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diff --git a/41890-0.txt b/41890-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f57cd3 --- /dev/null +++ b/41890-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10945 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41890 *** + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://archive.org/details/barriernovel00freniala + + + + + +THE BARRIER + +A Novel + +by + +ALLEN FRENCH + +Author of "The Colonials" + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + +New York +Doubleday, Page & Company +1904 + +Copyright, 1904, by +Doubleday, Page & Company +Published, May, 1904 + + + + + To + C. E. S. AND S. P. S. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. The Statement of the Case 3 + + II. Which Enlarges the Stage 10 + + III. Sets the Ball to Rolling 21 + + IV. An Understanding 26 + + V. Various Points of View 32 + + VI. Introducing an Eccentric 41 + + VII. Chebasset 52 + + VIII. The Progress of Acquaintance 65 + + IX. New Ideas 75 + + X. Drawn Both Ways 83 + + XI. An Incident at the Mill 92 + + XII. Forwards Various Affairs 102 + + XIII. Which Is in Some Respects Unsatisfactory 114 + + XIV. Mr. Pease Intrudes Upon a Secret 123 + + XV. Which Develops the Colonel's Financial + Strategy 130 + + XVI. Something New 145 + + XVII. Which Deals with Several of Our + Personages 155 + + XVIII. Judith Buys a Typewriter 163 + + XIX. "Put Money in Thy Purse" 175 + + XX. The Power of Suggestion 182 + + XXI. Ellis Takes His Last Step but One 194 + + XXII. Haroun Al Raschid 206 + + XXIII. Plain Language 218 + + XXIV. Bringing About an Understanding 224 + + XXV. The Colonel Gives Up His Luxuries 235 + + XXVI. In which Judge Harmon Enters the Story 242 + + XXVII. In which Judge Harmon Leaves the Story 250 + + XXVIII. Judith Binds Herself 255 + + XXIX. Knowledge of New Things 263 + + XXX. Time Begins His Revenges 275 + + XXXI. Brings About Two New Combinations 286 + + XXXII. Which Is in Some Respects Satisfactory 295 + + XXXIII. Contains Another Proposal of Marriage, + and Settles an Old Score 307 + + + + +LIST OF CHARACTERS + +_IN THE ORDER OF THEIR MENTION_ + + +STEPHEN F. ELLIS, promoter and political boss. + +GEORGE MATHER, a young business man. + +JUDITH BLANCHARD, of the social set. + +MRS. HARMON, who has risen by her marriage. + +JUDGE ABIEL HARMON, advanced in years. + +COLONEL BLANCHARD, Judith's father. + +BETH, his remaining daughter. + +MR. PRICE, the fashionable jeweller. + +MR. FENNO, head of one of the old families. + +MR. PEASE, a banker. + +JIM WAYNE, of the social set. + +MR. DAGGETT, a supporter of Ellis. + +MISS JENKS, Mather's stenographer. + +STOCK, a labor agitator. + + + + +THE BARRIER + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE STATEMENT OF THE CASE + + +There is a certain circle so well-to-do that it is occupied chiefly in +guarding its property and maintaining its exclusiveness. There is a city +so small, politically, that it is buttoned in one man's pocket. The +second of these is the direct consequence of the first. Leading families +lead little except the cotillion, parvenus crowd in, and things are done +at which no gentleman will soil his gloves. + +In the course of time, such a community might develop a strong active +class and a superb set of figureheads, if only the two sorts would let +each other alone. But the one will envy and the other sneer; the one +will long for ornament and the other will meddle. A desire to sparkle +meets the desire to appear to do, or at times encounters the genuine +longing to do. Dirty hands will wish to be clean; clean hands must have +a little honest dirt. + +The city of Stirling lies in New England; it is one among those which +look to Boston for supplies and to New York for fashions. Its history +goes back to colonial times: hence those beautiful estates in the +residential section and the air of pride in the scions of the old +families. These said scions collect much rent and control much +water-power, yet an inquirer imbued with the modern spirit might ask +them to give an account of themselves. Their forefathers settled the +country, fought in the Revolution, and helped to build the nation and +the State, but now people whisper of degeneration. In the old city +modern men have risen to power, control the franchises, manage the local +government, and are large in the public eye. + +Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that one man does this. Ellis the +promoter, Stephen F. Ellis, has grown from nothing to everything, has +consolidated businesses, mastered the city affairs, holds all the reins, +pulls all the wires. The reform politicians have never harmed him. The +fashionable people, according to their wont, for years have avoided +publicity and let things go. The man among them who, in a generation, +alone has ventured into the field of thoroughly modern enterprise, has +failed signally, though most gallantly, and in the prime of his youth +stands amid the ruins of a career. The very honour which was his +inheritance brought him low. + +He had been a contrast to Ellis in the openness of his methods and the +rapidity of his success. To organise all the street-railways of his +city, to force his personality upon the stockholders of three lines, and +to weld the old clumsy systems into one efficient whole--that was George +Mather's achievement. To be head and shoulders above all others of his +years as the street-railway president, yes, and as the man in whom the +reform politicians built their best hopes--that was his pride, and his +class was proud of him. But his strength was his weakness, for he used +no trickery and he kept his word. Therefore by a business stroke +undertaken against him in the face of an agreement, a method not so +analogous to a stab in the back as to the adroit administering of poison +in a loving-cup, Mather was upon a certain spring morning, at a certain +stock-holders' meeting, by a small but neat majority voted out of +office, and stood robbed of the best fruits of his labours. + +Those who saw him that afternoon upon the golf-course marvelled as he +played his match with the precision of a machine. Had the man no nerves? +But though thus he proved--to others, not to himself--that he could bear +misfortune without flinching, it was with unspeakable relief that at +last he slipped away into an empty corner of the club-house, whence he +could hear only the buzz of the Saturday crowd on the grounds outside. +The tension of the last few hours relaxed suddenly, and now that he was +freed from the gaze of others he gave way almost to despair. + +The silver cup which he had won he tossed upon the table, and dropping +his clubs upon the floor he threw himself into a chair. Beaten! To have +stood so high in the little city, to fall so suddenly, and to lose so +much! True, he had made money; he had gained the support of the rich men +of his class, who had assured him that they would wait their chance to +set him again in his place. But it was Ellis who had seized that place: +when had Ellis ever given up anything which he had gained? Yet it was +not Mather's fall, nor the hurt to his pride, nor even the loss of the +chance to carry out his plans, which shook him most, but the danger to +still dearer hopes. And the young man, almost groaning, dropped his head +upon his breast. + +A girl entered the room suddenly, and stood startled at the sight of +him, but she was not heard. She wished to withdraw, yet feared to rouse +him, and his deep frown fascinated her. Staring downward, scowling with +his thoughts, his face had at first expressed anger, but now showed +pain. Judith, too, he was thinking--had she changed to him? When he +hurried to her after this morning's meeting, so soon as he could free +himself from his friends, already she had heard the news. She had not +let him speak with her alone, but though she must have known his wish +she kept her father in the room. If with her ambitions she felt +disappointed in him, if she rejected him--well, he could bear even that! +The girl who was watching saw his expression change to determination, +and then suddenly he roused himself. No one should find him brooding. As +he raised his eyes from the carpet she turned to escape, but he saw her +and sprang to his feet. + +"Judith!" She stopped; perceiving her desire he added: "Don't let me +keep you." + +Then she came to him directly. "I thought you were outdoors. Every one +was congratulating you; the club has never seen such golf. It was +splendid!" + +He smiled, indifferent to the praise, and picking up the cup from the +table, looked at it carelessly. "Only for that." + +"And Jim Wayne would give his head for it," she said. + +Disdainfully, he shifted the cup into his palm, and with a single effort +crushed it out of shape. "See," and he meant to personify himself, "it +is only silver; it lacks strength." + +"Ah," she answered, "don't be bitter. Come, forget the street-railroad, +forget you ever were its president, forget everything except your +friends." + +"Judith," he returned with meaning, "can _you_ forget what I have lost?" + +She drew back, flushing. "George!" + +"Oh," he cried, "I know I am rude! But to-day when I came to see you, +you knew what had happened to me. If ever I needed comfort it was then, +and you knew it. There was only one consolation that would help me, and +you knew that, but you denied me. Judith, have I lost my chance with +you?" + +She flushed, as if conscience drove home a rebuke. "I did not mean to be +unkind." But then she looked about uneasily, at the door at her back, +and at the curtains which shut off the adjoining room. "I--I think I +must go." + +"No," he protested. "Let us have it out; no one is near. Give me my +sentence, Judith. You know I've loved you for years. It was for you I +built up the railroad; you are the impelling cause of all my work. This +winter I thought I had pleased you. Is there any hope for me?" + +He spoke without a tremor of the voice, but he clenched his hands as he +waited for her answer, and his eyes were eager. Before them she dropped +her own. "Not now," she answered. + +"Tell me," he asked almost gently, "why you have changed." + +She stood silent, with her eyes still downcast, but her mouth grew +harder. + +"No, don't explain," he said quickly. "I understand. I understood when I +left your house to-day. Judith, don't you know that I have learned to +read you? This morning I was beaten, and you require of a man that he +shall succeed." + +Her eyes flashed up at him. "Well," she demanded, "and if I do? Can I be +different from what I am?" + +"We make ourselves," he replied. + +Her defiance was brief, and she asked earnestly: "Why have you let me +plague you so? Choose again, some softer woman." + +"My choice is fixed," he answered simply. + +"Then at least," she said, "we will remain friends?" + +His face cleared, and he smiled. "So far as you permit." + +"But without enthusiasm," she reproached him. + +"Ah, Judith," he answered, "you know you don't require it." + +"And we won't speak of this again?" she asked. + +"Just these last words," he said. "Remember that this defeat is not the +end of me; I shall yet give an account of myself." She saw how resolute +were his eyes, but then his look again became gentle as he added: "And +this, too. The world fascinates you. But Judith, it is very big, and +strong, and merciless!" + +Was it not a beaten man who spoke? She answered, "I do not fear it," and +studied him to find his meaning. + +But with a steadiness which allowed no further show of feeling he +replied: "If ever you do, then turn to me." + +They finished without words of parting; she quitted him abruptly, he +took up the caddy-bag and stuffed the ruined cup in among the clubs. +Though she paused an instant at the door, there was nothing more to be +said. Regretfully he watched her go: bright, fearless, and inquisitive +as she was, where was her nature leading her? He knew her restless +energy, and at the moment feared for her more than for himself. + +As for her, he had pricked her deeply by his warning. The world would +never be too much for her. Let it be however big and strong, she admired +it, must learn about it! She would never cry for mercy. The thought did +not cross her mind that he knew the world better than she, that although +defeated he was more its master. At twenty-three one is confident. + +And as for his charge that she thought less of him, she told herself +that it was not his disaster that separated them. Rather it was the +quality which the disaster had but emphasised in him--the +self-confidence, real or counterfeit, with which he had always assumed +that he could go his own way in making a home in which to take care of +her. How he mistook her! She did not ask for safety from the world; it +was the key to her whole character that she wished to be more than a +mere comfort to a man. Should she ever accept a husband, she must be an +active rather than a passive element in his strength, counselling, +inspiring, almost leading him. Between herself and Mather there was an +unremitting conflict of will. She left the club-house, and went out upon +the lawn with her cheeks a little redder than usual, her black eye +brighter, her head held still more high. + +Men came instantly about her--young men eager to please. But with her +thoughts still busy, she measured them and found them lacking; they had +never done anything--they had not yet arrived. The most masterly of them +all she had left in the club-house, and he, after climbing to high +place, had fallen. Was it possible that the only men of power were older +still? Then she progressed to a still more searching question. Could +this vapid and ambitionless assembly produce real men? + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WHICH ENLARGES THE STAGE + + +On the day which brought to Mather his two crushing defeats, the cause +of them, Ellis, that type of modern success, openly embarked upon his +latest and his strangest venture. Not satisfied with his achievements, +and burning with the desire for recognition, he, whose power was +complete in every part of the city save one, turned to that quarter +where alone he had met indifference, and began his campaign against the +citadel of fashion. The guests at the golf-club tea were somewhat +startled when, at the side of their latest parvenue, whose bold beauty +and free ways they had not yet learned to tolerate, they perceived the +man whose characteristics--a short figure and large head, thinly +bearded, with sharp features and keen eyes--were known to all students +of contemporary caricature. Ellis was received with the coolness which +his companion had foreseen. + +"They won't like it, Stephen," she had said when he proposed the +undertaking to her. "So soon after this morning, I mean; you know Mr. +Mather is very popular." + +"I'll take the risk," he answered. + +"I don't see why you bother," she went on. "It's been easy enough for +me, marrying the Judge, to go where I please--and yet it's a continual +struggle, after all. It isn't such fun as you'd think, from outside." + +He scowled a partial acquiescence. Living near the social leaders, it +had been an earlier hope that to be their neighbour would open to him +their doors. He had built himself that imposing edifice upon the main +street of fashion, so that where the simple Georgian mansion of the +Waynes had stood the Gothic gorgeousness of a French château forced +attention. But in spite of the money he lavished there, it had not taken +Ellis long to discover that the widow Wayne, who was his neighbour still +(having refused to part with the original homestead of the family), had +more honour in her little clapboarded cottage than he in his granite +pile. The widow's son, who nodded so carelessly to Ellis when they met, +and yet was but a broker's clerk, had with his youth and grace a more +valuable possession still--his name. + +Sometimes Ellis felt it almost too exasperating to live among these +people and be ignored by them, yet he gritted his teeth and stayed, +thinking that perseverance must win in the end, and perceiving that from +the midst of his enemies he might best plan his campaign. He spun his +webs with unconquerable patience, studying the social news with the same +keenness which he brought to the stock-market reports, and looking ahead +to a possible combination which would give him the opportunity he +desired. And now he believed that at last he actually saw his chance, +and his hopes were rising. + +"Maybe I'm a fool," he said, "but by Gad I'll at least have one look +inside, and see what others find there. I notice that you worked hard +enough to get in, and now you work to stay. But, Lydia, if you want to +keep these people to yourself----" + +"The idea!" she cried. "You are welcome to them." + +"Or if you think I shall hurt your position----" He paused for a second +disclaimer, but none came; his directness had confused her, and he knew +he had struck near the truth. "Anyhow," he finished, "you promised me +this long ago, and I'll keep you to the bargain." + +Now she, the maker of this promise to Ellis, was the wife of Judge Abiel +Harmon, whose ancient family, high position, and fine character were +everywhere honoured. Nevertheless, Ellis was able to regard her as his +entering wedge, for they had been boy and girl together in the same +little town. While yet in his teens he went to try his chances in the +city; years afterward, when her ripe charms had captivated the old +Judge, she found her fortune and followed. When she met Ellis again +their social positions were widely different, but interest drew the two +together, and though the Judge had no liking for Ellis, he did not +inquire what Mrs. Harmon did with her leisure; therefore she maintained +with the promoter an intimacy which to them both promised profit. To him +the first advantage was this visit to the golf club, but while on +inspection of the crowd he knew he could buy up any member of it at a +fair valuation, they did not appear to like him the better for that, and +their groups melted marvellously before him. As a relief, Mrs. Harmon +took him to the club-house, but the dreary promenade through its rooms, +where her vocabulary was exhausted and her enthusiasm lapsed, became at +last an evident failure. When she had said all that she could of the +conveniences of the lower floor she led him to the stairs. + +"If you care to go up," she suggested, "the bedrooms might interest +you." + +But she looked out on the lawn through the open door, and longed to be +there. The chattering groups called to every instinct of her nature; she +wished to get rid of this encumbrance--to hand him over to any one and +take her pleasure as she was used. And Ellis, too, looked out through +the doorway. + +"Up-stairs is more likely to be stupid," he said bluntly. "Let's go +outdoors again." + +In Mrs. Harmon's relief, she did not notice the characteristic which he +displayed in this answer. Ellis was a fighter; power was all very well, +but the winning of it was better. Just now he was like Alexander before +India--looking upon a domain which must be his, and eager for the +struggle. These people, and they alone, could put the capstone to the +pyramid of his successes, and could lend glamour, if not give glory, to +that wholly material structure. He would force them to it! Watching +society disport itself, he regarded it as his natural prey. That +assemblage was characterised by a suavity which deceived him; as he +viewed the throng it seemed all mildness, all amiability. He did not +appreciate the power of resistance of the apparently soft people. + +And yet he had learned that money was not the effective weapon he had +once supposed it. The arrogance of possession was against him, and +though he did not understand the subtle reasons for his exclusion, he +was sure that something besides a golden key was needed to open those +doors. + +It was not in Ellis to remake himself, nor did he try to change his +ways. As when he faced the difficulty of buying the city government, he +merely studied human weaknesses. The former experience had taught him +that men are easier bribed without money than with, and that there are +some passions, some ambitions, which do not include financial ease. +Moreover, he had formed his plan; it was time to make the attempt. + +"Miss Judith Blanchard--she is here?" he asked. + +Mrs. Harmon looked at him in surprise. Did he wish to meet a girl? So +far she had conducted the enterprise, and since their entrance on the +grounds had tried to help him by introductions to the older people. But +the experiment had failed, and he had no intention of repeating it. + +"Why, she is here," she answered in doubt. + +"Then introduce me to her," he directed brusquely. + +Oh, if he wished! Mrs. Harmon was not pleased to be so ordered; she was +not at all satisfied with her day. It was very troublesome, this trying +to introduce Ellis. The manner of Mrs. Watson had been more distant than +ever, while as for Mrs. William Fenno, her behaviour had been arctic. +Mrs. Harmon cared for no further snubs, but if Ellis wished to run the +risk of the meeting--well, Judith would fix him! Not pausing to watch +the process, Mrs. Harmon presented Ellis to the young lady and escaped +to her own enjoyments. + +Ellis was where he had many times imagined himself, standing before +Judith Blanchard, while the young men fell away on either side. He was +meeting her glance, he was seeing for himself the "queenly form," the +"regal head" (_vide_ the social columns of the _Herald_), and he was +experiencing at close hand the influence of her personality. It was +magnetic even to him, for on hearing his name she turned quickly, looked +him straight in the eye, and offered him her hand almost as a man would +have done. When she spoke her voice had not the artificial tones of the +women he had so far met; it had a genuine ring. + +"So you are Mr. Ellis?" + +"You know of me, then?" he asked. + +"Every one has heard of you, even girls," she replied. Any one might +have said this, but not with her look, not with that bright glance. She +asked another question, which showed to those who listened her interest +in the man. "You have settled the water-works affair?" + +John Trask turned and strolled away; Will Mayne bowed to Miss Blanchard +and silently betook himself elsewhere; Ripley Fenno mumbled a request to +be excused, and left Miss Blanchard alone with her new acquaintance. +Within five minutes, five times as many people were watching the pair +curiously, but absorbed in a new interest, they did not notice. + +"What do you know," he asked her, "about the water-works?" + +But she pursued her own inquiries. "Or does the street-railway not take +up your time? Or perhaps," she added boldly, "the court-house has no +need of the services of its contractor." + +Now the boldness of this last remark consisted in the reminder of a +certain scandal, public-minded citizens (of whom the chief was Judge +Harmon) claiming that there had been boodlery in the recent repairs of +the court-house. It was more than hinted that Ellis had backed the +contractors, and that he had shared the profits. His face changed, +therefore, as she spoke, and she saw in his eyes a sudden gleam--of +anger? + +"Or," she asked quickly, "have I misread the papers, and you are not the +contractor, after all?" + +He was himself again, although looking--staring, almost--with deeper +interest. At first he said no more than "I am not the contractor," but +to himself he was crying: Success! He believed she had provoked him +deliberately; he saw that she had studied his doings, for the +court-house affair was almost a year old, the water-works deal occurred +months ago, and the street-railway _coup_ was of this very day. + +"How much you know of matters!" he cried. + +"I read the newspapers," she explained, "and with an object." + +"An object?" he asked. + +"I want to know what is going on," she explained. "I want to have to do +with real things. I am interested in the doings of _men_, Mr. Ellis." +And she made him a little bow, which he, still staring, made no attempt +to answer. Then she turned, and walked toward a more open space where +people could not, as they were beginning to do, press around them. "Will +you not come and see the grounds?" she asked. In great satisfaction he +kept at her side. + +So this was Judith Blanchard! He had not believed it, had laughed at +himself for hoping it, but she was what he had imagined her. Months of +study had gone to make up his opinion of her; he had read of her, heard +of her, watched her. Quick, impetuous, somewhat impatient of +conventions--that was Judith. + +"Do you know," she asked suddenly, "that we have met before? In a +street-car, not a fortnight ago, we rode facing each other for quite a +while. I remember meeting your eye." + +He had recalled it many times. "I hope I didn't look too much at you," +he said. "You must be used to having people watch you." + +"Oh, please don't compliment," she interrupted, "or you will spoil my +idea of you. I imagine you a man who thinks to the point, and speaks so, +too. Yes, people do watch me wherever I go; they give me flattery, and +think I love it. But if you and I are to be friends----" + +"Friends!" he exclaimed involuntarily. + +"Are you not willing?" + +"Willing!" he repeated. "Miss Blanchard, you offer what I had not dared +to hope one person here would think of in connection with me. I----" He +looked at her searchingly. "You are not teasing me?" + +"I used a strong word," she said. + +"Then you did not mean it?" + +"Why," she endeavoured to explain, "I spoke hastily. I have few +friends." + +"Few friends? You?" + +"Yes, I," she answered. "Among the men, I mean. Those of my age are +so"--and she smiled--"so young! I am not posing, Mr. Ellis." + +Nor was she. Her interest in the great world was genuine, even if +ill-balanced. Ruled by it, she looked into men and discovered, not how +much there was in them, but how little they had for her. The good, the +amiable, the well-intentioned, had none of them enough backbone to suit +her; it was power that she wished to find. Always among respectable +people, she was often impatient at their mediocrity; always among young +people, she was tired by their immaturity. This day she had for the +first time questioned if older people of another class had not more for +her; she had been repeating the question at the moment when Ellis was +presented. And now, without pose, she scrutinised him with frank +question: Was he one who could bring an interest into her life and let +her see the workings of the world? + +And he knew she was not posing. "It is sometimes troublesome to be +friends with people," he said. "To be bound to them, to have +considerations of them prevent free action--that is what friends mean in +business." + +"And you have few, as well?" + +"I have dependents." + +He spoke wisely, for the term struck her. Dependents! She had felt +isolation, but it was that of the looker-on. There was something regal +in this man's loneliness, for that he was lonely she divined. + +"People need you," she said with approval. "They cannot get along +without you. Oh!" she exclaimed, "I have sometimes thought what power is +in the hands of such men as you. You can mould a whole community; you +can set your mark on a city so that it will tell of you forever." Behind +a steady face he concealed astonishment and question. "You can do so +much good!" she finished. + +"Much good--yes," he returned uncertainly. Such enthusiasm was new to +him, especially when applied to what the opposition newspapers bluntly +called "jobs." He perceived that where he saw only money in his +enterprises, Judith saw great opportunities. "Yes, much good--if we can +only do it. Where there is power there is also responsibility. How can a +man know whether he is doing the right thing, especially"--and he +smiled--"when all the newspapers say he is doing wrong?" + +"A man must follow his conscience," she replied, so gravely that he was +uncomfortable, for, thus innocently spoken, her words carried a sting. +He tried to finish the subject, and by his usual method--by meeting it +directly. + +"A man works as he can," he said, "doing what seems best. He has to +think of the present, but as you seem to know, he works for the future +too. It is an interesting life and a busy one." + +"Interesting?" she echoed. "Oh, it must be! Why should it not be +all-sufficient? Why should you come here?" He stared at her again, and +she asked: "What have we that can interest you?" + +He answered with a simplicity that was almost great, an acknowledgment +of his desires which was unparalleled in his career, but which meant +that without hesitation he put himself in her hands, to betray if she +wished, but perhaps to save. He waved his hand toward the groups behind +him. + +"I want to get in," he said. + +"To get in?" She smiled, and he doubted. "To get in, when I sometimes +wish to get out? In here it's so dull!" + +"I don't care for that," he replied. + +"Sit down, then," she directed. "Let us talk it over." + +Seated on a bench, half-facing, each had a moment to consider. She did +not take it; he did, for he was beginning to recover himself and to +study her. Beauty and grace, with that direct glance and genuine voice, +were her chief outward characteristics. Of her inward motives, most +prominent appeared her desire for something new; more strong, perhaps, +was her interest in matters beyond her sphere. This interest of hers was +to him a gift of fortune; it might bring him anywhere. But to Judith +this situation was new; therefore she enjoyed it. She paused no longer +than to consider what she should ask him next, and then pursued the +subject. + +"How have you meant to go about it?" she inquired. + +"Why," he hesitated, "my friends----" + +"What friends?" + +He acknowledged frankly: "I have but one--Mrs. Harmon." + +"Oh, only Mrs. Harmon?" + +Only! The tone and the word struck him. Was Mrs. Harmon, then, not fully +in? His mind reached forward blankly: who else could help him? + +"But you must know some of our men," she suggested. + +"Business acquaintances, yes," he said. "Yet they take care that I shall +remain a business acquaintance merely. No, I must reach the men through +the women." + +"And the women?" she asked. "How will you reach them? Mrs. Fenno, for +instance, knows only one kind; she is iron against innovation. How will +you get on her list, or Mrs. Watson's, or Mrs. Branderson's?" + +He did not answer. She saw that he was biting on the problem, and that +it did not please him. She made a positive statement. + +"No. It is the men you must rely on." + +And he, weighing the facts, believed her, though it went against his +former notions. The women--this day he had first seen them at close +quarters, and had felt them to be formidable creatures. The severe +majesty of Mrs. Fenno--how could he impress it? And Mrs. Branderson had, +beneath the good humour of her reception of him, the skill to chat +easily, and then to turn her back without excuse. He bit his +mustache--the women! + +She was watching him with a half-smile. "Do you not agree?" + +"But which men, then?" he inquired. + +"Have you no influence over a single one?" + +"There is young Mather," he said thoughtfully. + +Her manner changed; she drew a little more within herself, and he noted +the difference in her tone as she asked: "You have some connection with +him?" + +"None," he said. "But I can help him." + +"How?" + +"He is out of work," Ellis explained. "He will be fretting his heart out +for something to do. I could offer him some position." + +"Do!" she said. "He is right here.--George!" she called. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +SETS THE BALL TO ROLLING + + +No young man can bear to sit down idly under misfortune; but though the +chief results of Mather's work were lost to him, and his great +plans--his subway--swept away, and though his defeat rankled, he had not +suspected personal feeling in Ellis's action. The promoter had merely +stretched out his hand and taken, repudiating the pledges of those who +spoke in his name. + +Therefore, in spite of the little shock which Mather felt when he saw +Ellis with Judith, he came forward and greeted politely. It was a +chance, of course, to "get back"; it would have been easy to express +surprise at the promoter's presence, and to ask how he liked the club +now that he really was there. Mather felt the temptation, but there was +too much behind his relations with Ellis for the younger man to be rude, +and he presently found himself saying: "I don't suppose you play golf, +Mr. Ellis?" + +"No," Ellis answered. This was the first man who had greeted him freely +that day, and yet the one who most might feel resentment. While his +manner showed that he was about to speak again, Ellis looked the other +over with a smile which concealed deliberation. It was not weakness that +made Mather mild, in spite of Mrs. Harmon's belief, to which she clung +the more because the Judge rejected it. "I knew his father," her husband +had told her. "They are bulldogs in that stock." Ellis took much the +same view; once, at the beginning of his career, he had encountered +Mather's father, and had found him a bulldog indeed. The son seemed the +same in so many respects that Ellis wondered if he had thought quite +long enough in seizing this morning's opportunity. He knew well that +Mather would be stronger when next he entered the arena; besides, the +reform politicians, those bees who buzzed continually and occasionally +stung, had been after the young man, who, with the leisure to enter +politics, might be formidable. Thus Ellis, hesitating, ran over the +whole subject in his mind; and then, as he knew how to do, plunged at +his object. + +"Mr. Mather, I am sorry for what happened this morning." + +"Fortune of war," returned the other. + +The young man certainly had a right to be bitter if he chose, judging, +at least, by the usual conduct of victims. Mather's peculiarity in this +did not escape Ellis, who spoke again with some hope of forgiveness. "I +trust that you and I may some day work together." + +"I scarcely expect it," was the answer. + +"Don't say that." Ellis was not sure what tone to adopt, but did his +best. "This is not the place to speak of it, perhaps, but there is +surely something I can do for you." + +"Now that you have nothing to do, you know," said Judith. + +Mather turned to her; he saw how she had put herself on Ellis's side; +how her interest in this offer was due to Ellis, not to himself. And the +reminder of his defeat was most unwelcome. + +"Since this morning," he said, "I have been offered three positions." + +"Oh!" cried Judith. The involuntary note of surprise showed how she had +underrated him, and Mather bit his lip. + +Ellis spoke. "If you will take a position on the street-railroad----" + +"Nothing subordinate there!" cut in Mather very positively. + +"Then," said Ellis, "if you care to be the head of the water +company----" + +"Oh!" Judith exclaimed before Ellis had completed his offer. "Such an +opportunity!" + +Mather himself looked at Ellis in surprise. It was an opening which, +coming from any other source, he would have accepted eagerly, as a task +in which he could give free play to all his powers. Did Ellis really +mean it? But the promoter, having swiftly asked himself the same +question, was sure of his own wisdom. The place needed a man: here was +one. Besides, Ellis would have given much to tie Mather to him. + +"I mean it," he said positively. + +"You must accept," added Judith. + +It was too much for Mather to bear. His defeat by Ellis and his loss of +Judith--both of these he could sustain as separate calamities. But when +he saw her thus siding with his victor, Mather forgot himself, forgot +that Ellis was not a man to defy lightly, and spoke the impolitic truth. + +"I could not work with Mr. Ellis under any circumstances!" + +"George!" cried Judith hotly. + +Then there was silence as the men looked at each other. Had Judith been +the woman that in her weaker moments she was pleased to think herself, +she would have studied the two. But she was neither cool nor impartial; +she had put her feelings on Ellis's side, and looked at Mather with +indignation. She missed, therefore, the pose of his head and the fire +of his eye. She missed as well the narrowing of Ellis's eyes, the +forward stretch of his thin neck--snaky actions which expressed his +perfect self-possession, and his threat. Neither of them spoke, but +Judith did as she turned away. + +"You are very rude," she said coldly. "Come, Mr. Ellis, let us walk +again." Ellis followed her; Mather stood and watched them walk away. + +"It was shameful of him," said Judith when she and Ellis were out of +hearing. + +"He is young," remarked the other. He was watching her now, as he had +watched Mather, out of narrow eyes. Mather's words meant a declaration +of interest in Judith, confirming gossip. She was supposed to have +refused him, and yet she was biting her lip--would she be quite so moved +if Mather had not the power to do it? Ellis promised himself that he +would remember this. + +"He will know better some day," he said. "But at least he is out of the +question. Can you not suggest some one else?" + +"There is Mr. Pease," she answered. + +Pease and himself--oil and water! How little she knew! and he almost +laughed. But he answered meditatively: "He is very--set." + +"I see my father is coming for me," she said. + +"Let me ask you this, then," he begged quickly. "May I come to see +you--at your house?" + +"I am afraid not--yet," she answered. She was not ungracious, and +continued with much interest: "But Mr. Ellis, I shall be so anxious to +hear how it all goes. I am sorry I cannot help you with the men, but the +principle is [she thought of Mather] choose the weak ones, not the +strong. Here is my father. Father, this is Mr. Ellis." + +Colonel Blanchard was affable. "How de do?" he said breezily. "Fine day +for the match, Mr. Ellis." + +"A very fine day," answered Ellis, pleased by the way in which the +Colonel looked at him; Blanchard seemed interested, like his daughter. +But Judith thought that the conversation had best end there. + +"The carriage has come?" she asked. + +"Yes," answered the Colonel. "Beth is in it, waiting for us. You know +she goes out to dinner." He begged Ellis to excuse them, and so carried +his daughter away. + +Ellis looked after them; these two, at least, had treated him well. The +Colonel had stared with almost bourgeois interest, as if impressible by +wealth and power. Ellis mused over the possibility of such a thing. + +"The weak," he said, repeating Judith's words. "The weak, not the +strong." + +Then Mrs. Harmon swooped down on him. "Here you are," she said +petulantly. "Everybody's going. Let us go too." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AN UNDERSTANDING + + +Mrs. Harmon was very petulant; indeed, her aspect in one of lower +station would have been deemed sulky. Reviewing the afternoon, she was +convinced that to have brought Ellis there was a great mistake. Why +should she take up with him, anyway? He could give her nothing +but--trinkets; the old acquaintance was not so close that she was bound +to help him. It had been condescension on her part; she might as well +stop it now; yes, she might as well. + +Yet she thought with some uneasiness of those trinkets. To accept them +had not bound her to him, had it? Their money value was nothing to him. +She could break from him gradually--that would be simple enough--and she +could make a beginning on the drive home, for silence could show her +feelings. + +Ellis understood her after one glance, which expressed not only his +impatience with her instability, but also a sudden new repulsion. The +afternoon had opened his eyes to what the finer women were. How could he +have supposed that Mrs. Harmon was really in the inner circle? How she +contrasted with Judith! She seemed so flat beside the girl; she was his +own kind, while Judith was better. He wished that he might drop the +woman and pin his hopes to the girl. + +But he could not spare Mrs. Harmon, and he had no fear that she would +drop him, for he knew all her weaknesses. She was ambitious to a certain +degree, but after that, lazy; she was fond of comfort, fond +of--trinkets, with a healthy indifference to ways and means. In fact, +although Ellis did not so phrase it, there was a barbaric strain in her, +a yearning for flesh-pots and show, in which her husband's tastes and +means did not permit her to indulge herself. Ellis knew that he could +manage her. + +"Lydia," he said, "I want to thank you for the afternoon. It must have +been a great bother to you. I'm afraid I spoiled your fun." + +She could but respond. "Oh, not much." + +"Look here," he went on. "You know me, I think; we understand each other +pretty well. These people," and he waved his hand to include the whole +golf club, "are not to be too much for us. Do you mind my saying a few +words about myself?" + +"Oh, no!" she exclaimed with involuntary interest; for he seldom spoke +his thoughts. + +"That girl, Miss Blanchard," he said, "was very good to me." + +"She was?" Mrs. Harmon could not subdue an accent of surprise, but +hastened to explain. "I've sometimes found her haughty." + +"I shan't forget you introduced me to her," said Ellis. "I mean to +follow up my acquaintance there." + +"No girl," suggested Mrs. Harmon, "has much influence. No unmarried +woman, I mean." + +"But when Miss Blanchard marries she will have it then?" + +"Yes," answered Mrs. Harmon thoughtfully, and then very positively: +"Yes, I think she would be a leader of the younger set." + +"I am sure she would." Ellis nodded confidently. Judith had faults, +notably rashness, but under wise guidance she could develop masterly +qualities. + +"But why----" began Mrs. Harmon in some perplexity. Then she caught +sight of her companion's expression. "What! you don't mean to say that +you--you would?" + +"Why not?" asked Ellis. "Is it so very strange?" + +"You are over forty!" cried Mrs. Harmon. + +"Nothing to do with the case," he replied shortly. + +"N-no," agreed Mrs. Harmon slowly. "No, I believe not--not with Judith." +She looked at her companion with sudden respect. "I believe you've hit +upon it! I didn't know you thought of anything of the kind." + +"I need you, just the same," said Ellis. "You will help me?" + +"Yes, yes," she replied. She felt a nervous inclination to giggle. "It's +a big affair." + +"All the more credit if you engineer it," he answered, and shrewdly, for +she felt stimulated. If _she_ could engineer it! Then she could plume +herself in the face of Mrs. Fenno, and would always have a strong ally +in Judith. + +"Yes," she cried eagerly, "it will mean a great deal to--to everybody if +it happens. Why, I could----" + +But Ellis would not let her run on. "Do you know her well?" he +interrupted. + +"I will know her better soon," she stated. + +"Not too quick," he warned, fearing that she might blunder. "You know +yourself that she is not a girl to be hurried. Tell me, now, what men +are there of her family?" + +"Only her father." + +"And what sort of man is he?" + +Mrs. Harmon's vocabulary was not wide. "Why, spreading," she explained. +"Jaunty, you know." + +"And his circumstances?" + +"He is well off," she answered. "Keeps a carriage and spends freely. +There was money in the family, and his wife had some too. You know how +those old fortunes grow." + +Or disappear, thought Ellis; he had been investigating the Colonel's +standing. "Miss Blanchard has no cousins?" he asked aloud. "No other men +attached to her?" + +"Attached in one sense," she replied, "but not connected." + +"Much obliged," he said. "Now, Lydia, if we stand by each other----" + +Mrs. Harmon had forgotten her earlier thoughts. "Of course!" she cried. +"Oh, it will be so interesting!" + +Ellis added the finishing touch, abruptly changing the subject. "You +have been to Price's recently?" + +Now Price was the fashionable jeweller, and few women were indifferent +to his name. Mrs. Harmon, recollecting the cause of her recent visit +there, saw fit to be coy. + +"Oh, yes," she said, turning her head away. "He keeps asking me to +come." + +"He's always picking up pretty things," said Ellis approvingly. "Did he +have anything special this time?" + +"Something of Orsini's," replied Mrs. Harmon, struggling to appear +indifferent. For they had been lovely, those baroque pearls so +gracefully set in dusky gold. Price had made her try the necklace on, +and she had sighed before the glass. "I wish he wouldn't pester me so," +she said irritably. "He knows I can't afford them." + +"He knows you have taste," Ellis said warmly. "He calls it a great +pleasure to show things to you." + +"I know," she replied, mollified. "I think he means to flatter me. But, +Stephen, it's getting late, and I must dress for the Fennos' ball this +evening." + +"Then," responded Ellis, "I will stop at Price's on my way down-town." + +"Naughty! naughty!" she answered, but she radiated smiles. + +Ellis, after he had left Mrs. Harmon at her door, went, as he had +promised, to the establishment of the pushing Mr. Price, and asked for +the proprietor. + +"Got anything to show me?" Ellis demanded. + +From his safe the jeweller brought out a leather case, and looked at +Ellis impressively before opening it. + +"Pretty small," commented Ellis. + +"Ah, but----" replied the other, and opened the case. "Look--Orsini's +make!" + +"I don't know anything about that," Ellis said as he poked the jewels +with his finger. "Look strange to me. The fashion, however?" + +"The very latest," Price assured him. "Trust me, Mr. Ellis." + +It was one secret of Ellis's success that he knew where to trust. He had +ventured twice that day, with women at that, and the thought of it was +to trouble him before he slept. But he could trust Price in matters of +taste, and as to secrecy, the man was bound to him. Price had been in +politics at the time when Ellis was getting "influence" in the city +government; for the jeweller those days were past, but this store and +certain blocks of stock were the result. Besides, he was adroit. Ellis +gave the chains and pendants a final push with his finger. + +"Send it, then," he said. "The usual place. By the way, how much? Whew! +some things come dear, don't they? But send it, just the same, and at +once. She's going out to some affair." + +Thus it happened that Mrs. Harmon wore "the very latest" at her throat +that night. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +VARIOUS POINTS OF VIEW + + +The Blanchards' equipage was a perfect expression of quiet +respectability, for the carriage was sober in colour, was drawn by a +strong and glossy horse, and was driven by a coachman wearing a modest +livery and a discontented countenance. As it drove away from the golf +club the carriage held the three members of the family, in front the +younger daughter, Beth, and on the rear seat the others: Judith erect +and cheerful, the Colonel cheerful also, but lounging in his corner with +the air of one who took the world without care. Blanchard was +fifty-eight, military as to voice and hair, for his tones were sonorous +and his white whiskers fierce. Yet these outward signs by no means +indicated his nature, and his manner, though bluff, appertained less to +military life than to the game of poker. Not that the Colonel played +cards; moreover, he drank merely in moderation, swore simply to maintain +his character, betrayed only by the tint of the left side of his +mustache that he liked a good cigar, and was extravagant in neither +dress nor table. He kept his carriage, of course, liked the best wines +at home and at the club, and in a small way was a collector of curios. +Yet the Blanchards, but for the brilliance of Judith, were quiet people; +he was proud to be a quiet man. + +Dullness is often the penalty of indolence; the Colonel was lazy and he +had small wit. Perceiving that Judith came away from the tea stimulated +and even excited, he rallied her about her new acquaintance. "An +interesting man, hey?" he asked for the third time. + +"Yes," answered Judith absently. "Father, what is there against Mr. +Ellis?" + +"Only that he is a pusher. He jars." Blanchard aimed to be tolerant. + +"Isn't there more?" asked little Beth. + +The Colonel, as always, turned his eyes on her with pleasure. She was +dark and quiet and sweet, yet her brown eyes revealed a power of +examining questions for their moral aspects. "Nothing much," he said +indulgently. "You don't know business, Beth. He's beaten his opponents +always, and the beaten always squeal, but I doubt if he's as black as +he's painted." + +"I'm glad to hear you stand up for him, father," said Judith. + +"He'll be looking for a wife among us," went on the Colonel with vast +shrewdness and considerable delicacy. "How would he suit you, Judith?" + +"Oh, father!" Beth protested. But Judith, with fire in her eyes, +answered: "He's at least a man. You can't say that of every one." + +Her answer made him turn toward her with a soberer thought and a new +interest. His manner changed from the natural to the pompous as he set +forth his views. "Money is almost the best thing one can have." + +"Father, dear!" protested Beth again. + +"I mean," he explained, again softening his manner, "from a father's +standpoint. If I could see you two girls married with plenty of money, I +could die happy." But evidently the Colonel was in the best of health, +so that his words lacked impressiveness. It was one of the misfortunes +of their family life that Judith was able to perceive the incongruity +between her father's Delphic utterances and his actual feelings, and +that the Colonel knew she found him out. + +"I wasn't thinking of Mr. Ellis's money," she said at this point. + +"I was," retorted the Colonel. As he was struggling with a real thought, +his tones became a little less sonorous and more genuine. "In sickness +riches give everything. In health there are enough troubles without +money cares. I mean it, Judith." + +She took his hand and caressed it. "Forgive me, father!" + +"My dear--my dear!" he responded cordially. + +So this, the type of their little jars, the sole disturbers of family +peace, passed as usual, rapidly and completely, and Ellis was spoken of +no more. Beth, with customary adroitness, came in to shift the subject, +and when the three descended at their door none of them shared the +coachman's air of gloom. + +He, however, detained the Colonel while the girls went up the steps. +"Beg pardon, sir, but could you give me a little of my wages?" + +"James," returned his master with his most military air, "why will you +choose such inconvenient times? Here is all I have with me." He gave +some money. "Twenty dollars." + +"Yessir," replied the man, not overmuch relieved. "And the rest of it, +sir? There's a hundred more owing." + +"Not to-day," returned the Colonel with vexation. But he was an +optimist. Though at the bottom of the steps he muttered to himself +something about "discharge," by the time he reached the top he was +absorbed in cheerful contemplation of the vast resources which, should +Judith ever chance to marry Ellis, would be at her disposal. + +Five minds were, that evening, dominated by the occurrences of the +afternoon. One was the Colonel's, still entertaining a dream which +should properly be repugnant to one of his station. This he recognised, +but he reminded himself that as a parent his daughter's good should be +his care. Another mind was Mather's, disturbed by the jealousy and dread +which the manliest of lovers cannot master. And one was Mrs. Harmon's; +she, like Ellis, had learned much that afternoon, and meant in future to +apply her knowledge. + +As that evening she went to the Fennos' ball Mrs. Harmon recalled the +snubs of the afternoon, and saw how insecure her footing was among these +people. Sometimes she had wondered if it were worth while, this struggle +to be "in"; the life was dull, lacking all natural excitements; there +was no friendship possible with any of the blue-bloods. Yet she hated to +knuckle to them; if she could engineer this match between Judith and +Ellis, then----! And Mrs. Harmon, with the hope of coming triumph, felt +fully equal to meeting Mrs. Fenno on her own ground. Mrs. Harmon wore +Ellis's jewels on her breast, she had his brain to back her, she +believed she knew Judith's weaknesses, and she saw before her a bright +future. + +Judith Blanchard made at that ball a searching review of her world, +dominated as she still was by the thoughts which Ellis aroused. For he, +the strongest personality in the city, had done more than to excite her +curiosity: with his deference to her opinion and his appeal for her help +he had succeeded--as Mather never--in wakening her sympathy. Questioning +why fashion should reject him, stirred to a new comparison of reality +with sham, she looked keenly about her at the ball. She was in one of +the inner sanctuaries, where society bowed down and worshiped itself. +Judith sniffed the incense, listened to the chants, and weighed the +words of officiating priests and priestesses. She found everything to +delight the eye, except the idols; everything to charm the senses, +except sense. + +In the ball-room there was dancing, pagan rites to what purpose? This +usually unrhythmic swaying, skipping, sliding, seemed a profitless way +to pass the hours when workers were in bed. Girls more or less innocent +danced with men more or less _roué_; this procedure, indefinitely +continued, gave occasion for jealousies among the girls and selfish +scheming among the men. In other rooms the older people played cards, +intent at bridge or whist upon their stakes. Near the buffet thronged +bachelors old or young, with not a few married men, busied in acquiring +an agreeable exhilaration. Their occupation was no worse than the +passionate gambling of the old women. And the house in which all this +went on was beautifully classic in design and furnishings. Beside that +quiet elegance, how vacant was the chatter! As Judith thought thus, +slowly the spirit of revolt came to her. + +The master of the house approached her; he was leonine, massive, +somewhat lame from rheumatism. She saw him, as he came, speaking among +his guests; his smile was cynical. It lighted upon her father, and the +Colonel, his character somehow exposed by that smile, seemed shallow. It +turned to the men at the sideboard, and their interests seemed less than +the froth in their glasses. The smile turned on Judith, and she felt +called to give an account of herself. + +But he merely asked her: "Where is Beth?" + +"Gone with Miss Pease to a meeting of the Charity Board," Judith +answered. + +Mr. Fenno grunted, looking at her sidewise. "Better employed than we!" + +Then he rambled away, neither knowing nor caring what encouragement he +had given to her mood. He missed Beth, for his rheumatism was sharp, the +company inane, and Beth was almost the only person who could make him +contented with himself. But Judith felt the reflection of his cynicism +and was stirred still deeper. What was there to interest her here? + +Among all the women Mrs. Harmon alone was in disaccord. No dressmaker +could conceal her natural style; the eye and carriage of the Judge's +wife were bolder than those of the women about her. A free humour +attracted some of the men; the women avoided her, the more delicate from +instinct, the stronger with a frank dislike. This antipathy Judith had +often felt and expressed, yet to-night she reviewed and rejected it. +Mrs. Harmon belonged to the class of the rising Americans; in that class +Judith felt interest, questioning if its vigour and freshness should not +outweigh external faults. She went to Mrs. Harmon and began to talk with +her. + +She tried to find, within the exterior, the solid qualities of the +middle class. But thought and purpose seemed lacking; in Mrs. Harmon the +vulgarity lay deeper than the surface. She was frivolous; she liked the +sparkle and the show, the wine, the dancing, and the gaiety. Promising +herself an intimacy with Judith, she talked willingly, but it was only +upon the subject of Ellis that she became interesting. + +She told Judith much about him. He had always been persevering and +ambitious; he had left his town as a boy because even then he found it +too little. Ellis had begun small; now he was big. Some day, said Mrs +Harmon significantly, people would recognise him. + +Why not, thought Judith as she looked about her, admit Ellis here? What +was an aristocracy for but to reward success? How could it remain sound +but by the infusion of new blood? Ellis had proved his quality by the +things he had done; he had beaten Mather; yet these halls which to +Mather were open were closed to Ellis. It was unfair to refuse to +recognise him! What were the abilities of these men here, compared with +his? + +Thus Judith, tolerant in her broad Americanism, admiring the forces +which to-day are accomplishing such marvellous results, thought of her +world. At the same time Ellis also was thinking of it. His was the fifth +mind moved by that afternoon's occurrence, but moved the most deeply of +them all. On leaving Judith first, like a man smitten by a slender blade +he had spoken, acted, thought as before. Then the inward bleeding began, +and the pain. He had gone away from her thinking of her as something to +be won, but no more distant, no less a commodity, than a public +franchise or a seat in the legislature. Thus he had discussed her with +Mrs. Harmon, but before night his thought of the girl had changed. Her +refinement was new to him; he recalled her in imagination and dwelt on +her features and her voice. Yet, equally with her delicacy, her spirit +charmed him with its frankness and its admiration of great things. There +was a subtle flattery in her interest in him; he had never thought of +himself as she did; he saw himself magnified in her eyes, which seemed +to refine the baseness from his employments and purposes. She gave him a +new idea of himself, and held before him vague new aims. + +He had entertained some of his henchmen that evening at his table, had +tasted while they ate, sipped while they drank, listened while they +spoke of politics. He sat at the head of the table, like the Sphinx +after which he was familiarly called, indifferent to their uncouthness +and their little thoughts; then at the end he suddenly called them into +executive session, asked a few keen questions, gave some brief +directions, and dismissed them. Thus he had always ruled them, from +outside, commanding respect by his decision, almost awe by his silence. +Though his purposes were not clear, the men went to obey him, having +learned to support him blindly, for he never failed. Such was Ellis +among his subordinates, the "old man" of whom they never asked +questions, with whom they never attempted familiarity. They praised him +as they went, proud of their connection with him. But he put out the +lights as soon as the men were gone, and sat at the window, looking at +Fenno's house. + +There was the temporary focus of social life; he saw the lights; had he +opened his window he might have heard the music. Carriages drove up, +people entered the house, and on the curtains of the ball-room he saw +moving shadows. In that house were what he wanted--recognition, a new +life, Judith. But she was guarded by the powers of a whole order, was +infinitely remote. + +His talk with Judith had doubled his determination to enter the upper +world, and yet changed his regard for it. It became Judith's world, +seeming to-night like a house which she inhabited, more precious by her +presence. And because she was so much finer than he had imagined the +women of her class, her sphere looked farther away, and his +determination to enter it was tempered by the fear of failure. + +As he took the first step in his new venture, he had been half ashamed +of his desire to "better himself," quite unable to justify himself by +appeal to the natural American wish to obtain the highest indorsement of +his community. So long as there had been anything left for him to win, +he had turned instinctively toward it. Now he suddenly realised that he +faced his greatest fight. He had often said that he liked fighting; he +had struggled for many years with all the power of nerve and mind. +To-night his brain seemed weary, bruised and scarred as a body might be. +Watching the house where Judith was, contemplating her image, a softness +came over Ellis, new to him; resolution became a wish, and then turned +to yearning. It was with difficulty that he roused himself, surprise +mingling with his contempt of the unrecognised sensation. He was in for +it now, he told himself almost roughly; the game was worth the candle, +and he would see it through. