been knitting too, and as she sat down she took up her +yarn and needles. It was a sweater, I think; it doesn't matter. What +matters is that her hands moved swiftly and deftly. Her manner of +knitting was charming. She knew that I was watching her hands and +remarked with a graceful turn of the head: + +"For an English boy somewhere! I began by knitting for my brother and +cousins, but"--her head bent lower--"that isn't for me to do any more." +Her eyes, turned upon me for a moment, were bright with tears. + +I was speaking of the splendid valor of Englishmen I had known in France +when Antoine announced dinner. + +It had been years since the house had known a woman's hand, and it was +astonishing how humanized it had become in a few hours. The long +dining-room, always a bare, forbidding place, had been reduced to cosey +proportions by screens, and a small round table replaced the massive, +oblong affair that always looked as though it had been built into the +house by the carpenters. + +"I found those lovely screens in the garret and thought we might as well +enjoy them, and that Lang Yao jar you see on the sideboard oughtn't to +be hidden in the vault." + +"I am sure Uncle Bash would be happy to know you care for these things +so much," I said, noting that the white roses she had chosen for the +jar--I knew the choice was hers--served to emphasize the deep red of its +exquisite glaze. + +"I am among the unelect," remarked Mrs. Farnsworth. "When I am told that +such things are beautiful I am immediately convinced. I say they are +beautiful, and that is enough." + +"That has always been enough for me," I replied. "My uncle used to try +to interest me, and I wore out a good many pairs of shoes following him +through museums and salesrooms, but he gave me up when he found that my +pagan soul was aroused by nothing but pottery idols. It wasn't the +pottery that interested me even there, but only the ugliest designs. I +am a heathen!" + +"I am gratified that you make the admission so frankly," said Mrs. +Farnsworth. "I have always been a great admirer of the heathen." + +"I like them when they are nice," said Mrs. Bashford. + +"Yes; I have found you very discriminating in your choice of the +species, Alice. But, you know, Mr. Singleton, Alice and I never can +agree as to just what a heathen is. All our squabbles have been about +that. The old hymn pictured the heathen in his blindness bowing down to +wood and stone; but I'm disposed to broaden my definition to include all +who believe in fairies good or bad, and persons who honestly believe in +signs, omens, and lucky stones and all who have the receipt of fern-seed +and walk invisible--there's Shakespeare for that. Some very good +Christians are also very nice heathens: we mustn't be narrow and bigoted +about such things." + +"I think," said Mrs. Bashford soberly, "that I have always believed in +witches; and if I keep on believing I shall see one some day. We shall +find anything in this world that we believe in hard enough. Now a +witch--the kind of witch I have always expected to wake up and find +flourishing a broom at me from the foot of my bed----" + +She was talking very gravely, as though witches were the commonest topic +of conversation, but finding my eyes turned upon her in frank wonder, +she laughed at my amazement. + +"Let us be honest with you, Mr. Singleton," Mrs. Farnsworth explained, +"and tell you that we are just testing you. It may be a breach of +hospitality, and you are all but a stranger, but we are curious to know +whether you are of that small company of the favored of heaven who can +play at being foolish without becoming idiotic. Alice is sometimes very +near idiocy. You admit that, Alice!" + +"I not only admit it, but I might even boast of it!" my aunt replied. + +At the mention of witches I had caught Antoine crossing himself as he +turned to the sideboard. I confess that I myself had been startled by +the drift of the talk. Mrs. Farnsworth was far from being the grim +duenna I had feared might be my aunt's chaperon, and there was certainly +nothing in her appearance to suggest that she was a believer in witches. +She and my aunt treated each other as though they were contemporaries, +and it was Alice and Constance between them. As the talk ran +exhaustively through the lore of witches and goblins I had hoped that +one or the other would drop some clew as to the previous history of my +amazing aunt. It was as plain as day that she and Mrs. Farnsworth +indulged in whims for the joy of it, and her zest in the discussion of +witches, carried on while Antoine served the table, lips tightly +compressed, and with an exaggeration of his stately tread, was the more +startling from the fact that my aunt's companion was a woman of years, a +handsome woman with a high-bred air who did not look at all like a +person who would discuss witches as though they had been made the topic +of the day by the afternoon newspapers. And when the shape of a witch's +chin became the immediate point of discussion I knew it was in Antoine's +mind that such conversation was unbecoming, an offense to the memory of +Raymond Bashford. Mrs. Farnsworth's brown eyes sparkled, and the color +deepened in my aunt's cheeks as we discoursed upon witches and the chins +thereof. I had a friend in college who used to indulge in the same sort +of piffling, but that my uncle's widow and her elderly companion should +delight in such absurdities bewildered me. I had been addressing my aunt +as Mrs. Bashford--it seemed ridiculous to call her Aunt Alice--and in +the heat of our argument as to whether witches are necessarily naughty +and malign beings I had just uttered the "Mrs." when she bent toward me +and said gravely and with no hint of archness: "Can't we make it Alice +and Bob? I think that would be a lot friendlier." + +I experienced a curious flutter of the heart the first time I tried it, +but after that it came very easily. I found it impossible to think of +her in terms of auntship, and it was a relief to have the relationship +waived. She was simply the jolliest, prettiest girl that had ever +crossed my horizon, and to be talking to her across the table gave me +thrills compared with which sliding out of clouds in an airplane is only +a rocking-chair pastime for old men. + +The veteran chef of the Tyringham had produced an excellent dinner, +though the witch talk made Antoine a trifle nervous in serving it. + +We had coffee on the veranda (Alice thought it would be nicer there), +and as Antoine gave me my cup he edged close to my chair to whisper: + +"That party, sir. If he should come----" + +"Tell the troops not to attack any visitors," I said, loud enough for +the others to hear. "Mr. Torrence will be here shortly, and it would be +annoying to have him ushered in on a shutter. We must establish a rule +that callers are not to be fired upon at the gate." + +"I know why this is the land of the free and the home of the brave," +laughed Alice. "One has to be brave to live here." + +Antoine departed with a resentful twist of the shoulders, and I decided +to meet squarely the matter of the visitors who had so troubled him. + +"Please don't be frightened," I said as lightly as possible, "but these +old fellows haven't enough to do, and they are full of apprehensions. +With nobody here to keep them busy it's remarkable they haven't found a +ghost." + +"If they only would!" murmured Mrs. Farnsworth. + +"No such luck! They have been alarmed by an agent of some sort who wants +to welcome you to America by selling you a piano on easy payments." + +Antoine had been hovering inside, and my remark brought him to the +door. + +"Beg pardon, Mr. Singleton, but that party is not an agent, but quite +different, sir. He came to the house, quite like a gentleman, several +times, and asked if Mrs. Bashford had arrived. He came in a big car, and +seemed disappointed, madame, that you were not here and not expected. +The second time he said he was just passing on his way to the city and +thought he would stop again. A very well-spoken gentleman, and we'd have +thought nothing of it except that a few days later I caught a man I was +sure was the same party, but dressed in rough clothes, sneaking across +the veranda right there where you're sitting. When I called to him he +ran as hard as he could, and Graves--he's the vegetable-gardener--saw +him leaving the property by the back way." + +"It's hardly possible that a man who impressed you as a gentleman when +you saw him at the door should have returned in disguise and tried to +break into the house. The two things don't hang together, Antoine." + +"Oh," exclaimed Mrs. Farnsworth, "it would be so much more delightful if +that were true! Any one in disguise is bound to be interesting. A +disguise suggests most beautiful possibilities. And to be sought, asked +for by a stranger!" + +I could not be sure in the dim light of the veranda, but I thought I +detected a white slipper cautiously reach out and touch a black one. At +any rate, Mrs. Farnsworth lapsed into silence. + +"Thank you very much, Antoine," said Alice. "It is very proper for you +to tell me anything of any stranger on the property, but I see nothing +here to be alarmed about. If the same gentleman calls again, let me know +instantly." + +"Very good, madame." And then, turning as though conferring upon me a +part of his responsibility for the security of the premises: "It's a +party with a limp; just a trifling limp, sir; you'd hardly notice it. It +was worse the last time as he ran away. A smallish man, rather dark, +with a little mustache turned up at the ends." + +"I have noted all these details, Antoine," I replied; and again I +thought there was a telegraphic exchange between the ladies, though +this time a black slipper was the means of communication. + +Torrence arrived in a moment, and nothing has ever given me keener joy +than his shock of surprise at beholding Mrs. Bashford. As I introduced +the ladies he was so overcome that he greeted Mrs. Farnsworth as Mrs. +Bashford--a not unnatural mistake--and there was an embarrassing moment +as I set him right. Having done this, I seated myself beside Mrs. +Farnsworth that Torrence might be free to talk business with my aunt. I +was devoutly grateful that he had not been present at the dinner-table, +for my own efforts to interest Torrence in anything but the most +practical matters had always been highly unsuccessful, and the +discussion of ghosts and witches would hardly have amused him. As Mrs. +Farnsworth and I took up the recent movements on the western front I +overheard Torrence putting all the machinery of the trust company at +Mrs. Bashford's disposal. It seemed almost a blasphemy to be talking of +income and like matters to a woman like Alice Bashford! + +They continued their conference for some time, but I got nothing out of +Mrs. Farnsworth that shed any light on my aunt's history beyond what +she had told me herself, which was precious little. Mrs. Farnsworth's +talk was that of a cultivated woman. Her voice interested me +unaccountably; the tones had all manner of shadings and inflections; it +was curiously musical, but in speaking of the great war a passionate +note crept into it that stirred me deeply. + +"This has been a dark year for Alice," she remarked. "Mr. Bashford's +death, followed quickly by that of her brother--an only son--piled a +cruel burden of grief upon the dear child. She wants to go back to +England to nurse the wounded, to do anything for our dear country, but I +want to keep her here a little while until she can readjust herself. You +must not think, Mr. Singleton, that she has no feeling; you have no idea +of the depths of that child's nature; they are unfathomable! It is my +task to encourage her in frivolity and the make-believe she loves--hence +our absurdities at the table. She's the drollest child, but with +wonderful understanding. And at times it's not easy to keep the divine +spark of play alive in her heart." + +The light of one of the porch lamps fell upon Alice's face as she +patiently gave heed to Torrence's account of his stewardship. One of her +hands gently stroked the terrier that lay quietly in a chair beside her. +I was sure that his painstaking description of assets and market values +was boring her. Once her voice rose in expostulation. Torrence, I +judged, was suggesting that legal means could be found to expel the old +Tyringham employees from the Barton property. + +"Oh, never in the world! It was quite like Mr. Bashford to want to care +for these people in their old age. And"--she laughed and turned toward +me--"they can't be dislodged while Bob lives; and we don't want to part +with him just yet." + +I was glad to have him hear her address me in this intimate fashion. +Torry always inspired in me a desire to shock him. He was trying to +assure Alice that his only concern was to make her comfortable; he +wished to save her from every annoyance and that sort of thing. + +"I shall help Alice to break them in, Torry," I said, lingering upon her +name for his special edification. + +"Of course, Singleton," he replied. "I wasn't sure you meant to stay on. +Pardon me, but I didn't----" + +"Oh, it isn't that Bob hasn't a right to stay," said Alice quickly; +"Mrs. Farnsworth and I are hoping that he will like us well enough to +share our exile on other accounts. We are so unfamiliar with everything +American that it would be most unkind for him to desert us." + +"I am engaging Mr. Singleton to explain American jokes to me," announced +Mrs. Farnsworth. "Alice seems to get them, but I'm never sure." + +It is a part of Torrence's business to counsel widows, which he does +like the honorable man he is, but as he rose to go presently, remarking +that his wife would motor down to call shortly, I caught a glimpse of +his face that indicated deep perplexity. I wanted to warn him that Alice +Bashford was not an ordinary widow, who vexes officers of trust +companies with foolish questions and is prone to overdraw her account, +so I left when he did. + +"I want to talk to you," he said nervously when we were outside. "I'll +send the car ahead to the gate." + +When the shrubbery cut us off from the house he stopped abruptly and +seized my arm. "What do you make of it?" he demanded. + +"Make of what?" I asked. + +"That girl!" he exclaimed testily. + +"If you insist, I must avow that she's adorable, nothing else." + +"Don't be a fool! You knew Raymond Bashford much better than I did, and +you know perfectly well he never married a young girl of that sort! +Those women are playing a trick, and I'm surprised that you don't see +through it." + +"My uncle was a man of taste and a gentleman," I answered deliberately. +"There's nothing in the least improbable in his being infatuated with a +young woman of charm and wit like this girl. And it is hardly profitable +or decent to speculate as to her interest in him. You mustn't forget +that Uncle Bash was an unusual man, a man with whom a young girl might +easily fall in love without reference to his age or money or anything +else." + +"I tell you it won't do," he insisted. "If either of those women at the +house is Raymond Bashford's widow, it's the one who calls herself +Farnsworth." + +"You did your best to convict them of fraud the first jump out of the +box," I said, laughing at the recollection of his confusion when I +introduced him. + +"My mistake was a natural one," he said defensively. "They're playing a +game of some kind and it's no laughing matter, but it won't take long to +find out what they're up to." + +"You'll hardly go the length of having them arrested as imposters, +Torrence--not without some data to work on!" + +"Certainly not. You seem to be hitting it off with both of them, but I +advise you to be on guard. Are you sure your uncle never sent you his +wife's photograph? That would have been a perfectly natural thing to +do." + +"If I'd got a photograph, I should have headed for Japan, not for +France." I laughed, but I was thinking deeply. His line of reasoning as +to the incongruity of the marriage was not so different from my own that +I could sneer at his suspicions. Very convincingly, as became a +practical-minded man, he expanded his views as to the unlikelihood of my +uncle's marrying a girl but little beyond school age. I shrank from +telling him that I didn't care a hang whether the widow was a fraud or +not. If the two women who had settled themselves on the Barton estate +were imposters, they were extraordinarily daring and clever. My attitude +toward them was wholly defensive. If women of their quality were +perpetrating a fraud, I was for giving them every chance, and I had no +intention of allowing Torrence to spoil the unfolding of the conspiracy. + +We were nearing a gateway where his car waited, and I saw several of the +guard hanging about at a discreet distance. "Look here, Singleton," he +said angrily, "you don't seem to take this business very seriously. You +don't want to make the mistake of letting a pretty girl pull the wool +over your eyes. If we're not careful, we're all of us likely to get into +trouble." He lowered his voice and added tensely: "Those women are under +suspicion of something more serious than an attempt to rob an estate. +An agent of the American State Department called on me yesterday and +asked embarrassing questions about Mrs. Bashford. Not a Secret Service +man, you understand, or anything of that kind, but an important man in +the State Department." + +"Of course you knew nothing to tell," I suggested as he beat the walk +impatiently with his stick. + +"I took a chance at lying to him about her expected arrival. I thought +it only decent to have a look at the woman first. He told me nothing +except that the British Embassy had made inquiries and that the matter +was delicate and must be handled carefully." + +"Was this inquirer lame--a small dark man with a black mustache?" I +asked, suddenly interested. "Such a person has been hanging about here, +so the boys tell me?" + +"Not at all! I may as well tell you it was Raynor--you probably remember +him. He's a specialist in international law, and they took him into the +State Department just after the _Lusitania_ business. He's a gentleman +and a good fellow--I've played golf with him a good deal--and I hated +to lie to him. Of course, with the whole United States back of him he +can pursue his inquiries without my help; but I thought I'd see this +woman before telling him she had reached America." + +I confess that I was a trifle dismayed by this. Raynor I knew slightly. +Professionally and socially he stood high, and even without the prestige +of his official position he was not a chap to sneeze at; but I didn't +want Torrence to know I had any doubts as to the perfect authenticity of +my uncle's widow. + +"Oh, every transcontinental pilgrim is probably scrutinized closely +these days," I remarked carelessly. "Mrs. Bashford has lost a brother in +the war, and I haven't heard any one talk more bitterly against Germany. +And her companion certainly has no illusions about the Kaiser. You'd +have to show me the proof to make me believe we're harboring spies." + +"I don't like the business," he declared stubbornly. + +"Let's do nothing foolish," I insisted. "If Raynor has reason to suspect +either or both of these women, we'll hear further from him." + +"I've put myself in a hole," he said angrily. "Of course I've got to +advise him immediately that Mrs. Bashford is here. I promised to let him +know as soon as I heard from her." + +"Just wait a few days; I undertake to keep them under surveillance; you +can put the whole responsibility on me. If they attempt to leave, I'll +warn you and Raynor instantly, but they have settled themselves as +though they expected to spend the rest of their lives here. Remembering +your visit the other night, you ought to be satisfied with the policing +of the place!" + +I told him of Mrs. Bashford's adventures in reaching the house without +convincing him that there was anything funny in her experiences, and he +left on my promise to report to him daily at a given hour and instantly +if anything unusual occurred. I waited for the guards to lock the gates +and bade them keep watch every night until further orders, and was on my +way back through the grounds when Antoine arrested me. + +"Pardon me, but I'd like to ask what you think of it, sir?" he asked +hoarsely, falling into step. + +"If you mean what do I think of Mrs. Bashford," I replied sharply, "I +think she's quite charming and delightful and all any one could ask in +every way." + +"It's her manner of speaking of spookish things, Mr. Singleton. It +doesn't seem fitting in a widow and her so lately bereaved. And the +older lady's quite as bad, sir. The maids tell me they keep talking all +day about fairies and pretending they're queens and such like, and +talking poetry to each other." + +"Quoting poetry is a harmless amusement, Antoine, and believing in +fairies and goblins is no crime. Such pastimes argue for sweetness and +innocence of character." + +"But the late master never indulged in such things, sir." + +"He would have lived longer if he had! It was probably the poetry and +fairies that attracted him to Mrs. Bashford." + +"Yes, sir," he acquiesced with a gulp. "I suppose you're right, sir." + +"You should be grateful to Mrs. Bashford for not bouncing you all for +the row you made last night. It could be done; in fact, Mr. Torrence has +suggested that legal means could be found for getting rid of you." + +"That would be very sad, sir," he said humbly. + +"Isn't Mrs. Bashford kind to you? Hasn't she taken pains to make you all +feel at home?" + +"Well, yes, sir. But she's taken Elsie back into the house, and there's +no work for her, there being two women in the laundry already; and she's +told me Dutch must be given his old place in charge of the poultry; and +both being Germans, you will recall." + +"It's just her kind heart, you idiot! You've all been spoiled; that's +what's the matter with you. Elsie and Dutch are as law-abiding and +honest as the best of you." + +"It causes feeling; that's all, sir." + +"It needn't cause it if you brace up and act like a man," I retorted. +Then, sorry I had been so harsh, I added: "We must take good care of +Mrs. Bashford, Antoine. It would be your old master's wish. It will do +no harm to keep a guard at the house for the present in case your +mysterious stranger turns up again." + +He couldn't have failed to note my change of tone about the unknown +visitor, but he made no comment. + +"The guard's set, sir; front and rear." + +"While there's no danger whatever it's just as well to take no chances. +Please tell the boys to send for me immediately at any hour of the night +if they see any prowlers about." + +"Very good, sir. But if you please, sir"--he had reached the garage and +he lingered, fingering his hat nervously--"if it wasn't for the ladies +talking about spirits, we'd all feel better, sir. It's creepy, sir, all +the talk about witches and ghosts, no matter what names you call 'em +by." + +"You're far from being a fool, Antoine. Those ladies just play at +believing in such rubbish. If they really believed in ghosts, you may be +sure they wouldn't talk about it at table before strangers like you and +me." + +Though this seemed to impress him, a moment later, as I was drawing down +the shades in my bedroom, I saw him running across the lawn like a +frightened rabbit. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A FAN + + +The morning mail brought a letter from Searles acknowledging my +congratulations on his play. While my enthusiastic praise pleased him, +he was very scornful of my suggestions about available stars, and seemed +even more depressed than when he talked to me. + +"It's impossible for me to plan other work. 'Lady Larkspur' ate the soul +out of me. I'm done; finished, clean out of the running. There's only +this to report. I had a letter from Dalton saying that some time ago he +asked at the hotel where he sent the script of 'Lady Larkspur' to know +whether Miss Dewing had sent a forwarding address. He had to see the +manager before he got any satisfaction, but he did learn that her +accumulated mail had been called for by some one whose identity was not +disclosed. Of course this isn't much to hang a hope on, but if that play +is what I think it is and Miss Violet Dewing ever reads it she's going +to jump for the telegraph office the moment she finishes the last act. I +have no plans for returning East; the folks at home let me do as I +please, and it's a relief to be in seclusion where I hear nothing of the +doings of Broadway. I hope your ancient globe-trotting aunt still +lingers in the Far East! Keep the ink flowing, son. That novel ought to +be well under way when I get back." + +The tale I had begun seemed utter trash in comparison with the story of +Alice Bashford, in which, much against my will, I had become a minor +character. I had rather prided myself on my ability to see through a +plot in the first chapter of the most complicated mystery story, but +there were points in this unwritten tale that baffled me. + +I kept away from the house until dinnertime, when I was received quite +as an old friend by Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth. The table talk was of +Celtic poetry, and proved less disturbing to Antoine than the previous +night's discussion of ghosts. + +Their day had been spent, they explained, in a further examination of my +uncle's Japanese loot, and they had taken a long walk beyond the +estate's boundaries and were enthusiastic about the landscape. + +"It's so beautifully peaceful all about here," Alice murmured. "I feel +that I never want to move again." + +"That's a real tribute to America," Mrs. Farnsworth remarked; "for Alice +dearly loves new scenes. She inherited a taste for travel from her +father, who put some new places on the maps, you know." + +I didn't know and I wanted to ask questions about Alice's father, but as +though anxious to frustrate such inquiries my aunt asked how close we +were to the place made famous by Israel Putnam's spectacular escape from +the British. She had read the story and would motor to the scene, she +declared. It was quite clear that there were chapters in her life that +were not to be opened for my perusal. No sooner had I caught a glimpse +of a promising page than the book was politely closed. A curtain hung +between the immediate present at Barton-on-the-Sound and other scenes +and incidents of the girl's life; and Mrs. Farnsworth was equally +detached from any tangible background. It seemed that I might meet them +daily for the rest of my life in this same friendly fashion without +adding a particle to my knowledge of them. + +I became alert immediately when, as we rose from the table, Alice said, +with the air of asking an unimportant favor: + +"We were speaking last night of a man who has been asking for us here. +His visits have alarmed the servants, but there is nothing to fear from +him. You know"--she smiled at Mrs. Farnsworth--"it's rather he who seems +to fear us; that, at least, is our impression, though we have no idea +why he should do so. Still, it's rather good fun to find yourself an +object of special attention and to be followed, even pursued. We've even +led him on a little, haven't we, Constance?" + +Mrs. Farnsworth laughingly admitted that they had led the gentleman on a +trifle, "but with all circumspection," she protested. + +"We met him here and there in Tokyo, and later were surprised to find +him crossing on our steamer. We threw him off in the Canadian Rockies, +where we stopped for a day, and eluded him in Chicago, where he was +evidently lying in wait for us." + +"Delightful!" I exclaimed. + +"But please don't get the idea that the man annoys us," interposed Mrs. +Farnsworth. + +"Far from it!" cried Alice. + +"You've seen enough of us perhaps to understand that we enjoy little +adventures," said Mrs. Farnsworth. "The man pretends to be interested in +Mr. Bashford's art treasures. Antoine's story about the disguise is +rather against that; but we will give him the benefit of the doubt. What +we are hoping is that something really amusing may come of his +persistent pursuit. With you and the army of servants here we feel +perfectly safe; so we're for giving him every chance to show his hand." + +"He is the Count Giuseppe Montani," said my aunt, "who represents +himself as a connoisseur--a lover of the beautiful." + +"The mystery is solved! It is easy to understand why he has haunted the +place." + +"Yes; quite easy. Count Montani is very anxious to see the porcelains." + +"I wasn't referring to the pottery; but I shan't press the matter." + +"I advise you not to; your remark was highly improper from a nephew to +an aunt! I have told you about all I know of this Italian gentleman. I +am going to ask a favor. He telephoned from Stamford this afternoon to +know whether we had arrived, and I bade him call to-night. I should be +glad if you would remain until he leaves. I should like to know what you +make of him." + +"Certainly," I assented, pleased that she had taken me into her +confidence and deeply curious as to the Italian connoisseur. What she +had told so frankly and plausibly did not, however, touch upon the +matter of the interest shown by the American State Department in my +aunt's arrival at Barton, which troubled me much more than the antics of +the Italian who had followed the women across the Pacific. + +Count Montani arrived shortly and was received in the drawing-room. The +ladies greeted him with the greatest cordiality. As he crossed the room +I verified the limp and other points of Antoine's description. His +bearing was that of a gentleman; and in his very correct evening dress +he hardly looked like a man who would disguise himself and attempt to +rob a house. He spoke English all but perfectly and proceeded at once to +talk a great deal. + +"I was sad when I found I had so narrowly missed you at Seattle, and +again at Chicago. You travel far too rapidly for one of my age!" + +His age might have been thirty. He was a suave, polished, sophisticated +person. Nothing was more natural than that he should pause in his +travels to call upon two agreeable women he had met on a Pacific +steamer. Possibly he was in love with Alice Bashford; this was not a +difficult state of heart and mind for a man to argue himself into. She +was even more strikingly beautiful to-night than I had thought her +before. She was again in white--it was only in daytime that she wore +black--and white was exceedingly becoming to her. As we talked she plied +listlessly a fan--a handsome trinket of ostrich plumes. A pretty woman +and a fan are the happiest possible combination. There is no severer +test of grace than a woman's manner of using a fan. A clumsy woman +makes an implement of this plaything, flourishing it to emphasize her +talk, or, what is worse, pointing with it like an instructor before a +blackboard. But in graceful hands it is unobtrusive, a mere bit of +decoration that teases and fascinates the beholder's eye. + +With all his poise and equanimity I was distinctly conscious that +Montani's dark eyes were intent upon the idly swaying fan. I thought at +first it was her hands that interested him as they unfailingly +interested me, but when, from time to time, she put down the fan his +gaze still followed it. And yet there was nothing novel in the delicate +combination of ivory and feathers. I had seen many fans that to all +appearances were just like it. Once, as she picked it up and lazily +opened it, I saw him bend forward eagerly, then, finding that I had +noted his eagerness, he rose, pretending that a brass screen before the +fireplace had caught his eye and asked whether it was not a Florentine +production, which shook my faith in his connoisseurship, as I had bought +the thing myself from a New York brassworker who had made it to my +order. + +Montani spoke of the porcelains. "Oh, to be sure! They don't show to +best advantage in electric light, do they? But I can have a few of the +prize pieces taken into the dining-room," said Alice. + +Mrs. Farnsworth had excused herself to finish a letter, and from my +chair I could see her head bent over the big desk in the library. Alice +rang for Antoine, and I followed her into the hall to offer my aid. + +"Oh, don't trouble," she said. "Antoine can do anything necessary. Yes; +thanks; if you will turn on the dining-room lights." + +I was gone hardly half a minute. When I reached the drawing-room door +Montani had crossed the room to the table on which Alice had dropped the +fan and was examining it closely. He faced the door, and the moment he +detected me exclaimed carelessly: "An exquisite little bauble! I am +always curious as to the source of such trifles. I was looking for the +maker's imprimatur. I know a Parisian who is the leading manufacturer of +the world. But it is not his, I see." + +As we stood talking of other things he plied the fan carelessly as +though for the pleasure of the faint scent it exhaled, and when Alice +called us he put it down carefully where he had found it. + +He really did seem to know something about ceramics and praised, with +lively enthusiasm, the pieces that had been set out on the table. One +piece, as to whose authenticity my uncle had entertained serious doubts, +Montani unhesitatingly pronounced genuine and stated very plausible +reasons for his opinion. + +On the whole, he was an interesting fellow. When he had finished his +inspections he lingered for only a few minutes and took his leave, +saying that he was spending the night at an inn near Stamford. + +"Well," said Alice when the whir of his machine had died away, "what do +you think of him?" + +"A very agreeable gentleman," I answered. "If he doesn't know +porcelains, he fakes his talk admirably." + +"And as to fans--" suggested Mrs. Farnsworth. + +I had not intended to mention Montani's interest in Alice's fan, and the +remark surprised me. + +"Oh, I saw it all from the library," laughed Mrs. Farnsworth. "My back +was to the door, but I was facing a mirror. The moment you and Alice +went into the hall he pounced upon the fan--pounced is the only word +that describes it. He concealed his interest in it very neatly when you +caught him examining it." + +"Fans are harmless things," said Alice, "and if there's any story +attached to this one I'm not aware of it. My father bought it in Paris +about three years ago, and it has never been out of my possession except +to have it repaired. There's a Japanese jeweller who does wonderful +things in the way of repairing trinkets of every kind. I left it with +him for a few days. I can't tell now which panel was broken, he did his +work so deftly." + +I took it from her and balanced it in my fingers. It was a beautiful +piece of workmanship with the simplest carvings on the ivory panels. + +"He couldn't have seen it anywhere before to-night," observed Alice +musingly. "In fact, I hadn't used it at all for a year. It was really by +mistake that my maid put it into my trunk when I went to Japan. I +didn't want to risk breaking it again, so I've been carrying it in a +hand-bag. The last day we were in Tokyo I think I had it in our +sitting-room in the hotel, to make sure it wasn't jammed into the trunk +again. We had a good many callers--a number of people came in to bid us +good-by, but I'm sure Count Montani was not among them, and it would +have been impossible for him to see it at any other time." + +"Oh, there is nothing disturbing in the count's interest in the thing," +said Mrs. Farnsworth with an air of dismissing the matter. "If it were a +Jade trinket inscribed with Chinese mysteries, you might imagine that it +would be sought by some one--I have heard of such things--but Alice's +fan has no such history." + +"We weren't very hospitable," said Alice. "I might have asked Count +Montani to dine with us to-morrow; and we might even have put him up for +the night in this vast house." + +"Not with Antoine on the premises!" I exclaimed. "Antoine is convinced +that the man is what we call in America a crook. And Antoine takes his +responsibilities very seriously." + +While I was breakfasting at the garage the next morning Antoine appeared +and, waiting until Flynn was out of hearing, handed me a slip of paper. + +"That's a New York automobile number," he said. "It was on the tag of +that machine the party came in last night. I heard him saying, sir, as +how he had motored up from the Elkton Inn at Stamford. Visitors from +Stamford would hardly send in to the city for a machine." + +I bade him wait while I called the Elkton by telephone. No such person +as Giuseppe Montani had spent the night there or had been a guest of the +house within the memory of the clerk. Antoine's chest swelled at this +confirmation of his suspicions. + +"If the man returns, treat him as you did last night--as though he were +entitled to the highest consideration." + +"He won't come back--not the same way," said Antoine. "He mentioned the +Elkton just to throw you off. The next you hear of him will be quite +different." + +"You mean he'll come as a burglar?" + +"That's what's in my mind, Mr. Singleton. Everything seems very queer, +sir." + +"Such as what, Antoine?" + +"The widow has been telegraphing and telephoning considerable, sir." + +"There must be no spying upon these ladies!" I admonished severely. "All +the people on the place must remember that Mrs. Bashford is mistress +here, and entitled to fullest respect." + +He had hardly gone before Torrence had me on the wire to hear my report +and to say that Raynor had left Washington for a weekend in Virginia. + +"That lets us out for a few days, but I'll have to report that Mrs. +Bashford is at Barton the moment I learn that he is back in Washington." + +I assured him that nothing had occurred to encourage a suspicion that +Mrs. Bashford was not all that she pretended to be. The day was marked +by unusual activities on the part of the waiters and bell-hops. Instead +of the company drills to which I had become accustomed they moved about +in pairs along the shore and the lines of the fences. I learned that +Antoine had ordered this, and the "troops" were obeying him with the +utmost seriousness. The "service" on the estate was certainly abundant. +It was only necessary to whistle and one of the Tyringham veterans would +come running. + +In spite of the complete satisfaction I had expressed to Torrence as to +the perfect integrity and honest intentions of the two women, the +curiosity of the American State Department and the visit of Montani +required elucidation beyond my powers. At dinner they were in the +merriest humor. The performances of the little army throughout the day +had amused them greatly. + +"How delightfully feudal!" exclaimed Alice. "Really we should have a +moat and drawbridge to make the thing perfect. Constance and I are the +best protected women in the world!" + +We extracted all the fun possible from the idea that the estate was +under siege; that Alice was the chatelaine of a beleaguered castle, and +that before help could reach us we were in danger of being starved out +by the enemy. They called into play the poetry which had so roused +Antoine's apprehensions, and their talk bristled with quotations. Alice +rose after the salad and repeated at least a page of Malory, and the +Knights of the Round Table having thus been introduced, Mrs. Farnsworth +recited several sonorous passages from "The Idyls of the King." They +flung lines from Browning's "In a Balcony" at each other as though they +were improvising. The befuddlement of Antoine and the waiter who +assisted him added to the general joy. They undoubtedly thought the two +women quite out of their heads, and it was plain that I suffered greatly +in Antoine's estimation by my encouragement of this frivolity. Mrs. +Farnsworth walked majestically round the table and addressed to me the +lines from Macbeth beginning: + + "Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promised," + +while Antoine clung to the sideboard listening with mouth open and eyes +rolling. + +Later, in the living-room, Alice sang some old ballads. She was more +adorable than ever at the piano. It was a happiness beyond any in my +experience of women to watch her, to note the play of light upon her +golden head, to yield to the spell of her voice. Ballads had never been +sung before with the charm and feeling she put into them; and after +ending with "Douglas, Douglas," she responded to my importunity with +"Ben Bolt," and then dashed into a sparkling thing of Chopin's, played +it brilliantly and rose, laughingly mocking my applause. + +I left the house like a man over whom an enchantment has been spoken and +was not pleased when Antoine blocked my path: "Pardon me, sir." + +"Bother my pardon; what's troubling you now?" I demanded. + +"It's nothing troubling me, sir; not particularly. If you give me time, +I think I'll grow used to the poetry talk and playing at being queens. +It's like children in a family I served once; an English family, most +respectable. But in a widow, sir----" + +"God knows we ought to be glad when grown-ups have the heart to play at +being children and can get away with it as beautifully as those women +do! What else is on your mind?" + +"It's about Elsie, sir." I groaned at the mention of Flynn's German +wife. "I'm sorry, sir; but I thought I should report it. It was a man +who came to see her this afternoon. You was out for your walk, and Flynn +had taken the ladies for a drive, so Elsie was alone at the garage. This +person rode in on the grocer's truck from the village, which is how he +got by the gate. As it happened, Pierre--he was a waiter at the +Tyringham, a Swiss, who understands German--had gone into the garage for +a nap; he's quite old, sir, and has his snooze every afternoon." + +"He's entitled to it," I remarked; "he must be a thousand years old." + +"From what he heard Pierre thought the man a spy, sir. He wanted Elsie +to steal something from the house, it was a fan he wanted her to take +most particular, and it was to be done soon, to-day if she could manage. +It was for the love of the Fatherland that he wanted her to do it. Did +you notice, sir, that Mrs. Bashford didn't have the fan to-night? Not +that one she carried last night." + +I had noticed that she had substituted a tiny Japanese fan for the one +that Montani had inspected so eagerly. When I spoke of the change she +had said the other was too precious for every-day use, and she meant to +keep it locked up. + +"I hate to bother you, sir, knowing you----" + +The mention of the fan had brought me to an abrupt halt. I resented +having the thing thrust at me in the ecstatic mood in which I had left +the house, but the visit of the German-speaking stranger was serious, +and Antoine knew that his story had startled me. He told me further that +the man had carefully outlined to Elsie just how she could take +advantage of her freedom of the house to appropriate the fan when the +ladies were out and the servants off the second floor. She was to be +paid for her assistance; two hundred dollars had been promised; even +more had been suggested. Elsie and the stranger had left the garage and +passed out of ear-shot before Elsie fully consented; but Pierre had +given Antoine the impression that she would make the attempt. + +"It was to be for the Kaiser, for Germany," declared Antoine bitterly. +"And she was to be careful about Flynn. I always thought Flynn was +straight--I did indeed, sir!" + +"I think Flynn and his wife are both honest, but we'll take no chance. +Warn the guards to be on the alert. We don't want Elsie to get the idea +that she's being watched; so tell the men to keep away from the garage. +I'll keep an eye on the Flynns. You go home and go to bed...." + +The deep calm of the country night had settled upon the shore, and the +Flynns' quarters were perfectly tranquil. It didn't seem possible that +an international episode was in process of incubation in that quiet +neighborhood. I began to think that the general distrust of the German +woman by her associates might be responsible for Pierre's story. But, +viewed in any light, I had a duty to perform. If Elsie had visited the +house and purloined the fan, she would be very likely to get rid of it +as quickly as possible, and I determined to keep watch. I drew the +blinds, got into my dressing-gown and, reinforcing the lampshade with a +newspaper to deaden the light, proceeded to read. + +It was on toward one o'clock and I was dozing when a sound roused me. A +door on the Flynn side of the hall creaked; there was silence, then I +heard furtive steps on the stair. I snapped out my light and peered out +of the window just as Elsie's robust figure disappeared into the +shadows. I was about to follow when the creaking of the Flynn door was +repeated. In a moment another peep through the shade showed me Flynn +himself, and he, too, quickly vanished. Here was a situation indeed! If +Elsie was keeping tryst with her co-conspirator of the afternoon and her +husband was spying upon her, a row of large proportions was likely to +result at any moment. I leaned from the window as far as I dared, and +saw the woman close to the wall at the farther end of the building. The +scene was well set for trouble, and I was wondering what I could do to +avert a disturbance and the exposure of the foolish woman when the whole +matter was taken out of my hands. + +"You fool! You scoundrel!" she bellowed in German. "That you should +think me a plaything to commit a robbery for you! That I should steal +from my mistress to satisfy you, you piece of swine-flesh!" + +I had often heard Elsie vocally disciplining her Irish husband and knew +the power of her lungs and the vigor of her invective, but she seemed +bent upon apprising the whole commonwealth of Connecticut of the fact +that she was vastly displeased with the person she was addressing, who +was certainly not Flynn. Amid sounds of a scuffle and the continuous +outpouring of billingsgate the light over the garage door flashed on +suddenly and disclosed Flynn in the act of precipitating himself into +the fray. Elsie had grasped, and was stoutly clinging to a tall man who +was trying to free himself of her muscular embrace. Her cries meanwhile +included some of the raciest terms in the German dictionary and +others--mouthfuls of frightfulness--that I didn't recognize. + +When I reached the open Flynn was dancing round the belligerents like an +excited boxer, occasionally springing in to land a blow; and all the +while Elsie continued to address her captive and the world at large in +her native tongue. Flynn was rather more than sixty, and Elsie was not +much his junior, while the invader was young and agile. The man had +loosened one arm and drawn a revolver with which he was pounding Elsie +in the face. I knocked the gun from his hand with my walking-stick and +shouted to Elsie to let go of him. Her shouts had roused the guards and, +hearing answering cries and the beat of hurrying feet on the walks, he +redoubled his efforts to escape. I had hardly got my hands on him when +with a twist of his body he wrenched himself free and sped away in the +darkness. + +I hadn't gone far in pursuit of him before I tripped over the skirts of +my dressing-gown and fell into a bed of cannas. This would have been +less melancholy if Flynn, hard behind, hadn't stumbled over me and, +believing he had captured the enemy, gripped my legs until I could +persuade him to let go. + +The lights now flared on all the walks and driveways, and Antoine was +bellowing orders to the guards to surround the sunken garden. I surmised +that the fugitive, surprised by the attack, had lost his bearings and +was now far from the boundary wall back of the garage from which +presumably he had entered the grounds. With the Sound cutting off his +exit beyond the residence, there was a fair chance of catching him if +Antoine's veterans were at all vigilant. + +I found Antoine, armed with a club and swinging a lantern, majestically +posed at the nearer entrance to the garden. With a swallow-tail coat +over his night-shirt and his nightcap tipped over one ear, he was an +enthralling figure. As he strode toward me his slippers flapped weirdly +upon the brick walk. "There's somebody in the garden, sir," he whispered +huskily. "The troops has it surrounded." No general in all history, +reporting in some critical hour the disposition of his army, could have +been more composed. + +"You have done well, Antoine. Shall you dig in until morning or go over +the top now?" + +"As you say, sir. It's better you should take charge." + +I walked round the garden and found his men well distributed, but the +old fellows were exceedingly nervous. "It's a bit suspicious, sir, that +he broke for the garden," remarked Antoine. + +"He broke for the garden," I suggested, "because his line of retreat was +cut off and he had to go somewhere." + +"It's queer, though, sir, when Dutch has been sleeping on the long bench +down there by the fountain. You know how we feel about him, sir, he +being of that race." + +"Dutch told me he was camping in the tool-house," I answered. + +"The boys drove him out, sir, and he took to the garden." + +"Nasty of the boys, I should say. If that interloper should murder +him----" + +A yell rose from the midst of the garden, followed by a crash and an +instant later by a splash that interrupted another yell. I snatched +Antoine's lantern and ran down the steps toward the scene of commotion. +When I reached the circular pool the jet was still playing gayly, but +the waters on one side were in furious agitation. Two men were rolling +and tumbling about as though bent upon drowning each other. I swung the +lantern over them just as Dutch got upon his feet, gripping his +antagonist by the collar. He flung him backward over the stone curbing +of the pool and fell upon him in the walk with a swish of wet garments. +The guards from the outer edges of the garden had clambered down and +they gathered about us as I began questioning Dutch. + +Dutch, undoubtedly enjoying his victorious encounter, was tearing open +the prostrate captive's collar to give him air and with his knees +clamping the man's body was disposed to delay the story of his +adventures to increase its dramatic effect. + +"It happens this evenin'," he began, spouting water, "that I seen Elsie, +who's been sneakin' me meals to the old stables, an' she says to me: +'Dutch,' she says, 'they's all ag'in us here, callin' us Huns, an' we +gotta show 'em we's good Americans,' she says. An' she tole me a feller +been to see 'er 'at wanted 'er to rob the house fer 'im, he thinkin' 'er +likely to do ut fer love o' the Kaiser. She said as 'ow she'd nail 'im +when he comes to-night to git a fan she's promised to lift fer 'im. She +said that'd prove she wasn't no Dutchwoman and recommended if I got the +chance to do the same. I thought nothin' wuz goin' to happen an' wuz +sleepin' on me bench here in the garden when the hollerin' at the garage +woke me up. I sits quiet, listenin' an' this guy drops into the garden +an' wuz crawlin' past me bench an' I pinches 'im. He wuz fer havin' a +fight, an' we knocks over one of the big urns an' lit in the tank. He +says it's a thousand bones an' ye turn me loose, he says, an' I soused +'im ag'in fer that." + +The man was still choking from the sousings and Dutch turned him over +and pounded him vigorously on the back, assisted by Zimmerman, the +obliging valet, who had seized the occasion to show his hand on the side +of the Allies. "Shall I telephone for the Barton police, sir?" asked +Antoine with an extreme exaggeration of his professional manner. + +This obviously was the thing to do, but I feigned not to hear the +question while I debated the matter. It was plain that many things +relating to the capture were veiled in mystery: that if Mrs. Bashford +and her companion were involved in an international tangle and had in +their possession something that vitally concerned the nations at war, +common chivalry demanded that I handle the arrest of Montani's agent in +such manner as to shield them. I was thinking hard and in my perplexity +even considered sending a messenger for Torrence; but he was already +suspicious and would be very likely to summon Raynor immediately and +precipitate a crisis I was not prepared to face. To invite the attention +of the American State Department to the increasingly complex situation +would not be giving my aunt the chance I meant she should have to clear +herself. + +The captive had got upon his feet and stood dazedly staring at us. He +refused to answer my questions, even when I suggested that if he could +give a satisfactory account of himself he would be released. He only +doggedly shook his head. When I asked if he had been hurt in his bout +with Dutch he smiled and extended his arms in denial. He was a very +decent-looking fellow, blue-eyed and smooth-shaven, who seemed to accept +his plight with a degree of good humor. + +I decided that as nothing would be gained by sending him to the Barton +calaboose that night, I would assume the responsibility of detaining +him until I had groped my way through the haze of suspicions and +circumstances that enveloped him. + +"Get some dry clothes for this man and lock him up in the tool-house. Be +sure he has blankets, and you'd better give him some hot coffee." + +The captive manifested relief at my decision and broke his silence to +thank me, which he did in very good English. His submissiveness only +deepened my perplexity, but I couldn't help laughing as he walked away +surrounded by the "troops," with Dutch leading the way--Dutch fully +conscious that he had vindicated himself and disposed to be rather +disdainful of his comrades. + +I hurried to the house, where I found Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth +ministering to Elsie, who had been taken there by their order. Elsie, +sharing with Dutch the honors of the night, lay on a davenport, where +she had received first aid. Alice rose from her knees as I entered, +gathering up strips of bandages, and turned to me laughingly. + +"Elsie's injuries are not serious; only disagreeable bruises in the +face. There will be no scars, I'm sure. We'll keep her at the house for +a few days until she's quite fit again. Surely any one who has +questioned Elsie's loyalty ought to be satisfied now." + +"You certainly managed it very cleverly, Elsie. We're all very +grateful." + +Elsie, her face covered with bandages, acknowledged my thanks by +wiggling her foot. + +Mrs. Farnsworth said she would put Elsie to bed. Now, I thought, Alice +would make some sign if she knew anything that would explain Montani and +the prisoner in the tool-house. But the whole affair only moved her to +laughter and she seemed less a grown woman than ever in her white robe. +My efforts to impress her with the seriousness of the attempt to secure +the fan only added to her delight. + +"How droll! How very droll! You couldn't possibly have arranged anything +that would please me more! It's delicious! As you say in America, it's +perfectly killing!" + +I suggested that the holding of a prisoner without process of law might +present embarrassments. + +"I know," she cried, clapping her hands joyfully. "You mean we are +likely to bump into dear old _habeas corpus_! The sheriff will come and +read a solemn paper to you and you will have to hie you to court and +produce the body of the prisoner. That will be splendid!" + +"It won't be so funny if----" + +I was about to say that the humor of the thing would be spoiled somewhat +if she were made a witness and there proved to be something irregular +about the fan which had caused all the trouble, but I hadn't the heart +to do it. To spoil such merriment as bubbled in her heart would be +cruel--an atrocity as base as snatching a plaything from a joyous child. + +"Constance and I so love the unusual--and it is so hard to find!" she +continued. "And yet from the moment I reached the gates of these +premises things have happened! Nothing is omitted! Strange visitors; +fierce attacks upon our guards, and still the mystery deepens in the wee +sma' hours, with heroes and heroines at every turn! To think that that +absurd little Dutch was asleep in the garden and really captured the +spy or whatever he is! But you are a hero too! You shall be decorated!" + +She walked to a stand and pondered a moment before a vase of roses, +chose a long-stemmed red one and struck me lightly across the shoulder +with it. + +"Arise, sir knight! You should have knelt, but to kneel in skirts +requires practice; you could hardly have managed in that monk's robe." + +I couldn't be sure whether she was mocking me or whether there was +really liking under this nonsense. I was beyond the point of being +impatient with her. I was helpless in her hands; she would do with me as +she willed, and it was my business to laugh with her, to meet her as +best I could in the realm of folly. + +"You must go!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Constance will be calling down +the stairs for me in a moment." + +"To-morrow--" I began. The wistful look she had at times came into her +eyes as she stood in the centre of the room, playing with the flower. + +"To-morrow," she repeated, "and then--to-morrow!" + +"There must be endless to-morrows for you and me," I said, and took the +flower from her hand. The revery died in her eyes, and they were awake +with reproach and dismissal. At the door I looked back. She hadn't moved +and she said, very quietly, but smiling a little: "Nothing must happen +to make me sorry I came. Please remember!