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diff --git a/42772-0.txt b/42772-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b835dd0 --- /dev/null +++ b/42772-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8681 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42772 *** + +IT PAYS TO SMILE + * * * * * +NINA WILCOX PUTNAM + + + + +It Pays to Smile + + * * * * * + +By NINA WILCOX PUTNAM + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + + * * * * * + +A. L. BURT COMPANY +Publishers +New York + +Published by arrangement with George H. Doran Company + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1920, +BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY +COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY + + + + +TO +GEORGE HORACE LORIMER +THE ALL-AMERICAN EDITOR + + + + +IT PAYS TO SMILE + + + + +I + + +Since the very beginnings of Boston my people, who were, as every school +child knows, an integral part of the original colony, had the +commendable habit of recording all those events which bore in a manner +either psychological or physiological upon their households or upon the +affairs of state, in which they were ever active. In truth I make small +doubt that but for the Talbots there would have been no Boston, or at +least certainly no information regarding it recorded in intelligible +English. And though in my girlhood I conceived my ancestors' style to be +a trifle jejune and was myself fond of lighter and more frivolous works +such as those of Emerson and Walter Pater, a weakness to which I confess +with all due humility, I nevertheless realize the importance of the +writings of my family and the desirability of maintaining our tradition +of making an accurate record of such pertinent events as come under my +immediate observation in order that future generations in their search +after truth may have a reliable monument to depend upon. And this +resolve has been greatly strengthened by perusing the ill-written, +outrageously sensational and ill-considered newspaper versions of the +affair which has so recently brought our historic name into the public +notice under such distressingly vulgar and conspicuous circumstances. + +Of course Talbot, the chauffeur, has enjoyed it all immensely, thereby +to my mind proving once and for all that he has no genuine claim upon +the name, and that his pretension of belonging to a younger Western +branch is, as I have consistently maintained, absolutely fallacious. But +I show weakness by digression. Permit me to recount the tale from its +true beginning, which was, of course, my unfortunate answering of that +advertisement in the _Transcript_. + +When the wretched thing came to my attention Euphemia and I were seated +at the supper table; she at the head and I at the side--a custom she has +insisted upon since our parents' death, her position being that due to +the elder sister and the rightful head of the family; and the table has +continued to be set thus, though at the time of my rebellion I was fifty +and she sixty, and it was absurd that she should maintain a formality +instituted when she was twenty and I was ten. I had often disputed with +her about it, but to no avail. + +"My dear Freedom," she would rebuke me, "I am the elder and I know what +is best for youth. So long as I am here this household shall be +conducted properly!" + +And nothing served to move her from that point of view. + +Well, upon the portentous evening when my rebellion began we were +sitting as usual, promptly at five-thirty, in the cheerful if shabby +dining room of our vast and dilapidated old mansion on Chestnut Street, +with the sun shining brightly upon the neatly darned table linen, the +zinnias from the garden and the few remaining bits of family silver. It +can hardly be said that Old Sol spread his refulgent glory upon very +much to eat, for he did not, there being nothing but a pot of tea, four +very thin half slices of toast and the evening _Transcript_. According +to her custom Euphemia looked at this first herself. + +"I perceive that the Republican Party is indignant with the +Administration," she informed me. "And that a mail service is to be +established by air from New York. How shocking! The postman will very +likely drop things from the aëroplane! I don't approve of the Government +taking such risks with other people's letters. It is positively +unseemly. Letters should be brought to one's door by a person with a +blue coat and a whistle." + +"They probably will be," I ventured. "The radical changes in life only +affect the big things at first." + +Euphemia gave me a sharp look. + +"Don't think too much, Freedom," she admonished me. "It is unfeminine in +a younger person. And take care--your jabot almost went into your tea!" + +I set down the cup, which I had in truth been holding in such a way that +my lace cravat was endangered. I am occasionally rather given to +daydreaming; a reprehensibly slack mental habit of which I have been +unable wholly to break myself, and I was grateful for the merited +reproof. Well, I set down the cup and put out my hand for the newspaper, +which Euphemia, having glanced at the headlines, had finished reading. +Again she rebuked me, this time with a gesture, and rang the bell. I +subsided until the fourteen-year-old colored girl who constituted our +domestic staff made her appearance, enveloped in a white apron which +gave her a curiously grown-up appearance when viewed from the front, as +it had been intended for an adult and reached the floor, but which, seen +from the rear, revealed her immaturity. + +"Galadia, hand this paper to Miss Freedom!" said Euphemia with dignity. +And when the child had complied: "That is all; you may go!" + +And Galadia made her exit, slamming the kitchen door behind which her +voice immediately rose in song: + + _Kiss yo' Honey-Baby-Doll!_ + +"Good heavens!" exclaimed my sister, rising in wrath. "What ever will +become of that child?" + +And gathering her woolen shawl about her she swept into the kitchen, her +cap strings tremulous with indignation, and I was left to a swift and +guilty perusal of the newspaper. I use the adjective "guilty" because I +knew how thoroughly Euphemia would disapprove of the section to which I, +for the seventh time in as many days, turned. It was the advertising +page that I selected, and my eagerness was resultant from a desperate +resolution which I had secretly made. + +I was going to work. + +For the first time in the history of my ancient and honorable family, a +female Talbot was seeking remunerative employment. Terrible as I knew +this act to be I was unalterably resolved upon it, and was keeping my +secret from my dear sister only until armed with actual employment, for +I was but too well aware of what her attitude would be, and determined +to waste no time in disputing a theoretical situation, but once +strengthened by actually being engaged in some capacity I would face her +wrath. Besides, were she to learn prematurely of my plan, she was quite +capable of attempting to lock me in my chamber as a preventive measure. + +But though so long recreant in my decision to take what after mature +consideration I deemed the right and proper course, it was not for +nothing that my parents, despairing of ever being blessed with a son, +had bestowed upon me the family name of Freedom. There had always been a +male Freedom Talbot, and his tradition had ever justified his name; and +at length I was determined to live up to it. + +My desperate decision had, of course, a pecuniary basis. We were poor; +there is no denying it. Our parents had left us the house and an income +of seven hundred a year, which for two maidens who would presumably +marry was not insufficient in the day of our inheritance. But no mate +ever having chosen either of us, or been chosen by either of us, and the +cost of living having risen so inexplicably, our situation had gradually +become greatly altered. Euphemia steadily opposed the idea of any +remunerative work, no matter how genteel, and so far I had unwillingly +submitted, the more readily because we were utterly without training or +equipment. But when in a single week the tax on the house was increased +simultaneously with the price of butter, my resolve took shape, and my +perusal of the advertising sheets began. + +On this fateful evening the "Wanted" column at first appeared to be more +than usually devoid of possibilities. There were the usual "Perfect +36-38" for Jewish concerns that apparently manufactured clothing. +Shopgirls were needed, and houseworkers, but I could not bring myself to +either of these occupations except as a last resort. Typists were also +desired, and bookkeepers; but I feared my lack of practical education +would count against me. A traveling saleslady was wanted, and a book +agent; and as I was pondering the possibilities set forth by these my +eye fell upon the fateful notice which led to all my strange adventures. +It was printed rather larger than its fellows, and set forth an +extraordinary request. + + WANTED: An indigent old lady of impeccable social standing, to act + as chaperon to a common young girl who is motherless. Must be + dowdy, incompetent, financially embarrassed, snobbish, and never + employed before. No pretenders will be considered. Excellent salary + and a chance to see the world. Apply Apartment --, Plaza Hotel, + between five and seven P.M. + +Conceive, if you can, the astonishment with which I perused this +advertisement. Had I inserted it myself, stating the sort of position +for which I was best fitted, I could in all candor have stated my case +and situation no better. Indeed I was obliged to reread the notice +several times before feeling able to credit my own senses. Then I tore +the corner containing it from the paper, hastily concealed it in my +reticule, refolded the remaining sheets in such a fashion as to conceal +the damage done, and laid it, as was our custom, upon the files under +the china closet. + +Then with quickly beating heart I got the porcelain tub and suds, spread +the oilcloth upon the side table and completed my daily task of washing +and putting away the tea china with fingers which trembled so that they +were scarcely equal to the task. + +Then, when Galadia, who refused to dwell with us continuously, had been +sent home to her parents, and Euphemia had settled herself to her +crochet work in the drawing-room I stole upstairs, upon the pretext of a +slight headache, and in the privacy of my chamber again perused that +amazing scrap of paper. + +Could it by chance be the expression of some dull person's humor? Was it +possibly a snare of some kind? But no, the last seemed improbable +inasmuch as the requirements were a direct negation of anything which +would appear desirable to the kidnapper or any such vicious character. +Moreover, the address given inspired a degree of confidence, because, +though I was under the impression that all expensive and fashionable +hotels must be--well, not suitable for the conservative female element +of our dear city to frequent, still there could be no real danger +incident to a visit to them by a person like myself, who sought no evil. +Considering this point I looked at my dear father's watch, which I +always carried--Euphemia very properly having pre-empted mother's--and +discovered that the hour was but six. + +Then my resolution took firm hold upon me, and without more ado I got +out my bonnet and pinned it on with resolute fingers, found my best silk +gloves, and taking my dolman and reticule crept softly down the stairs, +excitement high within my breast. + +At the door of the once-elegant, now shabby reception room I paused to +peek at Euphemia's unconscious back which was just visible, very stiff +and correct, in the lonely drawing-room beyond. Fortunately she did not +hear me, and having thus, as it were, silently saluted her, and feeling +uncommonly like an errant daughter about to consummate an elopement, I +shut the front door behind me with care and stepped forth into the +roseate late afternoon sunlight and my desperate adventure. + +I find it difficult indeed to express the mixture of trepidation and +elation which possessed me upon this occasion. The very streets, +familiar since childhood, took on a strange aspect, and the walk to the +hotel was magically shortened by my excitement, though on its threshold +I hesitated and might have turned back at the last moment had it not +been for the inquiring gaze of the large uniformed colored person who +stood at the doorway. Fearful that he would address me if I delayed +longer I gathered courage anew and entered through a most alarming +revolving door. + +I had never been in this hotel before, and neither had any of the ladies +of my acquaintance, with the exception of Annie Tresdale, whose cousin +from Chicago stayed there overnight and had Annie to luncheon; and she, +I was aware, had felt the most severe criticism of the place owing to +the fact that a female had smoked a cigarette in the dining room. I +afterward ascertained that it was Annie's cousin who had done this, and +so, of course, we never discussed the subject further. But I will +confess the place bore no aspect of viciousness beyond a good many +electric fixtures, and the young man at the desk was exceedingly polite +and helpful, considering the number of persons who were simultaneously +trying to engage his attention. + +"Apartment B? Oh, yes; for Mr. Pegg!" said he in reply to my query. +"There is one lady up there already! Boy! Show madam up to Mr. Pegg!" + +And at this a youth appareled as a page took me in charge and led me to +what I at once perceived to be an elevator. At the door I balked. + +"I prefer to walk if there are stairs," said I. + +The page looked as if he thought I had gone suddenly mad. + +"It's six flights!" he said. And so I, realizing that the building was +indeed a tall one, followed him into the trap, in which were several +other persons, who appeared to me to be uncannily nonchalant. +Maintaining as dignified an exterior as I could I concealed my alarm at +what was a wholly novel experience to me, and was presently disgorged, +quite unharmed, upon what the page assured me was the seventh story. He +then preceded me down an interminable blue-carpeted hallway and paused +before a door upon which he tapped. + +After a moment it was opened by a manservant of extremely respectable +appearance. + +"Mr. Pegg?" I inquired. + +"From the advertisement, madam?" said the servant. + +"Yes," I replied with dignity. + +"Is that all?" said the page. + +"That is all, thank you, little boy," I replied, at which the child +departed with an air of disappointment. + +And then the manservant ushered me into a magnificent anteroom done in +gold paneling and mauve velvet upholstery, most beautiful and in the +best of taste. I subsequently ascertained that I was in the royal suite +of the hotel, and that it occupied the entire floor. + +"Will you be seated, please?" said the servant, handing me to a golden +armchair. I dropped his arm, which I had taken upon entering, as is the +custom in my circle where a butler is still maintained. "Mr. Pegg is +interviewing another applicant in the drawing-room, but I believe he +will shortly be at liberty." And with that he left me. + +I took a tentative perch on the very edge of my magnificent seat, +clasping my reticule firmly and feeling as though I had suddenly +discovered myself in the midst of a dream which refused the +half-conscious mind the acknowledgment of unreality. It was +extraordinary, really, and I wondered who and what the unseen applicant +might be, and if the position might not already be filled. I almost +hoped it was, so overpowering was the room in which I sat, and yet it +was patent that the advertiser must truly be a person of means and that +the emolument would be considerable--certainly not less than four or +five hundred a year--and I trembled at the thought that perhaps fortune +had already dedicated this to another. + +But before many moments had passed the door into the adjoining room was +opened and two persons entered--a man and a woman--the later +unquestionably my predecessor. + +She was a vulgar overdressed person much younger than myself, and at the +moment her attractions were not enhanced by a fit of anger. Her language +was wholly unintelligible to me. + +"Of course I thought you was a motion-picture bird!" she snapped, "and +character parts is my middle name. Me a governess? My Lord--not for a +gift!" + +"Don't trouble yourself; nobody'll try and force it on you," said the +man. "Good day, ma'am!" + +And he opened the outer door for her impudent departure. Upon closing it +after her he caught sight of me and stared. I confess I returned the +favor quite involuntarily, for Mr. Pegg was certainly the most +extraordinary man I had ever seen. He was about six feet four inches in +height, and so heavy that at first his tallness was hardly remarkable. +He was perhaps sixty years of age, though magnificently preserved, and +his ruddy clean-shaven face had a jaw which my dear father would have +described as "iron." His expensive clothing was worn with a negligent +air, and his voice was like the roar of a lion. + +"Jumping--er--grasshoppers!" he exclaimed, his eyes riveted upon me. +"Are you made up for the part?" + +At once I rose to my feet in proper indignation. + +"I never paint!" I exclaimed angrily. "My color is natural, though +perhaps unusual at my age. If it is your intention to get gentlewomen +here merely to insult them, Mr. Pegg, I have no further occasion for +remaining!" + +To my surprise Mr. Pegg merely chuckled at this, and then assuming a +more composed manner held open the door to the inner room, making a deep +and courteous bow as he did so. + +"My dear madam--a thousand pardons!" he said. "You seemed too real to be +anything genuine. Please walk in." + +And so, wondering if perhaps the poor man was insane, and far from +feeling at ease, I complied, entering an enormous drawing-room and +accepting the seat on the far side of an incongruously littered +table--filled with papers, notes, and so on, and all the paraphernalia +of a business man's desk. Mr. Pegg took the armchair behind it and +settled to a critical inspection of me, though he did not look at me +continuously. I faced the sunset, but as my face was clean, and as at my +age I had got past attempting concealment of my crow's feet, I was quite +composed--outwardly. Yet I could feel that his glance rested upon my +hat, my hair, my silk gloves, my walkrite boots, even--though they were +discreetly covered by my dress. And all at once my terror of him +diminished. It would be difficult to say just why, but very possibly it +was the tone of his voice when he spoke again, for though his diction +was shockingly incorrect there was a certain kindliness, a gentleness to +it which was unmistakably genuine. + +"You ain't a Winthrop by any chance, are you, madam?" he asked. + +"No my name is Talbot," said I. + +And then as he appeared a trifle disappointed I elaborated, for his +ignorance was patent. "My ancestors came over a generation before +Winthrop," I said gently, for, of course, I would not like that family +to hear that I had in any way classified them as _nouveaux_. + +"Ah!" said Mr. Pegg, brightening again. "That's fine! That's fine, Madam +Talbot--a real aristocrat!" + +"I am Miss Talbot," I again corrected him. + +"Well," said he doubtfully, "of course, that's not quite as desirable as +a widow would be, is it now? To take care of my daughter, I mean. Still, +in some ways an old maid is better. More particular, you'd be. And +what's more, you are born blue-blooded, not just married to it!" + +"Mr. Pegg," said I, "will you not set forth the exact nature of the +occupation you propose for me?" + +"That's it!" he cried, thumping the table. "That's the stuff exactly. + +"I beg pardon?" said I. + +"Talk like that!" he shouted. "And learn her to talk the same--give her +some class!" + +"You expect me to teach your daughter grammar?" + +"Teach her everything!" said the giant. "Polish her up; finish her +off--but not by instructin' her. My Lord, no! She'd never stand for it! +Just stick round--be with her--let a little Boston rub off on her, and +set her right when she makes a break." + +"A sort of governess?" I ventured. + +"Companion, chaperon--you get me!" said her parent, and leaned back in +his chair beaming satisfaction. "Now look-a-here, Miss Talbot, I'll put +the matter straight to you. I am a rich man, but I'm a roughneck and I +know it. There is a few things I ain't been able to buy for myself, and +refinement is one of them. But I calculate to pry off a little for my +Peaches--no culls on this family tree if a little pruning and grafting +can turn it into a perfect Seedless Apperson. Does that mean anything to +you?" + +I reflected a moment, and though the man's actual terminology was +unintelligible to me the sense of his imagery was somehow perfectly +clear. + +"You speak of her as a young tree!" said I. "I think I do understand. +'Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined.'" + +This plainly interested him. + +"True!" he exclaimed. "Just that. Well, as I was saying, I've just +cleaned up the biggest deal the California fruit growers ever heard +of--and I started out as a picker with a bunch of Hindus, getting four +cents a lug for oranges! To-day I've got--well, it don't matter how many +millions; and a daughter that's never been let off the home ranch until +three weeks ago. Her mother died when she come. Well--never mind that +either! And now I've made my haul and I've got a little time to give +her--and to living generally. I'm a practical man, Miss Talbot. When I +commence grafting a new orchard of Golden Americans on a twenty-acre +stretch of old wild stock I cut, splice and bind it right, and I don't +hurry myself until I get the grafts I want and the proper season and +everything. And the same with the culture of my American Beauty. I've +left her grow strong and wild for twenty years now, and she's about +ready for cultivation. And I feel you are the right one for the job. +You are hired!" + +"But my dear Mr. Pegg!" I protested. "You really are not in the least +informed as to my qualifications." + +"You don't imagine that a feller that's been picking men for thirty +years--Dagos, Greasers, Japs, Hindus, everything that could strip fruit +or thought they could--needs much wising up about a mere female woman, +do you?" he demanded. "I advertised for exactly what I wanted, and you +are it! You are hired." + +"But, Mr. Pegg----" I vainly endeavored to interrupt. + +"Your salary will be five thousand dollars a year, your keep and all +expenses," he went on as if I had not spoken. "You will commence work +to-morrow morning at nine o'clock and the next day we sail for Italy and +a course in how to be refined though American." + +I assure you that my senses staggered beneath the force of his +announcement. Five thousand dollars a year! Italy! Incredible! Like a +dream come true. + +"My Eastern bank is the Guarantee," said he. "Look me up if you like. I +have the money and a honest name. Nobody in the world's got a thing on +me. And as the notice is kind of short, and you might like a little +advance to buy some knitting or something to take with you, here is a +hundred to bind the bargain. And now good night, Miss Talbot--I got the +Eastern Apple Growers coming in ten minutes. See you to-morrow at nine! +Good night, good night!" + +And almost immediately I found myself edged into the anteroom, where +already several persons--fruit venders, I presume--were in waiting. + +"But, Mr. Pegg," I managed to ejaculate, "your daughter may not like me. +Am I not to meet her before I leave?" + +"I should say not!" exclaimed her father. "She doesn't know anything +about this. I am leaving the breaking of the whole idea to you! Good +night!" + +With these alarming words the door shut behind me; and presently, I +scarcely knew how, I found myself once more upon the solid reality of +the Boston street, with only the hundred-dollar bill as evidence that +the whole experience had been other than a dream. + + + + +II + + +As my dear father used to say, it is personality rather than character +which holds the world's attention, and this was undoubtedly the case +with Miss Alicia Pegg, or Peaches, as she was termed by her surviving +parent. It is the unqualified fact that even at this tumultuous period +of my life it is her personality rather than my esteemed sister's +character which overshadows my memory. And although without doubt +Euphemia's impeccable virtue and righteousness should have won the +struggle I find myself impatient of her just reproaches, her critical +indignation, and even of her final cold and terrible dismissal of me +from the house of my fathers as meet punishment for the crime of earning +five thousand dollars per annum; a feat which she somehow contrived to +make appear in the light of an outrage unworthy of serious discussion, +and rendering me unfit to remain longer under the paternal roof. + +True, I had already dismissed myself before she did so, the fact being +implicit in my agreement with Mr. Pegg. And as for my father's roof, +there had been rather more than a likelihood of its being permanently +removed from over both our heads had we attempted to remain beneath it +in idleness much longer. But Euphemia was a true woman--far more +genuinely feminine than I shall ever be, and her heart ever overruled +her reason. In fact she had often publicly maintained that it was +unwomanly to reason very much. Secondly, I had for weeks anticipated +that the announcement of my intention of going to work would result in a +terrible scene, and so was somewhat prepared for the deluge, though I +had hoped it would be less violent than it proved. + +I will draw a veil over this section of my narrative, because it +was purely a family affair, of no possible interest to the public, +and I do not believe that sister truly meant all that she said. +Suffice to recount that I left her seventy-five dollars with the +promise--unaccepted--to send more shortly, and departed at eight-thirty +the following morning, taking a few belongings in the small trunk which +I had had at school when a girl, and receiving a tearful farewell from +Galadia, if not from my dear sister, for whom in reality I was setting +forth into the wide world. + +"Freedom Talbot," said I to myself as the hack which I had felt +justified in hiring to transport me to the hotel moved away--"Freedom +Talbot, face the world with a smile--and soon you will be smiling in +your heart. Freedom should mean more than a name to you--it should mean +and must mean the welcoming of adventure." + +And thus resolutely putting behind me the last vestige of feminine +weakness I assumed in spirit at least the attitude which I knew my dear +father would have required of the son he had hoped I would be, and was +presently set down before the hotel, where I directed the porter about +my trunk, surrendered my dear father's umbrella, my own folding lace +parasol and dolman, together with my valise, to the same little boy who +had so kindly attended me the day before, and for whom I had remembered +to bring a package of ginger cookies. Even the elevator, that flying +gilded bird cage, held no terrors for me to-day, and I ascended to the +seventh floor without a qualm. + +So much for character and its hold upon the human mind. The entire +episode of leaving what for fifty years had been my home is somewhat +hazy. What I encountered upon entering the anteroom of the +Copley-Plaza's royal suite for the second time I shall never forget. And +this evidences my claim regarding personality. + +It was precisely one minute of nine by my dear father's chronometer, and +my arrival must have been expected, and yet several moments elapsed +prior to the opening of the door outside of which I stood. In point of +fact I eventually opened it myself, inasmuch as it was not quite closed +and from the noise inside I deduced that my knocking and the ringing of +the small boy who accompanied me were not discernible above the clamor. +The most amazing language came out to me. + +"Come on you, seven!" said a female voice excitedly. "Oh baby! Come, you +loving little Joe!" said a male voice. + +It was at this juncture that I entered, the patience and perhaps the +curiosity of my young companion breaking under the strain, and then we +beheld a most remarkable picture. + +Seated upon either end of the gold-and-marble table in the middle of the +magnificent and formal apartment were a young man and a young woman. The +latter was in the very act of shaking dice from the palm of her hand. I +at once recognized them because my dear father indulged in backgammon, +and possessed a pair. But the young female who was occupied with them +resembled nothing I had ever before encountered. + +To begin with, she was of tremendous height--the tallest girl I had ever +beheld or ever shall, standing, as I afterward ascertained, six feet two +without the unwholesome French heels she later affected. Her exquisite +face was as clear cut and regular of feature as that upon the shell +cameo which my dear father gave my dear mother when they became +betrothed. Her hair was so brilliantly gold as to seem artificially +gilded--not with chemicals but with burnished metal--and waved low over +her ears with a grace impossible of imitation by the hair dresser's art. +Her coloring was perfect and her wide set eyes were startlingly dark +brown, as were the rather heavy brows above them. + +This young Juno was clad in a dress of violet satin heavily embroidered +in gold and coral beads, a garment clearly intended for the most +elaborate of afternoon functions, and this costume was further +embellished by a pair of black-and-white sports shoes, such as are worn +upon tennis courts. But curiously enough this outrageous costume was not +the first thing that registered upon my vision. The girl herself shone +like the sun, dwarfing her garments and almost neutralizing them. + +Of the young man I will say only this: He was a chauffeur, properly +liveried, and though a clean, decent-looking young man, he was a +distinctly common person, a thought which curiously did not occur to me +until later. He was an ugly young man with a long nose. + +It was a full moment that I stood in the doorway before they saw me, and +then the girl slid from her perch with a blank look of amazement. + +"Judas Priest! Holy mackerel!" she said involuntarily. Then quickly +recovering herself she came forward politely. "I guess you are in the +wrong pew," she said. "Did you want anybody?" + +"It's for you, Miss Peaches," said the infant who carried my luggage. +"The new nurse has came." + +"What d'yer mean--new nurse?" queried the beauty, wrinkling her handsome +nose. "Are you sure this is for our ranch?" + +"Perhaps your father has been up to something new, Peaches," said the +chauffeur, sliding from his end of the table and removing the cap, which +had all the time remained upon the back of his red head. + +I felt it time to enlighten them. + +"I am the new governess for Miss Alicia Pegg," I said with what dignity +I could muster under the circumstances. "Mr. Pegg engaged me yesterday." + +"There!" exclaimed the chauffeur. "I told you so!" + +"Shut up, Dicky!" snapped the beauty, becoming suddenly serious, not to +say alarmed, and looking down upon me from her enormous height very much +as if I had been something terrible--like, say, a mouse. "Shut up, +Dicky, and let me handle this. So my old man hired you, did he?" she +went on gravely. "Without a word to me! Well, that's not your fault. We +will have to talk this over in private. Sit down, ma'am; here's a nice +chair. Get out, cutie!" + +This last was addressed to the little page boy, who promptly dropped my +baggage and prepared for flight. There was that in the young woman's +voice which betrayed the habit of command. But with a gesture I detained +him. + +"Wait, little boy. I have something for you this time!" I said. + +The boy stopped in his tracks and waited quite as promptly as if it were +a custom with him, while I delved into the depths of my reticule and +produced six nice brown sugar cookies, which I presented. He was +pleased, I perceived that. Indeed he was quite wordless with surprise. +But I knew they were wholesome and that six were not too many, and +presently he was shut out by the chauffeur, who leaned against the +closed portal shaking with unaccountable mirth. Miss Pegg seemed to see +no humor in the situation any more than did I myself, but led me to the +window and made me sit there opposite her. The Dick person leaned +against the center table, toying with the dice. + +"What's the name, did you say?" she inquired. + +"My name is Freedom Talbot--Miss Talbot!" said I. + +"Gee! That's funny!" said Miss Peaches Pegg. + +"It sure is!" remarked the chauffeur. + +"It's Dick's name, too!" said my hostess. "Make you acquainted--shake +hands with Mr. Talbot, Miss Talbot!" + +There was nothing to do but acquiesce, for the young chap without the +least trace of self-consciousness came forward most politely. + +"Pleased to meetcher!" he said. "I wonder are you any relative to my +Aunt Lucy? That's my father's sister, but he got killed in a gun fight +up to Nome." + +"I scarcely think it likely," said I. "Our family is practically +extinct." + +"Well, never mind the family tree just now!" said Alicia. "And let's get +down to cases on this dry-nurse business. Of course, Miss Talbot, I +realize you are not to blame in this. But it's got to be understood +right here and now. Tell me what the old boy put over on me this time?" + +Well, I recounted the tale in as much detail as I could recall, amid +continuous interruptions from my strange audience, beginning with my +situation at home, and ending with my quarrel with Euphemia. When my +recital was complete Miss Peaches gave a long whistle, which feat was +amazingly expressive of her emotions. + +"Well, see here, Miss Freedom," she said. "As I get the dope, it is, +that you are to take me out and show me the world and everything--to +teach me what little it is proper for me to know--and how to tell the +culls from the sound fruit? Well, well! Do you believe you can do it?" + +"I, of course, believe that I would be a proper influence and shield for +a young woman!" I replied quietly. "Else I would not have engaged to +perform such a task." + +"And you'd sure be gosh-awful disappointed if you didn't go to Europe, +wouldn't you?" she went on. + +As I made no reply to this she continued to guide the conversation. + +"I think you are a damn good sport to break away at your age," she went +on. "And it would be a crime to send you back to the corral. I know just +how it must feel." + +"I bet you do!" said the Dick person. "After the ranch!" + +"You see, he means our home ranch," the girl explained. "Pa has kept me +there since I was a seedling. Never been away from it until three weeks +ago--kept me pure and healthy and everything. But I've got fed up on it, +and I'm glad to get loose and see life, even with you tagging along. +Tell you what I'll do. So long as you've got your camp all broke I'll +help you to see the world if you'll help me to see the world instead of +preventing it. I'll be reasonable if you will. Are you on?" + +"I am!" said I, half hypnotized by her charm. "I'm on!" + +"Good! It's a bet!" cried Peaches, suddenly shaking my hand with a grip +of most unladylike vigor. "Now let's dope this out some more. I've +bought all the clothes in the stores in San Francisco, at least all +costing over a hundred dollars each, as befits my new society stunt, so +we ought to start right off and go some place where we know somebody +besides the head waiters. Do you really know a lot of swells?" + +"I--well, really--I know the proper people, of course," said I. "But I +don't think that you would fancy Boston very much." + +"Oh, Boston is all O. K." she said. "Only, of course, it's not like San +Francisco--or even Fresno. No pep, and a rotten climate. Don't you know +any gay ducks some other place?" + +"Well, let me cogitate the matter," said I. "I know the Loringstons, in +New York--two charming maiden ladies." + +"Hold me--or I'll die of excitement!" said Peaches. "Nothing doing! If +I've got to be pushed into the world of fashion and gayety I want there +to be some class to it--snappy stuff--titles and everything. Do you know +any titles?" + +"Only the dean of Radcliffe," I responded; "unless one were to except +the Countess Veruchio. But she lives in Monte Carlo. She was my first +cousin until she married this foreign person." + +Miss Pegg's large eyes grew incredibly larger, and instinctively she +turned her gaze toward the neglected dice upon the center table. I +shuddered at her words which followed. Had I already, unwittingly in my +novitiate as guide, mentor and friend, set her upon evil ways? I deeply +feared so. + +"A countess!" she breathed. "Monte Carlo! Why, that's in Italy! Oh boy! +Oh boy! Say, do they rattle the bones at Monte Carlo?" + + + + +III + + +How many persons must perforce get all their romance at second hand! Of +course, as my dear father often said, gentlewomen should get their +experiences from books and from the stage, and no lady experiences the +primal emotions except vicariously. But none the less I had occasionally +been aware of the desire to live more full a life than hitherto +circumstance had rendered possible. Now I was brought into such intimate +contact with a young career that I felt almost as though I were indeed +living it myself, and not half an hour after my entrance upon my new +duties I was, as it were, engulfed in the personality of my charge. + +"Come on into your room!" she said, picking up my carpetbag as easily as +if it had been a mere trifle. "Come on, Dicky; bring the box!" + +The Dicky person obeyed whistling a jaunty tune, and presently I found +myself established in a most luxurious bedroom. The chauffeur vanished, +closing the door, and Peaches, disposing the luggage upon a receptable +constructed for that very purpose, perched upon the foot of the bed, her +long limbs making that lofty elevation none too high for her. I soon +learned that she seldom sat upon a chair if anything else offered. + +"Say, Miss Talbot," she began as I laid out my toilet articles--"say, +Miss Talbot, isn't Dick a king?" + +"Eh?" said I, startled. + +"I said isn't Dick a corker?" she repeated. "Do you know, I would have +just about died out on the ranch if it hadn't been for him. Pa picked +him up in Fresno when he was a hopper--picking hops with a bunch of +greasers. Brought him home for me to play with. We went swimming +together and riding together and everything when we were kids. Then pa +sent him to school with me, and when he got some learning he gave him a +job as foreman on the home outfit." + +"He seems a nice young person," said I, "but he is a chauffeur!" + +"You bet he is!" said Peaches enthusiastically. "The first car pa bought +made him that! He can do anything with a car. I am in love with him!" + +"Miss Pegg!" I said horrified. "A servant! What would your father say!" + +"He'd say considerable!" remarked Peaches. "But he doesn't know it. And +anyhow, I don't want to marry Dicky, even if he is your cousin. I just +like being in love with some one, and he's simply crazy about me!" + +Her innocence, not to say ignorance, was appalling. High time, indeed, +that she had a proper chaperon! + +"You must not play with so serious a subject!" I said severely. "And the +young man is no relation of mine!" + +"How can you be sure of that?" asked the terrible young woman. "There +may have been some live wire in your family that went West, you know!" + +To this I had no reply, for in point of fact my father's younger brother +had indeed been a wild spirit who refused to enter the ministry and had +vanished to the West, from which region he had never returned nor sent +any token of his existence except, upon one occasion shortly after his +departure, a specimen of polished redwood, which at that very moment was +reposing in our curio cabinet at home. I determined, however, to make no +mention of the circumstances. One is so seldom able to avoid one's +relatives. + +"Do you not think a simpler frock would be better for luncheon?" I +asked, changing the subject. Love was rather too personal a matter on +which to press just at first, but really the girl's clothing was +certainly somewhere within my legitimate province. "Your gown is very +beautiful. And you won't be offended, but I am sure your father expects +me to tell you these things." + +She looked at my own costume by way of reply; not rudely, but frankly +and interestedly. + +"I don't believe you know one scrap more about clothes than I do!" she +said at last. "We both of us look the limit. But after all, what does it +matter? You are dowdy and I am crude, but we should worry!" + +"Come on down or pa will be clawing the air," was her greeting. + +She left me then to my unpacking and I did not see her again for about +two hours. Then she stuck her head in abruptly, without knocking. "He +certainly can eat, though I don't think much of the food in the East. +You ought to see the meals in California!" + +There was no resisting the young giantess. With no further ado she swung +me along to the parlor, where her still more gigantic parent gave me an +absent-minded greeting, quite as if I had been in his employ for years. +He took a sheaf of papers to the table with him, and we descended to the +dining room, I vaguely wondering whether or not the young chauffeur +would join us. Peaches seemed to discern my thought. + +"Dick won't eat with us since pa bought him that trick suit of clothes!" +she complained. "And he says he actually likes wearing them, though I +know perfectly well he only does it because he thinks it gives us +class." + +During luncheon Mr. Pegg spoke only once. + +"All ready to sail to-morrow?" he inquired. + +"Yep!" replied his daughter. "Say, pa," she went on, "Miss Talbot's got +a cousin in Monte Carlo that's a honest-to-goodness countess!" + +"Cable her we are coming!" said Silas Pegg truculently. + +And though I believe that Mentone had been our original destination the +cable was actually dispatched, though I wondered somewhat how Cousin +Abby would receive it. In her girlhood she had been rather formal, and I +entertained a qualm or two about sending it. But we were not asking to +visit her, so things might not be too dreadful after all. Besides which, +I was beginning to experience a distinct liking for these Californians +with all their native crudities. My world was a magic one now, and a +visit to the Veruchio household appeared no more strange than any other +part of my adventure. + +Next morning Alicia opened my door quite unceremoniously and disclosed +herself clad in a nautical costume of blue serge with a sailor collar +and a little white hat absurdly set upon her magnificent head. + +"Heave ahoy!" she called cheerily. "We are about to sail the ocean blue! +How do you like my pull-for-the-shore effect? Say, have you ever been on +a boat? Is it anything as bad as a Pullman sleeper?" + +"My dear, I have been on neither!" I protested. + +"Gee, I hope the berths are longer!" she exclaimed. "They were built on +the idea that none of the natives would want to leave California, I +guess, and they were darn near right! So you've never been anywhere. +Well, I had a hunch I'd be the one to do the chaperoning. Never mind, +I'll show you the world. I have decided overnight that I really ought to +take you in charge, and I'm not one to shirk my duty." + +"Very well, my dear," said I. "But first may I suggest that a simple +coat and skirt would be less conspicuous and quite as appropriate? Will +you not change to it, if you have one?" + +"All right; I will if you will smooth out those groups of curls," said +Peaches, eying me critically. + +"But I have worn them always!" I protested, shocked. + +"Just the same, they are the limit!" she said stubbornly. "And so are +those silk gloves. Come on, let me fix your hair! No--I have a bright +idea. Let's have the girl that does hair here in the hotel fix you up. +Come on, be a sport!" + +I looked at myself in the mirror, and truth to tell my curled fringe did +appear a trifle old-fashioned. But I refused, with thanks and dignity. + +"Miss Peaches!" I said. "Your father engaged me as I am, and I feel it +incumbent upon me to remain thus." + +"Oh, all right!" said she, and strode out of the room. I fancied she was +angry; but to my surprise, upon our departure she appeared clad in quite +a lady-like tailored suit and a small hat. + +"Oh, I know when somebody gives me a real tip," she said, though I +hadn't spoken; and then, accompanied by a most stupendous array of +luggage, including my own small trunk and valise, we set forth upon the +most perilous journey of which I could conceive. + +Indeed, indeed I was grateful throughout it for the thought that our +minister, Mr. MacAdams, prayed so loudly for the safety of travelers by +land and sea each Sunday, and that this was Saturday, hence there would +be but little delay between our departure and the weekly renewal of his +petition. For we began our travels in no less a vehicle than a terrific +red automobile driven by the irrepressible Richard, or Dick, Talbot, who +greeted me cheerfully and somehow not actually disrespectfully as +"Cousin Mary," which was not, of course, in any sense correct. + +I entered the vehicle with much unuttered protest. I did not like motor +vehicles and had indeed never entered one before, having always +maintained their inelegance. My dear father kept horses, though it is +true he died somewhat prior to the invention of automobiles. +Nevertheless I took my seat beside Mr. Pegg in the rear, and concealed +as best I might a terror which was not lessened when, stopping at the +railway station, Talbot, the chauffeur, was dismissed to gather up some +spare bags, and Peaches took the steering gear. The remainder of the +ride is a blur in my memory, filled with a horrid realization that we +upset an apple cart, or I thought we had, until looking backward I saw +it miraculously intact; that we seemingly murdered two police officers, +most certainly grazed a load of baled hay, and barely escaped collision +with a dozen pedestrians. Yet at the conclusion of this momentous +experience Mr. Pegg, who had calmly smoked a large cheroot during the +trip, complimented his daughter upon her skill. I was beginning to +understand their cryptic speech a little better or else I should not +have comprehended. + +"Some speed queen!" he remarked. + +"One hoss or sixty, I should trouble which!" said she. + +And then Talbot, the chauffeur, or Richard, as I determined to call him, +reappeared, and together with a crowd of porters and other travelers we +passed into the gloomy cavern of a covered dock and up a most precarious +gangway into a ship which differed little upon first acquaintance from +the great hotel we had just left, except that the apartments were rather +smaller. I had once before taken a boat trip to Nantucket to see an old +servant of ours who was ill, and the vessel which conveyed me was not in +the least like the Gigantic. But the impression of the latter's +resemblance to a hotel was presently removed from my mind. In point of +fact everything was removed from not only my mind but from the other +portions of my anatomy which delicacy prevents my dwelling on. + +Suffice to state that the fact of our being in possession of the state +apartments, the novelty of the compact arrangements, the excitement of +the trip, the amazing crowds of strangers--all presently were as naught +to me. Even my princely emolument was as nothing, and the sacrifice I +had made for my sister appeared of no importance. Nothing appeared of +any importance except the distress of my body. I longed most ardently +for the stability of the house on Chestnut Street, and it seemed +inconceivable that I had ever left my dear sister of my own free will. +My idea of paradise became distorted from the true conception to a +vision of any place other than that in which I was. Death, once so far +removed from my desire, seemed the only tolerable condition. I may +remark in passing that this state of mind did not develop in me until +after the boat had passed Boston Light and encountered the waters of the +Atlantic. + +The account of my first impressions of a transatlantic voyage will never +be written by me, as they contain material fit only for a _materia +medica_. How people can take such a trip for pleasure is to me a mystery +as insoluble as the fourth dimension, which was a favorite topic with my +dear father. But incredible as it may seem, some persons on the boat +actually laid claim to an enjoyable experience, and among these Spartans +were my employer and his daughter; and also, by the latter's evidence, +the chauffeur, who was traveling first class. Peaches came frequently to +the side of my brass bedstead and bathed my forehead with cologne water +the while she attempted to cheer me with an account of her doings. + +"I told pa I'd have to look after you!" she said triumphantly. "And I +will. Never mind, Miss Governess, I'll get you to Europe alive and show +you the country. Couldn't you come on deck? It's a swell deck, and +there's the nicest young man up there. We've got acquainted, and Dick is +terribly jealous!" + +"Alicia!" I managed to gasp. "Who is the young man?" + +"I don't know!" she said truthfully. "I forgot to ask his name, but he's +a regular sailor in good standing." + +"Do you mean to say you've scraped acquaintance with a common sailor?" I +said feebly. "Oh! Alicia! I fear I am neglecting my duty to you, and yet +heaven knows I have no choice!" + +"If you'd only get up and out you'd be better!" she pronounced. "And we +might find a captain or a mate or something for you. Couldn't you eat a +little steak and onions?" she added anxiously. "It would give you +strength." + +Later she returned and sat beside me with a look of rapture upon her +face. I was in an exhausted state despite the herb tea which I had had +made by the sea-going chambermaid from my own medicine cabinet, and +taken with difficulty, yet I was calm enough for her speech to impress +me. + +"The moon is up," she said dreamily. "And the waves are like the Sierra +Mountains gone mad and reeling drunkenly in their purple-and-black +mystery, with the foam like the snows that the yellow sun never melts. +The air is like wine. I am glad he kissed me." + +"Oh, Peaches, Peaches! Who kissed you?" I moaned, struggling to my elbow +in horror. + +"Dick," she replied. "Somebody had to kiss somebody on a night like +this, and it just happened to be us. Don't worry, it really isn't +important. I never lose my head, though between ourselves I sometimes +wish I could. When I do I'll marry the clever man. But I've never met +him yet, and sometimes that makes me sad. I want to be in love. Really +in love. Don't you?" + +Despite my condition I could not but be attentive. + +"I do not dwell upon such subjects," I replied. + +"Oh, yes you do!" said Peaches imperturbably. "Everyone does! Even cows +and birds and Chinese cooks. But some of us, like you, don't have much +luck, and some, like me, have a trick played on them by Nature that +ruins everything." + +"How so, my dear?" I asked. + +"I'm too tall!" said Peaches in a sudden burst of indignation at fate. +"I'd have to lean over to spoon with anybody I ever met! My shoulder is +the highest and therefore the handiest! My hand is generally the +biggest! Oh, Lord! How can a girl love a man she has to bend down to +kiss?" + +And suddenly she rushed from the cabin, overcome with emotion, leaving +me to sniff at a camphor bottle and contemplate an entirely new, to me, +phase of feminine tragedy. And incidentally to feel more deeply a sense +of the responsibility of my position toward this amazingly innocent, +terrifyingly frank young savage, who wanted to be in love and did not +hesitate to say so, and who kissed the chauffeur simply and solely +because it was a moonlit night! I felt thoroughly convinced that +Euphemia would not approve of any such conduct, and that my dear father +would have condemned it utterly, and I made every effort to rise next +day and finish out the voyage in close proximity to my charge. + +But somehow or other the span of time had escaped me during my +indisposition, and upon completing my toilet, with the aid of the young +person who had brewed my herb tea, I learned to my astonishment that we +were in port and that my ability to rise was founded, not, as I had +fancied, in my having attained what is rather indelicately known as "sea +legs," but was due to the fact of the boat being at a standstill. I only +then realized that I had been ill for five days. Richard, the chauffeur, +accompanied Peaches when she came to get me, and somehow or other they +evolved me through the complications of the dock, and at last I stood +upon foreign soil. + +Not, of course, that the English are really foreigners, as my dear +father often remarked. But I must confess that the soil of Liverpool +felt quite foreign to me. It appeared, in fact, entirely unsteady and +of a heaving disposition, more what one might have expected of the +neighborhood of Vesuvius and the other earthquake countries. But Peaches +only laughed at me when I called her attention to the circumstance. + +"It's you that's unsteady, not the street!" she jeered. "Gee, what a +town! What a country! They ought to see San Francisco! Why, we've done +twice as well in half the time!" + +I confess I was disappointed with what I saw of England, which was +little enough, because Mr. Pegg stopped only long enough to pick up an +English car, which had been ordered far in advance and was awaiting us +at Liverpool. It was a monstrous affair of black trimmed with vermilion, +and recalled to my mind nothing so much as the far-famed dragon which +was slain by St. George--so strong and fierce and capable it looked. +Richard, the chauffeur, almost wept at sight of it. + +"Oh, baby doll!" he said over and over. "If that isn't some engine!" + +"Some lug box!" remarked Peaches in that cryptic language in which she +spoke to her familias. "Must have set pa back a bushel of berries!" + +"I want to hit the trail for the Calais boat!" said Mr. Pegg. "We aren't +going to stay in England. There's no art in England. I had an English +remittance man working for me once and he told me so. He says all the +good art is in the Catholic countries, except what has been smuggled out +of them. He told me so, and he was a educated feller. He educated me out +of the entire pay roll one week, and is now working for the U. S. +Government in San Quentin." + +"But, Mr. Pegg!" I ventured to protest. "Think of