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +INTRODUCING AN ECCENTRIC + + +Mr. Peveril Pease had finished his week's work, and feeling no +obligation to attend the golf club tea, went home and settled himself in +his snuggery among his books. When his feet were once in slippers, his +velvet jacket was on, and he held a well-marked volume in his hand, he +felt he had more true comfort than all the golf clubs in the world could +give. So thorough was his satisfaction that rather than read he gave +himself up to the enjoyment of his well-being. Gazing about the room, +Mr. Pease permitted himself a brief retrospection of his career. + +Few men in the town could with so much right compliment themselves. He +had begun life with nothing but ancestral debts and encumbered property, +and now he was nearly as rich as Ellis, who had started with the +traditional dollar in his pocket. Pease's credit was firm as a rock; the +stock of his bank was quoted--no, it was hoarded. The widow, the orphan, +the struggling clerks who had their money in Pease's hands could sleep +at ease, and the respect in which he was held by the business men of the +city--but he wasn't thinking of that. + +No, this little house was his thought, and this room, and that array of +books. He had been thirteen years of age when his grandfather died, and +within the month he had refused the trustees his permission to sell a +foot of the real estate. Judge Harmon never tired of telling of the +visit of the boy, swelling with rage and resolution. "Cynthia may be +willing, but grandfather never would sell, and I won't have it!" he had +declared, and so strong was the lad's feeling that the trustees, divided +in opinion, had yielded to him, backing the debts of the estate with +their own credit. At eighteen he was practically their adviser and his +own trustee; at twenty he had redeemed the homestead with his earnings; +at twenty-five he had sold a single lot of the down-town property for +what the entire estate would not have brought twelve years before. So +much for determination and a long head. + +Fifteen years more had passed, and still his life had not made him hard +nor calculating. When he left his office he left his business; he went +"home," to the house in which he was born. The little shingled building, +so quaint, had been in the family for six generations; a Percival Pease +founded it, a Pembroke Pease finished it, a Peveril Pease owned it now. +It had never been rebuilt; the wainscot was still the same, the floors +sagged, the stairs were queer, the ceilings low. It corresponded the +least in the world with his riches and his great interests. But Pease +had the heart of a boy and the affections of a woman. The house was his +paradise, the room his bower, the books his especial delight. All his +spare time he spent among them, giving himself to "mental improvement." + +Many people thought him odd; some called him "poor Mr. Pease," with such +pity as is given to the struggling artist or the ambitious novelist, for +Pease had never been even to the high-school, and it seemed foolish for +him to try to cultivate his mind. They did not consider that the grace +of humility was not denied him, with just a touch of that saving +quality, humour. He knew himself fairly well, he guarded himself +successfully, only one person really knew his heart, and for the +opinion of the rest he had a smile. Let them laugh or pity, they had +nothing so fine as he, they were not so happy as he, and his kind of a +fool was not the worst. + +And so we must acknowledge that he was thoroughly complacent. None of +Judith Blanchard's discontent stirred him, none of Mather's anger at the +world, and none of Ellis's desire to advance. This little room gave him +all that he wanted: intellectual improvement, the feeling of progress, +mental satisfaction. Pease went beyond cherishing an ideal of happiness; +he believed that he was happy, and that no one could take his happiness +from him. + +And thinking so at this minute, his eye rested fondly on a motto on the +wall. + +It was from Goethe; it was lettered in old German characters, framed in +passe-partout, and hung above the mantel. Pease had dug it out of +"Faust"; it embodied so completely his notion of existence that he +resolved to keep it before him always. No mere translation could do it +justice; "Gray, dear friend, is all theory, and green the golden tree of +life"--that was too tame. No; the sonorous German could best express it: + + "Grau, theurer Freund, ist aller Theorie, + Und Gruen des Lebens goldner Baum." + +Pease whispered the words to himself. Gray indeed were the lives of all +others; he alone dwelt beneath life's green tree and ate its golden +fruit. This house, this room, these books--ah, Paradise! + +There came a knock at the door. "Peveril?" + +"Yes, Cynthia." + +"Don't forget, little Miss Blanchard is coming to dinner." + +"No, Cynthia." + +She was not requesting him to "dress." He always did. She was not asking +him to be on time; he always was. Being on the safe side of the door, +however, his cousin meant to remind him of her hardihood in inviting to +his table some one young and pretty. + +Not, Miss Cynthia sighed, that it would make any difference to him. When +her visitor arrived a little early, and sat chatting in the parlour, +Miss Pease reflected that Peveril, upstairs, was dressing no more +carefully for this charming girl than he would have done for old Mrs. +Brown. Charming--but he knew nothing of the real, the true, the living +best! + +Thus we may briefly record that Miss Cynthia Pease, who was the one +person that understood her cousin, was not wholly in sympathy with his +pursuits. Not that she would have acknowledged it to him, nor to anyone +else, not even to "little Miss Blanchard," Judith's sister Beth, who was +questioning her in a spirit of fun. + +"I'm so afraid of dining with your cousin!" Beth exclaimed. + +"No, you're not!" contradicted Miss Cynthia grimly. + +"If I should make some slip in statement, or spot the table-cloth! He is +so accurate, they all say." + +"You may depend on him to be polite under all circumstances," responded +Miss Cynthia, glaring. + +"But I should know what he would think," persisted the young lady. + +Miss Cynthia advanced to fury, scarcely repressed. "No, you wouldn't!" +she denied emphatically. "I won't have you laugh at him." + +"Why, you laugh at him yourself," said Beth. "You know you do." + +"And if I do?" retorted Miss Pease. "Let me tell you he's the dearest, +kindest man that ever--" + +"Why, Miss Cynthia," cried the other, "don't I know?" + +"Nobody knows," was the response. + +Now all grades of opposition, from caustic irony to smothered +denunciation, were habitual in Miss Pease's manner, but as she said +"Nobody knows," lo! there were tears in her voice, if not in her eyes. + +"Miss Cynthia!" cried Beth. + +Miss Pease was gaunt and grewsome, so that her manner fitted her +perfectly, but now as she sat winking her eyes and twisting her face she +became pathetic. The girl rose quickly and came to her side. + +"Have I hurt you?" she inquired anxiously. + +"No, child, no," answered Miss Pease, recovering herself. "You didn't +know what a sentimental old fool I am, did you? There, sit down again. +You see," (she hesitated before committing herself further) "I was +thinking, just before you came, of what Peveril has been to me. Your +talk roused me again." + +"He has done a great deal for you?" asked Beth with sympathy. + +"Everything in the world!" answered Miss Cynthia warmly, not having +resumed her manner. "Since our grandfather died Peveril has been my +protector, though he is two years younger. You know we were very poor at +first." + +"Very poor?" + +"We had nothing but debts," stated Miss Cynthia. "We lived in +boarding-houses for seven years before Peveril could buy the homestead +and get the strangers out of it. It was a proud day when he brought me +here, and told me this was mine to live in until the end of my life. And +yet for two years more I went daily to my work--I was in Benjamin's +great dry-goods store, my dear--until when they asked me to be the head +of the linen department Peveril said I should work no more, and +insisted on my staying at home." + +"I never heard of that," cried Beth. "That you were ever in Benjamin's!" + +"And a very good saleswoman I was," said Miss Cynthia. "But after that +the money began to come in to us, and Peveril sold the land where the +Security Building now is. I have not done a piece of work since then, +except for Peveril or for charity. I am a rich woman, my dear." + +"But you do so much for charity!" exclaimed Beth with enthusiasm. + +When it came to praise, Miss Pease became grim at once. "I've got to +keep busy with something," she snapped. + +"But tell me more," begged Beth. + +"There is nothing more," declared Miss Cynthia. "And now I hear him +coming, five minutes before the hour, just as he always does. Don't be +afraid of him; he has the softest heart in the world, as you ought to +discover, since you had the skill to find mine." + +Beth had only the time to squeeze her friend's hand as the two stood up +together. She had discovered Miss Pease's heart; it was an unconscious +specialty of Beth's to find the weak points in the armour of forbidding +persons, and she had on her list of friends more of the lonely and +unknown than had many a worker in organised charity. She was, in fact, a +worker in her own special field, the well-to-do, bringing them the +sympathy and affection which they needed as much as do the poor. She had +neither shrewdness nor experience; what she did was quite unconscious, +but her value was unique. Mr. William Fenno, who had no love for his +wife's pleasures and whose daughters took after their mother, loved to +have the girl with him. Judge Harmon, not quite at home by his own +gas-log, felt more comfortable if Beth were spending the evening with +him--for she made no pretense of coming to see his wife. Quite +unconsciously, a similar bond had been growing up between Beth and Miss +Pease, and took open recognition on that day when Miss Cynthia, allowing +her eyes to be pleased by the girl's freshness, blurted her feeling and +said: "I like you. You are so unlike your sister." + +But now Mr. Pease entered the room, and stood bowing while his cousin +repeated the formula: "Peveril, here is Miss Elizabeth Blanchard. Beth, +you remember my cousin, Mr. Peveril Pease?" + +Beth thought he was "funny," meaning he was peculiar. He was short and +rotund, he was immaculate and formal. His eyes met hers soberly, as if +he had little of his cousin's wit, however much less savage. Talk opened +with the golf club tea, and before the subject was exhausted he led the +conversation dexterously to the weather. Dinner was announced while the +beauty of the spring was yet under discussion, and at table, for a +while, Beth was still repeating to herself that he was a "funny" little +man. + +Curiously, Pease was in an entirely new situation. Never had he been so +placed that he must give an hour's undivided attention to a girl. He had +never learned that girls have individuality; he avoided them as a rule, +and at dinners there was always one at his left hand to relieve the +other at his right, so that he never spoke to either of them long. +Besides, not being regarded as a marrying man, Pease was invariably +given the "sticks" to entertain. Girls had been to him, therefore, +undeveloped creatures, displaying similar characteristics, being usually +unacquainted with serious topics, and (quite as usually) devoid of +personal attractions. Beth Blanchard, however, was something different. +Without dwelling on her charms, it is enough to say that she was +pretty; and without entering upon her mental acquirements, let us +believe that she knew what was going on. She was quite used, moreover, +to the society of older persons, and could meet Pease on many grounds, +although it happened that the subject chosen was Europe. + +"You have been there?" asked Pease quickly when Germany was mentioned. + +"We spent some time there," Beth replied. + +"Of course you have seen Weimar, then," Pease assumed. He happened to be +right. + +"Oh, yes," she answered, quite as if Weimar were still a focus of +travel. "We spent a month there; mamma was quite ill. You know"--and +here she addressed Miss Cynthia--"that she died over there, and then we +came home." + +Mr. Pease, in conjunction with his cousin, murmured his condolences, and +Miss Blanchard, not to make the evening doleful, turned again to speak +of Weimar. + +"We lived quite near to Goethe's house," she said. + +Then she beheld Mr. Pease glow with admiration. "You are very +fortunate," he cried. "The inspiration must have been great." + +"I am no writer, Mr. Pease," returned Beth. + +"But," he explained, "it must have permanently bettered and improved +you." + +"Do you think I needed it?" she flashed. + +Miss Cynthia, at her end of the table, was biting her lip. Pease, not +perceiving that he was being rallied, fell to apologising. "Oh, no," he +gasped. "I meant----" + +She spared him. "I was not serious," she laughed. "You must pardon me." +It was no new matter with her to relieve the embarrassed. Then she led +him once more to the topic. + +"You like Weimar, Mr. Pease?" + +"Oh, I only like Goethe, you know, and Schiller. I've never been from +America." + +"And yet you read German?" + +"Not very well. You see, I----" + +And then he spoke of himself. Miss Cynthia sat amazed. Here was Peveril, +who was always silent regarding his hobby, speaking from his heart. Beth +coaxed a little; he hung back a bit, but he yielded. It was as if a +miser were giving up his gold, yet the gold came. For all that she had +invited Beth there, wishing to stir her cousin from his rut, Miss +Cynthia presently became enraged. Peveril was telling more than he had +ever told her. This chit of a girl, what charm had she? + +But Pease himself, as he told the unaccustomed tale in halting +sentences, felt comfort. It had been a long time repressed within him; +he had seldom touched on it with Cynthia, and though he had not known +it, the loneliness of it had been wearing on him all these years. It was +sympathy that now brought it out, that quality in Beth which could +pierce the armour of such a cynic as Miss Cynthia, or warm so cold a +heart as William Fenno's. Pease yielded to it as frost to the sun. So he +told of himself and his studies, and the impulse of all these years he +confessed at the last. + +"You see," he said, flushing painfully, "it's poetry that I love." + +And he sat, the man of business, with his fair skin pink as a girl's. +Then, lest she should mistake, he explained. + +"You mustn't think," he said eagerly, "that I really suppose I +understand. I know I lose much--I--I'm not very deep, you know. There +are so many subtle things and such beautiful ones that pass me by. +Only, you see [more hesitation], I got such pleasure from the English +poets that I--tried the German. With a dictionary, you know, and a +grammar. And all this is so much to me that I--I don't care for anything +else. Can you understand?" + +Then he was swept by doubt and fear. Would she laugh? Not she! Beth made +him understand she appreciated his feelings, and presently Miss Cynthia +found herself listening to a discussion of Shakespeare. Her lip +curled--how foolish of Peveril! What real interest could Beth take in +his ideas? + +He asked himself the same question, with a sudden start, for Beth +laughed merrily. What had he said that was laughable? She held up a +finger. "Mr. Pease, I am going to accuse you of something. Will you +promise to tell me the truth?" + +This, he dimly felt, was a species of banter. "I promise," he said +uncomfortably. + +"Then, sir, do you memorise?" + +"Why, yes," he confessed. + +"I knew it!" she exclaimed. "Miss Cynthia, are you not ashamed of him? I +know nobody that memorises now, Mr. Pease, except you and--me!" + +He was relieved, and they fell to speaking eagerly. For the next few +minutes Miss Cynthia felt the outrage of hearing poetry quoted at her +table. Wordsworth, Scott, Burns, and then--for Pease was truly +patriotic--Lanier and Longfellow. And so they came to discuss the +meaning of a passage, and took up the subject of "Life." Next, +"Happiness." At all this sentiment Miss Cynthia ground her teeth. + +Beth was of the opinion that environment makes happiness. Pease +maintained that we make our own environment. "Impossible!" said Beth, +thinking of Mr. Fenno and the Judge. + +"Easily done!" declared Pease, thinking of himself. + +Then they spoke of "Ideals of Conduct"--Which of them make most for +Happiness? By little and little they came to the point where Pease felt +impelled to open his breast again. He spoke of his motto, quoting it +clumsily with his self-taught accent, so that a smile almost came to her +lips. She drew from him that he believed he knew the gray of life, and +the green. + +"But, Mr. Pease," Beth objected, "how can you say you know so much of +life when you live so much alone?" + +"We are late--we are late!" cried Miss Cynthia suddenly. "We shall miss +our engagement if we sit so long here." + +And so the two ladies presently went away, refusing all escort. Standing +at the open door, Pease watched them with a strange regret. The thought +of returning to his books was astonishingly unwelcome; they seemed to be +but leather, ink, and paper. He looked up at the heavens. Something was +stinging in his veins: what a lovely world! For the first time he +recognised the beauty of the moon. + +His thoughts were interrupted by a footstep, and there stood Mather. +"Mr. Pease," said he, "this is an unusual hour for business. But the +kind offer which you made me to-day----" He hesitated. + +"The position had only possibilities," answered Pease. "You would be +your own master, because I should leave everything to you, but it would +be like beginning at the bottom again. I knew you would refuse me." + +"You mistake," returned Mather with energy. "I like the chance, and will +build up your venture for you. I am ready to take your instructions +to-night, and go to work Monday morning." + +"Come inside," said Mr. Pease. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CHEBASSET + + +At the conference between Mather and Pease various matters were +discussed which are not to the direct purpose of this story. Such were, +for instance, the electrical and mechanical devices by which a metal was +to be produced from its ore, either in sheets, pure, or plated on iron. +Pease had bought the patent; the plan commended itself to Mather +immediately; there was "good money" in it. But before anything else +could be done a plant must be secured, a work which Pease expected would +take much time. He watched to see how Mather would propose to go about +it. + +"We must have a good water-supply for the vats," mused Mather. "A +harbour-front will be needed for the coal and ore; that means a suburban +location, which calls again for railroad facilities." + +"Of course there is no mill ready-made?" + +"There is! The old Dye Company's plant at Chebasset." + +"Impossible!" answered Pease at once. + +"Because rich people have summer places thereabouts, and wouldn't like a +mill as neighbour?" + +"Those rich people are our friends," reminded Pease. + +"Mr. Pease," said Mather positively, "I know all the mills of this +neighbourhood. There is no other suitable. To use this plant will save +us a year's time, as well as great expense. The buildings are in good +condition; the vats are large. The harbour is deep; all we need is to +enlarge the wharf and put in new engines. What more could one ask?" + +"Nothing," admitted Pease. + +"Then why not buy? Colonel Blanchard has been trying to sell these ten +years; he lost much money there. The price is so low that Fenno or +Branderson could easily have protected themselves." + +Pease still hesitated. + +"One thing more," said Mather. "I have visited in Chebasset, for short +periods; I know the place fairly well. The mill is in the remotest +corner of the town, and the dirtiest; there are poor houses there, +wretched sanitation, and a saloon on mill property. It's a good place +gone to seed. I'd like to clean it out." + +Mr. Pease thought he saw a way. "Let this settle it. If the Colonel is +willing to sell, there will be no reason why we should not buy." + +"I may go ahead on that understanding?" + +"You may." + +Mather rose. "The Colonel will be willing to sell. If you put this in my +hands, and will not appear, I can get the place cheap. People are ready +to see me start on another fool's errand at any time." + +"Go ahead, then; you know how much I am willing to spend. Attend to +everything and spare me the details. But," added Pease kindly, "I am +sorry to see you quite so bitter. Your friends will yet put you back in +Ellis's place." + +"When he has a clear majority of fifty votes in our small issue of +stock? Ah, let me go my own way, Mr. Pease. I see here a chance to do a +good thing; I need a wrestle with business. After I have been a month at +this you will find me a different man." + +They parted, each with a little envy of the other. Mather envied Pease +his accomplishments, the work that stood in his name; Pease coveted the +other's youth. But each was glad that they were working together. Pease +found that the purchase was accomplished within a fortnight, and that +men were soon at work on alterations in the mills. Those were matters in +which he did not concern himself; the scheme was bound to succeed; he +had little money in it (as money went with him), and he was interested +to see what Mather would make of the business. Trouble in the form of +criticism was bound to come. + +When it came the ladies took an active hand in it. Mrs. Fenno complained +that the sky-line of her view would be broken by the new chimney; Mrs. +Branderson had no relish for the aspect of the projected coal-wharf. +Young people believed that the river would be spoiled for canoeing, and +all agreed that the village would be no longer bearable, with the +families of fifty imported workmen to make it noisy and dirty. Moreover, +if the villagers themselves should give up their old occupations of +fishing, clam-digging, and market-gardening, for the steadier work in +the mill, then where would the cottagers look for their lobsters, their +stews, and their fresh vegetables? But the plan was put through. The +chimney went up, the wharf was enlarged, coal and ore barges appeared in +the little harbour, and in a surprisingly short time the old Dye +Company's mill was ready for work. Pease saw his returns promised a year +before he had expected, but George Mather was no longer popular. Mrs. +Fenno frowned at him, Mrs. Branderson scolded, and though their husbands +laughed at the young man and said he had been clever, many people +clamoured, and among them Judith Blanchard. + +This move of Mather's had taken her by surprise; at a step he had gained +a new position. No offers from the rich men moved him to sell; he +replied that he meant to carry out his plans. So a whole section of the +town was put in order for the families of the new workmen. Judith, +hearing of all this, complained to Mather when she met him. + +"And yet," he responded, "the mill is a mile from the nearest estate; +the whole town lies between. As for what clearing up I've done, I value +picturesqueness, Judith, but the place is now ten times healthier. And +we are putting in smoke-consumers." + +"Yet from most of our houses we can see your chimney." + +"Judith, for that one eyesore which I put up I will remove ten from the +town." + +"But who asked you to do it? You never lived here; you have no love for +the place." + +"I have lived," he replied, "in other New England towns, equally +degenerate." + +"I am not speaking of the townspeople," she said. "I mean the summer +residents." + +"Wasn't it your father's matter to think of them?" + +Judith had felt the discussion to be going against her. Therefore she +answered with some warmth: "That is another question entirely!" + +"I beg your pardon, Judith," he said. "But mayn't I describe my plans?" + +"No," she answered; "I don't think it is necessary." + +"Very well," he returned, and made no attempt to say more. Hurt, he fell +into a mood of dogged endurance. "Very well," he repeated, and let the +matter drop. Then Judith's interest was roused too late; he might really +have had something to say. She knew that dirt was unhealthy; she +remembered that in Chebasset drunkards on the street were more plentiful +than in Stirling. Yet her generosity did not quite extend to recalling +her words--partly because of natural pride, partly because she knew his +interest in her and would not encourage it, partly again because she +still resented his words to Ellis in her presence. And so the breach +between them remained. + +Yet he had already impressed her, by his manly readiness to begin life +again, and by his steadiness under her fire. Confidence was, to Judith, +almost a virtue. And the idea of reform always appealed to her: had the +place been really so bad? + +One by one the households had been moving down to Chebasset, and Beth +had already opened the Blanchard cottage. On the evening after Judith +had spoken with Mather she asked if Beth had noticed the changes in +Chebasset. + +"George's? At his mill?" asked Beth. "I think it's much improved. Those +horrid tumble-down shanties are gone, and there are new houses there +now--shingled and stained they are to be--with new fences." + +"Father," asked Judith, "why didn't you do that?" + +"My dear child," was his response, "how could I afford it?" The Colonel +was always nervous when the subject of the new mill was broached, and +quitted it as soon as possible. But Judith pursued him. + +"I asked George if he had not treated us unfairly--the property owners, +I mean. He seemed to think that was your affair." + +Beth was up in arms at once. "For that chimney? He laid the blame on +papa?" + +The Colonel wiped his flowing mustache, and looked at Judith; Beth's +outraged cry did not interest him so much as his elder daughter's stand. +"What did you say to him?" he asked. + +"I said that was another question." + +"So it is," agreed the Colonel. "Entirely different." He looked at Beth +to see if she were satisfied; she rose and came behind his chair, where +she began smoothing his hair. + +"Poor papa," she purred. + +Blanchard swelled his chest. "Thank you, Beth," he said, but his +thoughts went back to Judith. People took different stands on this +matter; he was anxious to have Judith on his side. Fenno had told the +Colonel that he, Fenno, ought to have been informed of the proposed +sale; Branderson, less bluntly, had intimated the same. It was possible +that Judith might take a similar view. + +"I had others beside myself to consider," he said. "Dear papa!" murmured +Beth. But Judith took it differently. + +"I don't want to profit by the sale," she stated. + +The Colonel offered no explanation. At the time of the sale he had not +been thinking of his daughters, but of certain pressing creditors. So +the money had been welcome and was already partly gone. He answered with +grim knowledge of a hidden meaning. + +"I'll take care you shall not profit by the transaction, Judith. But I +am sorry that the mill is sold. I hate a disturbance." + +"Don't you be sorry, papa!" exhorted Beth. But Judith delivered a shot +which hit her parent between wind and water. It was one of those +impromptus which come too quickly to be checked. + +"Perhaps Mr. Fenno would have given more." + +"Judith!" shouted her father, bouncing in his chair. + +"I beg your pardon, papa," she said humbly. + +When Judith was humble she was charming; the Colonel accepted her kiss +and pardoned her. As for herself, she felt her spirit lightened, as by +an electric discharge, and began to look at the whole question of +Mather's mill more temperately. Why should she grudge him his success? +It was so much less than Ellis's. When next she met Mather she was +gracious to him, and was ready to hear a full account of all his plans, +if only he would open the subject. He avoided it. + +Then the Blanchards moved to Chebasset, and Judith saw the mill and +chimney with her own eyes. People had stopped scolding about them; she +found them not so bad as had been reported, and the chimney, though +certainly tall, gave off but the slightest film of smoke. So thorough +were Mather's improvements that they forced Judith's admiration. When +she first went to the grocer's and, after making her purchases, inquired +of the changes in the town, she heard a torrent of praise of Mather. + +"It's a bad place he's cleaned out," the grocer said, coming very close +and speaking confidentially. "Many young fellows were led wrong there, +but the biggest saloon's gone now, and some of the worst men have left +the town, and a man can feel that his own children have a chance of +growing up decent. It's two boys I have, Miss Blanchard, that I was +worrying about till Mr. Mather came." + +"I am glad things are so much better," Judith said. + +"They'll be better yet," the grocer responded. "Gross, the other +saloon-keeper, has got to look after himself now. Mr. Mather had him in +court only the other day--look, there they are now." + +On the sidewalk outside stood a large man, gross as was his name; across +the street Mather was unconcernedly walking. The saloon-keeper raised a +fist and shouted at Mather, who paused and looked over at him +inquiringly. + +"I'll be even with you!" shouted Gross again. + +"Wait a bit," answered Mather cheerfully, "I'll come over." He crossed +the street and stepped directly to the saloon-keeper. "You'll be even +with me for what, Mr. Gross?" + +"For that fine," answered the other. "I'll have you in court yet, see if +I don't." + +"You'll have me in court," rejoined Mather, "when you catch me selling +whisky to minors, not before, Mr. Gross. And while we're on this subject +I may as well say that I've just sworn out a second warrant against +you." + +The saloon-keeper backed away from the very cool young man. "What yer +goin' ter do?" he asked. + +"I'm going to see," Mather answered, "that you observe the liquor laws. +And when your license comes before the selectmen for renewal, I shall be +at the hearing." + +On Gross's face appeared blotches of white. "We'll see!" he blustered. + +"We'll see," agreed Mather, and turned away. + +The grocer spoke in Judith's ear. "That's the stuff! That's what, Miss +Blanchard!" Waiting till Mather was gone, Judith left the shop and went +home very thoughtful. So George was working, on however small a scale, +for reform and progress. She could not fail to see that for his coming +the whole town had a brisker, brighter look. Chebasset streets had been +dull, sleepy, unpainted. Now fences were repaired, houses were +freshened, and the townspeople looked better dressed, because the men +were earning more money at the mill, or the women were gaining livings +by boarding and lodging the new-comers. The town was changed, and Mather +was the cause. + +Then she learned more of him. He was domesticating himself there, kept a +cat-boat, and had even bought a cottage. Beth pointed out the little +house, a good example of provincial architecture. + +"You didn't tell us you were going to buy," Judith reproached him when +he came to call. + +"Oh," he answered indirectly, "I fell in love with the place, and the +family mahogany fits in there exactly. Did you notice my roses?" + +Then he spoke of gardening, and gave Judith no chance to tell him what +she thought about his work. Had he done so, she might even have let him +know that she had overheard his talk with Gross, and that his action +pleased her. But he avoided the subject; his call was brief, and after +he had gone he did not return for a number of days. Chebasset was not +lively that summer; Judith grew lonesome, and more than once thought of +Mather. His conduct piqued and puzzled her. Now was his chance, as he +ought to know. What had become of the lover who used to bring to her his +hopes and fears? + +As for that lover, he had less time at his disposal than Judith +supposed. All day he was at the mill, or else went to Stirling on +necessary business; at night he was very tired. Yet though he knew he +was leaving Judith to her own devices, he did it deliberately. Until she +was tired of freedom, until she had satisfied her interest in the great +world, she would come to no man's call. Perhaps his conclusion was wise, +perhaps it was not, for while at a distance he watched Judith and +weighed his chances, Ellis was doing the same. + +To the outsider, Mather's path seemed clear; he lived in the same town +with Judith, might see her every day, and, worst of all, was prospering. +"I'll touch him up," said Ellis grimly to himself. "He'll buy a house, +will he?" And from that time he kept well informed of Mather's business +acts, watching for a chance to trip him. Ellis knew all the ways of +those three great forces: politics, capital, and labour; he could pull +so many wires that he counted on acting unobserved. + +Minor annoyances met Mather in his business, traceable to no particular +source. There was evident discrimination in railroad rates, and yet so +small was the increase that proof was difficult. Freight was mislaid and +mishandled; it was frequently very vexing. But the real attempt to +cripple the new business came toward the middle of the summer, when +Ellis, weary of the weak attempts of his subordinates at annoyance, took +a hand himself, and looked for some vital flaw in the safeguards of the +Electrolytic Company. He believed he found it, and various legal notices +came to Mather, all of which remained unanswered. Finally an important +official came in person to the office. He introduced himself as Mr. +Daggett of the harbour commission. + +"I have written you several times," he complained. + +"So you have," answered Mather. "Miss Jenks, may Mr. Daggett and I have +the office to ourselves for a while? I take it," he added, when the door +closed behind the stenographer, "that we are going to be rude to each +other. Have a cigar?" + +"Thanks," said Daggett, "but I don't see why ye didn't answer." + +"I was too busy. Besides, I wanted to get you down here, so as to settle +the matter once for all. Will you state the matter plainly; your letters +were vague? That is the wharf out there." + +Mr. Daggett viewed it through the window. "Yes, it's surely a long +wharf. Twenty feet beyond the harbour line. Ye'll have to take it down." + +"Or else?" demanded Mather. + +"Show a permit." + +"Come, there's one other choice." + +"Pay a fine," grinned Daggett. "We've set a pretty large sum. The +board's irritated, ye see, because ye've paid so little attention to +us." + +"The board never fails to answer letters, does it?" inquired Mather. + +"What do you mean?" + +"You're too busy, I suppose. And you don't appear to remember seeing me +before, Mr. Daggett." + +"Have I?" asked the commissioner. + +"You don't recollect that I wrote about this matter two months ago? I +had to go to the office to get an answer. You were deep in affairs, Mr. +Daggett. I found you and two others playing cards." + +"Was I?" asked Daggett. + +"When was this harbour line established, anyway? Wasn't it about two +weeks ago?" + +"Certainly," Mr. Daggett answered. "That has nothing to do with it. But +what did we tell you at the office--I can't remember your coming." + +"I wasn't there long enough to make much impression," said Mather. "One +of your friends told me that all fools knew there was no harbour line +here, and I didn't need your permission." + +"Hm!" remarked Daggett doubtfully. Then he brightened. "Did we give you +that in writing?" + +"I didn't ask you for it. You seemed so anxious to go on with your game +that I didn't trouble you further." + +"Then you have no permission," stated Daggett. "And now that there is a +harbour line, what will you do about it?" + +"I learned all I wanted of you," said Mather. He had not yet risen from +his desk, but now he did so, and going over to his safe, he threw it +open. "I asked nothing further because, there being no harbour line, a +permit wouldn't have been worth the paper it was written on. I wrote to +the Secretary of the Navy." Mather drew a document from a drawer of the +safe. "Do you care to see his answer?" + +"Whew!" whistled Daggett. "Well, I suppose I might as well." + +Mather gave him the paper. "You will see that I have permission to build +ten feet farther if I want to, and fifteen broader. I may also build +another wharf if I wish, lower down. Are you satisfied?" He touched the +bell. "You may come in now, Miss Jenks. Thank you for taking it so +easily, Mr. Daggett. I won't keep you from your game any longer. +Good-day." + +--"And before I left the office he was hard at work again, Mr. Ellis," +reported Daggett. "Save me, but he's taken pretty good care of himself, +and that's a fact." + +Ellis had no comments to make; he did his growling to himself. Seeing +nothing further to do, he left Mather alone. + +Thus time passed by till that midsummer day when Ellis took the trolley +to Chebasset and, once there, strolled among its streets. He viewed the +mill from a distance and gritted his teeth at the sight. Mather was well +ensconced; it seemed altogether too likely that he might win a wife, +among his other successes. Then the promoter left the town and climbed +above it on the winding road, viewing the estates of the summer +residents as one by one he passed their gates. Should he enter at the +Judge's? + +A light step sounded on the road as he hesitated at the gate. Someone +spoke his name, and there stood Judith Blanchard. + +"Here, and in business hours?" she asked. + +"My day's work was done," he answered. "Besides, it was not all pleasure +that brought me." + +Judith's eyes brightened. "Tell me," she suggested. + +"Why should I tell you?" he asked bluntly. But the brusqueness only +pleased her; he was a man of secrets. + +"No reason at all," she answered. + +"And yet," he said, "your advice would be valuable, if you will not +tell." + +"I! I tell?" she asked. "You do not know me." + +"Then," he said, "I came to look at land here." + +"To look at land here?" she repeated, questioning. "Can you buy here?" + +"There is land," he said. "The price would be doubled if it were known I +am after it. I have the refusal of it, through agents." + +"Where does it lie?" she asked. + +"Farther up the road." + +"You must not be seen going to it," she declared. "People would take +alarm----" She stopped, embarrassed. + +"I do not mind," he said, and yet she felt his bitterness. "I am not +considered a good neighbour." + +"It is wrong of people," she declared earnestly. + +"I should not be welcome on any one of these piazzas," he said, +indicating the villas beyond them. "The Judge doesn't like me--your own +father has no use for me." + +"Will you come and try?" she cried. "I should like to see if my father +will be rude to my guest." + +"You are very kind," he said, "but do you consider----?" + +"I have invited you," she interrupted. "Will you come?" + +"With pleasure," he answered. They went up the hill together. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE PROGRESS OF ACQUAINTANCE + + +Judith, before she met Ellis for this second time, had been bored. +Chebasset was so dull that it was dreary; in the country-houses were +given little teas, slow whist-parties, or stupid luncheons. Of the young +people of her age some had married, others had gone into business, and +the self-content of the first of these was not to be disturbed, nor the +fatigue of the others to be increased, for the sake of giving Judith a +good time. She became a little impatient with her surroundings, +therefore, and as the sizzling summer brought physical discomfort, she +was inclined to lay the blame where it could scarcely with justice be +said to belong. Yet while her acquaintances were not responsible for the +heat, Judith, with her abundant energies unused, was right in feeling +that society was sunk in sloth, and that instead of giving itself to +petty diversions it had better do something worth while. She was +discontented with herself, her idleness, her uselessness; she felt that +she would rather face even the heat of the city, and be doing, than stay +longer on her piazza and keep cool. Therefore she had sought the dusty +road as a sort of penance, and meeting Ellis, had been reminded of what +he stood for: the world of working men and women. + +She had thought of him many times since their first meeting, making his +achievements a standard to which only Pease and Fenno approximated, and +of which Mather fell far short. She had continued to read of Ellis in +the newspapers, to watch his slow course of uninterrupted success, and +had come to accept the popular idea of his irresistible genius. Feeling +this natural admiration of his immense energy and skill, in her heart +she made little of the two obstacles which were said to lie in his path. +For it was claimed, first, that some day the street-railway would prove +too much for him, bringing him as it did in contact with the organised +mass of labourers, and with the public which Mather had accustomed to an +excellent standard of service. Could Ellis always maintain the present +delicate balance between dividends, wages, and efficiency? Again it was +said that some day he would come in conflict with Judith's own class, +which, when it chose to exert its power, would rise and hurl him down. +Judith put no belief in either of these prophesies, considering Ellis +able to avoid all difficulties, her caste too flabby to oppose him. So +she thought of him as destined always to conquer; he would win his way +even among the elect, and might become a friend of hers. For she could +help him; they were alike in their loneliness, and their outlook upon +life was the same. Therefore when she met him she welcomed him. + +A fillip to the wheel of her fate was given as she and Ellis went up the +hill. They met Miss Fenno coming down. Now Miss Fenno was the extreme +type of the society-bred person, knowing nothing but the one thing. Her +interests were so small that they included less than the proverbial +four-hundred people; her prejudices were so large that they formed a +sort of Chinese wall to exclude any real humanity of soul. And all she +did at this juncture was to gaze very superciliously at Ellis, and then +to give the coldest of nods to Judith as she passed. + +"The Fenno manner," grumbled Ellis to himself. + +But Judith flamed with resentment. She brought Ellis up to her own +piazza, a few minutes later, with that in her bearing which her father +recognised as her panoply of war: quietness, erectness, something of +hauteur. The Colonel rose hastily. + +"I have brought Mr. Ellis," she said. + +"Glad to see him!" exclaimed the Colonel as if he had been spurred. "Mr. +Ellis is a stranger in Chebasset." + +Ellis had the wisdom to attempt no manner. "I come here seldom," he +responded. "You are very kind to welcome me, Colonel." + +He wondered if the use of the title were proper in the upper circle, and +if he should have answered differently. Moments such as this made the +game seem scarcely worth the candle; the nerve and fiber used up were +more than a day of business would require. But his qualities asserted +themselves. Here he was where he most wanted to be; he meant to win the +right to come again. + +"What do you think of our view?" the Colonel asked, leading his guest to +the edge of the piazza. The hill fell away steeply, the town lay below, +and scattered on the farther hillsides were the villas of the +well-to-do. The Colonel began pointing out the residences. "Alfred Fenno +over there--Alfred, not William, you know; richer than his brother, but +not so prominent. And down there is Branderson; he overlooks the river, +but he also sees the new chimney, which we miss." The Colonel added, "A +good deal of money he has spent there." + +"I should think so," agreed Ellis. + +"The Dents are over there," Blanchard proceeded. "Rather pretentious the +house is, in my opinion, like--" his voice faded away; he had had in +mind Ellis's own house in the city. "----Er, gingerbready, don't you +think?" + +"The elms don't let me see it very well," Ellis was glad to answer. For +what was gingerbready? Sticky? + +"But much money in it," said the Colonel. "Dent has made a good thing of +his mills." + +"Very good thing," murmured Ellis. He was interested to hear these +comments of an insider. + +"Kingston's place is over there," continued the Colonel. "Now, I like, +do you know, Mr. Ellis, what Kingston has done with that house. Small, +but a gem, sir--a gem! Money has not been spared--and there's lots of +money there!" quoth the Colonel, wagging his head. + +Ellis began to perceive the monotony of these descriptions. Money, +riches; riches, money. And there was an unction to each utterance which +might betray the inner man. Judith perceived this also. + +"Let us have tea," she said, and going where the tea-table stood, she +rang for the maid. But the Colonel continued: + +"And William Fenno is over there--a fine house, Mr. Ellis; pure +Georgian, a hundred years old if it's a day. A very old family, and a +very old family fortune. The West India trade did it, before our +shipping declined." + +"Long ago," murmured Ellis. He knew very little of those old days. The +present and the immediate future concerned him, and as for the causes of +industrial changes, he was one himself. + +"Come," insisted Judith, "come and sit down, and let us leave off +talking of people's possessions." + +"Judith! My dear!" remonstrated the Colonel. But the maid was bringing +out the steaming kettle, and he took his seat by the table. "My +daughter," he said to Ellis, half playfully, "does not concern herself +with things which you and I must consider." + +Judith raised her eyebrows. "Do you take sugar, Mr. Ellis?" she asked. + +"Sugar, if you please," he answered. He was divided in his interest as +he sat there, for he had taken from the chair, and now held in his hand, +the newspaper which the Colonel had been reading as they arrived. Ellis +saw pencillings beside the stock-exchange reports, but though he wished +to read them he did not dare, and so laid the paper aside to watch +Judith make the tea. This was new to him. Mrs. Harmon had never taken +the trouble to offer him tea, though the gaudy outfit stood always in +her parlour. He knew that the "proper thing" was his at last, in this +detail, but how to take the cup, how hold it, drink from it? Confound +the schoolboy feeling! + +"It was hot in the city to-day?" asked the Colonel. + +"Uncomfortable," answered Ellis. "You are fortunate, Miss Blanchard, not +to have to go to the city every day, as some girls do." + +"I'm not so sure," she responded. "It's dull here, doing nothing. I +sometimes wish I were a stenographer." + +"Judith!" exclaimed her father. + +"To earn your own living?" asked Ellis. + +"I should not be afraid to try," she replied. + +"You'd make a good stenographer, I do believe," he exclaimed. + +"Thank you," she answered. + +His enthusiasm mounted. "I have a situation open!" he cried. + +"You wouldn't find her spelling perfect," commented the Colonel grimly. +He laughed with immense enjoyment at his joke, and at the moment Beth +Blanchard came out of the house and joined them. + +Ellis did not see her at first; he was watching the Colonel, and divined +that no great barrier separated him from the aristocrat; there had been +in Blanchard's manner nothing that expressed repulsion--nothing like +Fenno's coolness, for instance, or the constant scrutiny which was so +uncomfortable. Blanchard had seemed willing to fill up his idle hours by +speech with any one; he was a new specimen, therefore, and Ellis was +studying him, when of a sudden he heard Judith speak his name, and +looked up to meet the gaze of a pair of quiet eyes. With a little start +he scrambled to his feet. + +"My sister," Judith was saying. + +He bowed and endeavoured to speak, but he felt that the beginning was +wrong. Beth was in turn dissecting him; she was something entirely +different from Judith, more thoughtful, less headstrong. The idea that +here was an adverse influence came into his mind, as he stammered that +he was pleased to meet her. + +"Thank you, Mr. Ellis," she answered. Judith noticed that Beth on her +part expressed no pleasure. The little sister had individuality, with a +persistence in her own opinion which sometimes contrasted strongly with +her usual softness. But the incident was brief, for Beth's eye lighted +as she saw a visitor at the corner of the piazza, hesitating with hat in +hand. + +"Mr. Pease!" she exclaimed. + +The little conventionalities of this new welcome also passed. Mr. Pease +had met Mr. Ellis; he was delighted to find the family at home; the +others were equally pleased that he had come. But when the pause came it +was awkward, for Judith and Ellis were clearly uncongenial with Beth and +Pease; it required the Colonel's intervention to prevent a hopeless +attempt at general conversation. He drew Ellis away; Judith followed, +and Beth sat down to serve Pease with tea. + +Then the Colonel himself withdrew, on pretext of the need to catch the +mail. He went into the library to write, and Judith turned to Ellis. + +"Can we go from here to see the land you spoke of?" + +"The old Welton place," he said. "Do you know the way?" + +"Certainly," answered Judith. They excused themselves to the others. + +As they prepared to go, the Colonel looked at them from his desk; then +turned his eyes on Beth and Pease. A thrill of wonder, then a sense of +exultation seized him. Attractive girls they both were, and the men were +the two richest in the city. + +Judith conducted Ellis through shrubbery and across fields, up the +hillside to a spot where little trees were growing in an old cellar, +while charred timbers lying half buried spoke of the catastrophe which +had destroyed the house. "I remember the fire," Judith said. "I was a +child then, but I stood at the window in the night, mother holding me, +and watched the house burn down. Mr. Welton would neither build again +nor sell. But the place is on the market now?" + +"He's to marry again, I understand," answered Ellis. They both accepted +the fact as explaining any and all departures from previous lines of +conduct. + +"Would you build on this spot?" she asked him. + +"What would you advise?" he returned. She swept the situation with her +gaze. + +"There are sites higher up, or lower down," she said. "Lower is too low. +Higher--you might see the chimney." + +Ellis noted with satisfaction the prejudice against Mather's landmark, +but he passed the remark by. "Don't you like," he said, "a house placed +at the highest possible point? It is so striking." + +"Couldn't it be too much so?" she inquired. + +He turned his sharp look on her, willing to take a lesson and at the +same time make it evident that he welcomed the instruction. "That is a +new idea," he said. "It explains why that chimney, for instance, is +unpleasant." + +"It is so tall and--stupid," explained Judith; "and you never can get +rid of it." + +"I understand," he said. "Then perhaps this is the best place to build. +I could get it roofed in before winter, easily, and have the whole thing +ready by next summer. Stables where the barn stands, I suppose. My +architect could get out the plans in a fortnight." + +"The same architect," queried Judith, "that built your city house?" +There was that in her voice which seized Ellis's attention. + +"You don't like his work?" he demanded. + +"Why," she hesitated, caught, "I--you wouldn't put a city house here, +would you?" + +"I like the kind," he said. "Stone, you know; turrets, carvings, imps, +and that sort of thing. All hand-work, but they get them out quickly. +Kind of a tall house. Wouldn't that do here?" + +"No, no, Mr. Ellis," she answered quickly, almost shuddering at his +description. "Think how out of place--here. On a hill a low house, but a +long one if you need it, is proper." + +"Oh," he said slowly, thinking. "Seems reasonable. But tall is the kind +Smithson always builds." + +"I know," answered Judith. Smithson was responsible for a good deal, in +the city. + +Again Ellis searched her face. "You don't care for my city house?" + +She had to tell the truth. "For my taste," she acknowledged, "it's a +little--ornate." + +"That's ornamental?" he asked. "But that's what I like about it. Don't +the rest of my neighbours care for it any more than you do?" + +"Some do not," she admitted. + +"I guess that most of you don't, then," he decided. "Well, well, how a +fellow makes mistakes! One of those quiet buildings with columns, now, +such as I tore down, I suppose would have been just the thing?" + +"Yes," she said. "But Mr. Ellis, you mustn't think----" + +He smiled. "Never mind, Miss Blanchard. You would say something nice, +I'm sure, but the mischief's done; the building's there, ain't it?" + +"I wish----" she began. + +"And really I'm obliged to you," he went on. "Because I might have built +a house here just like the other. Now we'll have it right--if I decide +to build here at all." + +"Then you've not made up your mind?" + +"Almost," he said. "The bargain's all but closed. Only it seems so +useless, for a bachelor." He looked at her a moment. "Give me your +advice," he begged. "Sometimes I think I'm doing the foolish thing." + +"Why, Mr. Ellis, what can I--and it's not my affair." + +"Make it your affair!" he urged. "This is very important to me. I don't +want to sicken these people by crowding in; you saw what Miss Fenno +thought of me this afternoon. But if there is any chance for me--what do +you say?" + +It was the mention of Miss Fenno that did it. She sprang up in Judith's +consciousness, clothed in her armour of correctness--proper, prim, and +stupid. And in Judith was roused wrath against this type of her life, +against her class and its narrowness. She obeyed her impulse, and turned +a quickening glance on him. + +"Would you turn back now?" she asked. + +"That is enough!" he cried, with sudden vehemence. + +For a while they stood and said no more. Judith saw that he looked +around him on the level space where his house was to stand; then he cast +his glance down toward those estates which he would overlook. His eye +almost flashed--was there more of the hawk or the eagle in his gaze? +Judith thought it was the eagle; she knew she had stirred him anew to +the struggle, and was exhilarated. Unmarked at the moment, she had taken +a step important to them both. She had swayed him to an important +decision, and had become in a sense an adviser. + +Yet aside from that, she had stimulated him strangely. Her enthusiasm +was communicable--not through its loftiness, for from that he shrank +with mistrust, but through its energy and daring. She drew him in spite +of her ignorance and misconceptions: dangerous as these might be to him +if she should come to learn the truth about his practices, he thought +that in her love of action lay an offset to them, while her restlessness +and curiosity were two strong motives in his favour. She was fearless, +even bold, and that high spirit of hers had more charm for him than all +her beauty. He did not see, and it was long before he understood, that +something entirely new in him had been roused by contact with her; the +most that he felt was that he was satisfied as never before, that she +had strengthened his impulse to work and to achieve, and that with her +to help him he would be irresistible. Yes, he had chosen well! + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +NEW IDEAS + + +A parting shot in conversation sometimes rankles like the Parthian's +arrow. So it had been with Pease. Beth had said to him: "How can you +think you know life, when you live so much alone?"--words to that +effect. He had had no chance to defend himself to her, and in +consequence had been defending himself to himself ever since. Truly a +serious mind is a heavy burden. + +Finally he had come down to Chebasset to get the matter off his mind; at +least, such was his real purpose. He coloured it with the intention of +"looking in at the mill," and gave Mather a few words at the office. +Mather had been working at his desk, as Mr. Daggett, the Harbour +Commissioner, had found and left him. Orders, Mather said, were piling +in too fast. + +Pease smiled. "Enlarge, then." + +"Delay in profits," warned Mather. "No dividend this quarter." + +"Go ahead just the same," said Pease. "I hoped for this." + +Mather began writing. "Come, leave work," invited Pease. "I'm going up +to the Blanchards'. Come with me." + +"I'm ordering coal and material," said Mather. "We have plenty of ore, +but the new work must begin soon." + +Pease struck his hand upon the desk. "Do you mean," he demanded, "that +you are writing about the enlargements already?" + +"Plans were made long ago," answered Mather. + +"What do you do for exercise?" cried Pease. "How do you keep well? I'll +not be responsible, mind, for your breakdown when it comes." + +But he made no impression and went away alone, climbed the hill, and +found the Blanchards on their piazza. Ellis was more than he had +bargained for, and the Colonel had never been exactly to Pease's taste, +but they departed, leaving him alone with Beth. She presently noticed +the signs that he was endeavouring to bring the conversation to a +particular subject, as one becomes aware of a heavy vessel trying to get +under way. So she gave him the chance to speak. + +"Miss Blanchard," he said, when he found that he might forge ahead, "you +said something the other day--other evening--against which I must defend +myself. That I live much alone." + +She remembered at once, flashed back in her mind to that whole +conversation, and was ready to tease him. Tease him she did as he began +his explanation; she refused to be persuaded that he did not live alone. +He might enumerate dinners, might point to his pursuits, might speak of +the hundred people of all classes with whom he came in close daily +contact: she would not acknowledge that she had been wrong. + +"You are your mind," she declared, "and your mind is aloof." + +He would have grieved, but that he felt again, dimly as before, that she +was rallying him. And he was pleased that she did not fear him, nor call +him Sir--that title which causes such a painful feeling of seniority. +She gave him a feeling of confidence, of youthfulness, which had not +been his even in boyhood. He had been "Old Pease" then; he was "Old +Pease" to many people still. The respect in which young and old held him +was a natural, if very formal atmosphere. This defiance of Beth's came +upon him like a fresh breeze, bringing younger life. He threw off his +earnestness at last and laughed with her at himself. + +"Upon my word!" thought the Colonel, on whose ears such laughter had a +new sound. He looked out of the window; Pease was actually merry. +"Second childhood," grinned the Colonel, as he returned to his writing. + +Beth discovered that Pease was no fossil, and began to enjoy herself +less at his expense but more for other reasons. He could never lose the +flavour of originality, for his odd manner's sake. Even as he sat and +laughed he was upright and precise, though the twinkle was genuine and +the noise was hearty. Then she rose from the tea-table, and they went to +the piazza's edge together. There they discovered Judith returning with +Ellis. + +"Come away," said Beth quickly; "there are places where we can go. They +have not seen us; take your hat." + +This was wonderful, slipping with a girl away from other people, and +Pease felt the delight of it. Fleeing by passages he had never seen, in +a house he had never before entered, smacked of the youthful and +romantic. Beth brought him out behind the house, and thirty seconds put +them in shrubbery. She led the way, not suspecting that his mental +vision was dazzled by new vistas. + +For Pease would have faced Ellis and Judith as a duty, borne with their +conversation, and returned home without a sigh for the wasted hour. Such +was his conception of life--to take what was sent, nor avoid the +unpleasant. It had gone so far that in some matters he did not consult +his own feelings at all, but gave his time to others, recognising +himself as a trustee for their benefit. The good which can be done in +such a way is enormous, in business or professional matters merely; but +Pease had carried the habit into his social scheme, and was therefore +the sufferer from his own good nature, the victim of every bore. It was +a revelation that one could exercise choice, and could flee (losing +dignity, but gaining in romance) from the unpleasant. So that boyish +thrill came over him, with a manly one besides as he felt the compliment +Beth paid him. It put them on a closer footing when, laughing and out of +breath, she sat in a garden seat and motioned him to take the place +beside her. + +"Do you think me foolish?" she asked. + +"Not at all!" he answered eagerly. + +"But perhaps you wished to stay and meet Mr. Ellis?" + +"Not for anything!" he averred. + +Then she looked at him soberly. "What do you think of him?" She posed +him, for polite vagueness was his desire, and he could not find the +words. + +"He is----" he hesitated, "very--er, pleasant, of course. Not my--kind, +perhaps." + +"And you really do not like him," she stated, so simply and confidently +that in all innocence he answered "Yes," and then could have bitten his +tongue off. + +"Neither do I," she acknowledged. + +And so those two took the same important step which Judith and Ellis had +already taken--of showing true feeling to each other, and breaking rules +thereby. For Beth, while not reserved, chose her confidants carefully, +after long trial; and Pease's habit had been never to acknowledge +personal feeling against any one, least of all a business rival. + +"Judith has encouraged him before," said Beth. "People talked of her +when she met him; they will do so the more now that she has asked him +here. Not that she will care for that, Mr. Pease, but I shall not enjoy +it." + +"Of course you will not," he agreed. + +They hovered on the verge of confidences for a moment, then Beth took +the plunge. She looked at Pease with a little distress in her eyes. +"Judith is headstrong," she said. "She is discontented, but does not +know what she wants. I have sometimes thought that George Mather, if he +only knew how, might----" + +"Yes," said Pease, filling the pause. "I wish he did. He is not happy +himself, poor fellow. They have been intimate?" + +"Till within a little while. But they are both too masterful. And yet I +sometimes think she has him always in mind, but as if defying him, do +you understand?" + +"Indeed?" he murmured. + +"I hope," said Beth, "that this acquaintance of hers with Mr. Ellis is +just a phase of that. If it is not, and if she should--Judith cares so +little for people's opinions, you know." + +"It would be very--painful," murmured Pease. "But it has not come to +anything of that sort yet?" + +"No, but I know Judith so well that I don't know what she'll do." And +Beth concluded her confidences in order to draw some from Pease. The +sort of man Ellis was: could he be called dishonest? He was not of +course a gentleman? Pease cast off restraint and answered frankly; she +found he had considerable power of defining his thoughts, saying that +Ellis had never been proved dishonest, but that his conscience seemed no +bar to questionable actions; that he was unrefined, good-natured when he +had conquered, rough in breaking his way. What his personal charms might +be Pease had never had the chance to determine. Mrs. Harmon seemed to +like him--but one must not judge by that, because--and silence fell for +a moment, as they looked at each other with understanding. + +It seems simple and so commonplace, but this was one of the talks which +_accomplish_, bringing the speakers together as nothing else can do. +Such talks build human ties; Pease and Beth formed one now. By the time +they saw Ellis going away they had new feelings toward each other, +differing in degree and result--for Beth knew friendship well, but to +Pease it was altogether astonishing and momentous. When Ellis was well +away Pease also took his leave and followed down the winding road. + +"Tell Mr. Mather to come," were Beth's last words to him. + +So Pease went again to the mill, where Mather was still in the office. +Pease had little finesse, and went about his errand directly. + +"Miss Jenks," he said, and the stenographer vanished. + +"Anything?" asked Mather. + +Pease put his hand on his shoulder. "Just a message," he answered. "Miss +Elizabeth Blanchard----" + +"Oh, Beth, you mean," said Mather. + +"Yes," replied Pease. "She told me to tell you to come and see them." + +"Indeed?" asked Mather. + +"She was particular about it," Pease urged. "She meant something by it." + +"Thanks," was all Mather said. "Now these enlargements, Mr. Pease. You +meant what you said?" + +"Yes, yes," answered Pease impatiently, and closed his hand on the +other's shoulder. "And I mean this: Take Miss Blanchard's advice. Good +day." He went to the door, and turned. "Ellis was up there this +afternoon." + +On his way home he did little thinking, but he felt. He had touched +people's lives in a new way; he felt the breath of Mather's romance, and +warmed at the trust which Beth reposed in him. Odd quivers ran through +him, strange little impulses toward his kind, calling him to a youth +which his life had earlier denied him. It was not possible for him to +understand their meaning, but they were pleasurable. + +In like manner Mather gave that evening to musings concerning persons +rather than things. To follow his new line of conduct with Judith, or +(now that Ellis had appeared again) to turn once more and earnestly +pursue her--which? Clearly he saw that Judith would go her own way, +would play with fire, would even burn her fingers for all that he could +do. He must wait, be her friend, and having once said his say, must +never again bother her with his warnings. + +And Ellis, that evening, also mused upon the Blanchards, though his +thoughts were very definite. On leaving the house he had borrowed the +newspaper; the Colonel had asked him to post some letters in the city. +When in the train, Ellis turned the newspaper to the stock-market +reports and studied the Colonel's pencillings. Blanchard had underlined +the names of certain stocks usually considered skittish rather than +safe, and had made multiplications in the margin. When Ellis came to +post the letters, very deliberately he read the addresses. Some were +meaningless to him, but one bore the address of a broker whose +reputation was quite as uncertain as the value of the stocks he chiefly +dealt in. Ellis did not cast off thought until he reached his house. + +Then he looked up at the Gothic building and scanned its various +projections. "Ornate?" he murmured. "Well, wait till the inside is +properly beautified!" + +He spoke lightly, but when he entered the house his feeling changed. The +great hall was dim and shadowy; seldom aired, it seemed cold. In front +of him wound the huge staircase; to left and right were dusky apartments +which echoed his steps. Since he first built the place it had satisfied +him, but fresh from the influence of Judith, suddenly he saw the house +as it was. Empty, gloomy, it was but a vast artificial cave, without +life or warmth. For the second time a wistfulness, misunderstood, almost +bewildering, came over him, and he wondered if anybody--somebody!