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +PURSUING KNIGHTS + + +I didn't sleep until near daybreak, and was aroused at nine o'clock by +Flynn, who appeared at the door in his chauffeur's togs, carrying a +tray. + +"The wife didn't come back, sorr, but I made coffee and toast. Sorry to +waken you, but I'm takin' the new car into the city." + +I sat up and rubbed my eyes. + +"Who's going to the city?" I demanded. + +"The ladies is goin' at once, sorr. They sent orders an hour ago to be +ready with the new machine. Orders was to take my bag; it looks like I'd +be gone the night. I'm late and you'll have to excuse me, sorr." + +I sprang out of bed and plied him with questions, most of which he was +unable to answer. I did, however, extract from him the information that +nothing had occurred after I retired for the night that could have +alarmed the women at the residence and prompted this abrupt departure. +There was no reason why Alice shouldn't run to town if it pleased her to +do so, and yet it was odd that she hadn't mentioned the matter. Flynn +hurried away, and from the window I followed the car's course to the +house, and a moment later caught a glimpse of it on its way to the +gates. + +I was shaving when Antoine appeared, pale from the stirring incidents of +the night. + +"I suppose you know, sir," he said, straightening the coffee-pot on the +tray in an attempt to conceal his emotions. + +"When did you first hear that the ladies meant to leave to-day?" I +shouted with a flourish of the razor. "If you knew it last night and +didn't tell me----" + +"I heard it, incidental-like, at breakfast this morning. There was a +night letter, sir, read by the agent at Barton to the mistress quite +early, sir. I can't tell you what it was, sir." + +"Did they seem alarmed or depressed; was there anything to indicate +whether they had bad news?" + +"They seemed quite merry over it, sir. But you know their goings-on, +which I never understand, sir. For all I know it may be a death in the +family; you'd never tell it from their actions. You will pardon me for +remarking it again, sir; but, considering that they're ladies, their +actions and goings-on is most peculiar." + +"As to luggage, I hope you had the intelligence to note whether they +went for a long stay?" + +"Only the suitcases that fits into the rack of the machine. Louise +thought they might be going for a week, maybe." + +This was all I got out of him. Mrs. Bashford and Mrs. Farnsworth had +flown, giving no hint of the length of their absence. They had slipped +away and left me with a prisoner that I didn't know what to do with; +with an inquiry by the American Department of State hanging over me; +with Torrence to reckon with, and, in general, a muddled head that only +a vast number of lucid explanations could restore to sanity. + +I called from the window to one of the gardeners who knew how to manage +a machine and told him to be ready to drive me to the village in half +an hour. There was an express at ten-forty, and by taking it I would at +least have the satisfaction of being somewhere in New York when the +runaways arrived. Antoine packed my suitcase; I am not sure that he +didn't shed tears on my belongings. The old fellow was awed into silence +by the rapidity with which history had been made in the past twenty-four +hours, and clearly was not pleased by my desertion. + +We drove past the tool-house, where I found the prisoner seated on a +wheelbarrow smoking a cigarette. He was no more communicative than when +I had questioned him after his capture. He smiled in a bored fashion +when I asked if he wanted anything, and said he would be obliged for +cigarettes and reading-matter. He volunteered nothing as to his +identity, and the guards said that a thorough search of the captive's +clothing had disclosed nothing incriminating. He had three hundred +dollars in currency (this was to cover Elsie's bribe money, I +conjectured), a handkerchief, a cigarette-case, and a box of matches. I +directed that he be well fed and given all the reading-matter he +wanted, and hurried on to catch my train. + +The futility of my errand struck me hard as I felt the city surging +round me. Without a clew to work on, I was utterly unlikely to find the +two women, and even if I should stumble upon them, in what way could I +explain my conduct in following them? I was visited also by the +discouraging thought that New York might not, after all, be their +destination. + +Flynn was a capable but cautious driver, and they would hardly reach +town before five o'clock. I took a room at the Thackeray Club and +pondered carefully whether, in spite of my misgivings, I hadn't better +see Torrence and tell him all that had happened since his call on Mrs. +Bashford. If there was any chance of doing the wrong thing in any matter +not prescribed in the laws governing the administration of estates, he +would be sure to do it; but I was far from satisfied with the results of +my own management of affairs at Barton. I finally called up the trust +company and learned that Torrence was in Albany attending the trial of a +will case and might not be in town for a couple of days. His secretary +said he had instructions to wire my daily report to Albany. I told him +there had been no developments at Barton, and went out and walked the +Avenue. Inquiries at hotels large and small occupied me until seven +o'clock. No one had heard of a Mrs. Bashford or a Mrs. Farnsworth. My +inspection of the occupants of several thousand automobiles proved +equally fruitless. I ate a lonely dinner at the club and resumed my +search. Hanging about theatre doors, staring at the crowd, is not a +dignified occupation, and by nine o'clock, having seen the most belated +theatre-goers vanish, I was tired and footsore. The flaming sign of +Searles's "Who Killed Cock Robin?" over the door of the "As You Like It" +caught my eye. I bought a seat--the last in the rack--and squeezed into +my place in the middle of the last row. As I had seen the piece at least +a dozen times, its novelty was gone for me, but the laughter of the +delighted audience was cheering. The first act was reaching its +culmination, and I watched it with a glow of pride in Searles and his +skilful craftsmanship. + +As the curtain fell and the lights went up amid murmurs of pleasure and +expectancy, I glanced across the rows of heads with awakened interest. +"Who Killed Cock Robin?" had been praised with such unanimity that if +Alice were in any playhouse that night I was as likely to see her in the +"As You Like It" as anywhere. + +The half-turned face of a man three rows in front of me suddenly caught +my attention. There was something curiously familiar in his outlines and +the gesture with which, at the moment, he was drawing his handkerchief +across his forehead. I judged that he too had come late, for he now +removed his topcoat and thrust his hat under the seat. It was +Montani--beyond any question Montani--and I instinctively shrank in my +seat and lifted my programme as he turned round and swiftly surveyed the +rows behind him. + +I watched his black head intently until I remembered the superstition +that by staring at a person in a public place you can make him look at +you. Montani knew a great many things I wanted to know, but I must have +time to adjust myself to the shock of his propinquity. I satisfied +myself that he was alone and as he continued to mop his face I judged +that he had arrived in some haste. The house now took note of a stirring +in one of the boxes. There was an excited buzz as the tall form and +unmistakable features of Cecil Arrowsmith, the English actor, were +recognized. I had read that day of his arrival in New York. With him +were two women. My breath came hard and I clutched the iron frame of the +seat in front of me so violently that its occupant turned and glared. + +The trio settled into their places quickly, but not before I had +satisfied myself that Arrowsmith's companions were Alice and Mrs. +Farnsworth. As they fell into animated talk I saw that Alice was in her +gayest humor. The distinguished tragedian seemed greatly amused by what +she was saying to him. + +"Must be members of Arrowsmith's company," one of my neighbors remarked. +"They open in two weeks in Shakespearian repertoire." + +Montani had half risen, the better to focus an opera-glass on the box. +The gong solemnly announced the second act, and Alice moved her chair to +face the stage. Once more Montani scanned the party with his glass. As +the lights faded Alice, with the pretty languorous gesture I so well +remembered, opened her fan--the fan of ostrich plumes, that became a +blur of white that held my eye through the dusk after the curtain rose. + +Alice, Montani, and the fan! To this combination I had now to add the +new element introduced into the situation by the apparent familiar +acquaintance of Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth with Cecil Arrowsmith. And +yet, as the play proceeded on its swift-moving course, I reasoned that +there was nothing extraordinary in their knowing the eminent actor. He +had long been a personage in England and had lately been knighted. Their +appearance with him at the theatre really disposed of the idea that they +might be impostors. The presence of Arrowsmith had put zest into the +company, and I hadn't seen a better performance of Searles's play. The +trio in the box joined in the prolonged applause at the end of the act. + +As they resumed their talk Alice, it seemed, was relating something of +moment for Arrowsmith's benefit, referring now and then to Mrs. +Farnsworth as though for corroboration. The scene in the box was almost +as interesting as any in the play, and the audience watched with deep +absorption. Alice, the least self-conscious of mortals, was, I knew, +utterly unaware of the curious gaze of the house; whatever she was +saying with an occasional gesture of her gloved hands or a shrug of her +shoulders possessed her completely. I thought she might be telling +Arrowsmith of her adventures at Barton; but the length of her narrative +was against this, and Arrowsmith's attitude was more that of a critic +appealed to for an opinion than of a polite listener to a story. He +nodded his head several times, and finally, as Alice, with a slight dip +of the head and an outward movement of her arms, settled back in her +chair, he patted his hands approvingly. + +In my absorption I had forgotten Montani's existence, but as the third +act began I saw that he had gone. Whether I should put myself in Alice's +way as she left the theatre was still an undetermined question when the +play ended. With Montani hanging about I felt a certain obligation to +warn her that he had been watching her. I was among the first to leave, +and in the foyer I met Forsythe, the house manager, who knew me as a +friend of Searles. + +"You notice that we're still turning 'em away," he remarked. "We don't +have to worry about this piece; everybody who sees it sends his friends +the next day. Searles hasn't looked in for some time; hope he's writing +a new play?" + +"He's West visiting his folks. Don't know when he'll be back," I +answered. "I must write him that Sir Cecil Arrowsmith enjoyed 'Who +Killed Cock Robin?' just as much as common mortals." + +Forsythe had paused at the box-office, and in my uncertainty I stuck to +him as the crowd began to surge by. + +Arrowsmith's approach was advertised by the peculiar type of tall hat +that he affected, and the departing audience made way for him, or hung +back to stare. At his left were Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth, and they must +pass quite close to me. "Who Killed Cock Robin?" was a satisfying play +that sent audiences away with lightened hearts and smiling faces, and +the trio were no exception to the rule. + +Listening inattentively to Forsythe, I was planning to join Alice when +the trio should reach me. She saw me; there was a fleeting flash of +recognition in her eyes, and then she turned toward Arrowsmith. She drew +nearer; her gaze met mine squarely, but now without a sign to indicate +that she had ever seen me before. She passed on, talking with greatest +animation to Arrowsmith. + +"Well, remember me to Searles if you write him," I heard Forsythe +saying. I clutched his arm as he opened the office door. + +"Who are those women?" I demanded. + +"You may search me! I see you have a good eye. That girl's rather nice +to look at!" + +Crowding my way to the open, I blocked the path of orderly, sane +citizens awaiting their machines until a policeman pushed me aside. +Alice I saw for a bewildering instant, framed in the window of a big +limousine that rolled away up-town. + +I had been snubbed! No snub had ever been delivered more deliberately, +with a nicer calculation of effect, than that administered to me by +Alice Bashford--a girl with whom, until a moment before, I had believed +myself on terms of cordial comradeship. She had cut me; Alice who had +asked me at the very beginning of our acquaintance to call her by her +first name--Alice had cut me without the quiver of a lash. + +I walked to the Thackeray and settled myself in a dark corner of the +reading-room, thoroughly bruised in spirit. In my resentment I meditated +flying to Ohio to join Searles, always my chief resource in trouble. +Affairs at Barton might go to the devil. If Alice and her companion +wanted to get rid of me, I would not be sorry to be relieved of the +responsibility I had assumed in trying to protect them. With rising fury +I reflected that by the time they had shaken off Montani and got rid of +the prisoner in the tool-house they would think better of me. + +"Telephone call, sir." + +I followed the boy to the booth in a rage that any one should disturb my +gloomy reflections. + +"Mr. Singleton? Oh! This is Alice speaking----" + +I clutched the shelf for support. Not only was it Alice speaking, but in +the kindest voice imaginable. My anger passed, but my amazement at Alice +and all her ways blinded me. If she had suddenly stepped through the +wall, my surprise could not have been greater. + +"You told me the Thackeray was your usual refuge in town, so I thought +I'd try it. Are you very, very cross? I'm sorry, really I am--Bob!" + +The "Bob" was added lingeringly, propitiatingly. Huddled in the booth, I +doubted my senses--wondering indeed whether Alice hadn't a double--even +whether I hadn't dreamed everything that had occurred at Barton. + +"I _wanted_ to speak to you ever so much at the theatre, but I couldn't +very well without introducing you to Sir Cecil, and I wasn't ready to do +that. It might have caused complications." + +If anything could have multiplied the existing complications, I was +anxious to know what they were; but her voice was so gentle, so wholly +amiable, that I restrained an impulse to demand explanations. + +"Are you on earth or are you speaking from paradise?" I asked. + +"Oh, we're in a very nice house, Constance and I; and we're just about +having a little supper. I wish you were here, but that can't be +arranged. No; really it can't! We shall be motoring back to Barton +to-morrow and hope you can join us. Let us have luncheon and motor up +together." + +When I suggested that I call for them she laughed gayly. + +"That would be telling things! And we mustn't spoil everything when +everything is going so beautifully." + +Remembering the man I had locked up in the tool-house and the +explanations I should have to make sooner or later to the unimaginative +Torrence, I wasn't wholly convinced of the general beauty of the +prospect. + +"Montani was in the theatre," I suggested. + +Her laughter rippled merrily over the wire. "Oh, he tried to follow us +in a taxi! We had a great time throwing him off in the park. I'm not +sure he isn't sitting on the curb right now watching the house +ungraciously." + +"You have the fan with you; Montani jumped right out of his seat when +you opened it in the theatre." + +This she received with more laughter; Montani amused her immensely, she +said. She wasn't in the least afraid of him. Returning to the matter of +the luncheon, she suggested the Tyringham. + +"You know, I want very much to see Mr. Bashford's old home and the place +all our veteran retainers came from. At one?--yes. Good night!" ... + +Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth reached the Tyringham on time to the minute. +As I had spent the morning on a bench in the park, analyzing my +problems, I found their good humor a trifle jarring. + +"You don't seem a bit glad to see us," Alice complained as she drew off +her gloves. "How can any one be anything but happy after seeing that +delicious 'Cock Robin'! It is so deliciously droll." + +"I haven't," I remarked with an attempt at severity, "quite your knack +of ignoring disagreeable facts. There was Montani right in front of me, +jumping like a jack-in-the-box every time you flourished your fan. +There's that fellow we've got locked up at Barton----" + +"Just hear the man, Constance!" she interrupted with her adorable laugh. +"We were thinking that he was beginning to see things our way, the only +true way, the jolly way, and here he cometh like a melancholy Jaques! +We'll have none of it!" + +"We must confess," said Mrs. Farnsworth conciliatingly, "that Mr. +Singleton is passing through a severe trial. We precipitated ourselves +upon him without warning, and immediately involved him in a mesh of +mystery. His imagination must have time to adjust itself." + +"Ah, the imagination!" sighed Alice with her wistful smile. "How little +patience the world has with anything but the soberest facts! Why should +we bother about that lunatic Montani or the gentleman immured in the +tool-house? I couldn't introduce you to Sir Cecil without anticipating +the end of our story; and I want you to keep wondering and wondering +about us. It's all so jolly! I love it all! And really you wouldn't +spoil it, Bob! It's dreadful to spoil things." + +They were spoiling my appetite; I was perfectly aware of that. I had +ordered the best luncheon I knew how to compose, and they were doing +full justice to it; but I was acting, I knew, like a resentful boy. + +"I love you that way," said Alice as I stared vacantly at my plate. "But +you really are not making yourself disagreeable to us--really he is not, +Constance!" + +Mrs. Farnsworth affirmed this. I knew that I was merely being rude, and +the consciousness of this was not uplifting. At the luncheon hour the +influx of shoppers gives the Tyringham a cheery tone, and all about us +were people apparently conversing sanely and happily. The appearance of +Uncle Bash's ghost in the familiar dining-room would have been a welcome +diversion. I was speculating as to just what he would say about his +widow and the whole mess at Barton when Mrs. Farnsworth addressed me +pleadingly. + +"If you knew that we want you to play with us only a few days +longer--three days, shall we say, Alice?--if you knew that then we'll +untangle everything, wouldn't you be nice--very nice?" + +In spite of myself I couldn't resist this appeal. I was more and more +impressed by the fineness, the charm of Mrs. Farnsworth. When she +dropped the make-believe foolishness in which she indulged quite as +amusingly as Alice, she appeared to be a very sensible person. The humor +danced in her eyes now, but her glance was more than an appeal; it was a +command. + +"If you knew that our troubles are not at all the troubles you're +thinking about, but very different----" + +"Please pardon me!" I muttered humbly, and wished that Alice were not so +bewitching in a sailor hat. It may have been the hat or only Mrs. +Farnsworth's pleading tone that brought me to a friendlier attitude +toward the universe and its visible inhabitants. The crowd thinned out, +but we lingered, talking of all manner of things. + +"We must come in again very soon," said Alice. "And next time we shan't +run away, which was very naughty. I suppose when you begin a story you +just have to keep it going or it will die on your hands. That's the way +with our story, you know. Of course it's unkind to mystify you: but you +are in the story just as we are." + +My mystification was certainly deep enough without this suggestion that +I was a mere character in a tale whose awkward beginning aroused only +the gravest apprehensions as to the conclusion. She looked at her watch +and continued: + +"I'm so absurd--really I am, in ever so many ways, that no one would +ever put me in a book. Every one would say no such person ever existed! +It's incredible! And so I have to pretend I'm in a story all the time. +It's the only way I can keep happy. And so many people are in my story +now, not only Montani and the poor fellow locked up at Barton--oh, what +if he should escape! Constance, it would be splendid if he should +escape!" + +"I don't think it would be splendid if he escaped!" I exclaimed, sitting +up very straight at the bare thought of such a calamity. "He would +either kill me or sue me for damages." + +"Oh, that wouldn't fit into the story at all! Murder and damages are so +frightfully sordid and generally disagreeable. We must have nothing +like that in our story." + +"You didn't finish your enumeration of characters," I suggested. "Is my +part an important one or am I only a lay figure?" + +"My dear boy," cried Mrs. Farnsworth, "you are the hero! You have been +the hero from the hour the story began. If you should desert us now, +whatever should we do!" + +"If I'm the hero," I replied in her own key, "I shall begin making love +to Alice at once." + +Alice, far from being disturbed by my declaration, nodded her head +approvingly. + +"Oh, we had expected that! But you needn't be in a hurry. In a story +like this one, that runs right on from day to day, we must leave a lot +to chance. And there are ever so many chances----" + +"Not all on the side of failure, I hope?" + +"We _must_ be going." She laughed. I wished she hadn't that +characteristic little turn of the head that was so beguiling! + +Folly rode with us all the way to Barton. If anything sensible was +uttered on the drive, I can't recall it. Our talk, chiefly of knights +and ladies, and wild flights from imaginary enemies, had the effect of +spurring Flynn to perilous spurts of speed. + +"Flynn has caught the spirit!" cried Alice exultingly. "Haven't you, +Flynn?" + +Flynn, turning to confirm this, caused the car to swerve and graze a +truck piled high with household goods. + +"We may elude the pursuing knights," I suggested, "but some village +constable may take it into his head to pinch us." + +"Oh, that would be lovely," cried Alice. "And we'd telegraph dear Mr. +Torrence to come and bail us out." + +We reached Barton at nine o'clock and after an informal supper I +listened to Antoine's solemn reports as I walked to the garage. The +prisoner had made no sign, he said, and nothing had occurred during the +day. + +"But there's this, Mr. Singleton, which you ought to know, sir. The old +Tyringham people don't like the goings on here. You'll admit it's all +mighty queer. I don't complain, sir, but some of the boys threatens to +leave, sir. And I look at it this way, that nobody understanding what +the spying and bribes offered and taking prisoners is all about, is most +peculiar. We got to know where we stand, that's what it's come to, sir. +And the widow being flighty-like and Flynn coming home and saying +nothing, but shaking his head when we ask him where he's been--You see +for yourself, sir, how it looks to us." + +What he said as to the general aspect of things was true, but I didn't +admit that it was true. Alice had converted me to the notion that I was +a character in a story, a plaything of fate, and I lightly brushed aside +Antoine's melancholy plaint. + +"Any man of you," I said, "who leaves this property will be brought back +and shot. Tell that to the boys!" + +Nevertheless, the perfect equanimity of the gentleman in the tool-house +when I visited him the next morning shook my faith a trifle in the +story-book features of life at Barton. He was an exemplary prisoner, the +guards reported, and he had maintained the strictest silence in my +absence. He ate, smoked, and read, courteously thanking the men for +their attentions, and that was all. When I showed myself at the window +he rose and threw down the magazine he was reading and replied +good-naturedly to my inquiry as to how he was getting along. + +"I have no complaint except that the guards snore outrageously. The poor +old chaps will sleep, you know." + +"If you're so badly guarded, why don't you escape?" I asked tartly. + +"It would relieve your mind a lot if I should disappear?" he asked +insinuatingly. + +"You are impertinent," I replied, irritated that he should have surmised +that his presence was causing me uneasiness. "If you will come to your +senses and tell me the meaning of your visits here, we may agree upon +terms. As it stands, you're a trespasser; you tried to bribe a servant +to rob the house. If you're at all familiar with criminal law in this +country, you can estimate the number of years' imprisonment that will be +handed you for these little indiscretions." + +"If it's all so plain, why don't you hand me over to the authorities?" +he asked, provokingly cool. + +"I'm giving you a chance to confess and tell who's back of all this. +Tell me just why your confederate Montani is annoying Mrs. Bashford, and +I'll turn you loose." + +"Perhaps, my dear sir, the motive that impels you to detain me +unlawfully is the same that enjoins silence upon me! Please consider +that a little." + +I replied that I would consider nothing short of a confession. In a +match of wits he was fully my equal, and in the mastery of his temper he +certainly had the best of me. + +"If you wait for me to confess anything, you will wait forever," he +replied. "I repeat that we are impelled by the same motives, you and I. +I think I needn't enlighten you as to what they are." + +"I shall be glad to hear your idea of my motives," I answered feebly. + +"I shall be frank," he replied readily. "The reason you don't turn me +over to the police is the very simple one that you don't want to +embarrass the mistress of the house yonder by causing the light of +publicity to beat upon her very charming head. You wish to save her +annoyance, and possibly something much graver. I can see that you are +impressed; but it ought to please you to know that I share your feeling +of delicacy where she is concerned. And let me add that the Count +Montani is animated by like feeling. So there we are, exactly on the +same ground!" + +"You haven't answered my questions!" I blustered to hide my annoyance at +being thrust further into the dark. "You don't understand Mrs. +Bashford," I went on hurriedly. "It is inconceivable that any one should +wish to injure her or that she could have committed any act that would +cause her to be spied upon. She's tremendously imaginative; she indulges +in little fancies that are a part of her charm!" + +"Little fancies!" he repeated, hiding a yawn. "It's deplorable for a +pretty woman to have an imagination; there's danger there!" + +"Your philosophy bores me," I said, and left him. He had lied about the +snoring of the guards--Antoine satisfied me of that--but I gave +instructions to double the watch. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +ALICE + + +I wanted to be alone and struck off for a wood that lay on the northern +end of the estate. This was the most picturesque spot on the property, a +wild confusion of trees and boulders. On a summit in the midst of it +Uncle Bash had built a platform round a majestic pine from which to view +the Sound. I mounted the ladder and was brushing the dead leaves from +the bench when, somewhere below me and farther on, I heard voices. + +I flattened myself on the platform, listening intently. A stiff breeze +from the Sound flung the voices clearly to my hiding-place, and I became +aware that Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth were holding a colloquy in what +seemed to be the vein of their whimsical make-believe. That they should +be doing this in the depth of the woodland merely for their own +amusement did not surprise me--nothing they could have done would have +astonished me--but the tone of their talk changed abruptly. + +"Try it from that boulder there, Alice," said Mrs. Farnsworth. "It's an +ideal place, created for the very purpose." + +I could see them moving about and hear the swish of shrubbery and the +scraping of their feet on the rough slope. + +"How will that do?" asked Alice. + +"Beautifully," replied Mrs. Farnsworth. "Now go ahead from the beginning +of the scene." + +Cautiously drawing back the branches, I espied Alice striking a pose on +a mammoth rock. She bent forward, clasping her knees, and with an +occasional glance at what appeared to be an open book beside her, she +began: + +"You ask me who I am, my lord? It matters not at all who or what I am; +let it suffice that berries are my food and the brook that sings behind +me gives me drink. To be one thing or another is a weariness. Would you +ask yonder oak for a name, or trouble the wind with like foolish +questions? No; it is enough that a tree is strong and fine to look upon +and that a wind has healing in its wings." + +With her head to one side and an arresting gesture, and throwing into +her voice all its charm and a new compelling innocence and sweetness, +she continued: + +"But you would have a name? Then, O foolish one, so much I will tell +you: Yesterday I was Helen, who launched a thousand ships and shook the +topless towers of Ilium. To-day I am Rosalind in the forest of Arden, +and to-morrow I may be Antigone, or Ariel or Viola, or what you will. I +am what I make myself or choose to be. I pray you, let that suffice." + +My face was wet with perspiration, and my heart thumped wildly. For +either I was stark, staring mad, or these were lines from Searles's +"Lady Larkspur," the manuscript of which was carefully locked in my +trunk. + +"That should be spoken a trifle more slowly, and with the best air of +unpremeditatedness you can put into it," Mrs. Farnsworth was saying. +"You can work it out better when you've memorized the lines. It's +immensely effective having the last scene come back to the big boulder +on the mountainside. Let me look at that a minute." + +She took up the manuscript--there was no question of the blue cover of +my copy of "Lady Larkspur"--and turned to the passage she sought. + +"Let me read this over," Mrs. Farnsworth continued: "'I have played, my +lord, at hide-and-seek with the stars, and I have run races with the +brooks. You alone of all that have sought me are equally fleet of foot +and heart! If you but touch my hand, I am lost forever. And this hand--I +beg you look at it--is as brown as a berry and as rough as hickory bark. +A wild little hand and not lightly to be yielded at any man's behest. +Look at me carefully, my lord.' She rises to full height quickly. Let me +see you do that, Alice." + +Alice's golden head became more distinctively visible as she stood erect +upon the boulder. + +"Oh, no! You can improve on that; it must be done lightly and quickly, +just touching the tips of your fingers to the rock. Ah, splendid! Now +stand with one hand dropped upon the hip--let me see how that looks. +Very good; now repeat these lines after me. 'This other world, of which +you speak?' Shake your head slowly, frowning; every hint of sincere +doubt and questioning you can throw into look and gesture. 'Is it a kind +world, a place of honest hearts? You have spoken of cities, and crowded +avenues, of music and theatres and many things I have read of but never +seen. You promise me much, but what should I do in so vast a company? I +am very happy here. Spring and summer fill my hands with flowers and in +winter I lay my face to the wind that carries sleet and snow. All this +is mine.' Arms stretched out. You mustn't make that stiff--very good. +'Earth and sky and forest belong to me. The morning comes down the sky +in search of me and the tired day bids me good-night at the western +gate. You would change rags for silk.' You turn your body and catch your +skirt in your hands, looking down. Yes; you are barefoot in this scene. +You'll have to practise that turn. Now--'And yet I should lose my +dominion; in that world you boast of I should no more be Lady +Larkspur.'" + +Alice had repeated these lines, testing and trying different +modulations. Sometimes a dozen repetitions hardly sufficed to satisfy +Mrs. Farnsworth, who herself recited them and postured for Alice's +instruction. + +"Please read the whole of the second act again," said Alice, seating +herself on the boulder. I waited for a few minutes, enjoying the +beautiful flow of Mrs. Farnsworth's voice, then, mystified and awed, I +crept down the ladder and stole away. "It's Dick Searles's play," I kept +whispering to myself. It was the "Lady Larkspur" that he was holding +back until he could find the girl who had so enchanted him in London and +for whom he had written this very comedy with its setting in the +Virginia hills. + +Hurrying to the garage, I snarled at Flynn, who said Torrence had been +calling me all morning and had finally left word that he would motor to +Barton at eight the next evening to see me on urgent business. I +unlocked my trunk and dug out my copy of "Lady Larkspur." Not even the +wizardry of Alice and her friend could have extracted the script. The +two women had in some way possessed themselves of another copy, an exact +duplicate, even to its blue paper cover; and I sat down and began +recalling everything Searles had told me about his efforts to find the +actress. + +The telephone on the table at my elbow rang until Flynn came in timidly +to quiet it. + +"If it's Mr. Torrence--" I began. + +"It's the Barton station, sir. There's a telegram." I snatched the +receiver spitefully, thinking it only the methodical Torrence confirming +the appointment made by telephone. But the operator began reading: + + "SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, September 30, 1917. + + "Cable from London agent says last forwarding address for Violet + Dewing was hotel in Seattle. Please ask Harkaway & Stein and anybody + else on Broadway who might know what companies are on coast or + headed that way. I find no clew in theatrical papers and don't want + to mess things by making inquiries direct. If party can be located, + will start West immediately. + + "SEARLES." + +The thought of Searles was comforting, and I reproached myself for not +having summoned him at the beginning of my perplexities. I immediately +dictated this reply: + +"Take first train East and come to me at Barton as quickly as possible. +Hope to have news for you." + +I then jotted down on a scratch pad this memorandum: + +"The young woman representing herself as Mrs. Bashford and now +established in my uncle's house is one or all of the following persons: + + 1. Uncle Bash's widow. + 2. An impostor. + 3. A spy of some sort, pursued by secret agents. + 4. Violet Dewing, an actress. + 5. The most interesting and the loveliest and most charming girl + in the world." + +I checked off one, two, and three as doubtful if not incredible; four +seemed possible, and five was wholly incontrovertible. But the first +three certainly required much illumination, and the fourth I was +helpless to reconcile with any of the others but the last. I reviewed +Searles's enthusiastic description of the young woman who had inspired +him to write "Lady Larkspur," and could only excuse my stupidity in not +fitting it to Alice the first time I saw her on the ground that Barton +was the last place in the world I should have looked for her. And then, +with all his exuberance, Searles hadn't done her justice! + +The following day nothing of importance happened, though Alice and Mrs. +Farnsworth again spent the morning in the woodland, presumably studying +Searles's play. My thoughts galloped through my head in a definite +formula: "If she is not my aunt--" "If she is an impostor--" "If she is +a spy playing a deep game in the seclusion of Barton--" "If she is the +actress Searles is seeking--" At any rate, I would respect her wish to +play the game through; the dangers of carrying the story-book idea to +one of half a dozen possible conclusions were not inconsiderable, but I +was resolved that she should finish the tale in her own fashion. + +On my way to luncheon I passed Dutch pushing a wheelbarrow containing a +huge hamper. + +"It's vittles for the prisoner, sir," he remarked. "He's some feeder, +that guy, and I guess the sooner we shake 'im th' better. He kicks on +th' wine, sir. Says it's questionable vintage. When he gets tired +readin' he pokes his head through the window and kids th' boys. He says +he's goin' to remember th' place and come back when he's old. A charmin' +retreat fer supernumerary superannuates, he calls it. Them's his woids. +I'm gittin' sort o' nervous havin' 'im round. Zimmerman--he's the +clothes-presser--tried to talk Goiman to 'im this mornin' an' th' guy +pretended like his feelin's wuz hoit, an' he never knowed th' Hun's +language, he says. An' Elsie says she's prepared to swear he talked +Goiman easy enough to her." + +"We'll consider his case later, Dutch. The matter is delicate, most +delicate." + +If I had expected Searles and his play to be introduced into the +table-talk, I was doomed to disappointment. A dozen times I smothered an +impulse to tell Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth I had watched them in the +woodland and of Searles's long search for the ideal of his "Lady +Larkspur," but I was afraid to risk their displeasure. They enjoyed +walking in the wood, they said, and when I charged them with +selfishness in not taking me along, Alice immediately suggested a tramp +later in the afternoon. + +"I'll send you away after luncheon--I have loads of letters to write, +but by four o'clock I'll be keen for the woods again." + +"Letters to all my good fairies," she laughed when I went for her; "and +you mustn't look at the addresses!" She suggested that we walk to the +village as she liked to post her letters herself. We went through the +woods where I had seen her the day before. + +"Constance and I were here this morning," she said when we reached the +big boulder. "Let me see; I think I'll try a little trick to test the +hand of fate. Give me those letters, please. If this falls with the +address up, I'll mail it," and she chose one and handed me the others; +"if the flap side turns up, I'll destroy it." + +She sent it spinning into the air. A branch caught and held it an +instant, then it fell, turning over and over, and lay straight on edge +against a weed. + +"No decision!" I cried. "It's an exact perpendicular." + +She knelt beside it, pondering. "I think it leans just a trifle to the +address side," she announced. "Therefore you may return it to your +pocket and it goes into the post-office." + +"These letters would probably answer a lot of questions for me if I +dared run away with them," I suggested. + +"The thought does you no credit, sir. You promised not to meddle, but +just to let things take their course, and I must say that you are +constantly improving. At times you grow suspicious--yes, you know you +do--but, take it all in all, you do very well." + +At the post-office she dropped all the letters but one into the chute. +"It really _did_ fall a little to the address side?" she questioned. + +I gave my judgment that the letter stood straight on edge, inclining +neither way. + +"If my life hung in the balance, I should certainly not act where fate +had been so timid." + +"Perhaps this _does_ affect you," she said, quite soberly. And there in +the lobby of the little Barton post-office, for the first time, I +indulged the hope that there was something more than friendliness and +kindness in her eyes. Her usual composure was gone--for a moment +only--and she fingered the envelope nervously in her slim, expressive +hands. A young woman clerk thrust her head through the delivery window +and manifested a profound interest in our colloquy. + +"Suppose," said Alice musingly, "I were to tell you that if I mail this +letter the effect will be to detain me in America for some time; if I +don't send it, I shall have to write another that will mean that I shall +go very soon. If I stay on at Barton instead of going home to take up my +little part again for England in the war, it will be an act of +selfishness--just some more of my foolishness, more of the make-believe +life that Constance and I have been living here." + +"I want you to stay," I said earnestly, taking the letter. "Let me be +your fate in this--in everything that affects your life forever." + +She walked quickly to the door, and I dropped the letter into the chute +and hurried after her. + +"You didn't turn round," I said as we started down the street. "For all +you know, I've got the letter in my pocket." + +"Oh, I'm not a bit frightened! It would be just as interesting one way +as another." + +"But I want you to stay forever," I declared as we waited on the curb +for a truck to pass. + +"The remark is almost impertinent," she answered, "when I've known you +only seven days." + +"They've been wonderful days. It really makes no difference about +letters or your duties elsewhere. Where you go I shall certainly follow; +that's something I should like to have understood here and now." + +Loitering along the beach on our way home, I was guiltily conscious that +I was making love rather ardently to a lady who had introduced herself +to me as my uncle's widow. The sensation was, on the whole, very +agreeable.... + +"Mr. Torrence and Mr. Raynor," Antoine announced as we were leaving the +dinner-table. + +"Mr. Raynor?" asked Alice. "Who, pray, is Mr. Raynor?" + +Their arrival together chilled me, a chill increased by Torrence's +frosty greeting as he gripped my hand angrily and hissed in my ear: + +"You've deceived me about this whole business! I suggest that you leave +the room." + +I was walking toward the door when Mrs. Farnsworth protested. + +"You are not going? Alice, there is no reason why Mr. Singleton should +leave us." + +"Of course he is not going," said Alice. She was established at ease in +a wicker rocker, unconcernedly plying the ostrich-plume fan. + +"There may be matters----" began Torrence. + +"Oh, nothing that Bob can't hear!" Alice declared. + +"Very well," muttered Torrence, frowning his complete disapproval. + +He fidgeted for a moment and tried to catch Raynor's eye, but Raynor's +face expressed amusement. I found myself liking Raynor very much. + +"Mr. Raynor told me that he wished to speak to Mrs. Bashford privately," +said Torrence. "If he's satisfied, I'm sure I have no objection to Mr. +Singleton's remaining. I regret that my own duty is a disagreeable one." + +"Really!" murmured Alice with nicely shaded impudence. + +"I am convinced, beyond any question," said Torrence sharply, "that you +are not the widow of the late Raymond B. Bashford!" + +"That statement," said Alice without ceasing the languid flutter of the +fan, "is correct--quite correct." + +"Certainly: it is entirely true," affirmed Mrs. Farnsworth. + +"And your coming here as you did is, if you will pardon my frankness, +susceptible of very disagreeable constructions. It is my painful +duty----" + +He choked upon his duty until Raynor spoke, smiling broadly. + +"I find my duty really a privilege," he said. "Not only are you not Mrs. +Bashford," he went on with the utmost good humor, "but you are a very +different person. I should explain that I represent the American State +Department, and that our government has been asked by the British +Embassy to find you and deliver a certain message to you." + +"Oh, papa wants me to come home!" cried Alice. "It's droll, Constance, +that papa should have thought of making an affair of state of us. Dear +papa will always indulge me just so far, and then he becomes alarmed." + +"He's certainly alarmed now!" laughed Raynor. "But the ambassador has +warned us to be most tactful and circumspect. You may not know that Sir +Arnold Seabring is on his way to this country on a confidential mission. +That, of course, is not for publication." + +"Sir Arnold Seabring?" gasped Torrence. + +"The father of the Honorable Miss Seabring," replied Raynor with an +elucidating nod toward Alice. + +"But how--" I began. + +"Mrs. Bashford, the widow of your uncle, is the Honorable Miss +Seabring's aunt. Is that quite correct?" + +"It is all true," said Alice. "I am a fraud, an impostor. You might go +on and say that Mrs. Farnsworth is the wife of Sir Cecil Arrowsmith. But +all the guilt is mine. It was my idea to come here and play a little, +because I knew Aunt Alice wouldn't mind. She knew just what I meant to +do; really she did, Mr. Torrence! In fact, I have her written permission +to use the house, which I should have shown you if we had got in a +pinch. But it seemed so much more fun just to let matters take their +course. It's a pet theory of mine that life is a dull affair unless we +trust to luck a little. After my brother's death I was very unhappy and +had gone out East to visit Aunt Alice, who is a great roamer. I thought +it would be nice to stop here on the way home, just for a lark, without +telling papa, who was frantically cabling me to hurry back to England. +This isn't the first time I've played hide-and-seek with my family. I +was always doing that as a child; and if it hadn't been for my general +waywardness I should never have known you, Constance. Why, I shouldn't +have known you, gentlemen! It has all been so delightful!" + +This naïve confession amused Raynor greatly, but Torrence was seeing +nothing in it but a dangerous escapade. + +"In the name of the Bainbridge Trust Company, I must notify you," he +began, "that by representing yourself as another person, entering into +possession of a large property----" + +"But we've been paying all our own expenses; we haven't taken any money +from you," pleaded Alice. + +"Of course you wouldn't do such a thing," affirmed Raynor. "My +instructions are to give you any sum of money you ask. In fact, the +Government of the United States is instructed to assume full +responsibility for you until your father arrives. May I go on and +clarify matters for these gentlemen, for Mr. Torrence at least is +entitled to a full explanation?" + +"Constance," said Alice, turning with a little shrug to her friend, "we +have been caught! Our story is being spoiled for us. Please go on, Mr. +Raynor. Just what does the American State Department have to say about +us?" + +"That you are endowed with a very unusual personality," continued +Raynor, his eyes twinkling. "You are not at all content to remain in +that station of life to which you were born; you like playing at being +all sorts of other persons. Once, so your friend the ambassador confided +to me, you ran away and followed a band of gypsies, which must have been +when you were a very little girl." + +"I was seven," said Alice, "and the gypsies were nice to me." + +"And then you showed talent for the stage----" + +"A dreadful revelation!" she exclaimed. + +"But you don't know that it was really your father who managed to have +Mrs. Farnsworth, one of the most distinguished actresses in England, +take charge of you." + +"No! Alice never knew that!" said Mrs. Farnsworth, laughing. "I was her +chaperon as well as her preceptress; but Alice's father knew that if +Alice found it out it would spoil the adventure for her. Alice must do +things in her own way." + +"You are a fraud," said Alice, "but I always suspected you a little." + +"Speaking of the stage," resumed Raynor, "it is also a part of my +instructions that the Honorable Miss Seabring shall be discouraged from +any further adventures in that direction; she's far too talented; +there's danger of her becoming a great luminary. In other words, she is +not to grace the boards again as Violet Dewing." + +Alice's brow clouded, and she turned to me. "That was settled when you +mailed that letter for me. It was to make an appointment with an +American playwright who wants me to appear in a most adorable comedy." + +"His name is Dick Searles," I said, "and he's my most intimate friend." + +She professed indignation when I told of my eavesdropping in the woods, +but when I explained that I knew all about the play and Searles's +despairing search for her she was enormously pleased. + +"How wonderful!" she exclaimed. "You know I told you, Constance, that if +we really threw ourselves in the path of adventure mystery would come +out to meet us in silken sandals." + +"But you will not appear in this play?" asked Raynor anxiously. "It is +the business of the Government of the United States to see that you +commit no further indiscretions. There is another matter which I hope +you can clear up. You are not only a subject of concern to the British +Embassy, but the French ambassador also has appealed to us to assist him +in a trifling matter!" + +"The French ambassador?" Alice exclaimed with a surprise I knew to be +unfeigned. "I thought the dear Montani was an Italian?" + +"We will continue to call him Montani, but he's a Frenchman and one of +the keenest men in the French Secret Service. You have caused him the +deepest anguish." + +"Please hurry on!" She bent forward with childish delight. "This is a +part of the story we've been living that I really know nothing about. I +hope it won't be disappointing!" + +Raynor laughed and shook his head. + +"It's fortunate that Montani is a gentleman, anxious to shield and +protect you. You have a fan in your hand----" + +She spread it for our inspection. + +"A harmless trinket, but without it the adventure would have been very +tame." + +"The story of the fan is in the most secret archives of Paris and +Washington. When you were packing up in Tokyo to come home on the very +last day before your departure a lady called on you whom you knew as +Madame Volkoff." + +"That dear woman!" exclaimed Mrs. Farnsworth. "We knew her very well." + +"Almost too well," cried Raynor. "A cultivated woman and exceedingly +clever, but a German spy. She had collected some most interesting data +with reference to Japanese armament and defenses, but suspecting that +she was being watched, she hit upon a most ingenious way of getting the +information across the Pacific, expecting to communicate with German +agents in America who could pick it up and pass it on to Berlin. You +see, she thought you an easy mark. She got hold of a fan which Montani +informs me is the exact counterpart of that one you hold. She reduced +her data to the smallest possible compass, concealed it in her fan, and +watched for a chance to exchange with you. The astute Montani found the +Japanese artisan who had done the tinkering for her and surmised that +you were to be made the unconscious bearer of the incriminating papers. +Montani jumped for the steamer you were sailing on with every +determination to get the fan. His professional pride was aroused, and it +was only after he found it impossible to steal the fan that he asked our +assistance. He's a good fellow, a gentleman in every sense, and with +true French chivalry wanted to do the job without disturbing you in any +way." + +We pressed closer about Raynor as he took the fan, spread it open, and +held it close against a table-lamp. "The third, sixth, and ninth," he +counted. "You will notice that those three pieces of ivory are a trifle +thicker and not as transparent as the others. Glancing at them casually +in an ordinary light, you would never suspect that they had been +hollowed out, an exceedingly delicate piece of work. It's a pity to +spoil anything so pretty, but----" + +He snapped the top of one of the panels, disclosing a neatly folded +piece of thin paper. + +"If you are all satisfied, I will not go further. I want to deliver this +to the French Embassy intact. I expect Montani here to-night; he will no +doubt be enormously relieved." + +A machine whizzed into the driveway, and Montani came in brushing past +the astonished Antoine, who had answered the bell. + +"The fan is safe," cried Raynor; "you may complete the identification." + +"I've handled this whole affair most stupidly," said Montani after a +hurried examination. "I'm satisfied that a German agent in America has +picked up the trail of the fan. One or two lines of my own +communications failed to work, and after reporting the whole matter to +the French Embassy I began searching for a man, the most dangerous of +all the German spies, who had been intrusted with the business of +recovering Madame Volkoff's fan and passing the contents on to Berlin. +This person has been representing himself as a French secret agent; he's +enormously plausible. I feared he might attempt what I failed to do. +If----" + +Alice glanced at me, and I stepped to the wall and punched the button. + +"Antoine," I said, "tie the arms of the prisoner in the tool-house and +bring him here." + +"A man in the tool-house!" Montani, Torrence, and Raynor ejaculated in +concert. + +"Oh, yes," murmured Alice, "that's the pleasantest chapter of all. Our +grenadiers captured a whole invading army that made a night attack--one +of the most remarkable engagements of the present war, Mr. Torrence." + +"The battle of the Bell-Hops," I suggested. "The prisoner will be here +in a moment." + +While we waited Montani produced a photograph, instantly recognizable as +a likeness of our prisoner. + +"My reputation is saved!" he exclaimed excitedly. "That he should have +been caught here! It is too much! I shall never forgive myself for not +warning you of the danger. But you understand, mesdames, that I was +sincerely anxious to recover the fan without letting you know its +importance. When I found at Seattle and Chicago that you were travelling +under assumed names, I was--pray, pardon me--deeply puzzled, the more +so because I had satisfied myself in Tokyo that you were loyal +Englishwomen, and I believed you to be innocent of complicity with +Madame Volkoff. Why you should have changed your names, I didn't know, +but it's not my affair now." + +"We saw you on the steamer and again in the hotel at Chicago. It was +very amusing to be followed. We gave you the slip, stopped at Buffalo to +see Niagara, and you came on here and scared the servants to death! But +you were generous at every point," said Alice. "We changed our names so +we could amuse ourselves here--at Bob's expense. So now I ask +everybody's forgiveness!" + +The prisoner, arriving at this moment, became the centre of interest. +Without a word Montani walked up to him, brushed back his hair, and +called our attention to a scar on the crown of his head. + +"There can be no mistake. This is Adolph Schwenger, who passes as +readily for a Frenchman as I do for an Italian. The capture is of great +importance. I shall want the names of all the persons who assisted in +the matter." + +"It isn't quite clear to me," remarked Raynor, turning to me, "why you +held that fellow and said nothing about it. If there had been a mistake, +it would have been just a little embarrassing for you, Singleton." + +"Chivalry!" Mrs. Farnsworth answered for me. "An anxious concern for the +peace and dignity of two foolish women! I didn't know there was so much +chivalry left in the world." + +An hour was spent in explanations, and Raynor declared that I must write +a full account of the Allied army in Connecticut and the capture of the +spy. The State archives contained nothing that touched this episode for +piquancy, he declared; and even the bewildered Torrence finally saw the +joke of the thing and became quite human. + +Raynor and Montani decided after a conference that the German agent +should be taken to New York immediately, and I called Flynn to drive +them down. + +"It's most fortunate, sir, that you sent for him just when you did!" +announced Antoine, nearly bursting with importance. "The boys had heard +queer sounds in the night, but could find nothing wrong. The prisoner +had taken up the flooring at the back of the tool-house, and was +scooping up the dirt. He'd got a place pretty near big enough to let him +through. I suppose we ought to have noticed it, sir." + +"You managed the whole thing perfectly, Antoine--you and all of you." + +It was just as Raynor and Montani were leaving the house with the +prisoner that we heard a commotion in the direction of the gates. I had +sent word that no one was to be admitted to the grounds, but as I ran +out the front door a machine was speeding madly toward the house. A +dozen of the guards were yelling their protests at the invasion, and a +spurt of fire preluded the booming of Zimmerman's shotgun. + +"Get your man into the car and beat it," I shouted to Raynor, thinking +an attempt was about to be made to rescue the prisoner. + +The touring-car left just as a Barton taxi flashed into the driveway. +The driver was swearing loudly at one of the Tyringham veterans who had +wedged himself into the door of the machine. With some difficulty I +extricated Scotty from his hazardous position. + +Searles jumped out (I had forgotten that he might arrive that night), +but before I could greet him he swung round and assisted a lady to +alight--a short, stout lady in a travelling cap, wrapped in a coat that +fell to her heels. She began immediately to deliver orders in an +authoritative tone as to the rescue of her belongings. Searles dived +into the taxi and began dragging out a vast amount of small luggage, but +my attention was diverted for a moment by Alice, who jumped down the +steps and clasped her arms about the neck of the stout lady. + +"Aunt Alice!" I heard her saying. "Why didn't you tell us to meet you?" + +"Why didn't I tell you?" demanded the stout lady. "The moment you left +me I knew I'd made a mistake in letting you come over here on one of +your absurd larks! And from the row I had getting into the premises I +judge that you're at your old tricks. Fired upon! Treated as though I +were an outlaw! You shall never go out of my sight again!" + +"Oh, please don't scold me!" Alice pleaded and turning to me: "This is +Bob Singleton, your nephew." + +Mrs. Bashford--and I made no question that Searles's companion was +indubitably my uncle's widow--gave me her hand and smiled in a way that +showed that she was not so greatly displeased with Alice as her words +implied. + +"Pay that driver for me and don't fail to tip him. Those Methuselahs at +the gate all but killed him. It was only the vigorous determination of +this gentleman, who very generously permitted me to share the only motor +at the station, that I got through the gates alive! I beg your pardon, +but what _is_ your name?" + +"Mrs. Bashford," I interposed, "my friend, Mr. Searles." + +"Mr. Searles!" cried Alice, dropping a cage containing some weird +Oriental bird which had been among my aunt's impedimenta. The bird +squawked hideously. + +"Miss Violet Dewing, permit me to present the author of 'Lady +Larkspur'!" + +Poor Torrence, clinging to a pillar for support, now revived +sufficiently to be included in the introductions. + +It was a week later that Alice and I sat on the stone wall watching the +waves, at the point forever memorable as the scene of our first talk. + +"Aunt Alice isn't playing fair," she said. "She pretends now that it was +all my idea--coming over to play at being your uncle's widow, but she +really encouraged me to do it so I could give her an impartial judgment +of your character. I'm her only niece and her namesake, and she relies +on me a good deal. You know she's very, very rich, and she had never any +idea of keeping your uncle's money. She meant all the while to give it +to you--provided she found you were nice. And she thinks you are very +nice." + +"Your own opinion of me would be interesting," I suggested. + +She had gathered a handful of pebbles and was flinging them fitfully at +a bit of driftwood. I wished her lips hadn't that little quiver that +preluded laughter and that her eyes were not the haven of all the dreams +in the world. + +She landed a pebble on the target before replying. + +"You are very nice, I think," she said with disconcerting detachment. +"At first I was afraid you didn't like nonsense, but you really got +through very well, considering the trouble I caused you. But I'm in +trouble myself now. Papa will land to-morrow. He's the grandest, dearest +man in all this world, but when he finds that I'm going to act in Mr. +Searles's play he will be terribly cut up. Of course it will not be for +long. Even if it's a big success, I'm to be released in three months. +Constance and Sir Cecil think I owe it to myself to appear in the piece; +they're good enough to say nobody else can do it so well--which is a +question. I'm going to give all the money I earn to the blind soldiers." + +(I wished the tears in her eyes didn't make them more lovely still!) + +"Being what you are and all you are, it would be brutal for me to add to +the number of things you have to tell your father. I'm a very obscure +person, and he is a gentleman of title and otherwise distinguished. You +are the Honorable Miss----" + +"Papa has said numbers of times," she began softly, looking far out +across the blue Sound--"he has said, oh, very often, that he'll never +stop troubling about me until--until I'm happily married." + +"When you came here you wore a wedding-ring," I remarked casually. + +"It was only a 'property' ring, to help deceive you. I bought it in +Chicago. When Aunt Alice came I threw it away." + +"The finger seems lonesome without it," I said. "If I get you another, I +hope you'll take better care of it." + +"If you should put it there," she replied, looking fixedly at the hand, +"that would be very, very different." + +THE END + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +BY MEREDITH NICHOLSON + +LADY LARKSPUR +THE MADNESS OF MAY +THE VALLEY OF DEMOCRACY + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Transcriber's Note: + +1. Books "By Meredith Nicholson" relocated to end of text. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lady Larkspur, by Meredith Nicholson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY LARKSPUR *** + +***** This file should be named 19204-8.txt or 19204-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/2/0/19204/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lady Larkspur + +Author: Meredith Nicholson + +Release Date: September 7, 2006 [EBook #19204] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY LARKSPUR *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div style="text-align: center"> +<table summary=''> + <tr><td align='left'> + <p style='font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;'><i>BY MEREDITH NICHOLSON</i></p> + <p style='font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: -1.0em; text-align: left;'>LADY LARKSPUR</p> + <p style='font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: -1.0em; text-align: left;'>THE MADNESS OF MAY</p> + <p style='font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: .3em; text-align: left;'>THE VALLEY OF DEMOCRACY</p> + <hr style="margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em; width: 10%;" /> + <p style='font-size: 90%; margin-bottom: .3em; text-align: left;'><i>CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS</i></p> + </td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<table width='400' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='' border='1'> + <tr><td align='center'> + <p style='font-size: 200%; margin-bottom: 3em; text-align: center;'>LADY LARKSPUR</p> + <p style='font-size: 100%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center;'>BY</p> + <p style='font-size: 120%; margin-bottom: 6em; text-align: center;'>MEREDITH NICHOLSON</p> + <p style='font-size: 100%; margin-bottom: 0em; text-align: center;'>NEW YORK</p> + <p style='font-size: 100%; margin-bottom: 0em; text-align: center;'>CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS</p> + <p style='font-size: 100%; margin-bottom: 2em; text-align: center;'>1919</p> + </td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<table width='450' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='' border='0'> + <tr><td align='center'> + <p style='font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: -1em; text-align: center;'><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1919, by</span></p> + <p style='font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: 0em; text-align: center;'>CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS</p> + <hr style="margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em; width: 10%;" /> + <p style='font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: 0em; text-align: center;'>Published March, 1919</p> + <hr style="margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em; width: 10%;" /> + <p style='font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: 0em; text-align: center;'>COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY P. F. COLLIER & SONS, INC.</p> + </td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<table width='450' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='' border='0'> + <col style='width:100%;' /> + <tr> + <td align='center'> + <span style='font-size: 100%;'>TO<br />BENNETT AND PEGGY GATES</span> + </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a>Contents</h2> +<div class="smcap"> +<table border="0" width="500" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<col style="width:18%;" /> +<col style="width:3%;" /> +<col style="width:70%;" /> +<col style="width:10%;" /> +<tr><td align="right"><span style='font-size:80%'>CHAPTER</span></td><td></td><td></td><td align="right"><span style='font-size:80%'>PAGE</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td></td><td align="left"><span class='sc'>The "Troops"</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td></td><td align="left"><span class='sc'>The Amazing Widow</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">38</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td></td><td align="left"><span class='sc'>A Fan</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">79</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td><td></td><td align="left"><span class='sc'>Pursuing Knights</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">112</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td></td><td align="left"><span class='sc'>Alice</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">138</a></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<hr class='full' /> + +<h1>LADY LARKSPUR</h1> + +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">1</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2><h3>THE "TROOPS"</h3> +</div> + +<p>"It was hard luck," said Searles, "that I should spend a year writing a +play for a woman only to find that she had vanished—jumped off the +earth into nowhere. This was my highest flight, Singleton, the best +writing I ever did, and after the vast pains I took with the thing, the +only woman I ever saw who could possibly act it is unavailable; worse +than that, absolutely undiscoverable! Nobody knows I have this script; +I've kept quiet about it simply because I'm not going to be forced into +accepting a star I don't want. I have a feeling about this play that I +never had about my other things. That girl was its inspiration. The +public has been so kind to my small offerings that I'm trying to lead +'em on to the best I can do; something a little finer and more +imaginative, with a touch of poetry, if you please. And now——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">2</a></span></p> + +<p>He rose from his broad work-table (he scorned the familiar type of desk) +and glared at me as though I were responsible for his troubles. As he +knew I had been flying in the French Aviation Corps for two years and +had just been invalided home, I didn't think it necessary to establish +an alibi. But I hastened to express my sympathy for his predicament. +Fate had been kind to Dick Searles. In college he had written a play or +two that demonstrated his talent, and after a rigid apprenticeship as +scene-shifter and assistant producer he had made a killing with "Let +George Do It," a farce that earned enough to put him at ease and make +possible an upward step into straight comedy. Even as we talked a +capacity house was laughing at his skit, "Who Killed Cock Robin?" just +around the corner from his lodgings. So his story was not the invention +of a rejected playwright to cover the non-appearance of a play which +nobody would produce.