Westminster Abbey and +the Tower and Stratford-on-Avon, the home of Shakespere, and--and real +English muffins and English culture generally. Surely you do not intend +to deprive your daughter of it?" + +"Not by a damn sight. Meaning no offense, Miss Talbot!" said Silas. "But +the trouble is they all speak English over here, and we got enough +Boston accent right on your person. I figure that foreign travel is +foreign travel, and I mean we should go right to Rome, the home of art; +and after we do it up thoroughly, work back along the coast where they +speak in Italian and French. Somehow it's foreigner!" + +There was no denying that, and disappointed as I was I held my peace. +Mr. Pegg had a way of ordering our existence ahead, as if we were a part +of his business. And indeed I presently ascertained that the plunge +toward Italy was at bottom a commercial undertaking. It was the orange +and olive groves, not the art galleries, that lured him. + +"I'm thinking of forming an American-Italian olive crushers' +association," he confided to me as we sped alarmingly along a toy road +amidst scenes which I am sure would have proved quaint had we been going +slowly enough to see them. "And an orange trust that will be a +world-wide proposition. Oranges are a great little fruit--eat 'em, drink +'em and preserve 'em--the wood is swell. A great game, Miss Talbot, that +hurts nobody and is of benefit to all. I'm to meet this here Pagreleri, +the president of the Sorrento Company; and while Peaches and you trot +round to the picture shows--I mean galleries--I'll put in a little sight +seeing on God's green hills! I'd rather see the prospect of a hundred +thousand vats of brine and oil than the finest picture any artist ever +drew." + +"Are we going to the Ritz, pa?" said Peaches, breaking in with a shout +from her seat in front beside Richard. "I'm dying to see if the Ritz is +as nice as the St. Francis, though I bet it won't be!" + +"Yep!" said the parent, and began operations upon a new cigar. And that +is all that I saw of London the historical. The dining room and the +bedrooms of a hotel that had not twopennyworth of difference from that +in Boston. We dined at seven in an almost empty salon, and went +afterward to see a motion picture of some American by the name of +Charles Chapin or something of the sort, an amazing affair centering +about a custard pie and not at all to my taste. Mr. Pegg and Miss +Peaches were enormously intrigued by it, as was Richard, the chauffeur, +whom they insisted should accompany them. They laughed continuously; at +what, I could not appreciate. And it was in this theater that we first +beheld that young man who was fated to play so conspicuous part in our +lives, and, alas, in the career of many a newspaper reporter as well! + +It is my impression that I was the first to notice him, and my attention +was directed to him by the curious behavior of two men who sat directly +in front of me. Except for their observations concerning him he might +easily have escaped my notice. But as the entertainment offered me was +so far removed from my understanding my interest was focused upon the +personnel of those members of the audience who chanced to be seated +nearest me. My dear father was in the habit of saying that observation +of the human race is the truest form of education and I have ever +diligently tried to follow whatever precepts he laid down. And so this +evening I had in turn observed a stout person in a beaded gown, a pair +of young soldiers in red coats, and then the two men directly in front +of me. They were unobtrusive in appearance, but palpably of Latin +extraction. Their clothing was nondescript and they would have passed +unnoticed in a crowd. One wore a little black mustache and the other +bore a slight scar near his left ear. As I looked at them I perceived +that they were giving even less attention to the picture than myself, +and seemed to be furtively searching for something out in the vast area +of semidarkness ahead of us. Suddenly one clutched the other by the arm +and spoke. + +"There he is!" he said in a low tone, speaking in French. + +Instantly both became alert. Almost imperceptibly the man with the scar +contrived to point without raising his hand. But I followed the +direction of his companion's eyes, and made out the objective, a young +man who sat on the curve of the orchestra seats just under the balcony, +below us. His position was such that when he turned his head it was +possible to see his profile against the exit light beyond. And it was a +profile one would not easily forget. I at once thought of Romeo--that +daring young Italian lover who met so unfortunate an end, and whose +tragic story was one of the secret absorptions of my girlhood. Yet this +young man even in the dimness of the theater conveyed a sense of +strength which had not been convincing to me in the actor whom I had +once seen in that part. He sat well above his neighbors in height, and +there was a certain swing and rhythm to his broad shoulders as he swayed +with amusement at the projection of the cinematograph that conveyed +remarkable resiliency and buoyant youth or, as I fear my charge would +express it, "pep." He was a gentleman, I could see that, of unusual +elegance, and attractive enough to command my attention without what +followed on the part of the two other observers. Both spoke in French. + +"Sapristi! He will not escape this time!" said the man with the +mustache, pitching his voice very low. "The eel!" + +"Will you do for him at the door?" whispered the other. "Or as he +attempts to reach the hotel?" + +"I have something better than that," said the first. "We know he has it +on him. The hotel may be too late. He must not get to the theater door +before we do--or else----" + +I heard no more because of the sudden palpitations of my heart, which +seemed likely to smother me. These two men were plainly robbers planning +to waylay and perhaps murder that nice-looking young man who sat there +in such innocent, unconscious enjoyment of the photographic antics of +the Charley person! It was too terrible! + +How could I warn him? Should I attempt to explain the situation to the +competent Mr. Pegg and the muscular Richard? That would be impossible of +accomplishment without also precipitating matters with the conspirators, +who would surely overhear me. As I was rapidly revolving these thoughts +action was violently put upon me. The picture flashed "The End," and the +young man whose life was in danger rose to leave, as did several others. +His seat, as I have stated, was downstairs, while we occupied a box. +Thus he was far nearer the door than were we. As he rose, so did the +Frenchmen in front of me. In order to make their exit it was necessary +for them to pass my seat, which was a step above them. As they turned +to come up I rose with a little cry and took the only course open. + +I fainted most dexterously, knocking down one of them and collapsing +upon the bosom of the other, and lay there in a determined stupor until, +according to my calculations, the young man must be quite well away. The +confusion was dreadful and it was no pleasant matter fainting by intent +upon the bosom of an intended assassin, but it served to delay them for +all of ten minutes, at the end of which time I came to under the anxious +ministrations of my own people and of the two foreigners, whom Peaches, +an unconscious accessory, pressed into active service much against their +will. And my apparent accident served a double purpose, thus proving my +dear father's maxim that virtue is its own reward, for it disclosed the +fact that I had made a real impression upon the emotional side of my +charge. + +"Oh, Free, you dear old thing!" she was saying as I opened my eyes. "Say +you are not hurt! Dear--please say you are all right!" + +"I feel dreadfully!" I murmured feebly, looking her right in the eye. + +And then I did something which, having been reared a gentlewoman, I had +never anticipated doing. I deliberately winked at her. And Peaches took +it marvelously. In a flash of understanding that I had some ulterior +motive behind my behavior she maintained what she calls her poker face +and winked back, and, assisting me in what she now knew to be my +pretense, helped me to a cab and back to the hotel. + +Needless to say, however, I was not permitted to sleep that night until +she had the whole story from me. She came into my chamber with her +heavy hair hanging over her shoulders in two monstrous braids of molten +gold, and swathed in an outrageous robe of crimson-and-blue satin so +that she looked like a magnificent animated American flag. She curled up +upon the foot of my bed and listened eagerly. + +"You wild Indian!" she exclaimed when I had finished the recital. "I +just knew I'd have to look after you! And I'll keep a closer watch from +now on. Oh you Boston! California was never like this." + +In which she was eminently correct. But when she kissed me good night I +knew our friendship was sealed. The wink had done it. + +Next morning we set out for Dover in that terrible car, without having +heard or seen anything of our hero. I confess I had absurdly hoped that +the hotel to which the conspirators had referred might prove to be ours, +but it was impossible to know if or not this was the case, as, of +course, we had no idea of what his name was, and he was nowhere about. + +The newspaper naturally contained no mention of the incident inasmuch as +it had failed actually to occur, and the press is, of course, unlikely +to have any mention of a murder unless the crime is consummated. And so +it appeared that the incident was closed. I had begged Peaches not to +speak of its true import to either her father or her friend the +chauffeur, and this she solemnly promised. + +"Oh, but Free!" she exclaimed rapturously. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if +you met again and fell in love!" + +"Nonsense!" said I. "Why, he was young enough to have been my son! +Besides, I shall never marry!" + +"That's the girl!" said Peaches. "They all say that just before the big +event. So cheer up, who knows their luck? Gee, I wish I could see him!" + +And there was surely something prophetical in her speech, for Peaches +was fated to see him, though not for many hours afterward. And then she +found him for herself. + +As I have stated, we set forth in that monstrous car for Dover, where we +embarked, car and all, upon an innocent-appearing little boat for what +was promised as a short journey. Possibly it was. I do not remember. I +only know that nothing in my previous nautical experience compared with +it. And when at last we landed and I had to some degree recovered my +equilibrium the most startling incident occurred. We once again were +seated, Mr. Pegg, Peaches and myself, in the car, ready to leave the +custom house behind us, and Richard, the chauffeur, was doing strange +things to the motor, when suddenly Alicia seized me by the arm. + +"Free! Oh, Free!" she said in an excited whisper. "There is a man tall +enough for me!" + +I looked, and lo and behold, walking through the crowd in a leisurely +fashion, a smart piece of luggage in either hand, was the young man of +the motion-picture theater. At the same moment I discerned the two +Frenchmen whose plot I had frustrated, and on the instant he also caught +sight of them, and abruptly changing his course he turned directly +toward us. Richard got in and started the engine. + +"It's he!" I exclaimed excitedly. "It's my young man. Oh, the villains! +They are after him again! Oh, don't let them get him!" + +"I won't," said Alicia promptly. + +The young man was very close now, palpably, to our enlightened eyes, +endeavoring to avoid the appearance of flight. The two men in pursuit +were gaining on him rapidly. Suddenly Alicia beckoned to him and called. + +"Here we are!" she said, and flung open the door of the car just as we +started to move. The young man sprang forward, threw in his bags, +slipped into the extra seat, slammed the door, and Peaches touched +Richard upon the shoulder. + +"Drive for your life!" she shouted, and the big black car shot down the +street just as the two pursuers emerged, breathless, from the crowd. + + + + +IV + + +The young man whom Alicia had hailed turned toward her with quite the +nicest smile it had ever been my fortune to behold, a smile in which his +white teeth, which were of a character to do any dentist credit, were +the least important factor, beautiful as they were. It was the way his +face lighted up which caught one. In any situation that smile would +prove his shield and buckler. It would have been invaluable to a book +agent, and a missionary would have needed no other credentials--at least +certainly not on our street at home. We all smiled back at him +instinctively, though it was to Alicia that he spoke. + +"It was simply ripping of you people!" he said in excellent English and +a delightfully modulated voice, yet with a curious intonation, as if it +were not his native tongue. + +"Not at all!" replied Peaches, her eyes holding his. "Glad to oblige +you!" + +He seemed a trifle blank at this. + +"I didn't expect you to be here," he went on. "But I think it's awfully +jolly. I suppose you motor a great deal, Lady Gordon!" + +"Lady who?" gasped Peaches. "Gee-whiz! Who do you think we are?" + +"Great Scott!" said the inadvertent guest. "Aren't you Lord and Lady +Gordon?" + +"Lord and Lady me eye!" remarked Peaches. "We are not!" + +"Then why on earth did you call to me?" exclaimed the young man. "And +who are you?" + +Just then the Citrus King leaned forward and shouted a query against the +wind. + +"Who is your young man, Peaches?" he said. "Make me acquainted." + +"I don't know who he is!" snapped his daughter. "Who are you yourself?" +she demanded of him. "I am a low-life American bourgeois in trade and +every bally thing--name of Alicia Pegg; and this is my father, Pinto +Pegg, the Citrus King, and this is my chaperon, Miss Talbot, that I'm +taking abroad to educate. Now who are you?" + +"My name is Sandro di Monteventi," he said, getting out a little gold +cardcase, from which he extricated a visiting card bearing a +five-pointed coronet and the inscription Monteventi. A duke! As I +glimpsed the card, which with proper breeding he handed first to me, I +nearly fainted. We must have made a mistake somehow. Yet he was +undoubtedly the young man of the theater. I could not have made so +monstrous an error. As for Peaches, when I handed it on to her she +simply gave a frank stare and a long whistle. + +"Pleased to meet you, duke!" she said. "I guess we may have made a +mistake. We thought--well, we thought you were a friend of ours--but I +don't quite see how you fell for it. Dicky, turn round and take the +gentleman back!" + +"No, no!" said the duke hastily. "That is, you are going my way, so if +you don't mind--my friends will be gone by now!" + +"Certainly. Keep ahead, Dick!" said Pinto heartily. "Pleased to have a +duke along. That's what we came to Europe for, you know--like all +vulgar Americans. So we'll drop you any place you say." + +"That's really frightfully kind, Mr. Pegg," said the duke. "You see, I +am expected to visit the Gordons, who have rented a château at Deux +Arbres and when you called, Miss Pegg, I thought they had come to meet +me. We shall pass there shortly, and if you will just set me down in the +village I shall be all right and fearfully grateful." + +"Why, that's the place where the famous panels by Scarpia are!" I +exclaimed. "They were painted at the order of Cardinal Perigino in +1754." + +The duke looked at me in some surprise. + +"Right!" said he. "Do you know the Gordons, by any chance?" + +"No," I replied. "But I know my Burke's History of the Sixteenth Century +Italian Painters." + +"Oh!" said he. "How odd and delightful." And he smiled again that +delectable smile of his, which somehow drew us into a delicious +intimacy. His smile seemed at once to compliment my erudition and a +thousand other lovely things. Then he turned again to Peaches and +looking at her spoke to her father. + +"Where are you bound for, sir?" he asked. + +"Monte Carlo will be our final camp," said Silas. "It's a town I've +always wanted to hit. I understand it's got it all over Hell River or +even Dogtown, and I used to get a lot of comfort out of them two places +when I was herding hop pickers round the head of the Sacramento Valley. +But I understand Monte has them beaten three ways. It ought to, +considering the game they named after it!" + +I am convinced that this statement was as unintelligible to the duke as +it was to me, but he laughed politely. + +"I may be dropping down there a little later," he said. "In point of +fact my home is not far from it--lovely old place back in the hills. I +was born there!" + +"That so?" said Mr. Pegg. "Well, you do talk English remarkably well!" + +"I was educated at Harvard," said the duke. "My mother was an American, +the daughter of the consul at San Remo." + +"I knew you were a regular guy!" said Peaches, and then blushed +furiously. The duke laughed. + +"Thanks!" said he. "But I am an Italian, you know, really, and I love my +country--as perhaps few men have!" + +His eyes grew grave as he spoke. And after a few moments of curious +silence that fell upon us unwittingly, he held up his hand as a signal +to stop. + +"We are coming into Deux Arbres now," he said. "There is the inn, and +that trap looks as if it would take one to the château! I am a thousand +times grateful for the lift!" + +The car slowed down at Alicia's command, and the duke, despite our +protests, insisted upon getting out. + +"We could easily take you right to the ranch house--castle, that is!" +Peaches offered. + +"Not a bit more trouble, young man!" said Mr. Pegg. + +But the duke would have no more of us. Charmingly, politely and firmly +he shook us, as Alicia put it afterward. He disappeared within a little +hostelry and we resumed our journey. When we had done so Alicia's father +subjected her to a cross examination which I, rather than she, deserved, +inasmuch as I had really been responsible for the more or less shocking +performance. But Peaches nobly refrained from in any way implicating me. + +"Look here, Peaches, what made you collect that young swell?" said her +parent in an attempt to be properly irate. + +"Why, pa, I thought it was Jake Keeting--you know, Giant Jake from the +B-2 outfit, and I was so surprised I yelled before I thought," she lied +with alarmingly casual promptness. + +"Well, it's a good thing I and Miss Talbot was along to make it look +respectable!" he boomed. "This isn't the coast, you know, and people +round here have old-fashioned notions. But he seemed a mighty nice young +feller." + +Alicia glanced sideways at Richard, the chauffeur. + +"I thought he was a wonder!" she said deliberately. And then no more. + +That night, in the luxurious bedroom at the Ritz in Paris, which was +precisely like all the other hotels at which we had stopped so far, +Peaches and I discussed the mystery of the Ducca di Monteventi to our +heart's content. And in the end we tacitly cleared him of connection +with the incident of the London theater, Alicia insisting that I must +have been mistaken in my identification of him, and I determinedly +convinced that he was none other than the hero of my escapade, an +opinion to which I privately held, though I refrained from expressing it +when I discovered that she disliked the thought. + +"Say!" she remarked. "I think he's a prince, that's what. You know what +I mean--he's a duke, of course, but I should worry about that! I mean a +prince in the American sense." + +And curiously enough I understood her. + +But fate removed the object of our interest from our lives for many +weeks to come. We moved rather more slowly than I had anticipated, owing +partially to Alicia's sudden interest in Parisian art galleries. We +would plan our trip for the day within earshot of her parent, and in +truth we did occasionally visit them as we had announced. But more +frequently when we said we would go to the Louvre we meant the emporium +of that title, and very shortly Peaches' wardrobe began to show the +results of my restraining influence. + +She was so beautiful that everything she put on became her, and so tall +that everything had to be altered. And so it came about that we were +some weeks in Paris; very pleasurable they were, too, and my knowledge +of French came in most serviceably. Not for nothing had I taken a prize +at Miss Hichbourne's Seminary and Finishing School for Young Gentlewomen +with an essay entitled Un Matin de Mai, for it developed that I was the +only person in our party possessed of even the rudiments of any foreign +language, and I was constantly in demand as interpreter, requesting +everything from _un verre de L'eau glacée_ for Mr. Pegg to _tabac et +d'allumettes_ for Richard, the chauffeur, and, of course, in the +purchasing of Peaches' clothes I was indispensable. + +Moreover, out of my princely emolument I felt it but right to purchase +for myself sundry garments of a more fashionable appearance than I had +hitherto possessed, and to dispatch home by boat mail an embroidered +shawl for my sister and some fine cambric handkerchiefs together with a +pair of blue worsted knitted slippers for Galadia, which I purchased at +the American Woman's Exchange. + +I may here remark in passing that Alicia's speech and manner were +becoming gradually modified under my earnest example and tuition, though +her fiery spirit and impulsive nature remained the same. Also her +conduct was impeccable, for with the exception of bringing home a +perfectly strange young American sailor--a common seaman, he was--to +dinner for no better reason than that she had found him sitting in the +Jardin de Tuileries and he had professed to be homesick, she did nothing +remarkable. It is a fact that upon one occasion she was barely prevented +from using physical violence upon the driver of a fiacre, who she +maintained was a dog-faced son of a muleteer and was ripe for admission +to the nether world, his inevitable landing place. And all this because +he was using a whip with more violence than discrimination upon his +apathetic animal. Her extraordinary language was completely, and very +fortunately, lost upon him, inasmuch as he understood no English, much +less Californian, and thought she was merely trying to protest at the +overcharge, and being used to that he remained undisturbed. + +During our stay in Paris I wrote to and received an answer from my +Cousin Abby, who in a dashing hand announced that she would be "charmed +to see you, dear old thing, as it's a beastly season, dull as ditch +water, and anything will be a diversion." + +I announced the fact of the receipt of this letter but kept its exact +contents to myself, as I rather feared for our reception. Mr. Pegg, +however, seemed to consider the mere fact of her reply an encouraging +sign, and with his customary abruptness of decision gave orders that we +pack up at once and proceed to Italy by train instead of by motor as we +had planned, thus expediting the matter of starting upon what he +persisted in terming the "commencement of Peaches' social career." + +"Since your cousin, the countess, is at her castle," he informed me, "we +will break camp right now, Miss Talbot, and hit the trail for the +Italian citrus country. I am anxious to start looking the lemon +situation over, and it's only fair to give the Paris shops a chance to +restock. So to-morrow we will pull out." + +"Very well, Mr. Pegg," I assented. "Though it is a pity to miss the +château country." + +"Not much sense in looking at the outside of châteaux if you don't know +the folks living in them," the Citrus King commented. "And perhaps on +the way back we will have a few invites from your cousin's friends." + +I could only bite my lip and refrain from going into the question +further at the moment. Mr. Pegg's social and geographical ideas were at +that time in sad need of correction. But then correction made so little +impression on him. If his mind was made up to get a thing he would brush +aside all else until the attainment of his object. Already I was +learning not to dispute his decisions. Besides, it was conceivable that +Cousin Abby did know some French nobility, or the lessees of some, and +that if she accepted us at all we might possibly make their acquaintance +in due course. Indeed the circumstances were far less improbable than so +much which had actually occurred during the past month that I dismissed +the question momentarily, wrote Euphemia a brief note informing her of +our prospective change of address, and then sought out my charge for +the purpose of imparting her father's instructions. + +At first I experienced some difficulty in locating her, but after a +diligent search of our sumptuous suite I at length discovered her in the +public corridor near the elevator, where she was engaged in explaining +some game of cards--a form of solitaire--to the youth who operated the +elevator. They were seated upon a bench near the shaft, and the youth +was completely negligent of his duty. At my approach Miss Alicia looked +up and nodded, but continued her explanation. + +"The jack on the queen," she was saying; "the ten on the jack; move 'em +over--that makes a dollar you owe me!" + +"Alicia!" I exclaimed. "Stop it at once! What are you doing?" + +"Canfield," she replied mysteriously. "Want to take me on?" She gathered +up the cards, which I then discovered to be part of what I may term her +personal equipment, being small and easily contained in that part of her +vanity case usually occupied by rouge and lip stick, for which, thank +heaven, Alicia had neither need nor desire, though perhaps when one +stops to consider the matter it is somewhat doubtful if her substitution +of a pack of playing cards had a greater moral value. + +"I don't want to take you on; I want to take you away!" I said. "Come +back to the apartment and pack. We are to proceed to Monte Carlo in the +morning. + +"Suffering cats!" exclaimed Peaches. "No wonder you don't want to stop +for any of this piker stuff." Then she turned to the elevator boy, who +still lingered, seemingly in a state of semihypnosis. "Thanks for the +paper, captain," she said. "Keep that dollar you owe me for a tip!" And +then she slid her arm around my neck and strolled down the corridor with +me, while the youth, with a parting grin, at length perceived the +buzzing of the indicator, and vanished into his elevator contraption, +not having uttered a single word since my advent. + +"I had him try to find me a San Francisco paper," Peaches explained as +we returned to our royal apartments. "I get so sick of these Frenchy +ones that I can't read, and of the London ones that have only news which +could never have been fresh to me. I wanted to see a good comic sheet. +Gee! How we used to rush for 'em out on the ranch. When Bill Hovey's +mule team came into sight over Bear Ridge Dick and I used to commence +matching for who'd open the bag. And generally we'd look at the comics +together. Don't you love Krazy-Kat?" + +I shook my head slowly, more in despair at her simplicity than as the +negative she took the gesture for. + +"Well, you wouldn't, no, nor Buster Brown, either, I suppose. But we +didn't have any volumes of Webster or any such light stuff on the ranch, +and had to take what we could get." + +"You have a newspaper of some sort, I see," I replied, feeling it +useless to explain that I preferred Byron to Webster, and not feeling in +the least convinced that Peaches knew of the existence of Daniel as well +as of Noah. She pulled out a copy of the Paris _Herald_ from under her +arm. + +"Not from the coast," she said, "but at least it's printed in American. +The boy was a nice kid. He comes from Texas. He showed me a peach of a +trick, and I was showing him a new Canfield when you breezed in with +something really big. Hello! Here's something about Mr. Markheim!" + +She had been scanning the front page of the paper as she talked, and now +she fell silent for a moment as she read. + +"Who is Mr. Markheim?" I inquired. "Not Sebastian Markheim, the great +banker?" + +"Yeah!" said Peaches assentingly. "But it's nothing much. He's bought +another picture, that's all. And paid the price of a couple of +first-class orange-groves for it." + +"Why, Alicia Pegg!" I exclaimed. "What an extraordinary young female you +are! Sebastian Markheim is one of the greatest collectors of antique +paintings in the world. He is an authority on the subject. How do you +come to know him?" + +"He came to know us!" she averred cheerfully. "Bought a ranch near our +home outfit, and came over to get some pointers from pa. We see him a +lot whenever he's in California." + +"How amazing!" I exclaimed. "Sebastian Markheim, the great millionaire! +What manner of man is he, Alicia?" + +"Oh, he's a widower of about fifty or so," she said carelessly. "He's in +love with me." + +"Alicia!" I exclaimed. "Can you never learn to be more reticent about +these--these delicate personal matters?" + +"He isn't a bit delicate!" she responded mildly. "In fact he's awfully +rough. He hounds me, but I can look out for myself." + +I felt the subject too dangerous to pursue. As my dear father used to +say, most unpleasant subjects thrive on reproof. So I diverted her +attention from her immediate theme. + +"What picture did he purchase that is worthy of such comment?" I +inquired. + +"It is called the Madonna of the Lamp by some bird named Raphael, last +name not mentioned," replied the young heathen cheerfully. "What's all +this about Monte Carlo to-morrow?" + +But I had taken the newspaper from her. + +"The Madonna of the Lamp!" I exclaimed. "Why, Alicia, child, that is one +of the most famous paintings in the world. It was done in Italy, +hundreds of years ago, by one of the greatest artists that ever lived. +The extraordinary part of such a sale is that any private individual +should own it. Its proper place is a museum. I am surprised it ever got +out of Italy. They have a strict law which prohibits any important works +of art from being taken out of the country, you know." + +"I do not know," said Alicia. "But you'd think they'd be glad to get +such a price for a thing as old as that, wouldn't you? Now if it was an +original by Gibson or Christy----" + +But I did not attend to the remainder of her sentence. My eye had fallen +upon another item of even greater importance, which had evidently +escaped her attention. It was small and inconspicuously placed, but its +interest was overwhelming. It ran thus. I copy from the original: + + "SCARPIA PANELS STOLEN + + "Calais, March 15th. The commissioner of police here was informed + last night that the four famous panels by Scarpia had been + mysteriously removed from the château belonging to Baron Richt at + Deux Arbres, seventeen miles from this city. The house has been + rented to Lord and Lady Ellis Gordon for the past two years. The + uttermost mystery surrounds the disappearance of the four panels, + which have been one of the show features of the place. How the + panels could disappear in the brief interval between the + announcement of dinner and the return of the guests to the + drawing-room is one of the most baffling features of the case. The + fact of the theft was discovered by one of the house guests, the + Ducca di Monteventi. Every effort will be made to discover the + criminals, for whose capture Lord Gordon has already offered a + large reward." + +That was all, but as Peaches put it, it was "an eyeful." In other words, +it was sufficient. Or almost so, for, of course, our native feminine +curiosity was enormously piqued. We stared at each other in amazement +for a moment, and then Peaches heaved a long sigh. + +"That tall man!" she said cryptically. "Why, it was the place we left +him at; the Gordon outfit! It seems like every time we hear of him he's +mixed up in a mystery." + +"It certainly does," I assented. "And here we are headed for the +Riviera, while I don't suppose he will get away, now that he's mixed up +with that theft." + +"How do you know he's mixed up with it?" demanded Alicia with quite +unnecessary violence. "He--he's a corker--couldn't you tell? Mixed up, +my eye!" + +"I meant as a witness or in some similar capacity," I protested. "If he +were not a duke, Alicia, I should be inclined, upon mature +consideration, to believe him a detective." + +"Secret service?" she said doubtfully. "Sleuth? Why, no. He's a swell, +that's all. You mustn't let your girlish imagination run away with you, +Free. And anyhow, why worry, as we probably'll never see him again?" + +"That is probably too true," I assented. Then I consulted dear father's +chronometer, discovered that time was pressing, and proceeded to the +packing of my bags and the problem of getting into my trunk some new +materials which I had purchased with the intention of having Miss +Stimpson, our local seamstress, make them up for me the very minute we +returned to Boston. I had also a new coat which Alicia had insisted upon +presenting to me, and some garments of a more private nature which I had +secretly purchased to gaze upon occasionally, though I would never wear +such unladylike garments, for suppose there were to be a train wreck, +how would one explain that a pink satin ah--er--interior was not belying +a respectable alpaca surface, if you divine my meaning? + +Well, at any rate, I found that my small trunk could not possibly be +made to hold all these new possessions, and so packed a few substantial +petticoats with handmade crochet edging and my second-best dolman into a +paper parcel, which I addressed to Euphemia and having thus completed my +visit to the French capital I was ready to, as it were, conquer Italy. + + + + +V + + +My dear father used justly to observe that clothes made the man, but +that woman made the clothes. A witticism of which he was most fond, +inasmuch as he clung to the custom of employing a tailoress, which was +the almost universal method of procuring outer garments in his early +youth. But it is possible that he intended to imply that the beauty of +some females was insurmountable by bad taste in dress. I hardly know +which interpretation may be correct; but I am sure that either Cousin +Abby was tremendously affected by her clothes or that they were +tremendously affected by her. At any rate they were as amazing as she +was, or she as they, if you comprehend me. And the reaction which I +experienced upon first beholding the Eiffel Tower was as nothing beside +that incident to my first meeting in twenty-five years with my relative. + +It took place almost immediately after our arrival at Monte Carlo. +Indeed we were scarcely settled in the royal suite of the hotel before +she paid her visit. Mr. Pegg and his daughter had stepped out to undergo +the preliminaries of obtaining a card to the public gambling hell, and +I, unwilling to countenance their project, had remained behind +ostensibly to supervise Richard, the chauffeur, in the disposal of our +things, and so was alone when the countess was announced. + +The Richard person admitted her and came in whistling under his breath +as he gave me her card. + +"Oh, you beautiful doll!" he sang sotto voce as he did so. + +I flew to the mirror, gave my hair a pat, and assuming a dignified +deportment entered the drawing-room. It was empty save for a young girl, +very much overdressed, who was standing with her back toward me, looking +out of the window. At sound of my entrance she turned and pounced upon +me with a shriek of delight. + +"Freedom Talbot, old thing!" she exclaimed. "How glad I am to see you!" + +And sure enough, that young girl was Cousin Abby! How true it is that +the troubles we experience are seldom those we expect! I had been living +in dread lest my titled relative should not prove hospitably inclined, +and here she was already, upon the very first day of our arrival, +greeting me literally with open arms. So much for the trouble I +anticipated--it was gone like a wreath of smoke! But as I took a good +look at her an entirely unforeseen difficulty began to force itself upon +me. That Cousin Abby was willing to receive us was apparent, but were we +going to return the compliment? For Abby had changed far more than I +had. + +When she left Boston twenty-five years ago Abby Talbot had been +considerably older than I. But upon renewing her acquaintance as +described I found her to be at least twenty years my junior. Not +literally, you will understand, by some miracle of arrested growth or +phenomenon in the actual defeat of time, but by sundry artificial aids +such as were never countenanced by my dear father and mother, or indeed +by Euphemia or myself, all such so-called aids to beauty being unknown +to the gentlewomen of our acquaintance and recognized only upon the +persons of outcast females and constituting the outward and visible +signs of inward and spiritual disgrace. Of course it must be admitted +that some of even Boston's very best people, particularly in the younger +generation, where it was palpably unnecessary, resorted to these +artifices, and I had several times been shocked at large receptions by +observing this fact. But that a member of our family should stoop to +such a course was incredible; or would have been except that I was at +that moment beholding it with my own eyes. + +Abby's hair was golden, and her cheeks were pink as Peaches' own. Her +lips! Gracious goodness! I trembled for her immortal soul as I beheld +them! And sinful-looking diamonds dangled from her ears almost to her +shoulders. The hat she wore might better have been fashioned for a maid +of sixteen, and her short gown swung above a pair of slim silken ankles +and slippers with glittering buckles and outrageous heels. + +But though I struggled to experience the disapproval which I knew to be +the proper reaction to these bedizenments I could not but admire the +brave spirit they also undoubtedly represented. There was that about +Abby which gave one the belief that one need not grow old except through +lack of the desire for youth. She seemed to stand there before me with +the spirit of her unconquerable youth radiating, as it were, through the +painted shell she had put upon her body. I at once, and for the first +time in my life, seriously contemplated abandoning my curled fringe. All +this which I have recorded passed through my mind in a flash--while she +was embracing me, to be exact. Then she withdrew her perfumed person a +few inches and laughed like a girl! + +"Free, you duckie!" she cried. "You haven't changed a bit. It's +fearfully amusing, your coming over. And to this iniquitous spot! How is +poor dear Boston? I feel a million æons away from it! And how is Cousin +Euphemia? And the dog--what was his name; Rex?--that she used to fuss +over so when he got his feet wet, do you remember?" + +She meant that she was trying to remember. + +"Rex has departed this life," I replied, "on the initiative of a very +rude and heartless dog catcher with a barred wagon. Euphemia is well +except for her rheumatism and asthma and indigestion; or was when I left +home." + +"Doesn't she write?" asked Abby quickly. + +"She was exceedingly disapproving of my enterprise and has not written," +said I. "But I had somewhat anticipated the circumstance and am not +unduly worried. The maid, Galadia, is to inform me should anything go +wrong." + +Abby laughed again. It certainly was a pleasant thing to hear. + +"Tell me everything!" she exclaimed, drawing two chairs close together. +"What on earth made you do it, you rebel? And who are these Peggs you +are with?" + +It was delightfully gossipy. I sat down beside her and soon explained my +action, in reply to her first question. But when I came to enlarging +upon the second, I found myself, most unexpectedly, at a loss. What was +my relationship to them anyhow? It was like trying to analyze one's +relationship to the sunlight. And yet, had I merely seen them without +knowing them, I should have unquestionably characterized them as +impossibly vulgar; that was the plain truth of the matter. To Abby they +must inevitably seem so at first glance. And knowing this I +instinctively rose to their defense. I discovered within myself a sudden +warm glow of affection and appreciation which was so normal and +comfortable in its character that I had positively been unaware of its +existence until criticism threatened them. I spoke slowly and +deliberately, choosing my words with care. + +"The Peggs are Americans," said I, "from California. And their hearts +are as big as their--er--oranges." + +"From which I gather they are millionaires and vulgar," said Abby +shrewdly--"but that you like them." + +"I do indeed!" said I, though how she deduced so much from my remark I +cannot imagine. + +"And it is equally evident," Abby went on, "that I, your titled cousin, +am to be induced by hook or crook to introduce them to an assortment of +foreign titles. That's so, isn't it? And you are in an agony of +embarrassed bewilderment about how to broach the subject?" + +"Abby!" I gasped. "How can you!" + +"My dear, I have to!" she cut in, laughing again, though not so +pleasantly this time. "My wits are about all I have with which to make +good my bridge losses! I suppose you know Constantine left me nothing +but the villa?" + +"What!" I exclaimed, really aghast. "I was not even aware of your +husband's demise!" + +"Polo accident," she said briefly. "Five years ago." + +"I'm sorry," I said softly. + +"Well," said Abby, "never mind that! So you see you need have no +reticence about offering me money. I can earn it, I assure you." + +Of course this was astonishing, but at the same time it really was an +immense relief. For I knew dear Mr. Pegg never hesitated to pay a proper +price for the genuine article, as he himself was wont to put it. And I +had in truth been most anxious as to how I should approach my +distinguished relative upon so delicate a matter as remuneration for the +peculiar services which we required. And so, though in a sense I was +shocked by her frankness, it made my path far easier, particularly since +her own lack of delicacy in the matter warranted a larger degree of +out-spokenness upon my part. And I had something important to say. Her +opening gave me an opportunity not likely of renewal, and so I at once +rushed into the breach. + +"My dear, I grieve for your loss," said I; "and for the unfortunate +condition of your widowhood. And it is a most happy circumstance that we +can be of benefit to each other at this time. Mr. Pegg intends to offer +you a thousand dollars each for introductions to titles. And a bonus, I +think he called it, of ten thousand dollars for--er--I believe he termed +it 'working capital.'" + +"Splendid!" exclaimed Abby. "Now go ahead and tell me the buts." + +"The buts?" I queried. "Do you infer that there are restrictions to Mr. +Pegg's offer?" + +"By the gleam in your eye I know there are!" Abby affirmed. + +"Well," I admitted, "Mr. Pegg has not expressed his desire that there be +any; but I have one of my own." + +Abby gave me a most peculiar look at this, her eyes narrowing and her +lips curling in a distinctly unpleasant smile. It filled me with an +acute, though undefined, sense of discomfort. + +"Very well," she said quietly. "How much do you want?" + +"What?" I asked. + +"What commission do you want?" said she, speaking very distinctly. I +felt as though someone had struck me with a whip. Instinctively I got to +my feet. + +"Abby!" I exclaimed in horror. "A bribe! How could you? A Talbot!" + +To my amazement and further distress she stared at me for a long moment +and then burst into tears. + +"Forgive me, Cousin Free!" she sobbed. "Forgive me, if you can--please! +One gets so hard, so used to things like that out here! I ought to have +known better! Please say you understand!" + +She was not like a little girl any longer. There was something behind +the tone in which she spoke which frightened me; something terrible and +sinister and cruel--something which could break even a Talbot! I +perceived its nature though its substance was beyond my experience, and +at once the instinct to rescue and help her was uppermost in my mind. I +fussed over her much as I used to fuss over Rex, our pet, when anything +ailed him, for he had been my dog, not Euphemia's, as Abby had supposed. +And presently she grew quieter, though she still held on to my hand. But +though I felt sorry for Abby and was determined to be of assistance to +her I did not let the most unfortunate incident divert me from what had +originally been in my mind to say when she made her terrible mistake. + +"Now, my dear, I will forgive you," said I. "But please brace up and +allow me to state my condition, which is simply this: The young lady, +Miss Alicia Pegg, must be most carefully guarded from fortune hunters +and all questionable company. You must guarantee to me that you will +introduce her to no one who can harm her. Her father has a faith in her +ability to take care of herself which is founded in his knowledge of her +singularly beautiful nature, but he is almost as unworldly in our sense +as she is. I simply won't have any scallawags hanging round her. Her +father trusts me to look out for her welfare, and I mean to see that his +trust is justified." + +"You seem pretty deep in his confidence," Abby remarked. "He is a +widower, you said?" + +"He is," I replied, though I did not see what that had to do with the +subject. "And Alicia's motherless condition places a great +responsibility upon me. So you must promise what I have asked, Abby, and +keep the promise faithfully." + +"All right, old dear!" she answered, her self-possession rapidly +returning. "And it won't be hard, for I know an awfully decent set, +really. I'll have you all out to dine this very week. I'm at San Remo, +you know. Just a short motor drive from here; a duck of a house opposite +the old German Emperor's place. How about Saturday? That ought to give +me time to collect the proper people." + +"That will be lovely, Abby!" said I. "Mr. Pegg will be delighted, I am +sure." Then a sudden wonderment struck me. + +"Don't you ever wish you were back in the security of your life in +Boston?" I asked curiously. + +"Not when I'm sane!" she replied lightly. "Do you?" + +This was both unexpected and disconcerting. But I strove to be honest in +my reply. + +"No," I said; "I cannot truthfully say that I do." + +And long after she had taken her departure, buoyant and apparently +light-hearted once more, I pondered my reply. But I found no explanation +for my change of heart. Never, no, never, did I expect to utter such a +sentiment, much less to have felt it! But the harsh fact was that I had +somehow become estranged from my native city and the human element which +represented it, and did in truth already prefer the Riviera. + +In point of fact it appeared to me to be the most beautiful place of +which the mind could conceive, despite that I was rather surprised to +find the chief foliage to be cedar and other evergreens, and that the +whole effect was less tropical than I had imagined. Also I had expected +that the natives would be rather more like those in a production of +Cavalleria Rusticana, to which my dear father had once escorted Euphemia +and myself upon the occasion of her birthday; and even after several +weeks of continuous residence in Monte Carlo I was unable to be rid of a +feeling that the management, or rather government, was somehow to blame +for not making the reality more like the opera. + +But oh, how beautiful it was! I was unstinting in my praise. Not so Mr. +Pegg and Alicia, however. + +"Pretty good!" was Alicia's comment. "But you ought to see California. +They'd better bring over some of our poppies to liven up the hills." + +"It's real pretty," her father admitted, "but awful small. It's +something like a pocket edition, as you might say, Miss Free." + +"I scarcely believe that anything could be more lovely," I declared. + +"Well, of course you haven't been West yet," said Peaches cheerfully. +"Then you'll see the real thing!" + +"I shall never become a Californian, my dear," I put in mildly. "Do you +know, sometimes I fear you tend to exaggerate in describing your native +State?" + +"Well, we produce the biggest crops in the world," she declared. "So why +not the biggest liars, as well? Wait until you've been out on the coast +yourself!" + +And never to this day have I clearly understood what she meant by that. +A great deal that Alicia said was difficult to understand. And nothing +was more so than this insistence on her part that anything Californian +was superior to everything European. After our visit to the Villa d'Este +I gave up. She looked it over pleasantly and gave her verdict. + +"I guess they copied it from the Gillespie place at Santa Barbara," she +said; "only, of course, these hills are nothing as compared to the Coast +Range for height." + +It was just after this that I abandoned all effort to force a course in +architecture, or indeed in any of the arts, upon Peaches. I began dimly +to perceive that it was not only useless but that her education was not +really impaired by the secession of my efforts along these lines. She +possessed a faculty for picking out what she wanted to learn and +learning it thoroughly. And after all that is the truest education, as +my dear father used to say. + +But I digress. Let us take up our sequence where Abby left me on that +first afternoon. + +Scarcely had she departed, driving off in a smart little red automobile +of the type which I had learned to distinguish as a roadster, as I +observed from the window, and which gave no clew to the newly disclosed +fact of her poverty--scarcely had she departed and I had partially +mastered the emotions which her extraordinary visit had engendered in my +bosom when Alicia and her father returned. + +They had been out, as I believe I have mentioned, for the purpose of +procuring cards of admission to the public gambling hell. They had also +got cards for a place called the casino, one of which was offered to me. +I accepted it with gratitude, for at home there was a casino out at +Duxbury where we spent our summers; a very charming place it was, too, +with a fine view of the ocean from the veranda, and a dance for the +young people every Saturday night, and I had greatly enjoyed taking my +knitting there. I was at present secretly at work upon a pair of socks +for Mr. Pegg, intended as a small appreciation of all he had done for +me, and I felt sure that this casino would be an excellent place in +which to complete them, particularly when Mr. Pegg and his daughter were +away gambling. I had, needless to say, protested against their avowed +intentions in this matter, but to no avail. + +"Why, Miss Talbot, of course you object!" Mr. Pegg had said, kindly but +firmly. "Objecting to this sort of thing is part of your job. If you +didn't object you wouldn't be the woman I hired you for. But this is one +time you're not wise--you don't get it at all. This gambling joint is +strictly high class. The layouts at Dogtown have nothing on +it--absolutely! To lose a little something at Monte is like losing a +little at monte with a small 'm' over to Dogtown; and allow me to inform +you that no California native son's education is completely polished off +without that experience. Only over here is where the crowned heads get +trimmed--I mean polished. And I propose to have my daughter visit that +historic spot so's she can talk intelligently about it at big dinner +parties." + +Well, when Mr. Pegg assumed that tone I knew that further argument was +useless. Besides, Peaches herself was very much set on going, and all +that was left me was the manifestation of my unalterable disapproval by +steadfastly refusing to accompany them or to discuss their experiences +in that den of iniquity. Even Richard, the chauffeur, was infected with +the dreadful spirit of the place, though I ascertained that the vicious +resort which he attended was of a less pretentious order. + +There was considerable coolness between us that evening because of my +attitude, and when Peaches and her father had departed upon their +nefarious errand I read my Bible and went to bed greatly fortified. This +coolness lasted into the next day, despite the arrival during breakfast +of Abby's invitation to dinner, at which Mr. Pegg and Alicia both +evinced great satisfaction. I hoped to divert them into a visit to the +churches, but all in vain. Mr. Pegg had lost several hundred dollars, it +seemed, and both he and his daughter evinced a strong wish, as they +expressed it, "to show these wop gamblers where they got off." + +The result was that after luncheon they again left me to my own devices +after a second fruitless attempt at persuading me to accompany them, and +when they had been gone for half an hour I decided to take my knitting +to that casino for which they had given me a card. + +The afternoon was exceptionally mild and fine, even for that part of the +world, and I anticipated spending it out of doors. I therefore put on a +shade hat and a light wrap, packed my fancywork into my knitting bag +and making sure that my working specs were in my reticule I set forth +into the mildly sunlit avenue. + +I had no difficulty at all in locating my destination. Indeed the very +first native boy of whom I made inquiry directed me volubly. I thanked +him and passed on in the direction which he indicated. But when I +reached the spot I confess I was astounded and felt obliged to confirm +the building's identity by a second inquiry. + +It was far, far larger than the casino at Duxbury. Indeed it looked +rather more like one or rather several of the houses which the _nouveau +riche_ have erected at Newport. But this was not altogether surprising +when one realized that the number of tourists was undoubtedly far +greater than on the Massachusetts coast. And as I approached I noted +that a large number of cars were waiting outside. It seemed probable +that this indicated a hostess day, or possibly even a private euchre +party; so I decided against going in, and entered the gardens instead. + +These were amazingly beautiful and extensive, with winding paths and +pleasant seats. Here at least I could not complain of any lack of +luxuriance in the semi-tropical growth, and selecting a sheltered bench +that was shielded from the light breeze by a mass of camellias in full +bloom I settled myself for a pleasing period of rest and observation. +Very few people were about, and a lovely peace reigned over all. + +First I took out the finished sock and regarded it critically in the +strong light. It was really well made if I do say so myself, and +tasteful, too. The sock itself was black, but round the top the purling +was in alternate