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diff --git a/old/55816-8.txt b/old/55816-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 97f2d6b..0000000 --- a/old/55816-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10967 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bird in the Box, by Mary Mears - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Bird in the Box - -Author: Mary Mears - -Release Date: October 26, 2017 [EBook #55816] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIRD IN THE BOX *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines - - - - - - - - - THE BIRD IN - THE BOX - - - BY MARY MEARS - - - Author of "The Breath of The Runners" - - - - TORONTO - WILLIAM BRIGGS - - - - - _All rights reserved, including that of translation - into foreign languages including the Scandinavian_ - - Copyright, 1910, by - FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY - - October, 1910 - - - - -To - -THE MEMORY OF MY MOTHER - -"NELLY WILDWOOD" - -THIS BOOK IS DEVOTEDLY INSCRIBED - - - - -AUTHOR'S PREFACE - -The soul of man at birth is immured in a prison. It is like a bird -singing in a cage, heedless of the bars that confine it. But later the -soul knows its bondage. - -Panting with a desire for liberty, man tries in two ways to attain it, -through his ability to labour, through his capacity to feel. - -He has need of freedom, hence the poem, the ship, the engine, the -thousand cunning and gigantic structures for annihilating space, for -chaining the forces of nature. - -He has need of freedom, hence the universal outpouring of his -affections, the glory and the emancipation of his highest love. - -June, 1910 - - - - - CONTENTS - - - BOOK I - - CHAPTER - - I The Long Journey and the Longer One - II The Waiting of Women - III The Sun - IV Amid Bleak Surroundings - V The Barnacle - VI The Figure-head Gains an Admirer - VII Concerning Alexander Emil St. Ives - VIII In the Cause of Science - IX The Old Fascination - X In Which a Kiss Is Given and Regretted - XI At the Old Burying Point - XII The Migratory Instinct - - - BOOK II - - I The Street of Masts - II Emily Short--Toy-Maker - III Simon Hart to the Rescue - IV The Unexpected Happens - V Showing that Sacrifices Are not Always Appreciated - VI Despair and Desolation - VII Stop--Look--Listen - VIII A Woman's Caprice; A Father's Repentance; - A Lover's Self-Conquest; A Girl's Pity - IX Rachel--Simon - X The Bird in the Box - - - BOOK III - - I The House in Washington Square - II Continuation of the History of a Genius - III The Confession - IV How is it Possible to Stop Loving - V Love by the Sea - VI The Insistent Past - VII In Which John Smith Unburdens His Conscience - VIII The Place of the Statues - IX The Energy of Being - X In the Garden - XI Flames - XII Love Confronts Despair - XIII The Escape - - - - -BOOK I - - - -THE BIRD IN THE BOX - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE LONG JOURNEY AND THE LONGER ONE - -The new vessel, gay with swelling scarves of bunting, ornamented from -stem to stern with floating flags that kissed the breeze, rested easily -on the stocks. The ways under her had been greased, the space before -her in the river cleared. High on the prow her name _Merida_ shone in -gold letters. Every eye was upon her. - -Grimy faces looked from shop windows. The windows of the bending-shed, -the blackboard-shed, the pipe-cutting shop, the sheet-iron shop, the -joiner-shop, the brass-foundry,--all were filled with countenances -blackened by labour. Similar countenances peered from the masts of -vessels still in the slips, and from the heights of the immense -travelling cranes and floating derricks. These gigantic and uncouth -machines seemed to await the launch with an eagerness of their own. -Had not each, in its own way, helped to fashion her--this marvel of a -new ship? - -The contrivances for drilling, chipping, caulking, blowing -rivet-heating fires seemed to hold their breath, so unwonted was their -stillness at this hour; while the mammoth pontoon, whose duty was still -to be performed,--that of transporting the eighty-ton boiler a distance -of one hundred feet and depositing it, a living heart, within the -vessel,--the pontoon seemed to be lost in speculation. - -The stocks gave no sign. Amid all the excitement of the yard, these -great mother-arms of wood awaited stoically the instant when they must -release their burden. All the morning a swarm of workmen had been busy -loosening their tenacious hold on the new vessel. - -"She'll go out at the turn of the tide," remarked a reporter; "that -chap over there with an eyeglass will give the signal. He's launched -over a hundred vessels, and never a hitch." - -The newspaper artist to whom these remarks were addressed, scarcely -heeded them. He was busy with his sketch. But an old man, standing -near, caught the words and shivered ecstatically. - -"She's a Ward liner to be used in the fruit trade between New York and -Havana," continued the reporter. "Look, there comes the launching -party now," he cried. "The messenger boy has the flowers,--and that's -the girl who's to do the christening! She's the granddaughter of the -owner. Rather good looking, don't you think?" - -The old man turned squarely about. His stick shook in his hand. -Excitement gripped him by the throat. He smiled broadly. The girl, -accompanied by a bevy of friends, came forward. She was a slight -thing, dressed in grey, and had about her neck a white feather boa, -which fluttered in the breeze. Escorted by a man wearing a high hat, -who helped her over the obstructions, she approached the new vessel, -lifting blue eyes to the imposing height. A platform, reached by a -slant of stairway and bright with red, white and blue bunting, had been -built against the boat's bow. The girl's slim fingers grasped the -railing, and followed by the rest of the party, she lightly ascended -the steps. - -Immediately there was a commotion. A score or more workmen, like -elves, swarmed beneath the immense swelling sides of the boat, and with -rhythmical strokes of sledge hammers, drove in wedges and removed the -long pieces of timber placed in a slanting position against the ship. -Thus lifted, the _Merida_ rested completely on the greased ways. Only -one log now restrained the six hundred feet of her impatient length. -Was it the mother's lingering hold? - -Red below the water-line, black above, her new anchor turned to silver -in the sunlight, the _Merida_ was without blemish, save for the spots -left when the shores were hauled down; and these spots workmen, -carrying long-handled brushes, touched rapidly with paint. At last all -was in readiness and the dull sound of a saw passing through wood could -be heard. The silence grew so deep that the word given by the man -wearing the eyeglass was heard by the spectators. He spoke quietly; -the saw passed through the log. The girl with the fluttering boa was -seen to raise her hand; there was a shattering of glass, and with one -plunge, one impulse of superb motion, the new ship slid down the ways. -Swiftly, smoothly, she glided forward and the laughing water seemed to -rise to meet her. - -Instantly from an hundred throats a shout went up. The boats watching -from the river began to whistle, the locomotives on the surrounding -railroads shrieked shrilly. The workmen threw their caps into the air -and followed as fast as they could along the line of the deserted -stocks. The girl in the white boa waved her handkerchief. But the -boats on the river had their own way. Shrilly, loudly, continuously, -they tooted; while those still in the slips,--double-turreted monitors -and squat battleships,--without bells, without whistles, without -cannon,--by the very eagerness with which they seemed to await their -turn, added mystically to the commotion. - -_Free_! This was the one thought expressed on every side. It was as -if man, by the intensity of his craving to escape bonds, communicated -this desire to the objects of his creation. The impulse of the -launching had carried the new ship to the middle of the stream, and -there, hailed by the enthusiasm of the shore and the river, she -floated, half-turning as if looking back coquettishly at the land; -while over her a flock of birds, little specks in air, circled in an -abandonment of freedom. - -Amid all the tumult only one figure had remained without stirring. The -old man with the stick in his hand was a stranger; until that day he -had never been seen in the place. Yet, at the moment of the launch, he -alone reached the highest pitch of exultation of which the human spirit -is capable. - -No longer conscious of his body, he laughed while great tears rolled -down his cheeks and lost themselves in his beard. Suddenly, however, -he looked at the ways covered with tallow which lay in folds -now,--wrinkled like the flesh of the very old,--at the stocks lifting -empty arms to the sky; and a change came over him. The sparkles died -in his eyes, the eyes themselves seemed to sink back in his head. He -lifted his hand. Then, after a wavering second, the hand fell. - -"Ships," he quavered, speaking half to himself, half, it would seem, to -the deserted stocks, "ships is like sons. There's no use clutchin' 'em -or hangin' on to 'em. It's their nature to go exploitin' over the -world. All we can say is, the Lord bless 'em, the Lord reveal his -mighty wonders to 'em. Amen." - -After this quaint speech, his spirit, which was the eternal youth -within him, revived. Chuckling to himself, old David Beckett started -on his homeward journey to Pemoquod Point on the Maine coast, a day's -and a night's travel, by water and rail. His pilgrimage to -Philadelphia, from every point of view but his own, had proved -unsuccessful. - -Five months before, David's son, Thomas Beckett, had disappeared from -the Point and had gone to Philadelphia to work in the shipyards. -Beyond the bald statement of this fact, which he left scrawled on the -back of an envelope, young Thomas had never written a word home, though -once he had sent a draft for a small sum of money. His was an -impatient, gloomy spirit, easily depressed and easily excited. Life, -indeed, either blazed in him like a devouring flame, or died down to a -flicker which left him frozen and taciturn, with never a word on his -thick, handsome lips, and no feeling in his heart, save, apparently, -that of a fierce caged thing. In this mood when at home he had been -wont to go about for weeks, leaving the care of the lobster pots -entirely to his father, while he nursed his insensate wrath. Then, -suddenly, the light would come. He would set about his work with -savage joy, and with painful eagerness would read every book that came -to his hand, from the Bible to a ten cent translation of a French -novel. He would sing, he would lay plans. It was in this mood that he -had gone to Philadelphia. When, however, his father followed him, -bearing urgent news concerning the young fellow's wife, Thomas had -again disappeared. Two weeks before, so old David learned, he had -shipped as a sailor on an out-going vessel he had helped to build. But -the father understood. - -"I tell ye, Zary," he proclaimed the following evening in Old Harbour, -as he clambered into the cart of his friend Zarah Patch, blandly -ignoring the question in the other's face, "Philadelphy's changed since -the days when I used to work in the car shops at t'other end of the -town. There wa'n't any sech vessels built then. Double-turreted -monitors and iron-clad battleships and cruisers that blaze with lights -at night jest like floating hotels, all gilt furniture and white paint. -Times has changed. Why some of them ships, when they was finished, -they told me, would have as many as four engines apiece a-beatin' -inside of 'em, to say nothin' of cylinders and twin-screws; and the -fightin' ships would jest bristle with breach-loading rifles and -Gatling guns. Think of the commotion they'll make when they're once -finished, all them ships!" he concluded gleefully. "Yet there they -stood, each in its stocks, quiet as lambs, helpless as babes unborn." - -As David uttered the last words, Zarah gave him a sidelong glance, -though he made no comment other than the sharp flap he gave the reins -on the mare's back. He was not given to speech. Zarah owned a bit of -ground on which he raised vegetables which he delivered to the summer -hotel. He also carried what travellers there were from Old Harbour -dock to Pemoquod. To-night David, the lobsterman, was his one -passenger. - -It was about seven o'clock of an evening in late summer, and across -that bleak, barren bit of land the sun was just setting. As they drove -along, it sparkled on the window panes of the houses and lit up the -cross on the Catholic church; beyond the village it seemed to confine -itself to the rocks by the wayside. It turned them a dull soft gold. -A strong salt breeze was blowing. - -Bony with boulders, the land reached like an eager arm into the sea, as -if it would obtain somewhat. But beyond the dories of the lobstermen -clinging close in shore and visible as the road ascended to a slight -eminence, nothing told of any garnering whatsoever. On every side were -wastes of long brownish grass, low shrubs and clumps of pines, that -stood up stark by the roadside. Beneath the dark shade of the trees -mushrooms and little clumps of shell were embedded in moss. - -Of farms, strictly speaking, there were none, though the houses that -revealed themselves occasionally as the road dipped and turned, had -each its poor attempt at a garden. It was frankly a land of bleak -striving, bordering closely on want, of roistering storms and sweet, -enveloping fogs. - -As David Beckett talked he raised his voice to a piping treble. Ships -and the building of ships, this was his theme. And exalted beyond time -and reality, he gave himself up to it, so that at last even Zarah was -influenced. Its poetry began to work in his slower brain and his lips -relaxed into a smile. - -As the sun neared the horizon, the wind increased, and in every -direction the shrubs bent before it with a writhing movement; and as -far as the eye could see, an agitation ran through the coarse grass. -From the sea came the steady moaning of the surf. It was as if the -earth emitted heavy sighs; but for these two ancient men the burdens -that weigh upon human life had ceased to exist. - -The house before which they presently stopped was a gaunt frame -structure with scarcely a trace of whitewash remaining upon its -clapboards. Cold and exposed it turned its front door away from the -road with New England reserve. A lilac bush grew under one of the -windows. With every breath of wind it sawed against the sill. As -David possessed himself of his carpet-bag and turned in at the gate -with a wave of the hand, the sun, which until that moment had shone -full upon this window, disappeared. Shadows and the old man entered -the house together. - -Flushed like Ulysses returned from his adventures, old David deposited -his grip-sack in the entry and then cautiously approached his -daughter-in-law's room. She lay there in a great bed with four posts, -and in her thin fingers, she held a leaf of the lilac bush--a leaf like -a green heart. - -The old man peered in at her, pursing up his lips. He thought that his -story would "liven Laviny up," and he was enjoying the prospect of -relating it, when she turned toward him. She half lifted herself on -her elbow. Her face was ghastly, her eyes shining. She looked past -him; then fixed her eyes wildly on his face. But he shook his head at -her and began speaking with soft jocularity. - -"No, I didn't bring him, I couldn't; let me tell you how it was;" and -he advanced smiling into the room. "Day after day as Thomas seen that -ship he was at work on, grow up taller in the stocks; as he fitted them -pieces of red tin unto her sides,--for Thomas was what they call a -'fitter-up', Laviny,--he had his thoughts. And you an' me, knowin' -him, we know pretty well what those thoughts were. The long and short -of it was, he couldn't stand bein' tied by the leg no longer. He -thought how she would glide through the water, that great ship, of the -lands she'd visit, of--Laviny!" he cried sharply, as with a gasp, she -fell back on the pillow. - -"You hadn't ought to act so," he expostulated; "you know he wa'n't -marked the way he was fer nothin' with that little spot on his left -cheek under the eye. His mother marked him that way before ever he was -born, and we often spoke of its bein' jest the shape of the continent -of Africky; and it's to Africky--" - -A hoarse rattle drowned his words. He peered more closely at her with -his aged eyes. And at that moment a faint thin wail came up from the -other side of the bed. - -He seized her arm while his tears fell on her wrist, which never -quivered under their hot touch. "Laviny!" he cried, "Oh, he hadn't -ought to have done it! Don't leave me alone with _it_--the little -one!" he shrieked. "Why didn't you tell me it was here? Oh, Laviny, -Laviny girl!" - -But Lavina Beckett paid no heed. She had embarked for a stranger port -and over stormier seas than any her husband had dared. The sound of -the old man's sobs brought a woman to the door. Her figure surged with -fat. One of her teeth projected when her face was in repose. She -hastily approached the bed, but even she was awed. - -"Don't make sech a noise," she said finally. "It ain't no use. You -can't call her back now. If you could've managed to bring _him_, it -would've been different likely. But you didn't. You never did manage, -I guess, to do anything you set out to." - -But the old man paid no heed. He sat with his hands on his knees, his -head dropped forward, inefficient, old, broken down by grief, and a -thin low wail for the second time broke the silence. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE WAITING OF WOMEN - -Lavina Beckett lay in the front room of the old house, and people -passing glanced askance at the closed blinds. Recent death inhabits a -place more completely than life, and Lavina's personality seemed to -lurk in the panels of the grey door, in the branches of the lilac bush, -and even extended to the road. - -All through the day neighbours came to offer condolences. Then, -shrewd-faced, with the marks of child-bearing, hard work and a harsh -climate in every line, these respectable wives of lobstermen took their -way home in little groups. In the house they had borne themselves -somewhat awkwardly, and once outside, their pity for the dead woman -appeared tinged with resentment. Little was known about her at the -Point. - -It was after nightfall when a woman wearing a shawl over her head, -knocked timidly at old David's door. A boy of six years clung to her -skirts. When she was admitted, she slipped furtively into the room of -death, and the boy, with difficulty restraining his tears, waited for -her in the kitchen. He was afraid of the fat woman with her face bound -round with a handkerchief, who was washing dishes at the sink. She -made a great clatter. When she stepped to a cupboard, the candle threw -an exaggerated portrait of her on the opposite wall. The ends of the -cloth around her face stood up in two points, like horns; from between -her flabby cheeks, projected a nose like a beak. A fork in her hand -became, to his gaze, the size of a pitchfork. Once, when she passed -near him, she held back her skirts, muttering under her breath; and he -saw the same aversion in her eyes that he knew to be in his own, save -that in her look there was a mingling of scorn and in his, a mingling -of fright. It was a strange look to be directed toward a child, but it -was one with which the boy was familiar. Presently his mother -reappeared and they went out again. She walked very rapidly and now -and then she wiped her eyes with a corner of her apron. The boy had to -run to keep up with her. When they struck into a rugged path leading -to the lighthouse, he paused and looked back. - -Under the light of a full moon the Beckett house shone with a quite -peculiar radiance. And yes, there it was! as they had said. It stood -near the tumble-down cow-shed. The funeral was to take place in a -village some miles distant, and an early start in the morning was -necessary. The undertaker had gone, but the driver, with the hearse, -would remain the night. He was eating his supper now, waited upon by -the ugly woman. Meanwhile it stood out in the yard and the moonlight -glinted on the four sable urns that decorated its corners, and sparkled -on its glass sides and peeped between the black hangings without -hindrance. The moon, indeed, to the child's thought, seemed to be as -curious as he. Beads of perspiration started to his forehead, and, -grasping his mother's skirt, he stumbled on at her side. - -As the boy had pictured, in the Beckett kitchen the driver of the -hearse was eating his supper, washing it down with a drink of whiskey. -Then he disposed himself as best he could on two chairs, and fell -asleep. Nora Gage finished the preserves the man had left on his -plate, ate a quarter of a pie and went to bed in a room conveniently -near the pantry. By eleven o'clock old David was alone. - -He entered the front room, and very softly approached the coffin. The -light from a candle wavered over the dead face. Leaning his elbow on -the coffin lid and his chin in his hand, old David inspected the face. -The first shock past, he wondered that he did not feel more poignant -sorrow, but there was something almost impersonal in Lavina's -expression. There were violet shadows under the eyes, and the lashes, -as they rested on the cheek, were somewhat separated. The small mouth -was closed rigidly, the cheeks showed hollows. Young as she was, her -delicate feminine countenance already bore upon it the world-old -legend--_The waiting of women_. The look did not belong to her -individually--twenty years of life could not have branded it there. It -was inherited from the first woman who had loved,--the first mother. -It was the woman-look, and David recognized it. But he was almost -seventy years old, and he sank into a chair and was soon nodding. - -The candle spluttered, and the faint significance of the woman's days -on earth for the last time blended confusedly with the silence, the -night, the wind blowing in the moonlit sedge-grass. When we bury the -body we cut off the last light of a jewel already dimmed by death. - -In life Lavina had borne about her a faint suggestion of learning; it -was said that on arriving at the Point she had brought with her a box -of books. Some of the neighbours believed that she had been a -schoolteacher; others that she had been reared by a relative who dealt -in books, since the volumes she brought were all new. But Lavina never -told them anything, and nothing was known about her, save that she came -from a village thirty miles distant, which was on no railroad. - -A gust of wind flickered the flame of the candle and a drop of tallow -fell on the coffin. - -Was it this supposed learning that had attracted Thomas Beckett, or the -coiled braids of hair, or the nose, the nostrils of which used to -expand slightly, as is the way with people who feel things keenly; or -was it, perhaps, the sensitive hands, crossed now so patiently? In any -case, whatever the attraction, it had ceased to hold Thomas after the -third month; and once more in the grip of his black mood, he had been -seen striding over the rocks, with the hair clinging to his forehead -and his eye glowing as if from drink; and finally came the night when -the old man and the young woman, both sleeping now so quietly, knew -that they were deserted. - -Again the draught from the window reduced the light of the candle to a -mere blue tongue, and a shadow fell across the woman's face. It -blotted out the lips which had been on the point of revealing their -tender secret when the blow fell; it still further shrouded the eyes, -which through the succeeding weary months gazing from the windows of -the alien house, had noted the rags of mist that went floating by and -vanished--like human hopes. It blotted out the hands, eloquent of -agony, heavy with ungiven caresses. For an instant the shadows -obliterated the whole slight frame that until recently had carried -beneath its heart another life. Suddenly the candle flame brightened, -and simultaneously a cry, small, sharp, almost impudent, broke the -silence. - -The old man started from his sleep. The cry was repeated. A smile so -triumphant that it was sly, spread itself across his wrinkled visage. -Seizing the candle which lit the room of death, he trotted into the -room of the creature just born. - -Outside, the hearse stood in the moonlight. And over yonder at the -lighthouse a boy tossed restlessly on the bed beside his mother. In -his imagination he still saw the hearse and it filled him with dull -questioning. Lifting himself, he laid a hand on the shoulder of his -drowsing parent. - -'Why were they going to take the woman away?' he asked. - -'Because--why because it was necessary.' - -'Were they going to put her in the ground? - -'Yes, that also was necessary.' - -'But wasn't it dark under the ground, and wouldn't she be afraid?' - -The mother sighed in her sleep. - -The boy regarded her for an instant. Then propping his head on his -hand, he fell to listening to the beat of the surf. Gradually his -fears ceased, for each silver-lipped wave seemed to be speaking not -alone to him, but to the dead woman. - -"_Rest, rest,_" they seemed to say, "_rest, rest._" - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE SUN - -Old David Beckett, though he never spoke on the subject, was haunted by -memories of a childhood passed amid scenes of refinement and wealth. -He had a hazy impression that his father had been a gentleman of local -distinction in a Canadian town. However, with his father's death had -come a change in the fortunes of the family. Its members had drifted -apart, and David himself, at the time scarcely more than a child, had -gone to Philadelphia. Year after year he had worked in the car shops -until the lead in the paint had affected his health. This break-down -had occurred after his wife's death, in his fiftieth year. Reduced in -strength he had come to the Point where one of the owners of the shops, -in recognition of his long and faithful service, had given him a little -house and a bit of land. This change David had welcomed, but it had -engendered in his son Thomas a brooding discontent which had increased -with the years. - -Brought up in Philadelphia until his tenth year, Thomas Beckett had -received a rudimentary training in the public schools, and this -training, after coming to the Point, he had managed to eke out with -haphazard reading. But the cheerless surroundings had fostered in him -a tendency to indulge fits of melancholy. Without visible cause, he -would become taciturn. When he was twenty-one his father urged him to -marry and settle down, but domestic life had small attraction for -Thomas, and it was a surprise to the old man when he finally acted on -the suggestion. At the time of his marriage the young lobsterman was -thirty years old, tall and broad shouldered, with bold intelligent eyes -gazing out from beneath heavy brows, and a moustached lip that, as he -spoke, lifted slightly, showing the tips of the white teeth. One raw -day he had sailed away from the Point with a cargo of lobsters, and a -fortnight later had returned with the meek and fragile Lavina. - -During the short period of her wedded life the young wife had -contributed to the house of the father and son an air of comfort. -Geraniums had bloomed at the windows and the curtains of the front room -had been kept white; all the beds had been covered with bright -patch-work quilts and the dishes had been washed as soon as used and -arranged in gleaming rows in the cupboard. But from the hour of -Thomas's desertion, Lavina had relaxed her care of the house. Now, -after her death, the change in it was complete. The curtains were -dingy, the plants dead, fish-heads from the dog's dish littered the -kitchen floor and flies buzzed about the rich messes Nora Gage was -constantly preparing for her own consumption. The deterioration in the -home suggested a picture by Hogarth. - -David Beckett was bewildered. He would have preferred absolute -solitude to the presence of Nora Gage, but the fat woman had -established herself with the intention of remaining and he was too old -and too ineffectual to know how to get rid of her. Often, from a -distance, he would stare at the house with a look of indecision, then, -with an oath, he would start on a rapid trot for the kitchen. But once -in the presence of the woman, his courage forsook him. With one glance -from her little crevice eyes, Nora dominated him. - -However, she had one virtue. Though she ignored the appeal of hanging -buttons and refused to patch his clothes, she fed him. For that -matter, it was her custom to feed every living thing that came under -her notice, the dog, the chickens, even flies. For the flies she had -been known to scatter sugar grains, leaning heavily on a substantial -elbow to watch the progress of the tiny meal. To old David's food she -gave especial attention. His teeth suggested isolated stumps in a -clearing; therefore she prepared soft foods for him, porridges and -soups, and, while he ate, she was wont to watch him. Her jaws would -move in sympathy and in profound contemplation she would even lick her -lips. - -On Sundays Nora rolled out of bed at an early hour, and, with her -prayer book clasped in her pudgy fingers and her too plump bust visibly -undulating, she proceeded by slow stages to Old Harbour, where she -attended both early mass and vespers in the ancient Catholic church. -This church was none too well thought of by the majority of the -townspeople, who in the latter years had turned Protestant. Though -placed solemnly in the very centre of the town, the edifice was -entirely nautical in character, and many were the sympathetic -quiverings of its bell when there was a storm off Pemoquod. It seemed -to be sounding a requiem for its invisible congregation of sailormen of -every port and clime. Perhaps it was the sight of an occasional -sea-faring stranger with a bold look in his eyes that attracted Nora. -Or perhaps it was the nearness of a certain little eating-house in a -side street, owned by a friend, Katherine Fry. - -The hours not occupied in divine worship, Nora was accustomed to spend -with Katherine in a room curtained off from the public gaze. There, -the one buttressed with unwholesome fat, the eyes playing in her -countenance the part of little, gleaming, deep-driven nails, the other, -lank as a skeleton, in a shawl the fringe of which suggested her own -cookery, the friends were wont to regale themselves, Nora with rich -cakes and pastry, Katherine with the quarters and dimes her customer -unwillingly relinquished to her. Quarrels were frequent, for each had -a spiteful understanding of the other's vice; but greed united them. - -"I tell ye," old David would remark when of a Sunday he had undisputed -possession of his lonely grey old house and with Zarah Patch could -enjoy to the full the pleasures of a pipe before the kitchen ingle--a -pleasure denied him during the week--"I tell ye, Zary, I thank the Lord -Nora has religious inclinations! As for me," he would add, hanging his -head with a sudden change of mood, "I'm old and filled with wickedness; -the wickedness of the world has got to the very marrow of my bones. I -ain't fit to bring up no child, Zary." - -However, he did bring up the infant literally by hand. Puny, touching, -defenceless, the tiny creature, surrounded from the moment of its birth -with these oddly unfavourable conditions, asserted at once its -independence. It screamed and squirmed every time Nora Gage took it -up, so that the care of it devolved entirely upon the grandfather. But -far from complaining, he was secretly flattered by this preference. -"She feels the tie of blood," he would explain, "but don't you mind, -Nora, she'll outgrow these little ways." The woman, however, laughed -straight in his face. She was not particularly anxious that the baby -should outgrow them. - -The infant early became a tyrant. She was not a very pretty child. -From beneath a high rounded forehead peered forth two eyes dark and -restless. They had the furtive look seen in the eyes of some animals, -save that the pupils had a way of expanding suddenly with inquiry. -Even before she could speak, her crowing had a strong note of -interrogation. "Eee?" she would pipe, raising imperceptible eyebrows, -and the old man, as well as he could for chuckling, would answer in the -same cryptic language. She had, moreover, a very amusing and energetic -way of creeping. - -When the times for her feeding arrived, she was always close beside the -door; and there old David found her when, big silver watch in hand, he -came hastening up from the dory. He carried the odour of the lobsters, -and before he could do anything else he must wash his hands. Then the -bottle must be scalded and rinsed and the milk warmed. All the -wrinkles of his face drew together, such was the care with which he -performed these operations; and eager-eyed, occasionally fretting if he -were late or particularly slow, the infant watched him from her place -on the floor. Presently he lifted her; then what a picture of peace! - -With both hands she clutched the bottle and a soft gurgling, similar to -the purring of a cat, filled the room. She laughed, and the look of -rapturous content which filled her face was reflected in the -countenance of the grandfather. They looked oddly, touchingly alike. -Occasionally it was necessary for him to draw the bottle away in order -that she might take breath, and at such times she either pursued it -with her rosy, clinging mouth, or, being partially satisfied, turned to -thrust her fingers between his lips or to pull his beard. Weary as he -was from the labour that had occupied him since four in the morning, -nothing could have prevailed upon him to relinquish these ministrations -to his granddaughter. - -When she was nine months old, he had her christened in the Catholic -church before a figure of St. Anthony, which seemed to his anxious mind -to be of a friendly mien. But it was with no idea of turning her over -to the church. Her religion when she grew up should be a thing of her -own choosing. Meanwhile he hearkened to the persuasions of Nora Gage, -and the child was baptized Rachel Beckett in honour of his dead wife. -After that event, however, the housekeeper lapsed into her former state -of indifference; and, neglected on the one hand, and foolishly indulged -on the other, the child's life flowed on until her fifth year. When -she was five years old a change dawned for her. In the care of the boy -from the lighthouse she went to the district school, where she was -enrolled as a pupil. - -Lizzie Goodenough never abbreviated her son's name. She called him -boldly André Garins. But when he gave this name at school, the older -boys put tongue in cheek. He was an exceedingly handsome lad, with a -woodsy grace. Moreover, his ears were slightly pointed like a fawn's; -nor did the likeness end there, for his eyes under the thick mat of -hair had a wild and impenetrable look and his soft arched lips seemed -formed for other speech than that of human beings. When addressed, he -would either twist his fingers in a kind of wordless agony, or take -fleetly to his heels. He was considered an "innocent" by the folk of -the Point. - -He led Rachel to the school, her tiny cold hand resting noncommittally -in his, and left her stranded before the teacher's desk. But that -brisk person frightened the child and she became as restless as a -little trapped animal. She refused to learn her letters, she refused -to learn to count; André Garins, stealthily on the watch, was ashamed -of her. But one day she heard the teacher explaining a point in -geography by means of a map on the wall and her eyes suddenly dilated. -All at once those monotonous recitations, to which she was wont to shut -her ears, those garbled descriptions of mountains, oceans, and -climates, assumed a startling significance. In that map grimed by -smoke and the breath of generations of children, in that square of -painted canvas, with its spots of blue for the water, its spots of -yellow and pink for the land, its black veins for rivers, and its fuzzy -lines, like caterpillars, for the mountains, she beheld what was an -actual vision of the actual world. And this brilliancy of the -imagination, this power to touch with life and colour any fact that -penetrated her brain at all, proved to be a special gift. But she was -too young to understand the liberation that comes through books. - -The schoolroom seemed to her the one point of stagnation in an active -world. She longed to the point of tears for the sight of trees of -which she was temporarily deprived, and for the smell of the outdoor -air. The teacher finally in despair left her alone. With something -disconcerting in her extraordinarily intelligent eyes, she gazed about -her at the other pupils as if she dimly recognised herself as belonging -to a distinct and lonely species. Perhaps some subtle power of -reasoning underneath the dark hair which grew in a point on her -forehead, revealed to her that their needs were not her needs. As -instinctively as a plant, she selected from the atmosphere surrounding -her what she most required for growth; and idleness offered opportunity -for observations, shrewd, penetrating, constant. - -Lizzie Goodenough's son was the one child admitted to her friendship. -In winter she permitted him to drag her to and from school on his sled, -and in summer she allowed him to string thimble-berries for her on a -long grass, which could be smuggled under the desk out of sight of the -teacher and eaten at odd moments, when one stood in such dire need of -refreshment in the dry country of learning. But, strictly speaking, -she had no companions. - -For her grandfather a warm strong love beat in her little heart. Often -she would clasp him about the neck with one thin arm, and with the -other hand against his cheek, would gaze intently upon him until a -simultaneous gleam of laughter shot into both their faces. Then she -would nestle to him, quivering with a divine mirth which was the mask -of diviner tears. - -For Nora Gage, Rachel entertained a silent dislike that expressed -itself in manoeuvres to keep out of her way. If Nora entered a room, -Rachel, if possible, left it. If the housekeeper, in her flapping -slippers, shuffled out into the yard and cast herself down on the seat -beneath the apple tree, where Rachel was playing, the child immediately -gathered up her pebbles and shells and gravely sought another place. -She spoke no oftener to the housekeeper than was necessary, and when -she did speak, a weight of scorn trembled in her voice as if some -feeling were silently gathering power. Nora Gage looked upon her with -her little eyes, which were shrewd and meditative, exactly as a pig's -are shrewd and meditative, and was apparently indifferent. But it was -inconceivable that she did not hate her. - -A part of a battered wreck and a figure-head were, in the truest sense, -Rachel's companions. Both were rooted fast where they had come ashore, -but before they had reached that expanse of sand, the sea had had its -way with them. They were by no means parts of the same craft, but -torn, hurled, gnawed, they had been brought, by the rollicking mood of -the ocean, past the fierce skirting of rocks outside and dashed there -together on the shore of the bay, to become the playmates of a little -child. - -Timber by timber the wreck had been washed small, and sometimes after a -storm streams of rusty water that resembled blood trickled from its -various bolts. Rachel, climbing out upon the wreck, sometimes felt the -shallow water sucking between its timbers urging it to put to sea -again; and, conscious of the tremble of eagerness in the poor maimed -thing, she would pat the beams in passionate sympathy, and lay her -cheek to them. Often she tried to dislodge the great hulk by placing -her shoulder against it, and once, when the sea sucked off a plank and -the tide flung it on the shore several rods away, she spent the -following morning in hauling the dissevered portion back to the wreck -and trying to hammer it into position. There was in her a curious -susceptibility to the pathos of things. - -Here and there about the wreck vestiges of paint appeared, and a faint -assemblage of letters formed the name _Defender_ on what had been the -prow. This paint Rachel brought to temporary brightness by rubbing it -with a corner of her apron dipped in sea water. The sand that clogged -the ribs of the wreck she removed daily with a shovel. In brief, no -waning sovereign, already in the clutch of death could have been waited -upon by a trusty handmaiden with more patience and love. In her day -she had sailed many a stormy sea, that ship, and without doubt had made -many a difficult port; but now in the days of her nothingness to be -loved with a love passing that of sailor or captain (for in such -affection there is ever something of the seaman's pride in the -capabilities of his craft), to be loved, forsooth, with a deep feminine -tenderness,--surely, if comfort were possible to those broken bolts and -spars, the wreck was comforted. And, testifying to the gallantry -inherent in every timber, all that remained of her responded to the -thrill of the child's spirit. It was as if the wreck heard commands -summoning her to deeds of spiritual daring. The stumps of her masts -she lifted to the sky with an air of defiance, she resisted the -encroachments of the sand; and in the upward sweep of her lines toward -her broken bow, there was indomitable courage and pride invincible. -Valour answered valour and the sun shone gently on the incongruous -playmates, on the wreck whose earthly voyages were over, and on the -child whose life's journey had scarcely begun. - -For the figure-head, Rachel entertained a somewhat different sentiment. -It was evidently a bit of German carving, and represented a robust -goddess with face lifted to the sky. Full waves of hair blew back from -the face; the chin was gone, the nose was gone, but in the gaze of the -eyes was blank, unquestioning triumph. She was clad in swirling -drapery and a breastplate of overlapping scales, and in the one arm -that remained to her she carried a sceptre tipped with a diminutive -crown. Rachel admired the way the figure-head stood proudly erect, -even strained backwards, and sometimes grasping a stick, she paced the -sands in grotesque imitation of the wooden woman. But more often she -sat before her lost in silent contemplation. She saw her fastened to -the prow of a vessel, "great-kneed, deep-breasted," with lips and eyes -stung by the spray; she saw her bowing deep into the trough of a wave, -her gaze as she sank still intrepidly lifted to heaven; and she saw her -rise again, dripping, all gilded by the light of the sun. The -exhilaration of life and hope were still in the figure-head, wrought -into her with the carving, it would seem, and these qualities her later -experience in the brine had heightened to a kind of glory, so that now, -unmindful that she was stranded, she stared out at the dawns and the -evenings and the far-away twinkling stars with the same undaunted look -of conquest. - -This look, branded upon the figure-head and smitten into her round -staring pupils, had its effect upon the child. Often and often when -there was a storm off Pemoquod and the green water ran fifty feet high -with the spray twice as high, grinding and pounding over the rocks and -even entering the bay, until its strong death-fingers reached her very -feet, Rachel stared at the waters while a fierce exultation swelled her -little heart. - -Persistent in her childish desires, imperious when they were crossed, -at all other times gentle and tractable, Rachel up to her ninth year -comprehended no force superior to that of which she was conscious in -herself. Her grandfather she could sway by a word, and there were ways -she knew of compelling Nora Gage; as for André, he was a slave, to be -ruled by kindness for the most part and blows when necessary, blows -aimed straight at his wild dark face. In her domain she tolerated no -insubordination. But one night the pettiness of this domain and its -purely human limits were revealed to her. - -When whiskey got the better of Captain Daniels at the lighthouse, and -this happened occasionally, Lizzie Goodenough, with a strong arm, could -draw the oil and tend the beacon. If truth were told, it was because -he had recognised her possibilities for usefulness in this direction, -that the captain, sixteen years before, had taken pity on the girl and -her newly-born infant. At the time he was just recovering from what he -termed "a bad spell," and Lizzie appealed to him as capable and sturdy; -moreover, she was very handsome, with a frown set squarely between her -brows and an ominous light in her glance. He had never married her. -Now that her boy had grown large enough to go on watch at a pinch, the -arrangement was even more advantageous. - -On the night in question, Rachel, after much worrying of her -grandfather and Lizzie, obtained their consent to go on watch with -André. She mounted with him to the lantern. - -The immense corrugated lenses flashed diamond tints of inconceivable -brilliancy. There, in rims of living colour, in circles of crystal, -that white gush of light that flooded the rocks below, was born. There -was the glitter and clash of its nightly cradle. The tower creaked and -the sea thundered like cannon, ghostly finger-tips tapped now and then -on the glass; a night bird, allured by the radiance, beat out its -brains on the costal. - -Presently André descended to the whitewashed room just below the -lantern and Rachel stumbled after him. - -"The plunger won't need windin' again till morning," he told her; "we -can rest now." - -But Rachel, squeezing her hands together, sat bolt upright, given over -to a mighty, new, inspiring sensation. She was intoxicated with a -sense of the power of man. Finally she laughed aloud; then she glanced -at André. But, forgetful of all responsibility, the lad sat with his -head against the wall, while the breath passed peacefully between his -lips. Instantly Rachel was on her feet. She trembled all over. How -about the ships at sea now! He could just talk big about the -lighthouse, but he couldn't keep it,--not he! Then on a sudden she -craned toward him, and from the vital, virile, little face the gleam of -anger disappeared, for on the lad's forehead, beneath his mat of hair, -and on the chin where it jutted in below the mouth, she saw that look -of helplessness with which a relentless Fate sometimes brands her -children. - -Actuated by an almost maternal impulse, Rachel divested herself of her -bit of shawl and laid it over the shoulders of the sleeping boy. Then -she resumed the watch, and with every hour ticked forth by the clock on -the wall, her sense of responsibility increased till the flame in the -lantern was duplicated by another flame alight in a little human heart. - -It was toward daylight when she stepped out on the balcony which -encircled the tower just below the lantern. But the world she looked -out upon was no longer the world with which she was familiar. At that -hour a mysterious, quiet influence was abroad. Far below to the -northward she descried her grandfather's house, grey, closed, silent; -and she saw the silver loop of the bay. Inland the pine trees were -arranged in dark, meditative groups, and the rocks, no longer -formidable, in that wan half-light appeared like cattle that had -trooped down to the water to drink. Here and there, perched on the -loftiest crags, were the sentinel crows. These, solitary, motionless, -accentuated the universal air of waiting. - -All at once she held her breath. Across the clear blue of the sky lay, -like lines of smoke, two or three filmy clouds. From a light pink -these were turning to rose. Gradually the stars, one by one, -paled--went out. Then an abrupt happening. A curve of crimson -appeared above the horizon; this widened until it resembled an eye; -then a full glowing countenance swung clear of the ocean and rays -sprang from it. The whole sky began to blush. The ocean, a moment -before a dull grey, flushed, and tiny ripples covered its surface; -ships, hitherto invisible, appeared on its gently agitated bosom. And -this infusion of vitality reached inland, quivering to gold in the -tree-tops, trembling to crimson in the coarse grass, invading with -radiance the most secret recess of the tiniest shell on the sand. The -whole shore was illumined with the lavender and gold of the dawn; and -simultaneously, from every quarter, rose the crows with their raucous -_caw caw_ in greeting to the oncoming day. - -Suddenly through the weary frame of the child surged tides of -exultation; it was as if, after the dreary watch, the sun rose in her. -She stretched out her arms, and, for an instant, the sun and the child -stared at each other. Then its fierce glow overpowered her, its fiery -shafts blinded her; and covering her eyes, she stumbled below, -whimpering, conscious of a dull ache, a shame, a sullen fear which she -could not comprehend. Something hitherto unconquered was vanquished in -her heart, so that never afterwards did she move with quite the same -feeling of supremacy. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -AMID BLEAK SURROUNDINGS - -Pemoquod lighthouse is on a point projecting into the ocean. Standing -in the lantern of the lighthouse and looking toward the east, one -beholds the ocean with nothing between him and Europe except an -inconsiderable island or two; looking toward the west, one beholds -John's Bay. On the ocean side of the Point is a long line of broken -cliffs ranged for a certain distance in tiers, like the seats in a vast -amphitheatre. Then abruptly this formation ends and the cliffs tower -up into separate crags,--monsters that forever contemplate the sea with -rage. There between the water and the rocks is a constant contest. -The rocks are like giant animals; the sinuous waves, leaping and -roaring, like unearthly reptiles. Between the rock-beasts and the -wave-reptiles is unabating feud. After each conflict the waves seem to -hiss with fury, the rocks to drip with gore by reason of the masses of -red seaweed with which they are covered over. - -It is curious to rise from a seat in the amphitheatre where you have -been lulled by the light touch of the wind and the soft lapping of the -waves, to contemplate two or three rods beyond this scene of mighty -wrath. It is more curious still to stroll through expanses of -sedgegrass to the other side of the Point and behold the bay. A quiet -little bay it seems, with its diversified edge of sandy beach and -tumble of small rocks, with its lobstermen's sheds clinging to the -shore and further inland the houses. From the bay only the blank walls -of these houses can be seen, for the women, with reason, regard the sea -as an enemy to be ignored during peaceful indoor hours, and hardly a -window of the modest dwellings looks toward the water. - -During the summer and part of the winter, the bay is sprinkled far and -wide with the sails of fishing dories. Into this pocket of the sea, -always conveniently open, nature brings food for man in the form of -marine creatures,--lobsters, crabs, and a clutter of fish. The bay, -with its air of mild domesticity, is man's domain; the sea outside, -God's alone. - -Never the less the region in winter is harsh and unfavoured. The wind -pipes down the chimneys and clamours on the crags and fairly howls in -giant witch-fashion on the ocean. The people go about their duties -with shoulders shrugged up, with purple noses and freezing toes. In -the houses, they can scarcely hear one another speak on the windiest -days, and conversation is impossible anywhere near the Point; this life -fosters in them a solitariness of the soul. - -With motley garments, sometimes quilts and shawls, strapped and buckled -around them, the few who pursue lobster-fishing as a vocation fuss -around their pounds or, out on the bay, haul their pots and swear. -Their oaths mingle with the gale and the dashing waters and even freeze -in mid air to come to land later and form icicles. At least, this was -Rachel's fancy, and when she saw the bits of ice at the window ledges, -she reached forth an arm and plucking them, dissolved them in her soft -warm mouth, as if she would dissolve at the same time her grandfather's -probable wrath. This wrath, being so justified, however, had something -righteous in it, which Rachel was not slow to admit. Certainly it was -not right that a man's living should be so hard a thing to win, and -what was there for it but to exorcise these demons of wind and tide -with language harsh enough to fit the occasion? - -David Beckett, despite his gentleness, was a prodigious oath maker; -indeed, some of his oaths were so picturesque as to have come into -general circulation, a fact which afforded Rachel not a little -satisfaction. To be able to invent such oaths, she felt instinctively, -required an imagination of no uncertain order. - -In winter her cheeks grew ruddy from the wind, tears caused by the cold -sometimes stood in her eyes and the skin on the backs of her hands -cracked until the knuckles bled. But she was very hardy and healthy. -She had a fondness for mingling the impressions of form and colour and -scent which bespoke a very sensuous temperament. - -The old man's delight in her was boundless. Whenever she approached -him a wonderful tenderness illuminated his face; his blue eyes sparkled -and a set of wrinkles, entirely new, shot out from their corners like -rockets. On her part the child returned his feeling with a depth of -affection, startling and almost tragic in one so young. She seemed to -give the old man something of the vigour of childhood, while into her -passed a little of the seriousness of age. - -They were constant companions. Sometimes in order not to be separated -from her, David took her out in the dory. There, while the boat rose -and sank and rose again, and Zarah Patch's nephew phlegmatically set or -hauled the pots, the old man sought to answer her numerous questions, -suggested for the most part, by her chance study of the family Bible. - -"Does God raise up the lobsters?" she asked one day, "the lobsters we -kill." - -The old man grinned. "No, I never heard that he did," he answered; -"lobsters ain't much 'count save as they feed man, I guess," he added. - -The child relapsed into a sulky silence. After that she began putting -back into the sea half-dead fish that she found on the shore and -patiently straightening out the legs of flies discovered in webs. -"It's man alone that's saved," she thought with a pang. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THE BARNACLE - -When she was ten years old Rachel left the country school, and when she -was eighteen she graduated from the High School in Old Harbour. Her -course of study in that institution had been protracted by reason of -the frequent spells of bad weather which, for weeks together, had kept -her a prisoner at the Point. These interruptions she had accepted -philosophically, for she had preferred to gain knowledge in an -unhampered fashion, to look about her, to ask questions, to read the -books of her own choosing. She was an exceedingly headstrong creature -and had anyone wished to manage her he would have experienced great -difficulty. However, apparently, no one had such an unreasonable wish. - -Her lean little face was charming. With its broad forehead and high -cheek bones it suggested a type of the Renaissance. The expression in -her eyes was candid and thoughtful. Her nose was straight, her upper -lip short, her mouth full and handsome in line, though, in meaning, -asleep. Activity of the mind gives character to the eye, activity of -the emotions individuality to the lips, and Rachel Beckett had not -lived emotionally. She was still chained heavily by her youth, for -youth has its shackles as well as age. - -It was about this time that André Garins approached her with an -important proposition. He came leaping down the path from the -lighthouse and found her seated in the lobsterman's door. In the -kitchen Nora could be heard scolding. Occasionally the words were -drowned in guttural sobs. - -"It's her pork pie," Rachel explained. "I got to reading and the fat -just bubbled up before I knew. Now I'm going to Old Harbour to get her -another," she added in a louder voice, "Want to come along?" - -André nodded. He had attained his full height without losing the -slimness of adolescence. "There's something I want to talk to you -about," he said shyly. - -But he did not broach the subject at once; instead he said tentatively -as the two breasted the high wind which was all alive with the tang of -the sea, and in which the girl's garments rattled like the rigging of a -ship, "It's good of you to get her another pork pie; why do you do it?" - -"Because," Rachel answered with spirit, "people once in a while ought -to have what they want--if it's only pork pie." - -André regarded her beautiful face with dull curiosity. "Then you're -not doing it because you're sorry for her?" he asked. - -"No," she answered shortly; "principle." - -But the abstract had no meaning for André; he always thought in -straight lines and his thoughts were convertible into actions. Now he -took up the matter which had brought him to her. - -"Mother thinks you and I could set up shop together," he said. "She -thinks I can paint what are called 'souvenirs'; you know I paint very -well, and you could take charge of the candy and fruit. She thinks we -might get quite a little trade from the hotel people all about here, if -we opened a shop in that unused barn of Shattuck's." - -The proposition appealed to Rachel mightily. Now that the schooldays -were past she found herself much too frequently in the presence of Nora -Gage and quarrels were constant. If the young girl had had her way she -would have bundled the so-called housekeeper out of the door and have -done the work herself, but old David was fastidious in the matter of -her hands and cherished the idea of one day seeing her a "lady." -André's plan seemed to offer scope for her energy, she hailed it -joyfully. A week later the youthful shop keepers were established in -their odd quarters. - -The situation of the unused barn was magnificent. It stood on the top -of a high turfy hill which overlooked both the ocean and the bay. On -going around it a narrow path, almost hidden by the tall grass, was -discovered, and this path led directly to that bit of the bay shore -where were the figure-head and the wreck. The door of the barn -commanded the road. There was something in the bleakness of the -situation that took hold on the fancy. The barn had long been an -object of popular interest. It was toned by the weather to the -beautiful grey of a dove's wing. It leaned lightly to one side. Its -two front windows were like empty eye-sockets. As one approached it, -climbing around the crumbling foundation of what years before had been -a house, he imagined it the retreat of birds of prey. - -The only steeds housed here were the horses of the wind, in the pauses -of the storms that swept the Point. The barn was supposed to be -haunted. Therefore the scene that greeted the first curious visitors, -struck pleasantly on their sight. - -A bit of sail-cloth bearing the inscription: _Souvenirs And -Confectionery_ appeared over one window, and a little trail of smoke -issued from the other. Just inside the door was Rachel. She stood -behind an improvised counter of new boards on which was ranged a file -of golden oranges. Oranges and girl, how they lit the gloom! When not -engaged in waiting on a customer, and her duties in this direction were -of the lightest, Rachel made a pretence of sewing, though oftener than -not the sewing was abandoned for a book. The range of her reading at -this time was remarkable. Like her father, she read everything that -came her way with a kind of tragic eagerness. Frequently closing the -book and leaning her elbows on the counter, she would gaze straight -ahead, while the questioning look deepened in her eyes. In the -background where a ray of light fell André painted the lighthouse in -garish colours on the bosom of a heaven-tinted shell. - -What a pair they were, to be sure! What a bouquet of innocence, youth -and utterly worthless endeavour! - -The enterprise brought in little, though during July and August people -came from the Ocean View House and even from remoter hotels on outlying -islands. At this André laughed in his heart, but after the novelty had -worn off, Rachel was less pleased. The money that she earned bought -her a new dress and hat; but it was not sufficient to lighten the -burden on her grandfather's shoulders. Unable longer to bear the -hardships of lobster-fishing, old David had sold his pots. Taking part -of his scant savings he had bought four cows. He now peddled milk from -one end of the Point to the other. Rachel sometimes looked at him with -sudden fear, though their poverty she realized but vaguely, never -having known anything different. She mended his clothes and lavished -upon him every care. She opened her heart to him, and in spirit he -dwelt there as in a wide, sunny room. But, though he knew her heart, -neither he nor anyone else, knew what was passing in her mind. -Sometimes with a vigorous motion she would clasp her hands behind her -head while she stared through the doorway of the barn; then she would -slip away, taking the winding path to the bay, and remain there for -hours. - -The groups of rocks on the bay shore differed from those fronting the -ocean. They were more sad than threatening in form and were covered -thickly with seaweed, like enormous heads with hair. In this hair -sparkled iridescent drops left by the receding tide; these drops -resembled jewels. The rocks, indeed, were decked like the heads of -women, and by reason of the long tresses of seaweed that trailed from -them and that undulated on the surface of the water, an uneasy -restlessness seemed to pervade them. - -Rachel would eye them gloomily: then, flinging herself down, she would -observe the various forms of life in the little pools of water where -floated crabs and jellyfish. In the prominent eyes of the crab she saw -the desire for its prey. Looking upward, attracted by the sinister -screech of gulls, she saw them fluttering about the nest of a -sanderling which they pillaged of its eggs. Letting her glance fall -again she studied the little bell-shaped barnacles, like tiny huts, -which everywhere adhered to the rocks in settlements. As the water -approached, one after another of the doors of these wee huts opened and -a hand, vaporish, white as light, reached forth and gathered in the -necessary provender. Everywhere, everything received what it needed to -sustain life. She alone was starved. - -With these thoughts surging in her brain, Rachel would make her way -back to the barn. There, with cheeks puffed out, stooping over his -work, she would find André. One day when she entered the barn he -greeted her with a gleeful announcement: he had sold five little shells -and one big one during her absence. She turned away. She had often -watched the faces of the summer people: they bought the shells out of -pity for André, or perhaps, because they admired his handsome face. As -art, she suspected, the shells were nothing. Why could he not see? - -"You have no ambition," she said surlily, "there are schools where one -can learn to do this sort of thing, I suppose. You ought to want to -get away and study." - -Amazed, he looked up at her. "But the shells sell all right," he -remarked. "I paint well enough for that." - -She made no answer and sparks of some sort glowed in her eyes. She -shook her head at him. - -"You're just like a barnacle," she cried passionately, "_it_ clings to -a rock, _it_ lives in a corner; everyday when the tide comes in, _it_ -opens its door and gathers in food. In the same way every morning you -wait for the city people. You open your door, you reach out your -hand--like this, and you take in the pennies. Bah! is that enough for -you?" - -"Well, isn't it?" he asked, and in his eyes, as he looked at her, -dawned a certain yearning softness. - -But she turned away. "Then stay on your rock," she flashed out; "I -want more." - -He came up to her and laid his hand on her arm. - -"What do you want?" he asked. - -She looked at him and seeing tears in his eyes, she turned away -sullenly. "I don't know," she answered, "but I want life--more'n what -the sea brings me." - -Then suddenly she broke from him and darted into the twilight. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE FIGURE-HEAD GAINS AN ADMIRER - -The field where old David put the cows to pasture lay a comparatively -short distance from the house, in the direction of the bay. But -Rachel, leading a large white cow by a rope, had elected to go round by -"the barn." - -"Come along, Betty," she cried, as she turned into the main road -dragging the surprised animal after her. - -A dense fog obscured every landmark. Looking backward, she could just -discern the placid light of the cow's eyes below the sickle of its -horns; looking downward, she could make out her own feet and the stalks -of grass and flowers beside the road. Moisture clung to the grass in -pendant beads, and there was a fugitive flash of colour here and there -close to the ground. All else was sheeted in the white pall. Groups -of firs looked like spectres, the bushes covered with fluffs of mist -looked like phantoms; Rachel herself appeared like a ghost. - -The sea hurled itself against the cliffs. Now and again when it -suspended its roar, the moaning of the fog bell could be heard. In -these intervals of comparative quiet the surging fury in the girl's -heart gave way to waves of melancholy. She had quarrelled with Nora -Gage that morning and the colour was still high in her cheeks. -Presently she came to a pause, stamping on the ground; the next moment, -however, she was moved to laughter. In a sty beside the road a group -of pigs was nozzling in a trough. One sat up and looked at her with -Nora's eyes. - -Somewhat improved in humour, she went on up the road. When she came -opposite the barn, she clambered around the ruined cellar foundation, -and after tying the cow, entered the little shop. A fire had been -lighted in the battered stove and sent forth a cheerful flicker. Early -as it was, André was already at work; he was decorating a smooth -egg-shaped stone from which he had first removed its wrapping of -seaweed. He glanced up and a light leaped to his eyes. He looked at -Rachel with smiling intentness as if to satisfy himself that she had -not changed in any way over night. Finally he spoke: - -"If you'd come a little sooner, Rachel, you'd have seen something." - -She spread her fingers above the stove and turned her neck from side to -side with a slow and graceful movement as the heat rushed into her face. - -"What would I have seen?" - -Jumping from his stool, André poured some coffee from a pot into a cup; -then he offered the cup to her. - -"You look cold," he said, gazing directly into her eyes; "are you -cold?" And taking her shawl, he shook the moisture from it. There was -always in his attitude toward her a kind of awe. - -"What would I have seen?" she repeated without glancing at him. - -"Why, a stranger was here. He'd been making a sketch of the -figure-head; he showed it to me." - -"I don't see what right he had to draw it without my permission," she -murmured jealously. "Was it a good picture, André?" - -The lad looked doubtful. "It was all little scratchy lines," he said. - -Rachel brooded for some minutes over the stove; then she rose. "There -won't be anyone here this morning," she announced, "so I sha'n't come -back. I've got to take Betty to pasture. Buttercup--all the -others--got hold of some sorrel; they're sick." - -She went to the door. The fog was so thick that it looked like cotton. -The wild roses that bloomed here and there made delicate pink patterns -on this white. From the barn the sea no longer could be heard, the -complaint of the fog bell could be caught only faintly. Overhead, -through the mysterious whiteness, could just be discerned the pale disc -of the sun. The girl made her way through the mist as through a -tangible substance. She took the path to the beach and the cow -followed her placidly, the tall wet grass striking against its sides -and its udder swinging like a pendulum. Rachel slipped along the wet -path and climbed stealthily to the top of the first rock. - -There, sitting on the wreck near the figure-head, was the stranger; but -he was not sketching. Instead, his head, from which the cap had -fallen, was bent forward and he was carefully burying in the sand what -appeared to be the scraps of a letter. When he had finished this -operation a kind of humorous relief was manifest all over him. A -passenger boat steamed down the bay; a line of smoke followed it. The -vessel was invisible, but the smoke lay in the fog a trail of black. -The young man turned his head to observe it, and at that instant Rachel -started and the cow behind her made a movement. - -He looked up. - -Poised on the summit of the rock, with the horns of the cow up-curving -about her feet, with the fog clinging to her dress of faded blue and -undulating about her in clouds, she resembled a figure of the Virgin in -a crescent moon. - -The pupils of the stranger's eyes, which were of a living, magnetic -black dashed with fiery sparks, dilated; and two perpendicular lines, -which started from the root of his nose, deepened to grooves on his -forehead. He got to his feet, his massive head with its hair thrown -back upraised toward her. Touched all over with a subjugating power, a -grace more penetrating than beauty, he stared, a sort of animal. - -As for Rachel, something of his excitement was communicated to her. -For another instant she paused, held there by the mere force of his -gaze. Then she turned and descending from the rock, led the cow round -into the open space. A close observer might have seen that she wavered -slightly, like one who tastes of wine for the first time. - -The spell, however, was broken for the stranger. Unconsciously, with -his lightning glance, he saw that there was a scratch on the back of -one of her hands, that their flesh was rough and that there were -freckles across her nose. She was just a strong, healthy, handsome -lass; and, with the fickleness of a child, he abruptly turned his -attention elsewhere. With excessive care he moved a small box, to -which a telephone was attached, to a position of greater safety. - -Rachel watched him warily. Growing within her was an odd sense of -defiance, and this feeling triumphed finally over her natural shyness. - -"Did you sketch the figure-head?" she asked all in a breath. Then a -wave of colour rose in her cheeks. She stood before him in a trance of -noble embarrassment. - -"Why yes, I did," he returned. He took a book from his pocket, opened -it to a certain page and presented it to her. The book was filled, all -but that page, with drawings of little instruments. - -She slowly approached leading the cow. He turned to her his face, -framed in its curling beard. "I'm a pretty poor excuse for an artist," -he began. - -"That figure-head belongs to me," she interrupted, handing the book -back. - -A second time he fixed his attention upon her and two tiny stars of -laughter shot into his eyes. "Does it, indeed?" he remarked; there was -almost a caress in the words. - -"Yes, my grandfather saved it and set it up here," she affirmed. She -breathed quickly and every moment her shyness and her anger deepened. - -"It appears to be an interesting bit of carving." Stealing over this -great giant as he frankly studied her was something of the air of a -lazy lion. "I should say someone carved it who loved to carve," he -added. Then, with an idea of giving her a chance to recover -countenance, he considerately turned his gaze in the direction of the -bay. - -"What--what are you doing now?" she asked quickly; for her spirit was -roused and it behooved her to recover dignity. - -"Well, I hoped to be able to get some of those fishermen to take me out -in a boat for a certain purpose, but they can't see my signal and the -fog doesn't lift." - -He seated himself on the wreck and began to touch up his drawing of the -figure-head, then he fell to making a tentative sketch of the -indistinct figures in the dories out on the water. - -Had he made the slightest effort to detain her in conversation, Rachel -certainly would have turned on her heel; as it was, drawn on by her -curiosity, she moored the cow with a stone on the rope, and came nearer. - -"All this is out of my line," he explained, "but I like to try my hand -at it once in a way." And, indeed, he looked hugely pleased with his -effort, as he held the paper at arm's length to study the effect. - -Rachel watched him and now and then her eyes travelled to his face with -the clear dispassionate gaze of a child. His cap lay on the sand at -his feet and his dishevelled locks moved in the wind above a face that -was simple and bold. His finger-tips were stained with acid, his -clothing was a bit careless; a spray of Prince's Feather, freshly -picked, trailed from the button-hole of his coat. About them was -complete silence except for the plashing of the waves and an occasional -muffled cry from the almost invisible lobstermen. The fog wrapped them -round. - -Presently he reached a point beyond which he was unable to carry his -sketch, and, abandoning it, he began turning the pages of the book at -first slowly, then with increased attention. At last he paused. His -eyes narrowed and the perpendicular wrinkle on his forehead deepened. -He read over some notes. He struck out a word here, inserted another -there; then commenced to write rapidly on the margin of the page and -for several minutes the scratching of his pencil continued. It was -apparent that like a hunter he was running down his quarry, and leaping -over many a ditch and rock in his excitement; it was apparent, too, -that he had entered a world in which woman was unknown. - -Finally, Rachel's interest expressed itself in an involuntary sigh, and -he raised his head with a dawning consciousness of her presence. Tiny -drops of moisture, like diamond dust, glittered in her hair. He -studied them; then met the brightness of her oval-shaped eye. - -In his turn embarrassed, he hitched his shoulders and laughed. - -"I forgot that you were here," he said. - -Until that moment she had not resented his indifference, but now, when -he voiced it, she felt a hot sense of chagrin. He had, she considered, -been pointedly lacking in courtesy. Moving away, she took up the rope -of the cow. - -He got to his feet. "By Jove, I don't see how it happened," he said -simply. - -It was the touch required. She halted and stood playing with the rope. - -"I got to thinking of this," he continued, and he laid his hand on the -box to which the telephone receiver was attached. "It's something I've -been working out. I want to test it. It's a fine coast for the -purpose. Plenty of submerged rocks, I should say," and he gazed about -him. - -She also swept the rolling leagues of misty emptiness, but with the -glance of one who is familiar with them, then her eyes, wistful and -unutterably intense, went to his. There was something about the life -and mentality of this man that startled and stirred her, something in -his appearance that seemed to speak of a nature unshackled, gigantic. - -"I asked that boy at the old barn up the road where I could get hold of -a boat and someone to row," he continued, "but he didn't tell me." - -She turned from him. "I'll take you," she volunteered, "this -afternoon." - -At this the stranger showed a row of brilliant teeth. "Why -that--that's fine," he said. Once more his manner was gentle, almost -caressing. - -To demonstrate his gratitude he tore from the book the sketch of the -figure-head and presented it to her. - -She took it without exhibiting any emotion. Then, leading the cow, she -disappeared around a boulder. A moment later, however, she appeared on -its summit, and the cow pushed up behind her so that his first -miraculous impression was repeated. - -"What time," she asked, "do you want to go?" - -He moved his lips without speaking; a magical light had dawned on his -world. - -"Why, about three o'clock," he answered,--pausing between the words. - -And the next moment she was no longer there. The fog had closed over -the spot of the vision. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -CONCERNING ALEXANDER EMIL ST. IVES - -In the make-up of this Alexander Emil St. Ives, who carried his name -like a flaunting feather, his father played small part. During the -life of the elder St. Ives, the family had lived on a farm in Rhode -Island and the father, a dour, narrow man, had laid his commands upon -the soil and had tilled it with his will as with an agricultural -implement; in bad seasons often he had been the one farmer in the -neighbourhood who harvested crops. - -There were two sons. The elder boy, Edgar, resembled the father, -though built on smaller, neater lines, with a face shaped like an egg. -He had much of the father's obstinate force united to a faculty for -grasping and retaining what seemed to him worth while. The younger son -resembled the mother. - -Mrs. St. Ives, timid, valiant creature, was incapable of not loving. -For her first-born she entertained an affection purely maternal; for -Emil, however, she harboured a feeling almost worshipful. The fact -that she had borne him was to her a miracle ever new. He woke heaven -in her heart and his love opened her soul as the sun's ray opens the -flower. Neither husband nor elder son ever suspected the exquisite -quality of her nature. - -Edgar was a lad of fifteen when Emil was born. From the first he -turned a cold face on the mite, and as time went on grew jealous of him -up to the eyes. There was something august about Emil even in his -ugly, defenceless childhood. He was of a singularly inquiring turn of -mind and years afterward his mother delighted to relate how, when he -was two years old, he had crawled a mile and a half from home, lured -forward by the curiosity that later became his salient characteristic. -His energies spent, he had rested on a flat rock. While his tiny body -grew warm in the sun, his infant mind had lost itself in inarticulate -reverie. If he could go on quite to the end of everything, even to -that hazy, far-away point where blue met green, what should he find? -It was this speculative tendency that gave his hair its wild aspect; -that kindled in his eyes their roving, searching glance; that already, -young as he was, made him look at life with an air of keen astonishment. - -When he was eleven years old, his father died and the reins of -management fell into Edgar's hands. That young man, being in no sense -a typical farmer, immediately exchanged the farm, which the elder St. -Ives had bequeathed him, for a large country store. By dint of shrewd -management, he soon became a successful merchant. So rapidly did he -rise that by the end of the second year, he had built himself a house -and installed in it a shrewish wife who lost no time in presenting him -with a swarm of children. He also placed in the house his mother, and -the poor lady dwelt there under the lash of the wife's tongue, like a -servant in constant fear of dismissal. In righteous mood, Edgar even -went so far as to extend the protection of his roof to his young -brother. In a tiny chamber over the kitchen the lad's first tentative -inventions saw the light. - -But between these two natures a gulf was fixed. If truth were told, -they had not a trait in common. Edgar was provident and saving, Emil -the reverse. Long ere he had obtained his majority, he had wheedled -from his mother the little money she held in trust for him from his -grudging and disapproving father. To be sure, the sum was very meagre -and could not be stretched, by any calculation, to cover the technical -training the lad coveted; therefore he had expended a part of it for -scientific books and the rest had gone little by little into materials -for his constant experimenting. - -For the precious little inventions which cluttered Emil's chamber and -sometimes found their unwelcome way into other parts of the house, -Edgar had a withering contempt. He never missed an opportunity to have -a fling at them and his scornful words entered the mother's heart like -barbed arrows. However, in his nineteenth year Emil produced an -apparatus for freshening sea water which it seemed must prove of -inestimable value to all sea-faring folk. The mother in a flutter of -excitement and even with tears, besought him to take his brother into -his confidence. In fact this was necessary, if he wished to secure the -use of an abandoned and much coveted granary for a shop. But the lad -held back. The apparatus, despite its undoubted usefulness, seemed to -him of trifling importance. The mother, however, foreseeing fortune -ahead of him, urged the step and at length the boy consented. True to -her prediction, after his first scornful inspection of the contrivance, -Edgar admitted that it might have possibilities. Like most of the -boy's experiments, this device was beyond his comprehension, but he -could grasp the fact that sailors and fishermen, with the chance of -shipwreck forever staring them in the face, might have use for it. He -therefore offered to get it patented, then took steps to secure the -patent--in his own name. As it chanced, the papers, bearing his -signature but otherwise carefully copied from those which Emil had -submitted for his inspection fell under the boy's eye. - -The night following this discovery, a light appeared in the granary. -Edgar, peering from his chamber window, perceived a demoniacal figure, -smashing and demolishing everything the little shop contained. Even as -he looked, it lifted a small instrument, which represented months of -patient labour, and threw it with a crash to the floor. Instantly -Edgar was out of the house. He scampered across the yard, his night -gear fluttering in the light of the pale moon. Emil at that moment -caught up the sea-water device and sent it crashing through the -doorway. Being made largely of glass, the instrument shivered into a -million minute fragments. Edgar and his wife and children, who had -flocked to his side, covered their eyes. When they looked again, -through the dust that still hung in the air, they beheld a bent figure, -lit up by the gleam of the lantern, still moving in a whirl of rubbish. - -Edgar in his scant raiment danced up and down. - -"Thief!" he hissed. - -For an instant the boy paused in his diabolical work: - -"Thief!" He burst into terrifying laughter. - -With one final wrench he brought down the work-bench and flung it -across the pile; then kneeling, he applied a match to the mass. -Crackling flames leaped upward. He got to his feet and stood with his -figure silhouetted against the red glow. In that hour he had destroyed -something more precious than his inventions, his books and all his -little workmen's kit in which he had taken such pride. That which had -gone down in flames hotter than those which raged around him, was the -essential quality which is youth. Such searing emotions are the death -of adolescence. He was visibly trembling. The hair was matted above -the eyes which he lifted. Without a word he darted past them and -disappeared into the night. - -A quarter of a mile from the house he met his mother. She was waiting -for him in the darkness. Quivering all over she took him in her long -arms. But his anger had already subsided and he felt stealing over him -a new and gratifying sense of release. - -"Don't, Mother," he whispered hoarsely, "it was bound to come,--and -you'll see--I'll soon send for you." - -Her tears distressed him. For this cheated, baffled, frail and -suffering mother who asked but one thing, that his ambition be -gratified, Emil's feeling was fiercely paternal. It was the solitary -oasis in a nature devoid of all other affections. - -He caressed her with his hands, but presently he held them up before -her. "With these," he whispered, "and with this," and he touched his -forehead, "I'll do something. You'll see. The world needs me," he -cried. - -The world needed him! At that moment he felt that he could grasp the -universe, instinct with unknown laws, and plunging his mind into it -could drag forth some hitherto undiscovered force. - -The world needed him! Poor, foolish, misguided, highly-gifted youth! -Certainly he was more valuable to Society than its rickety children who -would never grow up, its infirm old men, sick with alcoholism, its base -and unworthy charges; yet for all these, he soon discovered, the great -New York, glancing indifferently from her million windows, provided -asylums; but for him, who had in his head that which should bring the -world to his feet--for him nothing. - -In turn he worked for a photographer, a printer, and an engraver, but -as he failed to pay attention to his duties and urged upon his irate -employers devices for improving the processes used in their work, he -remained only a short time in each situation. By the third year, -however, he drifted into a place that promised to be permanent. - -The conservative lithographing establishment of Benjamin Just and -Richard Lawless was in need of an apprentice. Being by this time much -reduced in health and spirits, with all the fiery currents of his being -at low ebb, Emil accepted this berth. For upwards of a year he worked -with commendable sobriety; in fact, became no more than a pivot, a -screw, a tiny whirling wheel in the life of the factory. But at the -end of a twelvemonth his old fever broke out in aggravated form; the -trivial bit of mechanism became a madman or a genius over night. - -Waving some papers above his head, laughing naďvely and applauding -himself, Emil approached the head draughtsman one day and exhibited a -little model. But the draughtsman into whose hands all the choice work -of the establishment fell, swore at him. 'The art of lithography,' he -gave him to understand, 'was an old and honourable one; and as for -cheapening the work, heaven knew, enough had been done in that line!' -And he briefly consigned the young fool and his new-fangled process to -hell. - -Thereupon, Emil, nothing daunted, approached the two owners. Trembling -all over with eagerness, he fixed them with his eyes in which a flame -seemed to be leaping up and down. - -"Just a thin flexible sheet, that is what I propose," he cried;--"a -sheet which has all the qualities of the finest of your lithographic -stones, but which is superior because cheaper and lighter and the -possible supply unlimited. How's that? A sheet, which after one -preparation for printing, will continue to yield clean proofs without -dampening or resetting for a much longer time than the best of your -lithographic stones," he continued. - -"But how do you print from this precious sheet of yours?" inquired Mr. -Lawless, a fat red man, who tried to look scornful and only succeeded -in looking ridiculous. If truth were told, the partners, while -appearing to have little faith in the scheme, felt in the pits of their -stomachs an excited feeling similar to that produced by high swinging; -indeed, their phlegmatic pulses beat to the same excited measure as the -young inventor's. - -"With a specially constructed cylinder press, that's now I'll print," -answered Emil. - -As a result of the conference, the owners, although professing -scepticism, consented to give him a small room in which to perfect his -invention and, in their generosity, even guaranteed to continue the -payment of his former meagre salary. - -From that day, Emil began to live a particular and intensely nervous -life. - -He was now one of a large army, consisting of press men, lithographers, -zinc men, clerks, artists, stenographers, bookkeepers. The majority of -these men did their work methodically and as a matter of duty. When -they quitted the factory at night, they forgot the labour that had -occupied them during the day. With Emil, however, it was otherwise. - -In a tiny room, reeking with heat and dust and clamorous with the -rumble of the presses, he worked, scarcely taking note of the passing -of one day and the birth of another. Often he sought the factory at -night. The general manager, a man with a forceful presence and a -shrewd eye, scornfully shrugged his shoulders. He distrusted such -enthusiasm; but the owners were more hopeful. At night they had a door -left open for the erratic inventor. - -Unconscious that he was observed, Emil hurried through the streets and -bounded up the steps to his den. Then how he caressed his invention, -how he stared straight before him with eyes that saw nothing, while his -brain drew from the surrounding ether a crowd of images wonderful for -their reality and vigour. Sometimes in these nights of limpid -contemplation, he became as beautiful as an angel. At other times, -inspiration was capricious and the particular idea that he sought must -be pursued. At such times he would crack his fingers at the joints, -wave backward and forward like a tree in a storm, rock like a ship on -an angry sea. Somehow, he would wrest his idea from the vast Unknown. -And when he had succeeded in fixing it, smiling peacefully, he would go -to sleep like a child; go to sleep and dream of some far land where -invention was not torture. Before his work-bench, exhausted, he was -often discovered in the early dawn by Ding Dong when he came to sweep -out. - -Half-witted, deaf and dumb, with a face so hideous that caricature -could not exaggerate it, Ding Dong had received his nick-name from some -bookish artist or other. With a fat tongue useless in his wide mouth -and ears like sails, though they served to convey no sound to his -meagre brain, Ding Dong ate habitually of the food thrown away by -saloons, drank the dregs left in whiskey glasses, and, with the agility -of a little cat, accepted the stumps of cigarettes which the clerks -good naturedly threw him. - -Between him and Emil, existed a peculiar friendship, and many were the -novel breakfast parties held in the little workroom at the hour when -New York was just waking to life. - -Ding Dong procured rolls and made coffee; then three partook of the -meal, for there were always three, the inventor, Ding Dong and, to -furnish the feminine element, Lulu, a tiny South American monkey. -Pinched and sad Lulu seemingly was not devoid of coquetry, for she -wrapped herself in a bit of bright flannel which she held together -beneath her chin with one small black hand, while she peeped out from -between the folds with her little mournful eyes. - -Of all the prisoners in the great building, none was more miserable -than this little monkey. A present to the wife of one of the partners, -who detested her, she had been brought down to the factory where she -led a truly miserable life. In order to be out of reach of the furnace -man, who had once treated her cruelly, she ran up among the -asbestos-covered pipes, and there remained, save when she suffered -herself to be lured down by Ding Dong. It was as if these two touching -creatures, the one so nearly bestial and the other so nearly human, -strove to lessen each other's profound loneliness. - -As Emil pulled at his long pipe, resting after his exertions of the -night, something of his serenity stole over his companions and wrapped -in the same mood of abstracted dreaminess, they watched the dawn -together. - -When the department overseer appeared, a shudder ran through the -building. The presses rumbled and boys began to feed them with great -sheets of paper. The band of pale, dispirited youths in the art -department etched their designs. With dust, sweat, oaths, grinding -muscles, shriek and thunder of machinery,--the day began. Hour after -hour the passionate clamour increased to a poem, a hymn, a pćan to the -God of Work. - -At twelve o'clock the tension relaxed. Men from the different -departments poured into the streets and sought the cafes and -restaurants of the neighbourhood. A few, however, always remained in -the building. For that hour they were no longer slaves. The head -bookkeeper, an old man, stretched his legs, glad to get down from his -high stool; one of the stenographers, with flying fingers resumed her -work on a little red jacket for Lulu. Even Emil was affected by the -sudden contagion of idleness that swept the building. Leaving the -model of his press, he took time to stare from the windows at the roofs -of New York. But despite his interest in his work these surroundings -were beginning to tell upon him. One day in July, unable to bear the -heat, he staggered out into the passage to get a drink from a pail of -water that stood there. He was lifting the dripping dipper to his -lips, when a pair of eyes met his with a sort of shock. When he -stumbled back into the little den, Annie Lawless, springing up from a -chair in her father's office, followed him. - -"What's the matter?" she cried sharply, as he sank down with his head -bowed on the work-bench. She started to summon someone, but a second -glance at his pale face with tiny beads of perspiration around the -nostrils, caused her to change her mind. She passed swiftly to the -door and closed it. Then, detaching a jewelled smelling-bottle from -her belt, she held it under his nose with her little shaking hand. -When Emil came to himself, he saw bending over him a delicate face -shaped like a pear, the cheeks white almost as his own. This face was -furnished with soft open lips, like an infant's, and, by contradiction, -with two blue eyes which, for the moment, looked into his with an -almost maternal solicitude. - -"Are you better?" The question was blended with the odour of violets, -subtle and overpowering, with the gleam of diamonds, with the touch of -a soft fabric, warm with life, beneath his cheek. - -The next instant he sat up, flushing all over. And Annie Lawless -blushed too. - -"Yes, I'm all right, perfectly right," he muttered, and tried to laugh. -"It's only this infernal heat," supporting his head in a strange -fashion as if he feared it would drop off. - -"Yes, it is awfully hot," Annie answered. "Is that the model for the -cylinder press?" she asked presently. "I've heard Father speak of your -inventions." - -Emil, whose head was still giddy, had a childish wish that she would -come near him again and put those hands, covered with rings, on his -brow. He looked at her as she stood speaking. When she turned -sidewise he noticed dreamily how small her waist was, he believed he -could span it with his two hands; and her nose was slightly hooked, -which combined with her quick movements, gave her somewhat of the -appearance of a bird. - -"I've heard Papa say that he thinks your press is going to be a big -thing," she continued, "but I should think he ought to give you a -better place to work in." - -At these words Emil roused himself. He had not known before that Mr. -Lawless believed in the press. "Why yes, if I had a decent place to -work in--" he began. - -"Papa ought to pay you more money," she said with conviction. "Why, he -used to have a man who invented things and he gave him special rooms -and a fine salary besides. Papa says a man with the inventive bee in -his bonnet isn't fit to look after himself. But that man was," she -concluded, "for he left Papa one day in the lurch and went to inventing -things on his own account, and since then he has made a pile of money. -You'll do that too if they aren't careful." - -The upshot of the matter was that she began making plans for the relief -of the stranger who, with his extraordinary air, seemed more -interesting to her than anyone she had ever known. - -"It may take a little time, but I'll manage it somehow," she told him -as she left. - -And she did manage it. - -She saw Emil several times, arousing a perfect furor of gossip among -the artists by the temerity of her visits. When she knew that her -father and his partner were out of the building, she slipped in to see -Emil, and, more than once as the summer advanced, she met him at an -appointed place on his homeward walk. - -Finally, acting on her advice, he sent in a written protest to his -employers, stating that it was impossible for him to complete the work -at his present salary and setting forth his desire for a more fully -equipped workroom. In conclusion, he intimated that if his requests -were not acceded to, in view of the services he had already rendered -them, he should feel free to quit their employ. - -The day following this step, Annie appeared with triumph written all -over her face. - -"It's all settled," she announced. "Mr. Just and the general manager -were at our house last night. They talked about you and I listened at -the library door. Papa made Mr. Wakefield admit that he'd been wrong -in his estimate of you. And then Papa went on to say that he thought -they might as well, first as last, offer to grub stake you. Do you -know what that means?" she cried, laughing. "It means that they will -pay all your expenses and give you rooms somewhere like that Mr. -Pennyworth I told you about. He said already, by the different -improvements you'd made on this and that machine, you'd saved the firm -thousands of dollars. You didn't know that, I guess. He said you were -too valuable a man to lose. And that's not all," she went on to cover -her embarrassment, for Emil was staring at her, "you're to have a few -weeks somewhere in the country if you want them, and I'm sure you need -a vacation badly enough." - -"How did you manage it?" he asked, speaking with difficulty. - -"Oh, I just kept Papa thinking about you by the things I said. One day -I said that the factory was horribly stuffy and I should think the -artists, and you particularly, would just die. And then I asked him -carelessly if he thought your press was going to be any good, and he -said, 'Good!--well, if he can be got to finish it, that's all we want. -The man's a genius!' And I laughed and told him he'd better look out -or his genius would have sunstroke. I explained to him that you were -probably so worn out that you couldn't finish it. I said a thing here -and a thing there, mere nothings, but I made him uneasy, and then came -your letter throwing up the whole scheme before it was completed. Oh I -knew he'd do it, if it was managed all right!" she exclaimed gleefully. -And then changing her tone: "Are you glad?" and she wrinkled her brow -into anxious furrows beneath her light summer hat. - -Emil took one of her little hands timidly. He turned a ring round and -round on her tiny finger, staring at her, endeavouring to find words. -Suddenly two arms were laid about his neck and all quivering in the -storm of her own emotions, like a bird seeking shelter, she fluttered -against his breast. Her hat had slipped to her shoulders. He felt -that she was sobbing violently, and scarcely knowing what he did, he -clasped her closely in his arms and muttering unintelligible words -which he himself did not understand, he pressed his lips again and -again to her small blond head. - -But the plum that tumbles into our lap without the asking is seldom as -fine as the fruit we climb for, strain for, spend hours in thirsting -after. Three weeks--and this fierce agitation of the senses had -subsided. It was an excitement, a fever, which at the time had been -augmented by so many equivocal influences; by the noise of the presses -which had seemed to keep time to his pulses, by the gleam of the girl's -jewels, by the softness of her attire, by the fact, more than all else, -that she was his chief's daughter. - -A whiff of sea air and Emil looked back on the affair with utter -weariness. Without a conscience, he was accustomed to follow simply -the dictates of his own nature. The memory of the girl irked him, -therefore with heavy sighs like a weary horse, he destroyed her -letters. However, the phantom of love had passed very close, and it -was not in vain that all the electric currents of his being had been -set in motion. He was awake now to another world than that in which he -had hitherto dwelt,--awake, with his great inquisitive eyes, attentive. - -It was at this juncture that Rachel Beckett dawned on his horizon. -When she came round the rock leading the cow, a novel sensation -convulsed that strange uncultivated heart of his. A man's heart is a -garden in which, before the coming of death, many flowers of emotion -bloom; and the history of these flowers is the history of his life. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -IN THE CAUSE OF SCIENCE - -Since the night of Emil's departure, which had brought such terror to -her heart, a divine serenity had fallen upon Mrs. St. Ives. His -frequent letters, filled with the vitality of his genius and all -radiant with love, were to her a second baptism of youth. Palpitating -with enthusiasm, she carried them to her room where she read and reread -them. Sometimes she wept over them, and for days after the receipt of -one, she went about with an expression of utter peace. But when, for -some reason, a letter failed to arrive, then in that house far removed -from the scenes among which he dwelt, she would clasp her hands in -silent agony, she would be given over to anxiety, glancing about her, -more nervous than any bird; she would rebuke the teasing grandchildren -and fiercely demand the letter which, she imagined, her daughter-in-law -kept from her. Then became evident in her no longer the triumph of -youth but the tragedy of age. - -Without doing anything to deserve her special affection, both Edgar and -his wife were jealous of her absorbing love for Emil. They ridiculed -this worship. And no one except the singular object of her devotion -comprehended the extent of her suffering. Vague and unsatisfactory as -he was in all other relations, where she was concerned he was gifted -with an insight that might have done credit to a woman. Full well he -comprehended that she was living her life in his, and, for that reason, -he strove to make it gorgeous for her. Poor devil of an inventor, with -his toes all but through his boots and his head in the clouds! He -would often brood over her situation with tears in his eyes. He -cherished the hope of one day having her with him, and, in the event of -her coming, planned like a lover, to greet her royally. But once -plunged in his work, it must be confessed that for days together he -incontinently forgot all about her. Then, perhaps, a feeble scrawl -would arrive, announcing a headache or some trifling woman's worry, and -contrition would be rampant in him. Rousing himself, he would write -her one of his long, characteristic letters, fairly pouring out his -life on the page. - -As may be conjectured, his being sent to Old Harbour to rest and, -incidentally, to add the finishing touches to the metal plate and -cylinder press, was subject matter for a glowing epistle, which brought -to the mother a wealth of happiness and sent her to bed night after -night with touching prayers of gratitude on her lips. Once settled in -the hotel at Old Harbour, however, Emil abandoned the work in hand and -fell to making a _depth indicator_. How think of anything else with -the sea out there waiting to be plumbed? In vain Annie Lawless hinted -that her father was anxious to install the press and counselled haste, -as has been related, Emil destroyed her letters and went feverishly -forward with his self-appointed task. - -On the afternoon of the day of his meeting with Rachel he was in fine -feather. The presence of the girl and the prospect of testing his -invention filled him with animation. At moments, as he tinkered at the -boat's rim, he whistled so shrilly that the sea gulls paused in their -wheeling to listen; and this complicated energy, this unusual virility, -was as much a tribute to her who sat in the grey nest of boulders, as a -testimony of interest in the work. And so she understood it. - -With her slight figure relieved against the skyline, she waited for him -to complete his preparations. Now and then her eyes travelled, with -unerring directness, to the mound of sand where he had that morning -buried the letter. What did those hard-packed grains of sand conceal? -Instinctively she played with the question and its import sat deep in -her eye. As if by a stroke of art, she had placed herself in direct -line with the figure-head, so that no one glancing that way could fail -to be struck by the dissimilarity between image and maid. Mobility and -an ardent capacity for a rich and varied existence were written all -over her; that something which is the potency of womanhood itself -seemed to have awakened suddenly from the torpor of youth in that -little heart and to have come abroad for the first time experimentally. -There she sat, and whenever he turned his head, he was struck anew with -her, so that he must needs look again and yet again. - -She had covered her feet with her skirts and her hands were clasped -decorously in her lap. Her brow had a male gravity, as distinguished -from her chin which was softly-turned and exceeding feminine. Her hair -was parted and trained in two shining unbroken portions and tucked away -behind her ears, something as a curtain is looped back from a window. -The sphinx-like mystery of Leonardo's _La Gioconda_ was alive in her -eyes. - -Even while the girl, in her essential self, remained superlatively -innocent and unconscious, there looked out from her little virgin -countenance at Emil, gravely selecting him, the 'Genius of the -Species.' Her glance proclaimed sex and intellectual detachment. - -Presently Emil turned his face over his shoulder and beckoned to her; -and his laugh was repeated by the water coursing up the beach and -curling round the boat in white-lipped waves. The fog had disappeared -and the sun was now shining joyously. - -Rachel grasped the oars, rowing with long even strokes, and Emil sat in -the bow. To one side of the boat and projecting into the water, he had -attached a bell, which gave out when struck a special, sharp, short -note; and on the other side of the boat he had placed a telephone -receiver connected with a small box. - -"And inside that box is another still smaller of metal," he told her, -"and that contains the secret of the whole device. Did you ever hear -of the microphone?" - -She shook her head. - -"Well, it's a tiny affair no larger than a pea, and will so magnify -sound in connection with an electric current and a telephone receiver, -such as I have here, that the footsteps of a fly on a sheet of paper -sound about like the tramping of an army. It's so powerful," he -continued, "that if I were to place it in the end of a tube and point -the tube, say, toward that island out there, any noise going on---a -wagon rattling along the road or a child naming--I should be able to -hear on this side, provided I had arranged the microphone so as to shut -out all intervening noises. For instance, this microphone here is -sensitive to no sound but that of the bell and the vibrations that I -hope may be reflected back from the sea bottom. But we'll soon know -whether it will work," he cried. "Row about twenty rods farther and -then I'll tell you not only the depth of the water at that point, but -the character of the bottom and whether it will be safe for our big -liner to advance." - -He was trembling all over and Rachel reflected his interest. She sent -the boat forward a few strokes, then rested on the dripping oars. -Nature, it seemed, was in her most approachable mood and at a hint of -coaxing would reveal her secrets; yet the girl was conscious of -something in the phenomena of the sea implacable and resistant to the -efforts of man. Concealed promontories, hidden shoals, submerged -headlands, treacherous peaks, drowned under the ceaseless rushing of -waters--would the Voice come back bearing tale of all this?--or, if -mud, weeds, fish, incrustations of shell--would the Voice proclaim -safety, and the inventor know the very thickness of that rolling, -beauteous mantle of mystery? - -Nothing of the poetic significance of the test was lost on the girl, -and she felt the hand of pity at her throat when she witnessed Emil's -disappointment manifest all over him like a blight. Then she gloried -when she saw him repeat the test. - -Come what might, it was clear he had faith in himself. - -Tenaciously he passed from one test to another. He contorted himself, -stooping in the bottom of the boat, his eyes bright with the steady -flame of his determination. He took off his coat and, flinging back -his hair, listened with the receiver at one ear while he covered the -other with his free hand. At last he was able to hear: first, the -muffled stroke of the bell, then the extremely feeble sound vibrations -reflected from the sea bottom through the microphone-telephone; and by -the period of time which elapsed between the bell stroke and the return -impulse, he was able, after innumerable experiments, to estimate -closely the distance which the sound travelled before being sent back. - -The afternoon advanced and waned, twilight approached, and, by his -complete absorption, he revealed to Rachel the toil, the cautious -experiments, the days and nights of labour expended for such meagre, -very meagre results. He became, all at once, in her imagination, a -figure exalted and pathetic. But it was plain that the unsatisfactory -test had consumed a portion of his existence. At last, with an abrupt -gesture, he directed her to put back to the shore. - -The darkness had fallen and the waves wetted the beach indefatigably, -the ocean murmured incomprehensibly, and from the heavens poured the -imperturbable light of the stars. The stars threw their calm radiance -over the figure that, silent and absorbed, leaped out of the boat and -without a word made off around the rocks. - -A shadowy presence, which immediately disclosed itself as a boy, -emerged from among the boulders and scowled after the retreating form. -"The next time he's for rowing round in such crazy fashion, I'll take -him." And with his strong arms, André helped Rachel beach the boat. - -She flung down the end of rope and faced him. "You'll do nothing of -the sort," she cried; "you'll mind your business, do you understand?" - -These words, spit out upon him, made him open his eyes in astonishment, -but before he could find speech, she likewise had disappeared in the -gloom. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE OLD FASCINATION - -In spite of André's interference and her grandfather's mild -questionings, in spite, even, of Nora Gage's curious and sly looks, -Rachel continued to take Emil out in the boat every day. But on the -fifth day when she went to the beach, he did not appear. For a time -she waited in acute loneliness, then, with a magnificent effort, she -returned to the house, deliberately donned her best dress, and, -haughtily, under Nora's little inquisitive eyes, started for Old -Harbour. Some powerful law of existence was at work driving her -blindly forward to realize a distant idea in the face of the challenges -of her maidenhood. - -She walked rapidly until she gained the main street of the little -village. Then her steps flagged, and with her head turning idly from -side to side, she noticed, as if for the first time, the names over the -doors of the storm-beaten shops:--"Old Harbour Yacht Yard," "Ship -Chandlery and Hardware," "Paint, Cordage and Boat Trimmings." - -In her dainty trappings, with the shadow from her hat in her eyes and -folds of her crisp muslin dress in one sunburnt hand to keep it from -the soil of the road, she might have been a stranger on a first stroll -through the curious little town that smelled rankly of fish, instead of -a maid born and bred in those parts. Finally she paused before a -window where yellow oilskin coats were grotesquely displayed, together -with lanterns and canvas pails and other objects of signal interest to -one of her sex and age; and at that instant Emil, lounging in the door -of the hotel opposite with a pipe planted between his lips, spied her. - -For two blocks she walked rapidly, and when she did permit him to -overtake her, she scarcely gave answer to his greeting. As if by -mutual consent they turned their steps in the direction of the old -Burying Point, a rocky promontory at the town's edge where for two -centuries Old Harbour had persistently discovered graves for its dead -among the boulders. Rocks and bones of men disputed the place, and -yet, what more fit than that they should be laid to rest there, those -staunch old captains and brave wives, whose very spirits had more in -common with rocks than with flowers? Yet flowers bloomed there in -scanty elegance, and sprays of 'lady's ear-drop' and 'Queen Anne's -lace,' testifying to some feminine grace hidden away in neighbouring -graves, caught and clung to Rachel's dress as she passed. - -Emil, who was frankly pleased to see her, kept laughing loudly as he -switched off the heads of the tall grass: but Rachel turned away her -face and bit her lip; now that she saw him, she was indifferent to him. -She was not thoroughly aware of her own actions until they were -accomplished. Constantly something vast fought within her. Indeed, in -this scrap of a girl was manifest one of the greatest desires, the -greatest volitions of the universe. - -Reaching the edge of the cemetery where it ran out in a jutting cliff -that commanded a view of extended range and beauty, she sank down on an -old seat and cast a challenging glance at Emil. - -"Is the _depth indicator_ complete?" she asked. "I did not know that -you considered it finished." - -"Yes, it's practically finished," he answered; "anyhow, I shan't be -able to do anything more to it for the present. I've got to finish my -lithographic outfit. They're hurrying me. I'm heartily sick of it, -but there's nothing else to be done." - -"Of course you must finish it," she agreed quickly, and the last little -cloud vanished from her eyes. - -With instinctive tact she began making more attractive to him the duty -that lay before him. She made him explain the salient features of the -lithographic improvement and she nodded her head sagely at each point -as if she understood. Then she praised its ingenuity. Finally, having -divined his feeling for his mother, she hinted at her pleasure in his -success. - -"Your mother must be excited these days," she said, "and proud, too." - -The glow in his glance had been deepening, and pride was visible all -over him, but at the mention of his mother his expression changed. - -"Yes, it must go through for her sake," he said soberly. "Oh, I'm a -queer devil," he continued, hitching his shoulders in some impatience; -"I've a brain exactly like one of the monkeys in the Zoo--attracted -first by this thing, then by that, just like one of the monkeys in the -Zoo. I say, you're coming to-morrow?" he asked, as she rose. "If I'm -to finish in time, someone's got to bring me to account." - -He stood smiling at her, the sun lighting up his rough locks and -causing him to half close his questioning, eager eyes in which there -was a touch of anxiety. - -She lifted toward him her sensitive and responsive face. - -"Will you come?" he insisted. His eyes held hers. - -Her brows rose ingenuously, her lips parted, though no word passed -them. Then, with a mute gesture of assent, she turned away. - -Reaching home, she deemed it expedient to conceal her towering spirits. -But even so, it seemed extraordinary that her grandfather did not -surprise the thought that informed her cheeks, her eyes and every curve -of her body with witchery. In Emil's presence her bearing had not been -what she could have wished, but now it was that of a queen. - -At bedtime, before her mirror, she arranged her hair after a new -fashion. She stared into her bright soft face. Standing in her -nightgown she hugged closely to her breast her happiness that was young -and young and once again young. - -Borne forward in obedience to an irresistible command of nature, she -continued to meet St. Ives. In spite of tears and passionate revolts -and innumerable petty hypocrisies by which she strove to put another -face on her actions, that was awake in her which would not be gainsaid. -And, thanks to her sex which so readily can blind itself, her movements -for the most part remained superbly instinctive and unconscious. - -When she set out of an afternoon for Old Harbour she caught and held -every eye, like something bright and sparkling. Nora Gage observed her -and malignity appeared to deepen the creases of her fat; while Lizzie -Goodenough longed for the temerity to give warning to the motherless -slip. All unmindful of them, Rachel, with such bravery of raiment as -she could command, pursued her course. And her accoutrement, which was -always the same, was by no means inconsiderable. The dress was of -yellow barred-muslin and the skirt swayed as she walked like the -corolla of a drooping flower. The waist fitted her closely, save at -the bosom where there was an over-lapping fulness and in this surplice -front was pinned carelessly, surely with the height of art, a cluster -of evening primroses. These frail flowers, constantly agitated by the -mad beating of her heart, drooped finally, as if in sheer delight at -their enviable position. Fastened beneath her chin was the ribbon of -her flower-decked hat. This ribbon, passing round that little smooth -face and seeming to hold it in a dainty embrace, was a triumph of -coquetry: it had life and spoke, calling attention to the down on the -cheek, to the lift of the upper lip, finally to the eyes, innocent as a -stag's--eyes that never the less revealed in this ardent, complex, -highly-spiritual creature intense aspirations towards a fuller -existence. - -One afternoon on arriving at the cemetery she seated herself on a -certain flat-topped tomb, and there some minutes later Emil joined her. -The look from under his rough mane came at her diagonally, as with head -lowered on his hand, he sat beside her. His eyes shed on her -admiration; his moustache leaped against his cheek as he smiled. - -"It's good to be near you." - -Rachel glanced at him askance, and one little hand trembled so on the -other that she had to intertwine their fingers strongly. Though she -drank in these words like wine, she did not know how to prolong the -moment. Instead,--O perverse instinct that frequently dominates -helpless youth!--she inquired about his work. For interminable hours -she had longed for this very moment, yet here she was shortening it! - -Emil rose joyously to her question. Not only did he reply to it, but -he amplified his explanation and finally launched into a detailed -description of the instrument on which he was then engaged. - -Once started on the subject, she knew he would not abandon it until she -rose as a signal that the interview must end. - -Happiness was diminished, but for an instant only. Disappointment was -drowned in pride. It was something to have demonstrated to her her -value as a confidante. To her imagination this stranger dropped by -Fate at her feet, was all that the childish André was not. He appealed -to her by reason of his stronger magnetism and his greater mind. Not -only did he seem to her to possess every quality of the ideal lover, -but,--and the discovery completed her subjugation and was essential to -it,--he was the eternal child of genius whom she longed to protect. - -The moment came when they had to part. Sometimes they separated at the -gate of the cemetery; sometimes, if dusk had overtaken them, Emil -walked home with her. Frequently, at the moment of parting, he caught -her hand and looked fixedly at her eyes and mouth. Though judging from -the expression of both eyes and mouth, the permission he sought was not -absolutely withheld, the firm, round face fronting his in the evening -light seemed to mask a host of imperious possibilities. Its look, on -the whole, was equivocal. Scarcely aware of what restrained him, he -pressed her trusting little fingers and let her go. Rachel was one of -those fortunate maidens who are never treated with levity by men. - -After the young girl had disappeared in the house, the spell she had -cast over Emil's restless heart was in a measure dissipated. He -straightened his cap, thrust his hands into his pockets and swung away, -his thoughts once more on his work. - -But for Rachel there existed no such opposing interest. Each day, -through the hours of separation, she lived on the exhaustless, ardent -vitality absorbed during their last interview. But it was not long ere -the glory of her dream was partially eclipsed. The guileless disturber -of her bliss was a certain Lottie Loveburg who caught up with her one -afternoon as she was striking into the road for Pemoquod Point. As she -had parted from Emil some minutes earlier, Rachel was not averse to -Lottie's company. - -"I'm going your way, at least as far as Mr. Patch's," Lottie announced -with a panting breath. "Mother wants me to get a mess of pease for -supper. Bliss and Mason are all sold out." - -The two girls went on side by side. - -Lottie was a few years older than Rachel. In school she had been -considered an out-and-out stupid, but once released from school she was -acknowledged a belle. She was a large full-bosomed lass with a head of -heavy blond hair. The one misfortune of her face was the slight -crossing of the blue eyes. As far as possible, she remedied the defect -by a frequent lowering of the lids, though the precaution was one which -she did not trouble herself to take when walking, as at present, with -one of her own kind. From this big lazy girl there issued a compelling -and entirely innocent charm that attacked the opposite sex. To the -absorbed and dreamy Rachel she was as cornet to flute, when both blow -the same ravishing air. - -For a space the pair followed the road in silence. Had any observer -been present, he might well have asked himself how much of the hope -depicted on the countenances of these two young creatures was destined -to be fulfilled. Were they destined to be mothers of sons and -daughters who, in turn, would inhabit this desolate coast?--or was it -written that something of their superabundance of dream and romance be -realized? It was significant that they set their faces toward the -immense infinite ocean, suggestive that their skirts, whipped to the -side by the breeze, seemed waving a farewell to the rude life of the -land. - -Though their shoulders touched, for sometime each seemed unconscious of -the other. Lottie was the first to speak. - -"Well," she cried, "here we are at Mr. Patch's and I haven't said a -word of what's weighing on my mind." - -Rachel started and glanced sideways at her. She feared some allusion -to her meetings with Emil. - -But Lottie was too much engrossed in her own affairs to give a thought -to her companion's. "Yes, I think I must tell you," she continued with -a sigh that was a frank announcement of vanity. "Well then, Mr. -Forebush intends to fight Jim Wright. He's going to follow Jim as he -goes along home past the cemetery, and when they reach a lonely place, -he's going to drag Jim in behind the wall and settle things." - -"The cemetery?" cried Rachel sharply. The cemetery was her territory. - -"They won't be disturbed there--that's all Mr. Forebush is thinking of. -He travels for a New York shoe firm, you know, and he says he's sick of -finding Jim hanging round our house every time he comes to town." - -"Then does Mr. Forebush--does he like you?" Rachel questioned. Though -she made free use of a warmer term in her meditations, she hesitated to -pronounce it. - -But the more experienced Lottie had no such scruple. "Like me!" She -threw her hands apart with an expansive motion. "Why he loves me!" -And to cover her embarrassment she burst into laughter. - -Rachel crimsoned. "Yes, but how do you know he does?" she persisted. - -Lottie continued laughing. "Oh, you queer child! You understand -nothing!" Then, as the other darted an angry look at her,--"Why, -doesn't the fight prove it, even if he hadn't said it? But he has said -it. I wouldn't take stock in him if he hadn't. No looks and kisses -without words for me! But I'm leaving you here. Wonder if Mr. Patch -is at home." Then, as she was passing in at the gate she added with a -return of the sentimental manner, "I'm sure I hope Jim won't hurt Mr. -Forebush; he's some bigger, you know." - -Rachel did not remain to discuss this possibility. Instead, she threw -over her shoulder a curt "good-bye" and pursued her course. - -When she was with Emil what did he talk about? Try as she would she -could recall no topic on which he dwelt save his own work. Ideas for -new inventions, for wonderful instruments jostled each other on his -lips. He explained them with fire;--plans, details, he mapped them all -out before her. "Fine to do!" he would cry, and while the words came -forth in the most ringing tones of his voice and his eyes constantly -sought hers, conscious that he revived in her presence his courage and -light-heartedness, she herself was tricked into contentment. But now -she questioned the extent of her power over him. - -Until she had covered the distance from Zarah Patch's to "the barn," -her feeling was nicely balanced between dejection and hope. But from -"the barn" onward to her grandfather's house, hope flagged. Presently, -in the privacy of her own room, she succumbed to despair: - -"It may be that I'm not good-looking enough!" - -This was the thought that caused her the most exquisite pang. If she -failed on that score, as well yield up all hope at once. And in fancy -she ranged herself beside this spinster and that of her acquaintance -until the consciousness of the contrast between eighteen and fifty -brought a smile flickering to her lips. But did she fail in the matter -of looks? When dressed in her best, didn't she look as well as Lottie -Loveburg? To be sure Lottie had a rope of hair as big as your arm, but -then, there were her eyes! - -To glance in the mirror over her bureau at her own resources of face -and figure was a natural action for a young thing in such harassing -doubt. At present, however on the subject of her looks, Rachel had all -of a child's ignorance. She was no more capable of appreciating the -sensitive changeful beauty of her colouring and expression than a -canary bird is of appreciating the beauty of its yellow plumage. - -Turning from the mirror to a window, she lost herself in reverie. Her -thoughts returned again and again to the vision of two eyes that -entered audaciously into hers,--two eyes with a mind in them,--two good -lips laughing and talking from the covert of a curling beard; and as -she studied the exciting vision, the gloom lifted from her face. It -was indeed a great honour to be the confidante of such a man, she -assured herself; and once more was isolated by the realization on a -dizzy eminence above all her girl companions. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -IN WHICH A KISS IS GIVEN AND REGRETTED - -Unconscious of the grim humour that lurked in the fact of their having -selected it as a place to foregather, Emil and Rachel continued to meet -at the old Burying Point. No other lovers came there, and as deaths -were infrequent in Old Harbour and a funeral pageant an event, they -were practically secure from interruption. There, where the wind bent -the grass above the graves with a sound that struck pleasantly on the -ear and the insect world was all abroad on busy wings, they found the -isolation their spirits craved. The place was, at most, but a setting -for their two selves, for their sweet, intoxicating emotions. - -Emil would look at Rachel pensively, almost appealingly. She stirred -in him depths of tenderness and often he would have been tempted into -some indiscretion had not her Arcadian innocence disconcerted him. -With a shrug of the shoulders and a sigh, he would turn away from her -as if offended at something. Though neither of them guessed it, what -raised the level of the situation and decreased its dangers, was the -unflagging interest she exhibited in his work. A woman's interest in -his achievement is always fruitful for a man. For the exuberant and -egotistic inventor, it was as fuel to flame. It immensely increased -his powers. - -Had anyone, prompted by curiosity, troubled himself to spy on the pair, -he would have discovered an enthusiastic young fellow ranting on -matters scientific and a slip of a girl sitting nearby with delight and -despair depicted on her mobile countenance. The delight, he would have -remarked, was a fluctuating emotion; the despair in danger of becoming -a lasting one. - -The two had been meeting in this way for upwards of three weeks and the -lithographic sheets and press were all but ready for triumphant -shipment, when Rachel's patience came unexpectedly to an end. Her -change of front was due directly to the weather. The temperature of -Pemoquod on a particular afternoon in late August made the wearing of -the muslin dress seem out of the question, for the day, while bright, -was distinctly chilly and by the time she quitted the cemetery -according to all reasonable calculations, the air would be cold. She -therefore made no change in her dress at all, but in her every-day -frock, with an old drab silk shawl, which had belonged to her mother, -over her shoulders and a book from the circulating library under her -arm, she took her way to Old Harbour, her prospects for a pleasant -interview considerably damaged. In this dull attire she would forego -Emil's lightning glances of pleasure, "For he might as well look at a -rock or a stump," she told herself disconsolately, "as look at me the -way I am to-day." - -The weather beside the sea is nothing if not capricious, and by the -time she reached the cemetery, the air had become warm. It was between -four and five o'clock and the sun was sending long level shafts between -the graves, as if looking for something, when Rachel took her -accustomed place on the flat-topped tomb and let the shawl slip down -her back till it lay about her in a semicircle of rippling folds. - -"Just my bad luck!" she soliloquized. "It's warm enough for a gauze -dress if one had such a thing. But I'd like to know what's the sense -of all this?" she resumed indignantly. "It isn't fair that he should -judge me by my clothes entirely and I'll not have it. I've a mind as -well as he!" - -Now there was no evidence that Emil had judged her as lacking this -particular endowment, but she was in no mood to adhere closely to -facts. She began turning the pages of her book at random. She was -engaged in reading, with most imperfect attention it must be confessed, -a glowing description of the sphinx, when he arrived. - -From a distance he spied her and she appeared to him to light up with -her grace the whole desolate place. For eight hours he had devoted -himself solely to work; now like one who receives but his just reward, -he drew near with a jovial smile on his lips. Rachel, though she was -conscious of his approach in every fibre of her being, was all for -concealing the fact. Partly through resentment, partly through -coquetry, she kept her eyes to her page. Suddenly Emil halted. Of a -truth, there was material enough in the picture she made, perched there -on the old table-tomb, for twenty conquests. - -Dressed in the famous muslin, the rarest quality of her beauty, a -certain lurking mystery, was lost amid furbelows which simply -emphasized her youth. Now clothed in a sober little frock that -appeared to be as much part of her as its smooth bark is part of a -sapling, there was nothing to divert attention from her actual self. -There she sat with her book open on her lap, a kind of sibyl, while -about her hummed and buzzed and fluttered tribes of nimble-bodied -insects. Great blundering bees pilfered rude kisses from the willing -lips of some pink phlox swaying at her knee, a butterfly came to rest -on the tomb and even crawled with curious, quivering antennae toward -the hand outspread on the stone. A thrush poured out its heart from a -little whip of a tree over her head. In the midst of this place of -death, she spoke compellingly of life. - -"I've come!" - -Emil's voice trembled. The blood beat in his temples. - -"How long have you been here?" he questioned, as he opened his hand -grudgingly and released her fingers. "How much have I missed of you?" - -She ignored the form of the question. "Oh, I've not been here long, I -think," with disconcerting calmness, "though when I have a book I lose -all track of time." - -At this unexpectedly repressing manner, he moved a few paces off. - -"What is your book?" he inquired after a pause. - -"'Impressions of the Nile Country,'" and she made a motion as if to -hand him the volume. But he kept his face away. Thereupon she plucked -a spear of grass and placed it carefully between the pages, while a -peculiarly significant and feminine expression played about her mouth. - -"Oh," she sighed with sudden fervour, "how I should like to travel! -particularly how I should love to travel in Egypt." - -"But why Egypt?" and he swung round. - -"The sphinx;" she explained briefly. "It sits there gazing before it -forever and forever, and it never reveals the secret of the hands that -fashioned it, while the sun scorches it and the sands blow over it and -will finally throttle it, I suppose, but it will never tell." - -With her arms crossed on her lap, she was staring at a near-by shrub. -It was a starved old rose-bush which had long since ceased to bear, but -she seemed to see in it a vision, for a smile unclosed her lips and -narrowed her eyes. She looked up at him and her bosom lifted. - -"Yes," she repeated softly, "I should like mightily to see the sphinx." - -He was regarding her with a strange, fixed attention. Now he thrust -his hands into the pockets of his jacket with a convulsive movement. - -"You're something by way of being a sphinx yourself," he said -unsteadily. - -Reaching behind her she slowly drew up the shawl until straight folds -of the material fell about her face. Then she extended a hand on -either knee and gazed before her. The imitation was admirable. Not a -feature or limb stirred. The sun penetrated the worn silken shawl and -vaguely defined her round little form. It gilded her forehead and chin -and traced a line of humid light along the lids of the eyes the pupils -of which were so obstinately contemplating Eternity. But what that -celestial body could not accomplish with its bold steady gaze, was -given to a mortal to achieve with a single glance. St. Ives bent over -her. - -The sphinx was lost in the woman. - -Throbbing with delicious dread, Rachel gave him her eyes. She returned -look for look, while her breathing ceased and her little hands, still -stretched along her knees, trembled. Lower and lower he bent his head, -higher and higher she lifted hers, to the length of its delicate, -palpitating throat. At the very brink--an ecstatic, troubled, reeling -pause, then--their lids sank, their lips met. - -About them the insects continued their aggressive activity. A bee, -greedy for the last drop of honey, lit on a purple aster and the whole -light spray of blossoms swayed to his weight. The butterfly that had -lately visited Rachel's hand, joined its mate high up in the thin blue -air. From the branch of a sapling the thrush swelled its throat once -more in a joyful song. Ignorant that those two motionless heads -announced creatures differing in aught from themselves, the host of -creeping and winged things enrolled them for the nonce in their lists. - -Rachel was the first to recoil from the caress. She drew -back,--sweetly ashamed, shyly-radiant, with that in her eyes a man -would have died rather than lessen. - -But on Emil the shock of the caress had a contrary effect. - -"In Heaven's name!" he cried, without looking at her, "forgive me." -The words leaped forth from his very heart. He wasn't half worthy that -kiss and he had the astonishing grace to know it. - -As though any apology were necessary, however, as though events could -have happened otherwise! The kiss had been as sure to come as the -imminent meeting of evening with deep dark night. And so Rachel, by -her manner, seemed to say. In an anguish of expectancy she looked up -at him--ready to be assured, or ready to be stricken in her pride as -never maid was stricken before. - -Before Emil could answer, Zarah Patch appeared round a turn of the -roadway. Concealed by hedges and clumps of shrubbery, his approach had -been unnoticed by the pair. Now he brought the white mare to a halt -while he shot a look at the girl. Some inkling of the gossip -concerning his friend's young granddaughter had reached even his old -ears. - -"I'm going back to the Point directly, Rachel," he called, "be ye -inclined to come along?" - -She sent a mute, tremulous question to Emil. His eyes were rivetted on -the ground. A powerful struggle was taking place within him. A desire -for love had flamed in his heart and, with his lips on hers, for one -brief fiery instant he had tasted the sweetness of his power over her. -None the less, what he now experienced was an intolerable sense of -shame. It set the seal of dignity on his ardour, if she had but -understood. But she totally misread him. - -Pride sent up its secret cry: Perhaps he regretted the kiss, perhaps he -had no right to kiss her? - -"Want to come along?" urged Zarah. "I've been hauling sod and the cart -is some muddied, but if yer'e keerful gittin' in, ye won't hurt yer -dress none." - -Rachel suddenly signified her assent. - -Emil raised his head in a singular and wild fashion. He made an -imploring gesture. But it was too late. - -Under cover of a manner of perfect nonchalance she rose to the supposed -situation. Haughtily, under his fiercely-miserable eyes and the -curious eyes of the old man, she proceeded to the cart. - -Emil strode forward. He looked passionate. But she ignored his -proffered hand and accepted Zarah's assistance into the cart. Once -perched on the high seat, she nodded proudly in the direction of him -whom she had so lately kissed. - -Like many another woman if she could have erased the tender incident -from the scroll of her days, if she even could have told herself with -honesty that Emil had been the only moved one, she would willingly have -given half her life. - -"But I kissed him back--I did! I did! and there's no use pretending -otherwise," she confessed in helpless stony abasement. - -And throughout the night, in intervals of sleeplessness, she continued -to sigh because of the torturing memory. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -AT THE OLD BURYING POINT - -By the next morning the incident just recorded had taken on to Rachel a -somewhat different tinge. Her sense of humiliation had so far abated -as to admit of her entertaining a feeling of pity for Emil. He -certainly had appeared a disconsolate and astounded figure as he stood -there gazing after her as she drove away. She wished now that she had -not left so precipitately, or, at least, that she had not declined his -proffered assistance when mounting into the cart. - -By an altered reasoning the apology which had offended her yesterday, -now gratified her. As a gentleman who had been guilty of the grave -misdemeanour of kissing a lady, he could not have acted differently; -for she now thrust the entire blame of the incident on his masculine -shoulders. "It certainly was his fault in the first place," she -argued. And, having shifted the ground of resentment from the apology -for the kiss to the kiss itself, she resolved to forgive the wrong-doer. - -The greater part of the day she spent in wandering on the shore of the -bay. Whenever she went there, instinctively she glanced at the mound -of sand where, on the occasion of their first meeting, she had seen -Emil bury the torn scraps of a letter. Not that she would have touched -the mound for the world, but the strictest would not censure a glance -of curiosity in that direction. Owing to its protection from the wind, -the little grave, strangely enough, had remained intact. But this -morning a scrap of paper appeared on the beach bearing, in what was -incontestably a woman's handwriting, the single word "Dearest." - -Scarcely cognizant of what she did, Rachel, like a feminine Crusoe, -hovered over this bit of evidence on the sand. Like the legendary hero -her consciousness of being alone was destroyed, but with different -effect, for instead of an expression of surprise not unmixed with fear, -her look was one of suspicious misery. - -"That letter was never from his mother," flashed through her mind. -"Old ladies don't make D's that way, so big and round,--but small and -trembly. No, whoever she is, she's young. Of course," reason -suggested, "the letter may have been written by some relative--by a -cousin, perhaps." The supposition was barely tenable. - -With the keen brightness of eye that betokens jealousy, she remained -poised for the briefest fraction of time above the tantalizing find, -then she turned and pranced away. The instant devoted to the scrutiny -had been so short as to admit of scarcely more than half a heart-throb, -so short as scarcely to be termed a look at all, yet a sense of -dishonour was not lacking in her suffering. - -She walked, stopped to think, shed a tear or two, and eventually grew -calm. What comforted her was the thought that Emil cared so little for -its writer that he had torn the letter into bits. - -By afternoon her anxiety to forgive him for the misdemeanour of the day -previous had grown to such proportions as to drive her to the place of -meeting much earlier than usual; and waiting there still further -increased the feeling. When she saw him coming, she rose. Her arms, -hanging down her sides, trembled. She was all languor, all expectancy; -she was the desire for reconciliation incarnate. Yet even from a -distance, she knew that something was wrong. She turned upon him a -look of inquiry as he drew near with his hands sunk in his pockets and -his head lowered. - -His face was clouded, his moustache curved downward, though when he -lifted his eyes to hers, into them flashed a warm and intensely -grateful smile. But the expression was succeeded by a gloomy one. - -"Well, it's all over," he announced. "No need for me to have slaved -so. I'm thrown aside and someone else goes ahead and reaps the -profits." - -"What do you mean?" she gasped. - -"Mean? Why I mean that my delightful employers have stolen the press, -the sheets, the whole scheme. I wasn't quick enough and they got -someone else to finish the thing and applied for the patent." - -"How do you know?" - -"Oh, I've been informed all right," he said and from his pocket he drew -a letter. - -Involuntarily Rachel extended her hand; then her face went white. On -the sheet that fluttered in his fingers she beheld the same childish -chirography that had appeared on the scrap of paper on the beach. Her -hand dropped. - -"It's always the same," he went on, without noticing the change that -had come over her. And seating himself on the tomb, he took out his -pipe. Having filled it, he commenced to smoke, his eyes widely opened, -full of profound thought, fixed on vacancy. - -"Not that it makes any difference," he continued philosophically after -a pause. "The world gets the benefit of the invention; as for me, I've -plenty of other things in my head. I'm not crying over spilt milk," -and he looked up at her and laughed while the shining returned to his -glance. Reaching out toward her he tried to take her hand. This -movement, while bold, was not destitute of an appealing grace. It was -a mute reference to the kiss, to their changed relations; it was also a -demand for sympathy. - -At any other time Rachel would not have resisted it, but now she -stepped out of his reach. "Who is it that informs you?" Her voice was -implacable. - -He hesitated. "The daughter of one of my employers," he said in a low -tone. "She's stood by me from the first," he admitted. "She's been in -fact a--little trump." And then he sighed. - -Rachel turned away her head. "I should think you'd go to her at once," -she said. "I don't see why you wait here. There's a train at six." - -Disconcerted, he got to his feet. Their eyes locked. He glowered upon -her. - -"You might be able to protect your rights," she continued in a stinging -voice. "Then I should think, on _her_ account, if not on your -mother's, you'd make the attempt." - -She saw the visible pang the mention of his mother occasioned. - -"I will," he cried, "I'll go." And he held out his hand. - -She saw that he shook from head to foot, and she knew that she had hurt -him mortally. But every force of her passionate nature had become -negative to all appeal from him. She could but stand with an impassive -face and bid him go, lest he court worldly failure instead of success. - -And so they parted like strangers. - -When he had passed from her sight, Rachel sank in a little heap on the -tomb. She bent her face on her knees. She felt as if a -sounding-instrument had gone to the very depths of her heart and -explored there among ambiguous weeds and mud, and as she listened to -the message that came back, she rocked backward and forward in a very -ecstasy of barren grief and shame. It seemed to her that she had -reached the burying point of life, and her sobs, quick with the agony -of youthful living, sounded small and piteous in that quiet place of -the dead. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THE MIGRATORY INSTINCT - -During the first weeks succeeding Emil's departure, Rachel looked -feverishly for a letter. It seemed to her the intensity of her longing -must cause one to appear. But none came, and finally she realized that -none would come. She went about with a curled lip and a scornful eye. -Nora Gage might run the house as she chose and cook as many savory -dishes as she pleased, the girl did not care; she was indifferent even -to her grandfather; but let the one or the other cross her will, and -her anger blazed forth. These violent outbursts were nature's defence. - -In the painful upheaval that separated her dream from the reality, that -which was the very centre of her higher life, suffered to such an -extent that she must have become inert, had it not been for the -responsibility felt by all the ruder faculties of her hardy young -being. She had sought love, struggling albeit unconsciously, toward a -supposed freedom; and driven back on herself, she would have become -like a prisoner at the bottom of a cellar--bleeding, discouraged, -without further hope--had it not been for the nerves that proved -insurrectionary, for the temper that refused to be thwarted. The -activity of these rescuers gradually amazed the girl herself and drew -her from the contemplation of her trouble. But the experience, long -after the actual pain of it had given place to a general -dissatisfaction with existence, left its trace upon her face; and this -tempestuous beauty, wrought from within, played around her lips in a -smile of tragic comprehension and increased the range of her youthful -and expressive eye. - -At home Nora dragged her slippers over the kitchen floor with a -flapping sound, and at "the barn," where even the occasional customer -had ceased to appear, André played wild airs upon his fiddle. Both -these sounds were intolerable to Rachel and, to escape them, she fled -to the cliffs. There, even as the cold weather came on, she sat for -hours, with her chin buried in her hands and her eyes on the ocean--the -ocean which, unfathomable and perpetually active, built itself into -gigantic walls that broke against the rocks with a reverberating report -and were sucked back emitting long murmurs. - -Old David, thinking that he discovered in this preoccupation with the -sea a likeness to her father, approached Zarah Patch on the subject and -from a distance, screwing up their eyes in the sunlight, the two -ancient men observed her. - -"It's her father's blood," explained old David, "often and often I seen -him look the same way." - -"It's jest female feelings," Zarah affirmed, "she ain't rightly found -her rudder yet, and she's young. It's always so with women;"--a remark -of unusual length and penetration for Zarah. - -Finally old David hit on a plan for diverting her, a plan, however, -which was destined to increase her malady rather than to cure it. In -the Old Harbour paper that once a week found its way to the Point, -there appeared an account of a private car fresh from the shops which, -for the purpose of conveying his family and friends to their home in -the city, had been brought to Old Harbour by a wealthy summer resident. -The car was stalled on a side track, and old David proposed to his -granddaughter that they go and see it. - -It was a fine clear afternoon, and as the visit was in the nature of a -pleasure expedition, they drove beside Zarah Patch in his cart. As -they bowled along the road, the ruts of which were slightly stiffened -by the frost, old David talked continuously and Rachel found herself -listening. - -"You know I used to work in the car shops at Philadelphy when I was a -young chap," he explained. "It was an immense sky-lighted place -covered with tracks and filled from one end to t'other with cars, some -old to be repainted and some entirely new. Winter was the time when -the old ones used to come troopin' back to us all faded and -travel-stained; they used to seem like old women whose finery was a -little gone-by, who came back to see how young and spruce they could be -made to look. And in the summer we fitted out the new ones, and they -of course was like young things jest preparin' fer their first venture -into the world. - -"I tell ye," he continued, "I used to feel about them jest as if they -were human creatures. The men who worked there was called 'liners,' -'sign-writers,' 'hardwood-finishers,' 'decorators,' and 'rubbers-down.' -The 'rubbers-down' worked with emery-cloth and water, and oh my, didn't -they have to be careful about savin' the gold paint on the old cars, -though! For the letters and lines of gold on a car are always left to -stand, bein' as you might say, her jewellery," he added, with a -cackling laugh. - -But when the little party descended at the station, the magnificence of -the new coach dazzled old David. He had never seen anything like it, -though this fact he strove to conceal. - -"They used to decorate 'em more," he said, "they used to paint scrolls -along the sides, and between the winders they put on yaller tulips; and -to my mind, the cars was handsomer." - -The ticket agent ran across the tracks to open the new coach and the -old man, to demonstrate his knowledge of the subject, began enumerating -the different classes of common cars. "'P.K.' is the best of 'em," he -proclaimed, "'P.K. Wide Vestibule'. But of course this car is -something a little extry." - -When, however, the ticket agent had left them and they once more stood -looking up at the coach, he broke forth into lyric praise of it. - -"'Tain't hardly been on the tracks, remember," he cried, "but think of -the miles and miles it has to run, through what different kinds of -country. It'll be like a good soldier followin' the leader! But the -engine! Oh, that's the master of 'em all!" he continued; "great, -shinin', pantin' master, that's what the engine is, the master." - -Rachel looked at the car as at a traveller who is about to start on a -long journey. Once she had seen the wife of the owner with a party of -friends, and she began filling the seats of the new coach with these -people. Oh, the ladies, the softly-turned heads; the nicely-dressed -children--no common folk were to ride in this car! And she imagined -how they would be carried forward, the rolling of the wheels growing -ever swifter and swifter; and then how they would arrive at that spot, -glimmering with a million lights, tumultuous and confused, the city -containing great homes. - -On the drive back to the Point, she closed her eyes the better to -pursue her thoughts, and her grandfather's words mingled with them like -something heard in a dream. - -"Sometimes, not often, I used to paint station signs," he said, "and -after I'd finished the name of a place--maybe it was Kingston, or maybe -it was only Smithville,--I used to think how the sign would be hung at -the end of a long platform or perhaps jest posted against a little shed -of a buildin' in the midst of a great prairie, and I used to think of -the rain and the snow that'd blow against it, and most blot out the -letters, and the little birds that would perch on it; and somehow I -felt as if I had been to the places jest through paintin' of the signs." - -Rachel pictured the earth webbed with tracks like veins, and she saw -the ships following certain appointed routes over seas; and again, as -in the past, it appeared to her that she was the one stagnant thing in -an active creation. - -"But the signs I liked to paint best," resumed her grandfather's -tremulous voice, "were the _Stop-Look-Listen_ signs, and the -_Railroad-Crossin'--Look Out For The Engine_. They are made of cast -steel now and the letters are raised, but in my time they was of wood, -tall white posts with a pointin' arm, like ghosts givin' warnin'." - - -It seemed to the girl that at all costs she must set herself free and -become a part of a moving and active world. But how transgress the law -that had placed her there on the Maine coast, without experience and -without outlet for all the various capacities of her being? From that -time she began to coax her grandfather to leave Pemoquod. - -"The president of the car shops who gave you this house," she began one -evening, winding her arms about his neck, "if you looked him up--" - -"Nicholas Hart ain't in Philadelphy no longer," objected the old man. -"I seen in the papers years ago about the car shops failin' when he had -'em, and then about his movin' to New York City." - -"Yes, I know that," she assented, "now if you looked him up, he'd -probably get you a nice easy position in New York. But I don't intend -you shall work much longer," she continued, "and that's just the point; -I ought to be doing something to support us both. But what can I do -here?" - -In vain old David protested that he did not wish her to work, she -overruled him, the more easily because his ever-youthful heart was -pleased with the idea of a change. Then, too, he was lapsing into his -second childhood and as time went on he allowed himself to be guided -more and more by her. - -Nora Gage was no match for the pair. She had conceived a fondness for -the kitchen, for the stove, for the very pots and pans; moreover, the -food that she was able to get in this house was to her liking, -especially now, when secure from observation, she fried, stirred and -seasoned to her heart's content. No longer driven to eat these -supplementary luncheons in the privacy of her own chamber, surrounded -by her mice like St. Francis by his birds, she ate when and where she -chose, even under the eyes of the abstracted girl. It must not be -concluded that she was ignorant of any detail of the plan that was on -foot. No one knew, better than she, through listening at the cracks of -doors, what was going forward. And anon she would be servile before -Rachel, through sheer apprehension, and again would rage inwardly to -think that the coming change in her fortunes was due to a brat of a -girl. The grandfather, by the force of that will which existed in the -depths of her being like a seldom-used sword in a scabbard, Nora could -have managed; but Rachel was beyond the range of her power. However, -when the announcement of the great news was finally made to her, her -plea was ready. - -"And what's to become of me, miss?" she demanded. "For more years than -ye've lived I've served yer grandfather faithful, and now at a word -from ye I'm turned off with no place to go." - -Rachel, sitting on the arm of her grandfather's chair, regarded the -housekeeper coldly. "Why can't you go back in the meat-market with -your cousin?" she asked; "grandfather says you used to be there." - -"Yes, but his son's growed up now and he don't need me," and Nora began -to turn a corner of her apron over one stodgy finger. "It was jest as -my friends warned me," she whimpered, "they said I'd be sorry if I -stayed on here after yer mother died. I've sacrificed everything for -ye two and ye don't seem to know it." She ended with a guttural sob. - -Rachel scanned her with a swift glance from head to foot. "What have -you sacrificed for us?" she asked. "Haven't you been paid?" - -"Yes, but there's some things that can't be paid for," Nora muttered. -"A woman can't stay in a man's house the way I have without its costing -her dear." - -The girl stared, then the clear colour stained her face. "Nonsense!" -she cried. - -"It may seem nonsense to you, miss," Nora retorted, "I can well -understand that it do--actin' as you did awhile back. But it ain't -nonsense to the world. I might as well be like that poor thing at the -lighthouse 'stead of the decent woman I am, as far as the world knows. -I've give up everything for ye two, that's what I have, and this is the -way I git treated," and she began sobbing in earnest. - -The old man gazed from one to the other in bewilderment. He saw his -granddaughter rise and heard her draw a sharp breath, and he saw the -housekeeper cower and drop her eyes. - -Rachel passed to a window and stood there for some seconds; then a -whiff of cookery from the kitchen stirred in her a kind of pity. -Through a crack of the door was revealed that for which Nora struggled -and schemed. To have food in plenty, greasy, rich food, this was the -one desire of Nora's life. - -"Grandfather," she said softly and a little wearily, without looking at -the woman, "if you are willing, we'll take Nora with us." - -Of all this interesting parley which betrayed itself in the -late-burning lamp at the Beckett house, André Garins caught not an -inkling. He slept above in the lighthouse, or, when chance favoured, -below in his bed; and cut off as he was from news, he remained ignorant -of the proposed flight. - -Occasionally, after he had polished the crystal lenses and the brass -trimmings of the lantern, his duties over for the day, he tapped at the -Beckett door; but Rachel was too busy to see him: and to escape the -belligerent eyes of Captain Daniels who drank secretly but heavily as -the cold weather came on, he betook himself to the deserted barn. - -Blown upon by all the winds of heaven, with whisperings at every crack -and meanings in its loosened timbers, "the barn" was André's retreat. -Far from finding it dismal, he had only to light a fire in the cracked -stove and whip out his fiddle; and henceforth, it became a cheerful and -friendly abode. He was too close to nature to be rendered unhappy by -mere loneliness. The booming of the sea against the cliffs and the -sighing of the wind in the vastnesses of the sedgegrass, but lit in him -a fiercer gayety. - -Up to this time André had resembled one of those unobtrusive plants -which encumber the highway, but which are apt to escape notice until -the flowering season. He was as handsome as an animal, a child or any -other natural thing, and of the primitive soul at the bottom of him, -his large and rolling eye revealed little. But the hour comes when the -humble flower arrests our attention, if only for the fraction of a -moment, by opening a corolla of exquisite perfection. - -It was on a day in late autumn after the first snow had vanished from -the earth, leaving it wistful and half-chastened, that Rachel sought -out André. It was to be expected that her schoolfellow would feel -sharp regret at her news, and for this reason she had delayed -enlightening him until the last moment. They stood some distance from -"the barn" in the pale sunlight and as she began to speak, he looked -straight into her eyes with a kind of uncomprehending terror. Scarcely -had she finished when he sank to the ground as if felled by a blow. - -"Say you didn't mean it," he moaned, and at her dress she felt his -clinging hands while his forehead rested hot against her feet. - -She lifted his head and saw his mouth twisting like a child's, while -from his eyes poured two steady streams of tears. - -"Why André!" she cried, and with a movement of almost maternal -compassion, she put her arms about him. Thus drawn against the sky, -the young pair vaguely suggested the group of Niobe and her child. - -"Say you won't leave me," he moaned, "say we'll be married and you'll -never, never leave me." - -Softly she stroked his hair while gazing straight before her. Through -a sort of prescience she knew that this humble and suppliant love was -sweeter and more fathomless than anything that would come to her again. - -"No, André dear," she said finally, "I can't stay just living on day -after day, and all the days just alike; I can't because there's -something _here_," and she touched her heart, "that won't let me. All -the same," she continued, "I'm not sure that you're not wiser. You'll -stay here patiently, and, after a fashion, you'll be happy, I suppose. -But it won't be that way with me," she added, with a prophetic shake of -the head; "I shall not be patient and so--" - -But André comprehended nothing save the fact that the innermost hope of -his being was in ruins. He was sobbing now with even more abandon and -through the texture of her dress Rachel felt the pure warmth of his -tears. - -"Look, André," she said, "do you see that they are burning wrecks down -there--the lumber of those fishing boats that came ashore last spring. -Why are they doing it?" - -He raised his wet eyes and followed the direction of her pointing -finger. - -"It's because they want to use the iron bolts that screw them -together," she continued. "In just the same way, life treats us--like -wrecked barks, and the flames sweep over us, so that at last all that -is left is the iron strength of us." She finished almost in a whisper, -as if she had forgotten him. - -It was clear that André's soul would continue to cling to her soul like -the lichen to the wood, the ivy to the tree. And this he knew, even -while he mourned the material separation. - -Presently more matter-of-fact words brought him to himself. He ceased -weeping, and rising, stood at her bidding. - -"You'll see about the trunk lock," she said, "right away; and you'll -meet grandfather and go with him to buy the tickets. I'll see you -again in the morning, but this is the real goodbye." - -His face was as calm as hers now, even the longing in it had died. -Seeing him thus--being no Spartan, but soft woman every inch--her arms -went about his neck and her lips met his. While the two young -creatures stood thus the sun, faintly pink, sank into the sea and a -cold wind blew over the land. - -Rachel had disappeared but André had gone scarcely a hundred yards when -he flung himself face downward. With his hands knotted among the -sedgegrass, he wept without sound. A locust that had been lured from -its retreat by the warmth of the day, looked at him from the stalk of a -plantain, then changed its location to less violently agitated -quarters; only the shaking of some denuded stalks marked where the boy -lay. - -Because of the insubmission, bravery and perseverance of a young girl, -the old weather-beaten house of the former lobsterman was forsaken. No -more would its rooms echo to the sound of voices, and footsteps would -no more pass its thresholds; its doors were closed. The sunlight would -penetrate into its unused rooms and trace the accustomed pattern on -floor and wall; no one would know. And on roof and steps the rain -would beat its old friendly reveille. Sagging in roof and beam under -the drifted snow of winter, denuded in summer of shutter and shingle, -gradually the abandoned house would disappear from the landscape; -little by little it would vanish like a nest that the birds have -forsaken. - -When the hour for the departure arrived, several of the good wives of -the Point appeared. They formed a little group around Rachel. One of -them straightened her hat, another retied the scarf around her neck; -then they shook hands with her gravely, looking at her with dimmed -eyes. Rachel strained her gaze in the direction of the lighthouse and -saw Lizzie Goodenough standing with a parcel in her hands. Instantly -the girl darted up the rocky path and the two embraced, while the -others exchanged glances. - -Old David, all eagerness to be off, had clambered into the cart in -which a quantity of household gear had been packed, and sat there -holding the reins; while Zarah Patch helped André bring out the one -trunk and several bags and boxes. At last all was in readiness, when -Nora Gage discovered an important item of luncheon unprepared for -transportation. Several baskets were offered, and in the confusion, -Rachel made her escape. - -Arrived at the bay shore, flushed and panting, she stooped with a -graceful movement and laid her cheek against the wreck, while with her -hand she patted that shadowy collection of letters that still in washed -out reds and blues formed a name no wind nor tide could efface. -_Defender_! Warped, dislocated, destroyed, its tarry timbers pierced -with innumerable holes, its dismal hulk filled with the last lamentable -cargo of seawrack and sand, the wreck lifted its broken ribs like arms -toward the girl. From what would it restrain her? From what did it -seek to defend her? - -Rising, she approached and stood before the figure-head, and the -figure-head looked back at her and, as it were, over and beyond her. -With a timid movement, Rachel kissed this old comrade also. Then she -ran away, and a moment later she looked back, and there she saw -her--that "great-kneed, deep-breasted" Goddess of Hope--with her face -set toward the Unknown,--valiant, free! - - - - -BOOK II - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE STREET OF MASTS - -"He saw you in the shop that time long ago, Grandfather, and understood -that the paint had affected you?" - -"Yes, it were the lead in the white paint that poisoned me," agreed -David; "I'd been paintin' cattle cars pretty stiddy, which was a job -most on 'em tried to skip." - -"I see, and the superintendent told Mr. Hart how faithfully you'd -worked and the result was that he sent you this letter with a deed for -the house at the Point. It shows that he thought a great deal of you; -and even if we shouldn't be able to find him," she continued with a -shade of apprehension, "it seems to me this letter, old as it is, ought -to help in getting you some sort of a position, just temporarily." - -"But it ain't _some_ sort of a position I'm wantin'," the other -objected, "it's a railroad position; and though railroad corporations -is one thing," he continued, "and car shops is another, still they do -business together constant; and I guess we'll find the Big Middletown -people know all about Nicholas Hart when we ask 'em." - -And so these two, the one so lately emerged from childhood and the -other just reëntering it, started on their quest, and from their eyes -looked out the same innocence, ignorance and unquenchable hope. - -"I'll feel safer about Grandfather when he's occupied," thought the -girl, "but it must be light work, I'll insist upon that; and then -directly I'll find something to do myself." - -Since their arrival in the city a fortnight before, old David had -manifested a growing irresponsibility. Deprived of his accustomed -occupations and transferred to the streets of the metropolis, he had -become like a ship without a rudder. So far, his driftings had been as -pleasant as they were aimless, but more than once he had been lost, -more than once, following the lead of his errant curiosity, had barely -escaped serious accident. And there was no telling how soon the -threatening dangers of the new existence might overwhelm him. -Insensibly, in the midst of his delight, he looked to the young girl -for guidance. She it was who had settled them in their present -quarters, three small rooms at the top of an old building in lower New -York, rooms selected because of their cheapness and because two windows -overlooked a wharf at which foreign ships were tethered while a third -window looked toward the west. She it was who had added to their -meagre stock of house plenishings at push-carts and cheap shops. -Indeed, she it was who had assumed entire responsibility for the -undertaking. - -Nora Gage, who now received a lower wage than formerly, and in -consequence performed only such duties as she chose, grumbled -constantly. The poor fare on which Rachel and the old man subsisted -filled her with disgust, and she would have gratified her gastronomic -preferences out of her savings of twenty years, had it not been that -the queer foreign foods, in which the markets of the neighbourhood -abounded, were not to her taste. Even old David at moments was -inclined to be fractious, and Rachel, who had wilfully played the part -of Fate to these two, was forced to listen as patiently as she could to -their criticisms. - -On the afternoon in question when she emerged from the house with her -grandfather, the old man scowled; for the street was dank with mist and -clamorous with the roar of the nearby "elevated." - -"This ain't a nice street," he complained, "I don't like the smell on -it, and with everything swallowed up in the fog so, we can't see the -only thing worth seein'--the ships." - -"But perhaps we can later; when we come back the fog may be gone," -Rachel comforted him. However, a touch of the cold and damp seemed to -threaten her own heart. - -By dint of timid inquiries, at the end of two hours' weary searching, -the bewildered pair found themselves in a Broadway office of the -Middletown road. But the clerk to whom they made known their quest, -shook his small, well-combed head at them. - -"It's to Philadelphia you ought to have gone, Uncle," he said, while a -smile wrinkled the flesh beneath his prominent eyes. "We know nothing -about your car shops here. As for this letter, it's a bit ancient," -and he handed it back. - -Rachel flushed. "My grandfather wishes to obtain work in New York," -she said. "We showed you the letter merely as a credential, thinking -perhaps you might know Mr. Nicholas Hart--if he is still living," she -added with a pang of fear. - -The man glanced at the handsome girl and the boldness, the -indestructible animation of sex, flashed in his pale eyes. "I'm -sorry," he said in a voice which he strove to make respectful, "but I -do not know him. However, I've no doubt if you go--" - -"Is it Nicholas Hart you're speaking of?" interrupted an older clerk -who had been an interested listener to the conversation. "Yes, he's -still living, I think. Years ago he used to be one of the owners of -the car shops in Philadelphia; that's right. If I'm not mistaken he's -living now with his son Simon Hart who is a jeweller in some street in -the Thirties. Here, I'll look him up for you. The residence is near -Washington Arch," he added, returning after a moment; "I've written the -address on this card." - -Rachel thanked him and, ignoring the younger clerk who ran officiously -to open the door for them, she passed out, followed by old David. - -"Now wasn't that the slickest thing ye ever saw," he exulted, "I told -ye how folks, especially the older ones, would know all about Nicholas -Hart. We can walk there, can't we, Rachel?" - -"We can walk part of the way," she responded with a sigh. - -From childhood she had been taught to look upon Nicholas Hart as a -benefactor and in her dreams it had been to him that she had seen -herself appealing for advice. Now the fact that Nicholas Hart, in case -they were fortunate enough to find him, would be an old man, entered -her mind for the first time. - -Young and serious, she walked on lost in meditation, merely keeping a -restraining hand upon her grandfather, who threatened every moment to -quit her side. His eyes under his white tufted eyebrows shone like -sapphires and an innocent and childlike delight radiated from him. -More than one jaded pedestrian turned to look after the refreshing pair -who, in that crowded Broadway, suggested a hooded violet and a slightly -withered buttercup blowing in the sun. - -When they reached the space in front of the Herald building, old David -planted himself on the walk and insisted on waiting until the two -bronze figures above the clock struck the hour; but when they reached -the Farragut statue he sank down on the architectural seat. - -"These pavements don't give none," he said plaintively. - -"We'll just rest a minute," Rachel soothed him. - -With a tender movement she placed the end of her worn scarf around his -neck and forced him to lean his head on her shoulder. Almost at once -he fell into the light slumber which is nature's most beneficent gift -to infancy and old age. - -Under the rays of the February sun the mist had disappeared and in the -air there was a springlike warmth. Rachel, turning her head, read the -words of the inscription traced on the back of the seat; then her eyes -travelled upward to the Admiral, who, by his staunch and determined -air, seemed to convert the stone base into the deck of a vessel. And -immediately the city ceased to terrify her and bravery rose in her in a -flood. - -The Hart house had once been a cheerful mansion, but its home-like -aspect had long since given place to an air of cold and pathetic -reserve. - -The knock was answered by a smartly-dressed maid with a crafty yet -heedless air. On Rachel's inquiring for Mr. Nicholas Hart, the girl -eyed them with sharp suspicion. - -"Mr. Hart don't ever see anyone," she said. - -"He once showed my grandfather a great kindness," Rachel explained, -"and I thought perhaps he might remember--" - -"He don't remember much," interrupted the other; "but I suppose you can -go along up," she admitted, after a further scrutiny of the pair from -whom, it was clear, there was nothing to fear. "He remembers faces -sometimes; you'll have to climb the stairs though," she added -maliciously. - -Rachel helped her grandfather up the three flights of stairs and the -servant rapped on the attic door. - -"Come in," piped a voice which sounded like the note of a cracked -flute. And old David and Rachel entered. - -The attic was wide and sunny and in the recess of a gable window stood -a very little old man with a face fair and pink as a child's and with a -skull cap on the back of his white head. He turned with one delicate -hand resting on the barrel of a microscope. On perceiving the servant -his eyes grew round with fury. - -"Get out of here!" he shrilled, and, ignoring the strangers, he flew -straight at the maid, skipping over the floor with remarkable -briskness, his coat-tails moving like the wings of a maddened bird. -The girl retreated with a laugh. - -Old David presented his letter. In the presence of his host, who was -as airy and, seemingly as fragile-lived as a figure traced upon a -window-pane of a frosty morning, old David appeared endowed with the -sturdiness of youth. "Years ago when I was a paintin' of cars," he -began; but Nicholas Hart sent the letter, from which he had not removed -the envelope, whirling across the floor. - -"Cars," he cried, "run on wheels, but look at these wings,--" and with -a finger shaking with excitement he pointed to the microscope. "Don't -they beat all the wheels in creation?" he demanded. - -In answer to his gesture, old David peeped timidly into the instrument; -then he straightened himself and the face which he turned toward the -other expressed a world of simple wonderment. - -"Eh, what did I tell you?" exclaimed Nicholas exultingly. "And look -here! and here!" he cried, placing one slide after another under the -lens. - -Finding herself forgotten, Rachel left the absorbed pair and went -downstairs to wait for her grandfather. Her glimpse of Nicholas Hart -had convinced her that no help could be expected from him. - -"I told you he wasn't used to seeing folks," commented the maid who -appeared in the hall. "He's touched here," and she indicated her head. -"He thinks I mean to destroy a book he's writing about the house-fly, -because once I mixed up his papers. Your grandfather's all right that -way, is he?" she asked. - -"Certainly he is," responded Rachel, and after a few further remarks -that elicited no reply, the servant retreated. But from the dining -room, where she rather obviously engaged herself with some sewing, she -kept strict watch over the stranger. - -Rachel, seated on a low settle, threw an indifferent glance about her. -Then, almost insensibly her attitude changed. She was seized with an -indefinable feeling. This house, with its purely masculine -furnishings, for some reason suggested to her mind the image of a life -darkened and repressed. The hall, the drawing-room, the dining room -were like a succession of gloomy thoughts. Portieres, rich in texture -but indeterminate in hue, outlined the doors with their dismal folds; -and the drawing-room chairs and armchairs were upholstered in rep of -the same shade. - -In the drawing-room the mantel-piece was adorned with an ill-assorted -collection of candle-sticks, match-safes, inlaid boxes; and in the -centre was an elaborate clock of an elegant modern design, violently at -odds with the homely daguerreotype of a woman which flanked it on one -side and a vase of an ugly pattern on the other. A nude figure, -atrociously modelled, supported the vase in the form of a flower and -might have been kissing a hand to the patient becapped countenance in -the daguerreotype; otherwise the various objects bore no closer -relation one to another than the articles on the counter in a shop. On -the floor, before a pier-glass, was a plate on a support of twisted -wire. Household gods were present in abundance, but chilly, silent, -they imparted no charm of life to the vastness of the apartment. - -In the dining room, however, this effect was slightly modified. It was -the room apparently where the master spent most of his time when at -home; and, as if in preparation for his arrival, a discreet fire had -been started in the grate. Unlike the more material accessories, the -fire did all that it could to impart its own peculiar charm to the -room. It leaped as high as possible; its beams were reflected in the -polished case of the pianola, its rays were caught by the glass doors -of the cupboard which contained the records, its gleams were imprisoned -in tangled rainbows in the cut glass and silver of the sideboard. The -laughing light, indeed, like an impolite guest, seemed, in the absence -of the host, to occupy the table laid staidly for one, and delicately -to help itself to the wine, to the fruit, to all that the board held, -with rosy, caressing, immaterial fingers. - -Toward this distant point of comparative cheer Rachel turned her eyes -with troubled interest. To the finely organized there are in life few, -if any, absolutely unheralded events. Now she hung over the problem of -the personality suggested by these surroundings with a tremour of -premonition--a fact which she recalled later with amazement. - -Presently a latch key grated in the lock and the street door was opened -with extreme caution. A gentleman entered wrapped in a long overcoat. -He did not immediately perceive Rachel. Divesting himself of the coat, -he blew imaginary particles of dust from its sable collar and hung it -on the rack; then he removed his hat and disclosed a long head, bare on -top, and trimmed with a sparse fringe of hair. This hair he proceeded -to smooth into place with quick motions of his hands; he even drew his -fingers through it. Then he turned round. - -Her scrutiny was older than his, and the prophetic, vague apprehension -had mounted, mounted. She glanced aside; he could not. - -There are moments when surprise stirs a mind like a stick thrust into a -pool. The ordinarily clear surface of the water reveals sodden leaves, -mud, perhaps even shrinking plants; the eye usually enigmatic, -unfathomable, reveals hidden weaknesses, sins, temerities. When he -beheld her, a young girl, seated in his hall, in Simon Hart's hollow -cheek the blood slowly mantled. He was as clean-shaven as a monk, save -for the barely indicated line of a moustache above the narrow lips. -His nose was handsome, though pointed; his chin was cleft. One ear was -a little higher than the other. - -After a perceptible pause he passed her, bowing slightly, and proceeded -through the drawing-room with his soft tread. His legs were short, but -his shoulders and head were imposing. He was like a building begun by -a carpenter and finished by an architect. - -In the dining room he approached the sideboard and poured some liquor -from a decanter. He did not, however, drink the liquor, but stood -holding the glass. And this vision of him was reflected in the dining -room mirror, caught again in the small mirror above the hall-rack and -repeated indefinitely in the bevellings. Rachel was unfamiliar with -Piranesi's series of engravings in which the artist is represented -climbing an everlasting staircase, or this multiplied vision of Simon -Hart, continued through one room after another, until he disappeared -with his glass in the border of the last mirror, might have suggested -to her a similar allegory. She directed toward him a second glance, -wistful, unconsciously searching, and at that moment her grandfather -descended the stairs and the servant appeared to show them out. In the -open Rachel straightway forgot all presentiments and the meeting wore -in her memory an aspect ordinary enough. - -Old David was elated. "I tell ye, I never see anything like what he's -got up there," he cried. "There's butterfly wings all sparklin' with -jewels, and mosquito legs--" - -Rachel taking his arm, guided him toward a car. Not an allusion to the -real object of the call fell from the old man's lips. All memory of -their purpose had apparently escaped him on the instant of his -introduction into that sphere of ideal beauties. His face shone like a -child's. Looking at him Rachel smiled a little sadly. How absolutely -irresponsible he was, and how she had erred when she had withdrawn him -from the simple duties which had acted as an anchor for his fantastic -mind. Yet was not that which he expressed the highest poetry? The -essence of an abstract delight was in him and shone through him, -transforming his aged frame as an elixir transforms the delicate goblet -that contains it. His eyes blazed, his lips were wreathed in smiles, -and suddenly he no longer seemed to her an old man entering the drear -regions of second childhood, but a seer, a bard, a singing poet, -chanting a chant of Beauty, which is immortal. And because she was -spirit of his spirit as well as flesh of his flesh, she nestled to him; -and, seated side by side, they were conveyed rapidly through the city -which resounded with the unparalleled bustle and confusion that -precedes the subsidence and comparative silence of the night. - -When they descended from the elevated station and turned into the -"Street of Masts," as old David termed the alley in which they lived, -he paused, "Jest--look a there!" he said, and extended a finger. - -The sun shone on the muddy pools beside the road and into the -inexpressibly weary eyes of horses. It glinted on the hair of the -ragged children swarming in the doorways and put an added blush on the -cheeks of apples swinging by the stems at the doors of tiny fruit shops -and on stands. It made the outlines of factory stacks indistinct, -enveloped in a haze. The sun, shining through streaks and trails and -plumes of smoke, made the city appear to be waving flags of glory--the -glory of a dream. - -"And the ships--let's go and see what they've brought in," whispered -the old man, and, in a kind of awe, the two approached the wharf where -were ranged those patient, graceful visitors from foreign ports. - -Their masts towering against the sky, the ships suggested a fantastic -forest, or a chimerical orchard, for the undulations of the water -imparted to them a gentle motion, so that they seemed to be in the act -of shedding their gracious and varied fruits on the wharf. There were -skins of mountain goats from Switzerland, and elephant tusks from -Egypt; there was oil golden with the sunlight of Italy and there were -winecasks bursting with the purple sweetness of her vineyards. There -were bales of textile fabrics from China, there were strange-leaved -plants, with their roots bound tightly in canvas, from the isles of -Bermuda. It seemed to Rachel that all these fruits from every land and -clime were treasures poured bounteously into the lap of a mystical -city; and the last vestige of that fear, so foreign to her nature and -so little to be harboured there in all the coming years, vanished from -her heart. Were they not, she asked herself, in the land of -fulfilment, in the city of realized dreams? - - - - -CHAPTER II - -EMILY SHORT--TOY-MAKER - -When the bells of St. Joseph trembled into motion, Emily Short opened -her eyes; when those inverted cups of bronze began to move faster, -flinging their summons over the roofs, tossing it in at open windows, -emptying it into narrow courts, she arose. When the parish father, -still half asleep, donned his robes and straightened his stole, she put -the last pin in her collar and tied on her apron. When he began to say -mass, she began to hum a tune; and as the high-sounding Latin escaped -through the trefoiled windows, her artless warble escaped through the -attic casement, and together the two strains, the one from the heart of -the Church and the other from the heart of a woman, ascended straight -to the throne of the good God and who shall say they were not equally -acceptable? - -Outwardly Emily was no friend of the church. Its frequent services, -she declared, were disturbing, and a room on the other side of the -house with a view of the ships and the wharfage would have been a deal -more to her mind. However, it was noticeable that whenever one of these -rooms fell vacant she held her peace and abode in her attic as tightly -as a limpet in its shell when danger is toward. It must be confessed -that she clung to the church very much as a limpet clings to its chosen -rock. For forty years she had lived close to the church, for forty -years been keenly alive to its spirit of consolation. Though -unencumbered with a creed, Emily was a staunch reformer and the church -represented a strong ally. - -On a summer morning, by merely craning her neck, she could peer down -through an open window and learn who were present of her special -following. If she spied the old charwoman, whose honesty was not above -suspicion, or Dan, who stole grain on the wharves, she nodded her head -with satisfaction. It was more than possible, she considered, even if -the priest's exhortations were lost on their befuddled minds, that the -pure strong notes of the organ might reach their consciences, the -beautiful colours of the windows cause some expansion of their dwarfed -souls. So she completed her survey like an inquiring angel, then -settled to her work of the day. - -Emily trimmed hats, furnishing them for a Division Street milliner, and -earned a very comfortable livelihood; for she trimmed with an abandon, -a daring, a freedom that no other trimmer could equal. That she might -have full scope for the expression of her individuality, she was -granted the privilege of working at home instead of under the eye of -her employer. She was regarded as an artist, and more than once her -creations had changed the prevailing styles in that section. If Emily, -canny soul, had her own ideas about the beauty of her hats, she kept -them to herself and it is not for me to reveal them. It was sufficient -that the hats suited the heads they were intended to adorn. Humming -under her breath, she curled and looped and tied and twisted with such -swiftness that the room was filled with the shimmer of satin, the -flutter of laces, the darting of wings, the bursting of flowers; and so -unremitting was her industry that by night the wire frames, delivered -to her in the morning, had been converted into veritable traps for the -captivation of men's hearts. - -Working away through the long hours, all the vanity that had never -found expression in her own life, flew into her needle; she placed -feathers at an irresistible angle, sewed buckles and bows in telling -positions. When she fared along the streets, quiet and demure, -carrying her great pile of boxes, who would have guessed that she was a -great matchmaker? Yet such was the case. And when she met one of her -creations, brave and flaunting as youth itself, accompanied by a male -hat, she knew that her work was succeeding. When the hats proclaimed a -maid and a lad, her spirits rose; but when they proclaimed an errant -wife and her admirer, her spirits clouded. - -For once they had left her hands with all their potency for good or -evil, Emily had no more control over her hats than a parent over the -children that have quitted the hearth. Sometimes her pangs were so -sharp at what she witnessed that for days she trimmed with a sobriety, -a propriety that was the despair of her employers. Indeed, she fairly -sewed a sermon into the hats until a protest of loud-voiced dismay -stayed her hand. Thereupon the full tide of her remorse was diverted -into another channel. - -All who came to her she helped, as was her custom, with money, with -food, with influence; but her lectures, always forcible, now became -inspired. She rated them eloquently, and such an admiration did she -exhibit for virtue, and such detestation for evil, that the indigent, -the drunken, the lazy, went away not only consoled but strengthened in -the "inner man." - -Emily's philosophy was comprehended in one word. Work for brain and -hand, body and soul,--work was the world's salvation, she declared; and -right staunchly, in her own life, did she demonstrate the truth of this -theory. Nor did her labours cease with the hours of daylight. - -The setting of the sun witnessed a change in her occupation. With the -lighting of the gas all the hats that had not been delivered, went to -roost, like an array of tropical birds, behind a curtain; and from a -corner where it had stood neglected all day, came forth her little -work-bench. Forthwith Emily began the practice of the cunning craft -that was to her the highest of the arts. Between the fine ardour of -the youthful Cellini, as he approached his delicate metals after an -irksome day in his father's shop, and Emily's grave exaltation as she -seated herself at the bench, there was not the difference of a jot. -The thing that we create matters nothing, the divine desire to create -is all; and whether we design a medal for a pontiff's honour or a toy -for a child's delight, the object is but a little door through which -the soul wings to freedom. - -Emily had a dream, an ambition. Her ambition was to make toys and one -day to see a whole army of them performing on the walks of the popular -uptown districts where shoppers throng. To this end she twisted wires -with her claw-like fingers, and, as she lacked the proper tools, her -fingers were often bruised; to this end she soldered together and -hammered into shape. And right fairly did her toys represent her, for, -disgusted with the laziness of humanity, Emily endowed her race of tiny -men and women with a perfect passion for industry. They seemed -obsessed with the notion, and though the work that engaged them would -still be unfinished when the spring of their life ran down, was not -this the crowning fact in the history of all brave effort? So Emily -continued to announce her theory even through her toys. - -On a certain sultry morning she had barely settled herself near the -window and carefully threaded her first needle, when she dropped the -work in her lap. - -"There, I haven't made the acquaintance of that child yet," she -murmured. "Judging from the smell of cooking they have enough to eat. -But something's amiss and I must get her to tell me what it is." - -Chance favoured Emily, for that evening as she was starting forth with -a load of bright-coloured bandboxes, she encountered her youthful -neighbour. The girl was mounting the stairs languidly. The warm -weather had sapped her vitality, already undermined by the air of the -city. Emily nodded cheerily, and purposely let fall one of the boxes. -Rachel turned. - -"Here, I'll pick it up for you," she cried; then, after a moment, -"Won't you let me help you with them? I can do it as well as not." - -Together they emerged into the lighted street. - -Though she looked about her with a kind of wistful wonderment, the -sordidness of the scenes through which they passed, did not seem really -to touch Rachel. Emily kept glancing at her and marked how her -childish passionateness was mingled with a suggestive reticence. It -was clear that some saddening experience had already come to her. -"Poor lamb!" muttered Emily. When a man with a lurching gait passed -too close to Rachel, Emily nudged him savagely with the boxes; and when -they turned into Division Street, not one of the crew of strident women -who solicit trade for the shops, dared to accost her young charge. Not -a few of these poor creatures, recognizing Emily, ceased long enough in -their chant of "Nice hats! pretty hats!" to give the popular trimmer -"good-evening." - -Joseph Stedenthal's "Emporium" boasted a millinery department, of which -his wife had charge, and a general merchandise and furniture department -over which he himself presided. Everything the push-carts furnished, -he furnished a little cheaper--at least a penny cheaper; and this -stock, as proclaimed by his advertisement, was "displayed to invite the -refined mind." - -Joseph Stedenthal, staunchly backed by his wife and daughter, expressed -a profound scorn for the push-carts and for all who bought and sold -therefrom, and never in the bosom of his family was it hinted that he -himself, in a not too remote past, had prospered finely as the owner of -a cart. Now he had a dignified air of superiority, and only women who -did not go bare-headed, came to his shop, women who made some pretence -to style. His was the "exclusive" shop of the street. - -Mrs. Stedenthal was in her husband's part of the shop when Emily and -Rachel entered the "millinery section." Emily seated herself on a high -stool and motioned Rachel to do the same. Joseph Stedenthal's voice -came to them from a distance. He was thundering with wrath. - -"Shame upon you, talking mit the salesmen! Go you up-stairs, I tell -you!" - -A young girl with flaming cheeks flashed by the door and ascended the -stairs. - -"I ain't talking to him. I just asked him how much he sold it for," -she screamed back. - -"You were talking mit the salesmen! All times you talk mit them. And -that I will not--I shall not have!" - -His tirade was interrupted by the teasing voice of a woman. - -"There, there, Joseph, give me one little kiss! You know how much you -lofe me." - -There was an explosion of wrath and a woman, rolling in flesh, shaking -with laughter, entered the millinery shop. She nodded to Emily, still -smiling; but in spite of the merriment that convulsed her, she examined -the hats attentively and counted the money very carefully into the -other's hand. One of the hats she declined to pay for until the -trimming was changed. - -"All times you make 'em too dark, Miss Short,--too dark, like a -hearse," she remonstrated affably; "put a little more red on it." - -When Rachel, following Emily, once more gained the street, her tender -face was clouded. - -Men, women, children; hats, socks, coats; candles, worn-out books; -dirt, dirt, dirt! Men, men, men, bearded, unkempt, bedraggled, -saddened, stupid, hungry! Under each coat, each gown was a living -heart, struggling to keep its life. In every eye was a demand; in too -few hands were the coppers to buy--not the pears, the grapes, the -oranges that grow in Hester Street as in an orchard--but the great -black loaves of bread, round, twisted, covered with a strange kind of -seed. Coppers were lacking to buy milk for the starving, anemic baby, -dirty-faced, struggling over the floor of the tenement; lacking for the -shoes,--thirty pennies enough--for the shoes of little Johnnie that he -might go to school: pennies lacking for the whiskey and the -beer,--pennies that must be cheated for, thieved for, murdered -for,--the all-necessary pennies for the drink. - -Separated from the life about her, Rachel was yet united to it, she was -a part of it, and she drew her breath sharply. But should she be less -brave than these others? Emily, who divined what was passing within -her, came to a decision. - -"You've been a great help with the boxes, Miss Beckett," she said -cheerfully when they reached the house and mounted the stairs; "now you -come along in for a cup of tea." - -To the lonely girl the little toy-maker's room wore a grateful air of -comfort. Emily placed her in a rocking-chair where she could see the -windows of the church; then she bustled about preparing the tea. She -had just handed a cup to Rachel when there came a rap on the door; -before Emily could open it a pretty light-haired girl stood on the -threshold. She was dressed in a starched waist and a plaid skirt and -the eyes under her smart hat showed red rims. - -"It's all over," she cried, ignoring Rachel's presence. "I've got to -leave my position, Miss Short. It's all along of Tom. The president -called me into his office to-day and said right out, either I could -stop letting his son come to see me, or I could leave. He gave me my -choice. And you better believe I wasn't long choosing. I told him I'd -see whom I pleased, and if Mr. Colby liked to come and call on me -perfectly proper, like any other gentleman, I shouldn't stop him. So I -got notice." - -The girl blazed with defiance, but, in spite of her bravado, she was -once more on the brink of tears. Her bosom rose and sank tumultuously, -her full red lips gathered into a pout, her little hands, dimpled like -an infant's, rested on her hips. She was a child too soon imprisoned -in the rich envelope of womanhood. On every lineament of her pretty, -pathetic, excited face potential weakness was stamped. - -Emily scrutinized her for a moment in silence. Still without -expressing an opinion, she replaced the kettle on the gas stove; then -she looked at the new-comer gravely: - -"Miss Beckett, this is Miss Holden. Have you anything else to turn to, -Betty?" she asked. - -The other shook her head. "I haven't, but I'm going to an agency -to-morrow. I thought I'd just stop in and tell you. No, thanks, I -won't wait for tea. Tom's coming this very evening," she added with an -audacious smile. - -When she had gone, Emily poured Rachel another cup of tea; then taking -a chair directly in front of her, she looked at her shrewdly: - -"Have you got any work?" - -Rachel raised an anxious face. She had been seeking work for many -months. - -"Can you do anything special?" Emily demanded. - -Rachel was dubious. "Unless it was to trim hats," she ventured. - -But Emily shook her head. "There's no chance in that line," she said -decidedly. "Did you ever paint any?" - -"No, but I could do it. I've seen it done--that is, little things, -like roses and lighthouses." - -Emily gave the other's hand two or three approving taps. "To-morrow -I'll bring you the materials from a place I know." - -The next day she appeared with a supply of silk and paints and -patterns. Rachel's work was to paint garlands of roses on -candle-shades, but as she lacked even a rudimentary knowledge of colour -and drawing, for a time the work went ill. Even Emily, when she -compared Rachel's copy with the pattern, was less optimistic. - -"It's a knack, though, they say," she encouraged her; "and one can -learn to do most anything if one goes about it firmly enough." - -A week later, Emily, in a state of repressed excitement, summoned -Rachel to her room to see a mechanical toy she had devised. Rowing his -tiny boat over the waters of a tub was a wee figure dressed in sailor -costume. - -In Emily's cheeks was a spot of crimson and in her eyes, which -ordinarily resembled little dark berries, was a peculiar brightness. - -As she looked at Emily the colour even left Rachel's face with the -strength of her longing. When she returned to the garlands, the roses -blossomed under her fingers. "So much for work!" she thought, and -there arose in her a new and virile sensation of pride and joy. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -SIMON HART TO THE RESCUE - -As the summer advanced she refused to accept the dealer's verdict that -the demand for all sorts of hand-painted trifles languished in the -summer; painting was her one means of support, and with magnificent -courage, if with small practical sense, she continued to paint. But -when she carried her work to the dealer, though he admired it, he -refused to buy it, and she came home again and again as empty of pocket -as when she had started out. - -She said nothing to Emily Short about her difficulties. Barring a -glimpse which she caught of her now and then she seldom saw the little -toy-maker, for during the hot weather Emily was unusually busy. - -Emily was a famous nurse, and during the season when sickness was -rampant among the children of the slums, she put aside her toys and -hats and fought bravely for the little lives. She scrubbed faces and -cleaned floors and administered doses of medicine, and more than once -Rachel had met her at the edge of evening, bringing home an infant in -her arms. To see her depositing it where the breeze came in through -the open window, cooing to it, directing its wandering attention to the -sights and sounds of the church, was enough to bring tears to the eyes. -Fate, so prone to interfere with the plans of nature, wins at best but -a superficial victory when she attempts to extinguish the motherhood in -certain women. Deny them offspring she may, but dam up the love in -their hearts, she cannot. Fate makes spinsters, but God makes mothers. -And what is a mother but a being that looks with tenderness on all that -is weak, with delight on all that is young? To such a being, an infant -is ever a bud of promise to which she longs to be the sun. In the most -radiant and satisfying sense, Emily Short was a mother, and not a waif -in the quarter but knew it. Those who could walk, flocked after her on -their little bare feet, clinging to the folds of her dress with their -grimy fingers; and those who were too small to walk, looked at her with -fixed, unwinking eyes, apparently beholding nothing, while in reality -still seeing the something beyond this nothing, their state being one -of celestial preoccupation rather than one of dormant thought. - -Rachel, aware of the burden Emily carried, hesitated to add to its -weight. If truth be told, as long as old David did not lack for -food,--and so far he had not gone hungry--as long as the rent was paid -for a week ahead, a subject more tyrannical than poverty engrossed her -thoughts. In some women the love that has once stirred them, never -becomes extinct; it is a flame that never completely dies, a fire of -which some sparks always linger among the dead ashes. At a breath from -that far-off source of all existence, a breath that quickens alike -grain and fruit and human hearts, this spark leaps to renewed life in -the sensitive, wounded and restless soul. - -With the disingenuousness of a woman in love, with the timidity of a -little mouse, Rachel had established herself under the eaves of an -obscure garret in lower New York. For a time, following the change, -her heart had beat more tranquilly, for now the same sky covered her -that covered that egoistic remarkable being who had once played so -important a role in her life. - -But gradually the sombreness of a storm was created within her; though -when she thought of the inventor she experienced little of the chagrin -of a woman whom a lover has deserted. Rather, what she felt was a -surprised resentment of soul. Emil St. Ives was ordained to understand -her, and behold he had forsaken her! With eyes as clear as a child's, -though shadowed by indefinable emotions, she often watched from the -window the pigeons circling on pointed wings over the house-tops, and -they seemed to her like a flurry of white letters tossed by a derisive -hand through the sky. - -"Why had he never written her?" - -At the thought her melancholy was crossed by anger; but at other -moments she remembered that it was she herself who had sent him away. -Oh, if he had only looked at her with his mind as well as his eyes! -But, enlivened continually by the astonished happy perception of the -inventor's mastery of the expedients he employs in his tests, joyful -with the joy of a creator, Emil had never really seen her. His love -for his mother carried him backward into the past, his love for his -work carried him forward into the future, until it actually seemed to -her he had no present, no to-day. - -And she reflected that under one of those million roofs he was working -on some foolish instrument for which the world, as yet, did not -recognize its own need. The world, therefore, in all probability, was -leaving him alone, to live if he could, to starve if he must. -Meanwhile, the sound of his drilling, his hammering, above all, his -loud-voiced singing, was doubtless causing a commotion among the stars -where the important is recorded before it is heralded on this -commonplace earth. - -Although she did not wish to remember the inventor, the thought of him -constantly returned and gradually she began to extract a kind of -pleasure from this involuntary analysis which she carried on for hours -together. Then roused by some sound from the street, with the languor -which results from power held in abeyance, she would resume work on the -shades. - -One heavy morning toward the end of August, Rachel made the unpleasant -discovery that there was scarcely money enough in the house to cover -the needs of the day. To increase her dismay her grandfather, leaning -his head on his hand, refused his breakfast. Even the newspaper with -its sensational headlines failed to arouse him. She brought him a -glass of water, but with a weak gesture he motioned her away. -Thoroughly frightened, Rachel flung her arm about him and coaxed him to -return to his bed. Old David grew first red, then white, but gradually -the natural look returned to his face and he fell into a sound sleep. - -Instructing Nora Gage to keep a close watch over him, Rachel started -for the shop where she had formerly disposed of her wares. She was -intoxicated with her own resolution. Though it was the third time -within a fortnight that she had made her appearance there, she spread -the shades on the counter with confident movements; then she looked up. - -The clerk with his delicate salesmen's hand swept them toward her. "I -have told you that we have no call for these things," he said and -impatiently turned on his heel. - -For some moments she seemed not to comprehend these words; presently -his voice, bland and seductive, reached her from another part of the -shop. Then she gathered up the shades, returned them to her handbag, -and walked slowly to the door. She made a movement to open it, but at -that instant she heard a step behind her. - -When he lifted his hat, she recognized Simon Hart. He was looking at -her attentively with his weary, enigmatic eyes. - -The salesman had followed him in a little rush. - -"Perhaps you'd better leave the shades after all, Miss Beckett," he -began, "this gentleman--" - -"I will give the young lady the order," the other said. And he held -the door open for Rachel. - -Once in the street, she looked at her companion in surprise. She -thought she detected in his face covert satisfaction. - -"I beg your pardon, but you called to see my father several weeks -ago--Miss Beckett? Thank you. The maid wasn't certain of the name. -Well, Miss Beckett," he continued in an embarrassed voice, enunciating -his words with distinctness, "it happens that I have just been -requested by a relative to get her some candle shades," and in a few -words he explained the commission, even producing from his pocket a -sample of the silk from which the shades were to be made. It was -essential that they should be finished in three days. - -"And when you deliver them to Miss Burgdorf," he said, scribbling an -address on a card which he took from his pocket, "you might speak to -her in a general way of your work, if you care to do so. For my part," -he concluded, "I'm very glad to know of someone who does this kind of -thing." - -Before he left Rachel, he inquired where she and her grandfather were -living and the odd look of gratification deepened on his face. - -"I needn't have told him, I suppose," she thought regretfully as she -walked home; "he may come there." - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS - -A pompous-looking butler escorted Rachel through a vestibule, and -pointed her to a seat in the dining room. It was evident from his -manner that she should have applied at the basement entrance. - -A group of workmen were busy setting up an immense table. They kept -pushing the sections together and drawing them apart. The polished -surfaces of the wood filled the room with reflected light. A maid who -stood by looked appealingly at the butler. - -"It isn't the table that was ordered," she moaned. She glanced at a -clock which seemed, with its fluted columns and Gothic spires, a -sardonic spirit in that rich and disordered room. Its monotonous -tick-tock, tick-lock, scattered confusion, bewilderment, madness. - -"Eleven!" she cried in tones of deepest tragedy, "and not a flower!" - -Other servants entered bearing silver and glass. A footman came in -with a great palm, and bending, with shoulders on the strain, placed it -directly in the path of a hurrying maid. Some one dropped a goblet; -that showered into a million minute particles like shining tears. -Every movable object was shifted countless times and remained, -according to its nature, glittering, wavering, quivering for some -instants thereafter. A bronze Narcissus exhibited his grace at an -unusual angle. In such a time of rearrangement who has not observed -how art objects gain in beauty? - -"Miss Burgdorf will see you now. Please step this way." - -Rachel followed the servant up the staircase. The woman lifted long -strings of motley-hued beads strung in such a manner as to form a -semi-transparent curtain, passed through a sitting room and tapped on a -door. Julia Burgdorf was seated before her dressing-table in a robe of -flowing silk. She was having her face manipulated by a slim masseuse -in a long apron. The faces of the two women, as they rolled their eyes -inquiringly toward the door, were exceedingly feminine. Woman is ever -most natural when engaged in making herself artificial. - -Julia Burgdorf extended her hand with an imperious gesture. "Let me -see the shades," she cried. - -She was a powerful, dark-skinned, handsome woman, with her mind in her -eyes. Forty years of life had polished and embellished her until now -she resembled a jewel of many facets. Her throat suggested a singing -bird's, her shoulders were beautifully curved, her hands and arms -perfect. She scarcely glanced at Rachel but examined the shades -intently. Then once more she yielded her face to the masseuse. - -"Thank goodness, child!" she sighed, "they're lovely! and I'd just -given you up. All these lights will be very hot, but they'll look like -a forest of tropical blossoms; that's what I wanted. Here, give me -that purse." - -She counted out thirty dollars in bills, and handed them to Rachel and -then rang for the butler. - -"Has the sherbet come?--Bring this young lady some. Here, sit down," -she added, "you look tired." - -Rachel seated herself on a brocaded divan, still holding in her fingers -a shade which had been slightly crushed and which she had repaired. -She held the shade like a flower, and her face above it was severe and -pale. - -"Heavens, child! someone ought to catch your pose just as you sit now. -She doesn't need any of your cream, does she, Henley?" - -The masseuse looked at Rachel and her face quaked into an hundred -little wrinkles. These played round her eyes like forked lightning, -then instantly and miraculously disappeared, leaving the skin like an -infant's. - -"It wouldn't do her any harm, Miss Burgdorf," she said, bridling. "Our -cream is such a preservative. Sister and I think ladies can't begin -too early." - -Her voice and manner suggested lotions; and this persistent artificial -youthfulness, superadded to the tiny creature's evident acumen, was not -without charm. In her long apron, tied behind with strings like a -pinafore, she would have passed very well for a child had it not been -for the lightning. - -Julia Burgdorf rose and stretched her arms above her head, then let -them drop heavily while she stood for an instant in a listening -attitude. Though no word was brought to her of the perturbed state of -affairs below stairs, there was knowledge of it in the very air. - -"The butler has broken the last cup," she declared with conviction, -"and the cook has gone off in a rage. I can see everything. Oh, what -a fool I was to leave the cool country and bother with that club of -cackling women at this season of the year! But charity before comfort. -Leave your address, please. My cousin, Mr. Hart," she went on, with a -droll screwing of the lips "wrote me about you. I may be able to get -you more orders." And with these words she passed on to her bath. - -Now that the work which had engaged her for three days and a night was -finished, Rachel felt disinclined to move. She lingered over the -sherbet the butler had brought her and watched the masseuse putting -away the little delicate instruments of coquetry. All at once it -seemed to her that through the cool silence she heard the malicious -ticking of the great clock in the dining-room, and she recognized the -timepiece as a remorseless tyrant dominating not only the servants, but -the beautiful mistress of the house. Though instinctively conscious of -Julia Burgdorf's fear of age, Rachel was too young to experience any -real sympathy for her. Instead, what she did feel was a keen sense of -her own triumphant youth. A miniature of a young man stood on a -dressing-table. "He looks like Emil," she thought; and, to quiet her -agitation she fixed her attention on the masseuse, who, with a little -silver pencil, was marking the date on an illuminated calendar. Rachel -stared at this calendar, and the blood slowly left her cheek. - -Nothing so conclusively proves the existence of an intelligent, if -somewhat perverse Fate, acting in the affairs of human beings, as these -potent stirrings of the memory, which she causes by the simplest means. -Does a woman require a bit of information? Incidentally Fate -enlightens her at the most opportune moment. Rachel attempted to avert -her eyes from the bit of cardboard, but the two names which were almost -lost in the design of the border and which certainly would have escaped -the casual glance of another, in a moment had evoked all the sweet and -irritating scenes of her past: - -"_Benjamin Just & Richard Lawless, Art Lithographers, Lafayette -Street._" - -Symbolizing all the events of her meagre romance, these names, with all -the accompanying address of which she had hitherto been ignorant, had -the effect of maturing in Rachel all that is most imperious in human -love. How little is required to move a woman's heart. The longing to -see Emil took possession of Rachel like a fever. - -The one o'clock whistle sounded a last melancholy note, and she -inspected eagerly every figure that entered the factory. Why had she -assumed that Emil was still employed there? As the stream of men grew -less and presently ceased, the curve of her mouth became scornful. -"How idiotic!" she whispered. She was turning away when a young girl -emerged from a side door over which appeared the word "_Office_." She -came out impetuously. The fact that she was weeping arrested Rachel's -attention. Her slight frame shook with sobs. She took a few steps, -then paused to extract a handkerchief from a bag she wore at her belt. -She pulled out the handkerchief and a letter fell from the reticule, -but in the excess of her grief she went on without perceiving her loss. - -Rachel crossed the street and as she picked up the letter, she -involuntarily noticed its superscription. Written carelessly on the -blue envelope was the name "Mrs. E. A. St. Ives." She -faltered--staring at it. She stood still and something seemed to -strike her in the breast. Yet she was conscious that surprise had no -part in her feeling. After a few seconds, she forced herself to walk -on. At the next corner she overtook the girl. - -"Is this yours?" she asked. And her voice sounded strange in her ears. - -The girl wheeled, showing a face disfigured with tears. "Oh, yes," she -said, "it's mine! Did I drop it?" - -Rachel continued to look at her without stirring. She passed her hand -once or twice across her forehead. "You are Mrs. Emil St. Ives?" - -"Why yes, I'm Mrs. St. Ives." The other was now gazing at her with -curiosity. - -So this was the girl who had helped Emil in the past, who helped him -now,--the girl he preferred to her. Disdainful, she swept round. As -she moved, she lifted her shoulders as if she would rid herself of -something, but the action spoke forlornness. - -"Why do you ask?" questioned the other, pursuing. - -Rachel paused. "Nothing made me ask," she said, "only the name was -familiar." - -She was walking on when the girl caught her arm. - -"Perhaps you know my husband?" she persisted. "Do you?" - -Once more Rachel stood still. "Yes I know him--slightly." - -"I knew you did," and a note of incipient jealousy sounded in the -other's voice. "When did you know him?" she asked, and she fixed sharp -eyes on Rachel's face. - -"It was last summer in Maine," Rachel answered. "I took him out a few -times in a boat to make some experiments. When I saw the name I -recognized it." Her indifference, the sudden cold and remote -expression of her eye, which was like a thrust of the arm, deceived her -questioner. - -"Oh, I see," she said, meekly. "Was it the _depth indicator_! Oh I -know it was," and at the mention of this instrument, she returned to -her original grievance. "It's that _depth indicator_ that's been at -the bottom of all our troubles," she explained; "if it hadn't been for -that, Alexander would have finished the lithographing press and then -everything would have come out different. But now Father--Oh, I can -talk to you, can't I?" she interpolated. "I must talk to someone. -I've been treated so--you don't know!" and she began to sob again in a -helpless, childish fashion, with the unrestrained grief of a nature, -hysterical, feverish. - -But one thought burned in Rachel: Emil's marriage. Her pain, however, -was not new; she felt that she had lived through it before, for it is a -characteristic of suffering that it never comes as a novel experience -and herein it differs from joy. The disconnected explanations of her -companion, mingled with the repeated request to be allowed to confide -in her, gradually roused Rachel. Her eyes travelled over Annie. She -noticed the once tasteful dress, which was now badly worn, the little -pear-shaped face with its peaked nose and babyish eyes. - -She was about to reply haughtily, then, moved by Annie's beseeching -look, altered her intention. - -"Yes, you can tell me if you want to," she answered softly and dully. - -Involuntarily the two girls turned their steps in the direction of a -square, a triangular breathing place in this densely populated section. -They seated themselves on one of the benches and Annie poured out her -story. But her words scarcely penetrated Rachel's brain. She stared -at some clothing drying on a fire-escape, and it struck her that the -antics of the clothing fastened to a line were no more grotesque and -absurd than the antics of human creatures fastened to life. Inwardly -she rocked on the wide sea of misery. - -The dramatic features of her situation were not lost on Emil's wife. -As she described her life in her parent's home, contrasting it with her -present mode of existence, it was clear that Annie viewed herself in a -romantic light. Never the less her misery was real, and more than once -she had recourse to her small damp handkerchief. - -"When once we were married I felt sure Father would forgive us," she -concluded, "but he says I shall never, never come home until I leave -Alexander. Father's terrible when he's angry. All the same, this -isn't the first time I've been to him," she explained. "At first he -wouldn't see me, and when he did, he wouldn't listen to a word. He -said Alexander was utterly irresponsible and the lithographing press -and the rest of it had been as good as made over on an entirely -different principle. But finally when I teased and teased he said if -Alexander wanted to accept the position of expert examiner with the -firm, they'd take him back at a salary. Not a very big salary, but -still something regular. And I was so pleased," she added, "I felt -there was a chance for him if he worked hard and didn't make trouble; I -thought he'd soon rise to something better. But what do you think? -Alexander refused! He roared like a madman when I told him. He said -he wanted to do independent work, and never again would he sell his -brain, his soul, his very life-blood to my father. And I went to the -factory this afternoon to tell Father, and though I toned down -Alexander's words and explained just how he felt as tactfully as I -could, Father not only refused to make him another offer, but he threw -open the door and pointed for me to go." And at the memory of the -indignity, she covered her face with her hands. "Oh, whatever is going -to become of us?" she wailed. - -Rachel said nothing, and this continued silence quieted the other. -Presently with an air of finality she lifted her head. - -Opening her bag she returned the handkerchief to its depths. - -"But I promised to stand by Alexander and I'm going to," she said in a -low voice. "Somehow, he makes you feel that you want to stand by him." - -Still Rachel said nothing. - -"I must go now," Annie cried, tipping her face back, "see, it's going -to storm, and I'm so afraid of lightning." - -And indeed black, threatening clouds were coming up rapidly. - -"I'd ask you to come and see us," she added as they fled from the -square, "only the place is so horrid. You see, Alexander not only -works there, but we live there, too," she continued, while they stood -waiting for a car with the wind whipping their dresses about them. -"Alexander has a workshop, that's all he cares for, and I have a room -about three feet square; and then he has a horrid deaf and dumb -creature who helps him. Oh, if I'd known he was going to have _him_ -live with us!" and her voice broke. "You've been so good to let me go -on in this way," she cried, as the car stopped. "I'll tell my husband -I met you. What name shall I say?" - -But Rachel did not answer. She merely nodded as the other, in a -tremour of fright, stepped on the car. - -"You'll get caught in the rain!" Annie called after her. - -Rachel smiled grimly. - -The rain descended at first thin and fine as if poured through a sieve; -then it increased in volume till the gutters ran yellow torrents, till -the sordid brick buildings looked like drenched, warty frogs of a giant -growth, till the slender trees in the squares fairly bent to the -ground. But Rachel was caught in the vortex of a storm even wilder. - -It was two hours later when she slowly climbed the steps of the -tenement house. Emily Short's voice reached her from an upper landing: - -"There, don't you go looking him up again, will you, Betty? There -ain't a man in the world worth running after." - -Rachel halted and a fierce denunciatory light flamed in her eyes. Then -she pulled herself together. - -When she opened the door of the outer room Simon Hart rose to greet -her. He felt that he had taken her by surprise and, in embarrassment, -smoothed his hair. - -"It's going to clear," he said and glanced toward the window which let -into the tiny room the slowly increasing light. - -Rachel swept a look in the same direction. "Yes," she repeated, -"it's--clearing." - -In the sky, visible beyond the clutter of wet roofs, appeared a strange -arrangement of gold bars, and above the bars huddled the thunder clouds -like a herd of newly-tamed animals. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -SHOWING THAT SACRIFICES ARE NOT ALWAYS APPRECIATED - -To cast a glance backward,--it was with a mixture of surprise, chagrin -and growing indignation, that Emil St. Ives took his way from the Maine -coast to tumultuous, brain-inspiring New York. In the hotel at Old -Harbour he lingered over his packing, confident until the last moment, -that some word would arrive from Rachel. She surely would not allow -him to go without seeking to effect a reconciliation. No word came -and, once seated in the train, he stared out at the landscape with -sullen fierceness. But there, in scraggy rocks, stumps of trees, -water, meadows, salt marshes, wind with a tang in it, gold beams poured -from rifted clouds, mist, storm, rolling fog--there was Rachel, the -girl herself. She was dancing, scudding on ahead of the train, wrapped -in a veil. Now he saw the gleam of her eyes; now her serious mouth! -now the curve of a wrist; now a fleeing ankle! Remaining behind, she -yet went with him! Deuce take it, he felt her breath on his face! - -He was conscious of an immense weight of sadness in his breast, but it -lessened neither his pique nor his astonishment. Full of mastership, -his ideas of womankind were based chiefly on the devotion accorded him -by his mother, by Annie Lawless, and, until then, by Rachel herself. -Such whole-souled devotion he accepted as his rightful due. Therefore -Rachel's downright and uncompromising attitude astounded him. Her -anger, when she learned that another young lady was interested in his -affairs, was justified, he admitted. He had not been open with her. -What he could not overlook, however, was her allusion to his mother's -disappointment if his plans with the lithographers failed to -materialize. If she had cared for him, she would have spared him that -barbed thrust which even in memory caused his nerves to tingle. If she -had cared for him she would have prevented his going. But she had -allowed him to go without a hope of ever seeing him again. - -He began to laugh bitterly; presently lifting his long frame out of the -car seat, he went for a drink of water. He stood with the cup in his -hand, forgetting to drink. He could not endure that a woman should -scorn and repudiate him. The quarrel with Rachel shook him all the -more violently, as, with his habits of mind, he was unaccustomed to -such tempests. He returned to his seat and fixed his eyes once more on -the flying landscape. - -She had shone upon him like sunlight, and passion had awakened--passion -and interest and something besides. She had stormed at him like a -tempest and finally had mystified him with a fog, best proof of all -that hers was the womanhood for his manhood. But did he understand? -The pebble rolling down a hill has as much comprehension of the force -that summons it--indeed it has more, for the pebble obeys the force and -Emil St. Ives did not obey. Instead he set himself squarely about and -took his way back to New York with a smouldering eye; but a fierce, -surprised bird whose pinions had been clipped might have worn just such -a look, and he kept ruffling the feathers of his vanity, for the wings -of his egotism drooped. - -Presently he produced paper and pencil, but still boiling, it was -sometime before he could control his thoughts. Finally, he began to -sketch roughly a plan for an instrument; the next day his humiliation -had so far abated as to permit of his working steadily on the scheme; -and when he reached New York his complacency was practically restored. -On alighting from the train he found awaiting him a little eager, -flushing, paling being in the shape of a woman. - -When Emil saw Annie Lawless peering at him from the midst of the crowd -on the platform, a certain new sensation, strong, sweet, but somehow -malign, sprang to life within him. At least Annie was not indifferent -to him. His chagrin disappeared and a desperate hardihood took its -place. It is soothing, as most people will agree, when a golden apple -has been denied us, to have offered for our acceptance a little rosy -plum. Is it amazing then, that Emil stood ready hand and mouth for the -plum, all the more as he reckoned its flavour, on the whole, rather -pleasant? With his worn suit-case in one hand and his precious -_depth-indicator_ in the other, he swung down the platform, and Annie, -followed by the ungainly figure of Ding Dong, advanced to meet him. -Then Emil set down the suit-case and the _depth-indicator_ and received -Annie's timid anxious glance in his own dark orbs. In it plunged, that -little maiden look, and the earth for Annie rocked, though for Emil it -merely oscillated very slightly,--no more than when one has taken a sip -of wine, piquant and a little heady. - -Ding Dong gathered up the traps and fell submissively behind the young -couple, and Annie pressed against Emil and clung to him. What more -natural than that, finding himself unencumbered, he should bend down -and encircle her little figure with his arm? A rosy plum, a sip of -wine, a little bit of a woman with no wits at all and her heart in her -face, such was Annie. - -As for that puzzling mid-region between mind and heart, which was the -region affected in Emil, one might as well attempt to mark out paths in -a wilderness as to set up guideposts there. Every thought is tinged -with feeling, every feeling is sullied with thought, and the ways are -hopelessly mixed. But it is a region which stands in no need of -description, for in the range of emotional experience, few people ken -anything beyond this vast temperate zone. And yet they declare, at the -last, that they have lived! Pathetic misapprehension! Nothing is more -uncommon, more unspeakably rare, than a life actually lived. Only a -person who is at once an intrepid explorer and an inexhaustible artist, -appreciating ever the value of extremes and of contrasts, in short a -genius on every side, is capable of life. - -Though Emil had a measure of this capacity, he was hopelessly adrift in -a maze of stupidity; for men, save at exceptional moments, are such a -very small part of themselves. So he encircled Annie with his arm and, -bringing his face close to hers, kissed her. And Annie did not utter a -reproach. She forgot the words that would have formed it. She forgot -every word in her vocabulary, except one little word that all but -escaped from the hot panting region of her heart. - -But she had formed a plan which she remembered. Dragging Emil into the -waiting room, she indicated two chairs in a quiet corner. When they -were seated, she put one little gloved hand for a moment over his and -pressed it down hard in order to hold his attention, though this -manoeuvre was not in the least necessary, for she was far from -unpleasing to look upon. The colour kept chasing the white on her -cheek, for she was frightened by what she had to say and at a loss how -to say it; the sweet peas, pinned in a bunch on the breast of her -jacket, threatened to fly away like a bevy of butterflies with her -tumultuous breathing, and a fascinating little pulse fluttered in her -neck just above the lace of her collar, and Emil, watching it, knew -that it indicated the wild movements of her heart. - -What wonder that he almost recovered his wonted spirits in the air of -adoration that breathed from these two humble people? For Ding Dong, -with his ears like huge excrescences and his legs that seemed to bend -under the weight of his squat body so that he resembled nothing so much -as a grotesque from a cathedral niche,--Ding Dong hung on his look with -exactly as much attention as Annie. Despite the feeling of sadness -that lurked far down in the depths of his being, Emil perceived afresh -that it was a very good sort of world and that New York was a -marvellous city. And his egotism began to spread its wings and his -eyes to flash good humouredly. Being now well beyond the larva stage, -admiration was necessary to him,--it was an air without which he was -unable to exist. - -"But how did you know that I would come on this train?" he asked -gently; and, clasping his hands about his knees, he stared at Annie -with a peculiar concentrated interest. - -She looked up at him with a faint suggestion of reproach. "I didn't -know; though I was prepared to wait until you did come," she said. -"The fact is, Alexander," she continued, "what Father has done is -shameful. It isn't right, and as he's my father, it's only just--well, -I hope you won't take it wrong--but I have a little money which was -left me by an aunt to do with just as I choose. I've got it all here, -see, in this bag," and she opened the drawstrings. "It isn't much, -only a thousand dollars, but I thought perhaps--perhaps you would take -it until you could invent something." - -To save his life Emil could not prevent the joy that flashed in his -eyes. To be free to invent, even for a brief space! It was an -unexpected glimpse straight into Paradise. He peeped in--just one -peep; then greatly to his credit, considering how little of an ordinary -man he was and how much of a genius,--who resembles a bird of heaven in -his freedom from a sense of obligations,--he shut the door on the -Paradise forcibly. - -He bent forward and took both of Annie's hands in his. Slowly, very -slowly, he shook his head. - -"Oh, please!" she supplicated, and her face puckered. As she looked -straight into his eyes with her own, he saw them suffuse with tears. -The sight of these tears perturbed him so that he was no longer master -of himself. - -"But see here, I can't!" he said, and the blood darkened his cheek, "I -can't take money from you; you're mad!" - -"Oh, if that's the way you consider me--just like a stranger!" And -Annie turned sharply aside and buried her face in a scrap of a -handkerchief from which ascended an odour of subtle feminine appeal. - -In their excitement both had risen and Emil spread his massive bulk to -screen her distress from the few people who were seated in the -waiting-room. Never had he been driven into such a net by his own -emotions. - -"See here," he cried, bending over her and breathing the words into her -ear, "I consider you my only friend"; and his ardour was augmented by -his remembrance of Rachel. - -This was devotion, this! - -"Friend?" she repeated, lifting her head and gazing at him through her -tears. "I'm more than that. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for -you, and I thought--I thought--" - -For an instant Emil saw her judicially. "So that's it?" he reflected, -but the next instant the male in him was completely glamoured. - -For the last time some positive seduction in Annie overcame him. Love -will polish even a plain woman to something approaching brilliancy, and -Annie was by no means plain. Her hair gave out a delicate odour; the -pupils of her eyes, usually small, spilled their black over the blue of -the irises; her little mouth emitted a whole troop of sighs; the stuff -of her waist crackled, as if, though it fitted her body, it compressed -her heart. In truth, that which was the heart in her, the soul in her, -was striving mightily to come to him, and being a man he did not refuse -it. - -"Do--do you mean that you would marry me?" he hazarded unsteadily, -"without prospects--nothing? You can see for yourself, everything I -put my hand to turns out wrong," he added argumentatively. - -She nodded. A look of ecstasy overspread her face. - -What he experienced chiefly was a profound astonishment. - -He moved back a step in order to study her. That she felt in this way -toward him was no news, but that she was ready to take the decisive -step now, when his whole outlook was altered.... In his gaze there -grew a peculiar gentleness and simplicity. - -"Yes, but what about your father, what will he say?" he inquired, -dallying dreamily with the consideration. - -"Father, oh, he'll bluster at first, but he'll forgive us. I know him. -Besides, hasn't he stolen your invention?" - -"So it's only fair I should steal his daughter; is that it?" This -question, like the other, was an idle playing with the subject, as -though, for the moment, his will went in leash to hers. - -Annie lifted her face with a laugh which stirred him strangely. Her -eyes rested questioningly upon him and he was conscious of an ambiguous -emotion of pleasure and confusion. He had a desire to say tender words -to her, to touch her hair; none the less he sighed heavily. - -And Annie all at once took his attitude for granted. Timid, yet with -that potency of appeal which belongs often to the weakest women, she -clasped his hand, glancing up at him in such a way that he felt all -resistance expiring within him. - -"That poor fellow over there," she went on happily after a moment, -during which she pressed his fingers once or twice, "every time I'd go -to the factory, he'd make the strangest signs, and at first I couldn't -understand what he wanted. But after a little, I made out that he was -asking about you. And when Father got in that new man to work on your -machine, Ding Dong, as they call him, just went wild and raged. He -tried to stand guard over the machine and he locked the door of your -shop. But finally they got in and he acted so, they had to get rid of -him." - -Emil, who had been admiring the vivacity of her face, caught only the -last words of this speech. - -"Ding Dong you say! Yes, a fine fellow," he agreed with a sparkling -smile. - -"Well, between us we've got everything planned," Annie continued. -"We've found a little apartment--" - -He started. - -"Where you can work and invent," she added in a voice scarcely above a -whisper. - -"Invent," he murmured, for she sidled and slunk closer to him so that -with difficulty he resisted an impulse to seize her to his breast. - -Explain it who can: in one short hour all the judgments of this man -were reversed. Though he was influenced by selfish motives, he did not -recognize them. Annie was his friend, the one most necessary to him -and to whom he was necessary. It was really downright amazing how much -she cared for him, and seeing her through a mist of gratitude which he -mistook for love, he compared her to the cold Rachel to the latter's -disadvantage. In love consciously with neither the one nor the other -of these two women and only obscurely aware that his feeling for Rachel -was capable of assuming the character of a dominating passion, he was -really concerned in but one object, his work. He therefore yielded -himself readily to gratified vanity, egotism, enthralled senses, those -potent agents for the smothering of the masculine will. - -They were on their way to the office of the Mayor when abruptly Emil -ordered the driver of the cab to halt, while he questioned Annie -anxiously. Did she think it wise--what they were doing? Had she -sufficiently considered? - -For answer she put her hands on his shoulders and drew his head to her -breast so vehemently that he had difficulty in breathing. - -After that he spoke no more until their destination was reached, but -stared out intently at the people, who passed in carriages and on foot, -with a smile in which there was an uneasy melancholy. - - -A week later any scales he might have had over his eyes had vanished. -Memories of Rachel obtruded themselves and he turned from them with -stifled sighs. He was ill at ease and his conscience troubled him. He -was penitent before Annie and redoubled his caresses. But she was not -essential to him, and as time went on he buried himself in his work. - -In the choice of the apartment the young girl betrayed the fundamental -practicality of her nature. The rooms were inexpensive and at the same -time attractive and homelike; but at the end of a month, Emil -discovered a sky-lighted loft in the lower part of the city into which -he wished to move. The place would be a more convenient one for his -work. Thither Ding Dong, in the capacity of assistant to the inventor, -accompanied the pair. With him he brought the monkey Lulu. - -Largely because of his affection for her, though partly because of his -hatred of his former employers on whom he thought absurdly to revenge -himself, Ding Dong had stolen the little creature from the factory. He -made her a cage, which she seldom occupied, her favourite station being -the sill of the window where Emil had his work-bench. There she -crouched among the tools with her little, worried, half-human face -turned to the inventor, and now and then she reached out a black hand -and laid it questioningly on his sleeve. Seeing his pet thus safely -cared for, Ding Dong was free to spend himself in the service of his -new master. He ran errands, bustled about in a flurry of often useless -activity, and even fitted up the tiny room set apart for Annie. At -first the young wife agreed to everything. - -Crushed by a stormy interview with her father in which he had forbidden -her to cross his threshold, in the early days of her marriage Annie -accepted the privations of her new mode of life without a word. She -thought to endear herself to her husband. But Emil, far from -sympathizing with her position, was honestly unconscious of it. -Carried away by the interest of his work, he forgot her. When made -aware of her, bitterness filled his soul. He felt himself guilty -toward her. Never the less, her tears, her letters to her mother, -which he was forced to read and approve, her constant efforts on his -behalf with her father, above all, her insistence that he go back and -accept the situation of expert examiner, which was finally grudgingly -offered him,--all this irked him in the extreme. - -"Go back there--after the way he's treated me?" he cried,--"you ask it?" - -"I thought--I thought--" murmured Annie, "we are very miserable." - -"Well?" His significant tone seemed to imply, "Who's to blame?" - -He now perceived clearly that she hampered him, that he could have got -on very much better without her. - -"You are not interested in my work," he cried, blaming her; "a woman is -always like that. No detachment with them is possible. I ought to -have understood this." - -Then Annie broke down, and contrition overcame him. He took her in his -arms where she cuddled like a little kitten. - -"I'm no one for you," he whispered, while a fierce sigh rent him. - -But convinced that he suffered by the arrangement more than she did, he -cherished a grudge against her because she interfered with him. -Fearing to disquiet his mother, he allowed several months to pass -before he wrote to her of his marriage. Viewing it coldly, he felt -much cause for shame in the situation. - -Quarrels were constant, and as the sight of Annie disquieted him, he -shut himself off from her more and more. He worked, slept and ate in -his shop, and Annie inhabited her lonely little room, weeping and -staring out over the house-tops in acute disgust. As Emil had said, -devotion to an abstract ideal was impossible to her and she was jealous -now of his work as of a rival, so that they had no topic about which -they could talk when together. Everything furnished a subject for -dispute, even Ding Dong and his pet. Ding Dong disgusted her by his -outlandish appearance, and the monkey, she declared, made her nervous. - -The day following her meeting with Rachel, Annie spoke of the encounter. - -"I met someone you know yesterday," she said; "a girl from Maine." - -Wrinkling up his brow, Emil paused in his work. - -Something in his expression excited and angered his wife. - -"Well," she cried sharply, "do you remember her? What's her name?" - -But Emil, despite his desire to know more, resumed his work without -answering, and the eyes he cast down held the look of a child that -dimly perceives in its suffering the result of its own act. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -DESPAIR AND DESOLATION - -As she stood in the attic room with its sloping roof and dormer -windows, her little dark head almost touched the ceiling. Old David -surveyed her with pride; then cast a glance at Simon Hart. The driving -rain had modelled the stuff of her dress to her arms and shoulders in -winding folds. As she lifted her hands to remove her hat, from which -drooped the straight lines of a veil, she resembled a Tanagra figurine. -But there was no antique serenity in her expression. - -Convinced that she was disconcerted by his presence, Simon Hart began -to explain that he had brought her another order for candle shades. -Then, as her lack of sophistication grew upon him, he ended by inviting -her and her grandfather to dine with him. - -But Rachel looked at him with vague, unseeing eyes, until David nudged -her elbow. - -"We'll like to go very much, won't we, Rachel?" he said in a voice -which quavered with delight. - -Then she understood and forced a smile to her lips. - -"But don't ye forgit to say something to Miss Short, will ye?" the old -man reminded her. "You see," he added, turning to the visitor, "Miss -Short expected to go somewhere with us to-night for a little -celebration, because of that order--the first one you got, Rachel--and -it's most kind of you, too, to take such an interest." - -The other waved these last words aside. "Now about this celebration," -he said, "what do you say to asking Miss Short to go with us?" - -Again Rachel forced herself to express pleasure. - -When Simon Hart went out to call a carriage, she entered the inner room. - -After ridding herself of her wet dress, she sat down before the cracked -looking-glass and began arranging her hair. But almost immediately she -folded her arms on the bureau, bowed her head upon them and fell to -weeping. In the depths of her soul she felt that nothing could alter -her despair. Henceforth the knowledge of Emil's marriage would lodge -there like a rock heaved into the midst of a stream, and the current of -her life would eddy around it. The approach of Nora Gage caused her to -lift her face and continue coiling her hair. - -Simon Hart was not a worldly man. He confined himself closely to the -supervision of his business--the manufacture and sale of jewellery. At -night he returned to his austere house in Washington Square. Of a -painfully reticent disposition, he made few friends, his fastidious and -slightly ironical manner effectually cutting him off from companionship. - -The only beings who played any sustained part in his life were the -gaunt mysterious female who served his meals and arranged his -drawing-room as she chose, his old father who moved optical instruments -over the floor of the attic; and, at the shop, Victor Mudge, who -designed special settings for gems. For Victor Mudge, Simon -entertained a particular regard, though he felt sensitively that the -goldsmith disapproved of him. The truth was, these two friendless -men,--the one living in his well-nigh empty house, the other in his -hall bedroom,--criticized each the other's lonely condition. - -The diversion created in the jeweller's life by the persons just named -was no more than the gnawing of a bevy of mice in an otherwise quiet -cellar. Painfully aware of this, he attempted to enrich his existence -by extending the scope of his intellectual pursuits. He took up the -study of social economics and pursued it diligently. In the same way, -during the season, he forced himself to attend the opera with -conscientious regularity, although he had no real musical taste and -much that he saw and heard was in reality distasteful to him. He felt -a constant need to check in himself a tendency to indulge feelings that -were deeper than those apparently experienced by other men. - -Only once had a person penetrated his reserve. Several years before he -had made the acquaintance of a scholarly lady who brought to his shop -for suitable setting an Egyptian scarab. In the course of filling this -simple order Simon had called upon her several times. Subsequent -developments, however, had revealed the fact that the scholarly lady -had a husband, and the acquaintance had languished; though for some -time after the incident he had kept her photograph on his pianola where -he had been in the habit of studying it while he had pedalled evenly. -This photograph had fallen behind a stationary bookcase, and at present -the one brightness in his life was the gleam of the gold and the jewels -in his shop. - -Now he stood helpless at the corner of the street. Trusting to her -unique charm to atone for any discrepancy in her dress, he would have -risked Rachel's appearance in one of the more fashionable restaurants. -But the others? He shook his head. - -More keenly sensitive to observation than a man of wider social -experience, he shrank from the attention the group would be likely to -attract. Presently he came to a decision. He would take his guests to -a restaurant in the vicinity of his house, where he made a practice of -dining when the weather was particularly oppressive. - -As they quitted the tenement rooms, Nora Gage padded softly out on the -landing in her heelless slippers. Her enormous bust undulated more -than usual and her hands at her waist disappeared beneath overhanging -folds of fat. "Well, I hope you'll have something good to eat," she -remarked meaningly. Rachel, her head high, ignored these words; but -old David nodded with smiles and gestures toward his pocket. - -Like a child he expressed his delight openly. His white locks moved in -the air, fine as cobwebs, and his face was wreathed in continual smiles -which prolonged the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and deepened -the lines about his mouth to quivering crescents of laughter defining -the rosy hillocks of his cheeks. With a shaking finger he pointed out -the sights in the streets to Emily, who nodded decorously the plumes of -her elaborately-trimmed hat. The hat was destined for one of Mrs. -Stedenthal's customers, but Emily had borrowed it for the evening. The -very novelty of the situation diverted Rachel; she became aware of a -dual consciousness--a self that suffered and a self that was vaguely -amused. - -In the restaurant the waiter uncorked a bottle of champagne and Simon -begged the young girl to taste it. She lifted it to her lips, then -played with the glass. - -Simon watched the slim thumb and finger that encircled the fragile stem -of crystal. With unostentatious movements he repeatedly filled his own -glass. Occasionally he ventured to lift a glance to Rachel's face. - -She wore a skirt of dark silk, and a little flowered scarf over a waist -of sheer muslin. The brim of her drooping hat, whenever she leaned -forward, cast its shadow over her shoulders and her scarcely-indicated -breast. When she straightened up, however, it was as if a cloud lifted -and revealed the glow of her cheeks, the line of her lips, the depths -of her eyes where some gloomy thought constantly hovered; for, strive -as she would, summoning to her aid all her furious pride, she could not -conceal the misery and despair that were consuming her heart. From her -round wrists her sleeves fell back in ample folds and the pale yellow -of her scarf repeated the colour of the champagne. - -As the dinner progressed Simon refrained more and more from looking at -her. He did not ask himself what was troubling this young girl, he did -not wish to know; perhaps he shrank from anything so absolutely -youthful as her despair. On the other hand, the costume she wore, in -that it was probably of her own fashioning, filled him with a kind of -tenderness. Many trifling peculiarities of people, scarcely noticeable -movements, awakened in him this feeling. It was a kind of pitifulness -in his nature, though he had rarely been moved to the same degree by so -slight a detail. - -Life takes on to most men, who by middle age have attained any measure -of success, the character of a long meal of many courses. But to Simon -Hart it seemed like the meal which the traveller takes in a gloomy way -station. Now Rachel appealed to him like the unexpected nuts of a -dessert, the unlooked for "riddle in ribbons," for he was keen enough -to suspect the riddle hidden in this little smooth-skinned girl. - -The thoughts engendered in Emily Short, as she quietly observed the -pair, were as foreign to her mind as the food was to her palate. In -the pauses between the courses she wove a shining romance about Rachel -and her companion and finally installed them in a castle similar in -architecture to that which decorated the china of the service. Old -David, remembering Nora, occupied the moments while the waiter's back -was turned, in secreting various tidbits in the pocket of his coat. So -slyly did he do this that no one observed his manoeuvres, and he tucked -away crackers, olives and finally a portion of ice-cream which was -served in a little box. - -Meanwhile the waiters, bearing steaming viands, hurried to and fro. -They lifted silver dish covers, which reflected the light, and revealed -the red claws of lobsters surrounded by green garnishings, and fowls -steaming in gravy. Leaning between the shoulders of the diners, they -poured out water and wine; and every moment, as they skilfully avoided -trampling the dresses of the ladies, which flowed in rippling folds -around their chairs, or cleared with heavy platters balanced on their -hands the black shoulders of the men,--they cried, "Your pardon, -madam!--In just a moment, sir!" and nothing could equal their dexterity -or the softness of their cat-like tread. Through the restaurant -swelled the penetrating, complicated music of the orchestra. At one -moment a shower of gay notes seemed to be falling, falling everywhere, -and the people broke in upon it with the loud clapping of hands. At -another moment waves of melody, unnoticed, mounted insidiously like a -tide and finally bore with them, like spume and tangled seaweed, -something of the emotion from each overcharged heart. - -Turning her head aside, Rachel felt on her cheek the cool freshness of -the night which entered over some plants in a window-box. For moments -together as she listened, it seemed to her that her misery was -expressed poignantly by the music. Then as the _motif_ altered, -insensibly her mood changed. She thought of André from whom she had -received a letter the week before. Captain Daniels, whose animosity -toward the lad increased with the years, in a fit of drunken temper had -broken André's fiddle. She resolved, as soon as she could, to send him -another. Then Zarah Patch sent word that Buttercup, the cow he had -purchased from David, mistaking the moaning of the fog bell for the -crying of her calf, had floundered into the bay and been drowned. -"Poor Buttercup!" she thought; then--"Poor André!" And, across the -miles of space that separated them, she seemed to hear again the -breathless words in which the boy had told her of his love. - -The orchestra was now executing a fantasy composed entirely of runs -with the repetition of one bass note, and suddenly, without warning, -her agony was once more upon her. Once more, distraught, breathless, -she held that horrible envelope in her hand;--she read its -superscription. The men in the orchestra, puffing at their horns, -fingering their flutes, drawing their fiddle bows, were executing that -final wild movement, not on their instruments, but on her heart. - -She looked up and encountered Simon Hart's eyes. Instantly averting -his gaze, he proposed that they leave the restaurant; when they were -outside, he suggested that they walk through the square which perfumed -the air with the odour of its great trees. But no sooner had they -entered the square, than old David evinced a distaste for locomotion. - -"I don't feel jest like myself somehow," he confided in a whisper to -Emily Short. "Let's jest sit down here a minute." And the little -toy-maker, who had her own reasons for wishing to leave the couple to -themselves, readily complied. - -Simon and Rachel walked on. At last, they also seated themselves on -one of the benches. It was after ten o'clock and the square was -deserted. The moon, in its first quarter, caused Washington arch to -throw a black shadow athwart the path; and now and again the swaying -branches of the trees brought out traceries of leaves on Rachel's white -shoulders and on her sleeves. With his arms folded across his knees so -that his head was on a level with hers, Simon began telling her about a -recently published history of jewels that partly covered the field of a -work he had long been engaged upon. As he spoke she noticed that since -dinner his eyes had lost something of then weary look and that his -nervousness had abated. He spoke with the masculine deliberation which -women ordinarily find so irritating, but which, owing to the state of -her nerves, calmed Rachel. - -"However, my book," he explained, "deals almost exclusively with the -legends connected with jewels. My aim is first and foremost, to -restore to them their lost poetical significance. Plato, for instance, -and the Egyptians, for that matter, believed that they were veritable -beings produced by a sort of fermentation which was the result of a -vivifying spirit descending from the stars. Look up there," he -exclaimed, pointing to the sky, "then look at this, and tell me if it -doesn't resemble star-gold condensed into a transparent mass;" and from -his finger he drew a ring and placed it in her palm. - -She was more and more comforted. As he enlarged on the theme, which -was evidently a favourite one with him, she watched the gyrations of -the fountain. Outlined to her vision, she beheld a life which seemed -to her infinitely more tranquil than her own. - -On their return to the Street of Masts, Emily assisted old David up the -stairs and Rachel remained in the doorway waiting for Simon Hart to -finish an interminable sentence. Weighty, carefully worded, laborious, -his peroration, for the most part, fell on deaf ears. Never the less -she was conscious of an involuntary attraction to him. When at last he -extended his hand, she felt that he was stirred by some emotion he -wished to conceal. - -"Now that we have celebrated our newly-formed friendship," he said with -an attempt at gallantry, "I shall expect you to call upon me should any -matter come up in which I can serve you. Will you promise?" - -The kindness was unexpected, her state forlorn. Her lips worked -sensitively. "Yes," she said. - -He lifted her hand to his lips; at once something penetrating and -tender enveloped them. - -At that moment the voice of Emily Short reached them from the upper -landing. "Miss Beckett--Rachel!" she called, "come--come right up -here! Your grandfather--something's wrong!" - -In the room under the roof the flaring gas showed old David half -sitting, half lying upon the couch. - -Rachel darted to him. "Grandfather--what is it?" she shrieked; and -winding her arms about him, she tried to centre his wild and wandering -glances on herself. - -But moaning incessantly, incoherently, he pushed her away with one hand -while clutching her tightly with the other. Constantly his eyes -questioned her--only to reject all help that she or any other could -give him. - -To her tortured sense it seemed an eternity before those half-human -cries of his were silenced. In reality scarcely ten minutes elapsed -before Simon Hart returned with a doctor. - -Without hesitation the physician pronounced old David's attack a -paralytic shock affecting both the lower limbs, though the disease, he -said, might shift at anytime. - -When they removed the old man's clothing, from the pocket of his coat -rolled a few nuts and a little box of half-melted ice-cream. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -STOP--LOOK--LISTEN - -Old David was going to die. The sunshine knew it and danced over him -caressingly, touching his hands, his face, his hair each day, as if for -the last time. It spilled pretty pools of gold on the floor and -painted the walls with golden patches. And the plants at the window -ledge knew it, two primroses and a pot of yellow jonquils, and for that -reason they bloomed constantly, perfuming the air with a delicate -freshness. - -Old David was going to die, but because those who watched him practised -an art of cheerful concealment, it was a very happy time for him, quite -the happiest time he had known since boyhood. - -Propped up in bed, he watched all that went on about him, and he looked -at the flowers in the window. He knew who had sent the flowers and, -when he appeared, Simon Hart had to bear the scrutiny of a pair of old -eyes that surveyed him unwaveringly from the pillow. When Rachel -brought the visitor around to the bedside, a look of sly satisfaction -radiated from the old man's features. Interest and an eager zest for -life still flourished in him; though Death held him hand and foot he -was too true a poet to heed the approach of so material a guest. The -last days of his life were enveloped in ineffable peace. Wrapped about -in comforts, he had no knowledge of the tragedy of Rachel's existence, -but rested in the serene belief that Heaven itself provided him with -doctors, medicines, luxuries. His poor darkened brain worked with -incredible slowness, and it was touching to behold him enjoying a -dainty meal that Rachel had contrived to provide for him. Smiling and -fresh, with a napkin tucked under his chin, he would point out such -food on the tray as appealed to his fancy; then she would lift it to -his lips, feeding him as one feeds a bird. And often the poor child's -face was far paler than his and her hands trembled with hunger. - -Only her absorbing, desperate love for him sustained her. For this -grandfather, who in the enthusiasm of his heart was so like a little -child, Rachel willingly would have laid down her life. No sacrifice -was beyond her; and as the old man's soul was enveloped in that -atmosphere of rare and delicate perceptions that heralds the final -liberation, her soul, through its love, was permitted entrance into the -same region of mysterious joys; so that up to the last moment they bore -each other company. - -Sometimes, troubled by the thickness of his speech, old David looked at -his young companion with piteous eyes; but the condition was the result -of weakness, she assured him; later the words would come. To amuse him -she searched the papers for humorous anecdotes and even invented funny -little stories of her own. Then how they laughed together! The room -reëchoed with such merry peals it seemed Death took the hint and kept -at a distance. Indeed, the old man entering that world of which we -know nothing, and the young girl surrounded by the evils of this, by -their very innocence and helplessness held at bay all the menacing -powers of darkness, and under that attic roof, in the midst of a sordid -city, they lived a life more profound and universal than its thousands -of passionate men and women thronging the streets below. - -When Simon Hart called, as he did every evening, it seemed to him that -all the needs of the sick man were met. He sent flowers and fruit for -old David, but a sense of delicacy kept him from offering Rachel -financial assistance. Though he had disliked particularly asking a -favour of his cousin, Julia Burgdorf, through her influence he was able -to obtain for the young girl piece-work in an establishment that made a -specialty of hand-painted trifles. This appealed to him as the most -considerate way of helping her. Little did he realize that nursing -left Rachel scant opportunity for the painting which required -concentration. But by forcing herself to do without rest and almost -without food, by employing every spare moment in doing all sorts of -simple, ill-paid work that could be carried on at home, such as the -directing of circulars and envelopes, mending and sewing for the -neighbours, the impossible thing was accomplished. In quarters, -half-dollars, dollars, the necessary money was swept together to cover -the needs of the sick man. It was one of those prodigious, superhuman -struggles constantly attempted by love. But of this struggle, though -he came daily to the apartment, Simon Hart realized little. With the -instinctive dread that characterizes persons of supersensitive nature, -he had trained himself not to see to the bottom of things, not to -investigate hearts too deeply. While watching Rachel with melancholy, -ambiguous eyes, he was practically blind to the difficulty of her -situation. - -His sense of loneliness, always painful, was aggravated now, and in her -presence he was tormented by an inexpressible need of intimate -companionship. He could not bear to have her leave the room; he was -jealous of the doctor and Emily Short, since they took something of her -from him. And how little he received!