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it always a mistake to write a play for a particular star?" I +suggested. "Seems to me I've read somewhere that that is among the +besetting sins of you playwrights."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">3</a></span></p> + +<p>"Old stuff, my boy; but this isn't one of those cases. The person I had +in mind for this play wasn't a star, but a beginner, quite unknown. It +was when I was in London putting on 'Fairy Gold' that I saw her; she had +a small part in a pantomime, and pantomime is the severest test of an +actor's powers, you know. A little later she appeared in 'Honourable +Women,' a capital play that died early, but there again I felt her +peculiar charm—it was just that. Her part was a minor one, but she wore +it as she might wear a glove; she was exquisite! No one ever captured my +imagination as she did. I watched her night after night. I was afraid +that when I heard her voice it would break the spell, and I actually +shook like a man with an ague when she tripped out on the stage as the +ingénue in 'Honourable Women.' And her laughter! You know how hollow the +usual stage mirth is, but that girl's laugh had the joy of the lark +ascending!"</p> + +<p>"By Jove!" I ejaculated, "there's more here than appears. You're in love +with the girl!"</p> + +<p>"Rubbish," he cried impatiently. "You'll<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">4</a></span> think I'm talking rot, but +this girl was the visualization of a character I had dreamed of and +groped after for years. That's all; but it's a whole lot, I can tell +you!"</p> + +<p>"Of course, you established lines of communication and gave her a hint +that you meant to write a play for her?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not! That would have spoiled the whole thing. It was her art, +not the woman, that interested me. I didn't want to take the chance of +being disillusioned. I have been through that experience, and I prefer +not to meet the people who act in my pieces. I want their art, not their +views on human destiny or the best place to get lobster à la Newburg."</p> + +<p>"Let us be practical for a moment, Searles," I urged. "Emperors, +presidents, and popular murderers are not more conspicuous than the +people of the stage. No girl talented enough to get two engagements, +even for small parts, in a first-class London theatre could vanish. With +your acquaintance in the profession you'd be able to trace her anywhere +on earth. By the way, what did the paragon call herself?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</a></span></p> + +<p>"Violet Dewing was her stage name and the only name the managers knew +her by. I assumed that, of course, all I had to do was to finish my play +and then have Dalton, who represents me over there, make an appointment +to read it to her; but Dalton worked for three months trying to find +her, without success. She clearly wasn't the product of the provincial +theatres—hadn't any of the marks. I wasn't the only person who was +interested in her. Dalton said half a dozen managers had their eye on +her, but after 'Honourable Women' closed she stepped into the void. I +know what you're thinking—that the other members of the two companies +she appeared with must have had some inkling of her identity, but I tell +you Dalton and I exhausted the possibilities. It was by accident that +she got her chance in the pantomime—some one wouldn't do at the last +minute, and they gave Miss Dewing a trial. She was well liked by her +associates in spite of the fact that she was a bit offish and vanished +from their world the minute the curtain fell."</p> + +<p>"A clever governess out of a job, satisfying a craving for excitement +and playing the mysterious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span> rôle as part of the adventure. Am I to +assume that you've burned your play and that the incident is closed?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I didn't burn it; I have a copy locked in a safety vault, and +Dalton left one heavily sealed at a small exclusive London hotel where, +he found after much difficulty, the girl had lodged during her two +engagements."</p> + +<p>"You're morbid," I said. "Show me her photograph."</p> + +<p>He laughed ironically. "Never a chance, Singleton! You haven't yet got +the idea that this young woman is out of the ordinary. She refused to be +photographed—wrote it into her two contracts that this was not to be +asked. I never saw her off the stage, and I can't give you a description +of her that would be of the slightest assistance to the keenest +detective alive. As I've tried to convey to your practical mind, it's +the spirit of the girl—the spirit of comedy, that I've dramatized—not +a girl you take out to supper only to find that she has no wit, no +charm, no anything but a monstrous appetite for indigestible food and a +silly ambition to play rôles the gods never intended her to play. In +that pantomime<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span> she was a frolic, the clown's daughter, and, though +nobody saw it, she was the whole piece, the elusive sprite that could +evoke laughter and tears by a gesture, a lifting of the brows, a +grimace. By utterly different methods in 'Honourable Women' she proved +her wide range of appeal. The chap who produced 'Honourable Women' told +me that after the first rehearsal Bayley, the author, begged him for +God's sake to let the girl do it her own way, so as not to lose her +freshness and spontaneity. Hers was the one true characterization in the +piece. When Terry was in her prime you remember how we used to say that +only one bird sang like that, and from paradise it flew? Well, this bird +sings on the same branch! Her voice was her charm made audible! She's +the most natural being I ever saw on the stage, and she can <i>look</i> more +comedy than anybody else I ever saw act!"</p> + +<p>"Rave some more!" I pleaded. "You never talked better in your life."</p> + +<p>"Don't be an ass," he said sourly. "Let's forget her and take a squint +at your affairs. Just what do you mean to do with yourself?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span></p> + +<p>"My shoulder still creaks a little, and the doctors advise me to sit +around for a while. They offered me some jobs in Washington, but desk +work and inspection duty are too tame after a couple of years spent in +star climbing. The doctors tell me to cultivate repose for a few months +and maybe they'll pass me into our flying corps, but they don't promise +anything. I'm going up to Barton-on-the-Sound and I'll camp in the +garage on my uncle's place. You remember that I built the thing myself, +and the quarters are good enough for a busted veteran."</p> + +<p>"Your uncle played you a nasty trick," interrupted Searles; "getting +married and then adding to the crime by dying. You couldn't beat that +for general spitefulness."</p> + +<p>"Do you remember the immortal lines:</p> + +<p style='padding-left: 3em'> +<span style="margin-left: 0em;">"'Oh, skip your dear uncle!'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Bellman exclaimed</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0em;">As he angrily tingled his bell"?</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm not knocking the dead!" he protested. "Mr. Bashford always +struck me as a pretty decent, square sort of chap, and not at all the +familiar grouchy uncle of fiction and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span> the drama. I made notes on him +from time to time with a view to building a play around him—the perfect +uncle, unobtrusive, never blustering at his nephew; translating the +avuncular relationship into something remote and chaste like a distant +view of Mount Washington in winter. As I recall, there were only two +great passions in your uncle's life—Japanese art and green-turtle soup. +It was just like him to retire from business on his sixtieth birthday +and depart for the Orient, there to commit the shameless indiscretion of +matrimony."</p> + +<p>"Like him! It was the greatest shock of my life. To the best of my +knowledge he never knew any women except the widow of his partner in the +importing house. He used to dine with her now and then, and I caught him +once sending her flowers at Easter—probably an annual stunt. She was +about eighty and perfectly safe. He spent twenty years in the Tyringham, +the dullest and most respectable hotel in the world, and his chief +recreation was a leisurely walk in the park before going to bed. You +could set your clock by him. Pretty thin picking for a dramatist, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span> +should think. He used to take me to the theatre regularly every other +Thursday—it was a date—and his favorite entertainment was vaudeville +with black-face embellishment preferred. You should add that to Japanese +pottery and potage à la tortue. He joined the yacht club just because +the green turtle at that joint is the best in New York. Yachts! He never +sailed in anything but the biggest steamers, and got no fun out of that. +I crossed with him twice, and he never left his bunk. But in his shy +fashion he was kind and generous and mighty good to me."</p> + +<p>"If you hadn't gone to war, but had kept right at his elbow, the +marriage might have been averted," suggested Searles. "He did leave you +something, didn't he?"</p> + +<p>"Fifty thousand cash and the right to use the garage at the Barton farm. +Calling it a farm is a joke; it's rocks mostly. He bought the house to +have a place to store his prints and ceramics. He hated motoring except +in taxis up and down town, and when I urged him to set up a machine, he +told me to go ahead and buy one and build the garage. He rather sniffed +at the writing I do, but told me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span> I'd better fix up a studio in the +garage and have it as a place to work in. His will provides that I may +lodge in the garage for life."</p> + +<p>"The estate footed a million, as I remember, so I can't praise his +generosity. But the widow, your unknown auntie, the body-snatcher who +annexed the old boy—what of her?"</p> + +<p>"I've asked the trust company people whether she's in sight anywhere, +and they assure me that she is not on these shores. Torrence, the third +vice-president—you know Torry; he was in the class ahead of us at +college, the man who never smiles—Torry seemed anxious to learn about +her from me, which is certainly droll. He said she acknowledged her last +remittance three months ago from Bangkok—wherever that is. Torry +couldn't see that Bangkok is so absurdly remote that the idea of a +widow's strolling off there is funny. I suppose the old girl's resumed +her tour of the world looking for another retired merchant to add to her +list."</p> + +<p>"Very likely. To what nation, tribe, or human group does this predatory +person belong?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'll tell you all I know. Just as I was sailing for France I got a +letter from Uncle Bash stating in the most businesslike fashion that he +was about to be married to a lady he had met on his trip out to Japan. +The dire event was to occur at the American Embassy the following day. +From which I judged that my presence at the ceremony was neither +expected nor desired. Oddly enough, months afterward, I picked up an +English paper in a French inn that contained an announcement of the +marriage in the usual advertisement form. The lady was succinctly +described as Mrs. Alice Wellington Cornford, widow of the late Archibald +Reynolds Cornford, Pepperharrow Road, Hants. All Torrence knows of the +subsequent proceedings is what he got in official reports of Uncle +Bash's death from the consul-general at Tokyo. He was buried over there +and the life-insurance companies were rather fussy about the legal +proof, Torry says. Whether the widow expects to come to America +ultimately or will keep moving through the Orient marrying husbands and +burying them is a dark mystery. If she should turn up, the house at +Barton is hers,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span> of course, but with her roving disposition I fancy my +aunt Alice wouldn't like the place. The Jap stuff is worth a bit of +money, and if the lady is keen for such things and not a mere +adventuress she may take it into her head one of these days to come over +and inspect the loot."</p> + +<p>"I can see the vampire," said Searles musingly, "landing at the Grand +Central with enough hand-luggage to fill a freight-car; a big, raw-boned +creature, with a horse face and a horrible mess as to clothes. You will +be there to meet her, deferential, anxious to please. You will pilot her +up the coast to Barton, tip the servants heavily to keep them from +murdering her, and twiddle your thumbs in your garage as you await her +further pleasure. By the way, are those ancient freaks still on the +place—those broken-down hotel employees who were your uncle's sole +experiment in philanthropy?"</p> + +<p>"Torrence assures me that they are all very much there."</p> + +<p>Searles yielded himself to laughter. "An Englishwoman with lofty ideas +of domestic service would certainly enjoy a romp with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span> that crew. I +supposed the trust company had brushed them into the Sound before this."</p> + +<p>"Oh, they are in the same class with me," I explained. "The place can't +be sold till I die, and while I live they're to be harbored—about +thirty of them—clothed and victualled."</p> + +<p>"I think there's a farce in the idea, and I may try it one of these +days," he said, scribbling in his note-book. "A refuge for broken-down +chambermaids, venerable bell-hops grown gray in the service, and the +head waiter who amassed a fortune in tips and then toyed with the market +once too often and lost his ill-gotten gains. What was the head waiter's +name who presided with so much stateliness in the dining-room of the +Tyringham? I mean the white-haired chap who was so particular about the +foot-cushions for the nice old ladies in caps and lavender ribbons and +India shawls—I think I can work him in somewhere."</p> + +<p>"That's Antoine, who married the assistant housekeeper at the Tyringham. +He's the butler and has charge of the place—a sort of +commander-in-chief of the outfit. When I get settled I'll ask you up and +you can study the bunch at leisure."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span></p> + +<p>"Splendid! Reserve one room for me on the sunny side of the garage and +I'll be up in a couple of weeks. I'm going to Ohio to-morrow for a +family reunion and a look at the loved spots my infancy knew."</p> + +<p>"You're lucky to have home-folks even in Ohio," I remarked enviously.</p> + +<p>"Well, there's always your distant auntie, cruising the seven seas in +pursuit of husbands. Nobody with an aunt to his credit can pretend to be +alone in the world. There <i>is</i> something about an aunt, Singleton! Aunts +must rank just a little below mothers in the heavenly kingdom. When I +was a boy out in Ohio there were two great occasions every year in my +life—one when I went to visit a grand old aunt I had in the country, +the other when she visited us, arriving with a wagon-load of jam, jelly, +salt-rising bread, pound-cake, and other unpurchasable manna."</p> + +<p>"Stop! or I'll call the food censor," I pleaded, picking up my hat. +"Send me your copy of 'Lady Geranium,' and I'll tell you whether it's a +classic or not."</p> + +<p>"'Lady Larkspur,'" he corrected with a shudder. "You shall have it by +trusted messenger to-morrow."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span></p> + +<p>I wired Antoine that I would reach Barton-on-the-Sound the following +day. This was September, 1917. The former servants of the Tyringham were +established on the place by my uncle the year before he dropped business +cares and departed for the Japan of his dreams, and as I had been often +at the hotel where he spent so many of the years of his life, I knew +most of the old retainers. They were deeply appreciative of his +kindness, and when I had gone to the farm for an uninterrupted month in +finishing some piece of writing they had shown me the greatest +consideration.</p> + +<p>As the train rolled along the familiar shore toward Barton I shook off +the depression occasioned by my enforced retirement from the great +struggle overseas. I had done under the French flag all that it was +possible for me to do; and there was some consolation in the fact that +by reason of my two years on the battle-line I was just so much ahead of +the friends I met in New York who were answering the call to the colors +and had their experience of war all before them. The tranquil life that +had been recommended by the doctors was not only possible at Barton, but +it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span> the only life that could be lived there. Plenty of exercise in +the open and regular habits would, I had been assured, set me up again, +and my leisure I meant to employ in beginning a novel that had been +teasing me ever since I sailed for home.</p> + +<p>Of my uncle Bash I had only the happiest and most grateful memories. +Quite naturally it had occurred to me at times, and my friends had +encouraged the idea, that my uncle would die some day and leave me his +money. There was no particular reason why he should do so, as he had +never manifested any unusual affection for me and I had certainly never +done anything for him.</p> + +<p>Antoine was at the Barton station with the touring-car Uncle Bash had +bought to establish communication with the village. Flynn, the big +Irishman who had been the doorman at the Tyringham for years and retired +because of rheumatism acquired from long exposure to the elements at the +hostelry's portals, was at the wheel.</p> + +<p>Antoine greeted me with that air of lofty condescension tempered with a +sincere kindliness that had made him a prince among head<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span> waiters. As I +shook hands with him his lips quivered and tears came to his eyes. +Flynn, standing beside the car, saluted with a welcoming grin.</p> + +<p>"Very glad to see you, sorr. The trunk came this mornin' all right, +sorr, and we put it in your room."</p> + +<p>I bade Antoine join me in the back seat that he might the more easily +bring me up to date as to affairs on the estate.</p> + +<p>"It must be a little slow up here after the years you lived in town," I +suggested, "but of course you're all old friends."</p> + +<p>"Well, yes; all friends," he acquiesced, but with so little enthusiasm +that I glanced at him quickly. He pretended to be absorbed in the flying +landscape at the moment. Flynn, I noticed, was giving ear to our +conversation from the wheel.</p> + +<p>"It was sad, very sad, Mr. Bashford passing away so far from home, sir. +It was a great shock. And he had looked forward for years to a quiet +life abroad. It must have been ten years ago he first mentioned his hope +of retiring to Japan."</p> + +<p>Uncle Bash had given me no such forecast<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span> of his intentions, and I felt +humble before this proof of Antoine's greater intimacy. Once at the +beginning of our acquaintance, when I had complimented Antoine on his +English, he explained that he was born in England of French parents. His +father had been chef and his mother housekeeper for an American banker +who lived for many years in London. Antoine's speech was that of a +well-trained English upper servant, and I imagined that in his youth he +had taken some English butler as his model. He used to pretend that he +knew French very imperfectly, and I was surprised when he now addressed +me quite fluently in that language.</p> + +<p>"You have been with the armies of dear France," he remarked. "The war is +very dreadful. My parents were of Verdun; it grieves me to know of the +suffering in the land of my people."</p> + +<p>As I replied sympathetically in French I saw Flynn straighten himself at +the wheel with an impatient fling of his head. Antoine indicated him +with a contemptuous nod: "Married Elsie, the German woman who worked in +the linen-room at the Tyringham!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span> This has caused some trouble, and +there is a pantry girl, Gretchen, who was ill a long time before the +master left, and he sent her here for the country air. She is a little +devil with her dear Fatherland."</p> + +<p>I laughed at the old fellow's gravity and earnestness. That the war +should be making itself felt on the quiet acres at Barton-on-the-Sound +was absurd.</p> + +<p>"But there can be no trouble; everything is peaceful, of course, save +for a little foolish talk——"</p> + +<p>The Gaul asserted itself in a shrug, a form of expression rare in him. I +was pondering the recrudescence of race hatreds due to the upheaval in +Europe when he startled me by a statement uttered close to my ear:</p> + +<p>"There have been inquiries for the widow; these have caused me much +anxiety."</p> + +<p>"Widow! Whose widow?"</p> + +<p>"Madame, the widow of the dear master. It seems that there are persons +anxious to see her. There have been inquiries, one—two—three times."</p> + +<p>"Probably some of her American friends<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span> anxious to pay their respects, +or some of the neighbors making calls of courtesy," I suggested.</p> + +<p>"A foreign gentleman who acts very queerly," Antoine persisted.</p> + +<p>My uncle's widow was a vague, unknown being whom I had never expected to +cross my horizons. If she meditated a descent upon Barton-on-the-Sound, +the trust company would certainly have had some hint of her approach, +but Torrence clearly had had no tidings of her beyond her last +communication from Bangkok. Still, it was wholly possible that a +globe-trotting widow would have friends in many parts of the world, and +I could see nothing disturbing in the fact that inquiries had been made +for her. I said as much. Antoine's answer was another shrug and a jerk +of his head toward Flynn, as though even the employment of an alien +tongue might not conceal our conversation from the big Irishman. Antoine +was manifestly impatient at my refusal to be aroused by his hints of +discord among his associates and my lack of interest in the inquiries +for Mrs. Bashford. When we had reached the farm and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span> were running +through the grounds Antoine spoke again:</p> + +<p>"We thought we would put you up at the house, Mr. Singleton, and not in +the garage," he said inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"Not at all, Antoine," I answered quickly. "We must stick close to the +law in such matters."</p> + +<p>"Very good, sir. Stop at the garage, Flynn."</p> + +<p>To the casual observer the garage was a charming two-story house +following the general lines of the plaster and timber residence, from +which it was separated by a strip of woodland and a formal garden. The +garage and quarters for the chauffeur were at one end and at the other +were a down-stairs living-room, with a broad fireplace, and three +chambers above so planned as to afford a charming view of the Sound, +whose shore curved in deeply at this point. On the chauffeur's side was +a small kitchen from which I had been served with my meals when I lodged +there. This thoroughly convenient establishment was the only place I +could call home, and I experienced a pleasurable sense of comfort<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> as I +opened the door into the snug living-room.</p> + +<p>"The house is in order. You will have your meals at the residence, I +suppose, sir," Antoine suggested.</p> + +<p>I debated this a moment, and when he hinted that dinner could be more +conveniently served there than in my own quarters, I said that for the +present the Flynns might give me breakfast and luncheon at the garage, +but that I would dine at the house. The original owner of the property, +from whose executor my uncle had purchased it with all its belongings, +had accumulated a remarkable library, rich in the Elizabethan stuff for +which I have a weakness, and it occurred to me that it would be pleasant +to eat my solitary dinner at the residence and loaf in the library for +an hour afterward. Like most slaves of the inkpot, I habitually postpone +actual labor as long as possible, and if I were to dine at the garage I +should have no excuse for not plunging at once into my novel. The +Tyringham people were domiciled in cottages scattered over the estate, +though a full staff of house servants was established in the residence.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span></p> + +<p>It was five o'clock when I reached the garage, and Antoine left me after +opening my bags with the suggestion that I could summon Zimmerman, a +former valet of the Tyringham, for any service I might require. I knew +Zimmerman very well and said I would call him when occasion required.</p> + +<p>"He is of that race," said Antoine plaintively in the French which now +seemed to come readily enough to his lips.</p> + +<p>"Race? Botheration! You mustn't trouble yourself about race questions +out here, Antoine. Zimmerman is a good old chap, who's probably +forgotten the very name of the German town he was born in."</p> + +<p>"They do not forget," Antoine replied with emphasis. "There has been +much discussion—much——"</p> + +<p>"Forget it, Antoine! I supposed you were all living here like a happy +family. You've been sticking too close to the farm, and it would do you +good to run into town for a week. Please tell them at the residence that +I'll dine at seven."</p> + +<p>"Very good, sir," he said in his pompous Tyringham manner, but I saw +that he was miffed by my indifference.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span></p> + +<p>Flynn, having disposed of the car, came to ask if there was anything he +could do for me. When I had explained my arrangement with Antoine he +still lingered.</p> + +<p>"Tony's against the wife and me," he said mournfully. "It's the war, +sorr, and she and me that lile, sorr, the American flag floats from the +garage every day. And if a heart can be lile, Elsie's as true to America +as though she was born in Boston State-house."</p> + +<p>"I believe you, Flynn," I said, touched by his earnestness. "Don't you +worry about Antoine and the rest of them; they're just a little nervous; +I'll see what I can do to straighten things out."</p> + +<p>As I went about my unpacking I was sorry that I had discouraged +Antoine's confidences. That these old hotel servants, flung upon a farm +with little to do, should fall to quarrelling was not surprising, but +what he had said as to the inquiries for Mrs. Bashford had roused my +curiosity. In spite of my legal right to live on the farm, I had no +intention of remaining if my uncle's widow turned up. Alone on the +estate I could lodge in the garage without any loss of dignity, but with +an aunt on the premises my status would be decidedly uncomfortable.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span> She +could hardly fail to regard me as an intruding poor relation, no matter +how strictly I kept to my own quarters. It was possible that she might +even confuse me with the veterans of the Tyringham, and, while I am no +snob, I did not relish the idea of being classed by a strange aunt with +a crowd of broken-down hotel employees.</p> + +<p>I whistled myself into good humor as I dressed and started for the house +along the driveway, which followed the shore, veering off for a look at +the sunken garden, one of the few features of the place that had ever +interested my uncle.</p> + +<p>As I paused on the steps I caught sight of a man sitting dejectedly on a +stone bench near a fountain whose jet tossed and caught a ball with +languid iteration. I had identified him as an old Tyringham bell-hop, +known familiarly as Dutch, before he heard my step and sprang to his +feet, grabbing a pitchfork whose prongs he presented threateningly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's you, sir," he faltered, dropping the implement. "Excuse me, +sir!"</p> + +<p>"What's your trouble, Dutch? You're not expecting burglars, are you?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, no, sir, but things on the place ain't what they wuz. It's my +name, which ain't my name, not reg'lar, that's caused feelin'. They've +drove me out, an' I'm campin' in the tool-house. An' me born right there +in New York an' American clean through. My grandpap came across when he +wuz a kid, but it ain't my fault he wuz Goiman. I'd 'a' made 'im a +Frenchy or a Dago or somethin' else if I could 'a' done it. Mr. +Singleton, I don't know no Goiman except pretzel, sauerkraut, wiener +wurst, and them kind o' woids."</p> + +<p>"Those belong to the universal language, Dutch," I answered consolingly. +"What is your name, anyhow?"</p> + +<p>"Augustus Schortemeier, and I say it ain't no worse'n Longfellow," he +protested.</p> + +<p>The point was delicate and not one that I felt myself qualified to +discuss. To cover my confusion I suggested that poets enjoy a certain +license, but I was honestly sorry for Dutch. If he was not the oldest +living bell-hop, he was at least entitled to honorable mention among the +most ancient veterans of the calling, vocation, or avocation of the +bell-hopper. I bade him cheer up and passed on.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span></p> + +<p>As I reached the house I heard a sharp command in an authoritative voice +and saw at a curve of the driveway a number of men in military formation +performing evolutions in the most sprightly manner. They carried +broomsticks, and at sight of me the commander brought his company to a +very ragged "Present arms!" Their uniform was that of the Tyringham +bell-hops and waiters, and it dawned upon me that this was an army of +protest representing the Allied armies on the shores of Connecticut. +There was a dozen of them, and the captain I recognized as Scotty, a hop +who had long worn the Tyringham livery. I waved my hand to them and +turned to find Antoine awaiting me at the door.</p> + +<p>"It's the troops, sir," he explained. "It's to keep Dutch and Gretchen +and Elsie—she's the wife of that Flynn—in proper order, sir."</p> + +<p>"Troops" was a large term for the awkward squad of retired waiters and +bell-hops, and it was with difficulty that I kept my face straight.</p> + +<p>"It's most unfortunate, but we was forced to it. Dinner is served, sir."</p> + +<p>From the table in the long dining-room I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span> caught glimpses through the +gathering dusk of Scotty's battalion at its evolutions.</p> + +<p>"They keep a guard all night, sir," Antoine explained, not without +pride. "The goings on has been most peculiar."</p> + +<p>"Antoine!" I said sharply, "what do you mean by these hints of trouble +on the place? You're not silly enough to imagine that Dutch and a couple +of women can do anything out here to aid America's enemies! The rest of +you ought to be ashamed of yourselves for annoying them. And as for +these inquiries about Mrs. Bashford, they couldn't possibly have +anything to do with the war. Specifically, who are the persons who've +asked for her?"</p> + +<p>"There's the party I told you about, most persistent, who's motored here +three times, and another person who seems to be looking for <i>him</i>, sir. +It's most singular."</p> + +<p>"It's singularly ridiculous; that's all. They're probably piano-tuners +or rival agents for a rug house or something of that sort who don't know +that Mrs. Bashford isn't here or at all likely to be."</p> + +<p>"They may be agents, but not that kind,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span> sir." His lips quivered, either +from fear or vexation at my refusal to take his story seriously.</p> + +<p>"If anything tangible happens, Antoine," I said kindly, "anything we can +really put our hands on, we'll certainly deal with it. But you mustn't +get nervous or allow yourself to suspect everybody who turns up here of +evil designs against the Republic. I've come here for quiet, you know, +and we can't have every passing stranger throwing the place into a +panic."</p> + +<p>I had no sooner reached the library, where he gave me coffee, than I +heard a slow, measured tread on the broad brick terrace that ran along +the house on the side toward the Sound. The windows were open and the +guard was in plain view. I glanced at Antoine, whose attitude toward me +was that of one benevolently tolerant of stupidity. He meant to save me +in spite of my obtuseness. "Tell the picket to remove himself where I +won't hear him, if you please, Antoine."</p> + +<p>He disappeared through one of the French windows and in a moment I saw +the guard patrolling a walk some distance from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span> house. I now made +myself comfortable with a book and a cigar, but I had hardly settled +myself for a quiet hour before I heard a commotion from the direction of +the gate, followed a few minutes later by a shout and a noisy colloquy, +after which a roadster arrived in haste at the front door.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Torrence, sir," announced Antoine. "I'm sorry, sir, but he ran by +the guard at the gate, and our man below the house stopped him. It's a +precaution we've been taking, sir."</p> + +<p>Torrence's sense of humor was always a little feeble, and I hastened +into the hall to reassure him as to his welcome. He was wiping the +perspiration from his face and swearing under his breath.</p> + +<p>"For God's sake, Singleton, what's happened here? A band of pirates +jumped on my running-board, and after I'd knocked them off a road-agent +stopped me right there in sight of the house and poked the muzzle of a +shotgun in my face."</p> + +<p>"Mighty sorry you were annoyed, but there have been some queer +characters about, tramps and that sort of thing, and the people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span> on the +place are merely a little anxious. Have a cigar?"</p> + +<p>"All I can say is that you'd better send your friends the password! That +fool out there with the gun——"</p> + +<p>"Only a bell-hop, nothing more," I interrupted.</p> + +<p>"—That fool, I say, is likely to kill somebody. Antoine"—he turned to +the butler, who was drawing the curtains at the windows—"if the +property's been threatened, you should have informed me immediately."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; but it's only been quite recent, and, knowing Mr. Singleton +was coming, we didn't like to bother you."</p> + +<p>"We can only apologize, Torry," I interposed. "The employees have been +alarmed, but we're bound to commend their zeal."</p> + +<p>"Humph!" he ejaculated, the wounds to his dignity still rankling.</p> + +<p>I forced a cigar upon him and talked of the weather to cover Antoine's +retreat. I resolved not to tell him the real cause of the servant's +apprehensions, knowing his disposition to magnify trifles and fearing he +might send the police to investigate. He lived only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span> five miles from +Barton, a fact to which he now referred.</p> + +<p>"Hadn't heard of any tramps over my way," he said, frowning. "These old +lunatics your uncle left here are simply hipped; that's all. Mr. +Bashford made a mistake in turning the place over to them; it was silly, +downright silly. It's a wonder you didn't think of upsetting his will on +the ground of mental unsoundness. It's not up to me to suggest such a +thing, but I believe you could knock it out!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, chuck it! They're well-meaning helpless people, and it's bully that +Uncle Bash provided a home for them. There's nobody else to use the +place."</p> + +<p>His cigar had proved soothing, but my last remark caused him to sit up +straight in his chair.</p> + +<p>"By George! my hold-up almost made me forget what I came for. I have +news for you, Singleton; good or bad, as you may take it; Mrs. Bashford +is in America."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Bashford," I repeated faintly, "where do you get these pleasant +tidings?"</p> + +<p>"This," he answered, producing a telegram,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span> "is all I know about it. Got +it just as I was leaving the office this afternoon, and thought I'd +motor over and give you a pleasant surprise."</p> + +<p>He seemed to enjoy my discomfiture. The message read:</p> + +<div class='blockquot'> +<p style='text-align: right'><span class="smcap">"Pittsfield, Mass</span>., Sept. 20.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">"J. B. TORRENCE</span>,"<br /> +<i>Bainbridge Trust Co., New York.</i></p> + +<p>Landed at Seattle a week ago, and have been motoring east from Chicago +to see the country. Will reach Barton in four or five days. Please wire +me at the Washington Inn, Lenox, whether house is in order for +occupancy.</p> + +<p style='text-align: right' class="smcap">"Alice Bashford."</p> +</div> + +<p>"Well, what do you say to that?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"I say it's taking unfair advantage," I answered savagely. "I've got to +clear out; that's the first thing."</p> + +<p>"Not necessarily. Your right to the garage is settled; she couldn't oust +you if she wanted to. You've got to stay here anyhow till she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span> comes; +there's no ducking that. The widow of an uncle who did a lot for you, a +stranger to the country; it's up to you to see her established. There +are many little courtesies she would naturally expect from you."</p> + +<p>"I'm delighted that you see my duty so clearly! If you hadn't assured me +that she was safe at the end of the world I wouldn't have set foot +here."</p> + +<p>"The house is in order, I judge," he remarked, glancing about the room. +"I've got to wire her that we're ready for her."</p> + +<p>"You most certainly have! Your duty is as plain as a smoke-stack. You +might add that she's causing serious inconvenience to her late husband's +only nephew."</p> + +<p>"You really don't mean that?" he inquired anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, thunder, no!"</p> + +<p>I had forgotten how trying Torrence could be. He now suggested that we +summon Antoine and take a look at the house. Torrence is a conscientious +fellow with an exact and orderly mind, and there was no corner of the +place from cellar to garret that we didn't explore. It was highly +creditable to the old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span> Tyringham servants that the house was thoroughly +habitable. All that need be done before Mrs. Bashford arrived was to lay +linen on the beds and take the jackets from the furniture; a couple of +hours would suffice, Antoine said.</p> + +<p>As we were on our way down-stairs the old fellow detained me a moment.</p> + +<p>"Have you told him about the parties? Pardon me, sir," he whispered, +"but him and the trust company is responsible. I thought likely you'd +tell him."</p> + +<p>I shook my head in angry rejection of the idea that I should tell +Torrence about "the parties," and dismissed him as soon as we reached +the hall.</p> + +<p>"I suggest," said Torrence, "that when she comes you have flowers in all +the rooms; the conservatory will supply enough. And it occurs to me that +the more inconspicuous you make this bunch of lazy dependents the more +agreeable it will be for Mrs. Bashford."</p> + +<p>"You don't expect much of me! It was never in the contract that I should +become the patriarch of these venerable relics. But I'll warn them to +conceal themselves as much as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span> possible. I fully expect to leave the +reservation for good just one hour after the lady arrives."</p> + +<p>"That's your affair, of course. As she's motoring, we can't just time +her arrival, but when I get a wire that she's on the way I'll telephone +you. And, of course, after she gets here I'll come at once to pay my +respects."</p> + +<p>"You can't come too soon!" I answered spitefully.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2><h3>THE AMAZING WIDOW</h3> +</div> + +<p>As soon as Torrence left I returned to the garage, feeling that with +Mrs. Bashford on American soil my use of the residence even as a +loafing-place was unbecoming. Mrs. Bashford was not only in America, but +with a motor at her command she might reach Barton at any hour. And the +vigorous, dominating woman who had captured my uncle Bash, buried him in +a far country, and then effected a hop, skip, and jump from Bangkok to +Seattle, was likely to be a prodigal spender of gasoline. Her propensity +for travelling encouraged the hope that she would quickly weary of +Barton and pine for lands where the elephant and jinrickisha flourish.</p> + +<p>I had brought with me the manuscript of Searles's play, and I fell upon +it irritably and began reading the first act. The dialogue moved +briskly, and I read on as though enfolded in the air of a crisp spring +morning.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span> It was Searles's whimsical stroke, only with a better vehicle +than he had ever before found for it. My grouch over the upsetting of my +plans yielded under the spell of his humor.</p> + +<p>"Lady Larkspur" was the name assumed by the daughter of a recluse +naturalist in the valley of Virginia. She had known no life but that of +the open country, where she ran wild all summer, aiding her father in +collecting plants and butterflies. At twenty she had never seen a city, +and her social contacts had been limited to the country folk, who viewed +her with commiseration as the prisoner of her misanthrope father, who in +the fifteen years of his exile had maintained a hostile attitude toward +his neighbors. He had, however, educated the girl in such manner that +only the cheer and joy of life were known to her. Hating mankind, he had +encouraged her in nature-worship. She knew no literature except the +classics; all history, even the history of the storied valley in which +she lived, was a sealed book to her.</p> + +<p>The girl's curiosity is roused by the sudden appearance of strangers +from the unknown world beyond, whom she mystifies by her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span> quaint +old-worldishness. Searles had taken an old theme and given a novel twist +to it. The solution of the mystery of the father's exile and an amusing +complication of lovers afforded a suspensive interest well sustained to +the end. There were innumerable charming scenes, as where the girl in +the outlandish costume in which she roamed the hills perches on a +boulder and recites the "Iliad" to her suitors. In the last act she +appears at a ball at a country house in sophisticated raiment, and the +story ends in the key of mirth in which it began.</p> + +<p>It was a delightful blending and modernization of Diana, Atalanta, +Cinderella, and Rosalind; but even in the typewritten page it was +amazingly alive and well calculated to evoke tears and laughter. That a +play so enthralling should be buried in a safety-vault was not to be +thought of, and I sat down and wrote Searles a long letter demanding +that he at once forget the lost star for whom he had written the piece, +suggesting the names of several well-known actresses I thought worth +considering for the difficult leading rôle. Not satisfied with this, I +telephoned a telegram to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span> the agent at Barton for transmission to +Searles at the Ohio address he had given me.</p> + +<p>The next day passed without incident, and on the second, hearing nothing +from Torrence, I began to doubt Mrs. Bashford's proximity. On the third, +still hearing nothing, I harkened to an invitation from friends at New +London and drove over in the runabout for dinner. It was midnight when I +got back, and when I reached the gates several men dashed out of the +lodge and halted me.</p> + +<p>"She's come, sir," announced Antoine, emerging from the darkness, and +speaking under stress of deep emotion; "madame the widow has arrived, +sir!"</p> + +<p>"Why not Cleopatra or the Queen of Sheba?" I exclaimed testily to cover +my annoyance that my aunt had effected her descent in my absence. "Well, +she was expected; the house is hers; what do you want me to do about +it?" I ended with affected jocularity.</p> + +<p>"We received her the best we could; but it was most unfortunate, your +not being here, sir."</p> + +<p>"Is that your idea, Antoine, or do you reflect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span> the lady's sentiments? +I'm properly humiliated either way. Tell me just what she said."</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, she just laughed when I took the liberty of apologizing."</p> + +<p>"The sneering laughter of outraged dignity! Go ahead and give me the +rest of it."</p> + +<p>"It was at ten she came, sir, and the guard held her up, not recognizing +her, here at the gate, and when the car didn't stop the boys chased her +and fired at the tires of her machine. It was very dreadful, sir. And at +the house—at the door, sir—the guard was very harsh with her, sir, +most regrettable."</p> + +<p>"You certainly made a mess of it!" I ejaculated. "But you did let her +in—into her own house, we must remember—you did grant her the courtesy +of a lodging for the night?" I inquired ironically.</p> + +<p>"She's retired, sir. There was a lady with her; maybe a maid; I can't +exactly say; and we did everything, sir, to make her comfortable. She +was not what you might say fussy, sir, but quite human-like. We was all +relieved, sir, the way she took everything. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span> hope you'll pardon us, +sir, which was due to not being warned."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's all right with me, but in the morning she'll probably bounce +the whole lot of us. An old lady fatigued from a journey cross country +and shot at on her own premises—it's a very pretty story."</p> + +<p>They were a picturesque lot, the ancient waiters and bell-hops grouped +about Antoine with their lanterns and garden implements and firearms. +Antoine was swallowing hard in his effort to continue his recital.</p> + +<p>"You say an old lady, sir; the mistress is not really what you would +call so old—not exactly, sir."</p> + +<p>"Really a youngish party, I should say," volunteered Graves, the +gardener.</p> + +<p>Just what these veterans would call old was a matter of conjecture. +"Um," I murmured, and considered the situation.</p> + +<p>"Young or old, she would hardly relish her reception. There was a maid, +and they came in a machine? Did you put up the chauffeur or did you +shoot him on the spot?"</p> + +<p>"It was a hired machine, sir; and madame sent it away. The driver was a +good deal upset<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span> over the shooting. One of the rear tires was quite +blown away."</p> + +<p>"You're in luck if he doesn't have you all arrested to-morrow," I +remarked consolingly.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Bashford seemed quite amused by the occurrence," Antoine +continued. "'Wonderful America!' she kept saying after we'd got her +inside. We gave her tea, which was all she asked for. She takes her tea +with cream, sir. We did our best to make her comfortable. And there was +a dog, sir. I recall that the master was not fond of dogs. There was +never one on the place."</p> + +<p>Antoine spoke truly; if there was anything my Uncle Bash detested it was +a dog, but I reflected that a world-skipping widow who could corral so +difficult a subject as my uncle would be quite capable of inspiring him +with delight in the canine species. My respect for the woman's powers of +persuasion was intensified by this disclosure.</p> + +<p>She had failed to wire Torrence as she promised or he had neglected to +warn me of her coming; either way it was a pretty kettle of fish, and I +shuddered at the thought of facing her wholly pardonable indignation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span></p> + +<p>To make sure that nothing was required of me until morning, I drove past +the house with the army hanging to the footboard. The lower rooms were +dark, but lights twinkled through the second-story shutters. My aunt was +established on the premises, and her coming and the circumstances of her +advent constituted a good joke of which I and not she was the victim. +When I reached my quarters in the garage I sat down and laughed until +Flynn appeared, frightened by my noisy mirth that had penetrated to his +quarters. I got rid of him and smoked a pipe and began the packing I +meant to finish early in the morning.</p> + +<p>I wakened early, rang a bell connecting my rooms with the chauffeur's +end of the garage as a warning to the Flynns to prepare breakfast, and +was dressed when the Irishman came in with the tray. In the absence of a +morning paper I clung to him for company.</p> + +<p>"I trust you will not be leaving, sorr," he remarked, eyeing my +half-packed trunk.</p> + +<p>"Very soon, Flynn."</p> + +<p>"Then Elsie and I will be going too, sorr. It's most uncomfortable +they're making us—Dutch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span> and the rest. That Antoine and his army keep +pesterin' us and callin' us Huns."</p> + +<p>"You raise a very interesting question, Flynn, a very delicate question +of fact and propriety. Satisfied as you and Elsie are of your entire +loyalty to the United States and the associated Powers, I think you +should remain, a martyr, if need be, to the great cause of world +democracy."</p> + +<p>"It's most disagreeable we find it, the wife and me," he said +mournfully.</p> + +<p>"Suffer and be strong—that's the watchword! We will hope that Mrs. +Bashford is a woman of sound sense and tact who will exert herself to +restore peace on her property. When I call to pay my respects and make +my adieus I shall speak to her of the situation and vouch for your +loyalty. You may count on me. You haven't, I suppose, seen the widow +yet—she's probably sleeping late."</p> + +<p>"Quite the contrary, sorr. She's been up and around for an hour an' +more. She's been all over the place and stopped for a squint at the +garage, her and the pup."</p> + +<p>"She's been here, inspecting the garage?" I asked, glancing at my watch. +It was not yet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span> eight o'clock. The banter died out of me; clearly it had +been my duty to be on hand to pilot her over the estate, or at least to +receive her at the garage. "Just what was the lady's frame of mind—as +to things generally. Peeved, was she, over the row last night?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, sorr; quite cheerful an' friendly. She's ordered a big car from +New York and told me it would be coming up to-day and to make a place +for it."</p> + +<p>Here was news indeed, destroying all my hopes that she meditated only a +brief sojourn. The purchase of a machine meant definitely that she would +remain for some time, perhaps for the winter. I poured a second cup of +coffee, swallowed it, grabbed my hat and stick, and asked enlightment as +to the course taken by Mrs. Bashford when she left the garage.</p> + +<p>"She took the lower road, sorr, toward the Sound and stepped off quite +brisk-like."</p> + +<p>It was the serenest of September mornings, and I hurried away, thinking +the cloudless blue arch, the twinkling sea, and the crisp air might +serve to soften my aunt's displeasure at her hostile reception. From the +conservatories<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span> I caught a glimpse of a woman on the beach—a slender, +agile woman throwing a ball for the amusement of a fox-terrier. She +threw the ball with a boy's free swing, occasionally varying a hot one +down the shore with a toss high in air which she caught up herself +before the terrier could reach it. The two were having no end of a good +time. She laughed joyfully when the ball fell into her hands and the +terrier barked his discomfiture and eagerness for a chance to redeem +himself.</p> + +<p>Antoine's equivocal statement as to Mrs. Bashford's age was ridiculous. +Instead of the middle-aged woman whom I was prepared to meet, here was +beyond question a vigorous, healthy being whose every movement spoke for +youth and the joy of life. It might, after all, be the maid of whom +Antoine had spoken; I advanced slowly, anxious not to break in upon her +romp with the terrier—they made a charming picture—and trying to +formulate an introduction. I reached a low stone wall that separated the +lawn from the beach just as she effected a running pick-up of the ball. +She turned swiftly and flung it straight at my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span> head. Involuntarily I +put up my hand and caught it just as she saw me and cried out—a cry of +warning and contrition. I tossed the ball to the dog.</p> + +<p>"What must you think of me!" she exclaimed. "I was blinded by the +sunlight and I didn't see you—really I did not!"</p> + +<p>"I had no business being in the way," I laughed, noting first her +glowing color, her violet eyes—amazingly fine eyes they were—her fair +hair with its golden glint, her plain black gown with lawn collar and +wristbands. It was her age, however, that roused me to instant +speculation. Twenty-five, I decided, was a maximum; more likely she was +not more than twenty-two, and if I had been told that eighteen was the +total of her years I shouldn't have had the heart to dispute it.</p> + +<p>"Bob Singleton," I said and stupidly added, "and you are Mrs. Bashford?" +unable for the life of me to avoid turning the statement into an +inquiry.</p> + +<p>"I am your aunt Alice," she said with a smile, putting out her hand. +"Down, Rex!" she commanded the dancing terrier; "lie down; school's over +now"; whereupon Rex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span> obediently sprawled in the sand and began trying to +swallow the ball.</p> + +<p>"Wasn't that silly of me to try to kill you the first time we met!" Her +eyes danced with merriment. "I didn't know, of course, that any one was +about. But you made a very nice catch of it! I had expected to receive +you most formally in the drawing-room, but this really serves very well. +That tree down yonder is inviting; suppose we stay out here and talk a +bit."</p> + +<p>This struck me as the pleasantest thing imaginable, though I was still +dazed and my tongue seemed to have died in my mouth. This girl, this +wholly charming and delightful young woman, was the monstrous being I +had conjectured as the globe-trotting widow who had kidnapped and +married my uncle! Not only had she married my uncle Bash and in due +course buried him; she had been a widow when she married him! I +furtively studied her face—a face that invited scrutiny—and her candid +eyes that met my gaze of wonder and frank admiration easily and without +a trace of self-consciousness. On the third finger of her left hand was +a slender<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span> band of gold. The thing was staggering, bewildering. She was +clearly anxious to be friendly, but nothing that I had thought of saying +to her fitted the situation.</p> + +<p>"In the first place," I finally began, "I must apologize most humbly for +the earnest efforts of the servants to murder you last night. Mr. +Torrence had promised to let me know when you would reach here, but he +must have forgotten it. I had motored to a friend's house to dine and +didn't get back until the mischief was done. I'm very sorry. You must +have thought you had driven into a camp of savages!"</p> + +<p>"Not for worlds would I have missed that," she exclaimed with a merry +laugh. "It was perfectly delicious! And it was all my fault. I meant to +remain a day at Hartford, you know, and send a message to Mr. Torrence +from there, but I found that by pushing on I could reach here yesterday. +Then the machine I hired showed every weakness that motors are subject +to and we were hours later than the Hartford garage man promised. And +you know we English always expect strange things to happen in America. I +don't understand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span> yet why those people at the gates were so jolly +anxious to kill us; but it doesn't matter; you would only spoil the joke +by explaining it."</p> + +<p>However, I did my best—it was a weak attempt—to explain the +nervousness of the veteran servants and their display of violence. Her +arrival made it likely that we should soon know more about the "parties" +whose visits and inquiries had so alarmed Antoine and his comrades. Now +that I saw Mrs. Bashford the idea that any one could entertain +malevolent designs upon her was more preposterous than ever, and I +resolved that she must be shielded from annoyances of every kind. I told +her with all the humor I could throw into the recital of the drilling of +the bell-hops and of the uncomfortable relations between the Allied +forces and the Teutonic minority on the estate.</p> + +<p>"It was dear of Mr. Bashford to provide a home for these people; wasn't +he really the kindest soul that ever lived?" she said softly.</p> + +<p>She gazed wistfully seaward, and I saw the gleam of tears on her long +lashes. My uncle had, then, meant something to her! No one,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span> in speech +or manner, could have suggested the adventuress less; Uncle Bash was a +gentleman, a man of æsthetic tastes, and the girl was adorable. More +remarkable things had happened in the history of love and marriage than +that two such persons, meeting in a far corner of the world, would +honestly care for each other. My respect for Uncle Bash grew; he had +married the most attractive girl in the world, and here she was with the +bloom of her girlhood upon her, tripping alone through a world that +might have been created merely that she might confer light and cheer +upon it.</p> + +<p>"You stopped at Hartford," I began, breaking a long silence. "You have +friends there——?"</p> + +<p>"Not one! I had made a pious pilgrimage to Mark Twain's last home at +Redding, and, hearing that he had lived at Hartford, I came through +there to render my fullest homage. He has always been one of my heroes, +you know." She laughingly lifted her hands and counted upon her +fingers—"'The Jumping Frog,' Tom and Huck, and 'Mulberry Sellers,' 'The +Prince and the Pauper,' and 'Pudd'nhead Wilson'! I know them all by +heart!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span></p> + +<p>"Our introduction is complete," I said reverently. "Let's consider +ourselves old friends."</p> + +<p>"I rather thought we'd understand each other," she said in her even, +mellow tones. "You know, we had your photograph out East—a very good +one, it seems—so I had an idea of what you looked like."</p> + +<p>"The photograph gave you an unfair advantage! And I didn't know Uncle +Bash carried one away with him."</p> + +<p>"He was very fond of you," she said gravely. "He was very proud that you +had gone into the war."</p> + +<p>"I am glad to hear that; I thought he disapproved of me for refusing to +go into business. He offered me a substantial interest before he sold +out."</p> + +<p>"I know that; but I think he liked you rather better for refusing it. +Business with him was merely a means to an end. And it was doubly sad +that he should die just when he was free to enjoy the beautiful things +he loved."</p> + +<p>It was at the tip of my tongue to say that the loss of her companionship +was even more grievous; but nothing in her manner invited<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span> such a +comment. Her grave moods were to be respected, and she talked for some +time of Uncle Bash's life in the East, of his short illness and quite +unexpected death.</p> + +<p>"But I'm keeping you," she exclaimed suddenly, jumping down from the +wall. "And I must finish my unpacking."</p> + +<p>As we walked to the house I answered her questions about the +neighborhood, and promised to telephone Torrence immediately of her +arrival.</p> + +<p>"You will have luncheon with us—or maybe dinner would be better—or +both? Antoine told me of your bachelor establishment, but eating alone +is bad for the digestion. I shall think you resent my coming if you +don't dine at the house every day. Mrs. Farnsworth—my friend and +companion—is a very interesting woman. I am sure you will like her."