stripes of black and red; an effort on my part at once +to meet Mr. Pegg's taste for the exotic in dress and at the same time +offer a conservative surface in that part which would be exposed to the +general public. Having then satisfied myself that my work was as my +mother would have desired, I counted the setting-up stitches anew to +make certain of their number, and began the second sock, my heart +content at thought of the pleasant surprise my gift would be. I had +completed the top line of red and the first line of black and had just +begun on the second line of red when I observed the most dreadful thing. + +I think I have mentioned that my seat was sheltered by a semicircular +bed of evergreen bordered by tall camellias, and was situated in a +remote corner of the gardens. The band on the plaza was playing a gay +tune and the atmosphere was pleasantly exhilarating. And so I was not +paying very diligent attention to my work. Indeed my eyes were ever +prone to rove from my knitting, a fact for which Euphemia has often +chided me, though I do quite as well without watching my stitches, the +occupation having become second nature with me. Therefore it was by no +means unprecedented that I should be contemplating the beautiful shrubs +at my right, while nodding my head to the music of the distant band, +though my hands were busily engaged. + +At first I thought my vision must be at fault, for something stirred +just the other side of the bushes, and a hand containing a revolver was +slowly lifted, the index finger upon the trigger. + +For the first second I felt as if I were stricken by paralysis, and the +next I had sprung to my feet and rounded the corner to where the hand +was. + +"Stop it at once!" I shouted instinctively, though it is a fact that I +hardly knew what was to be stopped. + +And my command was obeyed. The man who stood there actually did stop, +though why in the moment of his surprise that dreadful pistol did not go +off I cannot understand. But the hand containing it dropped to his side, +and for several seconds we stood staring at each other, he with the +pallid daze of one who has been halted on the brink of destruction, and +I with the trembling indignation of a respectable female with a most +unfeminine situation suddenly thrust upon her. + +He was a tall thin man, no longer young, and dressed in the extreme of +fashion save for a large rabbit's foot that dangled incongruously from +his watch chain. His eyes were large and dark and overbrilliant, and his +disheveled head was hatless. + +"What were you doing?" I asked severely, though I knew perfectly well. +"Don't you know that it's a sin?" I went on before he could answer. + +"Who are you?" the man asked in English, his voice hoarse and remote. +"Go away and allow me to kill myself!" + +"Stuff and nonsense!" I replied tartly. "You put that--that weapon into +your pocket this minute! Don't you know you are apt to cause us both to +be arrested if a police officer should come this way?" + +Mechanically he obeyed, slipping the dreadful thing into his coat +pocket, and continuing to stare at me in that helpless, dazed fashion. + +"Now come and sit down beside me on this bench!" I commanded, gathering +my worsteds out of his way. He obeyed like a person in a trance. "There +now!" said I. "You poor man, you are all upset! Wait a minute and I'll +give you just what you need." + +Fortunately it is my habit always to carry a dose of aromatic spirits of +ammonia in my reticule in case of emergency, and at length an emergency +had arisen. Hastily retrieving the little phial from its hiding place I +uncorked it and offered it to my strange companion. + +"Here--drink this quickly!" I commanded. + +He took it and gave a hurried look about to see if anyone observed. +There was nobody in sight. + +"You are right, it is less noisy!" he whispered. And with a single gulp +he drained the phial and returned it to me. + +"How long does it take to work?" he whispered feebly, relaxing upon the +bench. + +"Just a moment," I said soothingly. "There! Don't you feel better +already?" + +"I do, strangely enough!" he replied, straightening up. "What kind of +poison is it?" + +"It's aromatic ammonia," I said briskly, "and it won't poison you in the +least. Never have I met such a silly person as you are!" + +"Baffled again!" he groaned, burying his face in his hands. "Oh, how +much better I feel! What a shame! Why could you not let me die?" + +"Because it is the business of sensible women to take care of foolish +men!" I returned. "Sit up now and tell me all about it. Was it love?" + +He obeyed and stared at me in that silly blank way of his. + +"Love?" he said. "Worse than that. Money. I have one hundred napoleons +left in the world. I decided there were only two courses open to me. +Either I must get a sign, an infallible sign how to play, or shoot +myself. I decided to wait until two o'clock and if the sign had not +manifested itself I would end my life. It was exactly three seconds to +two o'clock when you spoke!" + +He groaned and dropped his head again. + +"Well," said I as placidly as I could, "perhaps I am the sign you were +looking for. Who knows? See here now, I am going on knitting, and +suppose you watch the stitches for a few moments. It's excellent for the +nerves. That's it. You'll have yourself well in hand presently." + +And indeed even as his eyes fell upon my fancywork he seemed to take a +new lease of life. Gradually he became animated. Color returned to his +pallid cheeks and a new, though I cannot say a saner light, came into +his eyes. + +"The sign!" he muttered. "Perhaps it is the sign!" This cryptic remark +seemed to be addressed to himself. Then suddenly--he did everything +suddenly--he spoke directly to me. "Red and black!" he said, fingering +the wool on which I was at work. "Red and black. How many stitches do +you take of the red, strange woman?" + +"Ten," I said, "and then ten of black and then ten on the red!" + +He sprang to his feet with a sudden strange conviction in his manner. + +"Twenty on the red! Ten on the black!" said he. "It's a sign. It may be, +it must be a sign! I'm off!" + +He tossed the sock back to me with a gay gesture and started away. But I +was too quick for him. I caught him by the coat tails before he had gone +twelve inches. + +"Hey, my good man!" said I. "I'll just thank you to hand over that +pistol before you go!" + +"All right, you can have it!" he exclaimed lightly. "There you are. +Don't do anything rash with it. I may need it later!" + +He slipped the weapon into my reticule with an amazingly swift gesture, +and before I could say "jiffy" he was gone in the direction of the +casino. + +Nervous excitement has always exhausted me more than physical exertion, +and I have acquired the practice of taking a short nap wherever I may be +when the occasion necessitates it. And so when the poor crazy man had +gone and seemed little likely to return I settled myself for a cat nap, +determined to compose my nerves and not allow my afternoon to be ruined +by the disturbing incident. But though I roused myself at intervals and +did a few stitches I must have drowsed much longer than I had thought +to, for when I awoke thoroughly it was sunset. + +I got out dear father's chronometer and was horrified to find the hour +past six. Here I had been a public spectacle for goodness knows how +long! I at once began to gather my things together, preparatory to +leaving for the hotel when I perceived that there was a great to-do at +the casino. People began pouring forth and cheering, headed by a wild +figure in a black coat. + +And then things began to happen fast. Before I could realize that the +procession was headed for me it was upon me, lead by my suicidal +acquaintance, his pockets bursting with money, his hat, mysteriously +retrieved, also brimming with lucre, his vest bulging with it, and his +hand full of bank notes. Straight toward me he came, and dropping upon +his knees he flung both hands full of money into my lap, the crowd +closing in about us despite the police officers, who ran about wildly +shouting, "Ladies and gentlemen, order, please!" + +"My benefactress! My good angel!" shouted the kneeling man. "My sign +from heaven, accept a few miserable hundreds as your inadequate reward!" + +"You have been gambling!" I said severely, while gathering up the money +from my lap. + +"Yes, I broke the bank on your advice!" he shouted. "Twenty on the red, +ten on the black. Take, oh, take your reward, my angel!" + +"I will take this shameful money for the foreign missions at home!" I +said severely. "It ought to be turned to holy uses, and you will only +lose it again! And please get up. You are making us both ridiculous!" + +But before he could comply, to my unspeakable horror Alicia and her +father pushed their way through the crowd, accompanied by a young man. +At sight of me Peaches gave a whoop of joy. + +"What price a chaperon!" she yelled. "Free, you little hellion!" + +She turned from me to the young man in attendance. + +"Good Lord, what'll I have to get her out of next?" she asked him +whimsically. And then I recognized him. + +It was the Duke di Monteventi! + + + + +VI + + +Even amidst the excitement incident to my personal predicament I could +not but be surprised at that young man's being there--and with Peaches! +He had the most extraordinary way of turning up unexpectedly. And even +more remarkable was the way in which he appeared equal to whatever +situation he dropped into the midst of, for now it was he who maneuvered +my extrication from the embarrassing attentions of the bank-breaking +person, and it was on his arm that I departed from that iniquitous spot +to which I had so inadvertently wandered. It was not until we returned +to the hotel that I learned what had happened, and then dear knows it +was nothing to his credit. + +It appears that they had met him at the gaming table. But, of course, +that could not be counted as wholly against him, inasmuch as Peaches +herself had been there, and even I had been near by, though, of course, +without intention. Obviously I was not in a position to reprove either +of them, though I took the greatest pains to explain in minute detail +just how the situation in which they found me had arisen, omitting only +the exact nature of the work upon which I had been engaged. + +"Never mind, Free!" said Peaches soothingly. "Don't bother to alibi. +Both father and I have played hunches ourselves, haven't we, dad? Only +it's generally been in person." + +This was perfectly unintelligible to me, but the duke apparently +understood, for he smiled that wonderful golden smile, which made me +feel as if I would do simply anything for him. Then he counted what they +persisted in calling my winnings for me. It amounted to nearly two +hundred francs. + +"Are you really going to send it to the missions?" he asked. "You might +double it at the tables, you know, Miss Talbot!" + +"My dear duke," I informed him promptly, "I wouldn't gamble for the +world! I intend turning this money in at once to charitable uses!" + +"What a lack of philosophy!" he cried, throwing out his hand in a +despairing gesture. "How much is furnished to charity from sources as +blind, isn't it? But for that poor gambler where would your donation be? +Don't you believe the end often justifies the means?" + +Peaches took this up. + +"You mean a person has to fight the world with its own weapons lots of +times," she said quickly. + +"I do," he said. + +"Well, my dear father always held that fair means made clean profits," I +said, rising. "And I believe that no matter what the end, the process to +it should be honest." + +And then I left them to make out a money order to Doctor Andrews, as I +did not like having all that cash upon my person; and anyway the +receptacle in which I carried such things would not contain so much. + +In the corridor I ran into Mr. Pegg. I would have passed on my way, but +he detained me. + +"I wanted to ask you, Miss Talbot," he began, "what was the dope you +gave that feller that he won on?" His voice was low and eager. + +"I didn't tell him a thing!" I responded indignantly. "I know nothing +whatever of gambling, Mr. Pegg, as you are perfectly well aware!" + +"I'm not so dead sure about what you know and what you don't," said Mr. +Pegg slowly. "But I am disappointed you won't tell me what you told that +feller to do." + +"I assure you I imparted to him no information of any sort whatsoever!" +I repeated with dignity. "I am beginning to think every one has gone a +little mad in this climate!" + +"Well, of course the climate ain't like California," murmured my +employer automatically. "But I'd like to know what you told him." + +Well, I wasn't going to discuss that crazy man or my conversation +regarding the socks I was making, and so I fled to the seclusion of my +chamber and the completion of my errand. + +But when I had written my letter and addressed my envelope I fell into a +reverie in which my thoughts were occupied by the Duke di Monteventi. It +was perfectly apparent that he was going to see something of Peaches--in +all likelihood as much as she would permit--and unless my premonition +and intuition were wholly at fault that would mean a good deal. + +And why not? That was the question. Was there any reason why not? Of +course Alicia had her parent, who was naturally the prime factor in any +restraint that might be put upon her. But then, Mr. Pegg did not know of +the incident of the motion-picture house. Not that there was anything in +it to the young man's discredit. But suitable bachelors did not +generally have a mystery attached to them anywhere. Of course we did not +as yet even know that he was a bachelor, though from the way he looked +at Peaches I earnestly hoped he was. + +Should I inform Mr. Pegg of what I knew? But what, after all, did I +know? Nothing except that two quite unattractive foreigners seemed to +have designs upon him. And those friends of his, Lord and Lady Gordon, +were presumably highly desirable. Well, Abby might know something about +him. I felt my responsibility toward Peaches heavily. And yet I longed +for a romance. Or at any rate, at least for the spectacle of one. Such a +time and such a place demanded it. Through the window of my unhomelike +hotel bedroom crept the scent of exotic blossoms on the wings of a +gentle breeze which stirred my letter to the minister to a faint +fluttering. I looked at it hard for a long moment, a trifle saddened +that so much sweetness should be wasted on anything less than a love +epistle. Then I collected my emotions, put them, metaphorically +speaking, away in dried lavender, where they belonged, sealed my letter +and made myself ready for dinner. + +When I rejoined my little family the duke had gone, but Peaches could +talk of nothing else. + +"Isn't he a regular guy?" she challenged the world from her seat upon +the end of a high table. "He's two inches taller than I am! We measured. +And he's the goods--absolutely! Got an old ranch that was staked out +during the pioneer Christian days, back in the mountains. But it's been +let run down." + +"Orchards?" inquired her father, his interest quickening. + +"Some," said his daughter. "But mostly human livestock, I guess. A +tenantry, they call it." + +"Italian for rent hog," commented her father. + +And we went down to dinner. + +One of our more popular, less erudite poets, has remarked that "There's +nothing half so sweet in life as love's young dream." Or perhaps it was +a classic poet. I am not certain which, and must for once confess to +ignorance as to the origin of a quotation. But it is one--the sentence, +I mean--for which I have long cherished a liking. It is ill-expressed +perhaps, but profoundly true. Love's dream is always young: that is one +of the finest things about it. The tenderer emotions have a curious +faculty of restoring youth, or at least temporarily renewing it. Even +love at secondhand, by observation or by inference as it were, is +capable of producing a reformation of the spirit which in its new-found +vitality at once questions the body as to its actual age and state of +decrepitude. Is one ever really old? Does one pass the period when +romantic love can obsess one without one's justifying ridicule? Is +there, indeed, any such period? Does not true love always dignify its +victim? These are the questions which such a contact must invariably +engender. And I confess to being no exception to the rule as I watched +Alicia and the duke. + +What a romance! How pleasing in every way! Two such handsome young +people might have been, as it were, taken bodily from the drawings in +Godey's Ladies' Book, so incredibly beautiful were they; or from the +decorative cover of a more modern magazine, so athletic was their +appearance. + +One of the very first items to catch and hold my admiring attention in +the progress of their affair was the bouquet which he sent her the +morning after his arrival. Here in a land where flowers were cheap and +plentiful, instead of sending a bushel of blossoms, as the average +admirer would have done, a small box appeared containing an exquisite +corsage bouquet. She was almost bound to wear it. And she did. So far so +good, but what was in even better taste and a further sign of breeding, +there was a handful of roses for me! + +"My dear," said I as Peaches gave them to me, "that young man is a +thoroughbred, take my word for it, even if he is a foreigner!" + +"Well, he's only half Italian, you see!" replied my lovely giantess in +cheerful explanation. "His mother was a Miss Winton, from Cambridge, the +daughter of the American consul at Nice. She married a title, that's +all." + +"A Winton of Cambridge!" I exclaimed, a great light dawning upon me. +"That explains it, of course. The Wintons were very decent people, my +dear; very decent, though not very old. I am sure I remember that +correctly. I will write and ask some one at home for further +particulars. Meanwhile I know no reason why you should not see something +of him if you wish." + +"Thanks!" said Peaches. "I believe I might. In fact we had thought of +taking a ride this afternoon. He's got a friend here in the Besseleri +and can borrow two horses. Would that be quite all right, as the English +say?" + +"Certainly, if you take a groom along," said I, recalling what little I +knew on this particular point of etiquette. + +I had never indulged in equestrian sports in my own youth, nor had +Euphemia, and so my authoritative tone was derived from surmises I had +made from pictures I had seen on the subject--pictures, it must be +confessed, in an English magazine, where a groom in pen and ink always +figured in the sketches of Rotten Row. + +Yet when Peaches had departed sniffing at her bouquet, to write him a +note, because, as she averred, the telephone service was so bad--much +worse than the Los Angeles system--I wondered vaguely if she had not +been making game of me in asking my permission and advice. Ordinarily I +should have been certain that she was, but this time there was a genuine +anxiety on her part to do the correct thing--a faint doubting of her own +omnipotence which was new and wholly delightful. + +I yearned over her with an unuttered blessing, and returned to work upon +my, or that is to say, Mr. Pegg's sock. How delightful the world seemed! +And, of course, his being a Winton made such a difference! + +Of Peaches on horseback I have little to say besides the fact that she +and the duke required the two tallest horses in the regiment. Words fail +me when I attempt to describe how she looked, for there she was in her +element. By some mysterious process she had acquired a hat belonging to +one of the officers--a strange hat indeed for a man to have worn at any +time, for it was covered with cock's plumes. And Peaches wore it with an +air of nonchalance difficult to describe. But it certainly did look very +like the pictures to which I have referred as my authority on the +subject of horseback riding. There was no groom with them, but Mr. Pegg +had decided to go along, so that was all right. I saw them start and +then decided to have the yellow brocade which I had purchased in Paris +made up for the wedding. + +As things were, I was not altogether surprised to find the Duke di +Monteventi at Abby's house on the first occasion of our going there for +dinner. I was glad it was so magnificent an entertainment with music, +because when those two young people met in the beautiful hallway there +should have been music and flowers, and there were! I have positively +never seen anything so handsome as the duke in evening dress, except +Peaches in that simple Nile-green satin gown! They came together +like--like two branches of a stream--at once playfully antagonistic and +blending! Yet their language was curiously unromantic. + +"Cheero!" said the duke. "You look ripping!" + +"You're not so dusty yourself," rejoined Peaches. + +And then Abby bore down upon us; Abby in a perfectly outrageous black +evening gown with diamonds as big as pigeons' eggs in her ears, and very +little else. She sailed up like a small sloop, all trig and confident, +and after pecking me on the cheek extended a flower-like hand to Mr. +Pegg. + +"It's awfully good of you to come!" she said. "Dear Freedom has talked +of you so often!" + +"Charmed!" murmured Mr. Pegg, his eyes riveted upon her smooth head. +"Delighted!" + +It was quite perfect, and I experienced a tremendous sense of relief. +One would never have suspected that he was paying for this gorgeous +entertainment. But I did not like the look he gave her, nor the way his +eyes followed her all evening. Somehow it made me unpleasantly conscious +of my own hair, in which I had always heretofore maintained a good deal +of pride. And somehow my gray corded silk with the collar of real lace +and mamma's cameo pin did not seem quite so lovely as I had always +thought them, either; though they were undoubtedly more modest and more +suitable to our age than Abby's costume was. Fortunately my walkrite +shoes did not show under my gown, and I managed to keep them pretty well +concealed through the evening. But I digress. + +Abby's villa was a delightful one, situated, as she had said, at the +back of the pleasantly cosmopolitan little town of San Remo, and +nestling high on the sheltering hills, the miniature garden being built +on terraces and inclosed by a whitewashed wall against which the +evergreens of the mountain crowded sharply, and over which the roses and +geraniums and clematis flung abandoned sprays of sweetness, as if the +little inclosure were an overflowing bowl of goodies. There were minute +statuettes in the garden, veiled and softened by moss and the winter +damps of a century, and a little fountain half choked with water +flowers, but tinkling endlessly from a broken conch shell. There were +hidden benches, too, set as though for lovers; and, incongruously, a +smooth bit of turf near the veranda where Abby practiced putting, which +is, I am informed, a section of the game of golf. + +But though the garden was old and steeped in romance the interior of the +villa was modernized and gay. And on the night of this, our first +entertainment there, a sense of festivity was diffused by a clever +profusion of half-hidden lights, quantities of flowers, sporting prints, +magazines galore, for Abby read nothing else, and a general crowding +together of old and new furnishings, even to pictures and hangings, +until the little house seemed incapable of holding another thing. But it +was brave and gay and being made the best of--very like Abby herself. + +Of the guests besides ourselves there was not much to be said in the way +of charm, but a great deal in the way of distinction and quality. For +there was Sir Anthony and Lady Spier, who did nothing in the world +except live in San Remo each winter and compare it unfavorably with +Sussex, to which, however, they seldom returned. They looked a good deal +alike and ate heartily. Sir Anthony had set views on California, where +he had never been, and he positively refused to accept Mr. Pegg's +statements about it, which circumstance gave rise to quite a lively +discussion. + +There were also present a Mr. and Mrs. H. DeVere-Poole, of New York; +expensive-looking people who Abby afterward assured me were very +fashionable. And no doubt they were--in New York. But in Boston I had +never heard of them, though of course Mrs. Poole was familiar with my +family and asked a few vague questions about some Boston people named +Cabot, after which she lapsed into the cigarette-infested silence which +appeared habitual with her. + +Then there was a voluble captain of the Queen's Bodyguard, in uniform, +an acquaintance of the duke's, and of a distinguished but broken family, +I believe. However that may have been, I do not know. But I can vouch +for the condition of his English, which was worse than broken; it was +shattered. And that was the company. + +As for the food--I never saw so much food so thoroughly disguised in my +life. It resembled an edible patchwork quilt made out of whole cloth. +But it was delicious. All in all the venture was a huge success and my +protégés behaved splendidly. + +It was only after dinner, under the influence of a cigar--Abby permitted +smoking in any part of the house, it seemed--that Mr. Pegg relaxed into +his natural manner, and I began to fear disaster. Peaches was +smoking--every one was smoking, in fact, except myself. And Mr. Pegg, +sticking his thumbs into the armholes of his black and white striped +silk vest, refused to be seated, but strode about the crowded +drawing-rooms, asking questions about all that they contained. I am +mortified to confess that he appeared chiefly interested in the +intrinsic value of the objects which attracted his attention, and showed +no hesitancy about asking their price. + +"Since I come over here abroad, countess," he remarked to Abby, who +followed languidly in his trail, a cigarette in an immensely long holder +between her artificially reddened lips--"since I come over I sure have +had an eye opener about secondhand pictures and furniture and such +stuff! That's why I'm interested in your things. I thought I knew +something about commercial values, but I see I can learn." + +"Why, I thought Sebastian Markheim was a great friend of yours!" +commented Abby. "And he's a famous collector." + +"He's a famous collector of culls and worn-out stock," chuckled the +Citrus King. "Bought a ranch near one of mine, and the hoppers ate what +trees he had, the first year. Then I got him a flock of turkeys to keep +'em down and he done better next year. But all the secondhand antiques +he had over to his ranch house come from a fire sale in Oroville, and +consisted principally of a slightly scorched set of real genuine +varnished oak dating way back to 1910." + +"Who is this that possessed such a treasure?" asked the duke, strolling +up and joining our little tour of inspection--for I was with them, being +anxious to hear what Mr. Pegg and Abby were talking about. + +"Sebastian Markheim!" replied Abby quickly. "He is a friend of dear Mr. +Pegg's." + +Dear Mr. Pegg indeed! And she had never met him before that evening! I +determined to do something about this at once; though just what, and +about what, I did not quite know at the moment, but you will understand +me. Mr. Pegg, however, beamed at Abby, and then turned to the duke. + +"Neighbor of mine on the coast," he explained. "Nice feller, but knows +nothing at all about citrus fruit." + +"But he does know about antiques," laughed the duke. "His collection is +world-famous. Are you interested along those lines?" + +"More curious than anything," Mr. Pegg admitted. "You see, I don't +intend to let any branch of knowledge go untouched if I can help it. +That's one of the traits that makes us Americans so remarkable." + +"I see," replied Monteventi. "Have you shown him the Mantegna?" he went +on, turning to Abby. + +"Mantegna!" I exclaimed; "A genuine Mantegna! How wonderful!" + +"Let's have a look!" said my employer. + +"It's in here!" assented our hostess, and led the way into a little +alcove room, where upon the bare plaster wall the masterpiece hung--a +strange, melancholy primitive of the ascension, the agony of the dark +ages in its solemn coloring, and struggling for technic. I stood in +silent awe,--it was such a precious thing to be in private ownership, +and of all persons, in Abby's! I sighed and turned, to see a curious +look upon the face of the young duke, who towered beside me. Never had I +seen anything so amazing as the transformation which had taken place in +him. There came into it a look of reverence mixed with a passionate +fire which seemed almost for the moment to consume him. His face was +that of a saint, a religious fanatic, a young crusader. His eyes burned +and the color had receded from his cheeks. To say that I was shocked and +fascinated at this transformation is to put it mildly. Then he caught my +eyes and his color came back. + +"You understand pictures, Miss Talbot," he said quietly. "I remember." + +"Pretty homely, I call it," said Mr. Pegg's voice behind us. "But I +suppose that makes it all the more valuable. How much do you calculate +it is worth?" + +In an instant the duke had turned to him, his expression normal once +more. + +"An Italian work of art of such a character as this is beyond price," he +declared, a deep note in his voice; "though that little painting would +easily fetch a hundred thousand dollars in the market--which it will +never reach, thank God!" + +"You seem to think a lot of it," replied Mr. Pegg. "I wouldn't give five +dollars for it, but I suppose some people would." + +"Markheim, for instance!" remarked the duke. "But he couldn't get it. +One of our charming hostess' chief claims to distinction is that though +an American by birth she has the Italian loyalty about such matters." + +He bowed charmingly. + +"Sandro means that no matter how hard up I was I wouldn't break the law +by selling an Italian work of art for export," she explained lightly. +"And this one, least of all. It came from my late husband's home," she +went on, "and is one of the few things I managed to save." + +"Is there a law about taking such things out of Italy?" asked Mr. Pegg. + +"I should say there was!" exclaimed the duke. "The country was being +stripped by moneyed foreigners until it was enforced. We natives feel +strongly on the subject, Mr. Pegg. But it is a dangerous thing to +smuggle a masterpiece out of Italy now, I am happy to say." + +"Then how do you suppose Mr. Markheim succeeded in getting the Madonna +of the Lamp," I put in, "which he bought last month?" + +"Markheim has Raphael's masterpiece!" he cried sharply. "Since when?" + +"Well, young man, you needn't look at me like that," I said. "I didn't +smuggle it for him, I'm sure! He bought it in New York; why, on the very +day that you discovered that robbery at the Gordons'!" + +"Curious that I didn't see the notice," he murmured, still staring at +me. "I beg pardon, Miss Talbot. I didn't mean to be rude, I'm sure. But +this was the first I had heard of it, and such things interest me +greatly." + +"They would interest any Italian," declared Abby. "You see, things are +occasionally smuggled out in spite of an eternal vigilance on the part +of the secret service. Though as I remember, it's a good long while +since the Madonna of the Lamp disappeared. It was reported to be in +Berlin years ago, but this is the first time it has actually come to +light. Very interesting, I'm sure. And if we really should go to war +with Austria I expect we would have the opportunity of bringing back a +great many things across the mountains yonder. Let's go out, by the way, +and have a look at them in the moonlight." + +She tucked her arm into that of Mr. Pegg in the most exasperatingly +familiar way, which he did not seem to resent in the least, and together +they went out through the window into the moon-filled garden. And even +as they went Peaches appeared in the doorway, her hair wind-blown and +her magnificent dress a trifle disordered, but if possible even more +lovely than ever. + +"Oh, there you are, Sandro!" she said, catching sight of the duke. "Come +outside, quick! There's an aëroplane flying right into the moon. They +say it's Caproni himself!" + +And forthwith they vanished, leaving me to absorb a detailed description +of Sir Anthony's indigestion, delivered by himself, which description +lasted for the remainder of the evening. But my thoughts were on other +things, though I said "Yes?" and "Indeed!" automatically whenever Sir +Anthony came to a full stop. + +So it was "Sandro" already, was it? And that same Sandro, who loved +famous paintings so, and knew such a lot about them, had been somewhere +that newspapers did not reach from the time the panels were stolen from +the château in which he was visiting, until he reappeared at Monte +Carlo. But where had he been during that period, and what doing? I +puzzled the matter over all the while as we said good night and climbed +into our high-powered motor, at the wheel of which Richard, the +chauffeur, sat like a sullen schoolboy, while Peaches, abandoning her +usual place beside him, climbed into the back with the duke, whom we +were dropping at his hotel. + +And the puzzle stayed in my mind after Peaches was asleep that night, +she having first talked herself tired about her Sandro, she describing +him in turn as a king, a sport, a Greek statue and a bearcat. And I was +still puzzling over him for an hour after Morpheus had claimed her, +which hour I occupied in trying on various pairs of her high-heeled +French shoes, and finding them less uncomfortable than I had anticipated +and certainly more becoming to the foot than my hygiene walkrite +footwear. Of course Peaches' shoes were too big for me, as my foot was +smaller than Abby's, considerably smaller, in fact; whereas Peaches' +footgear was--well, Californian. But it did well enough to practice in, +and I took advantage of this solitary hour to do so. + +But all the while that I walked up and down my chamber, the heels +occasionally almost betraying me, my mind was on the duke. I determined +to ask Abby all about him, for I deemed it my duty. And besides that, I +wanted to see Abby soon again; I wanted to find out where she got her +corsets. + + + + +VII + + +At this point in my narrative I call to mind the fact that my dear +father ever laid the greatest stress upon the importance of the effect +which the pursuit of reading has upon the human mind and upon the minds +of juveniles in particular. He was convinced that if Euclid were read to +a point of thorough familiarity at the age of twelve years by every male +American the result would be a marked effect upon the political life of +the nation, I remember; and he recommended that girls from the age of +nine to nineteen be made thoroughly conversant with Saint Paul. In his +famous treatise on the subject, entitled The Education of Freedom +Talbot, he dwells at length upon the supreme importance of young people +having access to books of the best quality without "let or hindrance," +and devotes three chapters to the influence upon the later life of the +individual of those books which are perused during the preadolescent and +adolescent periods. + +And unquestionably his deductions in this matter, as in all others, were +sound. For in looking back upon my conduct from the time of my leaving +Euphemia, my home, and the carefully regulated routine of my existence +in Boston I perceive that my course was unquestionably influenced by a +volume of which I obtained possession at the age of eleven, though I +have greatly feared since--indeed I was, in point of fact, greatly in +fear at the time when I perused its fascinating intricacies--that it was +not a book which my paternal parent would have selected as suitable for +the sprouting of the young idea--especially for a sprout of the feminine +gender. The title of this dubious but well-remembered literary +production was Daisy Dashforth, the Girl Detective, and was the fruit of +the pen of some lesser literary light whom Fame has allowed to sink into +oblivion. + +But there was in it some quality of keenness, of wit, of relish for +adventure, of sharpness of observation, which remained with me, and +which I refuse to dismiss as of no importance. Indeed it is quite +possible that without the subconscious influence upon my mind of this +book, which had remained in abeyance through the years until occasion +called it forth--it is quite possible, I say, that without it I should +never have had courage to take the initial step which pried me loose +from the home of my ancestors and set me forth upon a career at a time +of life when most females are drawing such careers as God has appointed +for them to a close. Of course I had the incentive of keeping the +ancestral roof over Euphemia's head to drive me forth from under it; but +that was no doubt reënforced by the memory of Daisy. Moreover, the book +had sharpened my taste for mystery and my instinct for seeing beneath +the surface of things, which faculty, in more commonplace surroundings, +would in all probability have been turned to the viler uses of village +gossip. + +So it was from a combined motive of scientific research into a situation +which to me at least had begun to savor of mystery and a sense of duty +to my employer that I went to visit with Abby. Nobody could suspect me +of the desire for gossip. It was simply my plain duty to discover what I +could about this handsome young duke before my charge became hopelessly +involved in his toils--in other words to find out if they were really +toils, or merely addresses. And incidentally I wished to confirm my +impression of how Abby dressed her hair, achieving that youthful effect +with such success. + +So packing up my knitting I put on a pair of Alicia's high-heeled shoes +for practice, strapping them on with elastic bands; without, however, +mentioning the circumstance to her for fear that she would ridicule my +enterprise; and requesting of Richard, the chauffeur, that he convey me +to San Remo, we set forth in company. Alicia was nowhere about when I +left, but there was no doubt in my mind as to who was with her, wherever +she was. Apparently there existed no doubt in the mind of Talbot, +either. I was seated beside him so as to be nearer help in case of an +accident, and as we bowled along over the perfect road with its +enchanting vistas of sea and fascinating walled gardens I could not fail +to note the grave look upon his clean, if somewhat rough profile. His +long nose was particularly expressive. I was not surprised when he broke +the silence with his customary freedom but without his habitual gay +carelessness. + +"Say, Cousin Mary," he began, using the absurd form of address of which +I had been quite unable to break him--"say, Cousin Mary, lookit here. +What do you think of this he-duke of Peaches'? Do you think she likes +him pretty well?" + +"It is a trifle dangerous to surmise what a young woman may think about +a young man until a definite announcement is made," I replied. + +We rode a little farther in silence and then he broke out again. + +"He's a foreigner!" he said with all the distrust that a good American +is capable of imparting to the term. "A foreigner! I can't see how he +came to be such a bucko! But he is, all right, all right, and she's +crazy over him! Damn it, I might have known I couldn't hold her!" + +"Talbot!" I exclaimed. "Don't swear! And you must remember that +democracy is for the poor. Upon becoming so rich it was but--but +American for Peaches to acquire a proper sense of her social superiority +and to confirm it by marrying a title. Though in her case I believe we +can feel sure that her affections would come first. If she marries this +young man it will be simply and solely because she loves him. We can +depend on that." + +Then I caught sight of his face and wished I had not spoken. + +"I guess he's a fine chap," he said slowly. "And he can give her a fancy +handle to her name. Judas Priest! What can I give her? I'm--I'm a +servant, I am. I've learned a lot since I came over here. Let's go back +to California!" + +"I know, Richard," I replied soothingly. "California, where there are no +servants! I'm really sorry, dear boy, but remember we don't know +anything definite yet. And we don't know anything against the duke, +either." + +"Do you know about his older brother?" asked Richard, the chauffeur, +abruptly. + +"No! What about him?" I answered quickly. + +"He disappeared very mysteriously about ten years ago," said Richard. +"Two guys that was on the boat coming over from England was talking to +me about it. They are here now. I met them in a saloon and they told me +a little something." + +"Repeat it all, Richard!" I commanded. "What did they say?" + +"Well, it seems this brother was the duke," elucidated my informant. "He +was last seen in Africa on a hunting expedition with our duke. And then +the both of them disappeared for a while. When the duke come back he had +the title. There seems to be some doubt about his having a honest claim +to it." + +"What nonsense!" I said. "Talbot, you no sooner convince me that you are +not a servant than you begin to talk like one. My Cousin Abby receives +him, and that is enough! You should not listen to such wild stories!" + +By this time we had reached the Villa Bordeaux, and taking my workbag I +descended. Richard, the chauffeur, parked the car and settled back in +it, presumably to dwell upon the unhappy course of his love while he +waited for me; and I entered the villa, much disturbed by what he had +just told me, and determined to find out the whole truth at once. + +I found Cousin Abby immersed in newspapers, cigarette smoke and a most +attractive negligee; and though I could never endure to see a woman +lounging round the house in a wrapper I confess she looked charming. At +my entrance she glanced up without rising. + +"Hello, Free!" she greeted me over the dangling filthy weed that clung +to her lip like--like Richard's! "Hello, old thing! Sit down. Smoke? Oh, +of course not! I've been reading about this beastly war we are going to +have. Won't it be a bore?" + +"Do you really think England and Germany will break?" I said. It was +what every one said in those days, a sort of formula of greeting like +"Good morning" or "How do you do" without meaning it too seriously, +don't you know? And then more vital matters would be taken up. + +"Oh, I don't really suppose so!" she said. "I'm glad to see you, my +dear. Did that charming Mr. Pegg enjoy my little party?" + +"I am sure he did!" I replied, stiffening a little. Her tone was +altogether too intimate. "So did I, and so did Alicia. It is about her +that I have come principally, Abby." + +"You mean about the duke?" inquired Abby, with surprising astuteness. "I +noticed they were pretty thick." + +"I assume you would not have invited the young man unless you knew him +to be desirable?" I said earnestly. + +"I didn't invite him!" said my sprightly relative. "He called me up in +the afternoon and insisted upon coming! I would never have dared to take +the responsibility of inviting Sandro to meet any woman--but he simply +said that he knew them and knew they were coming, and so was he." + +"But my dear!" I exclaimed. "He is simply a chance--a very chance +acquaintance with us. You must know him well to call him by his first +name. Tell me all about him!" + +"I do know him well!" she admitted, lighting a new cigarette as I +started a new row on my sock. "Everybody who is anybody knows Sandro. He +plays about with the very best people. I've known him for ten years. But +I know absolutely nothing about him. He has a good figure and a charming +smile and never borrows money, though he gambles heavily at periods. +And that's all I can say." + +"But my dear!" I protested. "Who are his family? Surely you know that?" + +"That's simple enough!" said Abby. "His mother was a Miss Winton, as you +know--the daughter of the American consul here at San Remo. His father +was the holder of one of our very oldest titles. There was a brother who +was killed in Africa in a game accident--an older twin, I believe. +Really, my dear, I don't think there is the faintest mystery about +Sandy, as we call him. No money--land-poor with an old rat's nest of a +castle back in the hills, and not fit, they say, for human habitation; a +Harvard education, expensive tastes and an aptitude for recouping at the +tables here--a clever amateur of the arts and a dear fellow. And that's +all. Why, what more is there to know about any unattached young male?" + +"Poverty would be no crime in this case," I observed. "Though I think +that if he is so hard up he ought to go to work." + +"He's not hard up, except for a duke!" laughed Abby. "At least he always +seems to have enough to get by with. There's no talk of debts, he +doesn't keep a car, and lives extremely modestly." + +"And you have never heard anything peculiar about him?" I persisted. + +"Well, I wouldn't go quite as far as to say that!" said Abby, "for it +was very vague. About a year ago I heard that the secret service was +supposed to be shadowing him. We were staying at the same country house, +the Welch-Finleys, and he left utterly without warning, and it gave rise +to some talk. People remembered about his brother, and, of course, no +one has ever understood quite how he died. They were devoted, +however--mad about each other; I know it for a fact. And Sandy often +speaks of him most affectionately. + +"Still it isn't usual for the secret service to shadow people--the best +people, is it?" I protested. + +"Oh, quite!" said Abby. "At least in Europe it is. Nowadays everybody is +suspected of being a Prussian or an Englishman or a Frenchman or an +Italian, according as they proclaim themselves to be the other. You see, +everybody is in the secret service of at least one nation, or say they +are, and to be overlooked by the police would be rather a slight. So +don't worry about the smiling duke, because he is quite all right as far +as we know, and that is a long way in this wicked, sophisticated old +world. And now do tell me more about dear Mr. Pegg! He has promised to +drive me out to Sorrento to-morrow. And tell me all about lemons!" + +"I'd rather you'd tell me who makes your stays, my dear!" I replied. +"They are so youthful!" + +Well, that was all I could learn from Abby--I mean about the duke. Upon +the secondary subject she was most generously full of information. And I +came away reassured to a certain extent. + +On the other hand I did not like Abby's calling Mr. Pegg by his intimate +name of Pinto, which she did once or twice during the remainder of our +talk. Because I could not bring myself to the belief that Abby would be +the proper stepmother for Peaches. Their tastes were too much alike. And +though I had very little against Abby except her clothes, I was as yet +unconvinced that clothes would make a man happy. And while I worked on +the socks I was making for Mr. Pegg as I sat up late that night waiting +for Peaches to return from a moonlit walk with the duke, I wondered +again and again how a woman of Abby's age could think so much of such +things. + +When Peaches came in at last and I had helped her out of the dress of +light gray satin which she had worn, I could not but think that the girl +was daily giving greater justification to her pet name. Her skin was as +smooth and soft as the satin from which it emerged, and as gleaming. The +garment itself was like a piece of the silver night outside, and her +eyes were deep soft pools, her head like a golden star. It hardly seemed +right that any woman should be so beautiful. She had taken some +softening quality from the Italian skies as if this corner of the globe +which was so like and yet so unlike her native heath had rubbed off the +crudities left by the sharper climate, and done so the more readily +because the country was all so familiar to her--far more so than to +Boston-bred me--and she was ripe for impressions, whereas I was merely +ready for comparisons. She was unusually silent, though her glowing face +was as easily read as a printed page. I helped her into a soft white +negligee. + +"Sandy!" she said, going to the window and looking down at the dimly +twinkling town and the black, moon-cut shape of the sweeping coast line. +"I am going to call him Sandy! I can put my head on his shoulder without +leaning down, Free!" + +"Eh?" I said sharply. + +But the wretched child wouldn't tell me another thing. Not that it +needed much telling. When they were together, which was practically all +the time, one could have cut the atmosphere with a piece of wedding +silver it was so thick and soft. When their eyes met suddenly it made my +heart jump and I wanted to cry. It was lovely, lovely! And she said so +little about it that I knew it must be serious. + +One day in the garden at San Remo, where we now spent much of our time, +she asked him to pick her a rose which was growing just out of her +reach, but not out of his. It delighted her to confirm his superior +height, and she did it at every conceivable opportunity. He reached the +rose easily and she gave him her little gold penknife, which she had +been using to gather a bouquet, to cut the stem with. It was a beautiful +knife, with her name on it in diamonds, a most characteristic gift from +her father. + +"By jove, what a jolly one!" said the duke. + +"Keep it, Sandy," said Peaches. + +And while he smiled his protest she fastened it to his watch chain by +the little ring through the end. + +"Oh, don't do that!" I cried, getting to my feet. "Don't give a knife! I +am not in the least addicted to superstitions, but really you must not +give him a knife!" + +"I'll give her a penny for it, Miss Talbot," said he. "That makes it +quite all right, you know." + +And laughingly she took the coin and slipped it inside her girdle. I +found it there that night, and it had made an ugly red mark which must +have been painful. But girls are such absurdly sentimental things that +it is quite--quite, well, charming. And as for the little gold knife, we +had later good cause to remember that it was in his possession. + +What a gay month it was! Such _festas_, such expeditions into the +country, such evenings of excitement, with the beautiful romance between +Alicia and the duke weaving in and out through all our adventures like +a golden thread in a bright embroidery! The duke was as care free and +gorgeous a lover as any princess could have desired. + +Only two things marred what would otherwise have been a perfect period, +and one was the absurd way in which Abby set her cap for Mr. Pegg. The +other was my personal discomfort in becoming accustomed to the +strait-jacket furnished by the corsetiere to whom Abby sent me. But the +effect unquestionably justified the means, and they did make me look +younger. Not that Mr. Pegg seemed to observe the circumstances. He was +monopolized in the most outrageous way by that unscrupulous cousin of +mine. Not that I cared in the least, but the way men can be taken in by +a lot of falderals and clothes and artificial aids to beauty is +certainly astonishing; and Abby made no scruple of using them all. +Indeed, she was a most worldly woman and was infecting us all with her +worldliness. Perhaps the culmination of this tendency occurred at a +garden party which she gave, and at which a great many things happened +that had far-reaching consequences. + +I may say at once that wine was one of the primary causes for the +phenomenon which developed during the course of the evening. I recall +that my dear father had a very concise philosophy concerning wine and +its effect upon the human system, though, of course, the feminine +portion of his household never partook of it with the possible exception +of a glass of port at Christmas; or a portion of gin upon the occasion +of a fainting spell, when it was considered most beneficial in its +medicinal effect. But outside of its uses as a restorative for the +vapors, we never used it, and I may state in the interests of accuracy +that though my father referred to the substance which he imbibed in the +masculine seclusion of the dining room after the departure of the ladies +as "wine," it was in truth rum, imported direct from Jamaica, in which +he indulged, if indeed so lax a term may be properly employed in +connection with him. Nevertheless, "wine" was a sort of generic term +with him for all alcoholic stimulants, and he believed in its judicious +usage and even quoted from the Old Testament in its behalf, referring in +particular and most frequently to the incident of Noah's having planted +a vineyard immediately upon the opportunity for so doing having arisen. + +"Wine," my dear father would often remark, especially when in argument +with our worthy pastor--the subject was often debated between +them--"wine is the immemorial link which man has made with which to +hitch himself to the gods; it is the weak man's courage, the poor man's +wealth, the coward's glory and the failure's apology. Through wine man +becomes the things he dreams of being--great, strong, powerful. The +grape absorbs the sun, and the wine puts sunshine into men's hearts; +without it the world would begin to look for vices to take the place of +conviviality." + +It will thus be seen that we were reared in a proper attitude toward +Bacchus--indulging mildly ourselves, but properly condemning any misuse +on the part of our neighbors. Of course we knew how to use it, but so, +too, did we know how to act toward those weaker ones who could not +discriminate between discretion and Saturday night. + +This is not a digression. It is rather an explanation of how and why I +came to be a participant in the festival which Abby gave in the gardens +of her villa at San Remo. + +Up to the date of her entertainment I had never touched a drop of any +alcoholic stimulant except in poundcake or ignited upon plum pudding, +partially because I had not felt that my dear father's dissertations +applied to the gentler sex but were intended principally for what +Peaches was wont to term an "alibi" for his own. + +But in Europe things were so different. Women smoked without loss of +reputation, and even mere babes were given claret in their drinking +water in the superstition that it prevented fever or bowlegs, I forget +which. At any rate the taboo was lifted--I mean the lid, again to quote +my charge--and being so near Rome I thought it no harm to do as the, as +it were, Romans did. + +And hard indeed must the heart have been to refuse any part of the +conviviality upon such a night as this was. The moon was marvelous +beyond words. All the flowers in the world seemed to have gathered +together in that little pleasance between the gleaming whitewashed, +vine-burdened