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| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-03-30 15:21:52 -0700 |
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| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-03-30 15:21:52 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/75754-0.txt b/75754-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f3c618 --- /dev/null +++ b/75754-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7122 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75754 *** + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: The first quarter of the Honeymoon!] + + + + + SOME + HONEYMOON! + + + BY + + CHARLES EVERETT HALL + + + + ILLUSTRATED BY + ROBERT GASTON HERBERT + + + + New York + GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY + + + + + Copyright, 1918, by + GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY + + _All Rights Reserved_ + + + + + CONTENTS + + CHAPTER + + I The Man of Business + II "Needles and Pins" + III "When a Man Marries--" + IV "His Trouble Begins!" + V The Arrow of Suspicion + VI Business Methods + VII Shock Upon Shock + VIII The Bridal Night + IX With the World Shut Out + X The Beginning of a Nightmare + XI The Nightmare Continues + XII Some Experiences of a Bridegroom + XIII The Eagle Eye of the House Detective + XIV Some Sleuth + XV The Cat Shows Her Claws + XVI The Duty Again Devolves + XVII The Private Buccanneer + XVIII It Is No Longer Farce + XIX An Outlaw in Fact + XX The Name On the Billboard + XXI In the Part of the Injured Husband + XXII "Who Is My Wife?" + XXIII In the Maze + XXIV Nemesis + XXV John Ryder Forgives Fate + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +The first quarter of the Honeymoon! _Frontispiece_ + +"No manager can dispossess me. I refuse to get out." + +Flung herself with abandon into John Ryder's arms. (_See page 129._) + +"I am another woman. I am not the person you married." (_See page +243._) + + + + +SOME HONEYMOON! + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE MAN OF BUSINESS + +When John Ryder put his foot upon the plank of the _Minnequago_ on +his return journey from Europe he was a bachelor of thirty-five +summers--and had never counted his winters at all. He believed, with +many another upholder of single blessedness, that a man did not begin +to count his wintry years until he was married. + +Just the same, as he walked up the incline of the runway he was +walking to his fate. Indeed, he came face to face with it as he trod +upon the deck of the ship and, almost bumping into it, politely +lifted his hat and said: + +"Pardon me!" + +The lady bowed silently and turned upon him a careless shoulder. +John Ryder allowed himself a second glance--and then let the steward +take his hand luggage below while he did something he had not done +since his early crossings. He hung about on deck to see the hawsers +cast off--a mark of curiosity that usually stamps the traveler as +quite new to the game. + +Even then he did not know why he did this. + +Business. Business with a big B. Business first, last, and all the +time. That was John Ryder, and so plain was it to most people who +met him that a tag on his back stating that he was a hustling +American business man would have been quite unnecessary. + +Ryder had been in the chase after the nimble dollar since he was +breeched. He was a self-made man, and although he was proud of that +fact he did not go around blowing about the quality of the product. + +People could take him for what he was--or what they thought he was. +He was not personally assertive, although he fully knew his own +opinion upon any subject to which he had given thought. He did not +consider it necessary to tell every person who interviewed him, or +show them by his manner, that he was really too busy with weighty +affairs to give their own little matter its proper attention. He +seldom cared what people thought of him as long as he impressed them +with his honesty of purpose, and that he was in earnest. + +That is, he had seldom cared until now. But he confessed to himself, +in the secrecy of his inner thoughts and the privacy of his +stateroom, that he was desirous of having at least one person aboard +the _Minnequago_ think of him as being every whit as good as he +really was, if not a little better. + +When a man's hard hit, that is about his first thought. He wants the +woman to think of him as the finest and best who has ever crossed her +path. And before bumping into Miss Mont as he boarded the ship, he +had actually never looked twice at a woman. + +She was a good sailor, and he had crossed back and forth so many +times that he was only seasick when the Old Salt in the story was +ill--on the occasion "that the ship went down and all hands were +lost." + +Ryder accepted his fate manfully on that very first time that they +paced the deck together. It was not easy for Ryder to admit that he +had met and fallen in love with a woman at first sight. It was +opposed to all his well-established theories. At his age he +considered himself case-proof. + +Yet never had a woman impressed him as did Miss Mont. When they +became so quickly such very good friends and she showed plainly that +she enjoyed his society, and even took him into her confidence with +little urging on his part, Ryder began to see that he would be +tempting Providence if he went ashore at New York without letting her +know just how he felt toward her. + +He had nobody to consider in this matter but himself; he had no +family. Miss Mont, she said, was in a similar situation. + +She had been adopted by people in Manchester when she was a small +child and had lived with them as their daughter until these foster +parents died. + +Other children had come into the family after her adoption, and they +did not look kindly upon the alien. So Miss Mont had come away. + +"I do not know much about my own people," she told Ryder. "Only that +my mother and father are both dead. There were several of us +children. We were parceled out like a brood of puppies. I know +nothing now about my brothers and sisters." + +So she had nobody to consider; there was no living soul to say her +nay, no matter what course she took in life. To John Ryder's +disappointment he found that she was on the verge of choosing a +profession for which he had a strongly rooted, if narrow, dislike. +Miss Mont had met some theatrical people in London. There was, +indeed, a certain agent, or manager, aboard the _Minnequago_ to whom +she had been introduced. + +This man had told her that he could put her on the stage. She had +the presence for it, and if her ability proved anywhere equal--well, +his talk had inspired her with the fever for a stage career. She had +done a little in a semi-professional way in London as an entertainer, +and this man, Sam Marks, had chanced to see her work. + +"And you know I need to work," she told John Ryder. "My bit of money +won't last forever. I should dislike teaching, and I couldn't work +in a shop, I know. I have a retentive memory, and I believe I should +'make good' as you Americans say, as an imitator. I really have some +talent." + +"You do not know what you contemplate," cried Ryder, and he was a +little angry. "The theater is no place for a domestic, home-loving +woman like you." + +"But it will bring me more money than other work." + +"It brings you a lot besides the money. It spoils a woman. It +spoils a man, too, for that matter. And it is the hardest work a +woman can tackle." + +"Some actresses draw large salaries." + +"And what do they pay for the pedestals they gain? You don't know +the mire they have to drag their skirts through. And some of it +always sticks." + +"I think you are prejudiced," she said softly. + +"Oh, I know there are exceptions. But there are no exceptions when +it comes to the hard work. When an actress achieves a lasting place +in her profession, it means that she has worked harder for years than +any governess, or seamstress--yes, or washwoman!" + +"I know it is kind of you to advise me," she said. + +"No, it isn't. It's selfish on my part. I'll tell you why. I love +you!" blurted out this man of business, who was noted for his silky +and diplomatic tongue when it came to a business proposition. This +situation was, however, almost too much for John Ryder. + +She gazed at him in utter astonishment. + +"Mr. Ryder!" she gasped. + +"Don't be surprised," said he, mopping his brow and glad the words +were out at last. "I'm no kid. I've been bucking the world for a +good many years, if my head isn't bald! I'm not likely to say a +thing I don't mean, or to try to fool a woman like you. I love you, +and I'll marry you the first minute we can after getting ashore, if +you'll agree. + +"And I'm not doing it through any foolish desire to keep you out of a +business that you'll be sorry you ever got into. I want you for a +strictly selfish reason. I want you because I love you--have loved +you ever since I first laid eyes on you on this boat." + +"But--but we know so little of each other!" she faltered. + +"What more have you got to tell me? It won't take you long," said +Ryder with a chuckle. He knew his drawing powers as an interviewer, +and could figure on Miss Mont's having told him about everything of +importance in her life. + +"As for me, I'm plain John Ryder. I'm just what I appear to be, +nothing more and nothing less." The sly villain, however, was hoping +she would think him a deal better than he was. "I've got some money. +I can make more. I'll keep you in comfort, and when I die leave you +enough to live on. + +"That may not sound very sentimental, but don't let it cloud your +eyes to the fact that I love you just as hard as any Romeo of the +lot. I'm not much on playing the lute under a lady's window; but +I'll be great on hustling out and, as we Americans say, 'bringing +home the bacon.'" + +"Oh, dear, Mr. Ryder! You make me laugh in spite of myself." But +she was actually wiping tears from her eyes. + +"That's right. I'd rather you'd take it laughing than crying. And +as far as in me lies," he added, solemnly, "I'll never bring tears to +your eyes, but always laughter to your heart," which was a +wonderfully pretty observation for John Ryder to make. + +Nor was he at first disturbed in the least when Miss Mont told him +she dared not answer on such short notice. She must think it over. + +"I like you," she admitted. "I am fond of you, I might say. But to +be bound to a man _for life_ upon so short an acquaintance seems +an--an awful thing." + +"Well, it is rather sudden, I suppose," admitted the American. +"Though I have often noticed that the most successful deals I have +ever put through are settled in short order--on the spur of the +moment, as you might say. Ahem! This, of course, is different," he +added, seeing her smile. "But take your time. Take until we land. +That's day after tomorrow. One can do a lot of thinking in that +time." + +And, from that moment, he religiously refrained from recurring to the +theme in conversation with her, which showed plainly that John Ryder +was a novice at the game of winning a woman's love. + +But before the _Minnequago_ steamed safely through the Narrows into +New York Bay, Ryder saw Marks, the theatrical agent, walking with +Miss Mont on the upper deck. They were in close talk for more than +an hour. + +He had never particularly noticed Marks before. Now he found him a +most objectionable looking person--squatty, with bulbous arms and +legs, and his eyes half hidden behind heavily creased lids. Ryder +was stabbed by jealousy, and did not know what the strange emotion +meant. He went to his stateroom and wrote a note to Miss Mont. + +It was a kind note, a just note. It pointed out the fact that he was +still waiting for his answer, that he could prove to her an hour +after they landed just who and what he was, and that he could do all +for her that he had said. He added that he desired her answer by the +time the _Minnequago_ docked. + +Strictly business, you see. If he had been pulling off a deal with +another man and somebody like this Sam Marks had put in an oar, this +was about how John Ryder would have handled the situation. She must +choose at once between Marks and him--between the position she would +gain by wedding him, and possible success upon the vaudeville stage. +Had the ideas expressed in the note not been clothed in the kindest +terms and had not a strong current of downright love permeated it, +any woman might have taken umbrage. + +Ryder knew he had said nothing that could offend. Therefore, he was +the more surprised that no response to his letter was brought to him. +He remained away from the general table at dinner that last night +purposely. He did not wish to meet Miss Mont again until he knew +exactly what her answer was to be. + +The evening passed without his receiving any reply. In the morning +as they swung into the dock at an early hour he asked the steward if +there was any message for him and received a negative answer. + +He had made his declaration and waited with his repacked bag until +most of the passengers, he was certain, had gone ashore. Until the +last moment, when he came to the gangway, he hoped to get some reply +from her. Or was she waiting for him to tell him verbally her answer? + +She was! There she stood upon the dock as he went down the +gangplank. She was looking eagerly toward the ship. Ryder felt a +sudden tingling warmth at his heart. His love for this girl, so +strangely born, made his pulse go at a gallop and brought a flush +into his sea-tanned face. + +She saw him, and the faint flicker of a dawning smile overspread her +sweet countenance. He approached with outstretched hand, his heart +in his eyes--an expression that no woman could mistake. It told +her--that look--as plainly as though he cried it aloud: "I love you!" + +The girl put out her hand--both her hands indeed--impulsively and met +his grasp with one quite as warm. Her eyes searched his face, +perhaps with a puzzled expression at first when he approached; but +afterward with decided approval. + +"What have you to say to me, my dear?" asked John Ryder, strong in +his belief that she could have only waited for him with good news. + +A blush suffused her face. Her lips parted--parted in such a shy and +lovely smile--as she said in a low voice: "I--I will marry you." + +"Good!" he almost shouted, and immediately added: "When?" + +"Whenever you like," she whispered, and no woman since the world +began ever gave herself so completely into her lover's keeping, John +Ryder was sure, as did this woman whom he loved. + +"Then as soon as we can get the license and I can arrange certain +matters," he said quite composedly, despite the accelerated beat of +his pulse. "We will drive first to the City Clerk's office. There +is some red tape about the matter, I believe. Then I will take you +to a hotel where you may lunch. I shall need several hours for +business before the banks close. Then we can go at once to a +minister of whom I know." + +"Oh! can it be done so quickly?" and she caught her breath, though +with a little laugh. + +"Don't be frightened," he said tenderly. "It will be all right. +Where are your trunks?" + +"On their way to the Pennsylvania Railway station, I believe." + +"So soon? Were you getting ready to run away from me?" he asked in +some little surprise. + +"No-o." Then she laughed and tossed her head with that gesture that +had become familiar to him--which he had noticed so many times aboard +ship. "I was getting ready to run away with you," she whispered. + +He laughed, tucked her hand under his arm, and they walked up the +dock. Near the gate he saw Marks standing. Miss Mont did not chance +to look his way, but Ryder saw that the theatrical man observed him +and smiled sardonically as they passed. + +"Confound his impudence!" muttered Ryder. + +Then he glanced at the woman at his side. She was certainly +beautiful, with plenty of warm, rich color in her cheeks, the +blackest of level brows, the very whitest of skin. + +"By heaven! she's a treasure," thought Ryder, as he hailed a taxicab. +"And I'm a lucky fellow to get her. To think that, in a few short +hours, she will be Mrs. John Ryder!" + +A foolish little mist obscured his vision, and he stumbled on the +step as he followed her into the cab. She laughed. + +"You won't get married this year if you stumble upstairs," she said. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +"NEEDLES AND PINS" + +None of his business associates, not even his head clerk, knew just +when John Ryder would return to New York. He had gone across for a +rest--a pleasure trip; but he had struck some splendid +contracts--"the woods were full of them," he said--and he cabled +orders until his agents in America fairly begged him to stop. Prices +for raw material had not yet risen to top-notch, and they were +skimming the cream of the manufacturing situation. + +He arrived on the _Minnequago_ with none aware of his coming. Nor +did he propose to tell anybody of the change he now contemplated to +make in his private life. + +Had he done so, he knew that certain "good fellows" of his +acquaintance would undertake to make existence an agony for him and +for this beautiful girl whom he was to marry. It seems to be the +delight of a certain order of mankind to make the sweetest, most +intimate hours of a newly-married couple a Saturnalia upon which they +can only look back with horror. + +Ryder was practically free to do as he pleased, and what he pleased +to do was to take time to get acquainted with the charming woman at +his side. They must go somewhere for their honeymoon where he would +not be likely to run into people he knew, and where he and his wife +could be quiet and undisturbed. + +Getting the license was neither a long nor troublesome matter, for +they were the first at the clerk's office. He signed his name "John +Ryder," knowing that there were probably a dozen of the same name in +the directory and the publication of it would scarcely warn his +friends of what he was doing. The girl signed after him, and surely +nobody--unless it was that detestable Sam Marks--would realize who +she was. + +"Who will marry us?" she asked, leaving all the details to him very +prettily. + +"We could be married right here in the chapel," he told her. "But if +you would rather, I know of an old dominie on Bank Street." + +"How funny!" + +"Why?" + +"That you should know anybody in that part of New York. That is +Greenwich Village, isn't it?" + +"Yes. You seem to have studied your map of the town." + +"Oh, I have learned a little something about New York," she +responded, smiling slightly. + +Aside from this brief interchange of remarks, there was very little +said as the taxicab rolled uptown to a quiet hotel. Both were doing +some very serious thinking. It was not a situation to provoke +trifling conversation. + +Ryder arranged for a parlor where Miss Mont could remain quietly +during his absence. He did not delay for luncheon himself, but did +not forget to send up a dainty repast for his bride-to-be. He walked +into the offices of John Ryder & Company about noon and cast the +whole force into first a state of confusion, and then of wonder. + +He was usually the most methodical of persons and went through with +any business--even the routine work of the day--in a most exemplary +manner. There was seldom any friction in John Ryder's offices when +he was there. From his chief clerk and his personal stenographer +down through the strata of employees to the very porter, system was +inculcated into their daily lives both by precept and the example of +the "boss." + +Today he literally tore what little system there was left in his +force to shreds. He started several people on the same errand; he +dictated the same letter three times and in as many different ways. +His stenographer, a very severe young woman, came closer to him than +she ever had before in her life and sniffed his breath. Drink was +the only explanation she could think of. + +He gave Brumby, his chief clerk, orders which absolutely antagonized +each other, and when the man tremblingly pointed out this fact to +Ryder the latter actually lost his temper. + +"Well, confound it!" ejaculated John Ryder, "you know what I mean, +don't you? There's only one sensible way to do that thing. Do it, +and don't bother me!" + +Inexplicable! Nobody had ever seen Ryder in such a state of mind +before. He was one minute as snappy as a mud turtle; the next he ran +his hand through the curly red mop of hair on the errand boy's head, +gave him a dollar, and told him to take in the next ball game at the +Polo Grounds without troubling himself to tell Brumby that his +grandmother had died. + +But to capsheaf his entire performance on this occasion, Ryder sat +down again to dictate a few notes on personal matters and began the +first one by saying: + +"Ahem! Are you ready, Miss Nelson? Here goes: 'My dear Rose'--Good +Lord! that isn't it. Er--er--Write Hallett and Mayes about the +renewal of the lease of my apartment. Tell them--er---- Well, write +it yourself, Miss Nelson," he concluded in much confusion and +beginning to perspire. "I shall not renew it. It runs out the first +of November and I shall make--er--ahem!--a change." + +She stared at him in amazement. John Ryder had occupied the same +chambers on the north side of Gramercy Park for ten years and was +considered as permanent a fixture in that neighborhood as the fenced +and locked garden in the middle of the square. + +"Well, hang it!" he demanded, catching her wondering eye and losing +patience again. "Can't I make a change? I hope I'm not _married_ to +those rooms?" + +And then he reddened furiously. Miss Nelson gazed upon him with +dawning understanding. She was not a young woman whose thoughts +lingered much upon the tender passion; but she was by no means a +fool. She knew now that her employer was not intoxicated. + +Brumby might think Mr. Ryder suddenly bereft of his senses; the +bookkeeper could say that "the old man" was about to "bust"; and the +red-headed office boy could declare that the boss had felt the change +before death when he gave up the dollar, but Miss Nelson knew now +what the matter was. _Mr. Ryder was in love!_ + +When she went out for her lunch she--the frigid Miss +Nelson--sentimentally bought a flower from a street vender and +brought it back to the office. But by that time John Ryder had +cleared up all the matters he considered really vital, had given +Brumby a nervous shock by telling him to expect no word from him, +Ryder, for at least a fortnight, and had left the offices. + +All these petty details of business were the "needles and pins" of +life. For the first time in his business career Ryder found that he +hated business. He fairly walked on air as he hurried to the subway, +crowded himself into an already crowded train, and was transported +uptown. + +A few steps to the hotel--then the elevator--then the carpeted +corridor to the door of the parlor where he had left his bride. A +knock, a swift patter of feet in answer, the turning of the key, +and---- + +She was there--a vision of delight to him! Her coat and hat were +already on. His heart glowed. She had been as eager for his return +as he had been to get back to her. + +"Are--are you ready?" was all he could say. + +"Yes," she murmured, quite as embarrassed. + +Ryder remembered the old parsonage on Bank Street very well. He had +been wont to go to the church hard by when he was a boy. The same +minister was not there now, but the present incumbent had a peaceful, +old-world face, was silver-haired and kindly spoken, and might have +been the same whom Ryder remembered. + +The clergyman welcomed them as though he were well used to such calls. + +Miss Mont was shy and kept her veil down until the clergyman's wife +and a servant were brought in to witness the ceremony. Then she +plucked up courage, raised her veil, and if her cheeks were +tear-stained nobody remarked it. The old man stood before them and +pronounced the simply worded ritual with grace and kindliness. + +Ryder himself felt confused. It was really the first time he had +ever been present at such a ceremony. + +"With a ring?" the minister asked him softly before he began, and +Ryder knew just enough to nod and then fumble in his inner pocket for +a tiny leather case which he always carried. + +Out of this he brought forth, happily at the right moment, a plain +gold band, worn rather thin, and with letters engraved on the inner +side that were almost indecipherable. It had been his mother's +wedding ring--the one keepsake that had come into his possession as a +boy from the parent he scarcely remembered. + +The girl evidently understood when he produced the ring. She smiled +at him tremulously and, before the band was slipped on her finger, +she touched her lips to it. + +Then: "You, John, do take this woman, Ruth--" and so on to the end. +Ryder responded as though in a dream. It all seemed unreal. Serious +as was the moment, the undercurrent of his thought was: "'Ruth?' +That is a pretty name. But I got the idea somehow that her name was +Rose." + +They were married. Ryder feed the minister with a liberality that +made his withered cheeks flush with pleasure. The clergyman's wife +kissed Ruth heartily, and the servant, who was sentimentally +inclined, wiped her eyes furtively on the corner of her kitchen +apron, which she had forgotten to take off when she came into the +study. + +They went out to the taxicab again, the chauffeur of which was +grinning knowingly. + +"Now, dear, where shall we drive?" asked John Ryder. + +"My trunks are at the Pennsylvania station by this time I am sure. +May I choose where we shall go?" + +"Of course," he answered, though he felt some surprise. + +"Then let it be Pinewood." + +"Why--why," Ryder cried, "you must have studied this business all +out. Ah, you sly girl! What put Pinewood in your head?" + +"They say it is very nice there--and quiet--at this time of year. It +will remind us of old times," she added dreamily. + +Afterward when he was attending to the checking of her baggage and +arranging for his own to be sent on from the steamship dock, it +suddenly smote Ryder that her remark about Pinewood reminding them +"of old times" was peculiar. + +This was Ruth's first visit to America and surely he had never been +at Pinewood in all his life! Later he forgot to speak about it. +Indeed, he was too busy and too happy to be curious. + +He telephoned ahead for a suite of rooms at the only hotel which, he +understood, was open at this time of year at Pinewood. This was the +Pinewood Inn, one of the oldest and best-known hotels on the coast. + +Somehow there is a "newness" sticking to bridal couples that no +amount of deception can hide--from the eagle eye of the railroad +porter least of all! The colored functionary on their car hovered +about them as though they had been especially placed in his care, and +his attentions were so marked that they might as well have come +aboard showered with rice and old shoes. Everybody in the coach very +soon knew that they were newly wed. + +To tell the truth, John Ryder was inordinately proud of it. He was +as delighted as a boy. It was an effort for him to retain his usual +dignified bearing. A smile was continually breaking through the calm +of his features. He wanted to shout or sing--and he sang like a crow! + +From a heretofore modest and retiring man socially he suddenly became +bold and daring. He secretly wished to strut about and brag of +himself, and show off his wife. He would have liked to distribute +"largess" (whatever that might be) to the people at the stations +where the train stopped; and he tipped the porter three separate +times before the train was ten miles on its way. + +He had reason, good reason, for being proud. When Ruth removed her +veil and hat she was startlingly beautiful. Somehow there had come a +new expression into her face that increased her attractiveness. She +had never seemed so sweet, so gentle and modest, so altogether +adorable before. + +They reached their railroad destination just as dusk was falling. +Pinewood Inn was exclusive--so exclusive, indeed, that it was back +among the pines quite twelve miles from the station. A motor bus met +all trains and transferred the arriving guests to the hotel. + +"Just a pleasant half hour's run," Ryder told his bride, helping her +into the vehicle and getting in himself with several other arrivals. +"We shall have an appetite for dinner I fancy." + +He was just then reminded that he had eaten nothing since a modest +breakfast in his stateroom on the _Minnequago_--not even on the +train. The bus rumbled away from the hamlet that surrounded the +railroad station. They swept into the brown shadows of the pines and +rolled almost silently over the velvet carpet of the needles. + +"Needles and pins, needles and pins! When a man marries----" The +old rhyme came into his mind again. But he had thrown off all petty +details. The needles and pins of business, or of anything else, +should not rankle in his mind. This was the beginning of his +honeymoon. + +And just then the motor bus slid down a slight slope to a long bridge +that crossed the salt creek dividing the island, which the railroad +crossed, from the higher ground where the hotel was located. Ryder, +glancing ahead, thought he saw the flash of a red light. + +Then a woman screamed and the forward truck of the motor bus crashed +through the loosened planking of the bridge. The passengers were +tumbled together, but nobody was hurt. Ryder found himself holding +Ruth in his arms--and somehow he did not care to let her go. + +Men and women began to scramble out of the bus, having hastily +gathered together what hand baggage they had taken inside with them. +It was a time of confusion. A handbag was dropped, calling forth a +grunt of protest from someone whose toes had been hurt. An umbrella, +caught crosswise in the door, caused delay and more confusion. + +"I--I fancy we shall have to get out with the rest of them," Ruth +whispered. + +"Oh, I suppose so," Ryder admitted. + +They were the last to leave the stalled bus. The driver was +explaining: + +"I didn't suppose these country fools would begin to repair the +bridge flooring tonight. I didn't see the light. 'Twas all right +when I came down from the hotel. Guess you'll hafter walk. It'll +take half the night to jack this old car up out of the hole. And +see! they've left only a footpath the length of the bridge. I bet +they'll leave it that way till over Sunday. Just like 'em." + +The guests, already in sight of the hotel lights, went on with +laughter or grumbling, as their dispositions dictated. The incident +seemed quite unimportant to John Ryder, bemused as he was in the very +first quarter of his honeymoon. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +"WHEN A MAN MARRIES----" + +Ryder and his bride climbed the winding road to the wide and pillared +veranda of the hotel behind the other shipwrecked passengers from the +motor bus. In the rear of the hotel was a considerable village; they +could see the twinkling lights in the small frame dwellings and the +glare of acetylene lamps in the big general store. + +"I--I really think," Ruth observed, "that the bridge is not safe. +Didn't it tremble as we came over it?" + +"Seemed rather a rickety affair, that's a fact," Ryder agreed. "But +we're all right now. We've reached the hotel. It looks friendly and +comfortable--and old-fashioned. Nothing much untoward can happen to +us here, dear." + +He said it tenderly, and looked at her lovingly. Nothing more was +needed as they entered the wide foyer to advertise the fact that they +were newly wed. The clerk--and even the bellboys--welcomed them with +broad smiles. But Ryder was getting hardened to the notoriety of +their situation now. + +He went to the desk to register and get the key of the rooms he had +ordered before leaving New York, while Ruth went toward a quiet spot +which overlooked the entire foyer to wait for him. + +His business finished, Ryder turned to look for his bride. He saw +men standing or sitting about, talking, smoking, and reading. He saw +women, knitting or crocheting for the most part, in the foyer and in +the parlors, into which he hastily looked. But where was Ruth? +Where could she have gone--and why? The bellboy waited at the +elevator, while Ryder stood helplessly, not knowing what to do. + +In a moment Ruth came from around a corner in the hall, eyes shining +and a smile on her face. When she caught sight of Ryder, she went +directly to him, unheedful of all others, and a deeper expression +sprang into her happy eyes. + +The man felt moved to the depth. Could this look be for him? + +"I have been exploring a little," she said, as she came up to him, +"and this is a lovely place to stay. I am glad we came here." Then, +dropping her voice so that no chance passerby might hear, she added: +"Oh, I am happy--so happy--too happy, almost!" + +Ryder had the whimsical thought as he crossed the foyer with his wife +that he would like to shout aloud his own happiness and exultation. + +He hung back just a moment before entering the elevator with Ruth, to +give a bellboy some money and certain instructions. Then the couple +were shown to their rooms. + +"Oh, they are fine! Lovely!" cried Ruth delightedly, as soon as they +were alone. "You dear boy! I believe you engaged the best suite in +the house!" + +"The best I could get," admitted Ryder modestly. + +"But you mustn't be extravagant," and she came close to him, smiling +directly into his eyes with a look in her own that almost dazzled him. + +"Folks can afford to be extravagant at this time if at no other," he +declared stoutly, wondering if she knew the Pinewood Inn people were +charging him thirty dollars a day for the suite. + +"You--you are a dear!" she said, and, putting her hands suddenly on +his shoulders, she pressed closer, offering him her lips. + +The gracefulness of this little gesture was delightful. Ryder felt +the flush rise in his cheeks as though he really were a youth. In +that instant, when he first kissed his wife, he felt keen +satisfaction that he had lived a clean, decent life and could meet +her innocent caress without shame. + +"I believe you are going to be a disgracefully indulgent husband," +she said, laughing and gliding quickly out of his arms. "I must stop +that. You will make a wreck of your ship of fortune on the rock of +an expensive wife." + +"Oh, there are a few shots left in the locker yet," said Ryder grimly. + +They could not dress for dinner as Ruth's trunks had not yet arrived +and his own luggage would not be along until the next day. Ruth had +toilet articles and brushes in her bag and she brought out of this, +too, a wonderful little dressing sack, all ruffles and ribbons and +lace, to wear while she dressed her hair. + +"May I smoke?" Ryder asked, sitting down to wait for her. + +"Of course. I like to see you. It--it seems so homey," and she +showed him a blushing face and sparkling eyes for an instant at the +curtained doorway of the inner room. + +She reappeared in the dressing sack, which was cut to reveal most +charmingly her throat and forearms. Ryder watched her lazily through +the smoke of his cigar while she performed the graceful rites of the +hairdresser. He never remembered having seen a woman brush and +arrange her hair before, and this intimate and innocent art of the +toilet thrilled him. + +She had finished and turned to him with a smile for his approval when +there came a rap on the door. She tripped across the room and opened +it. + +"For Mrs. Ryder," mumbled the boy. + +"Oh! I thought they were for me!" Ruth exclaimed disappointedly. +"You have come to the wrong suite, boy," and she closed the door +lingeringly. + +Ryder sprang up, laughing. "What was it?" he asked. + +"Oh, such lovely flowers! A great heap of them." + +Ryder strode to the door, still chuckling. + +"She hasn't had it long enough to know her new name," he thought, and +opened the door to call after the boy: + +"All right! Those flowers come here, sonny. Let me have 'em." + +He came back, bearing the heap of blossoms in his arms. "They're for +you, girlie," he said. + +She uttered a little scream of delight and came at him like a small +whirlwind. But she could not encircle both him and the roses in her +embrace, so she satisfied herself for the moment with the flowers, +sitting down in a low chair, with her face buried in the fragrant +blossoms, and rocking herself to and fro in delight. + +"You will spoil me!" she said, looking up at him, as he stood above +her with that broad, quiet smile of his stealing over his big face. +John Ryder was by no means a handsome man, but he was good to look +upon because of his manliness. "These are so beautiful! Let us fill +every vase in the suite." + +This they did together. And every time their hands met (and, oh! how +many times this happened as they divided or arranged the flowers) +they both thrilled at the contact, looking at each other and smiling +and coloring like two children caught in some innocent escapade. + +It was a happy hour--an hour quite unmarred by a thought or a +suspicion of any possible disaster. On his part Ryder had forgotten +what trouble was like. + +The patronage of the hotel was large all the year around, and at +dinner they held the good-natured attention of the entire +dining-room. There was a good orchestra, attentive waiters, soft +lights, the murmur of conversation, fine women in fine +gowns--everything to make the place attractive. Mrs. John Ryder in +her plain traveling dress, however, was eclipsed by none of the other +women. + +Ryder, watching her, saw many approving glances from other diners, +too, and smiled. He was thinking how she would shine--this jewel of +a woman he had married!--when she had time to find some real "bridey" +finery. She looked like a little brown thrush now; she would look +like a bird of paradise when he had given her _carte blanche_ at a +Fifth Avenue modiste's. + +He allowed her to go upstairs alone after dinner while he strolled +into the office for some cigars. Several of the men he had seen at +the tables were grouped there talking earnestly, and as Ryder stood +at the cigar counter he overheard loud voices from the private office +of the manager at the rear of the stand. + +A man near by was saying: "I tell you the bridge has sunk in the +middle--it's impassable. All that held the wabbly old thing together +were the flooring planks. This town is as far behind the times as +any yap hamlet I ever saw. Why, we're actually stuck here till they +build a new bridge! Can't get a machine over it, or through the +tide-water; and the railroad bridges are nothing but skeletons, you +very well know." + +"What about going over to Bearsburg----" + +"Nothing doing! The roads behind this hotel are the worst in the +world. The main road is impassable for autos because of the work +being done on it. It will be a good road some time next spring. As +for the other highways, they are merely lanes and farm paths." + +"Guess you are marooned here, then, Carey," chuckled another. "Might +as well make up your mind to it. Come on! let's see if we can't get +up a game and murder a little time." + +At that moment the door of the manager's office opened and the clerk +come out. He had a worried expression of countenance. Now, hotel +clerks are supposed to be urbane at all times. Flood or fire should +not alarm the well-trained hotel clerk. + +Ryder looked quickly into the inner room. He saw the rather fleshy, +white-waistcoated manager--a man of evident choleric temper. He was +talking loudly with a plainly dressed man who had a paper in his +hand, which he was evidently insisting that the manager accept. + +"You must accept this service, Mr. Bangs," the smaller man +interrupted, the manager stopping his sputtering long enough to catch +his breath. "It is not my fault, and personalities make no +difference. I am merely a court officer. This is returnable next +Monday. Shall I read you the original paper?" + +Bangs seized the paper offered him and swore largely. "You get out +of here!" he roared. "I'll fix Giddings for this trick. Dispossess +me, will he? I'll show him! I'll--I'll ruin his old hotel for him!" + +Ryder walked away with his cigars. Other people's trouble did not +stick in his mind now. Broken bridges and impassable roads did not +disturb him in the least; nor was he worried by the manager's +difficulties. He had come here for at least two peaceful, delightful +weeks--and he was going to get them. + +When he entered his own rooms there had been a transformation scene +enacted. Ruth's trunks had arrived, and she had removed her +traveling dress, had slipped on the dressing sack again, and, to the +eyes of a mere man, she seemed burrowing in the several trunks like a +squirrel in a heap of fallen leaves. + +"Those poor porters," she explained, "had such hard work getting +these boxes over here. The wagon could only come to the bridge, you +know, and they told me they had to pole the luggage over in a +punt---and that leaks and isn't safe. Then they brought the boxes on +barrows to the hotel. Re'lly! They worked so hard that I gave them +a dime each." + +"Oh!" Ryder clapped a hand over his mouth, and then sneezed to hide +his laughter. "Had--hadn't I better stay out until this is all +over?" he asked. He thought some of hunting up the porters and +seeing that they had larger tips. + +"No. You can remain if you will be good. And you can see my +dresses, too. I think I did very well in getting them--especially +when I wasn't _sure_, you know." + +"Sure of what?" he asked, comfortably, establishing himself in a +reserved seat--that is, one that was not already hidden under billows +of feminine wear. + +"Why, sure I should marry you," she said, turning to give him a +roguish look. + +"Oh--ah--yes," murmured Ryder. Then he started. "By the way, what +chance did you have to get ready----" + +His question was interrupted by a heavy summons at the door. He went +himself this time. One of the bellboys was there. + +"Sorry, sir," said the boy in a low voice, "but the manager, Mr. +Bangs, has to tell you that the hotel is to be vacated at once. He +had no notice himself, so he can give you none." + +"What in thunder do you mean?" demanded Ryder, in amazement. + +"Yes, sir. You can't stay here, sir." + +"Why not? Does the manager want his money in advance?" + +"No, sir. 'Tain't you alone. Everybody's got to get out, sir. +We're all losing our jobs, sir. I--I don't know what to do myself, +sir----" + +"Why, it's ridiculous!" + +"I don't know nothin' about it, sir. I was just told to tell +everybody in this corridor. And you've all got to get right out. He +wouldn't let the clerk telephone to the rooms 'cause it would take so +much time. Mr. Bangs says he will turn off the lights at half past +eight and lock the door--that's in half an hour, sir. There's to be +no service after that time." + +The boy hurried to the door of the next suite. Ryder was too amazed +at first to feel proper anger. To be told that, in half an hour, one +must get out of a hotel in which one has just established oneself---- + +"It is preposterous!" determined John Ryder, turning back into his +rooms. He saw Ruth, all unconscious of the unpleasant announcement, +still busy over the trunks. The uselessness of her task suddenly +smote his mind. "Why," he muttered, "she's wasting her time. She +might as well stop that if we can't stay here. And, by thunder! +where will we go if this hotel closes--and at such an hour? + +"There's not another hotel open in Pinewood, I understand. The +bridge is down. That fellow says traffic to the west is barred by +the condition of the roads. The dickens!" + +Ruth had paid no attention to his mutterings. She was quite +unconscious of his perplexity, or of its cause. He came to a quick +decision. + +"I'm going downstairs a moment, dear," he said. + +"All right." + +"All right, what? Haven't you a name for me?" he inquired, drawing +her to him. + +"All right--hubby," she replied, blushing slightly, and he kissed her +and then shot out of the room and dashed down the single flight of +stairs to join the excited crowd already milling about the hotel desk. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +"HIS TROUBLE BEGINS!" + +Bangs, the red-faced manager of Pinewood Inn, was facing the group of +clamoring masculine guests like a rat at bay before a pack of +terriers. Every individual man in the crowd was demanding what it +meant. + +Then, before he could make any audible explanation, they burst out +again in a staccato of such observations as: + +"It's an outrage! The man should be hung!" + +"I never heard the like! Why, my wife says----" + +"It's a most abominable imposition! Lights out at half past eight!" + +"And the help discharged!" + +"And no other hotel open anywhere along this part of the coast! +Disgraceful!" + +"Not even a cottage open. We can't go and live on these muckers who +stay here all winter." + +Then a general roar, as they faced Bangs again: + +"What do you mean by it?" + +"If you'll give me a chance to tell you!" shouted Bangs, shaking both +clenched fists in the air. "And if you'll listen to reason perhaps I +can make you understand." + +Then, as a grumbling silence was accorded him, he added: "At last I +can make myself heard! Lemme tell you about it. Giddings, the +trustee of the Barnaby estate, the owners of this hotel, and I have +had some difficulty over the rental. And because I won't agree to be +robbed by him, he has taken this tack----" + +"What tack?" asked John Ryder, thrusting in a question which struck +at the heart of the business. "You haven't said what he has done." + +"He's served me with dispossess papers," said the heated Bangs. + +"Then you haven't paid your rent," Ryder observed. "Why don't you +pay it and not put your guests to this trouble? Settle with Giddings +in the courts." + +"He'd beat me--the scoundrel!" cried Bangs. "And the rent is +exorbitant. I served him notice three months ago that I could not +run this hotel and pay such a price for it. It's an imposition." + +"It is a greater imposition on your part to give your guests half an +hour's notice to get out. Why, Bangs, it really can't be done, you +know," said one man. + +But John Ryder, with his clear insight into anything of this kind, +again drove right at the heart of the business. + +"You have had three months to prepare for this very emergency," he +said. "You admit that." + +"I don't!" yelled Bangs. "I admit nothing of the kind. They just +served me----" + +"Then you have several days in which to arrange the matter," Ryder +went on. "What about this turning off the lights in half an hour? +It is ridiculous." + +"That's exactly what it is," chimed in another aggrieved voice. "You +can't put your guests out in any such way, Mr. Bangs--and guests who, +some of them, have been here long before you were ever manager. My +wife and I have been staying here for eight years. I can't be turned +out of my home on half an hour's notice." + +"Well, you'd have to get out if there was a fire," snarled Bangs. + +"A fire would be 'an act of God,' according to the coroner's +finding," grimly laughed somebody. "This isn't." + +"Quite the contrary. It's a deucedly mean trick." + +"It isn't my fault, I tell you," Bangs mendaciously declared. "You +can blame that hound, Giddings. I can't be bled any more of all my +profits, and I am going to close my connection with this hotel +tonight--and in a very few minutes." + +"Great heavens, Bangs!" exclaimed one man. "Get out if you want to. +We'll none of us weep over your departure. Leave George, here, to +run the desk and Al, the steward, to see to the kitchen and the help, +and we'll get along all right." + +"And who is going to assure the help's wages?" demanded Bangs. +"_I'm_ not, you bet! And who'll pay for the lighting and heating? I +can tell you gentlemen right now there isn't coal enough in the bins +to run the dynamos and boilers till midnight." + +At that a howl went up which boded ill for the manager of the +Pinewood Inn and he dodged behind the desk before which he had been +standing. Several of his guests looked suddenly dangerous to Bangs. + +There came, however, an interruption. Somebody said: "Here comes +Colonel Brack," and the group parted willingly enough to let in a +tall, military figure of a man with drooping gray mustache and +goatee, fiery eyes under penthouse brows--a man who walked with the +"step-clump, step-clump" of a cripple with an artificial limb. + +Nevertheless, Colonel Brack bore himself very erect and stepped with +a firmness that betrayed more than ordinary hardihood of character. +The other guests who knew him looked upon the old man with evident +respect. + +"What is this I hear, Bangs?" the ex-military officer demanded in a +deep voice. "You sent one of your cubs to my room with a saucy +message and I boxed his ears for him. What do you mean by telling me +to get out of this hotel, suh?" + +"I can't help it, Colonel Brack," declared the manager, backing out +of any possible reach of the colonel's long arm. "The hotel's got to +close." + +"Then close it. But do it decently and in order," the colonel said. +"Still, I doubt if the Barnaby estate will allow the house to be +shut. They can find somebody else to run it quite as well as you, +suh." + +"Well, they won't find that other man tonight!" cried Bangs, in a +tone that showed he felt impish delight in making all this trouble. +"And I am going to close the house now. I've said my last word, +gentlemen. If you want to pack your trunks, I'll keep the dynamos +running till nine o'clock. There is a combination train leaves +here--over the spur track, you understand, at that hour----" + +"Confound you! Yes!" cried somebody. "But it only goes as far as +the Junction and there is no connection there for New York until five +o'clock in the morning. A nice train for ladies to take!" + +"And how about those of us who have our autos here?" chimed in +another. "The bridge is down. Your own motor bus is out of +commission. The other roads are impassable for cars. You ought to +be beaten to death, Bangs!" + +"Ye-es--" drawled a sleek, dapper little man, whom, so Ryder told +himself, one would naturally expect to speak in a crisp, quick tone, +quite contrary to the one he used. "Ye-es, suppose we do tha-at same +thing. It would not do the gu-uests of this hotel much good just +now, perhaps; but it would rid the wo-orld of one rascal. Tha-at +would be to the good." + +Colonel Brack leaned over the counter and shook a long finger at the +manager. + +"I have lived in this hotel fourteen years, sub!" he exclaimed. "No +manager can dispossess me. I refuse to get out, suh--I refuse to get +out!" + +[Illustration: "No manager can dispossess me. I refuse to get out"] + +"That's right! We all refuse to get out!" was the vociferous chorus. + +"Then you'll stay in the dark and without heat and without service," +growled Bangs doggedly. "I'm doing my best for you. I'll be liable +for no further expense in a house of which I am dispossessed--that's +flat!" + +Bangs here erased himself from the scene by dodging into the private +office and banging the door. The clerk oh duty was instantly +besieged by a part of the crowd. He could do absolutely nothing to +assist in untangling the difficulty. Like the other hotel employees, +he was as much disturbed over his abrupt discharge as the guests were +over their dismissal by the manager. + +"I shall remain here, even if that rascal shuts off the heat and +lights," Colonel Brack loudly declared, in the midst of the group of +which John Ryder was one. "It is a preposterous--an impossible +situation, suh! Whoever heard the like? A hotel cannot close its +doors and turn its guests out upon the streets on half an hour's +notice." + +"But Bangs will do as he says. I know the dog. When he's ugly, +he'll do anything," returned one man gloomily. + +"He may turn off the heat and light; but here I stay!" reiterated the +colonel, with all the determination of Horatius on the Bridge. + +"Not a pleasant prospect," said a drummer. "I reckon I'll go and +pack up and take that nine o'clock switchback." + +"We cannot all do that," Ryder finally said, with calmness. "It is +ridiculous to think of the ladies leaving on such short +notice--especially those who have lived here for any length of time." + +"And there's one car on that train, a combination day coach and +smoker. It wouldn't hold a third of the guests in this house +to-night," was the positive declaration of another man. + +"Besides," Ryder pursued, "how would we get our baggage away at this +hour? If we left it, thieves would ransack every trunk in the house. +This Bangs is evidently a slippery customer. He could not be found, +it is likely, when it came time to apportion damages." + +"You are right, suh," said Colonel Brack. "You are Mr. John Ryder, +of New York?" + +Ryder acknowledged it. "My wife and I have just arrived, intending +to remain a fortnight or so. I don't fancy having our visit spoiled +in this way." + +"Then, Mr. Ryder," said the colonel pompously, "I wish you would come +into the café with a number of us older guests, suh, where we will +hold a council of war." The colonel could scarcely conceive of any +discussion being official out of sight of a bar. "We cannot be +driven out of this hotel in this way. We must plan some means of +thwarting Bangs, suh." + +"We'd better chip in and pay his rent for him," suggested one +compromising individual, bent on cutting the Gordian knot with one +simple stroke. + +"I understand," said the colonel hastily, "that he is at least three +months behind in his rent. That would never do. And it is not +because he is unable to pay. The house is well patronized and he +collects his money promptly. It is merely a personal fight between +him and Giddings, who, I judge, desires to break this fellow's +connection with Pinewood Inn. I never did like the dog." + +"Giddings should come down here and attend to the matter himself, +then," said another of the angry guests. + +"I do not presume for a moment," said the colonel, starting for the +barroom, "that Giddings dreamed Bangs would do this. No, suh! No +gentleman could imagine such a dastardly thing." + +"But it seems to have been in the manager's mind for some time," +Ryder interposed. "He has allowed his coal to run so low that there +is not enough, he now says, to last the night through." + +"Maybe he is lying," Jimson suggested. + +"No," asserted some one. "He's not lying now, for once in his life. +He's telling the truth this time--but only because the truth is +meaner than any lie he could possibly concoct." + +"He has planned to get back at Giddings and the estate by injuring +the reputation of the hotel. Why, gentlemen," pursued the wrathful +colonel, all bristling like an enraged turkeycock, "this house has +been my home for fourteen years. I am the oldest inhabitant. Mr. +Jimson, here, has an invalid wife. She cannot be taken out at this +hour of the night. And the house has been her home for eight years. +It is brutal--positively brutal!" + +"All right! All right!" said Ryder. "But this isn't getting us +anywhere. We all know our wrongs. Let's see what can be done to +stop the fellow's deviltry." + +"By Jove!" exclaimed a man at his elbow. "Here Bangs is turning us +out and along come other guests. What do you know about that?" + +"How could anyone get here at this hour with that bridge in that +condition?" queried Jimson. "Couldn't get an auto over it." + +"Oh, anyone that was eager enough to come could get punted over the +inlet. Must have come down on that train that does not stop at Barr, +though, and motored back from the first stop below--unless a big +enough party was on to make a special stop possible." + +But it was a single guest only who entered the foyer and office of +the hotel. This man had no luggage and he stood for a moment +nervously drawing off his gloves as his glance swept swiftly the +faces of those in sight. + +George, the clerk, stepped to the turntable on which the register +rested. It was not a grateful task to inform the man who had just +come what the situation of affairs was. + +Ryder noticed the stranger only casually at first. The group of +excited men, whom he was tailing toward the café, were slow in +leaving the vicinity of the hotel desk. + +When the clerk had explained the situation as well as he was able the +disappointed guest stood back, nervously rolling his gloves and with +an expression of indetermination upon his face. Finally he asked +George a question in a low voice. + +"No, sir. Nobody by that name in the house, sir," the clerk said. + +One of the boys came through the foyer intoning the name of a guest: +"Mr. White's wanted. Mr. White! Mr. White!" + +Nobody gave the boy any attention at first, and he approached the +desk still singsonging the name of the man wanted. + +"Who's wanted?" asked George, the clerk, briskly. + +"Message for Mr. White. His wife wants him upstairs--Suite Three." + +"White?" repeated the clerk. "What White's that? I didn't know----" + +Just then Ryder, looking back over his shoulder, chanced to see again +the face of the last comer to the hotel. He was as pale as death; +Ryder could see the drops of perspiration standing on his broad, high +brow. He was staring at the bellboy as though in the latter he +beheld a ghost. + +Suddenly, while the puzzled clerk bent over the register evidently in +search of the name "White" among those of the new arrivals at +Pinewood Inn, the stranger darted at the bellboy. "Who--who is +asking for Mr. White?" Ryder heard the man gasp. + +"Mrs. White. She wants him. Suite Three," repeated the boy. "Mr. +John B. White." + +The emotions displayed in succession upon the stranger's countenance +ran the gamut of human expression. Amazement, incredulity, rage, +determination--a dozen different feelings evidently gripped the man's +mind and soul. Ryder had his own attention recalled with difficulty +by Colonel Brack, who stuck his head out of the swinging door of the +café, crying: + +"We're waiting for you, suh! Mr. Ryder, what'll you take, suh? And +I'd like your opinion on this important matter. It will cost us, +severally and collectively, some money to keep this house open. I, +for one, will assume my share of the obligation and trust to getting +back at Bangs afterward. What do you say, Mr. Ryder?" + +The discussion of ways and means claimed the attention of John Ryder. +Yet he glanced back at the stranger again as he entered the café. +The latter was moving toward the stairway clutching the bellboy +firmly by the shoulder. Back in the mind of Ryder was this comment: + +"Odd about that fellow. Acts strange. White? Don't know anyone of +the name--that I remember. Suite Three? Why--what's the number of +our suite? I thought that was Number Three. Must be Number Two. +Odd----" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE ARROW OF SUSPICION + +The first excitement having worn away, the Council of War was now +organized. Colonel Brack had gathered together those men best fitted +to form a working committee--and likewise best able to finance any +scheme decided upon for the keeping open of Pinewood Inn. + +The situation was already thoroughly canvassed. No other hotel in +the vicinity was open. To escape from the place by either motor or +train--at least for some hours, if not days--was impossible. Local +residents could not take in the hotel guests had they so desired. +Here were women and children used to every luxury who were threatened +with dismissal from the hotel at once. As the colonel loudly said, +it was brutal. + +The track to Pinewood was for the accommodation of freight for the +most part. For the very reason that the owners of the Barnaby +property wished to keep the hotel exclusive, they had fought any +improvement in railroad accommodations. + +At this time of night even the station telegraph office was closed; +and George had already informed the guests that there had been a +break in the long-distance telephone service since dark. + +Any such thing as a special train to transport the guests to New York +could not be arranged for until the following day. + +"And we'd have to put up with vile accommodations from here to the +Junction," explained the excitable Jimson. "Do you realize that this +spur-track roadbed is scarcely fit to pull coal cars over? My wife +couldn't stand it, I am sure." + +"How about getting across to the island and to the regular railroad +station at Barr?" John Ryder asked. + +"That bridge is practically a wreck. Do you know the bus slumped +clear through it, and will have to be raised by a derrick? And the +road to any other station is impossible for autos. No, we can't get +away and that's all there is to it." + +This was the consensus of opinion. The disorganization of the hotel +employees which would follow the closing of the doors of the house +and its abandonment by the guests would make it unsafe to leave +personal property in the hotel. There were half a hundred reasons, +and all very good ones, that proved the guests must remain. + +"And in union there is strength," quoted Mr. Jimson. + +"We must hang together," declared another. + +"Speaking of hanging," observed one, "how would it do to begin with +Bangs? I'd like to see him dangling at the end of a rope." + +"Better starve him," murmured another. + +But these futile remarks were cut off when John Ryder began to speak +seriously. He suggested that a committee be appointed to confer in a +quiet way with Bangs and try to pacify him if possible--even if it +cost some money. Some arrangement should be made, too, for the +retention of the servants. + +Ryder was at once elected by acclamation to head this committee. The +colonel refused to be a member. + +"You want cool men--calm men, suh," said the bristling old fellow. +"I am a fire-eater. I'd rather wring that skunk's neck than take a +drink!" + +"Oh, Colonel!" exclaimed Jimson, "that is a very strong statement." + +"I know it. But it's a fact. I know my weaknesses," said the +colonel modestly. + +First the committee were to make sure of the truth of the manager's +statement regarding the coal supply. Then they were to sound the +help through the steward, Al, to find out how many would remain. To +learn what the prospect was for feeding the people in the house, +including the help, was likewise important. + +"If the coal gives out," Ryder said, "there is surely coal in the +village here that may be bought. Perhaps not tonight, but early in +the morning. We should be able to find oil lamps and heaters in that +big store which I see is still open for business. The town has no +gas plant, I understand. We are dependent upon the hotel's lighting +plant." + +The committee divided to attend to several of these matters before +going to see Bangs, agreeing to meet at the desk in ten minutes. + +"I must not leave Ruth alone any longer," thought John Ryder, pulling +himself up short. "By thunder! there must be something more +important for a bridegroom to do on his wedding night than running +about as I am, shouldering other people's troubles. I must go and +take a peep at the dear girl and cheer her up a bit. She'll be +frightened by my remaining so long away, perhaps. No doubt she has +heard by this time of the manager's threat." + +As his suite was on the second floor he did not use the elevator, but +ran up the broad, main stairway which led out of the office. Here +the hotel seemed to be running in its usual quiet way. + +A white-capped and aproned maid passed him; a bellboy bustled by with +a tray of pitchers in which the ice tinkled; he heard the dull whir +of the elevators. He walked along the broad, central corridor and +turned off at his own proper "alley." + +He saw that the door of his suite was open. There were voices which +reached his quickened ear--a man's deep tones and then (and this +startled him) a woman's sharp cry. + +He was not yet sufficiently familiar with Ruth's voice to recognize +its tone under stress of emotion. But he felt, somehow, that it was +her cry. + +He quickened his step. There was a man standing in the doorway of +the suite. Instantly, from the side view Ryder obtained of his face, +he knew him to be the stranger who had come last to the hotel on this +fateful evening. + +"The bungling fool!" thought John Ryder. "Is he going from room to +room in this hotel looking for his friends? Maybe he is not honest. +The disturbed state of the hotel guests would open very easily the +way to business for an industrious burglar." + +"I--I don't know you," Ruth said just as Ryder reached the spot. + +She stood within the room, clinging with both hands to the edge of +the door and staring at the stranger with such a wild look in her +eyes that her husband was frightened. He turned on the man furiously. + +"What do you want? What are you disturbing this lady for?" + +"I--I beg your pardon," stammered the stranger, backing away from +both John Ryder and the open door of his suite, his face now +displaying nothing but pain and anxiety. "I have made a mistake--a +terrible mistake." + +"Oh, I am so glad you have come," Ruth said quickly to Ryder. "I--I +thought you were lost--or something had happened. And then this man +came----" + +She was still staring at the stranger with eyes in which lurked +actual terror. Ryder's fierce aspect seemed to trouble the strange +man. + +"I--I beg your pardon--and the lady's," he murmured. "I thought I +was acquainted with her. It--it is a mistake." + +"I never saw him in my life!" gasped Ruth. + +"It's all right. Mistakes will happen," said Ryder, and entered the +room, shutting the door abruptly in the man's face. He caught Ruth +quickly in his arms with a sort of fierceness this time that was his +man-way of claiming possession, as well as a desire to defend her +from annoyance. "Were you frightened, dearie?" he asked. + +"Yes. He--he startled me so. He is a strange looking man. Do you +think him quite--quite right?" + +"Not right to come bungling up here and disturbing you," Ryder +responded, tenderly. + +She blushed, slipping out of his arms suddenly. "Here, dear," she +said softly. "I have a visitor." + +Ryder looked down the room and saw for the first time a large, +smiling woman sitting in a chair beyond the line of half-unpacked +trunks. She was a person whom he knew he had never seen before, and +he was not particularly happy to see her now. + +She was a richly dressed--indeed a gaudily dressed--person wearing +many jewels and lacking that quiet demeanor and appearance that Ryder +admired most in womankind. Nevertheless, he walked in with as good a +grace as he could summon while Ruth introduced him. + +"This is my husband, Mrs. Judson," she said, and there was a thrill +of pride in her sweet voice that delighted the man. "Mrs. Judson has +been telling me how dreadfully this Mr. Bangs, the hotel manager, is +behaving. Are they actually going to close the hotel? Mrs. Judson +is all upset about it. Being alone here with only a maid, she +doesn't know what to do." + +"A committee of the older guests is trying to arrange now to keep the +house open in spite of Bangs," said John Ryder. "But Bangs is a +sharper. He may have fixed things so that we shall be without light +or heat for a part of the night. But to-morrow----" + +"Oh, dear!" broke in the large lady in horror. "I'll never dare stay +in my rooms in the dark. And all stark alone. What _shall_ I do? +You know how very helpless we widows feel, Mister--er----" She did +not speak the name, which evidently had escaped her, but her smirk +caused Ryder a feeling of sudden nausea. + +"You don't look helpless," he thought, with much disapproval of the +visitor. Mrs. Judson gave one the impression of being a woman amply +able to take care of herself in any emergency. Aloud he said: + +"There are men now seeing about obtaining candles and lamps. Perhaps +heat may be furnished some of the rooms with the aid of oil stoves. +Of course, the furnace fires are not out yet." + +"It is not cold in here," Ruth said brightly. + +"But it will be if what Bangs says is true. He hasn't coal enough to +last until midnight. Oh, he was ready weeks ago for this trick, +without any doubt." + +"And we can't get away!" wailed the heavy woman in the armchair. +"When poor, dear Horace was alive nothing like this ever happened to +me. And an oil stove! Horrid, smelly things! Oh, I never could +sleep with one in my room! I am delicate, you know, quite delicate! +Dear Horace always took the greatest care of me!" + +Ryder looked at the huge, over-fed woman before him, and had some +difficulty to keep from snorting aloud at her claim of delicate +health. + +"And candles!" she wailed on. "You surely can't expect a woman to +dress and undress by the aid of candle light! Oh, it's all +horrid--perfectly horrid!" + +She seemed on the verge of tears, and from her size Ryder expected +nothing less than a deluge. He made for the door. + +"I'll see what can be done about it," he whispered to Ruth, who +followed him swiftly, to squeeze his hand in both her own. "Don't +you be troubled, dearie. I will not remain away long." + +"I was troubled," she confessed in the same tone. "Then I sent a +bellboy to page you and he couldn't find you anywhere." + +"The stupid! I was right down there in the foyer. We'll be all +right when this tangle is straightened out. But, for the beginning +of a honeymoon----" + +"Yes," she suddenly giggled. "Isn't it just too _funny_? Shall we +really stay?" + +"To be sure. Dispossessing a manager who won't pay his rent is all +right; but to try to dispossess a guest who is ready and willing to +pay is quite another matter. It can't be done." + +"Then shall I continue to unpack my trunks?" + +Ryder smiled at her, then glanced back at the boxes. They were more +than half empty already and the open wardrobe doors gave him a view +of a number of pretty gowns which Ruth had shaken out and hung away. + +"Go ahead," he said, easily. "You'll want the furbelows out of the +boxes, anyway. They look as though they'd muss pretty easily." + +She glanced at him sidewise with a little blush, and squeezed his +hand again. "Don't you think they're _sweet_?" she whispered. "I +made them almost all myself." + +"Is that so?" responded Ryder, with another curious glance at the +gowns in display. Then he went out and she closed the door after +him. When he had walked half the length of the corridor he halted +and came near going back to the suite again. Two startling facts had +finally made an impression on his busy mind. + +One was the nature of Ruth's wardrobe. Ryder was not much versed in +women's apparel, and all those pretty, dainty, gray and cream colored +dresses could mean but one thing. To his mind, they were bride's +gowns. + +He had met his wife first aboard the _Minnequago_ and had known her +just seven days before they were married. He had seen her wear no +dress on shipboard like these she had brought out of her trunks. +Indeed, Miss Mont had been gowned with severity and with no more +style than the average English woman displays. + +"Why," muttered Ryder, "she has a complete bridal outfit--or, it +seems so to me. How could she have got those dresses? And she says +she made them herself!" + +He turned back, but bethought him of Mrs. Judson. He could have no +private word with Ruth now. So he walked slowly on toward the main +stairway, and his mind reverted to the second puzzling circumstance +he had noted. There were few if any labels on his wife's trunks. + +No trunk can cross the ocean without being plastered over with the +various marks and stamps of the European agencies, and of the +steamship companies. It was a small matter, perhaps--this lack of +the usual labels--but it continued to puzzle John Ryder until he had +descended to the office once more and found himself again in the +thick of the circumstances connected with the attempt of the hotel +manager to turn his guests out of house and home. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +BUSINESS METHODS + +The members of the committee had regathered and were awaiting their +chairman. Matters had been found to be in a much worse condition +than the guests had really believed. + +From the steward they had learned that the whole kitchen was +disorganized, and had been so for some days. He had had the greatest +difficulty in preventing an eruption there. + +"Why?" demanded Ryder, having been told this. + +"They are afraid they will lose their pay. These French and Italians +are easily excited anyway," explained Jimson, who was not a little +excited himself. "The waiters and the upstairs help are in a blue +funk for the same reason." + +"How about the coal?" Ryder asked another man. + +"It's every whit as bad as Bangs said. There is only a little +furnace coal. If they use the coal intended for the kitchen fires +there would not be enough to keep the boilers warm until daylight." + +"Hang that Bangs!" + +"With all my heart," agreed Ryder, grimly. "But that will not get us +any coal tonight--nor keep the hotel warmed and lighted." + +"The scoundrel certainly deserves to figure in a necktie party," +growled one man. "My wife's in hysterics upstairs right now." + +"Let us interview this Bangs before he gets away," Ryder said. "I +understand he has really given orders to shut everything down at nine +o'clock, and it only lacks ten minutes of that time now." + +The committee moved in a body on the private office. The door was +closed, but Ryder did not give the manager a chance to refuse them +admittance. He entered without knocking and the other determined men +filed in. Bangs sat at his desk scratching off a letter at a furious +pace. But he dropped his pen and turned toward them with a snarl. + +"Well, what is it now?" + +"We want your attention for a few moments, Mr. Bangs," John Ryder +said quietly. + +"Who the deuce are you?" demanded the hotel manager. "You're not +like Brack and Jimson and these other old stagers, who have been here +so long they think they own the house. I never remember of seeing +you before." + +Ryder handed him his card. "That is my name," he said, "and I came +into this house for the first time tonight. That, however, is quite +aside from the matter we have come to discuss. + +"We, the guests of this hotel, cannot be treated in this cavalier +manner, Mr. Bangs. We will not stand for it. There will be damage +suits after this night's work if you dare follow out your +program--damage suits against the Barnaby estate of course. But I, +for one, shall not be satisfied until I see you properly punished +unless you immediately change your attitude." + +He spoke so firmly, and the threatening attitude of his co-workers +was so impressive, that the manager began to cower. + +"I tell you I can't do a thing!" he began; but John Ryder stopped him +with raised hand. + +"We demand your co-operation in keeping the hotel force together +until the owners can be communicated with and until they send +somebody to take charge here in your place." + +"I'll be hanged if I will!" cried Bangs, jumping up. + +"And you may be hanged if you don't," declared another of the +committee, putting a rather broad back against the office door. + +Again Bangs cowered. These five men might do him bodily injury if +they wished to. + +"I can't do a thing, I tell you," he whined. "There's no coal----" + +"We know all about that," Ryder interrupted sternly. "And we know +why there is none. You knew this dispossessory proceeding was +pending, and you made your plans to checkmate Giddings by shutting up +the hotel in this way. Without regard for the comfort of your guests +or the rights of your employees, you have tried to whip your enemy, +Giddings, over our shoulders. + +"Now we, the guests, have taken the affair into our hands inasmuch as +we propose to keep the hotel open and make the ladies and children, +at least, as comfortable as may be. And we shall not let you leave, +Mr. Bangs, until you have done all in your power to repair the damage +you have already done." + +"What can I do?" snarled the manager. "I'm not going to pay for heat +and light and for service in a hotel which I no longer manage." + +"You are legally in charge here until the Court puts you out." + +"I'll not run this hotel for that Giddings after he's served me in +dispossess proceedings," Bangs said, turned sullen. + +"You will help us make the house as comfortable as possible until we +can communicate with this Giddings and inform him of what has +occurred," said Ryder quietly but severely. "You have given orders +for everything to shut down at nine o'clock. You must rescind that +command." + +"You can none of you get away after that hour," Bangs said. + +"Nor at that time," said Ryder promptly. "If any of your guests are +going on that jerkwater train they are already over there at the +station. But the stampede of the help must be stopped." + +"What do you want me to do?" growled Bangs, rather afraid of this +determined John Ryder. + +"To tell the engineers to keep the dynamos and boilers running as +long as they have a shovelful of coal. Likewise to send word +throughout the building for all employees who wish to retain their +situations under the new management----" + +"What new management?" cried Bangs, leaping up again. + +"The management which will follow your régime," Ryder told him +coolly. "You do not suppose for a moment, do you, that the owners of +this property will allow the hotel to close?" + +Bangs grinned like an angry dog. "I don't care a hang what they do," +he said. "I only know I'm out of it." + +"You're not out of it yet, Mr. Bangs," Ryder grimly said. "Telephone +to the engine room at once." + +The manager picked up the receiver with bad grace. "You are +intimidating me," he complained. + +"You bet we are!" exclaimed the man with his back to the door. "And +thank your lucky stars we don't manhandle you in the bargain." + +Ryder raised his hand for silence and the manager gave the order to +the engineer. "Now," said Ryder, "call the head chef and have him +inform the kitchen help that the hotel will not be closed and that +their wages will be paid." + +"Who's going to pay 'em?" demanded Bangs. + +"You do as you are told. The courts will decide that." + +Bangs began to bluster; then he caught the look in the eye of the man +with his back against the door and he once more subsided. Together, +Ryder and the burly committeeman were too much for Bangs' courage. + +The steward was called in; likewise George, the clerk on duty. The +two were told, Bangs agreeing doggedly, that the employees of the +hotel were to be pacified and the guests to be made as comfortable as +possible until Giddings could be communicated with. + +Then the committee of five went back to the crowd in the foyer and +reported progress. Colonel Brack led in acclaiming them public +benefactors. But their work was not yet finished. + +Those who knew, declared there was no possibility of finding even a +small supply of coal without considerable delay. The hotel manager +had had an arrangement with the railroad company to furnish coal by +the carload, and the local dealers would not put themselves out to +accommodate the hotel now. Indeed, Bangs had made himself locally +disliked. + +"The best we can do is to send our committee over to Cal Crabtree's +store and buy up all the lamps and oil stoves he's got in stock," +Colonel Brack said. "I'd head such a foraging party if it wasn't for +my artificial limb. I'm afraid I'll get rheumatism in that if I go +out at night," and the jovial colonel chuckled. + +But when it was vociferously agreed that the already elected +committee, of which John Ryder was chairman, should do this +purchasing and it had started out to do what Colonel Brack suggested, +one of them observed: + +"Now, isn't that the colonel all over? That bum peg of his keeps him +out of a lot of trouble. He's off this committee because some of us +will have to put up money and then run the risk of getting it back +from the estate, or from that slippery Bangs. The colonel gets cold +in that artificial foot plaguey easy if the cards go against him at +poker." + +And indeed, before they got to the general store, the committee was +in a wrangle over this very thing. Who was going to put up the money +for the lamps and stoves? Nobody seemed to care to step info the +breech. John Ryder listened and said nothing at first. Finally he +suggested: + +"Let's divide it among us. Think of the ladies----" + +"Let those who have got 'em, think of 'em," snapped one bachelor. +"That's nothing in my young sweet life." + +"Oh, I say, Long, you wouldn't mind putting up a share for Mrs. +Judson, would you?" chuckled another. + +"By jove! that's what I am afraid of," declared the bachelor. "If +the widow ever heard I put up money to buy her an oil heater, she'd +have me in court in breach of promise proceedings." + +It was evident the large lady was a standing joke among the men at +the hotel. Ryder frowned. He was sorry that she had forced her +society on Ruth. + +Meanwhile, the four other members of the committee agreed that they +would not put their hands in their pockets. On the very steps of the +store they halted and vociferously stated this decision. + +"Let's go back and take up a collection," said the bachelor member. +"I know those ginks back there. There are more hard boiled eggs in +that bunch at Pinewood Inn than you could find anywhere else along +the coast. I'm not going to be nicked for more than my share." + +With this his brother-committeemen seemed to agree. All but Ryder. +The latter looked at his watch. It was already half after nine. +There was every sign as they came along the street that the villagers +were retiring for the night; and as they stood discussing the matter +the proprietor of the store began to put out his lights. + +"You can go back and ask for further instructions if you wish to, +gentlemen," said Ryder in disgust. "But I will go in and see what I +can do. There is no time to waste." + +"At your peril, Mr. Ryder," said one. "Don't drag us into it." + +"I never forced a man into a deal yet--especially if he was a bad +loser," declared John Ryder, and turned his back on the others to +enter the store alone. + +He found the proprietor, a shrewd, long-headed countryman, ready to +be affable, or businesslike, as the case might be. Ryder knew well +how to tackle such a character. He had been doing business with all +kinds of men all his life. He went directly to the point of the +matter. + +"I want every oil lamp you've got in the shop, and all your candles, +and those oil heaters yonder. If you have oil, I want a barrel. And +I want you to find me a truckman right now to cart 'em over to the +hotel. I'll give you cash, or my check, in full for the whole +amount. What say?" + +"It's a bargain," laconically said the storekeeper, and there was +little haggling either, over the price of the articles bought. Ryder +did not believe that Crabtree was over-reaching him on that point, +for he seemed to sympathize with the situation of the people in the +hotel. + +"That bridge breaking down is a bad business. Foolish, too," +Crabtree agreed. "The Highway Department of this town is about as +useful as a left-handed boot to a man who's only got a wooden leg on +that side of him. And let me tell you, Mr. Ryder, the bridge won't +be repaired again in a hurry. Nothing ever is done in a hurry by our +road menders and bridge builders." + +Ryder was more intimately interested in the supplies he could buy. +There were two full boxes of so-called "waxlights" and a box of +tallow candles of the double-six size. There were over a hundred +lamps of all kinds and sizes, and the oil stoves numbered +twenty-three. The check Ryder made out was a substantial one. + +In half an hour he was back at the hotel where the guests were +wrangling in the foyer over how the bill for supplies should be +apportioned. The other members of the committee were finally +instructed to pay for the goods out of a collection of about two +hundred dollars that had been grudgingly made. + +"Here's Ryder!" exclaimed Colonel Brack, red-faced and excited. "He +should head this committee again. He is a chap who _does_ things. +Ryder forever!" + +The colonel's evening potations began to show upon him. Ryder tried +to brush by on his way to the desk. + +"You're just the man we want on this committee," reiterated the +colonel, following him. + +"What committee?" the business man asked. + +"The committee on buying supplies." + +"It discharged itself half an hour ago," said Ryder, bruskly. "And +now there is nothing for it to do." + +"Why not?" gasped several, including the colonel, who asked the +question truculently. + +John Ryder bit off the end of his cigar and lit it calmly. + +"As far as I know, gentlemen, I've bought up every lamp, every oil +stove, every candle, and all the surplus supply of oil in this +village tonight. I bought them on to my own private account. If I +decide to resell them I'll let you know later." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SHOCK UPON SHOCK + +The clamor of those who heard John Ryder's statement drew most of the +crowd surging toward the desk, before which the business man stood. +Colonel Brack, reddening and with glittering eyes, advanced upon +Ryder with his "step-clump" stride, demanding: + +"Suh! do you call this a gentlemanly thing to do? Why, suh, the +women and children in this hotel are at your mercy. It's an outrage, +suh!" + +"The rest of the committee backed out on the steps of the store," +said Ryder coolly. "Time was passing." + +"Why, the money is already put up for the supplies," cried somebody +with much bombast. + +"Not for these supplies that I have obtained," said Ryder decisively. +"In the first place two hundred dollars will not go far toward the +purchase of the goods." + +"You mean to profit upon our necessities, do you, Mr. Ryder?" cried +Jimson shrilly. + +"Shylock!" exclaimed another of the angry men. + +Ryder turned his back upon them and approached George. + +"I've bought the stuff," he said shortly. "It was a perfectly +legitimate transaction." + +"By gad, suh!" reiterated the wrathful colonel, "you have taken an +unfair advantage of a party of gentlemen who trusted you. You're +a----" + +Ryder failed to hear the remainder of the colonel's sputterings. But +a voice nearer to his ear could not be drowned. This said: + +"By George! that Ryder's a cleaner. He was never known to let a good +chance slip in the Street, they say, and I can believe it. He's got +us where the hair's short--and it's our own fault." + +John Ryder was angry. The manner in which the other members of the +committee had dodged financial responsibility and were now declaiming +against his "grasping" methods, exasperated him. He would not give +them the satisfaction of an explanation. He took nobody but the +steward and the clerk into his confidence. + +It was while he was discussing matters with these two employees of +the hotel that the engineer sent up word that he had been forced to +bank the fires under the boilers, but that the dynamos would be kept +running until midnight. + +"That man seems faithful," Ryder observed. "Has word been sent +around for the help to come together for a talk with us? We want to +know how many will remain here." + +The steward turned red and blurted out: "I don't believe--that is, it +will be difficult to get many of them together, sir." + +"Why?" + +"It is believed that Mr. Bangs will not pay wages beyond today, and +the men and girls are deserting. Some went on that nine o'clock +train, and others have found means of getting away from the hotel." + +"By thunder!" ejaculated Ryder. "Where's Bangs? We'll get what's +left of the help together and make him assure them----" + +"I--I don't think Mr. Bangs is here," hesitated George. + +"What's that?" + +"I couldn't help his going, sir. I could not hold him by force, you +know. You gentlemen should have had him watched." + +"What has he done?" asked Ryder, recovering his calmness. + +"Right after you gentlemen left I heard him telephoning to the +railroad station. The operator and agent were not there, but the +conductor of that combination was. He's a friend of Bangs'. The +train was held ten minutes. It did not get away until ten minutes +past nine. And I think Mr. Bangs went on it." + +"And his going has disorganized the whole household," the steward +added, sadly. "The chef has the kitchen fairly under control now. +He's an Italian--Vitalli is his name--not a bad fellow at all and +attached to the house rather than to Bangs--as I am and George, here, +is." + +"You believe the estate will do the right thing by you?" Ryder asked +curiously. + +"Yes," said the steward. "The heirs will not wish the house closed. +In such a way, too! They would consider it a disgrace. Pinewood Inn +is one of the oldest hotels on the coast. This Mr. Giddings, the +lawyer, doesn't know much about the hotel business, I fancy, or he +would not have acted so precipitately and given Mr. Bangs a chance to +put the guests out. If all the help would work together we'd come +out all right. But most of them care nothing about the hotel or the +welfare of its guests," and the steward wagged his head. + +"Where are the other clerks?" Ryder asked of George. + +"Mr. Manger, the head clerk, went to town day before yesterday. +Somehow, I feel that he had some wind of what was coming. But heaven +knows _I_ didn't, Mr. Ryder." + +"Or you would have gone, likewise?" asked the man of business, with a +grim smile, but watching the ruddy young fellow with his plastered +yellow hair in some curiosity. + +"Well--no," hesitated George. "I think I should have hung on in any +case. You see," he added, "I'm rather fond of a scrap. And Jim +Howe--he relieves me at midnight--_he'll_ see it through, no fear!" + +"Well, gentlemen," Ryder finally said with a sigh, "there doesn't +seem to be much now that we can do save to sit tight. You two +influence all the employees you can to stick by the ship. These +lights and stoves and oil are already at the door, I have no doubt. +You take charge of them all," he said to the steward, "and get +somebody to fix up the lamps and fill them. But give none of them +out until George, here, has listed them. He knows more about the +guests and their needs than any of us, I presume." + +Ryder had no time to go upstairs just then; but fearing Ruth would be +again disturbed by his continued absence, he scratched off a little +note and handed it to one of the boys. + +"Now, give that to nobody but Mrs. Ryder," he told the boy, +remembering Mrs. Judson, who he feared might still be hovering about +the suite. + +Ryder observed that the male guests who had heretofore been so +friendly with him now eyed him askance and that Colonel Brack had +gathered around him a group that he was haranguing vigorously. By +the fiery glances cast in his direction by the old campaigner Ryder +was quite sure Brack spoke of him. + +"I am certainly getting _persona non grata_ in this hotel," murmured +Ryder, with grim humor. + +Then, of a sudden, he saw that one of those listening to Colonel +Brack was the man who had disturbed Ruth at the door of their suite. +Ryder turned back to speak once more with the clerk: + +"Who is that fellow?" he asked, calling George's attention to the +stranger. + +"That man? Let's see--he came tonight. Refused to be turned away +although at that time, being under Mr. Bangs' instructions, I told +him we could not accommodate him. And I have not yet assigned him a +room. But his name's White." + +George whirled the register about and pointed to the last name on the +page. Ryder murmured it over to himself: "'John B. White, Rome.' + +"Rome, what? New York, Georgia, or the original home of the Cæsar +family?" Ryder asked carelessly. + +"I don't know, sir. He just wrote that down. I don't really know +what do to with him. I think from something he dropped that he came +here expecting to find friends." + +"And didn't find them?" Ryder's curiosity prompted him to demand. + +"He hasn't seemed to." + +"Who are his friends? Don't you know their names?" + +"I--I---- Well, I declare, sir, he did mention one name. That of a +Miss--Miss---- Well, it escapes me," said George, in confusion. "It +was just at the outburst of this trouble, and I was all mixed up. I +am sure it was a lady he asked me about. Perhaps it is a runaway +match and the lady has backed out," and George chuckled at his own +joke. + +"He doesn't act much like a bridegroom," observed Ryder, still +watching White. + +"I might say that about you, Mr. Ryder," ventured the clerk slyly. + +"By thunder! that's so," admitted Ryder. "Nor do I feel like one. +This is a nice mess for a fellow to get into at such a time. I can't +say that I am glad I came to Pinewood Inn for my honeymoon, George." + +But as he strolled away from the hotel desk his mind was still fixed +on the man, White. He remembered the bellboy coming through the +foyer paging "John B. White" and saying that Mrs. White wanted him +upstairs. Now, hang it! if Mrs. White was here, didn't the hotel +clerk know her? + +"Odd--deucedly odd," thought John Ryder. "And how startled that +fellow was when he heard the boy. Or was he? Not a bad looking +fellow; but he's queer. Ruth says he is touched in the upper story, +and I believe myself that some of his buttons are loose. + +"Or, if he is a crook--and that would not be so strange," added +Ryder, letting his mind run upon this train of thought. "A crook +with a woman accomplice in this hotel might easily make a good haul +tonight, considering the state affairs are in. I wonder if there +isn't a detective attached to Pinewood Inn." + +Before he could turn back to ask George about this, his attention was +attracted from the man, White, to an old gentleman who had just left +the elevator leaning on the arm of a colored man. The old fellow was +in some excitement, and he hobbled quickly to the desk, his gray hair +bristling from under the rim of the round black cap he wore, his feet +shuffling in gay carpet slippers. + +It was evident that he had retired to his room for the night, and had +made himself comfortable there. Something had routed him out and he +had merely shrugged himself into a coat before coming down to the +office. + +"Look here, sir! Look here, sir!" the old man cried, shaking his +cane at George in a hand that quivered with palsy. "What does this +mean? How dare that Bangs turn us out of the hotel in such a way? +I'll write Mr. Giddings about it. Mr. Giddings is my friend. He +will not see me so insulted and annoyed." + +Ryder heard an amused bystander say: + +"Here's old Pop Cudger; he's on the warpath, too. Now there'll be +something doing." + +"Get him and the colonel together and there will be fireworks, sure +enough," agreed another man, with a chuckle. + +George was trying to pacify the angry old man, but the latter would +not accord the clerk's explanation much attention. + +"It is nonsense! It is preposterous!" cried Mr. Cudger. "Mr. +Giddings is my friend----" + +"And if Giddings hadn't been so anxious to put Bangs out we wouldn't +all be in this pickle," somebody remarked loud enough for Mr. Cudger +to hear. + +"Ha!" exclaimed the latter, turning a withering glance upon the +speaker, and then immediately turning back to George. "Is it true +that the lights are to be put out?" + +"The dynamos can't run later than midnight. Then the lights will +naturally have to be shut off all over the hotel, Mr. Cudger. I'm +sorry, sir----" + +"Lights turned out--and half the help running away?" cried Cudger. +"Next thing, I suppose, James, here, will be leaving me in the +lurch," and he glared at the colored man. + +"Oh, no, suh! I'se gwine to stay right heah by yo'," declared James. + +"And what's going to become of my picture?" demanded the old +gentleman, beginning on another tack. "What provision has been made +to guard my picture, sir---- Van Scamp's famous 'Cheesemonger'? +That was hung in the parlor by special permission of Mr. Giddings, +sir." + +"I don't think anybody will touch your picture, Mr. Cudger," said the +clerk, soothingly. + +"Ha! How do you know that? In the state of confusion the house is +now in, some vandal might easily cut the canvas out of its frame. It +cost me many thousands of dollars, sir--and it's the finest example +of Van Scamp's art in existence today. I will not trust it unguarded +in that parlor under present circumstances." + +"But I can't furnish a watchman to guard your picture," George urged. + +"Well, where's the house detective?" demanded the old gentleman. "I +must have protection for my picture." + +"You certainly can't expect Miss Solomons to stand guard over it!" +the clerk exclaimed. "You'd better have it removed to your room." + +"You clown!" exclaimed the crotchety old man. "It wouldn't go +through the door of my room. That is why it has to be hung in your +miserable parlor." And as the clerk restrained both his temper and +his tongue, he added: "If you will not furnish a watchman--and Mr. +Giddings shall hear of your refusal, sir!--then James will have to +guard the picture." + +"Oh, no suh!" murmured the colored man. "Dat ain't no place fo' me +all night. No, suh! Yo' might need me----" + +"You will have to do it, James," repeated the old man. "If the +lights go out what is going to prevent that canvas being cut out of +the frame?" + +"Das jest it, suh!" rejoined the colored man. "I don't want to stay +dere in de dark--no, suh!" + +"You are a coward, James--a pusillanimous coward!" + +"Yes, suh! Dat may be, suh. But yo' might need me in de night." + +"Of course I shall need you. I'll likely have one of my choking +spells--or something. But I can't risk losing my Van Scamp. We +shall both have to watch it, James. We will camp in the parlor all +night. + +"Young man," turning to George, "have a bed brought into the parlor +for me. I will sleep there, and James shall keep watch." + +"But, Mr. Cudger, that is the main parlor of the hotel. We cannot +very easily let you sleep there," cried the distracted George. + +At this point Ryder lost interest in the entire affair. The boy he +had sent upstairs with the note to Ruth tugged at his sleeve. + +"I can't find the lady, sir," he said, returning the letter to Ryder. + +"Can't find who?" + +"Mrs. Ryder, sir." + +The man was amazed, and for an instant he was a little frightened. +"Where did you go, boy?" he demanded. + +"To Suite Three--where you told me. She wasn't there." + +"How do you know she wasn't there?" + +"The lady told me so. The lady who was there. She told me I'd made +a mistake." + +Ryder started for the staircase, his mind in a whirl. Where could +Ruth have gone? Possibly to Mrs. Judson's apartment. Yet if so, who +had met the boy and sent him away from Suite Three with such a +message? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE BRIDAL NIGHT + +The excitement among the guests had now spread to the floors above. +Too, there was a noticeable dearth of serving people. In the parlor +on this second floor into which Ryder glanced curiously on his way to +his own rooms, was a crowd of women with a sprinkling of husbands, +discussing the situation in varying degrees of anxiety. + +The corridors and parlor were ablaze with electric lights, and Ryder +saw the great picture, covering half the further end-wall of the +room, about which Mr. Cudger was making such a row at the clerk's +desk. + +An especially arranged string of lights over the picture cast the +proper glow upon it. It really was the work of a master of color, +but that its owner should consider it in danger of suffering the fate +of some of the great paintings that have been stolen, rather amused +John Ryder. + +While he stood for a moment looking at the picture he realized that a +sudden hush had fallen upon the several groups in the parlor, and he +saw that the majority of the guests there assembled were staring at +him. Whether their interest was aroused because he was a bridegroom +or because he had cornered the lighting and heating supplies of the +village, the man of business did not know--nor did he care. He +shrugged his shoulders and passed on. + +A bridegroom! Well, this did not seem a very fortunate beginning for +one's honeymoon. Another man might have easily slipped from under +the duties that had settled on John Ryder's shoulders. But it was +his way, when he saw things going wrong, to step in and right them. + +He had given his mind to this business of trying to bring some order +out of the chaotic condition of affairs in the hotel with as much +zest as he ever gave to business matters. Now, as he approached the +apartment in which he and Ruth had expected to be so happy in each +other's society for the next few weeks, he tried to throw off all the +anxieties that had recently accumulated in his mind. + +This was his bridal night. He had fallen in love with the most +beautiful and charming woman he had ever met, and had married her +offhand. Were it not for this troublesome matter of the hotel +closing, he would be the happiest man alive. + +Indeed, he was the happiest man alive in any case. Had he not just +been married to the loveliest and sweetest girl in the world? Was +not _his wife_ (John Ryder almost strutted) waiting for him in their +rooms at this very moment? + +Then a feeling of humility, unusual humility in this successful +business man who was accustomed to getting what he wanted, overcame +him. What was he to have won this jewel of a woman in so short a +time? Seven days, and she had consented to become his wife! Men +sometimes strove and worked for the love of a woman for months--for +years! But no--that could not be real love! When two people loved +as he and Ruth loved, there was no waiting in uncertainty. They knew +it--they must know it--at once. + +In spite of his thirty-five years and his somewhat ruthless business +career, John Ryder was undoubtedly still very much of a boy. And +indeed, in love matters, he was but a boy, inasmuch as never before +had he even imagined himself in love. + +"Confound this old ranch, anyway!" John Ryder muttered. "Why should +I bother my head about it--or about these silly folks in it? I +declare! we'll find some way of getting out of the pickle ourselves +tomorrow morning and go to some place where we can enjoy our +honeymoon undisturbed." + +Then he remembered that Ruth had chosen Pinewood particularly. It +might be only a whim on her part; but he was in a mind just then to +satisfy even her whims, if it could be done. + +"This man, Giddings, will show up, and things will probably be +running all right before tomorrow night. And Ruth--God bless that +sweet name!--has taken all the trouble to unpack. By thunder!" he +added, "it's funny about those dresses of hers. I must ask her----" + +He had come to the door and opened it softly--so softly indeed that +the occupant of the room did not hear him. His heart throbbed and +his eyes actually smarted with unshed drops as he looked down the +long apartment and saw his wife sitting reading in the radiance of +the drop-light at the table. + +She was alone. The other lights had been extinguished, and she sat +awaiting his return, evidently with her mind not wholly upon the book +in her lap, for she turned no leaves while Ryder watched her. + +In her attitude and in the loosely flowing gown she had donned since +dinner, she made a delightful picture. Ryder drank in the details as +he stood, shrinking from breaking the spell of her reverie. + +It was by no means a sad mood which held her, for her lips slowly +parted in a most ravishing smile. He could see this, though it was +her profile only he watched from his station at the door. + +He was about to close the latter softly when she dropped her book and +her fingers fluttered about her throat for a moment. She loosened +her gown there, thrust one hand within the laces, and drew forth a +tiny object attached to a thin gold chain which he had already +noticed about her throat. The ornament she held for a moment in her +palm was a locket. + +When she snapped it open and gazed upon what it contained she turned +a little so that he saw her expression of countenance more clearly. +It startled him. + +He was a sane and level-headed man. He was thirty-five, and the +foolish emotions of adolescence should not have ruffled his calm. +Yet aboard the steamship he had felt an unrecognized pang of jealousy +whenever he saw Miss Mont talking with Marks, the theatrical man. A +similar pang smote him now. + +No human being ever looked as Ruth looked unless the object of such +gaze was a dearly loved one, or the memento of a loved one! While +Ryder watched, his wife raised the locket reverently and pressed her +lips to the object it contained. + +He must have uttered some sound, or moved, or the door latch clicked +as he closed it. She started, saw him, and hastily concealed the +locket in her bosom, rising in some confusion to greet him. + +The arrow of suspicion first driven into his mind when he had seen +that stranger at their door and Ruth had seemed so frightened, was +barbed. Now that he sought to cast it out of his thought, it rankled. + +What! was he of a low, suspicious, jealous nature? Was he the kind +of cur to make himself and his wife miserable by a jealousy that was +insulting to them both? + +This woman and he had known each other but a short time before their +hasty marriage, but Ryder flattered himself that he had drawn from +her a rather full and connected story of her life up to the day she +had stepped aboard the _Minnequago_. + +There had been nothing in her story, he was positive, of which she +needed to be ashamed. There had been no man but him. She had told +him that frankly. + +She might possess some keepsake; but only such as an honorable wife +might have. He knew it--he would stake his life upon it! + +Perhaps it was some dear reminder of the mother she had scarcely +known. He had carried his mother's wedding ring all these years +until he had given it to the clergyman to slip on Ruth's finger. He +saw the glint of that ring now as she advanced to meet him with hands +outstretched and the same light in her eyes that he had seen just now +while she bent above the locket. + +"I am a fool!" bethought. "A wicked fool." + +He hurried down the room and clasped her yielding body within the +circle of his arms. There was a passion in his embrace which he had +scarcely expressed before, and she seemed to feel it. + +"Dearest!" she whispered. "I am glad you have come back, I was +getting lonesome again," and she gave him her lips of her own accord. + +The heart of John Ryder beat higher. He remembered what he had told +her aboard ship: + +"I'll never bring tears to your eyes, but always laughter to your +heart!" + +"And a villain I'd be to break my word. Now is not the time to ask +an explanation of such a simple act. It might show her how mean and +vile a thought I had," was his thought. + +"I sent a message up to you a while ago, but the boy seemed unable to +find you," he said. + +"Why, I never saw such stupid boys as they have at this hotel! +Another knocked on our door while Mrs. Judson was here and asked for +somebody else." + +"Oh, the guests are all around, visiting in each other's rooms, I +presume," he observed. "The whole household is upset. And you never +saw such a lot of cranks as there are here in your life. A circus +sideshow has no more freaks, I guess, than a hotel like this Pinewood +Inn." + +Ryder, laughing, told of old Mr. Cudger and his picture, and sketched +the character of Colonel Aurelius Brack. Incidentally he told her +something of what had been done, though in an impersonal way, to make +the guests comfortable and to keep the employees of the hotel on +their jobs. + +"Dear me, John!" she cried, leading him to a couch where they could +sit side by side, "I thought this was to be a vacation for both of +us," looking at him roguishly. "A honeymoon! It should begin pretty +soon, don't you think?" + +"Do you want to pack those trunks again and leave in the morning?" + +"No-o. I want to stay here if we can. But can't some of the other +men attend to all these things?" + +"They are attending to them. They are discussing them to beat the +band! But nobody seemed to have any really practical ideas--not when +it touched their pocketbooks," and Ryder laughed grimly. + +"I'm going down once more to see about something particular. The +dining-room is still open. It will be late before we get to bed, and +you only pecked at your dinner, I noticed. Don't you want to come +down for a bite--or will it be too much trouble?" + +"Ah-ha!" she said shaking a finger at him, "you have the late-supper +habit. I believe you are a gay boy. I certainly shall not let my +hubby go out alone to suppers. And--whisper it!--I am hungry. I was +so excited when we arrived. And people stared so at us down +there----" + +"They'll stare now," he said smiling. + +"Especially if I should go down in this robe?" and she blushed as she +sprang up from the couch. "I will put on one of my nicest and," +looking at him from across the room with sparkling eyes, "bridiest +gowns!" + +She disappeared within the curtains of the bedchamber. Ryder started +up. + +"Oh, by the way, about those gowns--" he began awkwardly, when a +summons at the door terminated his proposed speech abruptly. The +steward had sent up for him to come down in haste. The supplies from +the store had arrived, and the guests were clamoring at the storeroom +door for a distribution of the lamps and candles. + +Ryder stepped back to the door of the inner room. + +"I've got to run down again, Ruth," he said. + +She uttered a little scream when he appeared in the doorway; but then +she came to kiss him without affectation. Her white shoulders and +arms, bared for the moment, almost dazzled him. Ryder smiled down +into her eyes and saw in their depths what he wished to see. + +"Come below when you are ready. There is a little waiting room at +the foot of the main stairway and you can see all over the office +from there. I'll probably see you come down; but if I'm not in +sight, go to the dining-room, if you like, and select a table." + +He said this, kissed her again, and hastened after the steward's +messenger. Descending in the elevator he found a crowd about the +little office in which the steward made up his accounts, just back of +the café. + +Colonel Brack was foremost in the disturbance, and when Ryder +appeared the old campaigner turned upon him wrathfully. + +"See here, Ryder!" he exclaimed, "you can't do this. You must have +some of the instincts of a gentleman about you, and you should +remember the women----" + +"I can excuse a man who has been drinking," interposed Ryder sharply; +"and I cannot strike a cripple. But I advise you to have a care how +you address me." + +Brack threw himself forward at him; but two of his friends held back +the unsteady old fire-eater. "By gad, suh, I'd call you out for that +if you were not such a dog, suh!" + +"I am not dog enough to run at every fool's call," responded Ryder. +And then he ignored the sputtering Brack, turning to the remainder of +the party: "Gentlemen, I shall see that you make no raid on these +supplies I have secured. They are my private property and I shall do +with them as I see fit." + +"My goodness, man! you don't intend to freeze us out completely, do +you?" gasped Jimson, whose wife was an invalid. + +"I shall distribute them as I choose and under such terms as I see +fit," Ryder repeated calmly. "The steward is to have direct control +of them. Within the next hour, and before the electric lights are +put out, the matter will all be arranged. + +"None of you at first wished to take any financial responsibility for +the good of the general herd. I took that responsibility. Why +should I not reap my proper reward?" and he smiled at them grimly. + +Then he shut the door of the office in their faces and consulted with +the steward again. + +"How many of the help will stay?" he asked. + +"Perhaps half, sir. Some of the guests' private servants--the maids +and valets--have gone already with the others on that train. There +are drafts being made on George and me for some of the maids and +waiters----" + +"Cut that off. Refuse everybody," advised Ryder. "These people will +have to get along without such personal service for the present. +They should know that without explanation. You need every man and +woman you've got on your roster, don't you?" + +"Why, sir, I don't see how we shall get along at all with so few in +the morning." + +"So I thought. Now, follow out my instructions to the letter in the +matter of the placing of the oil lamps. Send the porters around +through the corridors to screw up the brackets for the bracket lamps. +There are more than four dozen of those. We'll decide about the +stoves later. It is not getting very cold out of doors, and nobody +will suffer much before bedtime." + +He left the steward's room and went back to the office, ignoring the +men who stood about and looked at him as though he were a dog in a +strange town. As he walked down the long corridor and came in sight +of the stairway he observed Ruth standing at the foot of the flight. +Half the men in the foyer had turned to look at her, and Ryder saw +her color and shrink toward the curtained entrance of the dining-room. + +Ryder did not wonder that the other guests stared at her. This did +not fan any foolish jealousy into flame. It was because she was so +very, very beautiful that she attracted attention. + +If she had been attractive in the traveling dress she had worn at +dinner, this gray and pink costume enhanced her beauty marvelously. + +The wonder of it smote Ryder again. How came his wife by such gowns? +When did she get them? What did it mean? + +And then something occurred to draw his mind from this thought. He +saw Ruth whisper to a passing bellboy and then she disappeared into +the dining-room. + +Ryder walked slowly forward expecting the boy would come directly to +him. But to his amazement the messenger did not glance in his +direction. Instead the boy approached a group in one corner and +Ryder saw that the man calling himself "John B. White" was a member +of that group. + +The bellboy said something. Ryder was watching White's face. He saw +the man pale, then color, and with quick steps he crossed the foyer +and entered the dining-room as though directly in answer to the +summons from Mrs. Ryder! + +The half-stunned bridegroom caught at the sleeve of the bellboy as he +came back. + +"See here!" he whispered, fiercely, in the ear of the startled +messenger, "who did the lady send for?" + +"Mr. White," was the answer of the boy, and looked at Ryder in wonder. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WITH THE WORLD SHUT OUT + +Ryder stopped dead in his tracks and let the boy pass on. His +usually well ordered mind was a chaos. + +To see Ruth deliberately send for that man whom she had declared she +did not know, and seemingly make an engagement to meet him in the +hotel dining-room! Well! it was enough to make any husband +suspicious. + +John Ryder's impulse was to follow swiftly after White. Had he done +so, there would have been an ugly scene in the dining-room of +Pinewood Inn. But the blaze of anger that immediately leaped up +within him, and would have choked his utterance and perhaps made him +disgrace himself, warned Ryder that it would be the part of wisdom +for him to cool down before presenting himself in the dining-room. + +He swung on his heel and returned along the corridor. The café door +was right before him. He was not a drinking man--that is, one who +made a practice of patronizing a bar, or drinking other than at his +meals; but the swinging door of the hotel café invited him, and he +felt that if ever in his life he wanted a drink it was now. + +The bar had been well patronized all the evening, the trade keeping +the two white jacketed men behind it on the jump. Here was the storm +center of the indignant outburst against the hotel management, and +Colonel Brack's frequent visits to the bar had increased his fluency +and fanned the fires of his rage against what he loudly termed "this +beastly imposition, suh!" + +He was calling it this and harder things when Ryder entered. The +latter slipped quietly up to the bar, told the man what he wanted, +and waited to sip the appetizer without giving the least attention to +the other patrons. But his appearance did not pass unmarked. There +were plenty of trouble breeders ready to call the colonel's attention +to Ryder's presence. + +Suddenly there was a roar at the end of the bar and the colonel, +crying, "Lemme at him! Lemme see him!" charged down the line, +brushing the men along the rail away like flies. + +The crowd cleared the way instantly, leaving the space open between +the wrathful old campaigner and the man quietly sipping his sherry +and bitters. Perhaps the suspicion that the colonel was in the habit +of "going heeled" made the shrinkage of the men hanging on the +bar-rail so unanimous. + +Colonel Brack, afflicted with an artificial limb, was not possessed +of that grace of movement necessary to make a man a personable figure +in leading a cotillion; but he was getting over the floor with mighty +strides until he suddenly awoke to the fact that none of his friends +was restraining him. + +Not a single man in the group of his adherents laid hold on his +coat-tails or tried to soothe and pacify the doughty warrior, while +Ryder stood coolly sipping his drink. + +It was an embarrassing moment. The colonel halted midway in his +flight and glanced hastily about; but nobody came tardily to his aid. +They all plainly considered that John Ryder deserved all that was +coming to him--and they were willing in this case to let the colonel +go ahead. + +Ryder meanwhile watched the colonel curiously, but made no move to +guard himself from the threatened attack. For fourteen years Colonel +Brack had been a picturesque figure in the café of Pinewood Inn. It +was whispered among those whom the colonel had taken into his +confidence at odd and various times, that he had in the West a +reputation for being "a bad man to stir up, suh!" + +Usually he played his cards so well that he was "saved by his +friends" when upon the verge of doing something rash. In this case +everybody was willing to see John Ryder get all that the colonel +threatened him with. And it suddenly smote the old fire-eater, and +smote him hard, that he had "overplayed his hand." + +The crowd had rapidly got out of his way, and he had all the room he +needed for either fisticuffs or guns. Ryder finished his sherry, and +placed the glass softly on the bar. His movements were as deliberate +as the colonel's had been impetuous. The latter finally found his +voice. + +"Suh! my contempt for you, and the interference of my friends here, +are all that save you from the punishment you deserve, suh! Crippled +as I am, honorably and in my country's cause" (it was not generally +known that Colonel Brack had lost his leg in a premature explosion in +the Leading Sinner Mine, from which still-paying proposition he drew +his small income), "and old as I am, nothing less would keep me from +laying violent hands upon you, suh!" + +Ryder turned away from the bar and, as he did so, he snapped his +fingers under the colonel's glowing nose. + +"Cut it short, Colonel, I'm busy," he said. "Haven't you anything +else to say to me? No? Then--good-night!" and he walked out of the +café. + +It was a cruel blow to the colonel's popularity. The crowd began to +snicker, and the snicker grew to a loud and general laugh. Colonel +Brack's prestige as a "bad man" melted, and was gone at the Pinewood +Inn bar forever. + +Ryder, perhaps somewhat relieved of his ill temper, it having found a +vent in this incident, walked directly to the dining-room. He +glanced about for White but did not see him. Was the man still with +Mrs. Ryder? + +The moment had perhaps arrived for the mystery to be explained. The +thought made him secretly tremble. It is facing the unknown that +makes cowards of us all. + +But John Ryder's countenance did not betray his inward feelings. He +walked into the dining-room in his usual, dignified manner. +Everything was rose-tinted from the shaded lamps on each table. He +almost instantly saw his wife sitting at a cozy table, and with her +was Mrs. Judson. + +White was not in sight. There were perhaps two dozen little parties +sprinkled about; but with none of them was the individual who had +earned so much of John Ryder's attention. + +Ryder, appearing much calmer than he really was, approached his wife +and her companion. Ruth seemed undisturbed save that her face was a +trifle paler than it had been. But it lit up with pleasure and her +eyes shone when she saw Ryder coming. + +And this look staggered the man. There was nothing furtive--nothing +secretive--in Ruth's manner. It was disgraceful to think of her +having some secret from him when her beautiful face beamed such love +and happiness at his approach. + +"I'm a fool--a cad--a scoundrel!" he told himself savagely. "I ought +to tell her what is troubling me right now and have the matter +explained. Confound this old busybody, anyway!" + +But he managed to hide his dislike for the widow as he sat down. + +"Really, your wife looked so lonely, that I had to come over and talk +with her," cried the vivacious Mrs. Judson, shaking her lorgnette at +Ryder. "You shameful men--going off by yourselves--herding together +socially--and in that vulgar café, I'll be bound! I declare! the +ordinary man wouldn't give up his nightcap even on his wedding night. +Fie! For shame!" + +Ruth blushed faintly, and looked at Ryder apologetically. The latter +checked his real feelings and displayed an emotionless face. The +widow rambled on: + +"I got into the habit of taking a late bite with poor dear Horace. +He always liked it. And to-night when we were all so upset I knew I +couldn't sleep without it. I really get so lonely--living alone and +eating alone----" + +What could Ryder do? He looked at Ruth. She made a little _moue_ +with her pretty lips and shrugged her shoulders slightly. + +"We shall be glad to have you take supper with us, Mrs. Judson," +Ryder said, telling the lie with an expressionless face. + +"Now, isn't that too, too sweet of you?" gushed the widow. "And when +I know you must be just longing to be tête-à -tête--both of you. Now, +don't deny it!" + +Their faces did not, if their murmurs belied their expression of +countenance. But Mrs. Judson ran on untiringly--she was a "fluid" +speaker--and settled herself more comfortably in her chair. +Evidently Ryder had her on his hands, and he beckoned the waiter so +as to have it over with as soon as possible. + +Ruth had said she was hungry, and Mrs. Judson looked like a woman +with a hearty appetite. Her order did not belie her appearance. +Ryder was too much disturbed in his mind to know whether he could eat +or not; but he ordered something, and tried to be social while a +dozen different threads of thought were entangled in his brain. + +"I think it's so romantic, don't you know, for you two to get married +and come right here when the hotel is so disrupted," gushed the widow. + +"Very romantic," acquiesced Ryder grimly. + +"You two poor babes in the woods. No! I'm going to call you Romeo +and Juliet," she declared. "I'm sure the opportunity for your +husband to be a romantic knight," looking at Ruth, "is just as good +in this hotel under present conditions as he would have found in the +days of the Montagues and Capulets. + +"He has surely rescued one lone dame in distress--that's me!" and she +laughed with a heartiness that shook her ponderous figure. "There +are dragons to kill now, too. I understand that one man here in the +hotel has bought up all the lamps and candles in town and refuses to +let us have any save at an exorbitant price." + +"How mean!" murmured Ruth, trying to be polite while Ryder smiled +behind his napkin. + +"Isn't it? I mean to get back to my rooms so that Marie can undress +me before the lights are put out. I don't know what I would do in +the dark." + +"I think it is horrid of anybody to take advantage of our necessities +in such a way as this," Ruth said thoughtfully. "Fancy being at the +mercy of a man who would be mean enough to corner the lighting of the +world--and if he'd corner the lighting of a single hotel I suppose he +would a deal rather found a Universal Lighting Trust." + +The little joke which he was having all to himself put Ryder in a +better humor. Mrs. Judson grew more animated, and Ruth did her best +to make the impromptu occasion pleasant. + +"Just think! this is a bridal supper," simpered Mrs. Judson. "We +ought to celebrate--just a little. It's wicked, I know, to think of +champagne at such a time. But we must have something more sparkling +than water to drink this pretty lady's health in. If you will allow +me, Mr.--er--Romeo----" + +"I could not think of your ordering anything at my table," said Ryder +with an involuntary frown. "But if you ladies would enjoy a glass of +wine we will have some, of course." + +"Now, that is gallant of you," cried the widow, forseeing a luxury +that she loved, but seldom paid for. "When poor dear Horace was +alive we had it often for dinner. He was inordinately fond of the +good things of life." + +"But his taste in wives was not very select," thought John Ryder, his +disgust growing. + +Ruth had crimsoned, but her signal to Ryder to order no wine was +unheeded. To tell the truth he was a little piqued. It was Ruth's +fault that they were in this situation. She had made friends first +with Mrs. Judson. + +But when the waiter brought the bucket of ice in which nestled a +quart bottle, the very atmosphere about their table seemed to be +enlivened. The widow's dusky cheek soon glowed, her eyes sparkled, +and her vivacity seemed to increase with the good things placed +before her. + +Ryder noted, too, that Ruth's eyes held in their depths a sparkle--a +point of fire--that had not been there before. And those eyes, +brilliant at one moment and the next swimming as though in unshed +tears, rested upon his countenance most of the time. Her smile was +for him. She played the hostess prettily; but her attention, after +all, was for her husband, and the color came and went in her cheeks +in a manner most charming. + +She was a woman in love--in love with the man she had married--with +every thought of her soul and every fibre of her being. + +A realization of this fact swept from the chambers of her husband's +mind every atom of suspicion. No woman could look at a man as Ruth +looked at him and withhold in her secret heart any mystery that might +bring shame upon him or disaster to herself. + +"Romeo, you are a lucky man," whispered the widow, tapping him on the +arm with the expressive lorgnette and leaning forward to put her +full, red lips close to his ear, but with her laughing eyes on Ruth's +face to see how the bride took another woman's familiarity with her +husband. "She loves you as one woman in a thousand ever loves her +husband." + +"I am a lucky man," repeated Ryder, though more to himself than to +the cynical widow. + +The latter shook a playful--and diamond bedewed--finger at Ruth. +"You are giving him a great advantage, Juliet. Let a man once +realize that you love him so devotedly, and he'll ride rough shod +over your heart. It's always the way," and she sighed +heavily--"though," thought John Ryder, "the sigh may be caused more +by the supper she has eaten than by any sentimental emotion." + +"Yes, Juliet," rambled on the wined, and consequently quite happy, +Mrs. Judson, "take the advice of a woman of experience, and do not +give your heart too completely into any man's keeping. I am not +old--oh, no! for we women who live and love do not grow old--but I +have lived more years than have you, sweet girl, and I have +loved--and been loved," she simpered, "and I tell you it is always +better to keep the driving hand." + +Ruth shivered in disgust. Ryder kept a stony face and began to eat +the meal before him, which before he had scarcely touched. + +"Do you see that woman over there?" suddenly questioned Mrs. Judson. +"They say she is the most abominable----" + +"Oh, Mrs. Judson," and this time Ruth spoke with decision, "in time +we shall learn to know our fellow guests perhaps. Tonight let us +talk about things--not people;" and with a power rare in so young and +inexperienced a person, she kept the talk from again wandering to +personalities or to sentimentalities. + +Ryder ignored the suggestion of any more wine, and the widow finally +bethought her of the fact that the lights might go out soon and leave +her in the dark. So the little supper party broke up. + +Almost everybody else had left the room save a young woman whom Ryder +had noticed before--a plainly dressed, freckled, sharp-featured girl, +who ate alone at a table near the door. That is, she was supposed to +eat; but in reality she read most diligently a rather dingy paper +covered pamphlet that was folded into small compass beside her plate. + +As Ryder and his party passed out he saw the girl devouring the story +she was reading with a mouthful from her plate poised on her fork. +So eager was she over the book, and so excited, that she gestured +with this mouthful, jabbing the fork to and fro as though duelling +with an imaginary enemy and feeling within herself, without doubt, +all the emotions of the characters in the fiction she was perusing. + +Mrs. Judson, now in a very happy state, indented Ryder's ribs with an +irritating thumb, and whispered shrilly: "Do you know who she is?" + +"I haven't the pleasure of the young lady's acquaintance." + +"She's the house detective," giggled the heavy lady. "Isn't she +funny? She's reading a five-cent detective thriller. She gave me a +pile of them to read once. She says--he, he!--they feed the +imagination." + +Ryder looked back at the plain-featured girl. She was still waving +the mouthful on her fork, wrapped in her novel, as he and the two +women of his party went on to the elevator. He left Ruth and Mrs. +Judson to go up in that while he went for a final conference with +George and the steward before retiring himself. The porters had +fixed the bracket lamps in the main corridors of the hotel (and there +were none too many) while one was at the clerk's desk and was already +lighted. + +"Back to the days of our grandfathers," said George, grinning. "'The +light of other days.' Say! some of these fellows, Mr. Ryder, are +frothing at the mouth about you." + +"I thought Colonel Brack----" + +"Not him. The old boy's been taken off to his own room by his wife. +That lady is of the salt of the earth, and she knows just how to +handle Aurelius. She's been handling him for a good many years. +He's nowhere near such a 'howling wolf' in his own coral as he +appears outside. + +"But some of the others----" + +He halted, for Jimson, the man with the invalid wife, suddenly +appeared in a glow of indignation, and George let him speak for +himself. + +"See here, Mr. Ryder," he sputtered, "I am not challenging your right +to make money out of our necessity--that seems to be your business," +and he sneered so that it must have hurt him. "But at least you +should have some humanity--some bowels of compassion. My wife is ill +and almost helpless; the last time I was up there the rooms were +already becoming chilled because of the decreased steam pressure. + +"You positively must let me have one of those stoves Al has there in +the storeroom. I don't care what you want for it. I'll pay. I +_must_ have one." + +"They are not for sale, Mr. Jimson," Ryder responded coldly. + +"Mr. Ryder, this is outrageous! I will give you ten dollars for one +of those stoves." + +"That would be only about fifty per cent. profit on the large stoves, +Mr. Jimson. Do you think you would care to do that if you were in my +place?" + +"I--I'll give you twenty--fifty dollars, then," Jimson blurted out. + +Here George interfered. The clerk seemed really put out with little +Jimson. + +"You should take a walk around and cool off, Mr. Jimson--and Colonel +Brack, too. Some of you have been insulting Mr. Ryder for two hours, +and jawing your heads off about what he's done. And you don't _know_ +what he's done." + +"Eh?" bristled Jimson, yet puzzled. + +"He has done what none of the rest of you had public spirit enough to +do," went on the hotel clerk. "If anybody pays him for what he has +laid out for the comfort of the guests of this hotel it will be the +Barnaby estate, when this trouble is finally straightened out. Five +minutes ago, Mr. Jimson, Mr. Ryder had one of the largest oil heaters +he bought and a nice reading lamp sent up to your wife." + +"Oh, by Jove! I--I thought---- I didn't understand----" + +Mr. Jimson's words rambled off into a stammering monologue. Ryder +had handed George back the list he had been looking over. "That will +be about all, I guess," he said. "I'm going to turn in. +Good-night!" and ignoring the apologizing Jimson he made for the +stairway. + +The dining-room was closed. The last elevator boy came out of his +cage and locked the door. The hands of the clock in the foyer lacked +but a few minutes of midnight. + +"Gentlemen," said the clerk from his station at the desk. "The +dynamos will run but ten minutes longer. The café is closed for the +night. I advise you to go to your rooms." + +The sharp-faced girl whom Ryder had noticed in the dining-room had +taken up her station near the foot of the stairs. She had the folded +paper novel in her hand. She looked particularly wideawake, and the +literary pabulem she so enjoyed might indeed spur her imagination. +She was evidently on duty for the night. + +"Gad!" exclaimed one man. "We might as well be stopping at a Mills' +Hotel. They send you to bed with the chickens," and with laughter +and jest the company slowly broke up. + +The telephone buzzed at the clerk's elbow. He took down the +receiver, listened a moment, and then spoke to the house detective: + +"Miss Solomons, you're wanted in Parlor A." + +Ryder, in serious mood, was already climbing the stairs. The young +woman passed him like a shot, and still he was not aroused from his +reverie. He was tired. His work for the comfort of the hotel guests +was done, and he uttered a sigh of satisfaction at the thought. +There was positively nothing else that could happen to balk his +desire to be alone with his wife. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE BEGINNING OF A NIGHTMARE + +Coming to Parlor A on his way to his apartment, Ryder saw lights and +heard a buzz of excited voices. He saw the house detective, and +stopped a moment to see what had brought her here in such haste. + +Drawn into a corner at the end of the room near the huge picture of +"The Cheesemonger" was an invalid's chair, which the colored man, +James, had evidently just made up as a bed for his crotchety master. +And there was old Cudger, in a blanket robe, nightcap, and carpet +slippers, wrathfully facing three women who, so Ryder thought, should +have long since been in bed. + +Eying both parties stood the sharp-featured Miss Solomons, her novel +in one hand, the other on her hip and her head on one side. The +chatter of the women, the grumbling of Cudger, and the chuckling of +James, who seemed to find much amusement in the situation, made +little impression upon the phenomenal calm of the house detective. + +"Now, then!" the latter said at last, "let's get this thing straight. +Mr. Cudger has permission to sleep here to watch his oil painting +tonight. What are you ladies doin' here? Lights'll go out in two +minutes anyway." + +"It is disgraceful!" ejaculated one woman, a hard-featured person +with glasses and a "transformation" that did not match her back hair +in color. "This man coming into the ladies' parlor in his +nightclothes----" + +"Ha! Don't expect me to sleep in my day clothes, do you?" snapped +Mr. Cudger. + +"What are you ladies here for?" reiterated the sharp voice of Miss +Solomons. "I ask you." + +"We were holding a committee meeting--a very important meeting," said +the hard-featured one. "You know very well, young woman, that the +Society for the Betterment of the Condition of Delinquent Girls will +hold their convention here next week. We are the advance committee +of the S.B.C.D.G. + +"All right," interrupted Miss Solomons. "But you had better advance +right to bed, ladies. Lights out in one minute. Talk it over in the +morning. Mr. Cudger has the call on this parlor tonight." + +"But I tell you, young woman, we have a right to hold our meeting +here, no matter what the time is," cried the militant lady. + +"In the dark?" exclaimed the house detective. "No, ma'am!" and she +advanced upon the three much as she might have upon a flock of +chickens, literally shooing them out of the parlor. + +But once in the hall the women stopped to parley some more. + +"Miss Solomons, this is a perfect outrage--an outrage not to be +permitted in a well-ordered house, such as the Pinewood Inn is +supposed to be," stormed the hard-featured woman, and there was the +ring of war in her voice. + +"Now, Mrs. Dent," put in the oily voice of a large brawny woman, +another of the three ejected committee women, "Miss Solomons is not +to blame. Miss Solomons, no doubt, is deeply interested in our +work"--Miss Solomons sniffed and the woman with the "transformation" +glared angrily at the house detective--"but this awful Bangs----" + +"Miss Solomons is to blame!" interrupted Mrs. Dent, in a hard, +decisive tone. "If she had the judgment of a kitten----" + +"Now, see here, ladies!" flared out the house detective, "we're not +a-goin' to have any meanderings around the hallways in the dark this +night. There go the lights now. You go, and go now!" + +The women scuttled away without further words, and Miss Solomons +disappeared in the darkness. + +John Ryder, vastly amused, changed his opinion then and there +regarding the appointment of a woman for such a position as Miss +Solomons held. No man could have handled this situation with such +vigor and promptness. + +A smile wreathed his lips as he went on to his own door. Along the +corridor before him, now illumined only by an occasional bracket +lamp, he saw flitting the lighted candles of the other late guests +seeking their beds. + +Ryder opened the door of his suite expecting to see a picture similar +to the one he had observed when he had come to the room before +supper. But, although the lamp he had sent up was burning on the +reading table, Ruth was not present. The room was empty and the +atmosphere of it seemed chill as he stepped in. + +Nor was there a light in the inner room. He did not hear a sound. +Where had his wife gone? Was she with Mrs. Judson in that lady's +rooms? And where were they? + +Ryder was suddenly disgusted again. For heaven's sake! couldn't Ruth +break away from that woman? And after the experience they had had +with her at the supper table, too! + +He had heard certain of his married acquaintances occasionally curse +the interference of some "woman friend" in the otherwise quiet pool +of their domesticity. Was he going to butt up against something like +that at the very start? It could not be possible that Ruth was +enamored of the society of such a woman as the vulgar Mrs. Judson! + +He turned up the wick of the lamp and strode with it to the door of +the bedroom, flinging back the hangings. Instantly the light flooded +the chamber, and a prettily disheveled figure started up out of a +nest of pillows. + +"Oh! I was napping!" she cried with a tremulous little laugh. "What +a bad girl I am! You were so long, Johnny, and I was so sleepy. It +must be very late." + +She had made ready for the night. Her beautiful hair was in two +thick plaits over her shoulders--those shoulders so white and soft +and beautifully curved betrayed by the cut of her nightgown and the +lacy negligee she had thrown over it. + +As she slipped out of bed he saw her slim bare ankles, her feet +thrust into swansdown slippers. They were like a child's. She +seemed more childish and appealing to him than she had before. Ryder +felt momentary shame again that he should have been impatient. + +"It is late," he admitted. "I am afraid, Ruth, you have had a very +tiresome evening. This hasn't been just the sort of a beginning to +our married life that we might wish." + +She laughed merrily. "I guess neither of us imagined a honeymoon +like this, dear. I used to try to think what you would be like after +all these years--and you were so far away, too, John. It--it was +like a dream----" + +Ryder had stepped back to replace the lamp upon the table. He almost +dropped it. What was she saying? But before he could find his voice +or move from the spot where surprise had frozen him, the door which +he had failed to lock burst in and Mrs. Judson, in a state of +mind--and of dishabille--that completely shocked John Ryder, entered. + +A large woman in bedroom wrapper and tears is not a fetching sight. +And when she came down the room like a cyclone and flung herself with +abandon into his arms, he--well, John Ryder swore! + +[Illustration: Flung herself with abandon into John Ryder's arms] + +Not loud, but deep and with a fervency that could not be mistaken. +She came within an ace of toppling him over, and he dragged her to +the couch and dropped her there--the springs creaking a pained +objection to her sudden weight. + +"Great heavens above!" grumbled the exasperated Ryder. "What's the +matter with the creature now?" + +"Oh, what is it?" asked Ruth from the chamber, and he heard the +patter of her slippered feet as she ran to the door. + +"It's your friend, Mrs. Judson," said the harassed bridegroom with +disgust. "She's come in here to have a fit--or something." Then to +himself he added: "Why in hades didn't I lock that door? But she'd +have busted it in and come right through. Talk about a honeymoon! +Ye gods! was ever a man----" + +Here he was startled by Mrs. Judson's hysterical acrobatics. She was +gasping and crying and laughing, all at once. Her state was plainly +volcanic. + +"What the deuce is to be done with her?" he demanded of his wife. + +Ruth brushed him aside and took charge of the patient, whom he had +been trying to hold down upon the cushions by main force. + +"The ammonia bottle--on the bureau in there--quick!" Ruth commanded, +and Ryder ran to obey like a lamb. + +Ruth thrust the unstoppered bottle under Mrs. Judson's nose. The +ammonia almost choked Ryder when he got a whiff of it; and it brought +the widow up standing and trying to catch her breath. She had been +by no means unconscious, and it flashed through John Ryder's brain +that she might have heard what he said about her. + +Mrs. Judson choked for a moment, sputtered, uttered a stifled shriek +or two, and then fell to crying more quietly, but rocking herself to +and fro on the couch and wringing her bejeweled hands. + +"Well, I'm hanged!" muttered Ryder. "This is pretty near the limit!" + +Ruth turned to look at him for a moment. Her eyes suddenly sparkled +with merriment and she shook a playful finger at him. + +"You're like other men, I see," she whispered. "I guess I'm glad. I +began to think you were almost an angel, hubby." + +Mrs. Judson monopolized her attention then. She began to pour out a +tale of woe that Ryder could scarcely understand; but it seemed Marie +had left her--had run away while she was at supper--and had gone with +some of the hotel help in a wagon back into the country where there +was a station on another railroad--a long and toilsome journey, but +anything to get away from a hotel that had no heat or electric lights! + +"And she's robbed me--I know she has! Of course she has! Don't you +say she hasn't!" chattered the large lady, her bosom heaving, +threatening to go into another convulsion. "Send for Miss Solomons. +She must find my brooches--my rings--my necklace----" + +"Who is Miss Solomons?" asked Ruth wonderingly. + +"The house detective," said Ryder, and was very glad thereafter that +he said no more, for a cold voice at the open door of the suite said +clearly: + +"What's going on here? Who wants Miss Solomons?" + +Mrs. Judson had gone waveringly on to another phase of her trouble. +"And I tried to undress myself; but I didn't dare go to bed. And +then the lights went out and--and----" + +She trailed off again into spasmodic cries. Miss Solomons marched +down the room to where the bridegroom and his bride were endeavoring +to pacify the large lady. + +"Huh!" sniffed the house detective, high disgust expressed upon her +keen face. "It's that Judson woman. What's the matter with her now?" + +The question, Ryder thought, was to the point. At that moment Mrs. +Judson's gyrations reminded him of those of an eel upon a hot frying +pan. Personally he was becoming frightened. + +"Shouldn't she have a doctor?" he demanded. + +"A barrel stave would do her more good," declared Miss Solomons +harshly. + +"If I had a little aromatic spirits I'd fix her!" exclaimed Ruth, +biting her lower lip either to stifle a desire to laugh or to cry, +Ryder could not tell which. + +"Doctor!" sniffed the house detective, glaring at the hysterical +woman. + +But Ryder rushed to the telephone and called the office. George +answered at once. + +"Mrs. Judson is ill--here in our rooms," Ryder said. "Isn't there a +doctor in the neighborhood?" + +"There's one in the house. I'll send Dr. Hoyle right up, Mr. Ryder," +said the clerk. + +"Hoyle won't thank you for troubling him," Miss Solomons sneered. +But as Mrs. Judson began on another spasm she did not leave Ruth all +the work of holding the large lady upon the couch. + +"My soul! this is awful!" groaned Ryder, coming back just as Mrs. +Judson began another series of convulsions, for which indulgence in +public she was not dressed exactly right. + +"Say!" exclaimed the house detective to Ryder. "This is no place for +a man. You had better go." + +"Hang it!" groaned Ryder, realizing that Miss Solomons was right, and +starting for the door again. "Why couldn't she have gone somewhere +else to have her fit?" + +Just then the doctor's welcome knock sounded. Ryder let him in. The +medical man appeared, candle in one hand and his black case in the +other. The ridiculousness of walking about this big hotel carrying a +candle stuck into the neck of a whisky bottle did not appear to +strike any of them at the moment as humorous. + +Dr. Hoyle was a young but very businesslike practitioner. He handed +his candle to Ryder, strode down the room, and sat down beside the +widow, one end of whom each of the other women was trying to hold to +the couch. + +"Half a glass of water, please," he said to Ruth. "Let her go, Miss +Solomons. She isn't going to kick any more now." + +"Gee!" gasped the house detective, getting up from her knees and +striking her usual attitude, one hand on her hip and the other +clutching the paper novel. + +The doctor selected a vial from his case, dropped a little of its +contents into the water, which instantly turned the water cloudy and +white; then held the glass to the patient's lips. + +"Drink this," he commanded. + +Mrs. Judson's jaws seemed to be locked and her eyes were tightly +closed. She breathed stertorously. Ryder, looking on from afar, was +actually frightened. If that woman dared to die in this room---- + +"Drink this, Mrs. Judson!" said the doctor again. + +No result. Then the professional man leaned forward, with the glass +still at her lips, and, seizing the large lady's nose, deliberately +wrung it! The seemingly fixed jaws unlocked instantly and Mrs. +Judson uttered an entirely different cry from her former painful +sounds. + +"Gee!" sighed Miss Solomons again, but with satisfaction. "This is +no place for us, Mister. Come on! Dr. Hoyle can manage her without +our help," and she started for the door. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE NIGHTMARE CONTINUES + +"Drink this!" the doctor said again to the large lady, and, choking +and sputtering, Mrs. Judson did as she was told. Ryder looked on in +amazement. Ruth, seeing his face, and Miss Solomon's back being +turned, broke into a giggle and cast herself helplessly into Ryder's +arms. + +"Oh! you funny, funny man!" she murmured. "I like to see a doctor +work over a woman with hysterics--they know 'em so well!" + +The house detective stalked out, leaving the door of the suite open. +Ryder did not know whether to follow her or remain. Mrs. Judson was +evidently determined not to give up the role of patient too easily. +She caught the hand that had so cruelly wrung her nose and begged the +doctor not to leave her. + +He said he would not--in that sympathetically disgusted tone that +medical men use on such occasions. He felt himself in a foolish +position, and another man was looking on. + +"Your husband, Madam?" he asked Ruth shortly, nodding toward Ryder. + +"Yes," she said with a blush. + +"Better ask him to retire while we get Mrs. Judson to bed. She has +had these attacks before. She will not be over this one in a hurry." +Then he added in a lower tone: "What's the matter now? Is her lapdog +sick?" + +"Her maid has left her," Ruth said, having hard work, as Ryder saw, +to keep from laughing. But he felt no desire to laugh himself. +Undress that woman and put her to bed _here_? John Ryder was getting +desperate. This nightmare of untoward incidents was altogether too +much for his self-control. + +"That's a serious matter," grunted the doctor. "Neither of us will +get much rest tonight if Mrs. Judson follows her usual course. +Perhaps you can get somebody to help you, Madam----" + +"I am used to nursing sick people," Ruth told him demurely. "I can +follow your instructions exactly, Doctor. In fact, I have had +considerable experience in nursing. In the present state of the +hotel's affairs it might be difficult to get a maid." + +"I suppose that is so," the medical man admitted. "Well, the first +thing to do is to get her into bed." + +Ryder, who felt that he never, on short acquaintance, had so disliked +a man as he did this physician, had edged off to the further end of +the room. Ruth came to him, still with laughter expressed in her +quivering face and voice. + +"You are only a 'mere man'--you cannot stay here, hubby," she +whispered, putting her lips up to his. "You will have to go out +until we get Mrs. Judson into my bed. Then--if she gets quiet--you +may come back. I will sit up to tend to her and you can nap on the +couch. But don't go too far away." + +"Why, hang it, Ruth!" he complained, not at all the business man now, +"can't she be lugged back to her own room?" + +"But that would be cruel. She was frightened there, because she was +alone and the lights went out. _I_ should have to go with her, you +know. Come now! be knightly, Mr. Romeo," she added, her voice +trailing off into a laugh as she pushed him gently out of the room. + +John Ryder walked away about ten steps. Then he stopped, and smote +one clenched fist into his other open palm. + +"Well, I am hanged!" he ejaculated, and with fervor, "Some honeymoon! +What? + +"For a man to be turned out of his rooms at this hour of the night, +and for a confounded, silly, hysterical old woman! Bah!" + +John Ryder drew out a cigar, bit off the end savagely and lit it in +direct contradiction to hotel rules, and puffed away like a donkey +engine while he paced the carpeted corridor. + +He was no longer the man with the welfare of his fellow guests at +heart--particularly of the women and children in Pinewood Inn. He +was tired, he was sleepy, and he had had enough excitement to last +him for some time to come. + +The procession of incidents which had enlivened his existence since +the _Minnequago_ had docked were flung upon the screen of his memory +again, and he reviewed them like a spectator at a moving picture show. + +He remembered in what a nervous state he awaited the steamship's +docking, expecting some word from the beautiful girl whom he had +learned to love during the passage across the Atlantic. + +Having not seen her to speak to for some hours, he had half feared to +have her accept his proposal, now that he had made it. But the +instant he saw her on the wharf awaiting his coming, he had flung all +such hesitation and uncertainty to the winds. She seemed in her +appearance all that was good and beautiful. + +Then followed in swift succession the obtaining of the license, his +own jumbled business at his offices, the drive to the minister's, the +marriage ceremony, their hurried departure by train, their arrival at +the Pinewood Inn in safety despite the accident at the bridge, their +cozy little dinner, and then---- + +In more somber colors followed the chain of circumstances which had +finally culminated in his present plight. Was ever a bridegroom up +against such confounded luck? + +Some honeymoon, indeed! + +He tried to laugh; but his position was too serious, and his laugh +was choked off by the time it was started. He swore softly again and +paced on down the hallway. Coming to the door of the parlor, he +looked in. + +Old Cudger was asleep in the invalid's chair with a rug thrown over +him. Candles, in saucers for sconces, burned before the picture, all +other lights in the room being extinguished. Marching up and down +the rug like a sentinel with his master's gold-headed cane upon his +shoulder, was James, the colored factotum of the owner of Van Scamp's +"Cheesemonger." + +"It does look as though the hotel were in a state of siege," muttered +Ryder. "It's an experience that none of us will forget for many a +long day. Heigh ho! I wish I'd never come into the ranch," and he +stretched his arms above his head and yawned. "This isn't my idea of +a nice, quiet honeymoon." + +At this end of the parlor the shadows were heavy. But Ryder saw the +outlines of several comfortable looking chairs. Plowing up and down +the corridor waiting for Ruth to call him back, began to pall upon +his mind. He ventured into the big room. + +His feet made no sound upon the rugs. James marched back and forth +in perfect unconsciousness of his presence. Ryder made his way to a +big, sleepy-hollow chair, fumbled for the arms, found them, and sank +back restfully into--some other person's lap! + +It would be hard telling whether John Ryder or the person in the easy +chair, was the most startled. The former leaped up with a surprised +grunt. The other darted out of the chair and, before the man could +get more than a yard away, he felt the end of a revolver thrust right +against his waistline! + +"Hold on!" hissed an excited voice. "What you doing here? Trying to +get fresh with me, or are you just a ninny?" + +John Ryder, had he not been for the moment speechless, would +certainly have owned to the final accusation. "Ninny" it was! If he +were not one, he certainly would not be wandering about this hotel +instead of peaceably occupying the suite for which he was paying +thirty dollars a day. + +"March out there under the lamp till I get a look at you! Quick +now!" jerked out the person with the weapon. + +Ryder began to do as he was told--backward. He could see the lighted +end of the room. James, his face graying with fear, was squatting +down behind the invalid chair in which his sleeping master reclined. +Evidently the row at the upper end of the room had startled the negro +more than it had the two who were taking part in it. + +Ryder's brusk antagonist jerked him swiftly around into the corridor, +under the nearest bracket lamp. + +"Hugh!" exclaimed Miss Solomons. "So it's you? I've had my eye on +you for some time. What you doing here, anyway? And what you doin' +back there in those rooms where that Judson had a fit? You one of +her friends? What's your name?" + +"I am Mr. Ryder," he told the house detective mildly, noting that the +paper novel was still clutched fast in her left hand. + +She grunted, tucking the revolver out of sight. Evidently, whatever +she suspected John Ryder of, she did not consider him dangerous. + +"Ryder, heh?" jerked out the house detective. "Same one that beat +'em all to the lamps and candles? Not a crook, then. Anyway, not a +_little_ crook. What you doin' in those rooms just now?" she +repeated. "Mrs. Judson still there?" + +"Yes," Ryder said with vast disgust. "They are putting her to bed. +Turned me out." + +"And why not?" snapped Miss Solomons. "You didn't expect to stay +there all night, did you?" + +"Why not?" Ryder demanded with sudden vexation. "I'm paying for +them." + +"That may be. I don't doubt it," the house detective said sharply. +"But we don't allow anything like that here." + +She gave Ryder a little shove toward the stairs, and turned abruptly +back into the parlor. + +"All right, Je-eames!" he heard her drawl to the colored man. "No +gun-play this time. Come out and do your goose-step up and down the +rug. And if anybody else blunders in here while I'm napping, keep +'em out of my lap, will you?" + +To tell the truth John Ryder was so utterly amazed that he could not +reply to the house detective. He scarcely knew what she meant by her +innuendo; yet he felt rising anger. She seemed to have doubted the +status of Ruth and himself as a properly wedded pair! + +Nightmare? It was a saturnalia of misunderstanding and vexing +incidents! John Ryder would have been glad right then and there to +take Ruth and escape from the Pinewood Inn, even if they had to walk +through the night to some other shelter. Later he wished with all +his heart that he had done just that. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +SOME EXPERIENCES OF A BRIDEGROOM + +John Ryder, just here, hearing voices and laughter--even the clink of +glasses--from the floor below, felt a desire for human society--for +speech with sane people. His mind was in such a chaotic condition +that he was not sure whether these recent remarkable incidents had +really happened to him, or he had dreamed them. + +He arrived at the top of the broad flight leading down to the foyer. +There were candles glimmering at the clerk's desk beside the bracket +lamp, and several of the guests were keeping George company. Jimson +was one; there were three men whom Ryder had not before particularly +noticed; and there was White, the man of mystery. The latter was +sitting rather sullenly with the others, sipping some concoction in a +tall glass--which, indeed, they were all doing. + +If for no other reason than to get a closer look at John B. White, +Ryder joined the party. He was welcomed vociferously by the clerk. +Jimson considered it was up to him to pacify the man he had so +foolishly and impulsively insulted. + +"Hope you'll let me mix you one, Mr. Ryder," Jimson said. "Just to +show there's no hard feelings, you know." + +"Go ahead," Ryder said, conscious that White was watching him with +clouded eyes. Indeed, the man seemed unable to keep his gaze off +John Ryder. + +"How's Mrs. Judson?" asked George, with a knowing grin. + +"Confound her!" ejaculated the bridegroom. "She's turned me out of +house and home." + +"Ho, ho! And you a newly married man!" cackled one of the crowd. + +"On his honeymoon," said Jimson. Then he blew a sigh. "Well, it +might be worse, Mr. Ryder. You don't know what it is to have an +invalid wife." + +"Or a heavyweight, like the Lady Judson," chuckled another. + +Ryder showed he was not deeply interested in these witticisms. +George said rather lamely: + +"Well, a man's got to make way for the ladies." + +"Especially when they are hysterical," Jimson added. "I remember +when my wife----" + +He started on a story that did not interest Ryder in the least. He +was the host--it was his private bottle they were sampling--so the +clerk and all but White and Ryder gave the narrator some attention. + +White rose up suddenly and tapped John Ryder on the shoulder. "I beg +your pardon, Mr.--er--did I catch your name?" + +"Ryder." + +"Ah! Mr. Ryder!" The man spoke rather gaspingly, as though +something interfered with his breathing. He gazed at Ryder with eyes +that burned strangely. Altogether he did not seem in good health, +and again Ryder wondered if he was quite right in his mind. Perhaps +ill health might explain his odd actions, after all. + +"I feel I owe you an apology--an explanation," said White, still in a +low voice. "Will--will you come over here a moment--to this bench? +Give me your attention briefly?" + +"Guess I can," said Ryder. "There seems nothing much pressing on my +time just now," he added grimly, and followed White to the gloomier +side of the office where the two men seated themselves on one of the +leather-covered divans just under the stairway. + +"You see," said White, still in that stifled tone. "I--I came down +here expecting to intercept--that is, to meet--er--friends. I +followed her down here---- Ahem! Them, I mean; and I couldn't +find----" + +His voice trailed off into silence, while Ryder watched him in the +dusk with reviving interest. There was surely something wrong with +this man's brain. If ever John Ryder had seen a man with beclouded +mind, John B. White was that man. + +"And I saw--saw your--er--wife," went on White. "She looked so +like--well, like what I thought my friend--one of my friends--would +look----" + +"My wife looks like somebody you know?" Ryder asked in that loud and +cheerful tone which the average person uses in addressing one who he +thinks is not mentally balanced. + +"Ye-es. As I thought she'd look. And her name----" + +"What name?" demanded Ryder. + +White ignored the question. "You see, I've been away so long," he +murmured. "I didn't know just how she would look. We had never +exchanged photographs in all that time." + +Ryder glanced at him curiously. "You come from Rome, the clerk tells +me?" + +"Yes," admitted the man, looking startled again. "I--I only recently +arrived in the country." + +"Recently arrived from an insane asylum, more like," thought John +Ryder. + +"And, then, your wife," reiterated White. "You--you haven't been +married to her long?" + +"I should say not!" groaned Ryder. "Not long enough to get used to +being a married man. We were only married yesterday." + +"Not married _here_?" gasped White. + +"No. In New York. Just before coming here," replied Ryder, +wonderingly. "And I wish heartily we hadn't come here. We're in a +nice mess." + +"Yes--unfortunate," said White. "Your case is indeed unhappy. A +bridegroom and bride. Dear, dear!" + +Ryder still gazed at him wonderingly. "If ever I have seen a man who +has slipped his trolley, this White is that man!" he thought. + +"I--I suppose you and Mrs. Ryder had looked forward to a very +different sort of a honeymoon?" said White, bending forward to devour +his companion's face in the dusk, his own eyes glowing in the wild +way which had already attracted Ryder's notice. + +"Indeed yes," Ryder admitted, with a chuckle, the drink Jimson had +mixed for him having had a soothing effect. "But we were neither of +us thinking of honeymoons when we embarked on the _Minnequago_." + +The man started. "You--you mean when you embarked on the ship? You +only landed from her yesterday morning?" + +"That is when she docked," the puzzled Ryder replied. "We were +married not long after. My wife, you see, is an English girl----" + +"An English girl! Yes?" A faint tone of disappointment colored the +remark. White subsided for a moment into deep thought. Suddenly, as +Ryder was about to rise, the other clutched his arm feverishly. "I +beg your pardon! One other question--if you will bear with me, Mr. +Ryder. Will--will you tell me your wife's name? + +"Why, Ryder!" ejaculated the other. + +"I--I mean before she was married?" + +"Mont--Ruth Mont," and Ryder broke away from the man and walked to +the desk to set his empty glass upon the counter. George was telling +a story--one of those interminably long yarns which begin, "There was +an Irishman, and." He was the only person who was facing the divan +on which White was sitting. + +Suddenly the clerk's face turned puttylike, and he stopped, his jaw +hanging. He glared over the shoulders of his audience. + +"What's the matter with you?" demanded the nervous Jimson, jumping up. + +"Look there!" exclaimed George. "What's the matter with that man?" + +They all wheeled at his question to look. But while the others were +moved first by White's appearance, as George had been, Ryder saw the +face of Miss Solomons, the house detective, hanging over the +balustrade of the stairs, just above the place where he had been +sitting with White. She dodged back out of sight; and then Ryder saw +what had startled the hotel clerk. + +White had slid down in his seat, with only the small of his back +resting on its edge, the back of his head rigidly against the settee +back and his legs stretched stiffly before him. His face was purple +in color and he was gasping for breath. + +"The man's in a fit!" cried Jimson. + +There was a concerted rush toward White, all but Ryder joining in the +stampede. He remained by the desk, staring up the stairway and +wondering what was the matter with Miss Solomons, who he supposed had +gone back to her broken sleep in the parlor chair. + +"What the deuce does the girl want?" he thought. "Was she spying on +me or on White? And what is the matter with White, all of a sudden? +What threw him into such a state? What did he ask me last? Why! +Ruth's maiden name----" + +George came charging back to the desk. + +"I say, Mr. Ryder! isn't Doctor Hoyle up in your rooms?" + +"I left him there," grumbled Ryder. "He and my wife are putting that +Judson woman to bed." + +George tore around the desk to the telephone. He stuck the proper +plug into the board and began to pump the annunciator in Ryder's +apartment. The other men picked the stiffened White up and laid him +on the couch. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE EAGLE EYE OF THE HOUSE DETECTIVE + +George began at once to shout "Hullo!" into the instrument. Finally +he got a reply from Suite Three. It was the doctor himself who +answered the insistent call from the hotel desk. + +"Yes, this is George!" ejaculated the clerk. "Come down here to the +office at once, Doc. Something's happened to Mr. White---- + +"What is it? I dunno. He's fallen in a fit--looks awful--face as +black as your hat!" + +The clerk was excited and he spread it on rather thick. Still, White +did look bad. + +George came away from the telephone. "He'll be right down," he said +aloud. "I guess your wife's scared, Mr. Ryder. I heard her scream." + +Ryder was immediately troubled. His own nerves were jumping. No +wonder if Ruth should become frightened. There was nothing he could +do for White, and he started for the stairway. Half way up the +flight he passed the doctor, bag in hand, charging down. This was +certainly a busy night for the hotel physician. + +And then, as Ryder reached the top of the stairway, he saw another +figure coming along the corridor--a white-faced, gasping woman, with +eyes like coals, rushing like a whirlwind into his arms--a whirlwind +of laces and ruffles and ribbons, with a boudoir cap over one ear and +her tiny bare feet twinkling in and out under her trailing robes. + +It was Ruth, and she was the picture of fright. + +"My heavens!" gasped Ryder, "what's the matter, girlie? What's +frightened you so?" + +"Oh!" She saw him then and clutched him tightly about the neck. +"I--I thought something had happened to you. They said so--I heard +the clerk speaking through the 'phone to the doctor----" + +"Oh, no," said Ryder soothingly. "It was another man. He was taken +ill down there in the office." He could not tell her, now that she +was so disturbed, that it was the stranger who had already annoyed +her. "Why, sweetheart, don't sob so! I'm all right. Don't you see +I am? Never was sick a day that I remember in my whole life. You +couldn't----" + +He looked over her head, and there was the sharp face of Miss +Solomons at the parlor door. The sharp eye of the house detective +seemed devouring them both. Ryder felt a shocking desire to consign +both the house detective and Mrs. Judson to the same place--and that +a spot not often mentioned in polite company. + +But to Ruth he murmured: "Brace up, girlie! It's all right--it's all +right, I tell you. You've been overdoing. This confounded Mrs. +Judson has been too much for you." + +She still clung tightly to him, sobbing, her head buried on his +shoulder. He gathered her up in his arms, holding her yielding body +close against his breast, and carried her swiftly along the corridor. +As he passed the parlor he glared at Miss Solomons. + +Once he halted to pick up one of the slippers Ruth had lost in her +flight down the hall. The other was in the doorway of their suite. +He strode in with her, kicked shut the door, and placed Ruth tenderly +upon the couch. The heavy lady was not in sight. + +"Poor Mrs. Judson!" Ruth gasped. "The doctor left me to take care of +her." + +"Hang Mrs. Judson!" exclaimed Ryder. "Is she to be tied about our +necks like a millstone? Is she our Old Man of the Sea?" + +"Sh!" She put her own lips to his. "Don't be offensive, dear boy!" +she gasped after a long breathless kiss which shook both of them. +"She--she can't help being--well!--being just what she is." + +"Humph!" grunted John Ryder with much doubt. "Where is she?" + +"In there," Ruth replied nodding toward the inner room. "Oh! I am +so glad you are all right, I could forgive Mrs. Judson everything +now!" she whispered, snuggling her face down against his breast again. + +"I'm hanged if I forgive her for spoiling this night for us," growled +he. + +"But there are other nights--hundreds of them--thousands----" + +"How do you know?" demanded he. "And we never saw her in our lives +before last evening! By thunder! this is the unluckiest old hole of +a hotel. I'm almost tempted to ask you to pack up again. Some +honeymoon!" + +"But how would we get away from here?" she asked, wonderingly. "They +say there are no passenger trains on this short line to Pinewood. +And until the bridge is repaired, how can we get to the station at +Barr, on the main line?" + +"There is a combination that runs down to the Junction at eight and +another at one o'clock, besides the evening train," John Ryder said. +"Of course, it is not very luxurious. But you say the word, and I'll +get the telegraph to working in the morning and we'll have a special +sent up here." + +"A special what?" she asked in wonderment. + +"Special train." + +"Oh! You foolish boy! How extravagant! Why, you talk as though you +were a millionaire!" cried Ruth, laughing up into his face. + +"Why, I----" + +Ryder halted. Did she not know he was very wealthy? He had not +boasted of his money, but surely, on the _Minnequago_, he had told +her enough about his circumstances for her to realize that she had +married a very wealthy man. + +She was speaking again now, and rather seriously. "I don't really +think I want to go, dear. Not right away. I want time to look about +the old place. We must walk through the pines--and down to the inlet +where the crabbing used to be so good. You know the places we want +to see, John." + +"Oh! Do I?" asked John Ryder in growing surprise. + +"Of course. Now, don't make believe you are not sentimental. I know +you are," and she squeezed him tightly about the throat until there +was grave danger of his choking. + +Ryder had moved over into a big armchair and had taken Ruth with him. +"So I am sentimental, am I?" he said. "You seem to know a deal about +me for a man you've seen so short a time." + +"Oh, but," she responded, "remember how often I have thought of you +since--well, since I was a tiny girl. I've often imagined just how +you'd look and just the sort of man you'd be." + +"The deuce you did!" muttered Ryder. Then: "Do all girls dream about +their future husbands and wonder what they will look like?" + +"I suppose so. Only, all of them are not so sure of the kind of man +he will be as I was." + +John Ryder was vastly puzzled again. He gazed down at her as she lay +there in his arms and asked: "Do--do you think I fill the bill?" + +"Oh, not altogether as to looks, perhaps. You know, hubby, you are +not a bit romantic looking." and she smiled at him roguishly. + +"No. I suppose I am not--thank fortune!" and he grinned in return. +"If I wore my hair long, and sported a velvet jacket and broad +collar, for instance---- Well! what do you suppose they would do +with me in business?" + +"I know. You are awfully practical. That really is surprising," she +murmured. "But the minute you took my hands and I looked into your +eyes----" + +"On the dock, you mean?" he asked. + +"Yes, on the dock where I waited for you." + +"And _then_?" + +"Why, then I knew I loved you. I wasn't sure before. If you hadn't +been--well--just you, I'd have run away and you'd never have seen me +again, hubby. I made up my mind to that." + +"To run away from me if I didn't suit?" + +"Yes." + +"And yet you sent your trunks to the station just the same?" and he +laughed into her blushing face. + +"Oh, but that was only so as to be ready to go with you if you proved +to be as nice as you did. Otherwise--well, there are other places on +the Pennsylvania Road to go to, besides Pinewood." + +"So I measured up, when you had considered everything, to your idea +of what a husband should be?" + +"Oh, yes, dear! You were all that was to be desired," and she patted +his cheek tenderly. + +"Say!" exclaimed Ryder, "I'm not sure I'll be able to wear my hat +tomorrow. I can feel my head increasing in size momently. You'll +make me conceited." + +"No. Only proud." + +"Ah, I'm the proudest man alive to get you!" + +"Now, you mustn't say that. I am just a poor girl. I would have to +work hard for my living all my life if you hadn't come for me." + +"Nobody else, of course, would have taken pity on you?" he laughed. + +"Ah, but there could have been nobody else. You were meant for me. +You were the only one." + +"I'm glad you saw it that way," he laughed, "and realized what a +stage career meant before it was too late." + +She turned squarely to look at him then, a puzzled little frown +marring her brow. "What--what did you say?" she asked. + +They were both startled the next moment by a shriek from the inner +room. + +"Help! I'm--I'm robbed! My rings--my brooches--my necklace! I know +I am robbed!" + +It was the hysterical voice of Mrs. Judson. They heard her bound out +of bed. The whole house seemed to rock when she landed on the +bedroom floor. + +"Huh!" ejaculated a sharp voice behind the bride and bridegroom, +"about what I expected." + +It was Miss Solomons. How she had got into the suite Ryder did not +ask. His wife had started for the inner room, crying: + +"Oh, poor Mrs. Judson! I really forgot her." + +"Heaven forgive me!" groaned the bridegroom, shaking both fists in +the air, as he sat in the armchair from which his wife had leaped. +"I wish that woman would either be gathered peacefully to her +ancestors, or--or get married again!" + +Then he turned to find the eye of the house detective upon him. + +"Huh!" said that individual, "if you dared maybe you'd add murder to +larceny! How about it?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +SOME SLEUTH + +"Now, stop right where you are," said Miss Solomons, as John Ryder +started to rise. "I'll search you later--and that woman. I knew +there was somethin' fishy about all this. I was a chump not to see +into it right at the start. Of course Mrs. Judson is just the sort +of a party a pair of crooks would get their hooks into." + +"Say, are you crazy, or am I?" + +"Sit down!" + +At Ryder's second attempt to rise the house detective unlimbered her +artillery. For the life of him Ryder could not guess where she could +hide the big revolver about her person, she was so thin. Holding the +weapon recklessly aimed in his direction, Miss Solomons began to +search the sitting-room scientifically. + +In the bed chamber Ruth could be heard soothing the refractory +patient. Mrs. Judson was still bewailing the loss of her jewelry. + +"My rings! My brooches! My necklace!" she kept repeating, her voice +rising in crescendo until John Ryder thought the whole hotel would be +roused and come crowding into his suite. + +"But, Mrs. Judson," Ruth said, when the heavy lady stopped for +breath, "you know you did not wear your necklace or a brooch here. +Only your rings----" + +"My rings! Where are my rings, then?" demanded the invalid, and the +bed-spring creaked as she dropped upon it again. "I know I have been +robbed!" + +"Sure thing!" muttered Miss Solomons, still holding John Ryder under +the point of her weapon while she poked into the umbrella stand near +the door with his walking stick. + +Then Ruth, in a very small voice: "Why, I--I took them off, Mrs. +Judson." + +"Ha!" was Miss Solomon's comment, leaving the umbrella stand. + +"What for? My rings!" cried Mrs. Judson. + +"The doctor told me to. We wanted to chafe your hands. I----" + +"What did you do with them?" snapped Miss Solomons, and tore aside +the curtain so as to get a view of the bed chamber. + +This time Ryder rose up, pistol or not. + +"Come away from there!" he commanded. + +"Anybody but an idiot would see that my wife knows nothing about the +woman's rings." + +"Your wife? You mean your accomplice," sneered the house detective. + +"By heaven! If you were only a man!" gasped Ryder, and took a stride +toward Miss Solomons. + +"This here's loaded," said that woman firmly, and stuck the barrel of +her revolver against his waistband again. "No foolin' with me. Sit +down. Come on out here, you!" she added over her shoulder to Ruth. + +"Why--why, what is the matter?" the latter gasped, coming to the +doorway. "Oh!" + +"What did you do with the rings?" demanded the house detective. + +She was still shoving against the pistol, and naturally John Ryder +fell back before such pressure. When he dropped into the chair again +Ruth screamed. + +"Huh!" exclaimed Miss Solomons, seeing the direction of Ruth's +frightened gaze. "That lamp, eh? Opened the oil tank and dropped +'em in, did you? Likely place! But 'tain't new. All you crooks +have the old stuff. Not an original one among you." + +She started for the table, still keeping Ryder covered. + +"What do you want?" gasped Ruth. + +"Mrs. Judson's rings," declared Miss Solomons decisively. + +"I dropped them into the doctor's medicine case. He took them with +him when he was called downstairs," Ruth said and then, blessed with +a sense of the ridiculous, she began to giggle. + +The house sleuth halted and looked from Ryder to his bride. +Suspicion seemed fairly to sharpen her nose as she sniffed. "That's +a likely story," she said. + +Ryder took a hand, now having gained his self-control. "Do give us +credit for some originality, Miss Solomons," he said. "If we have +stolen Mrs. Judson's gems we naturally would have an accomplice on +whom to plant them. Who more likely than the doctor?" + +"Huh!" snorted Miss Solomons. + +The doctor himself appeared at the moment The house detective sprang +forward and seized his black case. + +"What have you in this?" she demanded, having slipped her weapon out +of sight. + +"Enough poison to even satisfy you, My Lady Sleuth," remarked Dr. +Hoyle, evidently having his own private opinion of the house +detective. "What mare's nest have you uncovered now?" + +"Mrs. Judson's rings have been nicked," observed Miss Solomons, quite +unabashed. + +"I--I dropped them into your case," said Ruth apologetically. + +"So you did. Here they are," said the doctor, flashing the gems in +question. "Satisfied, Miss Solomons? Then, if so, you and +this--this gentleman, here, would better go away. You are likely to +disturb my patient with your noise." + +Miss Solomons pulled the folded novel from the bosom of her blouse. + +"All right," she said shortly. + +"You'd better go and help James watch Van Scamp's 'Cheesemonger,'" +Ryder observed. "That's about your limit as a sleuth." + +Miss Solomons, without changing countenance in the least, stalked +away. Before the doctor could escape to the bedroom Ryder said: + +"I don't fancy my wife staying here all night to attend this woman. +She has had an exciting day and evening. You'll have another patient +on your hands if you don't have a care." + +Hoyle glanced at Ruth's laughing face and shook his head. + +"Not as long as she sees the funny side of the situation," he +observed. + +"It is an imposition!" declared Ryder, with more heat. + +"Undoubtedly," observed the doctor, with a shrug of his shoulders; +but Ruth placed her little pink palm, light as a rose leaf, upon his +lips. + +"Don't speak so, Johnny," she whispered. "She needs some woman about +her at this time." + +"She's not sick." + +"But she thinks she is--which is worse," laughed Ruth. Then to the +doctor: "Don't mind him. He is the most indulgent of husbands after +all. I will remain. I told you that I have been trained to the work +of nursing." + +"I see you have, Madam," said the doctor cheerfully, and he went into +the other room where Mrs. Judson lay groaning and sobbing on the bed. + +John Ryder, much vexed but in control of himself now, said decidedly: + +"Even the most indulgent husband must put down his foot some time, +Ruth. If that woman is not well enough to be removed to her own +rooms by morning we will let her have this apartment and take another +suite. You can play the Good Samaritan until then if you so desire. +But remember! after this, and for the remainder of our honeymoon, if +we see any despoiled victim lying by the roadside we will emulate the +Jews and pass by on the other side." + +He did not even kiss her as he passed out, and Ruth stood looking +after him with quivering lips. Everything that had gone before was +by chance, and unlucky. But this was actually the first jarring note +in the honeymoon! + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE CAT SHOWS HER CLAWS + +Ryder had got all over the desire for human company. He did not even +care to ask how White was getting along, and the doctor had said not +a word about the man. Ryder was just about worn out. What he wanted +was rest and sleep. + +He sought the parlor, determined to find a comfortable chair there, +in spite of Miss Solomons. But the house detective did not appear to +be present. James had fallen into a chair himself, and was snoring +with his head upon the back of the seat. Mr. Cudger was sleeping as +peacefully as a child. "The Cheesemonger" could have been stolen by +anybody who desired a new sail for a catboat, for instance, and had a +sharp knife to cut away the canvas from its frame. + +Ryder settled into a chair with a groan, first being sure that it was +unoccupied. He closed his eyes. He was almost asleep when this +disturbing thought partially aroused him: + +"_Ruth a trained nurse_? She spoke of it before. But she never told +me aboard the _Minnequago_. I remember distinctly that she said she +had learned nothing she could turn to good account, now that she was +left to her own resources, save her talent for stage entertainment. + +"Humph! perhaps nursing isn't a well paid profession in England. In +America, I believe, when a trained nurse enters one's home, one might +as well hand her the bankbook. + +"Don't understand it," said this new-made cynic. "Huh! There's a +lot of things I don't understand. One is, _Why is a honeymoon?_ + +"I've heard it said a man gets his eyes opened after he's married. I +swear my vision is fast becoming clouded. There are a lot of things +I want explained. Goodness! am I developing suspicious qualities +that I never knew I possessed before? It does seem as though a dozen +things poor Ruth has said puzzle me mightily. + +"It must be because we have known each other so short a time, and our +whole affair was so hurried. Goodness! I haven't found time yet to +learn whether I am a benedict or still a bachelor. But how easily +she assumes the little airs and graces of a bride! + +"I suppose most womenly women are so. Their whole young lives are +lived in preparation for this event--the event of giving themselves +into the keeping of the man they love." Ryder lacked expert +knowledge on this point, it will be noted. "And what an imaginary +little thing she is! Miss Solomons has nothing on Ruth when it comes +to imagination," and Ryder made a face in the dark at thought of the +house detective. + +"To think of a girl's dreaming about what her husband, whom she does +not know and never has heard of, will be like; fairly conjuring up a +vision of the man which the real husband, when he appears, has to +stack up against. + +"Bless her heart! If she believes me half as fine and noble as the +picture she imagined of the man she some day expected to marry---- +By thunder! I wonder what is in that locket she wears and gazes at +so fondly?" + +The thought pretty well awoke him. He cursed himself roundly, and +aloud, and James stirred in his sleep and groaned. + +"Great heavens! That thought is unworthy of me--and of her!" Ryder +muttered. "Bless her sweet face! No woman could hold sacred the +memento of another man and show so clearly--as does Ruth--that she +loves her husband. + +"Can I ever forget how she looked just now running through that hall? +She was wild to think that some harm had befallen me--befallen her +husband. No mistake there, John Ryder! You are it. You are the man +she loves." + +He sighed ecstatically. He closed his eyes. He fell asleep almost +at once. James was snoring gently. Old Cudger added his nasal +murmur to James' snores. And from a distant corner that John Ryder +had overlooked, the eagle eye of the house detective still watched +him. + +When John Ryder awoke he was stiff and lame and chilled to his +marrow. The candles had burned down to puddles of grease in the +saucers. A cold gray light stole into the parlor through a high +window and lay in a comfortless mantle over Mr. Cudger, James and +"The Cheesemonger." + +The heart in John Ryder lay like lead. Never had he risen with such +a sickening premonition of ill as upon this gloomy Saturday morning. +Indeed, John Ryder was not in the habit of having premonitions at all. + +He was a healthy, sane and perfectly level-headed individual. Never +before in his busy life had he found time for romance; and certainly +the brand of romance that Fate had handed out to him since the +_Minnequago_ had docked did not encourage Ryder to wish for more. + +"It was Friday!" he suddenly muttered. "No wonder everything went +wrong. Friday!" + +He was hungry for a sight of Ruth's face and for a word with her. In +spite of the feeling within him that everything had gone wrong during +the past several hours, he turned to the thought of his beautiful +girl-wife as a child turns to its mother when it wishes comfort. + +Circumstances may have handed John Ryder some awful jolts during the +past night; but his thought of Ruth was one of joy and the delight of +possession. He started, rubbing his eyes and yawning, for Suite +Three. + +Just as he reached the door a maid came out. She evidently +recognized Ryder when he asked: + +"What's going on in there this morning?" + +"Oh, she's sleeping, sir. Just as swate as a baby. I've been +filling the heater again and I left it burning, sir, so it would be +warm when she gets up. Yes, sir. + +"Who? Mrs. Judson?" Ryder asked gloomily. + +"Bless you! No, sir. _She_ went back to her own room hours ago. +Doctor says she's all right. Gittin' scare't about her jool'ry cured +her quicker than his medicines." + +"She's gone!" cried Ryder in delight. + +"Yes, sir. Oh, thank you, sir! 'Tis your own little lady I was +spakin' of. Shall--shall I open the door for ye, sir, with me pass +key?" + +"No, no!" said John Ryder, blushing a little but feeling extremely +relieved. "I won't disturb her if she's sleeping," and he +immediately turned toward the breakfast room. + +Going down the main stairway, he saw Colonel Aurelius Brack and his +wife before him, the doughty colonel having difficulty in making the +trip because of his artificial limb. He had gone up to his room the +night before while the elevators were still running, and now depended +upon the balustrade and his wife's arm to get safely to the bottom of +the flight of steps. + +Mrs. Brack was a delightfully motherly looking woman with a face as +peaceful as the colonel's was stormy. He scowled savagely at John +Ryder. The latter wished for no words with the old fire-eater, +especially in the presence of his wife; but as he would have passed +them the woman placed a detaining hand on his arm. + +"You are Mr. Ryder?" she asked sweetly. + +Ryder felt his face flush, and he was as confused as a boy caught in +some peccadillo. He was sorry now that, in his ill temper, he had +treated the colonel so cavalierly in the café. The colonel looked +away from the younger man, but the latter could not avoid Mrs. +Brack's searching gaze. + +"I am sure you are the gentleman who put himself out to make me +comfortable," she said softly. "I thank you very much for the stove +and light. It was very good of you to remember an old woman--and a +stranger. But I hope we will not be strangers now. I want to meet +your charming wife, whom I saw at dinner last evening." + +"Thank you, Madam!" exclaimed Ryder, his coldness melted instantly by +her courtesy. "But you should thank the clerk and the steward. +Without their advice and assistance I should not have known those +guests who were clearly entitled to consideration." + +He bowed and passed down ahead of the old couple. There was a +strange face at the desk in place of George's so he went on to the +breakfast room where Al himself stood directing the guests to their +tables. There was plainly a dearth of waiters. Several of the oil +heaters had been brought in here, and with screens about the tables +to fend off any possible draught, the guests were being made +comfortable. + +As Ryder stopped to speak to Al, Mrs. Judson and the hard-featured +committee woman of the S.B.C.D.G. swept in. The widow did not look +like a person who had spent a hard night. Ryder felt his gorge rise +at her fresh and rejuvenated appearance. + +Ruth had been utterly worn out and he had spent a most woful time +from midnight till dawn, all because of this hysterical woman. And +here she was as fresh as a daisy! That the widow bowed very +distantly to him, Ryder did not remark--nor would he have cared in +the least had he noticed her haughtiness. + +"Let me find a table for you, Mr. Ryder," Al said. "Your lady will +not be down?" + +"Not yet. She is still asleep." + +"I'll speak to the chef," promised the steward. "She shall have +something nice for breakfast sent up to her when she rings. We have +warned most of the other guests that it will be impossible to serve +breakfasts upstairs until we get more help." + +He led Ryder to a small table next to that occupied by Mrs. Judson +and the other woman, but there was a screen between the two tables +and the women did not know of Ryder's presence. + +"Wasn't that the Mr. Ryder who bought the lamps for us?" the +hard-featured woman asked, quite loud enough for the man in question +to hear. "That man who stood in the doorway?" + +"Oh!" ejaculated the widow, "_is_ that his name? Are you sure?" + +"So I am told. He was pointed out to me last evening by a gentleman +who knows him. John Ryder. One of the shrewdest speculators in Wall +Street they say. Quite remarkable that he should have played the +Good Angel to us all after cornering the heating and lighting +supplies of the town," and she laughed unpleasantly. + +"Oh, my!" drawled Mrs. Judson. "Are you _sure, quite sure_, that is +his name?" + +"Certainly." + +"Well--I--declare!" gasped the widow, breathlessly. Ryder might have +risen and sought another table, but her next words held him +motionless in his chair. "Do you know, I _thought_ there was +something very odd about them. I never heard the like in all my +life! And I should have _known_, too, after what Miss Solomons said. +_She_ declares they tried to rob me----" + +"Who tried to rob you?" exclaimed the other woman, evidently puzzled. + +"This Ryder, as he calls himself, and that woman with him." + +"Why, Ryder is his name I tell you," declared her vis-à -vis at table. + +"Then," said the widow in an impressive tone, "that woman with him is +not his wife." + +"_What!_" + +Ryder might have uttered that exclamation himself, there was so much +emphasis in it. The dull red of rage rose in his cheek. He was +tempted to leap up and kick aside the screen and---- + +"It--it is awful!" wailed Mrs. Judson. "And people have seen me with +them. I--I was over-urged by them to take supper at their table last +night. And it was in their rooms I had my bad spell later. You +know, dear, I am not at all myself when I get hysterical. I am not +accountable for what I do. The doctor says so himself. But when +Miss Solomons interfered and kept them from robbing me----" + +"Robbing you!" gasped the other woman. "How terrible!" + +"Wasn't it? That girl really is sharp. Of course, it seems strange +to have a girl for a house detective, and she is dreadfully slangy +and bookish----" + +"Yes, yes!" murmured the other. "But tell me about this Ryder and +the woman? Of course, he would not have robbed you. It must have +been the woman--some awful creature he has brought here, of course. +Men are such beasts!" + +"Aren't they?" agreed the widow. "And she gave me quite another name +from Ryder. The bold thing!" + +"Are they here under an alias?" gasped the other gossip. "I was told +they had only just been married." + +"They can't be married at all. She doesn't go by his name. I never +heard of anything so disgraceful--and right here at the Pinewood Inn +which is supposed to be so select." + +Ryder rose up so suddenly that he kicked over his chair. He wanted +to kick away the screen, too, and fall tooth and nail upon "that old +cat who dared say such vile things about Ruth." + +Not daring to trust himself even to look at the two women, he hurried +out of the room, completely forgetting his breakfast. + +"There!" he muttered, striding in the direction of the café. "That +serves us right for associating with strangers. Ruth shouldn't have +taken up with her in the first place. + +"Hang it! I should not have allowed the woman's familiarity myself. +I could have nipped it in the bud last night at supper. I shouldn't +expect an unsophisticated girl like Ruth to see through such an old +stager as that Judson. And Miss Solomons! Gad! + +"How can human beings be so cruel to each other? Women in +particular! It is a mystery to me! + +"What did the old cat mean about Ruth giving her another name? I +swear I must have a talk with Ruth. Not my wife? Heavens on earth! +when I've got the certificate of our marriage right here in my +pocket?" and he struck himself on the breast with emphasis. + +"If that old fool keeps up her clatter I may have to have the +certificate photographed and a copy handed to every guest of the +Pinewood Inn!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE DUTY AGAIN DEVOLVES + +Ryder feed a waiter to bring him some breakfast into the café and did +something he had never done before in his life--drank a "life saver" +before the morning meal. + +"If this goes on," muttered John Ryder, "I shall become a sot. I +have drunk more between-meal drinks within the last twenty-four hours +than I ever did before in my life. They say getting married sobers +most men; it seems as though it may utterly wreck _me_--morally!" + +When he wandered back into the office George had returned and +beckoned him to the desk. + +"I've had a couple of hours' sleep, Mr. Ryder, and that's all," the +clerk said. "And it's all I guess I'll get. Mr. Manger hasn't come +back and isn't likely to; and although Jim Howe is willing, he's only +good for detail work. He's got to come to me to ask about every +little thing. And now, by Jove! _I've_ got to come to you, sir." + +"Come to me?" growled Ryder. "What for? I'm through. You can't +expect me to shoulder the responsibilities of running this hotel." + +"I just want your advice, Mr. Ryder," said George, the foxy. "Look +around at these other men. They are all useless to me now. Aside +from Al--who has his own work--you are the only man with a head on +him." + +"I'm not sure whether I have a head or not," grumbled Ryder. "But +fire up! What's happened?" + +"Why, I filed a telegram to Mr. Giddings last night, and here's what +I get in reply," the clerk hastened to say, handing the crumpled +sheet to Ryder. It read: + + +"Giddings out of town. Return Monday. Should advise keeping house +open at any cost.--BLACKMAN." + + +"Now, I don't know who the dickens Blackman is, unless he's Mr. +Giddings' chief clerk," the worried George said. "But this wire +doesn't give me proper authority to go ahead and contract bills, +promise to pay help, and all that. I don't know how to reach any of +the Barnaby heirs. They may read something about our trouble in the +papers this afternoon, for our local correspondent is on the job. + +"But the heirs will expect Giddings to attend to it. The help are +troublesome--those that have remained. Al has his hands full, +believe me! And the guests are kicking like steers about the +heating. We've got to have coal." + +"Can't you buy a little in the town?" + +"It would be mighty little. These dealers here--and there are only +two of them--buy from hand to mouth, as you might say. And then, Mr. +Ryder, I'm a poor man. My salary isn't big. This looks like a +diamond in my tie," and George grinned; "but it is pure glass. I +wear it because it seems a man can't be a sure-enough hotel clerk +without wearing what looks like a 'chunk of ice.' + +"You know," the clerk added more seriously, "Bangs bought his coal +from the railroad company." + +"Can't you get some from them?" + +"Well, I tried to bluff them on it," said George. "I managed to get +them on the telephone at the Junction--Divisional Supervisions +office. There is still something wrong with the long distance +service. They can get us a car by next Tuesday; not a minute before." + +"These folks'll freeze to death here," said Ryder. "It's already +colder this morning. And there's nothing being done to that bridge, +I suppose?" + +"You couldn't get the farmers to work on Saturday if you offered them +double wages," declared the clerk. "The reputation of the Pinewood +Inn will be ruined. And I'd hate to see the doors closed and all +these people put out." + +"And nowhere to go," Ryder said thoughtfully. + +"You've said a mouthful," groaned George, but watching the other +sharply. + +"By thunder!" exclaimed Ryder, suddenly smiting the counter with a +clenched fist. He scented the battle like a warhorse and forgot his +personal troubles for the moment. This emergency appealed to him. +"I can't see you beat this way, boy," he declared. + +"But what'll I do?" + +"Wait till I take a look around the village. Sit tight and say +nothing." + +"If the steam isn't knocking in those pipes pretty soon I am going to +have a mob at this desk ready to tar and feather me, Mr. Ryder." + +"If they do it, you tell me," chuckled the business man with an +answering grin, and, having his hat and coat with him, he started for +the door without further loss of time. + +It looked to Ryder as though it was up to him to take hold of the +wheel of affairs again and give it a whirl. Ruth had expressed a +desire to remain at the hotel; and certainly she could not stay +without heat and light. + +Besides, Ryder had an additional reason for remaining. If Mrs. +Judson circulated her rumors and lies among the guests, certainly +John Ryder and the woman to whom he had given his name and to whom he +had entrusted his honor, could not afford, even seemingly, to run +away. + +In his present mood he would have made an offer to buy the hotel and +run it as he saw fit, providing he could get the owners of the +Pinewood Inn to agree on a price. Under no consideration or +circumstances could he allow the guests to believe there was anything +queer about Ruth. They must remain. + +And "that impudent and half-baked house detective," which was the way +he thought of Miss Solomons, was likely to make as much trouble for +them as Mrs. Judson. He did not mind what people said of him; but he +grew furious when he thought of what might be said about Ruth. + +Therefore, he took hold of this coal situation with zest. As he +passed the local coal dealers on the way to the shack that served +Pinewood as a station, he saw that George had been correct. The two +dealers together did not have enough coal to furnish the hotel with a +proper supply for more than a day or two. The hotel needed a carload +at least. And there should be two or three carloads in the cellar to +protect the guests if the house was to remain open any length of time. + +When he reached the station he saw upon a spur track four gondolas +heaped high with fuel. A man in cap and jumper, wheeling an empty +truck, he rightly identified as the station master and general +factotum of the company at this rather unimportant station. + +He halted the man. "I want to buy some of that coal," he said. + +"Huh?" + +Ryder repeated his observation, and the man began to grin. "Think +I'm dealing in coal? You've struck the wrong man, boss." + +"I represent the hotel," said Ryder. "I understand the railroad +furnishes Pinewood Inn with fuel." + +"But not that coal," said the station master. "That was shunted off +here yesterday because the old scrapheap they called an engine +hitched to Number Three couldn't pull her load over the rise to +Blandins. That coal is billed to a factory up there. I couldn't +touch that coal if I wanted to." + +"Then put me in communication with the supervisor of this division +and I'll tell him the hotel must have coal. We're all out. The +manager has lit out over night and left the bins empty and the guests +will freeze if we don't get coal. I'll pay for it right here, and +you'll find that my check is good." + +"Oh, I ain't doubting that," said the agent. "I guess you're Mr. +Ryder. I've heard tell of you. You near bought out Cal Crabtree's +store last night, they say. But if you was the Angel Gabriel I +couldn't sell you a hodful of that coal--nossir! Neither could the +Super. It's not the road's coal, I tell you." + +"The road, then, is merely acting as carrier?" + +"That's right, Mister. The Lossing Soap Factory is going to get that +coal." + +"I want that coal," said John Ryder persuasively. + +"Can't help it. If I should sell you a pound of it, I'd be li'ble to +arrest for larceny, or burglary, or somethin'. Yes, sir!" + +"If you can't sell it, I shall have to take it." + +The station agent laughed. He laughed loudly. In fact he was still +holding his sides and hee-hawing when Ryder walked away. The latter +went directly to Crabtree's store. + +"Old man," he said to the storekeeper, and accepting without a qualm +one of Crabtree's "two-fors" and lighting it, "what do teamsters ask +here for carting a load of coal?" + +"They git fifty cents a ton." + +"I want you to get me every man who owns a horse and wagon, and will +work, to cart coal from the spur track yonder to the hotel. Let 'em +weigh out and in on your scales. I'll give a dollar a ton providing +they get to work quickly and stick to it." + +"My soul and body! Where'll you git the coal?" gasped the +storekeeper. + +"I haven't _got_ it. But I am going to _take_ it. It's there on the +spur, and the hotel needs it. Can't let the women and children +suffer. Do you notice that the thermometer is going down?" + +"But what'll the railroad folks do?" + +"You find me enough men and they won't do anything. We'll have what +coal we need before they can send a gang up here from the +Junction--even if they wish to. This is a case of necessity and +Necessity, as our school-books used to tell us, knows no law!" + +"By jinks!" exclaimed Crabtree. "They'll call on the constable." + +"Where is he? Who is he?" + +"Why, he--he kinder thought to go fishin' today. The sun didn't jes' +rise to suit him. But he can git out now if he steps right smart, +before anybody can tell him he's likely to be called on." + +"My soul, man! Are you the constable?" gasped John Ryder. + +"Sh! I'm storekeeper to you. Don't speak loud enough for the +constable in me to hear," chuckled the old fellow. + +He went to the door and blew a horn. "That'll call my son, Sam. +He'll 'tend to things--and weigh the coal. I sha'n't be back 'fore +supper time. Sam'll gather the clans, Mr. Ryder, and see that they +work right. You ought to put a tidy lot of coal into them hotel bins +before the constable gits back," and the storekeeper promptly +disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE PRIVATE BUCCANEER + +The offer of double pay brought even some of the neighboring farmers +to life. Within an hour a string of carts of all descriptions wound +its way along the village street to the spur railroad track. Ryder +was there, chewing on a cigar, watching the first loads taken from +the cars. The station master came running, mad as a hatter. + +"You can't do that, you derned fool!" he shouted, shaking his fist in +John Ryder's face. + +"You watch and see if I can't." + +"But you'll get into trouble. You'll be arrested. These fellers +will be arrested. Why, hang it! it's high-handed piracy, that's what +it is." + +"If anybody is arrested I stand ready to pay the bill," Ryder coolly +told him. "I tell you this is a case of necessity." + +Naturally the agent did not see it that way, and he rushed to wire +his headquarters. Of course he got orders to stop the robbery and +came back and bawled commands that nobody paid any attention to. + +"You'll get neck deep into trouble over this," the agent sputtered to +Ryder. "There is a sheriff on the way here to arrest you." + +"All right. He'll find me at the hotel," and having seen the first +car cleaned out he strolled back to Pinewood Inn. He knew there +would be enough coal in the bins to last over Sunday at least. Two +carloads was enough anyway, and he ordered the work to cease when the +second gondola was clean. He left two cars for the Lossing Soap +Factory. + +Sam Crabtree furnished the cash needed and he paid his teamsters; and +when John Ryder entered the hotel office again it was past eleven +o'clock. Steam was already knocking in the pipes, and the hotel +guests were beginning to smile once more. + +Few had tried to leave. A couple of unattached men had gone on the +eight o'clock combination that jounced down to the Junction over the +worst ballasted road in seven states. One man had cranked up his +automobile and tried to get away by the back roads; but had come +limping in again, having been drawn out of the mire by a farmer with +a team of horses. + +The hotel motorbus was still across the inlet; and it was broken down +anyway. It would take several days to repair it. A few of the +guests, with light baggage only, had arranged to be punted across the +inlet and would walk to Barr, the station on the main line. + +The most of them, however, had made no plans to get away. Heat being +supplied again, the promise of lights as usual, and a reorganization +of the working force of the house, satisfied most of them that +matters would soon take their usual course. + +John Ryder hoped that this was to be the fact. He had done all--and +more--than he desired to do for the welfare and comfort of the +company. And he certainly would not have assumed this last +responsibility regarding the coal supply had not Ruth expressed a +desire to remain here for the rest of their honeymoon. + +Jim Howe, the clerk's assistant, was at the desk, and he spoke to +Ryder as soon as the latter came near. + +"I say, sir, you're Mr. Ryder, aren't you? Well, there are two +ladies been after you this morning, they want to see you." + +"Two ladies?" + +"Yes," and Howe had hard work to suppress a grin. "One's our house +detective, Miss Solomons. You had a run-in with her last night?" + +"Something like that," returned Ryder. + +"The lady with the craze for five-cent detective fiction. She's +carrying one of those novels around now--'The Great Limburger Cheese +Mystery, or Dick Squawker on a Strong Scent'; you know the kind. I +used to read 'em when I was a kid. But she is after you." + +"Humph!" observed Ryder not at all pleased. + +"And the lady in Suite Three," added Jim Howe, now flashing the guest +a sharp look. "She's asking for you. Al sent up her breakfast and +then she telephoned down here to ask if her--ahem!--her husband was +about." + +"Well?" + +"I did not know just who she meant at first," acknowledged Howe, +still eying Ryder curiously. "She--she did not get your name right." + +The business man felt himself flushing. But he braved it out. +"Asked for her husband, didn't she?" + +"Er--yes." + +"Well, that's me," and he moved away from the desk. + +But he was suddenly impressed by the fact that Ruth must have said or +done something to stir up suspicion at the hotel desk. With Mrs. +Judson peddling her misinformation through the house, he and his +bride were likely to be misunderstood. What could it be? Did Ruth +mispronounce his name? + +The puzzle of it enfolded him in a blanket of doubt. He went +upstairs muttering to himself and with clouded brow. + +As he approached Parlor A he saw a familiar figure standing at the +door. It was White--the man who had been so suddenly and strangely +taken ill in the office during the night. The man was speaking to +one of the boys, and Ryder saw him give the messenger a card and a +coin. + +"Yes; Suite Three. Give it to the lady and tell her I am waiting for +her here." + +White went quickly into the parlor and the boy darted away. Ryder +was dumbfounded. He was fixed to his place in the corridor for some +moments before he could move. + +White, the man of mystery, had sent his card to his, Ryder's, wife! +He expected Ruth to come to the parlor at his summons! + +There could be no mistake about it. Ryder was sure enough now that +Suite Three was the one he had taken for himself and his bride. + +White's questions the night before, Ruth's fear of the man when he +had come to the door, her attempt at supper time to have private +conversation with White (Mrs. Judson's interference Ryder now saw had +broken up that) and various other suspicious circumstances rose in +Ryder's mind in horrid procession. + +He staggered forward a step until he was where he could see into the +parlor. He was aware that Miss Solomon's sharp face suddenly came +within range of his vision; but he did not give the steely eyed house +detective a second glance. His eyes were fixed on White. + +Besides that individual, there seemed but two other guests of the +hotel in Parlor A. Cudger and James had disappeared. Two women +stood talking beside one of the other doors. They were the vivacious +Mrs. Judson and Mrs. Dent, the hard-featured member of the advance +committee of the S.B.C.D.G. + +Ryder hung back. John B. White was pacing a length of rug nervously. +Suddenly Ruth appeared at the door beside which the widow and her +companion stood. + +Ryder's heart leaped at the sight of his bride. She looked as fresh +and sweet as a rose. She wore a delightfully pretty house dress. +She carried what was evidently White's card in her hand, and she cast +a puzzled glance about the parlor. She first saw Mrs. Judson. + +"Good morning, Mrs. Judson," she said brightly. "I hope you are +better?" + +Up went the widow's lorgnette. She stared Mrs. Ryder up and down +without replying. Then she deliberately turned her back without +speaking, much to Ruth's pain and surprise. + +Ryder's gorge rose. He was about to step forward to protect Ruth +when the latter saw White and uttered a little cry. The man wheeled +and came toward her. Did Ruth shrink from him and did she cry out in +fear? + +"Madam, I must speak to you," White said, as Mrs. Judson and her +companion left the room. "At least you owe me some reparation--some +explanation. I demand that of you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +IT IS NO LONGER FARCE + +Ruth halted. Her husband, from the other end of the room, saw fear +in her face--right down terror!--as she confronted the man who +addressed her. + +Nor was this surprising. White's eyes glowed unnaturally, his long +black hair was disheveled and his appearance altogether wild and +uncanny. Ruth fell back from him, and Ryder heard her breath come +gaspingly. Yet for the moment Ryder was spellbound and unable to go +to her protection. + +"What--what do you want of me?" she asked faintly. + +"I sent for you. I must talk with you," White returned. + +"Sent for me?" she said in a dully puzzled tone. "Oh, no! My +husband sent for me." She glanced at the card in her hand. "He--he +sent me this card---- So strange----" + +She flashed White a suddenly indignant glance. "You have tricked +me!" she cried with more force. "You have obtained one of my +husband's cards----" + +"That is my card, Ruth Mont!" White exclaimed harshly. "It is the +card of the man whom you should call 'husband'--who _is_ your husband +by right. _And I am that man!_" + +A porter suddenly entered the door at John Ryder's back. + +"Are you Mr. Ryder, sir?" he said. "I was sent after you. Your +trunks have been brought across the inlet and we have them at the +door of your suite. Shall we take them inside and carry the empty +boxes downstairs, sir?" + +How did he do it? How does a man's brain sometimes continue to work +and his limbs to move when he is sleep-walking? The subconscious +self of John Ryder moved out of the parlor where two human beings +were in the throes of a gripping tragedy--a tragedy that might scar +his whole future life--and led the porter back to Suite Three. + +He opened the door with the key he had obtained at the desk and saw +the porters bring in the trunks. He made them understand that they +were to let the empty boxes belonging to Ruth remain. Then he tipped +them and was left alone. + +He sat down in the very chair he had sat in before and held Ruth in +his arms, and awaited his wife's return. His wife! God in heaven! +Was she his wife? White had claimed her as rightfully belonging to +him, and all those suspicious circumstances that had heretofore +rankled in John Ryder's mind swam to the surface and offered proof +that White's statement was true. + +What was this awful riddle that seared John Ryder's soul as though +with a branding iron? + +He was convinced now that White was not a madman. Wild he might +appear; but that he was insane, that his strange speeches were the +vaporings of an unbalanced mind, Ryder did not now believe. + +Why was he so sure that White was sane? Because Ruth had shown by +her manner and by the expression of her countenance that something in +White's statement impressed her. Ryder had seen her display this +fear twice. He was convinced that White actually was closely +associated with her, or had been so in the past. + +Yet Ruth was bound to him--Ryder. She was his wife. He had been +wedded to her less than twenty-four hours before. Twenty-four hours! +It seemed a lifetime of storm and stress. + +Ryder had promised to love, to cherish, to support and defend from +all harm, to---- + +"My God!" he exclaimed, leaping up. "Am I a pusillanimous coward--a +dastard? I have left her to face that man--whatever or whoever he +is--alone." + +He started for the door, madly intending to go back to the parlor and +face them both. The door of the suite opened and closed swiftly. +Ruth came in--the vision of a panting, wild-eyed, pallid-faced woman. +She clung to the door knob for a moment, striving to regain her +breath, and staring strangely into John Ryder's face. When she +spoke, what she said shocked him as nothing else could have done. + +"Who are you?" she demanded. "What--what manner of man are you? +What did you do this to me for? _Why did you do it?_" + +"Do what?" asked Ryder. + +"Why did you marry me? Oh!" she cried in despair, wringing her +hands, "why did you do this awful thing?" + +"Why did I marry you?" repeated the man, dumbfounded. "Because I +loved you. I told you I loved you when we were aboard ship, Ruth----" + +"Aboard ship! Aboard what ship?" + +"The _Minnequago_. Surely you have not forgotten our long talks? +You have not forgotten----" + +"Am I mad?" cried the woman, throwing her arms wildly above her head. +"Oh! I must be mad!" Then she gained sudden control over herself. +She thrust her face forward, her eyes blazing into his. "If you are +my husband," she whispered, "what is your name?" + +"I _am_ your husband," Ryder said sternly. "You were legally married +to me yesterday. Here is the certificate which the minister gave +you, and which you placed in my hands for safe keeping." + +He had dragged out his wallet and handed her the folded document. +Her shaking fingers clutched at it and finally got the stiff paper +unfolded. She read the names aloud in crescendo: + +"'Ruth A. Mont': 'John Ryder'. "The paper slipped from her fingers +and fluttered to the floor. "'John Ryder'?" she repeated staring at +him. "_I never heard of you before!_" + +She burst into tears, a passion of weeping that shook her whole body. +For a moment she stood before him, so near that he might have touched +her, her face in her trembling hands. The man stood still, dumb and +helpless. + +Then turning swiftly she ran into the inner room. Ryder, at last +awakened, started up. He was frightened by her vehemence, as well as +amazed by her words. + +He started to follow her. She had shut the door sharply, but the key +was not turned in the lock. He put his hand upon the door and +hesitated. And so surely is the man lost who hesitates, John Ryder +was lost then! There were two courses open to him, and he chose the +wrong one. + +His hand left the knob, and with the sound of the woman's wild +sobbing in his ears he went slowly down the room and out into the +corridor. As he came in sight of the parlor door he saw White wildly +break from the room and run for the stairway. John Ryder's senses +were so dulled that he scarcely saw the man. But behind the +departing White appeared in the parlor doorway the figure of Miss +Solomons. The expression upon the house detective's face might have +alarmed Ryder at another time. She fairly glared at him as he moved +past her. + +"No, you ain't no crook, Mr. Ryder," he heard the strange girl +mutter. "You're just a particular blamed fool! That's what you are." + +He managed to get out of the hotel in some way and stumbled along the +sandy road to the shore of the inlet where he might be alone. He +tramped the edge of the inlet for miles. + +His mind was back in the room at the hotel where he had left Ruth. +The incident was as clearly etched on his brain as it had been when +he stood and heard her amazing declaration. + +What she meant he did not know. What he should have done he did not +know. That he had done the wrong thing he was not sure. But he had. + +_Wrong_? Indeed, his act had been the deadliest wrong possible to +the woman. He was stunned, he did not understand; but there was one +thing of which in his sane moments he was already convinced: Ruth +loved him. + +Nothing should have superseded that in his mind. Whatever the riddle +was, whatever the skein of mystery in which they two were entangled, +he should have remembered that. Instead he had allowed jealousy to +step in and becloud the issue. John Ryder had turned his back upon a +woman who had shown she loved him deeply. He had deserted her at a +time when she needed him as she never had before and probably never +would again. + +All the pain and passion which followed this event John Ryder could +lay to his own act. He brought all that followed upon himself by his +own unwisdom. He was thinking only of himself. He was like a hurt +animal, desiring to seek some lair wherein to lick its wounds. + +He walked on and on. The in-running tide lapped along the strand at +his feet, the burden of its murmur being: + +"_I never heard of you before!_" + +What had Ruth meant by that statement? Was it possible that she was +insane? What had that fellow, White, said to her that had thrown her +mind into such confusion? + +White! At the remembrance of the man of mystery Ryder suddenly spat +out an oath. He could explain this thing; and Ryder suddenly +registered a vow that White should explain, or he would have his life! + +He was a man now enraged to the point of desperation. He started for +the hotel with this single idea milling in his brain. More than an +hour had elapsed since he had left the Pinewood Inn, but he had taken +little note of the lapse of time. + +He betrayed his disturbed state of mind when he reached the desk +where George presided. + +"For mercy's sake, Mr. Ryder! what's happened to you?" demanded the +clerk. + +"I--I am looking for a man," stammered Ryder. "You know--the fellow +who threw a fit here last night. White--John B. White." + +"What about him?" + +"I want to see him." + +"But he's gone, sir." + +"Gone? Left the hotel?" + +"Yes, sir. He had no heavy baggage, and he got somebody to row him +across the inlet. There are several fellows down there taking folks +back and forth because of the broken bridge. I guess he intended +catching the two o'clock train on the main line. Had your lunch, +sir?" + +Ryder was not thinking of eating. He walked away from the desk +without replying. White was gone. Then who would explain to him----? + +Ruth! He started up the stairway. Instinctively he sought Suite +Three. Yet when he arrived there he hesitated. Should he go in? +Could he face Ruth? What was he to say to her? + +At last he turned the knob. The door was unlocked. He stepped into +the room. Its condition instantly shocked his mind into activity. + +The wardrobe was wide open and was empty. All Ruth's pretty dresses +had disappeared and there was evidence of hasty packing. He hurried +down the room to her trunks. They were repacked, strapped, and ready +for shipment. He stooped to peer at the tags. + +The trunks had come to the hotel, of course, marked with Ruth's +maiden name and Pinewood. The man's eyes bulged--he uttered a hoarse +cry. These lines were crossed out and in their stead and in a +woman's upright handwriting he saw: "Mrs. John B. White, New York." +Ruth had repacked the boxes ready for their return by the express +company. + +Ryder turned swiftly to the bed chamber, his heart thumping so that +he well nigh choked. The door of the inner room was open. He crept +to it and looked in. It was empty. + +"She's gone! She's run away!" muttered the horrified man. +"What--why----" His words ceased and he dashed for the corridor. He +understood at last. She had gone away with White! This was his firm +belief. + +Right here it would have been well if John Ryder had recalled the +observation of Miss Solomons: "You're just a particular blamed fool!" + +He did not stop to question the reasonableness of this idea that had +shot across his brain and seared it. Ruth had gone. Her trunks were +tagged with that man's name--_with her own name_. He saw it all now +in a flash. She had married him while yet she was another man's +wife. That man was John B. White, and he had followed them to +Pinewood Inn and demanded that she return to him. + +As Ryder rushed out into the corridor he came upon the chambermaid he +had tipped so liberally that morning. His trembling lips formed the +instant words: + +"Have you seen my wife?" + +"Why, Mr. Ryder! I saw her some time ago--going out." + +"You mean she was leaving the hotel?" + +"She was dressed for traveling--yes, sir. Just as she was dressed +when she came last evening. Yes, sir." + +Ryder brushed by and started for the stairs. Ruth was attempting to +get away with White on that two o'clock train. There might still be +time for him to catch it. If ever hell was brewed in a man's heart +it was in the heart of John Ryder at this moment. + +Somebody spoke his name behind him. A swift glance showed him the +motherly face of Mrs. Brack. She seemed desirous of speaking to him, +but Ryder could stop for nothing now. He hurried on without a word +of reply. + +He reached the head of the flight and started down. There were +several men at the desk, but Ryder brushed through them and leaned +forward to speak confidentially to George. + +"Does that train leave Barr, on the main line, at just two o'clock?" +he asked the clerk. + +"Two-thirteen, Mr. Ryder," answered George. + +"Thanks!" Ryder turned to make his way to the door. He was +confronted by a stranger who put an authoritative hand upon his +breast and pushed him back. + +"This is the gentleman, is it?" the stranger said to the clerk. +"This is John Ryder?" + +"That's my name--yes," snapped Ryder. "I'm in a hurry. I can't talk +to you now." + +"I'm afraid you'll have to wait till your hurry's over, Mr. Ryder," +said the man. "I'm the sheriff's deputy. I understand you are the +man who stole two cars of coal from the Lossing Soap Company. I've +got to detain you, sir." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +AN OUTLAW IN FACT + +Now at this particular moment John Ryder wished to be detained less +than ever before in his life. He had but half an hour in the clear +to reach the Barr railroad station in any case. White and Ruth had +already got a good start of him. As far as he knew there might not +be another train to New York over the main line until night; and +surely not on the branch from Pinewood until nine o'clock. + +Sheriff or no sheriff, he made a break for the door of the hotel. +The officer ran with him and there was a squabble right in the foyer. + +"You can't do this, Mr. Ryder!" exclaimed the deputy sheriff. +"You're arrested!" + +"I'll show you what I can do!" declared John Ryder with emphasis, and +swung for the officer's jaw. The blow landed and it did him good. +Not the sheriff, but Ryder himself. + +This quarrel took his mind for the moment off the thoughts that had +nearly crazed him. He burst through the door, banged it in the +sheriff's face, and ran for the inlet. + +Before he reached the waterside he heard the hue and cry behind him. +But there was at least one boatman alert. + +"Dodging a board bill, Mister?" exclaimed this individual. "Well! I +wouldn't wonder if they'll all be doing that. They tell me they shut +off the heat and lights on you all last night. Gimme two dollars and +I'll put you across." + +Here was a fellow just as crooked as John Ryder needed at that +moment, and the latter leaped into the boat which was thrust out into +the tide. Down to the shore plowed the deputy sheriff bawling for +them to come back. + +"I'm deafer than an adder," said the boatman, grinning up into John +Ryder's face. "What does he say?" + +"He seems anxious about the weather," said John Ryder grimly. "He's +got another boat. Two men in it. They'll beat you." + +"Huh! Tom Crane and Andy Meyers. That old punt of theirs is like +punk. If we should run into it, Mister, my prow would cut her right +down to the water-line." + +"An extra five dollars for you if you do it," the passenger snapped, +his jaw set and ugly. "But don't pick 'em up. The tide isn't +dangerous here, is it?" + +"They kin near wade ashore," agreed the boatman and began to hold +back that the pursuing boat would be sure to overtake them. + +"Sit tight and keep your mouth shut," said the boatman. "The less +said the better, as the old woman remarked when she married the deaf +and dumb husban'." + +The deputy sheriff, holding a handkerchief to his jaw, was shouting +commands that Ryder's boatman did not in the least heed. But the +latter let the other boat come right up on them. + +"I'll get ye!" shouted the angry officer. "I'll jail you for this! +Hi! look out, you numbskull!" + +Ryder's man swerved his heavy boat around suddenly. It was aimed +directly for the leaky punt. Crash! The collision half drove the +officer's craft under water and she began to settle at once. + +"Hi! You'll drown us!" yelled one of the other boatmen. + +"Sho, you ain't nowheres near to the channel," said Ryder's man. "It +ain't neck deep to shore--from where you came. You fellers kin both +swim, and if the sheriff can't, let him sink. I ain't got no use for +him, anyway." + +Later he explained that this officer had come the week before and +searched his house for liquor. + +"Thought I kept a blind pig, he said," chuckled the boatman. "But I +don't. Jest the same, if he'd looked down our well---- Well! if you +ever come back here and want a good drink of licker, look me up. I +always have enough for my friends." + +Ryder took the extra pair of oars at this point and aided in rowing +the boat to the other side of the inlet. He paid his helper and +started for the station in a rattling old car. There was no other +vehicle to be obtained. Just before they sighted the railroad he +heard the train whistle. + +Although he knew he could not make the train, he went on down into +the town and to the station. + +The two-thirteen had pulled out some time before he stepped upon the +platform. John Ryder went directly to the ticket window and asked +the clerk: + +"You sold tickets for this last train to New York?" + +"Yes, sir." + +Coolly and carefully Ryder described White's appearance and that of +his own wife. "I want to catch up with these people," he explained, +"and I do not know whether they went on this train, or on one in the +other direction." + +In secret his heart was lacerated by the very words he used in +describing Ruth. Yet he must learn if she had actually gone with +White. + +The clerk seemed to remember White clearly. The man had paced the +platform constantly until the train arrived. + +"Watching to see if I was following them," thought Ryder. Then +aloud: "And the woman?" + +"She wore a veil--one o' those auto veils. I didn't see her face. +But she was the only woman who left by that train." + +"Not with the man?" + +"They did not appear to be together." + +Ryder nodded. He had gained complete control of himself now. He +wrote a long telegram to the supervisor of this division of the +railroad, and the answer came so quickly that those about the +railroad office were startled. A special train was ordered started +from the Junction for Mr. John Ryder and would arrive about three +o'clock. It would have right of way going north. + +Ryder paced the platform and chewed his cigar. John B. White had +paced this platform, too. Whatever White's thoughts had been, John +Ryder's were as black and as terrible as ever man had meditated upon. + +He knew what he would do to White if he caught him. No matter what +the guilt of his wife--or the woman who had posed as his wife for a +few hours--Ryder was very sure that White was the more guilty. He +was as ruthless an outlaw at this moment as ever a twentieth century +business man could be. + +The special backed in. It stopped about ten seconds, for Ryder was +the only person to board it. Then on toward the city for which the +two guilty creatures he was following had bought tickets. They might +have bought them for New York as a blind; but Ruth's trunks were +plainly marked for that city. + +A baggage car and smoker and some official's private car made up the +special train. John Ryder's name was a power with the officials of +this road if he cared to use it. And it was of his name that he +thought, sitting shrugged down in the leather covered lounge and +watching the autumn landscape fly past. + +He remembered what he had tried to make his name stand for during the +years he had been working up to his present business pinnacle. He +came of unblemished stock. His father had been an honest man. His +mother, the memory of whom had ever been an inspiration to him, had +been a beautiful woman both in person and character. + +He had given her ring--her wedding ring, hallowed by being worn on +the finger of a pure and gentle wife--into the keeping of one who, he +now believed, did not value the sacred character of the emblem. + +His wife---- Well! she _was_ his wife! He had married her legally! +He tried to push any other thought down. + +Yet, suppose she had no right to marry him? That was the awful +thought that rankled like a barbed arrow in his heart. + +"Mrs. John B. White," written under the erased "Ruth Mont" on the +trunk tags seemed to clinch Ryder's suspicions first aroused by +White's actions and words. + +Was Ruth a bigamist without having intended the crime? Had she been +married in England and, for some reason, supposed her husband dead? +Was there something shameful connected with this White and her +association with him that had spurred her to try to hide her former +marriage from Ryder. + +What manner of woman was she? Was her sweetness and innocence all +assumed? She had seemed to John Ryder until this terrible thing had +arisen, to be good and pure--in every way a desirable character. + +Of course, she might be vain. Her consideration of the offer of Sam +Marks to put her on the stage might prove that frailty. An actress! +Was there an explanation in that thought? Had she been acting all +along? Had the story she told him on shipboard been a tissue of +falsehoods? Was her apparent fondness for him born of her ability to +simulate emotions and feelings that she did not really possess? + +Good heavens! was it all a part of a plot, perhaps, to link his +name--the name of John Ryder--with the stage career of a vaudeville +actress? Was this the explanation of it all? + +And what of John B. White? What of Ruth's apparent fear of him? +Could any woman so assume the attitude and look of terror? On the +other hand, could her appearance of loving Ryder be likewise assumed? + +Suddenly there flashed into his mind the memory of how Ruth +looked--what she had said, indeed--when she thought he had been taken +ill in the hotel office late the previous night. He saw her again as +she came madly down the hotel corridor and flung herself into his +arms. + +"She thought it was I who had been taken sick. That I know. My God! +What mystery is here? The girl loves me--deeply, sincerely, truly. +I cannot doubt it. Whether she has a right to do so or not, she +_does_ love me. + +"Then, why has she gone away with that man? What dreadful hold does +he have upon her? Is she beside herself? Her words suggest an +aberrant mind. I should be with her now. That White is a villain. +And whatever his right, even if it is backed by law, shall I give up +the woman I love and who loves me to any other man on earth?" + +And as though in answer to this question a repetition of Miss +Solomons' last observation to him flashed into John Ryder's mind: + +"You're just a particular blamed fool. That's what _you_ are!