--a word when he came and when he -left and now and then a smile. When Rachel cast on him a smile from -swiftly-parted tremulous lips, a smile that vanished ere it had scarce -taken form, Simon's restlessness increased and his desire for affection -became a feverish demand. Fortunate for her that it was himself rather -than another who saw her placed as she was. And reflecting that many a -man of the ravening-wolf type, in his place would have sought to take -advantage of her poverty, of her unprotected state, he grew hot with -anger. But she stood small chance of meeting such a one, and after all -Emily Short was a defence. Then the idea of marrying the girl -presented itself, looming mirage-like on the horizon of his mind, and -he felt that he was becoming ridiculous. He saw himself with the eyes -of that world in which Julia Burgdorf and his business associates were -the chief figures. The victim of a little unknown waif--not merely her -victim, her slave. In order to break the spell he forbade himself to -go to see her, and, that he might keep to the resolution, he started -without warning on a trip to Bermuda. - -At first Nora Gage, influenced by shrewd calculations, acted in an -unexpected fashion. During the fortnight that old David lay between -life and death, Nora each day doled out a little money to Rachel. But -later, as the invalid began to improve, she stole into his room a -hundred times a day and noted the gathering life in his face with eyes -as watchful as a snake's. Sometimes she even extended a hand and -tested his pulse. Devotion to comfort was the ruling motive of Nora's -life, and, foreseeing a future wherein comfort was threatened, fear -seized upon her very vitals; and an agitation spread outward through -the whole bulk of her flesh. Nor was her situation undeserving of -sympathy. In vain Emily Short promised to reimburse her for all -expenditures on old David's account when the fall trade in hats should -open; Nora was sceptical of the security, as she was sceptical, -finally, of Simon Hart's intentions. - -"He don't mean a thing, I'm sure of it," she muttered. "The idea of -thinking he'd marry her! I've been a fool." And Nora sighed heavily -as the alluring vision of the permanent home she had intended to demand -in Simon Hart's house, in return for the assistance she had rendered -old David, vanished in thin air. - -Her generosity came abruptly to an end. The doctor might order new -medicines and old David, with the innocent egotism of the sick, demand -the comforts to which he had become accustomed, Nora was unmoved. -Gloating, she waited for Rachel to make an appeal. But the other, -aware of the nature with which she had to deal, was silent. - -"Proud--proud to the end! Well, let her starve," Nora soliloquized, -and took herself to the public parks,--anywhere to escape the -atmosphere of gloom and terror that for her pervaded the apartment. - -Simon Hart's continued absence awoke in Rachel a troubled amazement, -the more, as her grandfather constantly asked for him and she had to -invent excuses for his non-appearance; but she had little time for -reflection as the household in the Street of Masts was now put to sad -shifts. Poor folk are ever separated from want by the meagrest of -protections. They are like soldiers cowering behind a crumbling -embankment. Time, bringing the ever recurrent needs, is their -indefatigable enemy, and when these needs are multiplied, as in -sickness, with small chance for patching the wall, they can ill -withstand the siege. Finally there came an evening when Emily Short, -with a look of shame on her open countenance, repaired to a certain -shop around the corner, and thereafter no day passed when old David -lacked for any comfort, as no day passed when some article was not -missing from the bare little rooms. - -"Let me go just this once," Rachel besought one evening early in -February, confronting the toy-maker, who was preparing to go out. "If -you wait to go around there--you know where I mean--you'll be late at -Madame Stedenthal's. You know she said eight o'clock; and you wouldn't -want to miss getting that order." - -"But I don't like to have you," Emily protested. - -Rachel motioned toward the room: "Run along. Grandfather's asleep; -I'll slip out and be back before he 'wakes." ... - -She quitted the shop, pressing a hand to her burning cheeks. Then, -thrilled by the consciousness of the silver in her pocket, she hurried -forward. She had gone only a few steps when someone touched her arm. -She turned and saw Simon Hart. - -Manifestly he had been following her: on his face was stamped a look of -commiseration and embarrassment. - -At once her old imperious pride was alive. Shrinking fiercely from the -observation and sympathy of this man, she spoke curtly: - -"I'm very glad to have met you. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll say -good-night; Grandfather is alone." - -She swung round so that he could no longer see her deeply wounded face; -he saw only her hat and part of her veil and her long shabby cloak. - -"Miss Beckett--Rachel!" he exclaimed, in a note of despairing appeal. -"May I not go up to see your grandfather? I have been away--I have -just returned. I did not wait; I was so anxious," he concluded. And -he looked anxious. - -She paused. After all, her grandfather would be pleased to see him. -Already her short-lived resentment that he had witnessed her -humiliation was merged in bodily languor. - -They mounted the stairs and as he saw how she clung to the railing with -her hand, Simon Hart was seized afresh with surprise and horror. The -pencilings of fatigue under her eyes accentuated her pallor and this -morbid diminution in her beauty, lent her a poignant charm. She laid a -hand on the door. - -Amazed at the change in the dismantled room, which was no less than the -change in her, he stood rooted to the threshold. Then he dropped his -head in his hands. - -Rachel, who suffered a faint return of embarrassment, refrained from -looking at him. - -"There," she said nervously, laying aside her wraps, "now I'll go and -see if Grandfather's awake." - -He was beside her: "Rachel, why--why didn't you let me know?" - -"Let you know what?" and she stood back against the wall, striving to -repell him with her eyes. - -"That you were in want--in need. You could have written--" he -floundered helplessly; then swept on almost in tears--"Didn't you know -that I would help you gladly--thankfully? Oh where were my eyes! And -you have been struggling!--Oh God, forgive me." He drew her bended -wrist against his breast, and the shudders of his frame went to hers. - -She tried to withdraw the hand. "I don't understand." - -"So thin--" he continued, perusing her face, "so thin; almost starved. -And no one to help you--not anyone. And I left you; I didn't even -write--" - -He did not finish the sentence. He was on his knees, kissing the hem -of her dress. - -She stared at him in a trance of amazement and at that moment a voice -sounded from the room across the passage. - -"Rachel, be that ye? Why don't ye come in here?" - -Simon Hart rose to his feet. "Let me help you, Rachel." - -She moved her lips, though no sound passed them. He threw his hands on -her shoulders and his eyes into the depths of hers. "I ask nothing -that you cannot give," he said with mournful softness. "I know that -you do not--love me--but later, if you became my wife--" - -She shook her head, trying to twist free. - -"If you were my future wife," he amended, "I could give your -grandfather every care." - -He had struck the right note. - -Perceiving it, desperately he followed up his advantage. Later he -would feel shame, but not now with her frightened breath on his face -and her lips so close. His gentleness was transformed into boldness. -Love wrought madness in him who had never before known its mystery or -its power.--"He should lack for nothing." - -At that moment her grandfather's voice, high-pitched, querulous, -sounded from the other room. - -"I hear ye, Rachel--both of ye; why don't ye come in here?" - -Slowly her frozen look gave place to one of tense questioning. "He -shall lack for nothing? you promise it?" - -Simon Hart bowed his head: "I promise." - -"Very well, then;" and all the life and youth dropped from her voice. - -"Shall I go in to him?" he asked, stunned by his victory. - -She nodded. - -He moved to the door. Then retracing his steps, he passed his arms -about her and pressed her to him. "You shall never regret this, -Rachel. Oh, how I love you!" he muttered, with his lips on her head. - -Pushing the hair back from her temples as if its weight annoyed her, in -the silent room she paced restlessly. Presently she paused and looked -her problem in the face. She was alone, powerless, penniless. But for -herself she was not afraid!--and she folded her arms on her -breast,--but for him who was dying? - -Her arms fell. - -The doctor had said that he might linger months, even years. And oh -the relief, the unspeakable happiness, of being able to give him every -luxury! She smiled; then sickened. The very blood in her veins -repudiated the sacrifice. It was long since she had thought of Emil -St. Ives as she had been accustomed to think of him during the blissful -time at Pemoquod Point. Now the memory of him suddenly beat all over -her weakened frame. She belonged to her love as the wood belongs to -the flame. Wringing her hands together, she cast herself on the couch. -And over and over her in a flood waves of pain, of joy, of despair, of -triumph, of agony, of gladness, of self-immolation, of selfishness -rolled and rolled. - -Out of her ordeal she emerged, brought to a sense of the immediate -present by hearing her name called. She stood up. But even through -her misery she was conscious of the amazing strength of her -grandfather's voice. - -She ran to him. - -A magnetic current of happiness had penetrated his paralyzed frame, for -when she leaned over him, he addressed her with a tongue no longer -trammelled. - -"I told ye he'd come back," he exulted. "I heared ye when ye both come -in and I knew it was him. Now ain't ye got anything to tell me, -Rachel?" And he smiled up at her slyly. - -"I don't know what you mean, Grandfather," she said. - -"I mean--What have ye two been talkin' about in t'other room?" he broke -off. "I know it was about somethin' important; and he don't deny it," -with a gesture toward Simon. - -Simon Hart stood with one hand resting on the table. Rachel avoided -his glance. - -"He said perhaps you'd tell me," urged the old man. "Now, what is it?" - -She was silent. - -"What is it?" he repeated. "Did he ask you to marry him?" and he -plucked at her hand. - -"Yes, he did." - -"I knew it--I knew it," he cried excitedly. "And you said you would, -didn't you, Rachel?" he asked, peering at her anxiously. "Somehow I -should like to feel as if it was settled," he added wistfully. - -Then she understood. In spite of his cheerfulness, old David knew -quite well that he was going to die; and so great was his love for her, -it had triumphed over the barriers imposed by his disease. With his -poor clouded faculties he was trying to make provision for her. - -Unable to stand, she rested her forehead on the pillow. He touched her -hair and suddenly her heart expanded. All her thought was for him now. -The danger that had threatened him was averted. They could not take -him away from her, they could not carry him away and place him in a -spotless, terrible ward, on a little bed, to die among strangers. -Instead, she would be able to care for him until the end came. It was -enough. What more could she ask? And tightening her grip on his -sleeve, she wept the tears which the constant, torturing thought of -weeks, the unwearying, ceaseless attempts to earn money, had not wrung -from her. In an ecstasy of tenderness, she received the old man back -from the verge of a lonely, unattended death. - -Simon Hart had dropped into a chair. His elbow was among the medicine -vials; his hand over his face. Old David looked doubtfully from one to -the other; after an instant, exerting himself, he caught at Simon's -free hand and placed Rachel's in it. "There!" he sighed, and while -they watched him, he settled back on the pillows, his lids drooping. -Exhausted, he fell asleep, his parted lips giving to his face the aloof -expression of death. - -It was as if he had been waiting the consummation of this one hope, for -after that he sank rapidly. During the anguished days that followed, -Rachel never permitted herself to question the step she had taken. She -expected to fulfil her promise, meanwhile she preferred not to -calculate the price of her sacrifice. She thought only of her -grandfather, and if she had been told to die in order to save him, she -would have been dead. - -Simon Hart had lost standing in his own eyes. He tried to view the -situation complacently, to find in it cause for self-justification. -Then came the conviction that he must release her. For the present, -however, let the engagement stand. It quieted the old man's fears and -left Rachel free to receive at his hands the assistance she otherwise -would have hesitated to accept. - -Upon his advice a trained nurse was secured and lodgings in the -neighbourhood were found for Nora Gage. As the last hours of old -David's existence approached, Simon began to nourish timid hopes, for -Rachel appeared to regain confidence in him. In spite of the part he -had played, she relied on him, and drew comfort from his eyes in which -she detected so much sympathy. - -The physician had made his last visit; her grandfather would scarcely -last until dawn. His eyes, partly concealed by their flaccid lids, -held that look which is not to be misunderstood; his head on its -strained and swollen neck lay twisted to the side on the pillow; the -fingers of one hand, already cold, plucked constantly at the coverlid -with that melancholy, mechanical movement of the dying, as if his -spirit, longing to be free, would fain rid itself of all encumbrances. -The left side, instead of the right, was now stricken. - -A few minutes before sunrise, there came a change. He had lain so -quiet for many hours that they thought he slept, but suddenly Rachel -perceived that his eyes were wide open and that he was listening -intently to the wind whistling in the space between the houses. Its -rushing passage produced a last flicker in the fantastic mind. - -"The cars! We're whirlin'--" His mouth opened in astonishment. -"Stop, look, listen!" he muttered faintly, turning his eyes to hers. -Then the air ceased to undulate, grew quiet, above his still and amazed -face. - -The first golden beams of the sun peeped in at the windows as old -David's soul, in the majesty of its innocence, passed from earth. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - - A WOMAN'S CAPRICE--A FATHER'S REPENTANCE--A - LOVER'S SELF-CONQUEST--A GIRL'S PITY - -When Simon Hart agreed to his cousin's plan, and Rachel, despite her -protests, was conveyed from the hospital to Julia Burgdorf's house, he -did not experience the unpleasantness he had anticipated. The -personality of his cousin was not agreeable to him. He had never liked -her; partly, because he was jealous of a social prestige which he -himself had never been able to attain; partly, because he disapproved -of her dropping her family name, for Julia, when a child, had adopted -the cognomen of a distant relative from whom she had inherited a -fortune. But the fundamental reason for his disapprobation lay deeper, -concealed in the current of their common blood. - -Though diametrically opposed to Julia in character, Simon was able to -comprehend in her traits which he especially disliked. They were like -two compounds containing different proportions of the same ingredient. -In Simon the strain of their common ancestry had been fused with a -widely alien current. From his mother, a pale-featured, down-looking -woman, much given to keeping her own counsel, he had inherited his air -of secrecy, his pallor, as well as his capacity for profound and -delicate feeling. But in Julia the original current of the Hart blood -retained all its primitive strength; plainly, she was one whose -forefathers had loved "wine and women and wild boars," and in every -trait she was more closely related to old Nicholas than was Simon. -Though Nicholas now quaveringly sought the beauties of a butterfly's -wing, time was when he had pursued woman's glances with the same -ardour; in fact, he had been in his day a cup of lusty life. It was -the very irony of fate that this legacy of the Hart spirit had passed -his own son and descended in all its troubled richness on his sister's -child. The only difference between uncle and niece was that which is -accounted for by sex. Julia, being no fool, accepted the restraints -that hamper the existence of a conventional woman. Like Nicholas she -had slight sympathy with Simon. The antagonism of the cousins was -mutual. In speaking of Julia, Simon habitually employed an ironical -tone; while Julia treated Simon with condescension, and, behind his -back, with ridicule. But now one subject united them. - -Immediately after the death of old David, Rachel, exhausted and -ill-nurtured, was conveyed to a private hospital, a victim of typhoid -fever. For a time the outcome of the struggle appeared dubious, but -three weeks after the fever declared itself, she rallied. Then it was -that Simon went to Julia with the general points of her story and a -hesitating request. - -The girl was absolutely alone, without relatives or friends. Would -Julia visit her? The picture was a pathetic one, and marvelling at -Simon's newly developed powers of eloquence, she consented. At sight -of the invalid, her curiosity, already lively, increased to a point -that assured decisive action. Moreover, she conceived for the young -girl, with her forlorn face, one of those superficial attachments with -which such women sometimes seek to fill their empty lives. - -As soon as Rachel was convalescent Julia insisted, nay, commanded, that -she be transferred to her own house. A visit of a few days in novel -and comfortable surroundings, she argued, would tend to hasten her -recovery. The fact was, Julia desired further opportunity to study the -girl who had made a conquest of her cousin. Simon's ill-concealed -interest in her afforded Julia delicious amusement. She had never -deemed him capable of falling in love. When he announced that he hoped -sometime to marry Miss Beckett, Julia's amazement was complete. Hoped! -She gasped, then shrugged. What did he mean by taking that tone, a man -of his position? It was mock humility--hypocrisy more disgusting than -any of which she had dreamed him capable. But she soon discovered that -his lack of assurance was justified. - -At first she doubted. The "young person" (for it was thus Julia in -thought designated Rachel) but cherished deep-laid plans, holding Simon -the more securely by appearing not to desire to hold him. It was -clever acting, and notwithstanding that she felt bound to oppose the -ridiculous match, Julia could but admire the fair schemer who used her -weakness and illness as additional bait for hooking such a fine fish. -Then this theory exploded and she saw the situation in its piquancy: - -Rachel was actually indifferent to the entire question of the marriage. - -Having made the astonishing discovery, Julia renounced her worldliness -for the time. Had the circumstances been other than just what they -were, had the stranger been as eager for the marriage as Simon himself, -Julia assuredly would have employed every means to frustrate their -plans, and would have taken a malicious pleasure in her own manoeuvring -because of rooted antipathy to Simon. As matters stood, however, she -resolved to do the ignorant and unambitious young thing a service in -spite of herself. Instead of a few days, Julia begged to keep the -invalid indefinitely, and it was owing to her entreaties, rather than -to Simon's arguments, that Rachel finally consented to remain a -fortnight. - -Then Julia applied herself, with the utmost discretion, to furthering -the romance. She attempted to prick the girl to interest by discreetly -praising Simon. He was very much looked up to by members of the -Jewellers' Association of which he was the president; as a business -man, as a member of society at large, he was irreproachable: and she -made these statements without a curl of the lip. Rachel listened in -silence. Then Julia employed other tactics. She waxed spiteful in her -remarks about her cousin; she even laughed at his peculiarities. An -oyster was not more secretive, and save for his trick of running his -fingers through his hair in moments of agitation or excitement, one -would never dream that he knew an emotion. At that, the other raised -resentful eyes. She saw nothing ridiculous about Mr. Hart; on the -contrary, his manner was unusually dignified. In justice to him she -avowed the fact, then would say no more. - -As yet Rachel was too weak to consider her situation. Grief had -excluded every other emotion; even memory of Emil had flagged. Ill at -ease and oppressed by the luxury around her, she strove to conceal -every sign of her desperate sorrow and it was only at night that she -relaxed command over herself. Then, convulsed with sobs, she lay in -the darkness and, stretching out her hands, whispered, "Grandfather, -are you there?" Her despair was the deeper because of the fantastic -conceit that old David's simple soul was kept away by the richness of -her surroundings. Had she remained in the poor rooms of the tenement, -his spirit could have found her readily, descending out of that patch -of pure sky visible through the dormer windows, even as the souls of -saints and angels descend out of the blue in old pictures. - -These woful imaginings, incident to physical weakness, for a time -oppressed her; but later, as her strength came, she turned from them. -She began to look at life with apprehensive eyes, though she still said -little. - -Simon felt that she was reading him and agonized under her gaze. -Vainly he tried to speak the word that honour, pity, decency demanded. -Could he have beheld her existing without masculine companionship, he -would have released her, but the possibility of an unknown rival in the -shrouded future, a rival whose love she would return, sealed his lips. -Out of her presence the tension of the situation was relieved. When no -longer confronted by her helpless and mutely accusing youth, it was a -simple matter for him to convince himself that the step he had -contemplated was unnecessary. Girls as young as she were material -easily moulded; if she did not love him now, she would later. -Meanwhile the situation was ambiguous, and for that reason, if for no -other, an early marriage was advisable. - -Despite these arguments, he began to show the effect of mental torture. -The man was passing through fire. At last even Julia was moved by his -look. As Rachel was the cause of the unnatural, strained situation, -she proposed that something be done to rouse her spirits. - -"Give her a taste of pleasure," Julia advised, "She's a little frozen -ghost now, but I've yet to see the girl whose gloom won't yield to -amusement and excitement." - -With an eagerness almost pathetic, Simon agreed to this proposal. But -just what could they do? - -The answer came promptly: "Dress her properly and carry her off to some -gay resort for the early spring. I will take her in charge, if you say -so?" - -But before they had developed a plan, the problem was unexpectedly -solved. Emily Short was the curative agent. - -It was a cold morning in March, and Emily, barring the interruption of -the doctor's visit, had been with Rachel for an hour when Simon -arrived. As he entered his cousin's hall he met the physician who was -just getting into his great-coat. Simon paused to consult him. - -"These women are certainly astonishing creatures," the physician -remarked, settling his muffler. "The more experience I have in the -medical profession, the more I feel that, owing to their nervous -vitality, their recuperative power is prodigious. Miss Beckett has -just had some news, I gather," he explained, "and it's done more for -her than any amount of tonics. I imagine she knows very clearly what -she wants to do, and my advice is, don't oppose her. Good morning, Mr. -Hart." And the doctor passed out through the door which was opened for -him by the obsequious butler. - -Simon felt a sense of gnawing irritation. - -"Now does that mean that he advises allowing her to return to that -unsanitary tenement, if that chances to be her wish," he asked himself, -"or has Julia set something on foot without consulting me?" - -It was not without a struggle that Simon had brought himself to trust -his cousin; and now, in spite of her continued kindness and avowed -interest in his plans, he constantly dreaded her interference. - -It being the usual hour for his visit, he did not have himself -announced, but proceeded directly to Julia's sitting room where Rachel -usually spent the morning. As he went toward the door, the thick -carpet deadened his footsteps and he heard Rachel speaking in a voice -wrought to a high pitch: - -"I never imagined things happened this way outside of novels. But is -Father alive? What do you say?" - -"I should hardly say that he is," replied Emily. "If he were merely -sending the money to you by this person, who is so afraid of telling -his name, he'd have been apt to write and explain things." - -"Yes, of course. But I must do what I can to find this John Smith. -Oh, I shall get well now! And isn't it providential, all this money, -and from my own Father? I can pay my debts now." The tone was -jubilant. - -Simon Hart, with a sensation of fear and guilt, did not wait to hear -more. Pushing aside the strings of beads, the rattling of which jarred -intolerably on his nerves, he entered the coquettish apartment. As he -approached Rachel, avoiding collision with the divers chairs, screens, -tables with which the place was littered, his face revealed little of -what he was feeling. - -On perceiving him, she half rose. Her breath grew short--or did he -imagine it?--her eyes narrowed, then filled once more with the -irradiating light of happiness. As their hands met he observed that -her cheeks were glowing. Only her extreme slenderness and her cropped -head told the story of recent illness. - -"Oh, such news!" she cried, striving to repress her excitement. "Here, -sit down," indicating a chair beside her own, "and Emily, you tell -him." And as the little toy-maker took up the tale, Rachel looked into -his face. But hardly had Emily opened her lips than she was silenced. - -"No, no, I'll tell him myself. What do you think! _I've heard from my -Father_! He has never seen me, I have never seen him, but suddenly he -sends some money." Here Rachel's eyes shot a question--or again, did -he imagine it? - -"But you haven't exactly heard from him," Emily Short interrupted; "you -don't know anything positively." - -At these words, to Simon's relief, Rachel turned from him. "But I tell -you I do know something positively, and that's enough," with a gesture -of pride, "if I never hear anything more. He sent this money to my -mother. Do you suppose that explains nothing to me?" - -All at once she was the incarnation of tenderness and defiance. She -had retained from childhood a picture of her father limned in the -quaint language of old David. Now she in turn presented the portrait -to these strangers. In the light of that mystical tribunal, buttressed -so strongly by love and imagination, Thomas Beckett stood forth a -figure vastly human, passionate and compelling; and she defied them to -judge him otherwise. - -But all at once she ceased twisting the tassels which adorned her -girdle and dropped her chin in the cup of her hand. - -"Sometimes I feel that it was all owing to the sea," she continued; -"had we lived further inland I believe Father wouldn't have left us. -For the land is stationary, even the trees are tied to it by the foot; -while the sea--every drop is free. It can dash and gnaw its way -through the hardest substances. But man is not like the sea. He may -hurl himself upon life, yes--" The sentence concluded in a sigh. - -At the beginning of this agitated speech Simon had gazed at her with -anxious curiosity; then he grew jealous of this father who drew her -thoughts so far afield from all he knew or sympathized with. He began -to congratulate her. - -She did not heed him. - -"So you can see how it came about, can't you?" and she looked first at -him and then at Emily. "Restless, dissatisfied, tormented, that's what -Father was. He asked something of life which life didn't give him, and -when the new ship he had helped to build was finished, he simply sailed -away in her." - -This defence was painful to Simon, and Rachel all at once felt his -attitude. - -"See," she said in an altered voice, "all this gold; seven hundred -dollars of it," and she indicated a box on the table. "It came from a -place in Massachusetts. Read this," thrusting into his hand a card on -which were printed the words: - -"To Mrs. Lavina Beckett from her husband Thomas Beckett." - -"And there was no letter of explanation? Do you mean to say that you -have no clue as to who forwarded the money?" Simon asked the question -because it seemed to be demanded of him. In reality he was not curious. - -"Yes, we have a clue, but there was no letter except one which André -Garins, my old school friend, said was written to the postmaster at Old -Harbour by a man signing himself John Smith. This man asked if my -mother was still living there, but the postmaster is new to the place, -and doesn't know much about the people at the Point anyway; so he wrote -back that Mother was dead and that André Garins at Pemoquod could -probably give him information about the daughter, that is, about me." - -"Yes; and just as soon as he gets this letter, that John Smith, or -whatever his rightful name is, sends his box of gold post-haste to your -friend, and directs on the outside that it be forwarded to you. I tell -Rachel that the man, whoever he may be, isn't anxious to have her get -in touch with him," added Emily, addressing herself to Simon. "It's my -opinion he's keeping back part of the money her father gave him, and I -think it's foolish for her to go and get all keyed up." - -Simon was saved the necessity of answering. - -"But why, if he's dishonest, did he send any money at all? But that's -not the point," Rachel went on; "I shan't rest until I've been to that -town in Massachusetts to see what I can learn about Father. Why do you -both try to discourage me? Oh, you don't understand!" And suddenly -the tears were streaming. She was too weak to combat them further. - -Simon could not endure the sight of suffering; even the constant and to -a degree superficial tragedies of the lower animals and insects -tortured him; for that reason he never went near his father's room -where flies, still living, impaled on pins, seemed appealing to him for -the help he dared not give. Now his face twitched. - -"But I assure you I do understand," he protested, "and I will either go -myself and make the necessary investigation, or I will accompany you -when you are sufficiently strong." - -At these words she pressed his fingers warmly, though she shook her -head: "No, I should prefer--I should rather go alone." - -"Rachel!" he cried, and looked his pain. - -"Or I will take Emily." - -She rose and pausing beside the table turned over a gold piece; then -she passed to a window where she stood. - -"Grandfather always said that we should hear from Father sometime," she -exulted, "and I've a feeling that he knows _now_" and she glanced round -at them with a bright, almost crafty expression. - -Simon drummed fingers on a knee. What effect would this wind-fall have -on their relationship? That she intended to free herself from her -financial obligation he gathered from the words he had chanced to -overhear. But as their interests would soon be identical, why did she -not ignore so small a matter? unless-- He threw an examining, -wretched look toward her and took her decision from the independent -bearing of her pretty shoulders. - -At this point his reflections were interrupted. Julia had just -returned from an early round of the most fashionable shops. She came -in, briskly ungloving her hands; then stood still. Rachel sprang -toward her. The girl flushed, talked with her hands, laughed. At last -she had no unenthusiastic listener. Unaccustomed to the sight of gold, -Emily Short, ever since the opening of the box, had been fairly awed. -To think that she had left it under the bed the night before, and that -morning had conveyed it openly through the streets! Happiness at -Rachel's good fortune surged high, none the less her impulse was to -temper the other's excitement. Julia was wiser. She smothered Rachel -in an embrace. Pushing up her veil she kissed her on both cheeks and -even shed a few tears over her. At that moment, despite his dejection, -Simon warmed to something like affection for his cousin. - -After much argument Rachel was allowed to follow her own course. -Accompanied by Emily Short she departed for the mill town from which -John Smith had written. She spent a week in a vain search, then giving -the matter into the hands of a local detective, she returned to New -York. - -Simon met the two women at the station. The greetings over, he -possessed himself of Rachel's bag and led the way to a cab. She -touched his arm. - -"Not to Miss Burgdorf's--to Emily's, please." - -Each paled. Her eyes as ever read right in. - -When she was seated in the cab, she leaned forward: "And you will come -this evening?" - -He bowed, stiff as a ramrod, strained about the lips. - -During the days of Rachel's absence his soul had been a field of -conflict. He had written her letters only to destroy them. Why be so -certain of her attitude? Women were inexplicable; he might be -mistaken. He postponed the decision. Now he must release her; now -when the issue was forced, when there was no semblance of generosity in -the act. And he despaired of making her believe what he strove to make -himself believe, as a last stay to self-respect, that the circumstance -of her illness had alone delayed the step. The make-shift engagement -had rested on her dire need of money, on his ability to supply it. Why -blink the fact? - -When the cab containing Rachel and her companion rolled away, he walked -toward Fifth Avenue, without realizing what he was doing, stunned as if -he had received a blow. For an hour he walked in a sort of stupour. -Then he entered a cafe. As the blood circulated sluggishly in his -veins, he had fallen into the habit of drinking moderate but constantly -repeated quantities of liquor; the stimulant was no more manifest -through the pallor of his countenance than wine that is poured into an -opaque vessel, but it seemed to quicken his faculties. Summoning an -attendant, he gave an order. He remained in the cafe until evening. - -When he entered Emily Short's room, Rachel stood near the table well in -the light of the lamp. She greeted him with a touch of constraint. -More than usual her eyes kept a watch on him. Her whole countenance -announced subtly and triumphantly that she had it in her power to -redeem her debt: then, perhaps he would release her! This thought -seemed to flash even from her hands. - -He looked swiftly at her hands. She was fingering a small packet of -which his misery divined the nature. She had wrapped it in tissue -paper. This girlish device to render the thing she planned to do less -distressful, struck a blow at his heart. - -"One word--listen to me!" he cried, keeping an agonized gaze on the -packet, "I no longer wish--I realize that to unite your life with -mine--I know the very thought is painful--" - -Lifting his eyes, he saw an expression like a darting of light. - -Conscious that he was not speaking as he had intended to speak, he drew -his fingers through his hair. "You are free," he stammered, "it was -never my intention to hold you to your promise. But it is impossible -that you should comprehend my struggle--" - -He broke off, striving for his usual calm, and this effort to place a -mask over his anguish produced on her much the same effect as the -concealing piece of paper had produced on him. - -Caught in a tide of emotion, she extended a hand: "But I can--I do -understand. Haven't you shown your feeling for me constantly? You -have been kind--kind!" - -He shook his head. "No, no," he muttered, "not kind; helpless. I -tried more than once to release you; I beg you to believe this. But I -loved you too much." His face expressed acute suffering; his lower lip -trembling so that he could scarcely pronounce the words. - -"Can you forgive me?" - -No concealment now. A naked, humble, imploring, despairing soul looked -from his eyes. - -It was not in her to resist such an appeal. Her heart flamed with -pity, pity that annihilated all selfish exultation. "There is nothing -to forgive." - -"But you do forgive me?" he insisted. - -"I thank you--I thank you from the bottom of my soul." - -Again he shook his head disowning his right to gratitude. His eyes -once more watched what she held. - -All at once, reading his look, the discrepancy between the nature of -her indebtedness and the sordid return she had planned, struck her. -She laid the packet on the table. - -He looked up, questioningly. - -So repugnant did the action she had contemplated now appear to her that -she hung her head. - -"I no longer wish to give it to you," she said in a stifled voice. -"Grandfather's happiness, my own life--can money pay for such things?" - -He took her by the hand. - -It was some moments before he could regain command of himself. Then he -said: - -"I am always your friend, Rachel." - -She nodded. - -For some moments longer they stood, their hands joined. Presently he -touched her forehead with his lips. "Good-bye." - -She stood as he had left her, her bosom rising and falling softly and -heavily, her eyes betraying all that was passing within her. Never did -countenance more plainly announce a struggle. By this final act, he -had erased from the scroll any charge against him of dishonour and -selfishness. Her instinctive trust of him, persisting in the face of -his weakness, was vindicated. The flame of her liking leapt higher. -Open-lipped, open-eyed, open-eared, she listened to his retreating -steps. - -Momentarily the consciousness of her debt to him increased. She was -allowing him to go--this man who had aided her in the blackest hour of -her life; who loved her, who offered her all a man can offer a woman. -She placed him high, herself low. She saw him noble, herself craven. -To receive so much and to give nothing! It was contrary to her nature. -But one return she could make! Above waves of confusion the thought -flashed and flashed. - -Was she capable of the sacrifice? Deeply she sounded her heart. Her -life was empty, irretrievably, permanently empty and desolate, she told -herself with the sureness of the tragic young. To what better use put -its fruitless days? The idea assumed the brightness of a star above -troubled deeps. She sprang to the door, calling. - -He did not answer, though his step was still faintly distinguishable in -the hall. - -Bending over the well of the staircase, she repeated her call. - -The footsteps halted: then from the darkness below she heard him -ascending. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -RACHEL--SIMON - -Her heroism was of the youthful, purblind, impetuous order. She had -reasoned falsely and acted generously. But she was not one to sink -wittingly to a lower level. Later, when she suspected the truth, she -did not admit it to her own heart--least of all to her own heart. She -was very glad of what she had done. - -But she delayed the marriage; there were preparations to make. For no -reason that anyone could fathom, she insisted on remaining in the -Street of Masts. One concession she made: at Simon's urgent request -she consented to retain Nora Gage. The two occupied the old rooms -across the hallway from Emily Short. - -The money received from her father was sufficient to supply Rachel's -needs and even permitted the preparation of a simple wardrobe. Under -Emily's supervision she planned and cut out and sewed feverishly for -days together. Then abruptly she would abandon her needle. She bought -books and endeavoured to teach herself French. She was never idle. - -"You are overdoing," Simon remonstrated. "You will make yourself ill -with these things." - -She shook her head. Activity was good for her. - -With the success of his suit, Simon had recovered poise. His manner -was dignified and somewhat stiff. He spoke slowly and in a -well-modulated voice. To the world he was as he had been formerly; but -Rachel read deeper. - -She knew that he desired to be gallant, even witty. And this effort to -be all that she wished him to be touched her profoundly. Constantly he -was bringing gifts. Offering them to her, he would watch her face to -see if he had selected wisely. She perfectly understood this desire to -offer something that would afford pleasure. Had she not experienced -the same impulse? though she had not been able to gratify it. When she -met Emil St. Ives in the cemetery at Old Harbour--how long ago it -seemed now--instead of gifts she had been able to give him only an -earnest, unswerving attention. This listening on the part of a girl to -his long, often technical explanations, had he valued it, as she valued -Simon's presents? But these reflections were checked by a prompt -warning from within. Danger lay that way. Memory would prove a -scourge if indulged and she did not want to feel. - -Notwithstanding the approaching realization of what he had desired so -long, Simon Hart still had moments when he suffered. The Street of -Masts had always been an obnoxious quarter in his eyes, though for a -short period, the fact that Rachel dwelt in it had somewhat modified -its objectionable features. But that was before their engagement. Now -the entire section stirred in him a positive repugnance. That she, his -future wife, should elect to remain in a sordid setting when she might -have been surrounded by every luxury, filled him with a dull sense of -anger and chagrin. But he was unequal to the task of remonstrating. -Whenever he thought of speaking strongly to her on the matter, timidity -overcame him. Knowing what her feeling was for him, he shrank from the -appearance of urging any claim. Julia Burgdorf by her attitude -increased his discomfort. - -Ever since Rachel's refusal to return to her house when she had -expected her, Julia, with the childish pique of a woman accustomed to -having every whim gratified, had washed her hands of her. Whenever she -saw Simon she bantered him on the subject of his prolonged engagement. - -"Is the happy day fixed yet?" she would cry, with eye and shoulder -play. "No? Is it possible! The headstrong young person hesitates to -renounce her freedom? Even the prospect of escaping life in an attic -does not influence her? Extraordinary!" - -Whenever he went to see Rachel, Simon was beset by the dread that he -might meet one of his business acquaintances. What if by chance it -became known that he intended to marry a young woman who lived on the -lower East side? Things like that easily leaked out. Finally his -sensitiveness increased to the point where he shrank even from the -frank gaze of the children in the street, a gaze which singled him out -because of his clothes, his gait, his strangeness to their world. More -than all else he feared the curiosity of members of his own household. -The maid who had admitted Rachel and her grandfather when they called -at the house had left his service. When Rachel came there as his bride -nothing of her history would be known to the servants. None the less -he felt that Theresa Walker, his housekeeper, eyed him shrewdly. Not -only this, he was convinced that she had communicated her suspicions to -Peter, the coachman. Otherwise, why should Peter, who was old and -stupid, wear such a significant look because he, Simon, failed to use -the horses, as formerly, for a short time every evening? - -However, though he suffered for the reasons just related, he was, on -the whole, very tranquil. Nor was his engagement his only cause for -satisfaction. He was about to bring out his book on gems. It was a -voluminous work, weighty, carefully prepared, extensively illustrated. -He awaited its appearance with eagerness. When the first copy arrived -from the publisher he took it the same evening to Rachel. - -She had had a trying day. Her modest preparations could not be -indefinitely prolonged. Even Emily Short, who had been a most exacting -and untiring assistant, acknowledged that three days would see the -completion of the wardrobe. Rachel listened and acquiesced. Emotion, -out of the depths of her, still sent up momentary, lurid flashes, but -Reason smothered the flashes with impetuous arguments. Finally Reason -hurled Honour and Duty, a combined extinguisher, on the flame. Though -triumphant in her virtuous decision to give Simon the information he -had awaited so patiently, she was in an exasperated mood when he -arrived. Her mood demanded a tangible grievance and he found her with -anger-crimsoned cheeks inspecting a dress. - -"I ought never to have trusted it to that ignorant seamstress," she -cried. "I ought to have given it to that woman whose address your -cousin sent me. It's my own fault that it's ruined." - -"But what's wrong with it?" he asked, taking a fold of the material -between a thumb and finger. - -She frowned. "Everything's wrong. It doesn't fit for one thing; and -it's too long for another. But it doesn't matter. Let us talk no more -about it." And seating herself beside the lamp, she took up a bit of -hemstitching. She drew the needle through the dainty material, still, -however, exhibiting strong signs of annoyance. Everything excited her -now. - -"Emily and I have accomplished a tremendous amount this week," she said -by way of preface to her important announcement. "We're getting ahead -finely." - -"Ah, that's good," he said. "But remember not to overshoot the mark, -Rachel; there'd be no wisdom in that. And now to prove that I've not -been idle while you've been slaving with your pretty fingers, I have -brought this. You know I told you that before long I hoped to be able -to complete the work." - -She did not at once comprehend to what he referred, but she saw that he -wished to tell her something flattering to himself, and by means of -questions she led him on. - -With a smile, he drew the book from its wrappings. - -Her needle-work slipped to the floor and she received the volume in -both hands. "Oh, Simon!" - -"Do you like it?" - -"How handsome it is! And how fine these coloured plates are! Oh what -it must mean to you to see this work at last in definite shape." For -she suddenly appreciated all the joy that lay for him, the author, -between those stiff new pages. The last vestige of her ill nature -vanished and she looked up at him eagerly. - -"And the indications are that it is going to be well received," he told -her, with an air of satisfaction. "I've seen some of the advance -notices. They could scarcely be more complimentary." - -Like most women Rachel adored in a man power to achieve distinction. -She counted it an additional proof of strength. She had been drawn to -Emil partly because of his genius which had compelled her to look up. -But thus far, though she appreciated his essential worth, she had not -been successful in encouraging her imagination to dwell on Simon and -invest him with uncommon attributes. A little shiver of excitement ran -through her. - -The consciousness of shining had called forth a look on Simon's face. - -"The _Courier_ says it's a work which is bound to attract attention, -relating as it does all the old legends connected with gems, besides -giving solid facts of their history." - -She had no reason for thinking the book was not what he believed it to -be, a work of merit, possibly of unique value. She nodded, so anxious -to see him burnished, that she saw him burnished. - -"Even the reviewer of the _Messenger_, usually cynical, speaks well of -it." - -"I am very, very glad." Her voice thrilled with gratification. - -"I knew you would be," he returned feelingly. "This copy is for you." - -She put out her hand. - -He grasped it, folding it against his cheek. "You know how you can -best thank me, don't you?" he said. He was not a lover to be -inconsiderately treated by any woman. At the moment he was singularly -handsome. - -With her free hand she turned the pages of the book. An involuntary -sigh lifted her breast. - -"Can't you tell me to-night, Rachel?" he urged. "I've waited so long -to know?" - -She had let her head drop lower. In reality she was impatient that she -still had to struggle with herself. At his last words she lifted her -face. "I was going to tell you to-night," she said. "Will two weeks -from Wednesday do?" - - - - -CHAPTER X - -THE BIRD IN THE BOX - -It was mid-winter, season of the early-lighted lamp. The mortal part -of old David had lain in the grave for a twelvemonth. It was as if -Heaven itself sought to do honour to his innocence. Contributing flake -after flake of snow with the aid of that great artisan the wind, it had -built up a gleaming monument to his memory. - -But in the city the office of the angels was performed with greater -difficulty. Patiently they flung a mantle of snow over the island. -They spread it smoothly in the streets, festooned it over the arches of -the bridges, tucked it cunningly away in the bell towers of the -churches. They mounted to the tops of the tallest buildings, laying -delicate ridges at the window ledges; stooped to the dingiest basement -doorways, carpeting them with white. Constantly the mantle was -displaced, shovelled aside, melted away; and the city, despite her -glitter of lights, was revealed. About every chimney-pot appeared a -circle of dampness, along every roof edge hung a row of tears; from end -to end of the city was the sound of dull dripping. Manhattan, like a -woman of pleasure, wept her sins, and the angels, the angels tried in -vain to render her seemly in the eyes of the good God. - -The clock on the Grand Central tower was hard on five when the train -bearing Simon Hart and his bride drew in at the station. They were -returning from their prolonged wedding journey. Rachel adjusted her -veil. Though her lips were steady, her eyes were full of tears. -Within the hour they had whirled past the cemetery where her -grandfather was buried. - -Simon assisted her from the train; then, with his heavy and dignified -gait, he led the way through the waiting-room. - -"I wired my man to meet us. Ah, there he is!" he exclaimed, as they -reached the drifted pavement, and he expanded his chest with -complacency. - -Peter with difficulty brought the horses to the curb and Simon, after -Rachel had taken her place in the carriage, climbed in himself. Then -he thrust his head through the door and ordered the man to drive home, -but Rachel plucked his sleeve. - -"No, no," she coaxed, "tell him to drive to the shop first." - -Simon, though he altered the direction, when he settled himself at her -side, looked at her with a slightly mocking expression. - -"I want to get that fiddle from Mr. Mudge," she explained. "In his -last letter he said he'd found one and I want Nora to take it to André -when she goes. She's starting for Old Harbour at once and will call -for the fiddle as soon as I let her know we're here. Then, too," with -a side glance, "I'm anxious, if you must know, to learn from Mr. Mudge -how that heat-measurer turned out." - -"That is, you wish to learn whether he has heard anything from your -enterprising inventor?" - -"Well yes," she admitted; and they both laughed. - -A few days before their marriage, Simon had chanced to remark that an -instrument for measuring heat in the furnace in which metals were -melted would be an important acquisition to the manufacturing jeweller. -Thereupon Rachel had begged him to submit the problem to Emil St. Ives. -To please her he had carried out her wish. Bearing a note from her to -the inventor (a note in which she incidentally announced her -matrimonial plans) Simon had sought out Emil whom he located readily -through the lithographing firm of Just and Lawless. Emil without -hesitation had promised the instrument within a week. Now three months -had elapsed without a word from him and at any mention of the subject, -Simon was wont to adopt a tone of raillery. - -"Better give up your expectations along that line, my dear," he advised -now; "that instrument will never materialize; St. Ives, judging by his -look, is no more to be depended upon than the wild man from Borneo. -Besides, if we stop at the shop, we'll miss the overture of the opera, -and in Faust the overture is a consideration. Can't you restrain your -eagerness until morning?" - -But Rachel was not to be swayed: "Tell the man to drive faster." - -Since her marriage her restlessness had disappeared; she was calmer, -happier, and whenever she looked at her husband, whenever she surprised -in his eyes an expression of doubt and longing, affection rose in her -heart. The fact that he did not seek to interfere with her strange -friendships filled her with gratitude. - -The carriage stopped before the jewellery establishment and the door -was opened to them by a boy in uniform. In the shop the electric bulbs -were shedding a soft radiance on the glass cases filled with gems. -Rachel had been there several times, but this was her first visit since -her marriage. Now she experienced a thrill of pleasure as she gazed -about her with the curiosity that animates a woman in such a place. -The quiet and subdued elegance of the accessories charmed her, and she -cast a glance at her husband. The star sapphires, the black opals, the -diamonds, arranged on squares of black velvet, lent him something of -their own lustre. - -A clerk took the news of their arrival to Victor Mudge and a moment -later they were ushered into the workshop in the rear of the elaborate -showrooms. Here were machines for drilling holes through pearls, a -sink for washing the finished jewellery, a little forge where gold was -melted in crucibles. All the workmen had gone home except Victor who -often remained until late. Now he hobbled forward with a string of -seed pearls and a needle in his hands. - -One of Victor's legs was shorter than the other by reason of a fall, -and as he walked he swayed like a little dry tree creaking in a breeze; -one felt he had no leaves. He was secretly well-pleased by his -employer's marriage, but it was a peculiarity of his seldom to address -him and to observe toward him a critical manner. Now, after greeting -the couple, he looked at Rachel exclusively. - -The old goldsmith, besides being something of a musician was an -excellent judge of a violin, and at Simon's request he had obtained for -Rachel the instrument she wished to give André. - -"It's not just what I wanted," he explained, "but neither is it bad." -And thereupon he drew the bow across the violin. - -"Oh, how well you play!" she murmured, and then fell silent. She -regretted that she had withheld from André news of her marriage; she -should have told him at once. Now she planned to send him the violin -as a sign of her unalterable affection. When Victor handed the -instrument to Simon she aroused herself. - -"And how is the _pyrometer_ coming on, Mr. Mudge?" she demanded with -animation. "Have you heard anything yet from Mr. St. Ives?" - -Victor shrugging his shoulders, once more took into his fingers the -string of seed pearls and the needle. "He was in here about a week ago -and left a drawing; and yesterday I received a letter from him saying -he'd be in this evening to test something at the furnace. I'm waiting -his pleasure now." - -Rachel suddenly laughed. - -When she and Simon left the shop, when they were once more in the -carriage, she leaned to him impulsively and pressed her lips to his -cheek. - -That evening she heard her first opera. In order to justify Simon's -pride in her and also to gratify her own innate sense of coquetry, she -had arrayed herself to great advantage. Whence came this knowledge of -the requirements of her new position, whence the pretty dignity of her -bearing? Perhaps from her Canadian great-grandfather and his English -wife; or this manner of hers may have been a free gift of the gods. - -Excited by the strains of music that ascended from the orchestra, she -deepened and increased in beauty and in the immediate neighbourhood of -her husband's box became the centre of attention. But of this she was -only imperfectly aware. If, by chance, she did intercept an admiring -glance, she took it as a tribute to her dress of white satin, cunningly -embroidered in a design of gold flowers, to her coiffure, her fan, her -bouquet, to everything and anything but her own youthful countenance to -which the force of her emotions was adding an indefinable attraction. -She made a charming picture; her eyes half hidden by their lashes; her -face, her shoulders, even her round arms and her hands radiant with a -childlike happiness like sunshine. - -Julia Burgdorf, who sat beside her, turning her head, looked at the -girl with a half-curious, half-wistful smile in her magnificent eyes; -while a man who was leaning on the back of her chair, an architect with -a pointed beard and ridiculously small hands and feet, watched Rachel -far more than he watched the stage. Simon Hart alone of those near -her, seemed unaware of her triumph. Holding his opera glass in his -gloved hands, he stared straight ahead of him with his weary, -unreadable gaze; and whenever his young wife addressed a word to him, -he leaned toward her sidewise without turning his head. - -On the stage Farrar, as Marguerite, had just appeared at the window of -her cottage after her farewell to Faust. Then as the light faded -rapidly over the canvas trees, the spinning-wheel, the garden -seat,--Faust in doublet and cloak, with a long feather in his cap, -approached the casement, and there followed the poetic and sensuous -fever of the inimitable duet, in which two voices, a man's and a -woman's, sigh together those phrases of adoration, rapture -supplication, of surprise, terror, yielding. When finally Marguerite's -blond head sank on Faust's shoulder, the breath of their kiss seemed to -pass over the entire house. - -Rachel's hand, incased in its long glove, closed nervously on the edge -of the box. She wore a look of troubled amazement; presently she began -plucking at the flowers of her bouquet. After the "garden" scene, -however, ashamed of her emotion and desiring to escape it, she ceased -following closely what went on upon the stage and gave herself up to -inspecting the audience. - -The sight of the jewels on the heads and breasts of some ladies near -her, chained her shy glances. She remembered Victor Mudge and the -scene before the glowing forge. It was his cunning workmanship and the -workmanship of others like him that made such marvels possible. And -she rejoiced in the thought that her husband had an intimate knowledge -of such treasures and had even written a book about them. - -A sense of that which is artificial in life was diffused everywhere, -and by and by, in that atmosphere of unreality she grew calmer. But -when at the conclusion of the performance, she found herself emerging -from the crowded auditorium, a part of a variegated stream of jewelled -heads, bare shoulders and black coats, she was conscious once more that -the irresistible mystery of the music had kindled in her nerves a -poetic fever. Suddenly she experienced a fresh impulse of affection -for Simon. "I owe all this to him," she thought; and from under the -hood of her opera cloak she glanced at his pale profile as he guided -her through the richly-dressed crowd. - -In the foyer she discovered that she had dropped a little gold pin from -her hair and Simon retraced his steps to search for it. They had -parted some moments before from Julia Burgdorf and her companion. Now -Rachel strove to remain where Simon had left her inside the great -doors, but the surge of the crowd rendered this impossible. Jostled and -carried forward by the moving throng, she presently found herself -outside where the confusion was even greater. - -From the sky the snow still drifted imperturbably. It glistened on the -shining backs of the horses, on the black tops of the carriages, on the -oilskin coats of the drivers, as, with a flourish of whips, they -brought their carriages opposite the brilliantly-lighted entrance and -received their precious loads. - -Constantly the mellow stillness of the snowy night was disturbed by the -ringing voices of the porters as they cried out the numbers of the -carriages: "Two hundred and thirty-three!" "Three hundred and -forty-eight!" (The voices were urgent, brutal, quarrelsome.) "Four -hundred and forty-five!" All at once Rachel was startled by the call: -"Mr. Hart's carriage!" And simultaneously a tall figure approached -her. Lifting a cap from his rough locks the man looked closely into her -face. - -There was snow in his beard, on his hair, on his shoulders. He was -smiling in a questioning fashion, and in his eyes, beneath their -overhanging brows, was an inconceivable life and vitality. - -A look of joy flashed into Rachel's face and she extended a hand which -he took in both his. For a space, overwhelmed as two children, they -could do nothing but look each at the other. - -Then the harsh cry of a porter broke the spell. "Here, drive on, you," -he cried angrily to the Harts' coachman. - -But Emil St. Ives raised his voice. "Wait a moment!" he called out; -then to Rachel,--"I'll keep a lookout for Mr. Hart;" and offering her -his arm he conducted her to the carriage. - -When she had taken her place in it, the coachman left the line of -waiting vehicles and drove a few paces down the street. Emil followed. -As he approached, Rachel succeeded in letting down the glass of the -carriage door. She leaned with both arms on the ledge. Her cheeks -showed a heightened colour, and her lips, parting in smiles, displayed -her little teeth. - -"I never expected--" she began unsteadily, "I didn't know that you -cared for the opera." - -Emil looked at her boldly and joyously, though at the same time with a -hint of submission in his eyes. He had waited for her to speak, and at -her words he drew a deep breath. - -"The opera?" he repeated a little hoarsely. Then he shrugged his -shoulders. "That old fellow in your--your husband's establishment, Mr. -Mudge, told me that you were to be here to-night, and when I found -after testing the heat-measuring device that it worked all right, I -thought I'd just stroll round here." - -"Then you have been successful?" - -He smiled with a touch of the egotism she remembered. "You must see it -to judge. You _will_ come and see it?" he demanded quickly. - -She looked at him for some time without replying; she could not keep -the delight out of her eyes. Suddenly she plucked her gaze away. -"There's my husband; he doesn't see us. Signal to him, please," she -cried. - -When Simon Hart saw Emil St. Ives standing in the snow beside his -wife's carriage, he approached, looking straight at Rachel. At Emil he -scarcely glanced, though when the inventor opened the carriage door for -him, he thanked him with a slight inclination of the head. When he was -seated, Rachel put a hand on his arm. - -"Simon, you know Mr. St. Ives, I believe?" she said. Her voice was -unusually soft and she had gone a little pale. "He has come to tell us -that the heat-measurer--the _pyrometer_, I should say," she corrected -herself, "works perfectly." - -"Ah it works, does it?" Simon repeated, and he looked coldly at Emil -St. Ives. "I'm delighted to hear it," he added after a moment. "But -I'll see you to-morrow at the factory and will talk over the matter -then." - -Rachel leaned in front of her husband impulsively. "I'll come too," -she said, "for I'm going to claim half the credit of the invention. -And then," she went on, "I want to hear all about your other -work--everything. You know I met your wife one day. Please remember -me to her," she called as the horses started. - -"Well I found your pin," Simon said to her, and he handed her the tiny -jewelled ornament. - -"I'm glad of that;" then, while she replaced it in her hair, "why -didn't you show more interest in that heat-measuring instrument?" she -asked, looking at him from under her raised arms. - -"Why his coming to notify us of the fact that he has succeeded with the -device--if you'll excuse my saying so," with an ironical smile, "struck -me as lacking in dignity, as a childish action, in fact." - -"Of course it was childish," she cried, "but he's an inventor. And -just think how hard he's worked to please you," she continued. "He's -been weeks and weeks and rejected ever so many attempts; and when he -told you--you were so lukewarm. 