walls. Lanterns hung like strings of dull golden moons +from tree to tree. Dear Mr. Pegg walking with me beneath them compared +them most poetically to oranges. + +"Almost as big as Golden Americans!" he exclaimed jokingly. + +Below us, down the moon-swept hillside, lay the Mediterranean, +reflecting the mystery and romance of Italy almost, as it were, audibly. +And audible also, but not too violently so, was the gayly costumed +orchestra which sang as it played, and swayed with the rhythm of its +own music. There were uniforms and beautiful dresses everywhere, picked +out and accentuated by the sombre formal clothes of the civilians. +Indoors there was laughter and dancing. The ballroom was a pool of +yellow light in which the dancers seemed to swim in a melted sweetness +of sound. Every one was gay. I was gay because of that lovely romantic +reference of Mr. Pegg's to the lanterns. And then a series of events +rose out of which my gayety seemed curiously to increase. + +I was sitting outside alone, my escort, Sir Anthony, having gone off to +speak to some one, when I saw Peaches and the duke emerge laughingly +from the ballroom. I have often seen her beautiful, but never so +beautiful as on this occasion. She was clad in an amber satin gown of +the exact hue of her marvelous hair, and her only ornament was a huge +string of amber beads. She looked like the incarnation of all the gold +and sunshine of her native State, and the duke was gazing upon her in a +way that sent shivers up and down my back. They came along the path +slowly, utterly absorbed in each other. The dance music inside had +ceased and the orchestra was singing again--a sweet agony of sound with +the ancient words: _O dolce Napoli_! + +The lovers passed into the darkness just beyond me--the darkness +pulsating with that utterly unrepressed foreign music. And then somebody +opened an upper window, from which came a ray of light. It lifted the +heads of the two out of their seclusion as though with a knife. But they +were oblivious of it. Never have I hoped--I mean, expected--to witness +anything like those two blind faces pressed together. They were mouth to +mouth, immovable, like Rodin's statue. There is something very terrible +in seeing a thing like that--in seeing something which even the +participants close their eyes upon. I staggered to my feet and made a +run for the house--as efficient a run as my new high-heeled slippers +would permit, and there encountered Sir Anthony on the terrace. + +"Miss Talbot!" he exclaimed. "You look quite upset! Allow me to get you +a glass of wine!" + +"I am upset--but oh, so happy!" I exclaimed. + +But I accepted the wine. It was a very mild yellow fluid which tickled +the throat pleasingly and, far from administering any shock to the +system such as I had anticipated, it seemed to have no effect whatsoever +beyond creating a feeling of thirst. I took a second glass, which only +increased my need, and as it was so light and harmless I partook of a +third. + +I then began to realize more fully what a truly delightful evening we +were having, and even whispered to my escort that I had good reason for +believing that Peaches and her Sandy were engaged. I even called him +Sandy, I recall. Sir Anthony at once proposed that we drink their +health--quite between ourselves, of course. Which we proceeded to do, +and followed it by drinking that of Nedra, a race horse belonging to His +Lordship, which was to--er--perform in some race on the morrow. + +And after that my memory becomes a trifle dimmed, except for dancing +with dear Mr. Pegg. It was a species of quadrille, I recall, except that +we seemed to be doing it alone. There was great applause, so it must +have been successful, and I remember Cousin Abby exclaiming, "Just see +what Europe does for us Boston girls!" but that was only her jealousy +because of Mr. Pegg's stealing my slipper. + +My entire being was diffused with a marvelous sense of well-being, and I +made an engagement to ride muleback with Sir Anthony next morning at ten +o'clock--indeed to ride with him at ten precisely every morning for the +remainder of our sojourn upon the Riviera. And this was the more +remarkable inasmuch as I had never ridden upon any animal whatsoever and +have a peculiar aversion to mules. But at the time nothing seemed +difficult. It was a wonderful night. + +I completely forgot my charge; or when I thought of her at all it was +only to recall that she was in safe hands, if not arms, and to pursue my +own amusement. Then abruptly and most annoyingly the party was over. I +can't think why they wanted to end it. I, for one, was not in the least +ready to go home. But once out in the open air I had a dim realization +that all was not quite well with me. I became possessed of a sudden +desire to be alone, and a distaste for allowing either Peaches or her +father to see me until I was in some way different from the way I was at +the moment. And actuated by this motive I managed with uncanny cunning +to elude my party and find our automobile ahead of the other members of +the family. Richard, the chauffeur, was sitting in it alone, and I +begged him for assistance. + +"Dicky," I said, "I want to go right back to the hotel an' get my +handkerfish. You take me, and come back for the resh." + +"Lit to the eyelids!" exclaimed Richard. + +I haven't the faintest idea of what the boy meant, but he was most +helpful, I will say that. He got me into the car, and somehow we reached +the hotel. The wind in my face had revived me and I managed by the +exercise of great dignity to give a sufficient appearance of +self-reliance. Richard, the chauffeur, left me with reluctance, but it +was necessary for him to hurry back at once for Mr. Pegg. + +I experienced no difficulty in reaching my floor of the hotel, but once +there I realized to my annoyance that I had forgotten my key. I somehow +disliked the idea of calling upon the office for assistance, and +determined to chance the door being unlocked. It was possible at any +rate. + +The corridor was a long one--altogether too long and with too many doors +in it. I remember thinking Mr. Pegg ought to speak to the management +about it in the morning. But after some hesitation I selected my own +door, opened it without difficulty and entered, to face the two rascals +of men whom I had tripped up in the London theater. + +"What are you doing in my room?" I demanded. + +"Madam, this is not your room," said the one with the mustache. And as +he spoke I dimly realized that though it was an hour when most persons +are in bed, both were dressed--even to hats and gloves. And they seemed +profoundly disturbed at my appearance. + +"It is my room!" I insisted, sitting down by the door, which remained +open. "It's my room, and I'd like you to explain what you are doing in +it." + +"Madam," said the other imploringly, "you are mistaken. I assure you +this room is ours. I can prove it----" + +"I don't want to dispute you," I replied with dignity, "but leave my +room at once!" + +I don't know how long we sat there arguing but it seemed like months. +And then all at once I heard Peaches' voice behind me. + +"Good heavens! What are you doing there, Free Talbot?" she said, +striding in and seizing me by the shoulder. + +"I'm trying to put these brigands out of my room!" I said. "Don't +interfere, my dear!" + +"But it's not your room!" shrieked Peaches. "Oh, pa, come help me to get +my chaperon out of these strange men's room!" + +Mr. Pegg was close behind her, and as she spoke I realized that she was +quite right. I got up with dignity and left, accompanied by the Peggs, +and the next thing I knew somebody was putting ice on my forehead, and +it needed it. + +I opened my eyes, feeling very ill, and there was Peaches, in street +clothes. It was broad noon and she had been crying. I felt as though +I--as though all of us--had been going through vast experiences of +misery for ages and ages. With a tremendous effort I struggled to a +sitting posture in the bed, and addressed my charge. + +"Peaches," I said, "I saw you kissing that young man last night! Now, my +dear, though I feel very ill this morning--I think I must have eaten +something at Abby's last night that disagreed with me--still, I am well +enough to protest at your behavior!" + +Peaches stared at me for a moment and then burst into unaccountable +laughter. + +"Free!" she said. "I hope we can get you home a fit woman to take up +your foreign missions work. We'll have no back talk from you to-day!" + +And then she suddenly burst into tears, throwing herself on the bed and +sobbing hysterically. Now thoroughly alarmed I forgot my own +wretchedness and comforted her as best I could. + +"My dear, my dear!" I said. "Don't take on so! What if you did kiss +him? There is no real harm done! You love each other! You can be married +soon. You have everything in the world to be happy about!" + +Slowly Peaches straightened up to her glorious height and dried her eyes +on the cold towel from my head. + +"Free," she sniffed, "Sandy has gone! Gone, do you get that? After our +promising to marry each other, after his dating up Pa to talk it over +this afternoon, after promising to come and take me to lunch and to buy +a ring this noon--gone without a word except this." + +Dramatically she handed me a note written in a clear firm hand. I read +it as well as my throbbing head would allow. + + "_Dear Alicia_: I regret that I shall be unable to keep my + engagement. Unforeseen circumstances have arisen which make me + realize I have been living in a fool's paradise. Forgive me and God + bless you. + + "SANDRO DI MONTEVENTI." + +"His things are gone from his hotel," she said bitterly. "He's not +coming back!" + +"Nonsense!" I said as vigorously as Nature permitted. "Nonsense. No man +could have got such a kiss and forgotten it. Once engaged to you, always +engaged to you. Peaches--he'll be back this evening." + +"If he does it'll be in chains!" said Peaches. "You see, he shot a man +at the depot--winged him as the train moved out. It was your friend of +the black mustache whom you were visiting with last night!" + + + + +VIII + + +One of the most annoying things which the outbreak of the war of 1914 +did was to completely ruin our tour of Europe. + +We had planned to visit Belgium, where Mr. Pegg intended to launch some +citrus project or other, and afterward make a tour of Germany. And, of +course, that ungentlemanly, uncalled-for war entirely upset our plans. +To say that it was an annoyance is to put it mildly. I was terribly +provoked, especially as my collection of the flora of Europe was far +from complete. I had been gathering specimens whenever opportunity +afforded, pressing them, and pasting them in a blank book. Then I would +write in the proper names, both Latin and popular, in a neat lettering +of black ink picked out with red. It promised to be a most interesting +souvenir of my trip and was intended as a gift for Euphemia. But the +interruption of this small personal enterprise was, of course, only one +of the many annoyances which the outbreak of the war occasioned. + +It was terrible that Peaches should be cut off in the midst of her +education, and terrible, too, that I should have the prospect of a +return to Boston staring me in the face. Also Peaches needed diversion. +Ever since the disappearance of the duke she had drooped like a--well +like a eucalyptus tree, let us say, though she, who as a rule was so +free in pouring out exact statements regarding her inmost emotions, was +absolutely silent on this most interesting subject. I had fully +expected that she would make a sort of confessor of me and postpone my +nightly slumbers to the point of ultimate endurance upon every possible +occasion, as she had during what I may call the chauffeur epoch, when +she imagined herself in love with Richard. But from the day of the +duke's disappearance she became singularly reticent about her emotions, +and as is always the case with a woman who refuses to allow herself to +talk, it made her quite ill, though she kept up and about and all that. + +Mr. Pegg, Abby and myself consulted about what was the best course to +take, and after failing utterly to elicit any information from the +police regarding the crime, if any, of which our gallant Sandy was +accused, we tried the government officials, the American consul, and +even went so far as to drive to the homestead of the Monteventi, in hope +of obtaining a clew as to what had caused this mysterious performance. +But in no direction was any information to be gained. + +The castle of the missing duke was closed--a desolate, half-ruined place +it was--the villagers proved as dumb as the authorities, and we +concluded that they were so for the same reason--to wit, because they +knew nothing. If only some definite fact concerning Sandro could have +been ascertained even though it had been to his detriment, Alicia's mind +would have been given an opportunity at least of escaping the thought of +him by a definite rejection. The terrible uncertainty of the cause of +his action was what troubled her the most, I felt sure. + +But having failed to gain any real information we had simply to conclude +that either Sandro was mixed up in some private feud or that the police +were just too reticent for anything. Foreign police are that way--not a +bit like democratic America, where, Richard, the chauffeur, assured me, +the police statements to the newspapers are the native criminals' most +reliable source of information. + +Well, at any rate, as we could get hold of nothing to tell Peaches +either for her comfort or disillusionment we conspired for her +diversion. And just as I had arranged to take her upon an exhaustive +tour of the cathedral towns of Germany that annoying war broke out and +spoiled everything. A rush of appreciation of America seemed all at once +to overwhelm even the most ardent tourists, and Mr. Pegg did not escape +being affected by the contagion. With his usual decisiveness we were +told to pack for home, and then I was summoned for the private interview +with him which I knew was inevitable, and to which I looked forward with +dread, as it could hardly mean anything except my return ticket to +Boston. + +We were at Nice at the moment and Mr. Pegg awaited my coming upon the +balcony of the royal suite of the hotel. He was chewing a cigar and very +serious about it--our interview, that is. As I appeared he gave me a +curious look which took me in from my newly waved hair to the tips of my +high-heeled slippers, and I do verily believe that he observed them for +the first time. My dear father used to say that men always see things +suddenly or not at all, and this was one of those cases. Mr. Pegg always +saw very clearly what was going on in his own mind, but perception of +outside things seemed to be, as it were, cumulative. + +However, though he made no remark upon my appearance I saw him change +his mind about something or other in the transparent manner so common in +men, and he abandoned the overworked cigar. + +"Miss Talbot," he began, "in a couple of hours more or less we are going +to be in the refugee, or immigrant class, because we are fortunate +enough to be able to go home steerage, which is a damn sight better than +not going home at all. And what I mean to say is that I think it would +be awfully good for you to spend a few months in California. It would +sort of round out your European experiences by giving you a real genuine +standard of comparison--show you a country worth talking about. So I +suggest that you stick by this outfit and take a little graft of Boston +culture out to the home ranch for us, where maybe we can improve some of +the wild stock with it." + +This was so different from what I had anticipated--the polite apology +for the war's having interfered with our trip and being so sorry that we +must part, and so on--that I could not refrain from an outburst of +appreciation. + +"Oh, Mr. Pegg!" I exclaimed, clasping my hands in delight. "How truly +wonderful! Indeed, I shall be most pleased to remain in your employ and +to see Golden California. The more especially as dear Alicia needs me to +look after her in her affliction! I accept!" + +"Good!" said Mr. Pegg, beginning upon a fresh cigar, a sure sign that +our business was at an end. "Good! And you can get a lot of specimens +for that dried-flower morgue of yours out there, too, if the Germans +don't put us to picking seaweed instead, on the way home!" + +But the Germans didn't. + +Abandoning Europe was a relief for many reasons. There was Cousin Abby, +whom we left behind, for one thing, and I confess I admired her attitude +and encouraged it. You see she had been traveling with us, and Mr. Pegg +had quite unnecessarily, I thought, offered to get her back to America. +But Abby was firm in her refusal. A strange fiery look came into her +eyes and her head went up like--like a battle horse, I do declare. + +"No, thanks awf'ly, old dear!" she said. "But I'm off to San Remo. +That's home now. I've lived there twenty years and it's part of me. +We'll go into this war any day, and somebody has to be there to see that +it's on the side of the Allies!" + +It was extremely noble of her, or, as Peaches put it, thoroughly +sporting. And so she left us, and we all upheld her in so doing, I'm +sure. It was a fine sacrifice and we all admire the spectacle of a +sacrifice, especially when some close friend is making it, if you +understand me. + +Well, so much for the war. At least so far as it concerned us for a long +time. The next phase which directly affects my story is my own first +impression of the golden state, which began of course when our train +left Chicago on the Santa Fe. I don't know why, but the West seems to +reach East that far. Perchance I am mistaken and the Western influence +really begins at Buffalo, but at that point I was not in a state of mind +to make the usual traveler's observations, being wholly obsessed with +the problem of trying to obtain a little privacy in a sleeping car. +After the first night I entirely abandoned the hope, and therefore was +more sensitive to other impressions. A great many people had, it seems, +decided to go to California that week, and the war had necessitated Mr. +Pegg's immediate return to the coast, as he called it, though I would +have said we had landed upon the only real coast--well, at any rate, he +had to go on at once, and Peaches insisted that we all go with him, but +we were unable to obtain staterooms, and Mr. Pegg's attempt to buy up an +entire car was a complete failure. Indeed he was able to get only three +lower berths, with the result that Richard, the chauffeur, was parked +above me. The term is his own. I should have said, to follow out his +chosen symbolism, that he was parked, but with the engine running, and +not too well throttled down, either. In other words, he snored; and I +think I have mentioned that he had an extremely competent nose. Of +course that trip in the steerage had inured me somewhat to hardship, but +I had not anticipated that America would be so quickly affected by the +war--or so slow in noticing that it was affected. + +At any rate, my real observations did not begin until we left Chicago +behind us, and then, not unnaturally, the first thing I observed was +Peaches' extraordinary behavior. + +She was not flirting. The fact speaks for itself and gains in importance +when I make mention of the circumstance that there were no less than two +very attractive strange men in our car, and that one of them was a +well-known motion-picture actor. But Peaches paid them absolutely no +attention despite that before we were two hours out Richard was growling +at them like an angry watchdog--usually a sufficient reason for Peaches +to exercise her love of tormenting him. Instead she sat by the window +and stared out into the swift-moving blackness. + +Mr. Pegg at once disappeared into a den where I have a deep-rooted +suspicion some sort of card game was in progress, and he hardly +reappeared again, except for food, during the remainder of the trip. + +At any rate the lack of necessity for actively chaperoning my charge +left me free to make notes upon that part of America which was foreign +to me. Indeed, I was glad of the opportunity, for though I had been +several times from Boston to Plymouth, and had once visited an aunt in +Philadelphia, I felt there was yet much of my native land for me to see. +And there was. Very much. + +How very, very much I had really no conception in advance, nor can any +language adequately describe it. To do so would be like reading the +unabridged dictionary aloud. Indeed, the term "unabridged" is the only +one which conveys any sense of the country one crosses. And it was so +amazing to find it really existed. One had been told about Kansas plains +and the northern Arizona deserts, but the statements made by travelers +were somehow not convincing. Nobody's statements about travel ever are. +But now I saw those, as I may call them, illimitable spaces and +stupendous mountains. There were actually Indians! Upon my word of +honor, though not nearly so realistic as the ones who used to sell worm +medicine in Bigelo's drug store window on Bank Street. Still they were +undoubtedly genuine, and even accepted a little money from me at +Albuquerque. It was most thrilling. + +I felt singularly small and incompetent and ignorant, whirling along +through this infinite territory. It made me ashamed, curiously enough, +to realize that I had ever thought that the original thirteen colonies +were America; that I had actually once entertained the supposition that +that portion of the country situated west of Buffalo was something to +be vaguely apologetic for! It made Europe seem small and insignificant, +with its toy railways and funny little huddled towns and neatly +apportioned fields--even its terrible present situation; or rather made +America seem enormously safe, sane and resourceful. + +I had always been proud of being a New Englander, and now I began to be +impressed with the stupendous fact of being an American. In one thing +only was I disappointed. + +My dear father used to say that absence made the heart grow fonder +because there was no reality present to hamper the imagination. And I +believe that this must be particularly true of Californians. + +All during my time with them in Europe, indeed since my joining them, I +had heard little comment on anything European from either Peaches or her +father except in disparaging comparison to the Californian equivalent. +And now upon the train, from the moment of our departure from the Grand +Central Terminal, everything I admired elicited a chorused response, +"Wait until you see California!" + +Naturally I waited. In the nature of things I could not do otherwise. +But happily the railroad train did not. Meanwhile I existed in excited +anticipation of a degree scarcely to be endured. Never shall I forget +the first morning when casaba melons appeared in the dining car, and +Peaches and Mr. Pegg exchanged a half-pleased, half-contemptuous glance +over the first spoonful. To me it tasted like nectar but---- + +"Santa Clara fruit!" said Mr. Pegg in the same tone in which Euphemia +might have said "Those common people!" + +"Yes!" nodded Peaches. "Wait until you have a San Bernardino melon, +Free!" + +"Can it be possible that California is divided against itself?" I asked, +aghast. + +"You said it!" spoke up Richard, the chauffeur, who had doffed his +uniform and imperceptibly slipped back into his earlier relationship +with the family, even to the point of eating with us; a fact which +seemed curiously without offense. "You said it, Aunt Mary! Los Angeleans +are the Smiths of California, and San Franciscans are the Talbots. And +yet I come from Los Angeles myself." + +"I should say so, if I get you right!" exclaimed Peaches. "Why, Free, +southern California has nothing but the climate--absolutely nothing! +While San Francisco is full of--of----" + +"Fogs," said Richard promptly; "and earthquakes!" + +"It was a fire!" said Peaches fiercely. + +"Hey, you!" interrupted Mr. Pegg, laying down his Kansas City paper. +"Hey, you two--you was both raised in Oroville ever since I knew you." + +"But, dad, I don't want Free to get a wrong idea about the south," +replied Peaches. "You know it's just one vast mixture of real estate and +movie enterprises." + +"Better than living among a lot of hop pickers!" retorted Dick. "Burning +up in summer and getting your trees frozen in winter!" + +"Thank the Lord!" said Mr. Pegg reverently. "There is some doubt as to +if I was born in Santa Monica or Oroville. It has kep' me unprejudiced, +what with owning orchards in both ends of the State. Let me tell you, +Miss Freedom, that our golden land is a bower and a horn of plenty from +one end to the other. It is all good enough for this native son!" + +Now, of course, when people discourse to you in such a fashion of any +land you expect it to be green, at least. You anticipate great groves of +trees, wooded hills and flowery dales with rushing streams, o'erhung +with primrose and--er--tortillas and other native fruits and flowers. + +But California was not green that particular first week in September. +There were not even any trees to be seen except an occasional lonely +yellow clump of cotton-wood or a thin straggling line of eucalyptus. We +were headed straight for San Francisco, and from the moment when we +branched north I looked in vain for redwoods such as I had seen pictures +of in geography books and other printed sources of information. Indeed, +I began to fear that there existed but the one redwood I had seen +pictured and that it was not situated near the railroad track. +At the railroad stations were a few palmettos, and as for the +rest--brown--brown--brown; burned hills and almost improperly naked +purple mountains. It was a shock, a disappointment beyond belief. I felt +I had been deliberately misled and made game of. + +But Peaches suddenly came to life. Her drooping figure had straightened +and her eyes glistened. Her eager golden head turned this way and that. +She seemed to see things in the barren landscape that were invisible to +me. + +Her father, too, was strangely affected by the fact that we had passed +the State boundary line, and abandoned his game, which I discovered to +have been named after a famous Boston confection called Black Jack, and +stood upon the rear platform in company with other returning native +sons, all looking eagerly at--something! The brown grass was all I saw. + +As for Richard, the chauffeur, he had shed the last vestige of his +servitude and he, too, seemed looking at something--something very +beautiful. And then all at once I realized what it was. When California +is wet she is green and they were looking at her through a veil of happy +tears that transfigured the landscape. I ventured, most delicately, to +intimate my understanding to Peaches, when to my amazement, she turned +on me with a laugh. + +"Think I want to see it green?" she said. "Why, it's just as beautiful +when it's brown! Just as much home, just as big and bountiful and full +of promise. Want to see it green? When the time comes. But do you always +want New England to be green? Don't you ever want to see it white? +Well!" + +I thought then that I understood, but I didn't. Not until long after. +But as I stood beside her, abashed, a gentleman whose acquaintance I had +made when he first got on the train the evening before, and with whom I +had had a most pleasant and innocent chat without either of us revealing +our names, approached us with an expression of surprise. + +"Peaches!" he exclaimed, flushing up to the roots of his thin gray hair. +"How are you!" + +"Mr. Markheim!" said my charge in her turn astonished. "When did you get +aboard?" + +"I'm just up from Coronado," he replied. "Got on last night! What luck +to find you! What luck, what luck!" + +"This is Miss Talbot, my chaperon," said Peaches sweetly. "Meet Mr. +Sebastian Markheim, Free." + +"We have already met!" he exclaimed blandly. "But I had no idea +that----" + +"We spoke in the observation car last night," I said as primly as the +awkward circumstances permitted. + +"Free!" exclaimed Peaches severely. "You picked him up! I tell you I'll +breathe easier once I have you safely on the ranch!" + + + + +IX + + +My dear father used to maintain that true love seldom dies chiefly +because it is so seldom born, which I take to be an aspersion upon the +average love affair. + +This would scarcely be fair to widows, or maidens who have been bereaved +before betrothal, would it? For, of course, it is conceivable that such +a one might in time recover from the shock of her loss and form a second +genuine attachment. But whether I was justified in putting Peaches into +the latter class or not I could not judge at the time. Because, of +course, we should have been extremely lonely on the northern ranch +without Mr. Markheim, especially after Richard, the chauffeur, enlisted, +and dear Mr. Pegg began his increasingly frequent trips to Washington, +where he had something to do with supplying the Army with fruit. The way +that man constantly ran over to Washington from California was simply +too--too--well, too Californian for words. For the natives of this +region save time in every conceivable fashion, yet regard distance as +nothing. He spent almost all of his time either there or in the southern +part of the State, where his principal groves of citrus fruit were +located. + +At any rate we should have been tremendously lonely on the home ranch +without Mr. Markheim. Really I should not have supposed that a +millionaire could be so human or a _nouveau riche_ so condescending, or +rather, so tolerable. But I suppose his being in love with Alicia had +something to do with it, for before we had been twenty-four hours at the +King-Pin ranch I saw how things were. + +On account of his name poor Mr. Markheim took no active part in the war, +though I understand that he lent somebody a great deal of money--the +Belgians or Irish or some one, I forget just who. + +But at any rate he used to ride over to our place frequently every day +when it wasn't twice a day, and at first Peaches would have nothing to +do with him beyond mere politeness. + +I settled myself to watch the progress of the affair, because I do love +a lover even when I don't like him, and I felt sorry for Mr. Markheim +and interested in his attentions to Peaches, though, of course, he was +of an age which would have rendered his devotion to an older woman far +more suitable, and I was confident that nothing could shake her fidelity +to the dear duke, that handsome and romantic rascal--that is, if he was +a rascal, which now seemed plain enough. But every woman loves a rascal +at some time or another, and though friends and family may succeed in +persuading her to give him up she goes on nursing her fondness in secret +just as long as the flavor lasts. + +At any rate Peaches thought only of Sandro; that was plain to any woman, +and though she seldom spoke of him I could see that we never went to the +little dust bin of a town for the mail but she looked for a letter in +his handwriting. But she did not discuss him, even with me. And when Mr. +Sebastian came over from his toy ranch she would ride with him, talk +with him, swim in our pool with him or accept the little things he +bought her with a sweet, gentle acceptance which brought me to the +verge of tears, it was so unlike her old fiery self. + +And thus we dragged through a long, long period which has nothing to do +with my account of our particular affairs--the period of the war, in +point of fact. I feel it is not incumbent upon me to make a record of +the war though it occurred at this time, inasmuch as several quite +competent persons, including Mr. Wilson and the Associated Press, have +covered the matter pretty carefully and quite as accurately as I should, +the more especially as I spent the entire span of the war in California, +and the Golden State was curiously removed from any sense of actual +warfare. + +Not that I mean to say that we Californians were in any way lacking in +patriotism or that we failed to do our part, for goodness knows we just +about fed the entire nation, and prices didn't go up, either, the way +they did in the East. You could still buy at pre-war prices in 1918, and +we were so rich as a community that we could do without the scandalous +increases of which we read in our week-late New York Sunday newspapers. +But what I mean is that somehow war seemed to belong to the East rather +than to us. And I think we worried more over Mexico than over Flanders, +and who can blame us when we were so near to Mexico that we could +actually see what went on there? Or the result of what went on, at +least? And the European war was just like some horrid rather +unconvincing nightmare which the East had got itself into and that we +had in consequence to help her out of. + +Peaches and I ran the home ranch, and hardly left it, after Richard's +enlistment. When I reflect upon our life there it seems punctuated by +two great events and nothing else, though at the time of living through +it I seemed to be in a continuous crisis, my upbringing crashing against +my environment. + +The first momentous occurrence to which I have referred was news of the +duke. It came in a letter from Abby, who mentioned him casually in +passing. The Chinese cook had brought the mail up from Oroville and +Peaches and I had carried it outside to the edge of the swimming pool +which Mr. Pegg had built into an angle of the ranch house, a gaunt +white-painted frame building, very like a big New England farm-house, as +are many of the homesteads of northern California. It was a heavenly +mild late September day, with the barren hills turning faintly green +already, though the rains had been tardy and scarce, and the roses in +the garden had still to be irrigated regularly. The roads, hub deep with +dust in summer, were bad now, honeycombed with mud holes, and the mail +was late. + +As I sat there with a corduroy jacket about my shoulders, my muddy boots +heavy on my tired feet, and held the letter with the Italian postmark +unopened for a moment in my hands it seemed as if the past four years +were a dream, and the scene before me an utter unreality. At the gate to +the road stood a pair of orange trees upon which the fruit was being +left to ripen for home consumption. The orchards were stripped weeks +earlier, for we picked green and sweated our oranges. Beyond the +sentinel trees with their yellow fruit glowing like lanterns in the dark +foliage, a flock of runner ducks squawked noisily in the head ditch, +which had flowed by the house since the early days when Peaches' mother +lived there and used to get the water for her household from it. +Distantly a file of turbaned Hindu pickers, bound for a neighbor's +walnut grove, passed, silhouetted against the sky, and vanished into the +more overbearing outlines of a row of eucalyptus trees upon the ridge, +and a pair of smartly overalled, immaculate Japanese laborers equipped +like aviators, and gloved against the orange thorns, passed along the +road, chattering unintelligibly, their picking equipment strapped to +their shoulders like knapsacks, their sturdy boots swinging rhythmically +to their chatter. + +I could see all this, and the environment, which had once been as +strange as a prism seen through a kaleidoscope, yet which was the only +reality I had known for four years, now took on its pristine strangeness +once more, and the letter in my hands brought a wave of homesickness +upon me--not for Italy, but for Boston, I scarcely know why. For several +moments I sat so, and then at length I opened the envelope where the +censor had closed it, and read. + +It sounded tired, that letter did, though, of course, it told very +little, being censored. + +"We are frightfully busy," Abby wrote, "but hopeful of an end to it all +before long. I hope it may be true that peace is near, for we have +suffered enough. We are not so gay as once we were, my dear, but just as +brave. Things have changed so, and people are gone. I hear among others +that our gay, mysterious and gallant Sandro was killed at ---- Sir +Anthony told me, and he got it from Captain Silvano, whom you may +remember at Mentone. Killed in a very brave bit of action, I believe, +too. Ah, well! So many people are making reparation for sins known and +unknown by heroic sacrifice in the war. It is the great confessional." + +I did not read further just then. Something impelled me to look up. +Alicia was standing in front of me with grave golden eyes, her body +actually seeming to give off a magnetic force which compelled me against +my will to an immediate confession of what I would have preferred to +break to her in a proper fashion. + +"Free!" she said too quietly. "Is he--dead?" + +It was the first mention which had been made of the duke in almost a +year. I had begun to think she had forgotten--or at least determined to +forget. I should have known better. I handed her the letter. It was the +only thing I could do. She took it and read it silently, still looking +off at the purple cloud bank of the coast range with its snow patches +melting into the fleece of the little clouds which seemed to rest upon +them--the barren gold-and-violet mountains, so infinite, eternal, +restful and inspiring. Her face was like marble and I thought of the old +psalmist: "I lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my +strength," and knew she would get strength from the coast range, from +the infinite expanse of Nature, even as I had got it before now. + +"In a very brave action," she said automatically. Then she threw her +head back in a proud gesture, as though somebody had tried to strike her +and failed; and without another word she turned and went into the house. +I allowed her to go alone. Somehow I had gradually come to recognize a +difference between Alicia and other young women of my acquaintance--and +I knew that there was nothing I could say to her just then. She had the +strength of those hills, or rather mountains--she was made of their +very substance. I felt helpless. Besides, it was time to go through the +lower orchards, where the Hindus were stripping olives in fear of a +possible touch of frost, and somebody had to attend to things. So I +rose, much depressed but urged by the duty before me. That was women's +salvation during the war--the pressure of work to be done. And Pinto was +again in Washington. + +But that night Peaches became humanized. I suppose the darkness was too +much for her. I was unable to endure her sobbing unless I could +participate in it. And so I went into her room toward morning, and we +were wretched in company. It was then that she showed me the wallet. + +"Oh, my dear!" I said. "If only you had a souvenir or something of his!" + +"I have!" replied poor Peaches unexpected. "I'll show it to you." + +She turned on the light and reached under her tear-stained pillow--an +incongruously gay figure in her striped pyjamas--and produced an +envelope from which she drew a worn case of black morocco leather. It +was thin and flat and no bigger than the palm of your hand. + +"I have this, and two letters, and the rose he picked with the little +gold knife I gave him," she said. + +"What is it?" I made inquiry. + +"I don't know," she said. "There's something written in Italian inside. +He left it by accident on the day before he disappeared." + +"By accident?" I said. "How?" + +"Well, I found it on the sofa," said Peaches. "And it has his name in +it. I was going to return it next day at luncheon--the luncheon to +which he never came." + +Then she broke down again. + +"I guess it's only a Dago mileage book," she sobbed, "but it's all I've +got of his! He must have used it a lot!" She buried her head in the +pillow, the wallet clasped tightly to her breast, and I stole out of the +room without seeing the contents. If only I had looked--insisted on +looking at it then, what a lot of trouble we would have been spared! But +as my dear father used to say, it is easy to be wise in retrospect. At +the time I thought merely of Peaches getting a little sleep and that +somebody had to get up and start the Chinaman or the foremen wouldn't +get their breakfast by five o'clock, and there was still one sheltered +flat of oranges to be picked. + +Though the lugs were already in the orchard I knew that if we were ever +to get through in time to make a complete shipment we must begin work as +soon as it was light enough to see the yellow glow under the green on +the fruit, and work until it was so dark that the prime oranges were +indistinguishable from the unripe ones, and the Mohammedans would come +out of the orchard and pray, in their heathen manner, facing where they +supposed Mecca to be. Somebody had to see to things, even in time of +sorrow, and I was what Peaches cryptically termed the "goat." + +Mr. Kipling may not have known it, but the dawn comes up like thunder in +California, too, so it is really no effort to rise early, once you are +accustomed to so doing. It is a common observation that when one does +get up at sunrise one wonders why one does not do it always. And for +almost three years such had been my continuous habit. + +I set about my duties this morning, however, with a heavy heart, for I +anticipated a long siege with Peaches and her grief. But by the time the +foremen had gone to their sections and I myself had ridden the rounds of +the various orchards to see that all was well, and given the Chinaman +instructions about the meals, which instructions he would later pretend +not to have heard, and had ridden over to the sluice at the top of the +head ditch to see why the new feed to the seedling flat wasn't working +properly, and taken a look at the flock of turkeys which I had imported +to keep the grasshoppers down and which had lately been depleted by +coyotes, I returned to my second breakfast; and there was Peaches +already seated at table, well-groomed in her riding clothes, and +prepared to accompany me to the packing sheds at the railroads. + +She was a trifle pale perhaps, and rather quieter than ever, but +perfectly composed, and even smiled a little as I sat down beside her +and attacked my meal. + +"I'm all set now, Free," she whispered. "I'll just do my bit, as he did +his." + +And then we got out the car and went to town. I drove, at her request, +and between bumps and mud holes watched her out of one corner of my eye +for any signs of a breakdown. But none came, either then or later in the +long sheds where the sweated fruit roared down the channel of the +separator, falling into the bins like golden hail, which the wives and +daughters of the neighboring ranchers stood swiftly packing; a most +competent lot of females, very swift and precise and earning a good bit +of pin money thus every year. + +Peaches stood outside all day, checking up the lugs as they arrived, +arranging about freight rates, overseeing the allotment of box cars to +the various growers, and generally doing a man's job. And never once +during the twelve months which followed did I know her to fail in her +work--her magnificent constitution helping, no doubt, to pull her +through. But I could see that a permanent change had taken place in her +from the day of Abby's letter. She was no longer the madcap, and though +she was even more beautiful she was different--and through love, the +great tamer--as Blake would have it. + +This was the first incident to which I have referred as punctuating the +monotony of the war for us. The second occurred more than a year later, +in November, 1918, when we, like many another group of ranchers +throughout the country, thought the town hall was on fire when all the +time it was only the armistice. + +Mr. Markheim, Pinto and Alicia and myself were indoors, an unusually +cold snap having offered us the treat of an open fire, a not unmixed +pleasure by reason of our being under some anxiety about the trees. But +on the whole it was what some modern poet whose name I cannot at the +moment recall has termed the end of a perfect day. + +To begin with, I had dispatched three pounds of wool to Euphemia, whom +Galadia, my only source of information about my sister, had written was +doing great work for the Red Cross; her chief natural gift, that of +knitting, had suddenly become of immense importance since the outbreak +of the war, and she had to her credit and the honor of the family three +hundred pair of socks. The achievement appeared almost foreign to me, +inasmuch as I had not knitted any socks since that momentous pair at +Monte Carlo, a surprising faculty for a more active existence having +developed in me during my sojourn on the ranch. At any rate I had sent +out the wool, finished my last jar of marmalade, of which I had made an +experimental thousand for a market which Mr. Pegg intended the +development of, and Mr. Markheim had returned from a visit East in +company with Pinto. Peaches had that day succeeded in breaking a pony +she had long desired as a saddle horse and had hitherto been +unsuccessful with. Mr. Pegg had a special design for the marmalade +jars--a crystal orange, of the natural size and shape, the preserved +fruit to furnish the color, and he and I were most enthusiastic over it. + +Mr. Markheim also credited himself with a successful trip, though from a +wholly different cause. It appeared that he had at length contrived to +install in his house a picture which he had long coveted, and this +picture was none other than the Madonna of the Lamp, for which he had +paid five hundred thousand dollars. Since his purchase of it the picture +had been stored, and it seemed to me a strange time to trouble with +getting it out. But Sebastian Markheim, with the fervor of the true +collector and the madness which seems the hall-mark of his kind, was +apparently oblivious of this circumstance and became wrapt in his +description of it. + +"You must have seen it in Vienna," he said. "Good heavens, don't say you +have seen photographs of it! You cannot imagine the beauty of the thing +itself. I have given directions for the remodeling of the south wall of +my library in the Ossining house for its occupancy. It will hang all +alone on that wall--it's only a small picture, you know, so I have had +Hasbrock, the architect, design some panels to encircle it I hope it is +going to please you, Alicia." + +"What?" said Mr. Pegg twirling round suddenly from the bowl of ripe +olives with which he was occupied. "What's that? Why should Alicia be +pleased?" + +"She's going to live there with it!" said Markheim. "She promised this +afternoon!" + +"Oh, no!" I said getting to my feet. But nobody seemed to hear me. + +"Yes, father," said Alicia. Then Pinto's face broke into a sort of +crooked smile and he held out his hands to both of them. + +"Well, I'll be damned!" he said. "Think of my Peaches picking out a +friend of her father's! Why, Markheim, you must be somewhere near my own +age!" + +"Why, pa, how rude!" said Alicia. "Aren't you going to kiss me? And you +too, Free! Stop standing there like a dummy! People get married all the +time--there's nothing unusual about it, you poor nuts! Come on, +congratulate us!" + +Well, of course, I recovered myself as best I could, and pecked her on +the cheek. But I didn't feel my congratulations--I simply couldn't feel +them. To marry that old man. And a foreigner! And a German Swiss! And +everything! It was too dreadful! Nothing could make me feel that she was +doing it for any reason except pity and because he had nagged her into +it with his ceaseless attentions. Of course we had nothing against him, +absolutely nothing, because after all being a millionaire art collector +is not in itself strictly criminal. But with the memory of that +beautiful romance in Italy still fresh in my own mind I could not +understand it--I simply could not; and every fiber of my being resented +it. Youth and age! It was all wrong. She had a silly notion that her +heart was dead, and that it didn't matter what she did. That if it gave +Sebastian happiness to marry her--why, he was good and kind and rich and +cultured and famous, and why not give joy since one could no longer +experience it? + +I could see in a flash what had gone on in her simple, honest, generous +mind, and it nearly drove me wild, while all the time I had to stand +there grinning and patting her on the shoulder, and saying how wonderful +it all was, when in reality I wanted to drag her out of the room and +shake her for being such a great silly fool, and force her to stop it +before anyone else heard of her folly and she found herself in the +complications of public knowledge of her engagement. + +Instead of which I stood round and admired the wonderful five-carat +diamond ring which Markheim produced, and behaved like an idiot +generally. + +"Well, well, when is it to be?" Mr. Pegg wanted to know. + +Alicia turned her big eyes slowly from her marvelous jewel to her +father's puzzled face. + +"I have promised Sebastian," she said slowly, "to marry him as soon as +the war is over!" + +Her tone had, to my ears, the expectancy of a long reprieve. + +And it was at that minute that the fire bells began to ring. + +You can be sure we all rushed out at that, crying, "Where is it? What is +the matter?" and many other similar exclamations natural to the +situation. But at first nobody seemed to know. The Chinese cook came +out, frying pan in hand, and began running round in circles. The hands +were soon straggling in from their camp in the gulch by the river. +Somebody, Mr. Pegg, I think, tried the telephone, but could get no +answer. By this time almost everybody on the ranch had assembled before +the house, shivering with the frost and searching the sky for signs of +the incendiary glare, but in vain. An automobile dashed by down the +Letterbox road with two prospectors in it. One was firing a gun like mad +and he yelled something unintelligible at us in passing but ignored our +invitation to stop. + +Then from the direction of the town a flivver emerged out of the swiftly +falling dusk, and as it stopped in front of our gate a man in the +uniform of an American captain jumped down with the aid of his uninjured +arm, the other being supported by a sling, and came running toward us, +flinging his cap into the air, the lights from our porch gleaming upon +his excited face and upon the decorations on his breast. + +"Victory!" he shouted. "Victory! Schoolhouse fire? Hell! The armistice +was signed at two o'clock to-day!" + +It was Richard, the chauffeur, and I assure you that it was at that +moment that I recognized the strong family resemblance and decided that +he might after all be a Talbot--one of our Talbots. + +You can imagine the wild riot into which the news and the bearer of it +threw us. I cannot describe it. Everyone went crazy and I have a blurred +recollection of kissing several persons, the Chinaman among them. But +only one thing remains clearly in my mind--Alicia standing like a stone +in a corner of the veranda, her white face lifted to the rising moon, +and Markheim running toward her with burning words which seemed to fall +upon deaf ears. + +"Alicia, Alicia, it's the end of the war!" he was shouting. + + + + +X + + +I recall upon one occasion my dear father having said that love in a +cottage was better than politeness in a mansion, and this came at once +to mind upon the occasion of our visit to Sebastian Markheim's palace on +the banks of the upper section of the Hudson River. + +This took place just six months after that wonderful night when my dear +nephew, as I was now convinced he was, returned, so to speak, with the +armistice in his pocket. Sebastian, as I was now instructed to call Mr. +Markheim, had desired us to come sooner, in order that Peaches might +herself assist in selecting the plans and furnishings incident to the +remodeling of what was to be her home. + +But Peaches was reluctant to go. Of course there was a good deal of +readjustment to be done on all her father's ranches, and while he was in +the south, where the big orchards were, we set in order the home ranch, +which had been practically in our charge for a year and a half, and she +gave as excuse for the delay the necessity for making these +readjustments herself. Richard was to be left in complete charge and she +busied herself quite unnecessarily in showing him a thousand details. +Every week she would promise to be ready, and when the time came she +would have discovered something that nobody else could take care of, +which was all nonsense, because a citrus ranch practically takes care of +itself during the winter months. But by hook and crook she held us off +until April, and then at last we were ready to go. + +I will state that I for one was unreservedly eager to go home--to go +East. I was, in point of fact, so excited at the prospect that on the +night before our departure I found myself unable to compose myself to +slumber, and rising from my uneasy couch I donned a robe and ventured +forth from my bedchamber, which was upon the ground floor. + +The moonlight, which flooded the garden, gave it an uncanny distorted +aspect, and all at once as I sat there, huddled upon a bench close to +the wall of the house, I seemed to see the ranch and its surroundings +with the same eyes which envisioned it upon my arrival so long ago. This +sudden clarity of vision was doubtless due to the subconscious influence +of my impending departure. At any rate the place, which I had grown so +accustomed to that I beheld it only with the blindness of familiarity, +seemed once more the impossibly crude wilderness that it appeared to be +upon my arrival. + +For in the northern part of California there is little of the induced +luxuriance of the South. There is something of the Eastern farmer's +fight with the elements and a Nature that is not always overly kind or +utterly dependable, and our garden was not a thing of lovely lawns, +dense shrubs and misty glades. Far from it. Our flower beds were as +practically irrigated as our orchards, standing deep in mud and lifting +their wonderful blossoms from the mire we so religiously provided for +them. There was none of the trimness of an Eastern estate about our more +than practical, enterprising organization. Rather it bore the general +aspect of Boston Common after an August holiday. It was, in plain truth, +shockingly untidy, and I was horrified to realize that even I, who had +been so carefully reared by the immaculate Euphemia, had made only the +most feeble sort of effort to tidy up. I had been unable to see the +molehills for the mountains, as one might say. But now, with the thought +of the concentrated, condensed East before me, I perceived the +unevenness of our paths, the forgotten bundle of