--would +ever brighten the house for him, and make it a home. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +DRAWN BOTH WAYS + + +Those youthful promptings which so stirred Pease, far beyond his own +comprehension, kept working in him through the summer weeks. The joy of +living, which he supposed he had mastered, appeared to him an altered +thing, so that its object no longer reposed on shelves in his study, but +moved serenely in a cottage above the harbour at Chebasset. Pease +accepted the change with the innocence which was particularly his, and +followed his new chase with but slight idea that he was varying from his +usual course. For being a man of social preciseness, he was given to +making calls, and made no distinction between the kind to which he was +habituated, the so-named duty call, and the new visit which was made for +pleasure. Mather wondered, after a few unusual appearances of Pease at +the mill, if the banker was overseeing his work; but as on each occasion +Pease went farther up the hill Mather put the visits down to the right +cause. + +As most people are gifted with that kind of insight which the manager +thus exercised, others as well came to note Pease's actions, and their +cause, before the banker did himself. Miss Cynthia, who spent summer as +well as winter in the city (for since her poor people could not get +away, neither would she), came early to know what seed she had planted +in her cousin's breast. For he was open as the day, and without thought +of concealment told her where he was going or where he had been. Miss +Cynthia set her mouth at each mention of Chebasset, but as they came +oftener she began to consider if she should not have to give up her +chamber, the best in the house, and take the one in the rear. Or perhaps +it might be best to live elsewhere altogether. But looking at her cousin +one day, all his goodness seemed lost in his homeliness and lack of +charm. So she smiled the grim smile of pity, and set about making him +more comfortable at home than ever. + +Mather also had occasion to smile thus, when one day he allowed Beth +Blanchard's word of advice to move him at last. He had seen Ellis more +than once in Chebasset, and felt uneasy; Pease looked in one afternoon +and asked him to go up to the Blanchards'. As usual, Mather refused, but +after an hour he started up the hill, to be passed by Pease coming down. +They were on different ways, for Mather had just left the high road for +a path which would save distance, when looking back he saw Pease going +down the hill. Pease wore a flower which he had not had before; he was +smiling cheerfully, with a retrospective air, and Mather smiled also, +grimly as Miss Cynthia had done, at the thought of the late plant of +love springing in the barren soil of middle-age. + +He went on to the Blanchards' house; Judith was not there. But Beth +welcomed him and sat him down, gave him tea, and talked to him as he sat +half-silent. + +"People do not see much of you nowadays," she said with a tone of +reproach. "You are much too busy, George." + +"Oh, well----!" he shrugged inattentively, and Beth might interpret as +she pleased. She looked at him as he sat, with his chair against the +piazza railing, his arm across it, and his face turned to look out upon +the bay. He was neither gloomy nor resigned, but bore the look of a +strong man waiting. Time was not of account to him. + +"You do not worry much," she said. + +"Not I," he answered, but he turned to her. "Is there anything to worry +about, little Beth?" + +"Sometimes I think so," she replied. "I think that now you'd better stay +to dinner." + +"Thank you," he said, looking at her more carefully. "I suppose you know +best," he added. + +There had never been anything between these two except undefined +good-feeling, expressed only by the inattentive conversation of those +who have often met in the same house with different interests. There had +existed, besides, that consciousness of a difference in age which makes +a few years seem almost a generation, so that with boys and girls "sets" +are separated by a bar of habit which prevents an older from seeing +anything in a younger, even after the passage of years has brought them +both to maturity. Thus, to Mather, Beth had always been a little girl, +until just now her quiet, assured carriage, as she interfered in his +affairs, opened his eyes. For she answered his last remark with +confidence. + +"Yes, I know best." And he believed her. + +"Talk to me," he said, turning still more toward her. "I have seen no +one for a long time. Who is doing? What is doing?" So Beth talked to +him. + +This was her mission in life--to talk people into cheerfulness and bring +them nearer the rest of the world. She enjoyed it always, but it was +especially pleasant to her as she spoke with Mather. For he was real, he +was big, he was not baulked by conditions which might have been too much +for him. Estrangement from Judith was not, she was glad to see, making +him melancholy. He seemed in good physical condition; though he had not +gone much with people of late, she had seen him from her window, early +in the morning, sailing on the bay before he went to his work. It was +not Judith alone, therefore, but work also, that kept him from going +about. All this she felt, or guessed, as she told him of little matters. + +"It is too bad," she said after a while. "You should have a mother, or a +sister, to tell you all this." + +"That Esther Fenno is away yachting, or that John Watson is attentive to +Mary Carr?" He laughed. "But, Beth, you shall be my sister of mercy, and +I will come here oftener." + +"Come, then," she said. "Some day there will be better or more important +items, and you may be glad of the bargain. Or if you happen to call on +Judith when Mr. Ellis does, you may talk with me." + +"Couldn't he do that?" He maintained the appearance of jesting, but she +said seriously: + +"I don't like him." + +Then he put out his hand to her; she took it, and Judith came upon them +thus. + +A pang shot through him as he rose and greeted her; she was quiet in her +manner--his coming could not move her in the least. He wished he might +feel that there had been a flash of inquiry in her first glance at him +and Beth, but her face had not really changed. She welcomed him kindly +enough. "He is going to stay to dinner," said Beth. Judith answered with +a conventional "Good!" Then the Colonel appeared; he had brought the +mail. + +"A letter for you, Judith," he said. "A thick package, rather." + +Thoughtlessly, she opened it. Ellis had promised to send her his +house-plans, and for the purpose had had a set made, much reduced in +size. He had mailed them to her himself; but for carelessness she would +have recognised his hand. The Colonel, always inquisitive, craned his +neck as Judith drew the plans from the envelope. + +"Plans!" he exclaimed. "Are you going into building, Judith?" + +She looked at the upper plan, carelessly as before, though the red came +into her cheek. Then she put them all back into the paper. "No, I'm not +going to build," she said. + +"This reminds me," said the Colonel. "They say Ellis has bought the +Welton place." + +"Indeed!" cried Beth. Her glance sought Mather's; his responded, +cynically humorous. That he should be there when the news was given! But +he turned to the Colonel. + +"That must be very recent, sir." + +"It may not be so," replied he, "but Kingston is hopping for fury, and +Dent for fright, because they'll be his neighbours. Judith, do you +happen to know if the news is true?" + +In spite of herself, she looked at the floor. "Yes, it is true." + +"Aha!" cried the Colonel. "Then those plans----" She looked up now, and +flashed him into silence. + +"I think," said Judith, "that I will go and dress for dinner." She went, +and Beth went also, casting a glance of sympathy at Mather. + +"Will you come in?" asked the Colonel nervously of his guest. + +"I'll stay here, thank you. Don't let me keep you, sir." + +"Thanks. I think I will fix up." + +Mather smiled scornfully at the relief the Colonel showed. Alone, he +leaned against a pillar and looked out over the bay. So this was what +he had come to learn! And being here, he must stay and put the matter +through. + +It was a miserable meal. Judith was furious with her father; Beth was +appalled at the length to which matters appeared to have gone. Mather +and the Colonel struggled manfully, and spoke of matters in the business +world. The Colonel inclined toward the subject of stocks. + +"Consolidated," he suggested. "Don't you think it a good investment?" + +"I am leaving silver alone," responded Mather. "I consider all those +stocks very unsafe just now, sir." + +So with that radical difference of opinion between them, which really +concerned the Colonel more than he would show, conversation languished +even between the gentlemen. Out upon the piazza, after dinner, matters +went more smoothly, but Mather concluded that it was wiser to "eat and +run" than to stay where constraint hung in the air like a fog. So, +pleading the habit of early sleep, he took his leave. + +Then Judith, fearing that he had been suffering, roused herself. "I will +go with you to the gate," she said, as he offered his hand for good-by. +They left the piazza together, but Beth, catching his eye to signal +satisfaction, saw him shake his head. Judith's condescension could no +longer thrill him. Beth felt that his attitude, for one who was so +concerned, was strangely like that of an observer. + +And Judith felt it, too. He had passed through the stage of eager +homage, a favour could no longer enrapture him; she wondered if he had +even noticed the incident of the house-plans--whether, after all, he had +been hurt, so steadily he had borne himself. When they were alone +together, walking toward the gate, he turned to her a gaze almost +quizzical. + +"Have you forgiven me my chimney, Judith?" + +Thus he drew a smile from her; then, for the first time, he spoke of +his mill, but left her no burden of answering. The walk was short, +and he filled it with tales of his men, their weaknesses, their +characteristics, the troubles which some of them had confided to him. +But he said nothing of his difficulties or of his growing success, +though as he talked she thought of them. + +"Does it not please you," she asked, "that people speak well of what you +are doing?" + +"Do they?" was all he answered. "By the way----" + +"And the work of organisation?" she asked him. + +"It was fun," he said, "and not difficult at all." + +"I can't believe you!" she cried. + +"Nothing, nothing!" he answered. + +"And is all smooth sailing now?" + +"One of the men is getting up a strike," he answered. "That is all." + +"A strike!" she exclaimed. + +"So the older men tell me. A little one." + +"How can you take it so easily?" she asked. + +He smiled. "I think I can meet it. Well, here we are at the gate. Thank +you for coming, Judith. Good-by." He started away briskly, then turned +back. She was looking at him seriously. + +"Here is Jim Wayne coming up the road," he said. "He comes to see Beth?" + +"Yes." + +"And what of my employer?" + +"Poor Mr. Pease!" + +"_Mr._ Pease," repeated Mather. "There it all is in a nutshell. Jim is +Jim, twenty-three. Pease is Mr. Pease, forty-five. The young to the +young, as Salvation Yeo said. Poor Pease! Good-night again, Judith." + +And this time he was off for good, not turning again. Judith returned +thoughtfully to the house. He had interested her--turned her back a +little toward her real self, her old self. No small part of the effect +he had made was caused by his cheerful self-command. Did he love her +still? She thought of what he had done for Chebasset. He was very much +of a man. + +On the way down the hill Mather passed Wayne. This was that broker's +clerk who always nodded to Ellis so carelessly, whose mother Ellis had +bought out, and whose name the promoter envied. Handsome, thought Mather +as they greeted; on second thought he added, a bit weak. But Mrs. +Harmon, looking from her garden as they passed on the road below, +thought that Wayne was handsome without qualification. Thus those two, +both of whom were to influence Wayne's fate, thought of him as he went +on to see Beth. Mrs. Harmon followed him with her eyes until he entered +the Blanchards' gate; with her thoughts, still longer. Mather forgot him +in grieving for Pease, the poor dreamer who would wake too late. + +"Beth," asked Judith, returning to the house, "where was it we read +about Salvation Yeo?" + +"In Kingsley's 'Westward Ho,'" answered Beth. After Wayne had come and +gone, she noticed that Judith was reading the book. + +"Do you like it?" asked Beth. + +"Romance--love," said Judith. "It seems unnatural." She laid the book +aside. "A pleasant evening, Beth?" + +"Very," Beth answered. + +"And Mr. Pease?" asked Judith. + +She saw with surprise that Beth's eyes filled with tears. "What can I +do?" asked the younger sister; but expecting no answer, she went away. + +Judith took up her book again, yet held it without opening it. Romance +and love had come to Beth; why not to herself? Judith had had suitors; +and true love might win her yet. Was it to be found? Such lasting love, +she meant, as it was certain Pease would give. No wonder Beth grieved; +any woman's heart would be touched by such devotion. Yet as Judith +thought of her old suitors she could name half a dozen now married, +having forgotten their griefs. But it was Mather who was most in her +mind, who ever since his rejection had been so strangely independent, +and this evening most of all. He had shown no surprise, no dismay, at +the sight of Ellis's house-plans. At the thought Judith started up with +pique, resentment--it would have been hard to define her feeling at the +thought that Mather needed no one to sorrow for him. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AN INCIDENT AT THE MILL + + +On a morning when Beth took her turn at marketing she met Mather on the +street. "It's four days since you were at the house," she reminded him. + +"Is there really any advantage in my coming often?" he asked her. + +"I don't know," she answered plaintively. "But Judith has very little to +do. You might ask her to visit the mill." + +"Come any time. Both of you," he responded. + +"I'll bring her this morning," she said quickly. + +But when Mather had been another hour at the mill he forgot the +engagement thus made. For in going about he noticed that the quiet in +the place was different from the bustle of ordinary days; the men seemed +expectant. Then as he passed near one of the older workmen the man spoke +to him under his voice. + +"Look out this morning, sir." + +"The strike is coming, Ferguson?" Mather asked, at once alert. + +"Yes, sir." + +Mather returned to his desk in the office. He believed that the strike, +if it came so soon, would be ill-planned. The day was warm; all doors +and windows were open to admit the harbour breeze; as he looked through +the screen-door into the mill he watched one man in particular. Though +the fellow's station was at a window, he seemed hotter than his +neighbours: his face was flushed; he wiped his brow and moved nervously. + +The stenographer rose from her desk and silently laid a slip of paper +before Mather. On it was scrawled in pencil: "Wee will stand by you, +Mister Mather. Old Hands." Mather smiled; he had but twelve out of +seventy workmen who knew what strikes and lockouts meant. Most of the +men he had picked up where he could, training them himself; he had no +idea how far he could trust them. Instead of giving him confidence, the +note suddenly showed how weak his backing was. + +"Where did you get this, Miss Jenks?" he asked. + +"I found it just now, sir, slipped in among my papers." + +"Thank you," he answered, and she went back to her desk, pale and +frightened. + +The workman whom Mather had been watching kept looking at the clock. It +began to strike eleven; at once all eyes were turned on him; all work +was suspended during the slow striking. When this ceased, the workman +left his place and went to the door of the office; all glances followed +him, and the men who were more distant left their stations and crowded +to watch. Conscious of the stir he made, the fellow walked with a +swagger, but a change came in his manner when, through the screen-door, +he saw the quiet manager also eyeing him. He knocked on the door. + +"Come in, Stock," said Mather. + +Now the main entrance to the office was from outside, through a short +passage. At the moment when the workman entered from the mill, Judith +and Beth came into the passage; seeing Mather in apparent conference +with an employee, they waited until he should be finished. He had +wheeled in his chair, and his back was turned to them. "Well, Stock?" he +said. + +The spokesman of the employees was a lean man, somewhat wolfish, with +an eye that moved too much. He seemed a talker rather than a doer, with +something of the actor showing as he stood by the door and folded his +arms. He spoke with an important air; no voice, Judith thought, can be +impressive if it is not clear. + +"I've come to say, sir, that we're dissatisfied." + +"That means," asked Mather, quietly and without rising, "that _you_ are +dissatisfied?" + +The man cleared his throat, but still a characteristic huskiness +remained. "Yes, sir, I am." + +"Very well," was the response, and the manager turned to the +stenographer. "Miss Jenks, make out a bill of this man's time." + +Beth clutched Judith by the sleeve and sought to draw her away. Judith +stood still; not for anything would she have lost the sight of those two +men as they watched each other. + +"You discharge me?" cried the workman with excitement. + +"You discharged yourself," answered Mather steadily. "I can't have a man +here who is dissatisfied." + +"My grievances----" began the other. + +Mather cut him short. "Grievance is a word that doesn't apply. You knew +the conditions of work when you came; I have changed none of them." + +"Then," cried Stock, "let me tell you from the men----" + +"Stop!" ordered Mather; "no one speaks for my men who is not in my +employ." + +"Just the same----" began Stock, anxiety peering from his eyes. Mather +interrupted him again. + +"That will do. How much, Miss Jenks? Thanks." He took the money from his +pocket and handed it to the workman. "That is correct, I think. Good +day, Stock." + +The workman was visibly troubled at the turn of events. "This is most +improper treatment," he complained. As he turned to the door at his back +he ventured a threat. "You shall see!" + +"Not that door," said Mather quickly. "Remember that you are no longer a +workman here. The other way leads out of doors." + +"I must get my hat," the man said, his eye now truly shifty and alarmed. +For a second it met Judith's, and she felt that he glared like a trapped +rat. Nevertheless, under Mather's glance he moved away from the mill +door. + +"I will send for your hat," said Mather. He rose and opened the door +himself. "Jamison, Stock is leaving us. Will you bring his hat?" + +He stood at the open door and waited. Judith looked beyond him into the +mill, where machinery rumbled, and in great vats huge cylinders +revolved. The men stood and stared at each other, or looked at the door +and the manager standing there. Some of the men were shamefaced, some +uneasy, some were smiling--and these were the older hands. The man who +had gone for the hat had reached the door on his return before any sound +rose above the rumble of the machinery. + +Then Judith heard a voice, high-pitched and harsh. It needed a look at +Stock to make sure his husky tones could become so sharp. He was craning +toward the door, sending his voice toward those farthest away. + +"Now is the time," he cried, "to assert your manhood!" + +Mather took out his watch. "Yes," he said, and though he did not raise +his voice Judith noted its splendid carrying power. "Now is your time, +boys. Any one dissatisfied, like Stock here, can go with him. I give you +three minutes." + +One of the older men laughed aloud, and standing above a vat began +raking in it, apparently, with a hooked pole. Others turned to their +work, yet they all kept their attention on those of the younger men who +stood still. Judith felt her hands grow cold, and knew her heart was +beating faster, for half of the men had not moved. Then fingers as cold +as her own took her hand, and Beth pressed up to her side. The older men +stopped work again, the man above the vat stood with pole suspended, and +Stock gave a little dramatic laugh. + +"One minute!" said Mather clearly. + +The men's eyes were on him, Judith's eyes also. He was calm and +perfectly confident; he had no word to say, but he seemed massive as his +own chimney, and as hard to move. His eye roved among the men, then +turned to the office, and for an instant met those of the frightened +stenographer. He gave a smile of confidence, looked at his watch, then +turned again to his men. + +"A minute and a half!" + +His voice seemed to ring out a challenge. Before it the men broke. One +who stood nearest the door, smiling feebly, turned and shuffled toward +his place. He gave the signal to the others. One by one they went to +work, but this time the older men last, until the man by the vat, with a +disdainful sniff, plunged his pole again into the liquid. Then Stock, +reaching for his hat, snatched it and almost ran from the office. In the +passage he fairly crowded Judith and Beth against the wall. Mather, +turning to look after him, saw the sisters. + +At once he closed the solid door into the mill, cutting out the sounds +and bringing quiet. "Come in," he said to Judith. "How long have you +been there?" + +"About three minutes," she answered, entering. She looked him in the +eye; he saw that she was excited, and flushed under the admiration +which showed in her glance. + +"I am sorry you ran into this," he said. "I had not expected it for a +fortnight." + +"I am glad," she returned. "What a peaceful spot this will be for a +while. You will show us over the mill?" + +"Not when this has just happened," he answered. "It would be too much +like showing off the animals I had tamed. Will you excuse me?" + +"I must see the office, then," she said. "Open your safe: pretend I am a +bank inspector, do!" + +He laughed and introduced the sisters to Miss Jenks, laid out his books, +opened the safe, and challenged their criticism. Judith had never been +in an office before: the excitement of what she had just seen still +dominated her. To the stenographer's eyes she was dazzling, enchanting; +even Mather, though he told himself that the interest would pass, was +deeply pleased. He showed the store-room with its stock of sheet metal, +the yard, the wharf, the coal-pockets. Returning to the mill, the three +entered the office again. + +"It is almost twelve," said Beth, looking at the clock. + +A new interest took Judith, and she did not hear. Miss Jenks was at work +at her typewriter; she realised that Judith was watching +her--critically, of course. The magnificent Miss Blanchard must be above +such a thing as typewriting. + +But Judith was interested rather than critical as she watched the clever +fingers at their work. It did not seem hard, and it fascinated her as at +each stroke a long type-arm sprang up, reached over, and struck upon the +paper. Letters grew to words, words to lines--and a faint glow spread +over the stenographer's face as Miss Blanchard moved forward to her +side and looked down at her work. + +"You don't mind, do you?" asked Judith. + +Miss Jenks did mind; she was nervous and almost frightened, but she +stuck to her task. Judith bent lower over the machine, knitting her brow +as she studied its working. The regular movement of the carriage, the +flashing type-arms, the flying fingers, and the result in violet print, +took strong hold of her. + +"There," said Miss Jenks at last, flushing deeply, "the letter is ready +for Mr. Mather's signature." She drew it from the machine and handed it +to Judith. + +"Is it so very hard?" asked Judith, glancing at the letter for but a +moment, then fixing the stenographer with an earnest eye. "Did you have +to study long?" + +"At the typewriting?" asked Miss Jenks. "No, I picked that up quickly. +But shorthand is not easy at all." She took from the desk a note-book +and offered it to Judith. "Those are my notes of what Mr. Mather +dictated." + +The pothooks on the paper meant nothing to Judith, but she saw that they +were very few. "Is this whole letter in these signs?" she asked. +"Indeed! It must be hard to learn." She looked still harder at the +stenographer, who blushed again under the intense scrutiny. Judith was +thinking that if this little, anæmic girl could learn shorthand, surely +she could do so herself. + +"But Judith," said Beth, interposing, "you are keeping her from her +work." + +"The letters are all finished," murmured Miss Jenks, glad to turn her +embarrassed eyes elsewhere. + +Judith moved to the typewriter and looked down at it. Until this morning +she had never seen one except in an advertisement; its shiny +complications grew more attractive. She said nothing, but Beth smiled +at Mather mischievously. + +"Try it," she suggested to Judith. + +"Oh, if you will!" exclaimed Miss Jenks. She slipped a sheet of paper +into place and placed the chair for Judith. "Will you not?" she invited. +Judith took the seat. + +"You can begin," suggested Miss Jenks, "by striking the letters one by +one. You press this key----" + +"For capitals; yes, I saw," Judith replied. "No, I will try to write +without practising. To whom, Beth?" + +"Tell Mr. Pease," Beth suggested, "that you approve of his manager." + +So Judith wrote, dating, addressing, and beginning to explain that she +liked the mill. It--she bit her lip--was not quite so easy as it might +be, nor--as she finished a line without mistake, and released her lip +again--so very hard after all. She became interested, forgot the others, +and talked to herself. + +"R--where's R? Oh, thanks. That was not hard enough; it scarcely +printed. Now Y--here! Now the end of the line; how easily this runs. +Beth, how do you spell----?" + +Then they laughed at her, and she rose. "Judith, it's almost twelve," +said Beth again. "Let's get away before the workmen do." + +"George," Judith said to Mather, "let me look into the mill once more." + +He opened the door again. The cylinders were still turning; the men were +busy--they even looked cheerful. And but for Mather's firm hand the mill +might at this moment be empty and idle! She gave him a glance of frank +approval as she turned to say good-bye. On the way home she was so +silent that Beth wondered if she were moved by what she had seen. + +In fact, Judith was deeply moved. Never before had she seen such a sight +as that in the office, and the qualities displayed by Mather had +impressed her. Thus to stand up against a danger, thus to handle men--it +seemed to Judith as if he had done something almost great. His coolness +and success were heroic; for the rest of the day he occupied her mind; +she sat on the piazza, even at the table, with thoughts visibly +abstracted, and Beth at last became so impressed that she sought the +telephone when Judith was out of hearing, meaning to give Mather a piece +of advice. But he was no longer at the office; Miss Jenks said he had +gone to the city. + +"I am very sorry," said Beth. + +"So am I," sympathised Miss Jenks. + +"I wanted to ask him to come up here this evening," said Beth. "You are +sure I cannot get him at his hotel?" + +"Very sure," replied Miss Jenks. So Beth, much disappointed, left the +telephone. + +Miss Jenks could have told Beth more. When the sisters had gone from the +mill, the stenographer found in the typewriter a sheet which she took +out and laid silently before her employer. He looked at it for a while, +then--tore it up. He had passed beyond the stage of treasuring reminders +of his lady. Only the day before he had found and destroyed a little +hoard of mementos which seemed to reproach him with his lack of success. +Judith, he told himself with that grimness which was a feature of his +self-control, did not exactly inspire poetic dreaming. So he destroyed +the letter, but when his day's work was over he turned reluctantly from +going to see her. + +Miss Jenks saw his hesitation as, after putting on his hat, he stood at +the door and visibly asked himself: "Which way?" To the right led up +the hill and to Judith; to the left would bring him to his cottage; +straight ahead stood a trolley-car ready to start back to the city. The +little stenographer would have been wise enough to send him where, at +that moment, Judith was thinking of him. But like a man he blundered. + +"Hang it!" he thought, "she doesn't want to see me all the time." He +counted up that he had seen her twice in one week; Sunday was the +earliest that he could go again. Also he remembered Ellis's house-plans. +So Miss Jenks, with a sense of disappointment which was both personal +and unselfish, saw him board the car. + +At her house Beth scratched a note to Mather; it contained only the +words: "Follow it up!" She would send it in the morning. But after +dinner Judith received a telephone message from Mrs. Harmon, asking her +if she would not come over for the evening. Judith consented; it would +be neighbourly to go. + +"Will you come?" she asked of Beth. + +"Is the Judge there?" Beth inquired. + +"He is in the city." + +"Then I think I'll stay at home," decided Beth. She forecasted events +exactly. Judith went, stayed most of the evening, and was escorted home +by--Ellis. "He came down," Judith vouchsafed, "after I arrived there." + +Since morning Judith had been softer, gentler than usual; but now she +was lofty again, with her old manner underlaid by excitement. Beth went +sadly to her room and tore up her note to Mather. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +FORWARDS VARIOUS AFFAIRS + + +As time passed on, Colonel Blanchard watched with interest, mixed with +solicitude, the love-matters of his daughters. Judith's affairs were +going to his satisfaction, for though Mather came occasionally to the +house, Ellis came oftener. Ellis's land had been bought, his house was +going up, and at times he came to discuss his plans with Judith. So far +so good, but in another quarter the Colonel was not quite so well +pleased, since the visits of Jim Wayne to Beth were becoming very +frequent. + +Beth was twenty, Jim was twenty-one. He found the way to Chebasset easy +to follow, even though he left his mother at home alone--for the Wayne +estate was low in the world, and summer-resorts were not for the widow. +She, desolate soul, counted her dollars carefully, and encouraged her +son's belief that by selling the house and land to Ellis she had made +herself comfortable for life. "It was only for that," he explained to +Beth, "I allowed her to sell. And now she doesn't need my earnings, so I +use them for myself. She likes me to dress well; she says I'm so like my +father that she can't bear to have me look shabby. And it's a mark of a +gentleman, don't you think, Beth, to look well?" + +It was so sweet of Jim to admire his father, that Beth could not bear to +say how the elder Wayne was popularly regarded. + +"Why," snorted Mr. Fenno, "what he spent on clothes, cigars, and wines, +would have provided enough insurance to keep his family handsomely." + +Fenno, when on the subject, had intended to make it clear to Beth that +Jim was too much like his father. Innuendo, however, had failed with +Beth--not that she was unable to perceive that Jim had his weaknesses, +but she had the habit of championing her favourites against her own +judgment. Thus she was sorry for the Judge who had chosen his wife +unwisely and could not make her love him, and pitied old Fenno himself, +who realised the hollowness of the world only after he had drummed on it +for a good many years. She was fond of such men because they were weak, +weak though they knew it not themselves, though the world called them +strong. And so it was not unnatural that Beth should take into her +innermost heart something still weaker to cherish, because she was so +strong herself; something with faults, she had so few herself; something +which would get into trouble, for she was so used to getting people out. +She did not realise that the young fall far deeper into trouble than the +old, and that she could not give backbone to a man who had none. + +All this is but saying that Beth, wise in the affairs of others, with +her own was not so gifted, and was so mistaken as to take Wayne at very +nearly his own valuation. For Jim had a dashing air, and dressing in the +fashion was the mark of many a girlish eye. He went smooth-shaven; his +face had a slightly petulant expression, as if complaining of the world, +yet at times he lighted with the fire of optimism, when he told Beth of +the things he meant to do. And thus he approached her on two undefended +sides, for never had she turned a deaf ear to a call for sympathy, and +nothing in a man did she admire so much as aspiration. + +Thus their affinity declared itself to them, for Jim liked to be purred +over and strengthened. He enjoyed telling, to an attentive ear, the +misfortunes of his family. "That we should have to sell our house to +that fellow Ellis!" he said to Beth. "It seems too hard, doesn't it? And +to think that in a few years I shall be earning enough to support the +old house, if I had it still! But when a fellow's just starting, you've +no idea how little they pay. The business world! Ah, Beth, you're lucky +to be a girl, so that you don't have to rub up against life!" + +He spoke as if life in its hardest form were to be met with only on +exchange, and shook his handsome head so convincingly that Beth believed +him. She enjoyed believing him; it gave her pleasure to think Jim a man +of the world. In fact, he carried himself very well, with none of those +mannerisms which so often betray inexperience. Little allusions to +dissipation are very common, but Jim was not given to these, and in +consequence seemed more manly than those of his set whom she met. Of +course Jim took wine when her father offered it; believing in her father +as she did, she thought it no sign of dissipation when he or others +drank at his table. It was a pleasure to Beth that Jim and the Colonel +were congenial, with more than one topic in common. For example, Wayne +had a nice taste in wines, fostered by his lamented parent, and could +discuss with Blanchard the merits of his '68 and '72. Jim liked the +Colonel's tobacco, also, and never failed to commend it. But most of all +the two enjoyed speaking of the stock-market and all which to it +pertained. The Colonel always asked Jim for the "news of the street," +which the two discussed with as much seriousness as if Jim were not +young and the Colonel flighty. To these talks Judith and Beth always +listened silently--Judith because she knew there would be no use to say +anything, Beth because she did not suppose that anything was to be said. + +Thus when the Colonel led the talk to Consolidated one evening, Judith +remembered, but Beth forgot, that Mather had advised against all silver +stocks until they should become settled. To Beth stocks were mere names, +unembodied nothings without power either to wreck lives or to make +people happy. + +"Great possibilities," said Jim, wagging his head. + +"Must go up soon, I think," commented her father, with deliberation. + +"Sure!" Jim assented heartily. + +Such incomplete sentences and bits of slang meant wisdom to Beth, and +when Judith rose from the table, the younger sister still remained +sitting to hear what further Delphic utterances might be made. + +"Always said Argent would slump," stated the Colonel. + +"I got out of that some time ago," declared Jim. + +"Wise!" Blanchard said approvingly, not knowing that Jim's single share +had been sold under pressure of necessity, when his mother, in one of +the few decisive moments of her life, declared that Jim himself must buy +the new carpet for his room, since she thought the old one still good +enough for a couple of years' wear. Jim had at first meant to have a +good carpet, then he decided on a rug, and a large part of his Argent +went into something Turkish, while a little of what was left was devoted +to adorning his person. One small share of Consolidated remained as an +investment, and Jim was now looking for that to rise again to the point +at which he had bought it. + +Jim was an optimist with the instinct of self-approval, and being "in" +Consolidated he had picked up the expressions which had fallen in his +hearing, justifying him in his wisdom in buying and his hopefulness in +waiting. He told the Colonel what Baxter said, and what Winster said, +and especially what Bullfinch had declared in regard to the stock. Now, +Bullfinch was that broker with whom the Colonel had his dealings. + +"He said 'Hang on'?" asked Blanchard with pleasure. + +"Yes," said Jim. "And I heard him giving Baxter a tip, sir, which I will +pass on to you, if you're interested. He said: 'Watch Poulton Mining and +Milling.'" + +"Indeed?" murmured the Colonel. + +"Now, you wouldn't think that, would you, sir?" asked Jim. "It's down, +way down; why, it's been down for a couple of years! I had forgotten +about it, almost. But now I'm watching it myself. It has moved a little +lately, up a point and down again. Looks as if some one were interesting +himself in it, don't you think?" + +"May be," assented the Colonel judicially. + +"If Consolidated rises, I'm thinking of taking my money out and putting +it into Poulton. What should you say to that, Colonel?" + +"Where is Poulton now?" asked Blanchard. + +"Twelve and a half," answered Jim. + +"Well," explained the Colonel, "the way I have always looked at these +things is this. If your money is in a low-priced stock, and it rises a +dozen points, then perhaps you double. But if your money is in something +high-priced, then on the rise you only make twelve per cent." + +"If only," said Jim, "one could be sure which stock will rise!" + +"You can make sure by watching," asserted the Colonel. + +Once Ellis came in as one of these conversations was in progress; he +stood listening while the two amateurs finished their duologue. + +"Don't you think so?" they had appealed to him at the end. + +"Ah, well," replied the master of finance, "you seem to have got hold of +something there." Then he went out on the piazza with Judith, leaving +the enthusiasts still more cheerful. + +"Your father doesn't act on those ideas of his?" he asked of Judith. + +"I hope not--I think not," she answered. "He just likes to talk with +Jim." + +"Dabbler!" was Ellis's characterization of the young man. Meanwhile the +dabblers still babbled within the house, in high good humour with +themselves. + +It will be noticed that the summer had brought progress to Ellis, in +fact almost intimacy with Judith. Their closer acquaintance, begun over +his house-plans, had been materially forwarded by Mrs. Harmon, when she +invited Judith to her house on the evening of Mather's strike. + +Previously, she had been very curious to know how he had got on with +Judith. That the girl had supplanted her as chief adviser she became +aware, and was in the beginning a little piqued thereat. When she first +saw a sketch of the new house, her face fell. + +"Oh, _that_ kind of a house!" she exclaimed. "Why, that's all very well +for a man with an income like my husband's, but for you it seems too +simple." + +"I like it," he replied without explanation. + +"But no carvings," she persisted. "No turrets, or anything of that +sort." + +"No, no," he said; "this is the only thing." + +"But really, change it!" she urged. "Why, it doesn't represent you. It +might be anybody's house!" + +"The object isn't to attract attention," Ellis replied. "Quiet and +dignity are more genteel." He quoted Judith so exactly (all but for the +one word) that Mrs. Harmon perceived it. + +"Oh," she exclaimed with some chagrin. "I see, it's Judith makes you do +this. Of course, if you want to!" + +"Now," he said with a rough tolerance, "think it over. She's right, +you'll find. A city house down here won't fit. The girl has lived +abroad, remember; she ought to know." + +Mrs. Harmon had reflected and acquiesced. Common sense was fundamental +to both her and Ellis, and combined with more frankness than was usual +in the Judge's circle kept them on good terms. Ellis had laid his hand +on her shoulder while he urged her to consider; she had not resented the +sign of their understanding. + +"Well," she said, "Judith knows a good deal, and perhaps I am wrong." +Right or wrong, she did not intend that she and Ellis should fall out. +Life was dull for her sometimes; she liked to have him dropping in. And +then those trinkets. She turned the bracelet on her wrist. + +"This is very attractive," she said. + +He grunted indifferently. + +"It's odd," she said further, "and bracelets aren't worn very much. It +attracts attention." + +"That's what Price expected," he responded. She never thanked him for +his gifts more than by such commendations; he did not expect more. + +But she was on each occasion interested to know how he got on with +Judith. He knew she kept account of his visits there. "Go oftener," she +urged him once. He was wiser, and refused. "You don't follow it up very +quickly," she repeatedly said, but "all in good time" was the most she +could get out of him. + +"What do you talk about with her?" she asked. + +"The doings in the city," he answered. "The big things going on +anywhere." + +"Does that get you very far with her?" she asked in surprise. + +"As far as I can get," he replied. + +She thought to advise him. "You don't understand girls, Stephen. The +talk you give her isn't what she wants. A girl of her age +needs--flattery, you know, and nice little things said." + +"You'd make me into a Jim Wayne," he retorted. "A monkey in a Panama, +saying foolish things." Mrs. Harmon drew herself up, but he did not +perceive. "Pretty fool I'd be, saying the things he does. I heard a talk +of his and Beth's, and this is the sort of thing he said--." But Ellis +misrepresented Jim entirely, having looked at him from a strictly +personal point of view. The conversation, harmless as it was, is best +taken at first hand. + +"How swell you look to-night!" Jim had begun. "Gad, that rose in your +hair--trust a girl to know what's nifty!" + +"Don't be silly," Beth replied. + +"Straight!" Jim protested. "Never saw you look so stunning. This +moonlight brings it all out, you know. Poetic, Beth, on my word! I say, +let's go down on the beach, and you can recite me that thing of +Tennyson's." + +"Shelley's," Beth corrected him. + +"Just as good," said Jim cheerfully. "Come on, do!" + +Such is the literal report of a conversation which Beth thought highly +delightful, but which Ellis delivered with some distortion of manner and +word, calculated to throw discredit on Wayne's attractions. "Flat and +silly," he characterised it. "Now if you suppose that a man of my age +can say that sort of thing to a girl like Judith Blanchard, you're +wrong, Lyddy--Lydia, I mean." + +She seized her chance to show a little of her true feeling; long ago she +had asked him not to use the old nickname. She answered coldly: "Of +course, you know your affairs best. And equally of course, you can't do +things which Mr. Wayne can." + +"Don't be hard on me," he said. "Wayne's all right in his way, but I'm +no boy, nor is Judith like her sister. If Wayne's a friend of yours, I'm +sorry." For he divined that something more than his use of her name had +caused her coldness. + +"I scarcely know him," she responded. "But let me tell you that a woman +had sometimes rather a man would make a fool of himself by calling her +handsome, than be too wise in his talk." + +Ellis had no answer ready, and the subject dropped, but before he left +he made an attempt at conciliation. "You see, really sometimes I don't +understand myself, even, or the girl. I'll try to remember what you say. +Keep me in her mind, you know, Lydia." + +It was a truth that he spoke: he did not understand the girl, nor +himself. He still prized her fire and dreaded her theories, with each +meeting he admired her more than ever, but he was finding in her a +baffling reserve which taught him that he must go slow. He could not win +her out of hand; some spring of action in her there was yet to find, +some ideal which he must satisfy. Might it not be too high!--and there +lay the new uncertainty in himself, that he was not sure of conquering +her, while conquer her he must! For she was growing indispensable to +him, all thought of her as a commodity had fled, and he was now familiar +with that longing for her while still he found no name for it. The +emotions which he understood were his own ambition and others' greed, he +had no knowledge of the finer desires which can be roused in man. So, +somewhat puzzled, he laboured to please Judith by the only means he +knew, with far more success than might have been expected. + +Then came that evening when Mrs. Harmon invited Judith to her house, +where Ellis had arrived at almost the same time. It irritated the girl +at first to be so evidently brought in his way, and with Mather's +achievement in her mind she was for some time cool and quiet, until Mrs. +Harmon, with great self-control, took herself out of the room. Then +Ellis brought the conversation at once to familiar ground. He told +Judith that he had for some time been working to bring about a +combination of the cotton manufacturers. "We can control the whole +section, and can do much toward setting prices, if this can only be +managed." + +"You mean to make it a trust?" asked Judith, interested. + +"Yes," he said. "But some of the operators are shy, the contracts and +the sharing are so intricate. They--I--they don't know what I'm really +at." + +Judith failed to understand that his reputation stood in the way of +complete confidence. "Can't they see that the combination will benefit +them?" + +"Yes," he answered, "but the scheme scares them. It's big." + +"I have heard of a lawyer," she said, "a New Yorker, who gives his whole +time to nothing but framing agreements for trusts, and meeting the +corporation laws. If you could call him in, couldn't he perhaps make it +clear to the others? The advantages, I mean, and the safety?" + +"Where did you hear of him?" asked Ellis. + +"I read of him," she answered, "in a magazine." + +"I never read magazines," he said thoughtfully. "It mightn't be a bad +idea. By Gad," he went on, warming, "I think it might be just the thing. +A stranger to us all, he'd be able to give confidence, I do believe. And +there's so much in it!" He turned to Judith with energy. "Could you find +me that magazine?" + +"Yes," she answered, all her coldness gone in the rush of interest, as +she saw herself influencing affairs. "It is at home." + +"Let me walk back with you, then, when you go." + +Mrs. Harmon entered, having heard the last part of their talk, having +listened, in fact. "Is that the sort of thing she really cares about?" +she asked herself in surprise. + +It was, indeed, the sort of thing which attracted Judith; no wonder that +there was a new light in her eyes when she came home with Ellis. No +wonder that Beth tore up her letter to Mather. Judith had gained an +interest in the future which put quite out of her mind the memory of the +trifling strike at the mill. Ellis promised to tell her if he used her +idea; she was eager to know if it bore results. He let her know, before +long, that he was working on it; he would tell her if anything happened. +Judith scanned daily the reports of industrial affairs, to see if the +combination took shape. + +Thus that invitation of Mrs. Harmon's was of great value to Ellis, but +when the other tried to draw nearer to the girl it proved a different +undertaking. Mrs. Harmon was lonely; she wanted companionship; it +irritated her that Judith and Beth had cavaliers, while she had none. +One day she asked Judith out to drive, and for a while the two sat in +the victoria glum and stupid. They were too widely different in their +natures ever to be intimate. + +But Mrs. Harmon made the attempt. "Mr. Ellis," she said, choosing the +most promising topic, "is a most interesting man, Judith--you will let +me call you Judith, won't you?" + +"Certainly," was the answer. + +"Thank you. And don't forget that my name is Lydia; Mr. Ellis calls me +by it at times. Doesn't he fascinate you with what he does?" + +That was something which Judith was not prepared to admit. "He is +certainly very active in many matters," she replied, wary of what she +said, for fear of her companion's tongue. + +"He controls so much; he plans and carries out such great things!" went +on Mrs. Harmon. "Ah, he is a keen man, my dear. Don't you think so?" + +Judith thought so. + +"He has a great future before him," prophesied Mrs. Harmon, but she +perceived that she roused no answering spasm in Judith's breast. +Therefore Mrs. Harmon's artificial palpitation presently subsided, with +some suddenness, and she had the feeling that perhaps the young lady was +overmuch for her. Before the end of the drive Mrs. Harmon found herself +obliged to say, in self-defence: + +"Driving makes one so contemplative, don't you think? Sometimes I could +drive for hours, just so, perfectly content but saying nothing." + +Judith confessed to the same sensation. When Mrs. Harmon was alone, she +concluded that the experiment had been fully tried. Later, Judith asked +her over to tea, but the situation was so much relieved when other +people dropped in that Mrs. Harmon lost hope of a real friendship in +that quarter. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +WHICH IS IN SOME RESPECTS UNSATISFACTORY + + +Jim Wayne had been going so frequently to Chebasset that people were +beginning to talk of it. All foresaw the consummation of his courtship, +and some gloomy shakes of the head were given to the subject. + +Beth, the older people said, was just such another as Jim's mother: a +soft woman, without the power either to restrain a man or to improve +him. Such unhappiness as the widow Wayne's was, therefore, reserved to +Beth--while Jim should be alive. As Jim was weaker in character than his +father, and therefore less dissipated, he promised to live longer. Poor +Beth! + +Not for these reasons, however, was it that Colonel Blanchard took +serious counsel concerning the possibility of interference. For when the +inclination of the two young people was unmistakable Blanchard began to +consider the side on which it affected him, regretting the hope which +seemed about to vanish, that Beth should marry Pease. If only something +might be done! The Colonel sought Judith as the person who alone could +advise him, though until he opened the subject he had forgotten how +seldom they agreed in their views. The Colonel was often conscious that +his calibre was different from that of his daughter. + +"Judith," he said, "you've been noticing what is going on between Beth +and young Wayne? You think there's something in it?" + +"If there isn't," she replied, "there will be very soon." + +The Colonel took a few fretful paces up and down the room. Then he +stopped before her. "What do you think of it?" he demanded. + +For a moment Judith considered her answer; it is unpleasant to say +things which may be remembered later when one has a brother-in-law. +Nevertheless, as usual she spoke the truth. "I wish Beth wouldn't." + +"When Pease is ready, too!" complained the Colonel. "Do you suppose he +seems too old to her?" + +"Beth likes older people," returned Judith. "And she'd be so safe with +him." + +"Yes," returned the Colonel, accepting all suggestions eagerly. "Yes, of +course. Now, isn't there something we can do?" + +"For instance?" challenged Judith; seeing that the Colonel had nothing +to offer, she went on, "I never knew how to interfere in anything of +that sort. Of course, you, as her father----" + +"Do you think I could?" asked the Colonel hopefully. + +"It's not often done," Judith replied. + +The Colonel considered the possibility and shrank from it. Never had he +denied anything either to himself or to his daughters; the most he had +ever ventured toward his offspring was a petulant remonstrance. This +tone, as he saw himself helpless, he took now toward Judith in default +of Beth. "It seems hard," he complained. "I've brought her up--you don't +know how much thought I've given you two girls. And now she turns back +on me!" + +"Why father," asked Judith in surprise, "how can it affect you so?" + +The Colonel's thoughts rapidly skirted the pit which he had opened for +himself. It is a long way from the hope of a rich son-in-law to the +consideration of a daughter's happiness, but the Colonel presently +covered it. "Her comfort," he demanded. "Have I nothing at stake +there?" + +But this was obviously so artificial that he felt Judith could not fail +to perceive it. She sat silent, and the Colonel, after changing the +subject, presently got himself out of the house. Perhaps he was to be +pitied, if to be good-natured, weak, indulgent, deserves a better reward +than a vigorous daughter's too-keen comprehension. Besides, the gentle +one was turning against him. He nursed his grievance against Beth for a +while, then at last found comfort in Judith after all. She at any rate +would marry money. If she would only be quick about it! + +And the Colonel, free from observation, sat down in the shrubbery to +study the newspaper which he had brought with him, in the hope of +drawing from its columns of figures information which should tell him +where to lay his bet. He was gambling from week to week, quite as if he +were laying on the red or black, although the means of his ventures were +Consolidated, and (following the hint Jim Wayne had given) Poulton +Mining and Milling, besides (a little discovery he had made for himself) +Tilly Valley Oil. They were all up a point or two, but the Colonel was +not entirely relieved as he studied the figures, because more than a few +points were needed in order to make up for the slump of last week. + +A man puzzles long at these things, sometimes; the Colonel's time was on +him now, making him very peevish. It was hard, hard indeed, that both +the market and Beth should go against him. + +As regards Beth, the signs of her feeling were unmistakable. The eye of +blissful brooding which she now always showed, the loving consideration +with which she fulfilled all duties, bespoke the thoughts which +mastered her. She and Jim had been drawing nearer through the weeks, a +graded progress of lingering, slow-mounting ecstasy. And on one night, +one starlight night, Beth and her lover came to a complete +understanding. + +Jim begged her to go with him to the beach. He was trembling a little +himself, being genuinely inspired with a feeling above his own capacity +to retain long; she felt the tremor in his voice as he asked the favour. +"Let's get away from here," he said. "I want to speak with you." + +So they went down to the beach, silent, so absorbed by what was coming +that the touch of each other as they jostled in the darkness was enough +to make them start. Jim had chosen where the proposal should be made, a +nook beneath a bank where they had often sat by moonlight; but this was +starlight, and no one was to see. + +They sat beneath the bank; the dry sand made a soft seat, the breath of +the salt-water quickened their spirits, the lapping of little waves +spoke to them with a murmur of far away things. Their two hearts beat +like four; Beth felt that she was breathless, Jim knew that he was +wordless, and a long pause followed their arrival. At last Jim found +that he could speak. + +"How quiet it is!" + +"And how lovely!" + +He felt that this was mere temporising. "We've sat here a good many +times," he began again. "Haven't we, Beth?" + +"Yes," she murmured, feeling that it was coming. + +"I--it's been great fun to see so much of you," he went on, "but it's +got to come to an end before long." + +"Really?" asked Beth weakly, all natural power of response completely +lost. + +"It's too much to stand, you know," asserted Jim. "I've--you've made me +greedy, Beth. Either I want it all, or none at all." + +She answered nothing, though he listened. Ah, it was a mistake to +propose in the dark, for he lost the sight of her sweet face. + +"Either to come, I mean," he went on again, "whenever I want, or never +again, Beth." + +"Jim!" she murmured. + +"Shall I go away?" he asked. "Or shall we just go on meeting--every +day--forever--till death do us part?" he concluded, satisfied that he +had expressed the immutability of his sentiments. Getting no answer, he +reached for Beth's hands in the darkness, and found the little +fluttering things just coming toward him. Then he enfolded her and drew +her to him, and what was said after that was too broken to be set down +in type. + +Thus was accomplished, and very creditably to Jim, the understanding +which had been long in coming, and Beth whispered to him the wonderful +words, "I love you!" Her little cup was more than full; her happiness +overflowed her heart and found a somewhat larger receptacle waiting for +it, namely her mind, in which it seemed somewhat thin. Even as she +yielded herself to Wayne's embrace Beth's two natures declared +themselves not in accord, now when the test was applied. Kisses were +strangely fleshly things; Beth shrank beneath Jim's eagerness; poetry +vanished before the fierceness of his embrace. This was not a communion +of spirit with spirit; Jim did not speak with fervour of his relief from +his trials and his fears. The tremolo of praise which her heart was +prepared to utter found no response in his; the deeper thoughts were +hers alone. She had thought admission to the treasures of Jim's mind +would mean so much, and now his exultation oppressed her, while she +winced beneath his physical delight. + +Thus Beth, who had thought to sit hand in hand in deep communion, +discovered that there was in Jim as man what was lacking in her as +woman, and before long she led him home. Jim went with reluctance; it +was too sweet to hold and kiss her; she was a morsel far finer than had +yet come to him, and he failed to understand her purity, as the farmer's +boy cannot comprehend the rebellion of a peach at being eaten. + +Nor did Jim quite fall in with Beth's ideas, which she detailed to him +as she neared the house. Tell her father and sister, of course, and +after that, why not tell everybody else? Beth wished for a month or two +of Jim to herself, and to rush into the world flaunting her happiness as +if it were an achievement was not in her nature, so she begged of Jim +this respite. + +"It won't be news to any one by that time," he grumbled. + +"But to oblige me, Jim? And really, never again can we have ourselves +quite to ourselves." In their walk up the hill Beth had found time to +tell herself that she was wrong to be so timid in Jim's embrace; that +perhaps it was natural, but that every other girl felt so at first, and +the feeling would pass. Thus she meant what she said about having him to +herself; and Jim, turning and catching her, declared that there never +was a sweeter little thing, that he must have a kiss, and that he would +agree. + +The Colonel and Judith had been sitting quite stolidly, back to back +beside the lamp. But while the Colonel was oblivious to what was going +on, Judith had been keenly alive to it. She had recognised the tremor in +Jim's voice as he begged for the interview; how many such requests had +been made of her! Yet having always gone to a proposal as a surgeon to +an operation, to remove painfully yet kindly the cause of a disease, +Judith knew how different her sensations had been from those of Beth, as +she went, shrinking, to meet her happiness. During the half-hour that +they were away, Judith imagined the bliss of those other two, and knew +that however simple it was, it was enviable. Then when Beth returned, +Judith started for very joy at the sight of her radiant face. + +Very prettily Beth went and kissed her father, and stammered that there +was something to tell him, for she and Jim now understood each other. It +seemed to Beth natural that Judith should speak slowly, apparently +choosing her words--but that the Colonel should wait until Judith had +finished speaking, and then should burst out with more than Beth had +expected him to say, as if to cover up less than she had expected him to +feel, struck cold to Beth's warm little heart, and oppressed much of the +remainder of the evening. She had scarcely recovered from it when +train-time came, and with it Jim's good-by, almost violent--and the +evening was over. + +Poor little Beth, kneeling at your bedside, praying for one who, instead +of hastening home to tell his mother, stays at the club till after +midnight--poor little Beth, a white figure in the pale light of the +late-rising moon, go to bed and dream the dreams of yesterday. It would +be happier so. + +But sleep avoided her. So many thoughts passed through her mind, of the +reality which had come to her--a reality like others, hard in +places--that Beth lay wakeful. She heard the clock strike eleven, heard +her father and Judith come upstairs and say good-night, heard the two go +to their rooms. They had said so little to her, so little, and she was +so lonesome! But in a few minutes a door opened, footsteps approached, +and Judith stood by her sister's side. Beth stretched up her arms and +drew her down. + +"Talk to me," Judith murmured. "Tell me about it, about him." + +Ah, this was sisterly and sweet! Beth had sometimes thought her sister +cold; never would she do so again. She told her happy thoughts, not +those vague suggestions of a difficult future or imperfect +understanding. Her Jim was such a man! Her own words gave her +confidence; clasped in Judith's arms, Beth poured out her hopes; more +yet, she spoke of her fears in order to smile them away. She would face +hardships, would bear what griefs the world might send, secure in her +great love. And Judith, listening, murmured her agreement, her sympathy, +her joy. + +Then when Judith said good-night, she was held still closer for a +moment. "I wish you the same good fortune, dear!" Beth kissed her, and +released her. + +Beth slept at last; it was Judith who was wakeful. The same good +fortune? + +Judith mused upon love. It was love which so blinded Beth's eyes and +brought this ineffable happiness. Poor Beth! Yet Judith did not even +smile with pity, for her nature told her that this love of Beth's, +should it but last, would be more of a help, a guide and strength, than +all of Judith's own knowledge. And repeating Beth's words, "the same +good fortune," Judith wished for that happiness to come to her. To love +a man, to believe in him, give herself to him: that would solve the +problem of a future which often seemed too cold. + +She recognised perfectly the drift of her feelings toward Ellis. Yet her +enthusiasm for him was an impulse of the head rather than the heart; it +was not a passion, but a state of mind. How much finer was Beth's +perfect self-forgetfulness! And fearing that Ellis could never rouse her +to a greater height than this intellectual approval, Judith's thoughts +turned regretfully toward Mather. In all the years of their +acquaintance, why had he never _made_ her love him? Well, that was past! +But Judith, softened by this contact with Beth's happiness, and +perceiving that the fascination of Ellis's personality was slowly +growing on her, looked with regret upon the prospect of a merely +rational union. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MR. PEASE INTRUDES UPON A SECRET + + +The summer passed; through October the city gathered its own to itself +again. The stay-at-homes, such as Miss Cynthia and Mrs. Wayne, saw with +relief shutters go down and blinds open, saw awnings spread over +southern windows and children playing on lawns. Poor Mrs. Wayne, +threatened with the loss of her treasure, could call less formally upon +her daughter-in-law-to-be, yet could not quite reconcile herself with +matters as they stood. But that is the way of mothers. Jim began to urge +that the engagement be announced, but Beth put him off for another +little while. + +And now Pease found comfort in the thought of Beth's return, since it +would give him his innocent pleasure without journeys or the neglect of +business. His winter clothes were chosen with unusual care, nor did he +this time repel the tailor's semi-annual attempt to give him a more +youthful appearance. At his home Pease became a new man, and Miss +Cynthia sneered as she fastened the charge upon him. + +"More colour in your neckties!" she sniffed disdainfully. + +He smiled, untroubled. "Yes; they tell me it's to be quite proper, this +fall." + +Astonishment prevented her from speaking; never before had he deserted +the middle ground of fashion. Thus the lighter shade of his new overcoat +was a sign, his wearing of tan shoes a portent. And his very carriage +was different, as of a man who has at last found the spring of youth and +drinks of it daily. His mannerisms were softening, he took more interest +in social news, and an undercurrent of thought always swayed his mind in +the direction where knowledge or imagination placed Beth Blanchard. + +There was stupidity in Pease, for he did not find the meaning of the +existence of Jim Wayne. But very slowly he discovered the reason for his +own sensations. He met Beth first in April; by the middle of the summer +he knew that she attracted him extremely; a month later he acknowledged +that he was going to Chebasset for the sake of seeing her; upon her +return to Stirling he felt continual odd thoracic sensations which +seemed to make him a living compass, pointing always to Beth. After a +fortnight of this sort of thing he waked one day from a reverie of her, +to realise that he loved her. The discovery affected him with vertigo; +he had to seek the air and think the matter over. In about a week he +became familiar with the situation and accepted it. He paused one +evening before his motto from Goethe, and smiled to think that he had +once considered the end of happiness to be mere culture. + +Loving Beth, he did not at first include her in his hopes. There was +such delight in contemplating a definite image in absence, such +satisfaction in watching Beth herself when present, that for some time +he went no further. He made it clear to Beth that he was always willing +to attempt anything she desired, and then from time to time looked in on +her and adored. Yet the humanising process eventually proceeded. Gazing +at his idol until its every perfection was known to him, at last there +came the question: Why not possess it? And this worked on him so that in +the end he became extremely determined. + +So gentle was the increase of his attentions that Beth did not at first +take the alarm. At home, no abstraction betrayed him to Miss Cynthia, +who thought that he had resigned himself. He was more lively, normal +than ever before, and only Mather suspected in him the determination to +do or die. The change of the scene of operations from Chebasset to the +city, however, gave Mather no chance to keep abreast of the march of +events, since the manager still spent most of his days and nights at the +seaside. Thus no one enlightened Pease until it became Beth's task to do +so herself. + +He dressed himself with unusual care one afternoon; had it been the +evening Miss Cynthia would never have suspected. But his newest suit, +his freshest gloves, the box of violets in his hand, and (more than all) +the single pink in his lapel--all these for a moment made her suspect +the truth as she watched him leave the house. "Whatever is the man----?" +But he was gone, and there was nothing to be done. + +He found Beth at home, and gave her the box of violets. She thanked him +with such prettiness as always charmed him, such warmth as always made +him glow. The poor man tried now to say words of love, he who had never +practised them even to himself. It was a long way round, through the +weather, the news, the latest invitation, to the deepest emotion of the +human heart. But he pointed straight to it at last, and Beth understood. + +So she sprang to head him off in the kindest, surest way. "I----" she +hesitated with heightened colour, "I have something to tell you, Mr. +Pease. Almost nobody knows it [almost everybody was nearer the truth, as +Jim weekly complained], but you have been such a good friend that I +think I should like you to know." + +"You are very kind," he answered, much pleased, and opening his bosom to +the fatal dart. "I will tell no one without your permission." + +"I should like you to tell your cousin," she said. "I--I----" Her face +became scarlet. "Mr. Pease, I am engaged to marry Mr. Wayne." + +Down fell his house of cards; it seemed as if the chambers of his brain +resounded, and for a moment his head bowed low. Then he raised it again +and looked at her, and for the merest instant she saw a face of misery. + +"Oh, Mr. Pease," she cried, "I am so sorry!" + +There was a moment of stupid silence. "I--I regret," he said at length, +"to distress you, by letting you know." + +"How can I help knowing?" she answered simply. He sat dumb while she, +twisting her fingers in and out, sought for further words. "If I," she +said at last with tears in her eyes, "if I have hurt you, I hope that +you will blame me, and forget me." + +"Blame?" he cried. "And forget? No, no!" She saw his face light nobly. +"Miss Blanchard, you have given me new ideals--humanised me. Blame and +forget? Why, my life was small and narrow; you have led me out of +myself! Everything is better through knowing you. Therefore, I may say +with a cheerful heart: + + "Tis better to have loved and lost + Than never to have loved at all!" + +He sat upright and smiled, but tears stood in her eyes; she could make +no response. After a moment he asked her: "You are to be married soon?" + +"No," she answered, and gained command of herself. "We must wait a +while--and you know it is very slow, rising in Mr. Wayne's business." + +"Yes." Then he rose and held out his hand; she gave him hers at once. "I +will go," he said. "Do not reproach yourself, and--God bless you +always!" He bent and kissed her hand, smiled again, and then was gone. + +She sat down, miserable. Not his brave cheerfulness, nor his almost +comic quoting of the old-fashioned couplet, could drive from her the +knowledge that his heart was bleeding. Slowly the tears welled out upon +her cheeks. + +Then Wayne entered joyously. "I passed old Pease on the steps, and he +didn't see me. What's wrong with him?" + +She ran to him. "Oh, Jim!" she cried, and clung to him, weeping. + +"Oho! Indeed?" he exclaimed, and horrified her by loud laughter. + +Pease had not noticed whom he passed upon the steps. For a moment after +leaving the house he had stood in the vestibule, looking at the setting +sun. One would have said that its splendour passed into his face and +illumined it; indeed, a glory entered him at that moment, an ecstacy of +self-forgetfulness. The sunset faded quickly, but the inner light still +shone on his face as he went homeward. + +Miss Cynthia saw it when he entered the parlour where she was sitting. +Her cousin had never appeared so to her before, and for a moment she +mistook. "Is it possible?" she asked herself. + +"Cynthia," he said quietly, "Miss Beth Blanchard asked me to tell you +that she is to marry Mr. Wayne." + +"No!" she cried, angry at once, her love for her cousin blazing in her +eyes. "She mustn't!" Then she was ashamed, for he answered gently: + +"It seems to me a very happy fortune." + +But he could say no more, for a single dry sob burst from her. Fearing +to lose his own self-command, he went up to his room. + +From that minute Miss Cynthia's admiration of her cousin, which for some +time had been passive, recommenced to grow, expanding far beyond its +former boundaries as she found what further depths there were in his +character. Never, even in their early days of struggle, had he been so +considerate, kind, and wise. Indeed, on the very day after his great +disappointment he proved his manliness. + +Pease travelled down to Chebasset and found Mather in the office as +usual. The manager greeted him with an inward pity, for in the morning's +mail he had received a letter from Beth, informing her dear George, whom +she had always regarded as one of her best friends, that she and Mr. +Wayne--etcetera, etcetera. With sorrow for Pease, therefore, Mather +greeted him, to be surprised by the banker's smile. When his errand was +announced Mather was surprised the more. + +"You have been saying, haven't you," asked Pease, "that you must soon +have an assistant here, to take charge of the mill while you are in the +city." + +"Yes," Mather answered. "We are running smoothly now, and my hands are +more than full, taking care of both making and selling. I must be in the +city all the time, so soon as I can find a capable man to take my place +here." + +"I have found him," announced Pease, beaming. "James Wayne!" + +"I said a _capable_ man, Mr. Pease," replied Mather. "The boy is green +and flighty." + +"Yes, I know," said Pease. "But isn't he worth the trial?" + +Mather rose and began to pace the office. Did he dare trust anything in +Jim's hands? "You promised me," he reminded, "that I should have full +control over the business." + +"So you shall, so you shall," soothed Pease. "But a trial? Come, now!" + +Between respect for his employer, affection for Beth, and interest in +Wayne himself, Mather saw that he was caught. "You're too good for +words!" he said, and yielded. + +So the position was offered to Jim, and gave Beth a happy opening to her +engagement. Amid all the presents which, according to the custom that +ignores the chance of a broken betrothal, came pouring in, nothing +pleased Beth so much as the fact that now it was open to her Jim to make +his way in the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +WHICH DEVELOPS THE COLONEL'S FINANCIAL STRATEGY + + +To Judith Blanchard the publication of her sister's engagement was an +experience. Hourly Beth came to show a new letter or present, and with +head at Judith's shoulder sighed because people were so kind. Whenever +this happened, the image of Mather grew a little clearer in Judith's +heart, and that of Ellis so much less distinct. At the same time there +rose in Judith a dread of those vague misfortunes which Jim might bring +on Beth, and when one evening Ellis came to call, he found Judith +inspired with a desire to protect her sister against knowledge of the +real hard-heartedness of the world. + +"Your sister is very happy," he said after glancing at the table on +which the presents were displayed. "May she always remain so!" + +Judith turned on him with a curious energy. "You think she may not?" + +"I hope she may," was all he would reply. + +Judith studied him for a moment, then her eyes softened. "I am very fond +of Beth," she said. "We all know Jim; among us we must teach him to be +more of a man." + +She spoke simply, but her words moved Ellis; her assumption that he was +capable of human, domestic feeling almost roused it in him, and as at +their first meeting he felt that she could make him better than himself. +With the mist of sisterly affection shed upon her eyes, Judith was +sweeter than he had ever known her; yet at the same time a knowledge of +her pricelessness came to him, and he feared this softer side of her as +the one on which she would be strongest in defense: it was Mather's +side. The sole feelings which Ellis knew himself capable of rousing in +her were ambition and the admiration of great things; he felt that he +must keep them constantly before her. + +"I have some news for you," he said. And so he found himself safely in +the back parlour just as the door-bell rang for another visitor. + +It was Mather who came; Beth met him with thanks for the roses he had +sent, perishable signs of good wishes. Jim had grumbled at the flowers: +"Why doesn't he send something practical?" But Beth had been delighted, +and now told Mather so, calling Wayne to her side to echo her words. +Next she spoke with still deeper gratitude, alluding to the position +which had been given Jim. + +"And you are glad," Mather asked, "because after this you can't see so +much of him?" + +"Ah," Beth replied shyly, "we shall the sooner be able to see each other +all the time." + +"But don't thank me," Mather continued. "It was Pease's idea. Thank me +if Jim _keeps_ his place." He nodded at the young man with a meaning +which was not exactly jovial, and which Jim (being like others of his +age, half-loutish and half-assertive) resented accordingly. So Jim got +himself away, to talk aimless commonplaces with the next visitor, Pease, +and to glare at Mather as he still spoke with Beth. + +"He's prepared to be a father to me," Jim grumbled, for, in the business +talk already held, Mather had laid down application and steadiness as +requisites. Jim had taken the warning indifferently, whence the renewed +hint, purposely given for Beth's benefit, as Jim appreciated. "Now," he +thought, "she'll rub it into me." + +Meanwhile Mather and Beth spoke of matrimony, and exchanged +conventionalities while they struggled with deep thoughts. They felt +that they understood each other; besides, each had at the same time a +regret for the other's fate. Thus Beth, with her knowledge of Ellis in +the back parlour, pitied Mather, who in his turn grieved that Jim's +weaknesses were unknown to Beth. But being genuinely sympathetic, Mather +and Beth felt the thrill of their friendship, and were more closely +drawn together by this belief in each other's impending unhappiness. +Therefore, though for a time they spoke in a lighter vein, at last their +feeling came to the surface. Mather had described marriage and its +inconveniences, as seen from the bachelor's standpoint. "I am not +afraid!" declared Beth with a toss of the head. Then with an impulse he +took her hands. + +"We know that troubles may come, however lucky we may seem, don't we, +Beth?" he said. "Look here, if ever you need any help, you'll remember +me, won't you?" + +And Beth, instead of retorting that she had her father and Jim to rely +on, for the moment forgot those sturdy protectors, and promised that she +would. Beth was at this time always on the edge of emotional gratitude, +and there was a glimmer of tears in her affectionate eyes as she +answered. Then the Colonel came wandering into the room, at the same +time as the voices of Judith and Ellis were heard at the door of the +back parlour, and Beth and Mather separated. Jim drew her aside at once. + +"Why did you hold hands with him so?" he asked. + +"He's one of the oldest friends I have," she replied in surprise. "And +I'm so sorry for him, Jim!" She led him to the window recess, and tried +to interest her lover in Mather's mournful fate, but Jim did not enter +into her sorrow to the degree which she anticipated. Then that happened +which Mather had desired and Jim dreaded, for Beth spoke of the position +at the mill: he mustn't lose it. "You will work hard, won't you, Jim +dear?" + +"Do you suppose I shan't?" he demanded testily. Whereby he put Beth in +the wrong, so that she repressed a sigh, and begged his pardon. + +Now while Jim, after this triumph, assumed a sulky dignity which was +quite appropriate, the Colonel was still wandering, mentally at least, +if the quality of his words with Mather and Pease was a sign. +"Woolgathering," decided Mather, and relapsed into silence while the +Colonel explained to Pease that the peculiar actions of the autumn +weather were--ha, peculiar, and how were matters with Mr. Pease? Then +the Colonel did not listen, and started when the answer was innocently +ended with a question. Vaguely, he said he didn't know. + +"In my business," went on Pease, apparently satisfied, "the state of the +stock market occasions considerable vigilance. One does not seem able +even to guess what will happen." + +"No," acquiesced the Colonel, this time with an attention which the +fervour of his tone attested. "That is very true." + +Unhappily true, he might have said without exaggeration. Indeed, were +life an opera, and had each person his _leit-motif_, the Colonel would +have taken wherever he went an undertone of jarring excitement. The +cymbals would best express the clashing of his hopes and fears; he rose +in the night to figure on bits of paper, read the news feverishly each +evening, and roused Judith's criticism of his tendency to carry away +the stock-market reports. Judith was watching those stocks in which +Ellis was interested, but while her concern was merely in the theory of +market manipulation, the Colonel's was sadly practical. + +And it was on his mind this night that he was near an end; his life's +opera was approaching that grand crash when the cymbals were to be +drowned by the heavier brasses. In his pocket were barely two hundred +dollars in cash, he had placed his last thousand at the broker's, and +the broker had sent word that he must have another in the morning. The +Colonel looked at his daughters, Beth sweet and Judith proud; he looked +at Pease and Ellis, safe from calamity; he looked at Jim with his youth +and Mather with his strength. None of them had troubles; he alone was +miserable. + +And the Colonel, when he could withdraw, went into a corner and brooded +over his ill-luck, thus alone, of all the company, failing to remark the +special brilliancy of Judith's beauty. Ellis saw it and was proud, for +he had caused it; Mather noted it and groaned, for it was not for him; +Beth admired; Jim came out of his sulk, swaggered, and made up to her; +even Pease was roused to a mild admiration. And Judith herself felt as +if she had moved the world a foot from its orbit. + +Ellis's news had been important. "Do you remember the advice you gave +me?" he had inquired when the two were alone in the little parlour. + +"About the corporation lawyer?" she asked eagerly. "Of course! Tell me, +have you done anything with him?" + +"Anything? Everything!" he responded with enthusiasm. "That magazine +told all about him, and I looked him up in New York. He came on here--I +don't know how I should have put it through without him." + +"Then you have managed it?" she asked. + +Indeed he had, he assured her. A man gets--well, misjudged by others, +sometimes; there had been a prejudice to overcome before he could affect +this consolidation. The others had been unusually shy; the safeguards +Ellis offered had not satisfied them. But the lawyer had straightened +matters out so that all had gone smoothly, and he, Ellis, had saved +money by his means. + +"Good!" cried Judith. + +"We paid him twenty-five," Ellis said. + +"Twenty-five?" + +"Thousand," he explained. + +"So much?" cried Judith. + +"Oh," answered Ellis, "it was no great affair for him. He often gets +much more." + +Judith was speechless. + +"And," said Ellis, "there is some one else we ought to fee, if only it +were possible. But I scarcely see how I could bring her name before the +directors." + +"A woman?" she asked, much excited. + +"You," he replied briefly, and his mouth shut with its customary +firmness. But his eyes noted her exhilaration. + +"I?" she demanded. "I? Do you mean that what I said was of importance?" + +"You have saved us time. You have put money directly in my pocket. Ten +thousand is what I calculate I've saved in concessions, and in the time +gained by shortening trouble I reckon I've made as much more." He +laughed. "What percentage shall I give you?" + +But she would not jest. "You're welcome, welcome!" she exclaimed. "I'm +satisfied, just to feel that I have been a factor. Just to know that +I--oh, Mr. Ellis, you can't know how I feel!" + +And Judith was near the danger line at that moment, as she leaned toward +him with sparkling eyes. He saw it, believed his chance had come, and +sought to take advantage of it. "I shall consult you always after this," +he said. "I will bring you all my difficulties. A partnership--what do +you say to that?" + +She laughed in deprecation, yet she was flattered, and the stimulus +caused her to rear her head and expand her nostrils in the way she had. +In his turn he was thrilled, and fire entered his veins. + +"What do you say?" he repeated, leaning toward her. "Shall we be +partners?" + +"A silent partnership?" she asked. "Or will you put up the sign, Ellis +and Blanchard?" + +The answer sprang to his lips, but he checked it, wondering if he dared +venture. A glance at her face decided him; she was looking, still with +those triumphant eyes, away from him, as if she saw visions of success. +He spoke hoarsely. + +"Not Ellis and Blanchard, but--Ellis and Ellis!" + +She looked at him. "What did you say?" she asked absently, as if her +thoughts had been elsewhere. Then, looking where her glance had been, he +saw Mather in the farther room. Mather--and she had not heard! + +"I said nothing," he answered, almost choking. + +Even his discomfiture escaped her, and presently she took him to the +others. Her excitement was not gone, it made her wonderfully beautiful, +but though he might triumph that he had caused it, he knew that she had +slipped away from him. He tried in vain to master his exasperation. + +Judith's thoughts were of Mather; she felt that if she could tell him +what she had done, she would crush him. This was what she had hoped +for: the time when she should prove that she could influence events. He +had said the world would be too much for her! Perhaps now she could +break that masterfulness against which she had always rebelled. And she +smiled at the quiet assurance of his manner, for he had merely started a +mill and built up a business, while she had all but created a Trust! It +would humble him, if he but knew. + +There is no need of describing the next half-hour's doings of that mixed +company. Pride and sweetness, loutishness, strength, amiability, +ambition, and a feeble man's weak despair, all were together in the +Blanchard's parlour, and got on very badly. It is enough to say that +Judith talked with Mather, looking at him from time to time with a gleam +of unexpressed thought which he did not understand; that Ellis, trying +to subdue a grin of fury into a suave smile, put his hands in his +pockets and clenched them there; and that by this action he exposed, +protruding from his vest pocket, the end of a narrow red book at which +the Colonel was presently staring as if fascinated. + +Now the Colonel had once been, as already stated, what the early +Victorians were fond of calling a man of substance. Hence complacence to +the exclusion of persistence, and a later life dominated by the +achievements of youth. He ran away from college to go to the Civil War, +and at the coming of peace retired on his laurels. Arduous service in +the State militia brought him his title; he married, travelled, and +frittered away the years until changes in the value of property brought +him face to face with what might seem the unavoidable choice, either to +accommodate himself to a more modest establishment, or to go to work to +earn money. + +Out of the seeming deadlock the Colonel's financial insight found a way. +His capital, used as income, for some years more maintained him in the +necessary way of life. Meanwhile he promised himself to regain his money +by the simple means of the stock market, but when he came to apply the +remedy, some perverseness in its workings made it fail, and to his +astonishment he found himself at the end of his resources. To none of +his friends might he turn for relief, for your friend who lends also +lectures, and the Colonel could never bear that. Our esteemed warrior +was, however, still fertile in resource, and his genius discovered a +possible base of supplies. Hence the fascination exerted by the +check-book which Ellis always carried about with him. + +Some moralists might dub the Colonel weak for dwelling on this +contemplation. Yet consistency is regarded as a virtue, and the Colonel +was usually consistent in trying to get what he wanted. With his +military eye still fixed on the end of the narrow red book, he drew near +to Ellis and began to speak with him. Naturally, that which was in the +Colonel's mind came first to his lips. + +"The stock market has been flighty lately," quoth he. + +So were girls, thought Ellis. "Very flighty," he said. "But that +scarcely concerns you, I hope." + +"Oh, no, no!" the Colonel hastily assured him. "And yet--Mr. Ellis, may +I have a word with you in my study?" + +Accustomed though he was to every turn of fortune, Ellis's heart leaped. +Was the fool coming into his hands at last? Then, as he looked once more +at Judith, the unduly sensitive organ made the reverse movement, +contracting with a spasm of real pain. She was not even noticing him +now. He followed the worthy Colonel to what was called his study. + +Blanchard had no moral struggle to make before he broached his subject. +His fibre had degenerated long ago; his sole feeling was regret that he +must expose himself to one who was below his station. Taking care, +therefore, not to lower himself in his own eyes by subservience in word +or manner, the Colonel indicated his need of a few thousands, "just to +tide him over." He wondered if Ellis were willing to advance the money. + +Ellis took the request quietly, and sat as if thinking. His cold face +concealed a disturbance within: elation struggling with an unforeseen +doubt. This collapse on the Colonel's part Ellis had watched and hoped +for, yet now that it had come a dormant instinct stirred, questioning +whether to control Judith by such means were not unworthy of himself. A +man was fair game, but a woman--Ellis roused himself impatiently. +Entirely unaccustomed to making moral decisions, he could not see that +he stood at the parting of ways, and that from the moment when he +leagued himself with the Colonel, deceit entered into his relations with +Judith. Intolerant of what seemed a weakness, he crushed down the doubt. +What was he dreaming of? The chance was too good to be lost. + +Need of appearing businesslike made him ask a few questions. "What +security can you offer?" + +"Nothing whatever," answered the Colonel, grandly simple. + +"This house?" asked Ellis. + +"Twice mortgaged, and," added the Colonel as if the joke were upon his +mortgagees, "out of repair." + +Ellis took note of the admission; if the mortgagees knew that the house +were in poor condition, they might sell cheap. "The house at Chebasset?" +he inquired. + +"Merely rented." + +"No stocks or bonds, no other property?" Ellis persisted. + +"My furniture," was all the Colonel could suggest. + +This time a real repugnance seized Ellis. "Nothing of that kind," he +answered sharply, feeling that to have a lien on the very chair which +Judith sat in was too much. Yet the thought of her, thus again brought +in, grew in spite of this spasm of right feeling, and even while he +despised the Colonel for his unmanliness, his own lower nature spoke. +"There is one other thing, however." + +The Colonel saw his meaning. "Mr. Ellis," he cried, with fine +indignation, "I mean to repay you every cent!" + +But the eye of the warrior fell before that of the parvenu. "Cur!" +thought Ellis. "Damn your small spirit!" Nevertheless, he drew out his +check-book. "You will give your note, of course?" + +"Of course!" replied the Colonel with dignity. Two documents changed +hands, one in fact, the other by courtesy representing the value of five +thousand dollars. Then Ellis refused the Colonel's invitation to stay +and smoke; the transaction tasted badly in his mouth. + +"But at least you will come into the parlour again," said the Colonel, +when they were once more in the front hall. Ellis stood without +replying, and the Colonel waited while he looked in at the others. + +Pease had gone, the other four remained, and Mather was the center of +the group. Wayne was regarding him resentfully, Beth affectionately, +Judith unfathomably. She still remembered the news which Ellis had +brought. + +"So you are glad to be a city man again?" asked Beth of Mather. + +"Yes," he replied, "but poor Jim!" + +"Poor Jim!" echoed Beth tenderly. + +"He can stand it," testily rejoined the object of their sympathy. + +"I don't know that I shall feel at home here, after being a countryman +so long," said Mather. "Will you tell me all that has happened down-town +in my absence. Judith?" + +Without answering, she threw him a glance, meaning that she could--if +she would! In the hall Ellis turned abruptly away, and gathered up his +hat and coat. + +"No, I won't come in," he said to the Colonel, and went away at once. + +His hold on Blanchard, now that it was gained, seemed unaccountably +small. It would grow, Ellis had no doubt of that, for the Colonel was on +the road down hill; and yet the relationship promised less than it +might. For though by this means Ellis might win possession of Judith, he +wanted more than that; he must have her esteem. And Mather had taken her +mind from him! Ellis grew hot and cold with that strange feeling whose +name he could not discover, while yet its disturbances were stronger +from day to day. + + * * * * * + +For the Colonel another act of his opera began with a pleasant jig; +cheered, he retired to his study, and began to plan how to double +Ellis's note. Jim took Beth away into the back parlour, where presently +the light grew dim. As the two went, Judith saw Beth's upward glance +into her lover's face, and her own thoughts changed and grew soft; she +turned to watch Mather as he sat before what had been, earlier in the +evening, a wood fire. + +She noticed how natural it seemed for him to gather the embers together, +put on wood from the basket, and start a little blaze. The action first +carried her back to the period before he was her declared lover; next it +drew her thoughts forward to a time when he might be--what Jim was to +Beth. And Mather, unconsciously working at the fire, started for Judith +a train of musing. + +Beth had taught her that to love was enviable, and that it might be a +relief to have one's future fixed. Sitting thus with Mather, it seemed +to Judith that just so must many a husband and wife be sitting, +contented and at home. When compared with the restless dissatisfaction +which so long had tormented her, the picture was alluring. Judith gave +herself to the mood. + +Mather toyed with the tongs for a minute longer, then gave the logs a +final tap into place, and turned to her as if rousing from thought. +"It's pleasant to be here," he said, "and it's fine to be in the city. I +like to meet people on the street again. It's as if I had had years of +exile." + +She smiled without replying, and he went on. "I think it's done me good. +Curious, isn't it, that to be knocked down and kicked out, and then to +go away and look at people through a telescope, should be a real +benefit? But I've gained a better perspective than before; I've had time +to think of the theory as well as the practice of affairs. Yes, it's +been healthful--but it's good to be back. You understand what I mean, +don't you, Judith?" + +"I do," she answered. Ellis was forgotten; here was George speaking as +he had not spoken for a year, of his ideas and experiences. She was glad +to have them brought to her, glad that he spoke freely and not bitterly, +and again the remembrance of Beth's happiness brought a vision of closer +relationship. + +He noted the softness of her mood, and without effort let the time drift +on, careful only not to disturb this harmony, until at last he felt that +the talk should be stopped before it ended of itself, and so he took his +leave. + +She gave him one of her direct looks as she offered her hand. "You have +been too busy, George," she said. "Come oftener." With the firm +hand-clasp to express the undercurrent of their thoughts, they parted. +Alone again by the fire, Judith indulged herself by looking forward. One +could drift into marriage, easily and agreeably. + +Then she heard Jim say good-night, and Beth came and leaned upon her +chair. "I want to tell you what Mr. Fenno said to me this afternoon," +said Beth. "About George and the new combination of the cotton millers." + +"What had George to do with that?" asked Judith. + +"The Wampum Mills held out a long while," answered Beth; "the whole +thing depended upon them. Mr. Fenno is president; George is a director, +but he sent in his resignation soon after he went to Chebasset, and +didn't attend their meetings for weeks." + +"Well?" asked Judith. + +"Well, the directors couldn't make up their minds, and at last they +refused to accept George's resignation, and sent for him. He looked into +the matter, and then he----" Beth paused to laugh. + +"Go on," begged Judith. + +"He scolded them for not jumping at the chance. Mr. Fenno said he hadn't +been so lectured since he was a boy; he was much pleased by it. So the +Wampum Mills went into the combination three days ago, all of the little +mills followed at once, and they expect to do almost double business +now. Isn't it fine of George?" + +"Fine!" agreed Judith, but her gentler mood was destroyed. Ellis also +had had part in the combination, the greater part. If one were to +compare the achievements and to choose between the men, if one were to +do rather than to dream----! She threw off her thoughts of Mather as +one throws off a cloak and looks upon it lying shapeless. Life and +action suddenly called her again; she, too, had influenced this matter. +She remembered Ellis's acknowledgment of indebtedness, the suggestion of +partnership, and the compliment pleased her. Mather passed completely +from her mind, and Ellis dominated her as before. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +SOMETHING NEW + + +If Mrs. Harmon's marriage was her most brilliant success, it was also +her greatest disappointment--as it was her husband's. At times when she +thought of her position, she was satisfied; when she realised its +restraints she rebelled. For she was robust, full-blooded, stirring, but +the Judge was "set in his ways." He was mental, she was physical; as a +result she completely misprized him. + +He had brought her into a circle where she did not belong; it was as if +a gardener had set among roses some hardy, showy plant, a flaunting +weed. Pleased as Mrs. Harmon was, her position irked her to maintain; +respectability was often very wearisome, very flat. There was little +spice and go to life; too much restraint was required. Not entirely +vulgar, not exactly coarse, she fretted first, then yearned for other +things. Barbaric is the word that fits her best; she was like the +educated Indian who longs for his free dress and freer ways. + +Liberty was out of the question, since she would never give up the +brilliance of her position. Personal freedom she had; for the Judge, +when he found that she could not be the companion that he hoped, gave +her all the money that he could, and let her (within bounds which she +understood very well and overstepped only in secret) do as she pleased. +But she had in her the craving for physical stimuli; earth was her +mother. A five-mile walk daily might have kept her mind clear, yet she +would have had to walk alone, and that was unbearable. Loving people, +she lacked companionship, for with women below her station she would not +chum, while with those in it she could not. We have seen how Judith +failed her; there remained only the men. Handsome and shrewd, Mrs. +Harmon had gained her position without yielding to their snares; but now +that the dangers which beset her single life were past, she began to +look back at them inquiringly. Her beauty was full-blown; soon it would +begin to fade, and her nature cried out against losing youth and all its +pleasures. + +Her feelings were from instinct, not calculation; her actions were +impulsive. When she first met Ellis, quite unconsciously her thoughts +had dwelt on him. He was unresponsive; the two dropped into a habit of +semi-intimacy, but having thus begun to let her fancy roam, Mrs. Harmon +yearned for an Adonis until her dreams centered with some constancy upon +a vision which answered to the name of Jim. + +Circumstances are everything; there is nothing human which does not +depend upon them absolutely, and Mrs. Harmon might have "sighed and +pined and ogled" forever, had not Wayne been thrown in her path at a +time when his mind was ready to welcome diversion. + +It happened that he had planned to go to the theater with Beth. They +wanted to go alone, therefore they must go in the afternoon. He chose a +Wednesday, though only Saturday afternoons belonged to him. The play was +advertised in a manner to excite Jim's interest, and he assured Beth it +would be "bully." Coming up from Chebasset at eleven o'clock, he dressed +himself in his best and lunched at the Blanchard's. Then as the hour +approached he started with Beth for the temple of amusement. + +She pressed his arm as they stood for a minute in the vestibule. +"Naughty boy!" she said, beaming on him. "Naughty to spend so much money +on me!" + +"We mustn't dry up, Beth," he answered. "Life's too serious to have no +fun in it." + +"But to take an afternoon from work!" she said, so prettily that only +conscience would have blinded him to the intended thanks. Jim's sense of +guilt, however, made him start. + +"Confound it, Beth," he cried, stopping short and looking at her, "don't +you trust me to take an afternoon off without stealing it?" + +"Oh, oh!" she exclaimed. "Jim, I didn't mean that!" She tried to soothe +his irritation away, but it was a bad beginning to their pleasure, and +they could not talk freely on the way to the theater. When they entered +the lobby she felt that he was still touchy, therefore she said nothing +of the flaming posters which she saw now for the first time. Women in +tights, drunken men--but Jim had said the play would be fine; these were +only to catch the passer's eye. + +Jim unbent again when they were once seated: the curtain, the bustle, +the anticipation pleased him. "It's going to be great!" he said. "It's +fun to be together, isn't it, Beth?" He was as loving as before, and her +little heart was happy. + +But when the curtain went up, and the play commenced, poor Beth began to +sicken. Women with tights appeared, and said unpleasant things; the +drunken man came on, and reeled about horribly. Besides these +attractions there were two people who gave a travesty of lovers, at +which Jim nudged her; there was a woman who drank beer, and a waiter who +spilled it down her neck. At this last whimsical situation the theater +rocked with laughter, so that Beth became aware that there were people +who liked that sort of thing; next she saw that Jim at her side was weak +with merriment at the exquisite foolery. The curtain went down to a song +which the audience regarded as deliciously droll, but at which Beth rose +from her seat, her cheeks flaming. + +"What is it?" asked Jim, astonished. + +"I must go home," she answered. "Come." + +While the curtain was going up again that the singer might be +complimented, Beth and Jim made their way out of the theater. He cast +glances behind at the prima donna; Beth looked neither right nor left. +But when they were free of the place, he came to her side with anxiety +in his face. + +"Are you ill?" he asked. + +"No," she said. + +"Then what is it?" + +"That play, Jim." + +"What?" he cried, thunderstruck. + +"It was dreadful," she said, "I couldn't bear it." + +He could say nothing at first, but at length he tried to speak. "Then +the money I've spent--and my time?" + +"Don't, Jim!" she pleaded. "Not here in the street." + +"Very well," he answered stiffly, and was silent until he reached her +house. But when she started up the steps he stood still and raised his +hat. + +"Jim!" she exclaimed, halting. "Aren't you coming in?" + +He backed away and would not look at her. "Later," he said. + +"Jim!" she cried appealingly. + +He turned and went away without another word, doing what he knew he +should repent, for she was very sweet, very piteous. She would have run +after him to draw him back but--some one was coming. She went into the +house and sat in tears, waiting for him to return, but he did not come. + +Now the person who was coming was Mrs. Harmon, and she saw it all. She +perceived the scowl on Jim's face; she almost heard Beth's pleading. On +impulse she turned back as if she had forgotten something, and allowed +Jim to overtake her. + +"Why, Mr. Wayne!" she said, and Jim could not pass without speaking. + +"Good-afternoon," he said. + +"A very beautiful afternoon," she responded, so that however reluctant, +he had to delay. And now is seen the beginning of the afternoon's +development, for when she next spoke she had no thought beyond what was +expressed by her words. "An afternoon for a walk, Mr. Wayne." She had +the very faintest hope that he might offer to walk with her. + +"An afternoon for the theater," answered Jim bitterly, as he remembered +the delights he had lost. Mrs. Harmon's disappointment was far greater +than her expectations. + +"Are you going?" she asked him. "What, you have been, Mr. Wayne? But how +are you out so early?" + +"Some people," answered Jim, "don't care for the theater." + +Mrs. Harmon, recalling what she had just seen, did some swift guessing. +"My husband, for instance," she said lightly. + +"And Miss Blanchard," added Jim gloomily. + +She thought she guessed why Jim would not walk with her. "You are going +back to see the rest of the performance alone?" + +But the idea came to him as new. He took from his pocket two slips of +blue cardboard and regarded them resentfully. "I could go back," he +said. "The man gave me these at the door. I've half a mind to." + +_Two_ slips of cardboard! A thought came to her, of such weight that she +needed time to consider it; therefore she changed the subject. "How do +you like your new business?" she asked. "It must be very interesting." + +Thus she opened new fields of discontent. "Interesting enough," answered +Jim. "But a fellow that has had freedom finds it very confining." + +"I can imagine it," she murmured. "And it is a different line of work." + +"Quite different," agreed Jim. "Compared with brokering, it's dull, Mrs. +Harmon. I miss the excitement; it's awful humdrum at the mill. There's +such lots of stupid detail." + +"Then Chebasset is so far from the city," she supplemented. + +"It is difficult to get any time here," he said, "unless you take an +early train, you know." Recollection came to him again, and he added: +"And when a fellow makes a special effort to give another person +pleasure, and she--well, never mind!" Jim sighed heavily. + +Mrs. Harmon made a sympathetic pause. Motives were balanced in Jim's +brain just then, resentment and desire for pleasure driving him away +from Beth, affection and remorse drawing him back. Had Mrs. Harmon been +the deepest of schemers, she could not have thrown her weight more +cleverly against Beth's. Seeing that they were approaching a corner, +which might separate her from Jim, she thought only to continue the +conversation; but behold, she augmented the current of his discontent. +"How do you enjoy working under Mr. Mather?" she asked. + +The gloom deepened on Jim's face. "Mather's kind of--oh, well, he +expects every one to see things the way he does." + +"I can imagine he's strict," she said. + +"He's arbitrary!" answered Jim emphatically. + +"It's too bad!" she responded with sympathy. But they were at the +corner, and she stopped. One way led down town, one to quieter +neighbourhoods--and this in morals as well as in geography. She meant +not to separate from Jim, and yet how to keep him, or go with him? Mere +instinct guided her again, and this time she gave herself to it and +followed without further thought. + +"Well?" she asked, as they stood still. + +"Well?" echoed Jim, quite blank, yet seeing she expected him to say +something. + +"Shall I go one way, or the other?" she demanded. + +"One way, or the other?" he repeated stupidly. + +"I meant to make calls," she said, accenting the preterit, "but if you +should ask me" (accenting the auxiliary) "to go with you to see the rest +of that play----" She made no finish, but cocked her head and looked +past him, sidewise. + +"Gad!" cried Jim, staring. + +"Ah, well!" she sighed, turning away. + +"Come on!" he exclaimed. "Come along, Mrs. Harmon. Jove, it will be +great fun!" + +"Why, I didn't really mean it," she replied, but smiling gaily. + +She was everything that Beth was not: pronounced, vivacious, +multi-coloured. She was handsome, red-cheeked, bright of eye, and if she +was a little hard of glance, Jim did not perceive it. She pleased him; +he urged her again. + +"Well, I can do some shopping," she said with a teasing accent of +reflection, and went down town by his side. The theater was not far; +when they reached it, she made as if to pass on. "Good-bye," she said. + +"Oh, Mrs. Harmon!" cried he. + +"You really mean you want me to come in?" she asked. + +"Of course!" insisted Jim, and lied manfully. "I wanted it all the +time." + +"I haven't seen this play," she said, reflecting. "My husband never +takes me to the theater." + +"Then let me," he urged. A strain of music was wafted out as she +hesitated. "See, we're losing some." + +"How funny," she said, looking at him and smiling, "to go in this way. +But it's a lark, isn't it, Mr. Wayne. Come on, then!" She stepped before +him to the door, and in a moment they were in the theater together. + +There were again the dusk, the rustle, and the music. Some voice beyond +the footlights called "_Zwei bier!_" and a laugh followed from the +audience. A noiseless usher led the two to their seats, which they took +while watching the woman on the stage doubtfully circling away from the +waiter who had spilt beer on her before. The second act was not yet +finished; there were ten minutes more before the curtain went down, +which it did just as the actress turned a somersault, quite modestly. +The third act was even more capriciously humorous than the other two. + +Mrs. Harmon and Jim enjoyed themselves keenly, the thrill of the unusual +companionship adding excitement to the pleasure. At last she was with +him; for the first time he was with some one else than Beth. He still +had enough resentment against Beth to feel that he was serving her +right; he compared her with Mrs. Harmon; he wished Beth were more--well, +sensible. Mrs. Harmon displayed an abundance of sense; she saw the good +points; jokes that Beth would have missed entirely were not lost on +Mrs. Harmon. When they walked to her house together she spoke most +appreciatively of the extravaganza. If Beth could but be thus! + +But most of all Jim felt that he pleased a woman. Mrs. Harmon leaned to +him at times, put her face near his; he felt her breath; once in the +theater her hair touched him. She was sympathetic and confidential; they +reached the "you-and-I" stage very quickly. Thus: + +"If the Judge were only a little more like you, Mr. Wayne!" This at +beginning; then, "I had thought you so stately, Mr. Wayne, but we seem +to have just the same tastes." Those tastes were discussed next, putting +all the rest of the world on a lower plane, so that "how amusing others +are" was a natural conclusion, and Jim realised that he and she were +looking upon life as on a spectacle. + +In this there was flattery beyond his power to resist; there was, +besides, a suggestion too subtle for him to perceive at first. She made +it plain that because her husband and she were not congenial, she went +with Jim; but for a time the corollary escaped him--that because he had +gone with her, therefore he and Beth were not at one. He saw only that +he was taking a vacant place, and that she was grateful to him. + +At her door Mrs. Harmon looked at him, smiling doubtfully. "I would ask +you in, only----" + +Jim had grown bold. "Well, why?" + +"No, no! It would never do--not after what we have already done. And you +will of course not say anything about this, Mr. Wayne?" she added +seriously. + +Thus the final idea came to him that they two had been near, very near, +the border-line of convention. "Not really?" he asked. + +"Of course Miss Blanchard, if you wish," she answered. + +"Shall I even tell her?" he said, trying to look knowing. + +"You bad man!" she murmured, bending to him. "But it has been great +fun!" Then she ran up the steps. As Jim walked away he suppressed his +gratification, and endeavoured to estimate her character. She was quite +different from what people thought her. + +That evening he dined with his mother; afterwards he went to the club. +But the sense of guilt grew on him, and drove him at last to the +Blanchards'. There Beth was still watching for him, so unhappy! She +sobbed in his arms, begging his pardon--yes, the poor little thing +begged his pardon, and Jim forgave her. + +He did not tell her of Mrs. Harmon, nor did he stay late, for he had to +travel to Chebasset. It was not of Beth that he thought most in the +train. Beth had only called him a naughty boy; Mrs. Harmon said he was a +bad man. He felt as if he had been pleasantly wicked, like the fellows +in New York or Paris, going about with married women. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +WHICH DEALS WITH SEVERAL OF OUR PERSONAGES + + +It is assumed in many fairy tales that the story ends with the +engagement, the beginning of which marks the end of trouble. But love, +though a solvent of selfishness, works slowly, and the added friction of +constant companionship is needed to make its results perfect. +Temperament and taste, therefore, during an engagement retain most of +their power. Thus it is not surprising that two months were not +sufficient to harden Beth Blanchard to the roughness of her lover's +embraces; she even found further faults in him. + +Of these shadows on his happiness Jim became early aware, and obeying a +passion which had not yet lost all its purity or force, he had +endeavoured to modify himself to suit the conditions which Beth very +gently imposed. He became less anthropophagous, moderating the violence +of his kisses; he came very near to estimating the value of her modesty, +which formed the essence of her sweetness. But he was already so much of +a man that he felt his superiority, and still so much of a boy that he +fretted at restraint. To expect him to stay always contented at Beth's +side was like asking him to admire Mozart when he had rag-time in his +blood. Her dainty harmonies were foreign to him. + +One Saturday evening he was at the Blanchards' when Mather came to call. +Beth proposed to go into the front parlour and speak to him. Jim +objected. "He comes for your sister; and besides, I see enough of him +during the week." + +But above her friendship for Mather, Beth possessed that spirit of +hospitality--old-fashioned, to be sure--which impelled her to greet each +visitor that came to the house. Further, she felt that to keep out of +sight of all who came, while yet she was within hearing, was not in the +best of taste. "But I haven't seen him for a long time," she said. +"And--I think we'd better go, Jim, if only for a little while." + +"Cut it short, then," he grumbled, and followed her through the +curtains. + +"Much of a suitor he is!" thought Jim, as he noticed how gladly Mather +rose from Judith's side and greeted Beth. Perhaps Judith thought the +same. There was a wholesome freshness about Beth which often brought +men's eyes to her and kept them there. Jim was usually proud of it; now +it irritated him. Moreover, he was left to talk with Judith, and that he +had found to be difficult. Therefore, when he had had more than enough +of her monosyllables, and felt that he had made a fool of himself in his +efforts to entertain her, he tried to break into the talk of the other +two. Beth had been speaking of Chebasset. + +"A hole!" said Jim, rising and standing by her chair. "An awful hole!" + +Mather laughed; Beth gave Jim a distressed little smile. "You did well +to get away and leave the work to me," continued Jim, addressing his +superior. He tried, successfully, for the effect of the true word spoken +in jest. "Winter coming on, too." + +Mather laughed again. "Jim," he said, "I went through all that when I +was your age, and worked at the machines besides." + +"You see, Jim," said Beth, "how much further ahead you are than George." + +"Nothing wonderful," he answered, for her remark went wrong. So did his +own; Mather exchanged a glance with Judith, and Beth shrank. Jim put his +arm around her neck. "Well, well," he went on, "let's not talk +business." + +Beth removed the arm, gently, as she rose. "Yes, we'll forget all that +till Monday," she said, and moved toward the door again. "We just came +in to say good-evening, George." She and Jim went away, to begin a +struggle of temperaments. + +"Why did you stay so long there?" he asked at once. + +"But Jim," she explained, "a little more makes no real difference, and +is so much more polite." + +"It makes a difference to me," he retorted, "when I have to talk with +your sister. Darn it, you know she and I never get on." + +She winced at his expletive, which seemed to hint of something stronger, +and so was just as bad. "Don't," she pleaded. "I--I'm sorry about +Judith, Jim." + +"I might be allowed to say darn sometimes," he complained. "Most men say +something worse." + +"It's just--manners, Jim," she answered. "And don't you think the way +you spoke to George, when so much depends upon him----" + +"Look here, Beth," he interrupted, "am I not a fair judge of my own +behaviour?" + +"I didn't say that, dear!" she cried. + +"He needn't give himself such airs, anyway," Jim went on. "Pease is my +boss, not Mather." + +"Oh, I think you mistake," she said. + +"Pease gave me the place," Jim persisted, "because--you know." + +The reference hurt poor Beth, to whom the thought of Pease was distress. +"Don't speak of it, dear," she begged. + +"It's so," asserted Jim. "But you'd think Mather was my father, from +the advice he gave me. Great fun it was, for you to give him another +chance at me!" + +There was nothing for her except submission. "I'm sorry," she said. But +Beth was not meek; she let him see, by tone and manner, that she yielded +only because she was overborne. Therefore he gave another thrust to make +his conquest sure. + +"I'm sorry you don't like my arm about your neck," he said. "Please +excuse me for putting it there." + +She went close to him. "Only when other people are about," she +explained, and put up her face. "You may--kiss me now, Jim, if you want +to." + +Beth would have been glad even of one of his engulfing embraces, as a +sign of reconciliation; but he kissed her gingerly and then sat down, +not on the sofa, but on a chair. Next he was surly for a while; then he +rose to go. + +"I'm tired," he said. "It's been a hard week." + +After that lie her sympathy was a reproach. "I'm so sorry," she +whispered, caressing him. "If I was cross, forgive me, dear. You do work +hard for me." No accusation could have cut deeper; he could scarcely +look her in the eyes as he said good-night at the door. + +Poor Beth laid her forehead against the dull wood, and listened to his +footsteps until they were gone. It worried her that Jim was tired, and +that she, not understanding, had been hard on him. She wished her +perceptions had been quicker; she resolved to study how to please him. +Poor, simple Beth! + +Jim, grumbling at his crosses, went homeward, but not home. For the +Harmon house was by his way; he saw lights in the lower windows, and he +loitered. Next, he went and rang the bell. He was shown into the +parlour, into a new atmosphere, for Mrs. Harmon rose with evident +gladness from her book, and her very greeting changed his mood. The +Judge was in his study; should she call him? Jim took his cue from the +flash of her eye. "No, no!" he cried, and they laughed together. + +And as he sat and looked at her--what a difference! There was fullness +of good looks in the face, far more pronounced than Beth's; the shoulder +was plump, the arm firm and pink. Beth never showed such attractions as +these, having the feeling that modesty became a girl. But though Mrs. +Harmon was no longer young, "Gad!" thought Jim, "if girls only knew as +much as women!" Mrs. Harmon brought cigarettes; she joked him as a man +would. Jolly, this was! + +Jim took a cigarette from the case she offered. "You're sure you don't +mind the smoke?" he asked. + +"I? Mind the smoke?" she returned. "I like it so much that--what do you +think of my box?" She closed the cigarette-case and showed him its +cover, standing by his side as he sat. + +"Swell!" said Jim. "Those Cupids with masks are simply slap! Whose +initials, Mrs. Harmon? Yours?" He laughed. + +"Why not mine?" she asked. + +"L. H.," read Jim. "L. is the Judge's initial, I know." + +"My name is Lydia," she said. "And my husband's name is Abiel, Mr. +Wayne." + +Jim rose hastily. "Then this is really your case, Mrs. Harmon. And do +you--will you--smoke with me?" + +"Of course I will!" she cried. + +Jim felt himself very much indeed like those fellows in New York or +Paris. She smoked gracefully; the movements displayed her hand and the +long, bare, beautiful arm. The shoulder rounded as she raised the +cigarette to her lips; even shoulder-straps would have marred that +display. But while he admired, with a sudden movement she cast the +cigarette into the fireplace: some one was at the front door. + +It was Ellis. "Oh, it's only you, Stephen," she said, when his short +form appeared in the doorway. "I needn't have spoiled my smoke, after +all." + +"You needn't have stopped anything for me," said Ellis, and added: "Just +dropped in to inquire for the Judge." + +Jim perceived, from Mrs. Harmon's laughter, that this was a byword with +her intimates; he offered her the box of cigarettes, and when she chose +one, struck a match. + +"No, no!" she cried, "your cigarette." + +She took it from him, her fingers brushing his; she lighted her own and +then offered his again. But when he was about to take it: "No, your +mouth!" she ordered, and obediently he opened his mouth to receive it. +Then she began to laugh at him, richly and infectiously, so that he +laughed with her, but did not miss the spectacle she presented. Standing +with her back against the center table, she leaned with her hands upon +it; her shoulders became more attractive than ever, and between them +rose the swelling throat. He laughed with delight, and letting his eye +wander over those charms, he missed the glances, amused and defiant, +which passed between Mrs. Harmon and Ellis. + +"So you're up to this, Lydia?" he seemed to inquire, but she to respond: +"Do not you interfere, sir!" + +There is no analysing those processes by which we find our affinities, +no theory of chance which will satisfactorily account for the meetings +of like states of mind. But here were Jim, once peevish, and Mrs. +Harmon, once bored, quite satisfied at last in each other's company, +and before long making this so evident that Ellis perceived that he had +interrupted. They left him out; Jim spoke to him from time to time, or +Mrs. Harmon turned on him that same warning glance. But if they chose to +act so, Ellis did not care; in fact, an idea came to him, and he smiled +as he watched Jim, like an astronomical body, moving along the line of +least resistance. + +For Ellis had just parted from Colonel Blanchard, who had called on him. +Ellis had received the Colonel in the one room of his mansion which +revealed daily occupancy, which no housekeeper might invade with duster +or broom. From among many papers in many cases, Ellis drew Blanchard's +promissory note, and silently laid it before him. + +"You come to redeem this?" he asked. "More than prompt, Colonel +Blanchard." + +The Colonel did not offer to explain with exactness. Like that person in +the fairy tale who sought to recover the lost cheeses by rolling others +after them, Blanchard had been throwing his dollars into the bottomless +pit of the stock-market and expecting them to return many-fold. But he +had broken the ice once with Ellis; it was easier now. He had, he said, +been--unfortunate. But if Mr. Ellis would only advance a little more, he +had not the slightest doubt of repaying in full, and very soon. + +Ellis knew the signs of the gambler; absolute certainty of making good +his losses, equal vagueness as to sources of supply. He made out another +check; the Colonel signed another note. They parted, but now, here at +the Harmons', Wayne seemed to recall the Colonel by his shallow, +gentlemanly ways. + +Months ago Judith had told Ellis that his way lay through the men. There +were only three who in any degree, through any feeling, might influence +her in his favour. One was Mather: out of the question. One was the +Colonel: he was secure. The third was Wayne, of whom, for her sister's +sake, Judith wished to make more of a man. During his stay Ellis was +mostly silent, studying this new problem. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +JUDITH BUYS A TYPEWRITER + + +As the winter advanced, Judith found herself never free from her +struggle, the interest of which grew not only greater, but at times +intense. For gossip, as she foresaw, was busy with her name; and though +as yet she had not braved her circle in the endeavour to bring Ellis in, +her friends took occasion to disapprove of her acquaintance with him. +The disapproval being conveyed to her in a dozen ways, Judith was +frequently in a blaze of anger at people's officiousness, or as often +contemptuous of their curiosity. Since interference was always enough to +make her obstinate, her friends had no other effect on her than to make +her welcome Ellis more kindly than ever. + +An unforeseen factor in her troubles was the state of public affairs. +Judith read the papers diligently; she perceived a general increase of +opposition to Ellis. This did not disturb her, since your true student +is aware that the public is as often wrong as right. And at first she +took no interest in the search for a leader which was conducted by that +usually impotent party, the Reformers. These gentlemen had so often, in +Judith's hearing, been gently ridiculed as milk-and-water politicians, +that even amusement ceased within her as she read anew of their efforts. +Any campaign which they should conduct would be the usual formal and +ineffectual protest against "practical politics"; their candidate would +be, as always, an obscure person with no claim on public regard. +Judith's interest woke very suddenly when it was whispered that the +reform candidate was to be George Mather. + +Now she should see Mather and Ellis directly measured, and could know +the strength of each. And yet all this was still far away, while another +matter was of nearer interest: the rumour of a street-railway strike. +Wages had been lowered and the men were discontented; so also were the +patrons of the road. The efficiency of the service had greatly fallen +off, and the reform newspaper boldly dated the change at Mather's loss +of the presidency, charging Ellis with the desire to make money at the +public's expense. Judith sniffed at an accusation which she believed +would refute itself; she wondered that men should still trust in +campaign calumnies. One statement alone caused her serious thought, +namely the claim, soberly made, that in managing the details of a great +enterprise rather than attending to its finance Ellis was beyond his +depth. But at the call to the public to insist upon proper treatment as +well as to avert the calamity of a great strike Judith smiled to +herself. The public never interested itself in anything; and besides, +this was none of the public's business. + +Yet, though Judith was right in thinking that the management of the +street-railway company concerned the stockholders alone, and though her +estimate of the general harmlessness of the reform party was quite +correct, her interest in Mather was renewed. Judith was always very well +aware of her states of mind, and had noted by this time that whenever +her interest in Ellis's brilliancy relaxed, she was certain to find +Mather doggedly adding to his own achievements. And she granted it to be +much in his favour that though he lacked the fascinating abilities of +his keener rival, he had a formidable solidity. The very fact that his +name was used in connection with the reform nomination, gave that +nomination seriousness. + +Still, the caucus was months ahead, and it was hard to believe that +Ellis, who had never yet failed, could botch the management of the +street-railway. Men should be easier to manage than securities. And +though she received Mather kindly whenever he came, it was impossible +not to feel more interest in the man who came oftener, stayed longer, +and spoke most of himself. Mather had spoken of himself but once; he did +not seek, as Ellis did, to be alone with her, and no longer showed the +repressed eagerness of a suitor. He was easy, deliberate, never +preoccupied, and took no pains whatever to forward himself with her. + +On that evening when Beth had dragged unwilling Jim into the front +parlour, to her consequent unhappiness, Mather showed no impatience at +the interruption; he even rose again gladly when, Jim having gone, poor +Beth came creeping back again. + +"George," said Beth timidly, "Jim was a little--rude, just now." + +"No, no," he answered heartily. "Don't think of it, Beth." + +"If you will bear with him," she pursued, "I think he will come to see +how much he owes you." + +"Of course he will," he agreed. "Not that I'm anxious for any +acknowledgment. I understand he's lonely, Beth." + +"He is," she stated eagerly. "He misses----" + +She blushed, and added hurriedly, "And much of what he says is just +manner." + +"Don't you suppose I know him?" he asked. "Now don't worry, Beth. Just +keep him to his work, and he'll come out all right." + +He took her hand; she looked up shyly. "Do you think me foolish, +George?" + +"Fond used to mean foolish," he answered. "We'll call you fond. Jim must +succeed with you to back him!" And he kissed her hand. + +"Thank you," said Beth, doubtless referring to the encouragement. "Thank +you so much, George! Good-night." + +"Poor little thing!" said Mather, as he seated himself after she had +gone. "She's not happy, Judith." + +"It's Jim," she answered. + +"Have you any influence over him?" he asked. "If you have, make him +work." + +"I noticed," she remarked, "that you did not tell Beth that she has no +cause for worry. Is he not satisfactory?" + +"It may be inexperience," he answered, "it may be just Jim; I haven't +decided yet. The work isn't hard, for the foreman looks after everything +mechanical, yet our product is much less than it should be. All I need +to do is to go and sit in the Chebasset office for an hour, without +opening the door into the mill, and if the men know I'm there we turn +out six hundred pounds more that day." + +The statement was not surprising, as Judith compared Jim with the man +before her. "You think he will not suit." + +"I don't say that yet," he replied. "But it's very unpleasant, doing +business with your friends." + +Again she sat watching him as he stared into the fire, but not with the +emotion of that former time, for the state of mind which Beth had +aroused was passing. She thought of Mather, with unimpassioned interest, +as a fine type of man; but it was undeniable that, emotion being absent, +Ellis took an increasingly greater share of her thoughts, and stirred +her imagination more. The world was growing larger before her, not the +world of society but of the _World's Work_, the _Harper's Weekly_, +almost of the _Scientific American_, those magazines which express the +spirit of modern enterprise and hardheadedness, and from which she drew +her current information. One of them had recently published Ellis's +portrait; Judith glanced from Mather to the table whereon the magazine +was at this moment lying, and compared the two men as, but a few moments +before, she had contrasted Jim and Mather. Now it was Mather who stood +at the little end of the sign of inequality; Ellis was the giant and +Mather the mere man. Rumour set them against each other, but though +Judith had heard the whisper, "Mather is back," she had also seen the +smiles as people added: "Now what will he do?" + +"Yes," said Mather, rousing; "between us we can help Jim along." Then he +rose, and though it was early, said good-night. He left her wondering at +his method of cheerful entrance and speedy exit, his manner of being at +home in her presence. But after more thinking, she laid this to the fact +that he had nothing on his mind. + +Yet he was conscious of a future which beckoned him, and of ambitions, +not of his own creating, which stood ready for him to assume. He knew +that it was said that Mather had returned, knew that the idle were +smiling, the serious were watching to see what he would do. Not only +Pease, Fenno, Watson, Branderson, those four powers, held an expectant +attitude toward him, but the reform politicians did the same. He knew +the public feeling toward abuses might easily be roused, vexed and +alarmed as people were with the street railroad. A determined man, in +whom the city had confidence, could easily draw many votes to himself. +But "wait," he said to himself, "it's not yet time." He had been +approached only by Pease, who inquired: "Have you any street-railway +stock?" but when Mather replied he had, Pease merely begged him not to +sell, and said no more. Yet there had been that in Pease's manner which +meant much. + +Mather and Judith were far apart in these days; he sighed as he thought +of the distance between them, and turned more willingly to the +distractions which politics and business offered. He would have been +glad to have his opportunities closer at hand, that he might throw +himself into the work. Judith, on the other hand, shrank when first her +future came suddenly near. + +Her father came home late one afternoon; going to greet him, she had +found him in the library, unwrapping a parcel. The Colonel, obeying his +impulse toward extravagance, had picked up down town a--wait till she +saw it! + +"It's very much tied up," said Judith. + +"It's rather a valuable thing," answered her father, struggling with the +string. "If only I had it out here, I'd cut this twine." + +"Is it a pair of scissors?" she asked. "Slip the string over the end, +sir." + +The Colonel displayed it at last, a Japanese dagger. Its hilt and sheath +were massive ivory, yellow with age, carved deeply with grotesques of +men in combat. A grinning mask formed the pommel, a writhing dragon the +guard; the warriors were grappling, hand to hand. The Colonel offered +the knife to Judith. "Look at it," he said with pride. + +Something made Judith draw back. "I--it's been used." + +The Colonel was irritated. "Upon my word, Judith, I should think you +were Beth. Of course it's been used; you can see that on the blade. +Look!" + +He drew it from the sheath. The blade was of the usual stout Japanese +model, with a quick edge which much whetting had made very fine. An +injury had marred the symmetry of the weapon: it was evident that an +eighth of an inch had been broken from the point, which, ground again as +sharp as ever, had lost in beauty but gained in suggestiveness. The +Colonel touched the point. + +"On armour or on bone, do you suppose?" he asked. + +Judith had recovered herself. "You're rather grewsome, sir." + +"Hang it," he complained, sheathing the knife again. "I thought you'd +like it. But Jim will, anyway." He laid the knife on the table. + +"You're not going to keep it there?" she asked. + +"Indeed I am," he answered. "Don't look at it if you don't want to." He +started to go, then paused. "Judith, I have asked Mr. Ellis to dinner." + +She was surprised by the statement, so suddenly made and of such deep +meaning. All she could do was to repeat his words. "You have asked Mr. +Ellis to dinner?" + +"Gad!" exclaimed the poor Colonel. "Is anything wrong with you this +afternoon? You are hard to please." + +"Oh, if you asked him to please me----" she was beginning. + +"Well," he explained, "what else could I do when he more than half +suggested it? I couldn't be rude to him. I--he--we are pretty good +friends." + +But he only puzzled her the more. "You are pretty good friends?" asked +Judith, again repeating his words. + +This conduct on her part made the Colonel spring to the door, where for +an instant he stood and beat his temples. "A woman's a devil!" he +exclaimed after that interval, and stamped upstairs. + +When a man's behaviour takes this turn, or his philosophy leads him to +this conclusion, it is safe for the woman to assume that he has +something on his conscience. Judith stood startled. + +On what terms was Ellis with her father that he could force an +invitation to dinner? And his object? + +She watched Ellis during that first meal at her table. Judith had never +before seen him in evening dress, nor as yet considered him so +personally. His manners were good, his behaviour quiet; no one could +have said that he was not a fair representation of a gentleman. That he +was more he did not claim. + +"This is the first time," he said, as he went in with her to the +dining-room, "that I have dined in these togs in any house besides my +own, public dinners excepted, of course. It feels stranger than I +expected." + +"Why should it feel strange?" she asked. + +"Because I was not born or bred to it, I suppose." + +"Certainly," she remarked, "you show nothing of what you feel." + +"When I was a boy," he answered, "when I lost by being too eager on my +first trade, I learned never again to show what I felt--unless it's my +purpose to. To be quiet and steady, looking and not speaking--you can't +imagine what that has done for me." + +This frankness of his, which she felt was vouchsafed to her alone, was +one secret of his success with Judith. She was interested to hear him +acknowledge himself a learner; she sympathised with his effort to make +himself fit to sit at any table; and she was impressed by his study of +manners as earlier he had studied men and markets. She recognised the +full power of his determination and his self-control. But also she felt +that unmistakably she knew his object. And her father, in manner almost +deferential to Ellis, consciously or not was his ally. + +Ellis made no approach to the subject which was most on his mind, though +through the evening he sat alone with her in the parlour. He spoke, as +he always did, of his affairs. Moreover, he went away early. But Judith, +when he had gone, gazed at the door which had closed behind him. He was +aiming at her! All that determination, all that formidable self-control, +were trained upon one object: herself. Then she must look forward, and +decide. + +Did she wish to marry Ellis? She found no reply as she tried to read +herself; instead, her mind was confused by a lesser question: why should +her father be so friendly to him? + +It would not be fair to Judith to say that she enjoyed the sensation +created by her intimacy with Ellis; nevertheless she found piquancy in +the little thrills of horror which she caused in her circle. For she +knew herself to be honestly interested by Ellis's Napoleonic force, and +could retaliate upon her clique by amusement at its littleness. She +looked at Ellis with clear eyes, perceiving little flaws which his great +powers could condone. Yet at the same time she understood her friends' +sincerity in their reprobation of him, and forgave them because they +knew no better. + +She was perfectly aware that her father had no greater caliber than that +general to his class; without the slightest filial disrespect, she knew +that the Colonel was not capable of her interest in Ellis as a type and +as a force. She would not have resented opposition from her father half +so much as she had been puzzled at his acquiescence in Ellis's visits; +nor would she have been surprised by a sudden paternal outburst so much +as by to-night's encouragement. And understanding him so well, she +began to suspect that his motives were different from her own, were +lower, and that his interest might be personal. Such a suspicion of her +father was quite enough to make her suspect herself. + +Three impulses rose within her, and battled together. The first was the +old ambition, drawing her to Ellis; the second was refinement, thrusting +her away from him. The third was maidenhood, which in Beth was modest +but in Judith militant, impelling her to the decision to marry nobody at +all. And just now this was strongest. + +Nevertheless, Judith recognised the need of a weapon or at least a +shield against the assaults which were bound to come. She was not so +sure of herself that she dared depend on her own powers alone. Therefore +she needed a barrier behind which to retire at need, and she saw but +one. Friends could not shield her: she had too few; and pride stood +between herself and Mather. Her father would evidently be no protection. +Even with Beth her understanding was too slight to be put to use. +Employment alone would help her, and of all employments only one +attracted her. Yet for that she could be preparing herself. + +With bent head she went into the sitting-room where were her father and +Beth; they put down their books as she entered, and from the table the +Colonel took up the Japanese knife. + +"Beth doesn't like this much more than you do," he said. + +"It's sinister," explained Beth. "All its beauty conceals a threat; its +only purpose is to bring death." + +"In the past, in the past!" protested her father. "It's only an ornament +now." + +"Perfectly horrid!" This from Beth, but Judith said: "It must have cost +a good deal." + +"Oh, well----" the Colonel responded, waving away the subject. + +"Father," said Judith abruptly, "I want a hundred dollars." + +"A hundred dollars!" he cried. "Where is a hundred dollars to come from +in a jiffy?" + +"Beth and I dislike the knife so," she suggested. "You might get the +dealer to take it back." + +Experienced women know how unwilling men are to return boughten +articles. "I didn't get it on trial, like a wash-wringer," retorted the +Colonel. "What do you want your hundred dollars for?" + +"A typewriter." + +"A typewriter!" he exclaimed, and Beth echoed the word. + +Judith made no explanation. "Why, that's quite out of the usual line of +expenditure," objected the Colonel. "It's an extravagance." + +"A Japanese dagger might be called an extravagance," Judith returned. + +"Then," answered her father, "so might those furs you bought the other +day. I told you your old set was good enough." + +"If I return the furs," she asked, "will you return the dagger?" + +"No, by Jove!" he cried. "It's for me to decide what I will do with my +own. I'm the provider." + +"And you provide very well," she returned sweetly. + +He looked at her with suspicion which sprang from remembrance of his +methods as provider, but since she seemed to have no hidden meaning he +returned to his reading. Judith, still sweetly, bade them good-night. + +But the next day she started from the house dressed in all the glory of +her latest possessions. "Judith," asked Beth, "you aren't going to wear +those furs in the morning?" + +"Say good-by to them," answered her sister. + +"Judith!" gasped Beth. But Judith only smiled serenely and left the +house. By the assurance in bargaining which always carries its point, +and which is distinctly feminine, she got for her furs exactly what she +gave for them. That afternoon a typewriter was delivered at the house. + +It was Mather who had helped her to buy it, Mather who, happening into +the store while she was there, had told her that the increase of his +business was forcing him to employ more stenographers. So he, even by +the most material of standards, was coming on. In order to forget him, +she was forced to think of Ellis, and to repeat such aphorisms as Anyone +can be a Gentleman, It takes Genius to be a Man. But after she had +thought of Ellis for a little while, again came the revulsion. + +Judith, when in her chamber she first removed the cover of her +typewriter, stood for a long while gazing at its black enamel and its +nickeled keys. The machine became a symbol, a warning of fate, and +though in the coming days she practised its use almost eagerly, the +typewriter never lost its significance. It was but a feeble defense +against the victor of the two rivals. + +Victor? The word was bitter. It came always with the force of a blow, +staggering her amazonian spirit: must she yield in the end? Bitter, +indeed, that while she rebelled against her womanhood she was forced to +recognise and dread it. Temporise or struggle as she might, she felt +that there lay before her an inevitable choice. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +"PUT MONEY IN THY PURSE" + + +While Judith Blanchard, as if defying fate, held her head higher than +before, there grew on one of our characters, namely Jim Wayne, the habit +of looking at the ground. Jim was one of those who, having a weak little +conscience, cannot be wicked with an air. + +And yet Mrs. Harmon, if she saw any change in him, thought it was for +the better. Into her eyes, at least, he looked freely; his glance was +more ardent, and only when she spoke of Beth did he glower and look +away. In their conversations, therefore, Beth was no longer mentioned. +Nor did he ever speak to Beth of his intimacy with Mrs. Harmon. + +Thus Beth was surprised one day when, meeting Mrs. Wayne, the elder lady +asked: "Wasn't it pleasant to see Jim last night?" + +"Jim?" asked Beth. "Was he in town?" + +"He came to the house for just one minute. I supposed he was hurrying to +see you. Ah, Beth, we mothers!" And Mrs. Wayne sighed. + +"But he didn't come to see me," said Beth. "It must have been business +that brought him. I'll ask George." + +Mather said he had seen Jim, but only by accident, when, returning from +the theater, Wayne had passed him, apparently hurrying for the late +train. + +"In town all the evening and didn't come to see me?" thought Beth. The +idea troubled her so much that Mather perceived it. + +Yet no outsider understood the situation quite so clearly as Ellis, who +had been before Jim at the Harmons' that evening, and left soon after he +came. "I'm going to the Blanchards'," he said. "Shall I tell them to +expect you, Mr. Wayne?" + +Jim was so unskilled in finesse that he said he was going to take the +early train. Ellis smiled. + +"You shan't tease him!" declared Mrs. Harmon, putting her hand on Jim's +sleeve. At which childishness the smile on Ellis's face became broad, +and he went away. Returning after a couple of hours, he was in time to +see Jim leave the house hastily, on his way to the station. A woman's +silhouette showed on the glass of the vestibule door, and Ellis tried a +trick. He ran quickly up the steps and knocked on the door. It was +opened immediately. + +"Back again?" asked Mrs. Harmon eagerly. "Oh, it's only you, Stephen!" + +"Only me," and he turned to go, but she seized him. + +"Why did you do that?" she demanded, and then not waiting for an answer +asked: "You didn't tell the Blanchards he was here?" + +"Not I," he replied. "Lydia, why do you hold me so?" + +"Why did you startle me so?" she retorted. "But go along with you!" So +he went, having by his manoeuver found out enough. + +It was not wholly interest in his house, therefore, which took Ellis to +Chebasset before many days. He went to the office of the mill, and as he +stood before the chimney and looked up at it he mused that, +metaphorically speaking, it would not take much prying at its +foundations to make it fall: Wayne was a weak prop to such a structure. +He opened the office door. Jim, from bending over Miss Jenks as she sat +at her desk, rose up and stared at him. And the little pale stenographer +grew pink. + +"People usually knock," Jim was beginning. "--Oh, Mr. Ellis!" + +"Down for the afternoon," said Ellis. "I hate to lunch alone at this +hotel. Won't you come with me?" + +"Why, I----" hesitated Jim. + +"Going up on the hill afterward to see my house," added Ellis. "I won't +keep you long." + +"You're very good," decided Jim. "Yes, I'll come." + +"Of course it's wretched stuff they give us here," remarked Ellis when +they were seated at the hotel. "Will you take water, or risk the wine?" + +"The wine's not so bad," said Jim. He was pleased at his invitation, but +even deference to one so rich could not subdue his pride in special +knowledge. "I don't know how it happens, but they have some very decent +Medoc." + +"Then we'll try it," and Ellis ordered a bottle. He began to feel sure +of his estimate of a young man who took wine when alone in the country. +Bad blood will show; Ellis recalled his experience with Jim's father. + +For although the promoter had once met Mather's father and come off +second-best, with the elder Wayne he had been easily master. Ellis had +bought up most of Wayne's outstanding notes by the time alcohol removed +from society one who so well adorned it; the sale of the house had been +merely a return of I. O. U.'s. In just the same way Ellis was providing +against Blanchard's collapse, and now was watching Jim as the wine +worked on him. + +"A hole, a hole!" cried Jim, and the wave of his third glass included +all Chebasset. "If it weren't for a little girl, Mr. Ellis----!" Jim +gulped down more wine, and Ellis ordered a second bottle. + +"That little girl," he asked, "whom I saw at the office?" + +"She?" cried Jim loftily. "All very well to have fun with in this place, +but a fellow of my standing looks forward to something better than that. +Don't pretend ignorance, Mr. Ellis. You're learning what's worth having, +even if you didn't know it when first you came to Stirling." + +"I know very little about women," returned Ellis steadily. + +"Gad," cried Jim, "you've chosen pretty well, then." + +"At least," was the reply, and Ellis sighed as if regretfully, "I can't +keep three going at once." + +Jim laughed. "You don't regret it, I know well enough. You've got too +many other things to think of. I have to do it, to make life +interesting." + +Such a cub as this, it was plain, deserved no mercy. "You won't succeed +in one quarter, at least," Ellis answered. + +"Where, then?" demanded Jim. + +Ellis took his first sip of wine. "At a certain lady's where we have +met." + +Jim resorted to pantomime. He reached for the bottle and filled his +glass; this he held up to the light, and squinted through it; then with +deliberation he drank off the wine, and reached for the fresh bottle. +After filling, he looked at Ellis. All this he did with an air of very, +very evident amusement, and at the end he chuckled. + +"For the reason," continued Ellis, quite unmoved, "that you haven't the +cash." He took his second sip, but Jim laughed outright. + +Then the youth became grave. "Money," he said emphatically, "is all very +well in its place. But though you've made your way by it, sir, you +overestimate it. Why, that Mrs. Harmon would take----" Suddenly Jim grew +red in the face. "You insult her, sir!" + +"Good," remarked Ellis, very coldly. "The waiter is out of the room; +recollect yourself when he returns. Recollect also that Mrs. Harmon is a +very old friend of mine." + +"But," stammered Jim, somewhat abashed, "when you say that she would +sell herself----" + +"You were drinking before you came here," said Ellis, "or you wouldn't +take such ideas so easily." He removed the bottle from Jim's elbow, +then, as if on second thought, he put it back again. "This is a lonely +place, Mr. Wayne; I don't wonder that you take a cock-tail occasionally +in the morning. But just remember that it may prevent you from seeing a +man's meaning." + +"I thought----" began Jim, but Ellis cut him short. + +"I know; but never mind. I meant, my dear man, a libel on the sex, +perhaps, but not on the individual. They're fond of finery, that's all. +And you haven't the money to give it." He looked at Jim with a smile. + +"You can't give it to her!" cried Jim. But the exclamation was almost a +question. + +"To some women you can't--perhaps. But I've never met the kind. And do +you suppose the Judge knows what comes into the house?" + +"Gad!" murmured Jim. + +"A weakness of the sex," resumed Ellis. "Just remember that. Women are +softer than we; we've got to humour them. There's no harm in it; a pearl +pin now and then--something good, oh, you need something pretty good, or +nothing at all." + +"Then I'll go on the nothing-at-all system," said Jim with gloom. + +"Rot!" answered Ellis. "Do you save so carefully?" + +"Save!" exclaimed Jim. "Do you suppose I can save?" + +"I forgot," and Ellis spoke apologetically. "Of course, with your +salary. But there'll be a good time some day, Mr. Wayne." + +"When I'm old," grumbled Jim. + +"Gad!" cried Ellis, "with your ability and your youth, I'd be some +thousands richer every year!" + +"I know," answered the lamb, trying to look as wolfish as he should. +"But a fellow can do nothing nowadays without capital." + +"But you have something?" + +"Some few thousands," replied Jim with deep scorn of fate. "And in my +mother's name." + +"Your mother is conservative?" asked Ellis. + +"Scared," answered Jim. + +"And all you learned on the market," said Ellis with sympathy, "going +here to waste! Too bad! Get some one to back you." + +Jim looked at him sidewise. "Will you do it?" + +But Ellis smiled. "Why should I? No; stand on your own feet. Get your +mother's power of attorney, and surprise her some day by doubling her +income. But as for that, doesn't money pass through your hands down here +every week." + +"Passes through quickly," answered Wayne. "Comes down Saturday morning, +and I pay the men at noon." + +"Pay every week?" Ellis inquired. "Every fortnight is what I believe in. +But of course--and yet three days, with clever placing, would be enough +to make you double that money. Three weeks, and you could--do +anything!" + +"By Jove!" cried Jim, starting. + +"I'll be off," said Ellis, pushing back his chair. "This lunch was +better than I expected. We must meet here again, some day." + +"Good!" answered Jim. He finished his last glass, but as he rose he was +as steady as if he carried nothing. "For all that," muttered Ellis to +himself, "your brain is softer than half an hour ago." They separated at +the door of the hotel, and went their respective ways. + +When Ellis, after inspecting his house, stood on the terrace and looked +down upon Chebasset, he still had Jim on his mind. Would the ideas work? +Did he still taste that wine in his mouth, or his own words? Small! and +Ellis spat. Small, but well done, as the event was to prove. And yet +Ellis had neither heard nor read of Mephisto and the student, of Iago +and Roderigo. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE POWER OF SUGGESTION + + +It is wearing when one's wishes travel faster than events, and have to +wait for time to catch up. Mrs. Harmon felt it so. "The days go too +slow," she declared to Ellis, a week after his visit to Chebasset. + +"Not at all," he answered. "I think they go about right." + +"You're like a cat," she said impatiently. "I watched one hunting a bird +once, and it took forever to make its spring." + +"But it caught the bird. Then wasn't the time well spent, Lydia?" + +"I'm not so cold-blooded," she replied. "I can't be deliberate. I must +have something going on." + +"Therefore you listen for the door-bell," remarked he. "Lydia, he can't +come up to-night." + +"Stephen!" she cried as if indignantly--yet she began to smile. + +"Mather keeps fair track of him," said Ellis. + +"I hate Mr. Mather!" declared the lady with energy. + +"What's the use?" inquired the gentleman calmly. + +"Upon my word, Stephen," exclaimed Mrs. Harmon, "if any one in this town +ought to hate him, it's you. He's the one man who stands between you +and--and everything you want." + +Ellis smiled. "People say so?" + +"It's true!" she insisted. "What are your friends in politics most +afraid of? That he will go in against them! Who can make the best stand +against your mayor? Mather, of course! With him as mayor--what then, +Stephen?" + +"All talk," he answered, still smiling. + +"Very well," she retorted. "But if ever it comes to Mather at city hall, +Doddridge as district attorney, and my husband on the bench, some people +will leave town hurriedly." + +"You mean me?" he asked indifferently. + +"Of course not," she answered. "But don't laugh, Stephen; there's really +something in all this. And in other matters, too. The Judge has sold his +street-railroad stock." + +Ellis roused at once. "He has? To whom?" + +"Mr. Pease." + +"Well," and the promoter relaxed again. "I am glad that the Judge is out +of it, even if Pease is deeper in." + +"Abiel kept back five shares," said the Judge's worthy wife, "and when +next it comes to a stockholders' meeting, he'll be there. I can't do +anything with him; you know that well enough. All I can do is to tell +you what he tells me. Stephen," and her voice became persuasive, "why +not take notice of complaints?" + +"You mean transfers?" he inquired. + +"Yes, and better service: more cars at the rush hours, and more +attention to the suburbs." + +"Higher wages to the men, too, I suppose?" he asked. + +"You don't want a strike?" she cried. + +"Now stop worrying!" he commanded. "You hear the Judge at the breakfast +table, and never see my side. Who does he say are against me--Pease, +Fenno, Branderson--all their kind?" + +She nodded. "Yes, every one of them." + +"Well," he said, "if I have a majority of stock--either mine or +belonging to men who belong to me--all the rich swells in the State +can't touch me. Lydia, Mather made this street railroad for me; he +didn't know he was doing it, but he did it, and when I wanted it I took +it. It's the best thing I've struck yet, and I'm not going to let it go. +Nor the profits, either. Transfers and extra cars? I tell you the +public's got to ride, and ride in what I allow 'em." + +"Very well," she replied. "You usually know what you're about. But the +papers----" + +"Rot, rot, rot!" he interrupted. "You hear so much of this Mather talk +that you believe it. Do you read the _Newsman_?" + +"Abiel won't have it in the house." + +"Buy a copy once in a while, when you feel blue. You'll see that +Mather's a man of straw." + +"Does Judith Blanchard think him so?" + +He turned upon her. "Doesn't she?" + +"I don't know what she thinks," she confessed. + +"Then," he advised, softening his frown, "wait and watch. I tell you +it's going all right." + +She wondered that he felt so sure, but she subsided; then other thoughts +came into her mind. "Stephen," she asked, "are you doing much now--on +the market, I mean?" + +"Always doing a lot," he replied. + +"What's safest and surest?" + +"Government bonds," he answered with a smile. + +"No, no," she said. "I mean surest to go up and do something quickly." + +"Lydia," he responded, "if young Wayne wants to know anything from me, +let him ask me himself." + +"Oh!" she cried, pouting, "how quick you are! Well, I did ask for Jim." +There was just a little hesitation as she spoke the name. "But he gets +so little chance to see you. Come, tell me something; give me a tip, +there's a good fellow." + +"I calculated once," he replied, "that if I told every one who asked, +there would be just twice my capital in the market, after the things I +want. No, Lydia, let every man stand on his own feet; I do my hunting +alone." + +"Stephen!" she coaxed. "Stephen! Oh, you obstinate thing! At least tell +me what you're buying." + +"If you want to help young Wayne, don't ask that. I look long ways +ahead; sometimes I buy to hold, but he can't. I'm not afraid of a drop; +he is. Let him work out his get-rich-quick scheme by himself, and he'll +be better off than if I helped him." + +"At least tell me what you think of Poulton?" But he was obdurate. +"Stephen, I'll never ask you a favour again!" + +"With that pin at your throat you don't need to," he replied. "Lydia, I +never gave you that." + +"I have a husband," and she affected indignation. "How can you +insinuate--oh, Stephen, you see too much. Well, what do you think of +it?" + +"I think," he responded with deliberation, "that I've not seen Miss Beth +Blanchard wearing any new jewelry lately. Aren't you unkind?" + +"No!" she pouted again. "I am his mother confessor." Which appeared so +humorous to them both that they laughed; and then, feeling that they had +been skating on rather thin ice, they left the subject. Only--Mrs. +Harmon wished she knew why Ellis was so sure of Judith. + +Had she seen what Mather saw she might have guessed what Mather guessed. +Ellis lunching with the Colonel down town, at an out-of-the-way place, +to be sure, but lunching with him openly--that meant a good deal. It +was a French restaurant to which Mather went at times for the sake of +its specialties, but when from the door, one day, he saw the Colonel and +Ellis at one of the tables, he went away again; yet had been seen. + +"He saw us," said Ellis. "And if he saw us, others will. What was the +use of insisting on such a meeting-place, Colonel?" + +The Colonel was annoyed, confoundedly so. + +"All very well," returned Ellis. "But our business is not secret, any +more than the transactions which go on in the open street. Come, Colonel +Blanchard, don't you think it's time for a different line of procedure?" + +The Colonel apprehensively asked his meaning. + +"I'll tell you," answered Ellis. "Don't think me rude, sir, if I speak +freely. All I've been thinking is that if I'm a business acquaintance +merely, keep me as such. But if I'm a little more, if I'm to come to +your house and your table, let us meet a little more openly--at the +Exchange Club, let us say. And if I dine at your house again, let's +have," the Colonel's head was bowed, and Ellis therefore spoke boldly, +"other people there." + +The Colonel marked with his knife upon the cloth. Three times five +thousand, without security, meant that Ellis had passed beyond the stage +of business acquaintanceship. Well, never mind; Judith encouraged the +man, so where was the harm? The whole thing was the most natural in the +world. + +"Why, Mr. Ellis," he said, looking up, "I like this little place to eat +in; it reminds me of Paris, you know. I hadn't thought we would seem to +be dodging people." ("Lies better than Wayne," thought Ellis.) "The +Exchange Club, of course, if you wish it; it's more convenient, anyway." + +But Ellis's reminder, before they parted, the Colonel took hard. "And +perhaps we can have a little dinner-party soon, Colonel?" + +"Yes," answered the Colonel. "Yes, yes." He was as near snappish as he +dared to be, vindicating his military character. Only the recollection +of his daughter's wishes kept him from being rude, downright rude. Thus +the Colonel to himself, as he went homeward alone. Yet, instead of +informing Judith that she was privileged to give a dinner-party, he was +much too absorbed to vouchsafe her any account of where he had been. +"Don't bother me," was his gentle reply when she asked if he had seen +any one down town. + +"Father!" cried Judith, really hurt. + +"But I heard this," said her father, stopping at the door of his study, +and giving his piece of news with an unction for which only the passions +of the natural man can account. "They say a street-railway strike is +coming surely, unless Mr. Ellis gives in." + +Judith stood with her hands behind her back, regarding her parent +cheerfully. "Oh, well!" she said lightly. + +"You don't believe it?" demanded the Colonel. + +"Strikes never come as often as they are threatened," she replied. + +"But this time the stockholders may have something to say." + +"They need more votes for that," she answered. + +The Colonel looked her over. "Ellis has been telling her what to think," +he concluded. For a moment he entertained the impulse to propose the +dinner-party, but Ellis's virtual ordering of him rankled. He went into +his study. + +Mather, on his part, took his lunch at another restaurant and then went +down to Chebasset. He felt somewhat depressed; life was not pleasant, +not with the sight of Ellis and the Colonel before his mental vision, +nor with the task he had to do. For the returns from the mill were +entirely inadequate, and Jim must be spoken to. Lecturing a sulky boy +promised to be unpleasant; besides, Jim would report it to Beth. Mather +would have given a good deal to put the matter off, if only for a day. + +But Jim was not at the mill. "He has gone to Stirling, Miss Jenks?" + +"Yes, sir, to the city. He had a telephone message from----" Miss Jenks +hesitated and stammered. + +"Miss Blanchard? Oh, of course." And Mather, amused at the modesty of +the little stenographer, sat down at Jim's desk, which had once been his +own. "The daily reports, if you please, Miss Jenks." While she went for +them, he stared idly at the decorations by whose means Jim had sought to +domesticate himself at the mill: dance cards, an invitation, and +photographs of Beth, Jim's mother, and Mrs. Harmon. Mather frowned at +the presence of the last, in such company. + +Armed with the daily reports, Mather went into the mill, and certain of +the men, at certain of the machines, heard words which were far from +pleasing. The words were not many, and were delivered quietly, but +backed by telling figures from the returns they were unanswerable. It +was a slight relief that so many men were visited in Mather's round, for +company made the misery a bit lighter, but the foreman trembled for his +turn. He took it in the office, alone with Mather and Miss Jenks. That +during the summer and fall so many pounds daily had been turned out, and +in the winter so many less, was laid before him. The foreman could +suggest only one excuse. + +"Mr. Wayne, sir. The men--some of them don't like him, and some laugh at +him." + +"You attend to your men, Waller, and Mr. Wayne and I will do our part. +Understand, I put the mill in your hands now; Mr. Wayne will attend +strictly to the office. If you bring the men up to the old mark, ten +dollars more for you in the month. If you don't----" And the manager +waved his hand. Waller, between fear and hope, withdrew to the safe side +of the door, and mopped his brow. + +Mather also wiped his forehead; he was glad, after all, that Jim had not +been there; he would try running the mill on this system, and Beth for a +while, perhaps for good, could be spared unhappiness. + +But when, after writing Jim a letter detailing the proposed change, he +rose from his chair, he found a workman standing by his side. The man, +with some appearance of unhappiness, touched his forelock. "Beg pardon, +sir, but the missis is sick." + +"Your wife? I'm sorry. I suppose you've come for an advance of money." + +"No, sir!" and the man showed pride. "I can get along, Mr. Mather, on my +regular pay." + +"Then what can I do for you?" + +"It's this new regulation, sir--fortnightly pay." + +"Fortnightly pay!" echoed Mather. + +"Yes, sir. It'll be all right usually, Mr. Mather, and none of the men +cares much." + +There was a tightness in the manager's brain; he put up his hand and +stroked his lip. "Let me see, when did the new system begin?" + +"Last week, sir. And as I say, I wouldn't care, sir, but just now it +comes so hard that I'm askin'--just as a favour, Mr. Mather--to be paid +weekly till the missis is well." + +"So!" said Mather, recovering himself. + +"I hope it's not too much to ask, sir?" + +"No, no," and the manager turned to the safe. + +What was he to find--an empty cash drawer? His hand trembled as he swung +open the heavy door; he thought of little Beth. If Jim had been so weak, +so ungrateful--it was all right! There lay the rolls of bills! + +But not the same; the envelopes had been opened, the money mussed and +then crammed hastily back into the drawer again. Moreover, these were +not the fresh, crisp bills which Pease took pride in sending weekly to +the mill. Mather took the whole drawer to the desk and paid the workman. +"Make a note, Miss Jenks, that Swinton is to be paid weekly so long as +his wife is ill." The man, thankful, departed; but Mather sat over the +cash drawer, sorting the money and counting it. There were many bills of +the high denominations which never came to the mill, since they would be +of little use in paying the men. But it was all there, every cent. What +was the meaning of it? And now it was Miss Jenks who stood at Mather's +side, waiting to speak. He thrust the money again into the drawer. + +"Miss Jenks?" As she did not speak at once he looked at her face, and +asked hastily: "Is anything wrong?" + +"I've--I've got to leave here, Mr. Mather." + +He rose and put the cash drawer in its place; then he went back to her. +"This is very astonishing. Why?" + +"I must," was all she would say. + +"Is it wages? Hours? Are you overworked?" To each question she shook her +head. "I consider you very valuable to us. I have thought of asking you +to come to the city office." + +She looked up at him eagerly. "Oh, let me come!" + +"Then there is some friction here?" + +She looked down, blushing. "No friction." + +"One question only, Miss Jenks. Is it Mr. Wayne?" + +She nodded; Mather took his seat. Then she took a step nearer to him, +looking to see if he were angry. "Don't be put out with him. He--I--it's +nothing, Mr. Mather." + +"So I should suppose," he answered grimly. + +"Mr. Mather," she said suddenly, "when I worked for you here I got to +think of you almost as an older brother. Don't be offended." She made a +little gesture of one thin hand. "I have no mother. May I ask you if I +am doing right?" + +He was touched, and rose again. "Certainly." + +"Mr. Wayne," she began again slowly, "has been very--nice to me. I +didn't think about it; I got to like it very much. Yesterday he--kissed +me. Isn't he engaged to Miss Blanchard, sir?" + +"He is." + +"I thought so; and yet, Mr. Mather, I couldn't be offended. This +afternoon, when he went away, he came to kiss me again, and I couldn't +try to stop him. Was it shameful, sir?" + +He ground his teeth. "Of him!" + +"And he left me this." She opened the hand which she had held tight +closed, and showed a jewelled pin. + +Mather took it; it was costly, very handsome. "Well, Miss Jenks?" + +"I don't think I'm that kind of a girl, sir. And yet I'm frightened at +myself--for not being able to resist him, I mean. And so I've got to go, +sir." Up to this time she had spoken quietly, with little sign of +emotion, but now she clasped her hands together, and tears welled out on +her cheeks. "I cannot stay another day!" + +He turned away from her, and for a space strode up and down the office, +cursing silently. Then he sat and tried to think. Jim, Jim! + +"You're not offended, sir?" she asked. + +"Offended? You poor little girl, it tears at my heart to see your face +and know what you feel. You're doing just right; yes, just right. You +shall come to me in the city, to-morrow if you wish. I know an old and +homely woman who will be glad of this place." + +She shrank at the energy of his sneer. "You won't be angry with him, +sir?" + +"Not angry?" he cried, astonished. Then he said quietly, "I shall do +nothing at once. But there are other considerations as well." + +"Others?" she asked fearfully. "He isn't--going wrong, Mr. Mather?" + +"What makes you think that?" he demanded. + +"Perhaps," she said, "I'd better tell you something, if it will help you +help him. There's one man--oh, Mr. Mather, I've been so glad of the way +the papers speak of you--if you would only stand for mayor of Stirling, +sir! I dislike that Mr. Ellis. And it's he who's been here twice to see +Mr. Wayne, and telephoned him this afternoon to come to town." + +"Of course you know there's no reason he shouldn't?" + +"Only I don't like him, sir. And Mr. Wayne made something of a secret of +it, though he's been talking with me quite freely, lately. But I +couldn't help knowing, and I hope there's nothing wrong." She took a +step toward her desk. "If you've got nothing for me to do, sir, I'll go +now. To-morrow at your office, Mr. Mather?" + +"To-morrow." He sank so deep in thought that he scarcely heeded her +good-bye, and leaving the pin on Jim's desk she slipped out of the +office with her hopes, fears, thanks, trembling on her lips but yet +unexpressed. She was glad to leave the little office where she had been +so frightened of herself. And since Mather had been always kind, she +felt sure he would be kind to Wayne. + +Kind! Mather's fingers itched for Jim's collar. Perhaps he had intended +no harm with the girl, but such things went easily from bad to worse. +And what had he been doing with the money? But the only real reason for +complaint lay in the new system of fortnightly pay. Mather concluded +that he would wait till Saturday; then he would come down, see the men +paid, and have it out with Jim. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +ELLIS TAKES HIS LAST STEP BUT ONE + + +It was midwinter, in the full swing of social events, yet Judith had +been withdrawing herself more and more from what was going on. She +disliked people's talk; besides, her interest in mere frivolity was +growing less, fixing itself with proportionate keenness upon Ellis's +affairs. + +For Ellis came continually oftener, and at last she had begun to look +forward to his visits. More than one of his interests had been growing +complicated; he told her of them freely. Most of all, the street-railway +matter promised trouble from the threatened strike. + +On the evening of Ellis's and the Colonel's third exchange of note and +check Ellis came to see Judith; she was very ready for a talk. It +pleased and flattered him to see the flash of the eye lighting up her +beauty, the eagerness with which she led him to the familiar subject. +"Stunning!" he thought to himself. "Is she dressed up so for me?" The +handsome gown, the few but valuable jewels--and the face! "Soon!" he +said to himself confidently. Meanwhile, step by step! + +He had planned the next one carefully, spending on it more thought than +on many of his great strokes in politics or business. She was more on +his mind than ever, partly because, as a woman, she was a strange +problem to him; partly, however, because his interest in her was growing +steadily deeper, and to win her was becoming constantly of greater +moment. The unnamed emotion still increasing in him, he explained it by +the fact that it was impossible for him to be contented as he once was, +in the days when he drove without rest at his politics or business, +having nothing to look forward to at the day's end, and with only the +dull set of common-minded men as his companions. How far finer was +Judith than they! Though he still feared her idealism, it gave him a +sense of the worth of beauty and refinement. And that other faculty in +her, to appreciate his material achievements, was not only a stimulus +which he felt had become indispensable, but was also the susceptibility +by which he hoped to win her. Aiming all his powers at that weakness, +and looking back on the occasion when the mere sight of Mather was +enough to capture Judith's attention from him, Ellis planned so to raise +her interest in himself that it would permit of no interruption. + +He told her of the threatened strike. The demands of the men were not +serious; it would not be a great drain on his pocket to grant the +increase in wages. The free transfers would be troublesome; the extra +service in rush hours a bother: nevertheless, all this could be +undertaken, and would be, if it were not for the principle involved. And +in order that he might know how to decide, he needed her help. + +"My help!" cried Judith. + +"Perhaps," he said, smiling at her interest, "you don't realise that I +consult you, Miss Blanchard. But all these things I speak to you about +have more or less dependence on the state of public feelings. Do you +know that I have come to consider you as a kind of barometer of that?" + +"Me?" she cried again, much pleased. + +"You read the papers, and digest the news. You see people and talk +things over. You're rather above ordinary business, naturally, and so, +looking down on its workings, it seems to me as if you see _into_ it. Do +you understand? You see clearer than the men themselves who are in the +midst of it." + +"I never supposed that," she said. "I never dreamed of it!" + +"You have a habit of looking forward, too," he went on. "That's what I +like, what I need. I get confused myself, sometimes; I can't see the +battle for the smoke. My own strategy is often doubtful to me. Then I +turn to you." + +"You overrate me," she exclaimed. + +"Not I," he answered. "You aren't offended if I speak so frankly? For I +wouldn't make use of you unless you are quite willing." + +"Certainly I am willing to help," she said. + +"Thank you," he replied. "Now it's this way, Miss Blanchard. I'm not +working only for the present, as I think you know. I'm looking rather +farther forward than most people. Besides, I'm mixed up in many matters. +Finally I'm rather alone. Politics, the railway, the cotton corporation, +half a dozen things I carry almost by myself; I'm the chief, anyway; I +haven't even a partner to consult. I have to watch my own lieutenants to +see they do things right, good workers as they are. It's brains I need +to help me--reliable scouts and clear-headed advisers." + +"I can't be an adviser," said Judith, "but I could scout, perhaps. Will +you let me?" + +"I want you for both," he returned. "You can advise, and you do. I want +some scouting just now, and advice after it, by somebody absolutely +impartial. Somebody who wouldn't hesitate to set me right if she saw +that I was wrong." + +"Tell me!" begged Judith. + +"I have my preconceived notions," he said. "Let me explain them to you, +so that you can understand the line I'm working on. This isn't capital +versus labour, Miss Blanchard; it isn't even the corporation against the +public--not as I look at it. No, it's the present against the future. I +could do the things the public wants; certainly I could. But that's not +the point. The question is, do they know what's best for themselves? +That's for you and me to decide!" + +He had been leaning forward, speaking with emphasis; now as he finished +he sat again upright, but the flash of his eye kindled an answering fire +in hers. "For you and me!" she repeated. + +He leaned forward again, holding her glance with his. "The people," he +said, "think they know what they want. But the best of them are very +shortsighted, even the educated men. Your friends are beginning to join +the cry against me; I won't deny it sounds mighty reasonable: Better +hours and pay for the men; better service for the people. Well, do you +or I suppose that's all there is in it?" + +She drew in her breath; how much more he saw, and knew, than others! + +"Let's go back," he said. "I'm in politics, indirectly. I'm blamed for +it. Fellows, good fellows I've known for years, are looked down on and +called Ellis's men, just because they see things as I do. All very well +for men who sit back with white gloves on their hands and say that +politics aren't clean. Come now, I'll acknowledge it to you, Miss +Blanchard, politics are not clean. I've seen things done that--well, +never mind. I believe corruption has been in the world since the first +of time; I think it's in a certain grade of human nature. You can't get +it out. But there's less of it than is supposed; and on my word, Miss +Blanchard, none of it can be laid to me!" + +Again she drew a breath, and still meeting his eye, she nodded her +agreement. + +"If one of those fellows, in the city government through no act of mine, +votes for my measures, shall I pay him not to? There are few enough of +them. Well, we understand that, but people might ask me why I'm in +politics at all. Miss Blanchard, I point to what I've done. And to what +I'm doing! Sometimes it hurts me that people misunderstand me; mostly I +laugh. But I want you to know, as I guess you do anyway. I'm building +this city for the future." + +Again he drew away and made the impressive pause, but in a moment he was +once more at the charge. "The water-works affair, look at that! People +cry 'Steal! Boodle!' But do they know what I'm doing? Do they know what +I'm saving them from? Miss Blanchard, you know, if they don't, that this +city is at a turning point in its development. We're just growing from a +small city into a big one. Then it's the part of the men with brains to +prepare for the change. Look at Boston, look at New York: see how +they're struggling with their water problems, their lighting problems, +above all with their transportation problems--and why?" He snapped out +the question abruptly, then answered it himself. "Because they didn't +look forward and prepare! But that's just what I propose to do for +Stirling!" + +She was quite his own now, listening as if fascinated. Her bright eye +was fixed on his, confusing him slightly, yet it gave encouragement. His +confidence increased, and after a moment he began again with more +energy. + +"Look at the water-works--they're vast! I've condemned a whole valley +out Grantham way; the reservoirs we're making are much too large for +the city. But in ten years, what then? Still too large, I'll grant. Yet +when Stirling is twice its present size, _then_ the reservoir and park +system, for I'm combining them, will have been got so cheaply that this +city will be richer than any other. Water system installed, lighting +problems solved, all land necessary for municipal purposes bought and +paid for _now_. The next generation, Miss Blanchard, will have reason to +praise us. Isn't that plain? And I mean to do the same with the +transportation system." + +"Go on!" she begged him as he paused. + +"It's somewhat different in this case," he said. "The water-works are +being made with public money, the parks also. But the street-railway is +a corporation, and although I control it, there are stockholders to +consider, and a great big public to keep in good temper while at the +same time I am working for the future. There's a problem, Miss +Blanchard--to pay dividends, put on extra cars, and raise wages, while +I'm buying land for future stations, barns, and terminals, and while I'm +even thinking of the construction of a subway." + +"A subway!" she cried. + +"Yes," he answered, "don't you see the advantage of it?" + +"Indeed I do," exclaimed Judith. "Our streets are very crowded now, down +town, and the cars make such blocks! But a subway! Wouldn't it be +terribly expensive?" + +"Looked at in a broad way, no," he answered. "To condemn and take the +necessary real estate will cost nothing now to what it will ten years +hence. And can you doubt that it will be needed then? Then why not set +about it now? Why not ask the public to incommode itself for a while, to +gain a permanent benefit? What they ask is only temporary; if we let +things slip along from year to year, patching up and patching on, we'll +never be better off. There was a man hired a place; in fifteen years of +rent he paid the whole value of it and yet didn't own it. Better to have +mortgaged and bought, in the first place. That's what I propose to do +here." + +"I understand," she said. + +"I acknowledge," he went on, "that I appoint myself to do these things. +Officious, isn't it? And I'm selfish about it. I want to do it my own +way, and I want to have the credit of doing it. Oh, it's a job, it's a +task!" As if carried away by enthusiasm, he rose and stood before her. +"I tell you, Miss Blanchard," he cried, "I am just beginning the hardest +fight of my life! But I like work, I enjoy a fight, and with the help of +my friends (and you're the chief of them) I shall put it through!" + +He took three steps away from her, and she watched him, not feeling her +throbbing heart and quickened breath. As he turned again, she asked him +how he meant to go about the work. + +"By legislative help," he explained, coming back to his seat by her +side. "Prepare to hear a good deal against me: that I've bought the +common council and own seats in the legislature, for instance. It's long +been said that the mayor's my own--for purposes of corruption, of +course. Now you can see that my plans are too big for me to carry out by +myself, or even for the corporation to do alone. I must have public +money to help me. And besides that, more than that, I must be granted +the application of a principle which has seldom, almost never, been +allowed out of the hands of the legislature or the courts." + +"What is that?" she asked. + +He answered, "Eminent domain!" + +"To be able," she asked in astonishment, "by yourself to condemn and +take land?" + +"Yes," he answered confidently. + +"You will meet very strong opposition." + +"I expect it," he replied. "And I shall be justified in asking for the +right. I am looking to the result." + +She nodded thoughtfully. + +"Now, your part in this," he began again, and she looked up quickly, "is +to be, if you will let me say it so, my ear. The plan will be proposed +soon; I shall know what's said for it, I want to know what's said +against it. You can help me gage the quality of the opposition. Will you +do it?" + +"Willingly," she answered. "But the strike?" + +"Ah," he returned, "I wish I might ask you to help me there also. There +are two things which can assure a strike success: one is determination +in the men themselves, one is the sympathy of the public. Do you go +about enough, do you see people enough--of the middle class, I mean--to +be able to form an opinion on these two points?" + +"I can do so," she answered. + +"Thank you," he said eagerly. "One thing more--your advice! When you +have done all this, will you give me your opinion freely?" + +"If it is of any worth," she replied, "you will be welcome to it." + +The enthusiasm, he feared, had lapsed; he did his best to rouse it. "If +you range yourself against me, I shall not be surprised." + +"I? Against you!" she cried. + +"I appreciate the ties of habit and friendship," he said. "But for them +there are many who would be with me. Conservatism is a strong force, as +I know very well." + +"Do you think," she inquired, "that I cannot see the wise course when +you show it to me so clearly?" + +He concealed his gratification by a counter question. "Do you see the +struggle which is to come out of this?" + +"How much and how long will it be?" + +"It may take years," he said. "Political campaigns may turn on it. Next +fall's election, the mayoralty, may be determined by what we two, here +in this parlour, talk over by ourselves." He saw the flush which +overspread her face, the pride which came into her eyes, yet he +hesitated before the final stroke. + +"Will all that happen?" she asked eagerly. + +She opened the way for him. Dropping his eyes, he sat for a moment to +collect himself; when he looked up his face was serious. "Miss +Blanchard," he said, "there will be from all this certain results, +personal to me, which are beginning to show very clearly. Whether your +friends are going to make this a demonstration against me, or whether +they think they must act, I can't say, but we are going to come to an +open rupture." Then he looked at her with a smile which was half amused, +half deprecatory. "Do you remember that I once confessed to you my +foolish social ambition?" + +"It was not foolish!" she objected. + +"Perhaps not," he returned, "and yet--perhaps. At any rate, I had the +ambition once." + +"Do you not now?" she asked. + +"If I have," Ellis answered, "I may have to give it up. For if your +friends come out against me, and if we fight this to a finish, then it +will all amount to this: that I must choose between my career and +my--acquaintances." + +He was managing her well! He felt an unauthorised emotion, prompting +him to say words akin to those which he had heard Jim say to Beth, +but--with such inspiration as Judith's--far more strong and eager. Yet +all such feeling he beat down, and though she felt the lack, he was +succeeding with her. Coldly as he made his statements and carefully +repressed all emotion, he was still able to rouse her enthusiasm. + +"Would you hesitate?" she asked with spirit. + +"It seems easy to you," he returned steadily, "but consider. It means +that I must live a life alone. I have the American spirit, Miss +Blanchard, which urges me upward. I have seen what is better than what I +have; I am trying for it. Whatever happens, I won't go back. But the +door is shut in my face. So I stay alone outside." + +"It must not be!" she exclaimed. + +"But if it happens so?" + +"It is too unjust!" She could say nothing more, but her feelings +enlisted her on his side, and she restrained herself with difficulty. +Her generosity, her energy, showed so plainly in her glowing features +that he asked himself: "Is this the moment?" Then the rings of the +portieres rattled. + +It was the Colonel, who, having heard the earnest tones, and knowing +well how to approach Judith on an unpleasant subject, chose to come now +in order to protect himself by the presence of a third person. "Judith," +he said, standing before them, beaming benevolently, "I have just had an +idea. It was very pleasant when Mr. Ellis dined with us recently. +Suppose we ask him again, and have some others here: Mrs. Harmon, say, +for a matron, and some of our friends.--With Ellis here," the Colonel +thought, "she can't refuse." + +But he was surprised at the eagerness with which she accepted the +suggestion. Judith began at once to plan whom she should ask, and +astonished the Colonel by the names she mentioned. The Judge, the +Fennos, none of the younger people. "A formidable affair," exclaimed he, +surprised and puzzled. "Do you think that you care to attempt so much?" + +Judith turned to Ellis. "You shall see!" she said. + +"You are very kind," he answered. + +And now he was all on fire, waiting for the Colonel to go. This girl, so +cold to others, so kind to him, was wonderful. With her, what could he +not achieve? "Go, go!" he found himself muttering impatiently, as still +the Colonel stayed. Why did he not leave them to themselves? + +But it was Judith who was keeping her father, for she had seen the +shadow of the approaching crisis, and feared it as a woman may who, +having once dreamed of love, flinches at a union devoid of passion. Not +yet! So she made the Colonel talk. Ellis finally took his leave; +certainly much had been gained. Judith accompanied him to the door. + +"I shall think over all you have said," she told him. "It is wonderful, +what you have planned!" + +"And you will help me?" he asked. + +"Be sure of that," she replied. + +Yes, much had been gained, he told himself as he went away. He had +thrilled her, and if he could rouse her so easily----He struck his hands +together. There should be no more delay. + +Judith went into the sitting-room, where her father was explaining to +Beth the plans for the dinner. Judith felt that she was trembling with +the reaction from her previous excitement; as Beth's quiet eyes rested +on her it seemed as if her feelings could be read. "Don't you think it +will be pleasant, Beth?" asked the Colonel. + +"No," answered Beth firmly. "I hope it will not be done." + +Leaving her father to expostulate and argue, Judith went up-stairs to +her chamber. Beth's disapproval had the effect of a cold sponge pressed +upon her temples; she began to control herself. Never had Judith been +able to overlook Beth's opinion lightly; she expressed the feeling of +the best of their caste. What power had Ellis, Judith asked, that he +could so carry her away? She sat down to reason with herself, to measure +by line and square the structure reared by his imagination. Then she +began to glow again: how wonderful, far-reaching, philanthropic were his +plans! + +In that mood she went to bed, and had fallen into a doze when she became +aware that some one was replenishing the fire. When the bright blaze had +lighted up the ceiling, Beth, in her wrapper, came and seated herself at +Judith's side. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +HAROUN AL RASCHID + + +Beth saw that her sister was awake; stooping forward, she kissed her +gently. "Don't be put out with me, dear," she said, "for what I'm going +to say." + +"I will not," answered Judith. The hour, the warm bed, the firelight, +made her unusually gentle. "What is it, dear?" + +"It is that dinner," answered Beth. "I wish to make sure you +understand--what people will think of it, I mean. Excuse me, Judith; I +see it more clearly than you can, as a third person, dear." + +"Well," Judith asked, "what will people think?" + +"Two things," Beth answered. "First, that you are trying to get Mr. +Ellis into society." + +"I am willing they should think that." + +"The second is," went on Beth slowly, "that the dinner, given here at +our house, and not at Mrs. Harmon's, as perhaps you could arrange to +have it----" + +"Not with the Judge's consent," Judith interrupted. + +"Or some one else's, then," said Beth. "Given by us, anyway, people +would think the dinner would mean----" + +"Go on," directed Judith. + +"That you and Mr. Ellis are engaged." + +There was silence, in which the crackling of the fire, and the darting +of the shadows on the ceiling, were painfully noticeable to Judith. It +was true! People would think thus. + +"Well?" asked Beth at length. Judith made no answer, and Beth, bending +down, snuggled her head against her sister's throat. "I hope," she +whispered, "that you can manage to give it up." Still Judith made no +sign; Beth only made it harder. "Judith, Judith!" Beth urged, gently +pressing her with her arms. + +"I don't see," said Judith at last, speaking with difficulty, "how I can +give up the dinner." + +Beth sat up quickly. "Truly?" she demanded, with the energy of +disappointment. + +"Truly," answered Judith firmly. + +"Good-night," said Beth abruptly. She rose and went away without a kiss. +Then Judith lay for a long time awake: the line of cleavage was +beginning. The choice was hard, hard! + +But in the morning she wrote her invitations, after agreeing upon a date +with Mrs. Harmon, who leaped at the chance. Yet she showed only too +distinctly what people would think of the event. + +"Haven't you," she inquired before Judith left, "haven't you something +to tell me, Judith?" + +"Nothing," answered Judith shortly. "Good-bye." + +She wrote her notes in her father's name, puzzling first over the +wording. It would be easy to trap people into coming, and when they +arrived they could find Ellis of the party. But that seemed not to be +fair; unconventionally she inserted in each note the words, "to meet Mr. +Stephen F. Ellis." When the notes were written she took them out and +dropped them quickly into the post-box, lest her courage should fail +her. Thus it was settled! The notes were to the Fennos, the Watsons, Mr. +and Miss Pease. Twenty-four hours, and the whole town would be +discussing her. Twenty-four hours brought Saturday; in the morning Mr. +Fenno came to the house. + +He always interested her, for he meant power. Ellis, Pease, Fenno: such +was their rank in the town; but Judith felt, as she welcomed him, that +he was as a king about to abdicate, looking back on his reign with weary +eyes, and measuring by a standard of his own. He was one to whom others +were aggregations of forces--potentialities, not men. His heavy head +with its thick hair and deep eyes reminded her more than ever of an old +lion; the rumble of his voice gave force to his slightest word. + +Judith told him she would send for Beth. "No, my dear," he said, "I am +glad Beth is not here. I came to see you." With some wonder she led him +into the parlour, where Mr. Fenno handed her a note and watched her +while she read it. It was the usual short formula: "Mr. and Mrs. William +Fenno regret that they cannot accept----," etc. + +"I am sorry," said Judith as she folded up the paper. + +"That is my wife's answer," explained Mr. Fenno. "I came to give you my +own in person." But then he gazed at her in silence until she became +restive under the scrutiny. "My dear Miss Judith," he said suddenly, "I +like you very much." + +"Mr. Fenno," she returned, "you scarcely know me." + +"I have watched you a great deal," he replied. "I like your spirit, your +rebellion against the stupid life we lead. Upon my word, I don't know +what business your father has with two such daughters; he doesn't +appreciate you, I'm sure. I'll change with him and welcome.--There, +don't be offended with me. I come to beg you to be moderate. Remember +that I speak to you with the voice of generations. Not even you can +afford to disregard the wisdom of the fathers." + +"I do not wish to," she answered, puzzled. + +"My wife," he said, "would write that note and let the matter pass. But +I want to thank you, first, for so frankly putting your purpose in your +invitation. 'To meet Mr. Ellis.' We might have come, indeed we should +have come, but for that. But we can't mix with him, Miss Judith." + +"It seems to me," she returned, "that the wisdom of the fathers usually +means crystallisation, sir." + +"My wife," he said, "is beyond crystallisation: she is dead. Of course +she goes through the form of living. She called you 'that young woman' +when she received the invitation, and wrote as you see, from the dead in +heaven to the dead in--limbo. But, my dear girl, did you ever hear of me +agreeing with my wife? Almost never! This time I did." + +"Mr. Fenno----" began Judith. + +"Let me go on," he begged. "Of course you understand what a declaration +you are offering to your friends; what a choice as well. I know your +opinion of us; we, Society, are irksome to you. Just as irksome to me, I +assure you; I hate my own life. And yet we are a force; in spite of all +appearances we are a force for good. Come, you and I are so far apart in +age that we cannot be angry with each other. Let me say my say, and when +we part let us smile and go our ways." + +"Very well," she replied. + +"Miss Judith," he said, "there has been an aristocracy in every +democracy that lived three generations. Ours is very old, somewhat dried +and formal, with a hard crust. Figureheads we are to a degree; rather +useless, perhaps. That is why such a girl as you is a blessing to us; a +few more years, and you can teach us many, many things. Stay with us; +you mustn't go off in the wrong direction." + +She made no answer. + +"This man Ellis," he pursued. "You cannot bring him in. Believe me, it +is impossible. You must choose between us." + +"What if I make the choice?" she inquired. + +"And choose against us? You would be sorry. My dear, what has blinded +your eyes? I know you admire his energy, his immense capacities. But +those are not everything. Ellis is not honest." + +"Mr. Fenno!" she cried, starting. + +"I have watched him," he went on steadily, "since first he came to town. +I know his methods. Where did he get his money?" + +"Through ordinary business," she asserted. + +"Until he became president of the street-railway," said Mr. Fenno with +emphasis, "Ellis never held a position, never did any business, never +appeared before the city clearly as concerned in any legitimate +undertaking. Since he built his house over here he has become +respectable--outwardly. But that house was built with public money." + +"Never!" she cried indignantly. + +"He has his own little Tammany here," Mr. Fenno said unmoved. "But he is +becoming too bold. He will wreck himself by the demands he is making for +the street-railway system." + +"The public will be afraid of granting eminent domain; he expects that. +For the rest, what else is he showing than wise forethought?" + +"For the rest," he rejoined, his deep voice emphasising harshly, "he is +but using the plans of George Mather, which came to him with the +railway." + +"No!" she cried involuntarily. He made no answer, but looked at her +silently. "Mr. Fenno," she said, to cover her confusion, "this question +is progress against conservatism." + +"So," he remarked, "we have arrived at a deadlock. Well, I expected it. +Good-bye, Miss Judith. I shall be interested in the result of this." +They parted formally, yet his last keen glance troubled her. + +And what he had said! No one had ever accused Ellis before--not +directly. Whispers she had heard, of course, but such quiet confidence +as Mr. Fenno showed was new to her; it brought the question nearer home, +and seemed to command her to find out where Ellis got his money. For +some hours she was troubled, but at last, as one is prone to do before a +great question, Judith put it aside for a smaller one. Whom should she +ask in the Fennos' place? She decided that she would not venture again +with the older people, and choosing George Mather and Mary Carr, wrote +the notes to invite them. Then, late in the day, she found an answer to +Mr. Fenno's arguments. + +Her father approved of Ellis: that was enough. The defense was specious, +almost cowardly, for Judith knew her father. But she regained her +self-control, supported herself anew by the argument of progressiveness +against conservatism, and arrived again at complete approval of Ellis. +She recalled their last talk, remembered his request, and decided she +would try to fulfill it. She had spent most of the day in the house; it +was growing dark, she needed exercise, and would go and watch, at a +certain crowded corner, the working of the transfer system. Once in the +cold air, her spirits rose, and she hurried down town. At length she +arrived where cars loaded to the fenders groaned slowly by, or stood and +blocked the traffic. + +The streets were full, the sidewalks crowded with people hurrying +homeward. Judith liked the twilight, the bustle, and the lighted shops. +At the familiar corner she found many shoppers waiting for their cars, +and went and stood among them. She seemed to herself to be doing +something romantic, and (little as such considerations usually appealed +to her) was pleased to stand among the people like a queen in disguise, +to listen to their grievances, guilelessly expressed, and to bear the +complaints to the man who best knew what was needed. It was an +attractive picture which she painted of her own importance. But just as +she was congratulating herself on the deepening dusk, which made +features dim, an electric light sputtered out overhead and flooded the +place with its palpitating radiance. + +An acquaintance immediately recognised and spoke to her. Scarcely had +she got rid of him than another, catching her eye, bowed and made toward +her. "This will never do," she thought, as she gave him the slip. +Accordingly, she went to a doorway where the shadow from the lamp was +deep. There she stood and watched, while cars came and went, while men +and women rushed and struggled to board them, or while others, moving +impatiently with cold and weariness, waited and fretted while they read +in vain the wording on each car. It was an active scene, a fascinating +one to Judith, until a small figure came and stood between her and the +others, aloof and watching, like herself. It was Ellis. + +She was amused, and drew within her shelter lest he should see her: she +would tease him when next they should meet. Then she saw another man, a +fellow in rough working-clothes, watching Ellis from one side. Presently +the man advanced to him and spoke; Judith did not hear their words until +Ellis, turning, led the man away from the crowd until he stood within a +few yards of her. + +"Now, what did you say?" demanded Ellis, halting. + +"I've never been paid, you know I've never been paid, sir, for that +Chebasset job. Only fifty I've ever got; I was to have a hundred." The +man spoke in a whine; his voice was husky and in a degree familiar to +Judith; as the light fell strongly from overhead, his hat cast a deep +shadow on his face. + +"That job failed," answered Ellis. + +"I did my best," answered the man sullenly. Then he quickly changed his +manner; his voice became sharp, yet still it reminded Judith of tones +she once had heard. "Pay me!" he demanded. "Pay me, Mr. Ellis, or by God +I'll have something to say to your men on those cars that will make this +strike certain. If I tell them of Chebasset----" + +"Wait!" and Ellis raised a hand. "How much truth is there in this talk +of a strike among my men?" + +"A good deal," snarled the fellow. "It wouldn't take much to bring it +on." + +"Thank you," said Ellis composedly. He put his hand in his pocket, drew +out a roll of bank bills, and gave some to the man. "I am much obliged +to you for the information." + +"Fifty?" demanded the workman. + +"Sixty," Ellis replied. + +The man looked at Ellis, then at the notes; suddenly his bearing +altered, and he touched his hat. "Thank you," he mumbled, and walked +away. Ellis turned again to watch the cars. + +Judith stood motionless; the talk meant nothing to her, except that it +showed her Ellis's resource and revealed the small ways, as well as the +great, in which he was called on to manage men. Nevertheless, she felt +uncomfortable, and when Ellis had moved away she prepared to slip off. +But before her path was entirely clear she saw Jim Wayne approach and +speak to Ellis. In Jim's appearance was that which struck her with +astonishment. + +For he, usually so neat, was untidy; his coat was buttoned askew, and +from under his hat his hair strayed in disorder. He accosted Ellis +eagerly; she heard him say "Here you are" in a tone of relief, and began +speaking quickly. Judith took a step forward, preparing to go. But then +Ellis turned and led Jim near the doorway; Judith's chance to escape was +lost, yet she was on the point of revealing herself, when Jim's words +stayed her. + +"You must! You must!" he was saying, in such a tone of actual demand +that Judith wondered and shrank back. Few persons dared to speak to +Ellis thus. + +"Must?" repeated Ellis angrily. But then he laughed. "Wayne, you have no +claim on me." + +"Who gave me the idea?" cried Jim. "Who told me what to do? You! But it +is gone--all gone!" The gesture with which he struck his hands together +revealed both horror and despair. + +"Your wits as well," returned Ellis shortly. "If you want help from a +man, don't begin by insulting him." + +"But something must be done at once!" cried Jim. "If Mather----" + +"I understand that he went to Chebasset this morning," remarked Ellis as +if indifferently, yet he glanced sidewise upon the young man. "He +returned very much disturbed." + +"There!" exclaimed Jim. "He has found it out!" Again he clenched his +hands with that gesture of despair. Judith felt that something was +hanging over him, over her, and in spite of herself drew deeper into the +shadow. + +"Mather can be quieted," said Ellis, unperturbed. "Come, this is no +place for you to carry on like this. Meet me this evening." + +"Where?" + +"At--some one's house. Half-past nine." + +"It must be earlier," returned Jim. + +"Then come to the Blanchards; I mean to dine there." + +"No," answered Jim, "I can't go there. But promise me to come away +early!" + +"I will come when I choose," answered Ellis impatiently. Then he added: +"Go! I see Mather." + +Jim turned and darted off, holding his head low. Ellis walked composedly +in the opposite direction; and to Judith, thus left alone, the sound of +the shuffling of the crowd, the rumbling of the electrics, the subdued +roar of the more distant traffic, rose suddenly into life. She moved +forward, saw that her escape was clear, and hurried away. At the next +corner she found a public carriage and directed the driver to take her +home. + +The vehicle was closed; she let down a window and leaned to it for the +air. What were these matters she had overheard? The episode of the +workman passed from her mind, but what had Jim demanded of Ellis, what +had gone wrong, and where were they to meet? They were far more intimate +than she had supposed. And why had Jim avoided Mather? Weariness came +over Judith as she considered her own ignorance. These were the things +which men did by themselves; these were the signs of those business +troubles which women heard of but never met, the smirch and jostle of +down-town affairs. Such things happened daily--and Judith roused to a +feeling of envy. Little daily worries and cares--the men had too many of +them, doubtless, but she had far too few. + +And now, as still she leaned by her window, she saw Mather. He was on a +corner, full in the glare of a street-light, and he seemed to be looking +among the passers as if in search of Jim. The carriage jolted slowly +across the cobbles and the tracks; then, blocked by vehicles in front, +it stopped almost at his side. Judith drew back, but still she watched +him. Tall, strong, somewhat anxious and overburdened, why could he not +be--different? + +A woman stood by his side, or rather a girl with a woman's haggard eyes. +She was looking up sidewise into Mather's face, studying it with a +vixenish eagerness. She touched him on the arm, and he looked down at +her. + +"Say," she said, "you're a good-lookin' feller." + +He answered soberly. "Thank you." + +"Isn't there some place," she asked, "where we could eat together?" + +His hand went to his pocket. As he made the motion a figure, large, +noiseless, with gleaming buttons on a blue uniform, approached and stood +close behind: a policeman, watching curiously. Mather drew out a bank +note and offered it to the girl. + +"With that," he asked, "can you be good for a few days?" + +"W'at yer mean?" she demanded. But she snatched the money. "Ah, you're a +real swell, you are." + +"Go home," he said. "Go home--Jenny." + +"Jenny!" she exclaimed. "How'd yer know my name?" Then as if warned of +the presence behind she turned and saw the policeman, shrank, and fled. +The roundsman and Mather regarded each other. + +"Did you know her, sir?" asked the man. + +"Never saw her before," was the answer. "You don't read Rossetti, I +suppose, officer. Here comes my car." + +He stepped from the curb to go behind Judith's carriage; at the same +moment the vehicle started with a jerk and went swiftly forward. For a +little longer it was involved in the city traffic, then it turned into +a quiet street and bowled onward quickly. Once more Judith leaned at +the window, glad of the cold air. She was oppressed; to-night life +seemed complicated, awful, even tragic. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +PLAIN LANGUAGE + + +Once at home, where Beth and the Colonel were still absent, Judith went +to the book-case in the little parlour and drew out the volume of +Rossetti's poems. "Jenny," she found in the index, and turning to the +page, she read: + + "Lazy laughing languid Jenny, + Fond of a kiss and fond of a guinea----" + +No, not that kind of a Jenny was that whom she had seen. Rather this: + + "When, wealth and health slipped past, you stare + Along the streets alone, and there, + Round the long park, across the bridge, + The cold lamps at the pavement's edge + Wind on together and apart, + A fiery serpent for your heart." + +And then the moral, the world-moral, this: + + "Like a toad within a stone + Seated while Time crumbles on; + Which sits there since the world was curs'd + By man's transgression at the first; + Which always--whitherso the stone + Be flung--sits there, deaf, blind, alone;-- + Aye, and shall not be driven out + Till that which shuts him round about + Break at the very Master's stroke, + And the dust thereof vanish as smoke, + And the seed of Man vanish as dust:-- + Even so within this world is Lust." + +Judith sat with the book open in her lap, meditating. She knew enough of +that lower life to have for it a man's pity rather than a woman's scorn; +recalling Mather's action, she liked him better for it. And she began to +think of him regretfully, as one who just missed the highest capacities +and so failed to meet the supreme tests. "A fine fellow!" she murmured, +so absorbed that she did not hear the door-bell ring, nor notice +footsteps until Mather himself entered the room with hurried step. He +wore his overcoat; on his brow was still the frown of care. + +"Ah," he said, "I am glad to find you. Is Jim Wayne here, Judith?" + +She rose and laid the book aside, carefully, so that he should not see +what she had been reading. "No," she answered. "It is his night to come. +But I saw him down town, George, and he looked worried. Is anything +wrong?" + +"It has been a bad day in stocks," he answered. "I must find Jim. Excuse +my troubling you, Judith." And he moved toward the door. + +"Wait, George." She took from the table the note which earlier she had +written him. "I have an invitation for you." + +He took it, opened it, and began to read. "Ah!" he said at first, as if +with pleasure. But as she watched she saw a quick and startling change +in his countenance; his forehead contracted with pain, and he closed his +lips firmly. But he read on to the end, and then looked at her quietly. + +"I cannot come," he said. + +With a conscious summoning of her courage she asked, "You have an +engagement?" + +"No," he replied. "But I cannot march in Ellis's triumph." + +"You are entirely mistaken," she said haughtily. + +"If not yet, then soon," he returned. She made no answer, yet she +flushed with indignation; he bowed and turned to the door. Then he came +back. "Judith, will you allow me to speak with you frankly? A few words +may make a difference to us forever." + +It was not the words which impressed her, it was the emotion which drove +them from his breast, which burned in his eyes. She was so astonished +that she made no answer; he said, to emphasise his request, "It may be +seldom that we speak again." + +"Seldom speak again?" she repeated. + +He took her words for a consent. "Judith," he asked, "what is this man +Ellis to you? Do you realise that he is using you?" + +Her indignation rose. "Using me!" + +"To get among us," he explained. "He has no gratitude, no remorse. Once +he has used a man he throws him aside like an old glove; he has never +shown personal feeling for any one. Why do you have to do with him?" + +"You envy his ability," she said. + +"Not I," he answered. "I admire his firmness, his persistence, his +capacity. But I cannot admire him. Judith, he is a bane, a poison in our +system, a disease!" + +"You mistake him," she cried. + +"Not I. I know him, and am going to fight him." + +"Fight him, then!" she returned. + +He spoke more quietly. "We have been careless with him; he has brought +corruption into the city. But small cities are not so conscienceless as +big ones; the better elements are rising against him. This day I was +formally asked to lead them, and I shall probably be against his man in +the mayoralty contest next fall. It is a battle of principles: that is +why I can never take salt with him." + +She was quite unmoved, using her previous defense. "It will be a +struggle of the new against the old." + +"Ah, Judith," he replied almost sadly, "is he blinding you thus? And do +you see my meaning clearly? All the better elements will oppose him. +Whoever is with him will be against us." + +"Who are you," she cried, "to pronounce on good and evil? Take care +against self-righteousness, George." + +"I will take care," he answered. "But there is another side to this, +Judith. Put this larger issue by and turn to the smaller, the personal +one between you and me. Judith, I have loved you. I thought you were +womanly at bottom. But have you no heart, after all?" His intensity was +growing. + +"That still troubles you?" she inquired. + +"Are you absolutely cold?" he asked. "Are your old friends nothing to +you? What if they turn from you?" + +"So," she said, "you threaten me with that?" + +"It is inevitable," he said with energy. "Even as my love--no boy's +love, Judith--wavers and grows sick, so will their friendship. Have we +all mistaken you? Will you give such approval to such a man?" + +Anger at last grew strong within her. "George!" she said in warning. + +But he, casting before her his burning reproaches, would not be +repressed. "I say the only thing which can bring you to yourself. Do my +words sting? They tear me as I utter them!" His face was changing as he +spoke, paling as if the effort weakened him, yet still he dragged out +the words. "Judith, I could see you married to an honourable man, and +still love and bless you. I will idealise you until you besmirch +yourself--but you are no child, to do that unknowingly. On the day you +give yourself to Ellis----" + +"Stop!" she interrupted. + +"No!" he cried. "It is in your mind; you cannot deny it. On the day, +Judith, that you give yourself to him, you sell yourself!" + +He stood voiceless and panting, gazing at her with accusing eyes. And +for an instant she reeled, a voice within her cried "Jenny!" and she saw +that woman of the streets. Then fierce indignation flooded her veins; +she started to the table, seized the Japanese knife, and held it naked +in her hand. With ease she balanced and pointed the heavy weapon. + +"Do you suppose," he asked, "that you can hurt me deeper?" + +For a moment they stood confronting, his courage as strong as her anger. +Then she threw the dagger clattering upon the table, and pointed to the +door. "Go!" + +He gave her one searching look, bowed, and went quickly from the house. + +The Colonel, entering some fifteen minutes later, found Judith in the +arm-chair where she had flung herself after pacing the room. "Judith," +he said, "I met Mr. Ellis just now, and he said he was coming up to +dinner." + +"Very well," she answered inattentively. + +He saw that her brow was clouded, and his desire to speak with her +seriously began to melt. When he was alone it seemed to him simple +enough to say a few fatherly words in favour of Ellis; the Colonel +wished very much to have his mind relieved about the future. But now was +not the time, not while that frown was on her face. So he went +up-stairs. + +Then his statement found its way into Judith's mind, and she sprang to +her feet. Ellis was coming--then _it_ was coming! She hurried up-stairs +and dressed herself with care; when she was ready she was a picture. But +it was not her gown and scanty jewels that made her radiant, but the +glow within her, which was the smouldering indignation she still felt +against Mather. Thus to threaten, thus to dare her, thus to set himself +up as judge! She waited impatiently for Ellis to come. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +BRINGING ABOUT AN UNDERSTANDING + + +Beth was much disappointed that evening; it was Saturday, yet Jim did +not come to dinner. She wished for him especially as a relief from the +irritation of Ellis's presence; she longed for Jim as the meal +progressed, for her father was very complacent to Ellis, and it troubled +her. But Ellis was a greater cause of distress, as he spoke more than +usual, and more directly at Judith. They were talking of politics, he +and the Colonel. Municipal affairs, Judith put in; what was the prospect +in them? + +"A fight," answered Ellis, "and with the man I least like as my +opponent: your friend, George Mather. I expect he will be the reform +candidate for mayor--it is too bad!" + +"Why?" asked Beth. + +"Because," he answered, turning to her, "I should like to be friends +with him. If he and I could agree, nothing could stand before us. He is +the most energetic and far-sighted among the other side." + +"Come over to him, then," said Beth bluntly. + +He smiled at her. "I see that you think as Mather does. It's very +natural. But I have not only the misfortune to be with--well, let's say +the commoner people, but I also believe as they believe, and act as I do +from conviction. Nothing would give me greater pleasure, Miss Blanchard, +than to see things as you do, and to set myself, as I believe Mr. Mather +conscientiously does, against progress. There would be great personal +advantage to me in it." + +"Mr. Ellis means," explained the Colonel, "that the defensive is always +the easiest side to fight on." + +"More than that," added Ellis. "The other side in this quarrel is the +respectable one. Positively, I am almost disreputable." He paused for +her comment; Beth smiled with constraint, amazed at his boldness. + +"Outwardly, you mean," said Judith. + +"And only outwardly, I trust," he responded. "There are underlying +principles governing my actions (he was speaking to Beth again, after +turning to Judith for a single moment) which unfortunately do not +appear. I expect to be misunderstood by your friends." + +"Always?" asked Beth. "Are not the rest of us to comprehend you some +day, Mr. Ellis?" + +"Let me show you," he said, "how to comprehend me now." He leaned toward +her, smiling; for the first time Beth felt a magnetic quality in his +glance, but it was reptilian and unpleasant. He told her of his outlook +on the future; he grated on her, yet he impressed her, for even with +opponents such as Ellis she was reasonable. But she felt a fundamental +falsity, felt it but could not expose it; it was instinct alone that +taught her suspicion of his unanswerable words. For no logic could meet +them; they were wisdom itself. Of one thing, however, Beth felt certain: +that they were not directed at her but at Judith. + +And Judith responded. When Ellis stopped speaking, she took up the word; +with real earnestness she explained, added, and finally approved. The +plan was wise, far-reaching--oh, thought Beth, if but Mather, and not +Ellis, had been the man to originate it! Then Beth started: had she not +once heard that Mather had made plans, perhaps just such as these, at +which the older heads had wondered? Although on mere conjecture, she +took up the matter as boldly as she could. + +"I did not know, Mr. Ellis, that you were such an engineer." + +"I am only a promoter," he answered. "You will find the opposition +newspapers calling me that. But I often handle large matters, and that +is how I came on the idea." + +"You mean you found it?" she asked. "Did you not originate it?" + +Ellis flushed and hesitated; Judith spoke quickly. "I don't suppose +anything in the world is so original that it hasn't been proposed +before. Mr. Ellis, Beth, is profiting by the experience of other +cities--aren't you?" And Judith turned to him. + +Gratified, he assented. Beth saw the glance of understanding that passed +between them; turning to her father, she saw him watching Judith with +satisfaction. She felt almost faint: how was the world going so wrong +that this could happen? Nothing was left for Beth but to declare, as +brightly as she could--yet Judith felt the distress in her voice--that +this was all so new that she must think it over. After that she sat +silent. + +But Judith, having expressed her zeal in Ellis's cause, was more than +ever pleased with herself and with him. It struck her particularly that +he was generous toward Mather, that it was kind of Ellis to praise him +and desire him as an ally, and that, contrasting with Mather's +denunciation of his rival, Ellis showed the finer character. She was +about to question him again when the servant brought a note and laid it +at her plate. + +"The messenger asked me to deliver it to you at once, Miss Judith." + +Judith took it up; it was addressed in Mather's hand. Her instant +impulse to destroy it he had foreseen, for in the corner of the envelope +he had written "Not personal." So, still flushing with the indignation +she had first felt, she opened the envelope and took out the note. It +was written on the paper of the University Club. + + "_My dear Judith_: I must find Jim Wayne, but Beth must not know. + Trusting absolutely to your secrecy, I give my reasons. Matters + have been mismanaged at the mill; and just now, calling on Mrs. + Wayne, I found her in despair over the disappearance of her + securities. I fear that Jim has been speculating, and I am sure he + is avoiding me, but I must find him before he takes it into his + head to leave the city, for perhaps I can set matters right. If he + comes to your house, will you immediately telephone me at the club? + I am + Yours in great haste, + GEORGE MATHER." + +Judith was not one to be disturbed by sudden news, bad or good; she took +this calmly. But as she sat, still looking at the letter, its meaning +began to come upon her. Jim had been with Ellis that afternoon, had had +some previous understanding with him, had almost accused him. Jim had +fled at Mather's coming, leaving unsaid more of those reproaches and +demands with which he had showered Ellis. His very words came back to +her: "Who gave me the idea? Who told me what to do?" Then she remembered +Ellis's cold remark: "Wayne, you have no claim upon me." + +Not understanding why, Judith began to tremble, and her hands grew cold. +It was as if her instinct outstripped her mind and gave warning of what +was coming. Slowly, sitting there in her place and looking straight +before her, she began to unravel the puzzle. Ellis looked at her once, +curiously; then Beth, seeing the glance and noting Judith's absorption, +took her place in the conversation. Judith thought on. If Jim had +speculated, had Ellis known? Had Ellis led him into it? Once in, did +Ellis refuse to help him? She recalled what Mather had said of Ellis +discarding his tools. But how could Jim be of use to him, +except--yes!--as a handle, a hold on her through Beth! And was this +Ellis's method of bringing Jim into his power? She heard again the boy's +despairing words: "Who gave me the idea?" + +She looked at Ellis: what was this wild suspicion? Could it be true? + +Beth, not knowing what else to speak about, had made him talk of the +suggested strike. Ellis had laughed about it. There would be no strike. + +"Why," he was saying as Judith looked at him, "the air seems charged +with strike-talk sometimes, yet nothing comes of it. Now that I think of +it," and he paused to laugh, "a man tried blackmail on me this +afternoon. He was a fellow I once had to do with when we were both +younger, a crank if ever there was one. He has ideas of the rights of +the workingman, yet he is far from honest. He came to me with the +statement that he could bring on the strike if he wished--with his +socialistic talk, you understand. He wished me to pay him to keep from +haranguing my men." + +"Did you do it?" Judith suddenly demanded. + +"No, no," he said lightly. "A mere agitator, he could do no harm." + +"An agitator?" asked Beth, interested. "Why, there was such a man at +George's mill this summer. Don't you remember, Judith. He tried to bring +about a strike there. I wonder if it was the same man, Mr. Ellis. Was +his name Stock?" + +Judith had watched steadily. At Beth's first words Ellis had changed, +hardened, made his face stone. But at the name--did he not control a +start? Yet he answered with indifference. "Oh, no. There are many such +fellows. It is quite another man." + +But he glanced at Judith, and though he did it quietly and steadily, as +once he had described his habit to be, she recalled the conversation +which she had overheard, and understood it all. She _had_ known the +voice, the husky tones which became harsh when raised. She remembered +the words, the Chebasset job for which money had been promised, yet +which had failed. And Ellis had paid--had paid! The meanness, the whole +base plot, was revealed to her. + +The servant had come with the dessert, but Judith rose from her chair; +her face was white. "I cannot eat any more," she said. "You must excuse +me." + +"Is anything----" began her father. + +"I must go," she said, and went into the parlour, wishing only to be +alone and think, to despise herself at leisure. Ellis had revealed not +only himself, but also her blind folly. She cast herself upon the sofa +and put her face in her hands. + +Then she heard his footsteps; he had followed. He crossed the room; she +felt him sit beside her, and she heard his voice. He spoke gently. "Miss +Judith--Judith!" He took her hand to draw it from her face. + +His touch was a disgrace, but she yielded her hand to his; she wished +his fingers might burn like fire, to brand her punishment. Writhing in +spirit as she felt herself unclean, for very scorn would not resist him. + +"Judith," he repeated, his hope rising, "you are not ill?" + +"No." She turned and looked upon him resolutely; she would see once more +this man whom she had admired. + +"If anything I have said," he went on, "if I have--oh, did it come over +you then so strongly that you left the table? Did you feel that we are +made for each other?" + +She withdrew her hand quickly. "Made for each other!" + +His face changed, the eagerness was checked, and he said the +conventional words, conventionally: "I love you." + +She looked into him: how small he was! How cold his voice, which should +have been impassioned! "Love me?" she asked. "You love crooked ways!" + +Slowly he rose. "What is this?" he asked. + +"I so felt our--sympathy, that I left the table? Oh, yes, yes!" Scorn +overcame her; again she hid her face. Oh, but to die from the strength +of this hatred of herself! + +She heard him walk away; then he returned and stood before her. "I do +not understand you," he said. "I have been foolish, perhaps, but I told +the truth. I do feel that we are made for each other. Will you marry +me?" + +Her contempt of him left her; she loathed only herself. All through this +acquaintance he had been his natural man; it was she who had deceived +herself. For that she could not punish him. "I cannot marry you," she +answered. + +His effort at self-control was visible, but it succeeded. "I beg," he +said, "that you will give me time. If I have been hasty----" + +"No," she said, rising and facing him. "Mr. Ellis, I acknowledge that I +have treated you badly; I am as sorry as I can be. Can I say more than +that? Yes, I beg you to forgive me. But I can never marry you." + +He pressed his lips firmly together; his brows contracted, and he looked +at her out of those narrow eyes which could control his subordinates or +threaten his opponents. But she met him with sorrow, not defiance, and +he could not understand. + +"What has happened?" he cried. "Yesterday--this very day----" + +"You were sure of me?" she asked. "Rightly, Mr. Ellis. But now it is too +late." + +"What is it, then? Has that fellow Mather----?" + +"Yourself only," she interrupted. "I beg you to leave me." + +He looked at her a moment longer; then he left the room. But not the +house: she heard him go to the dining-room and speak to her father. Then +Beth came into the parlour quickly; she was agitated. + +"Judith----" + +"Not now, Beth," and Beth left her again. + +There was a pause, and then her father came; she heard his dragging +step. When he appeared he showed the last shreds of his natural +feeling--shame that at Ellis's order he should come to advise his child. + +"Judith," he began, "Mr. Ellis tells me that--that you----" + +"I have declined to marry him," she said. + +"Why is this?" he asked. "It has seemed so plain that you would take +him." + +Judith hung her head. Had it then been so plain? "I have changed." + +"Come," said the Colonel with an attempt at briskness. "You can't mean +this. There's nothing against Ellis that I can see." + +"Nothing?" she asked. "And you say that, father? What will our friends +say." + +"Girls marry out of their station," he urged uneasily. "We can bring him +in, Judith." + +"Father," she demanded, "what hold has he on you, to make you say +this?" + +"Hold?" he asked. "My dear child, there is nothing of the sort." But +when the truth was thrust directly at him the Colonel was a poor actor. + +"There is something between you," Judith said. + +"I have come to see Mr. Ellis in a different light," he explained. "That +is all there is to it." + +"Father," cried Judith, "tell me!" + +He turned away from her and began to walk up and down, but she held his +sleeve and stopped him. + +"Father!" she beseeched. + +He tried to meet her eye, and failed; he looked at the carpet and +shifted his feet. But still he felt her insistent grasp upon his arm, +and at last he spoke huskily. + +"Judith, I owe him money." + +"Oh!" she gasped, and fell away from him. "Father, what have you done?" +Yet feeling that she had not even the right to reproach him, she said no +more. As she stood with bowed head, he took courage. + +"You see," he said, "why it must be." + +"Must be?" she demanded. "Oh, father, does that make it inevitable?" + +"Judith," he asked her, startled. "Do you mean that you--you won't?" + +"How much do you owe him?" she questioned with energy. + +"Some thousands." + +"Well," she said, "what are four or five thousand? We can sell the house +and live differently." + +He looked his alarm. "It is more than five," he said. "Nearer ten +thousand." + +"The house is worth more than that," she responded. + +"But to leave this place?" he objected. "Judith, this is absurd, +unreasonable! Where could we go?" + +"Go anywhere!" she answered. "Live as we must. Father, you can work." + +"Work?" he gasped. "I--work?" + +"Then I will support you. Beth and I." + +"No, no!" he said in despair. "I couldn't stand it; I couldn't exist. At +my age; think of that!" and his tone turned to pleading. + +She heard a footstep at the threshold, and there was Ellis. He entered +and spoke to her. "I couldn't wait. Miss Blanchard, has not your father +persuaded you?" + +She turned upon him with flaming eye. "How did you first persuade him? +Did you offer to release his debt?" + +"So," he snarled to the Colonel, "you have told!" + +The Colonel stepped away from the venomous gleam of his teeth. "She made +me," he stammered. + +"Made you!" + +"There is no advantage in discussing this, Mr. Ellis," said Judith. + +"Do not count it against me," he urged quickly. "Your father came to me +of himself, asking for help. I did it for you." + +"You would have served me better by refusing. But Mr. Ellis, the money +shall be paid." + +"Paid with money?" he asked. With clenched hands he turned upon the +Colonel. "Oh, you fool!" + +"Father!" cried Judith, and stepped between them to restrain the burst +of military wrath which should cast Ellis from the house. But to her +amazement her father stood motionless, almost cringing. Then first she +recognised the slow degeneration which in all these years had been going +on beneath the unchanged exterior. "Father!" she said again, but now in +pity, and took her place at his side. She felt, as he made a little +movement toward her, his gratitude for the protection--another +revelation of his loss of manliness. "Mr. Ellis, there is nothing +further to say." + +"Oh, you have led me on to this!" he cried. "Was it put up between you? +Such a way to gain money!" + +Instinctively she took her father's arm, to hold him; again he proved, +by his passivity, that his spirit was all gone. "Will you leave us?" she +asked coldly. + +"Oh!" Ellis cried, shaking with anger and carried away. "You put it on +well! Because I am not one of you, you tricked me, then? And was it +Mather all the time? But my turn is coming!" He would have said more, +but she left her father and went toward the door. Then he saw how +hopelessly he was cutting himself off from her. "Oh, forgive me--Judith! +I am frantic." + +But she turned at the door, and standing like an angry goddess, pointed +into the hallway. "Go!" she commanded. + +"Miss Blanchard!" he exclaimed in consternation. + +"Go!" + +His hold on her was gone forever; he saw it, and his venom returned. He +went swiftly to her father; she did not hear the words that Ellis +hissed. "I have bought up the mortgages on this house; you know they are +long overdue. Monday I turn you out!" + +With delight he saw the Colonel flinch, but by no effort of resolution +could Ellis meet the glance of the haughty figure at the door. Yet as he +passed her Judith quailed and shivered, for by the same commanding +gesture she had sent Mather from the house. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE COLONEL GIVES UP HIS LUXURIES + + +The Colonel pulled himself together. Ellis was gone, and relieved from +that oppressive influence Blanchard held up his head. He tried to smile, +and found that he succeeded fairly well. He tested his voice; it came as +usual, sonorously. + +"Thank Heaven!" he said, "the fellow's gone." + +"Father," answered Judith, "you and I have both done wrong." + +He waved his hand impatiently; would her confounded straightforwardness +not let him forget? "Never mind." + +"Never mind?" she repeated. "Father, we can't put this aside for a +single minute. We must plan at once what shall be done." + +"You always were fiery," he said indulgently. "Well, go ahead." + +"We need Beth," and Judith went to call her in. Beth came, white with +apprehension, having heard tones but not words, and feeling rather than +knowing that there was trouble. She sought to learn all from one +question. "Where is Mr. Ellis?" + +"Gone," answered Judith. "He will not come here again." + +"Oh," she cried, "I am glad. Then why so grave?" + +"Mr. Ellis," her sister said, "has gone away very angry, and father owes +him money." Then she looked upon the Colonel with sudden suspicion. +"Father, you said _about_ ten thousand dollars. Was it more?" + +"My dear child," he protested, "this matter is not so great as you +suppose. And I cannot tell you all of my affairs." + +"Father," she returned, "for my sake, if not for yours, Mr. Ellis should +be paid at once." + +He rebuked her. "I know how to keep our honour clean. Mr. Ellis shall be +paid at once." + +"You promise that, sir?" + +"I do." + +"And will it mean that we must sell the house?" + +"It will." The Colonel always excelled in the delivery of monosyllables. + +"Sell the house?" gasped Beth. + +"Come here, dear," said Judith, and drew her to her side. "Beth, you +have plenty of courage, I know." + +"I hope so." Pleased by the unusual caress, Beth controlled her +trembling. "What are you planning, Judith?" + +"We must entirely change our way of life." Judith looked to her father +for confirmation; he nodded. "Are you willing to work, Beth?" + +"I am willing," was the confident answer. + +"Father," Judith asked, "how much will the house bring?" + +"Come here," he answered. "Let me tell you what we must do." + +He went to the sofa; they followed. Beth took the place he indicated at +his side; Judith sat in a chair. The Colonel, still smiling, looked on +them paternally, and began to depict in words his ready imaginings. + +"When the house is sold and the debt is paid," he said, "we shall have +left--let me see, perhaps twenty thousand dollars. I don't need to +explain," he interrupted himself to say, "that had not other resources +previously failed me--mismanagements and losses, dears, not from my +fault--I should never have turned to Mr. Ellis for assistance. No, no; +of course you understand that. Therefore, the house is our only source +of capital. Well, twenty thousand left: that would mean perhaps a +thousand dollars a year to house and feed and clothe us. Yes, perhaps a +thousand." The Colonel clung to the _perhaps_; it was covering a lie, +several lies. "You see, we shall really be in difficulties." + +"Yes," murmured Beth. + +The Colonel warmed to his task. "Now, you are both young; on the other +hand I am not old, and I am a soldier. The habit of courage, girls, I +learned in my youth. So we are well equipped. But, only a thousand +dollars! That will pay rent; perhaps it will pay for food. And our +clothes, our little knick-knacks, we must earn for ourselves." + +"Shall we take an apartment?" asked Beth, for Judith remained silent, +watching her father intently. "One of the new ones they have been +putting up?" + +"Ah, no," he said kindly. "They cost five hundred a year, my child. This +must be something of an emigration, Beth: this quarter of the town is no +longer for us. But there are very respectable, quiet neighbourhoods +where we can go; and even houses, not apartments, that we can rent. Does +that dismay you?" + +Beth pressed his hand. "No, father, no!" + +He avoided Judith's steady look, and smoothed Beth's hair. "Servants--I +don't think we can afford them. One of you two must do the housework. +Which shall it be?" + +"I!" Beth answered promptly. + +"Cooking, dishwashing, sweeping," he warned her. "Are you really +willing?" + +"If you will be patient with my mistakes." + +"My dear little girl, I am proud of you. Judith, is she not fine?" But +still he kept his eyes upon the pleased and blushing Beth. "And we two +others will earn the money." + +"I am sorry," responded Beth. Then she brightened. "But, father, need it +be so bad as this? You know so much of affairs; you can command a good +salary at once." + +"Remember," he said, "that I have failed. The world has gone against me. +No one will have use for me. A clerk or a bank messenger--that is the +most I can look to be." + +"No, no!" cried Beth, shocked. + +"It is natural," he said with resignation. "And perhaps Judith, with her +talents and her typewriter, before long will be supporting all three of +us." For the first time Judith heard his natural tone, in this reminder +of his many little flings. "And we will all economise!" + +"It will not be hard," Beth said. + +"No," was the paternal response, "because we shall be doing it together. +Think--some little four-room cottage. Perhaps not all the modern +improvements, but never mind. We leave you early in the morning, Judith +and I; we take the crowded electrics with all the other people going to +their work. Judith snatches a few minutes to go to a bargain sale; I, at +a ready-made-clothing store, fit myself to a twelve-dollar suit. Then we +work hard all day, we three--and perhaps it will be hardest for you, +Beth, to be so much alone. But at night we meet over the simple meal you +have prepared, and go early to bed, fatigued by our day." + +Even Beth saw how far this was from the Colonel's nature. "Father, it +will be hardest for you." + +"No worse," he replied, "than the Wilderness campaign. Never you fret, +dear; I can resign my luxuries. And if our friends over here sometimes +speak of us with pity, we shall not meet them often enough to feel hurt +when they do not recognise us in our cheap clothes." + +"Father," cried Beth. "Our friends will stand by us. You shall see!" + +"They will patronise us," he answered. "Shall we care for that? +Especially Judith." And he turned to her at last. + +"I can stand anything," she replied. "I am glad that you have foreseen +all this, father." + +"Did you doubt me?" he asked. He rose, and the girls rose with him. "But +now I must go to my room; I must make a beginning on my new life. +Good-night, Beth. Kiss me. Kiss me, Judith. Dears," he said, gazing on +them affectionately, "we have had little dissensions from time to time, +but I promise never to quarrel with you more. No, don't reply; I know +you will be as forbearing toward me. Good-night; I am going to my +study." He went to the door, and paused a moment. "Judith, did you +really doubt me? You shall see what I can do." + +Waving them a final good-night, he was gone. He climbed the stair +briskly at first; then his step became slower, and his head bowed. In +his study he sank into a chair and passed his hand across his forehead, +where the perspiration had already started out. That had been an effort, +but it was over, and now----! + +He was sitting alone in this little room; like shadows his thoughts +closed in on him. No, he had not lied; he had said _perhaps_. But the +house was mortgaged to its full value, Ellis held the mortgages, and the +interest was long overdue. The furniture was pledged. Monday, owning +nothing but the clothes on his back, he would be turned into the street. +Judith had failed him; everything had failed him. Life, so pleasant, +had played him false at last; there was no outlook any more. Slowly, +without spirit, consumed with self-pity, he took pen and paper and began +to write. How little there was to say! The letter was finished all too +soon. + +In the parlour the two girls sat and spoke together. "How brave of +father!" Beth said. + +Judith answered, "I never saw him less like himself." + +"He is a new man," Beth explained. "He is setting us an example. We must +work, and be a credit to him." + +Judith's energy returned. She would work, she said. The typewriter was +her own; it was paid for. She would apply herself to master it. Were +they still rich, even then she would go to work. She must occupy +herself, and forget. And as for Beth, before long Jim would come and +claim her. + +Then Judith remembered Mather's note, and the trouble deepened. If Jim +had gone wrong, how would Beth, innocent Beth, bear that? She stole a +glance at her sister. Beth was listening. + +"Father, is that you?" she called. + +The Colonel's voice answered from the hall. "I just came down for +something." They heard him go up-stairs again. + +"He came down very quietly," said Beth. "I heard him in the back +parlour. Poor father! He is very brave." + +Then both sat silent, thinking. "We have good blood," said Judith at +last with a tremor of pride in her voice. "We will show we are not +afraid of what may happen." + +"Yes," Beth answered. "--Hush, what was that?" + +"I heard nothing," Judith said. + +Beth's eyes grew larger as she sat rigid. "It was a groan," she +whispered. "Listen!" + +Then they both heard it, unmistakable, coming from the floor above. They +started up, but stood in fear, questioning each other with their eyes. +Again it came, but feebler, like a deep sigh. + +"Father!" cried Judith, and hastened to the stairs. Up they hurried; +they were breathless when they reached the study door. There they +halted, transfixed. + +The Colonel had finished his letter; it lay on the desk by his side. He +reclined in the easy-chair as if asleep, but from his breast stood out +the handle of the Japanese knife. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +IN WHICH JUDGE HARMON ENTERS THE STORY + + +Judith stood waiting at the telephone; at the Club the waiter had gone +to fetch Mather. How slow he was in coming! How tired she felt! The +wires sang in her ears; she heard faint voices speaking indistinctly; +she had a dull consciousness of surrounding space, of connection with +far-off spheres, out of which those voices rose, whispered, almost +became articulate, then died away to let the humming of the spheres +begin again. Then some man said loud and briskly: "Hello!" + +"I am using the line," said Judith. + +The man begged her pardon and drifted across the Styx, from whose dim +territory a tinkling voice spoke complainingly for a while, then faded +away. The buzzing in the wires increased the confusion in her head, and +Judith, very, very weary, found herself clinging to the instrument lest +she should fall. With a strong effort she regained her self-control. + +Then she heard in the telephone sounds as of distant heavy strokes of +metal; they grew louder, then the wire clicked. Mather spoke: "Hello!" + +"Oh, George!" she gasped. His voice was calm, quiet, perfectly +modulated, as if he stood there at her side. She released her hold on +the instrument; with him talking so to her she could stand alone. + +"That is you, Judith? Jim is there?" + +"Jim?" She had forgotten him. "Oh, no." + +"Then can I do anything for you?" + +"Something has happened here," she said, "to--to father. He left a +letter addressed to you and Mr. Pease." + +"_Left_ a letter?" She heard the change in his voice. + +"Tell no one, please," she begged. "We telephoned for Mr. Pease and +learned that he is at Judge Harmon's; Beth has gone there for him. Can +you come? At once, George?" + +"Instantly," he answered. "That is all?" + +"All. Good-bye." + +She heard him hang up his receiver. In her turn she left the telephone, +and stronger in the knowledge that he was coming she began to pace the +room. Pease too was coming; Beth would bring him soon. + +But Pease, who had started for the Judge's, had turned aside at the foot +of the steps when he saw Ellis waiting in the vestibule. Pease, telling +himself that he could return, had gone away half an hour before, and all +who had entered the Harmon house that evening were Ellis and Jim Wayne. + +Jim had come first--a wild, dishevelled Jim. He had wandered a good deal +that day, after first leaving Chebasset in the morning and next spending +much time at a ticker. He had not been home; he had not eaten, he had +given Mather the slip a couple of times, and his moods had varied from +fear to bold resolution, and then to sullen despair. But since in the +light fluids of his nature hope easily beat up its accustomed +surface-froth, he arrived at the Harmons' in a more cheerful mood, +looking for the coming of Ellis to relieve him of the consequences of +his folly. When Mrs. Harmon had drawn the portieres, and had begun to +tell him how untidy he was, he explained matters with a laugh. + +"Been sitting over my accounts," he said. "Forgot to brush my hair, did +I? Here's a mirror; just look away a moment, Mrs. Harmon, please, while +I----" He began to arrange his hair with his fingers. + +But she watched him. "I can't lose a chance to see a man prink," she +said. "Tell me about the accounts, Mr. Wayne." + +"Upon my word," he cried, "there's one item I forgot to put down! Just +like me; and so important, too!" + +"What is it?" she inquired. + +"The item, or the cost?" + +"Both. Tell me." + +He set a condition. "One or the other, choose. Wait!" He went to his +overcoat, which he had flung upon a chair, and drew a box from the +pocket. "Now choose," he directed, holding up the box. + +"Oh," she pouted, "that is one of Price's boxes. I can't know the cost +if I am to see what you've bought. You'll show it to me, won't you?" + +"You would like to see it?" + +"Of course." + +"Then open it," he said, giving her the box. "It's for you." + +"For me?" and she opened the little case. "Oh, Mr. Wayne, a locket! What +good taste you have--oh, and I didn't see the chain!" Then she regarded +him reproachfully. "Now, Jim, you know you really mustn't." + +"Always call me Jim!" he directed. "Why mustn't I?" + +"Because you can't afford it." + +"I can!" he asserted. "At least, I could when I bought it. I was three +thousand to the good then." + +"Indeed?" she thought, "and what happened later?" Deciding that +possession was worth securing, she snapped the chain around her neck. +"And so you have had a very lucky day?" + +"Well," explained Jim, "there was a steady rise at first. But then there +came a couple of flurries, and the bottom dropped out of everything I +held." + +"And you lost much?" + +"No, no," he said quickly. "I was watching; I got out at once. I'm not +so very badly off, and Ellis said he'd help me straighten matters. He's +coming here this evening." + +She was much relieved, but covered her feeling by coquetting. "So that +is all you came here for?" + +"That isn't fair," cried Jim. "Didn't I bring the locket? Now Mrs. +Harmon!" He tried to take her hand. After some resistance on her part, +he succeeded. + +Holding that plump and somewhat large assembly of digits, from which no +manicurist had as yet been able to remove the fresh bright pink +reminding of its earlier uses (for Mrs. Harmon had once done her sewing +and washed her own clothes)--holding that hand, Jim felt more agitation +than when he first held Beth's. And though he looked into wide-open +eyes, which met his without a tremor of their lids or a suggestion of a +downward glance, Jim was more thrilled than by the sweet confusion Beth +so oft discovered, even to her accepted lover. This was rare; it +quickened his blood; he was preparing to taste the ruby of those lips, +when into his consciousness came the clang of the door-bell, which was +of the good old-fashioned kind. Before the noise had well begun, Mrs. +Harmon had withdrawn her hand and placed a chair between herself and her +admirer, whose ardent glance had proclaimed his intention with such +distinctness that (combined with the door-bell) it had alarmed her +modesty. And although Jim, calculating that the servant could not reach +the door for half a minute, pursued and begged her not to be so cruel, +she laughed at him and maintained her distance until in the hall were +heard the rustle of the maid's skirts and then the opening of the front +door. Jim was so disgusted that even the appearance of Ellis did not at +first recall him to a willing obedience of the laws of propriety. But +when Ellis, from an abrupt entrance, as abruptly halted and fixed him +with a scowl, Jim came back to himself. + +"Oh," said Ellis, "I had forgot you." + +"I--I don't want to trouble you, Mr. Ellis," replied Jim. + +"But you'd like some four, five, six thousand to help you out, hey? +That's what you've been waiting here for?" + +"You said you'd help me, sir." + +Ellis turned his unchanged scowl on Mrs. Harmon. "Better drop him, +Lydia," he said. "He's an eternal fool." + +"Stephen," she cried indignantly, "have you lost money, too? More than +he has, I'm sure." He sneered, and she added, "Something's gone wrong +with you, then, to make you so rude." + +His frown became blacker still; he had been walking the streets, and +came here in the hope of distraction only to be reminded of Judith. +"Hold your tongue, Lydia," he said roughly. Then he surveyed Jim once +more. "You little fool, get out of your scrape by yourself!" Grasping +his hat as if he would crush its brim, he turned to go. + +"Don't come again, Stephen," she flung after him, "until you've found +your temper." + +Yet the last glimpse of Ellis, as he departed, gave distress to poor +Jim. "Why," he said helplessly, as the outer door closed. "Why, Mrs. +Harmon, he--he said he'd help me!" + +But such common preoccupations as money-difficulties were, at this +moment, foreign to Mrs. Harmon's mood. Jim had stirred her blood, she +was glad that Ellis had gone. Now she moved nearer to the young man, so +that the space between them was free. "Never mind," she said lightly. + +"Never mind?" repeated Jim. "But Mrs. Harmon, I've----" No, he couldn't +tell her. Yet what should he do? + +"Leave business for the daytime," she said. "Forget the mill; forget the +office." She came nearer still. + +Jim hung his head. Mather was after him surely; and what could he say to +his mother? + +"Stephen will come round," said Mrs. Harmon. "Leave him to me." + +"Oh," cried Jim, "you will help me? Just a little, Mrs. Harmon?" + +"Why should I?" she asked archly. She was very close now, and was +looking in his eyes. + +"For our friendship," he answered. + +"Friendship!" she repeated. Her tone roused him; he looked, and her +glance kindled his. "Only friendship?" she asked softly. + +"Oh!" he breathed, and caught her in his arms. + +Again came the cursed interruption of the jangling door-bell. "You shall +not go!" he said, holding her fast. She murmured, "I do not wish to." +They stood motionless, and heard the servant pass through the hall and +open the front door. They listened, ready to spring apart. + +"The Judge?" the servant asked. "Yes, in his study. This way." Again the +footsteps and the rustling skirt passed the door. The two in the parlour +waited until the door of the Judge's study opened and shut. Then Jim +lowered his head upon the one that nestled at his shoulder. + +"At last!" he whispered. And their lips met. + +But Beth was in the Judge's study. Behind his table sat the old man--no, +not so very old, in years only sixty, but he carried them ill. A life of +labour among books, a disappointment in his wife, made him seem ten +years older than he was. The Judge never exercised, was sometimes short +of breath and dizzy, but was at all times scornful of the wisdom of +doctors. His face was naturally stern, yet a smile came on it when he +saw Beth. He rose, adjusted a different pair of glasses, and then saw +the distress on her countenance. + +"Why, Beth!" he exclaimed. "Is anything wrong?" + +"Is Mr. Pease not here?" she asked in return. + +"Pease? No, he has not been here." + +"His cousin said," explained Beth, "that he was coming here. And so I +came at once, since you have no telephone. Father--oh, Judge Harmon, my +father has killed himself!" + +The Judge turned white. "Killed?" He put his hand to his breast. "My +dear child! My poor Beth! Killed himself? Oh, I am so sorry!" + +"There is nothing to do," said Beth with admirable calmness. "But he +left a letter directed to Mr. Mather and Mr. Pease." + +"Mr. Pease is not here," the Judge repeated, much distressed. "Let me +bring you home again.--But your Mr. Wayne was here earlier. Perhaps he +is still in the parlour with my wife." + +"Jim here?" cried Beth, springing to the door. "Oh, I hope he is!" +Hastily she left the study, sped along the hall, and parted the parlour +curtains. There were Jim and Mrs. Harmon, in the growing fierceness of +their first embrace. Beth saw how eagerly they strained together, and +heard their panting breaths. + +She stood still and made no sound, but her senses noted everything: +Jim's hand that pressed on Mrs. Harmon's shoulder, her closed eyes, her +hands linked behind his neck--and his sudden movement as he shifted his +arm, only to press her closer. And still that clinging kiss continued, +ecstatic, terrible. Beth could not move, could scarcely breathe, until +behind her rose the Judge's cracked and horror-stricken voice. + +"Lydia!" + +Hurriedly they disengaged and stood apart--moist lips, hot cheeks, and +burning eyes still giving evidence of their passion. Then Mrs. Harmon +dropped her face into her hands and turned away, but Jim gazed with +mounting shame into the eyes that met his--met while yet they showed +Beth's detestation of him. And the Judge stood quiet, his hand pressed +to his breast, his breath stopped, his head confused with the noises +that roared in his ears. + +At last Beth moved. Slowly she put her hands together; her eyes showed +more of indignation, less of loathing. She drew her hands apart and held +out to him the right--not with fingers upward, beckoning, but palm +downward, fingers closed together. Then she opened them. The golden +circlet fell, its diamond flashing; it bounded on the rug, and rolled; +it stopped at Mrs. Harmon's feet. She, looking downward through her +fingers, wondering at the silence, saw, and started away with a cry. + +Then Beth turned her back on Jim, and went away. The old Judge followed, +dazed, and the curtains fell behind them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +IN WHICH JUDGE HARMON LEAVES THE STORY + + +The Judge opened the street-door for Beth, and seemed to be preparing to +follow her out. In spite of all she had gone through, perhaps because of +it, her mind was alive to little things, and she saw that he was dazed. +"You're not coming with me, sir? And without your coat?" + +"I was going with you, was I not?" he asked. "But I--I've forgotten. Can +you find your way alone?" + +"Oh, yes," she said. "You must not come. Go in, sir." As if +mechanically, he obeyed her, and shut the door. Beth went down the +steps. + +But the Judge seemed still confused. Slowly, very slowly he entered the +hall. He went to the great chair that stood opposite the parlour door, +and sat in it. His breath still came with difficulty, his head was +buzzing; he could not remember what had happened. Then, raising his +head, he looked through the portieres, which he and Beth had parted +slightly, into the parlour. He saw, he remembered, and his heart gave a +great leap in his breast. + +So long as they heard voices at the door, Mrs. Harmon and Jim had stood +listening. But when the indistinct tones ceased, and the door shut, they +looked at each other. + +"They've both gone!" Jim said. But they listened a moment longer. The +slow footsteps of the Judge, as he made his way over the heavy rugs, +were inaudible. Jim held his hands out to her again, but she pointed to +the ring upon the floor. + +"Trouble for you!" + +He picked up the ring. "Trouble for both of us," he responded gloomily. + +"Worst for you," she replied. "What shall you do?" + +"I don't know." + +"Oh!" and she stamped her foot. "How stupid of us! It was all, at last, +just as we wished it. It could have gone on, nobody knowing. Now--oh, I +am furious!" + +"You mean," he asked, "that you would have let it go on as we were?" + +"Yes." + +"Meeting only once in a while?" + +"Of course!" + +"And that would have satisfied you?" + +"Satisfied? No, Jim. But that would be all we could have." + +"Then I am glad we were seen!" he cried. "I couldn't have gone on that +way. Now we shall have to act." + +"Act? What do you mean?" + +"This," answered Jim. "Everything has got to stop for me, anyway. +I'm--I'm in trouble. Ellis----" and he stopped to curse. + +"Don't, don't!" she begged him. "Explain; I don't understand." + +"He led me into it," said Jim. "He suggested it all: how I could take +the money they send to the mill every Saturday for the men's pay, how I +could get my mother's power of attorney, and use her securities. I never +should have thought of it but for him--never!" + +"You mean," asked Mrs. Harmon, "that you have done those things?" + +"Yes," he replied. "I wanted to please you, to give you things, and have +money." + +She turned partly away from him, and stood looking down. Jim came to her +side. "But we don't care, do we, Lydia?" He put his hands on her +shoulders. + +She moved away quickly. "What do you mean?" + +"Ellis won't help me. Mather is after me. I've got to go away--go away +this very night. Lydia, come with me!" + +"Mr. Wayne," she began slowly. + +"No; call me Jim!" + +"You poor Jim, then. I can't do this." + +"Why?" he stammered. "I thought you loved me?" + +"So I do. So I will, if you'll stay here and let things go on as they +were." + +"Haven't I shown you I can't?" + +"It can be hushed up." + +"No, no!" he cried in despair. "And I can't face people; everybody will +know. Lydia, come with me!" He neared her again, stretching out his +arms; as she sought to avoid him, he strode to her side and caught her. +"Come, come! I can't give you up." He crushed her to him and began +kissing her eagerly. + +But she resisted with sudden energy. "Let me go! Shall I call the +servants?" He released her in astonishment; angrily she moved away from +him, smoothing her dress. "I believe you're a fool after all, as Mr. +Ellis said." + +"Lydia!" + +"I am Mrs. Harmon," she returned. "If you won't make a fight for +yourself, you're not the man I thought you. Go away, then, but not with +me." + +"Then you don't love me?" + +"Boy!" she said, growing scornful. "Love? What is love but +convenience?" + +"Oh," he cried, "come! You must come with me. See, I have money. Seven, +eight hundred, I think. That will last a long time. We can go somewhere; +I can get work; no one will find us." + +"And that," she asked, "is all you offer? Eight hundred dollars, and a +life in hiding!" + +He began to understand, this poor Jim, but it was too much to grasp all +at once. "You're fooling me, aren't you? Don't; I can't bear it. Say +you'll come with me!" Beseeching her with open arms, he went toward her +so eagerly that to avoid him she slipped around the table and went to +the door. Then as she looked back at him, awkwardly pursuing, she saw +him as she had never seen him before. He had rumpled his hair again: +none but a manly head looks well when mussed. His eyes were bloodshot, +his mouth open; she turned away in disgust, and looked into the hallway +to measure her retreat. + +There she saw her husband sitting, upright in his chair. With a sudden +movement she threw the curtains wide apart and revealed him to Jim. +"See," she said. "I have a protector. Now will you leave me?" + +A protector! Jim, at first startled, saw the open mouth, the glazing +eyes. He pointed, gasping; she saw and was frightened. In three steps +she was at her husband's side; she grasped his arm. He was dead! Then +she recovered herself. The doctor had said this might happen. + +"He is--is----" hesitated Jim. "Oh, come back here; shut it out!" + +"I shall call the servants," she answered. "You had better go." + +"Go? And you are free! Lydia," he cried in despair, "for the last time, +come with me!" + +Cold and steady, she returned the proper response. "And you ask me that +in his dead presence! Free, when his death claims my duty to him? Go +with you, when I should stay and mourn him?" + +Had she opened her breast and shown him a heart of stone, she could not +better have revealed her nature. It was to Jim as if the earth had +yawned before his feet, showing rottenness beneath its flowers. That eye +of ice, that hard mouth, those blasphemous words! Jim did not know, he +never could remember, how he got himself from the house. + +He fled by night from the pursuit that never was to be. Taking the New +York train, he lay in his berth, thinking, dozing, thinking again, while +the train sped through the darkness. He slept and dreamed of burning +kisses; he woke to feel the swaying of the car, to hear the whistle +scream, or, shutting out all other sounds, to strain his ears for noises +close at hand--the rustling of the curtains or the soft footfall of the +porter. He slept again, and from a nightmare in which a serpent coiled +about him, he came to himself in a quiet station, where steam hissed +steadily, where hurrying steps resounded, where trucks rumbled by, and +voices were heard giving orders. He looked from his berth along the +curtained aisle--what misery besides his own was hiding behind those +hangings? Then he dozed again with the motion of the train, and saw +Beth, far removed and wonderfully pure, looking down on him with horror; +his dream changed and Mrs. Harmon stood at his side, leading a walking +corpse. And then he started from sleep with a smothered shriek, and with +his thoughts urged the train to go faster, faster away from Beth, from +that temptress, from the friends he had betrayed and the mother whom he +had robbed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +JUDITH BINDS HERSELF + + +Judith was alone, waiting for Mather, and wrestling with the question +which at the discovery of her father's body had rushed upon her. Was his +death her fault? + +Had she accepted Ellis, or had she recalled her refusal when her father +begged her, the Colonel would now be living. She might have guessed the +desperate resolve that he had taken. What would have been her duty, had +she understood? Or what should she have done, had he appealed to her? +And not understanding, not having foreseen, how much was her fault? + +There was here a chance for speculation to drive a weaker woman wild. +But Judith had not the nature to yield to such a danger. Essentially +combative, naturally active, her habit was to put the past behind, +accept the present, and look the future in the face. This instinct stood +by her now, and even though her shuddering mind still dwelt upon the +catastrophe, something within her called her to stand up, control +herself, look forward. And one more mental trait, which was in some +respects the great defect in her character--namely her almost masculine +fashion of judging herself and others--here stood her in good stead, and +served her by showing her father's action in the proper light. + +Though she perceived that she had led him into this entanglement, she +saw more. The Colonel had had not only his own but also his wife's +fortune: where had the money gone? Strong as were Judith's grief and +pity for him, abundantly as she acknowledged her part in his error, she +could not fail to see how selfish had been his actions, how cowardly +this desertion! + +But remembering her own great error, she could not blame. How deeply +they had both been at fault! She began to sympathise with the Colonel's +mistakes, to understand him better, to wish that in their relations they +had not been so aloof. He must have been many times in doubt, pain, the +deepest of trouble, and she had never suspected. Judith began to be +stirred by more daughterly feelings than since childhood; her grief and +pity grew stronger, unavailing regret seized her, and when George Mather +arrived he found her in tears. + +He had never imagined such a sight, nor had he met such sweet dignity as +that with which, controlling herself, she rose and welcomed him. She +told him of her father's death. Mather had not admired the Colonel; he +was not surprised at such a weak end; and while she spoke all his senses +dwelt on her--on the wonderful fresh charm, which, springing from the +new humility, made more of a woman of her. Stoically but stupidly he +paced the room, remembering that he was not there to consider himself, +but to do what he could for her. There were things which must be done; +as gently as he could he reminded her of them, and going to the +telephone called up the doctor and asked him to bring the medical +examiner. And while Mather did this, cursing himself that he could not +console her, all the time a new sensation was occupying her--the comfort +of having, for the first time in her life, a man to depend on. + +Then Beth arrived, with Pease who had met her in the street--Beth, wild +of eye, the very foundations of her nature shocked, in one evening twice +betrayed. The poor little thing still maintained a false composure, +checked from time to time the tears that would spring, and fought with +all her force against the thoughts which were ready to engulf her. She +went straight to Judith and rested at her side, feeling that there was +strength, and that with George in the house, and with Pease there, +silent and steady, no more harm could come to her. + +Judith sent the two men to her father's study, where they saw the +evidence of his one resolute deed. They took the letter, the result of +his only wise one. Again in the parlour, they opened and read the letter +together; their brows clouded as they read, and at the end their eyes +met in a look of inquiry. + +"Read it aloud," demanded Judith. + +"I think we had better," said Pease, and Mather assented. And so the +girls learned the full extent of their calamity, for with unusual +brevity the Colonel had written: + + "I have nothing left, not a stock nor a bond. The furniture is + mortgaged, so is the house; Ellis, through brokers I suppose, has + bought me up completely and threatens to turn me out on Monday. He + can do it; besides, I owe him fifteen thousand dollars. The girls + don't own anything but their clothes and knick-knacks, and Judith's + typewriter. + + "I don't see any way out of this, and I'm tired of thinking. You + two are young and clever; I turn the problem over to you. + + "Take care of my girls." + +And with these words the Colonel had handed his burden over to others. +Tears sprang to Beth's eyes as she understood. It was natural that even +so soon his selfishness should force itself to notice. Ah, if men could +but guide themselves by the consideration of what will be thought of +them after they are gone, how different would be their lives! Not the +religion man professes, nor even the love he actually bears, can teach +him to overcome caprice or to sink himself in others. Yet since it may +be that the punishment after death is to see ourselves as others see us, +let us not belabour the poor Colonel with words, but leave him in that +purgatory where the mirror of souls will teach self-understanding. + +Judith was stunned. The real meaning of her father's statements came +upon her like a blow, the room vanished from before her eyes, and she +clutched the arm of the sofa where she sat, to keep from falling. The +house mortgaged! The furniture pledged! And the great debt besides! The +calamity overpowered her. + +"Judith!" cried Mather in alarm. + +She groped with her hands before her face and cleared the mist away. "It +is nothing," she said. "I am--strong." + +"I hope," said Pease, "that you will let Mr. Mather and me assume your +father's trust." + +"Tell me this," Judith requested, trying to command her voice. "We have +no property at all--none at all. But there is that debt to Mr. Ellis. +What is my liability to him?" + +"Nothing whatever," Pease replied. + +"I do not understand," she said. "I--I am responsible. If the debt were +small, I should wish to earn the money to pay it. And though it is +large, I think I ought to try to do the same." + +"Impossible!" cried Pease. Judith listened while he protested and +explained, but the matter became no clearer. Her own great fault had +brought all this about: the debt was hers. She tried to make him +comprehend. + +"I----" she said, and faltered. "There are things you do not know." + +"Judith," began Mather, "first let me understand, Mr. Ellis broke with +your father?" + +"And with me," she added simply. + +"Then let me ask what object he had in lending money to your father?" + +"Oh, don't you see," she cried, "that only makes it worse? If I--led him +on, if on my account father supposed----It all comes back to me. It's my +fault, my fault!" She was almost wild. + +"But you did not know," he pointed out. "This debt cannot bind you." + +"It is all my fault," she repeated. + +"What does your sister think?" asked Pease. "What would Mr. Wayne say?" +He spoke with the hope of new influence; but Beth dissolved in sudden +tears, and holding out her hand, showed her finger bare of its ring and +red with the rubbing which all this time she had been giving it, to +remove even the mark of Jim's pledge. + +"Do not speak of him!" she sobbed. + +Judith gathered her in her arms; the men walked into the next room. As +Judith sought to comfort unhappy Beth she felt mounting in herself an +unknown tenderness. In this crisis all selfishness was impossible, all +worldliness was far from her thoughts. Her heart spoke naturally in +murmurings, softened the hand which gave the sweet caress, yet lent the +strength that held her sister to her breast. It was a blessed minute for +them both, for Judith learned new kindness, and Beth found, in place of +a reserved sister, one who seemed to have a mother's gentleness. And yet +their communion was brief, for the outer door--earlier left unlatched +for Beth's return--opened and then shut, steps were heard in the hall, +and a voice said inquiringly, "Colonel Blanchard?" It was Ellis! + +Judith rose quickly to her feet, dashing the tears from her eyes; Beth +also rose, astonished and alarmed. Scarcely had they made an attempt to +compose themselves before Ellis appeared in the doorway. He slowly +entered. + +"Excuse me," he said; "I did not ring because I was afraid you would not +receive me. I came to beg your pardon." + +"It is granted," Judith answered coldly. + +"I did not know what I was doing," he went on. "I--I hope we can go back +to where we were. No," as she made a gesture of denial, "hear me out. I +didn't mean what I said about the debt and mortgages--you know I did +not. Let the mortgages run. And two of your father's notes are overdue. +Look, I have written another to supersede them all, giving time for +payment. Let him sign this, and I destroy the others. Will you tell him +this?" He held out the note. + +Her eyes glowed as she took it. "Have you a pen?" He drew out a fountain +pen and gave it to her. + +"What are you doing?" asked Beth, alarmed. + +"I will sign it," Judith answered. + +"You?" Ellis cried. + +"My father is dead," she replied. Quickly she went to the table and +cleared a space at its corner. + +"Judith!" protested Beth. But Judith's eyes were bright with excitement, +and she did not hear. Beth turned and sped into the adjoining room. +Astonished, yet holding himself quiet, Ellis listened to the scratching +of the pen, and watched Judith's eager face as she signed the note. She +gave it to him, with the pen. + +"There!" she said, in the tone of one who has fulfilled a duty. + +Then Mather entered, too late. Ellis had torn the Colonel's notes and +handed them to Judith. "What have you done?" Mather cried. + +She faced him proudly. "I have assumed my father's debt." + +To Pease, who had followed him, Mather cast one look of impotence; then +he strode to the promoter's side. + +"Mr. Ellis, give me the note!" + +But Ellis put it in his pocket. "It is mine." + +"I will pledge myself for it," offered Mather, "at what terms you +please." + +"It is not for sale," said Ellis doggedly. + +"I will bring cash for it on Monday." + +"Thank you," sneered Ellis, "but I mean to keep it." + +"Mr. Ellis," Mather cried, "on what terms will you part with the note?" + +"I will part with it," he replied, "only to Miss Blanchard herself, as +you must admit is proper, and the terms I will arrange with her alone." + +He looked his defiance into Mather's face. The tense and shaking figure +of his rival towered above him, and Pease started forward to prevent a +blow. But Mather controlled himself and pointed to the door. "Go!" + +Ellis bowed to the sisters. "Good-night." No one made answer as he went +away. + + * * * * * + +Beth, exhausted, was asleep at last; Judith sat by her side. The medical +examiner had come and gone, her father lay in peace, and the house was +quiet. Downstairs Mather was watching: he had offered to stay; Beth had +begged that he might. Judith would not allow her thoughts to dwell on +him, or on the comfort of his neighbourhood. She would not think of +Ellis, nor of those obligations, the extent of which she did not +understand. Of her father she did not dare to think except to promise to +take his place toward Beth, and to pay his debt even if the struggle +should bring her to face the world's worst. Yet no fear troubled her, +for a new self, an awakening soul, was stirring within her, calling for +contrition, self-examination, and for new resolves. Musing and +confessing her faults, Judith went to the window and looked up at the +stars; through them she looked into the unalterable and true. She had +been wrong; she understood the falseness of her standards. Then she saw +more, and awe began to come over her as she perceived so much where once +had appeared so little. Life held love: her sister was left to her. Life +held duty, and work to be accomplished. That work called her. + +Yet how different it was from what she had expected! She had desired to +mix with affairs; now in truth she would become part of them, but only +as a wheel in the great machine. She was not disappointed nor dismayed. +Seen thus near at hand, life had rewards, giving vigour, not ennui; and +giving reality, not that artificiality of the past. She did not regret, +for she saw greater heights to the new life which she faced than to the +one dead level of the old conception. + +It was also new to Judith that without reasoning she felt all this, and +knew, as never before. She would give herself to this wonderful life, +would follow it to whatever end was waiting for her, confident that, +having acted right, that end could not be evil. And so feeling, her +heart moved within her, again to her eyes came the tears, and another of +those barriers melted away which stood between Judith and her true +womanhood. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +KNOWLEDGE OF NEW THINGS + + +While the Colonel lay unburied his house was unchanged. His daughters +talked over their plans, and settled it between them, to the dismay of +their new guardians, that Judith was to become a stenographer, Beth a +governess. On the third day the fashionable part of Stirling showed as +much interest as was permitted in the two funerals which took place at +the same hour. The services for the Colonel were private, no flowers +were sent, and a single carriage brought the mourners to the grave. On +their way they passed the church where the body of the Judge, as became +his high position and his wife's love of display, was having almost a +state funeral, and where a curious throng waited at the door to see the +people who should fill the score of waiting carriages. And so the Judge +went to his rest much honoured, and the journals wrote about him; but +the poor Colonel travelled simply to the cemetery, and only his +daughters, Pease, and Mather, stood beside his grave. George remained to +watch the filling-in; the others returned home, now home no +longer--Judith could not regard it so. + +"To-morrow," she said suddenly to her two companions in the carriage, "I +shall begin to look for a boarding-house." + +Beth gave her a startled glance, but said nothing. Pease answered, "We +must talk it over." Even in the hurry and distress of their recent +relations, Judith had learned to understand him so well that she knew +that his reply meant opposition. Pease was something new to her; she +liked his deliberation, and was beginning to appreciate his force. When, +arriving at the house, she found Miss Cynthia there, Judith knew that +some plan had been made between them. + +Miss Cynthia proposed it at once: the sisters should come to live with +her. "You shall have a room apiece," she said. "You shall do exactly as +you please. And there is nothing else for you to do." + +"I knew," said Judith, "that our friends would think we oughtn't board." + +"It isn't that," replied Miss Cynthia. "I say you can't. Next Monday +this house and furniture are to be given over to Mr. Ellis. My dear +girl, you haven't a penny to your name!" + +Perhaps the brusque reply was merciful, as it swept away all grounds for +argument. "Take Beth," Judith answered, "but there is no reason why you +should help me. Let me go out and earn my living." + +"I mean to take Beth," was the determined answer. "And I claim the +chance to know you better." + +"Judith," cried Beth tearfully, "would you go away from me?" + +And Pease put in his argument. "You are not able to earn money yet. You +must stay somewhere while you study." + +"So," asked Judith, "all this has been talked over between you?" + +Pease answered by giving her a note from Mather. "I hope," it read, +"that for Beth's sake you will accept Miss Pease's offer." For Beth's +sake! Judith looked at Beth, then at the other two, both prepared for +battle, and yielded. + +"I think," was Miss Pease's sole remark, "that you are wise." Her +manner implied a threat withdrawn, much as if, had not Judith agreed, +she would have been carried off by force. + +In three days more the house was vacated, and was surrendered to Ellis. +When Pease and Mather had adjusted the Colonel's accounts, some few +dollars were remaining to his estate, only to be swallowed up by the +outstanding bills, the most significant of which was the account for the +Japanese knife. And so the two girls, whose small savings had gone to +buy their mourning, were left almost literally without a cent. + +Thus Judith began the world anew on the charity of friends, telling +herself that she must submit for the sake of accomplishing. She took her +place at the side of Pease's table with the air of still presiding at +her own, and Mather, coming in the evening, noted her bearing and +groaned in spirit. He explained that he had come to see if the moving +were successful. "Three trunks between us," said Judith. "Did you think +the undertaking was very great?" + +"There is your typewriter," he reminded her. + +But she would have no jesting. "My one really valuable asset. And now +you must tell me, George, where I should go to school. To what business +college, I mean?" + +For in spite of all protests, the sisters were preparing to work. From +their old school-books they had saved those which might still be of +service, and on the morrow Beth was to begin with her geography and +arithmetic. + +"It will be very unpleasant," Mather said, "going to a commercial +school. Look here, there is a little girl in my office--you saw her at +Chebasset--who can come and teach you, evenings." + +"And my days?" she returned. "I am not afraid of the unpleasantness." + +So he sighed and advised her. She appreciated that he had inquired into +the standing of the schools, and could tell which was the best. The +tuition was expensive, but there was a scheme by which scholars might +pay out of future wages. + +"And so I go deeper into debt before I can begin to earn for my fifteen +thousand dollars?" + +"Judith," he said, "let your friends make up that sum and relieve you of +all relations with Ellis." + +"Mr. Pease and you?" she asked. + +"And Mr. Fenno. Excuse me for telling him; he had learned something of +it from Beth." + +"He is very kind," said Judith. "So are you all, but the debt would +remain." + +"Ellis can annoy you," he reminded her. + +"Then let me bear it as a punishment. It may help me to make something +of myself." + +"How many years," he demanded, "do you mean to keep this up?" + +"Forever, if necessary," she returned, but then spoke softly. "George, +don't be vexed with me. What else can I do?" + +She was earnest; he saw there no other way for her. "Let me help, then," +he said, and told her more about the school. In her questions and +comments he saw her interest in the future, her curiosity as to the life +she was about to lead. In spite of all that had passed, in spite of the +new deceptive softness, the old idea still held and ruled her: she would +be in touch with things, would know what was going on in the world. + +In her new home, little lessons began to come to Judith. Pease was a +revelation of kindliness and ability--a contradiction. That such +simplicity could cover such power, that he could set up an inflexible +opinion against hers and yet be embarrassed in her presence, was +strange, yet very pleasing. Miss Cynthia with her violent manners was +another source of knowledge, for this odd person was a woman of the +world; she had experience and importance; she corresponded with +philanthropists, and people of note came to see her. And Judith gained +from her this lesson: that from a quiet home one may extend a wide +influence, and be of the world while not at all times in it. Thus the +two Peases, with their individuality, did much to show Judith that there +was force still remaining in the old families which she had rated so +low. She grew to have a little fear of Miss Pease, with her searching +questions and blunt comments, lest she should inquire into Judith's +interest in Ellis, and with that cutting tongue lay bare her folly. And +yet at the same time Judith took comfort in Miss Cynthia, who upheld her +in her plans. Miss Cynthia had worked for her living, and declared that +it did a woman good. + +But the strongest new influence on Judith was in her relations with +Beth. Judith had always recognised Beth's strength. A feminine +fortitude, not disdaining tears; a perception of worldly values which +Judith was coming to see was clearer than her own; steadfastness and +charity: these were the qualities which had brought Beth through the +recent crisis with less actual change than in her sister. And Judith, +beginning to admire in Beth the traits which previously she had merely +noted, found also a great comfort in her sister's girlishness, a solace +in her softer nature which was to Judith the beginning of the +possibilities of friendship. + +For, save with Ellis, Judith had never spoken freely, and with him but +little. At the same time she had never been lonely, turning from +friends. Yet in this changed life she took pleasure in Beth's nearness, +interested herself in her doings, and invited her confidences. She grew +jealous lest Miss Cynthia, so long Beth's friend, should take the place +which belonged to her; and so by gentleness Judith won from Beth the +story which weighed on her mind. + +It was one evening when the sisters had gone up-stairs; Judith went into +Beth's room. Beth, with her sadness so well controlled, seemed sweeter +than she had ever been. She had grown pale over her books. "If you go to +your school," she said when Judith remonstrated with her, "why shouldn't +I work, too?" But she was often weary at the end of the day, and seemed +so now. + +"Beth," said Judith, "I saw Mrs. Wayne to-day. She was looking better. +George has found a buyer for her house, and she is going to live with +some cousins." + +"I am very glad that is settled so well," answered Beth, and then asked +with hesitation: "Has anything been heard from--Jim?" + +"Nothing," replied Judith. "Beth, are you worrying about him?" + +"No," Beth said. "I--I am sorry for him, but----" She looked up. "Oh, +Judith, I want to speak to some one about it. There is a part of it that +no one knows. May I tell you?" + +Judith knelt at her side. "Tell me, dear?" she begged. + +Beth, clasping Judith's hand and feeling the comfort of her sympathy, +told the story of that meeting at the Judge's--told the whole of it. Had +she done right in giving back the ring? + +Judith assured her that she had. + +"That is not all," said Beth. "I thought that I gave it back because he +had been--untrue, yet that I loved him just the same. But, Judith, I +have been thinking--you have seen me thinking?" + +"Yes, dear," Judith answered. "What have you thought?" + +Beth pressed her hands. "You must tell me if I am right. For I seem +almost hard-hearted, sometimes. Judith, why did the Judge die?" + +Judith looked at her with startled eyes. "It killed him!" + +Beth nodded solemnly. "_It_ killed him, or did--they!" + +"They!" Judith cried. + +"But she most," went on Beth, looking straight in front of her. +"Sometimes I think I understand it, Judith. It wasn't sudden; it must +have been going on for some time. I went to see Mrs. Wayne that once, +you remember, after it all happened. She doesn't blame Jim; she took me +up into his room: it was just as it was that night, with his bed opened +for him. And she cried there. But I looked on the bureau, Judith, and +saw pictures of--her." + +"Of Mrs. Harmon?" + +"Yes. And one almost covered the one he had of me. Judith, he hadn't +come to this all of a sudden? Tell me, for I don't want to misjudge +him." + +"I have seen him with her," answered Judith. "Once I saw them at the +theater door, going out together." The coincidence made itself clearer. +"That was the day you and he went; I supposed you were behind." + +"We--he--it was my fault," said Beth. "I went away from the play, and he +left me, angry. He must have met her and gone with her. And at other +times, when I knew he was not at Chebasset, and expected him to come to +me, and he didn't--do you suppose he was with her?" + +"I'm afraid so." + +"And that kiss," said Beth, shuddering. "It was so eager--fierce! It +wasn't just flirting. He--he preferred her to me." + +"Beth, dear!" murmured Judith, soothing her. + +"He was--weak," went on Beth. "I suppose I always knew it, but I +wouldn't admit it. So weak that she--I want to be charitable, but I +think she led him away from me." + +"I am afraid she did, dear." + +"I forgive him," said Beth, struggling to pursue her thought to the end. +"Of course you know that, Judith. But I was fond of the Judge, and he +died from--it. And Jim was--false to me, and" (Judith felt the little +form begin to quiver) "even his dishonesty was not for me but for--her, +because Mr. Price sent Mrs. Wayne a great bill for expensive jewels, and +she asked me if--if I'd give them back, and I had to say that he--hadn't +given me any!" + +"Beth, dear!" cried Judith, clasping the quivering form. "Beth, be +brave!" + +"I will," said Beth, struggling heroically. "But as I've thought it out +by myself----" + +"Oh, you've been all alone!" cried Judith, reproaching herself. "Why +didn't I understand?" + +"I had to think it out," Beth said. "I think I see it clearly now, +Judith, and I know myself better, and I'm--ashamed of myself that I'm so +selfish, but I think that I--don't love him--any more!" + +Tears came to her relief, and she clung to her sister, shaken with sobs. +Judith wept with her; for them both that was a blessed hour. Long after +others were abed their murmured conference lasted, for Beth needed to be +told, over and over again, that she had done right, and felt right, and +Judith was glad of it. + +Thus new feelings grew in Judith, stronger for her contact with the +outside world. For the school was disagreeable and humiliating. She had +to go back to the rudiments of knowledge; she had to do examples and +find them wrong. Her teachers were unpleasant, her fellow-pupils coarse +and inquisitive. The many little daily rubs commenced to tell on her; +her cheeks lost colour, her step something of its vigour, and she began +to look upon the outer world as something with power to do her still +more harm. + +Yet to it she presented a haughty front, as one person found. Mrs. +Harmon came to call, an interesting widow, dressed in her new mourning. +It was late in the afternoon; the day had gone hard with Judith, she had +forgotten to eat luncheon, and since her return from the school had been +sitting over her "home lessons," wretched tasks which called her to make +up the accounts of a certain Mr. Y----, and also to calculate the +interest on notes at four, five, and seven and a half per cent. for +periods of from twelve to a hundred days. Her answers would not agree +with those in the book. But faint and discouraged as she was, her eyes +grew bright as she saw Mrs. Harmon's card, and she walked into the +parlour with the air of a grenadier. + +"Why, Judith, child," said Mrs. Harmon, rising, "how changed you look! I +am so glad I came to comfort you." + +"And I am glad you came," Judith returned. "I have been wishing to see +you." + +"You have been lonesome, dear?" + +"To thank you," pursued Judith steadily, "for the service you did my +sister, in ridding her of Mr. Wayne." + +Very fortunately, after the two had remained looking at each other for a +quarter of a minute, while Mrs. Harmon grew very red in the face and +Judith remained unchanged, Miss Cynthia suddenly entered the room. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon," she said, halting. "I didn't know that any one +was here." + +"You didn't disturb us," Judith answered. "Mrs. Harmon was just going." + +Mrs. Harmon, looking as if she would burst if she attempted to speak, +could only bow with an attempt at frigidity, quite spoiled by the +visible heat which was almost smothering her, and departed with +suddenness. Miss Cynthia, never surprised at people's actions, looked at +Judith, whose cheeks were very pale, while her eyes had lost their fire. + +"I suppose I've insulted her," said Judith. + +"I hope you have," Miss Cynthia answered. But watching Judith intently, +she suddenly seized her by the arm, forced her to the sofa, forbade her +to stir, and sent for tea. It was a sign of change that Judith took the +ministration passively. + +Yet her growing weariness was not to be relieved by a short rest or a +cup of tea. Her nerves kept her at work, driving her at forced draught, +which for long at a time is good for neither machinery nor man. Mather +came that evening, and was led into the parlour by Beth, but his eyes +sought for Judith in vain. "Where is she?" he demanded. + +"She's in the dining-room," Beth said. "This evening it's her shorthand; +she's expanding her notes." + +"And she wouldn't want to see me?" + +"She _needs_ company." + +He looked at her, trying to read her meaning; she smiled and tossed her +head. "Beth is beginning to look better," he thought, and remembered +that she had never asked him for news of Jim. Then her expression +changed as a step was heard in the hall; it was Pease coming, +plantigrade and slow. "Is that it?" thought Mather. + +"I think I'll go and see Judith," he said, and passed Pease at the door. + +Judith was in the dining-room, bending over her note-book. Scattered +sheets lay on the table before her; her hair had in places escaped from +its confinement and strayed over forehead and nape. He saw the fatigue +in her eyes as she raised them. + +"I'm all mixed up," she said. + +He drew up a chair and sat down. "So I should think. How any one reads +shorthand I don't see." He took the note-book. "It seems well done." + +"Sometimes I write it correctly," she said, "and then can't read it. +Sometimes I could read it if I had only written it right. To-day the man +read very fast, on purpose, and I lost some of it." + +"I think," he said, "that if you could at times forget your work, you +would come back to it fresher." + +"I can't forget it," she replied. "Sometimes I dream of it." + +"We'll have you sick on our hands," he warned her. "Don't lecture, +George," she answered. "Give me the book." + +He watched her for a while as she translated her hieroglyphs; she kept +at it doggedly. "Good-night," he said at last. She looked up to respond, +smiled mechanically, and turned to her work before he was out of the +room. He went to the parlour and stood anxiously before Beth and Pease. + +"You'll have her breaking down," he said. + +"There is nothing we can do," Beth answered. "She will keep at it." + +"I've warned you," he responded, and took his hat. He was at the front +door, when from the dining-room Judith called him to her. "George," she +asked, "is six per cent. the legal rate of interest?" + +"In this State it is," he answered. + +"Then my note to Mr. Ellis is rolling up interest at nine hundred a +year?" + +"I suppose so." + +"Can I ever earn as much?" + +"With experience you can." + +"And I must earn much more in order to pay anything on the principal?" + +"Yes." + +She put her hands together in her lap. "I am learning something." As he +stood and looked at her, he saw two tears roll out upon her cheeks. + +"Judith!" he cried, striding toward her. + +But she rose quickly, putting out a hand to keep him away. "I am only +tired," she said. "I'm sorry not to be better company. Good-night, +George." + +He stopped instantly, said "Good-night," and went away. Then suddenly +she felt forlorn, and more tears came into her eyes. "He would not have +gone if he loved me still." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +TIME BEGINS HIS REVENGES + + +Political and social undercurrents were slowly working to the surface in +the world of Stirling. Though it was barely spring, the mayoralty +campaign was well under way, promising a close struggle in the fall. A +more immediate matter was the threatened strike, which the men's leaders +were urging in the hope that the approaching annual meeting of the +stockholders of the street-railway might bring some relief. In these +affairs the attitude of Ellis was of importance. + +The newspapers called him the Sphinx, since he gave no sign of his +purposes. In politics, of course, it was to be assumed that he was on +the side of the machine. But against the strike he might take a variety +of courses, with a variety of results, all of which were, by the +speculative, mapped and calculated in advance. He might yield and avoid +the strike, he might defy it, or at the last minute he might by some +sudden action entirely change the aspect of affairs and bring himself +profit and credit. Just how this last could be done no one seemed to be +sure, but since from day to day matters were growing worse and Ellis +made no move, it was confidently stated that he had "something up his +sleeve." + +Otherwise there was no explaining his conduct. His opponents did not +dare to believe that he was blinded by self-confidence, and yet his own +followers, trust him as they might, were uneasy. His manner showed a +steady, almost savage determination to win, and yet he did not "tend to +business." There were days when he was absent from his office +altogether, refusing to talk with his subordinates except by +telephone--and they hated to discuss plans except within four walls. +There was even one day when he disappeared altogether, just when the +Stirling representatives had come down from the State capital to confer +with him on the street-railway bill, the prospects of which, on account +of the clause conferring eminent domain, were none too bright. Ellis, +when at last his men found him in the evening, said only that he had +been at Chebasset. Moreover, his men got little out of him: with an odd +new gleam in his eye, he merely listened as they spoke; he gave no +directions, and when they begged him to run up to the capital and lobby +for himself he thanked them and said he'd think it over. Feeling their +journey to have been for nothing, they left him, grumbling among +themselves. Something seemed wrong with him. + +Something was wrong with him. A man with a pain gnawing at his heart and +a ghost always before his eyes cannot attend to his work. It was not the +Colonel's ghost that dogged Ellis: he never troubled for his part in +Blanchard's death. Judith, splendid in cold anger, haunted him. She +spoiled his sleep, she came between him and his work, she tormented him +by the vision of what he had lost. There was a steady drain upon him, as +from an unhealed wound--or from that inward bleeding which, on the very +first day of their acquaintance, he had felt on leaving her. No, he was +not himself; his mind was confused, his energies wasted, by the constant +alternation of anger and despair. + +When realisation swept upon him suddenly, then he shut himself up, +refused himself to all, and fought his fury until he had controlled it. +That day when he went to Chebasset he had not intended to go, but on +his way to his office there suddenly rushed over him the sense of his +loss. Possessed by the thought, he took the train to Chebasset and +wandered half the day among his grounds, tormenting himself by the +recollection that these drives, walks, shrubberies were laid out for +Judith, and now she would never live among them. When he took out of his +pocket a slip of paper bearing her signature and told himself that she +was in his power--in his power!--he found no pleasure in the thought. + +In the evening he had not cast off his mood, and when he met his men, +sent them away dissatisfied. One, bolder or more foolhardy than the +others, lingered a moment. "Say," he asked, "what's wrong?" + +"Nothing," answered Ellis. + +"Honest I'm telling you," said his henchman, "a strike will kill the +bill. And the men on the road are getting ugly." + +"Thanks," Ellis replied impatiently. The glow in his eyes suddenly +became fierce, and the man took himself off. + +All this was extremely irritating to Ellis; he felt more angry with his +own men than with his opponents, and was ready to punish them for +insubordination without considering the cause of their alarm. It was +unfortunate for Mr. Price that he chose to come to Ellis just after his +legislators had left him. Price wore the same uneasy air. + +"Now, what are you worried about?" Ellis began on him. + +It was his street-railway stock, Price explained. The quotations were so +continually dropping---- + +"Only fifteen dollars!" Ellis interrupted scornfully. + +"Yes," agreed Price, "but they will soon be down again to where I bought +them." + +"Bought?" sneered Ellis. "_Bought!