'I'll see you at the factory -to-morrow'--that's what you said to him, just as if he were a little -boy to be pushed aside. It wasn't kind of you," she finished. - -A shadow passed over Simon Hart's face. "I think you exaggerate," he -began, speaking in the slow distinct manner that was habitual with him. -"However," he continued, "I'll endeavour to make up for my -_lukewarmness_ to-morrow." He tried to pronounce the word in a jesting -tone, but his whole aspect was serious. In a moment he leaned forward -and taking one of her reluctant hands, breathing heavily, he held it -against his lips. - -The principal gift which he had intended for Rachel, he had ordered -from Geneva, and it had arrived during their absence on the wedding -journey. Now immediately on reaching the house, without giving her -time to lay aside her wraps and stopping only to remove his own fur -coat, he conducted her through the sombre hallway to the more -lugubrious drawing-room. - -"There, my dear," he said, pointing to a small object on the table, -"that is for you." For he was anxious to bestow the gift as a -peace-offering. - -Rachel approached the table, which was constructed of solid mahogany in -a heavy ugly pattern, and took the leather case in her hands. - -"Open it, my love," he urged. - -She sank down in a chair and opened the case. - -It contained a Swiss watch set in the front of a small onyx box -ornamented with garlands of wrought gold. Anything frailer, daintier, -more coquettish than this little time-piece, fit property for a -princess it would be difficult to imagine. It was a triumph of -frivolity, a little bit of elegance in inlaid work and jewels. For -wind the charming plaything and immediately, from beneath a gold shell -on the cover, up sprang a tiny, buoyant bird, with ruby eyes and -mother-of-pearl bill. Turning this way and that with flutterings of -its variegated plumage, it trilled forth a song,--silver, clear, -crystalline. - -Grasping Simon's hand, Rachel dropped her head on his arm. And for -some reason she clung to him vehemently and he felt that her whole body -was trembling. - -Congratulating himself that their reconciliation was complete, he -caressed her hair. "It's a Swiss novelty," he explained when she -looked up. - -He had been leaning over the back of her chair, now he straightened his -shoulders and took the morocco case in his hands. - -"I used to know this Gellaine of Geneva," he marked. "He is one of the -cleverest watchmakers in the world. And now, my dear," he added, "if -you'll excuse me, I'll go and prepare myself a toddy; those boxes are -such draughty places." - -As he moved to the door Rachel followed him with a glance which seemed -to beseech him not to leave her. Then, when the door had closed on -him, as if she would rid herself of some importunate thought, she -examined the little timepiece. The bird had disappeared from view -beneath the golden shell. Turning the key twice she replaced the box -on the table, and leaning on her elbows, stared at it. But her sight -was turned inward. - -The unexpected meeting with Emil had plunged her once more into chaos. -One glance of his eyes and the curtains of her mind rolled upward. One -intense, burning pressure of his hand laid to hers, and she knew life -again in its fulness. - -Like a lost thing, from out a prison-house, her soul reviewed its past. -Across the deep, tragic abyss that yawned between Then and Now, she saw -Emil as in the old blissful time at Pemoquod Point. In the effulgence -of his courage, his ardour, his genius, he had been the sun and the -light of her world. Her heart had called him "Master." And she had -matched him for bravery as steel matches steel that has been tempered -by the same heat in the forming. - -"Together!" her heart had sung, pointing its flight to the farthest -star of bliss. - -And now. - -She leaned forward, her head sunk between her outspread fingers, her -gaze riveted on Simon's gift. Intently she watched the wee songster -and listened to its tinkling song. - -"The--bird--in--the--box!" She said the words slowly. Then repeated -them; "_The bird in the box_!" - -She lifted clenched hands to her throat. - -Suddenly, as if crushed by something she had tried to evade, she put -her head down on her arms. - - -Outside the snow continued to fall. It fell steadily, monotonously, as -if seeking to cover with a white mantle something it were better to -hide. - - - - -BOOK III - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE HOUSE IN WASHINGTON SQUARE - -A rainy night was followed by a rainy morning. Between the looped -curtains of the alcove window the ground of the square could be seen -soggy and wet. The marble of Washington Arch showed dark streaks of -moisture. Rachel leaned an arm on the dining room mantel. The -housekeeper had been complaining of a litter of kittens in the basement -which she could get no one to destroy. - -"Bring them in here, Theresa," Rachel ordered peremptorily; then with a -sigh she cast herself in a chair. - -The woman disappeared but presently returned bearing in her hands a -basket containing three white and grey kittens. The mother cat, a -handsome sleek animal with a plume-like tail and round golden eyes, -followed at her heels, alternately mewing anxiously and purring -contentedly. - -"I didn't know that you were fond of cats, ma'am," murmured the -housekeeper in an ingratiating tone. "I suppose they are all well -enough for those who likes 'em." - -Before proceeding to study the kittens, Rachel drew a small flask from -the pocket of her morning-gown. "If there isn't any more whiskey in -the house, Theresa, send out before breakfast and get some at the -nearest drugstore. Then refill this and take it up to Mr. Hart," she -added without looking at the other. - -The housekeeper, a tall angular woman--whose flat bust and prominent -shoulder-blades suggested the awful idea that her head was put on the -wrong way--paused on the threshold. The bosom of her gown bristled -with needles and bits of embroidery cotton clung to her black silk -apron. In spite of her unattractive person there was something smart -and pretentious about Theresa. She carried her head, covered with its -glossy hair, as if it were decorated with an aigrette. - -"Shall I take up his breakfast at the same time?" she asked, and lifted -eyes of innocence. - -"Mr. Hart will come downstairs for breakfast," Rachel answered shortly; -then, sinking on the rug, she began fondling the kittens. - -She lifted them out of the basket one at a time, and holding them at a -distance, looked at their faces, which, three-cornered and mottled -light and dark, suggested pansies; at their paws, soft as velvet and -harmless as yet; at their short frisky tails and little red mouths -which they opened wide as they mewed straight at her. During this -pretty play the mother cat sat by the fender and washed her face. But -presently, at an especially distressed mew, she crossed the room and -laid a remonstrative paw on Rachel's arm. But the girl held the kitten -still higher so that the cat was obliged to rear herself on her hind -feet in order to reach it. At that instant Simon Hart entered the room. - -"Isn't that rather cruel of you?" he asked, stooping to pat the cat -that arched its back under his hand. - -"Let her reach it then," Rachel answered. - -After several trials, the mother cat succeeded in taking the kitten by -the nape of its limp neck, and then hopped nimbly with it into the -basket. Rachel looked at her gravely as she began rather roughly to -lick the kittens with her little scarlet tongue, covered with tiny -cones. - -Simon extended his hand, but Rachel made no move to rise. Instead, -turning her head which she rested on her palm, she looked at him and -across her face flitted a variety of emotions. He would have assisted -her to her feet, but she would have none of him. Then another glance -and her mood changed completely. Self-contained and enigmatic as he -was on ordinary occasions, he showed now an embarrassment that struck -to her heart. She put up her hands, and with a sudden violence of -emotion, he lifted her in his arms. - -A moment later, she had forced him to release her, and, pale and -thoughtful, she left the room. - -"We'll have breakfast in a moment," she said, reappearing. "I gave -Theresa your flask; she is sending out," she added in a lower voice. - -Already Simon had assumed his usual equivocal and aloof manner. At -these words, he lowered his eyes. - -"That was kind of you," he said, "I required merely a drop and I found -what I needed. My cold," he continued, "is no worse; on the contrary, -I shall go to the shop to-day." - -Since the night of the opera, three weeks before, Simon had been -confined to the house by his dread enemy, the influenza. During this -illness he had consumed a great quantity of liquor. If he went without -it for any number of hours, he showed the effect. That morning Rachel -had been moved by his pale and wretched look. - -During the meal he read to her part of a paper he expected to deliver -before the Jewellers' Association. But she crumbled her bread, her -thoughts wandering. As he was preparing to leave the house, she -lingered about in his vicinity. - -"Do you know," she ventured, following him to the door, "I'm not half -satisfied with what you did about Mr. St. Ives?" and she gave him a -direct, almost accusing glance. - -"But I sent him a check, certainly liberal in the circumstances, since -he is free to go on and manufacture--" Simon began, and he wrinkled his -brow. - -Rachel shrugged her shoulders in impatience. "You sent him a check; -yes, you even advised him to go on and manufacture that instrument. -But he isn't capable of making a practical move. Now if you'd shown -any real interest--" She stayed her words, silenced by contrition. - -After Simon had gone, she established herself with a bit of sewing in -the dining room. It was the only room that did not weigh on her -spirits. But she had discovered at once that this house, lonely, -silent, forbidding, suited Simon as it was; therefore she had confined -herself merely to refitting and converting into a sitting room an -unused chamber on the second floor; and to making more comfortable the -quarters of old Nicholas Hart. There her efforts had ended. An entire -remodelling of the mansion would have been necessary to disperse the -atmosphere of depression that, tangible as dampness, emanated from its -walls. - -It had sheltered in its time, apparently, a goodly number of -soft-moving, mirthless people. Its inner doors of dark polished wood, -never emitted a squeak; and the occasional sounds that penetrated the -plaster of its ceilings, suggested a company of rats that went about -their business in hushed, apologetic groups, instead of in scampering -hordes. The house had never become reconciled to Simon's pianola, and -when he seated himself before the instrument, as he did with -conscientious regularity every day after dinner, Rachel often fancied -that the house lifted shoulders of aversion. - -And the legitimate inmates, she decided, were in keeping with the -house. Simon and his housekeeper, Theresa Walker, could have desired -nothing different in the way of a dwelling. As for old Nicholas and -herself, not to mention the various maids who succeeded one another -rapidly (for Theresa was difficult to suit in the matter of assistants) -they were merely interlopers. - -The housekeeper inspired Rachel with a kind of horror. She had somehow -gleaned the knowledge that this woman, with her crafty smile but -undeniable capacity for work, when well launched in middle life, had -seized upon the idea of marrying her cousin, a certain Jeremiah Foggs, -when the cousin's wife, a forlorn, feckless, half-witted creature, -should die. As the wife was little more than a troublesome charge on -Jeremiah's hands and he feared leaving her to herself in their village -home, he always brought her with him on the occasions of his visits to -Theresa. During the premature courting of the hard-grained pair, the -poor daft thing sat by the cheek of the chimney with frightened eyes -and a shaking chin. Rachel had a theory that with kind treatment, her -wits might have returned. But no kindness was ever shown her; on the -contrary, Jeremiah and Theresa waited impatiently for the creeping -disease to make way with her. Meanwhile Theresa employed the time of -waiting to good advantage. - -Packed away in a chest in her room was a great quantity of hemstitched -linen, doilies, spreads, embroidered curtains and what not. Indeed, it -was a question whether Theresa's means of attraction did not repose -solely in her needle; for these products of her skill, which she -displayed on every visit of Jeremiah, certainly had a killing effect -upon the fellow, with his bullet head. And Theresa, destitute of every -feminine grace, gave herself airs on her handiwork as if it had been -beauty of person and feature. They were a right curious pair; each -with the same air of eager avidity, as if tormented by a keen desire to -gain something, each with the same oily and ingratiating manner. -Rachel detested Theresa even more than she had detested Nora Gage, and -only consented to retain her because Simon seemed to desire it. In -truth, Theresa worked in this house as smoothly and briskly as a -shuttle in a well-oiled machine. - -For a time Rachel pursued her work, but presently her interest flagged -and she dressed herself for the street. She was of two minds. Instead -of going out immediately she ascended to the top story to take a peep -at Nicholas. At her suggestion the old man's workroom was now on the -third floor and it was no longer necessary for him to descend a flight -of steps to his chamber. Also, his meals were all served to him in his -workroom. Without comprehending the cause of his greater comfort, the -old fellow cherished a whimsical and flighty affection for Rachel; -while Simon was humbly grateful to her for this interest in his erratic -parent. Now the only time Nicholas was obliged to attempt the stairs -was when he went for an airing. On certain days of the week, if the -weather were fine, a man nurse appeared and conveyed him to the street -and remained with him in the Square. From these excursions Nicholas -never returned without some token for Rachel. Now it was a cornucopia -of popcorn which he had bought from a vender; later, as the spring -advanced and grass began to show along the paths, it was a cluster of -leaves and buds; not infrequently it happened that he treasured up and -presented to her particularly handsome specimens of insects mounted on -pins. - -If truth were told, little and lithe and still spry, this old -reprobate, with his eagerness regarding the habits of the house-fly, -his raptures and his rages, came nearer than any other person in the -house to being keyed to the same pitch as Rachel herself. If rumour -could be trusted, a number of discreditable experiences had made up -Nicholas's life. He had gamed and drunk, driven fast horses, followed -fast women. He had conducted one thriving business after another, and -among them, the car shops that had employed old David. He had made -fortunes with ease and lost them with equal facility. Now, in his last -years, he was penniless and Simon was engaged in patiently paying the -debts Nicholas had contracted; but for this, be it understood, he -received scorn rather than gratitude. - -As a result of his evil ways Nicholas, in the early years of his -marriage, had broken his wife's heart. Her patience had annoyed him, -and, had she shown more spirit, her fate might have been a happier one. -As it was, she had slipped out of life, mown down with grief as grass -is mown with the scythe. And Nicholas had made scant pretence of -regretting her, just as he made scant pretence of approving his son. -Simon had early betrayed a lack of zest for life--a trait his father -could ill tolerate. Therefore, with taunts and gibes, he had made -Simon's life miserable through boyhood and early manhood. At first, it -may be, he thought by this method to kindle some spirit in the lad, but -failing to strike a spark--for Simon remained through all pale and -silent, a human riddle to the father,--Nicholas had continued his jeers -for sheer malicious joy in the practice. Even now his wit kindled at -the thought of Simon, and sure of an appreciative listener, he would -make clever satirical remarks about him to his niece, Julia Burgdorf, -whenever she put in an appearance. And Julia would match these -sallies. To this joking Rachel, in a storm of anger, had endeavoured -to put a stop. Now when the pair exchanged their witticisms, it was -out of her hearing. - -Though this old man bore not the slightest resemblance to old David, -his age and animation endeared him to Rachel. Then he had once helped -her grandfather, a thing she never forgot. - -Now his voice, which leaped constantly to a childish treble, reached -her before she gained the stair's head. A stuttering of the words of -his ditty, decided her to postpone her call. Owing to his excitable -heart and his years, liquor was forbidden the old man. Resolving to -take the housemaid sharply to task for giving Nicholas whiskey, Rachel -descended the stairs. Through delicacy she never spoke to Simon of his -own or his father's failing. When moved to disapproval of her husband, -as she had been that morning, her only reproach was a look. A -childhood passed among fishermen had taught her tolerance for this -particular weakness. - -When Simon returned at lunch time, she was nowhere about and he was -forced to sit down to the table without her. But she entered before he -had finished the first course, and taking her place opposite him, began -slowly unfastening her jacket. Wishing to please her, he launched into -a description of St. Ives's _pyrometer_. - -"We melt up different alloys to get the different colour effects," he -concluded, "and the colour and intensity of the light bear certain -definite relations--" - -Rachel opened her eyes: "Then it's a success, is it?" - -Simon avoided her gaze. "Why yes, certainly. In fact," he added, -"it's a very ingenious device. A trifling thing, you understand; but -it is an instrument for which there is a definite need, and for that -reason I should judge he might possibly be able to do something with -it." - -Rachel nodded. "I see. Now Simon, I'll tell you what I've done; I've -just been out and sent notes by messenger to Mr. St. Ives and his wife, -and to Emily Short, asking them to come this afternoon and stay to -dinner. Tell me, did I do right?" - -Without visible effect Simon had tried to shape her to more -conventional standards. Rachel exhibited as much independence as -before their marriage. Now he replied a little wearily: - -"Why of course, though I should have considered that the case scarcely -required anything as complimentary, in a social sense, as an invitation -to dinner." - -"And why not?" she flashed back hotly. "Though when it comes to that, -I don't wish to compliment Emil St. Ives; I wish to _help_ him. Heaven -knows, he's egotistic enough. But you don't realize," she pursued in a -softer tone, "how helpless he is. He needs someone to advise him, or -he'll spend himself in a thousand useless ways; someone to take an -intelligent interest in him." - -"He has a wife, hasn't he?" - -"I said _intelligent_ interest." - -"But I assure you, my love," he began, "that I'm by no means the proper -person--" - -However, before he left the house he had promised to return earlier -than was his custom in order to further his wife's plan. - -In the course of the afternoon Rachel received a note from Emily Short -explaining that she could not be present at the dinner. The note -concluded: "You may remember Betty Holden. I think you were with me -one evening when she came in. Poor child! Fortunately her baby never -drew breath. She's to be taken this afternoon to Bellevue and I've -promised to go with her. I shan't get away early for she's in a great -taking and no wonder. The landlady at the place where she boarded -threatened to put her into the street. Poor soft defenceless things, -besieged both from within and without, there's small chance for the -Betty Holdens." This news at any other time would have stirred Rachel, -but now she had no time for reflection. - -Emil and his wife arrived promptly at five o'clock. Enlivened by hope, -Annie was looking especially pretty. She had arrayed herself in a gown -she had so far held in reserve, and had donned her rings which -glistened like dew on her thin fingers. But Rachel gave small heed to -Annie. She had counted on turning her over to Emily, telling herself -that the toy-maker's companionship would benefit the lackadaisical -girl. But now this plan was frustrated. Conducting her guests into -the chamber which she had converted into a sitting room, Rachel -established Annie in a corner and furnished her with several books of -engraving. And thereafter, with undisguised eagerness, she gave her -own attention to Emil. - -She had weathered a tempest. - -In youth the blood flows warm, and the unexpected meeting with her -former friend when she was off guard, when she was excited by her first -opera, had produced a storm. But the storm had passed, the last gleam -of lightning and rumble of thunder had ceased and the air was clearer -than before. So she was convinced. She denounced herself as an -inflammable creature, and turned with renewed allegiance to her -husband, dwelling desperately on her gratitude and esteem. Finally, -sure of herself and luxuriating in a sense of renewed activity, she -fancied she could serve Emil as simply as she would serve another -friend. Nor did she see in the attempt Love in one of its -multitudinous disguises. - -The room, which was long and shadowy, overlooked the Square. She led -the way to a divan under a window and motioned Emil to a place at her -side. - -"Now," she said, "I want to know just where you stand with your work? -Tell me what you have done--what you intend doing--all," with an -expansive gesture. - -He followed it closely; then glued his eyes to her fingers. For some -reason he was displeased at this abrupt buckling to a subject that -ordinarily would have received his ready endorsement. - -"But are there not other things to talk about--first?" he suggested. - -"Not of so much importance." - -"No?" - -"No." - -The gentle rebuke only incited his dominating nature: "But I should -like to ask-- For one thing, you know you treated me shamefully, -Rachel, when I left Pemoquod." He dropped his head to a level with -hers. Into his voice had crept the old dangerous and caressing tone. - -Amazed at the double temerity of the use of her name and the allusion -to the Past, she returned his look, flushing uncontrollably. - -"Why did you do that?" he pursued, enjoying her embarrassment. - -"I--I do not recall it," she said and flamed yet more to the lie. "And -hereafter, please remember I am Mrs. Hart." - -She had a grip on the reins and he must heed the sharp tug, though he -still chafed under the restraint like a restive horse. "And now we'll -speak of another matter--your work;" she continued. - -"It's two years since we've seen each other," he remonstrated sulkily. - -"It's nearer three," she might have answered, but checked the words. -Instead, severely: "You ought to have something to show for that length -of time." - -"I have something." - -"So I supposed. Now tell me." - -And gradually with those arts known to woman, she subdued the quondam -lover and roused the genius. Yielding to the flattery of her attitude, -which was one of keen interest in his work, he was soon discoursing -enthusiastically on the subject she had prescribed. A fish in the -water or a bird in the air could not have been more at home than was he -in her presence. - -Thus they talked till twilight fell and the maid came in to light the -gas: and they were still deeply absorbed when Simon appeared. - -He stood for a space, his face a blur of white in the doorway; then he -came forward into the circle of light. - -Instantly three heads were raised, Rachel's and Emil's abstractedly, -Annie's with a distinct expression of relief. She had soon wearied of -the books of engravings with which Rachel had thoughtfully supplied -her, and the volumes were piled on the floor beside her chair; all save -one, which she still held listlessly in her lap. She was pleased at -the interest Mrs. Hart exhibited in her husband's work, for a word -which she caught now and then, had convinced her of the topic of their -conversation, and her jealousy had not been aroused. But she was weary -and she now stood up with a pretty air of welcome for Simon. - -He shook hands with her cordially. Then crossing the room, he shook -hands with the inventor. - -But Emil scarcely waited to answer his few studied words of greeting; -instead, he settled himself immediately at Rachel's side, and rumpling -his heavy mane with his fingers, he stared dreamily. "The next thing I -completed was the _electrometer_," he said, and Simon noticed that -Rachel wrote the word "electrometer" on a tablet she held on her knees. - -He returned to Annie and until dinner was announced, he talked to her -in his low even tones. - -Dinner brought the party into no closer harmony. Rachel, with a -carnation blazing in her hair and her dark intelligent eyes speaking -more swiftly than her lips, still talked to Emil; and Simon, concealing -every trace of annoyance if he felt any, devoted himself to Annie. -After the meal, he even proposed playing to her on the pianola, and -Rachel, knowing that he was very fond of performing on the instrument, -allowed him to go through two pieces in his usual faithful uninspired -manner. Then she approached him. - -"Come Simon," she said, laying hold of his hands. "You know why I -asked them here," she added in an urgent whisper as he made no move to -rise. "He is the inventor of all these instruments," and she displayed -a list. "But he hasn't the remotest idea what steps to take in order -to get the right people interested. Now can't you give him letters to -different men, Simon? Come--you can think up some plan if you try!" - -Simon Hart had not the slightest interest in Alexander Emil St. Ives; -moreover, in general, he was ignorant of the matters upon which the -other required advice. However, he yielded; subsequently he was -influenced to the point of going several times to visit the inventor; -later, he organized The St. Ives and Hart Company of which he himself -was the president. All this he did because of the imperious, and at -the same time, pleading look in a pair of dark clear eyes. - -By the end of the year the house in Washington Square had undergone a -change. This change had nothing to do with the renewing of bricks or -mortar, or the altering of any outward feature; materially the -residence remained the same. Never the less, it was now connected with -a certain loft in John Street by a subtle, tenuous web. In this web, -love,--unacknowledged, innocent, strong as death, thrown out from a -woman's heart and returning ever to it,--was the solitary thread. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF A GENIUS - -As might have been foreseen, even after the formation of The St. Ives -and Hart Company, the world continued in ignorance of Emil St. Ives. A -few devices composed of shining brass, crystal, and wood occupied a -modest amount of space in one of Simon Hart's shop windows, and -occasionally men of science, attracted by their ingenuity, made -inquiries about them; oftener than not, they returned to watch them in -operation, again and yet again. But the great public took no interest -and never made inquiries; the great public was interested in improved -stove-handles and door-locks and the rescue of discarded tin cans, and -gave not a thought to Emil St. Ives's little instruments. - -But in heaven, or more properly speaking, the world of complete -objectivity which lies close about this and which only gifted minds -prematurely penetrate, there was excitement after excitement, all -produced by the childlike monster, Emil St. Ives. He had to his credit -an instrument for recording colours in the atmosphere, another little -instrument for recording the vibrations of the air occasioned by sound, -and numerous temporarily useless devices which were calculated to -delight those who came after him, but which were entirely unappreciated -and unapprehended by the age in which he lived. None the less, his -happiness was extreme. - -The John Street loft, to which he and Annie had removed on the first -hint of improvement in his fortunes, was spacious; and here, under a -sky-light which glistened beneath the sun in pleasant weather and was -befogged by rain and snow when the weather was inclement, he lived and -worked. He ate irregularly and slept little. When he slept, in order -not to waste time he was in the habit of entrusting the problem upon -which he was engaged to his subconscious mind. Then after a sleep of a -few hours' duration, he would wake, and on first opening his large, -speculative eyes, would oftener than not see in mid-air the completed -instrument working perfectly. - -The loft, which chanced to be singularly habitable, was divided by -partitions into four rooms. In order to be removed as far as possible -from the sound of the pounding and drilling, Annie had taken up her -abode in the rear room, which, besides the bay in the ceiling, had a -large window looking upon a court. Below, in that scrap of earth, a -maple tree had taken root and flourished to such a degree that its -topmost branches came opposite the window. In the branches of the -tree, a robin had built its nest. But Annie paid little attention to -the tree or the robin. Though she wept less than in the past, she -complained more; her lips drooped and her tongue had acquired -sharpness. When with her hands resting on her slight hips, she -remonstrated with Emil, her scolding sounded exactly like the chatter -of an enraged bird; indeed, she looked more than ever like a bird. -Though she occasionally might have managed to buy herself something -new, Annie no longer troubled herself about her clothes. What was the -use, she argued, since Alexander persisted in living in an attic; and -in any case, was it not wiser to save every penny toward the rent, -since he was so erratic in his methods of work, and insisted on making -impractical things for which he used up all his salary? So Annie, a -greater part of the time, lay on a sofa and sulked. In her inactivity, -she was a contrast to Emil. - -The corner of the loft in which the inventor spent most of his time was -furnished, in addition to a workbench, with a cot upon which he slept, -a disreputable-looking chair in which he rested when he was not pacing -the floor, second-hand bookcases in which he kept his inventions and -his library, a basket for the monkey, and a three-legged stool upon -which Ding Dong could perch himself when so minded. - -But Ding Dong, day or night, seldom had time to rest; and where he -slept was a question; sometimes, without doubt, on a square of carpet -outside his master's door. Willing, devoted, pathetic in his -resemblance to a dumb brute, Ding Dong was an extra pair of hands and -feet for Emil. He could scrub and sweep and make coffee, he could lift -heavy machines in his sinewy arms, he could pack boxes and run errands; -but he could not drill or hammer or saw with any accuracy. Though the -field of his usefulness was limited, he was invaluable to the inventor. - -The atmosphere of unparalleled devotion which this humble creature -threw around him was agreeable to Emil; and the same could be said of -Annie's love. Whenever he observed it, his wife's faithful affection, -contributing to his egotism, helped him to work the harder. And so -again with Rachel Hart's intelligent and unwavering interest in his -progress; her interest so stirred in him the creative impulse that he -sped ahead like a fiery steed under the plaudits of the arena. On the -whole, Emil received much from the people surrounding him; and yet, in -the last analysis, their devotion was not essential to the "un-named, -seeing, acting, produced being" that constituted his genius. - -When at work, in the depths of his eye lurked the consciousness of a -world; but in his mouth and chin was something less perfect and more -human; they looked as if they had been slighted by the sculptor who -fashioned him. For the rest, an almost supernatural serenity marked -his manner, despite the often convulsive manifestations of his energy. -It was as if a god drove the chariot of his forces. If allowed to -emerge gently from this state, he was unfailingly good natured; but if -broken in upon abruptly, "care, genius, and hell" distorted and -illuminated his face. Pausing on the threshold of that narrow gateway -between the world of thought and the world of materiality, Emil St. -Ives was a demon. Annie, bent upon some trifling business of her own, -had one day ventured so to interrupt him; the offence had never been -repeated. - -As has been hinted, conscience played no part in him. For Annie, for -Ding Dong, even for his employers, when the mood for work was upon him, -Emil showed not the slightest consideration. Nor was Rachel, in this -respect, an exception. Whatever his attitude was toward her--and he -bore himself in her presence at moments with a strange humility, at -other times with an ill-concealed turbulent admiration that threatened -to break all bounds--her influence at this period had well defined -limits. His mother alone had uninterrupted power over him. At a word -from her, even though he were on the eve of inspiration, he would drop -everything to fulfil her slightest whim. - -Small wonder then that the mother adored him,--that she saw in him a -gifted creature not to be approached by the common run of humanity. It -had come to be Emil's custom to visit his mother at least once in a -fortnight, and, from the moment that they met, those thin hands of hers -had power in their caresses to transform him. Under their gentle -touch, the fire of his mind dwindled, the warmth of his heart grew; the -genius of a world was submerged in the son of a mother. And on Mrs. -St. Ives their companionship had an opposite effect. Questioning him -about his work, her brain in his presence acquiring something of the -agility of youth, she lit herself at the flame that was in her son. - -Naturally the neglected Annie was jealous of this love. She never -missed an opportunity to pick a quarrel with her husband on the subject -of his devotion to his mother, but it was seldom she could provoke a -retort. Emil bore her reproaches indifferently. One morning in May -matters reached a decisive point. - -At midnight Emil was off, bound for the village that drew him like a -magnet, and some hours later Annie sat over breakfast. She sat in one -of the interior rooms, which was fitted up with a gas-stove and a few -household necessities. Being left by herself frightened Annie. The -janitress of the building, a good motherly soul, had orders to look out -for her in Emil's absence; but the woman had gone about her duties some -time earlier. Now, except for Ding Dong and the little chattering -monkey, Annie was alone. Ding Dong, who had taken upon himself the -duties of cook in this establishment, tried to tempt her with choice -bits of food and Lulu made constant timid advances toward her -friendship; Annie would look at neither of them. She saw in them a -summing-up of the unusual, wretched and ridiculous situation. - -Now tears rolled down her face. Why had she left home? Why had she -married Alexander? This was the constant refrain that beat in her -brain. All things considered, the imperturbable inventor could -scarcely have chosen a more unlucky moment to appear. The door opened -and there he stood. - -Smiling, he entered the room, and at the account he gave of his -movements, Annie's eyes gleamed with anger and the muscles of one cheek -twitched. - -"Well," he explained, tossing aside his hat, "Mother was all right. I -saw her through the window, and then I managed to get the next train -back. You see, it was raining when I got in this morning," he went on, -"and had I let Mother know I was there, she'd have been out to meet me, -if she got her death for it. So I took only a look at her. There she -was with the tiresome brats tumbling all over her, enough to wear her -out, but she looked as cheerful as could be. Only six o'clock, and the -whole lot of them waiting for breakfast! By Jove, but Edgar's family -get up betimes! it's part of his confounded thrift. Breakfast and -lunch at one sitting is more to my mind," and Emil approached the table -to pour himself a cup of coffee. - -But Annie was quicker. Seizing the coffee-pot, she held it behind her -at imminent risk of spilling the contents. - -"No, you shan't have it," she cried. "I'm sick of your performances, -and I'll not put up with them. You say you went to your brother's? If -you did, why didn't you go in openly? Edgar's not a wolf, I suppose. -From all you tell me, he lives decently in a house, which is more than -we do; and they have nice things. He's a wealthy man and your meeting -might have led to something--instead of that, you take an expensive -trip, just for the sake of peeping through a window at your mother, -when you saw her only a few days ago. And then you come back here, -thinking only of her, always of her--and you expect to go on eating and -drinking--" - -Emil viewed his wife in troubled astonishment: - -"And why shouldn't I eat and drink?" - -"At my expense;" she finished; "for you owe everything to me. If it -hadn't been for me, you wouldn't have even what you've got. And now -when I've nothing more to give--" Dashing the coffee-pot on the table -and huddling her hands over her face, Annie escaped from the room. - -For a few minutes Emil remained without stirring. The look of -amazement in his peculiar eyes was succeeded by a slight darkening of -his whole face. But he was never actually reached by Annie's flashes -of anger. They seemed to him like little storms taking place at a -great distance. Now with a shrug of the shoulders he began tranquilly -to eat his breakfast. - -He could not remain insensible to his brother's continued antipathy; -therefore, that he might not be reminded of it, he never put himself in -the way of seeing Edgar. What would have been the use? Between the -now flourishing merchant and himself, there was even less in common -than formerly. They would not have found a word to say to each other. -And his mother, who had at first sought feverishly to bring about a -reconciliation between them, now did all she could to prevent their -meeting. Had not Edgar told her that he would never receive him, Emil? -Had he not warned her that if she tried to foist Emil's presence upon -him, he would insult him to his face? - -At times Emil was tempted to urge his mother to leave his brother's -house and cast in her lot with his own, but remembering his -uncomfortable quarters and the openly hostile Annie, he was driven to -silence. The one thing that consoled him was the thought that at least -his mother was comfortably housed where she was; at least she was happy -in her grandchildren. So the pair, kept apart by poverty, continued to -meet like lovers. Anything prettier than the eagerness with which the -little old woman went to a rendezvous with her favourite son, it would -be impossible to imagine. In vain, actuated by a wish to torment her, -Edgar's wife and even the children, put obstacles in the way of the -meetings. Now it was a jacket to be mended which was brought to Mrs. -St. Ives at the exact moment of her setting forth; it was a sheet to be -hemmed, or a stocking to be darned. With every faculty alert, she -always circumvented her annoyers, never failing to meet Emil at the -appointed spot. This slyness, which is a part of love, brought back -her youth. - -Had the conditions of her own life been other than just what they were, -Annie might have found in Mrs. St. Ives a staunch friend. Now she -hated her mother-in-law. - -For a time after her angry outburst, she lay face downward upon the -bed. But presently, having wept herself into a repentant mood, she was -all for running to Emil and putting up her tear-stained face for a -kiss. In fancy she pictured him still sitting discomfited; and, -trembling with a desire to make peace, she slipped into the passageway. -But Emil had quitted the scene of the breakfast, and a glance at the -table revealed the fact that he had eaten his fill. Annie passed on to -his workroom and, at what she saw through the door, rage, bitter and -stifling, once more filled her breast. - -Annie had never said a word to Rachel of Emil's constant shortcomings -in relation to his company; "But I'll tell her now, I will tell her!" -she whispered. She was convinced that Rachel's belief in Emil could -not be shaken; therefore she would gratify her desire to expose his -faults without further result than putting him to shame. So she -argued. But as usual, where her husband was concerned, she reasoned -wildly. As sensibly expect a bird of the air to drop its eyes in -acknowledgement of a fault, as expect the inventor to show -embarrassment for what he had done amiss or failed to do at all. - -As it chanced Rachel put in an appearance that afternoon and Annie flew -to her. She caught the other by the hand and drew her into her own -room. Then she subsided on the sofa and burst into tears. - -"What is it, Annie?" Rachel asked. She had never been greatly drawn to -Annie, perhaps for some reason she would have died rather than admit. - -Annie was nettled. - -"Nothing's the matter. Did you bring any message from Mr. Hart?" she -asked, drying her eyes with an assumption of dignity. - -"Yes; the telephone at the shop is out of order, and I told him I'd -come round and deliver this note. See here, Annie," Rachel interrupted -herself, "tell me what's bothering you." - -"Oh--it's just Alexander!" returned Annie, and without more persuasion -unburdened herself. "You see what my life is here?" she wailed. "And -we might live so differently if Alexander wished--if he cared--if he -even did the things he ought to do in connection with the Company; if -he wasn't a fool, in short. Now take that _radiometer_," she went on, -"you know as well as I do that it's considered wonderful. Well, only -yesterday, your husband sent someone from Columbia University to -inspect it; the college thought of getting one. Emil was out, so I -showed the gentleman the old model, for the new one isn't done, and I -was just thinking what we'd make on the sale, when in comes Alexander. -'Oh, that's trash!' he cries. 'That ought to go in the junk heap! -Don't take that; I have something else on hand that will put that in -the shade completely.' So," she finished in a tone between tragedy and -disgust, "the sale was ruined. And if that kind of thing has happened -once, it's happened dozens of times." - -"But the college will get the instrument eventually?" Rachel asked; -and, as she looked at Annie, in spite of her sympathy, she was -conscious of an inclination to laugh. - -"Possibly, but we'll likely as not be dead, for Alexander goes on -perfecting a thing and perfecting it and the people can wait an -eternity and he doesn't care. Sometimes," she concluded, "I'm tempted -to give it all up." - -As she reviewed the situation, Rachel also for the moment was forced -into depression. Similar complaints reached her from every side. -Scarcely a day passed when Simon was not moved to anger by some -shortcoming on the part of the inventor. Now it was his failure to be -on hand at a critical moment to sign necessary papers; again it was his -mysterious disappearance from the city. In fact, his unbusiness-like -methods placed the struggling company in many an embarrassing -situation. More than once Simon had threatened to withdraw from the -enterprise and it was only her own persuasions that restrained him. -His faith in the inventor, never of the strongest, was clearly on the -wane. - -"And you mustn't think it's just one thing," resumed Annie, putting -renewed pathos in her voice, "it's a whole succession of things. Take -that Washington matter. You never heard the rights of that, I'll be -bound. And I'm going to tell you. You remember, don't you, that time -a month or two ago when the Government showed such interest in that -_colour wave_ device, and the Company were so encouraged? Well, your -husband thought it would be a good plan for them to send Alexander to -Washington instead of anyone else because Alexander could explain the -thing eloquently. And he did explain it--to the wrong official. He -went there, as I found out afterward from a letter, and demonstrated it -to the wrong man. Then he returned home, blandly satisfied with -himself, and of course nothing came of the matter on which the Company -had built such hopes. But I never said a word to explain it; I was so -ashamed." - -Looking at Annie's little woe-begone visage, Rachel burst out laughing. - -The other, however, stared at her angrily. - -"I don't see anything to laugh at. Alexander is enough to try the -patience of a saint; and I guess if you were married to him, you'd know -it." - -Rachel's mirth vanished and the colour flew over her face. - -After an uncomfortable pause, she took Annie's hand. - -"You look too much on the dark side, try to be patient awhile longer. -Things may straighten themselves." She pressed Annie's fingers. "Now -tell me, shall I slip this note under his door, or shall I hand it to -him. It's important." - -"Oh, you needn't slip it under the door, you can just go right in and -put it where he'll see it; the door will be open fast enough. A lot of -good that special lock does," Annie finished in a burst of scorn. "Mr. -Mudge thought we'd better have it put on to protect Alexander from -dishonest people who come in and get him talking and then steal his -ideas. But do you suppose he leaves the door closed? Not a bit of it. -Why only yesterday he had the lock tied back with a string while he -poured all he knew into the ear of a man from that screw company across -the street. A word of flattery and he forgets everything." - -"Don't--don't tell me any more, please;" and as Rachel turned away -smiles rippled over her face. Why could not Annie, Simon, Victor -Mudge, everyone, see that the inventor lived in another world and hence -was not amenable to the laws of this. Nodding to Annie, who refused to -be won from her dejected mood, Rachel traversed the passageway, and -paused at the door of Emil's eyrie. - -As Annie had pictured, the patent lock was out of commission and the -door stood wide open. Placing her note on the corner of a desk where -he could not fail to see it, Rachel lingered on the threshold. Had he -observed her, she could not have remained, but he kept steadily forward -with his work. - -It was a rich pleasure to note every detail of the room--the sagging -couch, the shabby coat hanging against the wall, the table laden with -dust, bottles and tobacco boxes, the long bench, on the lower shelf of -which was ranged, with astonishing order, a multitude of tools. She -drew a contented sigh. - -The sun poured through the skylight and twinkled on the brass-work of -his darling inventions, enthroned behind the glass of an old bookcase. -Even while he slept, they peered out at him, these children of his -active brain. And in every corner some mechanism was revealed, some -cunning, complicated thing of joints and prisms. - -Rachel completed her inventory, then her brows suddenly rose and her -eyes with involuntary devotion fixed themselves upon Emil. It was as -if she had saved him until the last for a closer inspection, like a -little girl who reserves her chief treasure for a leisurely examination. - -Seated on a high stool, before a bench, he was at work, from his head -covered with its thick mane, the eyes burning beneath like coals, down -to his big feet, planted against a convenient shelf. These feet hinted -at a force in him that urged him to make a rift in the wall of the -Unknown. - -She remained for a long time motionless. Then with a smile, -unfathomable in its freshness, its terror, its confusion, she turned -away. - - -There, rises a mountain peak--in silence, clouds, eternal snows! The -sun beats on the snow and the sparkling snow responds to the light. -There is the laboratory of genius! - -From the mountain roll downward, sometimes small streamlets, sometimes -mighty rivers. These streamlets and rivers nourish the valley below -and even the cities out on the plain, these rivers nourish the world. - -Yet the trees and shrubs at the base of the mountain suffer, for -sometimes instead of refreshing streamlets, avalanches of snow come -down. At such times the bushes and trees cling together; with their -twisted branches and denuded roots, they whisper and moan execrations -on the mountain. - -Close to the summit--in order to observe what is taking place -there--its foot in the snow and its head in the clouds, pushes that -imperturbable and daring little flower, the edelweiss. - -Rachel climbed close to heaven in order to have sight of her love. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE CONFESSION - -One June morning in the second year of the existence of The St. Ives -and Hart Company, Emil entered his wife's room. - -In order to be in range of the draught from the window, Annie had -pulled forward a couch. Clothed in a shabby wrapper, open at the neck, -she was curled up languidly with her head on a cushion. Emil gazed at -her while something like compunction blazed up in his eyes. He amazed -her by sitting down by her side and drawing her to his breast. Holding -her two tiny hands in one of his own, he caressed her hair and even -drew a pitying finger over the prominent cords of her poor little -throat. Then he strained her to him, sighing as if from a full heart. - -Annie burst into tears at this unexpected tenderness. Twisting herself -around, she rested her cheek against his. - -"You--you leave me to myself all the time, Alexander," she sobbed, "and -I've no one at all but you." - -"Yes, yes, I know," he responded mournfully. - -"And you don't talk to me about your work as you do to Mrs. Hart; and I -could understand as well as she if you would take the trouble to -explain to me." - -"Well, don't cry, little kitten," he said, "I've come to explain -something to you now and I hope it will please you." - -"How please me?" she asked. - -"Well, I have an idea at last which I think will strike your fancy. I -mean it's practical," he explained, "--has commercial possibilities." - -"Are you sure?" she demanded doubtfully: "you aren't a very good judge, -you know." - -"Never the less, I can't help knowing that anything in the line of a -novel improvement of a musical instrument like the organ,--in fact, an -innovation,--in these days is almost certain to succeed." - -"Oh, Alexander, tell me! Tell me what you have in mind!" and raising -her head from his shoulder she laid hold of his hand. - -"What an excitable little creature it is," he said tenderly. "Well, -it's a scheme for increasing the capacity for emotional expression in -an organ. I shall manage to combine the vibrations of strings with -those of pipes by incorporating in the organ a complete piano action. -Do you understand?" - -She nodded. - -He laughed. "A pile you do! I shall combine them in such a way, that -by a separate keyboard the strings can be used for piano accompaniment, -and also can be coupled with the organ keys so that when they are -depressed, the corresponding dampers in the piano are lifted from the -strings to admit of their free sympathetic vibration." - -"Oh!" said Annie, on a long breath. "And you think it might mean a big -thing?" - -"In a commercial sense, yes; in fact I think it's about certain to be -popular. But in order to carry out the scheme I shall have to have -every chance for experimenting, you know," and he looked pleadingly -into her face. - -"Of course;" she agreed, "but this place suits you, Alexander--you -always said that it did?" - -"Yes, the place is all right," he answered, hesitating, "but I need an -instrument, you see. So I--I've bought one," he added softly. - -"Not a pipe organ, Alexander?" - -He nodded. "A second-hand one, very small, naturally, only two -manuals. But even so, I shall have to pull out one of the partitions -before it can be set up." - -"How much did it cost?" she cried, and her eyes and her mouth assumed -the appearance in her countenance of three little round holes of horror. - -"Well, by paying cash for it to the church committee who put it up at -auction," he said in a low voice, "I got it for eight hundred dollars." - -At these words Annie crossed to the further side of the room and -dropping into a chair, leaned her forehead against the wall. - -Alexander looked at her with miserable eyes. Her action was a thousand -times more disquieting than the volley of reproaches he had expected. - -"They've come now, I think," he said after a pause. "They're going to -hoist part of it up from the outside, and I hear them on the roof. -Don't feel that way about it," he implored. "The scheme really is a -good one, Annie, and I'll make a success of it, I promise you. I'll -get the eight hundred dollars back and any amount besides." - -But Annie continued motionless and he approached her chair. "I suppose -it does seem like a lot for us to put into it," he continued with -unwonted tenderness, "but it was a tempting bargain and as I couldn't -develop my scheme without it-- See here," he interrupted himself, -"haven't you told me often enough that I ought to invent something that -would prove to be a success; that I ought to do it to justify the -Company's belief in me, and especially Mrs. Hart's belief?" - -Then Annie turned on him. She even rose from her chair, the back of -which she grasped with a shaking hand. "And it's to justify _her_ -belief in you, is it? that you spent all that we'd managed to save? -Very thoughtful, I am sure. _Her_ interest indeed! I wish you'd never -seen her. I hate her, I do, I hate her!" - -"Annie!" he exclaimed, for her little visage was twisted out of all -semblance to itself. - -"I do, I hate her!" she repeated. "As for buying that organ because -you needed it, don't you suppose I know you've always hung around organ -lofts and even followed hurdy-gurdies on the street? You bought the -organ because you wanted it. Alexander, you--you leave me!" she -finished hysterically. - -Abashed, Emil stared at her; then relieved at this outburst, which was -what he had looked for, he went to superintend the installing of his -luckless possession. Since concluding the purchase of the organ the -wisdom of the step had appeared dubious to his unpractical mind. Now, -had it been possible for him to transfer the burden of ownership, he -would gladly have transferred it. But the organ, to another, would -have been an undesirable acquisition. It was wheezy of tone and sadly -out of order, but this very condition was what had recommended it to -him, and he looked forward with exultant joy to restoring it to a sense -of perfection. - -As no retreat was possible, between ruefulness and pride he lifted the -blue and gold pipes from the long coffin-shaped box in which they had -been packed. Other parts of the organ, being less liable to damage, -were hoisted through the window. - -When Annie emerged half an hour later, dressed for the street, the -passageway and the two workrooms presented a scene of indescribable -confusion. Had she glanced in at the door of the larger room, she -might have seen the uncouth monster minus the ornamental front it -usually turned to an audience. But she looked neither to the right nor -the left. Despite the warmth of the day she had a veil tied over her -face. The only signs of her distress were the damp blotches in the -material over the regions of mouth and eyes. She had decided to carry -her story straight to Simon Hart. - -When Annie reached the house in Washington Square, Rachel was mounting -the steps. Simon had only just returned for luncheon and Rachel -conducted the visitor to his study, a cool dark room on the second -floor, and then stood by to listen to what the other had to say. - -And Annie poured forth her tale. Perched on the extreme edge of a huge -armchair, she was too carried away by her trouble to heed the presence -of Rachel, and as she finished, Simon, with a look of annoyance, was -about to express his sympathy when his wife laid her hand forcibly on -his arm. - -"And why shouldn't he buy an organ?" she demanded, turning on Annie, -and it was evident from the light in her eyes that she was angry. "You -are insane to look at the matter as you do. Of course he had to have -the organ," she declared. "May not an inventor be allowed the -necessary materials for his work? And if the thing should prove a -success, as he thinks it may, and as I can see that it may, even from -Annie's hazy description, why then you two will be glad enough that he -got the organ." And she glanced from one to the other triumphantly. - -"But, my dear," her husband interposed, "you heard what Mrs. St. Ives -said; the whole point is that they are not in a position to afford it." - -"But the Company is," Rachel answered and looked him directly in the -eyes. The next instant she was a prey to shame, bitter and scorching. - -With a glance of icy disapproval, he turned away from her, and she -hurriedly crossed to a window and began nervously to remove the rings -from her fingers. - -Not a day passed but she thus surprised herself. For the same emotion, -ever new, ever unlooked for, ever commencing afresh, constantly tempted -her into enthusiastic championship of Emil's cause. Far from wishing -to disguise the feeling, however, now that she herself realized the -force of it, Rachel had often desired to speak of it to Simon; and only -the fact that he definitely and obstinately avoided the subject kept -her silent. - -As a result of Annie's visit, the complexion of affairs in John Street -took a more favourable colour, while those in Washington Square assumed -a more tragic hue. Annie, despite her bitter words about Rachel, was -not actively jealous of her. Now she was comforted by Simon's -sympathy, which she felt; for between these two unhappy souls there was -a bond of shy understanding. Also, Rachel's ill-considered words -produced a certain lightness in Annie and she concluded that they would -not be allowed to suffer because of Emil's extravagance. - -Upon Rachel, the result of the interview was otherwise. Seldom had she -experienced a more desperate mood than that which assailed her after -Annie had quitted the house. - -More than once she went to Simon's study determined to speak her mind, -but the door remained steadfastly closed against her. - -As it was Saturday, Simon did not return to the shop in the afternoon, -nor did he emerge from the study at dinner time, and Theresa, with a -sly rolling of the eye in her mistress's direction, prepared a tray for -him. Simon always expressed his anger by an increase of coldness and -silence and by shutting himself up in this way. "He's in there," -Rachel reflected, "thinking and drinking." And she preferred the -liquor, the effect of which she had often noted, to his thoughts, the -effect of which she could not calculate. Until a late hour she heard -him walking backward and forward with irregular steps over the echoing -floor, and it was after midnight when his door opened and he descended -the stairs. This was an old-fashioned house with a cellar and there -the wine was kept. It was to the cellar she knew he had gone. -Determined to seize the opportunity of speaking to him, she threw a -wrapper over her nightdress and hurried after him through the darkened -house. He had turned on the light in the hanging electric bulb, and -when she came upon him he was standing before a table on which was -placed a case of wine. In all probability he had been drinking brandy -and was finishing with claret. To her surprise, as if actuated by mere -thirsty impatience, she saw him strike off the neck of a bottle. This -action in a man of his fastidious habits was big with meaning. He -lifted the bottle to his lips, his head flung back. He did not see her -until she touched his arm. - -"Simon," she cried, "this can't go on!" - -Thinking she referred to the liquor, he set down the bottle and -regarded her with an abashed and amazed look. His long face, without -its usual mask, was fairly pitiful. Later he would not be able to -forgive her for surprising him in this way. But she was bent solely on -making her confession. - -"Simon," she cried, laying hold of the sleeve of his coat, "I was wrong -in what I said this afternoon. I own I was wrong; and I ask you to -forgive me. But there should be no secrets between us and I have no -wish to disguise anything. Simon"--and her eyes, usually serious and a -little sulky, flew to his face and clung there brilliant with -appeal--"you must know that my feeling for Mr. St. Ives existed before -I ever knew you; it is a part of myself. I can't explain it; but it -does you no wrong. And never could do you any wrong." - -During this explanation Simon had grown paler than was his wont. -Pushing aside her hands and standing off from her, he had begun by -drawing his fingers nervously through his fringe of hair; but as she -proceeded, he became absolutely motionless and his face assumed the -lines of a tragic mask. - -"I would not have things different even if I could," she went on; "I am -content with you and you know it. But oh,"--and she threw, out both -hands in a gesture exceedingly simple and genuine,--"please do not -misconstrue what you cannot, perhaps, understand!" - -But at this point he interrupted her with a violent movement that threw -the bottle of wine to the stone floor where the contents spilled in a -red flood. "Once and for all," he cried, articulating the words with -difficulty, "I want you to know that I will not listen to your -analysis. I may deplore your interest in--in St. Ives--I do deplore -it, but I do not wish to hear anything of it." - -He had put a special accent on the word _interest_ and Rachel once more -closely examined his face. Was it possible that he purposely -misconstrued the situation and chose to close his eyes to what he -believed--or had he understood her? "For it is possible for a woman, -as well as a man," she told herself vehemently, "to love two, and to -love each differently." Gallant, courageous little heart! Thus did -she disguise the truth even from herself. - -The wine pouring from the bottle had splashed the bedroom slippers of -light felt which she had slipped over her bare feet. Now with a -movement, wholly womanly, she bent and tried to remove the spots by -rubbing them with her hand, while the loosened mass of her hair, -dropping forward, half enveloped her like a veil. - -Simon's eyes gleamed, but he instantly averted his gaze. - -"What do you mean by coming down here?" he said harshly. "It is too -damp for you. Go upstairs." - -Rachel lifted herself and made a trembling movement toward him. He -tried to ignore her; then seizing her arm, from which the loose sleeve -fell back, he pressed his lips to it once and pushed her from him. "Go -upstairs;" he repeated in a voice which she scarcely recognized, and as -he turned away she saw that tears were forcing themselves from beneath -his tightly-closed lids and running down his convulsed face. - -His repulse of her had been so violent that the hand which she flung -out to save herself was cut against the rough masonry of the wall. In -silence she looked at the wound, and an infinite tenderness and pity -replaced the stern and mournful expression on her face. Without a word -she mounted the stairs. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO STOP LOVING - -For six weeks she kept steadfastly away from the place in John Street. -When by herself, she would often clasp her hands very tightly and raise -them above her head while sounds between sighs and sobs escaped from -her breast. But from Simon she carefully concealed every sign of her -misery. She strove to exhibit more interest in all that interested him. - -Julia Burgdorf dropped in one evening and finding them together at the -pianola, pronounced them a model couple. Julia had come to offer them -her country house on Long Island during her own absence in Europe that -summer. - -"Gray Arches is a lonely, remote, romantic spot,--in fact, just the -place for a pair of lovers like you two," she declared looking from one -to the other with sarcastic amusement. - -The place, which consisted of a large house, gardener's cottage, and -stables, had fallen but recently into her hands, she went on to -explain, and she had learned through her agent that it was somewhat out -of repair as it had not been occupied for three years. - -"You can understand, Simon, that I don't want to bother about putting -it in shape this year," she concluded, "and as Mr. Gunther assures me -that the house can be occupied as it stands, I shall count it a favour -if you and Rachel will go and live in it as it is." - -But Simon had no wish to be under obligation to Julia, and the matter -was settled by his agreeing to rent the place, an arrangement that -nettled her. When she rose to go her cheeks were flushed. - -Rachel accompanied her to the hall and, as she was leaving, Julia -turned and laid her hands on the other's shoulders. - -"You _are_ a model couple, aren't you?" she insisted, with an -enigmatical smile in her handsome, dark, heavy-lidded eyes. - -This smile, which gave her face a resemblance to Simon's, caused the -young wife to colour deeply. - -Rachel's confession produced no change in Simon's attitude toward her. -He remained as attentive and considerate, and yet as restrained in his -manner as before, with the difference that he now made a point of -keeping her informed of Emil's progress. The new organ attachment -promised so well that the Company were hopeful and the inventor was -supplied with every facility for proceeding with his work. By -vibrating the strings of a piano by means of electrical induction, -rather than by striking them with hammers, a strange and ethereal -result was obtained, and these tones combined with those of a pipe -organ produced an effect absolutely novel in musical expression. - -As Rachel listened to Simon's attempted description of the complicated -contrivance, she was obliged to bend her head over whatever work she -held, to conceal the joyous expression of her face. Until Emil should -justify the interest shown in him, she could not help feeling -responsible, not alone to her husband but to all the other members of -the Company which had been incorporated without sufficient capital. - -"St. Ives is even growing businesslike in his treatment of us," Simon -remarked one morning in a voice from which he carefully excluded all -trace of personal feeling. "He telephoned very early to say that he is -called out of town by the illness of his mother. If he finds that her -condition is serious, he may be gone some days. So I think, my dear," -he concluded, "you had better go round and see Mrs. St. Ives. It must -be lonely for her there, and you might take her to drive." - -An hour later Rachel showed herself in John Street. Walking along the -passage she glanced into Emil's workroom where the organ now occupied -half the available space. It was deserted except for Lulu. Crouched -on the window ledge, she was pensively cherishing a maple leaf someone -had given her. She had removed the substance of the leaf from between -the veins, now only its framework remained, and this she held closely -to her breast. At Rachel's step she looked over her shoulder and an -inscrutable sadness appeared in her little eyes. - -Rachel tapped at Annie's door, which was thrown open to her with -startling suddenness. Annie was all ready for the street and a -suit-case stood on the floor. The room exhibited the utmost confusion. - -"Where are you going?" Rachel cried. - -"To my father's. He's written me several times saying that I may come -home if I'll leave Alexander; and I'm going to leave him and I'm never -coming back either." A sob caught Annie's breath as she strove to -button her glove. - -Rachel took the wrist and fastened the glove. "But you're not going to -leave him now when he's in such trouble about his mother, are you?" - -"Yes I am. I offered to go with him this morning when he got word of -her illness, but he wouldn't let me. He said I'd always been hateful -about her and I shouldn't trouble her now she was dying. He insulted -me;" and stooping, Annie picked up the suit-case. "Please let me -pass," she said with dismal dignity. "You don't know what you're -talking about when you advise me to stay with him. I'm no use to him, -he shows that every day; and why shouldn't I live comfortable? -Besides," she added, and she glanced about her apprehensively, "I'm -afraid here." - -Hastening down the passageway, she entered Emil's workroom and pointed -through the skylight: - -"They've been spying down here with a telescope ever since Alexander -left early this morning to see what he's working on." - -The neighbouring office building was very tall and in one of the upper -windows the round eye of a telescope was to be seen. - -"They manufacture organs themselves," Annie explained, "and first one -and then another of them has been hanging around here for a long time. -Now it's a fair-haired man with a pock-marked face and sometimes it's a -little black Jew. They always have some excuse; but I've warned -Alexander." - -"Why don't you cover up things?" Rachel interrupted her, and divesting -the couch of its Bagdad covering, she threw it over the metal plate, -strings and sounding-board of the piano which stood on the floor. - -Annie cast a glance over her shoulder. "You'd better cover up those -wires that pass through the wall," she said, "they're connected with -the battery and that's what they're crazy to find out about." - -Rachel adjusted the covering; then she ran after Annie, who had gained -the outer door. She caught her by the shoulders and twitched her -about. "But why didn't you do it yourself?" she cried. "What do you -_mean_ by not doing it, you--you little coward? Your husband's a -genius; but that's all you care!" - -Annie with difficulty rid herself of the other's grasp and backed off. -"I don't care if he's a genius a thousand times over," she cried -hysterically, "I guess he isn't the only one to be thought of! Oh, he -had no right to leave me this way with the janitress and everyone -gone!" Sobs rose in her throat. - -Turning to the door, she ran out upon the landing; but Rachel's voice, -keyed to a pitch of indignation, pursued her. - -"You would leave this place all alone, would you? You are not even -going to close the windows but leave everything open?" - -Annie made a helpless gesture as she descended the stairs. "It won't -be alone; Ding Dong will be along in a few minutes and he'll attend to -everything." - -Rachel remained staring after her for a moment; then, her eyes blazing -with disdain, she closed the door. Pride kept her from bolting it. -Returning to the workroom she sat down beside the bench and -occasionally she glanced up at the telescope. Though she told herself -that Annie had imagined the whole situation, she was relieved to find -that the watcher had forsaken his post. As for the quarrel, it must -have been of a more serious nature than usual. However, Annie would -not remain away for any length of time. - -This was the noon hour and owing to a slight diminution in the roar of -the city the ticking of a clock could be heard through the room. For a -time Rachel's face wore the scornful look it had worn in Annie's -presence, but gradually this expression gave place to undisguised -enthusiasm. Taking the tools one by one into her hands, she examined -them, wondering about their use. A radiometer on which Emil was -engaged in making improvements, stood at her elbow; drawing this to her -with both hands, she began patting it after the fashion of a mother -caressing the head of a child. Finally she rested her hot cheek -against the polished surface and closed her eyes. Lulu, who had been -observing her intently from the loftiest pipe of the organ, crept to a -position at her shoulder. There, crouched amid a clutter of tools and -instruments, she continued to cherish the maple leaf. Had an observer -been present, the two might have suggested to his mind a group by -Albrecht Dürer; for the sentimental look in the face of the little -animal was a droll reflection of the devotion in the face of the woman. -Presently a tear stole down Rachel's cheek. She had just lifted her -hand to brush it away when she heard a step in the passage. Thinking -Ding Dong had come, she turned to the door; but a large light-haired -man with a pock-marked face stood before her. - -Both started. The stranger instantly recovered himself. - -"Good afternoon, madam," he said, removing his hat with a flourish; -"can you tell me if Mr. St. Ives is in?" - -Rachel stood up; one of her hands rested on the piano sounding-board. -"No, he is not." - -"Mrs. St. Ives, then?" - -She made no reply. - -The man stared at her uneasily. "That is unfortunate," he said after a -moment, as if she had replied to his question. "However, it doesn't -matter," with a smile, showing two rows of strong yellow teeth; "I'm an -expert mechanic and Mr. St. Ives asked me to step round and take a look -at a model he's at work on. It's a piano attachment, and there's some -ticklish point about which he wanted my advice. If you'll excuse me," -he added blandly, "that is the model just behind you, I think. I'll -examine it and make my report to him." - -He advanced but Rachel did not alter her position. The colour had fled -her cheek, but in her dark eyes a spark had kindled and this grew -steadily larger. Until he was within a foot of her, she looked fixedly -at the dirty tie that encircled his throat; then as his hand moved to -twitch the drapery from the sounding-board, she suddenly lifted a -glance in which there was a menacing fury. - -His arm dropped and a tremour passed over him similar to the quivering -that agitates the hide of an animal unexpectedly checked in a spring. -For a perceptible space, while the clock ticked monotonously through -the quiet room, measuring off the silence, he stood with his chin -thrust forward. Then an ugly expression crossed his face and the veins -swelled in his forehead. - -"I don't want to touch a lady, of course," he said in an under voice, -"but I came to examine that model and I'm going to examine it. As for -you," and it was as if an oath spilled with the words, "you stand out -of the way. Won't eh?" he exclaimed. - -He shot out a hand. - -But at that moment he was seized from behind by a pair of powerful -arms. Fairly growling with rage, Ding Dong dragged the intruder to his -knees and the two rolled on the floor. The confusion caused by the -scuffle was terrific. Lulu, scudding to the top of the organ, uttered -shriek after shriek as she grasped frantically at her breast with both -hands. Skirting the heaving forms, Rachel fled down to the street. - -But one idea stood out in her mind. As it chanced, an officer was -lounging near the doorway and she plucked his sleeve. "Go--go up -there!" she cried, "St. Ives's workroom--a thief has just entered!" - -Before she had finished the officer was mounting the stairs. - -Her first impulse was to get into her carriage, which, with Peter on -the box, was waiting beside the curb. Then reflecting that Ding Dong -could not speak a word to the officer, she returned to the scene of the -conflict. - -Attracted by the sight of the officer, men and boys, scenting -excitement, flocked up the stairs from the other floors. When Rachel -gained the door of the workroom the intruder was clearing the blood -from his face, and the officer, who evidently had accepted a bribe, was -swinging his club and ordering the onlookers to depart. Still perched -on the organ, the monkey, to the delight of the spectators, continued -to chatter with fright. Rachel looked at the officer. - -"Arrest that man. Why do you not arrest him?" - -The officer ceased smiling. "On what charge, madam? He says he came -here to do some work; well, that's all right!" - -"He came here to steal the idea of an invention." - -"An idea? I've searched him without finding anything of the kind." - -At this fine piece of wit, the spectators, most of them beardless boys, -snickered. - -"However, madam," the officer continued, "I'm willing to haul them both -to the station if you say the word, and I take it you're willing to -press the charge, that is, appear against him?" - -"No,--I shall not do that," she said, pausing between her words, for -the light in which Simon would view the matter came to her. "Is there -no other way?" - -"None that I ever heard of. If you want a man put in jail,--well, you -have to appear and tell why you want it." - - -She was in her carriage. Sinking into the corner, she ordered the man -to drive home. "And Peter, perhaps you'd better hurry," she added -after a moment. With that small portion of her brain which was not -seething with anger and which persisted in considering that -insignificant feature of the affair, it seemed to her that the man who -had overtaken her and wished to question her, was in all likelihood a -reporter. - -And when she reached home, in spite of her gloomy fury at the -frustration of her act of vengeance, the small apprehension persisted. -The newspaper man, when he learned of her identity from the bystanders, -would of course appear to interview her; and however justifiable her -action might be, she knew that Simon would not forgive her if any -publicity were given the affair. To avert trouble, she decided to take -the afternoon train to Julia Burgdorf's country house on Long Island. -She had been there twice with Simon and a telegram to the woman in -charge would be sufficient. Going to the telephone, she called up the -shop; but Simon was absent, and she urged Victor Mudge to have a -watchman sent to John Street. Then leaving a note for her husband, she -started at once. - -It was late in the afternoon when she arrived at Gray Arches and the -sun was nearing the horizon. After dinner, which was set out for her -in a glass-enclosed corner of one of the arched porches that gave the -house its name, she went to the beach. - -The ocean spread out before her with its salt, fresh scent; its -vivifying breath blowing upon the beach, piled up little hillocks of -sand. Sitting on the sand, propped up on both arms, Rachel steadfastly -regarded the ocean and her mind returned to Emil. The next day, being -Sunday, Simon would, no doubt, follow her. Perhaps he would have -received further news of Emil's mother. If she died, how would Emil -bear it? As he had no philosophy, a great grief might wreck him. And -what could he hold to? Not Annie,--Annie was a broken reed;--not -herself,--Simon would not permit it. - -Love was the powerful, mysterious, secret influence at work everywhere. -Undermining, building up, overthrowing, replacing,--it was like a -mighty sea penned in each fragile human breast. Locking her hands -about her knees, Rachel watched the waves. And the waves approached, -grew mighty, curled over, disappeared; approached, grew mighty, curled -over, disappeared. - -It was about midnight when she rose. - -"No, no, it isn't necessary, and I cannot. I cannot!" she repeated, -lifting her face to the stars which seemed to rain down upon her a -beneficent and vital influence. - -She was awakened early the following morning by a tap at her door: -"Madam, Mr. Hart is here. As soon as it is convenient, he would like -to see you." - -Rachel hastily dressed herself. She believed she thoroughly knew her -husband, but she was amazed at the expression of his face when she ran -down the stairs. He was standing in the little glass-enclosed end of -the porch, where breakfast was laid, and through the small panes she -saw the flowers nodding brightly. He was looking toward the ocean -without seeing it, his brows contracted, his clean-shaven jaw and cleft -chin twitching slightly. In his hand he held a newspaper. - -She approached. Another woman might have tried the effect of a warm -greeting, for it was a question whether, even in his present state, he -would have been able to resist her. But Rachel scorned to make the -attempt. - -"What is it, Simon?" she asked quietly. - -For answer, still with averted eyes, he handed her the paper. - -It was folded in such a manner as to exhibit an article surrounded by a -blue line. The article was a short amusing account of the incident of -the day before, and in it the frightened monkey and all the odd -paraphernalia of the inventor's workshop played an important part. -Barring the headline "Jeweller's Wife hastens to protect Invention of -Young Genius," there was nothing even remotely offensive in it. - -"Well?" she remarked, after running her eye over the article; then she -returned the paper. - -For answer he twisted it into a ball and flung it from him. "I will -ask you to remember hereafter," he said, speaking so rapidly that he -stammered, "the dignity of the name you bear. I do not relish having -it exploited in this way." - -"But what else could I do, Simon? Should I have sat there calmly and -allowed that man to steal Emil's idea?" - -"_Emil!_" he repeated, flushing with indignation. "Is the protection -of that--that device of more importance to you than the protection of -my dignity? You considered St. Ives, I grant that: that was to be -expected. But you did not consider me." - -"I considered you all---Emil, the Company, you, everyone; and what I -did was absolutely right, _absolutely_! I insist upon it." - -"For a lady your action was an unbecoming one," he declared icily. - -She gazed upon him with flashing eyes from under contorted brows. - -"You say this; you believe it? Very well then, misconstrue what I did -if you choose, torture me, doubt me!" she began fiercely. But suddenly -her thoughts of the evening before returned to her. Something -oppressive filled her breast and rose in her throat. - -"But I do not doubt you," he said, checked by the intensity of anguish -her features exhibited. He even put out his hand. - -But seizing her head in both hands, she pushed by him and rushed -upstairs. - -Her door was not opened until the next morning; then Rachel, all wild -and staring, threw it wide. A low fever had set in. Emily Short -arrived with her fund of common sense and her knitting work (she was -knitting comforters for her special charges among the children)--and -stationed herself at the bedside. - -What surprised them all was Rachel's prostration which continued long -after the fever had left her. Turning her face to the wall, she seldom -spoke. When her husband entered the room, she looked at him sometimes -entreatingly, sometimes pityingly; one day, drawing his head down on -her breast, she wept over him. Then she put him gently from her, and -for a long time after, lay like one dead. - -Often in the night, when Emily Short, thinking that at last she slept, -bent over her, she discovered her lying rigid and still, with her face -bathed in tears. One night in the third week of her illness, when -Emily came to the bedside, Rachel looked up at her. - -"How is it possible--" she whispered. - -Emily bent lower, "How is what possible, dear?" - -In the silence of the room the words were breathed rather than spoken, -"--to stop loving?" - -Emily gave a little start, she scratched her head with her crochet -needle; then the work slipped to the floor and she hid her worn face. - -Rachel, folding her arms on her breast, stared with the dumb intensity -of despair at the circle of light which flickered on the ceiling. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -LOVE BY THE SEA - -The road to Gray Arches runs for part of the way past smart summer -cottages, but soon the spaces between the cottages grow longer, until -the road, ambling on through that bright seaside country, suggests a -string from which many beads are missing. In fact for quite five miles -the road resembles a little empty, dust-coloured ribbon almost hidden -in the lush marsh grass. But suddenly Gray Arches appears, the pendant -of the ornament of which the railroad station is the clasp. However, -the pendant is no match for the clasp; for the station fairly shines -with paint whereas Gray Arches is as dull as a piece of old silver; the -windows of the station gleam like imitation diamonds, whereas those of -Gray Arches are the turbid green of clouded emeralds. None the less, -the pendant is a handsome thing of princely value--a real mansion, -though an ancient one in a sad state of neglect. - -Under a sky littered with huge cumulus clouds fleecy as cotton, the -house, in its wide lawn, seemed asleep. But something besides the sea -out there, running up in little rippling waves to kiss the curve of the -sandy beach, for all the world like children clambering a mother's -knees,--something besides the sea was astir. With his pale and -somewhat stealthy look Simon appeared in the glass door. Then he -stepped out on the gravel path, and with his dignified and careful -tread, he began pacing up and down. Up and down beneath the luxuriant, -low-hanging boughs of the evergreen trees that still wore their mantle -of dew, he walked. Despite his deliberate movements, a half-concealed -eagerness showed itself in his eyes as he glanced from time to time at -an upper window shaded by a striped awning. Presently he paused and -stooping, picked up a shell. Holding it delicately between his thumb -and forefinger, Simon studied it as he would have studied a jewel. But -the next moment he tossed it aside. One watching him would scarcely -have judged that a singular happiness pervaded his meditations on this -particular morning, for his thoughts were written in cipher on his long -pale face. He had some news for Rachel and was anticipating her -pleasure in it. - -Simon's jealousy of St. Ives was now at an end, or so he believed. He -had never felt that Rachel really cared for Emil, and now he told -himself with a sigh of thankfulness, that his hatred of the inventor no -longer existed. During Rachel's illness, for which he looked upon -himself as in a measure responsible, the agony of contrition he had -experienced had obliterated the other torture. St. Ives he had never -liked, nor did he like him now; but when he learned that the building -in which Emil's workshops were located was to be extensively altered -during the summer, and that these repairs would make it an -inconvenient, if not an impossible place in which to carry on important -work, he had acted at once. - -In his present state of mind it had been a simple, even a gratifying -thing for him to arrange to have Emil and all that pertained to the -organ attachment, transferred temporarily to the gardener's cottage on -this country estate. This action, defining his own position as nothing -else could, had brought with it an immeasurable sense of relief. -Morbidly constituted as he was, his own position in the matter was of -paramount importance to Simon, and so engrossed was he in this supposed -release from jealousy that Emil and Annie figured as scarcely more than -the necessary factors for carrying out a course of conduct he had -outlined. That his mood was overstrained; that it was one of those -misleading, reactionary impulses to which sensitive peaceful natures -are particularly prone, he never suspected. For the sake of -maintaining his present lofty attitude, Simon was capable of blinding -himself for a time to anything that might again threaten his repose. - -By taking down a partition in the gardener's cottage, the organ had -been installed, and Emil and Annie were living there now in great -comfort. Filled with reproaches and recriminations, the visit which -Annie had paid to her parents had been a mistake, but this the young -girl did not acknowledge; nor did she confess that, despite her -unhappiness with her husband, she was not able to live without him. -When Mrs. St. Ives had recovered from the illness which had attacked -her, Annie had rejoined Emil very simply; now in these new conditions -she was even growing fresh and pretty. Simon, who had not been -unmindful of the young wife when he decided to make the arrangement, -could not help seeing that Annie was happier; and, for that matter, -that Emil was happier, too. The inventor whistled shrilly over his -work, and whenever he heard him, Simon was conscious of the expansive -feeling that accompanies a generous action. - -Presently there was the grating of a wheeled chair passing over gravel. -The chair had been left by a former occupant of the house and Emily had -found it, covered with dust, in one of the chambers. Rachel's face was -as wan as the face of a martyr in a medićval picture, though her cheeks -caught a tinge from the pink "cloud" wrapped around her head. Her eyes -under their slender brows, held the old vivid passionate look, and her -mouth resembled a little bit of pale crumpled velvet in which gleamed, -all at once, the fascinating white of her teeth. - -Simon approached; then, with a glance at Emily, he kissed his wife's -little, white, blue-veined hand which dropped so supplely from its -wrist. - -"Take me down the path," she commanded. "Oh, how heavenly this air -is!--and the sea! Do you know, Simon, illness gives one a new pair of -eyes?" - -Emily Short looked after the couple uneasily. She had said what she -could to Simon to prevent his carrying out his absurd scheme relative -to St. Ives; she had objected as strongly as she dared on various -pretexts. But Simon, bent on making clear to Rachel how completely he -renounced his former attitude toward the inventor, had turned a deaf -ear. Now Emily imagined that he was announcing the step he had taken, -for from where she stood, she saw Rachel lift her head with a swift, -frightened air. Then it slowly sank as though a weight had forced it -to her breast. - -Standing in the keen sunlight, a little, lean, homely figure with a -worn face, Emily sighed. She herself had never known love, yet she -sighed and knotted her fingers tightly together beneath her apron. - -It was evident that Rachel did not wish to go in the direction of the -gardener's cottage, for they turned into another path. Half an hour -later when she knew Simon had left his wife in order to catch his train -for the city, Emily went in search of the invalid. She found her drawn -up in the shelter of a small, half-ruinous summer-house overrun with -vines which stood at one corner of the grounds. As Emily approached, -she saw Rachel crane forward, with her hands gripping the arms of the -wheeled chair. A wonderful unrestrained tenderness beamed in her face. - -Passing not twenty feet away and visible through the intricacies of the -wall of leaves was Emil St. Ives. The stuff of his shirt rippled in -the breeze and the material clung to his muscular shoulders; his hair -was in a tousle, his lips, surrounded by their curling beard, emitted a -gay shrillness of sound; he was whistling as a bird sings. Abruptly -Rachel dropped back in the chair. Without looking at Emily, she -signified a desire to return to the house. - -Emily pushed the chair into the sunlight and the little group crept up -the path; while, all unconscious, Emil went leaping down the sands to -bathe in the sea. - -During her illness, Rachel had been besieged by feverish thoughts. Not -a phase of the situation but she had gone over innumerable times. -Finally her resolution was taken: she would see Emil no more. The -decision was an arduous one and she raged to make it. Love for one -man, overmastering love, as Nature wills it, was in conflict with -unswerving loyalty to another; and this latter feeling likewise had its -roots in the very foundation of her character, so that her woman's -heart had been for a season a disputed field, and the conflict had -protracted her illness. - -But when she rose at last, pitiful tender, heroic,--all woman in that -she dreamed she had immolated the feeling that threatened the peace of -her husband--lo, the situation awaiting her put her plans to confusion. -Her husband's unexpected move had made her course a difficult if not an -impossible one. - -For more than three weeks by employing every stratagem, she succeeded -in avoiding the inventor, and when the housemaid brought word, as she -did on several occasions, that both Emil and Annie had come over to -call on her, she pleaded weariness and refused to see them. But as her -strength returned, this excuse failed, and she spent many hours with -Emily, who had been persuaded to remain and carry on her trade of -toy-making in an unused room of the house. Had Simon permitted it, -Rachel would have returned to the city, but both her husband and the -doctor opposed the move on the ground of her recent illness. - -It was a state of things which could not endure. - -One morning Emil came upon Rachel sitting on the sand. Worn out by her -efforts to avoid him, beyond turning her face obstinately in the other -direction, she made no attempt to escape. - -As he advanced he examined her with his laughing eyes. "So I've found -you at last!" he cried joyously. - -After a moment, because there was nothing else to do, she turned her -face to his. - -"But you're not much of an invalid, are you?" he cried an surprise, and -seated himself not far off. "You look," he said, indicating the sea, -"as strong as those waves." - -Hot blushes were uncommon with her, but now the unreasoning colour -mounted full tide beneath her tanned skin. "Yes," she assented coldly, -"I'm quite myself now;" and she began taking the sand into her hands -and letting it trickle between her fingers. - -"Well, why haven't you been over to see my new workroom?" he demanded -in a different tone, as he followed these movements. "You don't take -much interest in your neighbours, it strikes me." - -She steadily regarded the sea. "So far I haven't done anything," she -said in a low voice, and then added, as if the words were forced from -her, "I shall go back to the city when the doctor will allow it." - -"What would be the sense of that?" he demanded in amazement. "Why it's -fine here! Just the place for you. Is it possible you don't like it?" - -Rachel's lip curled slightly. "Where's Annie?" she asked after a -moment's pause. - -Emil turned his head. "Why she's somewhere about; she came down on the -beach a little while ago." - -"Won't you find her? I should like to see her." - -Nonplussed, he lifted himself from the sand. After staring about, he -struck off in search of his wife. But when Annie appeared by his side, -wrinkling up her face in the sunlight and holding out her hand, Rachel -had little to say. Immediately afterward she left them. - -A few days later as she was crossing the lawn, Rachel met Emil and he -accosted her. This time there was umbrage in his tone. - -"I say," he cried, and he placed himself directly in her path, "why -don't you ever come over and let me show you that organ attachment? I -can play for you now, in a sort of way; in fact I'm quite a musician." - -Again she avoided his look and attempted to put him off. "I have -promised to drive over to the station this afternoon and meet Mr. -Hart," she said, "but I will come--sometime." - -"But when?" he demanded, scowling at her, and his countenance was no -longer good natured but fierce and aggressive. "You used to show some -interest in my work, but now you withdraw it all of a sudden--just like -a woman. And I tell you, I can't finish the thing without it," he -concluded angrily. "I can't go on alone--you've accustomed me to -something else." - -A shiver ran through her like that which takes a young bird that feels -the air for the first time beneath its tentatively fluttering wings. -Her impulse was to sail away in the atmosphere of love his crude -unconscious confession breathed about her. She dared not raise her -eyes because of the involuntary joy that filled them. - -"I'll come over this evening with Simon," she said, softly. And -everything about himself and about herself she loved passionately. - -Life, by all of us, is felt vaguely to be a tapestry of which we see -the under side. But now in a flash Rachel saw the pattern that Fate -was weaving imperturbably; a pattern premeditated from the beginning; -and well she knew that nothing she could do or he could do, could stay -that weaving hand. Though no word of love was ever spoken, the design -in all its beauty was complete, for words and acts are human lumber, -unessential to the accomplishment of the spiritual miracle; present, -they follow the design inaccurately; absent, the design is seen the -clearer because of no gross accompaniment. And Rachel wondered if Emil -saw at last what she saw; if he did not now, he would see,--he would! -And neither was any more responsible for the fact that filled the world -with new meaning than he was responsible for the fact of life. From -these meditations she roused herself, emerging as from an enchanted -mist. - -"I'll come over this evening with Simon," she repeated, and Emil, who -had been staring at her, drew himself up and reluctantly accepted the -promise. - -When he moved away from her, his face wore an expression of -astonishment. - -As Ding Dong had gone to the city on an errand for Emil and did not -return on the usual train in the evening, there was no one at the -cottage to pump the organ, for Simon evidently considered it beneath -his dignity to perform so menial a service. He sat in a rocking-chair -near a window, and from time to time with a meditative eye, he scanned -the walls of the room which were decorated with mottoes and lithographs -in colours. He was estimating the probable cost of replacing the -partition when Emil should have finished with the cottage. - -The inventor, restless and keenly disappointed, went again and again to -the outer door, where he remained straining his eyes through the salty -darkness, though there was no chance now that Ding Dong would appear -until morning. Rachel sat by a little table turning over the leaves of -a current magazine with her long fingers; she was impatient with her -husband and whenever Emil entered the room, she looked at him, and her -face between the loopings of her hair, had a faint, remote, mysterious -smile. - -Annie issued from the kitchen and going up to Emil leaned against his -shoulder, and he nonchalantly encircled her little figure. Instantly, -Rachel grew hot all over with a violent jealousy such as she had never -before experienced. - -All the way home while she walked by Simon's side and felt beneath her -elbow his thin fingers supporting her, her hands beneath her cloak were -pressed against her heart. Oh, the intensity of her love and the -paleness of his! She had a picture of Life irrevocably linked to -Death. With the vision came such a sense of desolation that, turning -her face aside, she sobbed under her breath. - -The miracle was rapidly accomplishing; she was passing out of -herself,--out of her scruples, her pity, her fears. - - -She was wandering on the sands and knew not where she went, save that -the need for movement was imperative. She had left Gray Arches far -behind. What matter that from the dun-coloured clouds a slant of rain -descended, straight and fine as the locks a princess engaged in combing -her hair? Secretly, noiselessly, the rain touched the sands, save at -intervals when a land breeze seized it; then these liquid tresses were -torn and tangled into drifting masses as by the hand of a rude lover -who violently seizes the locks of his mistress. And the rain hissed as -it met the sands and ran away in little curling, twisting rivulets like -serpents. - -Enjoying the caress of the moisture on her face, Rachel walked on. The -vigour of her childhood was in her limbs, the spirit of it in her -heart, and she remembered her old turbulent longing for freedom. But -love was the supreme liberator. And in an ecstasy, she drew herself -together and her craving for this supposed liberation of the spirit was -so intense and penetrating, that she wavered uncertainly as if about to -fall. - -At that instant, a voice, muffled by the falling of the rain and the -soft plash of the waves on the beach, reached her. It came to her out -of the distance; but the space that separated her from him who called -was so great and the curtain of rain that divided them, at the moment, -so dense, that she could not see him. Yet that voice in which no words -were distinguishable, quickened and reanimated her. For an instant -with her arms curved fearfully above her head, she looked back. - -A spot on that barren coast was growing larger, it was moving toward -her; and all at once the breeze brought her the message above the wash -of the waves. - -"W-a-i-t! W-a-i-t!" - -Emil was hallooing, he was calling to her with his hand to his lips. -Suddenly he broke into a run, and the impulse of flight was -communicated to her. - -With bated breath she sped before him, and she was conscious that he -took up the chase after a momentary pause of amazement. - -Across those sands pitted by rain, once more the old race was run, the -exciting elemental pursuit of woman by man. And as if in joy the waves -lapped the beach with a sound of applause, and the rain, as if -delighted at this return of happy antique life, now baffled and pelted -and blinded the pair, and now, in a lull, revealed them each to the -other. - -Rachel's hair, escaping its bonds, streamed behind her; her skirts -impeded her movements; yet wildly, excitedly, across that expanse of -sand, she ran. And the blood beat exultantly in her veins and she felt -that the goal toward which she was making was that fugitive band of -colour that persisted, despite the drifting mist, at the end of the -beach. Through this uncertain band of colour, the sky, elsewhere dull -and scattered with clouds, appeared to be smiling with huge, mobile, -kindly lips. Ah, if she could but bathe in the light of that -understanding smile which the sky cast over the beach! A piece of -driftwood brought her precipitately to a halt, but instantly she was up -and away like a sea-bird. - -He who followed with long strides was gaining on her, plainly he was -gaining on her. With her skirts and her shorter stature, she was no -match for him. Finally, with both hands clasped beneath her bosom, she -sank to her knees. Her sight swam, she gasped for breath. They had -traversed in this way a distance of a quarter of a mile. The only -object in sight was an old fishing-boat, drawn up on the sands. On -this boat her glance rested. The next moment she saw Emil. As he ran, -something emanated from him. - -Instantly she was up; and straight and slim and fleet, she darted -across his path and was into the old fishing boat. There was but one -oar, and, as she pushed off, a burst of fresh laughter gurgled in her -throat and illuminated her face. The tide, in tantalizing fashion, -carried her beyond his reach and she saw him stop. Then his eyes, -imperative and gleaming, like two fierce lights, sought hers. After -that look he waded into the water; then swam. - -Two or three strokes and he was beside the skiff. When he grasped its -edge with his dripping fingers, that shone out white and strong in the -steadily increasing light, Rachel laid hold of his clothing. - -Their heads were on a level--they exchanged a look. - -Wild, flashing, dominating, it leapt from his face, all pale and -streaming with water, to hers; and all the secret of her woman's heart -mounted to her eyes; they were no longer mysterious, but frank as -daylight, revealing. - -The sun which, like a curious watcher, had cleared the cloud-bank, beat -upon the sea in joyous fashion, and the waves beat upon the sand; and -all along the beach and in the air and in the waters under the boat, -there was a murmur as if Nature, the great mother, sighed in the -fulness of her content. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE INSISTENT PAST - -As in death there takes place a loosening, a lifting, a withdrawing of -the spiritual part, so, too, in love. The soul, made daring through -love, seeks to support a separate existence; but the attempt is -pitiful, doomed to frustration; for clamorous and insistent, the -ordinary conditions of life make themselves felt. The descent in -Rachel's case to the normal state, wherein duties and scruples play -their part, was realized at the moment Emil climbed into the boat. - -Before starting for the beach she had put on her head a travelling cap -that belonged to Simon. It had been almost made way with by the wind; -but, still held by its long pin, it had slipped to her shoulders with -the mass of her hair. Now, with the oscillation of the skiff caused by -Emil's movements as he drew himself from the water, the cap dropped to -the seat beside her, and thence was carried by a puff of wind to the -floor of the boat. Not a garment of Simon's but closely resembled him; -this cap of hunter's green with a tiny stripe of red in the flannel, -was instinct with his personality. As it lay before her, Rachel -shuddered and the expression that filled her eyes kept Emil from any -indiscretion into which the situation might otherwise have betrayed -him. Before the mute appeal of her look he was powerless. - -She crouched in the end of the boat and with a motion of the hand -indicated that he was to put back to the land. Before obeying, he -wrung the water from the sleeves of his coat. He was trembling and as -she perceived the power of his love, perceived the amazing and -terrifying force leaping out upon her from under his scowling brows,--a -sudden pity took her; and she dared not look upon him because of that -tenderness which is more disarming to a woman than her fear. - -"Well, that was a race!" he remarked unsteadily. "Are you tired?" - -"Not very--a little." - -"I'll row you home." - -"With one oar?" - -"There's another on the beach that you didn't see." - -"I didn't take the time to look." - -As the boat had drifted with the tide, the return to the shore was -accomplished with difficulty. When he was once more seated opposite -her, rowing with even strokes, he noticed that she shivered and a -gentleness softened his face. - -"You are very cold, aren't you?" - -"The air has changed." - -"Here, take my coat; it's soaking, but your dress is soaking too." - -"It's--very heavy. I don't see how you ever swam in it; it's weighted -down,--" and from the pockets she drew forth first a coil of wire, then -a wrench, then several drills. - -He watched her and delight shone in his face. - -"I could have swum the Atlantic in armour to reach you. Do you know, -you look like a mermaid with your hair hanging down that way." He was -laughing now and the old lazy fondness sounded in his voice. Leaning -toward her he rested on the oars. "Rachel, why did you run away from -me like that?" he asked, smiling confidentially, and suddenly one of -his hands went out to hers. - -She drew back and for a moment enveloped herself in taciturnity, but -all at once, as if compelled, she brought a defiant glance around to -meet his. - -"Why because you started to run--and I ran, too." - -"Well, it's useless; you can never elude me again. Do you know," he -continued, "it seems to me that this crazy race has been going on ever -since the first time I saw you in the mist? Do you remember the day? -You were perched on a rock, I recollect, and the cow--you were leading -a cow--pushed up behind you in such a way that her horns curved up -about your feet for all the world like a little crescent moon. I swear -it had that look. Lord, but you made a picture! Do you remember the -day?" - -"Yes, I remember the time, but I didn't know I looked like that." - -She opened her eyes very wide and her lips parted with the movement of -an expanding flower. Vanity kindled in her face as light kindles in a -jewel. There is in a woman's inner nature a sensitive something that -constitutes the very essence of her charm, that informs her physical -features with vivacity, with seduction. The craving to have this -secret attribute recognized, causes her to discover in every compliment -a spiritual significance; causes her to wrap herself in its fancied -meaning, as in a shawl; causes her to live in it, breathe it in--in -short to discover in it an atmosphere of inspiration in which she -manages to exist for the briefest fraction of time. Indeed, the -longing for the caress of words addressed to her very soul, is as -natural to an imaginative and ardent woman, as the longing for the -caress of light is to a flower. And with Rachel, as with many another -young girl of New England traditions, the craving had never been -gratified. Now Emil's praise of her was so alluring that she was -trapped into listening; had he paused for a word, involuntarily she -would have supplied it. - -But he required no urging to finish his speech which dropped from his -lips with all the precipitancy of fruit from an overladen branch. - -"You were just like a figure from some church altar," he told her -fervently. "Your dress was blue, and the fog rolled about you in -clouds. All the same, you know, your expression wasn't exactly -saintly; it was too--" - -"Too what?" she whispered. - -"Well, just what it is now," and with that he looked at her until she -was obliged to avert her eyes. - -"I mean that your face is very innocent," he explained, "and at the -same time, it is all alive with--well, with a sort of curiosity. But -to-day you were Diana of the Chase with your skirts all ruffling around -your feet and blowing to the side in folds. However I'm not up in -mythology; all I know is, my own, you'll never succeed in fencing -yourself off from me again. But don't look at me like that!" And with -an indefinable glance at her as she sat, suddenly converted to -sternness, he took up the oars. - -She observed complete silence, and for some moments all that was heard -about them was the ripple of the water as it met the sides of the boat. -The waves like a lover approached the boat, touching it lightly, -tentatively and timidly caressing it with eager lips. But occasionally -waves larger than the rest seized the skiff and upbore it as in the -powerful embrace of arms, dipped and sank with it; while a sound of -multiplied kisses ran over the surface of the glancing ocean, which was -tremulous as a breast heaving with love. And the influence of that -universal caress mounted to the air, which was like a stinging breath -crossed with tears of spray; even reached the low-stooping western -heavens where sailed largely great cloud masses, like huge embarrassed -lovers, that never the less, with a sudden darting of colour along -their edges, strange and fiery smiles, approached--melted softly and -completely into one. - -The sea was a theatre and the play enacted on that broad expanse, in -the swiftly falling twilight, for the bewilderment of that pair of -human mites,--the play was Love. For Nature, the great scene shifter, -who causes the mists to rise above swamps that she may bring about the -love and mating of midges, is the artist incomparable when she sets out -to glamour and bend to her will the least significant of these -struggling, valiant creatures called men, these creatures that dare, -with a law opposed to hers, to defy her. - -Rachel had crept to the extreme end of the skiff and when the water -rose to the edge it often dashed across her knees. Her head was flung -back, but for all that, she saw nothing. She was holding her emotions -well in leash and the effort drew from her now and then a sigh. Where -the fingers of one hand met the back of the other, for she had them -tight clasped, there were white marks on the flesh. She sat before him -with the impassive countenance of an image, though internally she was -consumed with flames. - -Time passed imperceptibly, but all at once she pointed to the shore. - -"Emil," she said, in a muffled voice, "there's Gray Arches among the -trees. The lamps are lighted. Make haste." - -He had been doubling on his course, and, unnoticed by her, even -striking out to sea, with the object of delaying the moment of landing. -Now the dusk, which had descended insidiously, was close about them. - -At her words, he headed the boat for the shore. But after an instant -he leaned forward. "Before I take you in, I want you to tell me when -I'm to see you again." - -She drew herself up: "I don't know when you'll see me--never, I think." -She spoke in a throbbing, suppressed way, exactly as if she were -forcing back from the edge of her lips and to the depths of her heart, -some secret. "There is the pier; don't you see it?" - -The young man nodded. "Yes, I see it all right. Rachel, I'm going to -Barbieri Brothers to-morrow to see how that marble-cutting device of -mine works. Come there in the afternoon and see the machine with me, -won't you?" - -She shook her head. - -"Very well then," and he began paddling out to sea. - -"You think you'll frighten me or annoy me," she cried, moved to scorn, -"but you won't succeed. I can swim as well as you." - -He laughed and the boat, quivering in a bewildered sort of way, once -more approached the land, noisily cleaving the water. - -"Rachel, you'll come and see that machine, won't you? I'll never ask -you again. But it's an interesting thing, really it is, and they're -cutting the figures for the Century Library with it. Can't you -understand that I'd like to have you see my work? It isn't much that I -ask, and you can get the five o'clock train out here if you like. -Promise me you'll come." - -Through the gloom on the pier she saw a lonely figure intent on the -antics of the boat. She looked at Emil and the impulse of her -tenderness carried her beyond the barrier imposed by her will. In one -instant she had passed beyond the outworks of her usual self. When she -answered him in low, vibrant tones, it was a message, if he had but -understood, from the very depths of her heart: - -"Yes, I'll come--you've no business to ask me, and I've no business to -promise; I'll come, but there must be no more of this; it's ended." -These words were at once an appeal and a command. - -But Emil, ignoring the nervous shrinking that came over her, caught her -hand under cover of the gloom and held it to his cheek--his lips. Then -cleverly, easily, he brought the boat to the pier. - -The next instant Rachel was confronted by her husband. Giving Emil his -coat, she stepped from the boat, refusing assistance. As she swayed on -gaining the pier, Simon took hold of her arm; then passed his hand over -her shoulders. - -"Why you're wet--you're wet through," he exclaimed, and as he turned to -Emil she noticed that he spoke in a manner unusually cordial and -spontaneous. "So you were caught in the rain? If you'll just step to -the house, St. Ives, I'll give you something to ward off a chill; a nip -of whiskey wouldn't come amiss." - -But Emil, muttering something about returning the fisherman's boat, -disappeared in the twilight and Rachel, stumbling like one who walks in -a dream, accompanied Simon to the house. - -"The rain won't harm you, my love," he was saying as they gained the -porch, "if you change your clothing at once. It's remaining in damp -garments that's the imprudent thing." - -As they crossed the threshold Rachel caught his hand. "Simon, I--I -want to speak to you." And half dragging, half pushing him, she urged -him into the front room. - -This room was large and shadowy, with a row of French windows -commanding a view of the sea. The shades were drawn and the light from -a small fire on the hearth sparkled on a glass dome beneath which were -placed specimens of sea moss and shells. The dome stood at one end of -a long table and a candelabrum hung with glass prisms at the other end; -above one candle hung a red spark,--the wick needed snuffing. The room -was damp. As she spoke Rachel, passing her arm behind her, clasped the -glass knob of the door. - -"Simon--I don't want to stay here any longer." - -He confronted her in surprise: "Not stay here any longer? Why, Rachel, -you astonish me; I thought you loved the sea." - -"So I do--but this coast--it oppresses me. Simon, I want to go back to -the city at once, do you understand,--at once; can't we move to-morrow?" - -"But you're irrational, my dear. In fact the doctor whom I saw only -yesterday, counselled just the opposite course. He said to me, -speaking of you, 'the sea air is what she needs; she grew up in such a -climate. You keep her on the shore until late fall!" - -For a moment Rachel dropped her head against the panels of the door and -closed her eyes; then raising her head, she looked intently at her -husband: - -"Simon, you asked Mr. St. Ives to come here; you asked him without -consulting me and now--I want to go away." - -For an instant he studied her, then he crossed to her side and took her -hand. - -"My dear Rachel," he said, "I thought perhaps you understood without -anything being said. Rachel, believe me, I have not the feeling now -about your friendship with St. Ives that I once had. That feeling of -jealousy,--for it was jealousy--I do not deny it--was degrading to us -both, but particularly it was insulting to you. And during your -illness it left me; thank Heaven, it left me," he repeated. "And now -be generous--don't take from me the happiness I feel. You think I -objected to your being out with him, but when I saw you in the boat, I -was conscious only of a serene friendship for St. Ives." - -A flash of firelight illumined his face and she saw to her surprise -that his usually enigmatic eyes held a look that completely transformed -him. The explanation she had intended to make died on her lips. With -a bewildered gesture she turned as if to leave the room; and at that -moment they were interrupted. There was a knock, and the caretaker -questioningly opened the door. - -"If you please, Mrs. Hart," she began, "there's a strange young man -down in the kitchen who is asking to see you." - -"A young man?" - -"Yes, a lad. My husband thinks he ain't just right, he's so sort of -wild looking; but the boy says he's from your old home and nothing for -it but he must see you." - -"Why it's André!" Rachel cried in amazement, and, before the woman had -finished speaking, she darted from the room. - -Simon's voice pursued her: "Your clothing, change it first, I beg of -you." - -Rachel had vanished. - -The next moment she was standing before André. Catching him by the -arms, she shook him; then pressed her head to his shoulder. "Oh, -André," she whispered, "Is it you--is it really?" And passing her arms -about him, she clung to him. - -The young fellow suffered the embrace and his hands hung motionless at -his sides, though in his great eyes a spark kindled as he looked down -at her. - -"Tell me," she asked breathlessly, "how did you ever manage to find -me--and what brings you, André dear? Explain--tell me everything, but -not here," catching sight of the caretaker who had reëntered the -kitchen. "Come to the front room where there is a fire.--Simon, this -is André," she cried as they encountered her husband on his way through -the hall. And taking the young fellow's hand, she placed it in Simon's. - -"Yes, I'm going now," she added. "I'm dying of curiosity, but I'll -change my dress first. And do you make André comfortable. I'll be -back in a minute," she cried. - -Rachel's welcome of her childhood's friend was all the more eager -because she looked to him to save her from the difficulties of her -situation and from herself. While she dressed, she thought only of -André and as she drew on a pair of dry shoes and tightened the crossed -lacings with excited jerks, she said his name over and over like a -child bubbling with joy. - -"Now for the news?" she cried, entering the front room; and seating -herself beside André, she took his hand. "Something special brought -you, I know it. Now tell me." - -The story at any other time would have held her spellbound, but in her -present mood she had difficulty in grasping it. Constantly her -thoughts wandered, now to Emil, now to André. She drew such profound -comfort from the touch of André's strong young fingers. - -The facts as he related them were as follows: A man in the last stage -of consumption and calling himself, "John Smith" had made his -appearance in Old Harbour a few days before. Desiring news of Lavina -Beckett's daughter, he had asked to be directed to André. When he -learned from André that Rachel was living in New York city, he had -burst into tears. He had declared he must see her before he died. He -had persuaded André to accompany him to the city as he feared to travel -farther alone. But before leaving Old Harbour he had deposited a sum -of money in the bank and had written a long letter which he addressed -to Rachel. On the journey he had read and reread this epistle. He was -very weak and when they reached their destination, collapsed in the -great bustling station. After much parley over the telephone, a -station attendant had arranged for his reception at a hospital. -Thither he had been taken. The physician who attended him assured him -he would be much stronger after a few hours' rest, and on hearing this, -John Smith had begged André to find Rachel and bring her to the -hospital the following day. "Afternoon's always my best time, bring -her then," he had implored. - -"I understand; it's poor Father's friend," Rachel whispered dreamily, -when André concluded; "he didn't send all the money Father gave him -that time, and now he wants to give me the rest. That's the whole sad -story. But André, I can't seem to think about it," she murmured after -a moment. "I'll go to the hospital without fail, but now let's talk -about you. Do you know, I think you managed splendidly to ferret me -out in this way. You went to the house, first, of course, and Theresa -told you where I was." - -While André's voice ran on detailing the news: how his mother and he -now performed every duty about the lighthouse as the Captain was in his -cups most of the time (Oh, but the Captain, he was a clever one at -concealing the state of things!) how Nora Gage had gone into the shop -with Katherine Fry, how Zarah Patch had increased the size of his -vegetable garden, and Lottie Loveburg had taken up with Jim Wright -after all--Rachel scarcely listened to him. A danger confronted her, -and, try as she would, she could think of nothing but the decisive -interview of the morrow,--that battle that must be waged in spite of -her own deadly weakness and overwhelming love. - -She asked herself a question. Why at this time, rather than any other, -were the facts relating to her father's life to be revealed to her? -And, as she sat by André's side, she was conscious of a mysterious -influence, like a warning, reaching her from the insistent past. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -IN WHICH JOHN SMITH UNBURDENS HIS CONSCIENCE - -Rachel's mouth was now perfectly formed to express her emotions, as it -had not been in early youth. There had come a little added fulness in -the curves of the upper lip, a little added sensitiveness in the line -of the lower. With its well-defined corners, melting, when she smiled, -into a pair of will-o'-the-wisp dimples, this mouth of hers was worthy -to form the lure for many an exciting escapade on the part of her -lovers. In her intelligent, sometimes perfervid, often gloomy face, it -suggested a series of grace-notes introduced wilfully into a bit of -serious music. It destroyed the general harmony of her face and -increased its fascination. On the morning following the primitive race -across the sands, the grace-notes dominated the more serious expression -of her personality. - -In the depths of her there was plenty of sadness, but the joy which is -inseparable from any confession of love, even the love which battles -against insurmountable barriers, glowed through her and informed every -fibre of her with sparkling animation. She laughed frequently for no -apparent cause. - -The wide lawns about Gray Arches still glistened with dew and birds -sang in the branches of the trees. The notes mingled with the plash of -the waves on the distant beach, and with that infinite murmur of sounds -that came out of the sunshine, out of the grass, out of the shimmering -distances of that smiling country, checkered in light open fields and -in dark variegated woods. All around, everywhere, was vivid -palpitating life. - -Rachel with a huge pair of shears that flashed in the sun, was snipping -dead roses from a bush of the late-blooming variety. Brown and -withered, they fell on the gravel path--mere ghosts of flowers; and, at -every onslaught, all the green leaves of the bush shook and all its -fresh blossoms trembled and poured forth an intoxicating perfume as if -to thank her for the service. Beside her, seated on the grass, André -was making the flowers they had gathered into a bouquet. He held in -his brown hands nasturtiums, gladioli and dahlias. Occasionally, -unable to resist an unusually perfect one, Rachel flung him still -another rose. - -"There," she said, "that's enough; if I cut any more, I shan't be able -to carry them, and the hospital nurse may not let John Smith have them -anyway." - -A thorn had scratched her wrist, and she lifted the hand to her lips. - -André regarded her with a vigorous gaze. "Do you know," he said at -last, "you look like a rose yourself." - -She threw him the shadow of a glance from between half-closed lids. In -her morning dress of delicate pink muslin, beneath a shade hat with a -flapping brim, she did look like a rose; and a wide collar, turned up -over her throat to protect it from the sun, heightened the illusion. -Against its colour her cheeks had taken a richer tinge and her eyes, -between their curling lashes, were unusually deep and liquid. She was -amazingly beautiful with a superadded beauty, with that fleeting and -ethereal grace, which, independent of features or contours, touches any -woman when she realizes that she is loved where she herself loves. -Now, as if anxious to divert André's too curious gaze, she began -speaking rapidly and almost at random. The air and the sunlight -appeared to intoxicate her. - -"Have you ever noticed, André," she cried, "the boastfulness of Nature -when she has anything worth displaying? She is for all the world like -a woman who takes particular pride in showing off her children, like -that Mrs. Polestacker we both knew who was always calling attention to -her Katie's teeth and curls. Take that rose bush," she continued, "it -fairly swaggers with pride now that it is covered so finely with roses, -but once the flowering season is over, and see how meekly it will -obliterate itself; it will retire into the background like an old maid -at a dance. For who notices the larkspur when its time is past, or the -raspberry bush when it is no longer hung with its little crimson lamps? -It is the energy that a growing, living thing puts forth that it would -flaunt before us, saying, 'See here, _I_ produced these flowers--these -berries!' and it is that energy which attracts us--the immense energy -of being." And throwing back her head, her neck on the strain, her -arms falling at her sides, with the shears in one hand, she gazed into -the deep blue of the sky which, bending down over the earth, was like -an inverted sea. - -Unconsciously, as in the old days, she spoke her thoughts aloud to -André. He did not reply; if truth were told, he was in the dark as to -her meaning, but that only increased the enchantment. - -André was Rachel's senior by six years, but owing to his mind in which -the impressions were deep but few, he still looked a youth, almost a -child. His beauty, agile, simple, unsettled, with admirable -disposition of colouring, was that of a child. High on the cheek -bones, under the eyes, the blood came and went with his emotions, and -his arched lips under his tiny moustache stood a little open, which -gave him an innocent expression. He was difficult to resist, just as a -child is difficult to resist. Rachel's feeling for him was almost -maternal; but for all that, her comprehension of him failed at one -point. - -When he had first received word of her marriage, André had cast himself -on the ground, and the earth had seemed to respond with deep tremours -to his grief. He had told himself that he would never see her again. -As for her husband, he felt that it would be impossible for him to ever -meet Simon Hart without yielding to the desire to fly straight at his -throat. Yet, he had met him and experienced no emotion of the sort. -Something told him that Rachel was not in love with her husband. Still -there was that in her eyes which bewildered him. Now with his hands -clasped behind his head and his back against a tree, he regarded her -with a devotion, a tenderness, a desperation of which none but a pure -and youthful soul is capable, and the old agony began to stir again in -the depths of his breast. - -Ceasing from her ecstatic contemplation of the sky, Rachel looked over -at the gardener's cottage. As she did so, all her outlines went to -deeper softness. André, sensitively, felt the thrill through her of -some ineffable emotion. - -"What are you thinking about, Rachel?" he demanded. - -She started and the colour mounted. - -"Thinking?" - -"Yes; just now, when you turned and looked over yonder?" - -"Oh! ... I was thinking of Mr. St. Ives's improvement of the organ. -It's really extraordinary what he has accomplished, André; and by such -simple means. You must see it. He's carrying on his work over there -in the gardener's cottage. And I was comparing his invention and his -natural pride in it, to the rose bush and its roses, I suppose." - -"St. Ives?" André was sitting upright and rigid. "Is he--is he the one -who came to Pemoquod that time?" - -"Yes. My husband formed a company to represent his inventions. I -always felt Mr. St. Ives had great promise," she went on as frankly as -she could, "and I persuaded Simon to get up a company. Now he's glad -he did." - -André was wretched. "And he's here? - -"Yes; for a few weeks. Mr. Hart was anxious that the work shouldn't be -delayed, so he came here while the shop is being altered." - -André said no more. And Rachel exerted herself to dispel his gloom. -So contagious was the vitality of her mood that he apparently forgot -the incident. - -Presently, bidding him gather up the withered roses that littered the -path, and taking into her own hands the bunch of fresh blossoms, she -led the way to the house and André followed. His old dream, in all its -simplicity, once more possessed his heart. - -When Rachel arrived at the hospital, John Smith was expecting her. In -a clean shirt with his grey hair neatly brushed and his gaunt frame -arranged under a spotless sheet, he was eagerly awaiting her. The -floor nurse warned her that the interview must be a brief one; the -patient could not live more than a day or two. - -John Smith's story was substantially what Rachel had surmised it would -be, and as he told it with frequent interruptions when the cough racked -him, she had difficulty in fixing her thoughts upon him. The vital -moment of her own life called her, and try as she would, she could give -but a divided attention. - -"The fact is, I ain't done just the straight thing by you," he rambled -on, "and I'm glad you're as well fixed as you are. It ain't quite the -same as if I'd found you in want. However, I've suffered for putting -this time off; I've been hectored in ways you wouldn't dream of. -Needn't tell me the dead don't take their revenge if you pass over -their wishes! I don't mean that they come back or anything of that -sort," he interrupted himself, in response to a questioning glance, -"but they stick in your mind somehow--you can't forgit how they looked -when they told you to do such and such a thing, and you don't do it. -But I'll say this much for myself, I meant as much as could be to give -you that money when I reached America seventeen years ago, a month or -two after your father's death; but I had a hard run of luck, and I used -some of it, and then I used more, until it was about all gone. And it -was only when I got this cough about three years and a half ago, that I -began to think a good bit about Thomas Beckett. Funny too, so long -after his death; but I'd see him when I was droppin' off to sleep, and -he'd look at me so! But your father didn't do the straight thing -either," he broke off with sudden resentment, "for he left your mother, -as far as I could gather, to shift for herself. - -"As I was saying, perhaps it was my low state of health, but he gave me -no rest; seemed as if he was tryin' to say that you needed that money. -And finally the thought come to me that perhaps I ought to give your -mother at least part of what was owin' her; so I wrote to Old Harbour -and you know the rest. You see," he concluded, "when I learned that -your mother had been dead more'n twenty years, I was afraid to make -myself known. I was fearful some relative or friend'd get after me on -your part. So I sent seven hundred dollars along, it was all I'd -saved, to that friend of yours whose name the postmaster gave me, and -then I left. I went away from the town in Massachusetts where I'd been -workin' and I found a job as foreman in a mill in another town. And I -thought everything'd be all right then; but do you know, I still -dreamed of your father, and the upshot was, that I went to a priest and -made a clean breast of the story; and as he told me to do, I worked -hard and paid it all up. Yes, I've paid it all up," he finished, "for -the balance, the eight hundred dollars that was comin' to you, I -deposited in your name in the bank at Old Harbour;" and fumbling in the -pocket of his shirt, he handed her a sealed envelope. "There's the -deposit slip, and the whole story written out ready to be mailed to you -in case I didn't manage to see you," he explained. - -His face had grown brighter, had regained a faint expression of health, -as the load that had long oppressed his conscience was lifted. - -Rachel left the invalid holding admiringly in his bony fingers her -bunch of flowers. She reached the door of the ward; then, with a -sudden eagerness, she retraced her steps. - -"Was my Father a happy man?" she asked, "or did he seem to regret all -along what he had done in leaving my Mother?" She waited his answer -with bated breath. - -But relief was manifest all over John Smith. Had he not triumphantly -passed through the ordeal of his confession? At her question his eyes -glistened; he laughed a weak, irresponsible laugh. - -"No, I don't think he worried much about it till he come to die. It -was far-away questions that touched your father more; he was always -reading and sometimes he'd argue and git angry. But barring those -times, he was pretty jolly as far as I can recollect. It was only when -he seen the last port just ahead, that same as me, he seemed to think -things over. But, I've done the right thing, and I'm going to git -well," he proclaimed. - -The same nurse she had seen on coming, met her in the corridor. Rachel -directed her to have John Smith moved to a private room with special -attendant; then she left the hospital. - -For some reason she was relieved that her father had not regretted his -course sooner, that he had remained, almost to the last, a true -vagabond. As to her one-time hot defence of him on the score of his -loyalty to her mother, the point had lost significance. - -All that was mettlesome in her character was aroused. Having promised -Emil to go to the marble works, she was going there, in the face of -fancied influences from the past; in the face, too, of the vigorous -warning of her own conscience. The coming interview was absolutely -necessary that she might, once and for all, make clear to him her -position. In this juggling with conscience most women are adept. -Rachel played the game so well as to be almost self-deceived. However, -as the moment of the meeting drew near, she grew faint and a tide of -irrepressible joy mingled with and almost dominated her misery. When -she quitted the hospital she was pale with determination, like a -soldier before battle, but her eyes, overflowing with light, were the -eyes of a woman in love. Her mind was too full of its own matter to -allow her to care about anything else. Does not the surge of passion -in one's own breast drown the echo of death and despair from another's -heart? - -She stopped at one of the large shops where delicacies were for sale, -and ordered a basket of fruits and jellies sent to John Smith; then, -hailing a cab, she drove to the marble works, which lay in the -direction of the Bronx on the outskirts of the city. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE PLACE OF THE STATUES - -"Is Mr. St. Ives here?" - -The question fell into the silence of an office where Barbieri, the -proprietor, was writing at a desk. - -"Mr. St. Ives? I will send for him. Julian,"--to a boy, who in the -doorway was burying his naked feet in the fine white marble dust like -snow,--"Mr. St. Ives,--a lady." - -"I have come to see the new machine." - -"Ah, the new machine? It is very wonderful; it not only points the -marble, but cuts it, following the model; and no man touches it. Never -anything like it in this country; in France, yes, there is something of -the sort, but not perfect like this one." - -"As wonderful as that?" - -"_Si, si_,--yes, madam, wonderful." - -"And will you show me how it works? I want to see it in operation." - -"In operation? Ah, I regret, but to-day, madam, to-day is Saturday; -there is no power, no electricity, you understand, no men." - -"Then why did he have me come?" she murmured, and caught her lip -between her teeth, a trick with her when angry or perplexed. - -"Why did you have me come?" she said, addressing the inventor, who with -impetuous strides was advancing to meet her. - -He paused in his tracks: "I had forgotten that they closed down." - -She scanned him with a swift glance. - -"Forgive me," he said in an undertone, "really, I had forgotten, -Rachel, if I ever knew it. But you must see the place now you are -here.