old papers outside the +storehouse, the broken gate which everyone cursed at but forgot to mend; +and the olive and orange clad hills beyond grew dim in my mind's eye +even as they formed but indistinguishable black patches in the +cloud-changing moonlight. A deep longing for my own kind of living swept +over me, and I even went so far as to experience a desire for Euphemia's +breakfast room on Chestnut Street, and the mended table linen--the +careful little things of life grown dear through years of painstakingly +careful usage. + +Moved by this overwhelming impulse I was on the verge of rising and +gathering up that disgracefully untidy bundle of papers and carrying it +to the trash bin where it belonged, thus at once satisfying a normal +impulse and proving to myself that my upbringing had not been in vain, +when I became aware that the window above my head had been opened softly +and that someone--Peaches, without a doubt, since that was her +chamber--was standing there, crying softly. + +My first impulse was to speak--to go to her with what comfort I was +capable of offering, but having for an instant refrained I could not do +so. Since the announcement of her betrothal to Markheim a wall had +sprung up between us as far as her intimate life was concerned. Indeed +she seemed to have withdrawn into herself curiously, though I doubt that +anyone realized it as keenly as did I. + +And then having failed to speak immediately I found myself in an awkward +predicament. Should I move or not? I had no desire to eavesdrop for the +confidence she withheld, and yet I felt it my bounden duty as her +chaperon and guardian and older woman generally to know all about her by +one means or another, for her own good, and not out of mere female +curiosity. And so allowing my sense of responsibility to conquer my +delicacy I kept very still, and before long my diligence was rewarded. + +"A clean sweep!" whispered Peaches at her window. "No use kidding +myself. I'll make the break clean. It's the only thing to do!" + +There was a short silence punctuated only by a few sniffs, and then an +object flew through the air over my head and landed in the pool with a +splash. The window above was closed with a snap. Whatever ritual she had +been at was over. But not so the fulfillment of my duty as her +protectress. + +No sooner had I made sure that she was not going to change her mind and +come down after it, than I crept stealthily to the water's edge, having +carefully noted the very spot where the object fell, and kneeling on the +concrete basin's brim, greatly to the detriment of that portion of my +anatomy which bore the weight, being clad only for private life, I +fished determinedly for the best part of half an hour, my sleeves rolled +up but not escaping the effects of my earnest endeavor, and my curls +getting thoroughly soaked. + +Fortunately Peaches' aim, usually so accurate and far reaching in the +pursuit of the national sport of baseball, or in any other emergency +such as reaching a high-hung apple, had fallen a little short this time, +her secret having hit the shallow end of the pond. And so it was that +after a very considerable period of effort I did retrieve the object, +and retreated with it to the seclusion of my room. + +Once there I lit the lamp, drew the curtains, locked the door and +proceeded with my duty still further. It was a terribly moist little +bundle, done up in a silk handkerchief and weighted with the bronze +paper-weight I had given Peaches for Christmas. But I was too much +interested to mind this slight. For inside the bundle were two letters, +already a mere pulpy mass from the soaking they had sustained, a brittle +something which might once have been a rose, and the duke's wallet! + +The latter was still intact, but before examining it I made a little +fire on the hearth, and by diligent coaxing managed to consume the +remnants of the other souvenirs. They were no one's affairs except that +of the lovers and no other eyes should behold them unbidden. And when +they were quite concealed in the ashes of the fireplace I returned to +the light and examined the wallet carefully. It seemed to me that there +simply must be more to the matter than appeared. In any of those books +which had so deep an influence upon my early thinking the discoverer of +such a wallet would have surprised a jewel of value, secret documents +popularly referred to as 'the papers,' or a marriage certificate which +cleared the honor of the hero's mother, or something equally vital. And +I must confess that I, in opening my find, rather anticipated some such +discovery, but my expectations were doomed to disappointment, for it was +in very truth what Peaches had suggested--a mileage ticket of some sort +made out in Sandro's name! + +I will say that this end to my exciting evening was a trifle flat, but +as my dear father used to say, our chief pleasure lies in anticipation +and no disappointment in the event can cheat us of that. So I simply +decided to put the thing carefully away in the bottom of my reticule in +case it was ever needed. What with the war and all, one never can tell +who is going to turn up a hero; and just think what souvenirs of Rupert +Brooke, for example, are worth to-day, not to mention Napoleon and +General Grant, and so forth, whose hero-value has, of course, been +augmented with age. + +Well, at any rate, that was all there was to it at the time. I slept the +sleep of duty well done, because I was determined to take care of +Peaches in spite of herself, and the next morning rose refreshed, to +make the early train for San Francisco, where we were to join Mr. Pegg +and turn our faces eastward. + +The house which Sebastian Markheim had remodeled for his bride-to-be was +already a sumptuous structure worthy of the famous collection of art +treasures which it housed, and his efforts in altering it had been bent +rather in the direction of improving its livableness and making it a +cheerier spot to which to bring a young wife. The object of our visit +was that Peaches be given the opportunity of making it completely to her +liking in advance of her possession of it, and incidentally to make the +acquaintance of her future neighbors, and of Mr. Markheim's set +generally. + +He had planned a large house party as the means of introducing his +fiancée to his social world, and she intended to procure her trousseau +in New York during the intervals of gayety. Mr. Pegg was enchanted at +the prospect thus opened up before him, and I was myself much elated at +the thought of experiencing some real social life once more, for Abby's +hospitality in dear old Italy, so lavish and yet in such excellent good +form, had given me a taste for the gaieties my restricted youth had +lacked. Even Peaches was gay, though not as of yore, but rather with a +mature, stately gayety, and her manner toward me had become positively +motherly. + +"There now, Free!" she soothed me one day when I had expressed a mild +concern about her state of mind. "There now, Free, don't you worry about +me! We all have to grow up sometime, don't we? Can't stay young plants +forever--especially we women. Comes a time when we got to be grafted on +to old stock and get ready for bearing--eh? Well, that's me, old thing!" + +I was shocked at her indelicacy and did not hesitate to say so. + +"If that is how you regard your forthcoming nuptials," I said stiffly, +"you ought to dissolve your betrothal. One should marry only for +love--for love alone!" + +"Oh, should they?" said Peaches. "That's all you know about it. I'm very +fond of Mr. Mark--of Sebastian, and he is the typical good husband." + +"But you don't love him!" I protested firmly. + +"I love him as much as I am likely to love anyone," responded +Peaches--like a young Portia, so stately and serious. "And even if he is +half a head shorter than I am he has a kind heart and he's a gentleman." + +"And not over sixty years old!" I retorted. "Oh, Peaches, do you really +want to do it?" + +Suddenly she was serious. The defensively bantering light went out of +her changeful eyes. + +"Don't, Free!" she pleaded. "Yes, I do want to. I want to be a +reasonable being--to make the best life I can for myself since I must go +on living. I don't want to be a coward. I am still young and I haven't +seen much of the world. Riches, art treasures, cultured people, and +things--social position--there must be joy in these things or folks +would not struggle for them so! And since they must be filling up the +emptiness in a whole lot of lives I'm going to have a try at them too. +Don't be afraid for me. I know just what I am doing. I know that I shall +never care again. But I can like. And I can live, and I'm going to use +my old beau to help me get the most out of life that I can +when--when--well, you know, only don't say it, please!" + +She was wonderful. So big and beautiful and full of health and common +sense. I could not but admire her, though, of course, a few maidenly +tears and vows of lifelong fidelity to the heroic dead would have been +more suitable. But things had already gone too far for that. At the time +the above-recorded conversation took place we were standing upon the +steps of the Ritz in New York, waiting for the car which was to convey +us up the river. Mr. Markheim had not expected us for another week and +so hadn't been at the hotel to meet us, but was sending his chauffeur. + +And in a way Peaches' words reassured me. After all one must eventually +resign oneself to fate, and if one had the good sense to take fate by +the horns and as Peaches would say "beat him to it"--why, so much the +better. We could all settle down to watch her live happily enough ever +after if her program worked out. + +But would it? Despite her assurance I felt a faint misgiving. My dear +father used always to say: "Never you girls marry until Mister Right +comes along." And we were brought up to honor and obey our +parents--with the result that at the respective ages of fifty and sixty +we girls were still single. However, I digress. + +In my youth, following the precepts of my father and seeking knowledge +of the world through the medium of literature, I came upon the works of +a lady of rank whose writings had for me the greatest fascination. As to +what her actual name was I have to this day remained in ignorance, and +her title, The Duchess, is all that I identify her by. But this +estimable lady, while somewhat given to the recounting of scandalous +episodes and the misfortunes peculiar to innocent maidens, had a wealth +of descriptive power when she undertook the description of rich and +aristocratic mansions or the interiors of castles of the less modest +variety. But nothing ever recorded by her, not set forth for public +inspection in the Boston Museum, could compare with the sumptuousness of +Mr. Markheim's establishment. + +I had been prepared for something very fine, but this gorgeous replica +of a famous Italian villa built upon terraces, its lovely low white +façades rising in a symmetrical group one above the other, the whole +nestling into the budding verdure of the hillside, its formal gardens +descending step by step almost to the broad sweep of the Hudson below, +was a veritable dream-palace. + +And the interior! Words almost fail me when I seek to describe it. +Perhaps the most fitting thing I can say of it is that it was a home +good enough for Peaches. Her great height, her gold-and-marble beauty, +here found at last a fitting habitat. And then when I saw that little, +comparatively speaking, Markheim man trotting about in front of her and +giving her the place with a gesture as he displayed each treasure in +turn, I felt sick and faint in my mind. And yet he was most kind and had +never given me the least cause to criticize him, and certainly the house +was enough to tempt any girl. I sighed, however, to think of the day +when she would be married and living there. + +"Mr. Markheim--Sebastian, I mean," I said--Mr. Pegg and I followed in +the wake of the happy couple as they made the tour of the +house--"Sebastian, this place looks as if you had dug up the rich heart +of Italy and transplanted it to America!" + +Sebastian laughed. + +"You have the right idea, Miss Freedom! The right idea--yes!" he +exclaimed with pride. "More than half my collection is Italian--and if I +do so say myself, it has taken a lot of patience and trouble to gather +it--not to speak of the cost in money. They have a strict law against +taking objects of art out of their country, you know, and it's been nip +and tuck getting hold of a lot of this stuff--smuggled of course. Oh, +don't look so shocked! If it's genuine it's smuggled--at the Italian +end. But one doesn't call attention to the fact except in the privacy of +one's own family!" + +"It sure is swell!" said Mr. Pegg. + +Sebastian laughed again--a sound which never got him favor with me--and +opened the door into the newest addition to the house--the library wing, +which he had remodeled for the especial purpose of housing the Madonna +of the Lamp. + +When I entered I could not refrain from an exclamation of delight, nor +can I forbear to describe the place in some detail. To begin with it was +almost round and very large, the ceiling being domed and the books +being carried in long narrow stacks sunk into the paneling between the +French windows as high as the carved molding. Above this an exquisite +tone of blue with a few cleverly distributed stars gave a sense of +infinite space, and despite the cumbersome old Florentine furniture the +room was neither heavy nor dull. There was just enough gold to furnish +flashes of light, and the warm old amber brocade on the chairs seemed to +catch and hold the sunlight which poured through the long narrow windows +at the west, all of which opened directly upon the first terrace of the +rose garden. But the real triumph in lighting was the rose window of +plain leaded glass on the north side of the room--the wall of which had +been reconstructed to accommodate it in order that the Madonna might be +properly illuminated by day. We gasped our admiration of its perfect +lacery, and then turned about and faced the picture itself in reverent +silence. + +Of course it is ridiculous to suppose there is anyone to whom the +Madonna of the Lamp is not perfectly familiar, being, as she is, one of +those paintings which are impressed upon the popular mind in spite of +itself through endless repetition upon postal and Christmas cards, +engravers' windows, magazine covers and Sunday-school prizes, to say +nothing of Little Collections of Great Masters, gift photographs, +furnishings for college rooms and appeals for public charities. + +Nevertheless, I will describe it, because as my dear father used to say, +the collective mind of the public is not the public mind of the +collector. It has to be told, in other words, when it can't be shown; +whereas, of course, you can tell a collector nothing--and get him to +admit it. + +Well, at any rate, in case you do not recall it, the Madonna of the +Lamp is a round canvas, not more than two and a half feet in diameter, +and represents the Virgin with the Child curled up in a robe of sapphire +blue which falls from her head in thick sweeping folds and crosses her +knee in such a way as to give the appearance of being blown from behind +by a wind and aiding in the circular effect. She is seated and bending +over the Infant, protecting both him and the flickering lamp from the +wind. Above her head is a single star visible through a patch of leaded +window. + +Now you recall it, I am sure. It was painted in Florence by Raphael +about the year 1506 and is one of the most famous monuments to his +genius. + +And Markheim had provided a most wonderful setting for this jewel. The +great window was of a design made from that behind the Virgin's head, +and the carved panel upon which the painting hung was a skillful +variation of the beautiful old carved frame about the canvas--the +original frame, it was believed to be, and the motif of the design was +carried out in a molding which diminished into a faint bas-relief at the +outer edges of the large wall space above the mantel where it hung. Nor +was the picture hung too high. Even I could have touched the bottom of +the carvings; and the mantelpiece had no other ornament except two +gigantic polychrome candlesticks of the same period. Truly it was a +wonderfully successful arrangement and reflected great credit on the +owner who had conceived it. + +"Do you like it?" was all he said, looking not at the Madonna but at +Alicia. "Do you like it, eh?" + +Mr. Pegg took the question to himself. + +"And you paid five hundred thousand dollars for that little picture?" +he asked incredulously. "Why, from the price I expected something as big +as a barn door!" + +"Pa--don't be a boob--it's a diamond without a flaw," said Peaches, +going closer, her face alight with pleasure. "It's a real mother and +child," she added. "How big would you want them to be? They are +immortal--isn't that big enough?" + +Through the crudity of her rebuke I got one of those rare glimpses of +her golden heart. + +Her crude parent, however, was unimpressed. + +"Of course it's real pretty," he said. "Which is more than can be said +for most antiques. But five hundred thousand! My Lord, look at the +profit? There can't be over ten dollars' worth of paint in it! Where is +this feller, Raphael?" + +"Where the profit is doing him precious little good," chuckled +Sebastian. + +"Must be hell!" commented Pinto. + +"Very possibly, in spite of his choice of subjects!" replied Markheim. + +Whereat he and I exchanged our first glance of thoroughly sympathetic +understanding. I, of course, at once lowered my eyes, a burning sense of +shame at my implied disloyalty struggling with my desire to spare Mr. +Pegg the mortification of instruction. I had not forgotten and shall +never forget how gently he led me to see the error of my ways when I +first hit the ranch--as, for example, when I unknowingly made culls of +his best tree of home fruit and he urged me to make marmalade of them +and never told me until afterward that the way I had picked them by +pulling them off the tree instead of clipping the stem made it +impossible to use them for anything else. So now in my own realm I +wished to lead him gradually into the paths of erudition and allow him +to learn by inference whenever possible. + +Well, the rest of the house was beautiful as could be, and after we had +finished inspecting it we had tea in a wonderful glass room filled with +gay cretonnes and flowering plants, wicker chairs and caged canaries. +Two menservants served the refection. Mr. Sebastian Markheim had a +considerable household, that was plain, and I began to regret that I had +steadfastly stood with Peaches on refusing her father's suggestion of a +personal maid. + +"There's something too public about it," had been her objection, which I +had sustained. + +But here amid all these servitors I felt differently. Not that I felt +any indignity attached to our maidless condition, being, as I was, a +self-supporting female well able to afford one if I desired such a +thing. I could now live as I chose instead of as I aught, if you +understand me. But I knew that Peaches would have to get a female +attendant after she was married. Markheim was not the man to allow his +wife to live in comfort when he could provide her with luxury. And at +this juncture of my thought I stopped halfway through the sugared tea +biscuit, a terrible realization overwhelming me for the first time. + +When Peaches was married she would no longer need me. Who then would +need me? Nobody? Not Euphemia, who never answered my letters, though she +always mutely cashed the inclosed checks. And would there be any checks +to send her? Where would they come from? It was a chilling thought, as +will readily be admitted. Why I had not thought of it sooner I cannot +say. It must have been evident from the moment of Peaches' engagement +that when the affair reached its consummation I would be, to put it +vulgarly, out of a job. + +Of course I did not so greatly care for myself, but there was Euphemia, +the dependent, to consider, whose tradition of useless gentility must +not be disturbed in her declining years. True, I had saved a very +considerable portion of my salary and had almost twenty thousand dollars +distributed among six savings banks. That might conceivably tide us over +for the remainder of our lives. But I had acquired the habit of +remunerative occupation and close companionship with dear friends; also +a taste for French heels and facial massage whenever practical. And the +thought of the Chestnut Street house was, the more shame upon me for +saying it of my father's home, almost intolerable. And Mr. Pegg--dear +Pinto, how I should miss him! in a purely friendly way of course. + +Fully realizing for the first time the bitterness of my situation I +refused a second sugared bun and rising remarked that as Sebastian +expected dinner guests we had best retire and obtain a little rest +before it was time to dress. + +Of course my intention was in part to leave the lovers together for a +properly brief interval, but somewhat to my surprise Peaches rose also +and said she would accompany me. My heart was heavy, and for once I +would have preferred to be alone. But she slipped her arm about my neck, +and we started for our rooms, chatting amiably while the men settled +down for a cigar. + +Now one of the peculiarities of the Markheim palace was that it gave no +appearance of modernity. Though it was in point of fact less than ten +years built, it was so cunningly designed, so convincingly arranged, +with such perfection of detail that it possessed an air of old mystery +difficult to define, and under ordinary circumstances most +fascinating--a real achievement on the part of architect and decorator +alike. The ancient furniture stood so easily in the background provided +for it that one could have sworn the walls had been made before it; the +modern lighting was so well handled as to be absolutely unobtrusive. + +Slowly, affectionately, we crossed the main hall, pausing to look at the +chased armor on the two silent figures at the foot of the beautiful +winding stairs. A Gobelin tapestry fluttered faintly on the wall above +us, stirred by the gentle sunset wind from the spring-scented river +below, and the lingering twilight filled the great hall with mysterious +shadows. There was not another soul in sight and not a sound to be heard +except the distant murmur of the men's talk and the voice of a pleasure +boat distantly upon the water. I accompanied Alicia up the stairs, +feeling as if I were in some enchanted palace of medieval days, and +above, the long dim corridor in which the lamps had not yet been lit was +ghostly in the pale glimmer from its high mullioned windows. + +"Isn't it spooky?" said Peaches in a low tone. + +"Yes!" I replied, whispering involuntarily. "One might almost expect to +see a ghost!" + +And scarcely had I spoken the words when Peaches, the supernormal, who +was a trifle ahead of me by now, uttered a shriek and leaned trembling +against the stone wall of the passageway. But for a moment I could not +come to her aid. My limbs seemed frozen, paralyzed. For there suddenly +and soundlessly a form was towering vaguely before us, its white face +luminous in a shaft of uncanny light. + +It was the Duke di Monteventi! + + + + +XI + + +After one horrible endless moment the figure moved slightly and the +corridor was flooded with the soft mellow light from half a dozen +electric sconces. + +With a half-choked cry of "Sandy!" upon her lips Peaches moved toward +him, only to stop short, her face going completely blank. The man was a +servant, a valet presumably, carrying a folded suit of clothing +carefully over one arm and wearing soft felt shoes, which had been the +secret of his noiseless approach. His hair was thickly gray and his face +was lined and scarred. He looked perhaps ten years older than +Sandro--and yet the likeness was there--unmistakable, though in the full +light not by any means so perfect. + +"I beg pardon, ladies," he said in a measured voice, withdrawing another +step. "The lights should have been on." + +Then with a little bow he passed noiselessly down the corridor and +entered one of the bedrooms, presumably that occupied by Markheim +himself. + +Peaches made a little involuntary gesture as if to follow him, +stretching out her hands toward his unconscious back, and then, as the +door closed upon him, turned to me, her amber eyes afire. She seized me +by the wrist in a manner positively painful and dragged me into her +room, where she caused me to sit down abruptly and without personal +selection upon a sort of hassock, the while she towered over me, fairly +glowing with animation--far, far, more like her old self than she had +been for almost six years. + +"Free!" she said. "Was it? Was it? Oh, Free--say something!" + +"It couldn't have been!" I replied shakily. "And yet the resemblance--it +was extraordinary!" + +"It was a miracle!" said Peaches. "No two people could look so much +alike." + +"He had a brother," I began doubtfully, "who was merely supposed to be +dead. Sandro would have known you at once." + +"But didn't he?" she questioned, striding up and down the room with her +long, clean gesture of body. "Why didn't he speak at once? He was too +much amazed!" + +"Nonsense!" I exclaimed. "How could he be amazed, when as a servant in +this house--in all probability Sebastian's valet--he must have known in +advance all about your coming here!" + +"That's so," said Peaches. "And, of course there are differences--the +grayness, the lines in his face. But something may have happened to +him." + +"Very likely!" I replied dryly. "Considering we have heard from Cousin +Abby that he was killed in action." + +"But it may have been a mistake," she whispered. "Stranger things have +happened. And a servant! No--even if he had gone quite mad and forgotten +everything that would hardly be possible." + +"Servant or not, if it is he, why on earth shouldn't he recognize you?" +I demanded. "That's the sort of encounter which is supposed to bring +people to their senses, you know." + +"But didn't he recognize me?" she replied with a doubt willfully +sustained. "Just for an instant, I was so sure! Well!" + +"What are we going to do about it?" I said. "If by chance it really is +Sandro it's a nice situation, I'm sure! With your wedding only a few +weeks off and, and--why, good gracious! It's simply terrible!" + +But Peaches didn't look as if she thought it was simply terrible--not in +the least. She was terrifically excited, but more beautiful than ever. + +"Free!" she cried. "I know it is he! Do you suppose I could feel as I +did--as I do, at the encounter unless it is Sandy? Lots of times people +know things without evidence. And this is one of those times. I feel it +is he. I don't care how differently he looked when the lights went up." + +"But how on earth are you going to find out?" I urged. "Surely, Peaches, +he cannot have forgotten you!" + +"Forgotten!" she exclaimed, stopping short in her pacing of the floor. +"Forgotten! Good heavens, Free, you don't suppose that is it, do you?" + +"Of course I don't!" I snapped, even though I was not entirely sure but +that a young man who was capable of taking French leave in the way that +Sandro had six years previously, was not capable of anything, including +having an _affaire de coeur_ with Peaches and then failing to +recollect the incident. Some men are that way; I have it on the +authority of The Duchess. + +"This man is older!" I went on. "And we don't know for certain what his +position in the household is. The best thing for you to do is to +question Sebastian about him." + +"Won't he think it strange if I let him on to the fact that I'm stuck +on his valet?" Peaches considered in her disconcertingly frank way. + +"Good gracious, you must do nothing of the kind!" I interposed. +"Besides, you don't know that you are, as you vulgarly put it, stuck on +him. You only think it may be Sandy. Kindly keep that in mind, my dear!" + +"I think there is something damn funny about the whole shooting match!" +said Peaches vigorously. "And I'm going to the bottom of it mighty +pronto!" + +With which she flung from the room to don one of her majestic evening +gowns, leaving me in great distress of mind for fear of what she would +do next. To array myself for the evening's festivities and to descend to +them in a becomingly dignified manner was no easy task, but by the +greatest effort at self-control I accomplished both the arrangement of +my toilet and the adjustment of my manner sufficiently to reappear in +polite society in the state of composure due to my name and heritage and +the responsible position which I occupied toward the Pegg family. It is +one of the penalties of a great name that one must ever maintain the +aspect of a painted ancestor, no matter what tumult may be going on +within one. And though I admit that I was in a profoundly disturbed +state of mind, and indeed I may say, shaken to the very depths of my +romantic soul by what had occurred and still more by what might occur, I +believe that my conduct and appearance as I stood smiling beside the +unconscious Mr. Markheim, aiding him in the reception of his guests, +would have been wholly approved by my dear father. And I rather relished +the sense of standing upon a species of social volcano. + +When Peaches appeared on the, as I may call it, haunted stairway, a gasp +of delighted astonishment went up from the assemblage. She was arrayed +in a sheathlike gown of golden sequins that rivaled but did not surpass +the glory of her hair, and though she was without jewels except for her +ring, she shone with a radiance such as can scarcely be imagined. Her +wonderful hair lay close and glistening upon her head like a helmet of +burnished metal, and this taken with her--er--martial though décolleté +costume gave her somewhat the appearance of a young Pallas Athene with a +redeeming touch of--er--jazz, if you know what I mean. At any rate she +was magnificent. And if a trifle pale, it was from the intense wave of +new life which had flooded her during the past few hours, and her eyes +were like those of that terribly incoherent tiger of Blake's. + +Well, I will not digress by describing the feast which Sebastian gave as +a housewarming for his lady love. The field of such description has been +widely covered by every chronicler from Balzac to W. D. Griffiths. +Suffice to say that it was a very sumptuous affair, attended by a more +or less cosmopolitan crowd, comprising friends and neighbors alike, and +affording, I dare say, a reasonable amount of enjoyment to those +present. + +Under different circumstances I should have enjoyed it myself, being, as +I am, possessed of a very profound sense of the solemnity of social +functions and their proper conducting. But upon this occasion I was so +taken up with being on the outlook for a glimpse of that mysterious +valet among the other servants that I only succeeded in performing the +mechanics of a pleasant evening. But nevertheless I was aware that the +affair, considering that it was more or less impromptu due to our +unexpected arrival, went off very well, and without my once seeing the +person for whom I was automatically seeking. + +Well, at about half after eleven that night, when the last guest had +departed and we four--Mr. Pegg, Alicia, Sebastian and myself--were +assembled in the library for a good-night discussion, Peaches laid her +trap, if so I may call it, for the information she desired. She became +suddenly domestic and affectionate over a glass of milk and vichy and I +watched keenly as she led up to her subject with a deceitful air of +innocence of which I would not have believed her capable. Markheim was +in the seventh heaven at her interest, and dear Mr. Pegg stood under the +Madonna chewing on a big cigar and nodding his approval. + +"It was a wonderful dinner, Sebastian!" said Peaches, her big eyes +limpid pools of approval. "What a peach of a chef you have!" + +"I am glad you approve!" said the banker. "We will keep him on." + +"There are an awful bunch of servants here," Peaches commented. "It will +seem funny, keeping house with them after one Chinaman, and sometimes +none, out on the ranch. I suppose I'll have a maid. But if I do I'm +going to teach her pinochle! Have you a valet, Mark?" + +"In a way," replied Markheim. "In a way I have--and then again I +haven't!" + +At this astonishing announcement you may well believe that a painful +sensation occurred in my breast. I positively started out of my seat, +though controlling myself instanter, and even Peaches gave a funny +little gasp, which she, however, contrived to turn into a species of +inane giggle, spluttering over her milk. + +"What--what do you mean by that?" she said. + +"Only that he's given notice," Markheim replied. "Nothing unusual about +that nowadays, I assure you, my dear. And I'm sorry he's going," he +added. "The best chap I've had--came to me six months ago, and been +absolute perfection ever since!" + +"Why do you let him go?" asked Peaches, her eyes fixed upon her fiancé +as if she would like to hypnotize him into telling her more than she +asked. "Why not give him more wages or something?" + +"It's not a question of money," Sebastian explained. "It seems he +dislikes women--regular misanthrope. It's all your fault, my dear. He +gave notice as soon as I told him I was going to get married!" + +"Oh!" said Peaches. "Then it was some time ago that he--he quit? Not +just to-day?" + +"About a month ago," replied her lover. "He expected to leave before you +appeared upon the scene, only you are ahead of time. Great Scott, +Alicia, you seem fearfully interested in the fellow? Have you seen him, +or what is the idea anyhow?" + +"No," lied Peaches calmly. "I just got to thinking about servants in +general and about the personal-servant idea in particular. I don't know +that the plan has my O. K. It's an embarrassing idea--makes me feel like +a boob to have anybody dress me, unless to hook a fool dress up the back +perhaps. And a Chinaman could do that, you know. What do you call the +bird--by his front or hind name?" + +"I call him Wilkes," said Markheim, laughing. "And you are too amusing, +my dear. You are not obliged to have a maid, you know. It's quite +conceivable that I can learn to hook a gown!" + +"Or unhook it!" laughed Mr. Pegg. + +This was too much for me. I bade them all good night and departed in +high dudgeon. + +The enormous main hall was but dimly lighted and I crossed it, not +without hesitancy, and when at the foot of the staircase a hand was laid +upon my arm I nearly screamed aloud. In fact I attempted to scream but +was so frightened that I only accomplished a squeak. However, it was no +supernatural apparition, but Peaches, who had overtaken me, and who +dragged me to my room, where she slammed the door behind us in +breathless triumph. + +"There!" she cried. "Did you hear him?" + +"I did!" I replied. "And I think your father ought to be ashamed of +himself, at his age, too!" + +"Oh, forget dad!" she cried impatiently. "I know he's a roughneck, but +that's not a weakness. I mean about Sandy?" + +"Oh!" said I. "Well, what about him--if it is he?" + +"If it is?" said Peaches. "Have you any doubts now? Leaving as soon as +he heard about me, and then being caught by my unexpected arrival. +Didn't you listen?" + +"It may be just a coincidence," I demurred, though in truth I was deeply +interested. "And he's been here six months. He must have heard of your +engagement before--or at least been aware that Sebastian knew you." + +"Perhaps," admitted Alicia, pacing up and down like a substantial +sunbeam. "But that doesn't satisfy me. There's only one way to settle +the question. I've got to have a private talk with that man." + +"But how?" I gasped. + +"You've got to arrange it," replied Peaches firmly. + +"Impossible!" I squeaked. "What an idea! Though, of course, you could +meet him secretly in the garden!" + +"The very thing!" exclaimed my charge with enthusiasm. "Here--I will +write a note and date him up, and you will see that it gets to him. I'll +meet him in the rose garden at midnight to-morrow." + +She sat herself down at the exquisite old Moorish escritoire and taking +pen and paper wrote in her labored, painstaking fashion, her head on one +side, her tongue firmly between her teeth, the hair curling at the nape +of her neck like that of an innocent child rather than a desperate +maiden in a most thrilling situation. + +"There!" she said at length, slipping the missive into an envelope and +handing it to me. "There you are, Free. Now be sure he gets it, and let +me know how he acts. It doesn't need any answer!" + +With which she actually had the impudence to kiss me gayly on the cheek +and run away to bed, leaving me standing as if paralyzed, the note in +one hand, and the problem of handling the preposterous situation staring +me in the face. + +My dear father used to say that only those who must be ashamed need be +afraid, and as this matter of the note was really none of my personal +affair I need not, I suppose, have feared for the consequences; and yet +I confess that I was filled with fear. The day had been interminable, +and now it seemed that it was not yet over, though the clock pointed to +a quarter after twelve. At such a circumstantial hour I had no mind to +venture out into a corridor in which I had recently encountered a very +fair imitation of a ghost. Indeed, there had been from the start of our +acquaintance something very mysterious about the Duke di Monteventi, and +death, it seemed, did not offer any solution, but rather extended the +obscurity which surrounded him. + +It was my personal opinion that he was dead, and that this valet +creature who had startled us in such a fashion merely bore an accidental +resemblance to Sandro. Yet then again it was so much more romantic to +consider his being resurrected as a possibility. But if it were Sandro, +why on earth should he, who had the entrée to every fashionable house in +Europe, reappear in the capacity of a servant? + +Perchance it was not Sandro, but his supposedly murdered elder brother. +That would, of course, account for the resemblance. This idea struck me +as being remarkably intelligent, and I at once began to search my mind +for its literary beginnings. My dear father used to say that all ideas +had literary beginnings and all beginnings contained a literary idea. +But neither Deadwood Dick, Edwin Arnold, Walter Pater or The Duchess +seemed to have supplied me with the thought, strive as I would to place +it among them. I was forced to claim it as original, and perhaps merely +the theme for a story's beginning. And despite my dear father's precept, +I do verily believe that I am at times productive of ideas quite my own, +as, for example, in the realm of love, wherein my manifold ideas must +have no other origin than my own brain, inasmuch as the only books on +the subject which we possessed at home were written by a Frenchman named +Balzac, and though ostensibly in English translation they were mostly +set forth in asterisks, dots and dashes. + +But I digress. Let us return to the privacy of my chamber at the villa, +and the note to Wilkes, which somehow must be disposed of. + +My first inclination was to procure a two-cent stamp and mail it--an +obvious solution. And yet I hesitated, because if by chance it should +miscarry and fall into the wrong hands, what dreadful consequences might +not ensue? What a, as one might say, roughhouse might it +not--er--precipitate! No, mailing would not do, because at best I might +be unable to find a mail box or post office before late the next day, +and I would certainly be unwilling to offer a note so addressed to one +of the other household servants. + +Furthermore, I was hampered by a lack of familiarity with the house. +Doubtless there was a servants' mail box somewhere about the service +stairs, if only I knew where. But to wander round looking for it would +be both nerve-racking and indiscreet, particularly at such an hour. +Finally in desperation I was half tempted to burn the wretched thing, +and forbore only because of my promise to Alicia. My brain felt as if it +were on fire. I did not know what to do. + +All at once the great room with its wide spaciousness and light hangings +seemed suffocatingly hot. I crossed to the window, and first +extinguishing the light in order not to attract the night insects, +opened it and sat down beside it, the better to meditate upon my course +of action. I was half determined to take the whole matter to Pinto Pegg +in the morning and allow him to settle our minds for us, even against +Alicia's will. + +But as I reclined upon the window-sill the vision of my own somewhat +barren girlhood rose before me like a reproachful ghost, and I had no +heart to stifle the sequel to that romance which I had seen bud, unfold +and blossom in the tropic air at San Remo. Holding the letter in my lap +it seemed to burn through the heavy silk of my gown, such was the fire +which had inspired its writing. No matter what might come--what +disillusionment, what disappointment--it should be delivered. I vowed +that through no fault of mine should Peaches be cheated of her love; and +I felt myself to be an excellent judge of love. I had looked on at a +good deal of it. Indeed as I sat there it occurred to me that I had +accomplished a great lot of looking on in the course of my life. And +scarcely had this commentary crossed my mind when, quite in line with my +usual fortune, I found myself once more an observer, though unobserved. + +I have remarked that Mr. Markheim's villa was built upon several levels, +thus permitting the windows on one wing to overlook those on a different +story in another portion of the building, and that there were several +wings or sections to the place, so arranged that the main portions were +well isolated from each other in accordance with the modern ideas of +comfort and quiet. Thus the living rooms were in the main body of the +house, the library was at the extreme end, the bedrooms in one wing, and +the kitchen with the servants' quarters over them in another wing at the +extreme opposite end of the house but facing the guest rooms across a +wide garden space. For the most part the service quarters opened upon a +hidden court of their own but the wide row of windows must be, I +decided, the rooms of the upper servants. + +Once possessed of this thought I began to visualize the interior plan of +the house, particularly that of the corridor which would lead to those +rooms. By a little figuring I came to the realization that they were in +reality on the same level as my own chamber, though actually on the +story above--that is to say, the third story while I was on the second. +To reach them from within the house meant the ascent of one flight of +stairs, whereas if one were to get out onto the little balcony below me +and cross the roof of the porte-cochère, one would bring up on a ledge +running level with the third story of the opposite wing; a by no means +perilous journey unless one were to be observed from the garden below, +which was not likely at night, modesty being the only thing subjected to +any serious danger. + +While I was meditating upon this architectural curiosity a light +appeared in one of those third-story windows, and against it stood the +figure of a man. It was Wilkes--or Sandro, as Peaches insisted upon +calling him. I could see him very plainly, as indeed the whole of the +rather small simple room was perfectly visible and he stood directly +under the electric light. At this distance his resemblance to the lost +duke was certainly remarkable. He was alone in the room, which was +evidently his bedroom, and had plainly just finished with Markheim, for +he carried the light gray suit which Sebastian had worn that afternoon, +and several pairs of boots. + +Fired by a thought which offered to solve my problem I counted the +windows between me and that before which he stood. There were fifteen; +his was the sixteenth along the ledge. To walk the distance along the +balcony, over the intervening roof of the porte-cochère was no task at +all to one who had been living a life in the open for six years, and +there was very little danger of my being observed since none of the +windows which I should be obliged to pass were those of bedrooms--except +in the servants' wing. I would wait until the light was extinguished and +then play my part. + +The interval between my resolution and the moment for its execution was +but brief. In a surprisingly short time the light in the man's room was +extinguished, and then I had only to wait until I might reasonably +suppose him to be asleep--a half hour, for surely, I thought, a tired +servant would take no longer. At the termination of this period I +removed my shoes and put on a pair of knitted bedroom slippers with felt +soles--a welcome Christmas offering from Galadia and Boston--and +gathering my dress about me with little regard for the dictates of +modesty, I stepped forth from my window and began my circumlocution. + +I am aware that this performance of mine would not have been looked upon +with favor by Euphemia, nor yet by the members of our home-mission +sewing circle, yet my conscience was clear, and I had ever been somewhat +at a loss to confine my behavior strictly within the limits of the +society in which I had been reared. And furthermore, there was but +little chance that the sewing circle or indeed my sister would ever +learn of the incident, and as my dear father used to say, there are more +Lorelei in the social sea than ever come out of it. I infer that he +intended some reference to social shipwrecks. + +And had my circle of acquaintances ever become aware of my behavior upon +this particular occasion without clearly understanding the motive which +actuated me they would undoubtedly have wrecked my standing. In point of +fact they might even have done so with the fullest understanding of my +motive--the act being itself father to the ostracism, if you know what I +mean, and motives are seldom if ever considered when the opportunity for +passing judgment occurs. + +But at the moment of emerging upon the narrow ornamental balcony I was +concerned with none of these possibilities, which occurred to me only at +a later date. I was too thoroughly occupied with making a noiseless, +inconspicuous progress, and with wondering whether the valet was high +class enough to sleep with his window open. I trusted that he did so, +and expected it, for he was a clean, bronzed sort of man, and in truth +it would prove utter frustration for me if he should be in the habit of +sleeping with it closed. + +It was with something of the emotion which I fancy that a participant in +a motion-picture drama must experience that I, not without some +difficulty in climbing the intervening railings, approached my goal, +silently as the--er--wings of night, as one might say, feeling my way +along the wall and taking careful count of the windows as I went, the +garden a still pool of blackness below me, in which the few scattered +stars of the overcast sky found no reflection. It was really very dark +for such an enterprise, and though the fact was undoubtedly of advantage +in one way it made my progress uncomfortably slow, the more so as I had +now no lighted window to guide me, and was compelled to advance by the +sense of touch alone. + +I passed the roof of the porte-cochère with success, climbed on to the +ledge leading outside of the servants' wing, the letter safe within my +bosom. There I began again my feeling of the window sills, this time +with the added wish for clinging to them for support as well as their +enumeration, for this was the most perilous portion of my undertaking, +there being only a gutter along the ledge, and no railing of any sort. +And after an interminable period I reached my goal--the sixteenth +window. It was open! + +With infinite caution I slid past the shutter, holding my breath lest I +be heard; and flattening myself against the wall I extracted the letter +from its hiding place and peered round the side of the aperture, +doubtful how best to dispose of it soundlessly. + +The casement was not only open but open to its widest capacity. And +while I was rapidly considering whether I should simply lay the letter +on the sill, trusting that the wind would not blow it away, or if I +should drop it inside, risking some sound that might waken the sleeper, +the moon slid from under a cloud, and on the instant the whole interior +became visible to me. + +It was empty! + +The bed had not even been disturbed, and the door was closed. As well as +I could see in the dim light the only clothing lying about was that +which the man had brought from his master's room, and this was neatly +placed upon a chair, even as I had observed him to dispose of it nearly +an hour since. It was a most perplexing matter. But without waiting to +consider it further I reached within and laid the letter upon a chair +beside the window where the occupant could not fail to observe it upon +his return, and forthwith withdrew the upper portion of my body. As I +did so I heard a sound which, in the language of my favorite authors, +froze my blood. Someone was walking upon the gravel of the path directly +beneath me. + +I stood as if petrified, listening intently. For a moment, nothing, and +my heart relaxed a little, as the supposition occurred to me that it +might have been some animal bent upon nocturnal adventures. But hardly +had this reassurance registered in my brain when it came again. Without +doubt someone was making a stealthy progress along that side of the +house upon which I stood in an unusual, not to say compromising, +position. And in another moment my fears were justified, for out of the +abyss below me darted a dark and noiseless figure, followed at close +range by a second one. Both crossed the moon patch like wraiths, +vanishing instantly into the shadows of the shrubbery beyond. Two men! +What were they about? No good, that was certain. And what, in merciful +heaven's name, was I to do about it? + +To give the alarm from my present position was impossible. Moreover, if +I were to remain where I was the two in the shrubbery might at any +instant discover my presence upon the ledge, for the moon in +illuminating the room behind me was, of course, also rendering me +clearly visible. To retreat to my own quarters by the route by which I +had come was now obviously impossible. There remained but one course, +and I took it. Without further ado I picked up my skirts and climbed +into the bedchamber of my host's bodyservant. + + + + +XII + + +Once inside the room I sank upon a chair for an instant, gasping for +breath and quite all of a tremble. But after a little I regained some +control of my faculties, which I now directed toward effecting my +escape. + +From the adjoining room came the noises of a heavy sleeper--snores and +wheezy breathing. The head butler, without doubt; a great hulk of a man +whom it would be no easy task to rouse even if I were in a position to +rouse any one, which, of course, I was not--now less than ever. Aside +from his strenuous slumbers the wing was silent, yet somehow +portentously so, as only a house of sleepers can be. Beyond my refuge a +night light was burning in the hall. I could discern this from the crack +beneath the door. Obviously I had no choice but to leave in that +direction, even though it was highly probable that I should encounter +Wilkes in the corridor. Still, such misadventure must be chanced. With +madly beating heart I crossed the room and stealthily tried the handle. +Imagine my amazement when I found that the door was locked--from the +inside! The man must be in the room with me! + +This thought so filled me with terror that throwing caution to the winds +I unlocked and opened the door, fleeing down the dimly lighted corridor +like a bat out of Hades, as Peaches would put it, and plunging down the +first staircase that appeared. + +The hall below was completely dark, and I must have taken a wrong +turning, because in what seemed about two minutes I was completely lost. +For once my nerves gave way completely. I wanted to shriek but could +only make a little clicking sound which nobody seemed to hear. Then I +began to run, because I thought something was after me--I did not know +what. I couldn't see anything, and yet I felt overpowered by terror. It +flashed across my brain that perhaps Sandro--or rather, Wilkes--did not +need to unlock his door in order to leave his room; perhaps he came +through the closed door and only kept it locked to prevent people from +discovering that he didn't really exist. + +The thought gave new impetus to my speed, and for time uncounted I flew +about that horribly vast and silent mansion as noisily and irrationally +as if I were myself some poor lost spirit. I seemed wholly unable to +find my way back to my own apartment or to locate any familiar door at +which I might venture to knock and beg for help. And the realization +that those two night prowlers in the garden might at any moment break +into whatever part of the house I was in at the instant did nothing to +induce a greater serenity of mind. + +Moreover, I could not seem to find a flight of stairs leading upward, +and when at length I emerged from the service wing it was to find myself +in the ghostly main hall once more. And there it was that a sudden +unexpected encounter with reality shocked me back to some degree of +common sense. + +From this main hall, which was two stories in height a corridor led +directly to the library at the extreme left end of the main building. + +Other rooms opened from the corridor, of course, but the door directly +at the end was that of the Madonna room, as I called it, and as I, +emerging from the servants' entrance, advanced toward the foot of the +main stair I stood as if rooted to the ground, for from that far doorway +gleamed a faint light. + +Now though it is true that anything pertaining to the supernatural, +mesmeric or ghostly is capable of upsetting my equanimity to a very +considerable degree, in the realm of obviously human activity I have +never been a coward or a laggard. Never shall it be said that the last +Freedom Talbot, the tenth to bear that illustrious name, ever disgraced +it by cowardice, though but a mere woman. Not for nothing did I bear the +title of those men who had given their lives and made their fortunes in +the cause for which they were baptized. + +"In time of danger an ounce of action is worth a pound of theory," my +dear father used to say; and his precepts are in my blood no less than +in my mind. And upon this occasion I was