</p> + +<p>The information that she was protected in her youthful widowhood by a +companion was imparted neatly.</p> + +<p>"It was really much nicer, meeting this way," she said, giving me her +hand. "We shall expect you at seven."</p> + +<p>I found them on the veranda, which had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span> been transformed since my last +glimpse of it. Rugs, wicker furniture, wall-pockets of flowers, and +paper lanterns dropped over the electric lights gave it the appearance +of a prettily set scene. She came toward me, a slender figure in white. +She seemed taller in white; as she took a few steps toward me, I was +aware of a stateliness I had missed at the shore. A queenly young +person, but as unaffectedly cordial and friendly as in the bright +morning sunlight.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Farnsworth, Mr. Singleton."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Farnsworth was a pleasant-faced, white-haired woman with remarkably +fine, dark eyes. If the positions had been changed—if Mrs. Farnsworth +had been my uncle's choice of a wife, the situation would have been much +more real. I instantly liked Mrs. Farnsworth. She uttered a few +commonplaces in an uncommonplace tone without pausing in her knitting. +Mrs. Bashford had been knitting too, and as she sat down she took up her +yarn and needles. It was a sweater, I think; it doesn't matter. What +matters is that her hands moved swiftly and deftly. Her manner of +knitting was charming. She knew that I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span> was watching her hands and +remarked with a graceful turn of the head:</p> + +<p>"For an English boy somewhere! I began by knitting for my brother and +cousins, but"—her head bent lower—"that isn't for me to do any more." +Her eyes, turned upon me for a moment, were bright with tears.</p> + +<p>I was speaking of the splendid valor of Englishmen I had known in France +when Antoine announced dinner.</p> + +<p>It had been years since the house had known a woman's hand, and it was +astonishing how humanized it had become in a few hours. The long +dining-room, always a bare, forbidding place, had been reduced to cosey +proportions by screens, and a small round table replaced the massive, +oblong affair that always looked as though it had been built into the +house by the carpenters.</p> + +<p>"I found those lovely screens in the garret and thought we might as well +enjoy them, and that Lang Yao jar you see on the sideboard oughtn't to +be hidden in the vault."</p> + +<p>"I am sure Uncle Bash would be happy to know you care for these things +so much," I said, noting that the white roses she had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span> chosen for the +jar—I knew the choice was hers—served to emphasize the deep red of its +exquisite glaze.</p> + +<p>"I am among the unelect," remarked Mrs. Farnsworth. "When I am told that +such things are beautiful I am immediately convinced. I say they are +beautiful, and that is enough."</p> + +<p>"That has always been enough for me," I replied. "My uncle used to try +to interest me, and I wore out a good many pairs of shoes following him +through museums and salesrooms, but he gave me up when he found that my +pagan soul was aroused by nothing but pottery idols. It wasn't the +pottery that interested me even there, but only the ugliest designs. I +am a heathen!"</p> + +<p>"I am gratified that you make the admission so frankly," said Mrs. +Farnsworth. "I have always been a great admirer of the heathen."</p> + +<p>"I like them when they are nice," said Mrs. Bashford.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I have found you very discriminating in your choice of the +species, Alice. But, you know, Mr. Singleton, Alice and I never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span> can +agree as to just what a heathen is. All our squabbles have been about +that. The old hymn pictured the heathen in his blindness bowing down to +wood and stone; but I'm disposed to broaden my definition to include all +who believe in fairies good or bad, and persons who honestly believe in +signs, omens, and lucky stones and all who have the receipt of fern-seed +and walk invisible—there's Shakespeare for that. Some very good +Christians are also very nice heathens: we mustn't be narrow and bigoted +about such things."</p> + +<p>"I think," said Mrs. Bashford soberly, "that I have always believed in +witches; and if I keep on believing I shall see one some day. We shall +find anything in this world that we believe in hard enough. Now a +witch—the kind of witch I have always expected to wake up and find +flourishing a broom at me from the foot of my bed——"</p> + +<p>She was talking very gravely, as though witches were the commonest topic +of conversation, but finding my eyes turned upon her in frank wonder, +she laughed at my amazement.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span></p> + +<p>"Let us be honest with you, Mr. Singleton," Mrs. Farnsworth explained, +"and tell you that we are just testing you. It may be a breach of +hospitality, and you are all but a stranger, but we are curious to know +whether you are of that small company of the favored of heaven who can +play at being foolish without becoming idiotic. Alice is sometimes very +near idiocy. You admit that, Alice!"</p> + +<p>"I not only admit it, but I might even boast of it!" my aunt replied.</p> + +<p>At the mention of witches I had caught Antoine crossing himself as he +turned to the sideboard. I confess that I myself had been startled by +the drift of the talk. Mrs. Farnsworth was far from being the grim +duenna I had feared might be my aunt's chaperon, and there was certainly +nothing in her appearance to suggest that she was a believer in witches. +She and my aunt treated each other as though they were contemporaries, +and it was Alice and Constance between them. As the talk ran +exhaustively through the lore of witches and goblins I had hoped that +one or the other would drop some clew as to the previous history of my +amazing aunt. It was as plain as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span> day that she and Mrs. Farnsworth +indulged in whims for the joy of it, and her zest in the discussion of +witches, carried on while Antoine served the table, lips tightly +compressed, and with an exaggeration of his stately tread, was the more +startling from the fact that my aunt's companion was a woman of years, a +handsome woman with a high-bred air who did not look at all like a +person who would discuss witches as though they had been made the topic +of the day by the afternoon newspapers. And when the shape of a witch's +chin became the immediate point of discussion I knew it was in Antoine's +mind that such conversation was unbecoming, an offense to the memory of +Raymond Bashford. Mrs. Farnsworth's brown eyes sparkled, and the color +deepened in my aunt's cheeks as we discoursed upon witches and the chins +thereof. I had a friend in college who used to indulge in the same sort +of piffling, but that my uncle's widow and her elderly companion should +delight in such absurdities bewildered me. I had been addressing my aunt +as Mrs. Bashford—it seemed ridiculous to call her Aunt Alice—and in +the heat of our argument as to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span> whether witches are necessarily naughty +and malign beings I had just uttered the "Mrs." when she bent toward me +and said gravely and with no hint of archness: "Can't we make it Alice +and Bob? I think that would be a lot friendlier."</p> + +<p>I experienced a curious flutter of the heart the first time I tried it, +but after that it came very easily. I found it impossible to think of +her in terms of auntship, and it was a relief to have the relationship +waived. She was simply the jolliest, prettiest girl that had ever +crossed my horizon, and to be talking to her across the table gave me +thrills compared with which sliding out of clouds in an airplane is only +a rocking-chair pastime for old men.</p> + +<p>The veteran chef of the Tyringham had produced an excellent dinner, +though the witch talk made Antoine a trifle nervous in serving it.</p> + +<p>We had coffee on the veranda (Alice thought it would be nicer there), +and as Antoine gave me my cup he edged close to my chair to whisper:</p> + +<p>"That party, sir. If he should come——"</p> + +<p>"Tell the troops not to attack any visitors,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span> I said, loud enough for +the others to hear. "Mr. Torrence will be here shortly, and it would be +annoying to have him ushered in on a shutter. We must establish a rule +that callers are not to be fired upon at the gate."</p> + +<p>"I know why this is the land of the free and the home of the brave," +laughed Alice. "One has to be brave to live here."</p> + +<p>Antoine departed with a resentful twist of the shoulders, and I decided +to meet squarely the matter of the visitors who had so troubled him.</p> + +<p>"Please don't be frightened," I said as lightly as possible, "but these +old fellows haven't enough to do, and they are full of apprehensions. +With nobody here to keep them busy it's remarkable they haven't found a +ghost."</p> + +<p>"If they only would!" murmured Mrs. Farnsworth.</p> + +<p>"No such luck! They have been alarmed by an agent of some sort who wants +to welcome you to America by selling you a piano on easy payments."</p> + +<p>Antoine had been hovering inside, and my remark brought him to the +door.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span></p> + +<p>"Beg pardon, Mr. Singleton, but that party is not an agent, but quite +different, sir. He came to the house, quite like a gentleman, several +times, and asked if Mrs. Bashford had arrived. He came in a big car, and +seemed disappointed, madame, that you were not here and not expected. +The second time he said he was just passing on his way to the city and +thought he would stop again. A very well-spoken gentleman, and we'd have +thought nothing of it except that a few days later I caught a man I was +sure was the same party, but dressed in rough clothes, sneaking across +the veranda right there where you're sitting. When I called to him he +ran as hard as he could, and Graves—he's the vegetable-gardener—saw +him leaving the property by the back way."</p> + +<p>"It's hardly possible that a man who impressed you as a gentleman when +you saw him at the door should have returned in disguise and tried to +break into the house. The two things don't hang together, Antoine."</p> + +<p>"Oh," exclaimed Mrs. Farnsworth, "it would be so much more delightful if +that were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span> true! Any one in disguise is bound to be interesting. A +disguise suggests most beautiful possibilities. And to be sought, asked +for by a stranger!"</p> + +<p>I could not be sure in the dim light of the veranda, but I thought I +detected a white slipper cautiously reach out and touch a black one. At +any rate, Mrs. Farnsworth lapsed into silence.</p> + +<p>"Thank you very much, Antoine," said Alice. "It is very proper for you +to tell me anything of any stranger on the property, but I see nothing +here to be alarmed about. If the same gentleman calls again, let me know +instantly."</p> + +<p>"Very good, madame." And then, turning as though conferring upon me a +part of his responsibility for the security of the premises: "It's a +party with a limp; just a trifling limp, sir; you'd hardly notice it. It +was worse the last time as he ran away. A smallish man, rather dark, +with a little mustache turned up at the ends."</p> + +<p>"I have noted all these details, Antoine," I replied; and again I +thought there was a telegraphic exchange between the ladies,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span> though +this time a black slipper was the means of communication.</p> + +<p>Torrence arrived in a moment, and nothing has ever given me keener joy +than his shock of surprise at beholding Mrs. Bashford. As I introduced +the ladies he was so overcome that he greeted Mrs. Farnsworth as Mrs. +Bashford—a not unnatural mistake—and there was an embarrassing moment +as I set him right. Having done this, I seated myself beside Mrs. +Farnsworth that Torrence might be free to talk business with my aunt. I +was devoutly grateful that he had not been present at the dinner-table, +for my own efforts to interest Torrence in anything but the most +practical matters had always been highly unsuccessful, and the +discussion of ghosts and witches would hardly have amused him. As Mrs. +Farnsworth and I took up the recent movements on the western front I +overheard Torrence putting all the machinery of the trust company at +Mrs. Bashford's disposal. It seemed almost a blasphemy to be talking of +income and like matters to a woman like Alice Bashford!</p> + +<p>They continued their conference for some time, but I got nothing out of +Mrs. Farnsworth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span> that shed any light on my aunt's history beyond what +she had told me herself, which was precious little. Mrs. Farnsworth's +talk was that of a cultivated woman. Her voice interested me +unaccountably; the tones had all manner of shadings and inflections; it +was curiously musical, but in speaking of the great war a passionate +note crept into it that stirred me deeply.</p> + +<p>"This has been a dark year for Alice," she remarked. "Mr. Bashford's +death, followed quickly by that of her brother—an only son—piled a +cruel burden of grief upon the dear child. She wants to go back to +England to nurse the wounded, to do anything for our dear country, but I +want to keep her here a little while until she can readjust herself. You +must not think, Mr. Singleton, that she has no feeling; you have no idea +of the depths of that child's nature; they are unfathomable! It is my +task to encourage her in frivolity and the make-believe she loves—hence +our absurdities at the table. She's the drollest child, but with +wonderful understanding. And at times it's not easy to keep the divine +spark of play alive in her heart."</p> + +<p>The light of one of the porch lamps fell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span> upon Alice's face as she +patiently gave heed to Torrence's account of his stewardship. One of her +hands gently stroked the terrier that lay quietly in a chair beside her. +I was sure that his painstaking description of assets and market values +was boring her. Once her voice rose in expostulation. Torrence, I +judged, was suggesting that legal means could be found to expel the old +Tyringham employees from the Barton property.</p> + +<p>"Oh, never in the world! It was quite like Mr. Bashford to want to care +for these people in their old age. And"—she laughed and turned toward +me—"they can't be dislodged while Bob lives; and we don't want to part +with him just yet."</p> + +<p>I was glad to have him hear her address me in this intimate fashion. +Torry always inspired in me a desire to shock him. He was trying to +assure Alice that his only concern was to make her comfortable; he +wished to save her from every annoyance and that sort of thing.</p> + +<p>"I shall help Alice to break them in, Torry," I said, lingering upon her +name for his special edification.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course, Singleton," he replied. "I wasn't sure you meant to stay on. +Pardon me, but I didn't——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it isn't that Bob hasn't a right to stay," said Alice quickly; +"Mrs. Farnsworth and I are hoping that he will like us well enough to +share our exile on other accounts. We are so unfamiliar with everything +American that it would be most unkind for him to desert us."</p> + +<p>"I am engaging Mr. Singleton to explain American jokes to me," announced +Mrs. Farnsworth. "Alice seems to get them, but I'm never sure."</p> + +<p>It is a part of Torrence's business to counsel widows, which he does +like the honorable man he is, but as he rose to go presently, remarking +that his wife would motor down to call shortly, I caught a glimpse of +his face that indicated deep perplexity. I wanted to warn him that Alice +Bashford was not an ordinary widow, who vexes officers of trust +companies with foolish questions and is prone to overdraw her account, +so I left when he did.</p> + +<p>"I want to talk to you," he said nervously<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span> when we were outside. "I'll +send the car ahead to the gate."</p> + +<p>When the shrubbery cut us off from the house he stopped abruptly and +seized my arm. "What do you make of it?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"Make of what?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"That girl!" he exclaimed testily.</p> + +<p>"If you insist, I must avow that she's adorable, nothing else."</p> + +<p>"Don't be a fool! You knew Raymond Bashford much better than I did, and +you know perfectly well he never married a young girl of that sort! +Those women are playing a trick, and I'm surprised that you don't see +through it."</p> + +<p>"My uncle was a man of taste and a gentleman," I answered deliberately. +"There's nothing in the least improbable in his being infatuated with a +young woman of charm and wit like this girl. And it is hardly profitable +or decent to speculate as to her interest in him. You mustn't forget +that Uncle Bash was an unusual man, a man with whom a young girl might +easily fall in love without reference to his age or money or anything +else."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span></p> + +<p>"I tell you it won't do," he insisted. "If either of those women at the +house is Raymond Bashford's widow, it's the one who calls herself +Farnsworth."</p> + +<p>"You did your best to convict them of fraud the first jump out of the +box," I said, laughing at the recollection of his confusion when I +introduced him.</p> + +<p>"My mistake was a natural one," he said defensively. "They're playing a +game of some kind and it's no laughing matter, but it won't take long to +find out what they're up to."</p> + +<p>"You'll hardly go the length of having them arrested as imposters, +Torrence—not without some data to work on!"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not. You seem to be hitting it off with both of them, but I +advise you to be on guard. Are you sure your uncle never sent you his +wife's photograph? That would have been a perfectly natural thing to +do."</p> + +<p>"If I'd got a photograph, I should have headed for Japan, not for +France." I laughed, but I was thinking deeply. His line of reasoning as +to the incongruity of the marriage was not so different from my own that +I could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span> sneer at his suspicions. Very convincingly, as became a +practical-minded man, he expanded his views as to the unlikelihood of my +uncle's marrying a girl but little beyond school age. I shrank from +telling him that I didn't care a hang whether the widow was a fraud or +not. If the two women who had settled themselves on the Barton estate +were imposters, they were extraordinarily daring and clever. My attitude +toward them was wholly defensive. If women of their quality were +perpetrating a fraud, I was for giving them every chance, and I had no +intention of allowing Torrence to spoil the unfolding of the conspiracy.</p> + +<p>We were nearing a gateway where his car waited, and I saw several of the +guard hanging about at a discreet distance. "Look here, Singleton," he +said angrily, "you don't seem to take this business very seriously. You +don't want to make the mistake of letting a pretty girl pull the wool +over your eyes. If we're not careful, we're all of us likely to get into +trouble." He lowered his voice and added tensely: "Those women are under +suspicion of something more serious than an attempt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span> to rob an estate. +An agent of the American State Department called on me yesterday and +asked embarrassing questions about Mrs. Bashford. Not a Secret Service +man, you understand, or anything of that kind, but an important man in +the State Department."</p> + +<p>"Of course you knew nothing to tell," I suggested as he beat the walk +impatiently with his stick.</p> + +<p>"I took a chance at lying to him about her expected arrival. I thought +it only decent to have a look at the woman first. He told me nothing +except that the British Embassy had made inquiries and that the matter +was delicate and must be handled carefully."</p> + +<p>"Was this inquirer lame—a small dark man with a black mustache?" I +asked, suddenly interested. "Such a person has been hanging about here, +so the boys tell me?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all! I may as well tell you it was Raynor—you probably remember +him. He's a specialist in international law, and they took him into the +State Department just after the <i>Lusitania</i> business. He's a gentleman +and a good fellow—I've played golf with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span> him a good deal—and I hated +to lie to him. Of course, with the whole United States back of him he +can pursue his inquiries without my help; but I thought I'd see this +woman before telling him she had reached America."</p> + +<p>I confess that I was a trifle dismayed by this. Raynor I knew slightly. +Professionally and socially he stood high, and even without the prestige +of his official position he was not a chap to sneeze at; but I didn't +want Torrence to know I had any doubts as to the perfect authenticity of +my uncle's widow.</p> + +<p>"Oh, every transcontinental pilgrim is probably scrutinized closely +these days," I remarked carelessly. "Mrs. Bashford has lost a brother in +the war, and I haven't heard any one talk more bitterly against Germany. +And her companion certainly has no illusions about the Kaiser. You'd +have to show me the proof to make me believe we're harboring spies."</p> + +<p>"I don't like the business," he declared stubbornly.</p> + +<p>"Let's do nothing foolish," I insisted. "If Raynor has reason to suspect +either or both of these women, we'll hear further from him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span></p> + +<p>"I've put myself in a hole," he said angrily. "Of course I've got to +advise him immediately that Mrs. Bashford is here. I promised to let him +know as soon as I heard from her."</p> + +<p>"Just wait a few days; I undertake to keep them under surveillance; you +can put the whole responsibility on me. If they attempt to leave, I'll +warn you and Raynor instantly, but they have settled themselves as +though they expected to spend the rest of their lives here. Remembering +your visit the other night, you ought to be satisfied with the policing +of the place!"</p> + +<p>I told him of Mrs. Bashford's adventures in reaching the house without +convincing him that there was anything funny in her experiences, and he +left on my promise to report to him daily at a given hour and instantly +if anything unusual occurred. I waited for the guards to lock the gates +and bade them keep watch every night until further orders, and was on my +way back through the grounds when Antoine arrested me.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, but I'd like to ask what you think of it, sir?" he asked +hoarsely, falling into step.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span></p> + +<p>"If you mean what do I think of Mrs. Bashford," I replied sharply, "I +think she's quite charming and delightful and all any one could ask in +every way."</p> + +<p>"It's her manner of speaking of spookish things, Mr. Singleton. It +doesn't seem fitting in a widow and her so lately bereaved. And the +older lady's quite as bad, sir. The maids tell me they keep talking all +day about fairies and pretending they're queens and such like, and +talking poetry to each other."</p> + +<p>"Quoting poetry is a harmless amusement, Antoine, and believing in +fairies and goblins is no crime. Such pastimes argue for sweetness and +innocence of character."</p> + +<p>"But the late master never indulged in such things, sir."</p> + +<p>"He would have lived longer if he had! It was probably the poetry and +fairies that attracted him to Mrs. Bashford."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," he acquiesced with a gulp. "I suppose you're right, sir."</p> + +<p>"You should be grateful to Mrs. Bashford for not bouncing you all for +the row you made last night. It could be done; in fact, Mr. Torrence has +suggested that legal means could be found for getting rid of you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span></p> + +<p>"That would be very sad, sir," he said humbly.</p> + +<p>"Isn't Mrs. Bashford kind to you? Hasn't she taken pains to make you all +feel at home?"</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, sir. But she's taken Elsie back into the house, and there's +no work for her, there being two women in the laundry already; and she's +told me Dutch must be given his old place in charge of the poultry; and +both being Germans, you will recall."</p> + +<p>"It's just her kind heart, you idiot! You've all been spoiled; that's +what's the matter with you. Elsie and Dutch are as law-abiding and +honest as the best of you."</p> + +<p>"It causes feeling; that's all, sir."</p> + +<p>"It needn't cause it if you brace up and act like a man," I retorted. +Then, sorry I had been so harsh, I added: "We must take good care of +Mrs. Bashford, Antoine. It would be your old master's wish. It will do +no harm to keep a guard at the house for the present in case your +mysterious stranger turns up again."</p> + +<p>He couldn't have failed to note my change of tone about the unknown +visitor, but he made no comment.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span></p> + +<p>"The guard's set, sir; front and rear."</p> + +<p>"While there's no danger whatever it's just as well to take no chances. +Please tell the boys to send for me immediately at any hour of the night +if they see any prowlers about."</p> + +<p>"Very good, sir. But if you please, sir"—he had reached the garage and +he lingered, fingering his hat nervously—"if it wasn't for the ladies +talking about spirits, we'd all feel better, sir. It's creepy, sir, all +the talk about witches and ghosts, no matter what names you call 'em +by."</p> + +<p>"You're far from being a fool, Antoine. Those ladies just play at +believing in such rubbish. If they really believed in ghosts, you may be +sure they wouldn't talk about it at table before strangers like you and +me."</p> + +<p>Though this seemed to impress him, a moment later, as I was drawing down +the shades in my bedroom, I saw him running across the lawn like a +frightened rabbit.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2><h3>A FAN</h3> +</div> + +<p>The morning mail brought a letter from Searles acknowledging my +congratulations on his play. While my enthusiastic praise pleased him, +he was very scornful of my suggestions about available stars, and seemed +even more depressed than when he talked to me.</p> + +<p>"It's impossible for me to plan other work. 'Lady Larkspur' ate the soul +out of me. I'm done; finished, clean out of the running. There's only +this to report. I had a letter from Dalton saying that some time ago he +asked at the hotel where he sent the script of 'Lady Larkspur' to know +whether Miss Dewing had sent a forwarding address. He had to see the +manager before he got any satisfaction, but he did learn that her +accumulated mail had been called for by some one whose identity was not +disclosed. Of course this isn't much to hang a hope on, but if that play +is what I think it is and Miss<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span> Violet Dewing ever reads it she's going +to jump for the telegraph office the moment she finishes the last act. I +have no plans for returning East; the folks at home let me do as I +please, and it's a relief to be in seclusion where I hear nothing of the +doings of Broadway. I hope your ancient globe-trotting aunt still +lingers in the Far East! Keep the ink flowing, son. That novel ought to +be well under way when I get back."</p> + +<p>The tale I had begun seemed utter trash in comparison with the story of +Alice Bashford, in which, much against my will, I had become a minor +character. I had rather prided myself on my ability to see through a +plot in the first chapter of the most complicated mystery story, but +there were points in this unwritten tale that baffled me.</p> + +<p>I kept away from the house until dinnertime, when I was received quite +as an old friend by Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth. The table talk was of +Celtic poetry, and proved less disturbing to Antoine than the previous +night's discussion of ghosts.</p> + +<p>Their day had been spent, they explained, in a further examination of my +uncle's Japanese<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span> loot, and they had taken a long walk beyond the +estate's boundaries and were enthusiastic about the landscape.</p> + +<p>"It's so beautifully peaceful all about here," Alice murmured. "I feel +that I never want to move again."</p> + +<p>"That's a real tribute to America," Mrs. Farnsworth remarked; "for Alice +dearly loves new scenes. She inherited a taste for travel from her +father, who put some new places on the maps, you know."</p> + +<p>I didn't know and I wanted to ask questions about Alice's father, but as +though anxious to frustrate such inquiries my aunt asked how close we +were to the place made famous by Israel Putnam's spectacular escape from +the British. She had read the story and would motor to the scene, she +declared. It was quite clear that there were chapters in her life that +were not to be opened for my perusal. No sooner had I caught a glimpse +of a promising page than the book was politely closed. A curtain hung +between the immediate present at Barton-on-the-Sound and other scenes +and incidents of the girl's life; and Mrs. Farnsworth was equally +detached<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span> from any tangible background. It seemed that I might meet them +daily for the rest of my life in this same friendly fashion without +adding a particle to my knowledge of them.</p> + +<p>I became alert immediately when, as we rose from the table, Alice said, +with the air of asking an unimportant favor:</p> + +<p>"We were speaking last night of a man who has been asking for us here. +His visits have alarmed the servants, but there is nothing to fear from +him. You know"—she smiled at Mrs. Farnsworth—"it's rather he who seems +to fear us; that, at least, is our impression, though we have no idea +why he should do so. Still, it's rather good fun to find yourself an +object of special attention and to be followed, even pursued. We've even +led him on a little, haven't we, Constance?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Farnsworth laughingly admitted that they had led the gentleman on a +trifle, "but with all circumspection," she protested.</p> + +<p>"We met him here and there in Tokyo, and later were surprised to find +him crossing on our steamer. We threw him off in the Canadian Rockies, +where we stopped for a day,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span> and eluded him in Chicago, where he was +evidently lying in wait for us."</p> + +<p>"Delightful!" I exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"But please don't get the idea that the man annoys us," interposed Mrs. +Farnsworth.</p> + +<p>"Far from it!" cried Alice.</p> + +<p>"You've seen enough of us perhaps to understand that we enjoy little +adventures," said Mrs. Farnsworth. "The man pretends to be interested in +Mr. Bashford's art treasures. Antoine's story about the disguise is +rather against that; but we will give him the benefit of the doubt. What +we are hoping is that something really amusing may come of his +persistent pursuit. With you and the army of servants here we feel +perfectly safe; so we're for giving him every chance to show his hand."</p> + +<p>"He is the Count Giuseppe Montani," said my aunt, "who represents +himself as a connoisseur—a lover of the beautiful."</p> + +<p>"The mystery is solved! It is easy to understand why he has haunted the +place."</p> + +<p>"Yes; quite easy. Count Montani is very anxious to see the porcelains."</p> + +<p>"I wasn't referring to the pottery; but I shan't press the matter."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span></p> + +<p>"I advise you not to; your remark was highly improper from a nephew to +an aunt! I have told you about all I know of this Italian gentleman. I +am going to ask a favor. He telephoned from Stamford this afternoon to +know whether we had arrived, and I bade him call to-night. I should be +glad if you would remain until he leaves. I should like to know what you +make of him."</p> + +<p>"Certainly," I assented, pleased that she had taken me into her +confidence and deeply curious as to the Italian connoisseur. What she +had told so frankly and plausibly did not, however, touch upon the +matter of the interest shown by the American State Department in my +aunt's arrival at Barton, which troubled me much more than the antics of +the Italian who had followed the women across the Pacific.</p> + +<p>Count Montani arrived shortly and was received in the drawing-room. The +ladies greeted him with the greatest cordiality. As he crossed the room +I verified the limp and other points of Antoine's description. His +bearing was that of a gentleman; and in his very correct evening dress +he hardly looked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> like a man who would disguise himself and attempt to +rob a house. He spoke English all but perfectly and proceeded at once to +talk a great deal.</p> + +<p>"I was sad when I found I had so narrowly missed you at Seattle, and +again at Chicago. You travel far too rapidly for one of my age!"</p> + +<p>His age might have been thirty. He was a suave, polished, sophisticated +person. Nothing was more natural than that he should pause in his +travels to call upon two agreeable women he had met on a Pacific +steamer. Possibly he was in love with Alice Bashford; this was not a +difficult state of heart and mind for a man to argue himself into. She +was even more strikingly beautiful to-night than I had thought her +before. She was again in white—it was only in daytime that she wore +black—and white was exceedingly becoming to her. As we talked she plied +listlessly a fan—a handsome trinket of ostrich plumes. A pretty woman +and a fan are the happiest possible combination. There is no severer +test of grace than a woman's manner of using a fan. A clumsy woman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span> +makes an implement of this plaything, flourishing it to emphasize her +talk, or, what is worse, pointing with it like an instructor before a +blackboard. But in graceful hands it is unobtrusive, a mere bit of +decoration that teases and fascinates the beholder's eye.</p> + +<p>With all his poise and equanimity I was distinctly conscious that +Montani's dark eyes were intent upon the idly swaying fan. I thought at +first it was her hands that interested him as they unfailingly +interested me, but when, from time to time, she put down the fan his +gaze still followed it. And yet there was nothing novel in the delicate +combination of ivory and feathers. I had seen many fans that to all +appearances were just like it. Once, as she picked it up and lazily +opened it, I saw him bend forward eagerly, then, finding that I had +noted his eagerness, he rose, pretending that a brass screen before the +fireplace had caught his eye and asked whether it was not a Florentine +production, which shook my faith in his connoisseurship, as I had bought +the thing myself from a New York brassworker who had made it to my +order.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span></p> + +<p>Montani spoke of the porcelains. "Oh, to be sure! They don't show to +best advantage in electric light, do they? But I can have a few of the +prize pieces taken into the dining-room," said Alice.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Farnsworth had excused herself to finish a letter, and from my +chair I could see her head bent over the big desk in the library. Alice +rang for Antoine, and I followed her into the hall to offer my aid.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't trouble," she said. "Antoine can do anything necessary. Yes; +thanks; if you will turn on the dining-room lights."</p> + +<p>I was gone hardly half a minute. When I reached the drawing-room door +Montani had crossed the room to the table on which Alice had dropped the +fan and was examining it closely. He faced the door, and the moment he +detected me exclaimed carelessly: "An exquisite little bauble! I am +always curious as to the source of such trifles. I was looking for the +maker's imprimatur. I know a Parisian who is the leading manufacturer of +the world. But it is not his, I see."</p> + +<p>As we stood talking of other things he plied the fan carelessly as +though for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span> pleasure of the faint scent it exhaled, and when Alice +called us he put it down carefully where he had found it.</p> + +<p>He really did seem to know something about ceramics and praised, with +lively enthusiasm, the pieces that had been set out on the table. One +piece, as to whose authenticity my uncle had entertained serious doubts, +Montani unhesitatingly pronounced genuine and stated very plausible +reasons for his opinion.</p> + +<p>On the whole, he was an interesting fellow. When he had finished his +inspections he lingered for only a few minutes and took his leave, +saying that he was spending the night at an inn near Stamford.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Alice when the whir of his machine had died away, "what do +you think of him?"</p> + +<p>"A very agreeable gentleman," I answered. "If he doesn't know +porcelains, he fakes his talk admirably."</p> + +<p>"And as to fans—" suggested Mrs. Farnsworth.</p> + +<p>I had not intended to mention Montani's interest in Alice's fan, and the +remark surprised me.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, I saw it all from the library," laughed Mrs. Farnsworth. "My back +was to the door, but I was facing a mirror. The moment you and Alice +went into the hall he pounced upon the fan—pounced is the only word +that describes it. He concealed his interest in it very neatly when you +caught him examining it."</p> + +<p>"Fans are harmless things," said Alice, "and if there's any story +attached to this one I'm not aware of it. My father bought it in Paris +about three years ago, and it has never been out of my possession except +to have it repaired. There's a Japanese jeweller who does wonderful +things in the way of repairing trinkets of every kind. I left it with +him for a few days. I can't tell now which panel was broken, he did his +work so deftly."</p> + +<p>I took it from her and balanced it in my fingers. It was a beautiful +piece of workmanship with the simplest carvings on the ivory panels.</p> + +<p>"He couldn't have seen it anywhere before to-night," observed Alice +musingly. "In fact, I hadn't used it at all for a year. It was really by +mistake that my maid put it into my trunk when I went to Japan. I +didn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span> want to risk breaking it again, so I've been carrying it in a +hand-bag. The last day we were in Tokyo I think I had it in our +sitting-room in the hotel, to make sure it wasn't jammed into the trunk +again. We had a good many callers—a number of people came in to bid us +good-by, but I'm sure Count Montani was not among them, and it would +have been impossible for him to see it at any other time."</p> + +<p>"Oh, there is nothing disturbing in the count's interest in the thing," +said Mrs. Farnsworth with an air of dismissing the matter. "If it were a +Jade trinket inscribed with Chinese mysteries, you might imagine that it +would be sought by some one—I have heard of such things—but Alice's +fan has no such history."</p> + +<p>"We weren't very hospitable," said Alice. "I might have asked Count +Montani to dine with us to-morrow; and we might even have put him up for +the night in this vast house."</p> + +<p>"Not with Antoine on the premises!" I exclaimed. "Antoine is convinced +that the man is what we call in America a crook. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span> Antoine takes his +responsibilities very seriously."</p> + +<p>While I was breakfasting at the garage the next morning Antoine appeared +and, waiting until Flynn was out of hearing, handed me a slip of paper.</p> + +<p>"That's a New York automobile number," he said. "It was on the tag of +that machine the party came in last night. I heard him saying, sir, as +how he had motored up from the Elkton Inn at Stamford. Visitors from +Stamford would hardly send in to the city for a machine."</p> + +<p>I bade him wait while I called the Elkton by telephone. No such person +as Giuseppe Montani had spent the night there or had been a guest of the +house within the memory of the clerk. Antoine's chest swelled at this +confirmation of his suspicions.</p> + +<p>"If the man returns, treat him as you did last night—as though he were +entitled to the highest consideration."</p> + +<p>"He won't come back—not the same way," said Antoine. "He mentioned the +Elkton just to throw you off. The next you hear of him will be quite +different."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span></p> + +<p>"You mean he'll come as a burglar?"</p> + +<p>"That's what's in my mind, Mr. Singleton. Everything seems very queer, +sir."</p> + +<p>"Such as what, Antoine?"</p> + +<p>"The widow has been telegraphing and telephoning considerable, sir."</p> + +<p>"There must be no spying upon these ladies!" I admonished severely. "All +the people on the place must remember that Mrs. Bashford is mistress +here, and entitled to fullest respect."</p> + +<p>He had hardly gone before Torrence had me on the wire to hear my report +and to say that Raynor had left Washington for a weekend in Virginia.</p> + +<p>"That lets us out for a few days, but I'll have to report that Mrs. +Bashford is at Barton the moment I learn that he is back in Washington."</p> + +<p>I assured him that nothing had occurred to encourage a suspicion that +Mrs. Bashford was not all that she pretended to be. The day was marked +by unusual activities on the part of the waiters and bell-hops. Instead +of the company drills to which I had become accustomed they moved about +in pairs along<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span> the shore and the lines of the fences. I learned that +Antoine had ordered this, and the "troops" were obeying him with the +utmost seriousness. The "service" on the estate was certainly abundant. +It was only necessary to whistle and one of the Tyringham veterans would +come running.</p> + +<p>In spite of the complete satisfaction I had expressed to Torrence as to +the perfect integrity and honest intentions of the two women, the +curiosity of the American State Department and the visit of Montani +required elucidation beyond my powers. At dinner they were in the +merriest humor. The performances of the little army throughout the day +had amused them greatly.</p> + +<p>"How delightfully feudal!" exclaimed Alice. "Really we should have a +moat and drawbridge to make the thing perfect. Constance and I are the +best protected women in the world!"</p> + +<p>We extracted all the fun possible from the idea that the estate was +under siege; that Alice was the chatelaine of a beleaguered castle, and +that before help could reach us we were in danger of being starved out +by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span> the enemy. They called into play the poetry which had so roused +Antoine's apprehensions, and their talk bristled with quotations. Alice +rose after the salad and repeated at least a page of Malory, and the +Knights of the Round Table having thus been introduced, Mrs. Farnsworth +recited several sonorous passages from "The Idyls of the King." They +flung lines from Browning's "In a Balcony" at each other as though they +were improvising. The befuddlement of Antoine and the waiter who +assisted him added to the general joy. They undoubtedly thought the two +women quite out of their heads, and it was plain that I suffered greatly +in Antoine's estimation by my encouragement of this frivolity. Mrs. +Farnsworth walked majestically round the table and addressed to me the +lines from Macbeth beginning:</p> + +<p style='padding-left: 3em'> +"Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promised," +</p> + +<p>while Antoine clung to the sideboard listening with mouth open and eyes +rolling.</p> + +<p>Later, in the living-room, Alice sang some old ballads. She was more +adorable than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span> ever at the piano. It was a happiness beyond any in my +experience of women to watch her, to note the play of light upon her +golden head, to yield to the spell of her voice. Ballads had never been +sung before with the charm and feeling she put into them; and after +ending with "Douglas, Douglas," she responded to my importunity with +"Ben Bolt," and then dashed into a sparkling thing of Chopin's, played +it brilliantly and rose, laughingly mocking my applause.</p> + +<p>I left the house like a man over whom an enchantment has been spoken and +was not pleased when Antoine blocked my path: "Pardon me, sir."</p> + +<p>"Bother my pardon; what's troubling you now?" I demanded.</p> + +<p>"It's nothing troubling me, sir; not particularly. If you give me time, +I think I'll grow used to the poetry talk and playing at being queens. +It's like children in a family I served once; an English family, most +respectable. But in a widow, sir——"</p> + +<p>"God knows we ought to be glad when grown-ups have the heart to play at +being children and can get away with it as beautifully<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span> as those women +do! What else is on your mind?"</p> + +<p>"It's about Elsie, sir." I groaned at the mention of Flynn's German +wife. "I'm sorry, sir; but I thought I should report it. It was a man +who came to see her this afternoon. You was out for your walk, and Flynn +had taken the ladies for a drive, so Elsie was alone at the garage. This +person rode in on the grocer's truck from the village, which is how he +got by the gate. As it happened, Pierre—he was a waiter at the +Tyringham, a Swiss, who understands German—had gone into the garage for +a nap; he's quite old, sir, and has his snooze every afternoon."</p> + +<p>"He's entitled to it," I remarked; "he must be a thousand years old."</p> + +<p>"From what he heard Pierre thought the man a spy, sir. He wanted Elsie +to steal something from the house, it was a fan he wanted her to take +most particular, and it was to be done soon, to-day if she could manage. +It was for the love of the Fatherland that he wanted her to do it. Did +you notice, sir, that Mrs. Bashford didn't have the fan to-night? Not +that one she carried last night."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span></p> + +<p>I had noticed that she had substituted a tiny Japanese fan for the one +that Montani had inspected so eagerly. When I spoke of the change she +had said the other was too precious for every-day use, and she meant to +keep it locked up.</p> + +<p>"I hate to bother you, sir, knowing you——"</p> + +<p>The mention of the fan had brought me to an abrupt halt. I resented +having the thing thrust at me in the ecstatic mood in which I had left +the house, but the visit of the German-speaking stranger was serious, +and Antoine knew that his story had startled me. He told me further that +the man had carefully outlined to Elsie just how she could take +advantage of her freedom of the house to appropriate the fan when the +ladies were out and the servants off the second floor. She was to be +paid for her assistance; two hundred dollars had been promised; even +more had been suggested. Elsie and the stranger had left the garage and +passed out of ear-shot before Elsie fully consented; but Pierre had +given Antoine the impression that she would make the attempt.</p> + +<p>"It was to be for the Kaiser, for Germany,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span> declared Antoine bitterly. +"And she was to be careful about Flynn. I always thought Flynn was +straight—I did indeed, sir!"</p> + +<p>"I think Flynn and his wife are both honest, but we'll take no chance. +Warn the guards to be on the alert. We don't want Elsie to get the idea +that she's being watched; so tell the men to keep away from the garage. +I'll keep an eye on the Flynns. You go home and go to bed...."</p> + +<p>The deep calm of the country night had settled upon the shore, and the +Flynns' quarters were perfectly tranquil. It didn't seem possible that +an international episode was in process of incubation in that quiet +neighborhood. I began to think that the general distrust of the German +woman by her associates might be responsible for Pierre's story. But, +viewed in any light, I had a duty to perform. If Elsie had visited the +house and purloined the fan, she would be very likely to get rid of it +as quickly as possible, and I determined to keep watch. I drew the +blinds, got into my dressing-gown and, reinforcing the lampshade with a +newspaper to deaden the light, proceeded to read.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span></p> + +<p>It was on toward one o'clock and I was dozing when a sound roused me. A +door on the Flynn side of the hall creaked; there was silence, then I +heard furtive steps on the stair. I snapped out my light and peered out +of the window just as Elsie's robust figure disappeared into the +shadows. I was about to follow when the creaking of the Flynn door was +repeated. In a moment another peep through the shade showed me Flynn +himself, and he, too, quickly vanished. Here was a situation indeed! If +Elsie was keeping tryst with her co-conspirator of the afternoon and her +husband was spying upon her, a row of large proportions was likely to +result at any moment. I leaned from the window as far as I dared, and +saw the woman close to the wall at the farther end of the building. The +scene was well set for trouble, and I was wondering what I could do to +avert a disturbance and the exposure of the foolish woman when the whole +matter was taken out of my hands.</p> + +<p>"You fool! You scoundrel!" she bellowed in German. "That you should +think me a plaything to commit a robbery for you! That<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span> I should steal +from my mistress to satisfy you, you piece of swine-flesh!"</p> + +<p>I had often heard Elsie vocally disciplining her Irish husband and knew +the power of her lungs and the vigor of her invective, but she seemed +bent upon apprising the whole commonwealth of Connecticut of the fact +that she was vastly displeased with the person she was addressing, who +was certainly not Flynn. Amid sounds of a scuffle and the continuous +outpouring of billingsgate the light over the garage door flashed on +suddenly and disclosed Flynn in the act of precipitating himself into +the fray. Elsie had grasped, and was stoutly clinging to a tall man who +was trying to free himself of her muscular embrace. Her cries meanwhile +included some of the raciest terms in the German dictionary and +others—mouthfuls of frightfulness—that I didn't recognize.</p> + +<p>When I reached the open Flynn was dancing round the belligerents like an +excited boxer, occasionally springing in to land a blow; and all the +while Elsie continued to address her captive and the world at large in +her native tongue. Flynn was rather more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span> than sixty, and Elsie was not +much his junior, while the invader was young and agile. The man had +loosened one arm and drawn a revolver with which he was pounding Elsie +in the face. I knocked the gun from his hand with my walking-stick and +shouted to Elsie to let go of him. Her shouts had roused the guards and, +hearing answering cries and the beat of hurrying feet on the walks, he +redoubled his efforts to escape. I had hardly got my hands on him when +with a twist of his body he wrenched himself free and sped away in the +darkness.</p> + +<p>I hadn't gone far in pursuit of him before I tripped over the skirts of +my dressing-gown and fell into a bed of cannas. This would have been +less melancholy if Flynn, hard behind, hadn't stumbled over me and, +believing he had captured the enemy, gripped my legs until I could +persuade him to let go.</p> + +<p>The lights now flared on all the walks and driveways, and Antoine was +bellowing orders to the guards to surround the sunken garden. I surmised +that the fugitive, surprised by the attack, had lost his bearings and +was now far from the boundary wall back of the garage<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span> from which +presumably he had entered the grounds. With the Sound cutting off his +exit beyond the residence, there was a fair chance of catching him if +Antoine's veterans were at all vigilant.</p> + +<p>I found Antoine, armed with a club and swinging a lantern, majestically +posed at the nearer entrance to the garden. With a swallow-tail coat +over his night-shirt and his nightcap tipped over one ear, he was an +enthralling figure. As he strode toward me his slippers flapped weirdly +upon the brick walk. "There's somebody in the garden, sir," he whispered +huskily. "The troops has it surrounded." No general in all history, +reporting in some critical hour the disposition of his army, could have +been more composed.</p> + +<p>"You have done well, Antoine. Shall you dig in until morning or go over +the top now?"</p> + +<p>"As you say, sir. It's better you should take charge."</p> + +<p>I walked round the garden and found his men well distributed, but the +old fellows were exceedingly nervous. "It's a bit suspicious,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span> sir, that +he broke for the garden," remarked Antoine.</p> + +<p>"He broke for the garden," I suggested, "because his line of retreat was +cut off and he had to go somewhere."</p> + +<p>"It's queer, though, sir, when Dutch has been sleeping on the long bench +down there by the fountain. You know how we feel about him, sir, he +being of that race."</p> + +<p>"Dutch told me he was camping in the tool-house," I answered.</p> + +<p>"The boys drove him out, sir, and he took to the garden."</p> + +<p>"Nasty of the boys, I should say. If that interloper should murder +him——"</p> + +<p>A yell rose from the midst of the garden, followed by a crash and an +instant later by a splash that interrupted another yell. I snatched +Antoine's lantern and ran down the steps toward the scene of commotion. +When I reached the circular pool the jet was still playing gayly, but +the waters on one side were in furious agitation. Two men were rolling +and tumbling about as though bent upon drowning each other. I swung the +lantern over them just as Dutch got upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span> his feet, gripping his +antagonist by the collar. He flung him backward over the stone curbing +of the pool and fell upon him in the walk with a swish of wet garments. +The guards from the outer edges of the garden had clambered down and +they gathered about us as I began questioning Dutch.</p> + +<p>Dutch, undoubtedly enjoying his victorious encounter, was tearing open +the prostrate captive's collar to give him air and with his knees +clamping the man's body was disposed to delay the story of his +adventures to increase its dramatic effect.</p> + +<p>"It happens this evenin'," he began, spouting water, "that I seen Elsie, +who's been sneakin' me meals to the old stables, an' she says to me: +'Dutch,' she says, 'they's all ag'in us here, callin' us Huns, an' we +gotta show 'em we's good Americans,' she says. An' she tole me a feller +been to see 'er 'at wanted 'er to rob the house fer 'im, he thinkin' 'er +likely to do ut fer love o' the Kaiser. She said as 'ow she'd nail 'im +when he comes to-night to git a fan she's promised to lift fer 'im. She +said that'd prove she wasn't no Dutchwoman and recommended if I got the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span> +chance to do the same. I thought nothin' wuz goin' to happen an' wuz +sleepin' on me bench here in the garden when the hollerin' at the garage +woke me up. I sits quiet, listenin' an' this guy drops into the garden +an' wuz crawlin' past me bench an' I pinches 'im. He wuz fer havin' a +fight, an' we knocks over one of the big urns an' lit in the tank. He +says it's a thousand bones an' ye turn me loose, he says, an' I soused +'im ag'in fer that."</p> + +<p>The man was still choking from the sousings and Dutch turned him over +and pounded him vigorously on the back, assisted by Zimmerman, the +obliging valet, who had seized the occasion to show his hand on the side +of the Allies. "Shall I telephone for the Barton police, sir?" asked +Antoine with an extreme exaggeration of his professional manner.</p> + +<p>This obviously was the thing to do, but I feigned not to hear the +question while I debated the matter. It was plain that many things +relating to the capture were veiled in mystery: that if Mrs. Bashford +and her companion were involved in an international tangle and had in +their possession something that vitally concerned the nations at war,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> +common chivalry demanded that I handle the arrest of Montani's agent in +such manner as to shield them. I was thinking hard and in my perplexity +even considered sending a messenger for Torrence; but he was already +suspicious and would be very likely to summon Raynor immediately and +precipitate a crisis I was not prepared to face. To invite the attention +of the American State Department to the increasingly complex situation +would not be giving my aunt the chance I meant she should have to clear +herself.</p> + +<p>The captive had got upon his feet and stood dazedly staring at us. He +refused to answer my questions, even when I suggested that if he could +give a satisfactory account of himself he would be released. He only +doggedly shook his head. When I asked if he had been hurt in his bout +with Dutch he smiled and extended his arms in denial. He was a very +decent-looking fellow, blue-eyed and smooth-shaven, who seemed to accept +his plight with a degree of good humor.</p> + +<p>I decided that as nothing would be gained by sending him to the Barton +calaboose that night, I would assume the responsibility of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span> detaining +him until I had groped my way through the haze of suspicions and +circumstances that enveloped him.</p> + +<p>"Get some dry clothes for this man and lock him up in the tool-house. Be +sure he has blankets, and you'd better give him some hot coffee."</p> + +<p>The captive manifested relief at my decision and broke his silence to +thank me, which he did in very good English. His submissiveness only +deepened my perplexity, but I couldn't help laughing as he walked away +surrounded by the "troops," with Dutch leading the way—Dutch fully +conscious that he had vindicated himself and disposed to be rather +disdainful of his comrades.</p> + +<p>I hurried to the house, where I found Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth +ministering to Elsie, who had been taken there by their order. Elsie, +sharing with Dutch the honors of the night, lay on a davenport, where +she had received first aid. Alice rose from her knees as I entered, +gathering up strips of bandages, and turned to me laughingly.</p> + +<p>"Elsie's injuries are not serious; only disagreeable bruises in the +face. There will be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span> no scars, I'm sure. We'll keep her at the house for +a few days until she's quite fit again. Surely any one who has +questioned Elsie's loyalty ought to be satisfied now."</p> + +<p>"You certainly managed it very cleverly, Elsie. We're all very +grateful."</p> + +<p>Elsie, her face covered with bandages, acknowledged my thanks by +wiggling her foot.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Farnsworth said she would put Elsie to bed. Now, I thought, Alice +would make some sign if she knew anything that would explain Montani and +the prisoner in the tool-house. But the whole affair only moved her to +laughter and she seemed less a grown woman than ever in her white robe. +My efforts to impress her with the seriousness of the attempt to secure +the fan only added to her delight.</p> + +<p>"How droll! How very droll! You couldn't possibly have arranged anything +that would please me more! It's delicious! As you say in America, it's +perfectly killing!"</p> + +<p>I suggested that the holding of a prisoner without process of law might +present embarrassments.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span></p> + +<p>"I know," she cried, clapping her hands joyfully. "You mean we are +likely to bump into dear old <i>habeas corpus</i>! The sheriff will come and +read a solemn paper to you and you will have to hie you to court and +produce the body of the prisoner. That will be splendid!"</p> + +<p>"It won't be so funny if——"</p> + +<p>I was about to say that the humor of the thing would be spoiled somewhat +if she were made a witness and there proved to be something irregular +about the fan which had caused all the trouble, but I hadn't the heart +to do it. To spoil such merriment as bubbled in her heart would be +cruel—an atrocity as base as snatching a plaything from a joyous child.