--Mr. Barbieri," he added, "I am going to show Mrs. Hart over the -works," and he led the way across a narrow court to an adjoining -structure. - -The marble shop covered an extensive area, and the white light that -fell through its glass roof inundated its farthest corner. In this -bath of light, in this silence, unbroken by a single sound; in the -midst of casts, dust, artistic litter of all sorts, were the statues. -Some scarcely blocked from the rough stone, they rose on all sides. -They overtopped the miniature plaster models, like giants overtopping -pygmies; they elbowed the grotesque machines that are used for -enlarging purposes; they crowded the walls; they occupied every foot of -space not reserved for the workmen; some even, with their Titan tread, -had passed through the lofty doorway and stood among barrels and -rubbish in the garish sunlight of the yard. On every side monoliths of -stone were being cut into human shape. There was a torso with the -girth of a Colossus; over yonder a hand chiseled from a boulder; beyond -that, a monumental figure frowning like a tortured Atlas. All in -sections--painful, writhing, some of the statues lacked a head, others -an arm or a foot, and others had their limbs still entangled in uncut -blocks of stone. - -It was like a workshop of surgeons of stone men; like a manufactory of -the gods where were created marble monsters that suffered with the age -and immobility of stone, in which petty human qualities of Fortitude, -Justice, Fidelity were being stamped. Hewn out of the womb of the -earth, the marble was tortured here to wear man's face, his form; -finally it would be set up under the sun to testify with the might of -marble limbs to the ideals that govern his heart. - -As she viewed the stone population, no one could have told what was -passing in Rachel's stormy little breast, for if there was a spark in -her eyes that seemed to indicate subterranean depths of passion, the -rest of her features were astonishingly passive. Her gloves hampered -her, and with nervous gestures she began taking them off. Tense and -silent and acutely vital, she stood beside Emil, an expression of all -that is baffling and mysterious in woman. - -Conscious of a dryness in his throat, he kept his eyes to the statues. - -"They are said to be the largest figures ever cut," he murmured. "They -are for the pediment of the new Century Library." - -"How still they are!" - -"Yes, and one rather expects them to speak and move." Suddenly -swinging round, he looked her in the eyes. "Oh, my own!" he cried. -With uncertain steps he moved toward her. - -And swift and strong between them, Fate drew her thread of love; in -that electric net of hers, she caught their souls and drew them close -together. She took the pair of them, as a fowler takes a bird. - -His savage heart dominated by emotion, Emil trembled with a desire to -fall at her feet. But she would not own her capture. - -"Stop, Emil!" she cried in a suppressed voice; "stop right where you -are! I'll not listen to your words! I came here to tell you--" - -He looked upon her intently: "You came because you had to come!" - -The speech thrilled with the inspiration of conquest. - -"Oh, my love," he cried, "haven't the years we've been separated been -dreary enough? Haven't they been empty enough for us both?--For you, -on your side, you love me; I know it!" - -Instead of answering she drew herself up. But he ignored these signs -of rebellion. - -"It was a misty day when I first saw you," he pursued, "and yesterday -also it was misty and wet, and all at once I understood that I had been -carrying the thought of you in my heart from the start. Rachel, you -are my heart!" he cried, borne on by the lyric power of his own -utterance. "And as I raced after you across that beach, I knew to a -certainty it was no one-sided thing. Rachel, that kiss, _your_ -kiss--it was not a childish impulse; and I dare to tell you so. We -took possession of each other, love, at the first glance! Can you deny -it? _Do_ you deny it?" compressing her hands. "No, no, you cannot!" -he concluded; "and that being true, it is beyond our own power or the -power of any creature, to part us now! Oh, sweet!" and his tone -changed quickly as he saw that she shook from head to foot, "look -around you,--isn't the world beautiful? haven't we a right to -happiness?" - -Dropping on his knees, he carried her hand to his throbbing breast. - -"Happiness?" she repeated, "no, no, not happiness! but peace perhaps, -and that comes--it comes--" - -He looked up into her face--up at the quivering bend of her lips, up -until his eyes found hers, drowned in tears and almost covered by their -fluttering lids--and into his glance flashed a subjugating power, an -irresistible force. - -She attempted to follow the line of her argument, a moment before so -clear, but the word "renunciation" died away in a sigh. - -She helplessly returned his look. - -And the gigantic statues increased her bewilderment; for the one -thought that seemed to leap behind the statues' staring eyes, between -their huge and rigid lips, in the hollow of their stony breasts, was -the naturalness of loving wildly. - -Emil dropped his lips on her wrist. - -Releasing the hand, she sought to repulse him, but instead, she -clutched his hair with a tenderness almost convulsive. - -"Oh, you are killing me!" she moaned. - -Drawing himself up, he tried to take her in his arms; but with sudden -violence, she forced his head downward. - -"Oh, you torture me!" she panted. - -He grasped her hands;--and once more, before her drowning sight, -wavered the statues. In a delirious flash she realized the similarity -of their fate. Like them, she was destined to stand forth under an -open sky, testifying to a command contrary to nature, but which had -been laid upon her kind from time immemorial. - -She pushed Emil from her, and pressing her hands to her breast, fled -head down from the place. - -Instantly he was upon his feet: - -"You are not going?" ...... - - -Among the statues, quiet, watchful, the words trembled and died away; -then in sympathy the statues seemed to shudder at that cry of agony and -surprise. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE ENERGY OF BEING - -Cabs were an infrequent phenomenon in that quarter and a crowd of small -boys,--eager, dirty, volatile, with thin bare little legs and miserable -little elbows, were gathered around the knock-kneed horse that -dejectedly hung its head. They were feeding the animal with dusty -grass plucked from between the cobblestones of the pavement. But at -Rachel's approach they fell away as if pushed away. The driver in his -tall hat bent to receive her order. She gave it without looking at him. - -Mad, uncalculating love, too long repressed, struggled in her with a -vague sense of shame. But at first the sense of shame was shadowy -indeed. Carried out of every perception but the throbbing one of her -loss of self in Emil, for a time she heard only his words "my own." -"Yes, yours, yours always," the blood proclaimed, and the soul's -contradiction sounded small and faint. Then, as the voice of -conscience grew stronger, she turned her head from side to side in -agony. Chaste and fiercely proud, she told herself she was a -humiliated woman. But not his the blame. All that had happened she -had invited. By her expression she seemed to be saying, "I will not -think." - -None the less she did think. She went over the scene from which she -had just issued, not once, but countless times, and at each repetition -she extracted from it the keenest misery, the most poignant bliss. All -the mystery and domination of her passion were written on her face and -at intervals sighs escaped her, mingled with breathless, -half-articulated words: - -"Oh,--he loves me--he loves me--and if it weren't for a certain thing -we could be happy." - -She paused, again borne out of herself by an animating memory. Once -more Emil stood before her with his glance, laughing, kindling, -melting. Once more he spoke. As she listened to all the mad, foolish, -electrifying things that fell from his lips, life seemed to break forth -in her in its plentitude. His words were to her panting heart what -rain is to the parched earth. She experienced a feeling at once -violent and divine. - -And she had repulsed him. - -The memory left her almost sobbing. She moved her hands; she lifted -her face with its tremulous mouth breathing a caress. For uncounted -instants she remained suspended in abysses of tenderness. Then she -braced herself with resolution. - -"No, no," she said aloud. "It's settled." - -The dead, expressionless words voiced finality. Thus the will brought -the heart temporarily into subjection. - -After innumerable involuntary returns to the scene of the marble works -she forced herself to give attention to her surroundings. Feverishly -she stared about her with breath suspended and lips a little open like -a child after a violent fit of weeping. - -As the cab rolled forward, with bare tracts, isolated houses and clumps -of trees revealing themselves on either side, to her superalert mind, -the city appeared a million-eyed, million-footed monster. Excitedly -she nourished the grotesque fancy, seeking in it escape from deeper -realization. With its great legs of brick and stone, with its -numberless eyes of glass, turbid and bleary, its voluminous, impure -breath of smoke, its voice of inconceivable uproar, the city was -encroaching on the innocent country. It was devouring it field by -field; it was swallowing down the sweet cottages which disappeared from -the landscape with miraculous swiftness; swallowing the brooks, the -woods, glutting itself and growing big at the expense of the fresh -country that never could be restored in all its natural beauty. "Yes, -yes, God made the country but man makes the city," she whispered. - -As the cab rolled on over more crowded pavements, her consciousness of -the scene through which she had just passed was dulled briefly, as pain -is dulled in a patient suffering with delirium. - -"Ah, how useless is all this bustle and confusion!" she thought -irritably. "Surely man could live more simply. But he is dedicated to -vanity, he must make a splurge. What was that I said to André this -morning? Oh yes--about the energy of being. Man must make a show, if -not for his Creator's satisfaction at least for his own. The Creator!" -she murmured bitterly, "He knows nothing of us! We pine constantly for -a liberty fuller than any we have ever known, and that accounts for all -our unwearying expenditure of force. Poor pygmies! Persisting deep in -the soul of man, is a vague, undefined sense, 'I am the heritor of the -infinite.' And so he works," she continued, "he produces marvels and -he thinks his immediate achievement embraces his entire object. But it -isn't so. And he opens his heart to passions; but his object is the -same. For back of the least labour into which he throws himself, back -of the most depraved emotion in which he loses himself, is a vast, -mysterious, subconscious searching; and that," she declared, "accounts -for everything." - -She was soaring now above herself, above the terror of her problem. -She was viewing the situation as the universal situation and her -thoughts were transfigured, rendered impersonal by the clearness of her -perception. She saw life no longer with the eyes of an inexperienced -and impassioned woman, but with the eyes of one made wise through -extremity of anguish. - -"It accounts for all the good that we do and for all the evil that we -do," she resumed. "Each chooses a road of escape, perhaps many roads, -and follows them madly. But," she concluded, "we never find that -larger freedom. We are tormented by the feeling of its imminence, but -it retreats ever beyond us. And finally we come face to face with the -eternal, basic fact of existence: _I am a prisoner_. That's what we -discover. We learn the truth. I learned it that night after the -opera. _I am the bird in the box!_" - -For an instant she held her head erect, then shrank, a pained and -huddled form, against the cushions of the cab. - -"Yes, I have my dream like the others," she whimpered. "But it isn't a -dream. Love _is_ a mode of escape. It is. It is. And it's my road. -But do I follow it?" - -The answer was a forlorn shake of the head. - -"Emil, my Father, Simon, Emily Short, that girl Betty Holden, even Nora -Gage; all--all wiser than I. They follow their instincts, creditable -or discreditable, they follow them and they glean at least some -satisfaction. While I--" - -The full tide of her misery, that which she had tried to evade, -inundated her. - -"Fool, why am I like that?" she muttered, "for some scruple, which God, -if he knows, probably laughs at me for respecting. As Emil said, -wasn't it God made us capable of love?" - -The tears had not come before. Now she checked them with her -handkerchief, but constantly they fell, constantly she gave long deep -sighs, heartrending, mournful. Presently a flaming, defiant thought -stood out against the background of her misery. There was relief in -action, even in the action that is called sin. - -"Madam would like to have me get her ferry ticket?" - -The greasy red face of the driver was peering down upon her; the cab -had come to a standstill. She had entirely forgotten why she was there -and it was only by an effort that she understood what he was asking. - -Once on the ferry boat, she leaned her elbows on the railing and, as -she listened to the talk of the water, she grew calmer. For it was -strange, wise talk with a laugh under it. The little choppy waves -seemed to be telling her that life was short and sweet. Grey and blue -and dun colour, pink and rose red, the waves shouted and sang together. -And above the roofs of the receding city, wrapped in the mists of -evening and the ascending vapour of traffic, the dull and yet flaming -disk of the sun hung suspended. - -A passenger disturbed her and she shifted her position. Important -little tugs towing huge rafts, and the arms of derricks being convoyed -over the water, like helpless giants, came into view; and for a time -the ferry boat passed into the sheltering shadow of a great bridge. -Emerging from one confused and sparkling distance and disappearing into -another, the bridge appeared like a tangible bow of promise between the -two cities. The sight of the cable cars and the tiny moving mites -that, like insects, slowly crawled over it, comforted her like a -friendly omen. - -But when they gained the other shore and she entered the station, the -locomotives, emitting great volumes of smoke, recalled to her mind her -grandfather's fanciful description; and she remembered with a pang how -she used to behold the world in an innocent and beautiful fashion. But -now she saw deeper, now she understood all. - -The rest of the trip she ceased to think. She had entered that land -known to every unhappy lover, that land in which the misery, longing -and fierce passion that consume his heart, constitute the one reality -in a universe otherwise cold and dead. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -IN THE GARDEN - -The sight of Annie, arrayed in a freshly-ironed white dress and sitting -in the carriage behind Peter, gave Rachel a disagreeable shock. - -"Mr. Hart thought very likely you'd come on the Express, and he sent me -along for the drive," and Annie moved her starched flounces that Rachel -might sit beside her. "Was it hot in the city?" - -"Yes, very." - -"And did you go to the marble works to see the new machine? Alexander -said that he had asked you." - -"Yes, I went there; but it was Saturday and they had closed down." - -"Oh--then nothing came of your visit?" - -Rachel shivered. - -"All the same," the other continued, "it's very remarkable, that -machine; and the best of it is, though I don't suppose you'll think so, -Alexander is entitled to all he makes on it and he's going to make a -good deal. You see, it's this way," she explained, "Mr. Watson, Mr. -Hart--none of the Company, in fact, took a bit of stock in that -marble-cutting scheme when Alexander outlined it for them. They said: -'There's nothing in it; you go ahead with the organ attachment, don't -let anything come before that; and work out the marble-cutting machine -on the side and you're welcome to all you make on it.' And Alexander -worked out the whole thing and even made the big model on three Sundays -and the Fourth of July, which came on Monday. Those four days were -sufficient, and it's proved a triumph--really a great triumph. But I -suppose he's told you. He said he was going to; and I thought it would -be all right, for I knew you'd be on Alexander's side and would see -that what he's done is perfectly fair." - -Rachel nodded. "Perfectly fair," she murmured. - -She had been asking herself while they had been driving along, what -Annie's mode of escape was. Now she knew. "It's the accumulation of -things," she told herself. "Annie thinks if Emil can earn enough money -so that they can have _things_, she'll be more than she is now." - -"If they pay him as much as they promised to, those Italians up there," -Annie continued, "I don't see why we shouldn't have a little cottage in -the fall on the outskirts of the city somewhere, and Alexander could go -in to his work." - -"Didn't I say so?" Rachel thought; and she was delighted at her own -astuteness. - -The carriage lamps were lighted and by the aid of these and the shining -of the full moon, she could see her companion distinctly even to the -tiny freckles that covered the bridge of her nose. Freckles and all, -however, Annie was looking undeniably pretty in a fresh and innocent, -if somewhat meaningless, way. Annie's emotions were those of a child, -Rachel told herself, trying to lighten her burden of self-reproach and -shame. - -They arrived at the gate of Gray Arches which was cut through an -evergreen hedge and guarded by two large ornamental lamps, that, being -rusty and out of order, were never lighted. The carriage rolled over -the sand of the avenue, past some large bushes of rhododendron and -arrived before the steps of the glass-enclosed porch. Simon hastened -out of the house and helped them to alight. - -"So you caught the Express all right?" he cried; then added, in an -undertone as he took Rachel's arm, "I sent her to meet you, because I -knew she'd enjoy the drive. St. Ives is in the city to-day and I asked -her to dine with us." - -A few moments later Rachel stood at the window of her room. - -Below in the garden Annie was standing beside Simon. He had picked up -a pebble from the path. "Do you know," she heard him say in the tone -he always assumed when communicating information, "I've noticed that a -great many of these pebbles are of the amethyst variety." - -"It's curious," she thought, approaching the washstand, "what Simon -sees in Annie. He can't do enough for her, apparently. She's over -here all the time now." - -She began drawing off her rings, but the wedding ring resisted and she -was obliged to hold the finger under a faucet. Her face assumed a -moody, desperate expression. The world had shrunk to the round of her -wedding ring. - -She plunged her face into the cold water. What should she put on? -Emil had called her beautiful. Was it true that she was beautiful? -She put on a light dress trimmed with insertions of real lace, a dress -much too elaborate for the occasion, and went downstairs. - -In the dining room the party was awaiting her, and Simon had lit the -wax candles in the large candelabra in honour of Annie's presence. In -the shifting radiance which is a peculiarity of candle light, Rachel's -beauty shone forth triumphantly. Annie in her freshly-starched frock, -with her smooth blond little head and her unimaginative glance, looked -like a daisy of the kind that grows by the thousand in the fields, -beside some rare flower that had opened its petals to their extreme -limit. There was no mystery in Annie; but Rachel was all mystery, all -passion, all fire. Something unusual escaped from the glances she -lifted, and from those she half-concealed. Shadows teased the corners -of her mouth and sank into the slight hollow at the base of her throat. -Light bathed her brow. Something that was at once the "joy of her -soul" and the grief of her soul trembled from between her parted lips. - -André could not take his eyes from her; and, as he looked, an -immeasurable anguish mingled with his delight. - -"I must catch the train in the morning, Rachel," Simon remarked as they -rose from the table, "a note from Theresa says Father is ailing. -Nothing serious, I infer, but I shall spend the day in town to-morrow, -lunch with him, and then I shall know all I wish. Watch a man when -he's taking his food and you can judge fairly of his condition." - -Rachel cast a scornful glance at her husband. Everything he said -to-night annoyed her. But his next words made her ashamed. - -"I wish I could bring Father out here," he added, "but the doctor is -against it and perhaps he's right." - -She turned impulsively with some idea of making amends for her -thoughts. But when Simon, as they were leaving the dining room, -inclined his head toward hers, she sprang aside, giving him a strange -look in the face. - -Of course she must tell him everything; but not to-night--to-night, she -thought, he seemed particularly contented. He had gone now to get his -hat. The clouds on the previous day had not emptied themselves. Now -they once more drove through the heavens, though the moon, at present, -shone victoriously. As Annie feared for her starched dress, Simon was -going to take her home at once. - -When the door had closed upon them, Rachel went into the front room. -André was sitting before one of the long windows, the casement of which -lay back against the wall. In one of the upper panes of glass, -swimming through a bank of wild clouds, the moon was reflected. It was -as if the moon were in the room. The heat had increased; lightning -played along the sky, and in the garden, the shrubbery, half shrouded -in a silvery mist, was motionless. - -"Play something for me, André," Rachel said; and going to the window, -she stood with her hands clasped behind her neck. How get through this -evening--how get through her entire life? - -"I thought out a piece after you left Pemoquod. I will play that for -you." And passing to the mantel, André took down his fiddle. "I call -it your piece," he added softly. - -But Rachel, her eyes on the gleaming garden, did not hear him. - -Presently, a mournful and plaintive air, like the voice of a child -giving way to grief, began to float through the room. It was -instinctive playing, devoid of skill in the technical sense; none the -less the sound of the strings was wistful, heart-rending. And suddenly -the song gained in force and rang out powerfully; the crude, -passionate, beseeching melody flowed from under the nervous, -swift-moving bow, and such tenderness and devotion mingled with its -flowing, such piercingly-sweet supplication, that Rachel, laying her -face on her arm, supported herself against the casement. - -And André, his dark head bent, his cheek pressed to the violin, -conscious that she was there before him in her rich dress, played like -one in an ecstasy. His body swayed, tears stood on his pale cheeks, -but his eyes were closed. - -At last, unable to endure the constantly recurring love _motif_, which -was sweeter than the moon, more fathomless than the white moon drowned -in space, Rachel fled through the long window. With a fierce movement -she lifted her arms above her head; then, as if broken, rested her face -against a tree. Rising from the ground beneath her feet, floating -between the branches of the mist-hung trees, thrilling through all the -spaces of the still and waiting garden, ran the fire of that exquisite -melody, sounded those strains of pure and youthful love. - -Presently a flowering shrub moved slightly. Some branches that -overhung a path stirred; then everything was motionless. - -She raised her head, her whole frame quivering like a tightly drawn bow. - -Out of the shadows, running rather than walking, Emil was advancing. - -With one movement she sprang to him and, uttering a low cry, he caught -her. - -Each on the lips of the other, their souls were drowned in oblivion; -for if he kissed her, she as openly kissed him; and if her cheeks were -drenched with tears, they certainly were not all of her own shedding. -Tempestuous, tragic emotion overflowed the hearts of both. In the -delicious anguish of their embrace, the memory of life with its pitiful -conventions dropped from them. Loyalty was an empty word, pity a name. - -Their clinging arms its walls, their shining eyes its stars, they stood -apart in a universe new-made. - -And from the old, old sky the moon that watches over this paltry world -of man with his misery and his bliss,--the moon looked down on them. -Changing her position on her cloudbank, like a head lolling lazily on a -pillow, the moon bestowed on the pair of bewildered children the same -glance of remote indulgence she recently had bestowed on the lovers in -the Garden of Eden. She threw her brightness over their clasping arms -and eloquent faces, and with her radiance mischievously deepened the -glamour of that supreme moment in their infinitesimal lives. Then -sinking amid the down of her pillow, she temporarily disappeared. - -"Rachel, what did you mean by leaving me the way you did this -afternoon?" Emil whispered, pausing long enough between his kisses to -hold back her head, while he looked down into her eyes with his own -which were fierce and wet; "Didn't you know it would be useless?" - -His words roused her from the spell that had enwrapped her. Freeing -herself with violence, she turned on him. The crimson had dropped from -her cheek like the colours from a mast head. - -"Emil, leave me!" - -His eyes glowed with a peculiar brilliance: - -"Leave you, my own? I'll never leave you! and you'll never leave me -again; that couldn't happen more than once!" - -And as she looked at him, she understood that he could conceive of -nothing strong enough to deter him from following the dictates of his -pagan and powerful nature. - -"Go away, Emil," she said dully, "if you have any love for me--any pity -even." Her brows drew together with hopeless obstinacy. She turned. - -With one stride he was beside her and had caught her hand. "Listen to -me, love," he cried, and a curious mingling of command, entreaty and -supplication trembled in the words, "to-morrow is Sunday, there is a -train in the afternoon at six; I'll wait for you in that little grove -near the station. Do you understand?" - -"No;" and she stared back at him, all in a blaze. - -"Oh, yes you do," he said gently; "I mean that we'll go off -somewhere--far, far away. We'll have a cottage on a beach, something -like this one here; and we'll have a boat. And there'll be nothing to -come between us any more. All that is past. We'll forget it, as if it -had never been, and we'll live for each other. And perhaps, later, if -you are willing," he pursued, carried away by his visions, "we'll have -Mother join us; for you'll take to Mother, Rachel, and she'll take to -you. Then, how I will work! I'll astonish you; I'll astonish the -world. I'll make you a proud and happy woman, but it will all be owing -to you." - -"But Simon--Annie--what of them?" she broke in upon him hastily, for -she feared this last argument more than she feared death. - -"Well, what of them?" he interrogated, purposely misinterpreting her. -"To be sure, Annie scarcely lets me out of her sight these days," he -added thoughtfully. "She understands about as much as a humming-bird -how such a chap as I has to do his work, and she's eternally standing -at my elbow and egging me on. It will be a little difficult to slip -away. However, I'll tell her that I'm obliged to see those fellows in -the Bronx,--which is quite true," he finished with a brightening smile. -"And then another thing that will make my getting away easy, Annie -takes a nap now every afternoon, so it can be readily arranged. We'll -simply walk away from this, Rachel--we'll leave it all." - -She heard in these words the declaration of one who refuses to be -fettered by life; who, instead of being hampered by its conventions, -rises superior to them. The simplicity of the point of view transfixed -her. - -Ordinarily Emil would have been swift to note and follow up the -advantage he had gained; but, as he looked upon Rachel, the quality of -her resistance struck him for the first time; thereupon that primitive -something which in him took the place of conscience stirred ever so -slightly. For a brief instant he saw the line of conduct he was -tracing so blithely for the pair of them, in a novel and uncomfortable -light. A burning emotion rose from the depths of his soul, and in its -wake it carried new and troubling questions. He waved his arms -vehemently as if to drive this brood of questions from him. But the -new emotion persisted, and seemed to fill his breast. - -"I don't pretend to know much about any question of right or wrong," he -murmured, all at once humble; "but it seems to me, love such as ours is -beyond all that. As for Annie," he went on, his confidence in himself -restored, "she won't be sorry to be rid of me when she gets over the -first surprise. Her parents are forever urging her to come home, and -you remember she did leave me a while ago. Ours was a daft marriage if -there ever was one," he continued, "for two unliker people were never -yoked together. And the life she'll lead with her parents will suit -Annie far better. Poor kitten," he commented with unwonted softness, -"she was never made for hardships, and we'll be doing her no wrong. -The thing I'm striving after means less than nothing to Annie, and -there's where you are different, Rachel. You'll be patient till I do -succeed; but I'll not keep you waiting long, sweet, for your presence -will brace me so that I can't fail. Then take your husband," he -pursued, with a steady glance under her lids, "is he a fit mate for -you? Ask yourself? No, no, my own, my darling, we are the fit mates!" - -Strongly, in spite of her swift denying, even with sobs, he drew her to -his breast. - -And through the garden, André's song of love struck on their ears. It -wrapped them round like the voice of their own passion. It increased -perceptibly in volume as though the player were drawing near. Then, -its strains which leapt on a sudden to those of triumph, ceased:--there -came a crash. - -Rachel struggled to escape, and she did escape. She retraced the few -steps of the path, she entered the house through the long window. -Something flashed past her and disappeared in the shrubbery. On the -sill she stumbled over a dark object which gave out a faint discordant -sound. It was André's violin with its strings still vibrating. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -FLAMES - -Some hours later Rachel sat at a window of her room with her forehead -resting on her hands. The clouds by this time covered the face of the -moon; and the darkness was enlivened by patches and scars of lightning, -as though the heavens were being laid open with a fiery whip. Rain -fell. A fine spray of moisture penetrated the ragged awning. Rachel -never stirred. - -A dull lethargy had descended on her. She no longer thought of Emil or -of her husband. She had but one sensation--the inevitable had -happened. The fury of the storm brought her a sense of relief. At -moments she felt herself being carried forward by a dark irresistible -current. None the less her determination, like an anchor, held. She -never faltered in her resolution to leave Gray Arches; she even heard -herself explaining the matter to Simon and she saw his face. His -fingers trembled through his hair, his jaw fell, all the blood receded -from his cheek. "But why disturb him?" she thought; "why should he be -made to suffer?" No, plainly, she must invent some pretext for -leaving, then go at once. She must not see Emil again. - -Without realizing it, Rachel dropped at last into a troubled sleep, -from which she was aroused by a rap on the door. - -"Oh, has he gone?" she cried, starting to her feet, and she pushed back -the hair from her face. "Has Simon gone?" - -The very possibility that her husband already had started for the city, -in view of her resolution, seemed to her a tragedy. - -Emily, after a short, sharp inspection of her, laid a pile of -freshly-ironed linen on a chair. - -"Yes," she answered, "he knocked at your door, but you gave no sign and -he didn't like to disturb you. Peter was slow harnessing and Mr. Hart -was afraid he wouldn't make the train, but he must have made it or he'd -be back by now. It is after eight o'clock." - -Rachel sank into her chair with huddled knees. She looked as if she -never intended to move again. - -Emily took her wrist. "Wouldn't you like your coffee here?" - -Rachel looked up at her stupidly. - -Emily repeated the question; she even broke into scolding as she -brought a loose gown to the other and insisted on her removing her -dress. But once outside the door, Emily extended both hands as if -appealing to a protective Providence. "A nice state of things!" she -muttered, with an expression of mingled pain, indignation and perfect -comprehension. - -But when she appeared with the breakfast tray a few moments later she -was as stern of aspect as before. After shaking out a table-cloth, she -placed the tray on a little stand at Rachel's elbow. - -But Rachel turned away. With her head propped on her two hands, she -stared in front of her; and nothing Emily could say served to draw her -from this state. - -That morning the little toy-maker could not work as usual. A tiny -parachute was very nearly ruined by an ill-directed movement of the -shears; and a piece of green satin for the aeronaut's coat was utterly -spoiled by tears, which she scorned to notice, falling upon it. She -was so upset that more than once the utensils of her craft rolled on -the floor while her hands dropped to her knees. To herself Emily -fiercely denied any attraction in Emil and she praised staunchly every -one of Simon Hart's qualities. - -About one o'clock Rachel, after refusing luncheon, left the house for a -walk; and Emily, having satisfied herself that the other went to the -beach, lay down on her bed. "Let her tire herself out; it is the best -thing she can do," Emily murmured, and dropped asleep, with a tear -standing in a furrow under one eye. - -The caretaker, who served in the capacity of cook, in company with her -husband and the other servants, was spending the day with friends and -would not return until late; even Peter, the coachman, was away for the -afternoon. Meanwhile, in this house far removed from the city, the -stillness which is peculiar to the Sabbath, deepened. - -Rachel walked the beach. She sat down, but immediately rose again. -Not only her own life, but all the life about her seemed suspended. - -Emil was on his way to the station now; in her mind she could see him -swinging along the road: so robust and naďve was his egotism, he would -never question for a moment that she would come. At the thought of his -disappointment, she began sobbing with her handkerchief to her lips. -All sorts of dark thoughts rose indistinctly from the depths of her -soul. Simon, save for one failing, was hopelessly free of faults; he -was almost perfect. Scarcely aware of what was passing in her mind, -she began picturing what would happen in case of his death. But there -was Annie. However, Annie could obtain a divorce; she could return, as -Emil had said, to her parents. Rachel arranged every detail of the -situation; but these scarcely articulate plans, these involuntary -dreams, were accompanied by a physical sensation of shame--revulsion. - -She shook herself free of the sorry brood and looked about her. Had -she been there an hour, two hours, five minutes? She did not know. -Presently a vesper bell from a distant village sounded intermittently -above the plashing of the waves. With her hand pressed to her heart, -she listened. Then she sped to the house. - -In the hallway the old-fashioned clock marked a quarter past five. -Three quarters of an hour more! There was still time to meet Emil! -And she pictured him waiting for her in the grove near the station, -impatiently scanning the road. Reaching her room, she flung herself -into a chair and clung to its arms to prevent herself from answering -the summons. Dumb, breathless, distraught, with her head hanging on -her breast, she listened to the measured ticking of the clock which -reached her from the hall. She could still restrain her body, but she -could not control her mind. - -"To-day decides my fate; either I go with Emil now, or I remain with -Simon forever. To-day decides my fate." - -She seemed to have a fondness for the phrase for she said it over and -over. - -"If I remain with Simon, all will go on as before; but if I go with -Emil--" - -She closed her eyes. The walls of the room dropped away and she saw a -landscape. Sedge grass bordered the road to the station. In it she -sank repeatedly and its brown waves washed over her head. But ever -before her was Emil. Infinitely multiplied, he smiled at her from the -leaves, the grass, the dust. The faces resolved themselves into one -face. He drew near; she was penetrated by his presence. All the love -in her, all the joy of which she was capable, was revealed. She -clasped her hands about his neck, she laid her face on his breast, and -the past with its futile struggles, its anguish, like a bad dream, -receded from her. - -Then she recognized the sunlight striking through the white shades of -the room. It was tracing the usual pattern on the floor and glistening -indolently on the brass knobs of the dressing-table. - -With a cry she started to her feet. Maddened, she began to heap some -articles into a dressing-bag. She was turning from her bureau to the -bag when John Smith's letter, which she had not yet read, caught her -eye. It was propped against the frame of the mirror. She put out a -hand. - -With his closely-written pages which she passed over, there was a -little yellow note directed to her mother in a feeble scrawl. Leaning -against the embrasure of the window, Rachel unfolded the note almost -against her will. But the more she endeavoured to fix her attention -upon it, the more confused she became. - -"My dear Lavina: I ought not to have left you--" - -She stared at the words, which trailed off into an illegible run of -characters; and the note with its message for another heart, stilled -now these twenty years, slipped from her fingers. - -Outside the sunlight danced on the multitudinous leaves and shimmered -on the gravel path. Except for the sound of the sea all was silence. -A passing breeze fluttered the paper at her feet and the room was -filled with the subtle exhalation of that old regret. - -She was on her knees. She still saw Emil, heard his voice; and as if -grasping something, she opened her arms and carried them back against -her heart while her whole frame trembled. - -Then the miracle held her spell-bound: - -_She had been saved from the irretrievable step; she had been plucked -back from the rock's edge_. - -Slowly, slowly the dry heart-flames subsided. As mists rose from the -ground in summer after the heat and fever of the day, so something pure -as childhood, sweet as the aspirations of early youth, rose from the -depths of her soul. All the treachery, all the longing of purely -selfish love was annihilated. It was one of those crises when the -heart sets wide its doors; when the emotion that was personal becomes -universal. - -The shrubbery was alive with insects, murmuring gently; and amid the -foliage of the trees, the birds were preparing to go to roost. They -had reached those wistful days in late summer, which by the sea fade -away in evenings of gold and rose, which fade away into the sea itself. -A little wind set all the leaves astir. As she looked toward the sea, -a wonderful serenity seemed to fall upon her from that radiant sunset -sky, seemed to light on her like a benediction from the dying day. - -She turned her eyes in the direction of the gardener's cottage. Owing -to a row of large trees and an intervening wall, barely more than its -red pointed roof was visible. Buried in greenery, bathed in the calm -light, it had, at this distance, an ethereal, unreal aspect, like a -cottage seen in a picture. About it nothing stirred. But, as she -looked, a trail of smoke appeared above a rear gable. This doubled -angrily upon itself, then spread out in the still air like a fan. It -became in an instant an all-enveloping sable mass crossed by licking -tongues of red. In the midst of the sweet country, the cottage in -utter silence was being destroyed, its burning but emphasizing the -surrounding peace. - -Rachel's feet scarcely touched the stairs. She was out of doors and -crossing the lawn without realizing her own movements. As she ran, she -cried for help. But she recollected that all the servants were away. -André had not been seen since the evening before; and, except for Emily -Short asleep in a distant wing, the place was deserted. She had gone -but a few steps when a cry of horror burst from her. _Annie_! Where -was Annie? When not engaged in hanging about Emil while he worked, she -was in the habit of visiting at the big house. But that day Rachel had -not seen her. Then she recollected Emil's words about his wife's habit -of taking a nap in the afternoon. - -"Annie!--wake up!--Fire!" - -Rachel's cries were confused. She was breathless, almost falling; but -despite this excitement, the wonderful sense of peace that had come to -her remained in her heart like a dove in its nest. - -She stumbled once as she crossed the lawn, and once her dress caught on -a branch. She wrenched it free. Beyond the wall the longer, coarser -grass impeded her steps and the rays of the setting sun, glancing -across the grass, seemed coming to meet her. - -"Fire! Annie, fire!" she called. - -She was near enough to the cottage now to make out that its windows and -doors were closed. She sprang up the path and the hot breath of flames -struck into her face. She tried the door, it was locked; and she -divined what had happened. Annie had feared to go to sleep with the -cottage open; when Emil had started for the station, she had locked -herself in. - -In a frenzy, Rachel beat upon the door with her flattened palms. The -vine over her head was fluttering in a keen breeze and all its leaves -were curling. She wrenched open the nearest blind and the slat already -smoking, scorched her hands. This house of old and seasoned timbers -was burning like paper. She climbed over the sill. - -Face down, with the skirt of her dress drawn over her head and across -her mouth, she groped her way to the chamber. She felt along the bed; -it was empty. Then out into the living room where the organ stood, -with lurid flashes playing over its keys, she stumbled. And there, -lying across the threshold, was something that yielded to her touch yet -resisted it. Gathering Annie in her arms, folding her in a spread -which she tore from a table, Rachel groped her way back to the window. -The walls of the cottage seemed drawing together like the fingers of a -hand about to close; but she scarcely felt the intense heat, was -scarcely aware of the suffocating smoke, because of that emotion which -was more than joy as it was more than peace. - -As she half-dragged, half-carried her insensible burden to the window, -she felt the joy of that Freedom of which she had ever dreamed. - -Annie's head fell back lifeless, and her arms hung inert; but a slight -shiver ran through her body, when, with a supreme effort, Rachel lifted -her to the sill. For an instant she balanced her burden there; then, -not knowing what she did, blinded by the smoke, the flames that all at -once darted out upon her from every direction, she thrust the body -through the window. - -She had a sense that it was received--that someone, in a frantic dear -and well-known voice, called her name. She tried to follow, to -struggle into the sweet air, where beyond the smoke and the flames, she -knew the leaves were still dancing. But something heavy, inflexible, -struck her head. - -She fell back into the darkness. - - -Some minutes before the flames made their appearance above the -surrounding trees, a sombre scene took place on a slight rise of ground -at the rear of the cottage. - -As Ding Dong, carrying a pail of milk he had secured at a neighbouring -farm, sauntered unsuspecting toward his master's dwelling, he felt -himself seized from behind by the waist and shoulders; his arms -grasped, bent, wrenched, his feet thrust from under him. Dumfounded, -he sprawled on the ground with fingers of steel at his throat. Athwart -a reddish haze he saw the livid countenance and bloodshot eyes of the -young man who had made his appearance at Gray Arches a day or two -before. - -With writhings and twistings, Ding Dong tried to wrap his assailant in -sinewy arms, to close with him, to crush him in a mighty embrace; the -other fought with the strength of desperation. - -Finally, pinning Ding Dong to the earth, André flung a look toward the -cottage. The flames were now mounting above the trees. A savage joy -distorted his face. - -He laughed. - -At the same instant Ding Dong, hurled him aside. Seeing the flames, -the fellow started for the cottage with André after him, but he had -gone but a short distance, when he halted and lifted his arm. - -A mournful procession was slowly crossing the open field in the light -of the waning day and André, rigid, his head advanced, caught the -flutter of a familiar dress, saw a deathlike face. - -The locked doors and windows had deceived him. Believing the cottage -deserted, he had sought to destroy the organ which, in his blindness, -he thought recommended the inventor to Rachel's favour; and he had -destroyed instead the object of his own devotion--his own love. - -The flames leaping into the sky revealed all the impotence of that act -of jealousy and revenge. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -LOVE CONFRONTS DESPAIR - -"No, we might disturb her, and she appears to be resting quietly. In -her case it's a little natural exhaustion. As for Mrs. Hart--the -spine, I'm afraid. She rescued this one, I understand. Well, she paid -the price. As for the young man, he couldn't have been in the water -above half an hour. Yes, a tragedy." - -The steps, which had merely paused at the door, passed on. - -Annie sat up in the bed. - -It was true then; that strangled awakening, that battle with the smoke, -Rachel's voice faintly heard. In her dream--or what she had been -striving to believe a dream--Rachel had saved her; and the dream was -truth. - -The impatient, not quite friendly Rachel throwing her own life away to -save hers! Annie's stunned mind failed to grasp the novel vision. A -lamp stood on a chair. Judging by the amount of oil remaining in the -glass receptacle, the lamp had been burning there for many hours. -Annie stared at the light; then, a little ball of misery and -bewilderment, she wept against the pillows. - -Presently the instinct awoke in her to find the one who was her natural -comforter. - -Slipping from the bed, she stood up on her feet. At first she swayed -dizzily. Then she managed to dress herself and quitted the room. - -She reached the lighted passage. The entire east wing of the house, -she discovered, was brightly illuminated. She steadied herself against -the wall and peered in the direction whence came a muffled sobbing. -Outside Rachel's door Simon Hart stood with his face in his hands. - -"Oh be careful!" he implored as she approached. - -He had heard somewhere that in cases of injury to the spine the least -jar to the patient was sometimes fatal. He looked at Annie without -recognizing her and the tears which he made no effort to conceal, -streamed down his face from his eyes which were filled with blank, -inconceivable despair. - -At that moment the door of the chamber opened; a physician emerged. -Simon caught him by the arms. - -"Is there no change, Doctor?" - -"Not yet. There--there, my poor fellow, have courage." - -"But I may go in for a moment? I don't ask to remain." - -"Yes, if you will be calm." - -"Oh, I will be calm, quite calm. You can trust me for that. But -wait--this trembling--" And with his massive shoulders bent forward, -Simon stole into the room. - -"What, you?" And the physician caught Annie's elbow. - -She looked at him. - -He released her. - -Between the muslin curtains, the night entered in its freshness. Every -breeze bore tree odours, vine odours, flower odours. In the subdued -light the bed gleamed an island of bluish white. - -They had placed Rachel on a flat mattress, not venturing even to braid -her hair. Instead, those rich and heavy locks that of late had -breathed so poignantly a youthful beauty and pride, were spread over -the linen where they framed the poor pallid cheeks. As she lay on her -back, the lines of her mouth appeared slightly accentuated. Her arms -were laid straight to her sides. Never did Death more completely -express detachment. At the bed's foot stood Emily Short, her apron to -her lips. A nurse in a starched cap noiselessly altered the position -of a screen. - -The thrilling brave act was apparent. Annie stood a figure abashed and -small and unworthy. - -Simon was unable to restrain his sobs. The physician laid a hand on -his shoulder and he obeyed as unquestioningly as a child. Bending over -Rachel he kissed her forehead; then followed the doctor out of the -chamber. Annie kept at their heels. - -The physician began to consult Simon about some matter and, unobserved, -Annie passed them. She descended the stairs. Under the door of the -front room there appeared a streak of light. She rapped: there was no -answer; someone was in there who could not answer. - -Filled with a confused memory, conjured terrors, she hastened down the -hall. Very carefully and with great difficulty she opened the heavy -front door and stepped out on the porch. In the light that streamed -from that east wing, she saw Emil. He was standing with his shoulders -against a tree. Her impulse was to run to him; she checked it. - -Beneath his disordered mane his face was wild and haggard, and his -eyes, raised to a certain window, were filled with an agony no tears -had come to relieve. Occasionally his chest lifted with a sigh. - -Seized by the selfish anguish of love, Annie thrust out her chin. - -_He did not belong to her, he belonged to Rachel_! She had always -suspected. - -The next instant, however, the memory of what was flashed before her -and like a flame for which there is no fuel, jealousy died in her -breast. And what remained? A disconcerted self that wept under its own -examining eyes. - -"I never could have done what Rachel did," she thought forlornly; "I -never could. And Emil knew she was different from me, he knew she was -strong; and he loved her. I don't blame him," with a low catch of the -breath,--"No, I don't blame him. How could he help it?" - -Hour after hour, sick and weak, she clung to a pillar of the porch -conscious only of an intensified confusion, a profound loneliness. -Gradually, as she listened to those long deep sighs, she ceased to -think of herself and longed to console Emil. But henceforth he must -hate her as the cause of Rachel's death. The realization sent her into -deeper shadow. - -So they stood within a few yards of each other and only when dawn began -to show faintly over the water, did Annie enter the house. - -She saw no one from that east wing but the doctor, who took her wrist, -feeling the pulse. - -"Not the thing yet," he said, "though a decided improvement over -yesterday. But you must show a better face than this." - -She asked after Rachel. - -He pretended to consult his watch. - -She stepped in front of him, "Is there any chance for her, Doctor?" - -He met her eyes then gravely. "There is about one chance in a hundred -of her recovery; but go and get something to eat. You will find the -servants about. I am going to the city now; I shall be back again on -the noon train." - -Annie went to the kitchen; she found the cook who gave her steaming -coffee. She did not drink the coffee, but carried it through the house -and out into the garden. She understood that Emil, fearing to betray -his grief, had moved away at the doctor's approach. She went to the -tree by which he had been standing and placed the coffee on the grass. - -A few moments later he returned. He did not notice the cup until he -had upset it; then he stared at the stupidly rolling china, and -immediately struck off toward the beach. - -Obscurely afraid of bringing shame on her who was dying, he shunned -everyone. He remained on the beach, alternately watching the house -from a distance, and pacing up and down. - -At noon Annie ventured in the direction he had taken. He was no longer -in sight. She went only a short way, then placed a basket of food -where it could not escape his eye. Her preoccupation with her husband -kept her from dwelling on more tragic matters. - -The next day, when she was taking his dinner to the shore, Emil spied -her. She set down the basket hastily and started to run. But he -beckoned to her and then called. - -She went to him, lifting up a suppliant face. - -His eyes as she drew near, held the look of an animal that consciously -awaits slaughter: - -"How is she?" - -As she did not answer at once, not knowing how to say what she must -say, he caught her shoulder in a grip that spoke the madness of -torture. "_For God's sake, tell me!_" he almost shouted. - -"There is one chance in a hundred, Alexander," she said; "but there is -one chance." - -His head went up and his hand dropped. - -Presently, with a convulsive breath: - -"I've been a coward. I've dodged the doctor--couldn't ask him." His -hands clenched. "Does she suffer?" he asked, and swung a look on her. - -"No, she does not suffer," Annie answered. "She lies there very still -as though she were asleep; and her husband stands outside the door and -will not let anyone move in that part of the house. And in the front -room, that strange young man who came the other day is lying dead. It -seems he was sort of unbalanced, and it was he who set the fire; Ding -Dong knows he did, for he tried to keep Ding Dong from giving the -alarm. And then he drowned himself." - -But her husband was interested in no one but Rachel. Haggard and -unkempt, he stared at the water. - -"I don't know anything about a God," he said slowly, "about a Creator, -but if He--if she lives," he amended, "I'll take my oath to give her up -as she plead with me to. I'll never trouble her again though it tears -my heart out. I ask only that she shall live." - -"There is one chance, Alexander," Annie said bravely. - -He looked around at her; then took her hand. - -They sat down side by side and stared at the waves. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -THE ESCAPE - -Annie waved one hand aloft. When she spied her husband on the beach, -she waved the other hand. Her movement suggested flying. - -"Conscious!" she cried, "she's conscious; she's going to get well!" - -Emil gazed at her as at an apparition. His knees bent, he dropped in a -heap on the sand. - -Annie stooped to him: "It's life--life--life, Alexander!" she panted; -"not death--life!" - -His arms went about his head. - -Annie knelt and put an arm around his heaving shoulders. She flung -back her hair, lifting her face. "Life, life, life!" she whispered. - -And it was life. - -Early on the morning of the third day following the catastrophe, the -doctor spoke cautiously of an improvement in the patient; there was -unquestionably a favourable change. But it was only when Rachel -followed the first vague opening of her eyes with a stirring of her -hands, that he spoke heartily of recovery. No injury to the spine, -that was clear. Merely a brain concussion, as he had hoped. But any -excitement coming to her now--the doctor closed his medicine case with -a snap. - -There was the difficulty. How to keep his wife in a state of perfect -tranquillity, this was Simon's problem. Hour after hour his vigilance -did duty in her chamber; but when they came, those questions of hers, -so weak he had to lean to catch them, yet charged with eagerness, he -knew not how to stem the tide. - -Her first word was of Annie. To Simon this question, after the long -stillness, was like a star trembling out of complete black night. He -could have wept on hearing her. - -"Is Annie safe?" she murmured, and followed the inquiry with a -beseeching glance; "is she well?" - -Mindful of his task, he lifted an admonishing finger, while answering -her strongly in the affirmative. - -"Annie," he said, "is safe and sound; she's as right as possible." - -She smiled up at him, a picture of peace and thankfulness. But a few -moments later anxiety spoke in a soft contraction of her brow: -"Emil--is he well?" - -"Yes, he's well; we're all well, and all of us in high spirits because -of you, dear. But you must obey the doctor." - -Once more Rachel exhibited a face of repose; but almost immediately her -eyes flew wide. - -"All?" she echoed, "you said all?" - -Simon repeated his words stoutly. - -"André too?" - -He bent his head with a stifled "yes." - -At something in his voice, she managed to lift herself, and as she -looked at him a colourless and piteous smile came upon her lips. - -"Not André," she said. - -"Why do you say that?" and, settling her on the pillows, he affected to -laugh at the fancy, but her changed aspect alarmed him. - -"Because of your face, because I did not see André after--" Her -features seemed hidden beneath a veil of dumb suffering. Then her -whole countenance shut on a thought; an immense concentration chained -her. Directly she felt for his hand. - -"André is still here?" she asked. - -"Yes." - -"May I see him?" - -Simon's look wavered and his eyes sank under hers. His attempt to -deceive was manifest, plain as the Writing on the Wall. - -"Oh not now," he said, striving for an air that should restore her -confidence, "you can't see anyone now, you know." - -But her suspicions were past allaying, though she swerved swiftly to -another question. - -"The fire," she demanded. "Do they know what caused the fire?" - -"Oh, some carelessness, doubtless. Mrs. St. Ives may have dropped a -match." - -Once more Rachel half lifted herself. She shook her head, scanning him -fixedly. - -"Annie was asleep--the cottage locked. Simon, is it known who set that -fire?" - -He gasped, unable to believe the astonishing thing: she was actually -taking the facts from his mind. He opened his lips, but she needed no -answer. - -"Oh," she whispered, on a long breath, "I understand. And _now_--now -where is he?" and her fingers closed on his convulsively. "_Now?_" -Her voice rose. - -Helplessly Simon met her look and his jaw hung. - -"He is dead," she said, and relaxed her hold. - -Seeing that she had guessed all through the marvellous second-sight of -love, Simon told her the story briefly, striving, however, to lessen -its sadness by relating it in a voice soothing as the ripple of a -stream. - -"And directions came to-day from the mother," he concluded, "so St. -Ives can start with the--the boy, to-morrow morning early. There's a -milk train passes through here at five; it will be flagged. In that -way St. Ives will make good connections. As for Mrs. St. Ives--" -Simon might have been telling her any news, save that he hastened his -speech a little as he struck into this new subject--"she goes along -too. She will stop in the city, however, for the John Street place is -all ready for occupancy and it seemed wisest-- My darling Rachel! my -own reasonable brave girl!" he cried. "You know you always said the -lad was not quite right mentally and he certainly had that air; the -servants all remarked it." - -From her closed eyes, over her white cheeks, her tears rolled steadily. -"Poor, poor André," she whispered. - -She knew--she guessed all. She remembered praising the organ -attachment to André. And later he had witnessed that mad meeting -between her and Emil in the garden. As she imagined the boy, lost, -wandering, inflamed with jealousy; remorse intolerable and overwhelming -filled her. She had driven him to the desperate act. - -Never the less Simon's gravest apprehensions were relieved. Almost -with the first glimmer of returning consciousness she had divined the -truth and it had not wrecked her, for after that first rain of tears, -the strange and lofty look of peace returned to her face. André had -been unhappy; now he was no longer so. His need of her guidance had -been imperative; now that need no longer existed. Dear heart, dear, -simple, clinging soul! And the comforting comparison struck her of a -little lost child with its hand safely locked at last in the hand of -the All-Father. - -She spoke no more until evening; then, as if pursuing a subject that -had just been mentioned: - -"And Emil will go with him? He will see André's mother?" - -"Yes, dearest." - -"And he will tell her the truth? For you must explain to Emil, Simon, -that he need not hide the truth from Lizzie. Any fiction about André -she'd see through: she's his mother. And Emil is to say that I will -write and that soon I will come." - -"Yes, he will tell her." - -"And before they start, Emil and Annie,--they will come here?" - -She was so bent on seeing them it seemed unwise to oppose her. - -When Simon leaned over her bed in the morning, he knew from her -expression that she was alert to the muffled commotion below stairs--to -those sharp hammerings, those stealthy treads, those -silences--throbbingly alert, although there was no diminution in the -radiance of her eyes. - -"They have come, dearest," he said, and left the room. - -Emil and Annie came forward. Never before at any time had they seen -Rachel as she appeared to them now. The courage of her strong young -face was mingled with a look of unutterable sweetness. She reached a -hand to each. - -Instantly Annie was on her knees and Rachel had her head in the curve -of a feeble arm. She pressed Annie's head to her breast with fingers -tremulous with blessing as a mother's. They said nothing--no words -were needed. - -Rising, Annie stole to a distant window. - -Rachel had kept her hold on Emil. Now once more she looked at him with -a smile that expressed more love than she had ever shown him before. -Such complete, such utter tenderness, he had never dreamed eyes could -hold. And yet in those soft depths so earthly-sweet, he saw -renunciation shining through devotion. - -He blanched. - -In a voice in which there was a tremour she could not control, Rachel -spoke of his work and of herself as watching his progress with -eagerness. - -"For I long, I long more than you can realize to have you make the best -possible use of your life. I have set my hopes on you, such high -hopes, Emil; and you will not disappoint me." - -Finally, panting a little but with electrical energy, with exquisite -passionateness, she spoke of the open vision of love. "It is," she -said, letting her eyes dwell wistfully in his, "the forgetting of -ourselves and--and the abandonment of our self-seeking. This is the -soul's way out. And it is the only way out," she insisted. - -At first he did not understand, but gradually as he listened, helpless -in his grief, her words opened out before him like a pathway that led -somewhere into peace. - -He looked down at her, his eyes flaming as if all his life had -centralized and focused within them. Then he bent and laid his -forehead on her arm. - -What with weak souls requires time, even long years, powerful natures -achieve at once. In the silence Emil's oath was fulfilled. - -Summoning Annie, Rachel kissed her; and the other, with timid -impulsiveness, slipped a little hand in that of her husband. So they -left Rachel. But at the door they turned. She was still gazing after -them with a mute, almost mystic concentration. Meeting their look, -however, she suddenly smiled and in her eyes was the splendour of some -newly-discovered truth. - -Something she had long wished for had been gained. She felt a sense of -supreme restfulness and this sense deepened and increased even as she -lent an ear to the sound of the wheels on the gravel, those wheels that -were carrying from her, through the stillness of the morning world, the -two who had loved her wildly and whom she had loved. - -When Simon returned, he found her leaning on her elbow. The nurse had -carried out the night-lamp and the chamber was filled with a wan -half-light. - -"The box, Simon, will you hand it to me?" - -He did not know at first to what she referred; his brow flew up in -wrinkles: then he brought the little Swiss clock from its place on her -dressing-table. - -"Now wind it," she said. - -He wound the pretty plaything, and placed it on her raised knees. - -Lying back on her pillows, her hands folded across her breast, Rachel -listened to the tiny bird, and as she listened, a little, tender, -understanding smile touched her lips. - -When the golden shell had closed over the performer she looked up at -her husband: - -"Its song is the song of freedom, isn't it?" - -But for Simon these words had no meaning. He had not slept for several -nights, and as he replaced the box in its former position, he stumbled. -He took a chair beside the bed and his head sank. Lower and lower it -sank until it rested on the pillow beside hers. She laid her hand on -it. - -And ever the day waxed stronger. Now as the mist began to lift, the -wild birds awoke in the garden. Here and there from a tree sounded a -tentative chirp. The air moved in currents of keener freshness. -Everything breathed of the dawn. Rachel turned her eyes to the sea and -on her face was the light of her inner vision. - -Thus Love solves all the problems that torture the soul of man; through -beauty and through silence, it speaks to the heart of a Freedom beyond -all its earthly dreams. - - - -THE END - - - - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bird in the Box, by Mary Mears - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIRD IN THE BOX *** - -***** This file should be named 55816-8.txt or 55816-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/5/8/1/55816/ - -Produced by Al Haines -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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