not backward. + +There was no time now to give the alarm; it was, as the saying goes, up +to me. Waiting only long enough to put my right foot back into its +knitted slipper, the heel of which had come off during my flight, I +immediately stalked to one of the suits of armor which guarded the +staircase, and removed the great sword which lay within its hollow +grasp. Thus armed I began a stealthy progress toward the library door. + +The sword was heavy and difficult to carry but I was in no mood to be +put off by a trifle of that kind. Whatever those two villains were up to +in that library I was determined to put an end to immediately. I had no +fear that a common thief would dare to shoot at my gray head, and the +now perfect respectability of my situation gave me confidence. +Nevertheless I took care to make no unnecessary noise. Grasping my +weapon in such a manner as to be ready for any emergency I sidled along +the wall of the corridor, concealing myself behind the portière which +hung at the door, and cautiously peeked within. + +On the mantelpiece a little electric lantern was burning, and before it +stood Wilkes the valet, his forearms resting upon the shelf, his chin +upon his hands, and his face upturned to the Madonna as if in worship. +Never have I seen a face more, as it were, glorified than was his at +that moment. His very soul, if I may be so indelicate as to mention such +a thing, seemed to be in his eyes, and an inner light illuminated his +countenance, almost obliterating the lines and making him appear far +younger than I had at first thought. The scar on his temple blazed like +a white star as the lamplight struck it, giving him an uncanny aspect +that was yet beautiful, and I could not but note the easy grace with +which he maintained his posture. But most remarkable of all was the +hunger with which he feasted his eyes upon that painting. + +In the feeble illumination the Madonna herself was smiling back at him, +and seemed almost to waver and lean gently toward him. It was a +strangely intimate scene--almost I felt as if I had intruded upon an +interview between lovers. And yet that was all nonsense, as I presently +realized. Immensely relieved that the intruder was, after all, no +intruder but one of the household servants, I quietly hid the sword +behind the folds of the portière, leaning it against the inner wall as +unobtrusively as possible. But the man before the picture would not, I +think, have noticed had I dropped the clumsy thing, so absorbed was he. +And then, when I had disposed of my armament, I entered the apartment +and came within three feet of him before I spoke. + +"Wilkes," I said quietly, "what are you doing here?" + +The man jumped as though he had been shot, and spun round to face me. +All self-control was momentarily gone from him, and that was a terrible +thing to see. His jaw had dropped and the lips quivered pitifully, his +whole face shook convulsively and his shoulders heaved. Then by a +supreme effort he regained his self-mastery. His figure grew quiet, the +shoulders drooped in the manner which seemed habitual to them, and the +lines of his face hardened, adding the years which his enraptured +pre-occupation had temporarily stripped from him. Once more he was the +unobtrusive body servant. + +"I beg pardon, Miss Talbot," he said. "I was startled." + +"So was I," I commented dryly. "I thought you were--well, never mind. +What are you doing down here?" + +"I fancied I heard some one, miss," the man replied. "Prowlers, or +cracksmen, perhaps; and thought I'd better just take a look round." + +"H'm!" said I, unconvinced. "So you heard them, too, eh?" + +A curious look passed over his face. I could have vowed the emotion was +fright--that he had not the remotest idea I would have said such a +thing. + +"Did you hear anything, miss?" he asked. + +"I certainly did." + +"Perhaps it was myself you heard then, miss!" + +"I don't know!" I replied, looking at him sharply. "Perhaps it was. At +any rate I know positively that I saw two men stealing in the direction +of these windows not over twenty minutes ago. But there is only one man +here now, it seems." + +"You saw two men!" he snapped, his voice keen with concern. Then he +dropped it to his usual modulation. "Are you quite sure there was some +one in the garden?" + +"As sure as that I am standing here!" I retorted. "I saw them +perfectly--at least plainly enough to be sure they were men; and up to +no good, I am equally certain of that!" Surely there was nothing +mysterious about this man--he was all too plainly just a stupid servant. +I could have shaken him from sheer irritation, and began bitterly to +regret having left that note in his chamber. + +"Well?" I said impatiently. "Aren't you going to do something about it?" + +"Ah--er--yes, certainly, miss," said he, "I'll have a look round of +course. Did you say they came this way?" + +"Headed for these very windows!" I said firmly. + +He crossed to the long French casements and tried the fastenings, which +were long bars that crossed them at two levels, making entrance +impossible without breaking the leaded glass. They were undisturbed. The +great rose window was, of course, impenetrable, both by construction and +because of its height from the ground. + +"It is all quite secure, miss," said he. "And the beggars will be +frightened off by now, I think, for they will have seen the light." + +"Look here, Wilkes, my man!" I said sharply. "If you were down here on +a burglar hunt, why were you looking for them in the frame of the +Madonna of the Lamp?" + +He must have been prepared for that, for he replied composedly enough, +with downcast eyes. + +"I inadvertently stopped to have a look at it, miss," said he. "I have a +liking for fine pictures, miss." + +"Well, I suppose that's all right enough," I said, still somehow very +much troubled in my mind, I scarcely knew why. "A love of art is +probably one of the requisites in newfangled help, but dear knows +Galadia never showed any! Well, be that as it may, we'd better make the +round of the house and be sure that everything is safe!" + +"Very well, miss!" said he. "But need you come, miss? I'll just find the +watchman--he's usually in the back hall." + +"Well, I'll go that far with you," I compromised. "I want to make sure +that he thinks everything is all right before I go to bed." + +"Very well, miss," said Wilkes again. But I could not help feeling he +was uncommonly anxious to get rid of me. + +Switching the lights on ahead of us as we went, and revealing the +cheerful normal aspect of the house as it really was, composed my nerves +to a considerable extent; and finding the watchman at his post in the +back hall was also reassuring. One thing struck me as curious, however. +The man, a Latin of some sort, was not dozing in the expected manner of +night watchmen, curled upon a comfortable chair or nodding over an +extinct pipe. He was standing in the middle of the floor, knocking one +boot against the other, and though the door, leading presumably to the +kitchen garden, was shut I at once got a strong impression of his +having been out of doors a moment before. There was that waft of fresh +air that comes in with a person from the coolness of the night clinging +to his clothing, and the room itself was fresh instead of close as might +have been anticipated. This in itself was, of course, in no way +extraordinary, and might indeed have passed unnoticed had it not been +for what he said. + +"Everything all right, Pedro?" asked Wilkes, who had entered ahead of +me. + +"Yas--was' ell matt'?" replied the fellow, evidently surprised by having +visitors at such an hour. "You tink you hear sometin'?" + +"Yes--Miss Talbot saw two men in the garden--and I also thought I heard +something out of the ordinary--someone breaking in--like at a lower +window." + +"No--no!" said Pedro. "Everytin' all ri'. Me just maka da round." + +"Then you must have seen those men," I said quietly. He gave me a stare +and laughed, white teeth gleaming. + +"No, no!" he said again. "No two--me--you see one men--das me--you see +me, signora!" + +His confidence was perfect, and argument failed to move him. Finally I +gave it up and went to bed, thinking it unnecessary to rouse the other +members of the household, for after all were not two of the menservants +awake and in charge? And what could I prove? Nothing except that I was a +nervous, imaginative old woman. It was not until I had actually got into +bed that I recalled one fact which was sufficient in itself to justify +the most alarming conclusions. + +Wilkes' door had been locked on the inside, and yet I had found him +inside the house, while his window had been opened wide. The thought +caused me to sit bolt upright in bed. And once this wide awake again, I +realized further that the obvious conclusion that Wilkes had left by way +of his open window was absurd. How could he possibly have left the third +story of the house in such a fashion? I was positive that no rope ladder +or such contraption had been attached to the sill. If there had been it +would scarcely have escaped my notice. And even if he had got down in +some way how could he have got back? + +Yet there had been two men in the garden. I had positively seen them +with my own eyes, and no Italian watchman could persuade me in broken +English to the contrary. Also there had been two men downstairs and +awake in the house--Wilkes and Pedro. Still further, Pedro was an +Italian and had just been out of doors. Were the two whom I had seen in +the garden these two? If so, what had been their object in meeting +outside, when both had the run of the house and were already in it? + +On the other hand, Pedro had been obviously surprised at seeing us. Or +had it been merely my presence which had occasioned the surprise? + +By this time my head was simply stupid from thinking, and when I at +length composed myself to sleep I had formed but one line of action--to +do nothing and say nothing until somebody else did. I would hold my +tongue in the morning and see what sort of report of the night's +activities the two men made before I said a word. And upon this resolve +I at length fell asleep. + +My dear father used to say that often the best way to prove the guilt of +a suspected party is to give him the opportunity of denying something +of which you have not yet accused him. And with this axiom in mind next +morning when I descended to breakfast, I held high hopes of having a +practical demonstration of its truth. Buoyed up more by my lively +interest in the situation than by the brief slumber in which I had +indulged, I dressed in a printed gingham as a refreshing, light and +springlike costume calculated to improve my appearance, which showed +some ravages from the night before, and with mind and marcel all +composed and in good order, I presented as calm and cheerful an +appearance to the company which slowly gathered in the charming +breakfast room as if nothing at all out of the usual had occurred during +the night. + +Peaches was at the table, looking lovelier than ever in sports +clothes--a form of unsexed semifemale attire most distasteful to me +ordinarily, and as I took my seat beside her she managed a brief +whisper. + +"When are you going to?" she breathed cryptically. + +"I already have!" I whispered back, and then could say no more because +Mr. Pegg emerged from the produce sheet of the newspaper behind which he +had been growling, and attacked the orange upon the plate before him. + +"Florida! Bah!" he commented, scattering the seeds wildly. "Mornin', +Miss Free. Can't raise anything down there but the kind of stuff we +refuse to market! Ugh! Surprised at Markheim's Chinaboy. Well, Miss +Free, you look like you'd just eaten the canary. What's up?" + +"Why, Mr. Pegg!" I protested. "How you talk!" + +And then mercifully, before he had any opportunity of enlarging further +upon the subject, Sebastian Markheim came into the room, his face red +and moist with excitement. He seemed fairly about to burst out of his +light gray tweed clothing, and his walk, usually a waddle, now assumed +the proportion of a trot. + +"Good morning, good morning!" he said, taking his seat. "Dear me, what +on earth do you suppose? Attempted robbery here last night, 'pon my +word! But the beggars don't seem to have got away with anything +except----?" + +Here he paused, unaccountable. + +"Except what?" I asked sharply. + +"Most curious thing!" he gasped. "Very extraordinary, very +extraordinary! A Damascus sword!" + +"Holy mackerel!" said Mr. Pegg impatiently. "Damn it! Orange juice in my +eye--stings like the devil. California orange juice never stings you +like that! What did you say, Mark?" + +"I said that the only thing the burglars took was one of the swords from +the suits of armor!" yelled the banker. "What did they want it for, what +did they want it for, that's what I'd like to know, eh?" + +"Who told you such a nonsensical thing?" I asked. + +"My man Wilkes," replied Mr. Markheim. "It seems the watchman, Pedro, +has disappeared as well, but it's hardly likely the robbers took him." + +"More likely he was one of them!" said I. "And as for the missing +sword--it's too bad your servants don't dust more carefully. Sebastian +Markheim, that's all I've got to say about that!" + +"What do you mean, Free?" Alicia put in. "Do you know anything about the +burglars?" + +"Only that I heard 'em and came downstairs," I said. "What else did your +man Wilkes tell you?" + +"Why, it seems he heard a noise," replied Markheim, "and came out of his +room to listen. Then the sounds ceased, but he thought best to make the +rounds. He had got as far as the library when he encountered you, Miss +Talbot. Then he saw the watchman and you left him and went back +upstairs--right, eh?" + +"Yes, that's right," I admitted. + +"The watchman denied having heard or seen anything out of the way," +Sebastian went on, "and they went over the whole place together, to make +sure everything was all right. But the funny part of it is that +Pedro--that's the watchman chap--Pedro can't be found." + +"Well, he's done nothing to send a posse after him for, far as I can +see," observed Mr. Pegg. "And if you do send one he's likely to slew at +it with that sword--better lay off him." + +"I took that sword myself," I announced with dignity. "It is behind the +portière to the library, where I left it. I am sorry to have been so +untidy, but in the excitement of the moment I confess I neglected to put +it back in place." + +There was a general laugh at this, though I must say I failed to see any +humor in a maiden lady having armed herself before facing a supposed +burglar. + +"You didn't take the watchman, too, did you?" asked Mr. Pegg. + +"Of course not!" said I. "But I think he was a very evil, +suspicious-looking character, with a decided accent and quite unwashed. +I would never have engaged him as a watchman myself. He seemed to me +obviously a bandit." + +"Not at all, not at all!" exclaimed Sebastian. "Came to me with the very +highest credentials--recommended strongly by the Italian consul +himself." + +"When did he come to you, Mark?" asked Peaches. + +"Let's see," said he. "About three weeks ago." + +"Then you don't know if he is a good burglar hound or not," said she. +"But he may turn up, you know. Don't judge him too soon." + +"I shan't," replied Markheim. "Devil his due, innocent until guilty and +all that. But it's odd they can't find him. Generally sleeps in the +gardener's cottage. Room's down there." + +The subject being then to all appearances exhausted it was dropped, and +in as short a time as would decently avoid suspicion Peaches finished +her meal and strolled out of the room on to the terrace. Ostentatiously +avoiding all appearance of haste I joined her a few minutes later and +slipping my arm about her waist strolled out of earshot. The morning was +exceedingly mild and fair, and choosing a secluded nook where the sun +beat down warmly we seated ourselves upon a stone bench. + +"Free!" Peaches demanded. "What happened? Shoot me the whole story, and +be quick or they'll be getting too damn sociable before you're through." +She nodded back toward the breakfast room. + +Well, I told her as briefly as was consistent with accuracy. And when I +had finished she simply sat and stared at me for a moment, quite +wordless, though her mouth was open. + +"Freedom Talbot!" she gasped at length. "I am horrified. The only safe +place for you is the ranch. The moment I take you out into the civilized +world it becomes necessary for me to sit up nights chaperoning you." + +"Never mind chaperoning me!" I retorted. "My character is perfectly +sound, no matter how my actions may at times appear. The main problem +before us is to extricate you from the position you have got yourself +into through making an appointment to meet this man who I am now +absolutely convinced is simply a common servant." + +"Who you have got me dated up to meet," corrected Peaches. "And believe +me, kid, I'm going to meet him. There's more to this than you think, my +worthy nurse!" + +"But, Peaches!" I wailed. "When did you tell him to meet you, and where? +Oh, why did I ever suggest such a thing?" + +"How did you ever do such a stunt as walk that gutter? That's what gets +me, old thing!" she retorted. "Free, you--you little gutter snipe! And +as for my date, it's for one o'clock at the fountain." + +"One o'clock!" I said. "Why, everybody will see you." + +"Then they'll have some eyes!" said she. "I mean one o'clock to-night. +And you are to come along with me, dear confidential companion, and +listen in on the whole thing." + +"Well, if you are determined to do it, of course, it is my duty to +accompany you," I replied. "But I am beginning to be more and more +convinced that you have simply let yourself in for a situation which is +going to have dreadfully embarrassing consequences. If I had talked with +that man before I delivered your note I would never, never have +consented. You are merely making a fool of yourself." + +"Suppose I am mistaken?" said she with a sudden fierceness, the irises +of her golden eyes contracting as if she were a female tiger cat. +"Suppose I am? Isn't it worth risking? Heavens, how I have suffered +these six years! You don't know! You can't know! And now perhaps--a +miracle! I feel, I know without proof, that this man is my man. I could +no more stay away than I could stop breathing. And if you refuse to go +with me I swear I will go alone--yes, if I go by the same route you took +last night!" + +"Alicia!" I exclaimed, shocked at this strange and unladylike upheaval. +"Of course I will go with you and make it as little improper as the +circumstances permit. If nothing develops--er--nothing need be said, if +you understand what I mean." + +"I get you!" said Peaches with sudden weariness. + +And a few moments later the gentlemen joined us, preferring to take +their after-breakfast tobacco in the open air; a habit which I trusted +Peaches would encourage when she became mistress of the mansion, as most +beneficial for her rugs and hangings. + +At any rate while they chatted and smoked, my charge maintaining a most +casual, undisturbed exterior, I bent my energies upon the problem of +just how Wilkes had reached the ground the night before, scanning the +service wing of the house with critical eye, though ostensibly engaged +upon my crochet work, for I was completing a handsome set of table mats +which I intended as a wedding gift to Peaches. But being skilled in the +art of crochet I could do it automatically, a gift which now served me +well. But study the wall as I might I could not discover how he had come +down it, much less returned by the same route. He simply must have gone +in at another window. But why? It was a puzzle. + +Somehow--I scarcely know with what series of small incidents--the day +was passed. To me, and no doubt to my charge, it was but a channel to +the goal of our midnight tryst. As for me I kept, as it were, mentally +upon tiptoe, hourly expecting that some word would come from Wilkes; +that he would show some sign signifying that he knew of the impending +meeting, or perhaps send a note, his opportunity for answering Alicia's +missive being so infinitely greater than had been ours in conveying it +to him. Indeed all he had to do was to choose a moment when she would be +comparatively unobserved, and present his own note upon a silver salver. +As a matter of fact I fully expected some such incident, but the day +passed without any occurring. + +Of course there was not much time offered for such a trick, inasmuch as +we were out in the motor all morning, lunched at a hospitable neighbor's +who entertained in Peaches' honor, while during the afternoon Peaches +and Sebastian played golf together, remaining on the course until almost +dinner time. + +During the dressing hour that preceded that function, which was to be +held at the house next door but was to terminate early by agreement +because of Mr. Markheim having a most important appointment in the city +at nine o'clock the following morning, I ran into Peaches' room to +inquire if any developments had occurred unknown to me. She replied in +the negative. + +"Haven't even seen him all day," she replied. "Have you?" + +"No," said I. "And I wish I never might again! I am terribly upset about +the whole thing!" + +"You don't look upset!" said Peaches, unexpectedly coming over and +kissing me through the golden cloud of her loosened hair. "You look +sweet in that gown. I'm glad you put it on again." + +"Our hosts were not here last night, so I thought it would be all +right!" I declared, smoothing it down. "And I thought it was good and +dark to wear later," I added significantly. + +"I've decided we will leave not later than eleven o'clock," Peaches +announced, choosing a black dinner gown, doubtless with the same end in +view as that with which my own costume had been selected. "I'll have a +headache--and that will give 'em two hours to go to bed and settle down +to sleep before the fatal hour. Here, hook me up, will you?" + +"I understand that watchman has never shown up," I commented as I +obliged her. "I hope to goodness he won't be round to-night!" + +"It's a merciful providence that he chose this for a night off!" was her +reply. + +And then presently we descended to the world and a hollow pretense of +careless gayety, including a game of bridge, at which I was rapidly +becoming an adept under Mr. Pegg's kind tutelage, and must confess to a +hearty enjoyment of. And if I did win a few dollars at it occasionally, +I always turned the money right over to the home mission, so nobody +could have accused me of gambling in any moral sense, the more so as Mr. +Pegg always most gallantly insisted upon paying my losses. But I +digress. + +Promptly at eleven Peaches' headache developed according to schedule, +and presently we four of the villa found ourselves walking the short +distance which lay between the two houses, the night being uncommonly +fine and the moon on the river a sight to see. + +"Isn't it wonderful?" I breathed as I clung to Mr. Pegg's arm, the +lovers, if so I may call them, walking ahead, much to Sebastian's +ill-concealed disgust. + +"Pretty nifty," replied Mr. Pegg reluctantly. "But you ought to see the +moon in Calif--of course, that is, you must admit it's not a patch on +California." + +"Oh, I'm not so certain!" I replied. "The moon is the moon, you know, +and I am addicted to it. It--er--renews my youth, as it were." + +"You said it!" replied the dear man. + +But unfortunately we reached our own door at this juncture, where +Peaches and Mr. Markheim were waiting for us, and there was nothing +left, under Peaches' firm direction of matters, but to say good night +and separate at the foot of the stairs. + +For what seemed hours Peaches and I waited in my room listening to the +low rumble of the two men as they sat upon the terrace and indulged in a +final smoke; and then, presumably, in another final smoke and another. + +"Will they never go to bed?" Peaches asked more than once, keeping her +voice down to a whisper, however, as we had extinguished the lights and +opened the windows in both rooms in order to give the appearance of +having retired. Across the court the servants' wing showed an occasional +lighted window, including that of Wilkes, the valet. Of course he would +not be free until Markheim dismissed him for the night. It seemed as if +our vigil would never end. But at length we heard a crisp voice below +articulate in the fact that the owner was going to bed, and +three-quarters of an hour later the light in the valet's room snapped +out. Our time had come. + +Never in all my born days had I imagined that a well-built staircase +could make so much noise when trod upon by two of the gentler sex as +did that stair in the Markheim mansion as Peaches and I made our +stealthy--or at least comparatively stealthy--descent of it. Nor could I +have believed it possible that the floor of that majestic hall was so +ill laid as to squeak; but it did. As for the French windows of the +library, which we selected as our means of exit, they appeared, to our +hypersensitive consciousness, to be one chorus of rattles and groans. +Unbarring them was simple enough even in the dark, for we did not dare +to use any lights save that from Peaches's pocket flash, and once +outside we took good care to close them after us, first making sure that +the latch was open. + +The garden was glorious in the moonlight, even though the barrenness of +early spring was still upon it. A wealth of hyacinths sent up a heavy +sweetness in the still night air, and on the lawn toward the river +crocuses were whiter than the moonlight itself. Keeping close to the +wall Peaches led the way to the fountain--a lovely thing, brought, like +most of Sebastian's treasures, from overseas, and nestling against the +wall as perfectly set as in the place for which it had originally been +intended. A group of cedars, tall and dark, stood in a martial row on +either side of it, casting a black shadow which afforded us perfect +shelter from any prying eyes, and the tinkle of the water from the pipes +of the ancient little Pan against the ivy-covered wall fell into the +basin below with a sound that was music. A perfect night, a perfect +spot, a perfect ladylove, Alicia--her face a white blur against the +darkness--detached, ethereal, utterly lovely. And what of the man? Was +he going to prove the ghost of a dead romance, or common clay? I fairly +ached to know, being for once so absorbed in her love that I forgot to +feel old and out of place. + +But advancing years will manifest themselves, and often in the most +annoying manner and at times least convenient. And as time went by and +no lover appeared upon the scene I grew very, very tired. + +"What do you suppose is the matter?" I asked at length. + +"Something has detained him," Peaches replied. "Have patience. He can't +be long now!" + +Another period of silence went by, punctuated only by the hoot of a +night boat going up the river like some great golden water beetle, and +the occasional rustle of the budding branches overhead as a cool breeze +sprang up and sent little clouds flecking across the wide face of the +moon. Then came the sound of a step upon the gravel. + +"There he is!" whispered Alicia, seizing me by the arm. Her hand was hot +and trembling. + +But the sound was not repeated, and no one approached, though we waited +with straining ears. + +"It's past the time now," said Peaches at length. + +"Oh, Peaches--let us return!" I besought her. "I don't believe he's +coming. Besides, I'm getting so tired!" + +"Nonsense! Of course he'll come!" she said. But now there was a note of +defiant doubt in her voice. "Wait--you must wait. There's a bench +somewhere." + +Fumbling about presently she found it, and together we sat down and +again waited in a silence that seemed as if it would never end. The wind +was growing more brisk and the clouds were thickening, hurrying across +the irregular roof of the house like frightened sheep over a wigwag +fence, and herding together in a rapidly growing mass beyond. There was +a storm brewing; I could feel it in my bones. At length, when more than +an hour had passed I could bear it no longer. + +"Do you intend to wait all night for that--that servant?" I at length +demanded in a fierce undertone. + +"I'm going to wait a hundred years!" replied she. "If he got that letter +he will come, servant or no servant." + +"Peaches, you're a silly goose, and you have no consideration for me," I +said. "My feelings are deeply wounded, and I'm quite worn out, what with +two such nights in succession!" And with that I felt in my pocket for my +handkerchief preparatory to beginning to cry. As I did so my fingers +seized upon quite another object, which I drew forth with a sickening +sense of what I had done--or rather of what I had most miserably failed +to do, for the object which I drew forth was nothing less than the +letter which Peaches had intrusted to me the evening before! + +"Peaches!" I gasped painfully, confession coming hard. "Peaches, I +climbed out of my window and risked my neck last night----" + +"Yes, yes, I know," she said soothingly. "I appreciate it." + +"But you don't!" I said. "I crossed those terrible ledges and endangered +my reputation, to leave a set of directions for making a slip-on sweater +in his room!" + +"You what?" said Peaches, now thoroughly alive. + +"Galadia sent them!" I endeavored to explain. "And it was my mistake. +Here was your letter all the time!" + +For a long period of silence I awaited the storm of her wrath. But it +didn't come. Instead she drew a long sobbing breath of relief. + +"Thank heaven he didn't turn me down!" was all she said. + +And then slowly we made our way back to the house, our footless errand +ended. Peaches stepped inside and feeling for the electric button +flooded the room with light. + +"No need for secrecy now," she remarked, "so we don't have to break our +necks over the furniture as we----" + +Her voice broke off into a shrill little scream, and raising her hand +she pointed to the mantelpiece. The frame was there, but the Madonna of +the Lamp was gone! + + + + +XIII + + +At first I could scarcely believe my eyes--but there was the space where +once the beautiful picture had hung, the gape showing the paneling +behind all too plainly. Aghast I turned to Peaches, who continued to +stare. + +"What has happened to it?" I asked in an awed tone. "Has it been +stolen?" + +"You bet your life it has!" she replied, recovering herself. "People +don't lock oil paintings up for the night with the silver spoons, you +know. Gosh! What a shame! Such a pretty picture, too, and worth a young +fortune. Won't Mark be wild though! Do you suppose it was gone when we +came through in the dark?" + +"Dear me, how should I know?" I demanded. "Though, of course, they will +ask us that." + +"Yes--sort of awkward, our not having made any light on the way out," +she replied. "I suppose we ought to wake Sebastian up right away though, +don't you?" + +"Certainly!" I responded. "Those men I saw last night the missing +watchman--it's all too suspicious to be allowed to wait another moment." + +"I'll say it is!" replied Peaches vigorously. "You wait here while I run +up and pound on the door!" + +"Oh, Peaches! Send a servant!" I implored. "The burglars might be out +there in the hall!" + +But before the words were fairly out of my mouth she was gone, lighting +the house as she went, and in an incredibly short time I could hear her +pounding and shouting in the upper hall with a noise that was fit to +wake the dead. Shivering with fatigue, but enlivened by the amazing turn +which events had taken I occupied myself with switching on all the +lights and making sure that the picture had not simply been lifted down +for some reason and left in the room. But this was not the case--indeed +I acted merely automatically and not because I really expected to find +it. In a very few moments Peaches was back, a trifle flushed and +breathless. + +"They will be right down!" she announced. "I stirred up pa as well. Now, +Free, old thing, what's our story when they do appear? We've got to +stick to the same lie, you know, and we've got to say something +plausible, because here it is two-thirty in the morning and it's quite +obvious that we haven't been to bed, though we went up long before they +did." + +"Well," I responded hurriedly, for already the two men could be heard on +the stairway, "though I deplore the use of untruth I fear we shall have +to resort to it in this case. We will say--what on earth shall we say?" + +"I had a headache and couldn't sleep," suggested Peaches. "So we came +down!" + +"Rotten!" I whispered fiercely. "In these clothes? Bah! We sat up late +talking and came down intending to get something to eat, and you +remembered a book you wanted. Here it is! Sh! They are here!" + +Hastily I seized at random a volume from one of the shelves and laid it +beside her on the sofa, and an instant later Markheim came bouncing into +the room, a purple satin dressing gown flapping about his heels, his +scant hair disordered. Closely following was Mr. Pegg, a lean but +majestic figure with nightshirt tucked into his dress trousers and a +raincoat thrown jauntily over one shoulder--presumably the first +garments at hand--his magnificent shock of gray curls giving him +somewhat the appearance of a lion roused from slumber. + +"What's all this, what's all this?" cried Sebastian, running up to the +mantelpiece. Then he clasped his hands over his bald spot in a gesture +of despair. "Oh!" he moaned. "How perfectly terrible! How perfectly +terrible!" + +"Great Snakes, ain't that too bad!" observed Mr. Pegg. "Lucky thing you +got them picture post cards of it, Mark! Where d'you s'pose the sons of +guns got in anyways? And how comes it that you girls are burglar-hunting +in your party clothes when you ought to be tearing off a little beauty +sleep?" + +"We talked so late!" explained Peaches, gazing into her father's eyes +with a wonderful, direct, innocent look. "And we got so hungry that we +came down to forage--and on the way I dropped in for this book"--she +held it up toward him--"and, of course, we noticed right off the bat +that the Madonna was gone." + +"She ran right up and got you," I added. "And now you know as much as we +do." + +"Humph!" said Mr. Pegg, still looking at the book his daughter had +offered him. "Couldn't sleep without it, eh?" + +"This is terrible, this is terrible!" exclaimed our host, paying no +attention to anything except his loss. "Ring the bell! Summon everybody! +Where is Wilkes? I told him to come down at once." + +"You told him?" asked Peaches swiftly. "Where was he?" + +"In his room, of course!" snapped Markheim. "Spoke to him on the house +telephone! What did you suppose? Oh, my precious painting! This is +outrageous--outrageous! Did they take anything else?" + +Peaches and I exchanged a glance of relief. Wilkes had been in the +house. Whatever his mysterious mode of egress, the step we had heard in +the garden was no evidence that he had used it to-night. + +This thought passed between us in a flash as she replied: "Haven't the +faintest idea, old boy. Let's have a look!" + +"I want to make sure!" he said. "But first let's see how they did it." + +Climbing upon a footstool which he dragged forward for the purpose, +Markheim then proceeded to an examination of the picture frame, while we +gathered about curiously. + +"Can't understand it!" he puffed after a moment of silence. He shook his +head like a Japanese doll. + +"Can't understand what?" I asked. + +"Why, the whole canvas has been removed--stretcher and all!" he cried. +"Extraordinary! Extraordinary!" + +"Why?" Peaches wanted to know. + +"Shows they took their time!" Markheim explained. "Able to unmount the +canvas--and it takes skill to roll an old painting! By jove, yes! +Usually simply cut it out of the frame, like the Mona Lisa, you know. +Only way, really, if you are in a hurry. Yes, they took their time!" + +"Then the frame--I mean the stretcher--ought to be somewhere!" suggested +Mr. Pegg brightly. + +"Nonsense--utter nonsense!" exclaimed Markheim, climbing down. "And now +let's give a look round. Heaven only knows what else may be gone!" + +He preceded us into the corridor, an absurd figure in his gorgeous +negligee, and I could not help but note how much better Mr. Pegg +appeared by comparison. It is not only women whose appearance is +governed by clothes, and, as my dear father used to say, clothes may not +make the man but, thank the Lord, they hide him. + +Well, at any rate we two timid females followed the stronger members of +the exploring party out into the main hall, where we encountered Wilkes. +He was fully dressed, perfectly composed, and the very picture of quiet +correctness. + +"You wished me, sir?" he said. + +"Yes. Why the devil were you so long?" snapped Markheim, wishing to vent +his annoyance on someone. + +"Sorry, sir, I was dressing!" replied the man. + +"Well," snarled the master, "there's been a burglary. Most valuable +picture in the house's been taken. Call police headquarters at Tarrytown +and tell them to send someone out at once. Then get every servant in the +house down into the front hall and see that no one leaves the premises! +Meanwhile, we'll take a look about." + +"Yes, sir," replied the man, after a little gasp of surprise. "Nobody +hurt, I trust, sir?" + +"No," said Markheim briefly. "I expect it's the same gang you thought +you heard last night. Anything heard from Pedro?" + +"Nothing, sir," said Wilkes. "I'll telephone at once." + +He retreated through the servants' hall entrance, where I assume a +telephone was placed, and the door swung silently to behind him. I +stared after him hard, feeling that I would like to watch him through +the thick oaken paneling if only I might. To be sure, the man's demeanor +had been perfect; and yet somehow I was not satisfied. My mind kept +straining at something half forgotten, as if I were subconsciously +endeavoring to hitch him up in my memory. To all appearances this was no +concern of his. He had been in his room when Markheim called him on the +service phone. He had been just about long enough in making his +appearance to tab up with the completeness of his toilet. To have at +once answered the ringing of his bell he must have been in his room +before Peaches and I returned to the house, and our position in the +garden, coupled with our alertness while there, seemed to warrant the +supposition that we must have observed any unusual activity either in +the service wing or in the library, through which we had passed an hour +and a half earlier. + +It was plain that sooner or later questions would be put to us, and to +others, which would give rise to the problem of confession or of +withholding of the facts concerning our exact movements between the time +of our returning and of the announcement of our discovery. + +For example, if the police were allowed to work on the supposition that +the theft had been committed between twelve and two-fifteen, some clew +of inestimable value might easily be discounted by them, for it seemed +more than likely that the time was really that between our entrance +into the garden and our return to the house. Moreover, there was +certainly someone moving about on the garden path while we were +concealed by the fountain. Of that there was now no reasonable doubt. +Both Peaches and I had distinctly heard a footstep which we thought to +be that of Wilkes, while we still expected him to join us; we had even +commented on it. And now it was going to be extremely difficult to +convey this information without involving ourselves in a very delicate +but entangling mesh of complications. As I was turning these facts over +in my mind and wondering what course a Talbot ought to pursue under the +circumstances Mr. Markheim was taking charge of affairs in a masterly +manner, and giving orders with the assurance of a Napoleon in negligee. + +"You stay here with Miss Freedom, Peaches," he commanded, "while your +father and I make the rounds of the place. Sit right there on the big +sofa and tell the servants to wait, as they come down. Don't let any of +them go out of the hall." + +"We better take a couple of shooting irons along," remarked Mr. Pegg, +producing a revolver from each pocket of his raincoat in a nonchalant +manner. "Never can tell but what there may be an ambush some place." + +"All right!" agreed Sebastian, accepting one. "No harm, no harm to have +it. Where's that man Wilkes?" + +Again as though in answer, Wilkes appeared from under the stairs. + +"The police will come at once, sir," he reported. Then, seeing the +revolvers: "Shall I go along with you?" + +"No," said Markheim. "Get the other servants down, and count noses, damn +quick. Then tell Jorkins to make a double shaker of cocktails and some +sandwiches and bring them here. We will be back as soon as we can." + +The three men then departed upon their several errands, leaving us alone +for the moment. + +"What'll we do--'fess up?" asked Peaches. "I have a feeling that there's +going to be hell to pay." + +"Alicia!" I remarked. "No lady uses such language, as I have reminded +you at least a hundred thousand times! No, I don't think we will say a +word about our futile adventure--or, to be accurate, our attempted +adventure. At least not unless something brought out by the police seems +to demand that we do." + +"Have you been taking a good look at him?" she then wanted to know. + +"Who? That man Wilkes?" I said. + +"No--my ex-fiancé," responded Peaches calmly. + +"Which one do you mean?" I demanded. + +"Mark," said she. + +"Alicia Pegg, what did you say?" I asked severely. + +"I said did you take a good look at Sebastian in that purple dressing +gown?" she repeated patiently. + +"How could I help doing so?" said I with indignation. + +"That's just it," she remarked in a tone of finality. "That finishes +it!" + +"Finishes what?" + +"Our engagement," she said firmly. "The combination of temper and +dressing gown." + +"But with all due modesty you must have expected to see him in a +dressing gown after you were married," I protested as delicately as I +could. + +"And he not only looks like the devil in it but stands there and tells +me to sit quiet until he comes back, just as though I wasn't a better +shot than he is! Ugh--that dressing gown!" + +"Well, what did you expect?" I asked helplessly. + +"Sandro is dressed," she retorted with apparent irrelevance. + +"Don't call him that!" I exclaimed, fairly exasperated with the girl. +"You have absolutely no proof that it's Sandro." + +"I'll get proof," she said. "You wait--I'll get proof." + +"Nonsense!" I said. "Hush up! Here he comes." + +But it wasn't the creature after all, but the cook--a distressed and +excitable Frenchman in a pointed nightcap and an unconquerable belief +that the house was on fire; and for several minutes we were fully +occupied with dissuading him of the idea. And after him came the rest of +the crew--a straggling, shivering, sleepy, indignant lot, in varying +degrees of dishevelment, appearing in twos and threes and huddling in a +little group at the foot of the stairway, ready to dart back through the +swinging door to their own quarters at an instant's notice, and no doubt +planning to give notice as soon as anybody appeared to whom it could be +given. + +One Irish girl, a kitchen maid, I think she was, had somehow got the +idea that a murder had been committed, and called upon her patron saint, +whose name seemed to be Ochsaveus, at irregular but emphatic intervals. +I think I cannot convey a sense of the complete demoralization of these +underlings more dearly than by stating that the chambermaid whose duty +it was to take care of my room was wearing one of my own boudoir caps +without the least particle of self-consciousness. The only one who had +shown any poise at all was Wilkes, who had not reappeared. I was +beginning to wish he would come back and set a good example, when at +length Sebastian Markheim and dear Mr. Pegg returned unharmed, and +announced that they had discovered nothing out of the way. + +"And not a trace of the horse thieves, either!" said Mr. Pegg. "It's +clouded over outside--rain before long, and no use going off without a +trail of any kind before morning. Better wait for the sheriff." + +"I'd say so, pa," said Peaches. "I wish you'd speak to the help, Mark! +They act like a bunch of scared steers." + +"Sit down!" commanded Mr. Markheim to his household generally, his hair +wilder than ever, his eyes fairly popping out of his head with anger. +"Nobody is to leave the hall until I give permission. Where the hell is +that food I ordered?" + +Somebody rang a bell for him, and after a very short wait Wilkes +entered, accompanied by one of the footmen, who bore a tray containing +some most welcome refreshment. Peaches and I declined the drink, but +Sebastian took three in quick succession. + +"Terribly upset, terribly upset!" he remarked as he set down his glass +and refilled it. "Somebody is going to pay for this! Where the devil are +the police?" + +"They are coming a long way pretty late at night," remarked Peaches. "I +don't know that I'd come at all in their place, Mark." + +He simply glared at her and bit into a cheese sandwich. And then we +settled down more or less restlessly to a quarter of an hour of waiting, +dividing our attention between the sandwiches, repetition of the obvious +facts of the situation, and glances at Markheim's wrist watch. + +At length we heard the siren of an automobile at the gates below the +hill, and in a few moments more, Wilkes, still the most self-possessed +servant present, opened the door to admit the inspector from Tarrytown, +who came accompanied by an officer and a third man in plain +clothes--presumably a detective. + +"Good evening--or rather good morning, inspector!" said Mr. Markheim, +rising to greet him. "Sorry to have brought you out, but it's not a +common burglary at all." + +"It's usual to report such things," replied the inspector. "We came as +quickly as possible. Nobody hurt, was there?" + +"No," said Markheim. "But a picture has been stolen." + +The faces of all three newcomers expressed a disgust that was so +apparent as to bring a smile even to the face of our profoundly troubled +host. + +"Wait!" he said. "Did you ever hear of the Madonna of the Lamp, +inspector?" + +"Can't say that I did," the police official admitted. "And I'm a pretty +good Catholic myself." + +"Well--it's a painting," Markheim explained, concealing his impatience +as best he could, which in point of fact is not saying a great deal for +his power of self-control. "It is not only a painting but a very famous +one." + +"Kind of an antique, eh?" suggested the officer. + +"Not only an antique but one of the most famous and valuable paintings +in the world. I paid five hundred thousand dollars for it." + +At length officialdom seemed impressed. + +"And it's been stolen?" said the spokesman of the law. + +"What else under God's heaven did you think I sent for you about?" +Markheim exploded. "You don't seem to understand this at all!" + +"Italian, eh?" said the man in plain clothing. "International +complications are very possible if the thing gets too much publicity. +That's about the idea, isn't it?" + +Markheim turned on him in some surprise. + +"You seem to know a lot about the Italian Government's theories of +ownership!" he snarled. + +"So it was brought into the country illegally!" commented the detective. +"Captain," he went on, addressing the now frankly bewildered officer, +"you see this picture is not only far more valuable than most great +jewels but it has a past almost as complicated as the Hope diamond. It's +not unusual that a world-famous work of art should find its way out of +Italy in spite of the Italian law, which forbids the export of such +things, but the theft is far more remarkable than that of any jewel +could possibly be, inasmuch as the supreme difficulty of disposing of +the painting once it was stolen is obvious--that's right, isn't it, Mr. +Markheim?" + +"You explain it very well, very well," replied Markheim, nervous and +excited--and truth to tell not a little affected by the cocktails he had +imbibed. It was most precarious, taking so many upon an empty stomach, +as he should have known. "You have a very clear idea, young man--though +allow me to make it plain that I was in no way involved in the original +affair of bringing this canvas into the United States. I had nothing +whatsoever to do with it--nothing." + +"You merely paid five hundred thousand for it after it got here," +remarked Peaches. "I see." + +The remark, however, seemed to pass unnoticed by anyone save myself. + +"Have you any suspicion as to who the thief might have been, Mr. +Markheim?" asked the inspector, visibly impressed by the huge sum at +which the picture was valued. + +"Not a very clear suspicion," replied Sebastian. + +"Then there is some one?" queried the officer, taking out his notebook +and pencil in an important manner. + +"We had some trouble last night," replied Mr. Markheim. "Miss Talbot +here thought she saw two men in the garden, and came downstairs." + +"Ah!" remarked the inspector, scribbling. "Did you get a good look at +them, Miss Talbot?" + +"Just a glimpse," I replied. + +"And where were you when you saw them?" he went on. + +For a moment I was nonplussed. Then I recollected that I was not under +oath, and told as much of the truth as I deemed warrantable or indeed +necessary. + +"I was at an upper window," I returned with dignity. "I had gone +upstairs for the night." + +"Ah!" said the inspector, writing it down. "Could you identify them?" + +"Well, one had a funny hat," I said. "I think I would know it again. It +was straw--like this young man's." I pointed at the detective, to whom I +had taken a dislike--he was altogether too clever to be satisfactory. At +once everybody stared at him with suspicion, and the fact gave me +considerable comfort. Even the inspector glanced at the young man +unpleasantly as he wrote down "straw-hat." + +"Did you see anything else?" the inspector went on. + +Again I hesitated, for Peaches' eyes were upon me, forbidding me to +speak. I could plainly discern that if I told of the circumstances under +which I had come upon Wilkes in the library she intended to have what +she would have called "an all-round showdown"--a card term, I believe. +And so on second consideration I decided to hold my tongue. After all I +was not a professional detective; let those who were go ahead and +detect. + +"I merely met one of the menservants who had also seen the intruders," I +replied. "And together we roused, or rather found the watchman, and +informed him of what we had seen." + +"Where is this manservant?" asked the officer. And Wilkes stepped +forward. + +"Now what did you see?" asked the inquisitor. + +"I was awake late, sir," replied Wilkes, "and fancied I heard an unusual +noise. It might have been Miss Talbot, sir, but I rather think it was +the men she speaks of, sir. The watchman, Pedro, and I went the rounds +together but found nothing. He hadn't heard anything, it seems." + +"That will do for now," said the officer. "Now, for Pedro--is he +present?" + +"He has been missing since this--I mean since early yesterday morning," +put in Markheim. "Very good man, very good man--I can't understand it, +really!" + +"Well, perhaps you will understand when we locate him!" replied the law +grimly. "And now, if you please, is there any other member of the +household missing?" + +"No--all here," replied Markheim. "Would you care to take a look now at +the room from which the picture was stolen, Mister Inspector?" + +"If you please," said that official. "If you will just show me." + +Without more ado Sebastian Markheim led the way down the corridor to the +library, followed closely by the police and that nasty smart little +detective, while Mr. Pegg, Alicia and myself brought up the rear. I +noticed that Peaches scrutinized Wilkes' face with a long, searching +glance as she passed him, but the man remained motionless and +expressionless as a wooden image. I could have slapped her for her +behavior! But I was not fated to have the opportunity for any such +chastisement, or even to think to rebuke her properly, for a cry from +Sebastian Markheim's lips as he entered the library door sent us all +hurrying after him pell-mell. + +And no wonder he had called out in his amazement, for upon entering, lo, +there was the Madonna of the Lamp smiling down from her frame as +serenely as if she had never been disturbed from it at all! + + + + +XIV + + +In one of his discourses upon the art of narrative, whether of fiction +or fact, my dear father remarks on the difficulties pertaining to +narration in the first person. "For it invariably happens," he says, +"that some portion of those events to which the narrator is party, or +which directly affects his subsequent actions, will be enacted while he +is absent, but which must nevertheless be described by him in order that +the sequence of the tale be fully comprehended by the reader. +Nevertheless the events so recorded must perforce be obtained at +secondhand, and suffer to a certain degree in their quality of +convincingness by reason of their losing direct contact with the author; +and however credible the witness from whom the facts are obtained, they +must naturally take a certain color from his own personality, and hence +a deplorable lack of continuity occurs, which greatly weakens the +credibility of the tale." + +Very interesting, too, and eminently correct, though I confess that the +paragraph, while perfectly familiar to me because of my diligent study +of my dear father's writings, was never so clear to me as when I came +upon a practical application of it in my own experience; a thought which +has very likely occurred to more than one person who has had some sudden +occasion to perceive the fundamental truth of a familiar copy-book +axiom, such as "Honesty is the best policy," if you understand me. But I +digress--or rather, what I mean is this: That while I undertook the +writing of this chronicle in order to refute a false impression which +the newspapers had created regarding the name of Talbot, and also to +retrieve the fair and unsullied name of the Peggs, I find to my dismay +that as I reach the crux of the whole matter, I was not actually present +at some of the most important events with which my narrative has to +deal, and that I must therefore rely on Peaches' account of it. That she +was fairly accurate in her statement I feel reasonably certain; but I +must confess to some chagrin at missing the best part of the story. It +seems to have been my fortune through life to take an active part merely +through inadvertence. + +And