</p> + +<p>"Constance and I so love the unusual—and it is so hard to find!" she +continued. "And yet from the moment I reached the gates of these +premises things have happened! Nothing is omitted! Strange visitors; +fierce attacks upon our guards, and still the mystery deepens in the wee +sma' hours, with heroes and heroines at every turn! To think that that +absurd little Dutch was asleep in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span> the garden and really captured the +spy or whatever he is! But you are a hero too! You shall be decorated!"</p> + +<p>She walked to a stand and pondered a moment before a vase of roses, +chose a long-stemmed red one and struck me lightly across the shoulder +with it.</p> + +<p>"Arise, sir knight! You should have knelt, but to kneel in skirts +requires practice; you could hardly have managed in that monk's robe."</p> + +<p>I couldn't be sure whether she was mocking me or whether there was +really liking under this nonsense. I was beyond the point of being +impatient with her. I was helpless in her hands; she would do with me as +she willed, and it was my business to laugh with her, to meet her as +best I could in the realm of folly.</p> + +<p>"You must go!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Constance will be calling down +the stairs for me in a moment."</p> + +<p>"To-morrow—" I began. The wistful look she had at times came into her +eyes as she stood in the centre of the room, playing with the flower.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span></p> + +<p>"To-morrow," she repeated, "and then—to-morrow!"</p> + +<p>"There must be endless to-morrows for you and me," I said, and took the +flower from her hand. The revery died in her eyes, and they were awake +with reproach and dismissal. At the door I looked back. She hadn't moved +and she said, very quietly, but smiling a little: "Nothing must happen +to make me sorry I came. Please remember!"</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2><h3>PURSUING KNIGHTS</h3> +</div> + +<p>I didn't sleep until near daybreak, and was aroused at nine o'clock by +Flynn, who appeared at the door in his chauffeur's togs, carrying a +tray.</p> + +<p>"The wife didn't come back, sorr, but I made coffee and toast. Sorry to +waken you, but I'm takin' the new car into the city."</p> + +<p>I sat up and rubbed my eyes.</p> + +<p>"Who's going to the city?" I demanded.</p> + +<p>"The ladies is goin' at once, sorr. They sent orders an hour ago to be +ready with the new machine. Orders was to take my bag; it looks like I'd +be gone the night. I'm late and you'll have to excuse me, sorr."</p> + +<p>I sprang out of bed and plied him with questions, most of which he was +unable to answer. I did, however, extract from him the information that +nothing had occurred after I retired for the night that could have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span> +alarmed the women at the residence and prompted this abrupt departure. +There was no reason why Alice shouldn't run to town if it pleased her to +do so, and yet it was odd that she hadn't mentioned the matter. Flynn +hurried away, and from the window I followed the car's course to the +house, and a moment later caught a glimpse of it on its way to the +gates.</p> + +<p>I was shaving when Antoine appeared, pale from the stirring incidents of +the night.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you know, sir," he said, straightening the coffee-pot on the +tray in an attempt to conceal his emotions.</p> + +<p>"When did you first hear that the ladies meant to leave to-day?" I +shouted with a flourish of the razor. "If you knew it last night and +didn't tell me——"</p> + +<p>"I heard it, incidental-like, at breakfast this morning. There was a +night letter, sir, read by the agent at Barton to the mistress quite +early, sir. I can't tell you what it was, sir."</p> + +<p>"Did they seem alarmed or depressed; was there anything to indicate +whether they had bad news?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span></p> + +<p>"They seemed quite merry over it, sir. But you know their goings-on, +which I never understand, sir. For all I know it may be a death in the +family; you'd never tell it from their actions. You will pardon me for +remarking it again, sir; but, considering that they're ladies, their +actions and goings-on is most peculiar."</p> + +<p>"As to luggage, I hope you had the intelligence to note whether they +went for a long stay?"</p> + +<p>"Only the suitcases that fits into the rack of the machine. Louise +thought they might be going for a week, maybe."</p> + +<p>This was all I got out of him. Mrs. Bashford and Mrs. Farnsworth had +flown, giving no hint of the length of their absence. They had slipped +away and left me with a prisoner that I didn't know what to do with; +with an inquiry by the American Department of State hanging over me; +with Torrence to reckon with, and, in general, a muddled head that only +a vast number of lucid explanations could restore to sanity.</p> + +<p>I called from the window to one of the gardeners who knew how to manage +a machine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span> and told him to be ready to drive me to the village in half +an hour. There was an express at ten-forty, and by taking it I would at +least have the satisfaction of being somewhere in New York when the +runaways arrived. Antoine packed my suitcase; I am not sure that he +didn't shed tears on my belongings. The old fellow was awed into silence +by the rapidity with which history had been made in the past twenty-four +hours, and clearly was not pleased by my desertion.</p> + +<p>We drove past the tool-house, where I found the prisoner seated on a +wheelbarrow smoking a cigarette. He was no more communicative than when +I had questioned him after his capture. He smiled in a bored fashion +when I asked if he wanted anything, and said he would be obliged for +cigarettes and reading-matter. He volunteered nothing as to his +identity, and the guards said that a thorough search of the captive's +clothing had disclosed nothing incriminating. He had three hundred +dollars in currency (this was to cover Elsie's bribe money, I +conjectured), a handkerchief, a cigarette-case, and a box of matches. I +directed that he be well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span> fed and given all the reading-matter he +wanted, and hurried on to catch my train.</p> + +<p>The futility of my errand struck me hard as I felt the city surging +round me. Without a clew to work on, I was utterly unlikely to find the +two women, and even if I should stumble upon them, in what way could I +explain my conduct in following them? I was visited also by the +discouraging thought that New York might not, after all, be their +destination.</p> + +<p>Flynn was a capable but cautious driver, and they would hardly reach +town before five o'clock. I took a room at the Thackeray Club and +pondered carefully whether, in spite of my misgivings, I hadn't better +see Torrence and tell him all that had happened since his call on Mrs. +Bashford. If there was any chance of doing the wrong thing in any matter +not prescribed in the laws governing the administration of estates, he +would be sure to do it; but I was far from satisfied with the results of +my own management of affairs at Barton. I finally called up the trust +company and learned that Torrence was in Albany attending the trial of a +will case and might not be in town for a couple<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span> of days. His secretary +said he had instructions to wire my daily report to Albany. I told him +there had been no developments at Barton, and went out and walked the +Avenue. Inquiries at hotels large and small occupied me until seven +o'clock. No one had heard of a Mrs. Bashford or a Mrs. Farnsworth. My +inspection of the occupants of several thousand automobiles proved +equally fruitless. I ate a lonely dinner at the club and resumed my +search. Hanging about theatre doors, staring at the crowd, is not a +dignified occupation, and by nine o'clock, having seen the most belated +theatre-goers vanish, I was tired and footsore. The flaming sign of +Searles's "Who Killed Cock Robin?" over the door of the "As You Like It" +caught my eye. I bought a seat—the last in the rack—and squeezed into +my place in the middle of the last row. As I had seen the piece at least +a dozen times, its novelty was gone for me, but the laughter of the +delighted audience was cheering. The first act was reaching its +culmination, and I watched it with a glow of pride in Searles and his +skilful craftsmanship.</p> + +<p>As the curtain fell and the lights went up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span> amid murmurs of pleasure and +expectancy, I glanced across the rows of heads with awakened interest. +"Who Killed Cock Robin?" had been praised with such unanimity that if +Alice were in any playhouse that night I was as likely to see her in the +"As You Like It" as anywhere.</p> + +<p>The half-turned face of a man three rows in front of me suddenly caught +my attention. There was something curiously familiar in his outlines and +the gesture with which, at the moment, he was drawing his handkerchief +across his forehead. I judged that he too had come late, for he now +removed his topcoat and thrust his hat under the seat. It was +Montani—beyond any question Montani—and I instinctively shrank in my +seat and lifted my programme as he turned round and swiftly surveyed the +rows behind him.</p> + +<p>I watched his black head intently until I remembered the superstition +that by staring at a person in a public place you can make him look at +you. Montani knew a great many things I wanted to know, but I must have +time to adjust myself to the shock of his propinquity. I satisfied +myself that he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span> was alone and as he continued to mop his face I judged +that he had arrived in some haste. The house now took note of a stirring +in one of the boxes. There was an excited buzz as the tall form and +unmistakable features of Cecil Arrowsmith, the English actor, were +recognized. I had read that day of his arrival in New York. With him +were two women. My breath came hard and I clutched the iron frame of the +seat in front of me so violently that its occupant turned and glared.</p> + +<p>The trio settled into their places quickly, but not before I had +satisfied myself that Arrowsmith's companions were Alice and Mrs. +Farnsworth. As they fell into animated talk I saw that Alice was in her +gayest humor. The distinguished tragedian seemed greatly amused by what +she was saying to him.</p> + +<p>"Must be members of Arrowsmith's company," one of my neighbors remarked. +"They open in two weeks in Shakespearian repertoire."</p> + +<p>Montani had half risen, the better to focus an opera-glass on the box. +The gong solemnly announced the second act, and Alice moved her chair to +face the stage. Once more Montani<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span> scanned the party with his glass. As +the lights faded Alice, with the pretty languorous gesture I so well +remembered, opened her fan—the fan of ostrich plumes, that became a +blur of white that held my eye through the dusk after the curtain rose.</p> + +<p>Alice, Montani, and the fan! To this combination I had now to add the +new element introduced into the situation by the apparent familiar +acquaintance of Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth with Cecil Arrowsmith. And +yet, as the play proceeded on its swift-moving course, I reasoned that +there was nothing extraordinary in their knowing the eminent actor. He +had long been a personage in England and had lately been knighted. Their +appearance with him at the theatre really disposed of the idea that they +might be impostors. The presence of Arrowsmith had put zest into the +company, and I hadn't seen a better performance of Searles's play. The +trio in the box joined in the prolonged applause at the end of the act.</p> + +<p>As they resumed their talk Alice, it seemed, was relating something of +moment for Arrowsmith's benefit, referring now and then to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span> Mrs. +Farnsworth as though for corroboration. The scene in the box was almost +as interesting as any in the play, and the audience watched with deep +absorption. Alice, the least self-conscious of mortals, was, I knew, +utterly unaware of the curious gaze of the house; whatever she was +saying with an occasional gesture of her gloved hands or a shrug of her +shoulders possessed her completely. I thought she might be telling +Arrowsmith of her adventures at Barton; but the length of her narrative +was against this, and Arrowsmith's attitude was more that of a critic +appealed to for an opinion than of a polite listener to a story. He +nodded his head several times, and finally, as Alice, with a slight dip +of the head and an outward movement of her arms, settled back in her +chair, he patted his hands approvingly.</p> + +<p>In my absorption I had forgotten Montani's existence, but as the third +act began I saw that he had gone. Whether I should put myself in Alice's +way as she left the theatre was still an undetermined question when the +play ended. With Montani hanging about I felt a certain obligation to +warn her that he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span> had been watching her. I was among the first to leave, +and in the foyer I met Forsythe, the house manager, who knew me as a +friend of Searles.</p> + +<p>"You notice that we're still turning 'em away," he remarked. "We don't +have to worry about this piece; everybody who sees it sends his friends +the next day. Searles hasn't looked in for some time; hope he's writing +a new play?"</p> + +<p>"He's West visiting his folks. Don't know when he'll be back," I +answered. "I must write him that Sir Cecil Arrowsmith enjoyed 'Who +Killed Cock Robin?' just as much as common mortals."</p> + +<p>Forsythe had paused at the box-office, and in my uncertainty I stuck to +him as the crowd began to surge by.</p> + +<p>Arrowsmith's approach was advertised by the peculiar type of tall hat +that he affected, and the departing audience made way for him, or hung +back to stare. At his left were Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth, and they must +pass quite close to me. "Who Killed Cock Robin?" was a satisfying play +that sent audiences away with lightened hearts and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span> smiling faces, and +the trio were no exception to the rule.</p> + +<p>Listening inattentively to Forsythe, I was planning to join Alice when +the trio should reach me. She saw me; there was a fleeting flash of +recognition in her eyes, and then she turned toward Arrowsmith. She drew +nearer; her gaze met mine squarely, but now without a sign to indicate +that she had ever seen me before. She passed on, talking with greatest +animation to Arrowsmith.</p> + +<p>"Well, remember me to Searles if you write him," I heard Forsythe +saying. I clutched his arm as he opened the office door.</p> + +<p>"Who are those women?" I demanded.</p> + +<p>"You may search me! I see you have a good eye. That girl's rather nice +to look at!"</p> + +<p>Crowding my way to the open, I blocked the path of orderly, sane +citizens awaiting their machines until a policeman pushed me aside. +Alice I saw for a bewildering instant, framed in the window of a big +limousine that rolled away up-town.</p> + +<p>I had been snubbed! No snub had ever been delivered more deliberately, +with a nicer calculation of effect, than that administered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span> to me by +Alice Bashford—a girl with whom, until a moment before, I had believed +myself on terms of cordial comradeship. She had cut me; Alice who had +asked me at the very beginning of our acquaintance to call her by her +first name—Alice had cut me without the quiver of a lash.</p> + +<p>I walked to the Thackeray and settled myself in a dark corner of the +reading-room, thoroughly bruised in spirit. In my resentment I meditated +flying to Ohio to join Searles, always my chief resource in trouble. +Affairs at Barton might go to the devil. If Alice and her companion +wanted to get rid of me, I would not be sorry to be relieved of the +responsibility I had assumed in trying to protect them. With rising fury +I reflected that by the time they had shaken off Montani and got rid of +the prisoner in the tool-house they would think better of me.</p> + +<p>"Telephone call, sir."</p> + +<p>I followed the boy to the booth in a rage that any one should disturb my +gloomy reflections.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Singleton? Oh! This is Alice speaking——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span></p> + +<p>I clutched the shelf for support. Not only was it Alice speaking, but in +the kindest voice imaginable. My anger passed, but my amazement at Alice +and all her ways blinded me. If she had suddenly stepped through the +wall, my surprise could not have been greater.</p> + +<p>"You told me the Thackeray was your usual refuge in town, so I thought +I'd try it. Are you very, very cross? I'm sorry, really I am—Bob!"</p> + +<p>The "Bob" was added lingeringly, propitiatingly. Huddled in the booth, I +doubted my senses—wondering indeed whether Alice hadn't a double—even +whether I hadn't dreamed everything that had occurred at Barton.</p> + +<p>"I <i>wanted</i> to speak to you ever so much at the theatre, but I couldn't +very well without introducing you to Sir Cecil, and I wasn't ready to do +that. It might have caused complications."</p> + +<p>If anything could have multiplied the existing complications, I was +anxious to know what they were; but her voice was so gentle, so wholly +amiable, that I restrained an impulse to demand explanations.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span></p> + +<p>"Are you on earth or are you speaking from paradise?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we're in a very nice house, Constance and I; and we're just about +having a little supper. I wish you were here, but that can't be +arranged. No; really it can't! We shall be motoring back to Barton +to-morrow and hope you can join us. Let us have luncheon and motor up +together."</p> + +<p>When I suggested that I call for them she laughed gayly.</p> + +<p>"That would be telling things! And we mustn't spoil everything when +everything is going so beautifully."</p> + +<p>Remembering the man I had locked up in the tool-house and the +explanations I should have to make sooner or later to the unimaginative +Torrence, I wasn't wholly convinced of the general beauty of the +prospect.</p> + +<p>"Montani was in the theatre," I suggested.</p> + +<p>Her laughter rippled merrily over the wire. "Oh, he tried to follow us +in a taxi! We had a great time throwing him off in the park. I'm not +sure he isn't sitting on the curb right now watching the house +ungraciously."</p> + +<p>"You have the fan with you; Montani<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span> jumped right out of his seat when +you opened it in the theatre."</p> + +<p>This she received with more laughter; Montani amused her immensely, she +said. She wasn't in the least afraid of him. Returning to the matter of +the luncheon, she suggested the Tyringham.</p> + +<p>"You know, I want very much to see Mr. Bashford's old home and the place +all our veteran retainers came from. At one?—yes. Good night!" ...</p> + +<p>Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth reached the Tyringham on time to the minute. +As I had spent the morning on a bench in the park, analyzing my +problems, I found their good humor a trifle jarring.</p> + +<p>"You don't seem a bit glad to see us," Alice complained as she drew off +her gloves. "How can any one be anything but happy after seeing that +delicious 'Cock Robin'! It is so deliciously droll."</p> + +<p>"I haven't," I remarked with an attempt at severity, "quite your knack +of ignoring disagreeable facts. There was Montani right in front of me, +jumping like a jack-in-the-box every time you flourished your fan.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span> +There's that fellow we've got locked up at Barton——"</p> + +<p>"Just hear the man, Constance!" she interrupted with her adorable laugh. +"We were thinking that he was beginning to see things our way, the only +true way, the jolly way, and here he cometh like a melancholy Jaques! +We'll have none of it!"</p> + +<p>"We must confess," said Mrs. Farnsworth conciliatingly, "that Mr. +Singleton is passing through a severe trial. We precipitated ourselves +upon him without warning, and immediately involved him in a mesh of +mystery. His imagination must have time to adjust itself."</p> + +<p>"Ah, the imagination!" sighed Alice with her wistful smile. "How little +patience the world has with anything but the soberest facts! Why should +we bother about that lunatic Montani or the gentleman immured in the +tool-house? I couldn't introduce you to Sir Cecil without anticipating +the end of our story; and I want you to keep wondering and wondering +about us. It's all so jolly! I love it all! And really you wouldn't +spoil it, Bob! It's dreadful to spoil things."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span></p> + +<p>They were spoiling my appetite; I was perfectly aware of that. I had +ordered the best luncheon I knew how to compose, and they were doing +full justice to it; but I was acting, I knew, like a resentful boy.</p> + +<p>"I love you that way," said Alice as I stared vacantly at my plate. "But +you really are not making yourself disagreeable to us—really he is not, +Constance!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Farnsworth affirmed this. I knew that I was merely being rude, and +the consciousness of this was not uplifting. At the luncheon hour the +influx of shoppers gives the Tyringham a cheery tone, and all about us +were people apparently conversing sanely and happily. The appearance of +Uncle Bash's ghost in the familiar dining-room would have been a welcome +diversion. I was speculating as to just what he would say about his +widow and the whole mess at Barton when Mrs. Farnsworth addressed me +pleadingly.</p> + +<p>"If you knew that we want you to play with us only a few days +longer—three days, shall we say, Alice?—if you knew that then we'll +untangle everything, wouldn't you be nice—very nice?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span></p> + +<p>In spite of myself I couldn't resist this appeal. I was more and more +impressed by the fineness, the charm of Mrs. Farnsworth. When she +dropped the make-believe foolishness in which she indulged quite as +amusingly as Alice, she appeared to be a very sensible person. The humor +danced in her eyes now, but her glance was more than an appeal; it was a +command.</p> + +<p>"If you knew that our troubles are not at all the troubles you're +thinking about, but very different——"</p> + +<p>"Please pardon me!" I muttered humbly, and wished that Alice were not so +bewitching in a sailor hat. It may have been the hat or only Mrs. +Farnsworth's pleading tone that brought me to a friendlier attitude +toward the universe and its visible inhabitants. The crowd thinned out, +but we lingered, talking of all manner of things.</p> + +<p>"We must come in again very soon," said Alice. "And next time we shan't +run away, which was very naughty. I suppose when you begin a story you +just have to keep it going or it will die on your hands. That's the way +with our story, you know. Of course<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span> it's unkind to mystify you: but you +are in the story just as we are."</p> + +<p>My mystification was certainly deep enough without this suggestion that +I was a mere character in a tale whose awkward beginning aroused only +the gravest apprehensions as to the conclusion. She looked at her watch +and continued:</p> + +<p>"I'm so absurd—really I am, in ever so many ways, that no one would +ever put me in a book. Every one would say no such person ever existed! +It's incredible! And so I have to pretend I'm in a story all the time. +It's the only way I can keep happy. And so many people are in my story +now, not only Montani and the poor fellow locked up at Barton—oh, what +if he should escape! Constance, it would be splendid if he should +escape!"</p> + +<p>"I don't think it would be splendid if he escaped!" I exclaimed, sitting +up very straight at the bare thought of such a calamity. "He would +either kill me or sue me for damages."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that wouldn't fit into the story at all! Murder and damages are so +frightfully<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span> sordid and generally disagreeable. We must have nothing +like that in our story."</p> + +<p>"You didn't finish your enumeration of characters," I suggested. "Is my +part an important one or am I only a lay figure?"</p> + +<p>"My dear boy," cried Mrs. Farnsworth, "you are the hero! You have been +the hero from the hour the story began. If you should desert us now, +whatever should we do!"</p> + +<p>"If I'm the hero," I replied in her own key, "I shall begin making love +to Alice at once."</p> + +<p>Alice, far from being disturbed by my declaration, nodded her head +approvingly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we had expected that! But you needn't be in a hurry. In a story +like this one, that runs right on from day to day, we must leave a lot +to chance. And there are ever so many chances——"</p> + +<p>"Not all on the side of failure, I hope?"</p> + +<p>"We <i>must</i> be going." She laughed. I wished she hadn't that +characteristic little turn of the head that was so beguiling!</p> + +<p>Folly rode with us all the way to Barton. If anything sensible was +uttered on the drive, I can't recall it. Our talk, chiefly of knights<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span> +and ladies, and wild flights from imaginary enemies, had the effect of +spurring Flynn to perilous spurts of speed.</p> + +<p>"Flynn has caught the spirit!" cried Alice exultingly. "Haven't you, +Flynn?"</p> + +<p>Flynn, turning to confirm this, caused the car to swerve and graze a +truck piled high with household goods.</p> + +<p>"We may elude the pursuing knights," I suggested, "but some village +constable may take it into his head to pinch us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that would be lovely," cried Alice. "And we'd telegraph dear Mr. +Torrence to come and bail us out."</p> + +<p>We reached Barton at nine o'clock and after an informal supper I +listened to Antoine's solemn reports as I walked to the garage. The +prisoner had made no sign, he said, and nothing had occurred during the +day.</p> + +<p>"But there's this, Mr. Singleton, which you ought to know, sir. The old +Tyringham people don't like the goings on here. You'll admit it's all +mighty queer. I don't complain, sir, but some of the boys threatens to +leave, sir. And I look at it this way, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span> nobody understanding what +the spying and bribes offered and taking prisoners is all about, is most +peculiar. We got to know where we stand, that's what it's come to, sir. +And the widow being flighty-like and Flynn coming home and saying +nothing, but shaking his head when we ask him where he's been—You see +for yourself, sir, how it looks to us."</p> + +<p>What he said as to the general aspect of things was true, but I didn't +admit that it was true. Alice had converted me to the notion that I was +a character in a story, a plaything of fate, and I lightly brushed aside +Antoine's melancholy plaint.</p> + +<p>"Any man of you," I said, "who leaves this property will be brought back +and shot. Tell that to the boys!"</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the perfect equanimity of the gentleman in the tool-house +when I visited him the next morning shook my faith a trifle in the +story-book features of life at Barton. He was an exemplary prisoner, the +guards reported, and he had maintained the strictest silence in my +absence. He ate, smoked, and read, courteously thanking the men for +their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span> attentions, and that was all. When I showed myself at the window +he rose and threw down the magazine he was reading and replied +good-naturedly to my inquiry as to how he was getting along.</p> + +<p>"I have no complaint except that the guards snore outrageously. The poor +old chaps will sleep, you know."</p> + +<p>"If you're so badly guarded, why don't you escape?" I asked tartly.</p> + +<p>"It would relieve your mind a lot if I should disappear?" he asked +insinuatingly.</p> + +<p>"You are impertinent," I replied, irritated that he should have surmised +that his presence was causing me uneasiness. "If you will come to your +senses and tell me the meaning of your visits here, we may agree upon +terms. As it stands, you're a trespasser; you tried to bribe a servant +to rob the house. If you're at all familiar with criminal law in this +country, you can estimate the number of years' imprisonment that will be +handed you for these little indiscretions."</p> + +<p>"If it's all so plain, why don't you hand me over to the authorities?" +he asked, provokingly cool.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm giving you a chance to confess and tell who's back of all this. +Tell me just why your confederate Montani is annoying Mrs. Bashford, and +I'll turn you loose."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, my dear sir, the motive that impels you to detain me +unlawfully is the same that enjoins silence upon me! Please consider +that a little."</p> + +<p>I replied that I would consider nothing short of a confession. In a +match of wits he was fully my equal, and in the mastery of his temper he +certainly had the best of me.</p> + +<p>"If you wait for me to confess anything, you will wait forever," he +replied. "I repeat that we are impelled by the same motives, you and I. +I think I needn't enlighten you as to what they are."</p> + +<p>"I shall be glad to hear your idea of my motives," I answered feebly.</p> + +<p>"I shall be frank," he replied readily. "The reason you don't turn me +over to the police is the very simple one that you don't want to +embarrass the mistress of the house yonder by causing the light of +publicity to beat upon her very charming head. You<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span> wish to save her +annoyance, and possibly something much graver. I can see that you are +impressed; but it ought to please you to know that I share your feeling +of delicacy where she is concerned. And let me add that the Count +Montani is animated by like feeling. So there we are, exactly on the +same ground!"</p> + +<p>"You haven't answered my questions!" I blustered to hide my annoyance at +being thrust further into the dark. "You don't understand Mrs. +Bashford," I went on hurriedly. "It is inconceivable that any one should +wish to injure her or that she could have committed any act that would +cause her to be spied upon. She's tremendously imaginative; she indulges +in little fancies that are a part of her charm!"</p> + +<p>"Little fancies!" he repeated, hiding a yawn. "It's deplorable for a +pretty woman to have an imagination; there's danger there!"</p> + +<p>"Your philosophy bores me," I said, and left him. He had lied about the +snoring of the guards—Antoine satisfied me of that—but I gave +instructions to double the watch.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2><h3>ALICE</h3> +</div> + +<p>I wanted to be alone and struck off for a wood that lay on the northern +end of the estate. This was the most picturesque spot on the property, a +wild confusion of trees and boulders. On a summit in the midst of it +Uncle Bash had built a platform round a majestic pine from which to view +the Sound. I mounted the ladder and was brushing the dead leaves from +the bench when, somewhere below me and farther on, I heard voices.</p> + +<p>I flattened myself on the platform, listening intently. A stiff breeze +from the Sound flung the voices clearly to my hiding-place, and I became +aware that Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth were holding a colloquy in what +seemed to be the vein of their whimsical make-believe. That they should +be doing this in the depth of the woodland merely for their own +amusement did not surprise me—nothing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span> they could have done would have +astonished me—but the tone of their talk changed abruptly.</p> + +<p>"Try it from that boulder there, Alice," said Mrs. Farnsworth. "It's an +ideal place, created for the very purpose."</p> + +<p>I could see them moving about and hear the swish of shrubbery and the +scraping of their feet on the rough slope.</p> + +<p>"How will that do?" asked Alice.</p> + +<p>"Beautifully," replied Mrs. Farnsworth. "Now go ahead from the beginning +of the scene."</p> + +<p>Cautiously drawing back the branches, I espied Alice striking a pose on +a mammoth rock. She bent forward, clasping her knees, and with an +occasional glance at what appeared to be an open book beside her, she +began:</p> + +<p>"You ask me who I am, my lord? It matters not at all who or what I am; +let it suffice that berries are my food and the brook that sings behind +me gives me drink. To be one thing or another is a weariness. Would you +ask yonder oak for a name, or trouble the wind with like foolish +questions? No;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span> it is enough that a tree is strong and fine to look upon +and that a wind has healing in its wings."</p> + +<p>With her head to one side and an arresting gesture, and throwing into +her voice all its charm and a new compelling innocence and sweetness, +she continued:</p> + +<p>"But you would have a name? Then, O foolish one, so much I will tell +you: Yesterday I was Helen, who launched a thousand ships and shook the +topless towers of Ilium. To-day I am Rosalind in the forest of Arden, +and to-morrow I may be Antigone, or Ariel or Viola, or what you will. I +am what I make myself or choose to be. I pray you, let that suffice."</p> + +<p>My face was wet with perspiration, and my heart thumped wildly. For +either I was stark, staring mad, or these were lines from Searles's +"Lady Larkspur," the manuscript of which was carefully locked in my +trunk.</p> + +<p>"That should be spoken a trifle more slowly, and with the best air of +unpremeditatedness you can put into it," Mrs. Farnsworth was saying. +"You can work it out better when you've memorized the lines. It's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span> +immensely effective having the last scene come back to the big boulder +on the mountainside. Let me look at that a minute."</p> + +<p>She took up the manuscript—there was no question of the blue cover of +my copy of "Lady Larkspur"—and turned to the passage she sought.</p> + +<p>"Let me read this over," Mrs. Farnsworth continued: "'I have played, my +lord, at hide-and-seek with the stars, and I have run races with the +brooks. You alone of all that have sought me are equally fleet of foot +and heart! If you but touch my hand, I am lost forever. And this hand—I +beg you look at it—is as brown as a berry and as rough as hickory bark. +A wild little hand and not lightly to be yielded at any man's behest. +Look at me carefully, my lord.' She rises to full height quickly. Let me +see you do that, Alice."</p> + +<p>Alice's golden head became more distinctively visible as she stood erect +upon the boulder.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! You can improve on that; it must be done lightly and quickly, +just touching the tips of your fingers to the rock. Ah,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span> splendid! Now +stand with one hand dropped upon the hip—let me see how that looks. +Very good; now repeat these lines after me. 'This other world, of which +you speak?' Shake your head slowly, frowning; every hint of sincere +doubt and questioning you can throw into look and gesture. 'Is it a kind +world, a place of honest hearts? You have spoken of cities, and crowded +avenues, of music and theatres and many things I have read of but never +seen. You promise me much, but what should I do in so vast a company? I +am very happy here. Spring and summer fill my hands with flowers and in +winter I lay my face to the wind that carries sleet and snow. All this +is mine.' Arms stretched out. You mustn't make that stiff—very good. +'Earth and sky and forest belong to me. The morning comes down the sky +in search of me and the tired day bids me good-night at the western +gate. You would change rags for silk.' You turn your body and catch your +skirt in your hands, looking down. Yes; you are barefoot in this scene. +You'll have to practise that turn. Now—'And yet I should lose my +dominion; in that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span> world you boast of I should no more be Lady +Larkspur.'"</p> + +<p>Alice had repeated these lines, testing and trying different +modulations. Sometimes a dozen repetitions hardly sufficed to satisfy +Mrs. Farnsworth, who herself recited them and postured for Alice's +instruction.</p> + +<p>"Please read the whole of the second act again," said Alice, seating +herself on the boulder. I waited for a few minutes, enjoying the +beautiful flow of Mrs. Farnsworth's voice, then, mystified and awed, I +crept down the ladder and stole away. "It's Dick Searles's play," I kept +whispering to myself. It was the "Lady Larkspur" that he was holding +back until he could find the girl who had so enchanted him in London and +for whom he had written this very comedy with its setting in the +Virginia hills.</p> + +<p>Hurrying to the garage, I snarled at Flynn, who said Torrence had been +calling me all morning and had finally left word that he would motor to +Barton at eight the next evening to see me on urgent business. I +unlocked my trunk and dug out my copy of "Lady Larkspur." Not even the +wizardry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span> of Alice and her friend could have extracted the script. The +two women had in some way possessed themselves of another copy, an exact +duplicate, even to its blue paper cover; and I sat down and began +recalling everything Searles had told me about his efforts to find the +actress.</p> + +<p>The telephone on the table at my elbow rang until Flynn came in timidly +to quiet it.</p> + +<p>"If it's Mr. Torrence—" I began.</p> + +<p>"It's the Barton station, sir. There's a telegram." I snatched the +receiver spitefully, thinking it only the methodical Torrence confirming +the appointment made by telephone. But the operator began reading:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">"Springfield, Ohio</span>, September 30, 1917.</p> + +<p>"Cable from London agent says last forwarding address for Violet +Dewing was hotel in Seattle. Please ask Harkaway & Stein and anybody +else on Broadway who might know what companies are on coast or +headed that way. I find no clew in theatrical papers and don't want +to mess things by making inquiries direct. If party can be located, +will start West immediately.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Searles</span>."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span></p></div> + +<p>The thought of Searles was comforting, and I reproached myself for not +having summoned him at the beginning of my perplexities. I immediately +dictated this reply:</p> + +<p>"Take first train East and come to me at Barton as quickly as possible. +Hope to have news for you."</p> + +<p>I then jotted down on a scratch pad this memorandum:</p> + +<p>"The young woman representing herself as Mrs. Bashford and now +established in my uncle's house is one or all of the following persons:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. Uncle Bash's widow.</p> + +<p>2. An impostor.</p> + +<p>3. A spy of some sort, pursued by secret agents.</p> + +<p>4. Violet Dewing, an actress.</p> + +<p>5. The most interesting and the loveliest and most charming girl in +the world."</p></div> + +<p>I checked off one, two, and three as doubtful if not incredible; four +seemed possible, and five was wholly incontrovertible. But the first +three certainly required much illumination, and the fourth I was +helpless to reconcile with any of the others but the last. I reviewed +Searles's enthusiastic description<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span> of the young woman who had inspired +him to write "Lady Larkspur," and could only excuse my stupidity in not +fitting it to Alice the first time I saw her on the ground that Barton +was the last place in the world I should have looked for her. And then, +with all his exuberance, Searles hadn't done her justice!</p> + +<p>The following day nothing of importance happened, though Alice and Mrs. +Farnsworth again spent the morning in the woodland, presumably studying +Searles's play. My thoughts galloped through my head in a definite +formula: "If she is not my aunt—" "If she is an impostor—" "If she is +a spy playing a deep game in the seclusion of Barton—" "If she is the +actress Searles is seeking—" At any rate, I would respect her wish to +play the game through; the dangers of carrying the story-book idea to +one of half a dozen possible conclusions were not inconsiderable, but I +was resolved that she should finish the tale in her own fashion.</p> + +<p>On my way to luncheon I passed Dutch pushing a wheelbarrow containing a +huge hamper.</p> + +<p>"It's vittles for the prisoner, sir," he remarked.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span> "He's some feeder, +that guy, and I guess the sooner we shake 'im th' better. He kicks on +th' wine, sir. Says it's questionable vintage. When he gets tired +readin' he pokes his head through the window and kids th' boys. He says +he's goin' to remember th' place and come back when he's old. A charmin' +retreat fer supernumerary superannuates, he calls it. Them's his woids. +I'm gittin' sort o' nervous havin' 'im round. Zimmerman—he's the +clothes-presser—tried to talk Goiman to 'im this mornin' an' th' guy +pretended like his feelin's wuz hoit, an' he never knowed th' Hun's +language, he says. An' Elsie says she's prepared to swear he talked +Goiman easy enough to her."</p> + +<p>"We'll consider his case later, Dutch. The matter is delicate, most +delicate."</p> + +<p>If I had expected Searles and his play to be introduced into the +table-talk, I was doomed to disappointment. A dozen times I smothered an +impulse to tell Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth I had watched them in the +woodland and of Searles's long search for the ideal of his "Lady +Larkspur," but I was afraid to risk their displeasure. They enjoyed +walking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span> in the wood, they said, and when I charged them with +selfishness in not taking me along, Alice immediately suggested a tramp +later in the afternoon.</p> + +<p>"I'll send you away after luncheon—I have loads of letters to write, +but by four o'clock I'll be keen for the woods again."</p> + +<p>"Letters to all my good fairies," she laughed when I went for her; "and +you mustn't look at the addresses!" She suggested that we walk to the +village as she liked to post her letters herself. We went through the +woods where I had seen her the day before.</p> + +<p>"Constance and I were here this morning," she said when we reached the +big boulder. "Let me see; I think I'll try a little trick to test the +hand of fate. Give me those letters, please. If this falls with the +address up, I'll mail it," and she chose one and handed me the others; +"if the flap side turns up, I'll destroy it."</p> + +<p>She sent it spinning into the air. A branch caught and held it an +instant, then it fell, turning over and over, and lay straight on edge +against a weed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span></p> + +<p>"No decision!" I cried. "It's an exact perpendicular."</p> + +<p>She knelt beside it, pondering. "I think it leans just a trifle to the +address side," she announced. "Therefore you may return it to your +pocket and it goes into the post-office."</p> + +<p>"These letters would probably answer a lot of questions for me if I +dared run away with them," I suggested.</p> + +<p>"The thought does you no credit, sir. You promised not to meddle, but +just to let things take their course, and I must say that you are +constantly improving. At times you grow suspicious—yes, you know you +do—but, take it all in all, you do very well."</p> + +<p>At the post-office she dropped all the letters but one into the chute. +"It really <i>did</i> fall a little to the address side?" she questioned.</p> + +<p>I gave my judgment that the letter stood straight on edge, inclining +neither way.</p> + +<p>"If my life hung in the balance, I should certainly not act where fate +had been so timid."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps this <i>does</i> affect you," she said, quite soberly. And there in +the lobby of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span> the little Barton post-office, for the first time, I +indulged the hope that there was something more than friendliness and +kindness in her eyes. Her usual composure was gone—for a moment +only—and she fingered the envelope nervously in her slim, expressive +hands. A young woman clerk thrust her head through the delivery window +and manifested a profound interest in our colloquy.</p> + +<p>"Suppose," said Alice musingly, "I were to tell you that if I mail this +letter the effect will be to detain me in America for some time; if I +don't send it, I shall have to write another that will mean that I shall +go very soon. If I stay on at Barton instead of going home to take up my +little part again for England in the war, it will be an act of +selfishness—just some more of my foolishness, more of the make-believe +life that Constance and I have been living here."</p> + +<p>"I want you to stay," I said earnestly, taking the letter. "Let me be +your fate in this—in everything that affects your life forever."</p> + +<p>She walked quickly to the door, and I dropped the letter into the chute +and hurried after her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span></p> + +<p>"You didn't turn round," I said as we started down the street. "For all +you know, I've got the letter in my pocket."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm not a bit frightened! It would be just as interesting one way +as another."</p> + +<p>"But I want you to stay forever," I declared as we waited on the curb +for a truck to pass.</p> + +<p>"The remark is almost impertinent," she answered, "when I've known you +only seven days."</p> + +<p>"They've been wonderful days. It really makes no difference about +letters or your duties elsewhere. Where you go I shall certainly follow; +that's something I should like to have understood here and now."</p> + +<p>Loitering along the beach on our way home, I was guiltily conscious that +I was making love rather ardently to a lady who had introduced herself +to me as my uncle's widow. The sensation was, on the whole, very +agreeable....</p> + +<p>"Mr. Torrence and Mr. Raynor," Antoine announced as we were leaving the +dinner-table.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Raynor?" asked Alice. "Who, pray, is Mr. Raynor?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span></p> + +<p>Their arrival together chilled me, a chill increased by Torrence's +frosty greeting as he gripped my hand angrily and hissed in my ear:</p> + +<p>"You've deceived me about this whole business! I suggest that you leave +the room."</p> + +<p>I was walking toward the door when Mrs. Farnsworth protested.</p> + +<p>"You are not going? Alice, there is no reason why Mr. Singleton should +leave us."</p> + +<p>"Of course he is not going," said Alice. She was established at ease in +a wicker rocker, unconcernedly plying the ostrich-plume fan.</p> + +<p>"There may be matters——" began Torrence.</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing that Bob can't hear!" Alice declared.</p> + +<p>"Very well," muttered Torrence, frowning his complete disapproval.</p> + +<p>He fidgeted for a moment and tried to catch Raynor's eye, but Raynor's +face expressed amusement. I found myself liking Raynor very much.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Raynor told me that he wished to speak to Mrs. Bashford privately," +said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span> Torrence. "If he's satisfied, I'm sure I have no objection to Mr. +Singleton's remaining. I regret that my own duty is a disagreeable one."</p> + +<p>"Really!" murmured Alice with nicely shaded impudence.</p> + +<p>"I am convinced, beyond any question," said Torrence sharply, "that you +are not the widow of the late Raymond B. Bashford!"</p> + +<p>"That statement," said Alice without ceasing the languid flutter of the +fan, "is correct—quite correct."</p> + +<p>"Certainly: it is entirely true," affirmed Mrs. Farnsworth.</p> + +<p>"And your coming here as you did is, if you will pardon my frankness, +susceptible of very disagreeable constructions. It is my painful +duty——"</p> + +<p>He choked upon his duty until Raynor spoke, smiling broadly.</p> + +<p>"I find my duty really a privilege," he said. "Not only are you not Mrs. +Bashford," he went on with the utmost good humor, "but you are a very +different person. I should explain that I represent the American<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span> State +Department, and that our government has been asked by the British +Embassy to find you and deliver a certain message to you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, papa wants me to come home!" cried Alice. "It's droll, Constance, +that papa should have thought of making an affair of state of us. Dear +papa will always indulge me just so far, and then he becomes alarmed."</p> + +<p>"He's certainly alarmed now!" laughed Raynor. "But the ambassador has +warned us to be most tactful and circumspect. You may not know that Sir +Arnold Seabring is on his way to this country on a confidential mission. +That, of course, is not for publication."</p> + +<p>"Sir Arnold Seabring?" gasped Torrence.</p> + +<p>"The father of the Honorable Miss Seabring," replied Raynor with an +elucidating nod toward Alice.</p> + +<p>"But how—" I began.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Bashford, the widow of your uncle, is the Honorable Miss +Seabring's aunt. Is that quite correct?"</p> + +<p>"It is all true," said Alice. "I am a fraud,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span> an impostor. You might go +on and say that Mrs. Farnsworth is the wife of Sir Cecil Arrowsmith. But +all the guilt is mine. It was my idea to come here and play a little, +because I knew Aunt Alice wouldn't mind. She knew just what I meant to +do; really she did, Mr. Torrence! In fact, I have her written permission +to use the house, which I should have shown you if we had got in a +pinch. But it seemed so much more fun just to let matters take their +course. It's a pet theory of mine that life is a dull affair unless we +trust to luck a little. After my brother's death I was very unhappy and +had gone out East to visit Aunt Alice, who is a great roamer. I thought +it would be nice to stop here on the way home, just for a lark, without +telling papa, who was frantically cabling me to hurry back to England. +This isn't the first time I've played hide-and-seek with my family. I +was always doing that as a child; and if it hadn't been for my general +waywardness I should never have known you, Constance. Why, I shouldn't +have known you, gentlemen! It has all been so delightful!"</p> + +<p>This naïve confession amused Raynor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span> greatly, but Torrence was seeing +nothing in it but a dangerous escapade.</p> + +<p>"In the name of the Bainbridge Trust Company, I must notify you," he +began, "that by representing yourself as another person, entering into +possession of a large property——"</p> + +<p>"But we've been paying all our own expenses; we haven't taken any money +from you," pleaded Alice.</p> + +<p>"Of course you wouldn't do such a thing," affirmed Raynor. "My +instructions are to give you any sum of money you ask. In fact, the +Government of the United States is instructed to assume full +responsibility for you until your father arrives. May I go on and +clarify matters for these gentlemen, for Mr. Torrence at least is +entitled to a full explanation?"</p> + +<p>"Constance," said Alice, turning with a little shrug to her friend, "we +have been caught! Our story is being spoiled for us. Please go on, Mr. +Raynor. Just what does the American State Department have to say about +us?"</p> + +<p>"That you are endowed with a very unusual<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span> personality," continued +Raynor, his eyes twinkling. "You are not at all content to remain in +that station of life to which you were born; you like playing at being +all sorts of other persons. Once, so your friend the ambassador confided +to me, you ran away and followed a band of gypsies, which must have been +when you were a very little girl."</p> + +<p>"I was seven," said Alice, "and the gypsies were nice to me."</p> + +<p>"And then you showed talent for the stage——"</p> + +<p>"A dreadful revelation!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"But you don't know that it was really your father who managed to have +Mrs. Farnsworth, one of the most distinguished actresses in England, +take charge of you."</p> + +<p>"No! Alice never knew that!" said Mrs. Farnsworth, laughing. "I was her +chaperon as well as her preceptress; but Alice's father knew that if +Alice found it out it would spoil the adventure for her. Alice must do +things in her own way."</p> + +<p>"You are a fraud," said Alice, "but I always suspected you a little."</p> + +<p>"Speaking of the stage," resumed Raynor,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span> "it is also a part of my +instructions that the Honorable Miss Seabring shall be discouraged from +any further adventures in that direction; she's far too talented; +there's danger of her becoming a great luminary. In other words, she is +not to grace the boards again as Violet Dewing."</p> + +<p>Alice's brow clouded, and she turned to me. "That was settled when you +mailed that letter for me. It was to make an appointment with an +American playwright who wants me to appear in a most adorable comedy."</p> + +<p>"His name is Dick Searles," I said, "and he's my most intimate friend."</p> + +<p>She professed indignation when I told of my eavesdropping in the woods, +but when I explained that I knew all about the play and Searles's +despairing search for her she was enormously pleased.</p> + +<p>"How wonderful!" she exclaimed. "You know I told you, Constance, that if +we really threw ourselves in the path of adventure mystery would come +out to meet us in silken sandals."</p> + +<p>"But you will not appear in this play?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span> asked Raynor anxiously. "It is +the business of the Government of the United States to see that you +commit no further indiscretions. There is another matter which I hope +you can clear up. You are not only a subject of concern to the British +Embassy, but the French ambassador also has appealed to us to assist him +in a trifling matter!"</p> + +<p>"The French ambassador?" Alice exclaimed with a surprise I knew to be +unfeigned. "I thought the dear Montani was an Italian?"</p> + +<p>"We will continue to call him Montani, but he's a Frenchman and one of +the keenest men in the French Secret Service. You have caused him the +deepest anguish."</p> + +<p>"Please hurry on!" She bent forward with childish delight. "This is a +part of the story we've been living that I really know nothing about. I +hope it won't be disappointing!"</p> + +<p>Raynor laughed and shook his head.</p> + +<p>"It's fortunate that Montani is a gentleman, anxious to shield and +protect you. You have a fan in your hand——"</p> + +<p>She spread it for our inspection.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span></p> + +<p>"A harmless trinket, but without it the adventure would have been very +tame."</p> + +<p>"The story of the fan is in the most secret archives of Paris and +Washington. When you were packing up in Tokyo to come home on the very +last day before your departure a lady called on you whom you knew as +Madame Volkoff."</p> + +<p>"That dear woman!" exclaimed Mrs. Farnsworth. "We knew her very well."</p> + +<p>"Almost too well," cried Raynor. "A cultivated woman and exceedingly +clever, but a German spy. She had collected some most interesting data +with reference to Japanese armament and defenses, but suspecting that +she was being watched, she hit upon a most ingenious way of getting the +information across the Pacific, expecting to communicate with German +agents in America who could pick it up and pass it on to Berlin. You +see, she thought you an easy mark. She got hold of a fan which Montani +informs me is the exact counterpart of that one you hold. She reduced +her data to the smallest possible compass, concealed it in her fan, and +watched for a chance to exchange with you. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span> astute Montani found the +Japanese artisan who had done the tinkering for her and surmised that +you were to be made the unconscious bearer of the incriminating papers. +Montani jumped for the steamer you were sailing on with every +determination to get the fan. His professional pride was aroused, and it +was only after he found it impossible to steal the fan that he asked our +assistance. He's a good fellow, a gentleman in every sense, and with +true French chivalry wanted to do the job without disturbing you in any +way."</p> + +<p>We pressed closer about Raynor as he took the fan, spread it open, and +held it close against a table-lamp. "The third, sixth, and ninth," he +counted. "You will notice that those three pieces of ivory are a trifle +thicker and not as transparent as the others. Glancing at them casually +in an ordinary light, you would never suspect that they had been +hollowed out, an exceedingly delicate piece of work. It's a pity to +spoil anything so pretty, but——"</p> + +<p>He snapped the top of one of the panels, disclosing a neatly folded +piece of thin paper.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span></p> + +<p>"If you are all satisfied, I will not go further. I want to deliver this +to the French Embassy intact. I expect Montani here to-night; he will no +doubt be enormously relieved."</p> + +<p>A machine whizzed into the driveway, and Montani came in brushing past +the astonished Antoine, who had answered the bell.</p> + +<p>"The fan is safe," cried Raynor; "you may complete the identification."</p> + +<p>"I've handled this whole affair most stupidly," said Montani after a +hurried examination. "I'm satisfied that a German agent in America has +picked up the trail of the fan. One or two lines of my own +communications failed to work, and after reporting the whole matter to +the French Embassy I began searching for a man, the most dangerous of +all the German spies, who had been intrusted with the business of +recovering Madame Volkoff's fan and passing the contents on to Berlin. +This person has been representing himself as a French secret agent; he's +enormously plausible. I feared he might attempt what I failed to do. +If——"</p> + +<p>Alice glanced at me, and I stepped to the wall and punched the button.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">163</a></span></p> + +<p>"Antoine," I said, "tie the arms of the prisoner in the tool-house and +bring him here."</p> + +<p>"A man in the tool-house!" Montani, Torrence, and Raynor ejaculated in +concert.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," murmured Alice, "that's the pleasantest chapter of all. Our +grenadiers captured a whole invading army that made a night attack—one +of the most remarkable engagements of the present war, Mr. Torrence."</p> + +<p>"The battle of the Bell-Hops," I suggested. "The prisoner will be here +in a moment."</p> + +<p>While we waited Montani produced a photograph, instantly recognizable as +a likeness of our prisoner.</p> + +<p>"My reputation is saved!" he exclaimed excitedly. "That he should have +been caught here! It is too much! I shall never forgive myself for not +warning you of the danger. But you understand, mesdames, that I was +sincerely anxious to recover the fan without letting you know its +importance. When I found at Seattle and Chicago that you were travelling +under assumed names, I was—pray, pardon me—deeply puzzled, the more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span> +so because I had satisfied myself in Tokyo that you were loyal +Englishwomen, and I believed you to be innocent of complicity with +Madame Volkoff. Why you should have changed your names, I didn't know, +but it's not my affair now."</p> + +<p>"We saw you on the steamer and again in the hotel at Chicago. It was +very amusing to be followed. We gave you the slip, stopped at Buffalo to +see Niagara, and you came on here and scared the servants to death! But +you were generous at every point," said Alice. "We changed our names so +we could amuse ourselves here—at Bob's expense. So now I ask +everybody's forgiveness!"</p> + +<p>The prisoner, arriving at this moment, became the centre of interest. +Without a word Montani walked up to him, brushed back his hair, and +called our attention to a scar on the crown of his head.</p> + +<p>"There can be no mistake. This is Adolph Schwenger, who passes as +readily for a Frenchman as I do for an Italian. The capture is of great +importance. I shall want the names of all the persons who assisted in +the matter."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span></p> + +<p>"It isn't quite clear to me," remarked Raynor, turning to me, "why you +held that fellow and said nothing about it. If there had been a mistake, +it would have been just a little embarrassing for you, Singleton."</p> + +<p>"Chivalry!" Mrs. Farnsworth answered for me. "An anxious concern for the +peace and dignity of two foolish women! I didn't know there was so much +chivalry left in the world."