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE NAME ON THE BILLBOARD + +Ryder arrived in New York after dark. He did not go to his rooms, +for he feared if he did so his presence would become known to some of +his friends and he would be obliged to make explanations. + +When the taxicab deposited him, baggageless, at the hotel he +selected, he noted the variegated lights of a drugstore across the +street. He went into it before entering the hotel and shoved a +well-wrinkled prescription across the counter to the clerk. The +latter raised his brows. + +"I've got to sleep tonight," John Ryder said quietly. "You will see +Dr. Harmstick's name clearly written on that prescription. He is my +family physician. Here is my card." + +He got the drug, and, as soon as a room was assigned to him, took the +medicine and went to bed. He could not have slept without the dose, +and that took effect in a short time. But, superinduced by drugs as +it was, his sleep was not refreshing. However, his mind was clear +and his body alert and vigorous when he arose on Sunday morning. + +He sent a boy to skirmish for clean linen and a fresh tie, and made +himself presentable before going down for a bit of breakfast. He had +eaten practically nothing the day before, and while he ate now he +tried to plan his future course of action. + +Future! Why, the word held nothing for him but the promise of +continued pain and shame. John Ryder of spotless name had given that +name into the keeping of a woman who was unworthy of it--whether she +had intentionally flouted him or not, this fact seemed to be +established. The newspapers must soon learn the story of his +marriage fiasco. It would be blazoned forth for the whole world to +read. + +He would be a marked man. John Ryder, the man who had married a +woman offhand, without knowing anything about her! At least, he had +known her but seven days. And she had run away from him with another +man! + +It would be a nice bit for the scandal mongers. It would be +something he could never live down. Every man with whom he did +business hereafter would be saying to himself while in Ryder's +presence: + +"There must be something the matter with this fellow. They say his +wife ran away from him the day after they were married." + +Yet, even these thoughts were not the bitterest in his soul. Higher +than the shame of having his trouble publicly known and discussed, +rose the fact that he had lost the treasure to which his heart clung. + +Ruth was the one woman in the world whom he had ever, or could ever, +love. He felt it--he knew it! + +Short as their acquaintance had been, Ryder knew that he loved Ruth +as he should never be able to love another woman. He had thought he +loved her when he had first seen her on the deck of the _Minnequago_; +but since their marriage--since the old clergyman had pronounced them +man and wife--a deeper and more tender feeling for his girlish bride +had grown in his mind and heart. + +On shipboard, coming over, she had merely been a beautiful +creature--a woman of heart and mind and of fine physique--who +attracted his admiration and fired his passion. + +Once bound, as he supposed legally and holily to Ruth Mont, his love +for her had taken on a deeper meaning. He was not a man who +philosophized much, or who catechised his own motives or thoughts; +but he knew that a subtle change had taken place in his feelings +toward the woman even before the minister had joined their hands. + +It had been half pique and half determination to obtain his own +desire that had made him write that peremptory note to Miss Mont +before the _Minnequago_ docked. It grated upon him to think of a man +like Marks bearing off such a prize, even in a sordid business +transaction. + +But the instant he had seen Ruth waiting for him when he landed--the +moment she had put her hands into his--the instant she had whispered: +"I will marry you," a greater love had leaped into full and glowing +life in John Ryder's bosom. + +It was no longer a matter of mutual attraction, or the charm of her +beautiful face and figure, or her mental attributes that held him +captive. From that moment of their meeting on the dock his heart +knew her heart; they had become one. + +And this knowledge, which he could not scorn or overlook despite all +that had happened since, made the darker part of the puzzle. Had he +not been sure of his love and of her love, he could have understood +in part how she had come to leave him and go with this other man. + +For he could not accept the suggestion that all her sweetness and +sheer happiness as a bride was merely a pose. That, as an actress, +she had simulated a part. No, the woman did not live, he believed, +who could so befool him. + +He gazed out of the restaurant window at the church parade on the +broad Fifth Avenue walk, and with eyes that saw more than the passing +throng. Two or three couples went by whom he knew--men and their +wives going home after service. + +They suggested domesticity, companionship, the best there is for +human beings in this old world of ours. He realized what he had +lost--aye, what he had merely grasped at only to have the treasure +snatched from him by this cruel turn of fate. + +Later he went out and wandered about somewhat aimlessly. Not that he +expected to find either of the two people he was looking for. They +would not be in the Sunday street crowd. And yet he could not help +looking into the faces of those he met with keen scrutiny. + +He could not easily set on foot any serious search for Ruth and White +on Sunday. Nor was he sure he wished to. The thought of bringing +the police or even private detectives into the case horrified him. +Yet, was he to lose Ruth without lifting a hand to win her back? + +All day long John Ryder weltered in the waters of indecision. Should +he seek Ruth through the regular police channels? Should he let +matters run their own course? This was a new state of mind for the +determined, decisive business man. + +Somewhere over on the West Side, about seven o'clock he dropped in at +a restaurant to dine. Afterward he wandered slowly down the broad +and busy avenue that lends itself the airs of Broadway after dark, +jostled by the crowds, without a person to speak to and desirous +indeed of no companionship. + +He came to a theater before which was a huge billboard that +advertised mockingly "Sacred Concert," following which was a long +list of vaudeville turns. Many of the crowd turned in here. There +were speculators at the door hawking tickets, and a little eddy of +people held up John Ryder. His eye caught, altogether by accident it +would seem, in flaring red type, the following announcement: + + + SPECIAL ATTRACTION + + First Appearance + of + ENGLAND'S MOST FAMOUS ENTERTAINER + + MISS MONT + + Imitator and Comédienne + + Under the sole management of Mr. Sam Marks + + +Seeing that he was attracting attention, Ryder moved away. People +were looking into his face curiously. He felt his heart pounding as +though it would burst through the shell of his chest. Rage blinded +him. Despair shook him through every fibre of his being. + +The half darkness of a narrower thoroughfare offered him shelter. +The horror and shame of his position well nigh leveled John Ryder's +pride with the ground. + +He saw what it all meant now. There could be, he thought, no further +doubt or mistake. She had intended to do this from the first. Marks +had doubtless put her up to it. The scandal of her having married +Ryder and left him after twenty-four hours--on some trumped up charge +of course--would give her an amount of free advertising such as no +vaudeville actress could resist! + +The story was already in the papers. John Ryder could not doubt it. +His friends were laughing at his predicament. And how coolly, and +with what utter heartlessness, had the game been played upon him. + +Doubtless the woman had been under contract with Marks when the ship +left the other side. Ryder had foolishly showed her that he was in +love with her. Between them, Marks and the girl had hatched this +plot. + +And who was White? The answer was easy. + +He was some poor actor whom Marks had hired to impersonate a wronged +lover or husband, whichever might best fit the needs of the case. +His following them to the Pinewood Inn had been for the purpose of +creating a scene that would separate the newly wedded couple. + +Mrs. Judson's illness had precluded the necessity for that scene. +Fate had played into the hands of the heartless jade; and when the +game had gone far enough for her purpose, she had run away and +returned to New York to fill this, her initial engagement before an +American public. + +He even understood now about those pretty frocks she had worn. Of +course they were a part of a stage wardrobe Miss Mont already +possessed. + +These thoughts all but turned John Ryder's brain. He found himself +after a time back at the entrance to the theater. But he could not +have told how he got there. One of the ticket speculators assailed +him. + +"Best seat in the house, boss. Right down front on the side. Two +bucks. See the whole show." + +"When does Miss--Miss Mont come on?" + +"Nine-thirty." + +"Is she----" + +"She's a corker! She had her try-out before the manager and a crowd +of newspaper sharps this morning, and she's a scream. They'll put +out the S.R.O. signs on her for the rest of the week--you take it +from me." + +Ryder bought the seat and passed in at the orchestra entrance of the +theater. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +IN THE PART OF THE INJURED HUSBAND + +The blaze of lights, the music, the rustle of the audience, all +affected Ryder but slightly. He walked to his seat as one might walk +in a dream. There seemed little tangible to him in his surroundings, +or in the people he brushed past. + +When he had seated himself the usher leaned over and whispered to him +to remove his hat. He sat in his overcoat, staring straight before +him with glassy, unwinking eyes. + +A painted curtain was dropped, and between it and the footlights two +men appeared who went through some sort of act. Ryder never knew +what it was; nor did he appreciate the several turns that followed +this act. + +Ryder found a program in his hand, and he began to look through it +for his wife's name. Then he remembered that it could not be there, +for Marks must have arranged for her appearance here on Saturday. +She could not be a feature of the regular Sunday bill. + +Ryder suddenly felt a great thankfulness for this fact. Undoubtedly +the only places where Miss Mont's name appeared were on the billboard +and in the newspaper advertisements. + +It came into his troubled mind that he was in a position to put an +effectual stop to his wife's being advertised further as a public +entertainer. His brain began to work clearly along this line. + +She was either legally his wife, or a bigamist. In either case, if +he kept his head, he would have the whip-hand. + +If she acknowledged the legality of their marriage, then the law +would give him control over her movements--to an extent at least. +Until she instituted proceedings for a separation she must obey him. + +If the marriage had been a farce because of a former marriage on her +part, then his hold upon her would be stronger still. If she refused +to retire from the stage and live in seclusion, he would prosecute +her and put her in jail. + +This thought gave him untold satisfaction for the moment; then it +horrified him. His wife--Ruth--the woman he loved--in jail! + +What an awful experience it would be for her. Her tender body to +recline on a hard cot and be subjected to the strict rules of a +prison, and to exist on jail fare! + +Then he hardened his heart. She was no wife of his--only in name in +any case. She had cajoled him and fooled him and ruined him. She +should be made to suffer as he was suffering now. + +He suddenly awoke to a stir in the audience. The orchestra burst +forth into a new melody and the crowd began to applaud. Who were +they welcoming? + +Ryder raised his eyes from the program which was merely a blur of +names to him and looked straight into the face of the woman who had +come from the wings and was now bowing an acknowledgment to her +welcome. It was "Miss Mont, England's most famous entertainer." + +For an instant he believed she was looking straight at him--that she +must see and give him some sign of greeting. He forgot the glare of +the footlights in the actor's eyes which makes the entire auditorium +a magnified blur of faces and forms, and seldom allows the person on +the stage to descry clearly a particular face in the audience. + +His eyes devoured her as though he had never seen her before. She +was neither the woman she had seemed aboard the _Minnequago_, nor as +she had seemed in their suite at the Pinewood Inn. + +Plainly dressed aboard ship, the beauty of her face and figure had +been suggested rather than displayed. It was her brightness of mind +that had most deeply impressed John Ryder during the voyage. + +Afterward, during their short wedded intercourse, her sweetness of +disposition and lovely personality had charmed and held him in her +toils. How sweet she had looked in the dressing sack which revealed +her neck and arms, bustling about the room unpacking her trunks. + +And now this was still another woman--a third personality. The +beauty of face and form was enhanced by her costume; but it was a +cold and formal beauty; not the living, breathing, loving creature +whom he had folded in his arms. Nor did she seem the same woman he +had talked and walked with on the steamship's deck. + +This was Miss Mont in her public character--Miss Mont, the actress--a +woman living for the show and applause of the stage. + +She swept to the center of the stage in a trailing robe which was cut +to display the line of her figure to perfection and which likewise +left bare her neck and shoulders and her graceful arms. + +She wore no ornament. She needed none. Ryder noted, even, that she +no longer wore the fine gold chain and the locket which had so +stirred his doubts and jealousy two days before. + +She made another graceful courtesy and began her act. That she was +troubled with diffidence--with actual stage fright--there could be +little doubt. But some entertainers never get over that feeling on +first appearance, so it did not disprove Ryder's belief that she was +well trained in her art. + +Her methods were natural and did not smell of the stage; nevertheless +Ryder was unconvinced. No woman who had not had long training could +have acted the part Miss Mont had played at the Pinewood Inn. Why, +_this_ was an utterly different woman! + +"Ladies and gentlemen," she said, and her voice thrilled John Ryder +where he sat with his burning gaze fixed on her face, "I am to +imitate certain well-known actors and actresses whose peculiarities +and oddities are more or less familiar to you, as they are to me. + +"As this is my first visit to America, I cannot imitate your own +local celebrities--only such of the profession as may have come to +England and whom I have seen in London. For instance, I will try to +imitate"--here she named a musical comedy celebrity who had made a +hit on both sides of the Atlantic--"as she sings her most popular +song in 'The Bridal Bell.'" + +Instantly the transformation that took place in Miss Mont's attitude +and facial expression carried the house by storm. Before she opened +her lips to sing a line of the ditty that had been so popular in "The +Bridal Bell," she looked the woman she imitated to the life. + +Ryder was actually startled. He remembered that once, in a spirit of +fun, while aboard ship, Miss Mont had roguishly imitated the +peculiarities of a fellow-passenger for his private amusement. He +had not encouraged her, because he thought it savored too much of the +very thing he desired to shield her from--the stage. Ah, why had not +his eyes been opened then to what manner of woman she was? + +Yet during the few hours she had been with him at the Pinewood Inn +she had attempted nothing of this kind. Nothing in her speech or +actions then had suggested the theater. What a consummate actress +this wretched woman was! + +The applause of the crowd encouraged her. She did not undertake +anything very difficult; but she filled her seventeen minutes +acceptably; and with her beauty and personal charm there was little +doubt that her act would be a hit. + +Her popularity with this audience did anything but please Ryder. The +more the crowd applauded the more bitter were his feelings, and the +deeper was the pain he suffered. + +How could he ever drag this woman off the stage after such a +reception? Both she and her manager would fight to thwart his +attempt to close her career. Yet he had money--much money. Marks +could be bought out, he felt sure; but other managers would realize +that in Miss Mont there was a fortune. + +It was while these bitter feelings rankled in his mind that she came +back to bow her acknowledgment for the applause that followed her +encore. Her gaze swept the side of the house where Ryder sat as she +went off again and once out of direct range of the footlights, she +saw his face. + +He saw her start, pale, and then flush underneath the grease-paint +that stained her cheeks. She knew him. + +Ryder rose from his seat and walked uncertainly up the aisle. +Several people departed after her act, and his doing so was not +conspicuous. At the door he stopped a man and asked him where the +stage exit of the theater was located. The man grinned at him and +said: + +"Round on the other street." Then to his friend he added quite loud +enough for Ryder to hear: "A hard-hit Johnny I should say. The Mont +has certainly made good with him." + +Ryder flushed. He could have turned and struck the man down. It was +his wife who the fellow had intimated would be an attraction for +"stage-door Jonnies." + +He found the stage entrance and the usual Cerberus on guard. His +entrance was at first denied. For a moment the maddened man was +tempted to rush in past the doorkeeper and demand to see his wife of +the first person he met. Better judgment prevailed. It was dark +enough in the entry for the doorkeeper to miss his passion-distorted +face. + +"Ain't nobody allowed inside, Mister," the man said. + +"I've a friend, Miss Mont----" + +"Let's have your card and I'll get it back to her," said the man +whose hand itched for a quarter. + +"I haven't a card; but I wish to see Miss Mont. I want to surprise +her, you know." The crisp banknote dropped into the man's hand. +"She will be surprised to see me." + +"Whew!" whistled the guard, seeing the figure on the bill. "I guess +you are all right. I ain't looking at you, anyhow, boss," and he +turned his back deliberately upon Ryder. + +The latter darted past him and up the half-darkened passage to those +regions back of the scenes which so bewilder the ordinary visitor. +But Ryder well knew how to gain his goal. + +He seized the first stagehand he met, crushed another banknote into +his hand and whispered: + +"Show me Miss Mont's dressing-room. I am an old friend--from the +other side." + +"Number Three. Here this way!" said the stagehand. He, too, was +moved by the size of the tip he received. He led Ryder to the door +of the dressing-room. + +Without knocking, the injured husband opened the door and stepped +swiftly into the box-like little apartment. The woman was sitting +before the table and glass, removing the last traces of her makeup. + +"Who's there?" she asked without turning her head. Evidently she +thought somebody had knocked, and Ryder stood at such an angle that +she could not easily see him in the mirror. She had removed her +stage costume and sat in her petticoat and with frankly-bared +shoulders and arms. + +Ryder breathed heavily; the sight of her satin skin and beautifully +molded neck and arms almost staggered him. He remembered how Ruth +had looked for the single moment he had seen her in similar undress +in their bedroom at the Pinewood Inn. + +"Is that you, Mr. Marks?" cried Miss Mont. "Wait a moment." + +She rose swiftly, half turning, and Ryder found his voice. + +"It is not Marks, Ruth; nor yet your Mr. White. It is I." + +She uttered a little scream, but it was not a cry of recognition. As +she swung fully around to face him she exclaimed: + +"How dare you come in here? Who are you?" + +Then she really saw his strained and passion-wrung features and cried +in startled amazement: + +"Mr. Ryder! I thought I saw you out front." + +"Yes. And now I'm here," said Ryder bitterly. "Is there anything so +astonishing in that? Where else should I be? A man can scarcely be +said to intrude when he enters his wife's dressing-room." + +"You--you---- What do you mean?" she gasped, shrinking away from his +vicinity. She quickly snatched up the nearest garment and flung it +about her shoulders. "This is cruel of you, Mr. Ryder. Do leave me +until I dress." + +"Pah! Why so prudish? Am I not your husband?" + +"Husband? What do you say? Is the man mad?" murmured the woman. +"I--I am not your wife, Mr. Ryder." + +"And that may be true, too," he agreed, wetting his lips before he +could speak. The fires of an inward fever seemed burning him up. +"That may be true," he pursued. "So much the worse for you then, +Ruth. For by the living God! if you have tricked me in that, too, +you shall suffer for it as a bigamist." + +"Tricked you?" cried she, with sudden heat, and standing more erect +before the angry man. "I did not trick you. If either of us +deserves the accusation of trickster it is you. But a woman is +helpless if a man makes a fool of her. Had you been the gentleman I +thought you, however, you would have told me you had changed your +mind and found that the affection you declared you had for me was +merely a passing fancy." + +"What's that?" he shouted. "Don't taunt me that way, woman! I--who +loved you devotedly, who would do anything for you, who showed you my +heart laid bare! And you dare accuse me of fickleness? + +"A dozen suspicious acts of yours I overlooked while we were at the +hotel together. I refused to believe my _wife_ guilty of any thought +or act that might suggest infidelity." + +She gazed at him in amazement. + +"What are you talking about? You are mad, man!" + +"Mad? Perhaps I am. I know I shall be before long," groaned the +tortured man. "You took my name--whether you had a right to do so or +not, you know--and you cast it back in scorn, as though it were a +small thing for a man to give his name to a woman." + +"You _are_ mad!" repeated the woman. "How dare you say I married +you?" + +Ryder staggered back against the door. He glared at her. + +"You--you---- Do you deny it? You may have another husband; but you +married me. Either you are my legal wife, or you have committed a +crime which the American laws shall punish. See!" He tore open his +coat, dragged out his wallet, and displayed the marriage certificate +before her startled eyes. "Deny that name--deny that signature--if +you can!" + +She bent forward, devouring the paper with her gaze. Then suddenly +she caught her breath and, with one hand at her bosom as though to +stifle its throbbing, she arose to her full height and faced him. + +"I do deny--both. That is not my handwriting. And my name is _Rose_ +Mont," she said. + +The shout of demoniacal laughter that burst from Ryder's lips and the +contortion of his face were terrible. + +"Do you think _that_ will work, woman? Do you think you can dodge +the law on so slight a pretext as a false name and disguised +handwriting? You are my wife, and by heaven I'll take you from this +place by force if you will not go with me peaceably!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +"WHO IS MY WIFE?" + +Miss Mont sank slowly into her chair, still staring at the writhing +features of the man who claimed to be her husband. Insanity had been +her first thought; but the agony and passion displayed by John Ryder +taught her that he was suffering as no maniac could suffer. + +His words had the ring of truth that could not be ignored. He +claimed her as his bride, and so confident was his belief in her +identity as the woman he had married that her own counter knowledge +was almost shaken. + +"Mr. Ryder," she said at last and in almost a whisper, "sit down on +that trunk yonder. Let me talk to you. Yes, sit down! You are +between me and the door; I cannot escape." + +Her quiet speech helped to bring him to his senses. He had been +threatening her with the vehemence he might have used to a man. Red +shame dyed his cheek. His manner suddenly subsided. He obeyed her. + +"Mr. Ryder, I am not your wife," she said slowly, looking at him with +her truthful eyes. She was the woman now she had seemed aboard the +_Minnequago_. "No! I do not mean that," as she saw a wicked +expression come into his face. "I have neither intentionally, nor +unintentionally wronged you. + +"Had I been convinced that I could--could learn to love you as a wife +should and had married you, I would have done nothing which you in +any way could construe as an attempt to bring disgrace upon your name. + +"Wait! You are in a maze yet. You believe I am splitting hairs. I +am not." She leaned forward and raised her voice for emphasis. "I +am not the woman whom you married." + +"What do you mean?" he gasped starting up again. "Would you make me +doubt my own eyes? You sit there and coolly tell me I do not know +the woman I married--the woman whom I held in my arms night before +last--the woman who told me over and over again, by look and word, +that she loved me?" + +She had blushed vividly and for a moment covered her face with her +hands. But she stopped him at that point. + +"That is exactly what I do tell you. You do not know your wife, the +woman whose name is on that marriage paper. Look at me closely. +Come nearer. Is there not some feature different? Is she +truly--this other woman--so like me?" + +She said it earnestly and eagerly. She bent toward him until her +breath fanned his face and until he could look with his troubled eyes +deep into her clear, shadowless orbs. + +And then, strange as it may seem, although John Ryder saw nothing +unfamiliar in her countenance--nothing to warn him that this was not +the woman whom he had wedded--one thing he suddenly knew. It was a +startling discovery. It shook him to the very depths of his soul. + +Whereas Ruth's very presence--his being near her and in physical +contact with her--had thrilled him each time it occurred, he felt no +such shock now. His anger had abated. He was shaken no more by the +terrible rage under which he had labored. But this woman held no +such influence over him, after all, as had Ruth. Still he was +confused. + +"Ruth! Can such a thing be?" he whispered brokenly. "You surely +_do_ love me a little?" + +The abjectness of his speech and the misery in the man's face were +awful. Miss Mont covered her face again and began to sob. + +"You will not do this to me, Ruth? I know you must love me a little. +No woman could be to a man what you were to me without loving him. +Whatever this shadow is that has come between us----" + +The passion and pleading in his voice had swept her on with him. She +was trembling violently and her sobs were more broken. He would have +gathered her into his arms by one sudden movement had she not sprung +to her feet and eluded his hands. + +"Stop! Stop!" she cried hoarsely. "This is not for me to hear! You +do not mean this for _me_! + +"I tell you, Mr. Ryder, I am another woman. I am not the person you +married. I am not Ruth Mont; I am Rose Mont--and always have been +and," she broke into passionate weeping, "and--and--always--shall +be--_now_!" + +[Illustration: I am another woman. I am not the person you married.] + +The vehemence of her emotion quelled Ryder as nothing else had done. +She flung herself upon her knees with her head and arms resting upon +the littered dressing table and abandoned herself to tears which +seemed to well from her very soul. + +He leaned over her, not daring to touch her, anxious, +panting--altogether broken in spirit. A woman's tears flow easily +they say; but this woman was not by nature a crying woman. This +flood, however, cleared her heart and mind, and she saw and +understood more clearly when her passion was past. + +"Listen to me, Mr. Ryder," she said at last, recovering her seat and +motioning him into his. "This is a wonderful thing--and a terrible +thing. Don't look at me like that! Please, _please_ don't! I tell +you I am not the woman you think me." + +"Do you mean," he said with deliberation, "that you are not the woman +I met aboard the _Minnequago_?" + +"No, no!" + +"Or you are not the woman I asked to marry me before we landed?" + +"No, no, Mr. Ryder! I am that woman." + +"Then why did you say just now you were not?" he demanded with heat. +"I treated you fairly. Were you not satisfied? Was the glamor of +this," and he indicated the makeup box and her discarded costume in +his gesture, "too much for you? Could any man give you more that is +worth while in life than I? Are you of so changeable a mind that you +did not know what you really wanted? + +"When I wrote you aboard ship to choose once for all between this +beastly Marks' offer of a stage career and a position as my wife----" + +"What letter? What do you mean?" she cried, darting at him suddenly. + +"You know what I mean. You answered the letter in person when you +met me on the dock." + +"I received no letter from you, Mr. Ryder." + +He looked puzzled and hesitated. "Well, what matters it? You met me +and said you were willing to marry me----" + +"I tell you _No_!" she cried. "I did not meet you. I did not say I +would marry you. And I did not marry you." + +"By heaven, woman!" + +"No, I tell you!" + +She bore him back into his seat upon the trunk with both hands upon +his shoulders. Her face was thrust close to his and she held him by +the power of her gaze. But again John Ryder realized that her +nearness lacked that thrilling influence upon him which contact with +his bride had evolved. + +"Listen to me," she repeated impressively. "You have been +betrayed--fooled. Either you have deceived yourself, or have been +deliberately deceived by others who knew well your wealth and +power--the man you are. You millionaires are a mark for designing +persons, Mr. Ryder, as you should well know. + +"I cannot understand it all. But this I do know: I did not see you +to speak to for all of that last day before the ship docked. I +thought you--you had seen the unwisdom of your course in offering +marriage to a woman like me." + +She hesitated and the tears welled to her eyes again, but by sheer +force of will she drove them back. "I received no letter from you, +Mr. Ryder; none at all, you understand!" + +"I--I gave it to a steward." + +"It was not delivered. When we landed I did not see you. Stop! Let +me finish. I was one of the last to leave the ship. Mrs. +Gurthrie--the lady who sat by my side at the table--you remember? +Mrs. Gurthrie was taken ill as we came up the bay. I remained with +her after we docked. An ambulance had to be sent for to remove her +to her home. I went with her in the ambulance before going to the +hotel Mr. Marks selected for me----" + +"What are you saying?" gasped Ryder, his face like death. + +"I am telling you the truth. I can prove every word I say. A dozen +witnesses--officers of the ship, the doctor, the driver of the +ambulance, Mrs. Gurthrie herself and her husband, Mr. Marks--all +these can bear out what I say." + +She thought he would faint and reaching for the glass standing at her +elbow placed the water to his lips. He drank it, still staring into +her countenance with fixed gaze. + +"Do you understand?" she continued softly. "Don't you _see_ that I +am not the woman you married, Mr. Ryder? I am forced to earn my +living. This way of the stage was opened to me and my success +tonight proves that I was right in accepting the chance offered." + +But, he was not listening. He did not hear her final words at all. +All that he really heard was this query, repeated over and over again +in his tortured brain: + +"_Who is my wife?_" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +IN THE MAZE + +Both the man and the woman were shocked into a sudden appreciation of +the world outside that box-like dressing-room by a knock on the door. +Miss Mont rose quickly, threw off the garment with which she had +lightly covered her shoulders and slipped into a negligee which had +been hanging in the corner. + +"Who's there?" she asked quietly. + +"Why, hullo!" and Sam Marks' broad face showed at the opening door. +"Ain't you a long time getting dressed, Miss Mont? I got a taxi at +the door---- Hullo!" + +He saw Ryder but did not at first recognize him. + +"Got a visitor? Scuse me----" + +"You may come in," said Miss Mont sternly. "You will recognize this +gentleman." + +"Gee! Well, I wouldn't, hardly. What's the matter with him?" asked +Marks, finally identifying Ryder. + +The manager looked anxious, and he kept very close to the door. Miss +Mont watched him narrowly; but Ryder scarcely raised his eyes from +the floor. + +"Mr. Marks," she said, "Mr. Ryder came here---- That is, he says +that before we landed from the _Minnequago_ he sent me a letter to my +stateroom. I did not receive it. You were hovering around me a good +deal just then. Did you happen to see the letter?" + +"What--_me_? Why, I----" + +"Your face tells the truth if your lips cannot," she interrupted him +sharply. "I see that you _did_ get my letter. Where is it?" + +Marks looked foolish; yet his pig-like eyes twinkled. He found the +hardihood to say: + +"Well, I had to get your name on that contract and I wasn't going to +risk this guy butting in. Guess you're glad now yourself. See the +hand you got tonight? You're going to be a knock-out." + +"You scoundrel!" she said bitterly. "You do not know what you have +done. You would not understand if I told you--you clod! Can you +understand this much? Your stealing that letter----" + +"Oh, I say! that's rather thick, you know. I didn't steal it and I +didn't destroy it. I just forgot to give it to you after taking it +from the steward," and he grinned, bringing forth the still unopened +letter from his pocket. + +"You dog! Oh, that men like you are allowed to live! You do things +for a selfish reason, and then can never undo the harm you have done. +Had you killed one or both of us, your act could have been no more +brutal." + +"God bless us!" gasped Marks looking fairly frightened now. "It +ain't as bad as that. I got you on a contract--that's all I wanted. +What's the matter with him? Won't he marry you just the same? But +you'll have to fulfil the terms of my contract." Then he laughed a +sudden sneering laugh. + +"Or did somebody butt in on your game? I saw him walking off the +dock with another queen." + +Miss Mont started. "You saw them together?" + +"Sure." + +"Saw the woman? What did she look like?" + +"I didn't see her face," Sam Marks said, puzzled at her vehemence. +"I was only thinkin' just then of the contract in my pocket." + +"Oh, you beast!" she exclaimed in disgust. "Go away. I want to talk +with Mr. Ryder." + +"Oh, very well! You can call names----" + +"Go!" she commanded. "Let the taxi wait." + +He slunk out of the dressing-room. It is doubtful if Ryder had +realized his presence at all. + +"Come," Miss Mont said with her hand on the shoulder of the stunned +man. "I want you to wait for me outside the door until I dress. +Then you shall ride to my hotel with me. Let me help you to +understand this--this thing." + +He looked at her in a dazed way; but finally he obeyed and went out +of the room. He was in a maze and his intellect seemed beclouded. + +In ten minutes she rejoined him and led the way to the stage entrance +where the car was in waiting. They entered it, she gave the +chauffeur the direction, and the jouncing of the taxicab over the +nearest car track aroused Ryder to the first audible speech he had +made since the truth had sunk into his mind. + +"I--I cannot believe it, Miss Mont. Yet it must be so. How two +women could look so much alike--act so much alike! Great heavens! +She shall suffer for it----" + +The woman beside him turned quickly and placed a palm lightly upon +his lips. So like was the gesture to Ruth's that Ryder caught his +breath and sank back in the seat, wordless again. + +"Say nothing like that. Malign no person. Let us learn all the +truth before we judge. Tell me--tell me about this other woman--this +Ruth." + +"She--she has left me," he said sullenly. + +"Left you! How--when? No, no! Begin at the beginning. Tell me +all. I will not hear a word against her--I must not!--until I know +all the story." + +This aroused John Ryder. He looked at her curiously. "You are a +strange woman," he said. "Do you realize that she impersonated you? +That I married her thinking she was you? That--that--God help me! +She stole from you my love, for I _do_ love her! I _do_ love her!" + +Miss Mont had taken his hand in both of hers. She sat and held it +thus, looking straight ahead and saying no word for a long minute. +Finally she whispered: + +"Tell me all about it--and about her. Keep nothing back, Mr. Ryder. +Think of me as though I were your sister. And let that be no empty +term, please. For, perhaps----" She did not finish the sentence but +added instead: "Tell me all!" + +For a few moments Ryder was silent, trying to collect his thoughts in +order to tell his story with some clarity. He fully realized that +his thoughts were somewhat confused, that the emotions which had been +let loose within him had, for the time being, impaired his usual +judgment, a little confused his clear, keen mind, which ordinarily +decided matters so rapidly and so surely. + +Moreover he felt, rather than reasoned out, that in some way Miss +Mont held the key to the situation, that if she knew the whole story +and knew it accurately, she could be of help. So he sat, pondering, +for a few moments, and again came the command: + +"Tell me all!" + +And Ryder told her. It was a long ride to the hotel uptown where +Miss Mont was housed and there was time for him to relate every +detail of his experience from the moment he had landed on the dock +and met the strange woman who bore Miss Mont's name and looked so +much like her. + +When the story was finished the woman beside him turned to Ryder with +tears in her voice, but with them a note of joy, as well. + +"Let me tell you something, Mr. Ryder," she said. "And, believe me, +I would stake my life upon it: This woman you have married loves you!" + +"Do you believe so?" he whispered. Then, starting up angrily, he +began to say harshly: "Love me? How can she and treat me so? To run +away with that man, White----" + +"Wait. Let us know all first. With the confidence that you should +have in your heart of her love for you, you must not say that." + +"But they left the hotel; they took the same train." + +"Perhaps." + +"And what hold has he over her? What is he to her? Is she my wife, +or is she the wife of another? And where is she now?" + +"Your last question is the most important," Miss Mont said quietly. +"That is the first problem we have to solve. 'We,' I say, for I +believe I am as much interested in finding Ruth Mont as you." + +He looked at her curiously and in surprise. But she made no +explanation, saying only: + +"As for your first queries, we can only guess at the proper answers +for them. And guessing is poor business. Who the man White is I +cannot be sure, of course. But I should not be surprised if he were +the man she was really waiting for that morning on the dock when the +_Minnequago_ got in." + +"What?" he gasped. + +"Yes. I remember well that there was a passenger named White aboard. +He was ill most of the time coming over. His stateroom was near +mine. He was being helped ashore by one of the stewards at the time +we got Mrs. Gurthrie into the ambulance. You say he signed 'John B. +White, Rome,' on the hotel register. It was Rome, Italy, of course. +He must have been out of America for years. + +"If he was actually Ruth Mont's husband she would not have gone +through a marriage ceremony with you, for she believed you to be +White." + +"What are you saying?" stammered the confused Ryder. + +"Yes. That is the explanation, I feel sure. You say she picked out +Pinewood for your honeymoon, saying something about the place +reminding you both of old times. I should think that would have +awakened you to some suspicion of the facts. But a man in love, I +suppose, is accountable neither for his deeds nor his words. + +"It is plain, Mr. Ryder, that your wife and this White knew each +other years ago. Perhaps they had not met since childhood. They +have probably corresponded; but she could not have known much about +his mature appearance. + +"She was waiting for him when you landed from the _Minnequago_. You +thought she was I. How much we must look alike!" + +"Alike?" he murmured. "You are twins." + +"No; we are not twins," she corrected him with confidence. "But +there is a reason why we should look and seem so much alike. + +"Now, see: You came to her on the dock, and your first question +convinced her you were White. From what you tell me it seems that +she was not sure of her own mind until she had seen you in the flesh. + +"What woman could be sure, when she had not met her lover for years? +And," the woman's voice broke, but she went on bravely, "for your +comfort, Mr. Ryder, let me tell you that I believe she must have +fallen in love with you on that instant of meeting." + +John Ryder was silent. He was suddenly confronted with a second +riddle, but he had no words in which to answer it. Had this woman, +now talking to him so gently and impressively, been drawn toward him, +too? What had his impetuosity done to her, as well as to himself? +He could no longer selfishly feel that he was the only person injured +by this tragedy of errors. + +"Then," Miss Mont continued, "the knowledge of what she had +done--what a great mistake she had made--came to her with a +suddenness that was enough to turn the woman's brain. She had +thought herself in love all these years with one man, and had married +another! + +"Put yourself in her place. Think what an opinion she holds of +_you_. If your heart and brain have been seared by your trouble, +think how she must feel. She cannot understand why you impersonated +White. She is as much in the dark as you were. She must think you +deliberately befooled her. She fled--not with White, I stake my life +upon it!--but because she was so mentally disturbed that flight +seemed the only course left her." + +"But the name--'Mrs. John B. White'--written in her own hand upon the +trunk labels?" questioned the man. + +It was dark in the taxicab. The vehicle had stopped at the side door +of Miss Mont's hotel and the chauffeur was impatiently waiting +further orders or the alighting of his passengers. Ryder could not +see Miss Mont's face. + +He could not see her burning blush; he could not know of the tears +flooding her eyes; he could only hear the tremor of her voice as she +whispered: + +"My heart tells me, Mr. Ryder, that Ruth wrote those lines as soon as +her trunks arrived at the hotel. It was her new name. She wished to +see how it looked when she wrote it on the tags!" + +"Do you suppose that--all this you have told me--is the right +explanation of this awful mystery?" + +"I believe so. If she has come to this city and is hiding from you, +it is because she cannot imagine what manner of man would usurp +another's name and place as you seem to have done." + +The tone that suddenly sounded in Ryder's voice could not be +mistaken. "I'll have the whole police force hunting for her in the +morning. I'll turn up the whole town to find her. Think of it! The +poor child running away from _me_. When I love her so and am so sure +she loves me----" + +Miss Mont stopped him. "I--I must leave you now," she said in a +muffled voice. "No! don't get down. I do not need you. Let me know +how you succeed." She was out of the taxicab instantly and without a +backward glance ran hastily into the hotel. He did not see her face +again; but Ryder knew she was struggling to keep back another tempest +of weeping. + +He told the chauffeur where to drive him, and rode back downtown. +After the storm of emotion of the last two hours his soul was +strangely peaceful and he was even light-hearted. + +The contrast between the awful uncertainty of the riddle of his +wife's actions and the confidence he now felt that Miss Mont's +explanation was the only sane and reasonable explanation, was so +great that Ruth's disappearance seemed at this moment a small matter +indeed. + +Money and patience would find her, of course. Of the first he had +plenty, thank heaven! The last he must cultivate as need be. + +A steeple clock boomed the hour of midnight. The third day of John +Ryder's honeymoon was ended. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +NEMESIS + +With this better understanding of the exciting and brain-wracking +incidents of these three days, John Ryder became again his sane and +businesslike self. Before he reached his hotel he had evolved a plan +for his future course relating to the woman he had married by +mistake. Of course, this plan began with the discovery of her +whereabouts. + +He must have some theory to work on. He could go to the police and +ask them to send out a description of his wife and trust to luck that +some sharp-eyed detective would see her. That, however, was a method +which he abhorred. + +If Ruth had come to New York, or if she had gone elsewhere, John +Ryder could think of just one way in which she might be traced. + +He was convinced now that she was not with White. Ryder had cast +that unfortunate individual into the discard entirely. Miss Mont's +explanation of the mystery that had involved them all was so clear +that Ryder could no longer feel jealous of John B. White. + +Indeed the man might have better reason to feel that Ryder had +defrauded him. Unintentionally Ryder had substituted himself for +White, and had borne off the girl the latter expected to marry, and +had made her his wife. + +The thing to do now was for Ryder to find her, to explain his own +course in the matter, and to convince Ruth that she had, after all, +married the right man. + +To start on this quest aright, he felt that he must begin at the +Pinewood Inn. There was something at Pinewood that he felt sure +would aid him in his search for his bride. She must send for the +trunks and then he would obtain her address. + +Therefore he went back to his hotel with the intention of leaving a +call for the early morning train that would take him back to the +resort. When he entered the hostelry and approached the desk he was +surprised to be told that a lady was waiting for him in one of the +hotel parlors. + +"Been here for some time, sir. Said she would wait till you came in, +no matter how late you were. It must be something important, Mr. +Ryder," the clerk told him. + +Ryder's heart leaped for joy. His first thought was that it was +Ruth. How she could have found his hotel--what had brought her +here--he did not stop to question. He followed the bellboy with +eager steps to the parlor where, under a dim light, the woman sat +waiting for his return. + +When John Ryder strode into the room he felt a distinct drop in the +temperature of his feelings. This might be a woman that had waited +for him, but she was dressed more like a man. A long raincoat +wrapped her about, and a felt hat pulled down over her ears disguised +her femininity most effectually. + +"Miss Solomons!" exclaimed Ryder, as the person rose and turned +toward him. + +"That's who 'tis," jerked out the house detective of the Pinewood +Inn. "I've been waiting for you, Mr. Ryder." + +Could it be possible that she had come with some message from Ruth, +or information about her? Ryder could not find voice enough in which +to ask her. His silence seemed to give Miss Solomons immense +satisfaction. Her eyes snapped, and she waved in a commanding way +the folded copy of the novel she always carried. + +"I've got you! I told 'em I'd find you, all right. Can't fool _me_. +You'd better come with me, Mr. Ryder. Don't try any capers." + +"What the---- What do you want of me?" demanded the rapidly +disillusioned Ryder. He realized that Miss Solomons could have come +on no sentimental mission. + +"They want you back to Pinewood. You know. You aren't silly enough +to refuse to go without extradition papers, are you?" + +"What--under--the--sun----" + +"Back up!" exclaimed Miss Solomons. "That don't go. You know well +enough what they want you for. That deputy sheriff is a dunce. You +got away from _him_; but not from me." + +"But what have you got to do with the deputy's trouble?" + +"Say! Don't fool yourself. I'm a properly appointed officer of the +State. That deputy fell down on the job, but I told 'em I'd get you. +Come!" + +"But what _for_?" demanded John Ryder, suddenly becoming quiet. + +"Stealin' that coal. Thought you could get away with two carloads of +coal and nobody do nothin' about it?" + +"But," pointed out Ryder, "the coal was for the use of the hotel, and +you are an employee of the hotel. Where do you come into this?" + +"I'm officer of the State first," said Miss Solomons promptly. "It +was a dead open and shut robbery. Then you attacked that poor +deputy. That's serious. I'm a brother officer----" + +"Don't you mean a _sister_ officer?" suggested John Ryder gently. + +"Huh! Don't get gay," advised Miss Solomons. "I'm asking if you are +going to come peaceably, or must I make trouble for you in this +ranch?" + +"Where will you take me?" + +"If you agree to go back quiet-like to Pinewood, I'll take you right +to the station." + +"And sit there in a draughty station for five hours or more, waiting +for the first train?" he asked indignantly. + +"Well----" + +"You wouldn't treat a fellow that way, would you, Miss Solomons?" he +went on wheedlingly. + +"Don't try no soft stuff on _me_," advised the house detective +gloomily. "I don't fall for it." + +"But can't I go to bed and be called at a proper time to make the +train?" + +"What's going to happen to me?" she demanded. "Expect me to sleep on +the mat outside your door?" + +"But can't you go to bed, too? Let us behave humanlike," John Ryder +urged. "Just because you are an officer and I am a--er--criminal, +shall we say?--we need not both be miserable. _I_ want to sleep." + +"I should worry whether you sleep or not," snapped the house +detective. "I haven't had much myself lately." + +"Well, then?" + +"Where do I bunk?" asked Miss Solomons. + +"I will telephone down and secure a room for you. Near my own. You +may lock me in if you like and keep the key." + +"Inside room?" she asked. + +"Yes. I can't get out by the window very easily." + +"So be it!" she exclaimed. "You're a particular blame fool, Mr. +Ryder; but not fool enough to try to escape _me_, I guess. Besides," +she added, "here's a note was sent to you. Maybe it'll put you wise +to somethin'." + +She handed him a sealed envelope. Ryder's heart leaped once and then +stopped. It was not addressed in Ruth's handwriting, although his +name was written in a feminine hand. + +He tore it open, unfolded the paper it contained, and read: + + +"If you are a man and love R. return immediately. + +"ALICE J. BRACK." + + +Ryder stood holding the note for a full minute while he regained his +poise. Who was "Alice J. Brack?" Not Ruth herself. Surely there +could not be another mixup in names! + +Then, of a sudden, he remembered the white-haired, motherly-looking +wife of the fire-eating colonel. It flashed into Ryder's mind that +while he was hurrying out of the hotel at Pinewood, Saturday noon, +Mrs. Brack had sought to speak to him. + +What did she know about his wife and the mystery that had entangled +him in its snare? Why, if he loved Ruth, must he return to the Pine +wood Inn? He looked up and caught Miss Solomons eying him with so +soft a gaze that he was actually startled. + +"Oh!" gasped John Ryder, "is she _there_?" + +The detective "came to attention" swiftly. Her face hardened to its +usual bored expression. She said: + +"I don't know anything about the note. It was given to me by the old +lady. I'm here to take you back for stealing coal." + +"Oh! All right," said John Ryder. "I'll go." + +But the detective seemed suddenly more moderate in her demands. +"Tell you what," she said. "I'll bunk here." + +"Here in the parlor?" + +"Yep. 'Twon't hurt _me_." + +"In one of these chairs?" + +"Good's I us'ally get at night," she declared. + +"But, my dear young woman," protested Ryder, "the management of the +hotel won't permit anyone to lie around in their parlors all night." + +"They'll let me, I guess! I'm a State officer. I've got rights that +don't pertain to any old person that just happens to drop into a +hotel. Now, you can beat it to your room. I won't let you +oversleep. We'll make that six-fifteen train." + +But John Ryder needed nobody to awaken him at the proper hour. He +was up in good season, and had heard nothing of Miss Solomons when he +came out of his bedchamber at half after five in the morning. + +He went to the parlor to look for her. There was but a single light +burning, and that dimly. The house detective of the Pine wood Inn +was sound asleep in her chair. She had evidently succumbed to nature +while keeping what she considered proper vigil. + +The long-barreled pistol she carried had slipped to the rug at her +feet. When Ryder stooped to pick it up before awakening Miss +Solomons, he saw that she had dropped her "five-cent thriller" as +well. + +He picked this up and unfolded the pamphlet curiously. He expected +to find a detective story with quite as sensational a title as Jim +Howe had suggested. Instead, the title of the story the house +detective had been last perusing was: + +"Little Laurel's Lovers; Or, Sweethearts' Paths Made Smooth." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +JOHN RYDER FORGIVES FATE + +They might have arrived at the Pinewood Inn earlier had not the +officer and her captive been met before they crossed the inlet to the +hotel by a man with a bandage swathing his jaw. Ryder had +considerable trouble in identifying the deputy sheriff, whom he had +last seen struggling in the tide. + +"Got him," said Miss Solomons briefly to the deputy. "He came back +without making any trouble." + +She seemed, Ryder thought, a little sorry that she was forced to hand +him over to the mercy of the other officer. For that deputy did seem +vindictive. + +"Got a warrant, have you?" asked Miss Solomons, as an afterthought. + +"Oh, I know my business. I'll get the warrant, all right," growled +the man with the bruised jaw. + +"You can't arrest without a warrant on such a charge," declared the +house detective, suddenly taking up cudgels for John Ryder. + +"Oh, I'll hold him all right. He's been stealing----" + +"Who makes the complaint?" asked the culprit mildly. "Of course, old +fellow, I'm sorry you obliged me to hit you. If anything I can do +will salve your lacerated feelings----?" He drew out his wallet. + +"You stole that coal," growled the man, his eyes glittering, however, +when he saw the money Ryder carried. + +"Oh, all right! If you insist," said John Ryder. "But who is the +complainant in the case?" + +"Why, the railroad, I s'pose." + +"That is what you _suppose_," said the culprit. "Now, let me tell +you what I know. The railroad was merely the carrier. It did not +own the coal. The railroad was neither consignor nor consignee." + +"Then the coal company will prosecute." + +"No, they won't. They ship at consignee's risk. If anybody moves in +the matter it will be the actual, legal owner of the coal. In other +words, the Lossing Soap Company." + +"What does it matter?" demanded the deputy with some heat. "Somebody +will prosecute. You can't get out of that." + +"Maybe. Just wait a moment, Mr. Sheriff. I happen to have a letter +here from the Lossing Soap Company. It's on a private matter; but +I'll show you the letter-head. Here, just read that aloud," and he +tore off the printed heading of the letter and handed it to the +officer. + +"'Lossing Soap Company, Capitalization----'" + +"Never mind that," interposed Ryder. + +"'Rated----'" + +"Skip that. Who's the president?" + +"Why--er---- My goodness gracious!" gasped the deputy. "The--the +president of the company is--is Mr. John Ryder." + +"That's right," said Ryder quietly. "John Ryder. There is only one +of us, and that's me. I may be a fool--as Miss Solomons here says I +am--but I'm not fool enough to prosecute myself for stealing my own +coal. You can go back and report, Mr. Deputy, to your superior; and +when you find out how much you think that sore jaw is worth, let me +know. We'll be able to settle it out of court." + +He walked on to enter a boat that had come to transfer him across the +inlet. Miss Solomons looked after him, and then at the deputy. +Scorn made her voice fairly tremble as she viewed the abashed officer +up and down his length. + +"Huh!" he emitted, and stopped unable to go on, and even, seemingly, +to close his mouth. + +"Good-_night!_" muttered the house detective, and followed John Ryder +into the boat. + +She kept a discreet silence all the way across the inlet and as they +walked up the path to the Pinewood Inn. There Ryder went immediately +to the desk, to be hailed joyfully by George. + +"Well, if we aren't all glad to see you again, Mr. Ryder!" exclaimed +the clerk. "The guests are going to give you a testimonial banquet +soon's it can be arranged." + +"Good heavens, George! can't you get me out of that? Why--why! it's +preposterous! Man alive! you've got to nip that!" + +"Don't know how I can, Mr. Ryder. When Colonel Brack gets set on +something he's hard to change. And then there's Pop Cudger--he's in +this, too, and he never stops to hear what any other fellow has to +say once he begins on a thing." + +Ryder groaned dismally. + +"Mr. Giddings has arrived and is anxious to see you," went on the +clerk. "Say! I'm going to be manager here in place of Bangs. And +if I make good I'll owe it all to you," declared the grateful young +man. + +"And say, your wife will be tickled to see you----" + +"What!" Ryder for a moment lost control of himself, but George was +too full of news to notice his emotion. + +"Naturally she'd be lonely. She's been sticking as close to Mrs. +Brack as though the old lady was her mother. And the colonel is +evidently dead stuck on Mrs. Ryder. I think he'll even forgive you, +sir," and George chuckled. + +Ryder swallowed hard, and finally was able to speak without a +noticeable tremor in his voice: + +"Guess it is too early to go upstairs. Nobody will be up yet." + +"No. Mrs. Ryder has not telephoned down for her breakfast. And I +believe Mrs. Brack is with her, anyway." + +"Tell 'em I'm here if they 'phone down," said Ryder, and went into +the breakfast room. + +Before he completed his leisurely meal Mrs. Judson swept into the +room in a wonderful morning gown. She caught sight of Ryder, looked +her astonishment for an instant, and then advanced down the room with +the evident intention of speaking to him. + +It was rude, but Ryder would have knocked her down had she been a +man. As he could not do this, he deliberately turned his eyes away +and ignored her. The cut direct could not be mistaken, and several +noticed the widow's discomfiture. + +A moment later one of the bellboys brought Ryder a note. He tried to +seem undisturbed as he opened and read it: + + +"DEAR SIR:-- + +"Come to me in the parlor before seeing your wife. She does not know +yet that you have returned. + + "Sincerely, + "ALICE J. BRACK." + + +He arose finally and made his way to the parlor, with an apparent +ease of manner he did not at all feel. It was the same room that had +been the scene of so many events on that night when Pop Cudger and +his colored retainer had guarded Van Scamp's famous painting of "The +Cheesemonger." + +The tranquil countenance of the colonel's lady seemed to John Ryder +one of the most beautiful he had ever seen. Her smile encouraged +him. Her first words filled him with delight: + +"Yes; she is well." + +He could have hugged her! But Mrs. Brack added gravely: + +"Before I let you go up to the poor child, you must tell me your side +of the story. All of it. She has trusted everything to me. I +understand her mistakes and her misery fully. And I tell you now +that no shadow of wrong rests upon her conduct. Can you say as much, +Mr. Ryder? + +"I have promised that you shall not see her unless you can explain +satisfactorily what you have done. Tell me, why did you, a perfect +stranger as she declares, represent yourself to her as the man she +expected to marry and for whom she was waiting on that dock?" + +"Then Miss Mont was right!" exclaimed John Ryder. + +"Miss Mont? Do you mean your wife?" + +Ryder eagerly told Mrs. Brack in detail of the mystery of the two +girls named Mont and of all Rose Mont had surmised. He knew now who +Ruth must be. His listener sat enthralled until he had completed his +story. Then she suddenly took him by both shoulders and gave him a +little shake. + +"John Ryder," she said, repeating (though in a more refined phrase) +Miss Solomons' stated opinion of his character, "John Ryder, you are +a particularly foolish man. There is one principle of married life +which you have overlooked--it is the foundation, indeed, of wedded +happiness. + +"_Mutual confidence_. If two people possess that, happiness may come +or go; that is a craft that sails with variable winds. But trust +must remain if wedded comradeship is to last. + +"The very first thing that started suspicion in your mind should have +made you go to your wife for an explanation. Because you did not do +this you both have got into much sorrow and anxiety. + +"Tell me," the woman added suddenly: "Which of these two women do you +love? You fell in love with that other Miss Mont on the steamship, +and asked her to be your wife. You must have thought you loved her. +But you met this poor child you have married and seem to have felt no +difference in the two. And yet there must be a difference--a vast +difference. + +"Which of them do you really love?" + +"There is no doubt in my mind, Mrs. Brack," he told her with +earnestness. "I was attracted by Rose Mont's face and by her +qualities of mind. I thought I loved her. Possibly, had I married +her, I never should have known that I had mistaken admiration for +love. + +"But Ruth I have married. And from the moment I knew she was +mine--yes, from the moment we clasped hands upon the wharf--my +feeling for her was far different from that I had held for Rose. + +"Rose has no power over me, Mrs. Brack. I cannot explain it very +clearly; but it is true. There is no response in me when I touch her +hand or when she is near me. But Ruth--I tell you I love my wife, +Mrs. Brack, and I'll fight for the possession of her if any man tries +to take her from me!" + +"That is enough! I believe you!" the woman said, her eyes shining. +"You need comfort as well as Ruth, for you, too, have suffered. And +I am going to tell you something, that which will bring to your heart +the assurance it needs. + +"Your wife has been a poor girl all her life. Of late she has been a +nurse, supporting herself entirely. She was tacitly adopted into the +family of this John B. White when she was very small. + +"Afterward the family suffered reverses and came to America, bringing +Ruth with them. When the elder White died, this son was taken by an +uncle and aunt to Europe to finish his education there. But Ruth was +old enough when they separated for them to have felt some attachment. + +"They corresponded. For two years now his letters have been +loverlike. He had studied to be an artist and had gained some +celebrity in Italy. The less the girl encouraged him the more eager +he was to come to America and prove to her that she still loved +him--as he claimed to love her. It was born of the man's romantic +nature, I presume; yet he, poor fellow, has lost everything in this +affair. Ruth agreed finally to marry him if, upon his appearance, +she should be assured he was a man she could learn to love. + +"Yes, you may well blush, Mr. Ryder," pursued Mrs. Brack, smiling. +"She discovered instantly--in the flash of an eye--that she could +love you. She did love you. She does love you. She declares +vehemently if White had met her she would have run away from him. + +"After their terrible scene the other day--did you know about that?" +Ryder nodded. "She came to you for an explanation--for help. You +are still a young man, John Ryder. You do not understand women. You +left her alone--when she needed you--and without a word to comfort +her. + +"White might have been foolish enough to linger about and cause more +trouble, but Miss Solomons, who overheard his talk with your wife, +tells me she 'chased him.' That girl is dreadfully slangy and +appears to be hard and unfeminine; but she has a soft heart under it +all, Mr. Ryder." + +"I can well believe it," agreed Ryder, thinking of "Little Laurel's +Lovers." + +"I met your wife in the corridor ready dressed to leave the hotel," +pursued Mrs. Brack. "She had packed her trunks and would have been +foolish enough to run away. + +"It was by chance--no, it was providential--that I spoke to her. And +because I am an old woman and have lived my life and have both +suffered and been happy, she told me all. I saw that Mrs. Judson +would succeed in making her scandalous story (that I had already +heard and then understood) sound true if we were not careful. She +has even been saying that you ran away from your bride----" + +"Confound her!" ejaculated John Ryder. "And after all Ruth's +kindness to her!" + +"She is confounded--and by her own evil tongue. All gossips are in +the end," said Mrs. Brack. "My husband and I have been in this hotel +fourteen years. If _I_ approve of a person the guests at large are +not very likely to believe the scandalous stories of such +flutterbudgets as Mrs. Judson. + +"I have made Ruth appear with us in the dining-room. That put a stop +to all the gossip. And so--she is waiting for you in her rooms now, +Mr. Ryder. She is a girl that any man--I do not care how high he may +be--should be proud to secure for a wife, and----" + +"I am going to her!" cried John Ryder, and darted away. + + +About a week later, one evening, as John Ryder and his wife were +going up from dinner, the clerk handed him a letter. The envelope +was creamy and very thick, and the writing, angular and firm, +betrayed the feminine hand. + +"This is from Miss Mont," he said to his wife, and when they reached +their suite she sat eagerly upon the arm of the big chair while he +opened the envelope. + +Together they looked over the letter that threw light on important +facts which correspondence on both sides had brought to view. In one +place Rose Mont wrote: + + +"From what your wife writes me about her remembrance of her early +years and from my own memory, I am confident that she is the sister +Ruth whom I so dearly loved when our parents died and we children +were scattered. I remember I almost cried my eyes out for her, +although for the boys and for our older sister, Gertrude, I did not +greatly care. + +"And that we should grow up to look so much alike!" + + +Again she wrote: + + +"Your invitation, seconded by dear Ruth, is appreciated; but I must +refuse it now. I could not come to disturb your new-made happiness. +Besides, Mr. Marks has contracted for a seven-week engagement in +Chicago and we start for the West to-morrow. When I return to New +York in the spring or early summer we will have recovered our +equilibrium, I fancy, and we all, as brother and sisters, may meet +with more freedom. Until we meet, God bless you! + + "Your sister, + "ROSE MONT." + + +"Well, I'm sorry she's taken up that stage business," Ryder said with +a sigh. "And yet she has talent for it and she's a good woman. +We'll give her the time of her life when she does come East. We'll +be in our own home then, honey." + +Ruth was looking at him very closely, but he was quite unconscious of +the meaning of this scrutiny. Suddenly she seized him around the +neck and hugged him tightly. + +"Well," she murmured, "I won't be jealous of my own sister." + +Ryder did not hear. But he held her away from him for a moment and +looked into her eyes. "Where's that chain and locket you used to +wear?" he suddenly demanded. + +A vivid blush flooded into her throat and cheeks. "That--that's put +away. Johnny White gave it to me when I was a little girl. It--it +had a lock of his hair in it I thought it was _your_ hair, dearest. +How silly of me!" + +Ryder smiled grimly. "And you used to kiss it, I'll be bound, +thinking it was mine?" + +"How did you know?" she demanded, starting up rather petulantly. + +"Humph! I know a lot of things now--since I've been married. By +thunder! Marriage _does_ open a man's eyes." + +And then he laughed and drew her down against his breast again, and +they were silent for a long while. + + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75754 *** diff --git a/75754-h/75754-h.htm b/75754-h/75754-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..17f5331 --- /dev/null +++ b/75754-h/75754-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12412 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> + +<head> + +<link rel="icon" href="images/img-cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + +<meta charset="utf-8"> + +<title> +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Some honeymoon!, by Charles Everett Hall +</title> + +<style> +body { color: black; + background: white; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +p {text-indent: 1.5em } + +p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +p.t1 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 200%; + text-align: center } + +p.t2 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center } + +p.t2b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 150%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +p.t3 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center } + +p.t3b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +p.t4 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center } + +p.t4b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +p.t5 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 60%; + text-align: center } + +h1 { text-align: center } +h2 { text-align: center } +h3 { text-align: center } +h4 { text-align: center } +h5 { text-align: center } + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; } + + +p.contents {line-height: 1.5 } + +p.thought {text-indent: 0% ; + letter-spacing: 2em ; + text-align: center } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +p.footnote {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +.smcap { font-variant: small-caps } + +p.transnote {text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +p.quote {text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +p.capcenter { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + font-weight: normal; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center } + +img.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: auto; } + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75754 ***</div> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<p class="capcenter"> +<a id="img-front"></a> +<br> +<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-front.jpg" alt="The first quarter of the Honeymoon!"> +<br> +The first quarter of the Honeymoon! +</p> + +<h1> +<br><br> + SOME<br> + HONEYMOON!<br> +</h1> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> + BY<br> +<br> + CHARLES EVERETT HALL<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> + ILLUSTRATED BY<br> + ROBERT GASTON HERBERT<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> + New York<br> + GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t4"> + Copyright, 1918, by<br> + GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY<br> +<br> + <i>All Rights Reserved</i><br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3b"> + CONTENTS<br> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + CHAPTER<br> +</p> + +<p class="noindent contents"> + I <a href="#chap01">The Man of Business</a><br> + II <a href="#chap02">"Needles and Pins"</a><br> + III <a href="#chap03">"When a Man Marries—"</a><br> + IV <a href="#chap04">"His Trouble Begins!"</a><br> + V <a href="#chap05">The Arrow of Suspicion</a><br> + VI <a href="#chap06">Business Methods</a><br> + VII <a href="#chap07">Shock Upon Shock</a><br> + VIII <a href="#chap08">The Bridal Night</a><br> + IX <a href="#chap09">With the World Shut Out</a><br> + X <a href="#chap10">The Beginning of a Nightmare</a><br> + XI <a href="#chap11">The Nightmare Continues</a><br> + XII <a href="#chap12">Some Experiences of a Bridegroom</a><br> + XIII <a href="#chap13">The Eagle Eye of the House Detective</a><br> + XIV <a href="#chap14">Some Sleuth</a><br> + XV <a href="#chap15">The Cat Shows Her Claws</a><br> + XVI <a href="#chap16">The Duty Again Devolves</a><br> + XVII <a href="#chap17">The Private Buccanneer</a><br> + XVIII <a href="#chap18">It Is No Longer Farce</a><br> + XIX <a href="#chap19">An Outlaw in Fact</a><br> + XX <a href="#chap20">The Name On the Billboard</a><br> + XXI <a href="#chap21">In the Part of the Injured Husband</a><br> + XXII <a href="#chap22">"Who Is My Wife?"</a><br> + XXIII <a href="#chap23">In the Maze</a><br> + XXIV <a href="#chap24">Nemesis</a><br> + XXV <a href="#chap25">John Ryder Forgives Fate</a><br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#img-front">The first quarter of the Honeymoon!</a> <i>Frontispiece</i> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#img-050">"No manager can dispossess me. I refuse to +get out."</a> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#img-129">Flung herself with abandon into John Ryder's +arms.</a> (<i>See page <a href="#p129">129</a>.</i>) +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#img-243">"I am another woman. I am not the +person you married."</a> (<i>See page <a href="#p243">243</a>.</i>) +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap01"></a></p> + +<p class="t2"> +SOME HONEYMOON! +</p> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER I +<br><br> +THE MAN OF BUSINESS +</h3> + +<p> +When John Ryder put his foot upon the plank +of the <i>Minnequago</i> on his return journey from +Europe he was a bachelor of thirty-five summers—and +had never counted his winters at all. He +believed, with many another upholder of single +blessedness, that a man did not begin to count his +wintry years until he was married. +</p> + +<p> +Just the same, as he walked up the incline of +the runway he was walking to his fate. Indeed, +he came face to face with it as he trod upon the +deck of the ship and, almost bumping into it, +politely lifted his hat and said: +</p> + +<p> +"Pardon me!" +</p> + +<p> +The lady bowed silently and turned upon him a +careless shoulder. John Ryder allowed himself a +second glance—and then let the steward take his +hand luggage below while he did something he had +not done since his early crossings. He hung about +on deck to see the hawsers cast off—a mark of +curiosity that usually stamps the traveler as quite +new to the game. +</p> + +<p> +Even then he did not know why he did this. +</p> + +<p> +Business. Business with a big B. Business first, +last, and all the time. That was John Ryder, and +so plain was it to most people who met him that +a tag on his back stating that he was a hustling +American business man would have been quite +unnecessary. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder had been in the chase after the nimble dollar +since he was breeched. He was a self-made man, +and although he was proud of that fact he did not +go around blowing about the quality of the product. +</p> + +<p> +People could take him for what he was—or what +they thought he was. He was not personally assertive, +although he fully knew his own opinion upon +any subject to which he had given thought. He did +not consider it necessary to tell every person who +interviewed him, or show them by his manner, that +he was really too busy with weighty affairs to give +their own little matter its proper attention. He +seldom cared what people thought of him as long +as he impressed them with his honesty of purpose, +and that he was in earnest. +</p> + +<p> +That is, he had seldom cared until now. But he +confessed to himself, in the secrecy of his inner +thoughts and the privacy of his stateroom, that +he was desirous of having at least one person +aboard the <i>Minnequago</i> think of him as being +every whit as good as he really was, if not a little +better. +</p> + +<p> +When a man's hard hit, that is about his first +thought. He wants the woman to think of him as +the finest and best who has ever crossed her path. +And before bumping into Miss Mont as he boarded +the ship, he had actually never looked twice at a +woman. +</p> + +<p> +She was a good sailor, and he had crossed back +and forth so many times that he was only seasick +when the Old Salt in the story was ill—on the +occasion "that the ship went down and all hands were +lost." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder accepted his fate manfully on that very +first time that they paced the deck together. It was +not easy for Ryder to admit that he had met and +fallen in love with a woman at first sight. It was +opposed to all his well-established theories. At his +age he considered himself case-proof. +</p> + +<p> +Yet never had a woman impressed him as did +Miss Mont. When they became so quickly such very +good friends and she showed plainly that she +enjoyed his society, and even took him into her +confidence with little urging on his part, Ryder +began to see that he would be tempting Providence +if he went ashore at New York without letting her +know just how he felt toward her. +</p> + +<p> +He had nobody to consider in this matter but +himself; he had no family. Miss Mont, she said, +was in a similar situation. +</p> + +<p> +She had been adopted by people in Manchester +when she was a small child and had lived with them +as their daughter until these foster parents died. +</p> + +<p> +Other children had come into the family after her +adoption, and they did not look kindly upon the +alien. So Miss Mont had come away. +</p> + +<p> +"I do not know much about my own people," +she told Ryder. "Only that my mother and father +are both dead. There were several of us children. +We were parceled out like a brood of puppies. I +know nothing now about my brothers and sisters." +</p> + +<p> +So she had nobody to consider; there was no +living soul to say her nay, no matter what course +she took in life. To John Ryder's disappointment +he found that she was on the verge of choosing a +profession for which he had a strongly rooted, if +narrow, dislike. Miss Mont had met some +theatrical people in London. There was, indeed, a +certain agent, or manager, aboard the <i>Minnequago</i> to +whom she had been introduced. +</p> + +<p> +This man had told her that he could put her on +the stage. She had the presence for it, and if her +ability proved anywhere equal—well, his talk had +inspired her with the fever for a stage career. She had +done a little in a semi-professional way in London +as an entertainer, and this man, Sam Marks, had +chanced to see her work. +</p> + +<p> +"And you know I need to work," she told John +Ryder. "My bit of money won't last forever. I +should dislike teaching, and I couldn't work in a +shop, I know. I have a retentive memory, and I +believe I should 'make good' as you Americans say, +as an imitator. I really have some talent." +</p> + +<p> +"You do not know what you contemplate," cried +Ryder, and he was a little angry. "The theater is +no place for a domestic, home-loving woman like +you." +</p> + +<p> +"But it will bring me more money than other +work." +</p> + +<p> +"It brings you a lot besides the money. It spoils +a woman. It spoils a man, too, for that matter. +And it is the hardest work a woman can tackle." +</p> + +<p> +"Some actresses draw large salaries." +</p> + +<p> +"And what do they pay for the pedestals they +gain? You don't know the mire they have to drag +their skirts through. And some of it always sticks." +</p> + +<p> +"I think you are prejudiced," she said softly. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I know there are exceptions. But there are +no exceptions when it comes to the hard work. +When an actress achieves a lasting place in her +profession, it means that she has worked harder +for years than any governess, or seamstress—yes, or +washwoman!" +</p> + +<p> +"I know it is kind of you to advise me," she +said. +</p> + +<p> +"No, it isn't. It's selfish on my part. I'll tell +you why. I love you!" blurted out this man of +business, who was noted for his silky and diplomatic +tongue when it came to a business proposition. +This situation was, however, almost too much for +John Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +She gazed at him in utter astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Ryder!" she gasped. +</p> + +<p> +"Don't be surprised," said he, mopping his brow +and glad the words were out at last. "I'm no kid. +I've been bucking the world for a good many years, +if my head isn't bald! I'm not likely to say a thing +I don't mean, or to try to fool a woman like you. +I love you, and I'll marry you the first minute we +can after getting ashore, if you'll agree. +</p> + +<p> +"And I'm not doing it through any foolish desire +to keep you out of a business that you'll be +sorry you ever got into. I want you for a strictly +selfish reason. I want you because I love you—have +loved you ever since I first laid eyes on you +on this boat." +</p> + +<p> +"But—but we know so little of each other!" she +faltered. +</p> + +<p> +"What more have you got to tell me? It won't +take you long," said Ryder with a chuckle. He +knew his drawing powers as an interviewer, and +could figure on Miss Mont's having told him about +everything of importance in her life. +</p> + +<p> +"As for me, I'm plain John Ryder. I'm just +what I appear to be, nothing more and nothing +less." The sly villain, however, was hoping she +would think him a deal better than he was. "I've +got some money. I can make more. I'll keep you +in comfort, and when I die leave you enough to +live on. +</p> + +<p> +"That may not sound very sentimental, but don't +let it cloud your eyes to the fact that I love you +just as hard as any Romeo of the lot. I'm not +much on playing the lute under a lady's window; +but I'll be great on hustling out and, as we +Americans say, 'bringing home the bacon.'" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, dear, Mr. Ryder! You make me laugh +in spite of myself." But she was actually wiping +tears from her eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"That's right. I'd rather you'd take it laughing +than crying. And as far as in me lies," he added, +solemnly, "I'll never bring tears to your eyes, but +always laughter to your heart," which was a +wonderfully pretty observation for John Ryder to make. +</p> + +<p> +Nor was he at first disturbed in the least when +Miss Mont told him she dared not answer on such +short notice. She must think it over. +</p> + +<p> +"I like you," she admitted. "I am fond of you, +I might say. But to be bound to a man <i>for life</i> +upon so short an acquaintance seems an—an awful +thing." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, it is rather sudden, I suppose," admitted +the American. "Though I have often noticed that +the most successful deals I have ever put through +are settled in short order—on the spur of the +moment, as you might say. Ahem! This, of course, is +different," he added, seeing her smile. "But take +your time. Take until we land. That's day after +tomorrow. One can do a lot of thinking in that time." +</p> + +<p> +And, from that moment, he religiously refrained +from recurring to the theme in conversation with +her, which showed plainly that John Ryder was a +novice at the game of winning a woman's love. +</p> + +<p> +But before the <i>Minnequago</i> steamed safely +through the Narrows into New York Bay, Ryder +saw Marks, the theatrical agent, walking with Miss +Mont on the upper deck. They were in close talk +for more than an hour. +</p> + +<p> +He had never particularly noticed Marks before. +Now he found him a most objectionable looking +person—squatty, with bulbous arms and legs, and +his eyes half hidden behind heavily creased lids. +Ryder was stabbed by jealousy, and did not know +what the strange emotion meant. He went to his +stateroom and wrote a note to Miss Mont. +</p> + +<p> +It was a kind note, a just note. It pointed out +the fact that he was still waiting for his answer, that +he could prove to her an hour after they landed +just who and what he was, and that he could do +all for her that he had said. He added that he +desired her answer by the time the <i>Minnequago</i> +docked. +</p> + +<p> +Strictly business, you see. If he had been pulling +off a deal with another man and somebody like this +Sam Marks had put in an oar, this was about how +John Ryder would have handled the situation. She +must choose at once between Marks and him—between +the position she would gain by wedding him, +and possible success upon the vaudeville stage. Had +the ideas expressed in the note not been clothed +in the kindest terms and had not a strong current +of downright love permeated it, any woman might +have taken umbrage. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder knew he had said nothing that could +offend. Therefore, he was the more surprised +that no response to his letter was brought to him. +He remained away from the general table at dinner +that last night purposely. He did not wish to meet +Miss Mont again until he knew exactly what her +answer was to be. +</p> + +<p> +The evening passed without his receiving any +reply. In the morning as they swung into the +dock at an early hour he asked the steward if there +was any message for him and received a negative +answer. +</p> + +<p> +He had made his declaration and waited with his +repacked bag until most of the passengers, he was +certain, had gone ashore. Until the last moment, +when he came to the gangway, he hoped to get +some reply from her. Or was she waiting for him +to tell him verbally her answer? +</p> + +<p> +She was! There she stood upon the dock as he +went down the gangplank. She was looking +eagerly toward the ship. Ryder felt a sudden +tingling warmth at his heart. His love for this +girl, so strangely born, made his pulse go at a +gallop and brought a flush into his sea-tanned +face. +</p> + +<p> +She saw him, and the faint flicker of a dawning +smile overspread her sweet countenance. He +approached with outstretched hand, his heart in his +eyes—an expression that no woman could mistake. +It told her—that look—as plainly as though +he cried it aloud: "I love you!" +</p> + +<p> +The girl put out her hand—both her hands +indeed—impulsively and met his grasp with one quite +as warm. Her eyes searched his face, perhaps with +a puzzled expression at first when he approached; +but afterward with decided approval. +</p> + +<p> +"What have you to say to me, my dear?" asked +John Ryder, strong in his belief that she could have +only waited for him with good news. +</p> + +<p> +A blush suffused her face. Her lips parted—parted +in such a shy and lovely smile—as she said +in a low voice: "I—I will marry you." +</p> + +<p> +"Good!" he almost shouted, and immediately +added: "When?" +</p> + +<p> +"Whenever you like," she whispered, and no +woman since the world began ever gave herself so +completely into her lover's keeping, John Ryder +was sure, as did this woman whom he loved. +</p> + +<p> +"Then as soon as we can get the license and I +can arrange certain matters," he said quite +composedly, despite the accelerated beat of his pulse. +"We will drive first to the City Clerk's office. There +is some red tape about the matter, I believe. Then +I will take you to a hotel where you may lunch. +I shall need several hours for business before the +banks close. Then we can go at once to a minister +of whom I know." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! can it be done so quickly?" and she caught +her breath, though with a little laugh. +</p> + +<p> +"Don't be frightened," he said tenderly. "It +will be all right. Where are your trunks?" +</p> + +<p> +"On their way to the Pennsylvania Railway +station, I believe." +</p> + +<p> +"So soon? Were you getting ready to run away +from me?" he asked in some little surprise. +</p> + +<p> +"No-o." Then she laughed and tossed her head +with that gesture that had become familiar to +him—which he had noticed so many times aboard ship. +"I was getting ready to run away with you," she +whispered. +</p> + +<p> +He laughed, tucked her hand under his arm, and +they walked up the dock. Near the gate he saw +Marks standing. Miss Mont did not chance to +look his way, but Ryder saw that the theatrical +man observed him and smiled sardonically as they +passed. +</p> + +<p> +"Confound his impudence!" muttered Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +Then he glanced at the woman at his side. She +was certainly beautiful, with plenty of warm, rich +color in her cheeks, the blackest of level brows, the +very whitest of skin. +</p> + +<p> +"By heaven! she's a treasure," thought Ryder, +as he hailed a taxicab. "And I'm a lucky fellow to +get her. To think that, in a few short hours, she +will be Mrs. John Ryder!" +</p> + +<p> +A foolish little mist obscured his vision, and he +stumbled on the step as he followed her into the +cab. She laughed. +</p> + +<p> +"You won't get married this year if you stumble +upstairs," she said. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap02"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER II +<br><br> +"NEEDLES AND PINS" +</h3> + +<p> +None of his business associates, not even his head +clerk, knew just when John Ryder would return to +New York. He had gone across for a rest—a +pleasure trip; but he had struck some splendid +contracts—"the woods were full of them," he said—and +he cabled orders until his agents in America +fairly begged him to stop. Prices for raw material +had not yet risen to top-notch, and they were +skimming the cream of the manufacturing situation. +</p> + +<p> +He arrived on the <i>Minnequago</i> with none aware +of his coming. Nor did he propose to tell anybody +of the change he now contemplated to make in his +private life. +</p> + +<p> +Had he done so, he knew that certain "good fellows" +of his acquaintance would undertake to make +existence an agony for him and for this beautiful +girl whom he was to marry. It seems to be the +delight of a certain order of mankind to make the +sweetest, most intimate hours of a newly-married +couple a Saturnalia upon which they can only look +back with horror. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder was practically free to do as he pleased, +and what he pleased to do was to take time to get +acquainted with the charming woman at his side. +They must go somewhere for their honeymoon +where he would not be likely to run into people +he knew, and where he and his wife could be quiet +and undisturbed. +</p> + +<p> +Getting the license was neither a long nor troublesome +matter, for they were the first at the clerk's +office. He signed his name "John Ryder," knowing +that there were probably a dozen of the same name +in the directory and the publication of it would +scarcely warn his friends of what he was doing. +The girl signed after him, and surely nobody—unless +it was that detestable Sam Marks—would +realize who she was. +</p> + +<p> +"Who will marry us?" she asked, leaving all the +details to him very prettily. +</p> + +<p> +"We could be married right here in the chapel," +he told her. "But if you would rather, I know of +an old dominie on Bank Street." +</p> + +<p> +"How funny!" +</p> + +<p> +"Why?" +</p> + +<p> +"That you should know anybody in that part of +New York. That is Greenwich Village, isn't it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. You seem to have studied your map of +the town." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I have learned a little something about +New York," she responded, smiling slightly. +</p> + +<p> +Aside from this brief interchange of remarks, +there was very little said as the taxicab rolled +uptown to a quiet hotel. Both were doing some very +serious thinking. It was not a situation to provoke +trifling conversation. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder arranged for a parlor where Miss Mont +could remain quietly during his absence. He did +not delay for luncheon himself, but did not forget to +send up a dainty repast for his bride-to-be. He +walked into the offices of John Ryder & Company +about noon and cast the whole force into first a +state of confusion, and then of wonder. +</p> + +<p> +He was usually the most methodical of persons +and went through with any business—even the +routine work of the day—in a most exemplary manner. +There was seldom any friction in John Ryder's +offices when he was there. From his chief clerk +and his personal stenographer down through the +strata of employees to the very porter, system was +inculcated into their daily lives both by precept and +the example of the "boss." +</p> + +<p> +Today he literally tore what little system there +was left in his force to shreds. He started several +people on the same errand; he dictated the same +letter three times and in as many different ways. +His stenographer, a very severe young woman, +came closer to him than she ever had before in her +life and sniffed his breath. Drink was the only +explanation she could think of. +</p> + +<p> +He gave Brumby, his chief clerk, orders which +absolutely antagonized each other, and when the +man tremblingly pointed out this fact to Ryder the +latter actually lost his temper. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, confound it!" ejaculated John Ryder, +"you know what I mean, don't you? There's only +one sensible way to do that thing. Do it, and don't +bother me!" +</p> + +<p> +Inexplicable! Nobody had ever seen Ryder in +such a state of mind before. He was one minute +as snappy as a mud turtle; the next he ran his hand +through the curly red mop of hair on the errand +boy's head, gave him a dollar, and told him to take +in the next ball game at the Polo Grounds without +troubling himself to tell Brumby that his +grandmother had died. +</p> + +<p> +But to capsheaf his entire performance on this +occasion, Ryder sat down again to dictate a few +notes on personal matters and began the first one by +saying: +</p> + +<p> +"Ahem! Are you ready, Miss Nelson? Here +goes: 'My dear Rose'—Good Lord! that isn't it. +Er—er—Write Hallett and Mayes about the +renewal of the lease of my apartment. Tell +them—er—— Well, write it yourself, Miss Nelson," he +concluded in much confusion and beginning to +perspire. "I shall not renew it. It runs out the +first of November and I shall make—er—ahem!—a +change." +</p> + +<p> +She stared at him in amazement. John Ryder +had occupied the same chambers on the north side +of Gramercy Park for ten years and was considered +as permanent a fixture in that neighborhood as the +fenced and locked garden in the middle of the +square. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, hang it!" he demanded, catching her +wondering eye and losing patience again. "Can't I +make a change? I hope I'm not <i>married</i> to those +rooms?" +</p> + +<p> +And then he reddened furiously. Miss Nelson +gazed upon him with dawning understanding. She +was not a young woman whose thoughts lingered +much upon the tender passion; but she was by no +means a fool. She knew now that her employer +was not intoxicated. +</p> + +<p> +Brumby might think Mr. Ryder suddenly bereft +of his senses; the bookkeeper could say that "the +old man" was about to "bust"; and the red-headed +office boy could declare that the boss had felt the +change before death when he gave up the dollar, +but Miss Nelson knew now what the matter was. +<i>Mr. Ryder was in love!</i> +</p> + +<p> +When she went out for her lunch she—the frigid +Miss Nelson—sentimentally bought a flower from +a street vender and brought it back to the office. +But by that time John Ryder had cleared up all +the matters he considered really vital, had given +Brumby a nervous shock by telling him to expect +no word from him, Ryder, for at least a fortnight, +and had left the offices. +</p> + +<p> +All these petty details of business were the +"needles and pins" of life. For the first time in +his business career Ryder found that he hated +business. He fairly walked on air as he hurried to the +subway, crowded himself into an already crowded +train, and was transported uptown. +</p> + +<p> +A few steps to the hotel—then the elevator—then +the carpeted corridor to the door of the parlor +where he had left his bride. A knock, a swift +patter of feet in answer, the turning of the key, +and—— +</p> + +<p> +She was there—a vision of delight to him! Her +coat and hat were already on. His heart glowed. +She had been as eager for his return as he had +been to get back to her. +</p> + +<p> +"Are—are you ready?" was all he could say. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," she murmured, quite as embarrassed. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder remembered the old parsonage on Bank +Street very well. He had been wont to go to the +church hard by when he was a boy. The same +minister was not there now, but the present incumbent +had a peaceful, old-world face, was silver-haired +and kindly spoken, and might have been the +same whom Ryder remembered. +</p> + +<p> +The clergyman welcomed them as though he +were well used to such calls. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Mont was shy and kept her veil down +until the clergyman's wife and a servant were +brought in to witness the ceremony. Then she +plucked up courage, raised her veil, and if her +cheeks were tear-stained nobody remarked it. The +old man stood before them and pronounced the +simply worded ritual with grace and kindliness. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder himself felt confused. It was really the +first time he had ever been present at such a +ceremony. +</p> + +<p> +"With a ring?" the minister asked him softly +before he began, and Ryder knew just enough to nod +and then fumble in his inner pocket for a tiny +leather case which he always carried. +</p> + +<p> +Out of this he brought forth, happily at the right +moment, a plain gold band, worn rather thin, and +with letters engraved on the inner side that were +almost indecipherable. It had been his mother's +wedding ring—the one keepsake that had come into +his possession as a boy from the parent he scarcely +remembered. +</p> + +<p> +The girl evidently understood when he produced +the ring. She smiled at him tremulously and, before +the band was slipped on her finger, she touched her +lips to it. +</p> + +<p> +Then: "You, John, do take this woman, Ruth—" +and so on to the end. Ryder responded as though +in a dream. It all seemed unreal. Serious as was +the moment, the undercurrent of his thought was: +"'Ruth?' That is a pretty name. But I got the +idea somehow that her name was Rose." +</p> + +<p> +They were married. Ryder feed the minister with +a liberality that made his withered cheeks flush +with pleasure. The clergyman's wife kissed Ruth +heartily, and the servant, who was sentimentally +inclined, wiped her eyes furtively on the corner of +her kitchen apron, which she had forgotten to take +off when she came into the study. +</p> + +<p> +They went out to the taxicab again, the chauffeur +of which was grinning knowingly. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, dear, where shall we drive?" asked John +Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +"My trunks are at the Pennsylvania station by +this time I am sure. May I choose where we shall +go?" +</p> + +<p> +"Of course," he answered, though he felt some +surprise. +</p> + +<p> +"Then let it be Pinewood." +</p> + +<p> +"Why—why," Ryder cried, "you must have +studied this business all out. Ah, you sly girl! +What put Pinewood in your head?" +</p> + +<p> +"They say it is very nice there—and quiet—at +this time of year. It will remind us of old times," +she added dreamily. +</p> + +<p> +Afterward when he was attending to the checking +of her baggage and arranging for his own to be +sent on from the steamship dock, it suddenly smote +Ryder that her remark about Pinewood reminding +them "of old times" was peculiar. +</p> + +<p> +This was Ruth's first visit to America and surely +he had never been at Pinewood in all his life! Later +he forgot to speak about it. Indeed, he was too +busy and too happy to be curious. +</p> + +<p> +He telephoned ahead for a suite of rooms at the +only hotel which, he understood, was open at this +time of year at Pinewood. This was the Pinewood +Inn, one of the oldest and best-known hotels on the +coast. +</p> + +<p> +Somehow there is a "newness" sticking to bridal +couples that no amount of deception can hide—from +the eagle eye of the railroad porter least of +all! The colored functionary on their car hovered +about them as though they had been especially +placed in his care, and his attentions were so +marked that they might as well have come aboard +showered with rice and old shoes. Everybody in +the coach very soon knew that they were newly +wed. +</p> + +<p> +To tell the truth, John Ryder was inordinately +proud of it. He was as delighted as a boy. It was +an effort for him to retain his usual dignified +bearing. A smile was continually breaking through the +calm of his features. He wanted to shout or +sing—and he sang like a crow! +</p> + +<p> +From a heretofore modest and retiring man +socially he suddenly became bold and daring. He +secretly wished to strut about and brag of +himself, and show off his wife. He would have liked +to distribute "largess" (whatever that might be) +to the people at the stations where the train stopped; +and he tipped the porter three separate times before +the train was ten miles on its way. +</p> + +<p> +He had reason, good reason, for being proud. +When Ruth removed her veil and hat she was +startlingly beautiful. Somehow there had come a +new expression into her face that increased her +attractiveness. She had never seemed so sweet, +so gentle and modest, so altogether adorable before. +</p> + +<p> +They reached their railroad destination just as +dusk was falling. Pinewood Inn was exclusive—so +exclusive, indeed, that it was back among the +pines quite twelve miles from the station. A motor +bus met all trains and transferred the arriving +guests to the hotel. +</p> + +<p> +"Just a pleasant half hour's run," Ryder told his +bride, helping her into the vehicle and getting in +himself with several other arrivals. "We shall +have an appetite for dinner I fancy." +</p> + +<p> +He was just then reminded that he had eaten +nothing since a modest breakfast in his stateroom +on the <i>Minnequago</i>—not even on the train. The +bus rumbled away from the hamlet that surrounded +the railroad station. They swept into the brown +shadows of the pines and rolled almost silently over +the velvet carpet of the needles. +</p> + +<p> +"Needles and pins, needles and pins! When a +man marries——" The old rhyme came into his +mind again. But he had thrown off all petty +details. The needles and pins of business, or of +anything else, should not rankle in his mind. This was +the beginning of his honeymoon. +</p> + +<p> +And just then the motor bus slid down a slight +slope to a long bridge that crossed the salt creek +dividing the island, which the railroad crossed, +from the higher ground where the hotel was +located. Ryder, glancing ahead, thought he saw the +flash of a red light. +</p> + +<p> +Then a woman screamed and the forward truck +of the motor bus crashed through the loosened +planking of the bridge. The passengers were +tumbled together, but nobody was hurt. Ryder +found himself holding Ruth in his arms—and +somehow he did not care to let her go. +</p> + +<p> +Men and women began to scramble out of the +bus, having hastily gathered together what hand +baggage they had taken inside with them. It was +a time of confusion. A handbag was dropped, +calling forth a grunt of protest from someone whose +toes had been hurt. An umbrella, caught crosswise +in the door, caused delay and more confusion. +</p> + +<p> +"I—I fancy we shall have to get out with the +rest of them," Ruth whispered. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I suppose so," Ryder admitted. +</p> + +<p> +They were the last to leave the stalled bus. The +driver was explaining: +</p> + +<p> +"I didn't suppose these country fools would begin +to repair the bridge flooring tonight. I didn't see +the light. 'Twas all right when I came down from +the hotel. Guess you'll hafter walk. It'll take half +the night to jack this old car up out of the hole. +And see! they've left only a footpath the length of +the bridge. I bet they'll leave it that way till over +Sunday. Just like 'em." +</p> + +<p> +The guests, already in sight of the hotel lights, +went on with laughter or grumbling, as their +dispositions dictated. The incident seemed quite +unimportant to John Ryder, bemused as he was in the +very first quarter of his honeymoon. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap03"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER III +<br><br> +"WHEN A MAN MARRIES——" +</h3> + +<p> +Ryder and his bride climbed the winding road to +the wide and pillared veranda of the hotel behind +the other shipwrecked passengers from the motor +bus. In the rear of the hotel was a considerable +village; they could see the twinkling lights in the +small frame dwellings and the glare of acetylene +lamps in the big general store. +</p> + +<p> +"I—I really think," Ruth observed, "that the +bridge is not safe. Didn't it tremble as we came +over it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Seemed rather a rickety affair, that's a fact," +Ryder agreed. "But we're all right now. We've +reached the hotel. It looks friendly and +comfortable—and old-fashioned. Nothing much untoward +can happen to us here, dear." +</p> + +<p> +He said it tenderly, and looked at her lovingly. +Nothing more was needed as they entered the +wide foyer to advertise the fact that they were +newly wed. The clerk—and even the bellboys—welcomed +them with broad smiles. But Ryder was +getting hardened to the notoriety of their situation +now. +</p> + +<p> +He went to the desk to register and get the key +of the rooms he had ordered before leaving New +York, while Ruth went toward a quiet spot which +overlooked the entire foyer to wait for him. +</p> + +<p> +His business finished, Ryder turned to look for +his bride. He saw men standing or sitting about, +talking, smoking, and reading. He saw women, +knitting or crocheting for the most part, in the foyer +and in the parlors, into which he hastily looked. +But where was Ruth? Where could she have gone—and +why? The bellboy waited at the elevator, +while Ryder stood helplessly, not knowing what to +do. +</p> + +<p> +In a moment Ruth came from around a corner in +the hall, eyes shining and a smile on her face. +When she caught sight of Ryder, she went directly +to him, unheedful of all others, and a deeper +expression sprang into her happy eyes. +</p> + +<p> +The man felt moved to the depth. Could this +look be for him? +</p> + +<p> +"I have been exploring a little," she said, as she +came up to him, "and this is a lovely place to stay. +I am glad we came here." Then, dropping her +voice so that no chance passerby might hear, she +added: "Oh, I am happy—so happy—too happy, +almost!" +</p> + +<p> +Ryder had the whimsical thought as he crossed +the foyer with his wife that he would like to shout +aloud his own happiness and exultation. +</p> + +<p> +He hung back just a moment before entering the +elevator with Ruth, to give a bellboy some money +and certain instructions. Then the couple were +shown to their rooms. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, they are fine! Lovely!" cried Ruth delightedly, +as soon as they were alone. "You dear boy! +I believe you engaged the best suite in the house!" +</p> + +<p> +"The best I could get," admitted Ryder modestly. +</p> + +<p> +"But you mustn't be extravagant," and she came +close to him, smiling directly into his eyes with a +look in her own that almost dazzled him. +</p> + +<p> +"Folks can afford to be extravagant at this +time if at no other," he declared stoutly, wondering +if she knew the Pinewood Inn people were +charging him thirty dollars a day for the suite. +</p> + +<p> +"You—you are a dear!" she said, and, putting +her hands suddenly on his shoulders, she pressed +closer, offering him her lips. +</p> + +<p> +The gracefulness of this little gesture was +delightful. Ryder felt the flush rise in his cheeks +as though he really were a youth. In that instant, +when he first kissed his wife, he felt keen satisfaction +that he had lived a clean, decent life and could +meet her innocent caress without shame. +</p> + +<p> +"I believe you are going to be a disgracefully +indulgent husband," she said, laughing and gliding +quickly out of his arms. "I must stop that. You +will make a wreck of your ship of fortune on the +rock of an expensive wife." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, there are a few shots left in the locker yet," +said Ryder grimly. +</p> + +<p> +They could not dress for dinner as Ruth's trunks +had not yet arrived and his own luggage would not +be along until the next day. Ruth had toilet +articles and brushes in her bag and she brought out +of this, too, a wonderful little dressing sack, all +ruffles and ribbons and lace, to wear while she +dressed her hair. +</p> + +<p> +"May I smoke?" Ryder asked, sitting down to +wait for her. +</p> + +<p> +"Of course. I like to see you. It—it seems so +homey," and she showed him a blushing face and +sparkling eyes for an instant at the curtained +doorway of the inner room. +</p> + +<p> +She reappeared in the dressing sack, which was +cut to reveal most charmingly her throat and +forearms. Ryder watched her lazily through the smoke +of his cigar while she performed the graceful rites +of the hairdresser. He never remembered having +seen a woman brush and arrange her hair before, +and this intimate and innocent art of the toilet +thrilled him. +</p> + +<p> +She had finished and turned to him with a smile +for his approval when there came a rap on the +door. She tripped across the room and opened it. +</p> + +<p> +"For Mrs. Ryder," mumbled the boy. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! I thought they were for me!" Ruth +exclaimed disappointedly. "You have come to the +wrong suite, boy," and she closed the door +lingeringly. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder sprang up, laughing. "What was it?" he +asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, such lovely flowers! A great heap of them." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder strode to the door, still chuckling. +</p> + +<p> +"She hasn't had it long enough to know her +new name," he thought, and opened the door to +call after the boy: +</p> + +<p> +"All right! Those flowers come here, sonny. +Let me have 'em." +</p> + +<p> +He came back, bearing the heap of blossoms in +his arms. "They're for you, girlie," he said. +</p> + +<p> +She uttered a little scream of delight and came +at him like a small whirlwind. But she could not +encircle both him and the roses in her embrace, +so she satisfied herself for the moment with the +flowers, sitting down in a low chair, with her face +buried in the fragrant blossoms, and rocking +herself to and fro in delight. +</p> + +<p> +"You will spoil me!" she said, looking up at him, +as he stood above her with that broad, quiet smile +of his stealing over his big face. John Ryder was +by no means a handsome man, but he was good to +look upon because of his manliness. "These are so +beautiful! Let us fill every vase in the suite." +</p> + +<p> +This they did together. And every time their +hands met (and, oh! how many times this happened +as they divided or arranged the flowers) they both +thrilled at the contact, looking at each other and +smiling and coloring like two children caught in +some innocent escapade. +</p> + +<p> +It was a happy hour—an hour quite unmarred by +a thought or a suspicion of any possible disaster. +On his part Ryder had forgotten what trouble was +like. +</p> + +<p> +The patronage of the hotel was large all the year +around, and at dinner they held the good-natured +attention of the entire dining-room. There was a +good orchestra, attentive waiters, soft lights, the +murmur of conversation, fine women in fine +gowns—everything to make the place attractive. +Mrs. John Ryder in her plain traveling dress, however, +was eclipsed by none of the other women. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder, watching her, saw many approving +glances from other diners, too, and smiled. He +was thinking how she would shine—this jewel of +a woman he had married!—when she had time +to find some real "bridey" finery. She looked like +a little brown thrush now; she would look like a +bird of paradise when he had given her <i>carte +blanche</i> at a Fifth Avenue modiste's. +</p> + +<p> +He allowed her to go upstairs alone after dinner +while he strolled into the office for some cigars. +Several of the men he had seen at the tables were +grouped there talking earnestly, and as Ryder +stood at the cigar counter he overheard loud voices +from the private office of the manager at the rear +of the stand. +</p> + +<p> +A man near by was saying: "I tell you the bridge +has sunk in the middle—it's impassable. All that +held the wabbly old thing together were the flooring +planks. This town is as far behind the times as +any yap hamlet I ever saw. Why, we're actually +stuck here till they build a new bridge! Can't get +a machine over it, or through the tide-water; and +the railroad bridges are nothing but skeletons, you +very well know." +</p> + +<p> +"What about going over to Bearsburg——" +</p> + +<p> +"Nothing doing! The roads behind this hotel +are the worst in the world. The main road is +impassable for autos because of the work being +done on it. It will be a good road some time next +spring. As for the other highways, they are merely +lanes and farm paths." +</p> + +<p> +"Guess you are marooned here, then, Carey," +chuckled another. "Might as well make up your +mind to it. Come on! let's see if we can't get up a +game and murder a little time." +</p> + +<p> +At that moment the door of the manager's office +opened and the clerk come out. He had a worried +expression of countenance. Now, hotel clerks are +supposed to be urbane at all times. Flood or fire +should not alarm the well-trained hotel clerk. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder looked quickly into the inner room. He +saw the rather fleshy, white-waistcoated manager—a +man of evident choleric temper. He was talking +loudly with a plainly dressed man who had a paper +in his hand, which he was evidently insisting that +the manager accept. +</p> + +<p> +"You must accept this service, Mr. Bangs," the +smaller man interrupted, the manager stopping his +sputtering long enough to catch his breath. "It +is not my fault, and personalities make no difference. +I am merely a court officer. This is returnable +next Monday. Shall I read you the original +paper?" +</p> + +<p> +Bangs seized the paper offered him and swore +largely. "You get out of here!" he roared. "I'll +fix Giddings for this trick. Dispossess me, will he? +I'll show him! I'll—I'll ruin his old hotel for +him!" +</p> + +<p> +Ryder walked away with his cigars. Other people's +trouble did not stick in his mind now. Broken +bridges and impassable roads did not disturb him in +the least; nor was he worried by the manager's +difficulties. He had come here for at least two +peaceful, delightful weeks—and he was going to +get them. +</p> + +<p> +When he entered his own rooms there had been +a transformation scene enacted. Ruth's trunks had +arrived, and she had removed her traveling dress, +had slipped on the dressing sack again, and, to the +eyes of a mere man, she seemed burrowing in the +several trunks like a squirrel in a heap of fallen +leaves. +</p> + +<p> +"Those poor porters," she explained, "had such +hard work getting these boxes over here. The +wagon could only come to the bridge, you know, +and they told me they had to pole the luggage over +in a punt—-and that leaks and isn't safe. Then +they brought the boxes on barrows to the hotel. +Re'lly! They worked so hard that I gave them a +dime each." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh!" Ryder clapped a hand over his mouth, and +then sneezed to hide his laughter. "Had—hadn't I +better stay out until this is all over?" he asked. He +thought some of hunting up the porters and seeing +that they had larger tips. +</p> + +<p> +"No. You can remain if you will be good. And +you can see my dresses, too. I think I did very well +in getting them—especially when I wasn't <i>sure</i>, you +know." +</p> + +<p> +"Sure of what?" he asked, comfortably, establishing +himself in a reserved seat—that is, one that +was not already hidden under billows of feminine +wear. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, sure I should marry you," she said, turning +to give him a roguish look. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh—ah—yes," murmured Ryder. Then he +started. "By the way, what chance did you have +to get ready——" +</p> + +<p> +His question was interrupted by a heavy summons +at the door. He went himself this time. One +of the bellboys was there. +</p> + +<p> +"Sorry, sir," said the boy in a low voice, "but +the manager, Mr. Bangs, has to tell you that the +hotel is to be vacated at once. He had no notice +himself, so he can give you none." +</p> + +<p> +"What in thunder do you mean?" demanded +Ryder, in amazement. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir. You can't stay here, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"Why not? Does the manager want his money +in advance?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, sir. 'Tain't you alone. Everybody's got +to get out, sir. We're all losing our jobs, sir. +I—I don't know what to do myself, sir——" +</p> + +<p> +"Why, it's ridiculous!" +</p> + +<p> +"I don't know nothin' about it, sir. I was just +told to tell everybody in this corridor. And you've +all got to get right out. He wouldn't let the clerk +telephone to the rooms 'cause it would take so much +time. Mr. Bangs says he will turn off the lights at +half past eight and lock the door—that's in half +an hour, sir. There's to be no service after that +time." +</p> + +<p> +The boy hurried to the door of the next suite. +Ryder was too amazed at first to feel proper anger. +To be told that, in half an hour, one must get out +of a hotel in which one has just established +oneself—— +</p> + +<p> +"It is preposterous!" determined John Ryder, +turning back into his rooms. He saw Ruth, all +unconscious of the unpleasant announcement, still +busy over the trunks. The uselessness of her task +suddenly smote his mind. "Why," he muttered, +"she's wasting her time. She might as well stop +that if we can't stay here. And, by thunder! where +will we go if this hotel closes—and at such an +hour? +</p> + +<p> +"There's not another hotel open in Pinewood, I +understand. The bridge is down. That fellow +says traffic to the west is barred by the condition +of the roads. The dickens!" +</p> + +<p> +Ruth had paid no attention to his mutterings. +She was quite unconscious of his perplexity, or of +its cause. He came to a quick decision. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm going downstairs a moment, dear," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"All right." +</p> + +<p> +"All right, what? Haven't you a name for me?" +he inquired, drawing her to him. +</p> + +<p> +"All right—hubby," she replied, blushing slightly, +and he kissed her and then shot out of the room +and dashed down the single flight of stairs to join +the excited crowd already milling about the hotel +desk. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap04"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER IV +<br><br> +"HIS TROUBLE BEGINS!" +</h3> + +<p> +Bangs, the red-faced manager of Pinewood +Inn, was facing the group of clamoring masculine +guests like a rat at bay before a pack of terriers. +Every individual man in the crowd was demanding +what it meant. +</p> + +<p> +Then, before he could make any audible explanation, +they burst out again in a staccato of such +observations as: +</p> + +<p> +"It's an outrage! The man should be hung!" +</p> + +<p> +"I never heard the like! Why, my wife says——" +</p> + +<p> +"It's a most abominable imposition! Lights out +at half past eight!" +</p> + +<p> +"And the help discharged!" +</p> + +<p> +"And no other hotel open anywhere along this +part of the coast! Disgraceful!" +</p> + +<p> +"Not even a cottage open. We can't go and +live on these muckers who stay here all winter." +</p> + +<p> +Then a general roar, as they faced Bangs again: +</p> + +<p> +"What do you mean by it?" +</p> + +<p> +"If you'll give me a chance to tell you!" shouted +Bangs, shaking both clenched fists in the air. "And +if you'll listen to reason perhaps I can make you +understand." +</p> + +<p> +Then, as a grumbling silence was accorded him, +he added: "At last I can make myself heard! +Lemme tell you about it. Giddings, the trustee of +the Barnaby estate, the owners of this hotel, and I +have had some difficulty over the rental. And +because I won't agree to be robbed by him, he has +taken this tack——" +</p> + +<p> +"What tack?" asked John Ryder, thrusting in a +question which struck at the heart of the business. +"You haven't said what he has done." +</p> + +<p> +"He's served me with dispossess papers," said +the heated Bangs. +</p> + +<p> +"Then you haven't paid your rent," Ryder +observed. "Why don't you pay it and not put your +guests to this trouble? Settle with Giddings in the +courts." +</p> + +<p> +"He'd beat me—the scoundrel!" cried Bangs. +"And the rent is exorbitant. I served him notice +three months ago that I could not run this hotel +and pay such a price for it. It's an imposition." +</p> + +<p> +"It is a greater imposition on your part to give +your guests half an hour's notice to get out. Why, +Bangs, it really can't be done, you know," said +one man. +</p> + +<p> +But John Ryder, with his clear insight into anything +of this kind, again drove right at the heart of +the business. +</p> + +<p> +"You have had three months to prepare for this +very emergency," he said. "You admit that." +</p> + +<p> +"I don't!" yelled Bangs. "I admit nothing of the +kind. They just served me——" +</p> + +<p> +"Then you have several days in which to arrange +the matter," Ryder went on. "What about this +turning off the lights in half an hour? It is +ridiculous." +</p> + +<p> +"That's exactly what it is," chimed in another +aggrieved voice. "You can't put your guests out +in any such way, Mr. Bangs—and guests who, +some of them, have been here long before you +were ever manager. My wife and I have been +staying here for eight years. I can't be turned out +of my home on half an hour's notice." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, you'd have to get out if there was a +fire," snarled Bangs. +</p> + +<p> +"A fire would be 'an act of God,' according to the +coroner's finding," grimly laughed somebody. +"This isn't." +</p> + +<p> +"Quite the contrary. It's a deucedly mean +trick." +</p> + +<p> +"It isn't my fault, I tell you," Bangs mendaciously +declared. "You can blame that hound, Giddings. +I can't be bled any more of all my profits, and I +am going to close my connection with this hotel +tonight—and in a very few minutes." +</p> + +<p> +"Great heavens, Bangs!" exclaimed one man. +"Get out if you want to. We'll none of us weep +over your departure. Leave George, here, to run +the desk and Al, the steward, to see to the kitchen +and the help, and we'll get along all right." +</p> + +<p> +"And who is going to assure the help's wages?" +demanded Bangs. "<i>I'm</i> not, you bet! And who'll +pay for the lighting and heating? I can tell you +gentlemen right now there isn't coal enough in the +bins to run the dynamos and boilers till midnight." +</p> + +<p> +At that a howl went up which boded ill for the +manager of the Pinewood Inn and he dodged behind +the desk before which he had been standing. +Several of his guests looked suddenly dangerous to +Bangs. +</p> + +<p> +There came, however, an interruption. Somebody +said: "Here comes Colonel Brack," and the +group parted willingly enough to let in a tall, +military figure of a man with drooping gray +mustache and goatee, fiery eyes under penthouse +brows—a man who walked with the "step-clump, +step-clump" of a cripple with an artificial limb. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, Colonel Brack bore himself very +erect and stepped with a firmness that betrayed more +than ordinary hardihood of character. The other +guests who knew him looked upon the old man with +evident respect. +</p> + +<p> +"What is this I hear, Bangs?" the ex-military +officer demanded in a deep voice. "You sent one +of your cubs to my room with a saucy message and +I boxed his ears for him. What do you mean by +telling me to get out of this hotel, suh?" +</p> + +<p> +"I can't help it, Colonel Brack," declared the +manager, backing out of any possible reach of the +colonel's long arm. "The hotel's got to close." +</p> + +<p> +"Then close it. But do it decently and in order," +the colonel said. "Still, I doubt if the Barnaby +estate will allow the house to be shut. They can +find somebody else to run it quite as well as you, +suh." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, they won't find that other man tonight!" +cried Bangs, in a tone that showed he felt impish +delight in making all this trouble. "And I am +going to close the house now. I've said my last +word, gentlemen. If you want to pack your trunks, +I'll keep the dynamos running till nine o'clock. +There is a combination train leaves here—over the +spur track, you understand, at that hour——" +</p> + +<p> +"Confound you! Yes!" cried somebody. "But +it only goes as far as the Junction and there is no +connection there for New York until five o'clock +in the morning. A nice train for ladies to take!" +</p> + +<p> +"And how about those of us who have our autos +here?" chimed in another. "The bridge is down. +Your own motor bus is out of commission. The +other roads are impassable for cars. You ought +to be beaten to death, Bangs!" +</p> + +<p> +"Ye-es—" drawled a sleek, dapper little man, +whom, so Ryder told himself, one would naturally +expect to speak in a crisp, quick tone, quite contrary +to the one he used. "Ye-es, suppose we do tha-at +same thing. It would not do the gu-uests of this +hotel much good just now, perhaps; but it would +rid the wo-orld of one rascal. Tha-at would be to +the good." +</p> + +<p> +Colonel Brack leaned over the counter and shook +a long finger at the manager. +</p> + +<p> +"I have lived in this hotel fourteen years, sub!" +he exclaimed. "No manager can dispossess me. +I refuse to get out, suh—I refuse to get out!" +</p> + +<p class="capcenter"> +<a id="img-050"></a> +<br> +<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-050.jpg" alt=""No manager can dispossess me. I refuse to get out""> +<br> +"No manager can dispossess me. I refuse to get out" +</p> + +<p> +"That's right! We all refuse to get out!" was +the vociferous chorus. +</p> + +<p> +"Then you'll stay in the dark and without heat +and without service," growled Bangs doggedly. +"I'm doing my best for you. I'll be liable for no +further expense in a house of which I am +dispossessed—that's flat!" +</p> + +<p> +Bangs here erased himself from the scene by +dodging into the private office and banging the +door. The clerk oh duty was instantly besieged by +a part of the crowd. He could do absolutely nothing +to assist in untangling the difficulty. Like the +other hotel employees, he was as much disturbed +over his abrupt discharge as the guests were over +their dismissal by the manager. +</p> + +<p> +"I shall remain here, even if that rascal shuts +off the heat and lights," Colonel Brack loudly +declared, in the midst of the group of which John +Ryder was one. "It is a preposterous—an impossible +situation, suh! Whoever heard the like? A +hotel cannot close its doors and turn its guests out +upon the streets on half an hour's notice." +</p> + +<p> +"But Bangs will do as he says. I know the dog. +When he's ugly, he'll do anything," returned one +man gloomily. +</p> + +<p> +"He may turn off the heat and light; but here +I stay!" reiterated the colonel, with all the +determination of Horatius on the Bridge. +</p> + +<p> +"Not a pleasant prospect," said a drummer. "I +reckon I'll go and pack up and take that nine o'clock +switchback." +</p> + +<p> +"We cannot all do that," Ryder finally said, with +calmness. "It is ridiculous to think of the ladies +leaving on such short notice—especially those who +have lived here for any length of time." +</p> + +<p> +"And there's one car on that train, a combination +day coach and smoker. It wouldn't hold a +third of the guests in this house to-night," was the +positive declaration of another man. +</p> + +<p> +"Besides," Ryder pursued, "how would we get +our baggage away at this hour? If we left it, +thieves would ransack every trunk in the house. +This Bangs is evidently a slippery customer. He +could not be found, it is likely, when it came time to +apportion damages." +</p> + +<p> +"You are right, suh," said Colonel Brack. "You +are Mr. John Ryder, of New York?" +</p> + +<p> +Ryder acknowledged it. "My wife and I have +just arrived, intending to remain a fortnight or so. +I don't fancy having our visit spoiled in this way." +</p> + +<p> +"Then, Mr. Ryder," said the colonel pompously, +"I wish you would come into the café with a +number of us older guests, suh, where we will hold a +council of war." The colonel could scarcely +conceive of any discussion being official out of sight +of a bar. "We cannot be driven out of this hotel +in this way. We must plan some means of thwarting +Bangs, suh." +</p> + +<p> +"We'd better chip in and pay his rent for him," +suggested one compromising individual, bent on +cutting the Gordian knot with one simple stroke. +</p> + +<p> +"I understand," said the colonel hastily, "that +he is at least three months behind in his rent. That +would never do. And it is not because he is +unable to pay. The house is well patronized and +he collects his money promptly. It is merely a +personal fight between him and Giddings, who, I +judge, desires to break this fellow's connection with +Pinewood Inn. I never did like the dog." +</p> + +<p> +"Giddings should come down here and attend to +the matter himself, then," said another of the angry +guests. +</p> + +<p> +"I do not presume for a moment," said the +colonel, starting for the barroom, "that Giddings +dreamed Bangs would do this. No, suh! No +gentleman could imagine such a dastardly thing." +</p> + +<p> +"But it seems to have been in the manager's +mind for some time," Ryder interposed. "He has +allowed his coal to run so low that there is not +enough, he now says, to last the night through." +</p> + +<p> +"Maybe he is lying," Jimson suggested. +</p> + +<p> +"No," asserted some one. "He's not lying now, +for once in his life. He's telling the truth this +time—but only because the truth is meaner than any +lie he could possibly concoct." +</p> + +<p> +"He has planned to get back at Giddings and +the estate by injuring the reputation of the hotel. +Why, gentlemen," pursued the wrathful colonel, all +bristling like an enraged turkeycock, "this house has +been my home for fourteen years. I am the oldest +inhabitant. Mr. Jimson, here, has an invalid wife. +She cannot be taken out at this hour of the night. +And the house has been her home for eight years. +It is brutal—positively brutal!" +</p> + +<p> +"All right! All right!" said Ryder. "But this +isn't getting us anywhere. We all know our +wrongs. Let's see what can be done to stop the +fellow's deviltry." +</p> + +<p> +"By Jove!" exclaimed a man at his elbow. "Here +Bangs is turning us out and along come other guests. +What do you know about that?" +</p> + +<p> +"How could anyone get here at this hour with +that bridge in that condition?" queried Jimson. +"Couldn't get an auto over it." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, anyone that was eager enough to come +could get punted over the inlet. Must have come +down on that train that does not stop at Barr, +though, and motored back from the first stop +below—unless a big enough party was on to make a +special stop possible." +</p> + +<p> +But it was a single guest only who entered the +foyer and office of the hotel. This man had no +luggage and he stood for a moment nervously drawing +off his gloves as his glance swept swiftly the +faces of those in sight. +</p> + +<p> +George, the clerk, stepped to the turntable on +which the register rested. It was not a grateful +task to inform the man who had just come what +the situation of affairs was. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder noticed the stranger only casually at first. +The group of excited men, whom he was tailing +toward the café, were slow in leaving the vicinity +of the hotel desk. +</p> + +<p> +When the clerk had explained the situation as +well as he was able the disappointed guest stood +back, nervously rolling his gloves and with an +expression of indetermination upon his face. Finally +he asked George a question in a low voice. +</p> + +<p> +"No, sir. Nobody by that name in the house, +sir," the clerk said. +</p> + +<p> +One of the boys came through the foyer intoning +the name of a guest: "Mr. White's wanted. +Mr. White! Mr. White!" +</p> + +<p> +Nobody gave the boy any attention at first, and +he approached the desk still singsonging the name +of the man wanted. +</p> + +<p> +"Who's wanted?" asked George, the clerk, +briskly. +</p> + +<p> +"Message for Mr. White. His wife wants him +upstairs—Suite Three." +</p> + +<p> +"White?" repeated the clerk. "What White's +that? I didn't know——" +</p> + +<p> +Just then Ryder, looking back over his shoulder, +chanced to see again the face of the last comer +to the hotel. He was as pale as death; Ryder could +see the drops of perspiration standing on his broad, +high brow. He was staring at the bellboy as though +in the latter he beheld a ghost. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly, while the puzzled clerk bent over the +register evidently in search of the name "White" +among those of the new arrivals at Pinewood Inn, +the stranger darted at the bellboy. "Who—who is +asking for Mr. White?" Ryder heard the man +gasp. +</p> + +<p> +"Mrs. White. She wants him. Suite Three," +repeated the boy. "Mr. John B. White." +</p> + +<p> +The emotions displayed in succession upon the +stranger's countenance ran the gamut of human +expression. Amazement, incredulity, rage, +determination—a dozen different feelings evidently +gripped the man's mind and soul. Ryder had his +own attention recalled with difficulty by Colonel +Brack, who stuck his head out of the swinging door +of the café, crying: +</p> + +<p> +"We're waiting for you, suh! Mr. Ryder, what'll +you take, suh? And I'd like your opinion on this +important matter. It will cost us, severally and +collectively, some money to keep this house open. +I, for one, will assume my share of the obligation +and trust to getting back at Bangs afterward. What +do you say, Mr. Ryder?" +</p> + +<p> +The discussion of ways and means claimed the +attention of John Ryder. Yet he glanced back at +the stranger again as he entered the café. The +latter was moving toward the stairway clutching +the bellboy firmly by the shoulder. Back in +the mind of Ryder was this comment: +</p> + +<p> +"Odd about that fellow. Acts strange. White? +Don't know anyone of the name—that I remember. +Suite Three? Why—what's the number of our +suite? I thought that was Number Three. Must +be Number Two. Odd——" +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap05"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER V +<br><br> +THE ARROW OF SUSPICION +</h3> + +<p> +The first excitement having worn away, the +Council of War was now organized. Colonel Brack +had gathered together those men best fitted to form +a working committee—and likewise best able to +finance any scheme decided upon for the keeping +open of Pinewood Inn. +</p> + +<p> +The situation was already thoroughly canvassed. +No other hotel in the vicinity was open. To escape +from the place by either motor or train—at least +for some hours, if not days—was impossible. Local +residents could not take in the hotel guests had +they so desired. Here were women and children +used to every luxury who were threatened with +dismissal from the hotel at once. As the colonel +loudly said, it was brutal. +</p> + +<p> +The track to Pinewood was for the accommodation +of freight for the most part. For the very +reason that the owners of the Barnaby property +wished to keep the hotel exclusive, they had fought +any improvement in railroad accommodations. +</p> + +<p> +At this time of night even the station telegraph +office was closed; and George had already informed +the guests that there had been a break in the +long-distance telephone service since dark. +</p> + +<p> +Any such thing as a special train to transport +the guests to New York could not be arranged for +until the following day. +</p> + +<p> +"And we'd have to put up with vile accommodations +from here to the Junction," explained the +excitable Jimson. "Do you realize that this spur-track +roadbed is scarcely fit to pull coal cars over? +My wife couldn't stand it, I am sure." +</p> + +<p> +"How about getting across to the island and to +the regular railroad station at Barr?" John Ryder +asked. +</p> + +<p> +"That bridge is practically a wreck. Do you +know the bus slumped clear through it, and will +have to be raised by a derrick? And the road to +any other station is impossible for autos. No, we +can't get away and that's all there is to it." +</p> + +<p> +This was the consensus of opinion. The +disorganization of the hotel employees which would +follow the closing of the doors of the house and its +abandonment by the guests would make it unsafe +to leave personal property in the hotel. There were +half a hundred reasons, and all very good ones, +that proved the guests must remain. +</p> + +<p> +"And in union there is strength," quoted Mr. Jimson. +</p> + +<p> +"We must hang together," declared another. +</p> + +<p> +"Speaking of hanging," observed one, "how +would it do to begin with Bangs? I'd like to see +him dangling at the end of a rope." +</p> + +<p> +"Better starve him," murmured another. +</p> + +<p> +But these futile remarks were cut off when John +Ryder began to speak seriously. He suggested +that a committee be appointed to confer in a quiet +way with Bangs and try to pacify him if possible—even +if it cost some money. Some arrangement +should be made, too, for the retention of the servants. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder was at once elected by acclamation to head +this committee. The colonel refused to be a +member. +</p> + +<p> +"You want cool men—calm men, suh," said the +bristling old fellow. "I am a fire-eater. I'd rather +wring that skunk's neck than take a drink!" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, Colonel!" exclaimed Jimson, "that is a very +strong statement." +</p> + +<p> +"I know it. But it's a fact. I know my +weaknesses," said the colonel modestly. +</p> + +<p> +First the committee were to make sure of the +truth of the manager's statement regarding the +coal supply. Then they were to sound the help +through the steward, Al, to find out how many +would remain. To learn what the prospect was for +feeding the people in the house, including the help, +was likewise important. +</p> + +<p> +"If the coal gives out," Ryder said, "there is +surely coal in the village here that may be bought. +Perhaps not tonight, but early in the morning. We +should be able to find oil lamps and heaters in that +big store which I see is still open for business. The +town has no gas plant, I understand. We are +dependent upon the hotel's lighting plant." +</p> + +<p> +The committee divided to attend to several of +these matters before going to see Bangs, agreeing +to meet at the desk in ten minutes. +</p> + +<p> +"I must not leave Ruth alone any longer," +thought John Ryder, pulling himself up short. "By +thunder! there must be something more important +for a bridegroom to do on his wedding night than +running about as I am, shouldering other people's +troubles. I must go and take a peep at the dear +girl and cheer her up a bit. She'll be frightened by +my remaining so long away, perhaps. No doubt +she has heard by this time of the manager's threat." +</p> + +<p> +As his suite was on the second floor he did not use +the elevator, but ran up the broad, main stairway +which led out of the office. Here the hotel seemed +to be running in its usual quiet way. +</p> + +<p> +A white-capped and aproned maid passed him; +a bellboy bustled by with a tray of pitchers in which +the ice tinkled; he heard the dull whir of the +elevators. He walked along the broad, central corridor +and turned off at his own proper "alley." +</p> + +<p> +He saw that the door of his suite was open. +There were voices which reached his quickened +ear—a man's deep tones and then (and this +startled him) a woman's sharp cry. +</p> + +<p> +He was not yet sufficiently familiar with Ruth's +voice to recognize its tone under stress of emotion. +But he felt, somehow, that it was her cry. +</p> + +<p> +He quickened his step. There was a man standing +in the doorway of the suite. Instantly, from +the side view Ryder obtained of his face, he knew +him to be the stranger who had come last to the +hotel on this fateful evening. +</p> + +<p> +"The bungling fool!" thought John Ryder. "Is +he going from room to room in this hotel looking +for his friends? Maybe he is not honest. The +disturbed state of the hotel guests would open very +easily the way to business for an industrious burglar." +</p> + +<p> +"I—I don't know you," Ruth said just as Ryder +reached the spot. +</p> + +<p> +She stood within the room, clinging with both +hands to the edge of the door and staring at the +stranger with such a wild look in her eyes that her +husband was frightened. He turned on the man +furiously. +</p> + +<p> +"What do you want? What are you disturbing +this lady for?" +</p> + +<p> +"I—I beg your pardon," stammered the stranger, +backing away from both John Ryder and the open +door of his suite, his face now displaying nothing +but pain and anxiety. "I have made a mistake—a +terrible mistake." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I am so glad you have come," Ruth said +quickly to Ryder. "I—I thought you were lost—or +something had happened. And then this man +came——" +</p> + +<p> +She was still staring at the stranger with eyes +in which lurked actual terror. Ryder's fierce aspect +seemed to trouble the strange man. +</p> + +<p> +"I—I beg your pardon—and the lady's," he murmured. +"I thought I was acquainted with her. It—it +is a mistake." +</p> + +<p> +"I never saw him in my life!" gasped Ruth. +</p> + +<p> +"It's all right. Mistakes will happen," said +Ryder, and entered the room, shutting the door +abruptly in the man's face. He caught Ruth quickly +in his arms with a sort of fierceness this time that +was his man-way of claiming possession, as well as +a desire to defend her from annoyance. "Were +you frightened, dearie?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. He—he startled me so. He is a strange +looking man. Do you think him quite—quite +right?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not right to come bungling up here and +disturbing you," Ryder responded, tenderly. +</p> + +<p> +She blushed, slipping out of his arms suddenly. +"Here, dear," she said softly. "I have a visitor." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder looked down the room and saw for the +first time a large, smiling woman sitting in a chair +beyond the line of half-unpacked trunks. She was +a person whom he knew he had never seen before, +and he was not particularly happy to see her now. +</p> + +<p> +She was a richly dressed—indeed a gaudily +dressed—person wearing many jewels and lacking +that quiet demeanor and appearance that Ryder +admired most in womankind. Nevertheless, he walked +in with as good a grace as he could summon while +Ruth introduced him. +</p> + +<p> +"This is my husband, Mrs. Judson," she said, +and there was a thrill of pride in her sweet voice +that delighted the man. "Mrs. Judson has been +telling me how dreadfully this Mr. Bangs, the hotel +manager, is behaving. Are they actually going +to close the hotel? Mrs. Judson is all upset about +it. Being alone here with only a maid, she doesn't +know what to do." +</p> + +<p> +"A committee of the older guests is trying to +arrange now to keep the house open in spite of +Bangs," said John Ryder. "But Bangs is a sharper. +He may have fixed things so that we shall be +without light or heat for a part of the night. But +to-morrow——" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, dear!" broke in the large lady in horror. +"I'll never dare stay in my rooms in the dark. And +all stark alone. What <i>shall</i> I do? You know how +very helpless we widows feel, Mister—er——" She +did not speak the name, which evidently had escaped +her, but her smirk caused Ryder a feeling of sudden +nausea. +</p> + +<p> +"You don't look helpless," he thought, with much +disapproval of the visitor. Mrs. Judson gave one +the impression of being a woman amply able to take +care of herself in any emergency. Aloud he said: +</p> + +<p> +"There are men now seeing about obtaining +candles and lamps. Perhaps heat may be furnished +some of the rooms with the aid of oil stoves. Of +course, the furnace fires are not out yet." +</p> + +<p> +"It is not cold in here," Ruth said brightly. +</p> + +<p> +"But it will be if what Bangs says is true. He +hasn't coal enough to last until midnight. Oh, he +was ready weeks ago for this trick, without any +doubt." +</p> + +<p> +"And we can't get away!" wailed the heavy +woman in the armchair. "When poor, dear Horace +was alive nothing like this ever happened to me. +And an oil stove! Horrid, smelly things! Oh, I +never could sleep with one in my room! I am +delicate, you know, quite delicate! Dear Horace always +took the greatest care of me!" +</p> + +<p> +Ryder looked at the huge, over-fed woman before +him, and had some difficulty to keep from snorting +aloud at her claim of delicate health. +</p> + +<p> +"And candles!" she wailed on. "You surely +can't expect a woman to dress and undress by the +aid of candle light! Oh, it's all horrid—perfectly +horrid!" +</p> + +<p> +She seemed on the verge of tears, and from her +size Ryder expected nothing less than a deluge. He +made for the door. +</p> + +<p> +"I'll see what can be done about it," he whispered +to Ruth, who followed him swiftly, to squeeze his +hand in both her own. "Don't you be troubled, +dearie. I will not remain away long." +</p> + +<p> +"I was troubled," she confessed in the same tone. +"Then I sent a bellboy to page you and he couldn't +find you anywhere." +</p> + +<p> +"The stupid! I was right down there in the +foyer. We'll be all right when this tangle is +straightened out. But, for the beginning of a +honeymoon——" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," she suddenly giggled. "Isn't it just too +<i>funny</i>? Shall we really stay?" +</p> + +<p> +"To be sure. Dispossessing a manager who won't +pay his rent is all right; but to try to dispossess +a guest who is ready and willing to pay is quite +another matter. It can't be done." +</p> + +<p> +"Then shall I continue to unpack my trunks?" +</p> + +<p> +Ryder smiled at her, then glanced back at the +boxes. They were more than half empty already +and the open wardrobe doors gave him a view of +a number of pretty gowns which Ruth had shaken +out and hung away. +</p> + +<p> +"Go ahead," he said, easily. "You'll want the +furbelows out of the boxes, anyway. They look +as though they'd muss pretty easily." +</p> + +<p> +She glanced at him sidewise with a little blush, +and squeezed his hand again. "Don't you think +they're <i>sweet</i>?" she whispered. "I made them +almost all myself." +</p> + +<p> +"Is that so?" responded Ryder, with another +curious glance at the gowns in display. Then he +went out and she closed the door after him. When +he had walked half the length of the corridor he +halted and came near going back to the suite again. +Two startling facts had finally made an impression +on his busy mind. +</p> + +<p> +One was the nature of Ruth's wardrobe. Ryder +was not much versed in women's apparel, and all +those pretty, dainty, gray and cream colored dresses +could mean but one thing. To his mind, they were +bride's gowns. +</p> + +<p> +He had met his wife first aboard the <i>Minnequago</i> +and had known her just seven days before they +were married. He had seen her wear no dress on +shipboard like these she had brought out of her +trunks. Indeed, Miss Mont had been gowned with +severity and with no more style than the +average English woman displays. +</p> + +<p> +"Why," muttered Ryder, "she has a complete +bridal outfit—or, it seems so to me. How could +she have got those dresses? And she says she made +them herself!" +</p> + +<p> +He turned back, but bethought him of Mrs. Judson. +He could have no private word with Ruth +now. So he walked slowly on toward the main +stairway, and his mind reverted to the second +puzzling circumstance he had noted. There were few +if any labels on his wife's trunks. +</p> + +<p> +No trunk can cross the ocean without being plastered +over with the various marks and stamps of the +European agencies, and of the steamship companies. +It was a small matter, perhaps—this lack of +the usual labels—but it continued to puzzle John +Ryder until he had descended to the office once +more and found himself again in the thick of the +circumstances connected with the attempt of the +hotel manager to turn his guests out of house and +home. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap06"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER VI +<br><br> +BUSINESS METHODS +</h3> + +<p> +The members of the committee had regathered +and were awaiting their chairman. Matters had +been found to be in a much worse condition than the +guests had really believed. +</p> + +<p> +From the steward they had learned that the +whole kitchen was disorganized, and had been so +for some days. He had had the greatest difficulty +in preventing an eruption there. +</p> + +<p> +"Why?" demanded Ryder, having been told this. +</p> + +<p> +"They are afraid they will lose their pay. These +French and Italians are easily excited anyway," +explained Jimson, who was not a little excited +himself. "The waiters and the upstairs help are in a +blue funk for the same reason." +</p> + +<p> +"How about the coal?" Ryder asked another man. +</p> + +<p> +"It's every whit as bad as Bangs said. There is +only a little furnace coal. If they use the coal +intended for the kitchen fires there would not be +enough to keep the boilers warm until daylight." +</p> + +<p> +"Hang that Bangs!" +</p> + +<p> +"With all my heart," agreed Ryder, grimly. +"But that will not get us any coal tonight—nor keep +the hotel warmed and lighted." +</p> + +<p> +"The scoundrel certainly deserves to figure in a +necktie party," growled one man. "My wife's in +hysterics upstairs right now." +</p> + +<p> +"Let us interview this Bangs before he gets +away," Ryder said. "I understand he has really +given orders to shut everything down at nine +o'clock, and it only lacks ten minutes of that time +now." +</p> + +<p> +The committee moved in a body on the private +office. The door was closed, but Ryder did not give +the manager a chance to refuse them admittance. +He entered without knocking and the other determined +men filed in. Bangs sat at his desk scratching +off a letter at a furious pace. But he dropped +his pen and turned toward them with a snarl. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, what is it now?" +</p> + +<p> +"We want your attention for a few moments, +Mr. Bangs," John Ryder said quietly. +</p> + +<p> +"Who the deuce are you?" demanded the hotel +manager. "You're not like Brack and Jimson and +these other old stagers, who have been here so +long they think they own the house. I never +remember of seeing you before." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder handed him his card. "That is my name," +he said, "and I came into this house for the first +time tonight. That, however, is quite aside from +the matter we have come to discuss. +</p> + +<p> +"We, the guests of this hotel, cannot be treated +in this cavalier manner, Mr. Bangs. We will not +stand for it. There will be damage suits after this +night's work if you dare follow out your program—damage +suits against the Barnaby estate of course. +But I, for one, shall not be satisfied until I see you +properly punished unless you immediately change +your attitude." +</p> + +<p> +He spoke so firmly, and the threatening attitude +of his co-workers was so impressive, that the +manager began to cower. +</p> + +<p> +"I tell you I can't do a thing!" he began; but John +Ryder stopped him with raised hand. +</p> + +<p> +"We demand your co-operation in keeping the +hotel force together until the owners can be +communicated with and until they send somebody to +take charge here in your place." +</p> + +<p> +"I'll be hanged if I will!" cried Bangs, jumping up. +</p> + +<p> +"And you may be hanged if you don't," declared +another of the committee, putting a rather broad +back against the office door. +</p> + +<p> +Again Bangs cowered. These five men might do +him bodily injury if they wished to. +</p> + +<p> +"I can't do a thing, I tell you," he whined. +"There's no coal——" +</p> + +<p> +"We know all about that," Ryder interrupted +sternly. "And we know why there is none. You +knew this dispossessory proceeding was pending, +and you made your plans to checkmate Giddings by +shutting up the hotel in this way. Without regard +for the comfort of your guests or the rights of your +employees, you have tried to whip your enemy, +Giddings, over our shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +"Now we, the guests, have taken the affair into +our hands inasmuch as we propose to keep the hotel +open and make the ladies and children, at least, as +comfortable as may be. And we shall not let you +leave, Mr. Bangs, until you have done all in your +power to repair the damage you have already +done." +</p> + +<p> +"What can I do?" snarled the manager. "I'm +not going to pay for heat and light and for service +in a hotel which I no longer manage." +</p> + +<p> +"You are legally in charge here until the Court +puts you out." +</p> + +<p> +"I'll not run this hotel for that Giddings after +he's served me in dispossess proceedings," Bangs +said, turned sullen. +</p> + +<p> +"You will help us make the house as comfortable +as possible until we can communicate with this +Giddings and inform him of what has occurred," +said Ryder quietly but severely. "You have given +orders for everything to shut down at nine o'clock. +You must rescind that command." +</p> + +<p> +"You can none of you get away after that hour," +Bangs said. +</p> + +<p> +"Nor at that time," said Ryder promptly. "If +any of your guests are going on that jerkwater +train they are already over there at the station. +But the stampede of the help must be stopped." +</p> + +<p> +"What do you want me to do?" growled Bangs, +rather afraid of this determined John Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +"To tell the engineers to keep the dynamos and +boilers running as long as they have a shovelful of +coal. Likewise to send word throughout the building +for all employees who wish to retain their +situations under the new management——" +</p> + +<p> +"What new management?" cried Bangs, leaping +up again. +</p> + +<p> +"The management which will follow your +régime," Ryder told him coolly. "You do not +suppose for a moment, do you, that the owners of this +property will allow the hotel to close?" +</p> + +<p> +Bangs grinned like an angry dog. "I don't care +a hang what they do," he said. "I only know I'm +out of it." +</p> + +<p> +"You're not out of it yet, Mr. Bangs," Ryder +grimly said. "Telephone to the engine room at +once." +</p> + +<p> +The manager picked up the receiver with bad +grace. "You are intimidating me," he complained. +</p> + +<p> +"You bet we are!" exclaimed the man with his +back to the door. "And thank your lucky stars we +don't manhandle you in the bargain." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder raised his hand for silence and the manager +gave the order to the engineer. "Now," said +Ryder, "call the head chef and have him inform +the kitchen help that the hotel will not be closed and +that their wages will be paid." +</p> + +<p> +"Who's going to pay 'em?" demanded Bangs. +</p> + +<p> +"You do as you are told. The courts will decide +that." +</p> + +<p> +Bangs began to bluster; then he caught the look +in the eye of the man with his back against the +door and he once more subsided. Together, Ryder +and the burly committeeman were too much for +Bangs' courage. +</p> + +<p> +The steward was called in; likewise George, the +clerk on duty. The two were told, Bangs agreeing +doggedly, that the employees of the hotel were to +be pacified and the guests to be made as comfortable +as possible until Giddings could be communicated +with. +</p> + +<p> +Then the committee of five went back to the +crowd in the foyer and reported progress. Colonel +Brack led in acclaiming them public benefactors. +But their work was not yet finished. +</p> + +<p> +Those who knew, declared there was no possibility +of finding even a small supply of coal without +considerable delay. The hotel manager had had an +arrangement with the railroad company to furnish +coal by the carload, and the local dealers would not +put themselves out to accommodate the hotel now. +Indeed, Bangs had made himself locally disliked. +</p> + +<p> +"The best we can do is to send our committee +over to Cal Crabtree's store and buy up all the lamps +and oil stoves he's got in stock," Colonel Brack +said. "I'd head such a foraging party if it wasn't +for my artificial limb. I'm afraid I'll get rheumatism +in that if I go out at night," and the jovial +colonel chuckled. +</p> + +<p> +But when it was vociferously agreed that the +already elected committee, of which John Ryder +was chairman, should do this purchasing and it had +started out to do what Colonel Brack suggested, one +of them observed: +</p> + +<p> +"Now, isn't that the colonel all over? That bum +peg of his keeps him out of a lot of trouble. He's +off this committee because some of us will have to +put up money and then run the risk of getting it +back from the estate, or from that slippery Bangs. +The colonel gets cold in that artificial foot plaguey +easy if the cards go against him at poker." +</p> + +<p> +And indeed, before they got to the general store, +the committee was in a wrangle over this very thing. +Who was going to put up the money for the lamps +and stoves? Nobody seemed to care to step info +the breech. John Ryder listened and said nothing +at first. Finally he suggested: +</p> + +<p> +"Let's divide it among us. Think of the +ladies——" +</p> + +<p> +"Let those who have got 'em, think of 'em," +snapped one bachelor. "That's nothing in my young +sweet life." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I say, Long, you wouldn't mind putting up +a share for Mrs. Judson, would you?" chuckled +another. +</p> + +<p> +"By jove! that's what I am afraid of," declared +the bachelor. "If the widow ever heard I put up +money to buy her an oil heater, she'd have me in +court in breach of promise proceedings." +</p> + +<p> +It was evident the large lady was a standing joke +among the men at the hotel. Ryder frowned. He +was sorry that she had forced her society on Ruth. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, the four other members of the committee +agreed that they would not put their hands +in their pockets. On the very steps of the store +they halted and vociferously stated this decision. +</p> + +<p> +"Let's go back and take up a collection," said +the bachelor member. "I know those ginks back +there. There are more hard boiled eggs in that +bunch at Pinewood Inn than you could find anywhere +else along the coast. I'm not going to be +nicked for more than my share." +</p> + +<p> +With this his brother-committeemen seemed to +agree. All but Ryder. The latter looked at his +watch. It was already half after nine. There was +every sign as they came along the street that the +villagers were retiring for the night; and as they +stood discussing the matter the proprietor of the +store began to put out his lights. +</p> + +<p> +"You can go back and ask for further instructions +if you wish to, gentlemen," said Ryder in +disgust. "But I will go in and see what I can do. +There is no time to waste." +</p> + +<p> +"At your peril, Mr. Ryder," said one. "Don't +drag us into it." +</p> + +<p> +"I never forced a man into a deal yet—especially +if he was a bad loser," declared John Ryder, and +turned his back on the others to enter the store +alone. +</p> + +<p> +He found the proprietor, a shrewd, long-headed +countryman, ready to be affable, or businesslike, as +the case might be. Ryder knew well how to tackle +such a character. He had been doing business with +all kinds of men all his life. He went directly to +the point of the matter. +</p> + +<p> +"I want every oil lamp you've got in the shop, +and all your candles, and those oil heaters yonder. +If you have oil, I want a barrel. And I want you +to find me a truckman right now to cart 'em over +to the hotel. I'll give you cash, or my check, in +full for the whole amount. What say?" +</p> + +<p> +"It's a bargain," laconically said the storekeeper, +and there was little haggling either, over the price +of the articles bought. Ryder did not believe that +Crabtree was over-reaching him on that point, for +he seemed to sympathize with the situation of the +people in the hotel. +</p> + +<p> +"That bridge breaking down is a bad business. +Foolish, too," Crabtree agreed. "The Highway +Department of this town is about as useful as a +left-handed boot to a man who's only got a wooden leg +on that side of him. And let me tell you, +Mr. Ryder, the bridge won't be repaired again in a +hurry. Nothing ever is done in a hurry by our road +menders and bridge builders." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder was more intimately interested in the +supplies he could buy. There were two full boxes of +so-called "waxlights" and a box of tallow candles +of the double-six size. There were over a hundred +lamps of all kinds and sizes, and the oil stoves +numbered twenty-three. The check Ryder made +out was a substantial one. +</p> + +<p> +In half an hour he was back at the hotel where +the guests were wrangling in the foyer over how +the bill for supplies should be apportioned. The +other members of the committee were finally +instructed to pay for the goods out of a collection +of about two hundred dollars that had been +grudgingly made. +</p> + +<p> +"Here's Ryder!" exclaimed Colonel Brack, red-faced +and excited. "He should head this committee +again. He is a chap who <i>does</i> things. Ryder +forever!" +</p> + +<p> +The colonel's evening potations began to show +upon him. Ryder tried to brush by on his way to +the desk. +</p> + +<p> +"You're just the man we want on this committee," +reiterated the colonel, following him. +</p> + +<p> +"What committee?" the business man asked. +</p> + +<p> +"The committee on buying supplies." +</p> + +<p> +"It discharged itself half an hour ago," said +Ryder, bruskly. "And now there is nothing for it +to do." +</p> + +<p> +"Why not?" gasped several, including the colonel, +who asked the question truculently. +</p> + +<p> +John Ryder bit off the end of his cigar and lit it +calmly. +</p> + +<p> +"As far as I know, gentlemen, I've bought up +every lamp, every oil stove, every candle, and all +the surplus supply of oil in this village tonight. I +bought them on to my own private account. If I +decide to resell them I'll let you know later." +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap07"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER VII +<br><br> +SHOCK UPON SHOCK +</h3> + +<p> +The clamor of those who heard John Ryder's +statement drew most of the crowd surging toward +the desk, before which the business man stood. +Colonel Brack, reddening and with glittering eyes, +advanced upon Ryder with his "step-clump" stride, +demanding: +</p> + +<p> +"Suh! do you call this a gentlemanly thing to do? +Why, suh, the women and children in this hotel are +at your mercy. It's an outrage, suh!" +</p> + +<p> +"The rest of the committee backed out on the +steps of the store," said Ryder coolly. "Time was +passing." +</p> + +<p> +"Why, the money is already put up for the supplies," +cried somebody with much bombast. +</p> + +<p> +"Not for these supplies that I have obtained," +said Ryder decisively. "In the first place two +hundred dollars will not go far toward the purchase of +the goods." +</p> + +<p> +"You mean to profit upon our necessities, do you, +Mr. Ryder?" cried Jimson shrilly. +</p> + +<p> +"Shylock!" exclaimed another of the angry men. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder turned his back upon them and approached +George. +</p> + +<p> +"I've bought the stuff," he said shortly. "It was +a perfectly legitimate transaction." +</p> + +<p> +"By gad, suh!" reiterated the wrathful colonel, +"you have taken an unfair advantage of a party +of gentlemen who trusted you. You're a——" +</p> + +<p> +Ryder failed to hear the remainder of the colonel's +sputterings. But a voice nearer to his ear +could not be drowned. This said: +</p> + +<p> +"By George! that Ryder's a cleaner. He was +never known to let a good chance slip in the Street, +they say, and I can believe it. He's got us where +the hair's short—and it's our own fault." +</p> + +<p> +John Ryder was angry. The manner in which +the other members of the committee had dodged +financial responsibility and were now declaiming +against his "grasping" methods, exasperated him. +He would not give them the satisfaction of an +explanation. He took nobody but the steward and +the clerk into his confidence. +</p> + +<p> +It was while he was discussing matters with +these two employees of the hotel that the engineer +sent up word that he had been forced to bank the +fires under the boilers, but that the dynamos would +be kept running until midnight. +</p> + +<p> +"That man seems faithful," Ryder observed. +"Has word been sent around for the help to come +together for a talk with us? We want to know how +many will remain here." +</p> + +<p> +The steward turned red and blurted out: "I +don't believe—that is, it will be difficult to get +many of them together, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"Why?" +</p> + +<p> +"It is believed that Mr. Bangs will not pay wages +beyond today, and the men and girls are deserting. +Some went on that nine o'clock train, and others +have found means of getting away from the hotel." +</p> + +<p> +"By thunder!" ejaculated Ryder. "Where's +Bangs? We'll get what's left of the help together +and make him assure them——" +</p> + +<p> +"I—I don't think Mr. Bangs is here," hesitated +George. +</p> + +<p> +"What's that?" +</p> + +<p> +"I couldn't help his going, sir. I could not hold +him by force, you know. You gentlemen should +have had him watched." +</p> + +<p> +"What has he done?" asked Ryder, recovering +his calmness. +</p> + +<p> +"Right after you gentlemen left I heard him +telephoning to the railroad station. The operator and +agent were not there, but the conductor of that +combination was. He's a friend of Bangs'. The +train was held ten minutes. It did not get away +until ten minutes past nine. And I think Mr. Bangs +went on it." +</p> + +<p> +"And his going has disorganized the whole household," +the steward added, sadly. "The chef has +the kitchen fairly under control now. He's an +Italian—Vitalli is his name—not a bad fellow at +all and attached to the house rather than to +Bangs—as I am and George, here, is." +</p> + +<p> +"You believe the estate will do the right thing +by you?" Ryder asked curiously. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," said the steward. "The heirs will not +wish the house closed. In such a way, too! They +would consider it a disgrace. Pinewood Inn is one +of the oldest hotels on the coast. This Mr. Giddings, +the lawyer, doesn't know much about the +hotel business, I fancy, or he would not have acted +so precipitately and given Mr. Bangs a chance to +put the guests out. If all the help would work +together we'd come out all right. But most of them +care nothing about the hotel or the welfare of its +guests," and the steward wagged his head. +</p> + +<p> +"Where are the other clerks?" Ryder asked of +George. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Manger, the head clerk, went to town day +before yesterday. Somehow, I feel that he had +some wind of what was coming. But heaven knows +<i>I</i> didn't, Mr. Ryder." +</p> + +<p> +"Or you would have gone, likewise?" asked the +man of business, with a grim smile, but watching +the ruddy young fellow with his plastered yellow +hair in some curiosity. +</p> + +<p> +"Well—no," hesitated George. "I think I should +have hung on in any case. You see," he added, +"I'm rather fond of a scrap. And Jim Howe—he +relieves me at midnight—<i>he'll</i> see it through, no +fear!" +</p> + +<p> +"Well, gentlemen," Ryder finally said with a +sigh, "there doesn't seem to be much now that we +can do save to sit tight. You two influence all the +employees you can to stick by the ship. These lights +and stoves and oil are already at the door, I have +no doubt. You take charge of them all," he said to +the steward, "and get somebody to fix up the lamps +and fill them. But give none of them out until +George, here, has listed them. He knows more +about the guests and their needs than any of us, I +presume." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder had no time to go upstairs just then; but +fearing Ruth would be again disturbed by his +continued absence, he scratched off a little note and +handed it to one of the boys. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, give that to nobody but Mrs. Ryder," he +told the boy, remembering Mrs. Judson, who he +feared might still be hovering about the suite. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder observed that the male guests who had +heretofore been so friendly with him now eyed him +askance and that Colonel Brack had gathered +around him a group that he was haranguing vigorously. +By the fiery glances cast in his direction by +the old campaigner Ryder was quite sure Brack +spoke of him. +</p> + +<p> +"I am certainly getting <i>persona non grata</i> in this +hotel," murmured Ryder, with grim humor. +</p> + +<p> +Then, of a sudden, he saw that one of those +listening to Colonel Brack was the man who had +disturbed Ruth at the door of their suite. Ryder +turned back to speak once more with the clerk: +</p> + +<p> +"Who is that fellow?" he asked, calling George's +attention to the stranger. +</p> + +<p> +"That man? Let's see—he came tonight. Refused +to be turned away although at that time, being +under Mr. Bangs' instructions, I told him we could +not accommodate him. And I have not yet assigned +him a room. But his name's White." +</p> + +<p> +George whirled the register about and pointed to +the last name on the page. Ryder murmured it +over to himself: "'John B. White, Rome.' +</p> + +<p> +"Rome, what? New York, Georgia, or the original +home of the Cæsar family?" Ryder asked carelessly. +</p> + +<p> +"I don't know, sir. He just wrote that down. +I don't really know what do to with him. I think +from something he dropped that he came here +expecting to find friends." +</p> + +<p> +"And didn't find them?" Ryder's curiosity +prompted him to demand. +</p> + +<p> +"He hasn't seemed to." +</p> + +<p> +"Who are his friends? Don't you know their +names?" +</p> + +<p> +"I—I—— Well, I declare, sir, he did mention +one name. That of a Miss—Miss—— Well, it +escapes me," said George, in confusion. "It was +just at the outburst of this trouble, and I was all +mixed up. I am sure it was a lady he asked me +about. Perhaps it is a runaway match and the +lady has backed out," and George chuckled at his +own joke. +</p> + +<p> +"He doesn't act much like a bridegroom," +observed Ryder, still watching White. +</p> + +<p> +"I might say that about you, Mr. Ryder," +ventured the clerk slyly. +</p> + +<p> +"By thunder! that's so," admitted Ryder. "Nor +do I feel like one. This is a nice mess for a fellow +to get into at such a time. I can't say that I am +glad I came to Pinewood Inn for my honeymoon, +George." +</p> + +<p> +But as he strolled away from the hotel desk his +mind was still fixed on the man, White. He +remembered the bellboy coming through the foyer +paging "John B. White" and saying that Mrs. White +wanted him upstairs. Now, hang it! if Mrs. +White was here, didn't the hotel clerk know her? +</p> + +<p> +"Odd—deucedly odd," thought John Ryder. +"And how startled that fellow was when he heard +the boy. Or was he? Not a bad looking fellow; +but he's queer. Ruth says he is touched in the +upper story, and I believe myself that some of his +buttons are loose. +</p> + +<p> +"Or, if he is a crook—and that would not be so +strange," added Ryder, letting his mind run upon +this train of thought. "A crook with a woman +accomplice in this hotel might easily make a good +haul tonight, considering the state affairs are in. +I wonder if there isn't a detective attached to +Pinewood Inn." +</p> + +<p> +Before he could turn back to ask George about +this, his attention was attracted from the man, +White, to an old gentleman who had just left the +elevator leaning on the arm of a colored man. The +old fellow was in some excitement, and he hobbled +quickly to the desk, his gray hair bristling from +under the rim of the round black cap he wore, his +feet shuffling in gay carpet slippers. +</p> + +<p> +It was evident that he had retired to his room +for the night, and had made himself comfortable +there. Something had routed him out and he had +merely shrugged himself into a coat before coming +down to the office. +</p> + +<p> +"Look here, sir! Look here, sir!" the old man +cried, shaking his cane at George in a hand that +quivered with palsy. "What does this mean? How +dare that Bangs turn us out of the hotel in such a +way? I'll write Mr. Giddings about it. Mr. Giddings +is my friend. He will not see me so insulted +and annoyed." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder heard an amused bystander say: +</p> + +<p> +"Here's old Pop Cudger; he's on the warpath, +too. Now there'll be something doing." +</p> + +<p> +"Get him and the colonel together and there will +be fireworks, sure enough," agreed another man, +with a chuckle. +</p> + +<p> +George was trying to pacify the angry old man, +but the latter would not accord the clerk's +explanation much attention. +</p> + +<p> +"It is nonsense! It is preposterous!" cried +Mr. Cudger. "Mr. Giddings is my friend——" +</p> + +<p> +"And if Giddings hadn't been so anxious to put +Bangs out we wouldn't all be in this pickle," +somebody remarked loud enough for Mr. Cudger to +hear. +</p> + +<p> +"Ha!" exclaimed the latter, turning a withering +glance upon the speaker, and then immediately +turning back to George. "Is it true that the lights +are to be put out?" +</p> + +<p> +"The dynamos can't run later than midnight. +Then the lights will naturally have to be shut off +all over the hotel, Mr. Cudger. I'm sorry, sir——" +</p> + +<p> +"Lights turned out—and half the help running +away?" cried Cudger. "Next thing, I suppose, +James, here, will be leaving me in the lurch," and he +glared at the colored man. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, no, suh! I'se gwine to stay right heah by +yo'," declared James. +</p> + +<p> +"And what's going to become of my picture?" +demanded the old gentleman, beginning on another +tack. "What provision has been made to guard my +picture, sir—— Van Scamp's famous 'Cheesemonger'? +That was hung in the parlor by special +permission of Mr. Giddings, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"I don't think anybody will touch your picture, +Mr. Cudger," said the clerk, soothingly. +</p> + +<p> +"Ha! How do you know that? In the state of +confusion the house is now in, some vandal might +easily cut the canvas out of its frame. It cost me +many thousands of dollars, sir—and it's the finest +example of Van Scamp's art in existence today. I +will not trust it unguarded in that parlor under +present circumstances." +</p> + +<p> +"But I can't furnish a watchman to guard your +picture," George urged. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, where's the house detective?" demanded +the old gentleman. "I must have protection for +my picture." +</p> + +<p> +"You certainly can't expect Miss Solomons to +stand guard over it!" the clerk exclaimed. "You'd +better have it removed to your room." +</p> + +<p> +"You clown!" exclaimed the crotchety old man. +"It wouldn't go through the door of my room. +That is why it has to be hung in your miserable +parlor." And as the clerk restrained both his +temper and his tongue, he added: "If you will not +furnish a watchman—and Mr. Giddings shall hear +of your refusal, sir!—then James will have to guard +the picture." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, no suh!" murmured the colored man. "Dat +ain't no place fo' me all night. No, suh! Yo' +might need me——" +</p> + +<p> +"You will have to do it, James," repeated the +old man. "If the lights go out what is going to +prevent that canvas being cut out of the frame?" +</p> + +<p> +"Das jest it, suh!" rejoined the colored man. +"I don't want to stay dere in de dark—no, suh!" +</p> + +<p> +"You are a coward, James—a pusillanimous coward!" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, suh! Dat may be, suh. But yo' might +need me in de night." +</p> + +<p> +"Of course I shall need you. I'll likely have one +of my choking spells—or something. But I can't +risk losing my Van Scamp. We shall both have +to watch it, James. We will camp in the parlor all +night. +</p> + +<p> +"Young man," turning to George, "have a bed +brought into the parlor for me. I will sleep there, +and James shall keep watch." +</p> + +<p> +"But, Mr. Cudger, that is the main parlor of the +hotel. We cannot very easily let you sleep there," +cried the distracted George. +</p> + +<p> +At this point Ryder lost interest in the entire +affair. The boy he had sent upstairs with the note +to Ruth tugged at his sleeve. +</p> + +<p> +"I can't find the lady, sir," he said, returning the +letter to Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +"Can't find who?" +</p> + +<p> +"Mrs. Ryder, sir." +</p> + +<p> +The man was amazed, and for an instant he was +a little frightened. "Where did you go, boy?" he +demanded. +</p> + +<p> +"To Suite Three—where you told me. She +wasn't there." +</p> + +<p> +"How do you know she wasn't there?" +</p> + +<p> +"The lady told me so. The lady who was there. +She told me I'd made a mistake." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder started for the staircase, his mind in a +whirl. Where could Ruth have gone? Possibly to +Mrs. Judson's apartment. Yet if so, who had met +the boy and sent him away from Suite Three with +such a message? +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap08"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER VIII +<br><br> +THE BRIDAL NIGHT +</h3> + +<p> +The excitement among the guests had now spread +to the floors above. Too, there was a noticeable +dearth of serving people. In the parlor on this +second floor into which Ryder glanced curiously on +his way to his own rooms, was a crowd of women +with a sprinkling of husbands, discussing the +situation in varying degrees of anxiety. +</p> + +<p> +The corridors and parlor were ablaze with electric +lights, and Ryder saw the great picture, covering +half the further end-wall of the room, about +which Mr. Cudger was making such a row at the +clerk's desk. +</p> + +<p> +An especially arranged string of lights over the +picture cast the proper glow upon it. It really was +the work of a master of color, but that its owner +should consider it in danger of suffering the fate +of some of the great paintings that have been stolen, +rather amused John Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +While he stood for a moment looking at the picture +he realized that a sudden hush had fallen upon +the several groups in the parlor, and he saw that +the majority of the guests there assembled were +staring at him. Whether their interest was aroused +because he was a bridegroom or because he had +cornered the lighting and heating supplies of the +village, the man of business did not know—nor did +he care. He shrugged his shoulders and passed on. +</p> + +<p> +A bridegroom! Well, this did not seem a very +fortunate beginning for one's honeymoon. Another +man might have easily slipped from under the duties +that had settled on John Ryder's shoulders. But it +was his way, when he saw things going wrong, to +step in and right them. +</p> + +<p> +He had given his mind to this business of trying +to bring some order out of the chaotic condition of +affairs in the hotel with as much zest as he ever +gave to business matters. Now, as he approached +the apartment in which he and Ruth had expected +to be so happy in each other's society for the next +few weeks, he tried to throw off all the anxieties +that had recently accumulated in his mind. +</p> + +<p> +This was his bridal night. He had fallen in love +with the most beautiful and charming woman he +had ever met, and had married her offhand. Were +it not for this troublesome matter of the hotel +closing, he would be the happiest man alive. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed, he was the happiest man alive in any +case. Had he not just been married to the loveliest +and sweetest girl in the world? Was not <i>his wife</i> +(John Ryder almost strutted) waiting for him in +their rooms at this very moment? +</p> + +<p> +Then a feeling of humility, unusual humility in +this successful business man who was accustomed +to getting what he wanted, overcame him. What +was he to have won this jewel of a woman in so +short a time? Seven days, and she had consented +to become his wife! Men sometimes strove and +worked for the love of a woman for months—for +years! But no—that could not be real love! When +two people loved as he and Ruth loved, there was +no waiting in uncertainty. They knew it—they +must know it—at once. +</p> + +<p> +In spite of his thirty-five years and his +somewhat ruthless business career, John Ryder was +undoubtedly still very much of a boy. And indeed, +in love matters, he was but a boy, inasmuch as never +before had he even imagined himself in love. +</p> + +<p> +"Confound this old ranch, anyway!" John Ryder +muttered. "Why should I bother my head about +it—or about these silly folks in it? I declare! we'll +find some way of getting out of the pickle ourselves +tomorrow morning and go to some place where we +can enjoy our honeymoon undisturbed." +</p> + +<p> +Then he remembered that Ruth had chosen Pinewood +particularly. It might be only a whim on her +part; but he was in a mind just then to satisfy even +her whims, if it could be done. +</p> + +<p> +"This man, Giddings, will show up, and things +will probably be running all right before tomorrow +night. And Ruth—God bless that sweet name!—has +taken all the trouble to unpack. By thunder!" +he added, "it's funny about those dresses of hers. +I must ask her——" +</p> + +<p> +He had come to the door and opened it softly—so +softly indeed that the occupant of the room did +not hear him. His heart throbbed and his eyes +actually smarted with unshed drops as he looked +down the long apartment and saw his wife sitting +reading in the radiance of the drop-light at the +table. +</p> + +<p> +She was alone. The other lights had been +extinguished, and she sat awaiting his return, +evidently with her mind not wholly upon the book in +her lap, for she turned no leaves while Ryder +watched her. +</p> + +<p> +In her attitude and in the loosely flowing gown +she had donned since dinner, she made a delightful +picture. Ryder drank in the details as he stood, +shrinking from breaking the spell of her reverie. +</p> + +<p> +It was by no means a sad mood which held her, +for her lips slowly parted in a most ravishing smile. +He could see this, though it was her profile only he +watched from his station at the door. +</p> + +<p> +He was about to close the latter softly when she +dropped her book and her fingers fluttered about +her throat for a moment. She loosened her gown +there, thrust one hand within the laces, and drew +forth a tiny object attached to a thin gold chain +which he had already noticed about her throat. +The ornament she held for a moment in her palm +was a locket. +</p> + +<p> +When she snapped it open and gazed upon what +it contained she turned a little so that he saw her +expression of countenance more clearly. It startled +him. +</p> + +<p> +He was a sane and level-headed man. He was +thirty-five, and the foolish emotions of adolescence +should not have ruffled his calm. Yet aboard the +steamship he had felt an unrecognized pang of +jealousy whenever he saw Miss Mont talking with +Marks, the theatrical man. A similar pang smote +him now. +</p> + +<p> +No human being ever looked as Ruth looked +unless the object of such gaze was a dearly loved +one, or the memento of a loved one! While Ryder +watched, his wife raised the locket reverently and +pressed her lips to the object it contained. +</p> + +<p> +He must have uttered some sound, or moved, or +the door latch clicked as he closed it. She started, +saw him, and hastily concealed the locket in her +bosom, rising in some confusion to greet him. +</p> + +<p> +The arrow of suspicion first driven into his +mind when he had seen that stranger at their door +and Ruth had seemed so frightened, was barbed. +Now that he sought to cast it out of his thought, it +rankled. +</p> + +<p> +What! was he of a low, suspicious, jealous +nature? Was he the kind of cur to make himself +and his wife miserable by a jealousy that was +insulting to them both? +</p> + +<p> +This woman and he had known each other but +a short time before their hasty marriage, but +Ryder flattered himself that he had drawn from her +a rather full and connected story of her life up to +the day she had stepped aboard the <i>Minnequago</i>. +</p> + +<p> +There had been nothing in her story, he was +positive, of which she needed to be ashamed. There +had been no man but him. She had told him that +frankly. +</p> + +<p> +She might possess some keepsake; but only such +as an honorable wife might have. He knew it—he +would stake his life upon it! +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps it was some dear reminder of the mother +she had scarcely known. He had carried his +mother's wedding ring all these years until he had +given it to the clergyman to slip on Ruth's finger. +He saw the glint of that ring now as she advanced +to meet him with hands outstretched and the same +light in her eyes that he had seen just now while +she bent above the locket. +</p> + +<p> +"I am a fool!" bethought. "A wicked fool." +</p> + +<p> +He hurried down the room and clasped her yielding +body within the circle of his arms. There was +a passion in his embrace which he had scarcely +expressed before, and she seemed to feel it. +</p> + +<p> +"Dearest!" she whispered. "I am glad you have +come back, I was getting lonesome again," and she +gave him her lips of her own accord. +</p> + +<p> +The heart of John Ryder beat higher. He +remembered what he had told her aboard ship: +</p> + +<p> +"I'll never bring tears to your eyes, but always +laughter to your heart!" +</p> + +<p> +"And a villain I'd be to break my word. Now is +not the time to ask an explanation of such a simple +act. It might show her how mean and vile a +thought I had," was his thought. +</p> + +<p> +"I sent a message up to you a while ago, but the +boy seemed unable to find you," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, I never saw such stupid boys as they have +at this hotel! Another knocked on our door while +Mrs. Judson was here and asked for somebody +else." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, the guests are all around, visiting in each +other's rooms, I presume," he observed. "The +whole household is upset. And you never saw such +a lot of cranks as there are here in your life. A +circus sideshow has no more freaks, I guess, than a +hotel like this Pinewood Inn." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder, laughing, told of old Mr. Cudger and his +picture, and sketched the character of Colonel +Aurelius Brack. Incidentally he told her something +of what had been done, though in an impersonal +way, to make the guests comfortable and to keep +the employees of the hotel on their jobs. +</p> + +<p> +"Dear me, John!" she cried, leading him to a +couch where they could sit side by side, "I thought +this was to be a vacation for both of us," looking +at him roguishly. "A honeymoon! It should begin +pretty soon, don't you think?" +</p> + +<p> +"Do you want to pack those trunks again and +leave in the morning?" +</p> + +<p> +"No-o. I want to stay here if we can. But +can't some of the other men attend to all these +things?" +</p> + +<p> +"They are attending to them. They are discussing +them to beat the band! But nobody seemed to +have any really practical ideas—not when it touched +their pocketbooks," and Ryder laughed grimly. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm going down once more to see about something +particular. The dining-room is still open. It +will be late before we get to bed, and you only +pecked at your dinner, I noticed. Don't you want +to come down for a bite—or will it be too much +trouble?" +</p> + +<p> +"Ah-ha!" she said shaking a finger at him, "you +have the late-supper habit. I believe you are a gay +boy. I certainly shall not let my hubby go out alone +to suppers. And—whisper it!—I am hungry. I +was so excited when we arrived. And people +stared so at us down there——" +</p> + +<p> +"They'll stare now," he said smiling. +</p> + +<p> +"Especially if I should go down in this robe?" +and she blushed as she sprang up from the couch. +"I will put on one of my nicest and," looking at him +from across the room with sparkling eyes, "bridiest +gowns!" +</p> + +<p> +She disappeared within the curtains of the +bedchamber. Ryder started up. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, by the way, about those gowns—" he began +awkwardly, when a summons at the door terminated +his proposed speech abruptly. The steward +had sent up for him to come down in haste. The +supplies from the store had arrived, and the guests +were clamoring at the storeroom door for a +distribution of the lamps and candles. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder stepped back to the door of the inner room. +</p> + +<p> +"I've got to run down again, Ruth," he said. +</p> + +<p> +She uttered a little scream when he appeared in +the doorway; but then she came to kiss him without +affectation. Her white shoulders and arms, bared +for the moment, almost dazzled him. Ryder smiled +down into her eyes and saw in their depths what he +wished to see. +</p> + +<p> +"Come below when you are ready. There is a +little waiting room at the foot of the main stairway +and you can see all over the office from there. I'll +probably see you come down; but if I'm not in sight, +go to the dining-room, if you like, and select a +table." +</p> + +<p> +He said this, kissed her again, and hastened after +the steward's messenger. Descending in the +elevator he found a crowd about the little office in +which the steward made up his accounts, just back +of the café. +</p> + +<p> +Colonel Brack was foremost in the disturbance, +and when Ryder appeared the old campaigner +turned upon him wrathfully. +</p> + +<p> +"See here, Ryder!" he exclaimed, "you can't do +this. You must have some of the instincts of a +gentleman about you, and you should remember +the women——" +</p> + +<p> +"I can excuse a man who has been drinking," +interposed Ryder sharply; "and I cannot strike a +cripple. But I advise you to have a care how you +address me." +</p> + +<p> +Brack threw himself forward at him; but two of +his friends held back the unsteady old fire-eater. +"By gad, suh, I'd call you out for that if you were +not such a dog, suh!" +</p> + +<p> +"I am not dog enough to run at every fool's call," +responded Ryder. And then he ignored the sputtering +Brack, turning to the remainder of the party: +"Gentlemen, I shall see that you make no raid on +these supplies I have secured. They are my private +property and I shall do with them as I see fit." +</p> + +<p> +"My goodness, man! you don't intend to freeze +us out completely, do you?" gasped Jimson, whose +wife was an invalid. +</p> + +<p> +"I shall distribute them as I choose and under +such terms as I see fit," Ryder repeated calmly. +"The steward is to have direct control of them. +Within the next hour, and before the electric lights +are put out, the matter will all be arranged. +</p> + +<p> +"None of you at first wished to take any financial +responsibility for the good of the general herd. I +took that responsibility. Why should I not reap +my proper reward?" and he smiled at them grimly. +</p> + +<p> +Then he shut the door of the office in their faces +and consulted with the steward again. +</p> + +<p> +"How many of the help will stay?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps half, sir. Some of the guests' private +servants—the maids and valets—have gone already +with the others on that train. There are drafts +being made on George and me for some of the +maids and waiters——" +</p> + +<p> +"Cut that off. Refuse everybody," advised +Ryder. "These people will have to get along +without such personal service for the present. They +should know that without explanation. You need +every man and woman you've got on your roster, +don't you?" +</p> + +<p> +"Why, sir, I don't see how we shall get along +at all with so few in the morning." +</p> + +<p> +"So I thought. Now, follow out my instructions +to the letter in the matter of the placing of +the oil lamps. Send the porters around through +the corridors to screw up the brackets for the +bracket lamps. There are more than four dozen +of those. We'll decide about the stoves later. It is +not getting very cold out of doors, and nobody will +suffer much before bedtime." +</p> + +<p> +He left the steward's room and went back to the +office, ignoring the men who stood about and looked +at him as though he were a dog in a strange town. +As he walked down the long corridor and came in +sight of the stairway he observed Ruth standing at +the foot of the flight. Half the men in the foyer +had turned to look at her, and Ryder saw her color +and shrink toward the curtained entrance of the +dining-room. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder did not wonder that the other guests stared +at her. This did not fan any foolish jealousy into +flame. It was because she was so very, very beautiful +that she attracted attention. +</p> + +<p> +If she had been attractive in the traveling dress +she had worn at dinner, this gray and pink costume +enhanced her beauty marvelously. +</p> + +<p> +The wonder of it smote Ryder again. How came +his wife by such gowns? When did she get them? +What did it mean? +</p> + +<p> +And then something occurred to draw his mind +from this thought. He saw Ruth whisper to a +passing bellboy and then she disappeared into the +dining-room. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder walked slowly forward expecting the boy +would come directly to him. But to his amazement +the messenger did not glance in his direction. +Instead the boy approached a group in one corner and +Ryder saw that the man calling himself "John +B. White" was a member of that group. +</p> + +<p> +The bellboy said something. Ryder was watching +White's face. He saw the man pale, then color, +and with quick steps he crossed the foyer and +entered the dining-room as though directly in answer +to the summons from Mrs. Ryder! +</p> + +<p> +The half-stunned bridegroom caught at the sleeve +of the bellboy as he came back. +</p> + +<p> +"See here!" he whispered, fiercely, in the ear of +the startled messenger, "who did the lady send +for?" +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. White," was the answer of the boy, and +looked at Ryder in wonder. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap09"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER IX +<br><br> +WITH THE WORLD SHUT OUT +</h3> + +<p> +Ryder stopped dead in his tracks and let the boy +pass on. His usually well ordered mind was a +chaos. +</p> + +<p> +To see Ruth deliberately send for that man whom +she had declared she did not know, and seemingly +make an engagement to meet him in the hotel +dining-room! Well! it was enough to make any +husband suspicious. +</p> + +<p> +John Ryder's impulse was to follow swiftly after +White. Had he done so, there would have been an +ugly scene in the dining-room of Pinewood Inn. +But the blaze of anger that immediately leaped up +within him, and would have choked his utterance +and perhaps made him disgrace himself, warned +Ryder that it would be the part of wisdom for him +to cool down before presenting himself in the +dining-room. +</p> + +<p> +He swung on his heel and returned along the +corridor. The café door was right before him. He +was not a drinking man—that is, one who made a +practice of patronizing a bar, or drinking other +than at his meals; but the swinging door of the +hotel café invited him, and he felt that if ever in his +life he wanted a drink it was now. +</p> + +<p> +The bar had been well patronized all the evening, +the trade keeping the two white jacketed men behind +it on the jump. Here was the storm center of +the indignant outburst against the hotel management, +and Colonel Brack's frequent visits to the bar +had increased his fluency and fanned the fires of +his rage against what he loudly termed "this beastly +imposition, suh!" +</p> + +<p> +He was calling it this and harder things when +Ryder entered. The latter slipped quietly up to +the bar, told the man what he wanted, and waited +to sip the appetizer without giving the least +attention to the other patrons. But his appearance did +not pass unmarked. There were plenty of trouble +breeders ready to call the colonel's attention to +Ryder's presence. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly there was a roar at the end of the bar +and the colonel, crying, "Lemme at him! Lemme +see him!" charged down the line, brushing the men +along the rail away like flies. +</p> + +<p> +The crowd cleared the way instantly, leaving the +space open between the wrathful old campaigner +and the man quietly sipping his sherry and bitters. +Perhaps the suspicion that the colonel was in the +habit of "going heeled" made the shrinkage of the +men hanging on the bar-rail so unanimous. +</p> + +<p> +Colonel Brack, afflicted with an artificial limb, +was not possessed of that grace of movement necessary +to make a man a personable figure in leading +a cotillion; but he was getting over the floor with +mighty strides until he suddenly awoke to the fact +that none of his friends was restraining him. +</p> + +<p> +Not a single man in the group of his adherents +laid hold on his coat-tails or tried to soothe and +pacify the doughty warrior, while Ryder stood +coolly sipping his drink. +</p> + +<p> +It was an embarrassing moment. The colonel +halted midway in his flight and glanced hastily +about; but nobody came tardily to his aid. They +all plainly considered that John Ryder deserved all +that was coming to him—and they were willing in +this case to let the colonel go ahead. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder meanwhile watched the colonel curiously, +but made no move to guard himself from the threatened +attack. For fourteen years Colonel Brack had +been a picturesque figure in the café of Pinewood +Inn. It was whispered among those whom the +colonel had taken into his confidence at odd and +various times, that he had in the West a reputation +for being "a bad man to stir up, suh!" +</p> + +<p> +Usually he played his cards so well that he was +"saved by his friends" when upon the verge of +doing something rash. In this case everybody was +willing to see John Ryder get all that the colonel +threatened him with. And it suddenly smote the +old fire-eater, and smote him hard, that he had +"overplayed his hand." +</p> + +<p> +The crowd had rapidly got out of his way, and +he had all the room he needed for either fisticuffs +or guns. Ryder finished his sherry, and placed the +glass softly on the bar. His movements were as +deliberate as the colonel's had been impetuous. The +latter finally found his voice. +</p> + +<p> +"Suh! my contempt for you, and the interference +of my friends here, are all that save you from +the punishment you deserve, suh! Crippled as I +am, honorably and in my country's cause" (it was +not generally known that Colonel Brack had lost +his leg in a premature explosion in the Leading +Sinner Mine, from which still-paying proposition +he drew his small income), "and old as I am, +nothing less would keep me from laying violent hands +upon you, suh!" +</p> + +<p> +Ryder turned away from the bar and, as he did +so, he snapped his fingers under the colonel's +glowing nose. +</p> + +<p> +"Cut it short, Colonel, I'm busy," he said. +"Haven't you anything else to say to me? No? +Then—good-night!" and he walked out of the café. +</p> + +<p> +It was a cruel blow to the colonel's popularity. +The crowd began to snicker, and the snicker grew +to a loud and general laugh. Colonel Brack's +prestige as a "bad man" melted, and was gone at the +Pinewood Inn bar forever. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder, perhaps somewhat relieved of his ill temper, +it having found a vent in this incident, walked +directly to the dining-room. He glanced about +for White but did not see him. Was the man still +with Mrs. Ryder? +</p> + +<p> +The moment had perhaps arrived for the mystery +to be explained. The thought made him secretly +tremble. It is facing the unknown that makes +cowards of us all. +</p> + +<p> +But John Ryder's countenance did not betray +his inward feelings. He walked into the dining-room +in his usual, dignified manner. Everything +was rose-tinted from the shaded lamps on each +table. He almost instantly saw his wife sitting at +a cozy table, and with her was Mrs. Judson. +</p> + +<p> +White was not in sight. There were perhaps two +dozen little parties sprinkled about; but with none +of them was the individual who had earned so +much of John Ryder's attention. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder, appearing much calmer than he really +was, approached his wife and her companion. Ruth +seemed undisturbed save that her face was a trifle +paler than it had been. But it lit up with pleasure +and her eyes shone when she saw Ryder coming. +</p> + +<p> +And this look staggered the man. There was +nothing furtive—nothing secretive—in Ruth's +manner. It was disgraceful to think of her having +some secret from him when her beautiful face +beamed such love and happiness at his approach. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm a fool—a cad—a scoundrel!" he told himself +savagely. "I ought to tell her what is troubling +me right now and have the matter explained. +Confound this old busybody, anyway!" +</p> + +<p> +But he managed to hide his dislike for the widow +as he sat down. +</p> + +<p> +"Really, your wife looked so lonely, that I had +to come over and talk with her," cried the vivacious +Mrs. Judson, shaking her lorgnette at Ryder. "You +shameful men—going off by yourselves—herding +together socially—and in that vulgar café, I'll be +bound! I declare! the ordinary man wouldn't give +up his nightcap even on his wedding night. Fie! +For shame!" +</p> + +<p> +Ruth blushed faintly, and looked at Ryder +apologetically. The latter checked his real feelings and +displayed an emotionless face. The widow rambled +on: +</p> + +<p> +"I got into the habit of taking a late bite with +poor dear Horace. He always liked it. And +to-night when we were all so upset I knew I couldn't +sleep without it. I really get so lonely—living alone +and eating alone——" +</p> + +<p> +What could Ryder do? He looked at Ruth. She +made a little <i>moue</i> with her pretty lips and shrugged +her shoulders slightly. +</p> + +<p> +"We shall be glad to have you take supper with +us, Mrs. Judson," Ryder said, telling the lie with +an expressionless face. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, isn't that too, too sweet of you?" gushed +the widow. "And when I know you must be just +longing to be tête-à -tête—both of you. Now, don't +deny it!" +</p> + +<p> +Their faces did not, if their murmurs belied their +expression of countenance. But Mrs. Judson ran +on untiringly—she was a "fluid" speaker—and +settled herself more comfortably in her chair. +Evidently Ryder had her on his hands, and he beckoned +the waiter so as to have it over with as soon as +possible. +</p> + +<p> +Ruth had said she was hungry, and Mrs. Judson +looked like a woman with a hearty appetite. Her +order did not belie her appearance. Ryder was +too much disturbed in his mind to know whether he +could eat or not; but he ordered something, and +tried to be social while a dozen different threads of +thought were entangled in his brain. +</p> + +<p> +"I think it's so romantic, don't you know, for you +two to get married and come right here when the +hotel is so disrupted," gushed the widow. +</p> + +<p> +"Very romantic," acquiesced Ryder grimly. +</p> + +<p> +"You two poor babes in the woods. No! I'm +going to call you Romeo and Juliet," she declared. +"I'm sure the opportunity for your husband to be +a romantic knight," looking at Ruth, "is just as +good in this hotel under present conditions as he +would have found in the days of the Montagues and +Capulets. +</p> + +<p> +"He has surely rescued one lone dame in distress—that's +me!" and she laughed with a heartiness that +shook her ponderous figure. "There are dragons +to kill now, too. I understand that one man here in +the hotel has bought up all the lamps and candles +in town and refuses to let us have any save at an +exorbitant price." +</p> + +<p> +"How mean!" murmured Ruth, trying to be +polite while Ryder smiled behind his napkin. +</p> + +<p> +"Isn't it? I mean to get back to my rooms so +that Marie can undress me before the lights are +put out. I don't know what I would do in the dark." +</p> + +<p> +"I think it is horrid of anybody to take advantage +of our necessities in such a way as this," Ruth said +thoughtfully. "Fancy being at the mercy of a +man who would be mean enough to corner the lighting +of the world—and if he'd corner the lighting of +a single hotel I suppose he would a deal rather +found a Universal Lighting Trust." +</p> + +<p> +The little joke which he was having all to +himself put Ryder in a better humor. Mrs. Judson +grew more animated, and Ruth did her best to +make the impromptu occasion pleasant. +</p> + +<p> +"Just think! this is a bridal supper," simpered +Mrs. Judson. "We ought to celebrate—just a +little. It's wicked, I know, to think of champagne at +such a time. But we must have something +more sparkling than water to drink this pretty +lady's health in. If you will allow me, +Mr.—er—Romeo——" +</p> + +<p> +"I could not think of your ordering anything at +my table," said Ryder with an involuntary frown. +"But if you ladies would enjoy a glass of wine we +will have some, of course." +</p> + +<p> +"Now, that is gallant of you," cried the widow, +forseeing a luxury that she loved, but seldom paid +for. "When poor dear Horace was alive we had +it often for dinner. He was inordinately fond of +the good things of life." +</p> + +<p> +"But his taste in wives was not very select," +thought John Ryder, his disgust growing. +</p> + +<p> +Ruth had crimsoned, but her signal to Ryder to +order no wine was unheeded. To tell the truth he +was a little piqued. It was Ruth's fault that they +were in this situation. She had made friends first +with Mrs. Judson. +</p> + +<p> +But when the waiter brought the bucket of ice +in which nestled a quart bottle, the very +atmosphere about their table seemed to be enlivened. +The widow's dusky cheek soon glowed, her eyes +sparkled, and her vivacity seemed to increase with +the good things placed before her. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder noted, too, that Ruth's eyes held in their +depths a sparkle—a point of fire—that had not +been there before. And those eyes, brilliant at one +moment and the next swimming as though in unshed +tears, rested upon his countenance most of the +time. Her smile was for him. She played the +hostess prettily; but her attention, after all, was +for her husband, and the color came and went in +her cheeks in a manner most charming. +</p> + +<p> +She was a woman in love—in love with the man +she had married—with every thought of her soul +and every fibre of her being. +</p> + +<p> +A realization of this fact swept from the chambers +of her husband's mind every atom of suspicion. +No woman could look at a man as Ruth looked at +him and withhold in her secret heart any mystery +that might bring shame upon him or disaster to +herself. +</p> + +<p> +"Romeo, you are a lucky man," whispered the +widow, tapping him on the arm with the expressive +lorgnette and leaning forward to put her full, red +lips close to his ear, but with her laughing eyes on +Ruth's face to see how the bride took another +woman's familiarity with her husband. "She loves +you as one woman in a thousand ever loves her husband." +</p> + +<p> +"I am a lucky man," repeated Ryder, though +more to himself than to the cynical widow. +</p> + +<p> +The latter shook a playful—and diamond +bedewed—finger at Ruth. "You are giving him a +great advantage, Juliet. Let a man once realize that +you love him so devotedly, and he'll ride rough shod +over your heart. It's always the way," and she +sighed heavily—"though," thought John Ryder, +"the sigh may be caused more by the supper she has +eaten than by any sentimental emotion." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, Juliet," rambled on the wined, and consequently +quite happy, Mrs. Judson, "take the advice +of a woman of experience, and do not give your +heart too completely into any man's keeping. I am +not old—oh, no! for we women who live and love +do not grow old—but I have lived more years than +have you, sweet girl, and I have loved—and been +loved," she simpered, "and I tell you it is always +better to keep the driving hand." +</p> + +<p> +Ruth shivered in disgust. Ryder kept a stony +face and began to eat the meal before him, which +before he had scarcely touched. +</p> + +<p> +"Do you see that woman over there?" suddenly +questioned Mrs. Judson. "They say she is the most +abominable——" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, Mrs. Judson," and this time Ruth spoke +with decision, "in time we shall learn to know our +fellow guests perhaps. Tonight let us talk about +things—not people;" and with a power rare in so +young and inexperienced a person, she kept the talk +from again wandering to personalities or to +sentimentalities. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder ignored the suggestion of any more wine, +and the widow finally bethought her of the fact that +the lights might go out soon and leave her in the +dark. So the little supper party broke up. +</p> + +<p> +Almost everybody else had left the room save a +young woman whom Ryder had noticed before—a +plainly dressed, freckled, sharp-featured girl, who +ate alone at a table near the door. That is, she was +supposed to eat; but in reality she read most +diligently a rather dingy paper covered pamphlet that +was folded into small compass beside her plate. +</p> + +<p> +As Ryder and his party passed out he saw the +girl devouring the story she was reading with a +mouthful from her plate poised on her fork. So +eager was she over the book, and so excited, that +she gestured with this mouthful, jabbing the fork +to and fro as though duelling with an imaginary +enemy and feeling within herself, without doubt, +all the emotions of the characters in the fiction she +was perusing. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Judson, now in a very happy state, indented +Ryder's ribs with an irritating thumb, and +whispered shrilly: "Do you know who she is?" +</p> + +<p> +"I haven't the pleasure of the young lady's +acquaintance." +</p> + +<p> +"She's the house detective," giggled the heavy +lady. "Isn't she funny? She's reading a five-cent +detective thriller. She gave me a pile of them to +read once. She says—he, he!—they feed the +imagination." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder looked back at the plain-featured girl. She +was still waving the mouthful on her fork, wrapped +in her novel, as he and the two women of his party +went on to the elevator. He left Ruth and +Mrs. Judson to go up in that while he went for a final +conference with George and the steward before +retiring himself. The porters had fixed the bracket +lamps in the main corridors of the hotel (and there +were none too many) while one was at the clerk's +desk and was already lighted. +</p> + +<p> +"Back to the days of our grandfathers," said +George, grinning. "'The light of other +days.' Say! some of these fellows, Mr. Ryder, are +frothing at the mouth about you." +</p> + +<p> +"I thought Colonel Brack——" +</p> + +<p> +"Not him. The old boy's been taken off to his +own room by his wife. That lady is of the salt of +the earth, and she knows just how to handle +Aurelius. She's been handling him for a good many +years. He's nowhere near such a 'howling wolf' +in his own coral as he appears outside. +</p> + +<p> +"But some of the others——" +</p> + +<p> +He halted, for Jimson, the man with the invalid +wife, suddenly appeared in a glow of indignation, +and George let him speak for himself. +</p> + +<p> +"See here, Mr. Ryder," he sputtered, "I am +not challenging your right to make money out of +our necessity—that seems to be your business," +and he sneered so that it must have hurt him. "But +at least you should have some humanity—some +bowels of compassion. My wife is ill and almost +helpless; the last time I was up there the rooms were +already becoming chilled because of the decreased +steam pressure. +</p> + +<p> +"You positively must let me have one of those +stoves Al has there in the storeroom. I don't care +what you want for it. I'll pay. I <i>must</i> have one." +</p> + +<p> +"They are not for sale, Mr. Jimson," Ryder +responded coldly. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Ryder, this is outrageous! I will give you +ten dollars for one of those stoves." +</p> + +<p> +"That would be only about fifty per cent. profit +on the large stoves, Mr. Jimson. Do you think you +would care to do that if you were in my place?" +</p> + +<p> +"I—I'll give you twenty—fifty dollars, then," +Jimson blurted out. +</p> + +<p> +Here George interfered. The clerk seemed +really put out with little Jimson. +</p> + +<p> +"You should take a walk around and cool off, +Mr. Jimson—and Colonel Brack, too. Some of you +have been insulting Mr. Ryder for two hours, and +jawing your heads off about what he's done. And +you don't <i>know</i> what he's done." +</p> + +<p> +"Eh?" bristled Jimson, yet puzzled. +</p> + +<p> +"He has done what none of the rest of you had +public spirit enough to do," went on the hotel clerk. +"If anybody pays him for what he has laid out for +the comfort of the guests of this hotel it will be the +Barnaby estate, when this trouble is finally +straightened out. Five minutes ago, Mr. Jimson, +Mr. Ryder had one of the largest oil heaters he bought +and a nice reading lamp sent up to your wife." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, by Jove! I—I thought—— I didn't understand——" +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Jimson's words rambled off into a stammering +monologue. Ryder had handed George back +the list he had been looking over. "That will be +about all, I guess," he said. "I'm going to turn in. +Good-night!" and ignoring the apologizing Jimson +he made for the stairway. +</p> + +<p> +The dining-room was closed. The last elevator +boy came out of his cage and locked the door. The +hands of the clock in the foyer lacked but a few +minutes of midnight. +</p> + +<p> +"Gentlemen," said the clerk from his station at +the desk. "The dynamos will run but ten minutes +longer. The café is closed for the night. I advise +you to go to your rooms." +</p> + +<p> +The sharp-faced girl whom Ryder had noticed in +the dining-room had taken up her station near the +foot of the stairs. She had the folded paper novel +in her hand. She looked particularly wideawake, +and the literary pabulem she so enjoyed might +indeed spur her imagination. She was evidently on +duty for the night. +</p> + +<p> +"Gad!" exclaimed one man. "We might as well +be stopping at a Mills' Hotel. They send you to +bed with the chickens," and with laughter and jest +the company slowly broke up. +</p> + +<p> +The telephone buzzed at the clerk's elbow. He +took down the receiver, listened a moment, and then +spoke to the house detective: +</p> + +<p> +"Miss Solomons, you're wanted in Parlor A." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder, in serious mood, was already climbing +the stairs. The young woman passed him like a +shot, and still he was not aroused from his reverie. +He was tired. His work for the comfort of the +hotel guests was done, and he uttered a sigh of +satisfaction at the thought. There was positively +nothing else that could happen to balk his desire +to be alone with his wife. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap10"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER X +<br><br> +THE BEGINNING OF A NIGHTMARE +</h3> + +<p> +Coming to Parlor A on his way to his apartment, +Ryder saw lights and heard a buzz of excited voices. +He saw the house detective, and stopped a moment +to see what had brought her here in such haste. +</p> + +<p> +Drawn into a corner at the end of the room near +the huge picture of "The Cheesemonger" was an +invalid's chair, which the colored man, James, had +evidently just made up as a bed for his crotchety +master. And there was old Cudger, in a blanket +robe, nightcap, and carpet slippers, wrathfully +facing three women who, so Ryder thought, should +have long since been in bed. +</p> + +<p> +Eying both parties stood the sharp-featured Miss +Solomons, her novel in one hand, the other on her +hip and her head on one side. The chatter of the +women, the grumbling of Cudger, and the chuckling +of James, who seemed to find much amusement in +the situation, made little impression upon the +phenomenal calm of the house detective. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, then!" the latter said at last, "let's get +this thing straight. Mr. Cudger has permission +to sleep here to watch his oil painting tonight. +What are you ladies doin' here? Lights'll go out +in two minutes anyway." +</p> + +<p> +"It is disgraceful!" ejaculated one woman, a +hard-featured person with glasses and a "transformation" +that did not match her back hair in color. +"This man coming into the ladies' parlor in his +nightclothes——" +</p> + +<p> +"Ha! Don't expect me to sleep in my day clothes, +do you?" snapped Mr. Cudger. +</p> + +<p> +"What are you ladies here for?" reiterated the +sharp voice of Miss Solomons. "I ask you." +</p> + +<p> +"We were holding a committee meeting—a very +important meeting," said the hard-featured one. +"You know very well, young woman, that the +Society for the Betterment of the Condition of +Delinquent Girls will hold their convention here +next week. We are the advance committee of the +S.B.C.D.G. +</p> + +<p> +"All right," interrupted Miss Solomons. "But +you had better advance right to bed, ladies. Lights +out in one minute. Talk it over in the morning. +Mr. Cudger has the call on this parlor tonight." +</p> + +<p> +"But I tell you, young woman, we have a right +to hold our meeting here, no matter what the time +is," cried the militant lady. +</p> + +<p> +"In the dark?" exclaimed the house detective. +"No, ma'am!" and she advanced upon the three +much as she might have upon a flock of chickens, +literally shooing them out of the parlor. +</p> + +<p> +But once in the hall the women stopped to parley +some more. +</p> + +<p> +"Miss Solomons, this is a perfect outrage—an +outrage not to be permitted in a well-ordered house, +such as the Pinewood Inn is supposed to be," +stormed the hard-featured woman, and there was +the ring of war in her voice. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, Mrs. Dent," put in the oily voice of a +large brawny woman, another of the three ejected +committee women, "Miss Solomons is not to blame. +Miss Solomons, no doubt, is deeply interested in +our work"—Miss Solomons sniffed and the woman +with the "transformation" glared angrily at the +house detective—"but this awful Bangs——" +</p> + +<p> +"Miss Solomons is to blame!" interrupted +Mrs. Dent, in a hard, decisive tone. "If she had the +judgment of a kitten——" +</p> + +<p> +"Now, see here, ladies!" flared out the house +detective, "we're not a-goin' to have any meanderings +around the hallways in the dark this night. There +go the lights now. You go, and go now!" +</p> + +<p> +The women scuttled away without further words, +and Miss Solomons disappeared in the darkness. +</p> + +<p> +John Ryder, vastly amused, changed his opinion +then and there regarding the appointment of a +woman for such a position as Miss Solomons held. +No man could have handled this situation with such +vigor and promptness. +</p> + +<p> +A smile wreathed his lips as he went on to his +own door. Along the corridor before him, now +illumined only by an occasional bracket lamp, he saw +flitting the lighted candles of the other late guests +seeking their beds. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder opened the door of his suite expecting to +see a picture similar to the one he had observed +when he had come to the room before supper. But, +although the lamp he had sent up was burning on +the reading table, Ruth was not present. The room +was empty and the atmosphere of it seemed chill +as he stepped in. +</p> + +<p> +Nor was there a light in the inner room. He +did not hear a sound. Where had his wife gone? +Was she with Mrs. Judson in that lady's rooms? +And where were they? +</p> + +<p> +Ryder was suddenly disgusted again. For +heaven's sake! couldn't Ruth break away from that +woman? And after the experience they had had +with her at the supper table, too! +</p> + +<p> +He had heard certain of his married acquaintances +occasionally curse the interference of some +"woman friend" in the otherwise quiet pool of +their domesticity. Was he going to butt up against +something like that at the very start? It could not +be possible that Ruth was enamored of the society +of such a woman as the vulgar Mrs. Judson! +</p> + +<p> +He turned up the wick of the lamp and strode +with it to the door of the bedroom, flinging back +the hangings. Instantly the light flooded the chamber, +and a prettily disheveled figure started up out +of a nest of pillows. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! I was napping!" she cried with a tremulous +little laugh. "What a bad girl I am! You were +so long, Johnny, and I was so sleepy. It must +be very late." +</p> + +<p> +She had made ready for the night. Her beautiful +hair was in two thick plaits over her shoulders—those +shoulders so white and soft and beautifully +curved betrayed by the cut of her nightgown and +the lacy negligee she had thrown over it. +</p> + +<p> +As she slipped out of bed he saw her slim bare +ankles, her feet thrust into swansdown slippers. +They were like a child's. She seemed more childish +and appealing to him than she had before. Ryder +felt momentary shame again that he should have +been impatient. +</p> + +<p> +"It is late," he admitted. "I am afraid, Ruth, +you have had a very tiresome evening. This hasn't +been just the sort of a beginning to our married life +that we might wish." +</p> + +<p> +She laughed merrily. "I guess neither of us +imagined a honeymoon like this, dear. I used to +try to think what you would be like after all these +years—and you were so far away, too, John. It—it +was like a dream——" +</p> + +<p> +Ryder had stepped back to replace the lamp upon +the table. He almost dropped it. What was she +saying? But before he could find his voice or +move from the spot where surprise had frozen +him, the door which he had failed to lock burst in +and Mrs. Judson, in a state of mind—and of +dishabille—that completely shocked John Ryder, +entered. +</p> + +<p> +<a id="p129"></a> +A large woman in bedroom wrapper and tears +is not a fetching sight. And when she came down +the room like a cyclone and flung herself with +abandon into his arms, he—well, John Ryder +swore! +</p> + +<p class="capcenter"> +<a id="img-129"></a> +<br> +<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-129.jpg" alt="Flung herself with abandon into John Ryder's arms"> +<br> +Flung herself with abandon into John Ryder's arms +</p> + +<p> +Not loud, but deep and with a fervency that +could not be mistaken. She came within an ace +of toppling him over, and he dragged her to the +couch and dropped her there—the springs creaking +a pained objection to her sudden weight. +</p> + +<p> +"Great heavens above!" grumbled the exasperated +Ryder. "What's the matter with the creature +now?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, what is it?" asked Ruth from the chamber, +and he heard the patter of her slippered feet as she +ran to the door. +</p> + +<p> +"It's your friend, Mrs. Judson," said the harassed +bridegroom with disgust. "She's come in here to +have a fit—or something." Then to himself he +added: "Why in hades didn't I lock that door? +But she'd have busted it in and come right through. +Talk about a honeymoon! Ye gods! was ever a +man——" +</p> + +<p> +Here he was startled by Mrs. Judson's hysterical +acrobatics. She was gasping and crying and laughing, +all at once. Her state was plainly volcanic. +</p> + +<p> +"What the deuce is to be done with her?" he +demanded of his wife. +</p> + +<p> +Ruth brushed him aside and took charge of the +patient, whom he had been trying to hold down +upon the cushions by main force. +</p> + +<p> +"The ammonia bottle—on the bureau in +there—quick!" Ruth commanded, and Ryder ran to obey +like a lamb. +</p> + +<p> +Ruth thrust the unstoppered bottle under +Mrs. Judson's nose. The ammonia almost choked Ryder +when he got a whiff of it; and it brought the widow +up standing and trying to catch her breath. She +had been by no means unconscious, and it flashed +through John Ryder's brain that she might have +heard what he said about her. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Judson choked for a moment, sputtered, +uttered a stifled shriek or two, and then fell to +crying more quietly, but rocking herself to and +fro on the couch and wringing her bejeweled hands. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, I'm hanged!" muttered Ryder. "This is +pretty near the limit!" +</p> + +<p> +Ruth turned to look at him for a moment. Her +eyes suddenly sparkled with merriment and she +shook a playful finger at him. +</p> + +<p> +"You're like other men, I see," she whispered. +"I guess I'm glad. I began to think you were +almost an angel, hubby." +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Judson monopolized her attention then. She +began to pour out a tale of woe that Ryder could +scarcely understand; but it seemed Marie had left +her—had run away while she was at supper—and +had gone with some of the hotel help in a wagon +back into the country where there was a station on +another railroad—a long and toilsome journey, but +anything to get away from a hotel that had no heat +or electric lights! +</p> + +<p> +"And she's robbed me—I know she has! Of +course she has! Don't you say she hasn't!" chattered +the large lady, her bosom heaving, threatening +to go into another convulsion. "Send for Miss +Solomons. She must find my brooches—my +rings—my necklace——" +</p> + +<p> +"Who is Miss Solomons?" asked Ruth wonderingly. +</p> + +<p> +"The house detective," said Ryder, and was very +glad thereafter that he said no more, for a cold +voice at the open door of the suite said clearly: +</p> + +<p> +"What's going on here? Who wants Miss +Solomons?" +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Judson had gone waveringly on to another +phase of her trouble. "And I tried to undress +myself; but I didn't dare go to bed. And then the +lights went out and—and——" +</p> + +<p> +She trailed off again into spasmodic cries. Miss +Solomons marched down the room to where the +bridegroom and his bride were endeavoring to +pacify the large lady. +</p> + +<p> +"Huh!" sniffed the house detective, high disgust +expressed upon her keen face. "It's that Judson +woman. What's the matter with her now?" +</p> + +<p> +The question, Ryder thought, was to the point. +At that moment Mrs. Judson's gyrations reminded +him of those of an eel upon a hot frying pan. +Personally he was becoming frightened. +</p> + +<p> +"Shouldn't she have a doctor?" he demanded. +</p> + +<p> +"A barrel stave would do her more good," +declared Miss Solomons harshly. +</p> + +<p> +"If I had a little aromatic spirits I'd fix her!" +exclaimed Ruth, biting her lower lip either to stifle +a desire to laugh or to cry, Ryder could not tell +which. +</p> + +<p> +"Doctor!" sniffed the house detective, glaring +at the hysterical woman. +</p> + +<p> +But Ryder rushed to the telephone and called the +office. George answered at once. +</p> + +<p> +"Mrs. Judson is ill—here in our rooms," Ryder +said. "Isn't there a doctor in the neighborhood?" +</p> + +<p> +"There's one in the house. I'll send Dr. Hoyle +right up, Mr. Ryder," said the clerk. +</p> + +<p> +"Hoyle won't thank you for troubling him," Miss +Solomons sneered. But as Mrs. Judson began on +another spasm she did not leave Ruth all the work +of holding the large lady upon the couch. +</p> + +<p> +"My soul! this is awful!" groaned Ryder, coming +back just as Mrs. Judson began another series +of convulsions, for which indulgence in public she +was not dressed exactly right. +</p> + +<p> +"Say!" exclaimed the house detective to Ryder. +"This is no place for a man. You had better go." +</p> + +<p> +"Hang it!" groaned Ryder, realizing that Miss +Solomons was right, and starting for the door +again. "Why couldn't she have gone somewhere +else to have her fit?" +</p> + +<p> +Just then the doctor's welcome knock sounded. +Ryder let him in. The medical man appeared, +candle in one hand and his black case in the other. +The ridiculousness of walking about this big hotel +carrying a candle stuck into the neck of a whisky +bottle did not appear to strike any of them at the +moment as humorous. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Hoyle was a young but very businesslike +practitioner. He handed his candle to Ryder, strode +down the room, and sat down beside the widow, +one end of whom each of the other women was +trying to hold to the couch. +</p> + +<p> +"Half a glass of water, please," he said to Ruth. +"Let her go, Miss Solomons. She isn't going to +kick any more now." +</p> + +<p> +"Gee!" gasped the house detective, getting up +from her knees and striking her usual attitude, one +hand on her hip and the other clutching the paper +novel. +</p> + +<p> +The doctor selected a vial from his case, dropped +a little of its contents into the water, which +instantly turned the water cloudy and white; then +held the glass to the patient's lips. +</p> + +<p> +"Drink this," he commanded. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Judson's jaws seemed to be locked and her +eyes were tightly closed. She breathed stertorously. +Ryder, looking on from afar, was actually frightened. +If that woman dared to die in this room—— +</p> + +<p> +"Drink this, Mrs. Judson!" said the doctor again. +</p> + +<p> +No result. Then the professional man leaned +forward, with the glass still at her lips, and, seizing +the large lady's nose, deliberately wrung it! The +seemingly fixed jaws unlocked instantly and +Mrs. Judson uttered an entirely different cry from her +former painful sounds. +</p> + +<p> +"Gee!" sighed Miss Solomons again, but with +satisfaction. "This is no place for us, Mister. +Come on! Dr. Hoyle can manage her without our +help," and she started for the door. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap11"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER XI +<br><br> +THE NIGHTMARE CONTINUES +</h3> + +<p> +"Drink this!" the doctor said again to the large +lady, and, choking and sputtering, Mrs. Judson did +as she was told. Ryder looked on in amazement. +Ruth, seeing his face, and Miss Solomon's back +being turned, broke into a giggle and cast herself +helplessly into Ryder's arms. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! you funny, funny man!" she murmured. +"I like to see a doctor work over a woman with +hysterics—they know 'em so well!" +</p> + +<p> +The house detective stalked out, leaving the door +of the suite open. Ryder did not know whether +to follow her or remain. Mrs. Judson was evidently +determined not to give up the role of patient too +easily. She caught the hand that had so cruelly +wrung her nose and begged the doctor not to leave +her. +</p> + +<p> +He said he would not—in that sympathetically +disgusted tone that medical men use on such occasions. +He felt himself in a foolish position, and +another man was looking on. +</p> + +<p> +"Your husband, Madam?" he asked Ruth shortly, +nodding toward Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," she said with a blush. +</p> + +<p> +"Better ask him to retire while we get Mrs. Judson +to bed. She has had these attacks before. +She will not be over this one in a hurry." Then he +added in a lower tone: "What's the matter now? +Is her lapdog sick?" +</p> + +<p> +"Her maid has left her," Ruth said, having hard +work, as Ryder saw, to keep from laughing. But +he felt no desire to laugh himself. Undress that +woman and put her to bed <i>here</i>? John Ryder was +getting desperate. This nightmare of untoward +incidents was altogether too much for his self-control. +</p> + +<p> +"That's a serious matter," grunted the doctor. +"Neither of us will get much rest tonight if +Mrs. Judson follows her usual course. Perhaps you +can get somebody to help you, Madam——" +</p> + +<p> +"I am used to nursing sick people," Ruth told him +demurely. "I can follow your instructions exactly, +Doctor. In fact, I have had considerable experience +in nursing. In the present state of the hotel's +affairs it might be difficult to get a maid." +</p> + +<p> +"I suppose that is so," the medical man admitted. +"Well, the first thing to do is to get her into bed." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder, who felt that he never, on short acquaintance, +had so disliked a man as he did this physician, +had edged off to the further end of the room. Ruth +came to him, still with laughter expressed in her +quivering face and voice. +</p> + +<p> +"You are only a 'mere man'—you cannot stay +here, hubby," she whispered, putting her lips up to +his. "You will have to go out until we get +Mrs. Judson into my bed. Then—if she gets quiet—you +may come back. I will sit up to tend to her and you +can nap on the couch. But don't go too far +away." +</p> + +<p> +"Why, hang it, Ruth!" he complained, not at all +the business man now, "can't she be lugged back +to her own room?" +</p> + +<p> +"But that would be cruel. She was frightened +there, because she was alone and the lights went out. +<i>I</i> should have to go with her, you know. Come +now! be knightly, Mr. Romeo," she added, her +voice trailing off into a laugh as she pushed him +gently out of the room. +</p> + +<p> +John Ryder walked away about ten steps. Then +he stopped, and smote one clenched fist into his +other open palm. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, I am hanged!" he ejaculated, and with +fervor, "Some honeymoon! What? +</p> + +<p> +"For a man to be turned out of his rooms at this +hour of the night, and for a confounded, silly, +hysterical old woman! Bah!" +</p> + +<p> +John Ryder drew out a cigar, bit off the end +savagely and lit it in direct contradiction to hotel +rules, and puffed away like a donkey engine while +he paced the carpeted corridor. +</p> + +<p> +He was no longer the man with the welfare of his +fellow guests at heart—particularly of the women +and children in Pinewood Inn. He was tired, he +was sleepy, and he had had enough excitement to +last him for some time to come. +</p> + +<p> +The procession of incidents which had enlivened +his existence since the <i>Minnequago</i> had docked +were flung upon the screen of his memory again, +and he reviewed them like a spectator at a moving +picture show. +</p> + +<p> +He remembered in what a nervous state he +awaited the steamship's docking, expecting some +word from the beautiful girl whom he had learned +to love during the passage across the Atlantic. +</p> + +<p> +Having not seen her to speak to for some hours, +he had half feared to have her accept his proposal, +now that he had made it. But the instant he saw +her on the wharf awaiting his coming, he had flung +all such hesitation and uncertainty to the winds. +She seemed in her appearance all that was good and +beautiful. +</p> + +<p> +Then followed in swift succession the obtaining +of the license, his own jumbled business at his +offices, the drive to the minister's, the marriage +ceremony, their hurried departure by train, their +arrival at the Pinewood Inn in safety despite the +accident at the bridge, their cozy little dinner, and +then—— +</p> + +<p> +In more somber colors followed the chain of +circumstances which had finally culminated in his +present plight. Was ever a bridegroom up against +such confounded luck? +</p> + +<p> +Some honeymoon, indeed! +</p> + +<p> +He tried to laugh; but his position was too serious, +and his laugh was choked off by the time it was +started. He swore softly again and paced on down +the hallway. Coming to the door of the parlor, he +looked in. +</p> + +<p> +Old Cudger was asleep in the invalid's chair +with a rug thrown over him. Candles, in saucers +for sconces, burned before the picture, all other +lights in the room being extinguished. Marching +up and down the rug like a sentinel with his +master's gold-headed cane upon his shoulder, was +James, the colored factotum of the owner of Van +Scamp's "Cheesemonger." +</p> + +<p> +"It does look as though the hotel were in a state +of siege," muttered Ryder. "It's an experience that +none of us will forget for many a long day. Heigh +ho! I wish I'd never come into the ranch," and +he stretched his arms above his head and yawned. +"This isn't my idea of a nice, quiet honeymoon." +</p> + +<p> +At this end of the parlor the shadows were heavy. +But Ryder saw the outlines of several comfortable +looking chairs. Plowing up and down the corridor +waiting for Ruth to call him back, began to pall +upon his mind. He ventured into the big room. +</p> + +<p> +His feet made no sound upon the rugs. James +marched back and forth in perfect unconsciousness +of his presence. Ryder made his way to a big, +sleepy-hollow chair, fumbled for the arms, found +them, and sank back restfully into—some other +person's lap! +</p> + +<p> +It would be hard telling whether John Ryder or +the person in the easy chair, was the most startled. +The former leaped up with a surprised grunt. The +other darted out of the chair and, before the man +could get more than a yard away, he felt the end +of a revolver thrust right against his waistline! +</p> + +<p> +"Hold on!" hissed an excited voice. "What you +doing here? Trying to get fresh with me, or are +you just a ninny?" +</p> + +<p> +John Ryder, had he not been for the moment +speechless, would certainly have owned to the final +accusation. "Ninny" it was! If he were not one, +he certainly would not be wandering about this +hotel instead of peaceably occupying the suite for +which he was paying thirty dollars a day. +</p> + +<p> +"March out there under the lamp till I get a look +at you! Quick now!" jerked out the person with +the weapon. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder began to do as he was told—backward. +He could see the lighted end of the room. James, +his face graying with fear, was squatting down behind +the invalid chair in which his sleeping master +reclined. Evidently the row at the upper end of the +room had startled the negro more than it had the +two who were taking part in it. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder's brusk antagonist jerked him swiftly +around into the corridor, under the nearest bracket +lamp. +</p> + +<p> +"Hugh!" exclaimed Miss Solomons. "So it's +you? I've had my eye on you for some time. What +you doing here, anyway? And what you doin' +back there in those rooms where that Judson had a +fit? You one of her friends? What's your name?" +</p> + +<p> +"I am Mr. Ryder," he told the house detective +mildly, noting that the paper novel was still clutched +fast in her left hand. +</p> + +<p> +She grunted, tucking the revolver out of sight. +Evidently, whatever she suspected John Ryder of, +she did not consider him dangerous. +</p> + +<p> +"Ryder, heh?" jerked out the house detective. +"Same one that beat 'em all to the lamps and +candles? Not a crook, then. Anyway, not a <i>little</i> +crook. What you doin' in those rooms just now?" +she repeated. "Mrs. Judson still there?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," Ryder said with vast disgust. "They are +putting her to bed. Turned me out." +</p> + +<p> +"And why not?" snapped Miss Solomons. "You +didn't expect to stay there all night, did you?" +</p> + +<p> +"Why not?" Ryder demanded with sudden vexation. +"I'm paying for them." +</p> + +<p> +"That may be. I don't doubt it," the house +detective said sharply. "But we don't allow anything +like that here." +</p> + +<p> +She gave Ryder a little shove toward the stairs, +and turned abruptly back into the parlor. +</p> + +<p> +"All right, Je-eames!" he heard her drawl to the +colored man. "No gun-play this time. Come out +and do your goose-step up and down the rug. And +if anybody else blunders in here while I'm napping, +keep 'em out of my lap, will you?" +</p> + +<p> +To tell the truth John Ryder was so utterly +amazed that he could not reply to the house +detective. He scarcely knew what she meant by her +innuendo; yet he felt rising anger. She seemed to +have doubted the status of Ruth and himself as a +properly wedded pair! +</p> + +<p> +Nightmare? It was a saturnalia of misunderstanding +and vexing incidents! John Ryder would +have been glad right then and there to take Ruth +and escape from the Pinewood Inn, even if they +had to walk through the night to some other shelter. +Later he wished with all his heart that he had +done just that. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap12"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER XII +<br><br> +SOME EXPERIENCES OF A BRIDEGROOM +</h3> + +<p> +John Ryder, just here, hearing voices and +laughter—even the clink of glasses—from the floor +below, felt a desire for human society—for speech with +sane people. His mind was in such a chaotic +condition that he was not sure whether these recent +remarkable incidents had really happened to him, +or he had dreamed them. +</p> + +<p> +He arrived at the top of the broad flight leading +down to the foyer. There were candles glimmering +at the clerk's desk beside the bracket lamp, and +several of the guests were keeping George company. +Jimson was one; there were three men whom Ryder +had not before particularly noticed; and there was +White, the man of mystery. The latter was sitting +rather sullenly with the others, sipping some +concoction in a tall glass—which, indeed, they were +all doing. +</p> + +<p> +If for no other reason than to get a closer look +at John B. White, Ryder joined the party. He was +welcomed vociferously by the clerk. Jimson +considered it was up to him to pacify the man he had +so foolishly and impulsively insulted. +</p> + +<p> +"Hope you'll let me mix you one, Mr. Ryder," +Jimson said. "Just to show there's no hard +feelings, you know." +</p> + +<p> +"Go ahead," Ryder said, conscious that White +was watching him with clouded eyes. Indeed, the +man seemed unable to keep his gaze off John Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +"How's Mrs. Judson?" asked George, with a +knowing grin. +</p> + +<p> +"Confound her!" ejaculated the bridegroom. +"She's turned me out of house and home." +</p> + +<p> +"Ho, ho! And you a newly married man!" +cackled one of the crowd. +</p> + +<p> +"On his honeymoon," said Jimson. Then he +blew a sigh. "Well, it might be worse, Mr. Ryder. +You don't know what it is to have an invalid wife." +</p> + +<p> +"Or a heavyweight, like the Lady Judson," +chuckled another. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder showed he was not deeply interested in +these witticisms. George said rather lamely: +</p> + +<p> +"Well, a man's got to make way for the ladies." +</p> + +<p> +"Especially when they are hysterical," Jimson +added. "I remember when my wife——" +</p> + +<p> +He started on a story that did not interest Ryder +in the least. He was the host—it was his private +bottle they were sampling—so the clerk and all but +White and Ryder gave the narrator some attention. +</p> + +<p> +White rose up suddenly and tapped John Ryder +on the shoulder. "I beg your pardon, Mr.—er—did +I catch your name?" +</p> + +<p> +"Ryder." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah! Mr. Ryder!" The man spoke rather gaspingly, +as though something interfered with his +breathing. He gazed at Ryder with eyes that burned +strangely. Altogether he did not seem in good +health, and again Ryder wondered if he was quite +right in his mind. Perhaps ill health might explain +his odd actions, after all. +</p> + +<p> +"I feel I owe you an apology—an explanation," +said White, still in a low voice. "Will—will you +come over here a moment—to this bench? Give +me your attention briefly?" +</p> + +<p> +"Guess I can," said Ryder. "There seems nothing +much pressing on my time just now," he added +grimly, and followed White to the gloomier side +of the office where the two men seated themselves +on one of the leather-covered divans just under the +stairway. +</p> + +<p> +"You see," said White, still in that stifled tone. +"I—I came down here expecting to intercept—that +is, to meet—er—friends. I followed her down +here—— Ahem! Them, I mean; and I couldn't +find——" +</p> + +<p> +His voice trailed off into silence, while Ryder +watched him in the dusk with reviving interest. +There was surely something wrong with this man's +brain. If ever John Ryder had seen a man with +beclouded mind, John B. White was that man. +</p> + +<p> +"And I saw—saw your—er—wife," went on +White. "She looked so like—well, like what I +thought my friend—one of my friends—would +look——" +</p> + +<p> +"My wife looks like somebody you know?" Ryder +asked in that loud and cheerful tone which +the average person uses in addressing one who he +thinks is not mentally balanced. +</p> + +<p> +"Ye-es. As I thought she'd look. And her +name——" +</p> + +<p> +"What name?" demanded Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +White ignored the question. "You see, I've +been away so long," he murmured. "I didn't know +just how she would look. We had never exchanged +photographs in all that time." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder glanced at him curiously. "You come +from Rome, the clerk tells me?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," admitted the man, looking startled again. +"I—I only recently arrived in the country." +</p> + +<p> +"Recently arrived from an insane asylum, more +like," thought John Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +"And, then, your wife," reiterated White. +"You—you haven't been married to her long?" +</p> + +<p> +"I should say not!" groaned Ryder. "Not long +enough to get used to being a married man. We +were only married yesterday." +</p> + +<p> +"Not married <i>here</i>?" gasped White. +</p> + +<p> +"No. In New York. Just before coming here," +replied Ryder, wonderingly. "And I wish heartily +we hadn't come here. We're in a nice mess." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes—unfortunate," said White. "Your case +is indeed unhappy. A bridegroom and bride. Dear, +dear!" +</p> + +<p> +Ryder still gazed at him wonderingly. "If ever +I have seen a man who has slipped his trolley, this +White is that man!" he thought. +</p> + +<p> +"I—I suppose you and Mrs. Ryder had looked +forward to a very different sort of a honeymoon?" +said White, bending forward to devour his +companion's face in the dusk, his own eyes glowing +in the wild way which had already attracted Ryder's +notice. +</p> + +<p> +"Indeed yes," Ryder admitted, with a chuckle, the +drink Jimson had mixed for him having had a +soothing effect. "But we were neither of us +thinking of honeymoons when we embarked on the +<i>Minnequago</i>." +</p> + +<p> +The man started. "You—you mean when you +embarked on the ship? You only landed from her +yesterday morning?" +</p> + +<p> +"That is when she docked," the puzzled Ryder +replied. "We were married not long after. My +wife, you see, is an English girl——" +</p> + +<p> +"An English girl! Yes?" A faint tone of +disappointment colored the remark. White subsided +for a moment into deep thought. Suddenly, as +Ryder was about to rise, the other clutched his arm +feverishly. "I beg your pardon! One other +question—if you will bear with me, Mr. Ryder. +Will—will you tell me your wife's name? +</p> + +<p> +"Why, Ryder!" ejaculated the other. +</p> + +<p> +"I—I mean before she was married?" +</p> + +<p> +"Mont—Ruth Mont," and Ryder broke away +from the man and walked to the desk to set his +empty glass upon the counter. George was telling +a story—one of those interminably long yarns +which begin, "There was an Irishman, and." He +was the only person who was facing the divan on +which White was sitting. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly the clerk's face turned puttylike, and +he stopped, his jaw hanging. He glared over the +shoulders of his audience. +</p> + +<p> +"What's the matter with you?" demanded the +nervous Jimson, jumping up. +</p> + +<p> +"Look there!" exclaimed George. "What's the +matter with that man?" +</p> + +<p> +They all wheeled at his question to look. But +while the others were moved first by White's +appearance, as George had been, Ryder saw the face +of Miss Solomons, the house detective, hanging over +the balustrade of the stairs, just above the place +where he had been sitting with White. She dodged +back out of sight; and then Ryder saw what had +startled the hotel clerk. +</p> + +<p> +White had slid down in his seat, with only the +small of his back resting on its edge, the back of +his head rigidly against the settee back and his legs +stretched stiffly before him. His face was purple +in color and he was gasping for breath. +</p> + +<p> +"The man's in a fit!" cried Jimson. +</p> + +<p> +There was a concerted rush toward White, all +but Ryder joining in the stampede. He remained +by the desk, staring up the stairway and wondering +what was the matter with Miss Solomons, who he +supposed had gone back to her broken sleep in the +parlor chair. +</p> + +<p> +"What the deuce does the girl want?" he thought. +"Was she spying on me or on White? And what is +the matter with White, all of a sudden? What +threw him into such a state? What did he ask me +last? Why! Ruth's maiden name——" +</p> + +<p> +George came charging back to the desk. +</p> + +<p> +"I say, Mr. Ryder! isn't Doctor Hoyle up in your +rooms?" +</p> + +<p> +"I left him there," grumbled Ryder. "He and +my wife are putting that Judson woman to bed." +</p> + +<p> +George tore around the desk to the telephone. He +stuck the proper plug into the board and began to +pump the annunciator in Ryder's apartment. The +other men picked the stiffened White up and laid +him on the couch. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap13"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER XIII +<br><br> +THE EAGLE EYE OF THE HOUSE DETECTIVE +</h3> + +<p> +George began at once to shout "Hullo!" into the +instrument. Finally he got a reply from Suite +Three. It was the doctor himself who answered +the insistent call from the hotel desk. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, this is George!" ejaculated the clerk. +"Come down here to the office at once, Doc. +Something's happened to Mr. White—— +</p> + +<p> +"What is it? I dunno. He's fallen in a +fit—looks awful—face as black as your hat!" +</p> + +<p> +The clerk was excited and he spread it on rather +thick. Still, White did look bad. +</p> + +<p> +George came away from the telephone. "He'll +be right down," he said aloud. "I guess your wife's +scared, Mr. Ryder. I heard her scream." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder was immediately troubled. His own +nerves were jumping. No wonder if Ruth should +become frightened. There was nothing he could +do for White, and he started for the stairway. +Half way up the flight he passed the doctor, bag in +hand, charging down. This was certainly a busy +night for the hotel physician. +</p> + +<p> +And then, as Ryder reached the top of the +stairway, he saw another figure coming along the +corridor—a white-faced, gasping woman, with eyes +like coals, rushing like a whirlwind into his arms—a +whirlwind of laces and ruffles and ribbons, with a +boudoir cap over one ear and her tiny bare feet +twinkling in and out under her trailing robes. +</p> + +<p> +It was Ruth, and she was the picture of fright. +</p> + +<p> +"My heavens!" gasped Ryder, "what's the matter, +girlie? What's frightened you so?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh!" She saw him then and clutched him +tightly about the neck. "I—I thought something +had happened to you. They said so—I heard the +clerk speaking through the 'phone to the doctor——" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, no," said Ryder soothingly. "It was +another man. He was taken ill down there in the +office." He could not tell her, now that she was so +disturbed, that it was the stranger who had already +annoyed her. "Why, sweetheart, don't sob so! +I'm all right. Don't you see I am? Never was +sick a day that I remember in my whole life. You +couldn't——" +</p> + +<p> +He looked over her head, and there was the +sharp face of Miss Solomons at the parlor door. +The sharp eye of the house detective seemed +devouring them both. Ryder felt a shocking desire +to consign both the house detective and Mrs. Judson +to the same place—and that a spot not often +mentioned in polite company. +</p> + +<p> +But to Ruth he murmured: "Brace up, girlie! +It's all right—it's all right, I tell you. You've been +overdoing. This confounded Mrs. Judson has been +too much for you." +</p> + +<p> +She still clung tightly to him, sobbing, her head +buried on his shoulder. He gathered her up in his +arms, holding her yielding body close against his +breast, and carried her swiftly along the corridor. +As he passed the parlor he glared at Miss Solomons. +</p> + +<p> +Once he halted to pick up one of the slippers Ruth +had lost in her flight down the hall. The other +was in the doorway of their suite. He strode in +with her, kicked shut the door, and placed Ruth +tenderly upon the couch. The heavy lady was not +in sight. +</p> + +<p> +"Poor Mrs. Judson!" Ruth gasped. "The doctor +left me to take care of her." +</p> + +<p> +"Hang Mrs. Judson!" exclaimed Ryder. "Is +she to be tied about our necks like a millstone? Is +she our Old Man of the Sea?" +</p> + +<p> +"Sh!" She put her own lips to his. "Don't be +offensive, dear boy!" she gasped after a long +breathless kiss which shook both of them. "She—she +can't help being—well!—being just what she is." +</p> + +<p> +"Humph!" grunted John Ryder with much +doubt. "Where is she?" +</p> + +<p> +"In there," Ruth replied nodding toward the +inner room. "Oh! I am so glad you are all right, +I could forgive Mrs. Judson everything now!" she +whispered, snuggling her face down against his +breast again. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm hanged if I forgive her for spoiling this +night for us," growled he. +</p> + +<p> +"But there are other nights—hundreds of +them—thousands——" +</p> + +<p> +"How do you know?" demanded he. "And we +never saw her in our lives before last evening! By +thunder! this is the unluckiest old hole of a hotel. +I'm almost tempted to ask you to pack up again. +Some honeymoon!" +</p> + +<p> +"But how would we get away from here?" she +asked, wonderingly. "They say there are no +passenger trains on this short line to Pinewood. And +until the bridge is repaired, how can we get to the +station at Barr, on the main line?" +</p> + +<p> +"There is a combination that runs down to the +Junction at eight and another at one o'clock, +besides the evening train," John Ryder said. "Of +course, it is not very luxurious. But you say the +word, and I'll get the telegraph to working in the +morning and we'll have a special sent up here." +</p> + +<p> +"A special what?" she asked in wonderment. +</p> + +<p> +"Special train." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! You foolish boy! How extravagant! +Why, you talk as though you were a millionaire!" +cried Ruth, laughing up into his face. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, I——" +</p> + +<p> +Ryder halted. Did she not know he was very +wealthy? He had not boasted of his money, but +surely, on the <i>Minnequago</i>, he had told her enough +about his circumstances for her to realize that she +had married a very wealthy man. +</p> + +<p> +She was speaking again now, and rather seriously. +"I don't really think I want to go, dear. +Not right away. I want time to look about the old +place. We must walk through the pines—and down +to the inlet where the crabbing used to be so good. +You know the places we want to see, John." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! Do I?" asked John Ryder in growing surprise. +</p> + +<p> +"Of course. Now, don't make believe you are +not sentimental. I know you are," and she squeezed +him tightly about the throat until there was grave +danger of his choking. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder had moved over into a big armchair and +had taken Ruth with him. "So I am sentimental, +am I?" he said. "You seem to know a deal about +me for a man you've seen so short a time." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, but," she responded, "remember how often +I have thought of you since—well, since I was a +tiny girl. I've often imagined just how you'd look +and just the sort of man you'd be." +</p> + +<p> +"The deuce you did!" muttered Ryder. Then: +"Do all girls dream about their future husbands +and wonder what they will look like?" +</p> + +<p> +"I suppose so. Only, all of them are not so sure +of the kind of man he will be as I was." +</p> + +<p> +John Ryder was vastly puzzled again. He gazed +down at her as she lay there in his arms and asked: +"Do—do you think I fill the bill?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, not altogether as to looks, perhaps. You +know, hubby, you are not a bit romantic looking." +and she smiled at him roguishly. +</p> + +<p> +"No. I suppose I am not—thank fortune!" and +he grinned in return. "If I wore my hair long, and +sported a velvet jacket and broad collar, for +instance—— Well! what do you suppose they would +do with me in business?" +</p> + +<p> +"I know. You are awfully practical. That really +is surprising," she murmured. "But the minute +you took my hands and I looked into your +eyes——" +</p> + +<p> +"On the dock, you mean?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, on the dock where I waited for you." +</p> + +<p> +"And <i>then</i>?" +</p> + +<p> +"Why, then I knew I loved you. I wasn't sure +before. If you hadn't been—well—just you, I'd +have run away and you'd never have seen me again, +hubby. I made up my mind to that." +</p> + +<p> +"To run away from me if I didn't suit?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"And yet you sent your trunks to the station +just the same?" and he laughed into her blushing +face. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, but that was only so as to be ready to go +with you if you proved to be as nice as you did. +Otherwise—well, there are other places on the +Pennsylvania Road to go to, besides Pinewood." +</p> + +<p> +"So I measured up, when you had considered +everything, to your idea of what a husband should +be?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, yes, dear! You were all that was to be +desired," and she patted his cheek tenderly. +</p> + +<p> +"Say!" exclaimed Ryder, "I'm not sure I'll be +able to wear my hat tomorrow. I can feel my head +increasing in size momently. You'll make me +conceited." +</p> + +<p> +"No. Only proud." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, I'm the proudest man alive to get you!" +</p> + +<p> +"Now, you mustn't say that. I am just a poor +girl. I would have to work hard for my living all +my life if you hadn't come for me." +</p> + +<p> +"Nobody else, of course, would have taken pity +on you?" he laughed. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, but there could have been nobody else. You +were meant for me. You were the only one." +</p> + +<p> +"I'm glad you saw it that way," he laughed, "and +realized what a stage career meant before it was too +late." +</p> + +<p> +She turned squarely to look at him then, a puzzled +little frown marring her brow. "What—what +did you say?" she asked. +</p> + +<p> +They were both startled the next moment by a +shriek from the inner room. +</p> + +<p> +"Help! I'm—I'm robbed! My rings—my +brooches—my necklace! I know I am robbed!" +</p> + +<p> +It was the hysterical voice of Mrs. Judson. They +heard her bound out of bed. The whole house +seemed to rock when she landed on the bedroom +floor. +</p> + +<p> +"Huh!" ejaculated a sharp voice behind the bride +and bridegroom, "about what I expected." +</p> + +<p> +It was Miss Solomons. How she had got into +the suite Ryder did not ask. His wife had started +for the inner room, crying: +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, poor Mrs. Judson! I really forgot her." +</p> + +<p> +"Heaven forgive me!" groaned the bridegroom, +shaking both fists in the air, as he sat in the +armchair from which his wife had leaped. "I wish that +woman would either be gathered peacefully to her +ancestors, or—or get married again!" +</p> + +<p> +Then he turned to find the eye of the house +detective upon him. +</p> + +<p> +"Huh!" said that individual, "if you dared maybe +you'd add murder to larceny! How about it?" +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap14"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER XIV +<br><br> +SOME SLEUTH +</h3> + +<p> +"Now, stop right where you are," said Miss Solomons, +as John Ryder started to rise. "I'll search +you later—and that woman. I knew there was +somethin' fishy about all this. I was a chump not to +see into it right at the start. Of course Mrs. Judson +is just the sort of a party a pair of crooks would +get their hooks into." +</p> + +<p> +"Say, are you crazy, or am I?" +</p> + +<p> +"Sit down!" +</p> + +<p> +At Ryder's second attempt to rise the house +detective unlimbered her artillery. For the life of +him Ryder could not guess where she could hide +the big revolver about her person, she was so thin. +Holding the weapon recklessly aimed in his direction, +Miss Solomons began to search the sitting-room +scientifically. +</p> + +<p> +In the bed chamber Ruth could be heard soothing +the refractory patient. Mrs. Judson was still +bewailing the loss of her jewelry. +</p> + +<p> +"My rings! My brooches! My necklace!" she +kept repeating, her voice rising in crescendo until +John Ryder thought the whole hotel would be +roused and come crowding into his suite. +</p> + +<p> +"But, Mrs. Judson," Ruth said, when the heavy +lady stopped for breath, "you know you did not +wear your necklace or a brooch here. Only your +rings——" +</p> + +<p> +"My rings! Where are my rings, then?" +demanded the invalid, and the bed-spring creaked +as she dropped upon it again. "I know I have been +robbed!" +</p> + +<p> +"Sure thing!" muttered Miss Solomons, still +holding John Ryder under the point of her weapon +while she poked into the umbrella stand near the +door with his walking stick. +</p> + +<p> +Then Ruth, in a very small voice: "Why, I—I +took them off, Mrs. Judson." +</p> + +<p> +"Ha!" was Miss Solomon's comment, leaving +the umbrella stand. +</p> + +<p> +"What for? My rings!" cried Mrs. Judson. +</p> + +<p> +"The doctor told me to. We wanted to chafe +your hands. I——" +</p> + +<p> +"What did you do with them?" snapped Miss +Solomons, and tore aside the curtain so as to get +a view of the bed chamber. +</p> + +<p> +This time Ryder rose up, pistol or not. +</p> + +<p> +"Come away from there!" he commanded. +</p> + +<p> +"Anybody but an idiot would see that my wife +knows nothing about the woman's rings." +</p> + +<p> +"Your wife? You mean your accomplice," +sneered the house detective. +</p> + +<p> +"By heaven! If you were only a man!" gasped +Ryder, and took a stride toward Miss Solomons. +</p> + +<p> +"This here's loaded," said that woman firmly, +and stuck the barrel of her revolver against his +waistband again. "No foolin' with me. Sit down. +Come on out here, you!" she added over her +shoulder to Ruth. +</p> + +<p> +"Why—why, what is the matter?" the latter +gasped, coming to the doorway. "Oh!" +</p> + +<p> +"What did you do with the rings?" demanded the +house detective. +</p> + +<p> +She was still shoving against the pistol, and +naturally John Ryder fell back before such pressure. +When he dropped into the chair again Ruth +screamed. +</p> + +<p> +"Huh!" exclaimed Miss Solomons, seeing the +direction of Ruth's frightened gaze. "That lamp, +eh? Opened the oil tank and dropped 'em in, did +you? Likely place! But 'tain't new. All you +crooks have the old stuff. Not an original one +among you." +</p> + +<p> +She started for the table, still keeping Ryder +covered. +</p> + +<p> +"What do you want?" gasped Ruth. +</p> + +<p> +"Mrs. Judson's rings," declared Miss Solomons +decisively. +</p> + +<p> +"I dropped them into the doctor's medicine case. +He took them with him when he was called +downstairs," Ruth said and then, blessed with a sense +of the ridiculous, she began to giggle. +</p> + +<p> +The house sleuth halted and looked from Ryder +to his bride. Suspicion seemed fairly to sharpen +her nose as she sniffed. "That's a likely story," +she said. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder took a hand, now having gained his +self-control. "Do give us credit for some originality, +Miss Solomons," he said. "If we have stolen +Mrs. Judson's gems we naturally would have an +accomplice on whom to plant them. Who more likely +than the doctor?" +</p> + +<p> +"Huh!" snorted Miss Solomons. +</p> + +<p> +The doctor himself appeared at the moment +The house detective sprang forward and seized his +black case. +</p> + +<p> +"What have you in this?" she demanded, having +slipped her weapon out of sight. +</p> + +<p> +"Enough poison to even satisfy you, My Lady +Sleuth," remarked Dr. Hoyle, evidently having his +own private opinion of the house detective. "What +mare's nest have you uncovered now?" +</p> + +<p> +"Mrs. Judson's rings have been nicked," observed +Miss Solomons, quite unabashed. +</p> + +<p> +"I—I dropped them into your case," said Ruth +apologetically. +</p> + +<p> +"So you did. Here they are," said the doctor, +flashing the gems in question. "Satisfied, Miss +Solomons? Then, if so, you and this—this gentleman, +here, would better go away. You are likely +to disturb my patient with your noise." +</p> + +<p> +Miss Solomons pulled the folded novel from the +bosom of her blouse. +</p> + +<p> +"All right," she said shortly. +</p> + +<p> +"You'd better go and help James watch Van +Scamp's 'Cheesemonger,'" Ryder observed. "That's +about your limit as a sleuth." +</p> + +<p> +Miss Solomons, without changing countenance in +the least, stalked away. Before the doctor could +escape to the bedroom Ryder said: +</p> + +<p> +"I don't fancy my wife staying here all night +to attend this woman. She has had an exciting +day and evening. You'll have another patient on +your hands if you don't have a care." +</p> + +<p> +Hoyle glanced at Ruth's laughing face and shook +his head. +</p> + +<p> +"Not as long as she sees the funny side of the +situation," he observed. +</p> + +<p> +"It is an imposition!" declared Ryder, with more +heat. +</p> + +<p> +"Undoubtedly," observed the doctor, with a +shrug of his shoulders; but Ruth placed her little +pink palm, light as a rose leaf, upon his lips. +</p> + +<p> +"Don't speak so, Johnny," she whispered. "She +needs some woman about her at this time." +</p> + +<p> +"She's not sick." +</p> + +<p> +"But she thinks she is—which is worse," laughed +Ruth. Then to the doctor: "Don't mind him. He +is the most indulgent of husbands after all. I will +remain. I told you that I have been trained to the +work of nursing." +</p> + +<p> +"I see you have, Madam," said the doctor +cheerfully, and he went into the other room where +Mrs. Judson lay groaning and sobbing on the bed. +</p> + +<p> +John Ryder, much vexed but in control of +himself now, said decidedly: +</p> + +<p> +"Even the most indulgent husband must put +down his foot some time, Ruth. If that woman +is not well enough to be removed to her own rooms +by morning we will let her have this apartment +and take another suite. You can play the Good +Samaritan until then if you so desire. But +remember! after this, and for the remainder of our +honeymoon, if we see any despoiled victim lying by the +roadside we will emulate the Jews and pass by on +the other side." +</p> + +<p> +He did not even kiss her as he passed out, and +Ruth stood looking after him with quivering lips. +Everything that had gone before was by chance, +and unlucky. But this was actually the first jarring +note in the honeymoon! +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap15"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER XV +<br><br> +THE CAT SHOWS HER CLAWS +</h3> + +<p> +Ryder had got all over the desire for human +company. He did not even care to ask how White was +getting along, and the doctor had said not a word +about the man. Ryder was just about worn out. +What he wanted was rest and sleep. +</p> + +<p> +He sought the parlor, determined to find a +comfortable chair there, in spite of Miss Solomons. +But the house detective did not appear to be present. +James had fallen into a chair himself, and was +snoring with his head upon the back of the seat. +Mr. Cudger was sleeping as peacefully as a child. +"The Cheesemonger" could have been stolen by +anybody who desired a new sail for a catboat, for +instance, and had a sharp knife to cut away the +canvas from its frame. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder settled into a chair with a groan, first being +sure that it was unoccupied. He closed his eyes. +He was almost asleep when this disturbing thought +partially aroused him: +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Ruth a trained nurse</i>? She spoke of it before. +But she never told me aboard the <i>Minnequago</i>. I +remember distinctly that she said she had learned +nothing she could turn to good account, now that +she was left to her own resources, save her talent +for stage entertainment. +</p> + +<p> +"Humph! perhaps nursing isn't a well paid +profession in England. In America, I believe, when a +trained nurse enters one's home, one might as well +hand her the bankbook. +</p> + +<p> +"Don't understand it," said this new-made cynic. +"Huh! There's a lot of things I don't understand. +One is, <i>Why is a honeymoon?</i> +</p> + +<p> +"I've heard it said a man gets his eyes opened +after he's married. I swear my vision is fast +becoming clouded. There are a lot of things I want +explained. Goodness! am I developing suspicious +qualities that I never knew I possessed before? +It does seem as though a dozen things poor Ruth +has said puzzle me mightily. +</p> + +<p> +"It must be because we have known each other +so short a time, and our whole affair was so +hurried. Goodness! I haven't found time yet to learn +whether I am a benedict or still a bachelor. But +how easily she assumes the little airs and graces +of a bride! +</p> + +<p> +"I suppose most womenly women are so. Their +whole young lives are lived in preparation for this +event—the event of giving themselves into the +keeping of the man they love." Ryder lacked expert +knowledge on this point, it will be noted. "And +what an imaginary little thing she is! Miss +Solomons has nothing on Ruth when it comes to +imagination," and Ryder made a face in the dark at +thought of the house detective. +</p> + +<p> +"To think of a girl's dreaming about what her +husband, whom she does not know and never has +heard of, will be like; fairly conjuring up a vision +of the man which the real husband, when he +appears, has to stack up against. +</p> + +<p> +"Bless her heart! If she believes me half as fine +and noble as the picture she imagined of the man she +some day expected to marry—— By thunder! I +wonder what is in that locket she wears and gazes +at so fondly?" +</p> + +<p> +The thought pretty well awoke him. He cursed +himself roundly, and aloud, and James stirred in +his sleep and groaned. +</p> + +<p> +"Great heavens! That thought is unworthy of +me—and of her!" Ryder muttered. "Bless her +sweet face! No woman could hold sacred the +memento of another man and show so clearly—as +does Ruth—that she loves her husband. +</p> + +<p> +"Can I ever forget how she looked just now +running through that hall? She was wild to think +that some harm had befallen me—befallen her +husband. No mistake there, John Ryder! You are it. +You are the man she loves." +</p> + +<p> +He sighed ecstatically. He closed his eyes. He +fell asleep almost at once. James was snoring +gently. Old Cudger added his nasal murmur to +James' snores. And from a distant corner that +John Ryder had overlooked, the eagle eye of the +house detective still watched him. +</p> + +<p> +When John Ryder awoke he was stiff and lame +and chilled to his marrow. The candles had burned +down to puddles of grease in the saucers. A cold +gray light stole into the parlor through a high +window and lay in a comfortless mantle over +Mr. Cudger, James and "The Cheesemonger." +</p> + +<p> +The heart in John Ryder lay like lead. Never +had he risen with such a sickening premonition of +ill as upon this gloomy Saturday morning. +Indeed, John Ryder was not in the habit of having +premonitions at all. +</p> + +<p> +He was a healthy, sane and perfectly level-headed +individual. Never before in his busy life had he +found time for romance; and certainly the brand of +romance that Fate had handed out to him since the +<i>Minnequago</i> had docked did not encourage Ryder +to wish for more. +</p> + +<p> +"It was Friday!" he suddenly muttered. "No +wonder everything went wrong. Friday!" +</p> + +<p> +He was hungry for a sight of Ruth's face and +for a word with her. In spite of the feeling within +him that everything had gone wrong during the +past several hours, he turned to the thought of +his beautiful girl-wife as a child turns to its mother +when it wishes comfort. +</p> + +<p> +Circumstances may have handed John Ryder +some awful jolts during the past night; but his +thought of Ruth was one of joy and the delight of +possession. He started, rubbing his eyes and +yawning, for Suite Three. +</p> + +<p> +Just as he reached the door a maid came out. She +evidently recognized Ryder when he asked: +</p> + +<p> +"What's going on in there this morning?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, she's sleeping, sir. Just as swate as a baby. +I've been filling the heater again and I left it +burning, sir, so it would be warm when she gets up. Yes, +sir. +</p> + +<p> +"Who? Mrs. Judson?" Ryder asked gloomily. +</p> + +<p> +"Bless you! No, sir. <i>She</i> went back to her own +room hours ago. Doctor says she's all right. Gittin' +scare't about her jool'ry cured her quicker than +his medicines." +</p> + +<p> +"She's gone!" cried Ryder in delight. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir. Oh, thank you, sir! 'Tis your own +little lady I was spakin' of. Shall—shall I open +the door for ye, sir, with me pass key?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, no!" said John Ryder, blushing a little but +feeling extremely relieved. "I won't disturb her +if she's sleeping," and he immediately turned +toward the breakfast room. +</p> + +<p> +Going down the main stairway, he saw Colonel +Aurelius Brack and his wife before him, the +doughty colonel having difficulty in making the +trip because of his artificial limb. He had gone up +to his room the night before while the elevators +were still running, and now depended upon the +balustrade and his wife's arm to get safely to the +bottom of the flight of steps. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Brack was a delightfully motherly looking +woman with a face as peaceful as the colonel's was +stormy. He scowled savagely at John Ryder. The +latter wished for no words with the old fire-eater, +especially in the presence of his wife; but as he +would have passed them the woman placed a +detaining hand on his arm. +</p> + +<p> +"You are Mr. Ryder?" she asked sweetly. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder felt his face flush, and he was as confused +as a boy caught in some peccadillo. He was +sorry now that, in his ill temper, he had treated the +colonel so cavalierly in the café. The colonel looked +away from the younger man, but the latter could +not avoid Mrs. Brack's searching gaze. +</p> + +<p> +"I am sure you are the gentleman who put himself +out to make me comfortable," she said softly. +"I thank you very much for the stove and light. It +was very good of you to remember an old woman—and +a stranger. But I hope we will not be +strangers now. I want to meet your charming wife, +whom I saw at dinner last evening." +</p> + +<p> +"Thank you, Madam!" exclaimed Ryder, his +coldness melted instantly by her courtesy. "But +you should thank the clerk and the steward. +Without their advice and assistance I should not have +known those guests who were clearly entitled to +consideration." +</p> + +<p> +He bowed and passed down ahead of the old +couple. There was a strange face at the desk in +place of George's so he went on to the breakfast +room where Al himself stood directing the guests +to their tables. There was plainly a dearth of +waiters. Several of the oil heaters had been brought +in here, and with screens about the tables to fend +off any possible draught, the guests were being +made comfortable. +</p> + +<p> +As Ryder stopped to speak to Al, Mrs. Judson +and the hard-featured committee woman of the +S.B.C.D.G. swept in. The widow did not look +like a person who had spent a hard night. Ryder +felt his gorge rise at her fresh and rejuvenated +appearance. +</p> + +<p> +Ruth had been utterly worn out and he had spent +a most woful time from midnight till dawn, all +because of this hysterical woman. And here she was +as fresh as a daisy! That the widow bowed very +distantly to him, Ryder did not remark—nor would +he have cared in the least had he noticed her +haughtiness. +</p> + +<p> +"Let me find a table for you, Mr. Ryder," Al +said. "Your lady will not be down?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not yet. She is still asleep." +</p> + +<p> +"I'll speak to the chef," promised the steward. +"She shall have something nice for breakfast sent +up to her when she rings. We have warned most of +the other guests that it will be impossible to serve +breakfasts upstairs until we get more help." +</p> + +<p> +He led Ryder to a small table next to that +occupied by Mrs. Judson and the other woman, but +there was a screen between the two tables and the +women did not know of Ryder's presence. +</p> + +<p> +"Wasn't that the Mr. Ryder who bought the +lamps for us?" the hard-featured woman asked, +quite loud enough for the man in question to hear. +"That man who stood in the doorway?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh!" ejaculated the widow, "<i>is</i> that his name? +Are you sure?" +</p> + +<p> +"So I am told. He was pointed out to me last +evening by a gentleman who knows him. John +Ryder. One of the shrewdest speculators in Wall +Street they say. Quite remarkable that he should +have played the Good Angel to us all after cornering +the heating and lighting supplies of the town," +and she laughed unpleasantly. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, my!" drawled Mrs. Judson. "Are you +<i>sure, quite sure</i>, that is his name?" +</p> + +<p> +"Certainly." +</p> + +<p> +"Well—I—declare!" gasped the widow, breathlessly. +Ryder might have risen and sought another +table, but her next words held him motionless in +his chair. "Do you know, I <i>thought</i> there was +something very odd about them. I never heard +the like in all my life! And I should have <i>known</i>, +too, after what Miss Solomons said. <i>She</i> declares +they tried to rob me——" +</p> + +<p> +"Who tried to rob you?" exclaimed the other +woman, evidently puzzled. +</p> + +<p> +"This Ryder, as he calls himself, and that woman +with him." +</p> + +<p> +"Why, Ryder is his name I tell you," declared +her vis-à -vis at table. +</p> + +<p> +"Then," said the widow in an impressive tone, +"that woman with him is not his wife." +</p> + +<p> +"<i>What!</i>" +</p> + +<p> +Ryder might have uttered that exclamation himself, +there was so much emphasis in it. The dull +red of rage rose in his cheek. He was tempted to +leap up and kick aside the screen and—— +</p> + +<p> +"It—it is awful!" wailed Mrs. Judson. "And +people have seen me with them. I—I was over-urged +by them to take supper at their table last +night. And it was in their rooms I had my bad +spell later. You know, dear, I am not at all +myself when I get hysterical. I am not accountable +for what I do. The doctor says so himself. But +when Miss Solomons interfered and kept them +from robbing me——" +</p> + +<p> +"Robbing you!" gasped the other woman. "How +terrible!" +</p> + +<p> +"Wasn't it? That girl really is sharp. Of course, +it seems strange to have a girl for a house detective, +and she is dreadfully slangy and bookish——" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, yes!" murmured the other. "But tell me +about this Ryder and the woman? Of course, he +would not have robbed you. It must have been the +woman—some awful creature he has brought here, +of course. Men are such beasts!" +</p> + +<p> +"Aren't they?" agreed the widow. "And she +gave me quite another name from Ryder. The bold +thing!" +</p> + +<p> +"Are they here under an alias?" gasped the other +gossip. "I was told they had only just been married." +</p> + +<p> +"They can't be married at all. She doesn't go by +his name. I never heard of anything so disgraceful—and +right here at the Pinewood Inn which is +supposed to be so select." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder rose up so suddenly that he kicked over +his chair. He wanted to kick away the screen, too, +and fall tooth and nail upon "that old cat who +dared say such vile things about Ruth." +</p> + +<p> +Not daring to trust himself even to look at the +two women, he hurried out of the room, completely +forgetting his breakfast. +</p> + +<p> +"There!" he muttered, striding in the direction of +the café. "That serves us right for associating +with strangers. Ruth shouldn't have taken up with +her in the first place. +</p> + +<p> +"Hang it! I should not have allowed the woman's +familiarity myself. I could have nipped it in the +bud last night at supper. I shouldn't expect an +unsophisticated girl like Ruth to see through such +an old stager as that Judson. And Miss Solomons! Gad! +</p> + +<p> +"How can human beings be so cruel to each +other? Women in particular! It is a mystery to me! +</p> + +<p> +"What did the old cat mean about Ruth giving +her another name? I swear I must have a talk with +Ruth. Not my wife? Heavens on earth! when I've +got the certificate of our marriage right here in my +pocket?" and he struck himself on the breast with +emphasis. +</p> + +<p> +"If that old fool keeps up her clatter I may have +to have the certificate photographed and a copy +handed to every guest of the Pinewood Inn!" +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap16"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER XVI +<br><br> +THE DUTY AGAIN DEVOLVES +</h3> + +<p> +Ryder feed a waiter to bring him some breakfast +into the café and did something he had never done +before in his life—drank a "life saver" before the +morning meal. +</p> + +<p> +"If this goes on," muttered John Ryder, "I shall +become a sot. I have drunk more between-meal +drinks within the last twenty-four hours than I +ever did before in my life. They say getting +married sobers most men; it seems as though it may +utterly wreck <i>me</i>—morally!" +</p> + +<p> +When he wandered back into the office George +had returned and beckoned him to the desk. +</p> + +<p> +"I've had a couple of hours' sleep, Mr. Ryder, +and that's all," the clerk said. "And it's all I guess +I'll get. Mr. Manger hasn't come back and isn't +likely to; and although Jim Howe is willing, he's +only good for detail work. He's got to come to +me to ask about every little thing. And now, by +Jove! <i>I've</i> got to come to you, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"Come to me?" growled Ryder. "What for? +I'm through. You can't expect me to shoulder the +responsibilities of running this hotel." +</p> + +<p> +"I just want your advice, Mr. Ryder," said +George, the foxy. "Look around at these other +men. They are all useless to me now. Aside from +Al—who has his own work—you are the only man +with a head on him." +</p> + +<p> +"I'm not sure whether I have a head or not," +grumbled Ryder. "But fire up! What's happened?" +</p> + +<p> +"Why, I filed a telegram to Mr. Giddings last +night, and here's what I get in reply," the clerk +hastened to say, handing the crumpled sheet to +Ryder. It read: +</p> + +<p> +</p> + +<p> +"Giddings out of town. Return Monday. Should +advise keeping house open at any cost.—BLACKMAN." +</p> + +<p> +</p> + +<p> +"Now, I don't know who the dickens Blackman +is, unless he's Mr. Giddings' chief clerk," the +worried George said. "But this wire doesn't give me +proper authority to go ahead and contract bills, +promise to pay help, and all that. I don't know +how to reach any of the Barnaby heirs. They may +read something about our trouble in the papers this +afternoon, for our local correspondent is on the +job. +</p> + +<p> +"But the heirs will expect Giddings to attend to +it. The help are troublesome—those that have +remained. Al has his hands full, believe me! And +the guests are kicking like steers about the heating. +We've got to have coal." +</p> + +<p> +"Can't you buy a little in the town?" +</p> + +<p> +"It would be mighty little. These dealers +here—and there are only two of them—buy from hand to +mouth, as you might say. And then, Mr. Ryder, +I'm a poor man. My salary isn't big. This looks +like a diamond in my tie," and George grinned; +"but it is pure glass. I wear it because it seems a +man can't be a sure-enough hotel clerk without +wearing what looks like a 'chunk of ice.' +</p> + +<p> +"You know," the clerk added more seriously, +"Bangs bought his coal from the railroad +company." +</p> + +<p> +"Can't you get some from them?" +</p> + +<p> +"Well, I tried to bluff them on it," said George. +"I managed to get them on the telephone at the +Junction—Divisional Supervisions office. There +is still something wrong with the long distance +service. They can get us a car by next Tuesday; not +a minute before." +</p> + +<p> +"These folks'll freeze to death here," said Ryder. +"It's already colder this morning. And there's +nothing being done to that bridge, I suppose?" +</p> + +<p> +"You couldn't get the farmers to work on Saturday +if you offered them double wages," declared +the clerk. "The reputation of the Pinewood Inn +will be ruined. And I'd hate to see the doors closed +and all these people put out." +</p> + +<p> +"And nowhere to go," Ryder said thoughtfully. +</p> + +<p> +"You've said a mouthful," groaned George, but +watching the other sharply. +</p> + +<p> +"By thunder!" exclaimed Ryder, suddenly smiting +the counter with a clenched fist. He scented +the battle like a warhorse and forgot his personal +troubles for the moment. This emergency appealed +to him. "I can't see you beat this way, boy," he +declared. +</p> + +<p> +"But what'll I do?" +</p> + +<p> +"Wait till I take a look around the village. Sit +tight and say nothing." +</p> + +<p> +"If the steam isn't knocking in those pipes pretty +soon I am going to have a mob at this desk ready +to tar and feather me, Mr. Ryder." +</p> + +<p> +"If they do it, you tell me," chuckled the business +man with an answering grin, and, having his hat +and coat with him, he started for the door without +further loss of time. +</p> + +<p> +It looked to Ryder as though it was up to him +to take hold of the wheel of affairs again and give it +a whirl. Ruth had expressed a desire to remain +at the hotel; and certainly she could not stay +without heat and light. +</p> + +<p> +Besides, Ryder had an additional reason for +remaining. If Mrs. Judson circulated her rumors +and lies among the guests, certainly John Ryder +and the woman to whom he had given his name and +to whom he had entrusted his honor, could not +afford, even seemingly, to run away. +</p> + +<p> +In his present mood he would have made an offer +to buy the hotel and run it as he saw fit, providing +he could get the owners of the Pinewood Inn to +agree on a price. Under no consideration or +circumstances could he allow the guests to believe +there was anything queer about Ruth. They must +remain. +</p> + +<p> +And "that impudent and half-baked house +detective," which was the way he thought of Miss +Solomons, was likely to make as much trouble for +them as Mrs. Judson. He did not mind what +people said of him; but he grew furious when he +thought of what might be said about Ruth. +</p> + +<p> +Therefore, he took hold of this coal situation +with zest. As he passed the local coal dealers on +the way to the shack that served Pinewood as a +station, he saw that George had been correct. The +two dealers together did not have enough coal to +furnish the hotel with a proper supply for more +than a day or two. The hotel needed a carload at +least. And there should be two or three carloads +in the cellar to protect the guests if the house was +to remain open any length of time. +</p> + +<p> +When he reached the station he saw upon a spur +track four gondolas heaped high with fuel. A man +in cap and jumper, wheeling an empty truck, he +rightly identified as the station master and general +factotum of the company at this rather +unimportant station. +</p> + +<p> +He halted the man. "I want to buy some of +that coal," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"Huh?" +</p> + +<p> +Ryder repeated his observation, and the man +began to grin. "Think I'm dealing in coal? You've +struck the wrong man, boss." +</p> + +<p> +"I represent the hotel," said Ryder. "I +understand the railroad furnishes Pinewood Inn with +fuel." +</p> + +<p> +"But not that coal," said the station master. +"That was shunted off here yesterday because the +old scrapheap they called an engine hitched to +Number Three couldn't pull her load over the rise +to Blandins. That coal is billed to a factory up +there. I couldn't touch that coal if I wanted to." +</p> + +<p> +"Then put me in communication with the supervisor +of this division and I'll tell him the hotel must +have coal. We're all out. The manager has lit +out over night and left the bins empty and the guests +will freeze if we don't get coal. I'll pay for it right +here, and you'll find that my check is good." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I ain't doubting that," said the agent. "I +guess you're Mr. Ryder. I've heard tell of you. +You near bought out Cal Crabtree's store last night, +they say. But if you was the Angel Gabriel I +couldn't sell you a hodful of that coal—nossir! +Neither could the Super. It's not the road's coal, +I tell you." +</p> + +<p> +"The road, then, is merely acting as carrier?" +</p> + +<p> +"That's right, Mister. The Lossing Soap Factory +is going to get that coal." +</p> + +<p> +"I want that coal," said John Ryder persuasively. +</p> + +<p> +"Can't help it. If I should sell you a pound of it, +I'd be li'ble to arrest for larceny, or burglary, or +somethin'. Yes, sir!" +</p> + +<p> +"If you can't sell it, I shall have to take it." +</p> + +<p> +The station agent laughed. He laughed loudly. +In fact he was still holding his sides and hee-hawing +when Ryder walked away. The latter went +directly to Crabtree's store. +</p> + +<p> +"Old man," he said to the storekeeper, and +accepting without a qualm one of Crabtree's "two-fors" +and lighting it, "what do teamsters ask here +for carting a load of coal?" +</p> + +<p> +"They git fifty cents a ton." +</p> + +<p> +"I want you to get me every man who owns a +horse and wagon, and will work, to cart coal from +the spur track yonder to the hotel. Let 'em weigh +out and in on your scales. I'll give a dollar a ton +providing they get to work quickly and stick to it." +</p> + +<p> +"My soul and body! Where'll you git the coal?" +gasped the storekeeper. +</p> + +<p> +"I haven't <i>got</i> it. But I am going to <i>take</i> it. It's +there on the spur, and the hotel needs it. Can't let +the women and children suffer. Do you notice that +the thermometer is going down?" +</p> + +<p> +"But what'll the railroad folks do?" +</p> + +<p> +"You find me enough men and they won't do +anything. We'll have what coal we need before +they can send a gang up here from the Junction—even +if they wish to. This is a case of necessity and +Necessity, as our school-books used to tell us, knows +no law!" +</p> + +<p> +"By jinks!" exclaimed Crabtree. "They'll call +on the constable." +</p> + +<p> +"Where is he? Who is he?" +</p> + +<p> +"Why, he—he kinder thought to go fishin' today. +The sun didn't jes' rise to suit him. But he can +git out now if he steps right smart, before anybody +can tell him he's likely to be called on." +</p> + +<p> +"My soul, man! Are you the constable?" gasped +John Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +"Sh! I'm storekeeper to you. Don't speak loud +enough for the constable in me to hear," chuckled +the old fellow. +</p> + +<p> +He went to the door and blew a horn. "That'll +call my son, Sam. He'll 'tend to things—and weigh +the coal. I sha'n't be back 'fore supper time. Sam'll +gather the clans, Mr. Ryder, and see that they work +right. You ought to put a tidy lot of coal into them +hotel bins before the constable gits back," and the +storekeeper promptly disappeared. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap17"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER XVII +<br><br> +THE PRIVATE BUCCANEER +</h3> + +<p> +The offer of double pay brought even some of the +neighboring farmers to life. Within an hour a +string of carts of all descriptions wound its way +along the village street to the spur railroad track. +Ryder was there, chewing on a cigar, watching the +first loads taken from the cars. The station master +came running, mad as a hatter. +</p> + +<p> +"You can't do that, you derned fool!" he shouted, +shaking his fist in John Ryder's face. +</p> + +<p> +"You watch and see if I can't." +</p> + +<p> +"But you'll get into trouble. You'll be arrested. +These fellers will be arrested. Why, hang it! it's +high-handed piracy, that's what it is." +</p> + +<p> +"If anybody is arrested I stand ready to pay the +bill," Ryder coolly told him. "I tell you this is a +case of necessity." +</p> + +<p> +Naturally the agent did not see it that way, and +he rushed to wire his headquarters. Of course he +got orders to stop the robbery and came back and +bawled commands that nobody paid any attention to. +</p> + +<p> +"You'll get neck deep into trouble over this," the +agent sputtered to Ryder. "There is a sheriff on +the way here to arrest you." +</p> + +<p> +"All right. He'll find me at the hotel," and +having seen the first car cleaned out he strolled back +to Pinewood Inn. He knew there would be enough +coal in the bins to last over Sunday at least. Two +carloads was enough anyway, and he ordered the +work to cease when the second gondola was clean. +He left two cars for the Lossing Soap Factory. +</p> + +<p> +Sam Crabtree furnished the cash needed and he +paid his teamsters; and when John Ryder entered +the hotel office again it was past eleven o'clock. +Steam was already knocking in the pipes, and the +hotel guests were beginning to smile once more. +</p> + +<p> +Few had tried to leave. A couple of unattached +men had gone on the eight o'clock combination that +jounced down to the Junction over the worst +ballasted road in seven states. One man had cranked +up his automobile and tried to get away by the +back roads; but had come limping in again, having +been drawn out of the mire by a farmer with a team +of horses. +</p> + +<p> +The hotel motorbus was still across the inlet; +and it was broken down anyway. It would take +several days to repair it. A few of the guests, with +light baggage only, had arranged to be punted +across the inlet and would walk to Barr, the station +on the main line. +</p> + +<p> +The most of them, however, had made no plans to +get away. Heat being supplied again, the promise +of lights as usual, and a reorganization of the +working force of the house, satisfied most of them that +matters would soon take their usual course. +</p> + +<p> +John Ryder hoped that this was to be the fact. +He had done all—and more—than he desired to do +for the welfare and comfort of the company. And +he certainly would not have assumed this last +responsibility regarding the coal supply had not Ruth +expressed a desire to remain here for the rest of +their honeymoon. +</p> + +<p> +Jim Howe, the clerk's assistant, was at the desk, +and he spoke to Ryder as soon as the latter came +near. +</p> + +<p> +"I say, sir, you're Mr. Ryder, aren't you? Well, +there are two ladies been after you this morning, +they want to see you." +</p> + +<p> +"Two ladies?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," and Howe had hard work to suppress a +grin. "One's our house detective, Miss Solomons. +You had a run-in with her last night?" +</p> + +<p> +"Something like that," returned Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +"The lady with the craze for five-cent detective +fiction. She's carrying one of those novels around +now—'The Great Limburger Cheese Mystery, or +Dick Squawker on a Strong Scent'; you know the +kind. I used to read 'em when I was a kid. But +she is after you." +</p> + +<p> +"Humph!" observed Ryder not at all pleased. +</p> + +<p> +"And the lady in Suite Three," added Jim Howe, +now flashing the guest a sharp look. "She's +asking for you. Al sent up her breakfast and then +she telephoned down here to ask if her—ahem!—her +husband was about." +</p> + +<p> +"Well?" +</p> + +<p> +"I did not know just who she meant at first," +acknowledged Howe, still eying Ryder curiously. +"She—she did not get your name right." +</p> + +<p> +The business man felt himself flushing. But he +braved it out. "Asked for her husband, didn't +she?" +</p> + +<p> +"Er—yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, that's me," and he moved away from the desk. +</p> + +<p> +But he was suddenly impressed by the fact that +Ruth must have said or done something to stir up +suspicion at the hotel desk. With Mrs. Judson +peddling her misinformation through the house, he and +his bride were likely to be misunderstood. What +could it be? Did Ruth mispronounce his name? +</p> + +<p> +The puzzle of it enfolded him in a blanket of +doubt. He went upstairs muttering to himself and +with clouded brow. +</p> + +<p> +As he approached Parlor A he saw a familiar +figure standing at the door. It was White—the +man who had been so suddenly and strangely taken +ill in the office during the night. The man was +speaking to one of the boys, and Ryder saw him +give the messenger a card and a coin. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes; Suite Three. Give it to the lady and tell +her I am waiting for her here." +</p> + +<p> +White went quickly into the parlor and the boy +darted away. Ryder was dumbfounded. He was +fixed to his place in the corridor for some moments +before he could move. +</p> + +<p> +White, the man of mystery, had sent his card to +his, Ryder's, wife! He expected Ruth to come to +the parlor at his summons! +</p> + +<p> +There could be no mistake about it. Ryder was +sure enough now that Suite Three was the one he +had taken for himself and his bride. +</p> + +<p> +White's questions the night before, Ruth's fear +of the man when he had come to the door, her +attempt at supper time to have private conversation +with White (Mrs. Judson's interference Ryder +now saw had broken up that) and various other +suspicious circumstances rose in Ryder's mind in +horrid procession. +</p> + +<p> +He staggered forward a step until he was where +he could see into the parlor. He was aware that +Miss Solomon's sharp face suddenly came within +range of his vision; but he did not give the steely +eyed house detective a second glance. His eyes +were fixed on White. +</p> + +<p> +Besides that individual, there seemed but two +other guests of the hotel in Parlor A. Cudger and +James had disappeared. Two women stood talking +beside one of the other doors. They were the +vivacious Mrs. Judson and Mrs. Dent, the +hard-featured member of the advance committee of the +S.B.C.D.G. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder hung back. John B. White was pacing a +length of rug nervously. Suddenly Ruth appeared +at the door beside which the widow and her +companion stood. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder's heart leaped at the sight of his bride. +She looked as fresh and sweet as a rose. She wore +a delightfully pretty house dress. She carried what +was evidently White's card in her hand, and she +cast a puzzled glance about the parlor. She first +saw Mrs. Judson. +</p> + +<p> +"Good morning, Mrs. Judson," she said brightly. +"I hope you are better?" +</p> + +<p> +Up went the widow's lorgnette. She stared +Mrs. Ryder up and down without replying. Then she +deliberately turned her back without speaking, much +to Ruth's pain and surprise. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder's gorge rose. He was about to step +forward to protect Ruth when the latter saw White +and uttered a little cry. The man wheeled and +came toward her. Did Ruth shrink from him and +did she cry out in fear? +</p> + +<p> +"Madam, I must speak to you," White said, as +Mrs. Judson and her companion left the room. "At +least you owe me some reparation—some explanation. +I demand that of you!" +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap18"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER XVIII +<br><br> +IT IS NO LONGER FARCE +</h3> + +<p> +Ruth halted. Her husband, from the other end +of the room, saw fear in her face—right down +terror!—as she confronted the man who addressed +her. +</p> + +<p> +Nor was this surprising. White's eyes glowed +unnaturally, his long black hair was disheveled and +his appearance altogether wild and uncanny. Ruth +fell back from him, and Ryder heard her breath +come gaspingly. Yet for the moment Ryder was +spellbound and unable to go to her protection. +</p> + +<p> +"What—what do you want of me?" she asked faintly. +</p> + +<p> +"I sent for you. I must talk with you," White +returned. +</p> + +<p> +"Sent for me?" she said in a dully puzzled tone. +"Oh, no! My husband sent for me." She glanced +at the card in her hand. "He—he sent me this +card—— So strange——" +</p> + +<p> +She flashed White a suddenly indignant glance. +"You have tricked me!" she cried with more +force. "You have obtained one of my husband's +cards——" +</p> + +<p> +"That is my card, Ruth Mont!" White exclaimed +harshly. "It is the card of the man whom you +should call 'husband'—who <i>is</i> your husband by +right. <i>And I am that man!</i>" +</p> + +<p> +A porter suddenly entered the door at John +Ryder's back. +</p> + +<p> +"Are you Mr. Ryder, sir?" he said. "I was sent +after you. Your trunks have been brought across +the inlet and we have them at the door of your suite. +Shall we take them inside and carry the empty +boxes downstairs, sir?" +</p> + +<p> +How did he do it? How does a man's brain +sometimes continue to work and his limbs to move +when he is sleep-walking? The subconscious self +of John Ryder moved out of the parlor where two +human beings were in the throes of a gripping +tragedy—a tragedy that might scar his whole +future life—and led the porter back to Suite Three. +</p> + +<p> +He opened the door with the key he had obtained +at the desk and saw the porters bring in the trunks. +He made them understand that they were to let +the empty boxes belonging to Ruth remain. Then +he tipped them and was left alone. +</p> + +<p> +He sat down in the very chair he had sat in before +and held Ruth in his arms, and awaited his wife's +return. His wife! God in heaven! Was she his +wife? White had claimed her as rightfully belonging +to him, and all those suspicious circumstances +that had heretofore rankled in John Ryder's mind +swam to the surface and offered proof that White's +statement was true. +</p> + +<p> +What was this awful riddle that seared John +Ryder's soul as though with a branding iron? +</p> + +<p> +He was convinced now that White was not a +madman. Wild he might appear; but that he was +insane, that his strange speeches were the vaporings +of an unbalanced mind, Ryder did not now believe. +</p> + +<p> +Why was he so sure that White was sane? Because +Ruth had shown by her manner and by the +expression of her countenance that something in +White's statement impressed her. Ryder had seen +her display this fear twice. He was convinced that +White actually was closely associated with her, or +had been so in the past. +</p> + +<p> +Yet Ruth was bound to him—Ryder. She was +his wife. He had been wedded to her less than +twenty-four hours before. Twenty-four hours! It +seemed a lifetime of storm and stress. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder had promised to love, to cherish, to support +and defend from all harm, to—— +</p> + +<p> +"My God!" he exclaimed, leaping up. "Am I a +pusillanimous coward—a dastard? I have left +her to face that man—whatever or whoever he +is—alone." +</p> + +<p> +He started for the door, madly intending to go +back to the parlor and face them both. The door +of the suite opened and closed swiftly. Ruth came +in—the vision of a panting, wild-eyed, pallid-faced +woman. She clung to the door knob for a moment, +striving to regain her breath, and staring strangely +into John Ryder's face. When she spoke, what +she said shocked him as nothing else could have +done. +</p> + +<p> +"Who are you?" she demanded. "What—what +manner of man are you? What did you do this to +me for? <i>Why did you do it?</i>" +</p> + +<p> +"Do what?" asked Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +"Why did you marry me? Oh!" she cried in +despair, wringing her hands, "why did you do this +awful thing?" +</p> + +<p> +"Why did I marry you?" repeated the man, +dumbfounded. "Because I loved you. I told you +I loved you when we were aboard ship, Ruth——" +</p> + +<p> +"Aboard ship! Aboard what ship?" +</p> + +<p> +"The <i>Minnequago</i>. Surely you have not +forgotten our long talks? You have not +forgotten——" +</p> + +<p> +"Am I mad?" cried the woman, throwing her +arms wildly above her head. "Oh! I must be +mad!" Then she gained sudden control over herself. +She thrust her face forward, her eyes blazing +into his. "If you are my husband," she whispered, +"what is your name?" +</p> + +<p> +"I <i>am</i> your husband," Ryder said sternly. "You +were legally married to me yesterday. Here is the +certificate which the minister gave you, and which +you placed in my hands for safe keeping." +</p> + +<p> +He had dragged out his wallet and handed her +the folded document. Her shaking fingers clutched +at it and finally got the stiff paper unfolded. She +read the names aloud in crescendo: +</p> + +<p> +"'Ruth A. Mont': 'John Ryder'. "The paper +slipped from her fingers and fluttered to the floor. +"'John Ryder'?" she repeated staring at him. "<i>I +never heard of you before!</i>" +</p> + +<p> +She burst into tears, a passion of weeping that +shook her whole body. For a moment she stood +before him, so near that he might have touched +her, her face in her trembling hands. The man +stood still, dumb and helpless. +</p> + +<p> +Then turning swiftly she ran into the inner room. +Ryder, at last awakened, started up. He was +frightened by her vehemence, as well as amazed by +her words. +</p> + +<p> +He started to follow her. She had shut the door +sharply, but the key was not turned in the lock. He +put his hand upon the door and hesitated. And so +surely is the man lost who hesitates, John Ryder +was lost then! There were two courses open to +him, and he chose the wrong one. +</p> + +<p> +His hand left the knob, and with the sound of +the woman's wild sobbing in his ears he went slowly +down the room and out into the corridor. As he +came in sight of the parlor door he saw White +wildly break from the room and run for the stairway. +John Ryder's senses were so dulled that he +scarcely saw the man. But behind the departing +White appeared in the parlor doorway the figure +of Miss Solomons. The expression upon the house +detective's face might have alarmed Ryder at +another time. She fairly glared at him as he moved +past her. +</p> + +<p> +"No, you ain't no crook, Mr. Ryder," he heard +the strange girl mutter. "You're just a particular +blamed fool! That's what you are." +</p> + +<p> +He managed to get out of the hotel in some way +and stumbled along the sandy road to the shore of +the inlet where he might be alone. He tramped +the edge of the inlet for miles. +</p> + +<p> +His mind was back in the room at the hotel where +he had left Ruth. The incident was as clearly +etched on his brain as it had been when he stood +and heard her amazing declaration. +</p> + +<p> +What she meant he did not know. What he +should have done he did not know. That he had +done the wrong thing he was not sure. But he had. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Wrong</i>? Indeed, his act had been the deadliest +wrong possible to the woman. He was stunned, +he did not understand; but there was one thing of +which in his sane moments he was already +convinced: Ruth loved him. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing should have superseded that in his mind. +Whatever the riddle was, whatever the skein of +mystery in which they two were entangled, he +should have remembered that. Instead he had +allowed jealousy to step in and becloud the issue. +John Ryder had turned his back upon a woman who +had shown she loved him deeply. He had deserted +her at a time when she needed him as she never +had before and probably never would again. +</p> + +<p> +All the pain and passion which followed this +event John Ryder could lay to his own act. He +brought all that followed upon himself by his own +unwisdom. He was thinking only of himself. He +was like a hurt animal, desiring to seek some lair +wherein to lick its wounds. +</p> + +<p> +He walked on and on. The in-running tide +lapped along the strand at his feet, the burden of +its murmur being: +</p> + +<p> +"<i>I never heard of you before!</i>" +</p> + +<p> +What had Ruth meant by that statement? Was +it possible that she was insane? What had that +fellow, White, said to her that had thrown her +mind into such confusion? +</p> + +<p> +White! At the remembrance of the man of +mystery Ryder suddenly spat out an oath. He +could explain this thing; and Ryder suddenly registered +a vow that White should explain, or he would +have his life! +</p> + +<p> +He was a man now enraged to the point of +desperation. He started for the hotel with this single +idea milling in his brain. More than an hour had +elapsed since he had left the Pinewood Inn, but +he had taken little note of the lapse of time. +</p> + +<p> +He betrayed his disturbed state of mind when he +reached the desk where George presided. +</p> + +<p> +"For mercy's sake, Mr. Ryder! what's happened +to you?" demanded the clerk. +</p> + +<p> +"I—I am looking for a man," stammered Ryder. +"You know—the fellow who threw a fit here last +night. White—John B. White." +</p> + +<p> +"What about him?" +</p> + +<p> +"I want to see him." +</p> + +<p> +"But he's gone, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"Gone? Left the hotel?