yet I scarcely perceive how I could very well have been there when +it happened. Two elements intervened to prevent it--an overwhelming +desire for the sleep of which I had been deprived for the best part of +two nights, and the natural desire on Peaches' part that she have +privacy for what she was about to do. Which, of course, did not develop +until after the departure of the police inspector and his henchmen. + +In the first place, of course, we were simply dumfounded at finding the +Madonna of the Lamp in her proper place. How it had got there and by +whom it was returned was an overwhelming mystery. No less astonishing +was the question as to where it had been during its absence. I am quite +sure that the policemen felt that a hoax of some kind had been +perpetrated and they were not to blame for experiencing a very +considerable annoyance at being pulled out of bed or out of office or +some such thing and motoring all that long way for nothing. They were +distinctly annoyed. That is, all except the little one without a +uniform, who it later developed was not a detective at all. Indeed at +the time we should have realized that he was altogether too clever for a +detective. He was, in point of fact, a newspaper reporter. And it was +through his efforts that we were subjected to all the mortification of +so much publicity. + +Well, at any rate, he was the only person who did not seem to think he +had been disturbed for nothing. On the contrary, he made a number of +notes about the picture, the painter of it, the name and status of every +person present, with a fiendish correctness; no detail of possible +interest to the public eluded him. And no wonder his printed version was +so completely correct, as, under the impression that he was an officer +of the law, I myself supplied the information. + +It was almost another hour before the excitement died down, the three +men took their departure, and the servants were packed off to bed. + +I regret that it is here necessary to chronicle the fact that Mr. +Markheim had taken rather too many cocktails; but such is the painful +truth. His wealth having made a large cellar possible, he was inclined +to prodigality in this direction, and each of the series of nervous +shocks which he experienced served as an excuse for another drink. And +when the last servant, including Wilkes, had gone upstairs, he was, I +must admit it, quite elevated by the alcoholic stimulants in which he +had indulged upon his own prescription. In rather simpler language, Mr. +Pegg crudely referred to his prospective son-in-law as having "a +considerable snoot full." An unscientific but descriptive statement. + +"Well--I am going to hit the old alfalfa!" Pinto announced. "Time for +everybody to turn in!" + +"I'm going to sit on this sofa all night!" announced Sebastian with +alcoholic determination. "Can't tell, can't tell, they might come back!" + +"Oh, might they!" said Mr. Pegg. "Well, I don't care to see the +beauties. I have an idea that they will let that oil painting alone for +quite a season now. Good night." + +"Come, Peaches," I said stiffly, for Sebastian was not a sight to +inspire much liking or approval. "Come on to bed, that's a good girl." + +There was a curious gleam in that young woman's golden eyes, however, +and her mouth had a set look about it which I had never seen there +before except upon one occasion; and that was on the ranch when one of +the Japanese foremen was insolent to her. He went away like a whipped +dog, I recall, and afterward proved himself the best man we had. And to +do this with a Jap is an achievement, I assure you. And all she had done +was to speak to him. She was no shrew, but she had a sharp way of +presenting an unpleasant truth. I glanced at the recumbent Markheim in +pity, even before she answered me. + +"I have something to say to Mark," she replied quietly. "I will come up +later. Don't wait for me." + +Well, what could a chaperon do under these conditions except comply? +Besides, I have not the vitality of extreme youth, and sleep was on the +very verge of overwhelming me. Besides, which, Mr. Pegg exchanged a +glance with me, which reënforced his daughter's request; and so saying +good night to the engaged pair we left them and climbed the stairs in +company. In another hour it would be dawn and the house was very +ghostly. It was immensely comforting to have dear Mr. Pegg accompany me +to my door, though once there he sprang a rather disconcerting +surprise. + +"Say--do you know what book that was Peaches came down to get?" he asked +with twinkling eyes as he opened my door for me. "Rather curious reading +for a young girl. I don't want her tastes to get perverted." + +"What--what book was it?" I inquired, disturbed. + +"You ought to look after what she reads more carefully," said her father +with some severity. "It was Kimball's Commercial Arithmetic. Good-night, +Miss Free!" + +And with that he was gone, leaving me to digest his statement as best I +could. However, the significance of the remark was soon obliterated by a +heavy slumber which lasted until I was roused by Peaches, who brought me +an eleven-o'clock breakfast and the astonishing story of what occurred +after I had retired. I will not attempt to tell it in her own language, +for she was incurably given to the use of slang, but will endeavor to +present in their proper sequence the events as they occurred. + +As soon as Peaches was left alone with her fiancé the disgust and +repulsion which had been rapidly mounting in her breast all evening +reached its apex in expression. True, Sebastian Markheim was no +different from what he had been right along--a little less attractive, +rather more grotesquely disordered and a little more drunken, perhaps, +but Markheim just the same--slightly accented, that was all. But the +small exaggerations were enough to drive her wild. Coming to light as +they did at a moment when she was at the highest possible tension, when +for forty-eight hours she had been living with the animate ghost of her +old and far deeper love, the spectacle of this disorganized little +millionaire with his ungroomed head, his preposterous purple satin +wrapper, his stupid drunkenness and his ineffective querulousness about +his picture was too much for her. The very thought of marrying him +became more than the mere impossibility which it had been from the +moment when her memories of Sandro had been quickened into new life. +This marriage, now only a few weeks distant, became an actual horror. +She felt unable to face the thought of it another hour. And so, despite +his condition, she set about making a clean break. + +"Mark," said she in a low strained voice, towering over him as he sat in +a crumpled heap upon the big sofa before the fire place, "Mark--I am not +going to marry you." + +"Eh? What's that, what's that?" said he. + +"I said that it's all off!" Peaches affirmed. "I couldn't marry you--not +on a bet. I'm awfully sorry of course. Will you forgive me?" + +"Forgive you!" he said, getting to his feet and seizing her by the hand. +"Here--sit down a minute--you can't do that, you know--sit down and +let's talk this over!" + +She did not want to do so, but his grip upon her arm was strong, and +rather than cross him she complied. + +"You don't understand--I'm breaking it off," she said firmly. + +"But what have I done?" Sebastian asked. "Come on now--don't be mad at +me! Didn't I pet you enough to-night? Come--give us a kiss and forget +it!" + +"I don't want to kiss you!" said Peaches, drawing away from his advance. +"Please, Mark! I'm trying to tell you that I had the wrong dope--I never +loved you enough to marry you, and to-night I got a gleam of light I +can't go through with it." + +"Not go through with it!" he replied sullenly. As the fact that she +really meant what she said slowly penetrated to his befuddled brain a +look of anger took the place of the maudlin affection which had been in +his face a moment before. "Not go through with it--but you--you +promised. Why, the wedding invitations go out to-morrow--impossible not +to go through with it!" + +"I'm sorry--but you heard me," said she. "I don't love you." + +"But I love you!" he burst out. "And as for love--you don't know +anything about it. What can a great big kid like you know about love? +You'll love me when we are married! Stop your nonsense and give us a +kiss!" + +He made a lunge at her, which she managed to evade, moving over to the +opposite end of the sofa. But quick as a cat Markheim was after her. He +was just drunk enough to have lost his head, but not drunk enough to be +clumsy. It was at this moment that Peaches began to be afraid of him. + +"No, no!" she cried, trying to get away from his pudgy hands. "I tell +you I don't love you--please! Let me alone. Mark, don't make me afraid!" + +"Why should you be afraid?" he asked thickly. "You are going to marry +me--do you hear? I've stood your offishness long enough. I've kept away +from you whenever you said. I've been a fool! But you are mine, +understand? Mine! You've promised. Everyone knows it, and by heaven I'll +take you when I see fit. Come here!" + +Peaches felt as if she were caught in the meshes of some horrid dream. +With a sudden wrench she broke loose from him, darting round the end of +the sofa. But with an amazing agility Markheim vaulted the back and was +after her, hot in a pursuit made silent by the thickness of the heavy +carpet, their panting breath the only noise in the big room. A single +lamp was the only light, but it was enough to show her his face, purple, +bestial--suggesting a chasm of horror. + +Swift as she was she could not escape him. He was at the door behind +her, barring her way, smiling terribly. Then at the French windows as +quickly as she reached them, his hot moist hands upon hers, even as she +seized the knob. Then back across the room again in fierce pursuit. He +seemed to have gone quite mad and become possessed with an uncanny +swiftness and strength. Then Peaches stumbled across a great chair, and +in another instant his arms were about her, his hot breath upon her +face. + +"Help!" she cried, struggling to release her hands, which he held behind +her back. "Help! Sebastian--you beast--let me go, let me go!" + +And then the whirlwind happened. Some terrific force like a giant cloud +of vengeance tore the satyr from her; and there was Sandro, his face +white and fierce. With a single gesture he had thrown Markheim half +across the room, and stood with squared fists waiting for the assault +which came almost at once. + +"You rotter!" sang out the newcomer. "Take your dirty hide out of here!" + +With a howl of rage and surprise Markheim picked himself up and came at +his manservant with purple face and popping eyes. + +"What the hell are you doing here?" he shouted. "Leave the room!" + +"Not until I've given you the thrashing of your life!" replied the +valet. "Come and get your punishment if you won't clear out!" + +And Markheim came. With a roar he flew at the man, striking blindly, +wildly, and uttering a volley of language which was in itself a shower +of blows. How long they fought Peaches hardly knows. Crouched against +the mantelshelf as if seeking the protection of the calmly smiling +Virgin above, she watched the two men struggle to a finish. She was +fascinated, terrified, and at the same time fiercely exalted. The end +came abruptly, with Markheim sprawling on the floor, and Sandro slowly +raising himself to a towering figure of contemptuous victory above his +employer. + +"Get up!" he said, panting, as he administered a kick to the prostrate +body of the other man. "That will do, I expect. Get up!" + +Moaning, Sebastian obeyed, his face streaked with blood from a cut upon +his forehead, his left eye swollen and rapidly turning as purple as the +tattered remains of his dressing gown. + +"I'll have the law on you for this!" he warned, fumbling for his +handkerchief. + +"Come here!" commanded the servant in a voice of authority. + +"Help!" squeaked Markheim. But before he could utter another sound +Wilkes had him by the collar, and was dragging him to where Peaches +still cowered against the wall. + +"None of that nonsense!" commanded Sandro. "If you yell I'll have to +give you another drubbing. Now get down on your knees and ask her +pardon!" + +For an instant Markheim attempted to disobey. But his captor raised his +hand and as though at a signal Sebastian fell groveling on the floor +before Peaches, bubbling repentance--a loathsomely servile thing from +which she shrank. + +"Oh, take him away!" she begged. "I hate him so! Take him away!" + +"You hear what she says!" said her rescuer grimly. "Go now! Make haste +or I will throw you out!" + +With some difficulty Markheim got upon his feet and made for the door. + +"The police!" he said. "I will have the police! Oh, my face--my face!" + +He had found his handkerchief now, and staggered out of the room, +holding it to his wound and mumbling imprecations. + +Slowly Peaches emerged from her torpor of fright and looked at the man +who an hour earlier had been a servant. He was transformed. His +shoulders were squared, his eyes alive, his face flushed--he was her +boy-lover again. There was no mistake. Now she knew him beyond the +shadow of a doubt. If she had ever really questioned his identity, from +this moment there was no room for questioning left. All the tightening +of her heartstrings, long drawn taut by repression, relaxed. It was as +if her whole being had suddenly been flooded with warm sunlight. + +"Sandro!" she said, going toward him with outstretched arms. "Sandro, my +love, my love!" + +For one second she saw the unwitting, involuntary response in his eyes. +Then he looked down, that she might not behold it, and drawing himself +up he clicked his heels together and bowed. Though he trembled as he did +so, his voice was controlled. + +"Miss Pegg," he said, "I--I am happy to have served you! Good night." + +"Sandro!" cried Peaches. "Why do you pretend? I know you--I know. You +couldn't fool me now! My dear, I thought that you were dead. But even on +the day we got here I knew you--I knew you in the hall, that first +moment. Oh, why do you keep away from me like that? Don't you love +me--don't you want me? Why do you pretend?" + +"Don't! Please!" he entreated. "Miss Pegg, I--am just a servant in this +house!" + +"I don't care what you are!" she cried recklessly. "You are Sandy. I +know you and I love you." + +"My God!" he said, the familiar pet name striking home at last. "Don't! +You cannot understand my position. I tell you I am a servant. It is some +chance resemblance." + +She switched on the main light then and came nearer, scanning his face +closely. His hands clenched at his sides, but otherwise he remained +immovable. + +"You cannot make me doubt," she said at length. "You are Sandro di +Monteventi, who was reported killed at----" + +"Miss Pegg--don't make it too hard!" he said humbly. "Will you not +accept my statement and let me go? + +"No!" she said fiercely. "Because I know who you are--and because I know +that you love me. There! I have told the truth!" + +"It is true that I love you," he admitted. "One need not have seen you +for longer than a day for that. But why do you persist I am this +stranger?" + +"Because I know it!" she declared. + +"You could not prove it!" he said simply. + +"I don't have to!" she said, going closer. "Oh, Sandy, Sandy, I love you +so! I have been hungry for you such a long, long time!" + +She slipped her arms round his neck. And then for a long while she was +not conscious of anything except his lips upon hers, and the blessed +iron strength of his arms about her. At length he drew away, just far +enough to look into her eyes. + +"Merciful Madonna!" he breathed. "You are too much for my poor strength. +I have no right to touch you--but how I love you!" + +"I knew it! I knew it!" cried Peaches, wild with triumphant happiness, +"you'll never get away from me again, Sandro mio!" + +But he pushed her from him roughly. + +"No, no!" he said. "I--you are wrong! You have got to believe you are +wrong, even though you hate yourself and me as well for the glimpse of +heaven you have given me." + +But she could not let him go. + +"Have I got to have any other proof?" she laughed. "Oh, my dear, my +dear! Good heavens--what is it?" she added in a changed tone, for he was +looking over her shoulder toward the end of the room with an expression +as if he had seen a ghost. + +Automatically she turned to follow the direction of his gaze, and almost +instantly encountered another pair of eyes set deep in a white face that +stared in at the window. In another instant it was gone, and like a +flash her companion had seized her by the elbows and was holding her +with a gaze that riveted her attention. + +"See here!" he said rapidly. "I've got to leave you. They've got me this +time, I'm afraid. But I'll make a dash for it. Say nothing if I get +away. Silence will help me most. And no matter who I am, I love you. It +will not hurt you to know that. Good-by!" + +Abruptly he was gone, slipping from the great room as noiselessly as he +had entered it, his going swift as a shadow, and leaving Peaches +temporarily paralyzed and at a loss. With a tremendous effort she pulled +her wits together and started for the doorway through which he had +vanished. To reach it she had to pass the mantelpiece, and as she did so +she automatically raised her eyes to the painting whose calm beauty had +been the cause of so much turmoil, and a curious glitter on the lower +edge of the frame caught her eye. The flash was such a brilliant one +that despite her pre-occupation she stopped to examine its source. And +then with a little cry of triumph she stretched out her hand toward it. + +On the lower carvings of the ornate Florentine frame lay a little gold +penknife studded with diamonds--her own jeweled penknife, the one with +which Sandro di Monteventi had cut that long-faded rose in the garden at +San Remo--the precious trinket which she had given him for a keepsake. +The proof! It was the proof positive! In a single flash a great deal +became clear. He had left it there earlier in the evening--at the time +the picture was missed--perhaps at the time it was put back!--and +missing it he had later returned to retrieve it when he fancied that +every one was asleep, and so had stumbled upon her scene with Markheim, +and come to her rescue. Seizing the tell-tale toy she kissed it wildly +and started for the door. + +"Sandro! I have proof!" she cried, though she knew he could not hear +her. + +"Proof of what, signorina?" said a voice in the doorway. And there, +blocking the entrance to the corridor, was the figure of a bearded man. +With a cry Peaches shrank back, instinctively hiding the knife in the +palm of her hand. The intruder had a sinister look. His hat was pulled +well down over his eyes and his coat collar was pulled up about his +ears. + +"What do you want?" demanded Peaches huskily. "What are you doing here?" + +She was retreating toward the bell as she spoke, the man's gaze +following her action without protest. Coming well into the room he +removed his hat, shaking a few drops from it as he did so. The shoulders +of the coat were also wet. Evidently it was raining heavily outside. His +face as revealed in the stronger light was less alarming, and he spoke +in an even tone. + +"Ring by all means!" said he. "Bring help as soon as possible! As for +who I am," he went on, throwing back his wet coat and revealing a silver +badge, "I am Pedro, the missing night watchman, and I have a warrant of +extradition for the arrest of Sandro di Monteventi, alias The +Eel--wanted by the International Secret Service for the theft of the +Scarpia panels and sundry charges." + +"Go on, ring, miss," said a second man, following in on the heels of the +first; a man whom Peaches instantly recognized as the face at the +window. "Ring, please--we know he is in the house--and incidentally +don't you try to get away. We want to talk to you--you seemed to know +him rather well." + + + + +XV + + +With a violent movement Peaches rang the bell. And almost at once the +house was again in confusion. The two newcomers, backed by the cursing +Markheim and aided by Mr. Pegg, made straight for the room occupied by +Sandro. Peaches followed in their wake, and saw them batter down the +door--to find an empty room and a gaping window. + +Of course! The idiots! Now if they had only had sense enough to wake me +up I could have told them better! But no, they let me sleep--sleep, mind +you, when all this, as it were, human motion picture was proceeding +right under my very nose! I feel outraged, indignant, as I consider the +lack of forethought and consideration which this lack of attention +evidenced. Of course the duke escaped--the ninnies should have left some +one outside in the garden--and their excuse that they did not believe +that he could escape so rapidly from the third story of the house would +have been made quite unnecessary if I had been there to inform them of +his nocturnal wanderings as known to me. + +Really, as I listened to Peaches' recital I became quite distinctly +vexed. The fate by which I seemed doomed to remain a bystander looking +on at life from a safe distance or merely to be told about it at +secondhand or to read of it in printed form was really too annoying. +Despite my utmost endeavor I was apparently to be cheated of active +participation in the great drama of existence. + +But no one could look at Peaches' pale and suffering beauty for long and +remain unindulgent. And as I lay in the great bed enjoying the tea and +toast which she had so thoughtfully brought me I restrained the comments +which sprang to my lips and merely asked, "What happened then?" + +"We came downstairs," said Peaches slowly, twisting the amber beads +about her throat, "Mark, pa and myself along with these two cowbird +detectives. I tell you, Free, I just could hardly believe the story they +told. But I had to, in the end. You see, for one thing, as I sat there I +began to realize I had seen the Pedro once before." + +"Where?" + +"In a London movie house--and in a hotel bedroom at Monte Carlo," said +she significantly. + +"There!" I cried. "I foiled him twice, you see! Now it's a lucky thing I +wasn't there last night, isn't it? Humph! I'd probably have defeated +justice again! But what did he say?" + +"He's been after Sandro for years," she narrated. "I am afraid there +isn't the shadow of a doubt, Free, but that Sandy is the cleverest +picture thief in the world. They have almost got him half a dozen times, +but never with conclusive evidence. And thank God, they didn't get him +this time, either--not yet at least! Why, do you know, they are certain +that he took the Scarpia panels? It seems, if you remember, that they +thought that they had been found in the cellar. But it wasn't the +originals that they found. They were reproductions--synthetic pictures, +like a near-ruby--do you get me?" + +"But the recovery was reported in the papers," I objected. + +"The French Government hushed the matter up in order to try and catch +him off his guard," she went on. "And, Free, that's just what he has +done in this very house." + +"How do you mean--explain yourself grammatically if possible," said I. + +"I mean that the Madonna of the Lamp which is hanging in the library at +this moment is the bunk," replied Peaches earnestly. "It's a +fake--painted on new canvas and nicely antiqued. The cops took it down +and showed it to us." + +"And what did he want to steal a fake for?" I demanded. + +"He didn't want to steal a fake, you dear old prune!" said Peaches, half +laughing. "He wanted to steal the original, and that's exactly what he +did." + +"And got away with it!" I gasped, astonished into a colloquialism. "But +when and how on earth?" + +"Very simple, but clever," she told me, quite as if it were to the young +man's credit. "He had this fake all ready on a stretcher in his room. He +took the original, stretcher and all, out of the frame and upstairs, +where he unmounted it and hid it--it isn't large, you know. And then, +before he could slip the substitute into place, you and I came in from +the garden--from the garden where we had been waiting for him +to--to----" + +Here she broke off and began to laugh hysterically. + +"Come, come, my dear!" I cried. "Don't do that--just remember what a +lucky escape you have had. So we interrupted him before he could put the +substitute in place! Well, land of goodness! I do recall that he was +all dressed when he came down stairs at Mr. Markheim's command! Go on, +do, my dear!" + +"Well," said Peaches, complying with renewed composure, "this Pedro-bird +claims that Sandy slipped it in while we were all out in the hall with +the servants and he was in and out apparently taking care of Markheim's +orders. If the secret-service men hadn't been on the job Sandy would in +all probability have simply stayed his two weeks out as a quiet +well-behaved servant, and then gone away with a first-class reference +and the original Madonna, and the substitution might never have been +found out, or it might have been years--until some feast was held by a +lot of experts at Mark's invitation--who knows! And he's been doing this +sort of thing for years and years!" + +"Extraordinary! Most extraordinary!" I exclaimed, pulling off my +nightcap and starting to rise. "I must really dress and descend to take +a look at that picture and the scene of the crime!" + +"You can't!" said Peaches, suddenly listless. "You can't--we are both +locked in!" + +I could scarcely believe my ears. But Peaches was in earnest, there was +no doubt about that. + +"Locked in!" I repeated incredulously. "What on earth are you saying, +Alicia Pegg?" + +"I was saying a mouthful!" she responded. "Pa has locked us in." + +"But what for?" I demanded with proper indignation. + +"I told him I was going to follow Sandro," said Peaches, as if the +explanation was the most obvious thing possible and she were just a +trifle impatient of my stupidity. + +"Are you crazy?" I cried. "Follow him--follow that thief--that--that +scoundrel? Aren't the police following him? Isn't that following +enough?" + +"That's just why," she announced. "Wherever he is--wherever he goes, I +am going too. After last night I can't do anything else. And if it's to +jail--all right, I'll go to jail. But I won't stay away from him, and I +will find him if the secret-service can't, and I hope most heartily they +will make a flivver of it. And I'll never leave him again--believe me!" + +I was obliged to believe her. I had, indeed, only to look at her in +order to do so. And as I looked, a gleam of human intelligence broke +into my brain. + +"Peaches," I said solemnly, "did you tell on Markheim?" + +"Of course not!" she said, flushing hotly. "He--wasn't himself; I +realize that now." + +"So you just told your father that you are through with Markheim and are +in love with the duke?" + +She nodded dumbly. + +"No wonder he locked you up!" I gasped, falling back on the pillows. + +"Locked me up and said the marriage would go ahead as per schedule," she +announced grimly. "Which is bunk of course. The point is--what shall we +do about it?" + +"Have they caught the duke?" I inquired. + +"I don't believe so," said she. "There is nothing to that effect in the +early afternoon newspapers from New York, though there's plenty about +the robbery. Take a look!" + +"Let me see!" I exclaimed, stretching out my hand for the paper. + +And forthwith she spread the lurid sheets before my distressed eyes. The +headlines were of the variety known as "scare." Not the German +ex-Kaiser himself, or even a Bolshevist labor leader was ever presented +in larger type than was the lurid announcement of the attempted robbery. +And all our names were mentioned--even that of Talbot--the sacred family +name, which we had kept inviolate for generations against all newspaper +publicity excepting only mention in the society and political columns. +For, of course, the difference between one's appearing as a social or +political item and as a piece of mere vulgar news must at once be +apparent to any reader of refined upbringing. And never before had the +Talbots been news. I dreaded to think how my sister Euphemia would take +it should the article chance to meet her eye. She might eventually +forgive me much; but I seriously doubted whether her charity would ever +extend over newspaper headlines. Alas! This was but a foretaste of what +was to come! + +But much as the reporters had to say of the splendor of Sebastian +Markheim's mansion and the beauty of Sebastian Markheim's fiancée, whose +coming marriage would be of the greatest social consequence, uniting the +greatest fortune of the East with the greatest fortune of the Western +Coast, and so on, and though it was further replete with details of the +method by which the robbery had been committed, together with a florid +account of the robber's high station in life, his heroic action in +battle, where he was supposed to have been killed while defending a +position single-handed in a rocky pass during the Austrian invasion, +thereby enabling the rest of his brigade to escape--nothing indicated +that his capture was at this time considered very likely. The +authorities were full of assurances but rather short on facts, to all +appearances. + +"Well, now, Alicia, my dear," I remarked when I had satisfied myself +that no detail of importance had escaped me in my perusal of the printed +account of our affair--"now, Alicia, my dear," said I. "I feel it +incumbent to be quite sure that you know what you are saying when you +announce your intention of linking your life with that of this wild +young Italian--always provided that the gallows does not get him before +you do. Can't you reconcile yourself to the idea that he is a thief, no +matter how titled, and that therefore he is no match for an honest +American girl?" + +"Oh, cut the moralizing, Free!" interrupted Peaches. "I am in love with +him, I tell you. And I have sufficient faith in my own integrity to +believe that this wouldn't be true if he really was the yellow dog +everybody seems bent on trying to make him out. Now I've got a hunch--a +mighty straight hunch that he is O. K. There's more to this than we +know. Maybe the old picture belonged to his great-grandmother or +something, and he's only taking it back. How do you know he isn't doing +just that very thing?" + +"But the Scarpia panels didn't belong to his grandmother," I answered +smartly. + +"But they haven't got the goods on him for those other deals," she +retorted. "And if they had, I'd still be crazy about him. Freedom, this +is a question of the rest of my life. You've got to take my side." + +"But what are you--we going to do?" I pleaded, bewildered by her +intensity. "And what is all this nonsense about our being locked in +these rooms?" + +"You just try to get out and see if it's nonsense," replied Peaches. +"You were asleep when they locked me in, and as there is no lock on the +doors between our rooms they locked you too. I wouldn't let them +disturb you, not only because you were so tired but because I knew damn +well that if I let you out I wouldn't get this chance to talk to you." + +"Well, this is outrageous!" I exclaimed, rising in good earnest this +time. "We shall see whether your father can imprison two adult women in +a free country to suit his whim! I shall make my toilet at once and then +we shall see what we shall see!" + +"Better hurry up then!" replied Peaches. "Because they--he and Mark--are +going to the city on the twelve-o'clock train. Don't you remember why we +came home early last night?" + +Last night seemed a thousand years ago. But she was quite right; I did +recall the fact, and accordingly made all possible haste, Peaches +assisting me. + +"Now look here, you flighty young thing!" she warned. "Don't do anything +rash! Remember, you are the only person I have to depend on for help. +Don't go get yourself kept away from me now!" + +"I must and shall interview your father," I protested. "But perhaps if +you would be kind enough to give me an idea of what you intend doing I +shall be in a better position to be of assistance." + +"I'm going to leave this house before another twenty-four hours are +over," she declared firmly. "If you can persuade pa to let me go like a +human, and come along with me, so much the better. If not, I'll have to +go some other way that may not be as agreeable to him in the long run." + +"Why not let me tell him about that terrible performance of Mr. +Markheim's?" I suggested. "That will be sufficient, or I mistake your +father greatly." + +"Sure it would be sufficient," said Peaches. "But then I'd have to give +myself away pretty badly, wouldn't I? And there might be a roughhouse. +Pa is a dead shot and I'd rather get him out of shooting distance before +I break the information to him. At present he just about thinks I'm +crazy in the head." + +"Well, I'll do what I can to persuade him that this is the twentieth +century and not the middle ages!" I responded. "This indignity certainly +cannot be allowed to continue. But suppose you--we do get away from here +to-day, what then? How do you propose to find a thief that the police +will have a hard time discovering?" + +"I don't propose," said Peaches. "I intend. That's a whole lot stronger. +How, I haven't the remotest idea. But it's plain enough I can't do +anything while they've got me cooped up like a marketable yearling, can +I? Let's get out of this, that's the first thing to accomplish." + +"Very well," I agreed, gathering up my reticule and taking up the +house-telephone receiver. + +I asked to speak with Mr. Pegg. The request was at once attended to by +the footman who responded, and in a tone which brooked no delay I +commanded the Citrus King to come upstairs and release me. My tone must +have foreshadowed the mood I was in, for he responded as if by magic. In +less than five minutes I was face to face with him in the hall. + +"Come on over and sit down in the conservatory, Miss Free," he entreated +as soon as he saw my face. "We want to keep the servants out of this +much as we can, you know!" + +"All right, Mr. Pegg," I agreed, for this was my own thought. "All +right. But if you allow the situation to continue you will have a hard +time in doing that!" + +Accordingly we repaired down the corridor to a little glass room full of +plants, where we could talk in seclusion. Mr. Pegg, as usual, chewed +upon an unlighted cigar and looked at me thoughtfully over the top of +it, his shrewd eyes half closed. + +"You've got awfully pretty hair, Miss Free," said he unexpectedly. "I'm +glad you've took back to them curls again." + +"Now see here, Mr. Pegg," I said severely, not to be diverted by any +frivolous remarks. "Now see here, Mr. Pegg, what is the meaning of this +outrageous performance?" + +"When I was a cattleman," said Mr. Pegg, looking at the ornate ceiling, +"we used to lock 'em in a corral until they cooled off a little." + +"What--who?" I demanded. + +"The ones we was breaking," he informed me. Then his manner changed and +he brought his big fist down on his knee with a thump. "Now, my dear +lady," he said firmly, "I know what I'm doing. Why, I had to keep her on +the ranch, watched like a hawk--and simply because she kept thinking she +was in love with some undesirable or other. I've seen her do this +before. So I'm just going to detain her where she'll be safe until she +comes to her senses." + +"Mr. Pegg, you are taking the wrong track with Peaches this time!" I +warned him. "You can't play the Roman father with your child and marry +her out of hand--you cannot! You engaged me as a social mentor and I +would be doing less than my duty if I didn't inform you that this sort +of thing is no longer being done in the best families!" + +"Say!" remarked Mr. Pegg, removing the cigar and staring at me. "Are +you trying to be humorous, or what?" + +"I assure you I am far from any such idea!" I replied with hauteur. "I +merely affirm that you cannot, even legally, keep an adult female child +imprisoned against her will and then marry her off to--to a swindler!" + +"A swindler!" exclaimed Mr. Pegg. "Oh, come now, Miss Free--smuggling in +that picture wasn't Mark's fault. You can't say he did it--because you +don't know it. Why, you and he have always been good friends; you're not +going back on him now? Peaches is just a kid. By the end of the week she +will have changed her mind again. Good heavens, look at the fix it would +put us in if she insisted on breaking her engagement now! The +invitations out, the presents coming in--trousseau bought! We'd be the +laughingstock of the country. Not that I'd give a--cuss--if it wasn't +that I know Alicia. She'd up and go back to him when it was all +thoroughly broken off. You see that what she needs is the high hand. +I've had to use it before." + +"Mr. Pegg," said I, "you are mistaken. What is worse, you are a cave +man! I am convinced Peaches really is in love with Sandro di Monteventi +and that you will break her heart if you persist in your heroic +attitude. I beg you will desist." + +"Nothing doing!" said Mr. Pegg, rising and lighting the cigar--a sign +that the interview was closed. "I'm not in a desisting mood. I may as +well add that I am wise to the fact that she's been mooning round after +that fellow ever since she came into this house. Kimball's Commercial +Arithmetic, indeed!" + +"I don't know to what you refer, I assure you!" I said stiffly. "And I +insist upon at least having a key to our rooms." + +"Will you give me your word of honor not to use that key to let her out +with?" asked my employer doubtfully. + +"Certainly, if you wish," I replied promptly. "You may have my word for +that!" + +"Well, here you are, then," he answered, taking a key from a great +cluster on his ring. "You'll keep the letter of your word, I know, no +matter how uneasy the spirit gets. And now I must mosey along. Mark and +I have to run up to town on business, and he wants to see the +family-doctor about his eye--he ran into his bedpost in the dark last +night, and maybe it's just as well to keep Peaches from seeing him +wearing that beauty spot." + +With which intelligent and discerning remark Mr. Pegg left me to my own +devices, and of course I promptly returned to my apartment and the +waiting Peaches, who greeted my entrance the more eagerly when she +observed I let myself in with a key. + +"You wonder!" cried she, embracing me with a look of rapture. "So he +gave in to you--you enchantress!" + +"He did not!" I said dryly. "He put me on my honor not to let you have +this key, and my honor is sacred, and I'm going to keep it that way!" + +"Free--you beast!" cried Peaches. "Give it to me. Don't be absurd!" + +"Keeping one's freely given word is never absurd," I observed. "Besides, +if I were to break it and let you walk out, do you think for one minute +that the servants would let you get away without protest? Or without +notifying your father by telephone? It is you who are absurd!" + +"That's so!" said Peaches, suddenly weary. "Oh, Free--you think it out! +Help me, I am so tired." + +"Lack of sleep," I pronounced. "And I'll wager you have eaten nothing. +The first thing to do is to have a nice hot luncheon sent upstairs--I +presume your father's instructions permit the service of food. And then +you must get a few hours of complete rest while I take a stroll in the +fresh air and perfect some course of action." + +"Then you will help me?" said Peaches eagerly. + +It was really pathetic to see her so comparatively tired and helpless. +She was never more than comparatively so, I may state. However, my +compassion for her was not lessened by this fact. + +"Of course I am going to help you," I declared. "That any mere man +should attempt a performance of this kind outside of Bolshevik Russia is +too outrageous to be endured. But first take some hot soup and a nap. I +will have a plan when you wake up, I feel sure." + +Meekly as a little girl she submitted to my ministrations, hot broth and +all. And when at length she lay sleeping amidst the golden glory of her +loosened hair, her face like a pale sage lily in its midst, I stole +downstairs, first faithfully locking the door behind me and pocketing +the key. + +The garden between walls was filled with the roseate glow of sunset as I +stepped forth into it, and the night promised fair. The earth was damp +and fragrant from the April storm of the night before, and the new buds +seemed to have doubled their endeavor to make the world green overnight. +On the edges of the paths the frail hothouse-born tulips lay beaten into +the earth. But in the meadow toward the river the wild crocuses marched +bravely. Robins were warbling their mellow sunset note, and the world +seemed sweetly peaceful and greatly at variance with my mood. + +With my mind continually revolving the problem at hand I walked about +the bordered barren beds with a step that was listless enough in good +sooth, pausing now and again to glance up at the walls of the fine +dwelling, which was now to all intents and purposes a prison. And after +a few turns I began to realize that my attention was turning more and +more frequently to the window that had been Sandro's and to the problem +of his escape. + +That he had come out by the window upon the first occasion of my +discovering him in the library, and simply let himself in at the +casement door, was plain enough, leaving his door locked from the inside +to avoid invasion by the other servants; indeed it had developed that it +had been his habit to keep his door locked during the entire period of +his employment in the house. But how had he got there? That was the +question. So far as one could see there was absolutely no means of +reaching the ground from that third story, unless one excepted a frail +and narrow wooden lattice intended for the encouragement of vines, which +extended upward to the level of the higher windows. + +Obeying an impulse I went over and made examination of this lattice, and +the riddle was a riddle no longer. + +"I wonder, I wonder!" I said aloud. + +"I often have, myself!" agreed a cheerful voice behind me. + +With a guilty start I turned about, and there, of all people on earth, +was Richard, the chauffeur, big nose and all, smiling at me in his +familiar, friendly manner. + +"Richard!" I cried warmly. "What brought you here?" + +"I--say, Aunt Mary, I had to come, that was all," he said with troubled +eyes. "It's Peaches. You know how I feel about her--how I have felt all +along. I had to see her. It was as if she needed me. Just a fool hunch. +But I came. I couldn't help it--you understand?" + +"Understand?" I cried. "Bless the boy, I do!" Then a way out of our +situation began to make itself clear in my brain and I seized him by the +arm, dragging him to a bench out of general sight from the house and +making him sit beside me, greatly to his bewilderment. + +"Richard," I said solemnly, "have you been at the house yet?" + +"Why, no!" said he. "I came right into the garden when I saw you from +the drive." + +"Does anybody know you are coming?" + +"Not a soul!" declared Dicky. "Why all this mystery?" + +"Listen!" I said rapidly. "Something awful has happened. Peaches is a +prisoner. Your intuition was right. She--we need your help, and need it +badly." + +"Is she hurt?" he asked. "A prisoner? What in the name----" + +"I want you to get a big powerful automobile and have it at the entrance +of the park at twelve o'clock to-night. As soon as you arrive, park your +car, and come to the foot of that trellis over there. When you get there +give the whistle you used to call Peaches with. If you get an answer, +wait for us. If after half an hour you don't hear anything, call me on +the telephone first thing in the morning. Is that clear?" + +"Yes--but Great Scott! What's wrong?" + +"Never you mind, except that something is very wrong here. Markheim is +an unspeakable beast, and Mr. Pegg is trying to force Peaches into going +through with the marriage in spite of what she has found out. He has +locked her in her room, which opens into mine." + +"Well, why not unlock her, then?" he asked with stupid masculine +simplicity. "Haven't you got a key?" + +"I have," I said. "But I have given him my word not to unlock it to let +her out!" + +"But you'll break your word!" he said with a satisfied grin. + +"Not at all!" I disclaimed the suggestion. "Not at all. However, I made +no promise in regard to the window. And with your assistance----" + +"I get you!" cried Dicky, springing to his feet. "Twelve sharp to-night +it is. And I'd better be off now before the old boys get back from town +and spot me--eh, what?" + +"Yes," I agreed. + +Then I hesitated. Should I tell him of the duke? Was it possible that he +had not seen the afternoon papers? Evidently so, since he had not +commented upon the robbery. Assuredly they had escaped his notice. And +why tell the poor lovesick boy about Alicia's part in it? I had a +feeling that he would be even more effective in assisting us if he did +not know until we were well on our way that night. So I merely repeated +my instructions and hurried from him to impart the glad tidings to my +charge and then to secure my knitting, in order that I might be +flaunting that badge of womanly innocence in the drawing-room when those +wretched cave men, Markheim and Mr. Pegg, came down dressed for dinner. + + + + +XVI + + +My dear father used to say that the test of good breeding lay in the +ability to maintain the social amenities toward some one who had wronged +you. Kipling, I think it is, cites the instance of an Englishman who +continued to dress for dinner alone in the jungle, as a perfect example +of breeding. But then, Kipling had only the Englishman's word for it, +because if he were alone when he dressed, which seems probable--indeed +is so stated--how could any one have seen him? Whereas I have watched my +dear father turn the other cheek to the barber who used to visit our +establishment weekly, when one cheek had been badly scraped, and not +utter anything stronger than an inquiry about the man's health! + +And the art of behaving naturally, yet not too naturally, if you +understand me, through the routine of living under trying domestic +conditions, certainly appears to come more easily to persons whose +traditional training has been in the line of self-restraint rather than +that of self-expression; in other words, to those of aristocratic +forbears. Perhaps that is why the purest aristocracy so seldom attains +anything except good manners. But I digress. My intent was merely to +make a passing philosophic comment upon the dinner party of three--Mr. +Markheim, Mr. Pegg and myself--which was held that evening at the villa. + +For though no one could deny Mr. Pegg's sterling worth there were times +when his, as it were, silver needed repolishing. And this was such a +time. As for Sebastian Markheim, for all his wealth, the veneer of +culture, which had never been much more than tailor-deep, now showed the +common clay beneath all too plainly; and the bandage which his New York +physician had arranged over one eye did nothing to make his behavior +more becoming. Whereas on the other hand I was my own cheery, chatty +self, only more so, if possible, entertaining both gentlemen with a +pleasant account of a railroad accident of which I had read that day, +and an explanation of the main differences between knitting and crochet +work. + +However, they were not very responsive, proving conclusively my dear +father's theory. In point of fact they were both so uncommunicative that +it was necessary for me to exercise considerable tact and ingenuity +before I could get out of them the fact that Sandro di Monteventi was +still at large, though he had been traced as far as New York City. + +Indeed I cannot imagine why these two gentlemen should have been +suspicious of my trustworthiness, yet their reticence could have no +other implication. However, when I made quite sure that no further +information was to be had out of them I continued to be quite as +delightful as before, even insisting upon serving their after-dinner +coffee with my own hands as soon as the footman had carried it into the +library for us. + +I confess that my solicitation about the serving of this was not wholly +disinterested, inasmuch as I administered a small dose of veronal in +each cup--a mere five grains to insure their sleeping--and sleeping +early. And in truth my dear father never approved the taking of coffee +in the evening, and I knew that neither of these men had had sufficient +sleep during the past forty-eight hours. Also, I did not wish my +project to fail through any oversight on my part. Moreover, neither +being a good judge of coffee, they made no comment on the flavor. + +Thus it was that when, shortly after nine o'clock, first one and then +the other excused himself and went off to bed, I did not seek to detain +either, but remained myself in the library for half an hour, ostensibly +engaged in the perusal of a volume of Carlyle's French Revolution but in +reality with one eye fixed upon the clock, and my attention absorbed +with waiting for the moment when I might retire to my chamber without +apparent undue haste. + +At length the clock struck ten, having been considerably longer than its +usual time in getting round to it, or so I fancied, and I rose in a +leisurely fashion, putting away my book and ringing for the footman. +When he appeared I bade him a cheerful good night and told him to put +out the lights. Then I made my way upstairs to Peaches, my heart beating +with excitement but my head quite cool and collected as I admitted +myself to our, as it were, joint prison. + +I found the dear girl already dressed in a dark suit and small hat, her +face still pale, though her sleep had greatly refreshed her and her eyes +were once more the great fiery cat eyes of amber that I loved to watch. + +"Free," she began at once, "is there any news of him? Have they caught +him?" + +"Not yet," I replied, "but he's in New York somewhere--at least that's +what they think. Don't forget to take your toothbrush." + +"And you are sure that Dicky understands what to do?" + +"Of course!" I replied, going to my top bureau drawer and regarding the +contents critically. "Now let me see what I shall take." + +"I guess father will never forgive us," remarked Peaches dolefully. "But +it seems a person never can do what they think right without getting in +wrong with some one." + +"I shall take my father's chronometer," I mused half aloud, "smelling +salts and a pack of cards, for solitaire. Also my small folding check +book. These, together with my toothbrush and clean handkerchief, will +just about fill my reticule." + +I was putting these articles into their receptacle as I talked, but my +attention was fixed upon Alicia's face. She looked as if she were seeing +a vision; never have I beheld such an expression of anxious beatitude, +if one may say so, on any human countenance either before or since. It +was hardly wholesome. + +"Did you put on low-heeled shoes?" I asked practically. Peaches came to +with a start. + +"Yes," she replied. "Free, do they let you get married in jail?" + +"They send you there for getting married too often," I replied. "Now +keep your mind on the excitement of the moment and hook up my shirt +waist for me, there's a good girl." + +"A shirt waist that hooks up the back is a blouse, Free," she replied, +smiling wanly. "How am I ever going to make your sense of luxury as +strong as your pocket-book?" + +"This blouse by any other name was just as dear," I replied. + +And so with light chaffing we made the interval of our preparation and +waiting durable to each other; and at length I sat down by the opened, +darkened window for the third night in succession, to listen for +Richard, the chauffeur, to signal. One by one the other lights in the +house were extinguished and gradually complete silence reigned over the +massive pile of what had but a brief three days ago been Peaches' future +home, and which we were about to forswear forever in the cause of love +and spiritual freedom, not to mention actual physical freedom. At five +minutes of the hour Peaches broke the silence with an impatient whisper. + +"All this stage stuff is the greatest bunk!" she exclaimed under her +breath. "I wish to goodness you'd open the door and let us walk +downstairs like rational human beings!" + +"And break a Talbot's word?" I retorted. "Never! What I promise your +dear father I keep my word about." + +"Freedom Talbot, I sometimes think you are stuck on pa," commented +Peaches reflectively. + +And then, before I was obliged to reply to this most inconsiderate +comment and indefensible charge, a low whistle sounded from the garden, +the old familiar whistle with which I had heard Peaches signal to +Richard, the chauffeur, a thousand times. At once she was upon her feet, +her body tense, her foolish remark mercifully forgotten as she +responded. Three liquid notes, soft yet clear. Then silence. + +"Now for it!" I whispered. "You follow me--I know the way!" And carrying +my shoes in my hand I stepped forth across that window sill, which must, +so I believe, bear about it the odor of romance forevermore. + +I am pained to relate that the first thing Peaches did upon reaching +the ground was to embrace Dick Talbot and kiss him upon both cheeks. But +such is the distressing truth, inappropriate as the action was in view +of the fact that she was escaping from one fiancé in order to go in +search of another, and that Dick was neither of them. But he did not +seem to object in the least, though the moment she freed him he very +properly turned his attention to helping me on with my shoes. + +"All set, Aunt Mary!" he whispered then. "This way, please, and watch +your step in case the enemy sets up a barrage!" + +In silence we followed him through the garden and out across the meadow, +keeping in the shadow of the trees and hedges whenever possible, and +trampling the brave little white crocuses underfoot. At length we +reached the fence which separated the grounds from the highroad, and as +it was fortunately not very high he helped us over without difficulty, +the main gates at the lodge being, as he informed us, locked for the +night. + +Drawn close to the fence was a powerful car with the engine running +softly. Richard assisted me into the rear seat and Peaches sprang up +beside him in front; there was a grinding sound from the creature's +innards and we slid smoothly out into the open road. + +The river road from Ossining to New York is one of surpassing beauty, +even at night, when the smooth winding ribbon of it is practically +without traffic. But I was not much concerned with its loveliness, as +the night was too dark, for one thing, to permit more than a speculation +as to what lay behind the hedges and rows of trees with which it is +lined, and the Hudson lay hidden in the black depth of its own valley +save when a moving light or two from a nocturnal vessel betrayed its +whereabouts. Overhanging clouds now threatened rain, and a mist crept up +from the broad stream, obscuring the lamps and blurring the occasional +lighted window by our way. At any moment I expected that, as The Duchess +would say, the heaven would open to emit a torrential storm; and I +wished heartily that I had worn my other hat. + +Furthermore, if I had been able to see anything of the landscape as we +passed I could not have focussed much attention upon it because of the +terrific rate of speed at which Richard, the chauffeur, had determined +to drive. At each and every curve I anticipated an accident of some +sort--a collision with some unfortunate night traveler, a possibly fatal +encounter with a train or trolley car. But miraculously nothing of the +kind happened. I made one or two futile attempts to dissuade him from +his reckless course, inasmuch as the discovery of our flight was +extremely unlikely to occur for many hours to come. My words were merely +blown back into my face, and solicitude for my hat and feathers at +length caused me to relinquish my efforts and sit dumbly clinging to the +seat with one hand and to my headgear with the other. I assume that he +was driving as much from the stress of his emotions as by reason of +Peaches' urging him to haste, but I could not help reflecting, sorry as +I was for the young man's hopeless passion, that love is a selfish +thing--a remark which has doubtless been made by earlier writers. + +I could not hear a word of what conversation was going on in the front +seat, but there seemed to be little enough of it, and all of Dick's +energies were obviously bent on driving--a fact for which I dumbly +thanked the Almighty, and it was not until almost an hour later, when +the outskirts of the city had been reached and our driver drew up at the +curb before a species of nocturnal dairy, or all-night lunch, as I +believe such places are called, that we had any real conversation +regarding further plans. + +Richard insisted that we get down from the machine and enter the humble +eating establishment, whose window displayed nothing more inviting than +a few dozen oranges, which my practiced eye recognized as inferior +sweated Southern fruit, and a black cat, the latter sound asleep. + +But once entering its tiled interior, which made me oddly uncomfortable, +conveying as it did a sense of being in a most dreadfully public +bathroom, the refreshing odor of coffee and hot cakes revived our more +material senses, and over a generous supply of both we told Dick the +whole story, beginning with the moment of our arrival in the East up to +the point of the aforementioned pancakes and coffee. + +While Peaches was telling him about the duke and how she loved him, +young Talbot could not endure to look at her--a fact of which she +appeared oblivious, so wrapped was she in her recital. And it was only +when she had quite finished and was waiting for him to speak that he +mastered his emotions sufficiently to look at her with his honest, +suffering eyes. + +"So he is alive?" he said simply. "And, of course, you have to go to +him, old girl. There is something wrong with this crook idea. That man +is not a crook." + +"Thanks, Dicky!" said Peaches, her eyes filling as she covered his hand +with hers for an instant. "I know there isn't any reason to believe in +him--but I do, just the same." + +"But there is a reason," said Dick unexpectedly. "Look here, Peaches, I +suppose I ought to have told you this when I first came back. But I +didn't first off, because I found you engaged to another man and +apparently happy. I didn't want to go raking over old wounds. So I +didn't even speak of him except to say that I'd heard he was killed in a +gallant action--and I never even said that much until you mentioned it +first--do you remember?" + +"Yes," she nodded. "Go on, Dicky!" + +"But I'd seen him while I was over there," he said. "I--well, it was +rather by accident but I happened to save his life. Oh, not the last +time! Up to to-night I thought he was dead, the same as you did. But +before that. It was the time I got the Italian medal----" + +"So that was why you wouldn't talk about it!" I ejaculated. But neither +paid any attention to me. + +"He asked a lot about you," Dicky went on. "And I told him all I could. +About the ranch, and what you and Miss Freedom were doing. He was just +crazy to hear. But he didn't want me to tell you about him. 