</p> + +<p>An hour was spent in explanations, and Raynor declared that I must write +a full account of the Allied army in Connecticut and the capture of the +spy. The State archives contained nothing that touched this episode for +piquancy, he declared; and even the bewildered Torrence finally saw the +joke of the thing and became quite human.</p> + +<p>Raynor and Montani decided after a conference that the German agent +should be taken to New York immediately, and I called Flynn to drive +them down.</p> + +<p>"It's most fortunate, sir, that you sent for him just when you did!" +announced Antoine, nearly bursting with importance. "The boys had heard +queer sounds in the night,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span> but could find nothing wrong. The prisoner +had taken up the flooring at the back of the tool-house, and was +scooping up the dirt. He'd got a place pretty near big enough to let him +through. I suppose we ought to have noticed it, sir."</p> + +<p>"You managed the whole thing perfectly, Antoine—you and all of you."</p> + +<p>It was just as Raynor and Montani were leaving the house with the +prisoner that we heard a commotion in the direction of the gates. I had +sent word that no one was to be admitted to the grounds, but as I ran +out the front door a machine was speeding madly toward the house. A +dozen of the guards were yelling their protests at the invasion, and a +spurt of fire preluded the booming of Zimmerman's shotgun.</p> + +<p>"Get your man into the car and beat it," I shouted to Raynor, thinking +an attempt was about to be made to rescue the prisoner.</p> + +<p>The touring-car left just as a Barton taxi flashed into the driveway. +The driver was swearing loudly at one of the Tyringham veterans who had +wedged himself into the door of the machine. With some difficulty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span> I +extricated Scotty from his hazardous position.</p> + +<p>Searles jumped out (I had forgotten that he might arrive that night), +but before I could greet him he swung round and assisted a lady to +alight—a short, stout lady in a travelling cap, wrapped in a coat that +fell to her heels. She began immediately to deliver orders in an +authoritative tone as to the rescue of her belongings. Searles dived +into the taxi and began dragging out a vast amount of small luggage, but +my attention was diverted for a moment by Alice, who jumped down the +steps and clasped her arms about the neck of the stout lady.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Alice!" I heard her saying. "Why didn't you tell us to meet you?"</p> + +<p>"Why didn't I tell you?" demanded the stout lady. "The moment you left +me I knew I'd made a mistake in letting you come over here on one of +your absurd larks! And from the row I had getting into the premises I +judge that you're at your old tricks. Fired upon! Treated as though I +were an outlaw! You shall never go out of my sight again!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, please don't scold me!" Alice pleaded and turning to me: "This is +Bob Singleton, your nephew."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bashford—and I made no question that Searles's companion was +indubitably my uncle's widow—gave me her hand and smiled in a way that +showed that she was not so greatly displeased with Alice as her words +implied.</p> + +<p>"Pay that driver for me and don't fail to tip him. Those Methuselahs at +the gate all but killed him. It was only the vigorous determination of +this gentleman, who very generously permitted me to share the only motor +at the station, that I got through the gates alive! I beg your pardon, +but what <i>is</i> your name?"</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Bashford," I interposed, "my friend, Mr. Searles."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Searles!" cried Alice, dropping a cage containing some weird +Oriental bird which had been among my aunt's impedimenta. The bird +squawked hideously.</p> + +<p>"Miss Violet Dewing, permit me to present the author of 'Lady +Larkspur'!"</p> + +<p>Poor Torrence, clinging to a pillar for support,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a></span> now revived +sufficiently to be included in the introductions.</p> + +<p>It was a week later that Alice and I sat on the stone wall watching the +waves, at the point forever memorable as the scene of our first talk.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Alice isn't playing fair," she said. "She pretends now that it was +all my idea—coming over to play at being your uncle's widow, but she +really encouraged me to do it so I could give her an impartial judgment +of your character. I'm her only niece and her namesake, and she relies +on me a good deal. You know she's very, very rich, and she had never any +idea of keeping your uncle's money. She meant all the while to give it +to you—provided she found you were nice. And she thinks you are very +nice."</p> + +<p>"Your own opinion of me would be interesting," I suggested.</p> + +<p>She had gathered a handful of pebbles and was flinging them fitfully at +a bit of driftwood. I wished her lips hadn't that little quiver that +preluded laughter and that her eyes were not the haven of all the dreams +in the world.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span></p> + +<p>She landed a pebble on the target before replying.</p> + +<p>"You are very nice, I think," she said with disconcerting detachment. +"At first I was afraid you didn't like nonsense, but you really got +through very well, considering the trouble I caused you. But I'm in +trouble myself now. Papa will land to-morrow. He's the grandest, dearest +man in all this world, but when he finds that I'm going to act in Mr. +Searles's play he will be terribly cut up. Of course it will not be for +long. Even if it's a big success, I'm to be released in three months. +Constance and Sir Cecil think I owe it to myself to appear in the piece; +they're good enough to say nobody else can do it so well—which is a +question. I'm going to give all the money I earn to the blind soldiers."</p> + +<p>(I wished the tears in her eyes didn't make them more lovely still!)</p> + +<p>"Being what you are and all you are, it would be brutal for me to add to +the number of things you have to tell your father. I'm a very obscure +person, and he is a gentleman of title and otherwise distinguished. You +are the Honorable Miss——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span></p> + +<p>"Papa has said numbers of times," she began softly, looking far out +across the blue Sound—"he has said, oh, very often, that he'll never +stop troubling about me until—until I'm happily married."</p> + +<p>"When you came here you wore a wedding-ring," I remarked casually.</p> + +<p>"It was only a 'property' ring, to help deceive you. I bought it in +Chicago. When Aunt Alice came I threw it away."</p> + +<p>"The finger seems lonesome without it," I said. "If I get you another, I +hope you'll take better care of it."</p> + +<p>"If you should put it there," she replied, looking fixedly at the hand, +"that would be very, very different."</p> + +<p style='text-align:center; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 3em;'>THE END</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lady Larkspur, by Meredith Nicholson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY LARKSPUR *** + +***** This file should be named 19204-h.htm or 19204-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/2/0/19204/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lady Larkspur + +Author: Meredith Nicholson + +Release Date: September 7, 2006 [EBook #19204] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY LARKSPUR *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +LADY LARKSPUR +BY +MEREDITH NICHOLSON + +NEW YORK +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS +1919 + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +Published March, 1919 + +COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY P. F. COLLIER & SONS, INC. + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +TO BENNETT AND PEGGY GATES + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. THE "TROOPS" 1 + II. THE AMAZING WIDOW 38 + III. A FAN 79 + IV. PURSUING KNIGHTS 112 + V. ALICE 138 + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE "TROOPS" + + +"It was hard luck," said Searles, "that I should spend a year writing a +play for a woman only to find that she had vanished--jumped off the +earth into nowhere. This was my highest flight, Singleton, the best +writing I ever did, and after the vast pains I took with the thing, the +only woman I ever saw who could possibly act it is unavailable; worse +than that, absolutely undiscoverable! Nobody knows I have this script; +I've kept quiet about it simply because I'm not going to be forced into +accepting a star I don't want. I have a feeling about this play that I +never had about my other things. That girl was its inspiration. The +public has been so kind to my small offerings that I'm trying to lead +'em on to the best I can do; something a little finer and more +imaginative, with a touch of poetry, if you please. And now----" + +He rose from his broad work-table (he scorned the familiar type of desk) +and glared at me as though I were responsible for his troubles. As he +knew I had been flying in the French Aviation Corps for two years and +had just been invalided home, I didn't think it necessary to establish +an alibi. But I hastened to express my sympathy for his predicament. +Fate had been kind to Dick Searles. In college he had written a play or +two that demonstrated his talent, and after a rigid apprenticeship as +scene-shifter and assistant producer he had made a killing with "Let +George Do It," a farce that earned enough to put him at ease and make +possible an upward step into straight comedy. Even as we talked a +capacity house was laughing at his skit, "Who Killed Cock Robin?" just +around the corner from his lodgings. So his story was not the invention +of a rejected playwright to cover the non-appearance of a play which +nobody would produce. + +"Isn't it always a mistake to write a play for a particular star?" I +suggested. "Seems to me I've read somewhere that that is among the +besetting sins of you playwrights." + +"Old stuff, my boy; but this isn't one of those cases. The person I had +in mind for this play wasn't a star, but a beginner, quite unknown. It +was when I was in London putting on 'Fairy Gold' that I saw her; she had +a small part in a pantomime, and pantomime is the severest test of an +actor's powers, you know. A little later she appeared in 'Honourable +Women,' a capital play that died early, but there again I felt her +peculiar charm--it was just that. Her part was a minor one, but she wore +it as she might wear a glove; she was exquisite! No one ever captured my +imagination as she did. I watched her night after night. I was afraid +that when I heard her voice it would break the spell, and I actually +shook like a man with an ague when she tripped out on the stage as the +ingenue in 'Honourable Women.' And her laughter! You know how hollow the +usual stage mirth is, but that girl's laugh had the joy of the lark +ascending!" + +"By Jove!" I ejaculated, "there's more here than appears. You're in love +with the girl!" + +"Rubbish," he cried impatiently. "You'll think I'm talking rot, but +this girl was the visualization of a character I had dreamed of and +groped after for years. That's all; but it's a whole lot, I can tell +you!" + +"Of course, you established lines of communication and gave her a hint +that you meant to write a play for her?" + +"Certainly not! That would have spoiled the whole thing. It was her art, +not the woman, that interested me. I didn't want to take the chance of +being disillusioned. I have been through that experience, and I prefer +not to meet the people who act in my pieces. I want their art, not their +views on human destiny or the best place to get lobster a la Newburg." + +"Let us be practical for a moment, Searles," I urged. "Emperors, +presidents, and popular murderers are not more conspicuous than the +people of the stage. No girl talented enough to get two engagements, +even for small parts, in a first-class London theatre could vanish. With +your acquaintance in the profession you'd be able to trace her anywhere +on earth. By the way, what did the paragon call herself?" + +"Violet Dewing was her stage name and the only name the managers knew +her by. I assumed that, of course, all I had to do was to finish my play +and then have Dalton, who represents me over there, make an appointment +to read it to her; but Dalton worked for three months trying to find +her, without success. She clearly wasn't the product of the provincial +theatres--hadn't any of the marks. I wasn't the only person who was +interested in her. Dalton said half a dozen managers had their eye on +her, but after 'Honourable Women' closed she stepped into the void. I +know what you're thinking--that the other members of the two companies +she appeared with must have had some inkling of her identity, but I tell +you Dalton and I exhausted the possibilities. It was by accident that +she got her chance in the pantomime--some one wouldn't do at the last +minute, and they gave Miss Dewing a trial. She was well liked by her +associates in spite of the fact that she was a bit offish and vanished +from their world the minute the curtain fell." + +"A clever governess out of a job, satisfying a craving for excitement +and playing the mysterious role as part of the adventure. Am I to +assume that you've burned your play and that the incident is closed?" + +"Oh, I didn't burn it; I have a copy locked in a safety vault, and +Dalton left one heavily sealed at a small exclusive London hotel where, +he found after much difficulty, the girl had lodged during her two +engagements." + +"You're morbid," I said. "Show me her photograph." + +He laughed ironically. "Never a chance, Singleton! You haven't yet got +the idea that this young woman is out of the ordinary. She refused to be +photographed--wrote it into her two contracts that this was not to be +asked. I never saw her off the stage, and I can't give you a description +of her that would be of the slightest assistance to the keenest +detective alive. As I've tried to convey to your practical mind, it's +the spirit of the girl--the spirit of comedy, that I've dramatized--not +a girl you take out to supper only to find that she has no wit, no +charm, no anything but a monstrous appetite for indigestible food and a +silly ambition to play roles the gods never intended her to play. In +that pantomime she was a frolic, the clown's daughter, and, though +nobody saw it, she was the whole piece, the elusive sprite that could +evoke laughter and tears by a gesture, a lifting of the brows, a +grimace. By utterly different methods in 'Honourable Women' she proved +her wide range of appeal. The chap who produced 'Honourable Women' told +me that after the first rehearsal Bayley, the author, begged him for +God's sake to let the girl do it her own way, so as not to lose her +freshness and spontaneity. Hers was the one true characterization in the +piece. When Terry was in her prime you remember how we used to say that +only one bird sang like that, and from paradise it flew? Well, this bird +sings on the same branch! Her voice was her charm made audible! She's +the most natural being I ever saw on the stage, and she can _look_ more +comedy than anybody else I ever saw act!" + +"Rave some more!" I pleaded. "You never talked better in your life." + +"Don't be an ass," he said sourly. "Let's forget her and take a squint +at your affairs. Just what do you mean to do with yourself?" + +"My shoulder still creaks a little, and the doctors advise me to sit +around for a while. They offered me some jobs in Washington, but desk +work and inspection duty are too tame after a couple of years spent in +star climbing. The doctors tell me to cultivate repose for a few months +and maybe they'll pass me into our flying corps, but they don't promise +anything. I'm going up to Barton-on-the-Sound and I'll camp in the +garage on my uncle's place. You remember that I built the thing myself, +and the quarters are good enough for a busted veteran." + +"Your uncle played you a nasty trick," interrupted Searles; "getting +married and then adding to the crime by dying. You couldn't beat that +for general spitefulness." + +"Do you remember the immortal lines: + + "'Oh, skip your dear uncle!' + The Bellman exclaimed + As he angrily tingled his bell"? + +"Oh, I'm not knocking the dead!" he protested. "Mr. Bashford always +struck me as a pretty decent, square sort of chap, and not at all the +familiar grouchy uncle of fiction and the drama. I made notes on him +from time to time with a view to building a play around him--the perfect +uncle, unobtrusive, never blustering at his nephew; translating the +avuncular relationship into something remote and chaste like a distant +view of Mount Washington in winter. As I recall, there were only two +great passions in your uncle's life--Japanese art and green-turtle soup. +It was just like him to retire from business on his sixtieth birthday +and depart for the Orient, there to commit the shameless indiscretion of +matrimony." + +"Like him! It was the greatest shock of my life. To the best of my +knowledge he never knew any women except the widow of his partner in the +importing house. He used to dine with her now and then, and I caught him +once sending her flowers at Easter--probably an annual stunt. She was +about eighty and perfectly safe. He spent twenty years in the Tyringham, +the dullest and most respectable hotel in the world, and his chief +recreation was a leisurely walk in the park before going to bed. You +could set your clock by him. Pretty thin picking for a dramatist, I +should think. He used to take me to the theatre regularly every other +Thursday--it was a date--and his favorite entertainment was vaudeville +with black-face embellishment preferred. You should add that to Japanese +pottery and potage a la tortue. He joined the yacht club just because +the green turtle at that joint is the best in New York. Yachts! He never +sailed in anything but the biggest steamers, and got no fun out of that. +I crossed with him twice, and he never left his bunk. But in his shy +fashion he was kind and generous and mighty good to me." + +"If you hadn't gone to war, but had kept right at his elbow, the +marriage might have been averted," suggested Searles. "He did leave you +something, didn't he?" + +"Fifty thousand cash and the right to use the garage at the Barton farm. +Calling it a farm is a joke; it's rocks mostly. He bought the house to +have a place to store his prints and ceramics. He hated motoring except +in taxis up and down town, and when I urged him to set up a machine, he +told me to go ahead and buy one and build the garage. He rather sniffed +at the writing I do, but told me I'd better fix up a studio in the +garage and have it as a place to work in. His will provides that I may +lodge in the garage for life." + +"The estate footed a million, as I remember, so I can't praise his +generosity. But the widow, your unknown auntie, the body-snatcher who +annexed the old boy--what of her?" + +"I've asked the trust company people whether she's in sight anywhere, +and they assure me that she is not on these shores. Torrence, the third +vice-president--you know Torry; he was in the class ahead of us at +college, the man who never smiles--Torry seemed anxious to learn about +her from me, which is certainly droll. He said she acknowledged her last +remittance three months ago from Bangkok--wherever that is. Torry +couldn't see that Bangkok is so absurdly remote that the idea of a +widow's strolling off there is funny. I suppose the old girl's resumed +her tour of the world looking for another retired merchant to add to her +list." + +"Very likely. To what nation, tribe, or human group does this predatory +person belong?" + +"I'll tell you all I know. Just as I was sailing for France I got a +letter from Uncle Bash stating in the most businesslike fashion that he +was about to be married to a lady he had met on his trip out to Japan. +The dire event was to occur at the American Embassy the following day. +From which I judged that my presence at the ceremony was neither +expected nor desired. Oddly enough, months afterward, I picked up an +English paper in a French inn that contained an announcement of the +marriage in the usual advertisement form. The lady was succinctly +described as Mrs. Alice Wellington Cornford, widow of the late Archibald +Reynolds Cornford, Pepperharrow Road, Hants. All Torrence knows of the +subsequent proceedings is what he got in official reports of Uncle +Bash's death from the consul-general at Tokyo. He was buried over there +and the life-insurance companies were rather fussy about the legal +proof, Torry says. Whether the widow expects to come to America +ultimately or will keep moving through the Orient marrying husbands and +burying them is a dark mystery. If she should turn up, the house at +Barton is hers, of course, but with her roving disposition I fancy my +aunt Alice wouldn't like the place. The Jap stuff is worth a bit of +money, and if the lady is keen for such things and not a mere +adventuress she may take it into her head one of these days to come over +and inspect the loot." + +"I can see the vampire," said Searles musingly, "landing at the Grand +Central with enough hand-luggage to fill a freight-car; a big, raw-boned +creature, with a horse face and a horrible mess as to clothes. You will +be there to meet her, deferential, anxious to please. You will pilot her +up the coast to Barton, tip the servants heavily to keep them from +murdering her, and twiddle your thumbs in your garage as you await her +further pleasure. By the way, are those ancient freaks still on the +place--those broken-down hotel employees who were your uncle's sole +experiment in philanthropy?" + +"Torrence assures me that they are all very much there." + +Searles yielded himself to laughter. "An Englishwoman with lofty ideas +of domestic service would certainly enjoy a romp with that crew. I +supposed the trust company had brushed them into the Sound before this." + +"Oh, they are in the same class with me," I explained. "The place can't +be sold till I die, and while I live they're to be harbored--about +thirty of them--clothed and victualled." + +"I think there's a farce in the idea, and I may try it one of these +days," he said, scribbling in his note-book. "A refuge for broken-down +chambermaids, venerable bell-hops grown gray in the service, and the +head waiter who amassed a fortune in tips and then toyed with the market +once too often and lost his ill-gotten gains. What was the head waiter's +name who presided with so much stateliness in the dining-room of the +Tyringham? I mean the white-haired chap who was so particular about the +foot-cushions for the nice old ladies in caps and lavender ribbons and +India shawls--I think I can work him in somewhere." + +"That's Antoine, who married the assistant housekeeper at the +Tyringham. He's the butler and has charge of the place--a sort of +commander-in-chief of the outfit. When I get settled I'll ask you up and +you can study the bunch at leisure." + +"Splendid! Reserve one room for me on the sunny side of the garage and +I'll be up in a couple of weeks. I'm going to Ohio to-morrow for a +family reunion and a look at the loved spots my infancy knew." + +"You're lucky to have home-folks even in Ohio," I remarked enviously. + +"Well, there's always your distant auntie, cruising the seven seas in +pursuit of husbands. Nobody with an aunt to his credit can pretend to be +alone in the world. There _is_ something about an aunt, Singleton! Aunts +must rank just a little below mothers in the heavenly kingdom. When I +was a boy out in Ohio there were two great occasions every year in my +life--one when I went to visit a grand old aunt I had in the country, +the other when she visited us, arriving with a wagon-load of jam, jelly, +salt-rising bread, pound-cake, and other unpurchasable manna." + +"Stop! or I'll call the food censor," I pleaded, picking up my hat. +"Send me your copy of 'Lady Geranium,' and I'll tell you whether it's a +classic or not." + +"'Lady Larkspur,'" he corrected with a shudder. "You shall have it by +trusted messenger to-morrow." + +I wired Antoine that I would reach Barton-on-the-Sound the following +day. This was September, 1917. The former servants of the Tyringham were +established on the place by my uncle the year before he dropped business +cares and departed for the Japan of his dreams, and as I had been often +at the hotel where he spent so many of the years of his life, I knew +most of the old retainers. They were deeply appreciative of his +kindness, and when I had gone to the farm for an uninterrupted month in +finishing some piece of writing they had shown me the greatest +consideration. + +As the train rolled along the familiar shore toward Barton I shook off +the depression occasioned by my enforced retirement from the great +struggle overseas. I had done under the French flag all that it was +possible for me to do; and there was some consolation in the fact that +by reason of my two years on the battle-line I was just so much ahead of +the friends I met in New York who were answering the call to the colors +and had their experience of war all before them. The tranquil life that +had been recommended by the doctors was not only possible at Barton, but +it was the only life that could be lived there. Plenty of exercise in +the open and regular habits would, I had been assured, set me up again, +and my leisure I meant to employ in beginning a novel that had been +teasing me ever since I sailed for home. + +Of my uncle Bash I had only the happiest and most grateful memories. +Quite naturally it had occurred to me at times, and my friends had +encouraged the idea, that my uncle would die some day and leave me his +money. There was no particular reason why he should do so, as he had +never manifested any unusual affection for me and I had certainly never +done anything for him. + +Antoine was at the Barton station with the touring-car Uncle Bash had +bought to establish communication with the village. Flynn, the big +Irishman who had been the doorman at the Tyringham for years and retired +because of rheumatism acquired from long exposure to the elements at the +hostelry's portals, was at the wheel. + +Antoine greeted me with that air of lofty condescension tempered with a +sincere kindliness that had made him a prince among head waiters. As I +shook hands with him his lips quivered and tears came to his eyes. +Flynn, standing beside the car, saluted with a welcoming grin. + +"Very glad to see you, sorr. The trunk came this mornin' all right, +sorr, and we put it in your room." + +I bade Antoine join me in the back seat that he might the more easily +bring me up to date as to affairs on the estate. + +"It must be a little slow up here after the years you lived in town," I +suggested, "but of course you're all old friends." + +"Well, yes; all friends," he acquiesced, but with so little enthusiasm +that I glanced at him quickly. He pretended to be absorbed in the flying +landscape at the moment. Flynn, I noticed, was giving ear to our +conversation from the wheel. + +"It was sad, very sad, Mr. Bashford passing away so far from home, sir. +It was a great shock. And he had looked forward for years to a quiet +life abroad. It must have been ten years ago he first mentioned his hope +of retiring to Japan." + +Uncle Bash had given me no such forecast of his intentions, and I felt +humble before this proof of Antoine's greater intimacy. Once at the +beginning of our acquaintance, when I had complimented Antoine on his +English, he explained that he was born in England of French parents. His +father had been chef and his mother housekeeper for an American banker +who lived for many years in London. Antoine's speech was that of a +well-trained English upper servant, and I imagined that in his youth he +had taken some English butler as his model. He used to pretend that he +knew French very imperfectly, and I was surprised when he now addressed +me quite fluently in that language. + +"You have been with the armies of dear France," he remarked. "The war is +very dreadful. My parents were of Verdun; it grieves me to know of the +suffering in the land of my people." + +As I replied sympathetically in French I saw Flynn straighten himself at +the wheel with an impatient fling of his head. Antoine indicated him +with a contemptuous nod: "Married Elsie, the German woman who worked in +the linen-room at the Tyringham! This has caused some trouble, and +there is a pantry girl, Gretchen, who was ill a long time before the +master left, and he sent her here for the country air. She is a little +devil with her dear Fatherland." + +I laughed at the old fellow's gravity and earnestness. That the war +should be making itself felt on the quiet acres at Barton-on-the-Sound +was absurd. + +"But there can be no trouble; everything is peaceful, of course, save +for a little foolish talk----" + +The Gaul asserted itself in a shrug, a form of expression rare in him. I +was pondering the recrudescence of race hatreds due to the upheaval in +Europe when he startled me by a statement uttered close to my ear: + +"There have been inquiries for the widow; these have caused me much +anxiety." + +"Widow! Whose widow?" + +"Madame, the widow of the dear master. It seems that there are persons +anxious to see her. There have been inquiries, one--two--three times." + +"Probably some of her American friends anxious to pay their respects, +or some of the neighbors making calls of courtesy," I suggested. + +"A foreign gentleman who acts very queerly," Antoine persisted. + +My uncle's widow was a vague, unknown being whom I had never expected to +cross my horizons. If she meditated a descent upon Barton-on-the-Sound, +the trust company would certainly have had some hint of her approach, +but Torrence clearly had had no tidings of her beyond her last +communication from Bangkok. Still, it was wholly possible that a +globe-trotting widow would have friends in many parts of the world, and +I could see nothing disturbing in the fact that inquiries had been made +for her. I said as much. Antoine's answer was another shrug and a jerk +of his head toward Flynn, as though even the employment of an alien +tongue might not conceal our conversation from the big Irishman. Antoine +was manifestly impatient at my refusal to be aroused by his hints of +discord among his associates and my lack of interest in the inquiries +for Mrs. Bashford. When we had reached the farm and were running +through the grounds Antoine spoke again: + +"We thought we would put you up at the house, Mr. Singleton, and not in +the garage," he said inquiringly. + +"Not at all, Antoine," I answered quickly. "We must stick close to the +law in such matters." + +"Very good, sir. Stop at the garage, Flynn." + +To the casual observer the garage was a charming two-story house +following the general lines of the plaster and timber residence, from +which it was separated by a strip of woodland and a formal garden. The +garage and quarters for the chauffeur were at one end and at the other +were a down-stairs living-room, with a broad fireplace, and three +chambers above so planned as to afford a charming view of the Sound, +whose shore curved in deeply at this point. On the chauffeur's side was +a small kitchen from which I had been served with my meals when I lodged +there. This thoroughly convenient establishment was the only place I +could call home, and I experienced a pleasurable sense of comfort as I +opened the door into the snug living-room. + +"The house is in order. You will have your meals at the residence, I +suppose, sir," Antoine suggested. + +I debated this a moment, and when he hinted that dinner could be more +conveniently served there than in my own quarters, I said that for the +present the Flynns might give me breakfast and luncheon at the garage, +but that I would dine at the house. The original owner of the property, +from whose executor my uncle had purchased it with all its belongings, +had accumulated a remarkable library, rich in the Elizabethan stuff for +which I have a weakness, and it occurred to me that it would be pleasant +to eat my solitary dinner at the residence and loaf in the library for +an hour afterward. Like most slaves of the inkpot, I habitually postpone +actual labor as long as possible, and if I were to dine at the garage I +should have no excuse for not plunging at once into my novel. The +Tyringham people were domiciled in cottages scattered over the estate, +though a full staff of house servants was established in the residence. + +It was five o'clock when I reached the garage, and Antoine left me after +opening my bags with the suggestion that I could summon Zimmerman, a +former valet of the Tyringham, for any service I might require. I knew +Zimmerman very well and said I would call him when occasion required. + +"He is of that race," said Antoine plaintively in the French which now +seemed to come readily enough to his lips. + +"Race? Botheration! You mustn't trouble yourself about race questions +out here, Antoine. Zimmerman is a good old chap, who's probably +forgotten the very name of the German town he was born in." + +"They do not forget," Antoine replied with emphasis. "There has been +much discussion--much----" + +"Forget it, Antoine! I supposed you were all living here like a happy +family. You've been sticking too close to the farm, and it would do you +good to run into town for a week. Please tell them at the residence that +I'll dine at seven." + +"Very good, sir," he said in his pompous Tyringham manner, but I saw +that he was miffed by my indifference. + +Flynn, having disposed of the car, came to ask if there was anything he +could do for me. When I had explained my arrangement with Antoine he +still lingered. + +"Tony's against the wife and me," he said mournfully. "It's the war, +sorr, and she and me that lile, sorr, the American flag floats from the +garage every day. And if a heart can be lile, Elsie's as true to America +as though she was born in Boston State-house." + +"I believe you, Flynn," I said, touched by his earnestness. "Don't you +worry about Antoine and the rest of them; they're just a little nervous; +I'll see what I can do to straighten things out." + +As I went about my unpacking I was sorry that I had discouraged +Antoine's confidences. That these old hotel servants, flung upon a farm +with little to do, should fall to quarrelling was not surprising, but +what he had said as to the inquiries for Mrs. Bashford had roused my +curiosity. In spite of my legal right to live on the farm, I had no +intention of remaining if my uncle's widow turned up. Alone on the +estate I could lodge in the garage without any loss of dignity, but with +an aunt on the premises my status would be decidedly uncomfortable. She +could hardly fail to regard me as an intruding poor relation, no matter +how strictly I kept to my own quarters. It was possible that she might +even confuse me with the veterans of the Tyringham, and, while I am no +snob, I did not relish the idea of being classed by a strange aunt with +a crowd of broken-down hotel employees. + +I whistled myself into good humor as I dressed and started for the house +along the driveway, which followed the shore, veering off for a look at +the sunken garden, one of the few features of the place that had ever +interested my uncle. + +As I paused on the steps I caught sight of a man sitting dejectedly on a +stone bench near a fountain whose jet tossed and caught a ball with +languid iteration. I had identified him as an old Tyringham bell-hop, +known familiarly as Dutch, before he heard my step and sprang to his +feet, grabbing a pitchfork whose prongs he presented threateningly. + +"Oh, it's you, sir," he faltered, dropping the implement. "Excuse me, +sir!" + +"What's your trouble, Dutch? You're not expecting burglars, are you?" + +"Well, no, sir, but things on the place ain't what they wuz. It's my +name, which ain't my name, not reg'lar, that's caused feelin'. They've +drove me out, an' I'm campin' in the tool-house. An' me born right there +in New York an' American clean through. My grandpap came across when he +wuz a kid, but it ain't my fault he wuz Goiman. I'd 'a' made 'im a +Frenchy or a Dago or somethin' else if I could 'a' done it. Mr. +Singleton, I don't know no Goiman except pretzel, sauerkraut, wiener +wurst, and them kind o' woids." + +"Those belong to the universal language, Dutch," I answered consolingly. +"What is your name, anyhow?" + +"Augustus Schortemeier, and I say it ain't no worse'n Longfellow," he +protested. + +The point was delicate and not one that I felt myself qualified to +discuss. To cover my confusion I suggested that poets enjoy a certain +license, but I was honestly sorry for Dutch. If he was not the oldest +living bell-hop, he was at least entitled to honorable mention among the +most ancient veterans of the calling, vocation, or avocation of the +bell-hopper. I bade him cheer up and passed on. + +As I reached the house I heard a sharp command in an authoritative voice +and saw at a curve of the driveway a number of men in military formation +performing evolutions in the most sprightly manner. They carried +broomsticks, and at sight of me the commander brought his company to a +very ragged "Present arms!" Their uniform was that of the Tyringham +bell-hops and waiters, and it dawned upon me that this was an army of +protest representing the Allied armies on the shores of Connecticut. +There was a dozen of them, and the captain I recognized as Scotty, a hop +who had long worn the Tyringham livery. I waved my hand to them and +turned to find Antoine awaiting me at the door. + +"It's the troops, sir," he explained. "It's to keep Dutch and Gretchen +and Elsie--she's the wife of that Flynn--in proper order, sir." + +"Troops" was a large term for the awkward squad of retired waiters and +bell-hops, and it was with difficulty that I kept my face straight. + +"It's most unfortunate, but we was forced to it. Dinner is served, sir." + +From the table in the long dining-room I caught glimpses through the +gathering dusk of Scotty's battalion at its evolutions. + +"They keep a guard all night, sir," Antoine explained, not without +pride. "The goings on has been most peculiar." + +"Antoine!" I said sharply, "what do you mean by these hints of trouble +on the place? You're not silly enough to imagine that Dutch and a couple +of women can do anything out here to aid America's enemies! The rest of +you ought to be ashamed of yourselves for annoying them. And as for +these inquiries about Mrs. Bashford, they couldn't possibly have +anything to do with the war. Specifically, who are the persons who've +asked for her?" + +"There's the party I told you about, most persistent, who's motored here +three times, and another person who seems to be looking for _him_, sir. +It's most singular." + +"It's singularly ridiculous; that's all. They're probably piano-tuners +or rival agents for a rug house or something of that sort who don't know +that Mrs. Bashford isn't here or at all likely to be." + +"They may be agents, but not that kind, sir." His lips quivered, either +from fear or vexation at my refusal to take his story seriously. + +"If anything tangible happens, Antoine," I said kindly, "anything we can +really put our hands on, we'll certainly deal with it. But you mustn't +get nervous or allow yourself to suspect everybody who turns up here of +evil designs against the Republic. I've come here for quiet, you know, +and we can't have every passing stranger throwing the place into a +panic." + +I had no sooner reached the library, where he gave me coffee, than I +heard a slow, measured tread on the broad brick terrace that ran along +the house on the side toward the Sound. The windows were open and the +guard was in plain view. I glanced at Antoine, whose attitude toward me +was that of one benevolently tolerant of stupidity. He meant to save me +in spite of my obtuseness. "Tell the picket to remove himself where I +won't hear him, if you please, Antoine." + +He disappeared through one of the French windows and in a moment I saw +the guard patrolling a walk some distance from the house. I now made +myself comfortable with a book and a cigar, but I had hardly settled +myself for a quiet hour before I heard a commotion from the direction of +the gate, followed a few minutes later by a shout and a noisy colloquy, +after which a roadster arrived in haste at the front door. + +"Mr. Torrence, sir," announced Antoine. "I'm sorry, sir, but he ran by +the guard at the gate, and our man below the house stopped him. It's a +precaution we've been taking, sir." + +Torrence's sense of humor was always a little feeble, and I hastened +into the hall to reassure him as to his welcome. He was wiping the +perspiration from his face and swearing under his breath. + +"For God's sake, Singleton, what's happened here? A band of pirates +jumped on my running-board, and after I'd knocked them off a road-agent +stopped me right there in sight of the house and poked the muzzle of a +shotgun in my face." + +"Mighty sorry you were annoyed, but there have been some queer +characters about, tramps and that sort of thing, and the people on the +place are merely a little anxious. Have a cigar?" + +"All I can say is that you'd better send your friends the password! That +fool out there with the gun----" + +"Only a bell-hop, nothing more," I interrupted. + +"--That fool, I say, is likely to kill somebody. Antoine"--he turned to +the butler, who was drawing the curtains at the windows--"if the +property's been threatened, you should have informed me immediately." + +"Yes, sir; but it's only been quite recent, and, knowing Mr. Singleton +was coming, we didn't like to bother you." + +"We can only apologize, Torry," I interposed. "The employees have been +alarmed, but we're bound to commend their zeal." + +"Humph!" he ejaculated, the wounds to his dignity still rankling. + +I forced a cigar upon him and talked of the weather to cover Antoine's +retreat. I resolved not to tell him the real cause of the servant's +apprehensions, knowing his disposition to magnify trifles and fearing he +might send the police to investigate. He lived only five miles from +Barton, a fact to which he now referred. + +"Hadn't heard of any tramps over my way," he said, frowning. "These old +lunatics your uncle left here are simply hipped; that's all. Mr. +Bashford made a mistake in turning the place over to them; it was silly, +downright silly. It's a wonder you didn't think of upsetting his will on +the ground of mental unsoundness. It's not up to me to suggest such a +thing, but I believe you could knock it out!" + +"Oh, chuck it! They're well-meaning helpless people, and it's bully that +Uncle Bash provided a home for them. There's nobody else to use the +place." + +His cigar had proved soothing, but my last remark caused him to sit up +straight in his chair. + +"By George! my hold-up almost made me forget what I came for. I have +news for you, Singleton; good or bad, as you may take it; Mrs. Bashford +is in America." + +"Mrs. Bashford," I repeated faintly, "where do you get these pleasant +tidings?" + +"This," he answered, producing a telegram, "is all I know about it. Got +it just as I was leaving the office this afternoon, and thought I'd +motor over and give you a pleasant surprise." + +He seemed to enjoy my discomfiture. The message read: + + PITTSFIELD, MASS., Sept. 20. + + J. B. TORRENCE, + _Bainbridge Trust Co., New York._ + + Landed at Seattle a week ago, and have been motoring east from + Chicago to see the country. Will reach Barton in four or five days. + Please wire me at the Washington Inn, Lenox, whether house is in + order for occupancy. + + ALICE BASHFORD. + +"Well, what do you say to that?" he demanded. + +"I say it's taking unfair advantage," I answered savagely. "I've got to +clear out; that's the first thing." + +"Not necessarily. Your right to the garage is settled; she couldn't oust +you if she wanted to. You've got to stay here anyhow till she comes; +there's no ducking that. The widow of an uncle who did a lot for you, a +stranger to the country; it's up to you to see her established. There +are many little courtesies she would naturally expect from you." + +"I'm delighted that you see my duty so clearly! If you hadn't assured me +that she was safe at the end of the world I wouldn't have set foot +here." + +"The house is in order, I judge," he remarked, glancing about the room. +"I've got to wire her that we're ready for her." + +"You most certainly have! Your duty is as plain as a smoke-stack. You +might add that she's causing serious inconvenience to her late husband's +only nephew." + +"You really don't mean that?" he inquired anxiously. + +"Oh, thunder, no!" + +I had forgotten how trying Torrence could be. He now suggested that we +summon Antoine and take a look at the house. Torrence is a conscientious +fellow with an exact and orderly mind, and there was no corner of the +place from cellar to garret that we didn't explore. It was highly +creditable to the old Tyringham servants that the house was thoroughly +habitable. All that need be done before Mrs. Bashford arrived was to lay +linen on the beds and take the jackets from the furniture; a couple of +hours would suffice, Antoine said. + +As we were on our way down-stairs the old fellow detained me a moment. + +"Have you told him about the parties? Pardon me, sir," he whispered, +"but him and the trust company is responsible. I thought likely you'd +tell him." + +I shook my head in angry rejection of the idea that I should tell +Torrence about "the parties," and dismissed him as soon as we reached +the hall. + +"I suggest," said Torrence, "that when she comes you have flowers in all +the rooms; the conservatory will supply enough. And it occurs to me that +the more inconspicuous you make this bunch of lazy dependents the more +agreeable it will be for Mrs. Bashford." + +"You don't expect much of me! It was never in the contract that I should +become the patriarch of these venerable relics. But I'll warn them to +conceal themselves as much as possible. I fully expect to leave the +reservation for good just one hour after the lady arrives." + +"That's your affair, of course. As she's motoring, we can't just time +her arrival, but when I get a wire that she's on the way I'll telephone +you. And, of course, after she gets here I'll come at once to pay my +respects." + +"You can't come too soon!" I answered spitefully. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE AMAZING WIDOW + + +As soon as Torrence left I returned to the garage, feeling that with +Mrs. Bashford on American soil my use of the residence even as a +loafing-place was unbecoming. Mrs. Bashford was not only in America, but +with a motor at her command she might reach Barton at any hour. And the +vigorous, dominating woman who had captured my uncle Bash, buried him in +a far country, and then effected a hop, skip, and jump from Bangkok to +Seattle, was likely to be a prodigal spender of gasoline. Her propensity +for travelling encouraged the hope that she would quickly weary of +Barton and pine for lands where the elephant and jinrickisha flourish. + +I had brought with me the manuscript of Searles's play, and I fell upon +it irritably and began reading the first act. The dialogue moved +briskly, and I read on as though enfolded in the air of a crisp spring +morning. It was Searles's whimsical stroke, only with a better vehicle +than he had ever before found for it. My grouch over the upsetting of my +plans yielded under the spell of his humor. + +"Lady Larkspur" was the name assumed by the daughter of a recluse +naturalist in the valley of Virginia. She had known no life but that of +the open country, where she ran wild all summer, aiding her father in +collecting plants and butterflies. At twenty she had never seen a city, +and her social contacts had been limited to the country folk, who viewed +her with commiseration as the prisoner of her misanthrope father, who in +the fifteen years of his exile had maintained a hostile attitude toward +his neighbors. He had, however, educated the girl in such manner that +only the cheer and joy of life were known to her. Hating mankind, he had +encouraged her in nature-worship. She knew no literature except the +classics; all history, even the history of the storied valley in which +she lived, was a sealed book to her. + +The girl's curiosity is roused by the sudden appearance of strangers +from the unknown world beyond, whom she mystifies by her quaint +old-worldishness. Searles had taken an old theme and given a novel twist +to it. The solution of the mystery of the father's exile and an amusing +complication of lovers afforded a suspensive interest well sustained to +the end. There were innumerable charming scenes, as where the girl in +the outlandish costume in which she roamed the hills perches on a +boulder and recites the "Iliad" to her suitors. In the last act she +appears at a ball at a country house in sophisticated raiment, and the +story ends in the key of mirth in which it began. + +It was a delightful blending and modernization of Diana, Atalanta, +Cinderella, and Rosalind; but even in the typewritten page it was +amazingly alive and well calculated to evoke tears and laughter. That a +play so enthralling should be buried in a safety-vault was not to be +thought of, and I sat down and wrote Searles a long letter demanding +that he at once forget the lost star for whom he had written the piece, +suggesting the names of several well-known actresses I thought worth +considering for the difficult leading role. Not satisfied with this, I +telephoned a telegram to the agent at Barton for transmission to +Searles at the Ohio address he had given me. + +The next day passed without incident, and on the second, hearing nothing +from Torrence, I began to doubt Mrs. Bashford's proximity. On the third, +still hearing nothing, I harkened to an invitation from friends at New +London and drove over in the runabout for dinner. It was midnight when I +got back, and when I reached the gates several men dashed out of the +lodge and halted me. + +"She's come, sir," announced Antoine, emerging from the darkness, and +speaking under stress of deep emotion; "madame the widow has arrived, +sir!" + +"Why not Cleopatra or the Queen of Sheba?" I exclaimed testily to cover +my annoyance that my aunt had effected her descent in my absence. "Well, +she was expected; the house is hers; what do you want me to do about +it?" I ended with affected jocularity. + +"We received her the best we could; but it was most unfortunate, your +not being here, sir." + +"Is that your idea, Antoine, or do you reflect the lady's sentiments? +I'm properly humiliated either way. Tell me just what she said." + +"Well, sir, she just laughed when I took the liberty of apologizing." + +"The sneering laughter of outraged dignity! Go ahead and give me the +rest of it." + +"It was at ten she came, sir, and the guard held her up, not recognizing +her, here at the gate, and when the car didn't stop the boys chased her +and fired at the tires of her machine. It was very dreadful, sir. And at +the house--at the door, sir--the guard was very harsh with her, sir, +most regrettable." + +"You certainly made a mess of it!" I ejaculated. "But you did let her +in--into her own house, we must remember--you did grant her the courtesy +of a lodging for the night?" I inquired ironically. + +"She's retired, sir. There was a lady with her; maybe a maid; I can't +exactly say; and we did everything, sir, to make her comfortable. She +was not what you might say fussy, sir, but quite human-like. We was all +relieved, sir, the way she took everything. I hope you'll pardon us, +sir, which was due to not being warned." + +"Oh, it's all right with me, but in the morning she'll probably bounce +the whole lot of us. An old lady fatigued from a journey cross country +and shot at on her own premises--it's a very pretty story." + +They were a picturesque lot, the ancient waiters and bell-hops grouped +about Antoine with their lanterns and garden implements and firearms. +Antoine was swallowing hard in his effort to continue his recital. + +"You say an old lady, sir; the mistress is not really what you would +call so old--not exactly, sir." + +"Really a youngish party, I should say," volunteered Graves, the +gardener. + +Just what these veterans would call old was a matter of conjecture. +"Um," I murmured, and considered the situation. + +"Young or old, she would hardly relish her reception. There was a maid, +and they came in a machine? Did you put up the chauffeur or did you +shoot him on the spot?" + +"It was a hired machine, sir; and madame sent it away. The driver was a +good deal upset over the shooting. One of the rear tires was quite +blown away." + +"You're in luck if he doesn't have you all arrested to-morrow," I +remarked consolingly. + +"Mrs. Bashford seemed quite amused by the occurrence," Antoine +continued. "'Wonderful America!' she kept saying after we'd got her +inside. We gave her tea, which was all she asked for. She takes her tea +with cream, sir. We did our best to make her comfortable. And there was +a dog, sir. I recall that the master was not fond of dogs. There was +never one on the place." + +Antoine spoke truly; if there was anything my Uncle Bash detested it was +a dog, but I reflected that a world-skipping widow who could corral so +difficult a subject as my uncle would be quite capable of inspiring him +with delight in the canine species. My respect for the woman's powers of +persuasion was intensified by this disclosure. + +She had failed to wire Torrence as she promised or he had neglected to +warn me of her coming; either way it was a pretty kettle of fish, and I +shuddered at the thought of facing her wholly pardonable indignation. + +To make sure that nothing was required of me until morning, I drove past +the house with the army hanging to the footboard. The lower rooms were +dark, but lights twinkled through the second-story shutters. My aunt was +established on the premises, and her coming and the circumstances of her +advent constituted a good joke of which I and not she was the victim. +When I reached my quarters in the garage I sat down and laughed until +Flynn appeared, frightened by my noisy mirth that had penetrated to his +quarters. I got rid of him and smoked a pipe and began the packing I +meant to finish early in the morning. + +I wakened early, rang a bell connecting my rooms with the chauffeur's +end of the garage as a warning to the Flynns to prepare breakfast, and +was dressed when the Irishman came in with the tray. In the absence of a +morning paper I clung to him for company. + +"I trust you will not be leaving, sorr," he remarked, eyeing my +half-packed trunk. + +"Very soon, Flynn." + +"Then Elsie and I will be going too, sorr. It's most uncomfortable +they're making us--Dutch and the rest. That Antoine and his army keep +pesterin' us and callin' us Huns." + +"You raise a very interesting question, Flynn, a very delicate question +of fact and propriety. Satisfied as you and Elsie are of your entire +loyalty to the United States and the associated Powers, I think you +should remain, a martyr, if need be, to the great cause of world +democracy." + +"It's most disagreeable we find it, the wife and me," he said +mournfully. + +"Suffer and be strong--that's the watchword! We will hope that Mrs. +Bashford is a woman of sound sense and tact who will exert herself to +restore peace on her property. When I call to pay my respects and make +my adieus I shall speak to her of the situation and vouch for your +loyalty. You may count on me. You haven't, I suppose, seen the widow +yet--she's probably sleeping late." + +"Quite the contrary, sorr. She's been up and around for an hour an' +more. She's been all over the place and stopped for a squint at the +garage, her and the pup." + +"She's been here, inspecting the garage?" I asked, glancing at my watch. +It was not yet eight o'clock. The banter died out of me; clearly it had +been my duty to be on hand to pilot her over the estate, or at least to +receive her at the garage. "Just what was the lady's frame of mind--as +to things generally. Peeved, was she, over the row last night?" + +"Oh, no, sorr; quite cheerful an' friendly. She's ordered a big car from +New York and told me it would be coming up to-day and to make a place +for it." + +Here was news indeed, destroying all my hopes that she meditated only a +brief sojourn. The purchase of a machine meant definitely that she would +remain for some time, perhaps for the winter. I poured a second cup of +coffee, swallowed it, grabbed my hat and stick, and asked enlightment as +to the course taken by Mrs. Bashford when she left the garage. + +"She took the lower road, sorr, toward the Sound and stepped off quite +brisk-like." + +It was the serenest of September mornings, and I hurried away, thinking +the cloudless blue arch, the twinkling sea, and the crisp air might +serve to soften my aunt's displeasure at her hostile reception. From the +conservatories I caught a glimpse of a woman on the beach--a slender, +agile woman throwing a ball for the amusement of a fox-terrier. She +threw the ball with a boy's free swing, occasionally varying a hot one +down the shore with a toss high in air which she caught up herself +before the terrier could reach it. The two were having no end of a good +time. She laughed joyfully when the ball fell into her hands and the +terrier barked his discomfiture and eagerness for a chance to redeem +himself. + +Antoine's equivocal statement as to Mrs. Bashford's age was ridiculous. +Instead of the middle-aged woman whom I was prepared to meet, here was +beyond question a vigorous, healthy being whose every movement spoke for +youth and the joy of life. It might, after all, be the maid of whom +Antoine had spoken; I advanced slowly, anxious not to break in upon her +romp with the terrier--they made a charming picture--and trying to +formulate an introduction. I reached a low stone wall that separated the +lawn from the beach just as she effected a running pick-up of the ball. +She turned swiftly and flung it straight at my head. Involuntarily I +put up my hand and caught it just as she saw me and cried out--a cry of +warning and contrition. I tossed the ball to the dog. + +"What must you think of me!" she exclaimed. "I was blinded by the +sunlight and I didn't see you--really I did not!" + +"I had no business being in the way," I laughed, noting first her +glowing color, her violet eyes--amazingly fine eyes they were--her fair +hair with its golden glint, her plain black gown with lawn collar and +wristbands. It was her age, however, that roused me to instant +speculation. Twenty-five, I decided, was a maximum; more likely she was +not more than twenty-two, and if I had been told that eighteen was the +total of her years I shouldn't have had the heart to dispute it. + +"Bob Singleton," I said and stupidly added, "and you are Mrs. Bashford?" +unable for the life of me to avoid turning the statement into an +inquiry. + +"I am your aunt Alice," she said with a smile, putting out her hand. +"Down, Rex!" she commanded the dancing terrier; "lie down; school's over +now"; whereupon Rex obediently sprawled in the sand and began trying to +swallow the ball. + +"Wasn't that silly of me to try to kill you the first time we met!" Her +eyes danced with merriment. "I didn't know, of course, that any one was +about. But you made a very nice catch of it! I had expected to receive +you most formally in the drawing-room, but this really serves very well. +That tree down yonder is inviting; suppose we stay out here and talk a +bit." + +This struck me as the pleasantest thing imaginable, though I was still +dazed and my tongue seemed to have died in my mouth. This girl, this +wholly charming and delightful young woman, was the monstrous being I +had conjectured as the globe-trotting widow who had kidnapped and +married my uncle! Not only had she married my uncle Bash and in due +course buried him; she had been a widow when she married him! I +furtively studied her face--a face that invited scrutiny--and her candid +eyes that met my gaze of wonder and frank admiration easily and without +a trace of self-consciousness. On the third finger of her left hand was +a slender band of gold. The thing was staggering, bewildering. She was +clearly anxious to be friendly, but nothing that I had thought of saying +to her fitted the situation. + +"In the first place," I finally began, "I must apologize most humbly for +the earnest efforts of the servants to murder you last night. Mr. +Torrence had promised to let me know when you would reach here, but he +must have forgotten it. I had motored to a friend's house to dine and +didn't get back until the mischief was done. I'm very sorry. You must +have thought you had driven into a camp of savages!" + +"Not for worlds would I have missed that," she exclaimed with a merry +laugh. "It was perfectly delicious! And it was all my fault. I meant to +remain a day at Hartford, you know, and send a message to Mr. Torrence +from there, but I found that by pushing on I could reach here yesterday. +Then the machine I hired showed every weakness that motors are subject +to and we were hours later than the Hartford garage man promised. And +you know we English always expect strange things to happen in America. I +don't understand yet why those people at the gates were so jolly +anxious to kill us; but it doesn't matter; you would only spoil the joke +by explaining it." + +However, I did my best--it was a weak attempt--to explain the +nervousness of the veteran servants and their display of violence. Her +arrival made it likely that we should soon know more about the "parties" +whose visits and inquiries had so alarmed Antoine and his comrades. Now +that I saw Mrs. Bashford the idea that any one could entertain +malevolent designs upon her was more preposterous than ever, and I +resolved that she must be shielded from annoyances of every kind. I told +her with all the humor I could throw into the recital of the drilling of +the bell-hops and of the uncomfortable relations between the Allied +forces and the Teutonic minority on the estate. + +"It was dear of Mr. Bashford to provide a home for these people; wasn't +he really the kindest soul that ever lived?" she said softly. + +She gazed wistfully seaward, and I saw the gleam of tears on her long +lashes. My uncle had, then, meant something to her! No one, in speech +or manner, could have suggested the adventuress less; Uncle Bash was a +gentleman, a man of aesthetic tastes, and the girl was adorable. More +remarkable things had happened in the history of love and marriage than +that two such persons, meeting in a far corner of the world, would +honestly care for each other. My respect for Uncle Bash grew; he had +married the most attractive girl in the world, and here she was with the +bloom of her girlhood upon her, tripping alone through a world that +might have been created merely that she might confer light and cheer +upon it. + +"You stopped at Hartford," I began, breaking a long silence. "You have +friends there----?" + +"Not one! I had made a pious pilgrimage to Mark Twain's last home at +Redding, and, hearing that he had lived at Hartford, I came through +there to render my fullest homage. He has always been one of my heroes, +you know." She laughingly lifted her hands and counted upon her +fingers--"'The Jumping Frog,' Tom and Huck, and 'Mulberry Sellers,' 'The +Prince and the Pauper,' and 'Pudd'nhead Wilson'! I know them all by +heart!" + +"Our introduction is complete," I said reverently. "Let's consider +ourselves old friends." + +"I rather thought we'd understand each other," she said in her even, +mellow tones. "You know, we had your photograph out East--a very good +one, it seems--so I had an idea of what you looked like." + +"The photograph gave you an unfair advantage! And I didn't know Uncle +Bash carried one away with him." + +"He was very fond of you," she said gravely. "He was very proud that you +had gone into the war." + +"I am glad to hear that; I thought he disapproved of me for refusing to +go into business. He offered me a substantial interest before he sold +out." + +"I know that; but I think he liked you rather better for refusing it. +Business with him was merely a means to an end. And it was doubly sad +that he should die just when he was free to enjoy the beautiful things +he loved." + +It was at the tip of my tongue to say that the loss of her companionship +was even more grievous; but nothing in her manner invited such a +comment. Her grave moods were to be respected, and she talked for some +time of Uncle Bash's life in the East, of his short illness and quite +unexpected death. + +"But I'm keeping you," she exclaimed suddenly, jumping down from the +wall. "And I must finish my unpacking." + +As we walked to the house I answered her questions about the +neighborhood, and promised to telephone Torrence immediately of her +arrival. + +"You will have luncheon with us--or maybe dinner would be better--or +both? Antoine told me of your bachelor establishment, but eating alone +is bad for the digestion. I shall think you resent my coming if you +don't dine at the house every day. Mrs. Farnsworth--my friend and +companion--is a very interesting woman. I am sure you will like her." + +The information that she was protected in her youthful widowhood by a +companion was imparted neatly. + +"It was really much nicer, meeting this way," she said, giving me her +hand. "We shall expect you at seven." + +I found them on the veranda, which had been transformed since my last +glimpse of it. Rugs, wicker furniture, wall-pockets of flowers, and +paper lanterns dropped over the electric lights gave it the appearance +of a prettily set scene. She came toward me, a slender figure in white. +She seemed taller in white; as she took a few steps toward me, I was +aware of a stateliness I had missed at the shore. A queenly young +person, but as unaffectedly cordial and friendly as in the bright +morning sunlight. + +"Mrs. Farnsworth, Mr. Singleton." + +Mrs. Farnsworth was a pleasant-faced, white-haired woman with remarkably +fine, dark eyes. If the positions had been changed--if Mrs. Farnsworth +had been my uncle's choice of a wife, the situation would have been much +more real. I instantly liked Mrs. Farnsworth. She uttered a few +commonplaces in an uncommonplace tone without pausing in her knitting. +Mrs. Bashford had been knitting too, and as she sat down she took up her +yarn and needles. It was a sweater, I think; it doesn't matter. What +matters is that her hands moved swiftly and deftly. Her manner of +knitting was charming. She knew that I was watching her hands and +remarked with a graceful turn of the head: + +"For an English boy somewhere! I began by knitting for my brother and +cousins, but"--her head bent lower--"that isn't for me to do any more." +Her eyes, turned upon me for a moment, were bright with tears. + +I was speaking of the splendid valor of Englishmen I had known in France +when Antoine announced dinner. + +It had been years since the house had known a woman's hand, and it was +astonishing how humanized it had become in a few hours. The long +dining-room, always a bare, forbidding place, had been reduced to cosey +proportions by screens, and a small round table replaced the massive, +oblong affair that always looked as though it had been built into the +house by the carpenters. + +"I found those lovely screens in the garret and thought we might as well +enjoy them, and that Lang Yao jar you see on the sideboard oughtn't to +be hidden in the vault." + +"I am sure Uncle Bash would be happy to know you care for these things +so much," I said, noting that the white roses she had chosen for the +jar--I knew the choice was hers--served to emphasize the deep red of its +exquisite glaze. + +"I am among the unelect," remarked Mrs. Farnsworth. "When I am told that +such things are beautiful I am immediately convinced. I say they are +beautiful, and that is enough." + +"That has always been enough for me," I replied. "My uncle used to try +to interest me, and I wore out a good many pairs of shoes following him +through museums and salesrooms, but he gave me up when he found that my +pagan soul was aroused by nothing but pottery idols. It wasn't the +pottery that interested me even there, but only the ugliest designs. I +am a heathen!" + +"I am gratified that you make the admission so frankly," said Mrs. +Farnsworth. "I have always been a great admirer of the heathen." + +"I like them when they are nice," said Mrs. Bashford. + +"Yes; I have found you very discriminating in your choice of the +species, Alice. But, you know, Mr. Singleton, Alice and I never can +agree as to just what a heathen is. All our squabbles have been about +that. The old hymn pictured the heathen in his blindness bowing down to +wood and stone; but I'm disposed to broaden my definition to include all +who believe in fairies good or bad, and persons who honestly believe in +signs, omens, and lucky stones and all who have the receipt of fern-seed +and walk invisible--there's Shakespeare for that. Some very good +Christians are also very nice heathens: we mustn't be narrow and bigoted +about such things." + +"I think," said Mrs. Bashford soberly, "that I have always believed in +witches; and if I keep on believing I shall see one some day. We shall +find anything in this world that we believe in hard enough. Now a +witch--the kind of witch I have always expected to wake up and find +flourishing a broom at me from the foot of my bed----" + +She was talking very gravely, as though witches were the commonest topic +of conversation, but finding my eyes turned upon her in frank wonder, +she laughed at my amazement. + +"Let us be honest with you, Mr. Singleton," Mrs. Farnsworth explained, +"and tell you that we are just testing you. It may be a breach of +hospitality, and you are all but a stranger, but we are curious to know +whether you are of that small company of the favored of heaven who can +play at being foolish without becoming idiotic. Alice is sometimes very +near idiocy. You admit that, Alice!" + +"I not only admit it, but I might even boast of it!" my aunt replied. + +At the mention of witches I had caught Antoine crossing himself as he +turned to the sideboard. I confess that I myself had been startled by +the drift of the talk. Mrs. Farnsworth was far from being the grim +duenna I had feared might be my aunt's chaperon, and there was certainly +nothing in her appearance to suggest that she was a believer in witches. +She and my aunt treated each other as though they were contemporaries, +and it was Alice and Constance between them. As the talk ran +exhaustively through the lore of witches and goblins I had hoped that +one or the other would drop some clew as to the previous history of my +amazing aunt. It was as plain as day that she and Mrs. Farnsworth +indulged in whims for the joy of it, and her zest in the discussion of +witches, carried on while Antoine served the table, lips tightly +compressed, and with an exaggeration of his stately tread, was the more +startling from the fact that my aunt's companion was a woman of years, a +handsome woman with a high-bred air who did not look at all like a +person who would discuss witches as though they had been made the topic +of the day by the afternoon newspapers. And when the shape of a witch's +chin became the immediate point of discussion I knew it was in Antoine's +mind that such conversation was unbecoming, an offense to the memory of +Raymond Bashford. Mrs. Farnsworth's brown eyes sparkled, and the color +deepened in my aunt's cheeks as we discoursed upon witches and the chins +thereof. I had a friend in college who used to indulge in the same sort +of piffling, but that my uncle's widow and her elderly companion should +delight in such absurdities bewildered me. I had been addressing my aunt +as Mrs. Bashford--it seemed ridiculous to call her Aunt Alice--and in +the heat of our argument as to whether witches are necessarily naughty +and malign beings I had just uttered the "Mrs." when she bent toward me +and said gravely and with no hint of archness: "Can't we make it Alice +and Bob? I think that would be a lot friendlier." + +I experienced a curious flutter of the heart the first time I tried it, +but after that it came very easily. I found it impossible to think of +her in terms of auntship, and it was a relief to have the relationship +waived. She was simply the jolliest, prettiest girl that had ever +crossed my horizon, and to be talking to her across the table gave me +thrills compared with which sliding out of clouds in an airplane is only +a rocking-chair pastime for old men. + +The veteran chef of the Tyringham had produced an excellent dinner, +though the witch talk made Antoine a trifle nervous in serving it. + +We had coffee on the veranda (Alice thought it would be nicer there), +and as Antoine gave me my cup he edged close to my chair to whisper: + +"That party, sir. If he should come----" + +"Tell the troops not to attack any visitors," I said, loud enough for +the others to hear. "Mr. Torrence will be here shortly, and it would be +annoying to have him ushered in on a shutter. We must establish a rule +that callers are not to be fired upon at the gate." + +"I know why this is the land of the free and the home of the brave," +laughed Alice. "One has to be brave to live here." + +Antoine departed with a resentful twist of the shoulders, and I decided +to meet squarely the matter of the visitors who had so troubled him. + +"Please don't be frightened," I said as lightly as possible, "but these +old fellows haven't enough to do, and they are full of apprehensions. +With nobody here to keep them busy it's remarkable they haven't found a +ghost." + +"If they only would!" murmured Mrs. Farnsworth. + +"No such luck! They have been alarmed by an agent of some sort who wants +to welcome you to America by selling you a piano on easy payments." + +Antoine had been hovering inside, and my remark brought him to the +door. + +"Beg pardon, Mr. Singleton, but that party is not an agent, but quite +different, sir. He came to the house, quite like a gentleman, several +times, and asked if Mrs. Bashford had arrived. He came in a big car, and +seemed disappointed, madame, that you were not here and not expected. +The second time he said he was just passing on his way to the city and +thought he would stop again. A very well-spoken gentleman, and we'd have +thought nothing of it except that a few days later I caught a man I was +sure was the same party, but dressed in rough clothes, sneaking across +the veranda right there where you're sitting. When I called to him he +ran as hard as he could, and Graves--he's the vegetable-gardener--saw +him leaving the property by the back way." + +"It's hardly possible that a man who impressed you as a gentleman when +you saw him at the door should have returned in disguise and tried to +break into the house. The two things don't hang together, Antoine." + +"Oh," exclaimed Mrs. Farnsworth, "it would be so much more delightful if +that were true! Any one in disguise is bound to be interesting. A +disguise suggests most beautiful possibilities. And to be sought, asked +for by a stranger!" + +I could not be sure in the dim light of the veranda, but I thought I +detected a white slipper cautiously reach out and touch a black one. At +any rate, Mrs. Farnsworth lapsed into silence. + +"Thank you very much, Antoine," said Alice. "It is very proper for you +to tell me anything of any stranger on the property, but I see nothing +here to be alarmed about. If the same gentleman calls again, let me know +instantly." + +"Very good, madame." And then, turning as though conferring upon me a +part of his responsibility for the security of the premises: "It's a +party with a limp; just a trifling limp, sir; you'd hardly notice it. It +was worse the last time as he ran away. A smallish man, rather dark, +with a little mustache turned up at the ends." + +"I have noted all these details, Antoine," I replied; and again I +thought there was a telegraphic exchange between the ladies, though +this time a black slipper was the means of communication. + +Torrence arrived in a moment, and nothing has ever given me keener joy +than his shock of surprise at beholding Mrs. Bashford. As I introduced +the ladies he was so overcome that he greeted Mrs. Farnsworth as Mrs. +Bashford--a not unnatural mistake--and there was an embarrassing moment +as I set him right. Having done this, I seated myself beside Mrs. +Farnsworth that Torrence might be free to talk business with my aunt. I +was devoutly grateful that he had not been present at the dinner-table, +for my own efforts to interest Torrence in anything but the most +practical matters had always been highly unsuccessful, and the +discussion of ghosts and witches would hardly have amused him. As Mrs. +Farnsworth and I took up the recent movements on the western front I +overheard Torrence putting all the machinery of the trust company at +Mrs. Bashford's disposal. It seemed almost a blasphemy to be talking of +income and like matters to a woman like Alice Bashford! + +They continued their conference for some time, but I got nothing out of +Mrs. Farnsworth that shed any light on my aunt's history beyond what +she had told me herself, which was precious little. Mrs. Farnsworth's +talk was that of a cultivated woman. Her voice interested me +unaccountably; the tones had all manner of shadings and inflections; it +was curiously musical, but in speaking of the great war a passionate +note crept into it that stirred me deeply. + +"This has been a dark year for Alice," she remarked. "Mr. Bashford's +death, followed quickly by that of her brother--an only son--piled a +cruel burden of grief upon the dear child. She wants to go back to +England to nurse the wounded, to do anything for our dear country, but I +want to keep her here a little while until she can readjust herself. You +must not think, Mr. Singleton, that she has no feeling; you have no idea +of the depths of that child's nature; they are unfathomable! It is my +task to encourage her in frivolity and the make-believe she loves--hence +our absurdities at the table. She's the drollest child, but with +wonderful understanding. And at times it's not easy to keep the divine +spark of play alive in her heart." + +The light of one of the porch lamps fell upon Alice's face as she +patiently gave heed to Torrence's account of his stewardship. One of her +hands gently stroked the terrier that lay quietly in a chair beside her. +I was sure that his painstaking description of assets and market values +was boring her. Once her voice rose in expostulation. Torrence, I +judged, was suggesting that legal means could be found to expel the old +Tyringham employees from the Barton property. + +"Oh, never in the world! It was quite like Mr. Bashford to want to care +for these people in their old age. And"--she laughed and turned toward +me--"they can't be dislodged while Bob lives; and we don't want to part +with him just yet." + +I was glad to have him hear her address me in this intimate fashion. +Torry always inspired in me a desire to shock him. He was trying to +assure Alice that his only concern was to make her comfortable; he +wished to save her from every annoyance and that sort of thing. + +"I shall help Alice to break them in, Torry," I said, lingering upon her +name for his special edification. + +"Of course, Singleton," he replied. "I wasn't sure you meant to stay on. +Pardon me, but I didn't----" + +"Oh, it isn't that Bob hasn't a right to stay," said Alice quickly; +"Mrs. Farnsworth and I are hoping that he will like us well enough to +share our exile on other accounts. We are so unfamiliar with everything +American that it would be most unkind for him to desert us." + +"I am engaging Mr. Singleton to explain American jokes to me," announced +Mrs. Farnsworth. "Alice seems to get them, but I'm never sure." + +It is a part of Torrence's business to counsel widows, which he does +like the honorable man he is, but as he rose to go presently, remarking +that his wife would motor down to call shortly, I caught a glimpse of +his face that indicated deep perplexity. I wanted to warn him that Alice +Bashford was not an ordinary widow, who vexes officers of trust +companies with foolish questions and is prone to overdraw her account, +so I left when he did. + +"I want to talk to you," he said nervously when we were outside. "I'll +send the car ahead to the gate." + +When the shrubbery cut us off from the house he stopped abruptly and +seized my arm. "What do you make of it?" he demanded. + +"Make of what?" I asked. + +"That girl!" he exclaimed testily. + +"If you insist, I must avow that she's adorable, nothing else." + +"Don't be a fool! You knew Raymond Bashford much better than I did, and +you know perfectly well he never married a young girl of that sort! +Those women are playing a trick, and I'm surprised that you don't see +through it." + +"My uncle was a man of taste and a gentleman," I answered deliberately. +"There's nothing in the least improbable in his being infatuated with a +young woman of charm and wit like this girl. And it is hardly profitable +or decent to speculate as to her interest in him. You mustn't forget +that Uncle Bash was an unusual man, a man with whom a young girl might +easily fall in love without reference to his age or money or anything +else." + +"I tell you it won't do," he insisted. "If either of those women at the +house is Raymond Bashford's widow, it's the one who calls herself +Farnsworth." + +"You did your best to convict them of fraud the first jump out of the +box," I said, laughing at the recollection of his confusion when I +introduced him. + +"My mistake was a natural one," he said defensively. "They're playing a +game of some kind and it's no laughing matter, but it won't take long to +find out what they're up to." + +"You'll hardly go the length of having them arrested as imposters, +Torrence--not without some data to work on!" + +"Certainly not. You seem to be hitting it off with both of them, but I +advise you to be on guard. Are you sure your uncle never sent you his +wife's photograph? That would have been a perfectly natural thing to +do." + +"If I'd got a photograph, I should have headed for Japan, not for +France." I laughed, but I was thinking deeply. His line of reasoning as +to the incongruity of the marriage was not so different from my own that +I could sneer at his suspicions. Very convincingly, as became a +practical-minded man, he expanded his views as to the unlikelihood of my +uncle's marrying a girl but little beyond school age. I shrank from +telling him that I didn't care a hang whether the widow was a fraud or +not. If the two women who had settled themselves on the Barton estate +were imposters, they were extraordinarily daring and clever. My attitude +toward them was wholly defensive. If women of their quality were +perpetrating a fraud, I was for giving them every chance, and I had no +intention of allowing Torrence to spoil the unfolding of the conspiracy. + +We were nearing a gateway where his car waited, and I saw several of the +guard hanging about at a discreet distance. "Look here, Singleton," he +said angrily, "you don't seem to take this business very seriously. You +don't want to make the mistake of letting a pretty girl pull the wool +over your eyes. If we're not careful, we're all of us likely to get into +trouble." He lowered his voice and added tensely: "Those women are under +suspicion of something more serious than an attempt to rob an estate. +An agent of the American State Department called on me yesterday and +asked embarrassing questions about Mrs. Bashford. Not a Secret Service +man, you understand, or anything of that kind, but an important man in +the State Department." + +"Of course you knew nothing to tell," I suggested as he beat the walk +impatiently with his stick. + +"I took a chance at lying to him about her expected arrival. I thought +it only decent to have a look at the woman first. He told me nothing +except that the British Embassy had made inquiries and that the matter +was delicate and must be handled carefully." + +"Was this inquirer lame--a small dark man with a black mustache?" I +asked, suddenly interested. "Such a person has been hanging about here, +so the boys tell me?" + +"Not at all! I may as well tell you it was Raynor--you probably remember +him. He's a specialist in international law, and they took him into the +State Department just after the _Lusitania_ business. He's a gentleman +and a good fellow--I've played golf with him a good deal--and I hated +to lie to him. Of course, with the whole United States back of him he +can pursue his inquiries without my help; but I thought I'd see this +woman before telling him she had reached America." + +I confess that I was a trifle dismayed by this. Raynor I knew slightly. +Professionally and socially he stood high, and even without the prestige +of his official position he was not a chap to sneeze at; but I didn't +want Torrence to know I had any doubts as to the perfect authenticity of +my uncle's widow. + +"Oh, every transcontinental pilgrim is probably scrutinized closely +these days," I remarked carelessly. "Mrs. Bashford has lost a brother in +the war, and I haven't heard any one talk more bitterly against Germany. +And her companion certainly has no illusions about the Kaiser. You'd +have to show me the proof to make me believe we're harboring spies." + +"I don't like the business," he declared stubbornly. + +"Let's do nothing foolish," I insisted. "If Raynor has reason to suspect +either or both of these women, we'll hear further from him." + +"I've put myself in a hole," he said angrily. "Of course I've got to +advise him immediately that Mrs. Bashford is here. I promised to let him +know as soon as I heard from her." + +"Just wait a few days; I undertake to keep them under surveillance; you +can put the whole responsibility on me. If they attempt to leave, I'll +warn you and Raynor instantly, but they have settled themselves as +though they expected to spend the rest of their lives here. Remembering +your visit the other night, you ought to be satisfied with the policing +of the place!" + +I told him of Mrs. Bashford's adventures in reaching the house without +convincing him that there was anything funny in her experiences, and he +left on my promise to report to him daily at a given hour and instantly +if anything unusual occurred. I waited for the guards to lock the gates +and bade them keep watch every night until further orders, and was on my +way back through the grounds when Antoine arrested me. + +"Pardon me, but I'd like to ask what you think of it, sir?" he asked +hoarsely, falling into step. + +"If you mean what do I think of Mrs. Bashford," I replied sharply, "I +think she's quite charming and delightful and all any one could ask in +every way." + +"It's her manner of speaking of spookish things, Mr. Singleton. It +doesn't seem fitting in a widow and her so lately bereaved. And the +older lady's quite as bad, sir. The maids tell me they keep talking all +day about fairies and pretending they're queens and such like, and +talking poetry to each other." + +"Quoting poetry is a harmless amusement, Antoine, and believing in +fairies and goblins is no crime. Such pastimes argue for sweetness and +innocence of character." + +"But the late master never indulged in such things, sir." + +"He would have lived longer if he had! It was probably the poetry and +fairies that attracted him to Mrs. Bashford." + +"Yes, sir," he acquiesced with a gulp. "I suppose you're right, sir." + +"You should be grateful to Mrs. Bashford for not bouncing you all for +the row you made last night. It could be done; in fact, Mr. Torrence has +suggested that legal means could be found for getting rid of you." + +"That would be very sad, sir," he said humbly. + +"Isn't Mrs. Bashford kind to you? Hasn't she taken pains to make you all +feel at home?" + +"Well, yes, sir. But she's taken Elsie back into the house, and there's +no work for her, there being two women in the laundry already; and she's +told me Dutch must be given his old place in charge of the poultry; and +both being Germans, you will recall." + +"It's just her kind heart, you idiot! You've all been spoiled; that's +what's the matter with you. Elsie and Dutch are as law-abiding and +honest as the best of you." + +"It causes feeling; that's all, sir." + +"It needn't cause it if you brace up and act like a man," I retorted. +Then, sorry I had been so harsh, I added: "We must take good care of +Mrs. Bashford, Antoine. It would be your old master's wish. It will do +no harm to keep a guard at the house for the present in case your +mysterious stranger turns up again." + +He couldn't have failed to note my change of tone about the unknown +visitor, but he made no comment. + +"The guard's set, sir; front and rear." + +"While there's no danger whatever it's just as well to take no chances. +Please tell the boys to send for me immediately at any hour of the night +if they see any prowlers about." + +"Very good, sir. But if you please, sir"--he had reached the garage and +he lingered, fingering his hat nervously--"if it wasn't for the ladies +talking about spirits, we'd all feel better, sir. It's creepy, sir, all +the talk about witches and ghosts, no matter what names you call 'em +by." + +"You're far from being a fool, Antoine. Those ladies just play at +believing in such rubbish. If they really believed in ghosts, you may be +sure they wouldn't talk about it at table before strangers like you and +me." + +Though this seemed to impress him, a moment later, as I was drawing down +the shades in my bedroom, I saw him running across the lawn like a +frightened rabbit. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A FAN + + +The morning mail brought a letter from Searles acknowledging my +congratulations on his play. While my enthusiastic praise pleased him, +he was very scornful of my suggestions about available stars, and seemed +even more depressed than when he talked to me. + +"It's impossible for me to plan other work. 'Lady Larkspur' ate the soul +out of me. I'm done; finished, clean out of the running. There's only +this to report. I had a letter from Dalton saying that some time ago he +asked at the hotel where he sent the script of 'Lady Larkspur' to know +whether Miss Dewing had sent a forwarding address. He had to see the +manager before he got any satisfaction, but he did learn that her +accumulated mail had been called for by some one whose identity was not +disclosed. Of course this isn't much to hang a hope on, but if that play +is what I think it is and Miss Violet Dewing ever reads it she's going +to jump for the telegraph office the moment she finishes the last act. I +have no plans for returning East; the folks at home let me do as I +please, and it's a relief to be in seclusion where I hear nothing of the +doings of Broadway. I hope your ancient globe-trotting aunt still +lingers in the Far East! Keep the ink flowing, son. That novel ought to +be well under way when I get back." + +The tale I had begun seemed utter trash in comparison with the story of +Alice Bashford, in which, much against my will, I had become a minor +character. I had rather prided myself on my ability to see through a +plot in the first chapter of the most complicated mystery story, but +there were points in this unwritten tale that baffled me. + +I kept away from the house until dinnertime, when I was received quite +as an old friend by Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth. The table talk was of +Celtic poetry, and proved less disturbing to Antoine than the previous +night's discussion of ghosts. + +Their day had been spent, they explained, in a further examination of my +uncle's Japanese loot, and they had taken a long walk beyond the +estate's boundaries and were enthusiastic about the landscape. + +"It's so beautifully peaceful all about here," Alice murmured. "I feel +that I never want to move again." + +"That's a real tribute to America," Mrs. Farnsworth remarked; "for Alice +dearly loves new scenes. She inherited a taste for travel from her +father, who put some new places on the maps, you know." + +I didn't know and I wanted to ask questions about Alice's father, but as +though anxious to frustrate such inquiries my aunt asked how close we +were to the place made famous by Israel Putnam's spectacular escape from +the British. She had read the story and would motor to the scene, she +declared. It was quite clear that there were chapters in her life that +were not to be opened for my perusal. No sooner had I caught a glimpse +of a promising page than the book was politely closed. A curtain hung +between the immediate present at Barton-on-the-Sound and other scenes +and incidents of the girl's life; and Mrs. Farnsworth was equally +detached from any tangible background. It seemed that I might meet them +daily for the rest of my life in this same friendly fashion without +adding a particle to my knowledge of them. + +I became alert immediately when, as we rose from the table, Alice said, +with the air of asking an unimportant favor: + +"We were speaking last night of a man who has been asking for us here. +His visits have alarmed the servants, but there is nothing to fear from +him. You know"--she smiled at Mrs. Farnsworth--"it's rather he who seems +to fear us; that, at least, is our impression, though we have no idea +why he should do so. Still, it's rather good fun to find yourself an +object of special attention and to be followed, even pursued. We've even +led him on a little, haven't we, Constance?" + +Mrs. Farnsworth laughingly admitted that they had led the gentleman on a +trifle, "but with all circumspection," she protested. + +"We met him here and there in Tokyo, and later were surprised to find +him crossing on our steamer. We threw him off in the Canadian Rockies, +where we stopped for a day, and eluded him in Chicago, where he was +evidently lying in wait for us." + +"Delightful!" I exclaimed. + +"But please don't get the idea that the man annoys us," interposed Mrs. +Farnsworth. + +"Far from it!" cried Alice. + +"You've seen enough of us perhaps to understand that we enjoy little +adventures," said Mrs. Farnsworth. "The man pretends to be interested in +Mr. Bashford's art treasures. Antoine's story about the disguise is +rather against that; but we will give him the benefit of the doubt. What +we are hoping is that something really amusing may come of his +persistent pursuit. With you and the army of servants here we feel +perfectly safe; so we're for giving him every chance to show his hand." + +"He is the Count Giuseppe Montani," said my aunt, "who represents +himself as a connoisseur--a lover of the beautiful." + +"The mystery is solved! It is easy to understand why he has haunted the +place." + +"Yes; quite easy. Count Montani is very anxious to see the porcelains." + +"I wasn't referring to the pottery; but I shan't press the matter." + +"I advise you not to; your remark was highly improper from a nephew to +an aunt! I have told you about all I know of this Italian gentleman. I +am going to ask a favor. He telephoned from Stamford this afternoon to +know whether we had arrived, and I bade him call to-night. I should be +glad if you would remain until he leaves. I should like to know what you +make of him." + +"Certainly," I assented, pleased that she had taken me into her +confidence and deeply curious as to the Italian connoisseur. What she +had told so frankly and plausibly did not, however, touch upon the +matter of the interest shown by the American State Department in my +aunt's arrival at Barton, which troubled me much more than the antics of +the Italian who had followed the women across the Pacific. + +Count Montani arrived shortly and was received in the drawing-room. The +ladies greeted him with the greatest cordiality. As he crossed the room +I verified the limp and other points of Antoine's description. His +bearing was that of a gentleman; and in his very correct evening dress +he hardly looked like a man who would disguise himself and attempt to +rob a house. He spoke English all but perfectly and proceeded at once to +talk a great deal. + +"I was sad when I found I had so narrowly missed you at Seattle, and +again at Chicago. You travel far too rapidly for one of my age!" + +His age might have been thirty. He was a suave, polished, sophisticated +person. Nothing was more natural than that he should pause in his +travels to call upon two agreeable women he had met on a Pacific +steamer. Possibly he was in love with Alice Bashford; this was not a +difficult state of heart and mind for a man to argue himself into. She +was even more strikingly beautiful to-night than I had thought her +before. She was again in white--it was only in daytime that she wore +black--and white was exceedingly becoming to her. As we talked she plied +listlessly a fan--a handsome trinket of ostrich plumes. A pretty woman +and a fan are the happiest possible combination. There is no severer +test of grace than a woman's manner of using a fan. A clumsy woman +makes an implement of this plaything, flourishing it to emphasize her +talk, or, what is worse, pointing with it like an instructor before a +blackboard. But in graceful hands it is unobtrusive, a mere bit of +decoration that teases and fascinates the beholder's eye. + +With all his poise and equanimity I was distinctly conscious that +Montani's dark eyes were intent upon the idly swaying fan. I thought at +first it was her hands that interested him as they unfailingly +interested me, but when, from time to time, she put down the fan his +gaze still followed it. And yet there was nothing novel in the delicate +combination of ivory and feathers. I had seen many fans that to all +appearances were just like it. Once, as she picked it up and lazily +opened it, I saw him bend forward eagerly, then, finding that I had +noted his eagerness, he rose, pretending that a brass screen before the +fireplace had caught his eye and asked whether it was not a Florentine +production, which shook my faith in his connoisseurship, as I had bought +the thing myself from a New York brassworker who had made it to my +order. + +Montani spoke of the porcelains. "Oh, to be sure! They don't show to +best advantage in electric light, do they? But I can have a few of the +prize pieces taken into the dining-room," said Alice. + +Mrs. Farnsworth had excused herself to finish a letter, and from my +chair I could see her head bent over the big desk in the library. Alice +rang for Antoine, and I followed her into the hall to offer my aid. + +"Oh, don't trouble," she said. "Antoine can do anything necessary. Yes; +thanks; if you will turn on the dining-room lights." + +I was gone hardly half a minute. When I reached the drawing-room door +Montani had crossed the room to the table on which Alice had dropped the +fan and was examining it closely. He faced the door, and the moment he +detected me exclaimed carelessly: "An exquisite little bauble! I am +always curious as to the source of such trifles. I was looking for the +maker's imprimatur. I know a Parisian who is the leading manufacturer of +the world. But it is not his, I see." + +As we stood talking of other things he plied the fan carelessly as +though for the pleasure of the faint scent it exhaled, and when Alice +called us he put it down carefully where he had found it. + +He really did seem to know something about ceramics and praised, with +lively enthusiasm, the pieces that had been set out on the table. One +piece, as to whose authenticity my uncle had entertained serious doubts, +Montani unhesitatingly pronounced genuine and stated very plausible +reasons for his opinion. + +On the whole, he was an interesting fellow. When he had finished his +inspections he lingered for only a few minutes and took his leave, +saying that he was spending the night at an inn near Stamford. + +"Well," said Alice when the whir of his machine had died away, "what do +you think of him?" + +"A very agreeable gentleman," I answered. "If he doesn't know +porcelains, he fakes his talk admirably." + +"And as to fans--" suggested Mrs. Farnsworth. + +I had not intended to mention Montani's interest in Alice's fan, and the +remark surprised me. + +"Oh, I saw it all from the library," laughed Mrs. Farnsworth. "My back +was to the door, but I was facing a mirror. The moment you and Alice +went into the hall he pounced upon the fan--pounced is the only word +that describes it. He concealed his interest in it very neatly when you +caught him examining it." + +"Fans are harmless things," said Alice, "and if there's any story +attached to this one I'm not aware of it. My father bought it in Paris +about three years ago, and it has never been out of my possession except +to have it repaired. There's a Japanese jeweller who does wonderful +things in the way of repairing trinkets of every kind. I left it with +him for a few days. I can't tell now which panel was broken, he did his +work so deftly." + +I took it from her and balanced it in my fingers. It was a beautiful +piece of workmanship with the simplest carvings on the ivory panels. + +"He couldn't have seen it anywhere before to-night," observed Alice +musingly. "In fact, I hadn't used it at all for a year. It was really by +mistake that my maid put it into my trunk when I went to Japan. I +didn't want to risk breaking it again, so I've been carrying it in a +hand-bag. The last day we were in Tokyo I think I had it in our +sitting-room in the hotel, to make sure it wasn't jammed into the trunk +again. We had a good many callers--a number of people came in to bid us +good-by, but I'm sure Count Montani was not among them, and it would +have been impossible for him to see it at any other time." + +"Oh, there is nothing disturbing in the count's interest in the thing," +said Mrs. Farnsworth with an air of dismissing the matter. "If it were a +Jade trinket inscribed with Chinese mysteries, you might imagine that it +would be sought by some one--I have heard of such things--but Alice's +fan has no such history." + +"We weren't very hospitable," said Alice. "I might have asked Count +Montani to dine with us to-morrow; and we might even have put him up for +the night in this vast house." + +"Not with Antoine on the premises!" I exclaimed. "Antoine is convinced +that the man is what we call in America a crook. And Antoine takes his +responsibilities very seriously." + +While I was breakfasting at the garage the next morning Antoine appeared +and, waiting until Flynn was out of hearing, handed me a slip of paper. + +"That's a New York automobile number," he said. "It was on the tag of +that machine the party came in last night. I heard him saying, sir, as +how he had motored up from the Elkton Inn at Stamford. Visitors from +Stamford would hardly send in to the city for a machine." + +I bade him wait while I called the Elkton by telephone. No such person +as Giuseppe Montani had spent the night there or had been a guest of the +house within the memory of the clerk. Antoine's chest swelled at this +confirmation of his suspicions. + +"If the man returns, treat him as you did last night--as though he were +entitled to the highest consideration." + +"He won't come back--not the same way," said Antoine. "He mentioned the +Elkton just to throw you off. The next you hear of him will be quite +different." + +"You mean he'll come as a burglar?" + +"That's what's in my mind, Mr. Singleton. Everything seems very queer, +sir." + +"Such as what, Antoine?" + +"The widow has been telegraphing and telephoning considerable, sir." + +"There must be no spying upon these ladies!" I admonished severely. "All +the people on the place must remember that Mrs. Bashford is mistress +here, and entitled to fullest respect." + +He had hardly gone before Torrence had me on the wire to hear my report +and to say that Raynor had left Washington for a weekend in Virginia. + +"That lets us out for a few days, but I'll have to report that Mrs. +Bashford is at Barton the moment I learn that he is back in Washington." + +I assured him that nothing had occurred to encourage a suspicion that +Mrs. Bashford was not all that she pretended to be. The day was marked +by unusual activities on the part of the waiters and bell-hops. Instead +of the company drills to which I had become accustomed they moved about +in pairs along the shore and the lines of the fences. I learned that +Antoine had ordered this, and the "troops" were obeying him with the +utmost seriousness. The "service" on the estate was certainly abundant. +It was only necessary to whistle and one of the Tyringham veterans would +come running. + +In spite of the complete satisfaction I had expressed to Torrence as to +the perfect integrity and honest intentions of the two women, the +curiosity of the American State Department and the visit of Montani +required elucidation beyond my powers. At dinner they were in the +merriest humor. The performances of the little army throughout the day +had amused them greatly. + +"How delightfully feudal!" exclaimed Alice. "Really we should have a +moat and drawbridge to make the thing perfect. Constance and I are the +best protected women in the world!" + +We extracted all the fun possible from the idea that the estate was +under siege; that Alice was the chatelaine of a beleaguered castle, and +that before help could reach us we were in danger of being starved out +by the enemy. They called into play the poetry which had so roused +Antoine's apprehensions, and their talk bristled with quotations. Alice +rose after the salad and repeated at least a page of Malory, and the +Knights of the Round Table having thus been introduced, Mrs. Farnsworth +recited several sonorous passages from "The Idyls of the King." They +flung lines from Browning's "In a Balcony" at each other as though they +were improvising. The befuddlement of Antoine and the waiter who +assisted him added to the general joy. They undoubtedly thought the two +women quite out of their heads, and it was plain that I suffered greatly +in Antoine's estimation by my encouragement of this frivolity. Mrs. +Farnsworth walked majestically round the table and addressed to me the +lines from Macbeth beginning: + + "Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promised," + +while Antoine clung to the sideboard listening with mouth open and eyes +rolling. + +Later, in the living-room, Alice sang some old ballads. She was more +adorable than ever at the piano. It was a happiness beyond any in my +experience of women to watch her, to note the play of light upon her +golden head, to yield to the spell of her voice. Ballads had never been +sung before with the charm and feeling she put into them; and after +ending with "Douglas, Douglas," she responded to my importunity with +"Ben Bolt," and then dashed into a sparkling thing of Chopin's, played +it brilliantly and rose, laughingly mocking my applause. + +I left the house like a man over whom an enchantment has been spoken and +was not pleased when Antoine blocked my path: "Pardon me, sir." + +"Bother my pardon; what's troubling you now?" I demanded. + +"It's nothing troubling me, sir; not particularly. If you give me time, +I think I'll grow used to the poetry talk and playing at being queens. +It's like children in a family I served once; an English family, most +respectable. But in a widow, sir----" + +"God knows we ought to be glad when grown-ups have the heart to play at +being children and can get away with it as beautifully as those women +do! What else is on your mind?" + +"It's about Elsie, sir." I groaned at the mention of Flynn's German +wife. "I'm sorry, sir; but I thought I should report it. It was a man +who came to see her this afternoon. You was out for your walk, and Flynn +had taken the ladies for a drive, so Elsie was alone at the garage. This +person rode in on the grocer's truck from the village, which is how he +got by the gate. As it happened, Pierre--he was a waiter at the +Tyringham, a Swiss, who understands German--had gone into the garage for +a nap; he's quite old, sir, and has his snooze every afternoon." + +"He's entitled to it," I remarked; "he must be a thousand years old." + +"From what he heard Pierre thought the man a spy, sir. He wanted Elsie +to steal something from the house, it was a fan he wanted her to take +most particular, and it was to be done soon, to-day if she could manage. +It was for the love of the Fatherland that he wanted her to do it. Did +you notice, sir, that Mrs. Bashford didn't have the fan to-night? Not +that one she carried last night." + +I had noticed that she had substituted a tiny Japanese fan for the one +that Montani had inspected so eagerly. When I spoke of the change she +had said the other was too precious for every-day use, and she meant to +keep it locked up. + +"I hate to bother you, sir, knowing you----" + +The mention of the fan had brought me to an abrupt halt. I resented +having the thing thrust at me in the ecstatic mood in which I had left +the house, but the visit of the German-speaking stranger was serious, +and Antoine knew that his story had startled me. He told me further that +the man had carefully outlined to Elsie just how she could take +advantage of her freedom of the house to appropriate the fan when the +ladies were out and the servants off the second floor. She was to be +paid for her assistance; two hundred dollars had been promised; even +more had been suggested. Elsie and the stranger had left the garage and +passed out of ear-shot before Elsie fully consented; but Pierre had +given Antoine the impression that she would make the attempt. + +"It was to be for the Kaiser, for Germany," declared Antoine bitterly. +"And she was to be careful about Flynn. I always thought Flynn was +straight--I did indeed, sir!" + +"I think Flynn and his wife are both honest, but we'll take no chance. +Warn the guards to be on the alert. We don't want Elsie to get the idea +that she's being watched; so tell the men to keep away from the garage. +I'll keep an eye on the Flynns. You go home and go to bed...." + +The deep calm of the country night had settled upon the shore, and the +Flynns' quarters were perfectly tranquil. It didn't seem possible that +an international episode was in process of incubation in that quiet +neighborhood. I began to think that the general distrust of the German +woman by her associates might be responsible for Pierre's story. But, +viewed in any light, I had a duty to perform. If Elsie had visited the +house and purloined the fan, she would be very likely to get rid of it +as quickly as possible, and I determined to keep watch. I drew the +blinds, got into my dressing-gown and, reinforcing the lampshade with a +newspaper to deaden the light, proceeded to read. + +It was on toward one o'clock and I was dozing when a sound roused me. A +door on the Flynn side of the hall creaked; there was silence, then I +heard furtive steps on the stair. I snapped out my light and peered out +of the window just as Elsie's robust figure disappeared into the +shadows. I was about to follow when the creaking of the Flynn door was +repeated. In a moment another peep through the shade showed me Flynn +himself, and he, too, quickly vanished. Here was a situation indeed! If +Elsie was keeping tryst with her co-conspirator of the afternoon and her +husband was spying upon her, a row of large proportions was likely to +result at any moment. I leaned from the window as far as I dared, and +saw the woman close to the wall at the farther end of the building. The +scene was well set for trouble, and I was wondering what I could do to +avert a disturbance and the exposure of the foolish woman when the whole +matter was taken out of my hands. + +"You fool! You scoundrel!" she bellowed in German. "That you should +think me a plaything to commit a robbery for you! That I should steal +from my mistress to satisfy you, you piece of swine-flesh!" + +I had often heard Elsie vocally disciplining her Irish husband and knew +the power of her lungs and the vigor of her invective, but she seemed +bent upon apprising the whole commonwealth of Connecticut of the fact +that she was vastly displeased with the person she was addressing, who +was certainly not Flynn. Amid sounds of a scuffle and the continuous +outpouring of billingsgate the light over the garage door flashed on +suddenly and disclosed Flynn in the act of precipitating himself into +the fray. Elsie had grasped, and was stoutly clinging to a tall man who +was trying to free himself of her muscular embrace. Her cries meanwhile +included some of the raciest terms in the German dictionary and +others--mouthfuls of frightfulness--that I didn't recognize. + +When I reached the open Flynn was dancing round the belligerents like an +excited boxer, occasionally springing in to land a blow; and all the +while Elsie continued to address her captive and the world at large in +her native tongue. Flynn was rather more than sixty, and Elsie was not +much his junior, while the invader was young and agile. The man had +loosened one arm and drawn a revolver with which he was pounding Elsie +in the face. I knocked the gun from his hand with my walking-stick and +shouted to Elsie to let go of him. Her shouts had roused the guards and, +hearing answering cries and the beat of hurrying feet on the walks, he +redoubled his efforts to escape. I had hardly got my hands on him when +with a twist of his body he wrenched himself free and sped away in the +darkness. + +I hadn't gone far in pursuit of him before I tripped over the skirts of +my dressing-gown and fell into a bed of cannas. This would have been +less melancholy if Flynn, hard behind, hadn't stumbled over me and, +believing he had captured the enemy, gripped my legs until I could +persuade him to let go. + +The lights now flared on all the walks and driveways, and Antoine was +bellowing orders to the guards to surround the sunken garden. I surmised +that the fugitive, surprised by the attack, had lost his bearings and +was now far from the boundary wall back of the garage from which +presumably he had entered the grounds. With the Sound cutting off his +exit beyond the residence, there was a fair chance of catching him if +Antoine's veterans were at all vigilant. + +I found Antoine, armed with a club and swinging a lantern, majestically +posed at the nearer entrance to the garden. With a swallow-tail coat +over his night-shirt and his nightcap tipped over one ear, he was an +enthralling figure. As he strode toward me his slippers flapped weirdly +upon the brick walk. "There's somebody in the garden, sir," he whispered +huskily. "The troops has it surrounded." No general in all history, +reporting in some critical hour the disposition of his army, could have +been more composed. + +"You have done well, Antoine. Shall you dig in until morning or go over +the top now?" + +"As you say, sir. It's better you should take charge." + +I walked round the garden and found his men well distributed, but the +old fellows were exceedingly nervous. "It's a bit suspicious, sir, that +he broke for the garden," remarked Antoine. + +"He broke for the garden," I suggested, "because his line of retreat was +cut off and he had to go somewhere." + +"It's queer, though, sir, when Dutch has been sleeping on the long bench +down there by the fountain. You know how we feel about him, sir, he +being of that race." + +"Dutch told me he was camping in the tool-house," I answered. + +"The boys drove him out, sir, and he took to the garden." + +"Nasty of the boys, I should say. If that interloper should murder +him----" + +A yell rose from the midst of the garden, followed by a crash and an +instant later by a splash that interrupted another yell. I snatched +Antoine's lantern and ran down the steps toward the scene of commotion. +When I reached the circular pool the jet was still playing gayly, but +the waters on one side were in furious agitation. Two men were rolling +and tumbling about as though bent upon drowning each other. I swung the +lantern over them just as Dutch got upon his feet, gripping his +antagonist by the collar. He flung him backward over the stone curbing +of the pool and fell upon him in the walk with a swish of wet garments. +The guards from the outer edges of the garden had clambered down and +they gathered about us as I began questioning Dutch. + +Dutch, undoubtedly enjoying his victorious encounter, was tearing open +the prostrate captive's collar to give him air and with his knees +clamping the man's body was disposed to delay the story of his +adventures to increase its dramatic effect. + +"It happens this evenin'," he began, spouting water, "that I seen Elsie, +who's been sneakin' me meals to the old stables, an' she says to me: +'Dutch,' she says, 'they's all ag'in us here, callin' us Huns, an' we +gotta show 'em we's good Americans,' she says. An' she tole me a feller +been to see 'er 'at wanted 'er to rob the house fer 'im, he thinkin' 'er +likely to do ut fer love o' the Kaiser. She said as 'ow she'd nail 'im +when he comes to-night to git a fan she's promised to lift fer 'im. She +said that'd prove she wasn't no Dutchwoman and recommended if I got the +chance to do the same. I thought nothin' wuz goin' to happen an' wuz +sleepin' on me bench here in the garden when the hollerin' at the garage +woke me up. I sits quiet, listenin' an' this guy drops into the garden +an' wuz crawlin' past me bench an' I pinches 'im. He wuz fer havin' a +fight, an' we knocks over one of the big urns an' lit in the tank. He +says it's a thousand bones an' ye turn me loose, he says, an' I soused +'im ag'in fer that." + +The man was still choking from the sousings and Dutch turned him over +and pounded him vigorously on the back, assisted by Zimmerman, the +obliging valet, who had seized the occasion to show his hand on the side +of the Allies. "Shall I telephone for the Barton police, sir?" asked +Antoine with an extreme exaggeration of his professional manner. + +This obviously was the thing to do, but I feigned not to hear the +question while I debated the matter. It was plain that many things +relating to the capture were veiled in mystery: that if Mrs. Bashford +and her companion were involved in an international tangle and had in +their possession something that vitally concerned the nations at war, +common chivalry demanded that I handle the arrest of Montani's agent in +such manner as to shield them. I was thinking hard and in my perplexity +even considered sending a messenger for Torrence; but he was already +suspicious and would be very likely to summon Raynor immediately and +precipitate a crisis I was not prepared to face. To invite the attention +of the American State Department to the increasingly complex situation +would not be giving my aunt the chance I meant she should have to clear +herself. + +The captive had got upon his feet and stood dazedly staring at us. He +refused to answer my questions, even when I suggested that if he could +give a satisfactory account of himself he would be released. He only +doggedly shook his head. When I asked if he had been hurt in his bout +with Dutch he smiled and extended his arms in denial. He was a very +decent-looking fellow, blue-eyed and smooth-shaven, who seemed to accept +his plight with a degree of good humor. + +I decided that as nothing would be gained by sending him to the Barton +calaboose that night, I would assume the responsibility of detaining +him until I had groped my way through the haze of suspicions and +circumstances that enveloped him. + +"Get some dry clothes for this man and lock him up in the tool-house. Be +sure he has blankets, and you'd better give him some hot coffee." + +The captive manifested relief at my decision and broke his silence to +thank me, which he did in very good English. His submissiveness only +deepened my perplexity, but I couldn't help laughing as he walked away +surrounded by the "troops," with Dutch leading the way--Dutch fully +conscious that he had vindicated himself and disposed to be rather +disdainful of his comrades. + +I hurried to the house, where I found Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth +ministering to Elsie, who had been taken there by their order. Elsie, +sharing with Dutch the honors of the night, lay on a davenport, where +she had received first aid. Alice rose from her knees as I entered, +gathering up strips of bandages, and turned to me laughingly. + +"Elsie's injuries are not serious; only disagreeable bruises in the +face. There will be no scars, I'm sure. We'll keep her at the house for +a few days until she's quite fit again. Surely any one who has +questioned Elsie's loyalty ought to be satisfied now." + +"You certainly managed it very cleverly, Elsie. We're all very +grateful." + +Elsie, her face covered with bandages, acknowledged my thanks by +wiggling her foot. + +Mrs. Farnsworth said she would put Elsie to bed. Now, I thought, Alice +would make some sign if she knew anything that would explain Montani and +the prisoner in the tool-house. But the whole affair only moved her to +laughter and she seemed less a grown woman than ever in her white robe. +My efforts to impress her with the seriousness of the attempt to secure +the fan only added to her delight. + +"How droll! How very droll! You couldn't possibly have arranged anything +that would please me more! It's delicious! As you say in America, it's +perfectly killing!" + +I suggested that the holding of a prisoner without process of law might +present embarrassments. + +"I know," she cried, clapping her hands joyfully. "You mean we are +likely to bump into dear old _habeas corpus_! The sheriff will come and +read a solemn paper to you and you will have to hie you to court and +produce the body of the prisoner. That will be splendid!" + +"It won't be so funny if----" + +I was about to say that the humor of the thing would be spoiled somewhat +if she were made a witness and there proved to be something irregular +about the fan which had caused all the trouble, but I hadn't the heart +to do it. To spoil such merriment as bubbled in her heart would be +cruel--an atrocity as base as snatching a plaything from a joyous child. + +"Constance and I so love the unusual--and it is so hard to find!" she +continued. "And yet from the moment I reached the gates of these +premises things have happened! Nothing is omitted! Strange visitors; +fierce attacks upon our guards, and still the mystery deepens in the wee +sma' hours, with heroes and heroines at every turn! To think that that +absurd little Dutch was asleep in the garden and really captured the +spy or whatever he is! But you are a hero too! You shall be decorated!" + +She walked to a stand and pondered a moment before a vase of roses, +chose a long-stemmed red one and struck me lightly across the shoulder +with it. + +"Arise, sir knight! You should have knelt, but to kneel in skirts +requires practice; you could hardly have managed in that monk's robe." + +I couldn't be sure whether she was mocking me or whether there was +really liking under this nonsense. I was beyond the point of being +impatient with her. I was helpless in her hands; she would do with me as +she willed, and it was my business to laugh with her, to meet her as +best I could in the realm of folly. + +"You must go!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Constance will be calling down +the stairs for me in a moment." + +"To-morrow--" I began. The wistful look she had at times came into her +eyes as she stood in the centre of the room, playing with the flower. + +"To-morrow," she repeated, "and then--to-morrow!" + +"There must be endless to-morrows for you and me," I said, and took the +flower from her hand. The revery died in her eyes, and they were awake +with reproach and dismissal. At the door I looked back. She hadn't moved +and she said, very quietly, but smiling a little: "Nothing must happen +to make me sorry I came. Please remember!