_" + +"Well----" hesitated Price. + +"What is it to you," demanded Ellis in jarring tones, "where the price +of the stock is, up or down? It cost you nothing, it pays you well, it's +a sure thing. Just you hold it and send me your proxies." + +"But," suggested Price, very much brow-beaten, yet endeavouring to say +what he came for, "if it's such a good thing, won't you, perhaps, take +it?" + +"What!" rasped Ellis. "My God, Price, haven't you the decency to sit +still and say nothing?" + +"Oh, well," mumbled the jeweller, writhing, "if the stock is so +sure--you're sure it's solid?" + +"Certainly," Ellis said. "Price, don't be an ass! The other side is just +selling itself a share or two, every little while, to make the +impression that the value is falling. Don't you be taken in." + +"Oh, if that's all!" breathed Price, much relieved. He took his hat. + +"There, run along," said Ellis. "You know who are your best friends." He +spoke as if directing a child, and Price went away with an irritated +sense of his own impotence and meanness. + +But Ellis found no relief in scolding his dependents. He missed +something; he knew that he needed a place where he might sit quiet and +forget the grind and grime of his affairs. The best that was left to him +was Mrs. Harmon, but she never could equal Judith, and when he went to +see her now she bothered him with her advice. + +"I wanted to see you," were her first words. "I have been thinking of +telephoning you." + +"What is it now?" he asked drearily. + +"Stephen," she demanded with energy, "do you realise what is going on? +They are all organising against you." + +"What can they do?" he snarled. + +"Your own men are frightened," she said. "Two of them came to me +to-day--no, I won't tell their names. They begged me to tell you there +mustn't be a strike. You'll lose your bill, your mayor will be defeated. +Can't you see that?" + +"No!" he returned. + +"The papers are all calling for Mather as street-railway president," she +went on. "The men say they would never strike under him. It's all very +well for you to say that the travelling public must take what you give +them, but people won't----" + +"Lydia," he interrupted, "it's very good of you to be interested in my +position, but suppose you give your time to your own. It needs it bad +enough." + +He touched a sore, for Judge Harmon's old friends, remembering his +disappointment in his wife, were dropping her. She was irritated, and +snapped in return. "You look very badly," she said critically. "Just for +a girl, Stephen?" + +He glared at her so furiously, at a loss for speech, that she was +frightened and begged his pardon. Yet after she had given him tea she +returned again to the charge. + +"You said, Stephen, that you control a majority of shareholders' votes. +You aren't afraid that some of your men will sell out to the other side? +I see the stock is down." + +"But is it traded in?" he asked. "Only a share or two. You are like +Price; he came whimpering to me yesterday about his fifty shares." + +"But the balance is pretty even, isn't it?" she inquired. "Mightn't +fifty shares just make the whole difference?" + +"If you mean whether Price would sell me out," he answered. "He never +bought his shares. They came to him through me. He's tied to me." + +"I don't see how?" she said doubtfully. "He's not in politics now; he's +independent, and he gets his money from the upper people--the other side +entirely. But I suppose you know. Still, I wish Abiel had never sold his +stock." + +"Don't worry," he commanded. "Confound it, I have to supply courage to +the whole of you." + +His men had need of his courage as day by day matters drifted nearer to +a crisis and they saw their enemies organising. Those nervous and eager +persons, the reform politicians, had long talks with the men of money, +who were not now averse to giving them interviews. The men of money +talked together, and the newspapers claimed that at last, after almost a +generation, the society leaders were to take a hand in politics. As +several of the reformers held railway stock, and as the fashionables +could (if they chose) muster many votes for the election, their alliance +against Ellis might prove formidable. The reformers grew more cheerful, +old Mr. Fenno more grim, Pease more thoughtful as the days went by. The +time was near for the annual meeting of the street-railway shareholders, +and the strike, if it came at all, would come before that. The whole +city was intent upon the event. + +And Judith, tired as she was, roused to watch the struggle. Was her +sluggish class waking at last? Was Ellis at bay? Was Mather to come +forward and lead? Judith read the newspapers, but gleaned only such +statements as: "Mr. Fenno and Mr. Branderson at last control a majority +of street-railroad votes," or "Mr. Watson has added largely to his +holdings of street-railway stock." She knew these reports could not be +true: the stock was tied fast long ago, and Ellis would take every +pains to maintain his supremacy. But Mather would explain to her the +condition of affairs. + +Yet he came seldom to the house. She knew that his mind was occupied, he +was interviewed and pestered on all hands. Day by day she read in the +papers: "Mr. Mather refuses to make any statement." But he might speak +to her. His only desire, when he came to call, appeared to be to throw +off every care save for her health. She did not like to broach the +important topic, yet with repression her interest grew, and she felt +deeply disappointed when, the opportunity being given to speak upon it, +he was reserved. + +He met her in a street-car, and sat by her side. When the conductor came +for his fare Mather nodded to him and called him by name. "Good-day, +Wilson." + +"I've taken Mr. Ellis's fare every day for two years," said the man, +"yet I don't think he knows me by sight. Ah, Mr. Mather, if we only had +you back there wouldn't be no strike." + +Mather smiled. "We were all good friends in those days." + +The man went away, and Judith asked as much as she dared. "How does it +seem to be so in demand?" + +"I'm not so sure how much in demand I am," he replied, and then spoke of +other things. + +She thought that he was avoiding the subject, and told herself that he +did not need her any more. Far away were those days when he sought her +advice--and this thought made her sigh occasionally over her work. The +tasks grew harder as she felt herself left out; she became eager to do +more than merely study, feeling that, with so much going on around her, +she was nothing. + +One night when Mather came he spoke for a while with Pease privately, +then hurried away without waiting to see the others. Judith had put her +books away; now she took them again, and went into the dining-room to +work. But she could not fix her mind on her figures, and after a while +she said aloud in the room: "A month ago when he came to see me I would +not stop work to speak with him. Now when he comes I put away my books, +but he does not wait." + +Then she heard Pease speaking with Beth in the parlour, and heard +George's name coupled with Ellis's. So Beth was learning all about the +plans! Smothering a sudden jealousy, Judith determined to go and ask +what had been said, yet at the door her resolution failed her, and she +turned back. Let others know, she would go without--and she applied +herself to her figures until her head swam with them. She went unhappily +to bed and lay there thinking. + +Through her loneliness was rising a dread of Ellis as an overhanging +menace; she began to fear that he would defeat Mather a second time. +Ellis's sinister force began to oppress her, not only as a cause of +general evil, but also as threatening disaster to that friend whose +value, even whose excellence, her anxieties were teaching her to +acknowledge. As Judith's thoughts dwelt on the man in whom, without +brilliance or the stamp of genius, there was nothing false, nothing base +or mean, and nothing hidden, Ellis seemed like an enemy who, once +successful against herself, was slowly approaching for an attack on +Mather--an enemy whose skill she knew, whose resources she feared, and +whose mercy she doubted. Dreading thus for Mather, she began to tremble +also for herself: she was in Ellis's debt so deep that only a miracle +could ever clear her, while every day was rolling up the interest +against her. Where would this end? + +And through her dread increased her loneliness. Looking for help, she +found that she must depend solely upon herself. Day by day she had +learned how small were her powers beside the immense energies of the +city. The definite fear of Ellis suggested still other calamities, +vague, hid in the impenetrable future; there was no misfortune which +fate could not bring upon her, no defense which she could interpose. She +was alone--and suddenly she began to long for companionship, the +fellowship which some one could give, which some one once offered, which +then she had refused, but which now seemed more precious than anything +in the world. + +Thus Judith, in her trouble, was unmindful of the power which still was +hers, and ignorant of the revenge which she was to take for all of her +misfortunes. For though she felt herself so weak, it was she, and she +alone, who brought on Ellis the strike which his supporters were so +anxious to prevent. + +On a morning, the consequences of whose events were to reach far, going +as usual to her school she passed Ellis in the street. Faltering and +shocked, he stood still while she passed. He had not seen her since the +night of her rejection of him, and the change in her was startling. She +was in black, had grown thin and pale, and her spirited carriage had +changed to the walk of weariness, yet her beauty of face shone out the +clearer, and still she was a picture which men turned to watch. She did +not notice Ellis, but passed with face set, eyes looking far away, +absorbed in thought. When she had gone from his sight Ellis hurried to +his offices and locked himself in the inner room. There for an hour he +walked up and down, up and down. + +His clerk heard him, and dared not interrupt him for small matters; the +routine business of the morning was easily discharged. But about noon +came a deputation from the street-railway employees, asking to see Mr. +Ellis. + +The secretary listened at the door; Ellis was still pacing the room, yet +the matter was important. The secretary knocked. + +"Men from the union to see you," he said through the door. + +"Tell them to come again," answered Ellis. + +The secretary went with this answer to the deputation. The spokesman +answered: "We have wasted enough time. We must see him now or not at +all." + +The secretary knocked again at Ellis's door. "They say they must see you +now, sir," he said. + +"Send them to the devil," Ellis replied. The secretary, without thought +of the irony of his interpretation of the order, asked the men to wait. +They consulted among themselves and went away. + +That morning the cars on the streets had run as usual, but the delegates +of the union, returning angrily from Ellis's office, gave the order for +the men to strike. As each car returned to the barn its crew left; by +one o'clock almost all the cars were housed. Then the supporters of +Ellis began to gather in his outer office. Price was there, Daggett was +there, a dozen others as well; they consulted anxiously. Not one of them +had expected that Ellis would let the trouble go so far. + +At last, with pale face and fierce eye, he appeared among them. "Ha," he +said sardonically when he saw so many of them. "What has frightened you +all?" + +They told him of the strike; there was still one day, they reminded him, +before the transfer books of the road should close. Some of his men +thought he was staggered at the news, and the hastier, Price loudest +among them, begged him to conciliate the men. + +But the old fighting fire kindled within him, and he stopped them with +scorn. "Don't be fools," he said. "Price, you're a coward. The men will +hit first, will they? Well, we'll give them all they want!" + +He began to give directions how to meet the strike, and his energy was +communicated to them all, save one. Even that one applauded with the +rest, and outwardly approved. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +BRINGS ABOUT TWO NEW COMBINATIONS + + +For some time Beth Blanchard had been changing back to her old self. +Once unburdened by confession, her heart seemed free again, and Beth +began to think of Jim Wayne as a part of a past which could in no way +affect her future. Sorry for him as she was, with her pity she mingled +shame at those remembered kisses. She found pleasure in the society of +Pease, partly because he stood for so much that Jim was not. Solid, +sober, incapable of concealment, his qualities gave her satisfaction, +and the more because she knew his thoughts to be so much of her. She +took to teasing him again, a process to which he submitted with +bewildered delight, and to which Miss Cynthia made Judith a party by +getting her out of the room whenever Beth and Pease were in it. Under +such favouring circumstances, which would have tried the stoicism of any +one, Pease was proving himself quite human, and was harbouring new +hopes. He could not fail to suspect that Beth mourned her father more +than Jim, and what he imagined Miss Pease made sure. + +"You've never told me, Peveril," she asked him, "if you lost much by Mr. +Wayne?" + +"Two weeks' wages of our men," he answered. + +"Worth what you get for it?" she asked. + +"What do I get?" he inquired. + +"Her!" she answered emphatically. + +"If you suppose," he said, with an appearance of confidence which was +utterly false, "that Miss Blanchard will forget Mr. Wayne, you are quite +mistaken." + +"You are right," said Miss Cynthia, "she never will forget him." Her +cousin's heart sank. "She thinks of him every day" (Miss Cynthia was +watching him, and made a purposeful pause) "as something that she has +escaped from. And _now_ the way is open for a man that is a man!" Then +she smiled as she noted his relief. + +The way was indeed open, and the two were progressing along it very +fast, when suddenly a position was offered to Beth. Old Mrs. Grimstone +had, for the twelfth time, lost her attendant, and some one recommended +the younger Miss Blanchard. It was a handsome offer that the old lady +made; money was nothing to her, and she had learned that she must pay +high for such service as she demanded. For she was, notoriously, the +most exacting, crabbed, fractious old woman that ever wore false teeth, +and any one who attended her lived a dog's life. Pease was utterly +dismayed, and came to Judith to beg her to prevent this calamity. + +"But what can I do?" she asked. "Mrs. Grimstone offers a hundred dollars +a month--much more than any one else ever pays. How can Beth refuse?" + +"Think," Pease adjured her, "of what she will have to bear!" + +"I think her disposition is equal to it," Judith said. + +"Oh, I don't doubt that," he hurriedly explained. "But Mrs. Grimstone is +so rough!" + +"Beth seems to think she must go," was all Judith could reply. "She +usually knows her own mind, Mr. Pease." + +"She does," he admitted mournfully. But he was not subdued, and blazed +out with a fitful courage: "I will do my best to prevent it!" + +"Do!" said Judith heartily. + +Pease did his best; knowing how weak he was against Beth, he spent no +time in discussion, but rushing into the subject he declared to Beth +that she ought not go to Mrs. Grimstone, and that was all there was to +it. Then he stood breathless at his own audacity. + +"Ought not?" asked Beth, surprised at such precipitation in one who was +usually so slow. "If few persons are willing to go to Mrs. Grimstone, +isn't that a very good reason why I should?" + +"It isn't that; it isn't that!" he replied, and wished, despairing, that +he could voice his thoughts. But Beth's brown eyes, just a little +quizzical, took away his courage, and all his impetus was spent. He +gasped with vexation. + +"Then what is it?" she asked, smiling outright. + +"Promise me three days?" was all he could say. "I'm busy now--this +street-railway----Oh, don't laugh!" he begged as Beth's smile grew +merrier. "Please promise me three days!" + +To his delight she promised, and he went and began to draught a letter +of such importance that its composition was to take nearly all of the +seventy-two hours which she had accorded him. He hoped that what he had +to say would not be too sudden--but he need not have worried. A man +cannot note a girl's every movement, be solicitous at each little cold, +know to a minute the calendar of her engagements, and gradually perfect +himself in knowledge of her tastes, without declaring himself, +unconsciously, in every sentence. + +Upon this pleasant by-play Judith smiled, yet knew that her future would +change with Beth's. For if Beth went to Mrs. Grimstone, Judith must find +work; she could no longer bear the consciousness that she was not +earning. A little envy stirred in her, as she feared that she could not +possibly, in spite of all her preparation, earn so much as Beth. In +this belief the principal of her school confirmed her when she asked him +if he could not find her a position. + +"You understand that with your experience your salary will be small?" he +asked her. + +"Have I not done well since I came?" she inquired. + +"I never had a better pupil," he replied. "But a few more months, Miss +Blanchard----" + +"How much could I earn to begin with?" she persisted. + +"Forty dollars a month," he answered. + +"So little?" she asked, disappointed. + +"Perhaps fifty, if you have luck," he conceded. "But you'd better wait." + +"I can't," Judith answered. "Will you tell me of any chance that you +hear of?" + +He promised that he would, yet gave her no immediate hope of a position. +Judith was depressed; more and more it seemed to her that she was +nothing, and her debt loomed large before her eyes. It seemed a great +weight to carry--alone. + +Nevertheless, she maintained her interest in the great combination +against Ellis, could not fail to maintain it, for soon came the strike. +It was an orderly strike and a good-natured public; people were saying +cheerfully that the cars would be running again in a week, when Mr. +Mather was president; but believing that no one could be sure of that, +and ignorant of her own deep influence, Judith wished for the fiftieth +time that she could learn how matters stood. The vagueness and +uncertainty were wearing her. + +And at last came the information. At the supper table, on the evening of +the strike, Pease seemed as untroubled as usual, and as genial. Miss +Cynthia broke in upon his calm. + +"Peveril," she demanded, "what do the men hope to gain by striking now?" + +"To-morrow," he explained, "the transfer books close. Only to-morrow's +holders of stock can vote at the meeting a week hence." + +"Oh," she said, "I see. The men hope to scare some of Ellis's supporters +into selling out." + +He nodded. "The men have very clever leaders." + +"And will this help you?" + +"I hope so." + +She followed up the indirect admission. "Then you need help?" + +"Get me forty shares," he said, "and the matter is settled. But----" he +realised that he was talking shop. + +"The butter, please, Cynthia?" + +"Well," she said in triumph, as she passed the dish, "I have at last +learned something from you." + +"Good!" he returned, undisturbed. "And I'll tell you this much more, +that I haven't the slightest idea where I can find those forty shares." + +"Oh!" she cried, dismayed. "What does Mr. Mather think?" + +"Mather knows nothing about it," said Pease. "His friends are working +for him without his knowledge, because they have never been sure that +they could help him." + +Judith, listening to the talk, told herself that Mather would never be +president of the road; she had heard Ellis describe the little ring of +men who stood solidly around him--men whom he had made. That ring would +never be broken. Yet amid her disappointment she felt relief. Mather had +never told her of the projects of his friends because, like herself, he +had not been sure of them. + +Before the meal was ended Mr. Fenno came--only for a minute, he said, +and bade them not to rise. Judith admired the picture that he made as he +stood and talked with Pease; his white hair and mustache seemed whiter +still by contrast with his coal-black eyebrows, while the dead +black-and-white evening clothes were relieved by the soft sable which +lined his overcoat. He questioned Pease with his accustomed bluntness. + +"No go?" + +"Nothing yet," Pease answered. + +"Ah, he's clever!" said Mr. Fenno, to which encomium of Ellis Pease +assented by a nod, but seemed not inclined to pursue the subject +further. Then the servant, entering, announced that Mr. Price was at the +door, asking for Mr. Pease. As Pease started from his seat his inquiring +glance met Fenno's. The old man knit his heavy brows. + +"Do you suppose----" he said. + +"May be!" Pease answered with visible excitement. + +"He must see you alone," added the maid. + +"Show him into the parlour," Pease directed. For a minute he was alone +with the jeweller; Fenno, forgetting the presence of the ladies, stared +after him and waited. Then Pease returned. + +"Can we have you with us, Mr. Fenno?" he asked. + +The three shut themselves up in the parlour. Judith, as she controlled +her deep interest, felt how often it was now her part to wait. But at +last the parlour door opened again, and voices were heard. It was Price +who spoke first. + +"You understand, Mr. Pease--my family----" + +"Yes, yes," Pease answered. + +"And my position, you see," the explanation continued. Judith saw the +jeweller, bowing and rubbing his hands together nervously. + +"Yes," repeated Pease shortly, opening the outer door for him. "At my +office, Mr. Price, the first thing in the morning." + +The door shut on the jeweller, and the two others came into the +dining-room. Pease looked glum, the older man scornful, and in +absorption they spoke before the others. + +"It is settled, then," Mr. Fenno said grimly. + +"I feel," responded Pease, "as if I had touched pitch." + +"You will get over it," was the cynical retort. "Now, then, to finish +all this up. Can you answer for Mather?" + +Pease shook his head. "He must answer for himself." + +"He shall, to-morrow," said Mr. Fenno. "What do you say to a meeting at +my office--all of us?" + +"You will need all," Pease answered. + +"We can settle everything," went on Fenno in his heavy voice. "We will +have it all in writing--I'll have a stenographer on hand." + +A stenographer! Judith started with eagerness, and Mr. Fenno turned to +her. "What do you say?" he asked. "Will you help us?" + +Her eyes sparkled. "Gladly!" she cried. + +"Good!" he said bluffly. "Nine o'clock at my office. Pease, have +everybody there, except Mather, at three; George at half-past." Pease +nodded, and Mr. Fenno smote him on the shoulder. "Come, cheer up, man! +Everything is clear at last." + +But Pease could not smile. "In such a way!" he grumbled. + +"Through no fault of ours." Then Mr. Fenno turned to Beth. "Beth, I +leave him to you." And next he looked on Judith with a sudden change of +manner, losing both his animation and his cynicism, and becoming very +grave. "To-morrow," he said, "you shall see what you have done." + +"I?" she asked in astonishment. "I, sir?" But he merely nodded, and +hastened away. + +And Pease was left to Beth. Reminded by Fenno's words that his three +days were nearly at an end, he forgot Price, forgot Mather, and +remembered only a letter which suddenly seemed to be burning a hole in +his pocket. Miss Cynthia and Judith left him alone in the parlour with +Beth, who for a while watched with amusement his nervous movements about +the room. She tried to make him talk, but failed. + +"Something is very much on your mind," she said at last. + +"Everything is!" he exclaimed in desperation, and dragged out the +letter. "Won't you--will you--read this, to-night?" He put the letter in +her hand, and moved toward the door. + +"Why do you go?" she asked innocently, opening the envelope. + +He had reached the threshold. "I will come again." + +But she poised the paper in her hand and looked at him reflectively. "I +don't think you'd better go," she said, and then added positively, "No, +I can't have you go. Please sit down in that chair." + +Obeying the nod of her determined little head, he dragged himself from +the door, sat down, and watched her miserably while she studied his +letter. She read it once, and sat with pursed lips; she read it again, +and knit her brows; she read it a third time and looked at him +thoughtfully. Then she read parts of it aloud. + +"I apprehend much unhappiness to you in your proposed occupation .... +Admirable qualities--tender nature.... Am emboldened to say what +otherwise I might not ... if you will give yourself into my care, I will +promise you that so far as it is possible for a man to avert them, you +will never know trouble or need----" + +She broke off, and looked at him. "This is a proposal of marriage, Mr. +Pease?" + +He shivered. "I meant it so." + +She put the letter in her lap with a regretful sigh. "I thought that +when a man asked a girl to marry him he always said something about--his +feelings for her." + +"But respect, admiration--" he was beginning eagerly. + +"Oh," she interrupted, "those go without saying. And I understand," she +glanced at the letter, "that you write this only because you wish to +relieve me of work. It is very good of you to sacrifice yourself." + +"It is no sacrifice!" he cried. + +She folded the note and thrust it into its envelope. "I never believed," +she said emphatically, "in proposals by letter." + +"I am sorry," faltered miserable Pease. + +"And what you say," continued Beth, holding the note out for him to +take, "is not my idea of the essentials of a proposal." + +He came and received the letter, but could answer nothing. + +"I think," Beth set forth reflectively, "that just two things are +necessary to a proposal: a statement and a question. A man need only +say: 'I love you. Will you marry me?' Just seven words--no more." She +folded her hands in her lap, looked at him innocently, and waited. + +Gazing at her, fascinated, slowly he grew red. An idea found lodgment, +worked deeper, penetrated to the springs of action. He crushed the +letter in his hand. "I love you!" he cried. "Will you marry me?" + +She dimpled into smiles. "Yes," said little Beth. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +WHICH IS IN SOME RESPECTS SATISFACTORY + + +Judith sat in Mr. Fenno's little office, while in the larger room the +magnates were slowly gathering. She was deeply interested in the result +of the coming meeting, a little anxious as well, on account of the last +words which Mr. Fenno had said to her. + +"Do you think George will accept?" he had asked. + +"Why should he not?" she returned, startled. + +"You see no reason?" were his words as he left her. + +She puzzled to find a reason until, in the outer office, Mr. Fenno's +deep voice began to address the little meeting. Before him sat, in two +groups, the financiers and the reform politicians, whose interests were +to be reconciled. They had, between them, the power to make a new +railway president and a new mayor, but never yet had the two groups of +men worked together. + +"We all know why we are here," Mr. Fenno began. "A holy crusade is our +object--or the protection of our interests." + +"It is not your interests that influence you," said one of the +reformers. "We are glad to see, Mr. Fenno, that you are moved by +righteous indignation. This recent tragedy--" But Mr. Fenno stopped him +by a sudden gesture. + +"My stenographer," and he emphasised the word, "my stenographer is +within hearing. If we require any other agreements than I have prepared, +she can copy them." He saw the glances which his friends exchanged at +the news of Judith's presence; moved by the sudden reference to her +misfortunes, his heavy voice trembled as he proceeded. "We all have +our--wrongs to avenge, and a good friend to place in his proper +position. Before Mr. Mather comes, suppose we arrive at an +understanding." + +"Suppose," rejoined the leader of the reformers, "Mr. Fenno makes a +statement of his expectations. It seems to me," he said when the +explanation was forthcoming, "that the Good Government League is +expected to give more than it receives." + +"It is more blessed----" quoted Mr. Fenno drily. + +"Can't we," put in Pease mildly, "give concessions on either side? I +think we need each other." + +"It is just this," said Mr. Fenno to the reformers: "Lend us your +candidate to straighten out our tangle, and we'll lend him back to +straighten yours." + +"Is it possible," was the doubtful question, "that a president of the +street-railroad can stand for mayor without raising suspicion of his +motives?" + +"Mather can," answered Pease promptly. + +"Certainly with less suspicion than Ellis arouses," supplemented Mr. +Fenno. "Come, will you lose a chance to defeat Ellis on his first line +of battle? He will be beaten all the easier on his second." + +"We are thinking of Mr. Mather's standing before the public," replied +the reformers. "He must resign from your presidency as soon as we +nominate him." + +"Very well." + +"That suits you?" + +"Yes, if you will release him from his promise to you now." + +"We will, if you will support him then." + +"Here is an agreement covering these points," said Mr. Fenno. "Shall we +put our names to this?" + +It was on a scene of paper-signing, then, that Mather entered. Some of +the gentlemen looked up and nodded to him; others--they were all his +seniors--continued passing the papers around the table. He paused with +his hand upon the door-knob. + +"Am I in the way?" he asked. + +"Everything is decided without you," answered Mr. Fenno. "We have merely +disposed of your time for the next eighteen months." + +Mather laughed, threw off his coat, and took a chair. They explained +matters to him; in her seclusion Judith listened long before she heard +him say a word. Then he began to ask questions, deep and far-reaching, +but every difficulty had been considered beforehand. + +"And my obligations to you, Mr. Pease?" he said once. "I was not to quit +the Electrolytic Company until the fall." + +"I have arranged all that," Pease replied. "The new Chebasset manager is +very satisfactory; we will promote him." + +"Well, what do you say?" asked Fenno, when every point had been covered. + +Mather sat thoughtful for a while. "I may understand," he asked at +length, "that your proposition amounts to approval of my former course +as president of the street-railway?" + +They assured him that it did. + +"I should pursue," he next said, "the same policy. In place of Mr. +Ellis's subway bill, which was this morning thrown out of the +legislature, I should at once introduce another." + +"Different in plan?" some one inquired. + +"Quite," Mather answered, smiling. "Having no real estate to condemn at +high prices, I have no desire for the privilege of eminent domain." + +"Have you any objection," they asked him, "to serving in these two +positions in such quick succession?" + +He smiled again. "Are you sure you can elect me to either?" + +"Suppose we can?" returned Mr. Fenno. + +"Supposing you can," began Mather--then stopped to think. + +"Well?" demanded Mr. Fenno after a moment's impatience. + +Mather roused himself. "Supposing that you can elect me," he said +seriously, "there is just one thing I wish to lay before you--a +statement of my personal feelings. We all know each other well, we have +the same interests, we know and say things which are not given to the +public. I wish to define my position exactly." He paused and looked at +the attentive faces. In her little office Judith asked herself with +sudden alarm: "Will he refuse?" + +"The personal element," he went on, "has recently entered into my +relations with Mr. Ellis. There are distresses which I and--friends of +mine, have suffered through him, by actions which make him morally, if +not legally, criminal. Some of you know that what I say is true." + +He looked at Pease, who nodded; Fenno did the same, but no one spoke. +Mather began again with increasing energy, yet slowly, struggling for an +exact statement of his position. "I have," he said, "and acknowledge +freely, reason for the bitterest personal dislike of Mr. Ellis. And for +that reason, considering the possibility of the proposals which you make +to me, it has sometimes seemed to me as if I ought to refuse you----" + +"You must consider----" cried Pease, half rising from his chair. But +Mather held up a hand to stay him. + +"And yet," he said, as Pease sank back again, "I recognise the +situation here. Long ago I expressed my disapproval of Mr. Ellis as a +public man, and opposed him before--certain circumstances arose. +Besides, I am the man (excuse me if I say it) that best can meet this +strike; and again, a successful fight must be made for mayor in the +fall. I believe that I can win there for you. So if it comes to a +question between my personal feelings and my duties as a citizen, +then--if you will believe my honesty in this confession, and in trusting +myself to oppose Mr. Ellis without vindictiveness--if you will believe +this, and will fight him with me not as a man but as a force, an evil +force, then I will sign this document with you." + +In her little room Judith found herself trembling in response to the +emotion which had vibrated in his voice; but in the larger office the +gentlemen rose from their chairs, crowded around Mather, and in +enthusiasm promised him their support. No one noticed the noise of the +opening of the outer door; it was a full minute before the first of them +perceived the figure which, attentive and sneering, watched them. It was +Ellis. + +He heard their words and knew their purposes, yet he had guessed +beforehand what they had gathered there to do. By one of those bold +strokes which had so often succeeded for him, he had come among them in +the attempt to conciliate a strong minority. He had expected to arouse +consternation, yet on perceiving him they looked at each other as if +welcoming his presence. Still ignorant of Price's treachery, he did not +understand the sign. + +"Twelve good men and true," he said, coming forward. "Is this an +inquest?" + +"A funeral," Mr. Fenno replied. "Some one whom we know is dead and cold. +Will you not pronounce the benediction?" + +"Ah, I am not qualified," Ellis said. "But learning that you were here +in great distress of mind, I came to see if I could not relieve you. I +hope you will excuse the interruption?" + +"Willingly," Mr. Fenno answered, with much cheerfulness. + +Then Ellis changed his tone; dropping the banter, he looked upon them +frankly. "Seriously, I understand that you are here to discuss what you +regard as mismanagement in the street-railway. I know I come without +invitation, yet I wish to make an offer. You have large interests in the +road, I dislike to exclude a minority from any voice in affairs, and so +I came to say that if you wish more representation on the next board of +directors----" + +"Then we shall have it?" interrupted Mr. Fenno. "Gentlemen, is not Mr. +Ellis very kind?" + +Ellis noted the sustained irony, and as those present murmured their +responses to the question he saw in them no conciliatory spirit. They +looked at him with that inquiring reserve which was not difficult to +meet in them singly, but which, thus directed at him by a group of the +blue-bloods, became irritatingly oppressive. And there was more in its +meaning than ever before. Suddenly he asked himself if these men could +be stronger than he had thought. He had been very busy all the morning +with messages to and from the capital in regard to his bill, and with +the strike. If anything had happened on exchange---- + +The serious voice of Pease began to speak. "I imagine that Mr. Ellis, in +studying the market reports to-day, failed to remark a transfer which +was recorded three minutes before the closing time. Otherwise he would +scarcely have come here." + +The inquiring glances of the others grew keener, pressing upon Ellis +almost physically as those present watched for the effect of Pease's +words. Standing alone against them, Ellis felt a sudden sense of +impending calamity, between his temples a pressure began, and in the +silence his voice was scarcely audible as in spite of himself he asked +hoarsely: "What do you mean?" + +"History," answered Pease slowly--never in his life before had he been +deliberately cruel--"history, Mr. Ellis, has taught some valuable +lessons, of which I should like to call two to your attention. One is +that some great men meet their Waterloo, the other that some little men +have their--Price!" + +Something flashed before Ellis's eyes, and in that flash he saw the +whole treachery. His head dropped, his eyes closed, and his jaw shut +convulsively. "Price! Price!" he hissed. + +Then in an instant he stood upright and faced them without flinching. +Though he saw the whole meaning of the news, though he realised the +power of the caste which, so long supine, at last had risen up against +him, even though he knew he faced two great defeats, he looked upon his +adversaries, and they saw courage in his glance. He turned to Mather. + +"Mather," said Ellis, "you think you've got me." + +He felt, as that same quiet glance looked down on him, the continual +irritation of it, the impossibility of ever attaining that superb +indifference. And then the answer: "For the present I have." Would they +never boast, these aristocrats--never threaten? First, despising him, +they had left him alone; even now when they turned on him they still +looked down on him. A torrent of words rushed to his lips, and yet, +feeling how powerless he was to impress those silent, attentive +spectators, he checked himself. + +"For the present!" he repeated, and turned to go. + +In his unfamiliar surroundings he mistook the door and opened one +leading into a little office where, facing him across a table, he +saw--who was that? Pale, intent, startled at his entrance, Judith +Blanchard rose and confronted him. For a moment he stared as at a +portent. + +Then quickly he closed the door and turned to the men at his back. Fenno +and Pease had started forward; with Mather, they were the nearest to +him. He eyed them one by one. "So," he said, pointing to the little +room, "_that_ is why you are all here!" + +They made no answer. "Because I wish to enter your homes, is it," he +asked, "that you combine against me? Because I nearly succeeded, I +frightened you?" + +Mather did not understand, Pease and Fenno had no reply to make, but +Ellis, feeling with pain that he had pronounced a truth against himself, +waited for no answer. "But wait!" he cried, stamping. "I have avoided +you, favoured you at times, but now I am against you in everything. I +will go out of my way to meet you. What you wish, I shall oppose; what +you build, I shall throw down; what you bring in, I shall throw out! For +everything you win, you must pay; I will weary you of fighting. I will +plan while you sleep, act while you rest, work while you play. Your +virtue shall be a load to you, and I will tire your vigilance!" + +He flung his phrases like bombs, to burst among his adversaries; casting +his prophecies in their faces, he startled his opponents from their +reserve. Then, turning, he rushed from the office, leaving them staring +at each other as if a whirlwind had passed. + + * * * * * + +One by one Mather's supporters left the office, each renewing his +promise of assistance, yet each subdued by the thoughts aroused by +Ellis's amazing words. For they recognised a challenge which would be +hard to meet--to be as persistent in their efforts as Ellis should be +with his, to meet his subtlety, to foresee his plans, to counteract his +influence, to expose his methods. And having businesses, having +families, loving repose and pleasure, only the reformers, those modern +Puritans, could promise the self-denial necessary to meet Ellis's +unceasing activities. + +Pease, Fenno, and Mather at last remained in the office. "Tremendous!" +sighed Pease, breaking a period of thought which the departure of Ellis +had inaugurated for him. + +"Tremendous!" repeated Fenno. + +"Are we equal to it?" asked Mather seriously. + +Mr. Fenno recovered his cynicism. "Sufficient to the day is its weevil," +he answered. "Grubs breed fast, but they can be killed. I am going +home." + +The three put on their coats. "We are going the same way, I suppose?" +Mather remarked. + +"Pease and I have something to talk over," replied Mr. Fenno. "Yes we +have, Pease! None of your confounded straightforwardness. You must give +us a start, George; five minutes' law, if you please. And I should like +you to wait," he pointed to the door of the inner office, "in that room. +Good-evening." + +"Good-evening," repeated Pease, and followed Mr. Fenno out. + +Thought Mather: "What under the sun----" He opened the door of the +little room. "Judith!" + +There she sat and looked at him; on her cheeks were traces of tears, but +her eyes were bright as they met his. He looked from her to the +uncovered typewriter, the pencils and note-book. "So it was you," he +said, "that Ellis saw before he turned upon us so?" + +She nodded, looking on him silently. + +"What is it?" he asked, coming a step nearer. "You look--Judith, are you +ill?" + +Suddenly she rose and held out her hands to him. "Oh, George," she +cried, "I am so glad for you!" + +"Oh," he said, relieved, "I was afraid that--Judith, you have been +crying. Is anything wrong? Was the work hard?" She shook her head. "Then +this meeting has distressed you?" + +Unashamed, she wiped her cheeks. "It is not that." + +"Come to the window," he said, for the early twilight was falling. But +when he studied her in the stronger light he saw nothing in her eyes +except a resolute cheerfulness; the unwonted pink in her cheeks might be +the reflection of the sunset glow. + +"Nothing is wrong with me," she said, and took her jacket from the hook +on the wall. "I suppose Mr. Fenno will not want me any more to-day, so I +may as well go home." Yet while Mather helped her to put on the jacket, +the knowledge that he was studying her set her nerves to trembling, and +it was by an effort that she controlled herself. + +"You are under some strain," he said with decision. "Did Ellis frighten +you?" + +She answered, "I have no fear of him." Drawing her gloves from her +pocket, she tried to put them on, but her hands trembled visibly. She +abandoned the attempt at concealment, and turned to him. + +"It's just that I'm glad for you, George, and proud of you, and--I've +been making an acknowledgment to myself, that's all. Now shall we go +home?" + +But he took her hand and kept her face toward the window. "I should like +to hear that acknowledgment, if I may?" + +Perhaps the colours deepened in the sky; at any rate, her cheeks grew +rosier as she looked away from him, out above the roofs. "If you wish +to know," she answered. + +"I wish it very much." + +She folded her hands before her tightly; they showed white against her +dress. "No one else will hear," she began uncertainly, "although every +one else heard your confession, George. I heard, and somehow you set me +thinking of the time we met in the Golf Club, long ago, last April." + +"Last April," he repeated, and added with meaning, "Long ago." + +Her voice grew stronger. "I will tell you everything," she said. "You +will see what a foolish girl I have been--how proud I was. We spoke then +of the world, and you warned me of it; you said that it was very big, +and strong, and merciless." + +"I remember," Mather said. + +"But I did not believe," Judith went on. "I thought that you--you had +just lost this presidency, George--I thought that you were cowed. And I +thought that I was braver than you, and stronger than you, and I +believed that I--I, George!--could conquer the world!" + +She made a little gesture of amazement at herself; gravely attentive, he +did not speak. Then she pointed down at her black dress, swept her hand +toward the typewriter, and exclaimed: "And this is the result! But I +know myself now, George, and I am glad you made me say this, for I want +to beg your pardon." + +"There is no need of that," he answered. + +"Then," she asked, "shall we go?" + +"Not yet," he replied. But he continued looking at her without saying +more, and to cover her embarrassment she said: + +"Just let me tell you first that Mr. Fenno has engaged me permanently, +and I feel that I have started a new life, George." + +She was attempting to be gay, a difficult task in the face of his +continued serious scrutiny; but to her relief he spoke. "A new life? +Why, that leads to an old subject, Judith. And what you have said makes +me hope that some day I may begin a new life, too." + +"Yours begins next week," she said, "with the stockholders' meeting." + +"It begins," he returned, "whenever you say the word." She turned +abruptly aside from him and looked out of the window; there could now be +no doubt whence came the colour that flooded her face and even touched +her ears with coral. He came close to her side. + +"See," he said, pointing out the window. "The sun is going down. Shall +it not rise again on a new life for us both?" + +"George," she answered, "how can I marry any one?" + +"You are thinking," he asked, "of your debt to Ellis?" + +She nodded. "How can I so burden you?" + +He laughed. "I can pay the money out of hand; I can earn it again in +three years. Jacob served seven years for Rachel: will you not let me +work a little while for you?" He tried to draw her to him. "Judith! +Judith!" + +Suddenly she turned and nestled to him. "Oh, hold me!" she sobbed. "Take +care of me always!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +CONTAINS ANOTHER PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE, AND SETTLES AN OLD SCORE + + +The whirling in Ellis's head was ceasing, the blind restlessness was +slowly leaving him. Yet still he walked up and down in his library, +unmindful of the call of hunger. For as his anger left him there grew in +its place the unassuagable yearning which he was coming to know too +well, and which he was ashamed that he could not master. For there had +never been a desire which he could not crush, or a passion which he +could not uproot, if they stood in the way of his purposes. In his +courtship of Judith he had taken care to suppress the feelings which, +apart from his appreciation of her material value, occasionally +threatened to interfere with his entirely deliberate progress in her +regard and her father's favour. But now, when all was over, the little +pains and longings which he had crushed down were constantly rising, and +he who had been so self-sufficing was now lonely, he who had never +paused to regret was often bowed with despair. And Judith, Judith was in +his mind constantly; it was she who broke his sleep, spoiled his work, +and had brought about his defeat. His rage at the disaster was not so +deep as the disturbance which the sight of her had caused in him. But +even that he would, he must, repress--or where would she, that pale +girl, bring him? + +Three times in the past month had this confusion of the faculties come +upon him. Wherever lay the cause, the result was too costly to be +permitted to continue. He recognised the fits now; the next one that +came he would meet at its beginning--and this one should end at once. +What was he thinking of? His men must have the news already; they had +come to the house and he had sent them away, playing the fool here by +himself. Well, he would go out and find them now, hearten them, and +prepare at once for the long fight with which he had threatened his +enemies. Ah--and he ground his teeth with anticipation--he meant all +that he had said. + +His faculties collected at last, he turned to the door, and met the +cautious face of his butler. + +"A lady, sir," said the man, prepared to be damned from the room. He was +relieved when his master said: "Show her in." + +But the lady, having no intention of being turned away, was close +behind. "Very wise of you," she said, entering even as he spoke. +"Because I meant to come in anyway, Stephen." + +"Oh, it's you, Lydia?" asked Ellis, darting a look before which the +butler retired. "What brings you?" + +Mrs. Harmon unwound the long scarf from her neck, and stood before him +smiling. "An errand of mercy, to comfort the broken-hearted. Come, don't +scowl." She unbuckled her cloak, swung it from her shoulders, and tossed +it on a chair. "There, how do you like me?" + +In spite of his mood he caught his breath. For she was dressed in black +and adorned with pearls; the dress was cut so low that it more than +suggested the charms which it concealed. And those which it revealed +were perfect: the full and rosy throat, the shoulders, and the arms. The +pearls set off the blackness of the dress, and took to themselves the +warmth of her skin. For a moment Ellis looked at her with pleasure, then +he recovered himself. + +"Full mourning, I see," he grunted. + +"Don't be disagreeable," she returned. "It's my best and newest. Come, +say I never looked so well before." + +"You never did," he agreed. Always Lydia had dressed, he reflected, as +much as she dared; now that she was free she evidently intended to go +the limit. "It certainly becomes you," he added. + +"I may sit down?" she asked. "Thanks. Now, Stephen, I want to talk +business." + +"Talk," he said, sitting before her. "It's about----" + +"This afternoon's news. Oh, yes," as he turned his eyes away, "it's got +to me already. Some of your men, not getting in here, came to see me. +How did it happen, Stephen?" + +"Price," he answered between his teeth. "By God, I----" The curse and +the threat died away, and he sat staring at the carpet. + +"Oh," she cried, "and I warned you of him!" + +"Well," he growled, "it's over. I'm not looking back." + +She leaned toward him earnestly. "Are you looking ahead? You're not +giving up, are you?" + +"No!" he cried scornfully. + +"Good!" she responded, relieved, but then she asked: "What has got into +you? Three times you've shut yourself up so." + +"Never again," he assured her. "It's all over, Lydia. I shall never +spend any more time--regretting." + +"I thought so," she said. "It's Judith?" + +"Yes," he acknowledged savagely. "I've taken a little time to be a fool. +Now I'm over it." + +"If you are," she replied, "I'll tell you something." + +"What next?" he asked, his face darkening. + +"I went by the Peases' at half-past five," she began slowly, watching +him. "I was on the other side of the street. You know it's almost dark +at that hour?" + +"Oh, tell me!" he commanded. + +"I saw two people at the door," she went on more rapidly. "They were +George Mather and Judith. They opened the door, the hall was lighted +inside, and I saw their figures against the light. As they went in--it +wasn't much, but he put his arm around her." + +Ellis started abruptly from his chair, went to his desk, and stood +looking down at it; his back was to her. "I thought you said you were +over it," she remarked. + +As abruptly he returned and took his seat. "I expected that." + +"Well," she asked, "and now what?" + +"Work," he replied. "I can always have plenty of that." + +"Work?" she repeated. "Like the man in the novel who works to forget?" +She pointed her finger at him, teasingly, and laughed. "Stephen, I do +believe you were in love with her!" + +He scowled his contempt at the weak phrase. In love with her! But then +its central word struck home with the force of a new idea, and +involuntarily he rose again from his seat. Her laughter stopped; her +gayety changed to alarm, for he was looking at her, but he saw nothing. + +"What is it?" she asked uneasily. + +Love? Love! He understood. "I loved her!" he said, and then added +quietly, "I love her!" + +She bridled and looked down. "I too have been through that, Stephen." + +But he stood staring before him. He loved!--and all was clear to him. +Thence came those pains, those harsh distresses, those unappeasable +longings; thence the distraction which caused his failure. Judith had +set this poison in his blood. He laughed mirthlessly. How the girl had +revenged herself! + +But he loved! Relief came to him as he realised that no ordinary +weakness, but the higher lot of man (so he had heard it called) was +overpowering him. He had never been fond of any one in his life, and yet +he loved! Love! That was a passion he had never expected to meet; there +was no shame in falling before it--and he felt in his pain even a fierce +delight. He loved the girl! + +And now he knew he would never be the same man again--never could work +so free of soul, never forget those high ideals of hers, nor be as +mindless of the consequences of his acts. He smiled with scorn of +himself as he saw how the tables had been turned on him. Meaning to win +the girl, to buy her, he had instead roused a conscience, and learned +that there was purity in the world. This was what they meant, then, +those hitherto inexplicable fits of his: that a new nature was trying to +assert itself, that a terrible discontent was aroused, that his whole +life had changed, and that within an unsuspected recess of his nature +there was this open wound, unhealing, draining his strength. + +Where then was his boast to his enemies, of what worth his threats? +Could he ever fight again as before, ever manage and plan? Again he +laughed scornfully. + +"You needn't laugh," complained Mrs. Harmon. "I do understand it all." + +"I wasn't laughing at you," he answered. "--Well, forget all this, +Lydia. What is it I can do for you?" + +"Will you forget all this?" she asked with meaning. "Then look ahead +with me for a while, Stephen. You won't be president." + +"And I've lost my mayor," he added. + +"Will it mean so much?" she asked, disappointed. + +"It's Mather's year," he said decidedly. "Everything's going his way; it +happens so every once in a while in New York. Then Tammany lays low; so +shall I. But in the end they come in again; so with me." + +"Then, planning for the future," she began, but hesitated, stopped, and +started differently. "I've suffered a good deal, in this past year. We +haven't got anything we wished, either you or I." + +He wondered what brought her. "That is true," he said, not intending to +commit himself. + +"I've suffered from Judith as well as you," complained Mrs. Harmon. "She +insulted me the other day; she isn't what I thought her, Stephen." + +"Nor what I thought," he said, waiting. + +"And the others," she went on, "turn me down, too. You would suppose +that my position, and my loss--but they are colder to me than ever." She +looked down. + +"Look here," he said, "it isn't like you to be so mild, Lydia. Aren't +you just a little mad, underneath?" + +"Oh, I hate them all!" she burst out. She looked at him with flashing +eyes, then asked directly, "Do you, Stephen?" + +"Well, suppose I do; what then?" he asked, wishing her to show her hand. + +"I will leave them," said Mrs. Harmon with vigour. "So will you. And we +will leave them together." + +"It won't be a formal leavetaking," he said, not understanding. "We just +leave them, don't we?" + +"Oh," she replied, "I can't bear just to drop out. I want them to +understand that I've no more use for them." She looked to see if he +comprehended, but he remained silent and his face showed nothing. "I've +lost my husband," she said. + +"Yes," he said, encouraging. "Go on." + +She finished with an effort. "And you wanted--a wife?" + +"Good God!" he said slowly. + +"I could be of use to you," she explained quickly. "More than Judith. +See how your men come to me for advice?" + +"Your husband is but two months in his grave," he cried. "And you wear +Wayne's jewels at your throat!" + +"But I don't mean to do it at once," she said, aggrieved. "For a few +months it could be--understood." + +"I see," he said, mastering his disgust. "Anything more, Lydia?" + +"And I should like to leave something to remember us by," she went on, +taking confidence. "So that they shall feel that we aren't just beaten." + +"How will you do it?" + +"They are like a big family," she said. "Hurt one, and the others are +against you. I think they combined against you out of revenge +for--Judith, as much as to help Mather." + +"Perhaps," he commented. + +"They think a great deal of those two," she proceeded. "If we could hurt +them we could anger all the others." + +"How do you propose to do it?" he inquired. + +"You have that note of hers," she said. "You said she could pay at her +leisure, but----" she eyed him keenly. "Stephen, I never believed that." + +"You are quite right," he acknowledged. "I could come down on her +to-morrow for the money." He looked at Mrs. Harmon impassively, but she +was satisfied. + +"Then do!" she urged, rising. + +"I see," he said. "If her friends have to make up the money for her it +puts her in the position of a beggar, makes her ridiculous, doesn't it?" + +"More than that," she said eagerly. "If people know she has signed a +note to you, they will think, don't you see, and say things." + +His brows contracted, and from under them his eyes began to glow, +characteristically. "What will they say?" he asked. + +"Oh, there will be a great to-do, a quiet scandal, and under cover of it +you--we retire with credit." + +"You have thought it all out very well," he said. + +"Haven't I?" she asked complacently. + +"And I suppose," he said, "that I might as well begin to-morrow. In +fact, I could send some kind of a summons to Miss Blanchard to-night." + +"Any day, only soon," she agreed. "Before the stockholders' meeting will +be best." + +"Now is the time," he said. He went to his desk, stooped over it, and +wrote rapidly. Then he brought her the paper. "Will that do?" He had +merely written: "With the best wishes of Stephen F. Ellis." + +"Why," she began doubtfully. "Oh, I see; you mean to be sarcastic. And +what will you inclose with this?" + +He took the note from his pocket-book and showed it to her. "For fifteen +thousand dollars, you see. And it is in legal form." + +"Yes," she said with satisfaction. "You'll just remind her that you have +it, and demand immediate payment?" + +"I will do this," he replied. He tore the note across, laid the pieces +together, and tore them again, and once again. Then he folded them with +the paper on which he had written. + +"Stephen!" she cried. + +He took an envelope from the desk and put the papers in. "And I send it +all to her. Now perhaps you understand?" + +His tone was suddenly fierce, and as he approached her she backed away. +"Why----" she said, astonished. + +"That was a good idea of yours," he sneered, standing close to her. +"Between us, we could smirch her name. You to do the talking, of +course." He snatched her wrist and pushed his face close to hers. "Have +you told any one I held that note?" + +"No!" she answered, frightened. + +"The truth!" he insisted. + +"No one; no one!" she replied. + +He cast her hand away, and stepped back. "If you tell any one, with that +damned tongue of yours, Lydia, I'll have your blood!" + +"I will never tell!" she protested, thoroughly cowed. + +He turned away from her. "Let them tell if they wish," he said over his +shoulder. "They won't, to save the Colonel's reputation; but if they +do--you keep quiet. Fool I was to tell you!" He went to the desk again, +and took up his pen to address the envelope. "Good-night, Lydia," he +said absently. + +"But, Stephen!" she began to plead. + +"Don't provoke me," he interrupted, pausing with his pen poised. "Don't +provoke me, Lydia." As she did not move, he turned on her. "Confound it, +go!" + +She dared not say a word to anger him further; she feared even to look +her disgust, lest she should cut herself off from him forever. Taking +her cloak and scarf, she went to the door; she paused there for an +instant, only to see with fury that he had turned again to the desk and +was writing. White with rage at her failure, she went away. + +But Ellis was at peace with himself, and looked the future in the face. +He loved, he would suffer, he did not even wish to forget. Deliberately +he left the house and walked to the Pease homestead. He rang the bell, +gave to the servant his missive for Judith, and for a full minute after +the door closed he stood on the sidewalk, looking at the lighted windows +of the house. But then, shivering, he drew his coat closely around him, +and hurried away from that abode of happiness. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Original spelling has been retained. + +Original hyphenation has been retained, even where inconsistent; e.g. +both "golf-club" and "golf club" occur. + +The following printer's errors have been corrected: + +Page 35, "kuckle" changed to "knuckle". (Yet she hated to knuckle to +them;) + +Page 36, "roue" changed to "roué" (Girls more or less innocent danced +with men more or less roué;) + +Page 48, missing period inserted ("But," he explained, "it must have +permanently bettered and improved you.") + +Page 92, quotation marks matched ("Yes, sir.' changed to "Yes, sir.") + +Page 99, missing period inserted (No, I will try to write without +practising.) + +Page 100, "word" changed to "work" (but when his day's work was over) + +Page 172, it's corrected to its (All its beauty conceals a threat) and +(its only purpose) + +Page 181, extra quotation mark removed from middle of quote. ("This +lunch was better than I expected. We must meet here again, some day.") + +Page 252, quotation marks matched ("I thought you loved me?' changed to +"I thought you loved me?") + +Page 258, quotation marks matched ('We have no property ... to him?" +changed to "We have no property ... to him?") + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41890 *** |