'I'm not fit +for her, Dick,' he says to me. We was both getting over scalp wounds +then and used to sit out in front of the hut and talk a lot. 'I got out +of her life for her own good,' he says. 'And if it ever comes natural +tell her I didn't intend to kill the chap at the railway station--it was +in self-defense.' That's what he told me. And then he tried to give me a +ring he had, because of me having the luck to save him, see? But I +wouldn't take it. So he give me his address in case I ever needed +anything." + +"His address?" said Peaches chokingly. "Why, Monteventi is his address, +surely?" + +"Yeh--but he give me another one besides," said Dick. "Though, of +course, I heard after that he had gone West, and so I kind of forgot +about it." + +"If he had another address it must have been where he could be reached +in an emergency!" cried Peaches. "Can't you remember it, Dicky? Oh, +think! Please try to remember it!" + +"I guess maybe I got it on me," said he with a curious shyness. +"I--wrote it on the back of your picture. I--I carried it along through +the war. I might have it now, at that." + +From the inside of his coat he took a thin wallet, through which he +pretended to search while we watched breathlessly. And there, as I had +anticipated, was the portrait of Alicia--Alicia at sixteen with her +heavy hair in braids over either shoulder and a Mexican sombrero shading +her laughing eyes. He turned it over and she gave a little cry as she +recognized her lover's name--followed by an address in Hoboken! + +We exchanged a look of wonder. + +"By gosh, I'll bet a dollar that's where he is to-night!" exclaimed +Talbot. "Not a very tasty neighborhood, but just the kind of a place a +bird like him would fly to for cover. And see the way I was to address +him. S. M., care of Smith! He said they forwarded his mail for him. +Peaches, I'll go there for you the minute I get you two girls safe at a +hotel!" + +"You will not!" said Peaches. "Because we are going with you." + +"Oh, come--that's not right!" protested Dick. But nothing would dissuade +Peaches. + +"Well--we may need some money," said he, at length consenting to the mad +scheme. "I've a few dollars, but eventually we'll have to get some more. +Did you bring any, Peaches?" + +Her face dropped in dismay. + +"I never thought of it!" she gasped "And my purse was on the dressing +table too!" + +"Never mind!" said I, plunging my hand into my reticule. "I have brought +a check book and I have a lot of money in the bank." + +With which I drew out--not my check book at all, but the black leather +wallet which Peaches had thrown into the pond out at the ranch, and +which I had subsequently rescued. + +For a moment we all gazed at it stupidly. Then Peaches recognized it and +snatched it from the table. + +"Sandy's wallet!" she cried. "Freedom Talbot, where did you get this +thing?" + +"I--I found it in the garden out at home," I stammered, blushing +violently, "and I kept it in case--that is, I thought that perhaps +sometime----" + +"I see!" said she in a tone which led me greatly to fear that she did. + +"What is it?" our escort now wanted, not unnaturally, to know. + +"It's something of his--the duke's," I said. "Peaches has had it for +years." + +"Give us a look-see!" asked Dick, stretching out his hand for it. Rather +reluctantly she allowed him to take it. + +"I bet there's something sewed inside that lining!" he commented after a +moment's examination. "Let's open her up!" + +"No!" cried Peaches, snatching it back. "If there is it's none of our +business. I'll just take care of it, thanks! And now about money--our +not having any lets us out of the hotel plan, Dick; and anyhow if we +cash a check we can't do it before to-morrow. In order to get into a +decent hotel without any bags we'd have to prove who we are, and then pa +would spot us first thing in the morning." + +"Besides which, if Sandro is really at this Hoboken address, he will +very likely be gone by morning," I added; "if indeed he has not already +left." + +"You said it!" cried Peaches. "Come on, let's go! The Lord only knows +when that ex-sheriff of a parent of mine will have a posse on my trail!" + +We acted upon this, the combined wisdom of all three of us, and paying +our modest indebtedness to the midnight-luncheon establishment, betook +ourselves back to the automobile and the pursuit of our quest. + +How silent are the busy marts of Manhattan in the small hours of the +night! With her pearl-like lamps the only sentinels along our way, we +sped into Broadway and thence across the park and down Fifth Avenue +almost as rapidly as we had proceeded along the Albany highway from +Ossining, turning west at some side street evidently familiar to +Richard, the chauffeur, since the days of his debarkation, and sped +toward a westbound ferryboat. + +It was a great comfort to me to realize that the city of Hoboken itself +would not be wholly unfamiliar to him either, inasmuch as he had left +for Europe from that port as a soldier, and had again visited it in the +same capacity two years later upon his return. Therefore, he could, of +course, be relied upon to know something about the place, and just how +undesirable he considered the section for which we were headed might be. +It did not, however, occur to me to question him on this point until the +lights of the opposite shore were drawing near. We had remained seated +in the auto, which was driven bodily upon the lower section of the +ferryboat. + +"Richard," I said, "do you consider the section for which we are bound a +residential one?" + +"I do not!" he responded promptly. "I'll say the inhabitants usually +make about a week-end of it before they are invited to Sing Sing. I wish +I had thought to bring a gun along!" + +"If a revolver will do as well," said I, "I have one upon my person. It +is that which I obtained from that gambling creature in Monte Carlo." + +"Good girl, Aunt Mary!" he exclaimed. "Slip it to me, will you?" + +"In order to do so I must retire to the ladies' cabin," I replied with +dignity, "inasmuch as it is attached to my--my garter." + +"Well, if you aren't a caution to rattlesnakes!" exclaimed he. "All +right, sport, only hurry up, for we'll be landing in a few minutes now." + +I alighted from the rear of the machine with all possible celerity and +made my way upstairs to the higher deck and the retreat which I sought. +Putting the firearm into my reticule I was about to descend when the +sight of a familiar figure standing on the front deck of the vessel, his +face sharply outlined against the light, arrested my action and my +attention. + +It was the detective named Pedro--he who had posed as night watchman at +the villa--and he was standing right where he could not fail to see our +car and recognize its occupants the moment we drove out to land. + +It was an emergency and I steeled myself to meet it intelligently. If I +were to go below at once all I could accomplish would be the warning of +my companions. Still, what better course offered? None that I could see +at first. Pedro had not seen me as yet, but continued to stand looking +out toward the Jersey shore. And while I hesitated as to what I should +do the Divine Providence which looks after lovers put a means of eluding +him into my very hands, as it were. + +From a door close beside me and which was marked "Private" in large +letters, there at this moment emerged a man in overalls. The door swung +to behind him, locking with a snap, and an instant later he discovered +that he had left something in the cabin and being in a great hurry swore +shockingly as he fumbled with his keys, for he was obliged to unlock the +door, which fastened with a spring lock, before he could get back into +the place. The dock was very close now, and the bell was clanging +loudly. In another moment we would have touched. The mechanic's haste +was frantic, which, of course, caused him some further delay, but at +length he succeeded in opening the door again. On the instant finding +myself unobserved I slid about a quarter of my little pack of playing +cards into the jamb of the door. They were just of a sufficient +thickness to allow the door to shut without permitting it to lock. The +mechanic having found what he wanted came out, swung the door, as he +supposed, closed, and went on his way. + +Hardly had he vanished down the stairs when Pedro saw me and at once +approached, raising his hat with a sarcastic politeness that thinly +veiled a sneer. And as he came I knew for certain that he was the man +whom it had twice already been my pleasure to foil. Nevertheless, I +greeted him pleasantly enough. + +"Ah--good evening!" said I. "You are looking for Mr. Markheim, I +suppose?" + +Well, the fellow looked a good deal surprised at that, but he wouldn't +admit it--not he. + +"Yes, of course," said he, to draw me out. + +"This is splendid!" I said heartily. "We were afraid our telegram hadn't +reached you. He's just inside in this cabin. Won't you go in?" + +The room lighted automatically as the door was pushed inward. He +entered, I pulled out the cards and slammed the door behind him just as +the clamor of our arrival at the hospitable Hoboken shores drowned out +all immediate danger of his cries being heard. + +But I ran down the stairs to the car like--like the very deuce, as my +dear father used to say. And climbing into my place I leaned over and +slipped the revolver into Dick's pocket. + +"Drive like Sam Hill!" I commanded in a fierce undertone. "I've just +locked Pedro into the fireman's washroom and he's not going to like it +very much!" + + + + +XVII + + +I made this remark with a pleasant smile to give the appearance of +passing a joke, in case Pedro's partner should prove to be on board and +watching us. Dicky smiled back, but nevertheless acted upon my hint +without delay; and as a combined result of our smiling faces the gateman +grinned as well and permitted our car to debark first. + +The delay on the pier, where we were obliged to proceed at a snail's +pace, was a dreadful strain. Suppose that Pedro's cries were to be +heard, and, rescued, he bore down upon us? I shuddered at the thought. +But at length we were past officialdom and speeding up the hill and into +the city's silent and deserted ways. Dicky turned his head to question +me, almost colliding with a lamp-post by so doing, but his usual +nonchalant skill saving us by a hair--or so it appeared to me. + +"Now what the devil did you say you did?" he wanted to know. + +"Pedro--the detective," I said--"I locked him up on the boat!" I +repeated. + +"Good heavens, Freedom! How?" cried Peaches. + +I told them briefly. Richard, the chauffeur, gave a long whistle. + +"Then it's more than likely we are headed right!" said he. "Gosh +Almighty, Aunt Mary, I hope I never get in wrong with you!" + +"Why?" I demanded. "I simply do the obvious thing as occasion arises." + +"Well, give us a little advance notice when you are going to pull +something out of the usual," he replied cryptically, and turned his +attention back to the car--for which I felt profoundly grateful--and to +scanning the corner lamps for the name of the avenue for which we were +seeking. + +Fortunately the streets were literally deserted and so we escaped +notice. If any one had followed us from the ferry he would have been +visible many blocks away. The only living creature we passed in fifty +squares was a maraudering cat which shot across our path like a black +arrow. + +"Good luck!" commented Peaches. + +But the remark failed to reassure me, for by now we had discovered and +turned into our avenue, and its aspect was most decidedly not +residential. In point of fact it could hardly be said to contain houses, +much less anything worthy of being dignified by the name of residence. +It was quite unlike any part of Boston with which I was acquainted, and +I did not fancy its atmosphere, which was redolent of gas, to say the +least. Moreover, it was not at all a suitable place for a duke to live, +even when in retirement from the police. I should have felt something on +upper Fifth Avenue much more fitting--say, in a secret chamber in the +neighborhood of the Plaza. Or in the half-ruinous mansion of some +aristocrat out at, let us say at Hempstead, which I understand contains +many fine old estates. + +The quarter through which we were proceeding was impossible--simply +impossible! I trust that there is very little of the snob in me, at +least of that species of snob which cannot distinguish between genteel +poverty and common poverty. Mere shabbiness is no cause for losing +caste, as I myself know full well. And so I would have said nothing to a +shabby neighborhood. But this was not even, properly speaking, a +neighborhood, being as it was, chiefly composed of gas tanks which +towered heavenward in shadowy menace, of warehouses with blank faces, +and unpleasant odors. + +Between these at rare intervals were sandwiched little groups of +houses--part of what might originally have been rather a fine terrace. +Three-story brick affairs, they were, that once might have looked out +upon the river before their giant neighbors had risen to obstruct the +view. They stood in little groups of three or four, huddled together and +squeezed on either hand by elbowing dirty lofts or other commercial +tramps of buildings. Most of them appeared to be used for the storing of +hides, to judge from the refuse in the street before them; some had been +ruined by fire without being demolished, others gaped with broken +windows behind their "For Sale" signs--drearily awaiting purchasers who +never came. + +But here and there among them were a few which gave indication that +human beings still used them as habitations--a dirty window curtain, a +set of battered shades, a stoop less cluttered than those of the +neighbors. And occasionally a dingy notice that there were furnished +rooms to be had. But nowhere any light. It was like a city of the +dead,--or like a town long abandoned. It was difficult indeed to realize +that on the morrow--nay, later on in this very morning--the place would +be a busy waterfront. + +It was before one of these poor houses that Richard, the chauffeur, at +length came to a halt; and exceptionally moldy and uninviting specimen +it was, with the storage terminal of some exporting company on the one +hand of it and a string of unsavory-looking lodgings upon the other. The +number for which we were looking was discernible, though scarcely +legible above its closed storm doors--Number 1162. There could be no +mistake. It was our destination. But it certainly did not look inviting, +from cellar to attic the shutters, though sagging precariously on their +hinges, were closed, and the areaway was obstructed by empty crates, +evidently refuse from its business neighbor. + +"It doesn't look as if a soul were home," I observed. "How very +disappointing!" + +"Houses that refugees are hiding in don't exactly open up like hotels," +observed Dicky dryly. "The question now is, how do we get invited in +without bringing a lot of attention on ourselves?" + +"Well, there's no use sitting here discussing such things!" I snapped, +taking out my dear father's chronometer and looking at it under the +light of the nearest lamp. "It is now fifteen minutes of three o'clock. +I suggest we take some action. We can't stay here, that's plain. Listen +to that thunder, will you? I wish I had worn my other hat! I just knew +it was going to rain!" + +"We might go up and ring the bell," suggested Peaches, climbing to the +sidewalk. "That hasn't failed yet, you know." + +"Since we have been fools enough to come without any definite plan," +agreed Dick Talbot, "I suppose we may as well act as if it were an +ordinary call. But first I'm going to run the bus round the corner and +park it out of sight. They'll be more apt to open up." + +He left the motor running and assisted me to alight and then drove off +to fulfil this plan, returning presently on foot, whereat we ascended +the broken steps together, and Richard gave the old-fashioned bell knob +a vigorous pull. Faintly from below came the sound of it in due time, a +harsh jangle as when a bell clangs in an empty echoing room. Then he +waited, but no other sound broke the stillness. + +"Try again," said Peaches after several minutes had elapsed. + +And there really being nothing else to do, Dicky obeyed, with no better +result. Once the faint echoes of its ringing had died away within the +building all was as silent as the tomb. A cat wailed suddenly from some +hidden fence, causing us to start, but that was all. + +"There may be some other way in," said Richard in a low voice. "Though +this is certainly the right number." + +"And it may be that nobody lives here too," said I dryly, "and that we +have come upon a fool's errand!" + +"You knew we were chancing that!" snapped Peaches. "But I won't be +satisfied to go away now--let's try the lower door!" + +Well, I could not see what sense there was in that, though our escort +agreed. And so the two descended from the high stoop and vanished into +the darkness of the areaway, amid the crates that were heaped within it, +while I remained at the main entrance. The few drops of rain which had +been falling when we arrived were rapidly increasing in number and +force, and the thunder drew nearer and nearer with angry mutterings. + +Bitterly regretting that I had ever risked my best hat upon an adventure +which seemed doomed to so tame an ending I withdrew myself from the +open stoop and sought what scant shelter the outer ledge of the storm +door afforded, flattening myself as much as possible and hoping devoutly +that my ostrich tips would recurl nicely. + +From below came the sound of a bell, another bell this time, but ringing +in just as desolate a way as that of the front door. Again silence +except for that wretched feline. Then came the sound of approaching +footsteps. Some one was coming down the street! + +The steps were not very loud to be sure, the newcomer being soft shod, +and after a moment I realized that Peaches and Dicky, being intent upon +their immediate occupation, and furthermore, cut off from this approach +by being on the far side of the solid masonry of the high stoop, did not +hear him. It flashed across my mind that policemen did not usually wear +sneakers or rubber soles to their shoes, and that therefore this was not +the roundsman of the beat. In confirmation of this supposition was the +fact that whoever was approaching was in a hurry--not running, but +coming on with a quick light step, very unlike the heavy deliberate +tread of a night watchman wearing away the hours at his post. + +Therefore I very cautiously stuck my head round the corner, only to +withdraw it instantly and remain motionless, soundless, against the +door. It was a man who was approaching, his arms filled with bundles +such as would indicate a visit to some all-night grocery or, more +likely, delicatessen store; and his enormous height made him +unmistakable. It was Sandro. + +All unknowing what awaited him, he ran lightly up the steps, glancing up +and down the street as he did so. And as he reached the top step I fell +upon him from the shadow, throwing both my arms round his neck and +causing him to spill a half dozen oranges, which bounded down into the +street and areaway--one of them, I later learned, striking Richard upon +the head and thus giving him notice that he was wanted. + +"Sandro!" I cried. "Thank goodness you came home--my hat would have been +ruined in another five minutes!" + +"Good Lord! Miss Talbot!" he stammered, making a futile effort to free +himself of me. + +But I hung on like a leech. I feared that if I relaxed my embrace for an +instant he would make a dash for liberty. + +"Oh, but I'm glad to see you!" I said. "Fear not, we know all, but are +still your friends." + +By that time Peaches and Dicky were with us. Seeing this I let him go, +and for a moment he stood there looking dazedly from one to the other, a +side of bacon sticking grotesquely out from under one arm, a bottle of +milk held firmly in the other hand. + +"Alicia!" he murmured, scarcely able to believe his eyes. "I don't +understand. And Dick----" + +"Neither do we quite get it," responded Dick cheerfully. "That's why we +are here. Just hand over the eats, old man, and let us into this palace +of yours, where we can chin a little less conspicuously! Hurry now, +before some unwelcome party tries to join us!" + +Spurred into a sort of hypnotic life the duke obeyed, finding a key and +entering first. Peaches went next, slipping her hand through his arm as +she went; and hastily picking up two of the oranges and a loaf of bread, +which fortunately was nicely wrapped in glazed paper, I followed them, +Dicky bringing up the rear and closing the door behind us. + +Then the duke turned on a light, after a brief interval which can only +be explained by--well, it was probably Peaches' fault. At any rate he +turned on a light, which disclosed a shabby, threadbare hallway, and +then opening the door at his right indicated that we should enter. + +Now it was one of my dear father's iron-bound rules that no well-bred +person ever evinces surprise at his surroundings; but it is my firm +conviction that even he would have excused the exclamation which burst +from my lips upon entering that apartment; in point of fact it is quite +possible to conceive of his joining with me in expressing astonishment. +For far from being the sordid den which I had been prepared to see, it +was a room of such luxury as I have seldom beheld. The furniture was fit +to grace a museum, the rugs were priceless, while on the wall hung +several fine paintings, among which I was horrified to recognize the +Florentine Madonna and Rubens' Venus and Mars. There were other art +treasures too--carvings, candelabra and goodness only knows what not. At +the moment my interest focused so sharply upon the central figures in +the drama that I was unable to register more than a chaotic impression +of immense wealth. The museums of Europe might well have envied that +collection. + +The duke turned quietly to Peaches. + +"Alicia!" he said. "Now tell me--I don't understand why you have come. +It cannot be to betray me." + +"Sandro!" she cried. "It is I who don't understand. You can't be a +common thief! And if you are, I don't care. You--you may get over it. +And I came because I love you. Do I have to tell you that? I'm never +going away from you again!" + +The duke turned very white and backed away from her. + +"Look here!" he said. "I can't let you do this, you know. I've run away +from you once--don't make it impossible, Alicia!" + +"But I have loved you right along," she persisted. "We heard that you +were dead--and so I thought I might as well marry Mark, you +know--because nothing seemed to matter. Oh, don't send me away! Look--I +have carried your wallet all these years." + +Well, of course, Peaches exaggerated a little when she said that, but it +was no time for correcting her statement. And anyhow the duke didn't +seem to care. With a swift gesture he took it from her. + +"Do you know what this is?" he asked, looking into her eyes. "No? And +still you believe in me!" + +"I knew there was something in it!" exclaimed Richard, the chauffeur. +And he was right. There was. To think that I could have overlooked such +a fact! + +Hurriedly the duke took out his penknife, ripped the edges apart, and +from the interlining took out a thin packet wrapped in waterproof +tissue. And I had felt that pad and thought it was mere stuffing! With +skillful--too skillful--fingers he unfolded the covering, and opening up +the paper it contained he spread it upon the table for us all to see. + +"Look!" he said. "I want you to understand what this is before we go any +further. This bit of paper is a _carte blanche_ from--from a very +important person in Italy. See, his signature." + +We looked--and though I was the only one of the three that could read +Italian the two others were scarcely less impressed than I was. For the +duke had spoken truly. + +"_Carte blanche_," said Peaches. "That means 'free hand', doesn't it? +But how does that square you, Sandy dear?" + +"It doesn't, really," said he. "But if you'll all sit down I'll tell you +just where it comes in. It's rather a long story," he added. "And my +boat sails at eight o'clock." + +As if in a dream we did as he suggested. The duke himself stood before +the open hearth, his hands clasped behind his back, his head bent in +silence for a moment. Then he raised it as if shaking off some evil +dream and began his extraordinary story. + +"In the eyes of the world I am a thief," he pronounced. "In all +probability the greatest thief of our day, and what is more, the most +discriminating one. You see how my taste seems to run--world-renowned +paintings of almost inestimable value, rare carvings, tapestries and +statues. Clumsy to handle, are they not? Frightfully difficult to +dispose of. But that is not the strangest part of my predications. You +will notice that all of them are of the art of a single nation--Italy." + +"Well," he went on, "strange as these two facts may appear, there is a +stranger one still. Nothing that I take is ever missed. I make one +exception to that--the Scarpia panels. I bungled that badly. And then +last night--if it had not been for Markheim's brutality to you"--here +Sandro's face grew livid at the recollection--"if it had not been for +that interruption, when I remembered that I had left your little knife +on the frame and returned to get it because I could not endure to leave +behind the only souvenir I had of you--I would have got away clear. You +people would have gone on living with that replica, boasting of it, +perhaps, to the end of your lives, and then handing it down to posterity +as a treasure of the highest order. I can assure you that there is more +than one great collector in whose service I have been, or in whose house +I have visited as a guest, who is doing that very thing." + +"But, Sandro!" cried Peaches. "What did you do it for? You couldn't sell +such things? Where are they? Or are these some of them?" + +She indicated the contents of the room with a sweeping gesture. + +"These are my weapons," he said, smiling. "Replicas, all of them, to be +used as the occasion rises; as I locate some treasure and plan to +acquire it." + +"But do you sell them?" she persisted. + +"No," said he. + +"Then you keep them? You take them for yourself?" she cried +incredulously. + +"I haven't got one of them!" he declared, "except the Madonna of the +Lamp. And I'll not have her long." + +"But do you mean to say you use a fence?" Dicky broke in. + +"I do not," replied Sandro. "Every one of these paintings that I have +recovered is in the hands of the Italian Government--where they all both +morally and legally belong!" + +His voice had taken on a new tone and we looked at each other in +astonishment. + +"Then this paper----" began Peaches. + +"Was for an extreme emergency only," replied Sandro. "I have never had +occasion to use it before. But to-night I may need to, because I'm +going to give up my job. If the police come I shall let them in. I can't +go on any longer because of--you!" + +She went to him then, and we turned our heads away. It was later, when, +still uninterrupted by the police, we were enjoying a breakfast of the +groceries which the duke had brought in, that we learned the rest of the +tale. + +It seems that both Sandro and his brother, Leonardo, had a passion for +art, a natural inheritance from their father. And indignant at the +spoliation of Italy by wealthy foreigners they had determined to recover +for Italy every object of art upon which they could lay their hands that +had been illegally smuggled out of the country, by unscrupulous foreign +capitalists. + +"I was the more adept," said Sandro, "and so my brother has for years +acted merely as a sort of curator for the originals until means could be +found to place them on public view again. He has them at Monteventi, +where he has lived a very retired life by preference. He is a sort of +hermit at best, and it was at his desire that I assumed the title. + +"At first the whole scheme seemed nothing but a lark. I was wonderfully +successful and I cannot, I do not now believe that I have done anything +but right in recovering these treasures from those thieves! I was deeply +involved in a mesh of appearances when I met you, Alicia. It was too +late to clear my heels without taking the International Secret Service +into my confidence. That I felt I could not do; I had dedicated my life +to the job, you see, and so I ran away from you. Then the war came. When +I met Dick and heard of you I thought you had forgotten--as you ought! +Peaches, I am a miserable adventurer--I haven't a penny in the world +beyond a tiny income which my brother shares and which we have existed +on all these years. You see, my robberies have never netted me a +shilling." + +"I should worry!" Peaches remarked. + +"You ought to!" he admonished her. "Good Lord, when I found you were +going to be married----" + +"And so I am going to be!" declared Peaches. "Sandro, you are a Dago +nut, but I get you perfectly. And I'm going to keep you this time. If +you will promise to get a more usual job I don't care how poor we are, +only if it's all the same to you I would like to get married right after +we wash these dishes. Pa may be closing in on us, and I'd like to have +matters cinched before he arrives on the scene." + +"Great Scott!" said Sandro. "Do you mean it?" + +"I said it!" replied Peaches. "Please, Sandy, don't make me ask you +twice!" + +"But your poor father will be furious!" I protested. "And you'll have no +bridesmaids or anything else!" + +"Well, I don't know just how the law will act about your other affairs +when the truth comes out," commented Dicky, "but I will say that Pa Pegg +will have a hard time prying the wife of an Italian subject away from +him." + +"Will I stop being an American when I marry you, Sandy?" cried Peaches, +showing the first extreme symptoms of excitement which she had evidenced +as yet. + +"Yes. But not for long!" he replied. "I want to come back to this, my +mother's country--and stay. And when I am a citizen you'll be one again, +you know!" + +And so it was that it turned out to be a good thing that I had worn my +best hat, after all. Because I had never been a bridesmaid before, and +the feathers hadn't come out of curl after all. In point of fact the +curl stayed in remarkably. I even noticed it after the steamer bearing +the bride and groom had sailed and I went to the newspapers to insert +the official notice of the wedding. There was a little mirror over the +window and I noticed particularly. + +And when this social duty was done I made Dicky Talbot drive me right to +a hotel and sent for Mr. Pegg. I was fearfully afraid, and so was Dicky, +bless the dear boy's heart. But he went, as was his duty; and I waited, +as was mine. No one can ever say a Talbot was a coward! + + + + +XVIII + + +It was almost two months later before the traditional bravery of my +family was really put to a supreme test, however. All that had gone +before--the terrible publicity which followed upon Peaches' elopement, +the escape with her husband to foreign shores and his official "pardon," +the international complications which this involved and my own public +identification with the whole affair--was as nothing to face when +compared with the emotion which assailed me upon that late June day when +I stood alone upon the threshold of my father's house in Boston, and +rang the newly polished door bell. + +True, I had lived much in the past six and one half years, and might +justly consider myself ripe in the experience gleaned therefrom. Without +doubt my worldly knowledge was far beyond that of my elder sister, and +yet nothing in my entire career caused me to experience such memories or +cost me such effort as did the ringing of that bell. + +Not that there was anything in the least alarming about the aspect of +Chestnut Street itself. Quite to the contrary, its neat brick houses +with their scoured limestone steps and carefully trimmed window boxes +were peculiarly restful to the eye, to the spirit. The sheltering elm +trees were in their finest plumage of delicate green, the destroying +beetle being still at bay. The feather brick of the sidewalk was warmly +colorful and quaint, and a flock of grackles foraged noisily in the +gutter. It was indeed a street of peaceful beauty--unchanged after all +this stormy interlude of the great war and the first turbulent months of +reconstruction. All was as I had left it. Only I was changed. + +And yet not so changed but that I felt the old childish fear of outraged +authority upon me as I found myself about to face my sister Euphemia. +The essence of her chaste personality seemed to rush out at me like a +cooling wind to chill the ardor of my greeting even before I made my +presence known--before I was even sure that she was at home. + +For I had sent no word of my coming, wishing to take her unaware, and so +surprise her perchance into some expression of warmth. Of course her +ignoring of my letters and gifts was not exactly what might be called a +hopeful sign. And still, hope I did, the while I feared. But after all +she could do no more than turn me out, and it had been my duty to come. +At any rate she could not deny this, and so at length gathering my +forces in a mighty effort and determining to try to be strong in my +consciousness of right, and not allow her to get the better of me the +way she always used to in the old days, I finally rang the bell. + +My heart pounded audibly as I did so, though I scarcely know just what I +expected would happen when the door opened. Goodness knows I had time +enough to calm down before it did--and during the wait I had ample +opportunity for observing the changes which had been made in the home of +my father. + +It had been newly painted, for one thing, and the rotting column of the +porch which had so long distressed Euphemia had been replaced by a sound +one. Moreover, the stable was in repair, and, if I could credit my +senses, in use. The patch of lawn was neat and trim, and the glimpse +which I got of the garden betrayed the hand of a hired man--a +first-class hired man. In the parlor windows hung new lace curtains of a +most elegant design. Altogether the effect was at once prosperous and +dignified, and glad tears came into my eyes as I realized that this was +the fruit of my labors! For this, the substantial restoration of the +house which had been my dear father's pride and joy but undoubtedly +rather jerry-built in the beginning, had been restored to its pristine +glory by the labor of my--well, by my labor! + +What a beautiful thought! How it exalted me! And dear Euphemia had a +comfortable and aristocratic though virginal old age to look forward to +here in a house which was henceforth to be her very own, secured in it +through my bounty. What an exquisite appreciation of the virtue of +generosity was mine at that moment! How glad I was that she wouldn't +have a single thing to say to me for which I would not have a mighty +tangible comeback! + +And then just as I had reached this high peek of enthusiastic pleasure +in the rewarding power of good deeds--especially good deeds that cost +only a small portion of a handsome income--just at this point in my +reflections I heard a slow footstep making laggard response to my +ringing, and at once my heart sank into my walkrite shoes--for I would +not have dared appear in French heels--and my hands trembled in their +silk gloves. Was it Euphemia herself coming to admit the wanderer? Had +she grown so feeble in six and one half years that her step was slow and +halting? I feared to look as the door slowly opened. Yet look I must and +did. + +It was an enormous colored woman. + +"Yass, Ise coming," she was beginning, when suddenly she recognized me, +and her broad face lighted in a grin which extended from ear to ear. + +"Lordy, if it ain't Miss Free!" she cried. "Ain't changed nothin' +a-tall! My lawsy--where you-all come from, Miss Free?" + +"I'm just from the train," I replied, stepping gingerly into the hall. +"Surely you are not Galadia?" + +"I sho' am!" she said. "You didn' spek I wuz gwine be a pickaninny no +mo', did you, Miss Free?" + +Of course this was exactly what I had expected--a +pickaninny,--fourteen-year-old Galadia, short dress, long apron and all. +Indeed not to find her so was a distinct shock. + +"I'm afraid I did," I admitted truthfully. + +"Well, bless yo' heart, Ise got fo' pickaninnies of ma own!" she +exclaimed amazingly. "Three triplets and one single!" + +"Galadia!" I exclaimed. "And you are still working here. Why didn't you +write me you had married!" + +"Well, dat no-count nigger what Ah married wiv--he spen' so much time in +de jail Ah reckoned Ah couldn't afford to lose all dem handsome single +wages you done been sendin' me." + +"I see!" I replied. "And now tell me--is my sister at home?" + +"Ain't home yet!" she said. "Reckon you didn't tell her you was comin'? +No! Well, jes' yo' set in de parlor an I fotch you a nice cup tea!" + +Despite my protest the good soul hustled off to attend to my imaginary +wants, and I stood looking about me dazedly. The change in the interior +of the house was even greater than the external alterations, and not +nearly so pleasing. + +The quaint old wallpapers were gone, and in their place were cartridge +papers--new and drab. This was bad enough, but when I caught sight of +mission furniture in gray oak, and a player-piano encumbering our +erstwhile rosewood drawing-room, my blood turned cold with horror. It +was all new, all expensive, frightfully snappy, if I may borrow the +term, and too, too perfectly dreadful! If this had been done to my +mother's parlor what had become of the rest of the house? I trembled to +think! But before I had opportunity to explore further the noise of a +high-powered car stopping at the curb outside the door distracted my +attention. + +Through the lace of the new curtains I could see a slim woman in some +sort of uniform, as she dismounted from the driver's seat. The car was +one of those low-hung, long-chassised affairs with tool box and tires on +the running board, solid wheels, no top and no windshield--a +tremendously sporty affair. The chauffeuress wore heavy dust goggles and +thick gloves, and over the smart uniform, the skirt of which did not +quite cover her knees, a linen duster was worn rakishly. + +Whistling a little tune of the type popularly known as jazz she shut off +the motor and came up the front steps, letting herself in with a +latchkey. By this time I was fairly overcome with curiosity as to who +this young house guest of my sister's might be, and to my great delight +she came directly into the drawing-room. When she caught sight of me she +stopped dead in her tracks. + +"Good Lord! Freedom Talbot!" she exclaimed. Then she removed the goggles +with one hand and held out the other like a frank boy. + +"Glad to see you, old thing!" she said heartily. + +It was Euphemia! + +Somehow or other I tottered to a chair and sank into it, calling feebly +for "Water! Water!" + +"Water! Stuff and nonsense!" said Euphemia. "A little brandy is what you +need! Here you are!" + +She held something to my lips and gratefully, but expecting at any +moment to awaken from my dream, I drank. + +"I carry it in my emergency kit," Euphemia was explaining. "Need it +sometimes in my work with the boys!" + +"With the boys?" I asked feebly. + +If she had forthwith produced, like Galadia, a set of triplets and a +single, I should not have been more astonished. In point of fact I was +not capable of further astonishment because she had already taken all +the astonishment I had. + +"Oh! I forgot. You wouldn't know, of course!" she said briskly. +"Reconstruction work. I'm on the ambulance--take 'em out for a ride from +the hospital and all that. Well, how are you now? Better?" + +"I'm as much better as I ever shall be after seeing you in the costume, +Euphemia!" I said severely. "I'm surprised at you, I really am!" + +"You have nothing on me!" she retorted. "I'm as surprised at you as you +could possibly be at me. Look at the opportunities you have had--look at +the places you have been--the money you have earned--and then look at +the clothes you have on!" + +"What is the matter with my clothes?" I gasped, outraged at her. But +laughingly Euphemia got to her feet and coming over to me lifted my +reticule. + +"Same old bag!" she said. "Full of junk, I suppose! Same old +dress--actually the same one, I do believe! And that curled fringe. +Really, my dear, at your age they are ridiculous!" + +"At my age!" I fairly squeaked with indignation. + +"Yes--you are far too young for them!" she went on calmly. "As for those +gloves and those shoes! Really, Free, it's too much! I don't understand +it, really!" + +This was more than human nature could endure. Either her brain had gone +or mine had. My clothes, of course, were in many ways a concession to +the feelings of the Euphemia I had left behind me. This new creature +with her carefully massaged old face, her upright figure, her perfect +hearing, was a stranger to me; but a rather splendid, competent +stranger, I was forced to admit. + +"Euphy!" I cried in despair. "Will you not confide in me what has come +over you? What has effected this amazing transformation? You owe me some +explanation! I--I don't know what to think!" + +She regarded me with a look that was suddenly more serious. + +"I suppose it all does seem a bit queer to you," she conceded, throwing +herself into one of the hideous new chairs with a boyish abandon. "I've +got used to myself, you see, and I forget. I've been so frightfully busy +all through the war too. I suppose the war and being in the motor corps +rather waked me up a bit. The war and Uncle Joshua's money." + +"Uncle Joshua!" I exclaimed. "I didn't know we had an Uncle Joshua!" + +"Well, we had, and he left me all his fortune unconditionally, about two +weeks after you left home," said Euphemia. "I never wrote you, +because--well, your showing all that grit, going off your own bat and +all, made me frightfully jealous. Made me feel so useless. And I +determined I'd make something out of myself before I got too old. And, +old dear, with the masseuse I've got and the good time I'm having, I +expect to live to be a hundred. You see I went to a course of lectures +the first month you were away. On subconscious inhibitions and +suppressed desires, they were. I bought the ticket with the first of +Uncle Joshua's money. I found out at these lectures that all I had to do +to be a success was to be myself. I at once started in to be +myself--and--here I am!" + +"And I slaved like a--a prisoner!" I sniffed, "and sent you money to +squander in this--this outrageous life you are leading!" + +"There is nothing in the least outrageous about my life!" she snapped +with some of her old-time asperity. "It's far less outrageous than my +old, selfish, self-centered life was. Anybody but an old-fashioned woman +like yourself would see that. And as for your money, every cent of it +has been spent upon the maintenance of a motor-ambulance corps--in +France, during the war, and here in Boston in reconstruction since!" + +"It must be admitted that I find the news very gratifying," I said after +a short silence. "I am sorry I was so short. But I am upset--fearfully +upset. I suppose--indeed I believe that you are living as you think +right. From my standpoint I think it most unwomanly. However, I want to +be friends. I wish to make this visit a success. I have some other +shoes, Euphemia, really I have--quite high-heeled ones. And I only keep +to my curls because Mr. Pegg, my husband, admires them!" + +That fixed her! I noted with satisfaction the look of blank amazement +which spread over her face. + +"Yes, my dear!" I said. "Your masculine ways may be all very well for +you. But they will never catch you a husband. For my part, nothing could +appear sweeter than to go gradually down life's sunset path hand-in-hand +with a beloved partner as I am doing--and the fact that the five-carat +stone on the left one is a real diamond does not make me any the less +happy!" Here I withdrew my despised silk gloves and displayed the +beautiful solitaire which Mr. Markheim had given to Peaches and which my +dear husband had taken off the banker's hands at cost. + +"And we are going to live in golden California," I went on. "Of course +the East is all very well once in a while for a change, but for living +give me the West. You ought to see California, Euphemia. No rain, no +snow, no bad roads, no labor troubles and no high cost of living! And +the delight of all the flowers you want--such blossoms--blossoms as you +have never even dreamed of, all with hardly any cultivation! Such +beaches, Euphemia! Such lovely houses! We never have to heat them in the +winter, except occasionally, you know." + +"Perhaps I'll motor out some day!" murmured Euphemia, plainly awed. + +"Oh, do!" I cried. "Gasoline is only nineteen cents in California. We +grow our own, you know!" + +"Must be pretty nice!" said my sister, now almost thoroughly cowed. I've +noticed that is usually the effect it has upon the listener when they +get me started about the Coast. + +"Oh, you'd love it!" I went on enthusiastically. "You know you +Easterners never see the real California fruit. It's so much larger and +finer than that which you get. Of course there is only about enough of +it for home consumption, so we eat it ourselves. We couldn't supply the +demand it would create. The California farmer, my dear, is the only +farmer in the world who consumes his own best products. And the life is +so varied--boating, swimming, fishing, hunting, tennis, tobogganing at +Truckee in the winter! Everything!" + +"And so you are going to live on a ranch and become a +regular--er--vegetable!" exclaimed Euphemia, apparently unable to think +of anything more contemptuous. + +"Well, Mr. Pegg says I am pretty wild stock," I admitted, blushing, "but +he hopes that by cultivating me he can tame me. And I'm sure I hope he +will!" + +THE END + + + + +Popular Copyright Novels +_AT MODERATE PRICES_ + + +Ask Your Dealer for a Complete List of +A. L. Burt Company's Popular Copyright Fiction + + * * * * * + + =Adventures of Jimmie Dale, The.= By Frank L. Packard. + =Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.= By A. Conan Doyle. + =Affinities, and Other Stories.= By Mary Roberts Rinehart. + =After House, The.= By Mary Roberts Rinehart. + =Against the Winds.= By Kate Jordan. + =Ailsa Paige.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Also Ran.= By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds. + =Amateur Gentleman, The.= By Jeffery Farnol. + =Anderson Crow, Detective.= By George Barr McCutcheon. + =Anna, the Adventuress.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Anne's House of Dreams.= By L. M. Montgomery. + =Anybody But Anne.= By Carolyn Wells. + =Are All Men Alike, and The Lost Titian.= By Arthur Stringer. + =Around Old Chester.= By Margaret Deland. + =Ashton-Kirk, Criminologist.= By John T. McIntyre. + =Ashton-Kirk, Investigator.= By John T. McIntyre. + =Ashton-Kirk, Secret Agent.= By John T. McIntyre. + =Ashton-Kirk, Special Detective.= By John T. McIntyre. + =Athalie.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =At the Mercy of Tiberius.= By Augusta Evans Wilson. + =Auction Block, The.= By Rex Beach. + =Aunt Jane of Kentucky.= By Eliza C. Hall. + =Awakening of Helena Richie.= By Margaret Deland. + + =Bab: a Sub-Deb.= By Mary Roberts Rinehart. + =Bambi.= By Marjorie Benton Cooke. + =Barbarians.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Bar 20.= By Clarence E. Mulford. + =Bar 20 Days.= By Clarence E. Mulford. + =Barrier, The.= By Rex Beach. + =Bars of Iron, The.= By Ethel M. Dell. + =Beasts of Tarzan, The.= By Edgar Rice Burroughs. + =Beckoning Roads.= By Jeanne Judson. + =Belonging.= By Olive Wadsley. + =Beloved Traitor, The.= By Frank L. Packard. + =Beloved Vagabond, The.= By Wm. J. Locke. + =Beltane the Smith.= By Jeffery Farnol. + =Betrayal, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Beulah.= (Ill. Ed.) By Augusta J. Evans. + =Beyond the Frontier.= By Randall Parrish. + =Big Timber.= By Bertrand W. Sinclair. + =Black Bartlemy's Treasure.= By Jeffery Farnol. + =Black Is White.= By George Barr McCutcheon. + =Blacksheep! Blacksheep!= By Meredith Nicholson. + =Blind Man's Eyes, The.= By Wm. Mac Harg and Edwin Balmer. + =Boardwalk, The.= By Margaret Widdemer. + =Bob Hampton of Placer.= By Randall Parrish. + =Bob, Son of Battle.= By Alfred Olivant. + =Box With Broken Seals, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Boy With Wings, The.= By Berta Ruck. + =Brandon of the Engineers.= By Harold Bindloss. + =Bridge of Kisses, The.= By Berta Ruck. + =Broad Highway, The.= By Jeffery Farnol. + =Broadway Bab.= By Johnston McCulley. + =Brown Study, The.= By Grace S. Richmond. + =Bruce of the Circle A.= By Harold Titus. + =Buccaneer Farmer, The.= By Harold Bindloss. + =Buck Peters, Ranchman.= By Clarence E. Mulford. + =Builders, The.= By Ellen Glasgow. + =Business of Life, The.= By Robert W. Chambers. + + =Cab of the Sleeping Horse, The.= By John Reed Scott. + =Cabbage and Kings.= By O. Henry. + =Cabin Fever.= By B. M. Bower. + =Calling of Dan Matthews, The.= By Harold Bell Wright. + =Cape Cod Stories.= By Joseph C. Lincoln. + =Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper.= By James A. Cooper. + =Cap'n Dan's Daughter.= By Joseph C. Lincoln. + =Cap'n Erl.= By Joseph C. Lincoln. + =Cap'n Jonah's Fortune.= By James A. Cooper. + =Cap'n Warren's Wards.= By Joseph C. Lincoln. + =Chinese Label, The.= By J. Frank Davis. + =Christine of the Young Heart.= By Louise Breintenbach Clancy. + =Cinderella Jane.= By Marjorie B. Cooke. + =Cinema Murder, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =City of Masks, The.= By George Barr McCutcheon. + =Cleek of Scotland Yard.= By T. W. Hanshew. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of It Pays to Smile, by Nina Wilcox Putnam + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42772 *** |