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +PURSUING KNIGHTS + + +I didn't sleep until near daybreak, and was aroused at nine o'clock by +Flynn, who appeared at the door in his chauffeur's togs, carrying a +tray. + +"The wife didn't come back, sorr, but I made coffee and toast. Sorry to +waken you, but I'm takin' the new car into the city." + +I sat up and rubbed my eyes. + +"Who's going to the city?" I demanded. + +"The ladies is goin' at once, sorr. They sent orders an hour ago to be +ready with the new machine. Orders was to take my bag; it looks like I'd +be gone the night. I'm late and you'll have to excuse me, sorr." + +I sprang out of bed and plied him with questions, most of which he was +unable to answer. I did, however, extract from him the information that +nothing had occurred after I retired for the night that could have +alarmed the women at the residence and prompted this abrupt departure. +There was no reason why Alice shouldn't run to town if it pleased her to +do so, and yet it was odd that she hadn't mentioned the matter. Flynn +hurried away, and from the window I followed the car's course to the +house, and a moment later caught a glimpse of it on its way to the +gates. + +I was shaving when Antoine appeared, pale from the stirring incidents of +the night. + +"I suppose you know, sir," he said, straightening the coffee-pot on the +tray in an attempt to conceal his emotions. + +"When did you first hear that the ladies meant to leave to-day?" I +shouted with a flourish of the razor. "If you knew it last night and +didn't tell me----" + +"I heard it, incidental-like, at breakfast this morning. There was a +night letter, sir, read by the agent at Barton to the mistress quite +early, sir. I can't tell you what it was, sir." + +"Did they seem alarmed or depressed; was there anything to indicate +whether they had bad news?" + +"They seemed quite merry over it, sir. But you know their goings-on, +which I never understand, sir. For all I know it may be a death in the +family; you'd never tell it from their actions. You will pardon me for +remarking it again, sir; but, considering that they're ladies, their +actions and goings-on is most peculiar." + +"As to luggage, I hope you had the intelligence to note whether they +went for a long stay?" + +"Only the suitcases that fits into the rack of the machine. Louise +thought they might be going for a week, maybe." + +This was all I got out of him. Mrs. Bashford and Mrs. Farnsworth had +flown, giving no hint of the length of their absence. They had slipped +away and left me with a prisoner that I didn't know what to do with; +with an inquiry by the American Department of State hanging over me; +with Torrence to reckon with, and, in general, a muddled head that only +a vast number of lucid explanations could restore to sanity. + +I called from the window to one of the gardeners who knew how to manage +a machine and told him to be ready to drive me to the village in half +an hour. There was an express at ten-forty, and by taking it I would at +least have the satisfaction of being somewhere in New York when the +runaways arrived. Antoine packed my suitcase; I am not sure that he +didn't shed tears on my belongings. The old fellow was awed into silence +by the rapidity with which history had been made in the past twenty-four +hours, and clearly was not pleased by my desertion. + +We drove past the tool-house, where I found the prisoner seated on a +wheelbarrow smoking a cigarette. He was no more communicative than when +I had questioned him after his capture. He smiled in a bored fashion +when I asked if he wanted anything, and said he would be obliged for +cigarettes and reading-matter. He volunteered nothing as to his +identity, and the guards said that a thorough search of the captive's +clothing had disclosed nothing incriminating. He had three hundred +dollars in currency (this was to cover Elsie's bribe money, I +conjectured), a handkerchief, a cigarette-case, and a box of matches. I +directed that he be well fed and given all the reading-matter he +wanted, and hurried on to catch my train. + +The futility of my errand struck me hard as I felt the city surging +round me. Without a clew to work on, I was utterly unlikely to find the +two women, and even if I should stumble upon them, in what way could I +explain my conduct in following them? I was visited also by the +discouraging thought that New York might not, after all, be their +destination. + +Flynn was a capable but cautious driver, and they would hardly reach +town before five o'clock. I took a room at the Thackeray Club and +pondered carefully whether, in spite of my misgivings, I hadn't better +see Torrence and tell him all that had happened since his call on Mrs. +Bashford. If there was any chance of doing the wrong thing in any matter +not prescribed in the laws governing the administration of estates, he +would be sure to do it; but I was far from satisfied with the results of +my own management of affairs at Barton. I finally called up the trust +company and learned that Torrence was in Albany attending the trial of a +will case and might not be in town for a couple of days. His secretary +said he had instructions to wire my daily report to Albany. I told him +there had been no developments at Barton, and went out and walked the +Avenue. Inquiries at hotels large and small occupied me until seven +o'clock. No one had heard of a Mrs. Bashford or a Mrs. Farnsworth. My +inspection of the occupants of several thousand automobiles proved +equally fruitless. I ate a lonely dinner at the club and resumed my +search. Hanging about theatre doors, staring at the crowd, is not a +dignified occupation, and by nine o'clock, having seen the most belated +theatre-goers vanish, I was tired and footsore. The flaming sign of +Searles's "Who Killed Cock Robin?" over the door of the "As You Like It" +caught my eye. I bought a seat--the last in the rack--and squeezed into +my place in the middle of the last row. As I had seen the piece at least +a dozen times, its novelty was gone for me, but the laughter of the +delighted audience was cheering. The first act was reaching its +culmination, and I watched it with a glow of pride in Searles and his +skilful craftsmanship. + +As the curtain fell and the lights went up amid murmurs of pleasure and +expectancy, I glanced across the rows of heads with awakened interest. +"Who Killed Cock Robin?" had been praised with such unanimity that if +Alice were in any playhouse that night I was as likely to see her in the +"As You Like It" as anywhere. + +The half-turned face of a man three rows in front of me suddenly caught +my attention. There was something curiously familiar in his outlines and +the gesture with which, at the moment, he was drawing his handkerchief +across his forehead. I judged that he too had come late, for he now +removed his topcoat and thrust his hat under the seat. It was +Montani--beyond any question Montani--and I instinctively shrank in my +seat and lifted my programme as he turned round and swiftly surveyed the +rows behind him. + +I watched his black head intently until I remembered the superstition +that by staring at a person in a public place you can make him look at +you. Montani knew a great many things I wanted to know, but I must have +time to adjust myself to the shock of his propinquity. I satisfied +myself that he was alone and as he continued to mop his face I judged +that he had arrived in some haste. The house now took note of a stirring +in one of the boxes. There was an excited buzz as the tall form and +unmistakable features of Cecil Arrowsmith, the English actor, were +recognized. I had read that day of his arrival in New York. With him +were two women. My breath came hard and I clutched the iron frame of the +seat in front of me so violently that its occupant turned and glared. + +The trio settled into their places quickly, but not before I had +satisfied myself that Arrowsmith's companions were Alice and Mrs. +Farnsworth. As they fell into animated talk I saw that Alice was in her +gayest humor. The distinguished tragedian seemed greatly amused by what +she was saying to him. + +"Must be members of Arrowsmith's company," one of my neighbors remarked. +"They open in two weeks in Shakespearian repertoire." + +Montani had half risen, the better to focus an opera-glass on the box. +The gong solemnly announced the second act, and Alice moved her chair to +face the stage. Once more Montani scanned the party with his glass. As +the lights faded Alice, with the pretty languorous gesture I so well +remembered, opened her fan--the fan of ostrich plumes, that became a +blur of white that held my eye through the dusk after the curtain rose. + +Alice, Montani, and the fan! To this combination I had now to add the +new element introduced into the situation by the apparent familiar +acquaintance of Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth with Cecil Arrowsmith. And +yet, as the play proceeded on its swift-moving course, I reasoned that +there was nothing extraordinary in their knowing the eminent actor. He +had long been a personage in England and had lately been knighted. Their +appearance with him at the theatre really disposed of the idea that they +might be impostors. The presence of Arrowsmith had put zest into the +company, and I hadn't seen a better performance of Searles's play. The +trio in the box joined in the prolonged applause at the end of the act. + +As they resumed their talk Alice, it seemed, was relating something of +moment for Arrowsmith's benefit, referring now and then to Mrs. +Farnsworth as though for corroboration. The scene in the box was almost +as interesting as any in the play, and the audience watched with deep +absorption. Alice, the least self-conscious of mortals, was, I knew, +utterly unaware of the curious gaze of the house; whatever she was +saying with an occasional gesture of her gloved hands or a shrug of her +shoulders possessed her completely. I thought she might be telling +Arrowsmith of her adventures at Barton; but the length of her narrative +was against this, and Arrowsmith's attitude was more that of a critic +appealed to for an opinion than of a polite listener to a story. He +nodded his head several times, and finally, as Alice, with a slight dip +of the head and an outward movement of her arms, settled back in her +chair, he patted his hands approvingly. + +In my absorption I had forgotten Montani's existence, but as the third +act began I saw that he had gone. Whether I should put myself in Alice's +way as she left the theatre was still an undetermined question when the +play ended. With Montani hanging about I felt a certain obligation to +warn her that he had been watching her. I was among the first to leave, +and in the foyer I met Forsythe, the house manager, who knew me as a +friend of Searles. + +"You notice that we're still turning 'em away," he remarked. "We don't +have to worry about this piece; everybody who sees it sends his friends +the next day. Searles hasn't looked in for some time; hope he's writing +a new play?" + +"He's West visiting his folks. Don't know when he'll be back," I +answered. "I must write him that Sir Cecil Arrowsmith enjoyed 'Who +Killed Cock Robin?' just as much as common mortals." + +Forsythe had paused at the box-office, and in my uncertainty I stuck to +him as the crowd began to surge by. + +Arrowsmith's approach was advertised by the peculiar type of tall hat +that he affected, and the departing audience made way for him, or hung +back to stare. At his left were Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth, and they must +pass quite close to me. "Who Killed Cock Robin?" was a satisfying play +that sent audiences away with lightened hearts and smiling faces, and +the trio were no exception to the rule. + +Listening inattentively to Forsythe, I was planning to join Alice when +the trio should reach me. She saw me; there was a fleeting flash of +recognition in her eyes, and then she turned toward Arrowsmith. She drew +nearer; her gaze met mine squarely, but now without a sign to indicate +that she had ever seen me before. She passed on, talking with greatest +animation to Arrowsmith. + +"Well, remember me to Searles if you write him," I heard Forsythe +saying. I clutched his arm as he opened the office door. + +"Who are those women?" I demanded. + +"You may search me! I see you have a good eye. That girl's rather nice +to look at!" + +Crowding my way to the open, I blocked the path of orderly, sane +citizens awaiting their machines until a policeman pushed me aside. +Alice I saw for a bewildering instant, framed in the window of a big +limousine that rolled away up-town. + +I had been snubbed! No snub had ever been delivered more deliberately, +with a nicer calculation of effect, than that administered to me by +Alice Bashford--a girl with whom, until a moment before, I had believed +myself on terms of cordial comradeship. She had cut me; Alice who had +asked me at the very beginning of our acquaintance to call her by her +first name--Alice had cut me without the quiver of a lash. + +I walked to the Thackeray and settled myself in a dark corner of the +reading-room, thoroughly bruised in spirit. In my resentment I meditated +flying to Ohio to join Searles, always my chief resource in trouble. +Affairs at Barton might go to the devil. If Alice and her companion +wanted to get rid of me, I would not be sorry to be relieved of the +responsibility I had assumed in trying to protect them. With rising fury +I reflected that by the time they had shaken off Montani and got rid of +the prisoner in the tool-house they would think better of me. + +"Telephone call, sir." + +I followed the boy to the booth in a rage that any one should disturb my +gloomy reflections. + +"Mr. Singleton? Oh! This is Alice speaking----" + +I clutched the shelf for support. Not only was it Alice speaking, but in +the kindest voice imaginable. My anger passed, but my amazement at Alice +and all her ways blinded me. If she had suddenly stepped through the +wall, my surprise could not have been greater. + +"You told me the Thackeray was your usual refuge in town, so I thought +I'd try it. Are you very, very cross? I'm sorry, really I am--Bob!" + +The "Bob" was added lingeringly, propitiatingly. Huddled in the booth, I +doubted my senses--wondering indeed whether Alice hadn't a double--even +whether I hadn't dreamed everything that had occurred at Barton. + +"I _wanted_ to speak to you ever so much at the theatre, but I couldn't +very well without introducing you to Sir Cecil, and I wasn't ready to do +that. It might have caused complications." + +If anything could have multiplied the existing complications, I was +anxious to know what they were; but her voice was so gentle, so wholly +amiable, that I restrained an impulse to demand explanations. + +"Are you on earth or are you speaking from paradise?" I asked. + +"Oh, we're in a very nice house, Constance and I; and we're just about +having a little supper. I wish you were here, but that can't be +arranged. No; really it can't! We shall be motoring back to Barton +to-morrow and hope you can join us. Let us have luncheon and motor up +together." + +When I suggested that I call for them she laughed gayly. + +"That would be telling things! And we mustn't spoil everything when +everything is going so beautifully." + +Remembering the man I had locked up in the tool-house and the +explanations I should have to make sooner or later to the unimaginative +Torrence, I wasn't wholly convinced of the general beauty of the +prospect. + +"Montani was in the theatre," I suggested. + +Her laughter rippled merrily over the wire. "Oh, he tried to follow us +in a taxi! We had a great time throwing him off in the park. I'm not +sure he isn't sitting on the curb right now watching the house +ungraciously." + +"You have the fan with you; Montani jumped right out of his seat when +you opened it in the theatre." + +This she received with more laughter; Montani amused her immensely, she +said. She wasn't in the least afraid of him. Returning to the matter of +the luncheon, she suggested the Tyringham. + +"You know, I want very much to see Mr. Bashford's old home and the place +all our veteran retainers came from. At one?--yes. Good night!" ... + +Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth reached the Tyringham on time to the minute. +As I had spent the morning on a bench in the park, analyzing my +problems, I found their good humor a trifle jarring. + +"You don't seem a bit glad to see us," Alice complained as she drew off +her gloves. "How can any one be anything but happy after seeing that +delicious 'Cock Robin'! It is so deliciously droll." + +"I haven't," I remarked with an attempt at severity, "quite your knack +of ignoring disagreeable facts. There was Montani right in front of me, +jumping like a jack-in-the-box every time you flourished your fan. +There's that fellow we've got locked up at Barton----" + +"Just hear the man, Constance!" she interrupted with her adorable laugh. +"We were thinking that he was beginning to see things our way, the only +true way, the jolly way, and here he cometh like a melancholy Jaques! +We'll have none of it!" + +"We must confess," said Mrs. Farnsworth conciliatingly, "that Mr. +Singleton is passing through a severe trial. We precipitated ourselves +upon him without warning, and immediately involved him in a mesh of +mystery. His imagination must have time to adjust itself." + +"Ah, the imagination!" sighed Alice with her wistful smile. "How little +patience the world has with anything but the soberest facts! Why should +we bother about that lunatic Montani or the gentleman immured in the +tool-house? I couldn't introduce you to Sir Cecil without anticipating +the end of our story; and I want you to keep wondering and wondering +about us. It's all so jolly! I love it all! And really you wouldn't +spoil it, Bob! It's dreadful to spoil things." + +They were spoiling my appetite; I was perfectly aware of that. I had +ordered the best luncheon I knew how to compose, and they were doing +full justice to it; but I was acting, I knew, like a resentful boy. + +"I love you that way," said Alice as I stared vacantly at my plate. "But +you really are not making yourself disagreeable to us--really he is not, +Constance!" + +Mrs. Farnsworth affirmed this. I knew that I was merely being rude, and +the consciousness of this was not uplifting. At the luncheon hour the +influx of shoppers gives the Tyringham a cheery tone, and all about us +were people apparently conversing sanely and happily. The appearance of +Uncle Bash's ghost in the familiar dining-room would have been a welcome +diversion. I was speculating as to just what he would say about his +widow and the whole mess at Barton when Mrs. Farnsworth addressed me +pleadingly. + +"If you knew that we want you to play with us only a few days +longer--three days, shall we say, Alice?--if you knew that then we'll +untangle everything, wouldn't you be nice--very nice?" + +In spite of myself I couldn't resist this appeal. I was more and more +impressed by the fineness, the charm of Mrs. Farnsworth. When she +dropped the make-believe foolishness in which she indulged quite as +amusingly as Alice, she appeared to be a very sensible person. The humor +danced in her eyes now, but her glance was more than an appeal; it was a +command. + +"If you knew that our troubles are not at all the troubles you're +thinking about, but very different----" + +"Please pardon me!" I muttered humbly, and wished that Alice were not so +bewitching in a sailor hat. It may have been the hat or only Mrs. +Farnsworth's pleading tone that brought me to a friendlier attitude +toward the universe and its visible inhabitants. The crowd thinned out, +but we lingered, talking of all manner of things. + +"We must come in again very soon," said Alice. "And next time we shan't +run away, which was very naughty. I suppose when you begin a story you +just have to keep it going or it will die on your hands. That's the way +with our story, you know. Of course it's unkind to mystify you: but you +are in the story just as we are." + +My mystification was certainly deep enough without this suggestion that +I was a mere character in a tale whose awkward beginning aroused only +the gravest apprehensions as to the conclusion. She looked at her watch +and continued: + +"I'm so absurd--really I am, in ever so many ways, that no one would +ever put me in a book. Every one would say no such person ever existed! +It's incredible! And so I have to pretend I'm in a story all the time. +It's the only way I can keep happy. And so many people are in my story +now, not only Montani and the poor fellow locked up at Barton--oh, what +if he should escape! Constance, it would be splendid if he should +escape!" + +"I don't think it would be splendid if he escaped!" I exclaimed, sitting +up very straight at the bare thought of such a calamity. "He would +either kill me or sue me for damages." + +"Oh, that wouldn't fit into the story at all! Murder and damages are so +frightfully sordid and generally disagreeable. We must have nothing +like that in our story." + +"You didn't finish your enumeration of characters," I suggested. "Is my +part an important one or am I only a lay figure?" + +"My dear boy," cried Mrs. Farnsworth, "you are the hero! You have been +the hero from the hour the story began. If you should desert us now, +whatever should we do!" + +"If I'm the hero," I replied in her own key, "I shall begin making love +to Alice at once." + +Alice, far from being disturbed by my declaration, nodded her head +approvingly. + +"Oh, we had expected that! But you needn't be in a hurry. In a story +like this one, that runs right on from day to day, we must leave a lot +to chance. And there are ever so many chances----" + +"Not all on the side of failure, I hope?" + +"We _must_ be going." She laughed. I wished she hadn't that +characteristic little turn of the head that was so beguiling! + +Folly rode with us all the way to Barton. If anything sensible was +uttered on the drive, I can't recall it. Our talk, chiefly of knights +and ladies, and wild flights from imaginary enemies, had the effect of +spurring Flynn to perilous spurts of speed. + +"Flynn has caught the spirit!" cried Alice exultingly. "Haven't you, +Flynn?" + +Flynn, turning to confirm this, caused the car to swerve and graze a +truck piled high with household goods. + +"We may elude the pursuing knights," I suggested, "but some village +constable may take it into his head to pinch us." + +"Oh, that would be lovely," cried Alice. "And we'd telegraph dear Mr. +Torrence to come and bail us out." + +We reached Barton at nine o'clock and after an informal supper I +listened to Antoine's solemn reports as I walked to the garage. The +prisoner had made no sign, he said, and nothing had occurred during the +day. + +"But there's this, Mr. Singleton, which you ought to know, sir. The old +Tyringham people don't like the goings on here. You'll admit it's all +mighty queer. I don't complain, sir, but some of the boys threatens to +leave, sir. And I look at it this way, that nobody understanding what +the spying and bribes offered and taking prisoners is all about, is most +peculiar. We got to know where we stand, that's what it's come to, sir. +And the widow being flighty-like and Flynn coming home and saying +nothing, but shaking his head when we ask him where he's been--You see +for yourself, sir, how it looks to us." + +What he said as to the general aspect of things was true, but I didn't +admit that it was true. Alice had converted me to the notion that I was +a character in a story, a plaything of fate, and I lightly brushed aside +Antoine's melancholy plaint. + +"Any man of you," I said, "who leaves this property will be brought back +and shot. Tell that to the boys!" + +Nevertheless, the perfect equanimity of the gentleman in the tool-house +when I visited him the next morning shook my faith a trifle in the +story-book features of life at Barton. He was an exemplary prisoner, the +guards reported, and he had maintained the strictest silence in my +absence. He ate, smoked, and read, courteously thanking the men for +their attentions, and that was all. When I showed myself at the window +he rose and threw down the magazine he was reading and replied +good-naturedly to my inquiry as to how he was getting along. + +"I have no complaint except that the guards snore outrageously. The poor +old chaps will sleep, you know." + +"If you're so badly guarded, why don't you escape?" I asked tartly. + +"It would relieve your mind a lot if I should disappear?" he asked +insinuatingly. + +"You are impertinent," I replied, irritated that he should have surmised +that his presence was causing me uneasiness. "If you will come to your +senses and tell me the meaning of your visits here, we may agree upon +terms. As it stands, you're a trespasser; you tried to bribe a servant +to rob the house. If you're at all familiar with criminal law in this +country, you can estimate the number of years' imprisonment that will be +handed you for these little indiscretions." + +"If it's all so plain, why don't you hand me over to the authorities?" +he asked, provokingly cool. + +"I'm giving you a chance to confess and tell who's back of all this. +Tell me just why your confederate Montani is annoying Mrs. Bashford, and +I'll turn you loose." + +"Perhaps, my dear sir, the motive that impels you to detain me +unlawfully is the same that enjoins silence upon me! Please consider +that a little." + +I replied that I would consider nothing short of a confession. In a +match of wits he was fully my equal, and in the mastery of his temper he +certainly had the best of me. + +"If you wait for me to confess anything, you will wait forever," he +replied. "I repeat that we are impelled by the same motives, you and I. +I think I needn't enlighten you as to what they are." + +"I shall be glad to hear your idea of my motives," I answered feebly. + +"I shall be frank," he replied readily. "The reason you don't turn me +over to the police is the very simple one that you don't want to +embarrass the mistress of the house yonder by causing the light of +publicity to beat upon her very charming head. You wish to save her +annoyance, and possibly something much graver. I can see that you are +impressed; but it ought to please you to know that I share your feeling +of delicacy where she is concerned. And let me add that the Count +Montani is animated by like feeling. So there we are, exactly on the +same ground!" + +"You haven't answered my questions!" I blustered to hide my annoyance at +being thrust further into the dark. "You don't understand Mrs. +Bashford," I went on hurriedly. "It is inconceivable that any one should +wish to injure her or that she could have committed any act that would +cause her to be spied upon. She's tremendously imaginative; she indulges +in little fancies that are a part of her charm!" + +"Little fancies!" he repeated, hiding a yawn. "It's deplorable for a +pretty woman to have an imagination; there's danger there!" + +"Your philosophy bores me," I said, and left him. He had lied about the +snoring of the guards--Antoine satisfied me of that--but I gave +instructions to double the watch. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +ALICE + + +I wanted to be alone and struck off for a wood that lay on the northern +end of the estate. This was the most picturesque spot on the property, a +wild confusion of trees and boulders. On a summit in the midst of it +Uncle Bash had built a platform round a majestic pine from which to view +the Sound. I mounted the ladder and was brushing the dead leaves from +the bench when, somewhere below me and farther on, I heard voices. + +I flattened myself on the platform, listening intently. A stiff breeze +from the Sound flung the voices clearly to my hiding-place, and I became +aware that Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth were holding a colloquy in what +seemed to be the vein of their whimsical make-believe. That they should +be doing this in the depth of the woodland merely for their own +amusement did not surprise me--nothing they could have done would have +astonished me--but the tone of their talk changed abruptly. + +"Try it from that boulder there, Alice," said Mrs. Farnsworth. "It's an +ideal place, created for the very purpose." + +I could see them moving about and hear the swish of shrubbery and the +scraping of their feet on the rough slope. + +"How will that do?" asked Alice. + +"Beautifully," replied Mrs. Farnsworth. "Now go ahead from the beginning +of the scene." + +Cautiously drawing back the branches, I espied Alice striking a pose on +a mammoth rock. She bent forward, clasping her knees, and with an +occasional glance at what appeared to be an open book beside her, she +began: + +"You ask me who I am, my lord? It matters not at all who or what I am; +let it suffice that berries are my food and the brook that sings behind +me gives me drink. To be one thing or another is a weariness. Would you +ask yonder oak for a name, or trouble the wind with like foolish +questions? No; it is enough that a tree is strong and fine to look upon +and that a wind has healing in its wings." + +With her head to one side and an arresting gesture, and throwing into +her voice all its charm and a new compelling innocence and sweetness, +she continued: + +"But you would have a name? Then, O foolish one, so much I will tell +you: Yesterday I was Helen, who launched a thousand ships and shook the +topless towers of Ilium. To-day I am Rosalind in the forest of Arden, +and to-morrow I may be Antigone, or Ariel or Viola, or what you will. I +am what I make myself or choose to be. I pray you, let that suffice." + +My face was wet with perspiration, and my heart thumped wildly. For +either I was stark, staring mad, or these were lines from Searles's +"Lady Larkspur," the manuscript of which was carefully locked in my +trunk. + +"That should be spoken a trifle more slowly, and with the best air of +unpremeditatedness you can put into it," Mrs. Farnsworth was saying. +"You can work it out better when you've memorized the lines. It's +immensely effective having the last scene come back to the big boulder +on the mountainside. Let me look at that a minute." + +She took up the manuscript--there was no question of the blue cover of +my copy of "Lady Larkspur"--and turned to the passage she sought. + +"Let me read this over," Mrs. Farnsworth continued: "'I have played, my +lord, at hide-and-seek with the stars, and I have run races with the +brooks. You alone of all that have sought me are equally fleet of foot +and heart! If you but touch my hand, I am lost forever. And this hand--I +beg you look at it--is as brown as a berry and as rough as hickory bark. +A wild little hand and not lightly to be yielded at any man's behest. +Look at me carefully, my lord.' She rises to full height quickly. Let me +see you do that, Alice." + +Alice's golden head became more distinctively visible as she stood erect +upon the boulder. + +"Oh, no! You can improve on that; it must be done lightly and quickly, +just touching the tips of your fingers to the rock. Ah, splendid! Now +stand with one hand dropped upon the hip--let me see how that looks. +Very good; now repeat these lines after me. 'This other world, of which +you speak?' Shake your head slowly, frowning; every hint of sincere +doubt and questioning you can throw into look and gesture. 'Is it a kind +world, a place of honest hearts? You have spoken of cities, and crowded +avenues, of music and theatres and many things I have read of but never +seen. You promise me much, but what should I do in so vast a company? I +am very happy here. Spring and summer fill my hands with flowers and in +winter I lay my face to the wind that carries sleet and snow. All this +is mine.' Arms stretched out. You mustn't make that stiff--very good. +'Earth and sky and forest belong to me. The morning comes down the sky +in search of me and the tired day bids me good-night at the western +gate. You would change rags for silk.' You turn your body and catch your +skirt in your hands, looking down. Yes; you are barefoot in this scene. +You'll have to practise that turn. Now--'And yet I should lose my +dominion; in that world you boast of I should no more be Lady +Larkspur.'" + +Alice had repeated these lines, testing and trying different +modulations. Sometimes a dozen repetitions hardly sufficed to satisfy +Mrs. Farnsworth, who herself recited them and postured for Alice's +instruction. + +"Please read the whole of the second act again," said Alice, seating +herself on the boulder. I waited for a few minutes, enjoying the +beautiful flow of Mrs. Farnsworth's voice, then, mystified and awed, I +crept down the ladder and stole away. "It's Dick Searles's play," I kept +whispering to myself. It was the "Lady Larkspur" that he was holding +back until he could find the girl who had so enchanted him in London and +for whom he had written this very comedy with its setting in the +Virginia hills. + +Hurrying to the garage, I snarled at Flynn, who said Torrence had been +calling me all morning and had finally left word that he would motor to +Barton at eight the next evening to see me on urgent business. I +unlocked my trunk and dug out my copy of "Lady Larkspur." Not even the +wizardry of Alice and her friend could have extracted the script. The +two women had in some way possessed themselves of another copy, an exact +duplicate, even to its blue paper cover; and I sat down and began +recalling everything Searles had told me about his efforts to find the +actress. + +The telephone on the table at my elbow rang until Flynn came in timidly +to quiet it. + +"If it's Mr. Torrence--" I began. + +"It's the Barton station, sir. There's a telegram." I snatched the +receiver spitefully, thinking it only the methodical Torrence confirming +the appointment made by telephone. But the operator began reading: + + "SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, September 30, 1917. + + "Cable from London agent says last forwarding address for Violet + Dewing was hotel in Seattle. Please ask Harkaway & Stein and anybody + else on Broadway who might know what companies are on coast or + headed that way. I find no clew in theatrical papers and don't want + to mess things by making inquiries direct. If party can be located, + will start West immediately. + + "SEARLES." + +The thought of Searles was comforting, and I reproached myself for not +having summoned him at the beginning of my perplexities. I immediately +dictated this reply: + +"Take first train East and come to me at Barton as quickly as possible. +Hope to have news for you." + +I then jotted down on a scratch pad this memorandum: + +"The young woman representing herself as Mrs. Bashford and now +established in my uncle's house is one or all of the following persons: + + 1. Uncle Bash's widow. + 2. An impostor. + 3. A spy of some sort, pursued by secret agents. + 4. Violet Dewing, an actress. + 5. The most interesting and the loveliest and most charming girl + in the world." + +I checked off one, two, and three as doubtful if not incredible; four +seemed possible, and five was wholly incontrovertible. But the first +three certainly required much illumination, and the fourth I was +helpless to reconcile with any of the others but the last. I reviewed +Searles's enthusiastic description of the young woman who had inspired +him to write "Lady Larkspur," and could only excuse my stupidity in not +fitting it to Alice the first time I saw her on the ground that Barton +was the last place in the world I should have looked for her. And then, +with all his exuberance, Searles hadn't done her justice! + +The following day nothing of importance happened, though Alice and Mrs. +Farnsworth again spent the morning in the woodland, presumably studying +Searles's play. My thoughts galloped through my head in a definite +formula: "If she is not my aunt--" "If she is an impostor--" "If she is +a spy playing a deep game in the seclusion of Barton--" "If she is the +actress Searles is seeking--" At any rate, I would respect her wish to +play the game through; the dangers of carrying the story-book idea to +one of half a dozen possible conclusions were not inconsiderable, but I +was resolved that she should finish the tale in her own fashion. + +On my way to luncheon I passed Dutch pushing a wheelbarrow containing a +huge hamper. + +"It's vittles for the prisoner, sir," he remarked. "He's some feeder, +that guy, and I guess the sooner we shake 'im th' better. He kicks on +th' wine, sir. Says it's questionable vintage. When he gets tired +readin' he pokes his head through the window and kids th' boys. He says +he's goin' to remember th' place and come back when he's old. A charmin' +retreat fer supernumerary superannuates, he calls it. Them's his woids. +I'm gittin' sort o' nervous havin' 'im round. Zimmerman--he's the +clothes-presser--tried to talk Goiman to 'im this mornin' an' th' guy +pretended like his feelin's wuz hoit, an' he never knowed th' Hun's +language, he says. An' Elsie says she's prepared to swear he talked +Goiman easy enough to her." + +"We'll consider his case later, Dutch. The matter is delicate, most +delicate." + +If I had expected Searles and his play to be introduced into the +table-talk, I was doomed to disappointment. A dozen times I smothered an +impulse to tell Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth I had watched them in the +woodland and of Searles's long search for the ideal of his "Lady +Larkspur," but I was afraid to risk their displeasure. They enjoyed +walking in the wood, they said, and when I charged them with +selfishness in not taking me along, Alice immediately suggested a tramp +later in the afternoon. + +"I'll send you away after luncheon--I have loads of letters to write, +but by four o'clock I'll be keen for the woods again." + +"Letters to all my good fairies," she laughed when I went for her; "and +you mustn't look at the addresses!" She suggested that we walk to the +village as she liked to post her letters herself. We went through the +woods where I had seen her the day before. + +"Constance and I were here this morning," she said when we reached the +big boulder. "Let me see; I think I'll try a little trick to test the +hand of fate. Give me those letters, please. If this falls with the +address up, I'll mail it," and she chose one and handed me the others; +"if the flap side turns up, I'll destroy it." + +She sent it spinning into the air. A branch caught and held it an +instant, then it fell, turning over and over, and lay straight on edge +against a weed. + +"No decision!" I cried. "It's an exact perpendicular." + +She knelt beside it, pondering. "I think it leans just a trifle to the +address side," she announced. "Therefore you may return it to your +pocket and it goes into the post-office." + +"These letters would probably answer a lot of questions for me if I +dared run away with them," I suggested. + +"The thought does you no credit, sir. You promised not to meddle, but +just to let things take their course, and I must say that you are +constantly improving. At times you grow suspicious--yes, you know you +do--but, take it all in all, you do very well." + +At the post-office she dropped all the letters but one into the chute. +"It really _did_ fall a little to the address side?" she questioned. + +I gave my judgment that the letter stood straight on edge, inclining +neither way. + +"If my life hung in the balance, I should certainly not act where fate +had been so timid." + +"Perhaps this _does_ affect you," she said, quite soberly. And there in +the lobby of the little Barton post-office, for the first time, I +indulged the hope that there was something more than friendliness and +kindness in her eyes. Her usual composure was gone--for a moment +only--and she fingered the envelope nervously in her slim, expressive +hands. A young woman clerk thrust her head through the delivery window +and manifested a profound interest in our colloquy. + +"Suppose," said Alice musingly, "I were to tell you that if I mail this +letter the effect will be to detain me in America for some time; if I +don't send it, I shall have to write another that will mean that I shall +go very soon. If I stay on at Barton instead of going home to take up my +little part again for England in the war, it will be an act of +selfishness--just some more of my foolishness, more of the make-believe +life that Constance and I have been living here." + +"I want you to stay," I said earnestly, taking the letter. "Let me be +your fate in this--in everything that affects your life forever." + +She walked quickly to the door, and I dropped the letter into the chute +and hurried after her. + +"You didn't turn round," I said as we started down the street. "For all +you know, I've got the letter in my pocket." + +"Oh, I'm not a bit frightened! It would be just as interesting one way +as another." + +"But I want you to stay forever," I declared as we waited on the curb +for a truck to pass. + +"The remark is almost impertinent," she answered, "when I've known you +only seven days." + +"They've been wonderful days. It really makes no difference about +letters or your duties elsewhere. Where you go I shall certainly follow; +that's something I should like to have understood here and now." + +Loitering along the beach on our way home, I was guiltily conscious that +I was making love rather ardently to a lady who had introduced herself +to me as my uncle's widow. The sensation was, on the whole, very +agreeable.... + +"Mr. Torrence and Mr. Raynor," Antoine announced as we were leaving the +dinner-table. + +"Mr. Raynor?" asked Alice. "Who, pray, is Mr. Raynor?" + +Their arrival together chilled me, a chill increased by Torrence's +frosty greeting as he gripped my hand angrily and hissed in my ear: + +"You've deceived me about this whole business! I suggest that you leave +the room." + +I was walking toward the door when Mrs. Farnsworth protested. + +"You are not going? Alice, there is no reason why Mr. Singleton should +leave us." + +"Of course he is not going," said Alice. She was established at ease in +a wicker rocker, unconcernedly plying the ostrich-plume fan. + +"There may be matters----" began Torrence. + +"Oh, nothing that Bob can't hear!" Alice declared. + +"Very well," muttered Torrence, frowning his complete disapproval. + +He fidgeted for a moment and tried to catch Raynor's eye, but Raynor's +face expressed amusement. I found myself liking Raynor very much. + +"Mr. Raynor told me that he wished to speak to Mrs. Bashford privately," +said Torrence. "If he's satisfied, I'm sure I have no objection to Mr. +Singleton's remaining. I regret that my own duty is a disagreeable one." + +"Really!" murmured Alice with nicely shaded impudence. + +"I am convinced, beyond any question," said Torrence sharply, "that you +are not the widow of the late Raymond B. Bashford!" + +"That statement," said Alice without ceasing the languid flutter of the +fan, "is correct--quite correct." + +"Certainly: it is entirely true," affirmed Mrs. Farnsworth. + +"And your coming here as you did is, if you will pardon my frankness, +susceptible of very disagreeable constructions. It is my painful +duty----" + +He choked upon his duty until Raynor spoke, smiling broadly. + +"I find my duty really a privilege," he said. "Not only are you not Mrs. +Bashford," he went on with the utmost good humor, "but you are a very +different person. I should explain that I represent the American State +Department, and that our government has been asked by the British +Embassy to find you and deliver a certain message to you." + +"Oh, papa wants me to come home!" cried Alice. "It's droll, Constance, +that papa should have thought of making an affair of state of us. Dear +papa will always indulge me just so far, and then he becomes alarmed." + +"He's certainly alarmed now!" laughed Raynor. "But the ambassador has +warned us to be most tactful and circumspect. You may not know that Sir +Arnold Seabring is on his way to this country on a confidential mission. +That, of course, is not for publication." + +"Sir Arnold Seabring?" gasped Torrence. + +"The father of the Honorable Miss Seabring," replied Raynor with an +elucidating nod toward Alice. + +"But how--" I began. + +"Mrs. Bashford, the widow of your uncle, is the Honorable Miss +Seabring's aunt. Is that quite correct?" + +"It is all true," said Alice. "I am a fraud, an impostor. You might go +on and say that Mrs. Farnsworth is the wife of Sir Cecil Arrowsmith. But +all the guilt is mine. It was my idea to come here and play a little, +because I knew Aunt Alice wouldn't mind. She knew just what I meant to +do; really she did, Mr. Torrence! In fact, I have her written permission +to use the house, which I should have shown you if we had got in a +pinch. But it seemed so much more fun just to let matters take their +course. It's a pet theory of mine that life is a dull affair unless we +trust to luck a little. After my brother's death I was very unhappy and +had gone out East to visit Aunt Alice, who is a great roamer. I thought +it would be nice to stop here on the way home, just for a lark, without +telling papa, who was frantically cabling me to hurry back to England. +This isn't the first time I've played hide-and-seek with my family. I +was always doing that as a child; and if it hadn't been for my general +waywardness I should never have known you, Constance. Why, I shouldn't +have known you, gentlemen! It has all been so delightful!" + +This naive confession amused Raynor greatly, but Torrence was seeing +nothing in it but a dangerous escapade. + +"In the name of the Bainbridge Trust Company, I must notify you," he +began, "that by representing yourself as another person, entering into +possession of a large property----" + +"But we've been paying all our own expenses; we haven't taken any money +from you," pleaded Alice. + +"Of course you wouldn't do such a thing," affirmed Raynor. "My +instructions are to give you any sum of money you ask. In fact, the +Government of the United States is instructed to assume full +responsibility for you until your father arrives. May I go on and +clarify matters for these gentlemen, for Mr. Torrence at least is +entitled to a full explanation?" + +"Constance," said Alice, turning with a little shrug to her friend, "we +have been caught! Our story is being spoiled for us. Please go on, Mr. +Raynor. Just what does the American State Department have to say about +us?" + +"That you are endowed with a very unusual personality," continued +Raynor, his eyes twinkling. "You are not at all content to remain in +that station of life to which you were born; you like playing at being +all sorts of other persons. Once, so your friend the ambassador confided +to me, you ran away and followed a band of gypsies, which must have been +when you were a very little girl." + +"I was seven," said Alice, "and the gypsies were nice to me." + +"And then you showed talent for the stage----" + +"A dreadful revelation!" she exclaimed. + +"But you don't know that it was really your father who managed to have +Mrs. Farnsworth, one of the most distinguished actresses in England, +take charge of you." + +"No! Alice never knew that!" said Mrs. Farnsworth, laughing. "I was her +chaperon as well as her preceptress; but Alice's father knew that if +Alice found it out it would spoil the adventure for her. Alice must do +things in her own way." + +"You are a fraud," said Alice, "but I always suspected you a little." + +"Speaking of the stage," resumed Raynor, "it is also a part of my +instructions that the Honorable Miss Seabring shall be discouraged from +any further adventures in that direction; she's far too talented; +there's danger of her becoming a great luminary. In other words, she is +not to grace the boards again as Violet Dewing." + +Alice's brow clouded, and she turned to me. "That was settled when you +mailed that letter for me. It was to make an appointment with an +American playwright who wants me to appear in a most adorable comedy." + +"His name is Dick Searles," I said, "and he's my most intimate friend." + +She professed indignation when I told of my eavesdropping in the woods, +but when I explained that I knew all about the play and Searles's +despairing search for her she was enormously pleased. + +"How wonderful!" she exclaimed. "You know I told you, Constance, that if +we really threw ourselves in the path of adventure mystery would come +out to meet us in silken sandals." + +"But you will not appear in this play?" asked Raynor anxiously. "It is +the business of the Government of the United States to see that you +commit no further indiscretions. There is another matter which I hope +you can clear up. You are not only a subject of concern to the British +Embassy, but the French ambassador also has appealed to us to assist him +in a trifling matter!" + +"The French ambassador?" Alice exclaimed with a surprise I knew to be +unfeigned. "I thought the dear Montani was an Italian?" + +"We will continue to call him Montani, but he's a Frenchman and one of +the keenest men in the French Secret Service. You have caused him the +deepest anguish." + +"Please hurry on!" She bent forward with childish delight. "This is a +part of the story we've been living that I really know nothing about. I +hope it won't be disappointing!" + +Raynor laughed and shook his head. + +"It's fortunate that Montani is a gentleman, anxious to shield and +protect you. You have a fan in your hand----" + +She spread it for our inspection. + +"A harmless trinket, but without it the adventure would have been very +tame." + +"The story of the fan is in the most secret archives of Paris and +Washington. When you were packing up in Tokyo to come home on the very +last day before your departure a lady called on you whom you knew as +Madame Volkoff." + +"That dear woman!" exclaimed Mrs. Farnsworth. "We knew her very well." + +"Almost too well," cried Raynor. "A cultivated woman and exceedingly +clever, but a German spy. She had collected some most interesting data +with reference to Japanese armament and defenses, but suspecting that +she was being watched, she hit upon a most ingenious way of getting the +information across the Pacific, expecting to communicate with German +agents in America who could pick it up and pass it on to Berlin. You +see, she thought you an easy mark. She got hold of a fan which Montani +informs me is the exact counterpart of that one you hold. She reduced +her data to the smallest possible compass, concealed it in her fan, and +watched for a chance to exchange with you. The astute Montani found the +Japanese artisan who had done the tinkering for her and surmised that +you were to be made the unconscious bearer of the incriminating papers. +Montani jumped for the steamer you were sailing on with every +determination to get the fan. His professional pride was aroused, and it +was only after he found it impossible to steal the fan that he asked our +assistance. He's a good fellow, a gentleman in every sense, and with +true French chivalry wanted to do the job without disturbing you in any +way." + +We pressed closer about Raynor as he took the fan, spread it open, and +held it close against a table-lamp. "The third, sixth, and ninth," he +counted. "You will notice that those three pieces of ivory are a trifle +thicker and not as transparent as the others. Glancing at them casually +in an ordinary light, you would never suspect that they had been +hollowed out, an exceedingly delicate piece of work. It's a pity to +spoil anything so pretty, but----" + +He snapped the top of one of the panels, disclosing a neatly folded +piece of thin paper. + +"If you are all satisfied, I will not go further. I want to deliver this +to the French Embassy intact. I expect Montani here to-night; he will no +doubt be enormously relieved." + +A machine whizzed into the driveway, and Montani came in brushing past +the astonished Antoine, who had answered the bell. + +"The fan is safe," cried Raynor; "you may complete the identification." + +"I've handled this whole affair most stupidly," said Montani after a +hurried examination. "I'm satisfied that a German agent in America has +picked up the trail of the fan. One or two lines of my own +communications failed to work, and after reporting the whole matter to +the French Embassy I began searching for a man, the most dangerous of +all the German spies, who had been intrusted with the business of +recovering Madame Volkoff's fan and passing the contents on to Berlin. +This person has been representing himself as a French secret agent; he's +enormously plausible. I feared he might attempt what I failed to do. +If----" + +Alice glanced at me, and I stepped to the wall and punched the button. + +"Antoine," I said, "tie the arms of the prisoner in the tool-house and +bring him here." + +"A man in the tool-house!" Montani, Torrence, and Raynor ejaculated in +concert. + +"Oh, yes," murmured Alice, "that's the pleasantest chapter of all. Our +grenadiers captured a whole invading army that made a night attack--one +of the most remarkable engagements of the present war, Mr. Torrence." + +"The battle of the Bell-Hops," I suggested. "The prisoner will be here +in a moment." + +While we waited Montani produced a photograph, instantly recognizable as +a likeness of our prisoner. + +"My reputation is saved!" he exclaimed excitedly. "That he should have +been caught here! It is too much! I shall never forgive myself for not +warning you of the danger. But you understand, mesdames, that I was +sincerely anxious to recover the fan without letting you know its +importance. When I found at Seattle and Chicago that you were travelling +under assumed names, I was--pray, pardon me--deeply puzzled, the more +so because I had satisfied myself in Tokyo that you were loyal +Englishwomen, and I believed you to be innocent of complicity with +Madame Volkoff. Why you should have changed your names, I didn't know, +but it's not my affair now." + +"We saw you on the steamer and again in the hotel at Chicago. It was +very amusing to be followed. We gave you the slip, stopped at Buffalo to +see Niagara, and you came on here and scared the servants to death! But +you were generous at every point," said Alice. "We changed our names so +we could amuse ourselves here--at Bob's expense. So now I ask +everybody's forgiveness!" + +The prisoner, arriving at this moment, became the centre of interest. +Without a word Montani walked up to him, brushed back his hair, and +called our attention to a scar on the crown of his head. + +"There can be no mistake. This is Adolph Schwenger, who passes as +readily for a Frenchman as I do for an Italian. The capture is of great +importance. I shall want the names of all the persons who assisted in +the matter." + +"It isn't quite clear to me," remarked Raynor, turning to me, "why you +held that fellow and said nothing about it. If there had been a mistake, +it would have been just a little embarrassing for you, Singleton." + +"Chivalry!" Mrs. Farnsworth answered for me. "An anxious concern for the +peace and dignity of two foolish women! I didn't know there was so much +chivalry left in the world." + +An hour was spent in explanations, and Raynor declared that I must write +a full account of the Allied army in Connecticut and the capture of the +spy. The State archives contained nothing that touched this episode for +piquancy, he declared; and even the bewildered Torrence finally saw the +joke of the thing and became quite human. + +Raynor and Montani decided after a conference that the German agent +should be taken to New York immediately, and I called Flynn to drive +them down. + +"It's most fortunate, sir, that you sent for him just when you did!" +announced Antoine, nearly bursting with importance. "The boys had heard +queer sounds in the night, but could find nothing wrong. The prisoner +had taken up the flooring at the back of the tool-house, and was +scooping up the dirt. He'd got a place pretty near big enough to let him +through. I suppose we ought to have noticed it, sir." + +"You managed the whole thing perfectly, Antoine--you and all of you." + +It was just as Raynor and Montani were leaving the house with the +prisoner that we heard a commotion in the direction of the gates. I had +sent word that no one was to be admitted to the grounds, but as I ran +out the front door a machine was speeding madly toward the house. A +dozen of the guards were yelling their protests at the invasion, and a +spurt of fire preluded the booming of Zimmerman's shotgun. + +"Get your man into the car and beat it," I shouted to Raynor, thinking +an attempt was about to be made to rescue the prisoner. + +The touring-car left just as a Barton taxi flashed into the driveway. +The driver was swearing loudly at one of the Tyringham veterans who had +wedged himself into the door of the machine. With some difficulty I +extricated Scotty from his hazardous position. + +Searles jumped out (I had forgotten that he might arrive that night), +but before I could greet him he swung round and assisted a lady to +alight--a short, stout lady in a travelling cap, wrapped in a coat that +fell to her heels. She began immediately to deliver orders in an +authoritative tone as to the rescue of her belongings. Searles dived +into the taxi and began dragging out a vast amount of small luggage, but +my attention was diverted for a moment by Alice, who jumped down the +steps and clasped her arms about the neck of the stout lady. + +"Aunt Alice!" I heard her saying. "Why didn't you tell us to meet you?" + +"Why didn't I tell you?" demanded the stout lady. "The moment you left +me I knew I'd made a mistake in letting you come over here on one of +your absurd larks! And from the row I had getting into the premises I +judge that you're at your old tricks. Fired upon! Treated as though I +were an outlaw! You shall never go out of my sight again!" + +"Oh, please don't scold me!" Alice pleaded and turning to me: "This is +Bob Singleton, your nephew." + +Mrs. Bashford--and I made no question that Searles's companion was +indubitably my uncle's widow--gave me her hand and smiled in a way that +showed that she was not so greatly displeased with Alice as her words +implied. + +"Pay that driver for me and don't fail to tip him. Those Methuselahs at +the gate all but killed him. It was only the vigorous determination of +this gentleman, who very generously permitted me to share the only motor +at the station, that I got through the gates alive! I beg your pardon, +but what _is_ your name?" + +"Mrs. Bashford," I interposed, "my friend, Mr. Searles." + +"Mr. Searles!" cried Alice, dropping a cage containing some weird +Oriental bird which had been among my aunt's impedimenta. The bird +squawked hideously. + +"Miss Violet Dewing, permit me to present the author of 'Lady +Larkspur'!" + +Poor Torrence, clinging to a pillar for support, now revived +sufficiently to be included in the introductions. + +It was a week later that Alice and I sat on the stone wall watching the +waves, at the point forever memorable as the scene of our first talk. + +"Aunt Alice isn't playing fair," she said. "She pretends now that it was +all my idea--coming over to play at being your uncle's widow, but she +really encouraged me to do it so I could give her an impartial judgment +of your character. I'm her only niece and her namesake, and she relies +on me a good deal. You know she's very, very rich, and she had never any +idea of keeping your uncle's money. She meant all the while to give it +to you--provided she found you were nice. And she thinks you are very +nice." + +"Your own opinion of me would be interesting," I suggested. + +She had gathered a handful of pebbles and was flinging them fitfully at +a bit of driftwood. I wished her lips hadn't that little quiver that +preluded laughter and that her eyes were not the haven of all the dreams +in the world. + +She landed a pebble on the target before replying. + +"You are very nice, I think," she said with disconcerting detachment. +"At first I was afraid you didn't like nonsense, but you really got +through very well, considering the trouble I caused you. But I'm in +trouble myself now. Papa will land to-morrow. He's the grandest, dearest +man in all this world, but when he finds that I'm going to act in Mr. +Searles's play he will be terribly cut up. Of course it will not be for +long. Even if it's a big success, I'm to be released in three months. +Constance and Sir Cecil think I owe it to myself to appear in the piece; +they're good enough to say nobody else can do it so well--which is a +question. I'm going to give all the money I earn to the blind soldiers." + +(I wished the tears in her eyes didn't make them more lovely still!) + +"Being what you are and all you are, it would be brutal for me to add to +the number of things you have to tell your father. I'm a very obscure +person, and he is a gentleman of title and otherwise distinguished. You +are the Honorable Miss----" + +"Papa has said numbers of times," she began softly, looking far out +across the blue Sound--"he has said, oh, very often, that he'll never +stop troubling about me until--until I'm happily married." + +"When you came here you wore a wedding-ring," I remarked casually. + +"It was only a 'property' ring, to help deceive you. I bought it in +Chicago. When Aunt Alice came I threw it away." + +"The finger seems lonesome without it," I said. "If I get you another, I +hope you'll take better care of it." + +"If you should put it there," she replied, looking fixedly at the hand, +"that would be very, very different." + +THE END + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +BY MEREDITH NICHOLSON + +LADY LARKSPUR +THE MADNESS OF MAY +THE VALLEY OF DEMOCRACY + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Transcriber's Note: + +1. Books "By Meredith Nicholson" relocated to end of text. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lady Larkspur, by Meredith Nicholson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY LARKSPUR *** + +***** This file should be named 19204.txt or 19204.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/2/0/19204/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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