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir. He had no heavy baggage, and he +got somebody to row him across the inlet. There +are several fellows down there taking folks back +and forth because of the broken bridge. I guess +he intended catching the two o'clock train on the +main line. Had your lunch, sir?" +</p> + +<p> +Ryder was not thinking of eating. He walked +away from the desk without replying. White was +gone. Then who would explain to him——? +</p> + +<p> +Ruth! He started up the stairway. Instinctively +he sought Suite Three. Yet when he arrived there +he hesitated. Should he go in? Could he face +Ruth? What was he to say to her? +</p> + +<p> +At last he turned the knob. The door was unlocked. +He stepped into the room. Its condition +instantly shocked his mind into activity. +</p> + +<p> +The wardrobe was wide open and was empty. +All Ruth's pretty dresses had disappeared and there +was evidence of hasty packing. He hurried down +the room to her trunks. They were repacked, +strapped, and ready for shipment. He stooped +to peer at the tags. +</p> + +<p> +The trunks had come to the hotel, of course, +marked with Ruth's maiden name and Pinewood. +The man's eyes bulged—he uttered a hoarse cry. +These lines were crossed out and in their stead and +in a woman's upright handwriting he saw: "Mrs. John +B. White, New York." Ruth had repacked +the boxes ready for their return by the express +company. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder turned swiftly to the bed chamber, his +heart thumping so that he well nigh choked. The +door of the inner room was open. He crept to it +and looked in. It was empty. +</p> + +<p> +"She's gone! She's run away!" muttered the +horrified man. "What—why——" His words +ceased and he dashed for the corridor. He +understood at last. She had gone away with White! +This was his firm belief. +</p> + +<p> +Right here it would have been well if John Ryder +had recalled the observation of Miss Solomons: +"You're just a particular blamed fool!" +</p> + +<p> +He did not stop to question the reasonableness of +this idea that had shot across his brain and seared +it. Ruth had gone. Her trunks were tagged with +that man's name—<i>with her own name</i>. He saw +it all now in a flash. She had married him while +yet she was another man's wife. That man was +John B. White, and he had followed them to +Pinewood Inn and demanded that she return to him. +</p> + +<p> +As Ryder rushed out into the corridor he came +upon the chambermaid he had tipped so liberally +that morning. His trembling lips formed the +instant words: +</p> + +<p> +"Have you seen my wife?" +</p> + +<p> +"Why, Mr. Ryder! I saw her some time ago—going +out." +</p> + +<p> +"You mean she was leaving the hotel?" +</p> + +<p> +"She was dressed for traveling—yes, sir. Just +as she was dressed when she came last evening. +Yes, sir." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder brushed by and started for the stairs. +Ruth was attempting to get away with White on +that two o'clock train. There might still be time +for him to catch it. If ever hell was brewed in a +man's heart it was in the heart of John Ryder at +this moment. +</p> + +<p> +Somebody spoke his name behind him. A swift +glance showed him the motherly face of Mrs. Brack. +She seemed desirous of speaking to him, but Ryder +could stop for nothing now. He hurried on +without a word of reply. +</p> + +<p> +He reached the head of the flight and started +down. There were several men at the desk, but +Ryder brushed through them and leaned forward +to speak confidentially to George. +</p> + +<p> +"Does that train leave Barr, on the main line, at +just two o'clock?" he asked the clerk. +</p> + +<p> +"Two-thirteen, Mr. Ryder," answered George. +</p> + +<p> +"Thanks!" Ryder turned to make his way to +the door. He was confronted by a stranger who +put an authoritative hand upon his breast and +pushed him back. +</p> + +<p> +"This is the gentleman, is it?" the stranger said to +the clerk. "This is John Ryder?" +</p> + +<p> +"That's my name—yes," snapped Ryder. "I'm +in a hurry. I can't talk to you now." +</p> + +<p> +"I'm afraid you'll have to wait till your hurry's +over, Mr. Ryder," said the man. "I'm the sheriff's +deputy. I understand you are the man who stole +two cars of coal from the Lossing Soap Company. +I've got to detain you, sir." +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap19"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER XIX +<br><br> +AN OUTLAW IN FACT +</h3> + +<p> +Now at this particular moment John Ryder +wished to be detained less than ever before in his +life. He had but half an hour in the clear to reach +the Barr railroad station in any case. White and +Ruth had already got a good start of him. As far +as he knew there might not be another train to New +York over the main line until night; and surely not +on the branch from Pinewood until nine o'clock. +</p> + +<p> +Sheriff or no sheriff, he made a break for the +door of the hotel. The officer ran with him and +there was a squabble right in the foyer. +</p> + +<p> +"You can't do this, Mr. Ryder!" exclaimed the +deputy sheriff. "You're arrested!" +</p> + +<p> +"I'll show you what I can do!" declared John +Ryder with emphasis, and swung for the officer's +jaw. The blow landed and it did him good. Not +the sheriff, but Ryder himself. +</p> + +<p> +This quarrel took his mind for the moment off +the thoughts that had nearly crazed him. He burst +through the door, banged it in the sheriff's face, and +ran for the inlet. +</p> + +<p> +Before he reached the waterside he heard the +hue and cry behind him. But there was at least one +boatman alert. +</p> + +<p> +"Dodging a board bill, Mister?" exclaimed this +individual. "Well! I wouldn't wonder if they'll +all be doing that. They tell me they shut off the +heat and lights on you all last night. Gimme two +dollars and I'll put you across." +</p> + +<p> +Here was a fellow just as crooked as John Ryder +needed at that moment, and the latter leaped into +the boat which was thrust out into the tide. Down +to the shore plowed the deputy sheriff bawling for +them to come back. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm deafer than an adder," said the boatman, +grinning up into John Ryder's face. "What does +he say?" +</p> + +<p> +"He seems anxious about the weather," said John +Ryder grimly. "He's got another boat. Two men +in it. They'll beat you." +</p> + +<p> +"Huh! Tom Crane and Andy Meyers. That old +punt of theirs is like punk. If we should run into +it, Mister, my prow would cut her right down to +the water-line." +</p> + +<p> +"An extra five dollars for you if you do it," the +passenger snapped, his jaw set and ugly. "But +don't pick 'em up. The tide isn't dangerous here, is +it?" +</p> + +<p> +"They kin near wade ashore," agreed the boatman +and began to hold back that the pursuing boat +would be sure to overtake them. +</p> + +<p> +"Sit tight and keep your mouth shut," said the +boatman. "The less said the better, as the old +woman remarked when she married the deaf and +dumb husban'." +</p> + +<p> +The deputy sheriff, holding a handkerchief to +his jaw, was shouting commands that Ryder's boatman +did not in the least heed. But the latter let +the other boat come right up on them. +</p> + +<p> +"I'll get ye!" shouted the angry officer. "I'll +jail you for this! Hi! look out, you numbskull!" +</p> + +<p> +Ryder's man swerved his heavy boat around +suddenly. It was aimed directly for the leaky punt. +Crash! The collision half drove the officer's craft +under water and she began to settle at once. +</p> + +<p> +"Hi! You'll drown us!" yelled one of the other +boatmen. +</p> + +<p> +"Sho, you ain't nowheres near to the channel," +said Ryder's man. "It ain't neck deep to shore—from +where you came. You fellers kin both swim, +and if the sheriff can't, let him sink. I ain't got no +use for him, anyway." +</p> + +<p> +Later he explained that this officer had come the +week before and searched his house for liquor. +</p> + +<p> +"Thought I kept a blind pig, he said," chuckled +the boatman. "But I don't. Jest the same, if he'd +looked down our well—— Well! if you ever come +back here and want a good drink of licker, look +me up. I always have enough for my friends." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder took the extra pair of oars at this point and +aided in rowing the boat to the other side of the +inlet. He paid his helper and started for the +station in a rattling old car. There was no other +vehicle to be obtained. Just before they sighted +the railroad he heard the train whistle. +</p> + +<p> +Although he knew he could not make the train, +he went on down into the town and to the station. +</p> + +<p> +The two-thirteen had pulled out some time before +he stepped upon the platform. John Ryder went +directly to the ticket window and asked the clerk: +</p> + +<p> +"You sold tickets for this last train to New +York?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir." +</p> + +<p> +Coolly and carefully Ryder described White's +appearance and that of his own wife. "I want to +catch up with these people," he explained, "and I +do not know whether they went on this train, or +on one in the other direction." +</p> + +<p> +In secret his heart was lacerated by the very +words he used in describing Ruth. Yet he must +learn if she had actually gone with White. +</p> + +<p> +The clerk seemed to remember White clearly. +The man had paced the platform constantly until +the train arrived. +</p> + +<p> +"Watching to see if I was following them," +thought Ryder. Then aloud: "And the woman?" +</p> + +<p> +"She wore a veil—one o' those auto veils. I +didn't see her face. But she was the only woman +who left by that train." +</p> + +<p> +"Not with the man?" +</p> + +<p> +"They did not appear to be together." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder nodded. He had gained complete control +of himself now. He wrote a long telegram to +the supervisor of this division of the railroad, and +the answer came so quickly that those about the +railroad office were startled. A special train was +ordered started from the Junction for Mr. John +Ryder and would arrive about three o'clock. It +would have right of way going north. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder paced the platform and chewed his cigar. +John B. White had paced this platform, too. Whatever +White's thoughts had been, John Ryder's were +as black and as terrible as ever man had meditated +upon. +</p> + +<p> +He knew what he would do to White if he caught +him. No matter what the guilt of his wife—or the +woman who had posed as his wife for a few +hours—Ryder was very sure that White was the more +guilty. He was as ruthless an outlaw at this +moment as ever a twentieth century business man +could be. +</p> + +<p> +The special backed in. It stopped about ten +seconds, for Ryder was the only person to board it. +Then on toward the city for which the two guilty +creatures he was following had bought tickets. +They might have bought them for New York as a +blind; but Ruth's trunks were plainly marked for +that city. +</p> + +<p> +A baggage car and smoker and some official's +private car made up the special train. John Ryder's +name was a power with the officials of this road +if he cared to use it. And it was of his name that +he thought, sitting shrugged down in the leather +covered lounge and watching the autumn landscape +fly past. +</p> + +<p> +He remembered what he had tried to make his +name stand for during the years he had been working +up to his present business pinnacle. He came of +unblemished stock. His father had been an honest +man. His mother, the memory of whom had ever +been an inspiration to him, had been a beautiful +woman both in person and character. +</p> + +<p> +He had given her ring—her wedding ring, hallowed +by being worn on the finger of a pure and +gentle wife—into the keeping of one who, he now +believed, did not value the sacred character of the +emblem. +</p> + +<p> +His wife—— Well! she <i>was</i> his wife! He had +married her legally! He tried to push any other +thought down. +</p> + +<p> +Yet, suppose she had no right to marry him? +That was the awful thought that rankled like a +barbed arrow in his heart. +</p> + +<p> +"Mrs. John B. White," written under the erased +"Ruth Mont" on the trunk tags seemed to clinch +Ryder's suspicions first aroused by White's actions +and words. +</p> + +<p> +Was Ruth a bigamist without having intended the +crime? Had she been married in England and, +for some reason, supposed her husband dead? +Was there something shameful connected with this +White and her association with him that had +spurred her to try to hide her former marriage from +Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +What manner of woman was she? Was her +sweetness and innocence all assumed? She had +seemed to John Ryder until this terrible thing had +arisen, to be good and pure—in every way a +desirable character. +</p> + +<p> +Of course, she might be vain. Her consideration +of the offer of Sam Marks to put her on the stage +might prove that frailty. An actress! Was there +an explanation in that thought? Had she been +acting all along? Had the story she told him on +shipboard been a tissue of falsehoods? Was her +apparent fondness for him born of her ability to +simulate emotions and feelings that she did not +really possess? +</p> + +<p> +Good heavens! was it all a part of a plot, perhaps, +to link his name—the name of John Ryder—with +the stage career of a vaudeville actress? Was +this the explanation of it all? +</p> + +<p> +And what of John B. White? What of Ruth's +apparent fear of him? Could any woman so assume +the attitude and look of terror? On the other +hand, could her appearance of loving Ryder be +likewise assumed? +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly there flashed into his mind the memory +of how Ruth looked—what she had said, indeed—when +she thought he had been taken ill in the hotel +office late the previous night. He saw her again +as she came madly down the hotel corridor and +flung herself into his arms. +</p> + +<p> +"She thought it was I who had been taken sick. +That I know. My God! What mystery is here? +The girl loves me—deeply, sincerely, truly. I +cannot doubt it. Whether she has a right to do so or +not, she <i>does</i> love me. +</p> + +<p> +"Then, why has she gone away with that man? +What dreadful hold does he have upon her? Is +she beside herself? Her words suggest an aberrant +mind. I should be with her now. That White is +a villain. And whatever his right, even if it is +backed by law, shall I give up the woman I love and +who loves me to any other man on earth?" +</p> + +<p> +And as though in answer to this question a +repetition of Miss Solomons' last observation to him +flashed into John Ryder's mind: +</p> + +<p> +"You're just a particular blamed fool. That's +what <i>you</i> are!" +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap20"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER XX +<br><br> +THE NAME ON THE BILLBOARD +</h3> + +<p> +Ryder arrived in New York after dark. He did +not go to his rooms, for he feared if he did so his +presence would become known to some of his +friends and he would be obliged to make explanations. +</p> + +<p> +When the taxicab deposited him, baggageless, at +the hotel he selected, he noted the variegated lights +of a drugstore across the street. He went into it +before entering the hotel and shoved a well-wrinkled +prescription across the counter to the clerk. The +latter raised his brows. +</p> + +<p> +"I've got to sleep tonight," John Ryder said +quietly. "You will see Dr. Harmstick's name +clearly written on that prescription. He is my +family physician. Here is my card." +</p> + +<p> +He got the drug, and, as soon as a room was +assigned to him, took the medicine and went to bed. +He could not have slept without the dose, and that +took effect in a short time. But, superinduced by +drugs as it was, his sleep was not refreshing. +However, his mind was clear and his body alert and +vigorous when he arose on Sunday morning. +</p> + +<p> +He sent a boy to skirmish for clean linen and a +fresh tie, and made himself presentable before +going down for a bit of breakfast. He had eaten +practically nothing the day before, and while he ate +now he tried to plan his future course of action. +</p> + +<p> +Future! Why, the word held nothing for him +but the promise of continued pain and shame. John +Ryder of spotless name had given that name into +the keeping of a woman who was unworthy of +it—whether she had intentionally flouted him or not, +this fact seemed to be established. The newspapers +must soon learn the story of his marriage fiasco. +It would be blazoned forth for the whole world to +read. +</p> + +<p> +He would be a marked man. John Ryder, the +man who had married a woman offhand, without +knowing anything about her! At least, he had +known her but seven days. And she had run away +from him with another man! +</p> + +<p> +It would be a nice bit for the scandal mongers. +It would be something he could never live down. +Every man with whom he did business hereafter +would be saying to himself while in Ryder's presence: +</p> + +<p> +"There must be something the matter with this +fellow. They say his wife ran away from him the +day after they were married." +</p> + +<p> +Yet, even these thoughts were not the bitterest +in his soul. Higher than the shame of having his +trouble publicly known and discussed, rose the fact +that he had lost the treasure to which his heart +clung. +</p> + +<p> +Ruth was the one woman in the world whom he +had ever, or could ever, love. He felt it—he knew +it! +</p> + +<p> +Short as their acquaintance had been, Ryder +knew that he loved Ruth as he should never be +able to love another woman. He had thought he +loved her when he had first seen her on the deck +of the <i>Minnequago</i>; but since their marriage—since +the old clergyman had pronounced them man +and wife—a deeper and more tender feeling for his +girlish bride had grown in his mind and heart. +</p> + +<p> +On shipboard, coming over, she had merely been +a beautiful creature—a woman of heart and mind +and of fine physique—who attracted his admiration +and fired his passion. +</p> + +<p> +Once bound, as he supposed legally and holily to +Ruth Mont, his love for her had taken on a deeper +meaning. He was not a man who philosophized +much, or who catechised his own motives or +thoughts; but he knew that a subtle change had +taken place in his feelings toward the woman even +before the minister had joined their hands. +</p> + +<p> +It had been half pique and half determination to +obtain his own desire that had made him write that +peremptory note to Miss Mont before the +<i>Minnequago</i> docked. It grated upon him to think of +a man like Marks bearing off such a prize, even in a +sordid business transaction. +</p> + +<p> +But the instant he had seen Ruth waiting for +him when he landed—the moment she had put her +hands into his—the instant she had whispered: "I +will marry you," a greater love had leaped into +full and glowing life in John Ryder's bosom. +</p> + +<p> +It was no longer a matter of mutual attraction, +or the charm of her beautiful face and figure, or +her mental attributes that held him captive. From +that moment of their meeting on the dock his heart +knew her heart; they had become one. +</p> + +<p> +And this knowledge, which he could not scorn or +overlook despite all that had happened since, made +the darker part of the puzzle. Had he not been sure +of his love and of her love, he could have understood +in part how she had come to leave him and go +with this other man. +</p> + +<p> +For he could not accept the suggestion that all +her sweetness and sheer happiness as a bride was +merely a pose. That, as an actress, she had +simulated a part. No, the woman did not live, he +believed, who could so befool him. +</p> + +<p> +He gazed out of the restaurant window at the +church parade on the broad Fifth Avenue walk, +and with eyes that saw more than the passing +throng. Two or three couples went by whom he +knew—men and their wives going home after service. +</p> + +<p> +They suggested domesticity, companionship, the +best there is for human beings in this old world of +ours. He realized what he had lost—aye, what he +had merely grasped at only to have the treasure +snatched from him by this cruel turn of fate. +</p> + +<p> +Later he went out and wandered about somewhat +aimlessly. Not that he expected to find either of +the two people he was looking for. They would +not be in the Sunday street crowd. And yet he +could not help looking into the faces of those he +met with keen scrutiny. +</p> + +<p> +He could not easily set on foot any serious search +for Ruth and White on Sunday. Nor was he sure +he wished to. The thought of bringing the police +or even private detectives into the case horrified +him. Yet, was he to lose Ruth without lifting a +hand to win her back? +</p> + +<p> +All day long John Ryder weltered in the waters +of indecision. Should he seek Ruth through the +regular police channels? Should he let matters run +their own course? This was a new state of mind +for the determined, decisive business man. +</p> + +<p> +Somewhere over on the West Side, about seven +o'clock he dropped in at a restaurant to dine. +Afterward he wandered slowly down the broad and busy +avenue that lends itself the airs of Broadway after +dark, jostled by the crowds, without a person to +speak to and desirous indeed of no companionship. +</p> + +<p> +He came to a theater before which was a huge +billboard that advertised mockingly "Sacred Concert," +following which was a long list of vaudeville +turns. Many of the crowd turned in here. There +were speculators at the door hawking tickets, and a +little eddy of people held up John Ryder. His eye +caught, altogether by accident it would seem, in +flaring red type, the following announcement: +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> + SPECIAL ATTRACTION<br> +<br> + First Appearance<br> + of<br> + ENGLAND'S MOST FAMOUS ENTERTAINER<br> +<br> + MISS MONT<br> +<br> + Imitator and Comédienne<br> +<br> + Under the sole management of Mr. Sam Marks<br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +Seeing that he was attracting attention, Ryder +moved away. People were looking into his face +curiously. He felt his heart pounding as though it +would burst through the shell of his chest. Rage +blinded him. Despair shook him through every +fibre of his being. +</p> + +<p> +The half darkness of a narrower thoroughfare +offered him shelter. The horror and shame of his +position well nigh leveled John Ryder's pride with +the ground. +</p> + +<p> +He saw what it all meant now. There could be, +he thought, no further doubt or mistake. She had +intended to do this from the first. Marks had +doubtless put her up to it. The scandal of her +having married Ryder and left him after twenty-four +hours—on some trumped up charge of course—would +give her an amount of free advertising +such as no vaudeville actress could resist! +</p> + +<p> +The story was already in the papers. John +Ryder could not doubt it. His friends were laughing +at his predicament. And how coolly, and with +what utter heartlessness, had the game been played +upon him. +</p> + +<p> +Doubtless the woman had been under contract +with Marks when the ship left the other side. Ryder +had foolishly showed her that he was in love with +her. Between them, Marks and the girl had hatched +this plot. +</p> + +<p> +And who was White? The answer was easy. +</p> + +<p> +He was some poor actor whom Marks had hired to +impersonate a wronged lover or husband, whichever +might best fit the needs of the case. His +following them to the Pinewood Inn had been for the +purpose of creating a scene that would separate the +newly wedded couple. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Judson's illness had precluded the necessity +for that scene. Fate had played into the hands of +the heartless jade; and when the game had gone +far enough for her purpose, she had run away and +returned to New York to fill this, her initial +engagement before an American public. +</p> + +<p> +He even understood now about those pretty +frocks she had worn. Of course they were a part +of a stage wardrobe Miss Mont already possessed. +</p> + +<p> +These thoughts all but turned John Ryder's brain. +He found himself after a time back at the entrance +to the theater. But he could not have told how he +got there. One of the ticket speculators assailed +him. +</p> + +<p> +"Best seat in the house, boss. Right down front +on the side. Two bucks. See the whole show." +</p> + +<p> +"When does Miss—Miss Mont come on?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nine-thirty." +</p> + +<p> +"Is she——" +</p> + +<p> +"She's a corker! She had her try-out before the +manager and a crowd of newspaper sharps this +morning, and she's a scream. They'll put out the +S.R.O. signs on her for the rest of the week—you +take it from me." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder bought the seat and passed in at the orchestra +entrance of the theater. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap21"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER XXI +<br><br> +IN THE PART OF THE INJURED HUSBAND +</h3> + +<p> +The blaze of lights, the music, the rustle of the +audience, all affected Ryder but slightly. He walked +to his seat as one might walk in a dream. There +seemed little tangible to him in his surroundings, or +in the people he brushed past. +</p> + +<p> +When he had seated himself the usher leaned over +and whispered to him to remove his hat. He sat in +his overcoat, staring straight before him with glassy, +unwinking eyes. +</p> + +<p> +A painted curtain was dropped, and between it +and the footlights two men appeared who went +through some sort of act. Ryder never knew +what it was; nor did he appreciate the several turns +that followed this act. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder found a program in his hand, and he began +to look through it for his wife's name. Then +he remembered that it could not be there, for Marks +must have arranged for her appearance here on +Saturday. She could not be a feature of the regular +Sunday bill. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder suddenly felt a great thankfulness for this +fact. Undoubtedly the only places where Miss +Mont's name appeared were on the billboard and +in the newspaper advertisements. +</p> + +<p> +It came into his troubled mind that he was in +a position to put an effectual stop to his wife's being +advertised further as a public entertainer. His +brain began to work clearly along this line. +</p> + +<p> +She was either legally his wife, or a bigamist. +In either case, if he kept his head, he would have +the whip-hand. +</p> + +<p> +If she acknowledged the legality of their +marriage, then the law would give him control over +her movements—to an extent at least. Until she +instituted proceedings for a separation she must +obey him. +</p> + +<p> +If the marriage had been a farce because of a +former marriage on her part, then his hold upon her +would be stronger still. If she refused to retire +from the stage and live in seclusion, he would +prosecute her and put her in jail. +</p> + +<p> +This thought gave him untold satisfaction for +the moment; then it horrified him. His +wife—Ruth—the woman he loved—in jail! +</p> + +<p> +What an awful experience it would be for her. +Her tender body to recline on a hard cot and be +subjected to the strict rules of a prison, and to exist +on jail fare! +</p> + +<p> +Then he hardened his heart. She was no wife +of his—only in name in any case. She had cajoled +him and fooled him and ruined him. She should be +made to suffer as he was suffering now. +</p> + +<p> +He suddenly awoke to a stir in the audience. +The orchestra burst forth into a new melody and +the crowd began to applaud. Who were they welcoming? +</p> + +<p> +Ryder raised his eyes from the program which +was merely a blur of names to him and looked +straight into the face of the woman who had come +from the wings and was now bowing an +acknowledgment to her welcome. It was "Miss Mont, +England's most famous entertainer." +</p> + +<p> +For an instant he believed she was looking +straight at him—that she must see and give him +some sign of greeting. He forgot the glare of the +footlights in the actor's eyes which makes the +entire auditorium a magnified blur of faces and +forms, and seldom allows the person on the stage +to descry clearly a particular face in the audience. +</p> + +<p> +His eyes devoured her as though he had never +seen her before. She was neither the woman she +had seemed aboard the <i>Minnequago</i>, nor as she had +seemed in their suite at the Pinewood Inn. +</p> + +<p> +Plainly dressed aboard ship, the beauty of her +face and figure had been suggested rather than +displayed. It was her brightness of mind that had +most deeply impressed John Ryder during the +voyage. +</p> + +<p> +Afterward, during their short wedded intercourse, +her sweetness of disposition and lovely +personality had charmed and held him in her toils. +How sweet she had looked in the dressing sack +which revealed her neck and arms, bustling about +the room unpacking her trunks. +</p> + +<p> +And now this was still another woman—a third +personality. The beauty of face and form was +enhanced by her costume; but it was a cold and +formal beauty; not the living, breathing, loving +creature whom he had folded in his arms. Nor did +she seem the same woman he had talked and walked +with on the steamship's deck. +</p> + +<p> +This was Miss Mont in her public character—Miss +Mont, the actress—a woman living for the +show and applause of the stage. +</p> + +<p> +She swept to the center of the stage in a trailing +robe which was cut to display the line of her figure +to perfection and which likewise left bare her +neck and shoulders and her graceful arms. +</p> + +<p> +She wore no ornament. She needed none. Ryder +noted, even, that she no longer wore the fine gold +chain and the locket which had so stirred his doubts +and jealousy two days before. +</p> + +<p> +She made another graceful courtesy and began +her act. That she was troubled with diffidence—with +actual stage fright—there could be little doubt. +But some entertainers never get over that feeling +on first appearance, so it did not disprove Ryder's +belief that she was well trained in her art. +</p> + +<p> +Her methods were natural and did not smell of +the stage; nevertheless Ryder was unconvinced. +No woman who had not had long training could +have acted the part Miss Mont had played at the +Pinewood Inn. Why, <i>this</i> was an utterly different +woman! +</p> + +<p> +"Ladies and gentlemen," she said, and her voice +thrilled John Ryder where he sat with his burning +gaze fixed on her face, "I am to imitate certain +well-known actors and actresses whose peculiarities +and oddities are more or less familiar to you, as +they are to me. +</p> + +<p> +"As this is my first visit to America, I cannot +imitate your own local celebrities—only such of +the profession as may have come to England and +whom I have seen in London. For instance, I +will try to imitate"—here she named a musical +comedy celebrity who had made a hit on both sides +of the Atlantic—"as she sings her most popular +song in 'The Bridal Bell.'" +</p> + +<p> +Instantly the transformation that took place in +Miss Mont's attitude and facial expression carried +the house by storm. Before she opened her lips to +sing a line of the ditty that had been so popular in +"The Bridal Bell," she looked the woman she +imitated to the life. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder was actually startled. He remembered +that once, in a spirit of fun, while aboard ship, Miss +Mont had roguishly imitated the peculiarities of +a fellow-passenger for his private amusement. He +had not encouraged her, because he thought it +savored too much of the very thing he desired to +shield her from—the stage. Ah, why had not his +eyes been opened then to what manner of woman +she was? +</p> + +<p> +Yet during the few hours she had been with him +at the Pinewood Inn she had attempted nothing of +this kind. Nothing in her speech or actions then +had suggested the theater. What a consummate +actress this wretched woman was! +</p> + +<p> +The applause of the crowd encouraged her. She +did not undertake anything very difficult; but she +filled her seventeen minutes acceptably; and with +her beauty and personal charm there was little +doubt that her act would be a hit. +</p> + +<p> +Her popularity with this audience did anything +but please Ryder. The more the crowd applauded +the more bitter were his feelings, and the deeper +was the pain he suffered. +</p> + +<p> +How could he ever drag this woman off the stage +after such a reception? Both she and her manager +would fight to thwart his attempt to close her +career. Yet he had money—much money. Marks +could be bought out, he felt sure; but other +managers would realize that in Miss Mont there was a +fortune. +</p> + +<p> +It was while these bitter feelings rankled in his +mind that she came back to bow her acknowledgment +for the applause that followed her encore. +Her gaze swept the side of the house where Ryder +sat as she went off again and once out of direct +range of the footlights, she saw his face. +</p> + +<p> +He saw her start, pale, and then flush underneath +the grease-paint that stained her cheeks. She +knew him. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder rose from his seat and walked uncertainly +up the aisle. Several people departed after her act, +and his doing so was not conspicuous. At the door +he stopped a man and asked him where the stage +exit of the theater was located. The man grinned +at him and said: +</p> + +<p> +"Round on the other street." Then to his friend +he added quite loud enough for Ryder to hear: "A +hard-hit Johnny I should say. The Mont has +certainly made good with him." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder flushed. He could have turned and struck +the man down. It was his wife who the fellow had +intimated would be an attraction for "stage-door +Jonnies." +</p> + +<p> +He found the stage entrance and the usual Cerberus +on guard. His entrance was at first denied. +For a moment the maddened man was tempted to +rush in past the doorkeeper and demand to see his +wife of the first person he met. Better judgment +prevailed. It was dark enough in the entry for +the doorkeeper to miss his passion-distorted face. +</p> + +<p> +"Ain't nobody allowed inside, Mister," the man +said. +</p> + +<p> +"I've a friend, Miss Mont——" +</p> + +<p> +"Let's have your card and I'll get it back to her," +said the man whose hand itched for a quarter. +</p> + +<p> +"I haven't a card; but I wish to see Miss Mont. +I want to surprise her, you know." The crisp +banknote dropped into the man's hand. "She will be +surprised to see me." +</p> + +<p> +"Whew!" whistled the guard, seeing the figure +on the bill. "I guess you are all right. I ain't +looking at you, anyhow, boss," and he turned his back +deliberately upon Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +The latter darted past him and up the half-darkened +passage to those regions back of the scenes +which so bewilder the ordinary visitor. But Ryder +well knew how to gain his goal. +</p> + +<p> +He seized the first stagehand he met, crushed +another banknote into his hand and whispered: +</p> + +<p> +"Show me Miss Mont's dressing-room. I am +an old friend—from the other side." +</p> + +<p> +"Number Three. Here this way!" said the stagehand. +He, too, was moved by the size of the tip +he received. He led Ryder to the door of the +dressing-room. +</p> + +<p> +Without knocking, the injured husband opened +the door and stepped swiftly into the box-like little +apartment. The woman was sitting before the +table and glass, removing the last traces of her +makeup. +</p> + +<p> +"Who's there?" she asked without turning her +head. Evidently she thought somebody had +knocked, and Ryder stood at such an angle that she +could not easily see him in the mirror. She had +removed her stage costume and sat in her petticoat +and with frankly-bared shoulders and arms. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder breathed heavily; the sight of her satin +skin and beautifully molded neck and arms almost +staggered him. He remembered how Ruth had +looked for the single moment he had seen her in +similar undress in their bedroom at the Pinewood +Inn. +</p> + +<p> +"Is that you, Mr. Marks?" cried Miss Mont. +"Wait a moment." +</p> + +<p> +She rose swiftly, half turning, and Ryder found +his voice. +</p> + +<p> +"It is not Marks, Ruth; nor yet your Mr. White. +It is I." +</p> + +<p> +She uttered a little scream, but it was not a cry +of recognition. As she swung fully around to face +him she exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +"How dare you come in here? Who are you?" +</p> + +<p> +Then she really saw his strained and passion-wrung +features and cried in startled amazement: +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Ryder! I thought I saw you out front." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. And now I'm here," said Ryder bitterly. +"Is there anything so astonishing in that? Where +else should I be? A man can scarcely be said to +intrude when he enters his wife's dressing-room." +</p> + +<p> +"You—you—— What do you mean?" she +gasped, shrinking away from his vicinity. She +quickly snatched up the nearest garment and flung +it about her shoulders. "This is cruel of you, +Mr. Ryder. Do leave me until I dress." +</p> + +<p> +"Pah! Why so prudish? Am I not your husband?" +</p> + +<p> +"Husband? What do you say? Is the man +mad?" murmured the woman. "I—I am not your +wife, Mr. Ryder." +</p> + +<p> +"And that may be true, too," he agreed, wetting +his lips before he could speak. The fires of an +inward fever seemed burning him up. "That may be +true," he pursued. "So much the worse for you +then, Ruth. For by the living God! if you have +tricked me in that, too, you shall suffer for it as a +bigamist." +</p> + +<p> +"Tricked you?" cried she, with sudden heat, and +standing more erect before the angry man. "I did +not trick you. If either of us deserves the accusation +of trickster it is you. But a woman is helpless +if a man makes a fool of her. Had you been +the gentleman I thought you, however, you would +have told me you had changed your mind and found +that the affection you declared you had for me was +merely a passing fancy." +</p> + +<p> +"What's that?" he shouted. "Don't taunt me +that way, woman! I—who loved you devotedly, +who would do anything for you, who showed you +my heart laid bare! And you dare accuse me of +fickleness? +</p> + +<p> +"A dozen suspicious acts of yours I overlooked +while we were at the hotel together. I refused to +believe my <i>wife</i> guilty of any thought or act that +might suggest infidelity." +</p> + +<p> +She gazed at him in amazement. +</p> + +<p> +"What are you talking about? You are mad, man!" +</p> + +<p> +"Mad? Perhaps I am. I know I shall be before +long," groaned the tortured man. "You took my +name—whether you had a right to do so or not, +you know—and you cast it back in scorn, as though +it were a small thing for a man to give his name to +a woman." +</p> + +<p> +"You <i>are</i> mad!" repeated the woman. "How +dare you say I married you?" +</p> + +<p> +Ryder staggered back against the door. He +glared at her. +</p> + +<p> +"You—you—— Do you deny it? You may +have another husband; but you married me. Either +you are my legal wife, or you have committed a +crime which the American laws shall punish. See!" He +tore open his coat, dragged out his wallet, and +displayed the marriage certificate before her startled +eyes. "Deny that name—deny that signature—if +you can!" +</p> + +<p> +She bent forward, devouring the paper with her +gaze. Then suddenly she caught her breath and, +with one hand at her bosom as though to stifle its +throbbing, she arose to her full height and faced +him. +</p> + +<p> +"I do deny—both. That is not my handwriting. +And my name is <i>Rose</i> Mont," she said. +</p> + +<p> +The shout of demoniacal laughter that burst from +Ryder's lips and the contortion of his face were +terrible. +</p> + +<p> +"Do you think <i>that</i> will work, woman? Do you +think you can dodge the law on so slight a pretext +as a false name and disguised handwriting? You +are my wife, and by heaven I'll take you from this +place by force if you will not go with me peaceably!" +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap22"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER XXII +<br><br> +"WHO IS MY WIFE?" +</h3> + +<p> +Miss Mont sank slowly into her chair, still staring +at the writhing features of the man who claimed +to be her husband. Insanity had been her first +thought; but the agony and passion displayed by +John Ryder taught her that he was suffering as no +maniac could suffer. +</p> + +<p> +His words had the ring of truth that could not be +ignored. He claimed her as his bride, and so +confident was his belief in her identity as the woman +he had married that her own counter knowledge +was almost shaken. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Ryder," she said at last and in almost a +whisper, "sit down on that trunk yonder. Let me +talk to you. Yes, sit down! You are between me +and the door; I cannot escape." +</p> + +<p> +Her quiet speech helped to bring him to his +senses. He had been threatening her with the +vehemence he might have used to a man. Red +shame dyed his cheek. His manner suddenly +subsided. He obeyed her. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Ryder, I am not your wife," she said slowly, +looking at him with her truthful eyes. She was the +woman now she had seemed aboard the <i>Minnequago</i>. +"No! I do not mean that," as she saw a +wicked expression come into his face. "I have +neither intentionally, nor unintentionally wronged you. +</p> + +<p> +"Had I been convinced that I could—could learn +to love you as a wife should and had married you, +I would have done nothing which you in any way +could construe as an attempt to bring disgrace upon +your name. +</p> + +<p> +"Wait! You are in a maze yet. You believe I +am splitting hairs. I am not." She leaned forward +and raised her voice for emphasis. "I am not +the woman whom you married." +</p> + +<p> +"What do you mean?" he gasped starting up +again. "Would you make me doubt my own eyes? +You sit there and coolly tell me I do not know the +woman I married—the woman whom I held in my +arms night before last—the woman who told me +over and over again, by look and word, that she +loved me?" +</p> + +<p> +She had blushed vividly and for a moment covered +her face with her hands. But she stopped him +at that point. +</p> + +<p> +"That is exactly what I do tell you. You do not +know your wife, the woman whose name is on that +marriage paper. Look at me closely. Come nearer. +Is there not some feature different? Is she +truly—this other woman—so like me?" +</p> + +<p> +She said it earnestly and eagerly. She bent +toward him until her breath fanned his face and +until he could look with his troubled eyes deep into +her clear, shadowless orbs. +</p> + +<p> +And then, strange as it may seem, although John +Ryder saw nothing unfamiliar in her countenance—nothing +to warn him that this was not the woman +whom he had wedded—one thing he suddenly +knew. It was a startling discovery. It shook him +to the very depths of his soul. +</p> + +<p> +Whereas Ruth's very presence—his being near +her and in physical contact with her—had thrilled +him each time it occurred, he felt no such shock +now. His anger had abated. He was shaken no +more by the terrible rage under which he had +labored. But this woman held no such influence over +him, after all, as had Ruth. Still he was confused. +</p> + +<p> +"Ruth! Can such a thing be?" he whispered +brokenly. "You surely <i>do</i> love me a little?" +</p> + +<p> +The abjectness of his speech and the misery in +the man's face were awful. Miss Mont covered her +face again and began to sob. +</p> + +<p> +"You will not do this to me, Ruth? I know you +must love me a little. No woman could be to a man +what you were to me without loving him. +Whatever this shadow is that has come between us——" +</p> + +<p> +The passion and pleading in his voice had swept +her on with him. She was trembling violently and +her sobs were more broken. He would have gathered +her into his arms by one sudden movement had +she not sprung to her feet and eluded his hands. +</p> + +<p> +"Stop! Stop!" she cried hoarsely. "This is not +for me to hear! You do not mean this for <i>me</i>! +</p> + +<p> +<a id="p243"></a> +"I tell you, Mr. Ryder, I am another woman. +I am not the person you married. I am not Ruth +Mont; I am Rose Mont—and always have been +and," she broke into passionate weeping, +"and—and—always—shall be—<i>now</i>!" +</p> + +<p class="capcenter"> +<a id="img-243"></a> +<br> +<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-243.jpg" alt="I am another woman. I am not the person you married."> +<br> +I am another woman. I am not the person you married. +</p> + +<p> +The vehemence of her emotion quelled Ryder as +nothing else had done. She flung herself upon her +knees with her head and arms resting upon the +littered dressing table and abandoned herself to tears +which seemed to well from her very soul. +</p> + +<p> +He leaned over her, not daring to touch her, +anxious, panting—altogether broken in spirit. A +woman's tears flow easily they say; but this woman +was not by nature a crying woman. This flood, +however, cleared her heart and mind, and she saw +and understood more clearly when her passion was +past. +</p> + +<p> +"Listen to me, Mr. Ryder," she said at last, +recovering her seat and motioning him into his. "This +is a wonderful thing—and a terrible thing. Don't +look at me like that! Please, <i>please</i> don't! I tell +you I am not the woman you think me." +</p> + +<p> +"Do you mean," he said with deliberation, "that +you are not the woman I met aboard the +<i>Minnequago</i>?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, no!" +</p> + +<p> +"Or you are not the woman I asked to marry me +before we landed?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, no, Mr. Ryder! I am that woman." +</p> + +<p> +"Then why did you say just now you were not?" +he demanded with heat. "I treated you fairly. +Were you not satisfied? Was the glamor of this," +and he indicated the makeup box and her discarded +costume in his gesture, "too much for you? Could +any man give you more that is worth while in life +than I? Are you of so changeable a mind that you +did not know what you really wanted? +</p> + +<p> +"When I wrote you aboard ship to choose once +for all between this beastly Marks' offer of a stage +career and a position as my wife——" +</p> + +<p> +"What letter? What do you mean?" she cried, +darting at him suddenly. +</p> + +<p> +"You know what I mean. You answered the +letter in person when you met me on the dock." +</p> + +<p> +"I received no letter from you, Mr. Ryder." +</p> + +<p> +He looked puzzled and hesitated. "Well, what +matters it? You met me and said you were willing +to marry me——" +</p> + +<p> +"I tell you <i>No</i>!" she cried. "I did not meet you. +I did not say I would marry you. And I did not +marry you." +</p> + +<p> +"By heaven, woman!" +</p> + +<p> +"No, I tell you!" +</p> + +<p> +She bore him back into his seat upon the trunk +with both hands upon his shoulders. Her face was +thrust close to his and she held him by the power +of her gaze. But again John Ryder realized that +her nearness lacked that thrilling influence upon +him which contact with his bride had evolved. +</p> + +<p> +"Listen to me," she repeated impressively. "You +have been betrayed—fooled. Either you have +deceived yourself, or have been deliberately deceived +by others who knew well your wealth and power—the +man you are. You millionaires are a mark for +designing persons, Mr. Ryder, as you should well +know. +</p> + +<p> +"I cannot understand it all. But this I do know: +I did not see you to speak to for all of that last +day before the ship docked. I thought you—you +had seen the unwisdom of your course in offering +marriage to a woman like me." +</p> + +<p> +She hesitated and the tears welled to her eyes +again, but by sheer force of will she drove them +back. "I received no letter from you, Mr. Ryder; +none at all, you understand!" +</p> + +<p> +"I—I gave it to a steward." +</p> + +<p> +"It was not delivered. When we landed I did +not see you. Stop! Let me finish. I was one of +the last to leave the ship. Mrs. Gurthrie—the lady +who sat by my side at the table—you remember? +Mrs. Gurthrie was taken ill as we came up the bay. +I remained with her after we docked. An ambulance +had to be sent for to remove her to her home. +I went with her in the ambulance before going to +the hotel Mr. Marks selected for me——" +</p> + +<p> +"What are you saying?" gasped Ryder, his face +like death. +</p> + +<p> +"I am telling you the truth. I can prove every +word I say. A dozen witnesses—officers of the +ship, the doctor, the driver of the ambulance, +Mrs. Gurthrie herself and her husband, Mr. Marks—all +these can bear out what I say." +</p> + +<p> +She thought he would faint and reaching for the +glass standing at her elbow placed the water to his +lips. He drank it, still staring into her countenance +with fixed gaze. +</p> + +<p> +"Do you understand?" she continued softly. +"Don't you <i>see</i> that I am not the woman you +married, Mr. Ryder? I am forced to earn my living. +This way of the stage was opened to me and my +success tonight proves that I was right in accepting +the chance offered." +</p> + +<p> +But, he was not listening. He did not hear her +final words at all. All that he really heard was this +query, repeated over and over again in his tortured +brain: +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Who is my wife?</i>" +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap23"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER XXIII +<br><br> +IN THE MAZE +</h3> + +<p> +Both the man and the woman were shocked into +a sudden appreciation of the world outside that +box-like dressing-room by a knock on the door. Miss +Mont rose quickly, threw off the garment with +which she had lightly covered her shoulders and +slipped into a negligee which had been hanging in +the corner. +</p> + +<p> +"Who's there?" she asked quietly. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, hullo!" and Sam Marks' broad face +showed at the opening door. "Ain't you a long time +getting dressed, Miss Mont? I got a taxi at the +door—— Hullo!" +</p> + +<p> +He saw Ryder but did not at first recognize him. +</p> + +<p> +"Got a visitor? Scuse me——" +</p> + +<p> +"You may come in," said Miss Mont sternly. +"You will recognize this gentleman." +</p> + +<p> +"Gee! Well, I wouldn't, hardly. What's the +matter with him?" asked Marks, finally identifying +Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +The manager looked anxious, and he kept very +close to the door. Miss Mont watched him +narrowly; but Ryder scarcely raised his eyes from the +floor. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Marks," she said, "Mr. Ryder came +here—— That is, he says that before we landed +from the <i>Minnequago</i> he sent me a letter to my +stateroom. I did not receive it. You were hovering +around me a good deal just then. Did you happen +to see the letter?" +</p> + +<p> +"What—<i>me</i>? Why, I——" +</p> + +<p> +"Your face tells the truth if your lips cannot," +she interrupted him sharply. "I see that you <i>did</i> +get my letter. Where is it?" +</p> + +<p> +Marks looked foolish; yet his pig-like eyes +twinkled. He found the hardihood to say: +</p> + +<p> +"Well, I had to get your name on that contract +and I wasn't going to risk this guy butting in. +Guess you're glad now yourself. See the hand you +got tonight? You're going to be a knock-out." +</p> + +<p> +"You scoundrel!" she said bitterly. "You do +not know what you have done. You would not +understand if I told you—you clod! Can you +understand this much? Your stealing that +letter——" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I say! that's rather thick, you know. I +didn't steal it and I didn't destroy it. I just forgot +to give it to you after taking it from the steward," +and he grinned, bringing forth the still unopened +letter from his pocket. +</p> + +<p> +"You dog! Oh, that men like you are allowed to +live! You do things for a selfish reason, and then +can never undo the harm you have done. Had you +killed one or both of us, your act could have been +no more brutal." +</p> + +<p> +"God bless us!" gasped Marks looking fairly +frightened now. "It ain't as bad as that. I got you +on a contract—that's all I wanted. What's the +matter with him? Won't he marry you just the same? +But you'll have to fulfil the terms of my +contract." Then he laughed a sudden sneering laugh. +</p> + +<p> +"Or did somebody butt in on your game? I saw +him walking off the dock with another queen." +</p> + +<p> +Miss Mont started. "You saw them together?" +</p> + +<p> +"Sure." +</p> + +<p> +"Saw the woman? What did she look like?" +</p> + +<p> +"I didn't see her face," Sam Marks said, puzzled +at her vehemence. "I was only thinkin' just then +of the contract in my pocket." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, you beast!" she exclaimed in disgust. "Go +away. I want to talk with Mr. Ryder." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, very well! You can call names——" +</p> + +<p> +"Go!" she commanded. "Let the taxi wait." +</p> + +<p> +He slunk out of the dressing-room. It is doubtful +if Ryder had realized his presence at all. +</p> + +<p> +"Come," Miss Mont said with her hand on the +shoulder of the stunned man. "I want you to wait +for me outside the door until I dress. Then you +shall ride to my hotel with me. Let me help you to +understand this—this thing." +</p> + +<p> +He looked at her in a dazed way; but finally he +obeyed and went out of the room. He was in a +maze and his intellect seemed beclouded. +</p> + +<p> +In ten minutes she rejoined him and led the way +to the stage entrance where the car was in waiting. +They entered it, she gave the chauffeur the direction, +and the jouncing of the taxicab over the nearest +car track aroused Ryder to the first audible +speech he had made since the truth had sunk into +his mind. +</p> + +<p> +"I—I cannot believe it, Miss Mont. Yet it must +be so. How two women could look so much alike—act +so much alike! Great heavens! She shall suffer +for it——" +</p> + +<p> +The woman beside him turned quickly and placed +a palm lightly upon his lips. So like was the gesture +to Ruth's that Ryder caught his breath and sank +back in the seat, wordless again. +</p> + +<p> +"Say nothing like that. Malign no person. Let +us learn all the truth before we judge. Tell +me—tell me about this other woman—this Ruth." +</p> + +<p> +"She—she has left me," he said sullenly. +</p> + +<p> +"Left you! How—when? No, no! Begin at +the beginning. Tell me all. I will not hear a +word against her—I must not!—until I know all the +story." +</p> + +<p> +This aroused John Ryder. He looked at her +curiously. "You are a strange woman," he said. +"Do you realize that she impersonated you? That +I married her thinking she was you? That—that—God +help me! She stole from you my love, for +I <i>do</i> love her! I <i>do</i> love her!" +</p> + +<p> +Miss Mont had taken his hand in both of hers. +She sat and held it thus, looking straight ahead and +saying no word for a long minute. Finally she +whispered: +</p> + +<p> +"Tell me all about it—and about her. Keep +nothing back, Mr. Ryder. Think of me as though I +were your sister. And let that be no empty term, +please. For, perhaps——" She did not finish the +sentence but added instead: "Tell me all!" +</p> + +<p> +For a few moments Ryder was silent, trying to +collect his thoughts in order to tell his story with +some clarity. He fully realized that his thoughts +were somewhat confused, that the emotions which +had been let loose within him had, for the time +being, impaired his usual judgment, a little confused +his clear, keen mind, which ordinarily decided +matters so rapidly and so surely. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover he felt, rather than reasoned out, that +in some way Miss Mont held the key to the +situation, that if she knew the whole story and knew it +accurately, she could be of help. So he sat, pondering, +for a few moments, and again came the command: +</p> + +<p> +"Tell me all!" +</p> + +<p> +And Ryder told her. It was a long ride to the +hotel uptown where Miss Mont was housed and +there was time for him to relate every detail of his +experience from the moment he had landed on the +dock and met the strange woman who bore Miss +Mont's name and looked so much like her. +</p> + +<p> +When the story was finished the woman beside +him turned to Ryder with tears in her voice, but +with them a note of joy, as well. +</p> + +<p> +"Let me tell you something, Mr. Ryder," she +said. "And, believe me, I would stake my life upon +it: This woman you have married loves you!" +</p> + +<p> +"Do you believe so?" he whispered. Then, starting +up angrily, he began to say harshly: "Love +me? How can she and treat me so? To run away +with that man, White——" +</p> + +<p> +"Wait. Let us know all first. With the +confidence that you should have in your heart of her +love for you, you must not say that." +</p> + +<p> +"But they left the hotel; they took the same +train." +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps." +</p> + +<p> +"And what hold has he over her? What is he +to her? Is she my wife, or is she the wife of +another? And where is she now?" +</p> + +<p> +"Your last question is the most important," Miss +Mont said quietly. "That is the first problem we +have to solve. 'We,' I say, for I believe I am as +much interested in finding Ruth Mont as you." +</p> + +<p> +He looked at her curiously and in surprise. But +she made no explanation, saying only: +</p> + +<p> +"As for your first queries, we can only guess at +the proper answers for them. And guessing is poor +business. Who the man White is I cannot be sure, +of course. But I should not be surprised if he +were the man she was really waiting for that +morning on the dock when the <i>Minnequago</i> got in." +</p> + +<p> +"What?" he gasped. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. I remember well that there was a passenger +named White aboard. He was ill most of the time +coming over. His stateroom was near mine. He +was being helped ashore by one of the stewards at +the time we got Mrs. Gurthrie into the ambulance. +You say he signed 'John B. White, Rome,' on the +hotel register. It was Rome, Italy, of course. He +must have been out of America for years. +</p> + +<p> +"If he was actually Ruth Mont's husband she +would not have gone through a marriage ceremony +with you, for she believed you to be White." +</p> + +<p> +"What are you saying?" stammered the confused +Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. That is the explanation, I feel sure. You +say she picked out Pinewood for your honeymoon, +saying something about the place reminding you +both of old times. I should think that would have +awakened you to some suspicion of the facts. But +a man in love, I suppose, is accountable neither for +his deeds nor his words. +</p> + +<p> +"It is plain, Mr. Ryder, that your wife and this +White knew each other years ago. Perhaps they +had not met since childhood. They have probably +corresponded; but she could not have known much +about his mature appearance. +</p> + +<p> +"She was waiting for him when you landed +from the <i>Minnequago</i>. You thought she was I. +How much we must look alike!" +</p> + +<p> +"Alike?" he murmured. "You are twins." +</p> + +<p> +"No; we are not twins," she corrected him with +confidence. "But there is a reason why we should +look and seem so much alike. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, see: You came to her on the dock, and +your first question convinced her you were White. +From what you tell me it seems that she was not +sure of her own mind until she had seen you in +the flesh. +</p> + +<p> +"What woman could be sure, when she had not +met her lover for years? And," the woman's voice +broke, but she went on bravely, "for your comfort, +Mr. Ryder, let me tell you that I believe she must +have fallen in love with you on that instant of +meeting." +</p> + +<p> +John Ryder was silent. He was suddenly confronted +with a second riddle, but he had no words +in which to answer it. Had this woman, now talking +to him so gently and impressively, been drawn +toward him, too? What had his impetuosity done +to her, as well as to himself? He could no longer +selfishly feel that he was the only person injured +by this tragedy of errors. +</p> + +<p> +"Then," Miss Mont continued, "the knowledge +of what she had done—what a great mistake she +had made—came to her with a suddenness that was +enough to turn the woman's brain. She had thought +herself in love all these years with one man, and +had married another! +</p> + +<p> +"Put yourself in her place. Think what an +opinion she holds of <i>you</i>. If your heart and brain +have been seared by your trouble, think how she +must feel. She cannot understand why you +impersonated White. She is as much in the dark +as you were. She must think you deliberately +befooled her. She fled—not with White, I stake my +life upon it!—but because she was so mentally +disturbed that flight seemed the only course left +her." +</p> + +<p> +"But the name—'Mrs. John B. White'—written +in her own hand upon the trunk labels?" questioned +the man. +</p> + +<p> +It was dark in the taxicab. The vehicle had +stopped at the side door of Miss Mont's hotel and +the chauffeur was impatiently waiting further orders +or the alighting of his passengers. Ryder could +not see Miss Mont's face. +</p> + +<p> +He could not see her burning blush; he could +not know of the tears flooding her eyes; he could +only hear the tremor of her voice as she whispered: +</p> + +<p> +"My heart tells me, Mr. Ryder, that Ruth wrote +those lines as soon as her trunks arrived at the +hotel. It was her new name. She wished to see +how it looked when she wrote it on the tags!" +</p> + +<p> +"Do you suppose that—all this you have told +me—is the right explanation of this awful mystery?" +</p> + +<p> +"I believe so. If she has come to this city and +is hiding from you, it is because she cannot +imagine what manner of man would usurp another's +name and place as you seem to have done." +</p> + +<p> +The tone that suddenly sounded in Ryder's voice +could not be mistaken. "I'll have the whole police +force hunting for her in the morning. I'll turn up +the whole town to find her. Think of it! The poor +child running away from <i>me</i>. When I love her so +and am so sure she loves me——" +</p> + +<p> +Miss Mont stopped him. "I—I must leave you +now," she said in a muffled voice. "No! don't get +down. I do not need you. Let me know how you +succeed." She was out of the taxicab instantly +and without a backward glance ran hastily into the +hotel. He did not see her face again; but Ryder +knew she was struggling to keep back another +tempest of weeping. +</p> + +<p> +He told the chauffeur where to drive him, and +rode back downtown. After the storm of emotion +of the last two hours his soul was strangely peaceful +and he was even light-hearted. +</p> + +<p> +The contrast between the awful uncertainty of +the riddle of his wife's actions and the confidence +he now felt that Miss Mont's explanation was the +only sane and reasonable explanation, was so great +that Ruth's disappearance seemed at this moment a +small matter indeed. +</p> + +<p> +Money and patience would find her, of course. +Of the first he had plenty, thank heaven! The last +he must cultivate as need be. +</p> + +<p> +A steeple clock boomed the hour of midnight. +The third day of John Ryder's honeymoon was +ended. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap24"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER XXIV +<br><br> +NEMESIS +</h3> + +<p> +With this better understanding of the exciting +and brain-wracking incidents of these three days, +John Ryder became again his sane and businesslike +self. Before he reached his hotel he had evolved a +plan for his future course relating to the woman he +had married by mistake. Of course, this plan began +with the discovery of her whereabouts. +</p> + +<p> +He must have some theory to work on. He could +go to the police and ask them to send out a +description of his wife and trust to luck that some +sharp-eyed detective would see her. That, however, +was a method which he abhorred. +</p> + +<p> +If Ruth had come to New York, or if she had +gone elsewhere, John Ryder could think of just +one way in which she might be traced. +</p> + +<p> +He was convinced now that she was not with +White. Ryder had cast that unfortunate individual +into the discard entirely. Miss Mont's explanation +of the mystery that had involved them all was so +clear that Ryder could no longer feel jealous of +John B. White. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed the man might have better reason to feel +that Ryder had defrauded him. Unintentionally +Ryder had substituted himself for White, and had +borne off the girl the latter expected to marry, +and had made her his wife. +</p> + +<p> +The thing to do now was for Ryder to find her, +to explain his own course in the matter, and to +convince Ruth that she had, after all, married the +right man. +</p> + +<p> +To start on this quest aright, he felt that he +must begin at the Pinewood Inn. There was +something at Pinewood that he felt sure would aid him +in his search for his bride. She must send for the +trunks and then he would obtain her address. +</p> + +<p> +Therefore he went back to his hotel with the +intention of leaving a call for the early morning +train that would take him back to the resort. When +he entered the hostelry and approached the desk +he was surprised to be told that a lady was waiting +for him in one of the hotel parlors. +</p> + +<p> +"Been here for some time, sir. Said she would +wait till you came in, no matter how late you were. +It must be something important, Mr. Ryder," the +clerk told him. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder's heart leaped for joy. His first thought +was that it was Ruth. How she could have found +his hotel—what had brought her here—he did not +stop to question. He followed the bellboy with +eager steps to the parlor where, under a dim light, +the woman sat waiting for his return. +</p> + +<p> +When John Ryder strode into the room he felt +a distinct drop in the temperature of his feelings. +This might be a woman that had waited for him, but +she was dressed more like a man. A long raincoat +wrapped her about, and a felt hat pulled down over +her ears disguised her femininity most effectually. +</p> + +<p> +"Miss Solomons!" exclaimed Ryder, as the person +rose and turned toward him. +</p> + +<p> +"That's who 'tis," jerked out the house detective +of the Pinewood Inn. "I've been waiting for you, +Mr. Ryder." +</p> + +<p> +Could it be possible that she had come with some +message from Ruth, or information about her? +Ryder could not find voice enough in which to ask +her. His silence seemed to give Miss Solomons +immense satisfaction. Her eyes snapped, and she +waved in a commanding way the folded copy of the +novel she always carried. +</p> + +<p> +"I've got you! I told 'em I'd find you, all right. +Can't fool <i>me</i>. You'd better come with me, +Mr. Ryder. Don't try any capers." +</p> + +<p> +"What the—— What do you want of me?" demanded +the rapidly disillusioned Ryder. He realized +that Miss Solomons could have come on no +sentimental mission. +</p> + +<p> +"They want you back to Pinewood. You know. +You aren't silly enough to refuse to go without +extradition papers, are you?" +</p> + +<p> +"What—under—the—sun——" +</p> + +<p> +"Back up!" exclaimed Miss Solomons. "That +don't go. You know well enough what they want +you for. That deputy sheriff is a dunce. You got +away from <i>him</i>; but not from me." +</p> + +<p> +"But what have you got to do with the deputy's +trouble?" +</p> + +<p> +"Say! Don't fool yourself. I'm a properly appointed +officer of the State. That deputy fell down +on the job, but I told 'em I'd get you. Come!" +</p> + +<p> +"But what <i>for</i>?" demanded John Ryder, suddenly +becoming quiet. +</p> + +<p> +"Stealin' that coal. Thought you could get away +with two carloads of coal and nobody do nothin' +about it?" +</p> + +<p> +"But," pointed out Ryder, "the coal was for the +use of the hotel, and you are an employee of the +hotel. Where do you come into this?" +</p> + +<p> +"I'm officer of the State first," said Miss Solomons +promptly. "It was a dead open and shut robbery. +Then you attacked that poor deputy. That's +serious. I'm a brother officer——" +</p> + +<p> +"Don't you mean a <i>sister</i> officer?" suggested John +Ryder gently. +</p> + +<p> +"Huh! Don't get gay," advised Miss Solomons. +"I'm asking if you are going to come peaceably, or +must I make trouble for you in this ranch?" +</p> + +<p> +"Where will you take me?" +</p> + +<p> +"If you agree to go back quiet-like to Pinewood, +I'll take you right to the station." +</p> + +<p> +"And sit there in a draughty station for five +hours or more, waiting for the first train?" he asked +indignantly. +</p> + +<p> +"Well——" +</p> + +<p> +"You wouldn't treat a fellow that way, would +you, Miss Solomons?" he went on wheedlingly. +</p> + +<p> +"Don't try no soft stuff on <i>me</i>," advised the house +detective gloomily. "I don't fall for it." +</p> + +<p> +"But can't I go to bed and be called at a proper +time to make the train?" +</p> + +<p> +"What's going to happen to me?" she demanded. +"Expect me to sleep on the mat outside your door?" +</p> + +<p> +"But can't you go to bed, too? Let us behave +humanlike," John Ryder urged. "Just because you +are an officer and I am a—er—criminal, shall we +say?—we need not both be miserable. <i>I</i> want to +sleep." +</p> + +<p> +"I should worry whether you sleep or not," +snapped the house detective. "I haven't had much +myself lately." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, then?" +</p> + +<p> +"Where do I bunk?" asked Miss Solomons. +</p> + +<p> +"I will telephone down and secure a room for +you. Near my own. You may lock me in if you +like and keep the key." +</p> + +<p> +"Inside room?" she asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. I can't get out by the window very easily." +</p> + +<p> +"So be it!" she exclaimed. "You're a particular +blame fool, Mr. Ryder; but not fool enough to try +to escape <i>me</i>, I guess. Besides," she added, "here's +a note was sent to you. Maybe it'll put you wise to +somethin'." +</p> + +<p> +She handed him a sealed envelope. Ryder's heart +leaped once and then stopped. It was not addressed +in Ruth's handwriting, although his name +was written in a feminine hand. +</p> + +<p> +He tore it open, unfolded the paper it contained, +and read: +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +"If you are a man and love R. return +immediately. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +"ALICE J. BRACK." +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +Ryder stood holding the note for a full minute +while he regained his poise. Who was "Alice +J. Brack?" Not Ruth herself. Surely there could +not be another mixup in names! +</p> + +<p> +Then, of a sudden, he remembered the white-haired, +motherly-looking wife of the fire-eating +colonel. It flashed into Ryder's mind that while +he was hurrying out of the hotel at Pinewood, +Saturday noon, Mrs. Brack had sought to speak +to him. +</p> + +<p> +What did she know about his wife and the mystery +that had entangled him in its snare? Why, +if he loved Ruth, must he return to the Pine wood +Inn? He looked up and caught Miss Solomons +eying him with so soft a gaze that he was actually +startled. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh!" gasped John Ryder, "is she <i>there</i>?" +</p> + +<p> +The detective "came to attention" swiftly. Her +face hardened to its usual bored expression. She +said: +</p> + +<p> +"I don't know anything about the note. It was +given to me by the old lady. I'm here to take you +back for stealing coal." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! All right," said John Ryder. "I'll go." +</p> + +<p> +But the detective seemed suddenly more moderate +in her demands. "Tell you what," she said. +"I'll bunk here." +</p> + +<p> +"Here in the parlor?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yep. 'Twon't hurt <i>me</i>." +</p> + +<p> +"In one of these chairs?" +</p> + +<p> +"Good's I us'ally get at night," she declared. +</p> + +<p> +"But, my dear young woman," protested Ryder, +"the management of the hotel won't permit anyone +to lie around in their parlors all night." +</p> + +<p> +"They'll let me, I guess! I'm a State officer. +I've got rights that don't pertain to any old person +that just happens to drop into a hotel. Now, you +can beat it to your room. I won't let you oversleep. +We'll make that six-fifteen train." +</p> + +<p> +But John Ryder needed nobody to awaken him +at the proper hour. He was up in good season, +and had heard nothing of Miss Solomons when he +came out of his bedchamber at half after five in +the morning. +</p> + +<p> +He went to the parlor to look for her. There +was but a single light burning, and that dimly. +The house detective of the Pine wood Inn was sound +asleep in her chair. She had evidently succumbed +to nature while keeping what she considered proper +vigil. +</p> + +<p> +The long-barreled pistol she carried had slipped +to the rug at her feet. When Ryder stooped to +pick it up before awakening Miss Solomons, he saw +that she had dropped her "five-cent thriller" as +well. +</p> + +<p> +He picked this up and unfolded the pamphlet +curiously. He expected to find a detective story with +quite as sensational a title as Jim Howe had +suggested. Instead, the title of the story the house +detective had been last perusing was: +</p> + +<p> +"Little Laurel's Lovers; Or, Sweethearts' Paths +Made Smooth." +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap25"></a></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER XXV +<br><br> +JOHN RYDER FORGIVES FATE +</h3> + +<p> +They might have arrived at the Pinewood Inn +earlier had not the officer and her captive been met +before they crossed the inlet to the hotel by a man +with a bandage swathing his jaw. Ryder had +considerable trouble in identifying the deputy sheriff, +whom he had last seen struggling in the tide. +</p> + +<p> +"Got him," said Miss Solomons briefly to the +deputy. "He came back without making any +trouble." +</p> + +<p> +She seemed, Ryder thought, a little sorry that she +was forced to hand him over to the mercy of the +other officer. For that deputy did seem vindictive. +</p> + +<p> +"Got a warrant, have you?" asked Miss Solomons, +as an afterthought. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I know my business. I'll get the warrant, +all right," growled the man with the bruised jaw. +</p> + +<p> +"You can't arrest without a warrant on such a +charge," declared the house detective, suddenly +taking up cudgels for John Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I'll hold him all right. He's been stealing——" +</p> + +<p> +"Who makes the complaint?" asked the culprit +mildly. "Of course, old fellow, I'm sorry you +obliged me to hit you. If anything I can do will +salve your lacerated feelings——?" He drew out +his wallet. +</p> + +<p> +"You stole that coal," growled the man, his eyes +glittering, however, when he saw the money Ryder +carried. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, all right! If you insist," said John Ryder. +"But who is the complainant in the case?" +</p> + +<p> +"Why, the railroad, I s'pose." +</p> + +<p> +"That is what you <i>suppose</i>," said the culprit. +"Now, let me tell you what I know. The railroad +was merely the carrier. It did not own the coal. +The railroad was neither consignor nor consignee." +</p> + +<p> +"Then the coal company will prosecute." +</p> + +<p> +"No, they won't. They ship at consignee's risk. +If anybody moves in the matter it will be the actual, +legal owner of the coal. In other words, the Lossing +Soap Company." +</p> + +<p> +"What does it matter?" demanded the deputy +with some heat. "Somebody will prosecute. You +can't get out of that." +</p> + +<p> +"Maybe. Just wait a moment, Mr. Sheriff. I +happen to have a letter here from the Lossing Soap +Company. It's on a private matter; but I'll show +you the letter-head. Here, just read that aloud," +and he tore off the printed heading of the letter and +handed it to the officer. +</p> + +<p> +"'Lossing Soap Company, Capitalization——'" +</p> + +<p> +"Never mind that," interposed Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +"'Rated——'" +</p> + +<p> +"Skip that. Who's the president?" +</p> + +<p> +"Why—er—— My goodness gracious!" gasped +the deputy. "The—the president of the company +is—is Mr. John Ryder." +</p> + +<p> +"That's right," said Ryder quietly. "John Ryder. +There is only one of us, and that's me. I may be a +fool—as Miss Solomons here says I am—but I'm +not fool enough to prosecute myself for stealing my +own coal. You can go back and report, Mr. Deputy, +to your superior; and when you find out how much +you think that sore jaw is worth, let me know. +We'll be able to settle it out of court." +</p> + +<p> +He walked on to enter a boat that had come to +transfer him across the inlet. Miss Solomons +looked after him, and then at the deputy. Scorn +made her voice fairly tremble as she viewed the +abashed officer up and down his length. +</p> + +<p> +"Huh!" he emitted, and stopped unable to go on, +and even, seemingly, to close his mouth. +</p> + +<p> +"Good-<i>night!</i>" muttered the house detective, and +followed John Ryder into the boat. +</p> + +<p> +She kept a discreet silence all the way across the +inlet and as they walked up the path to the +Pinewood Inn. There Ryder went immediately to the +desk, to be hailed joyfully by George. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, if we aren't all glad to see you again, +Mr. Ryder!" exclaimed the clerk. "The guests are +going to give you a testimonial banquet soon's it +can be arranged." +</p> + +<p> +"Good heavens, George! can't you get me out +of that? Why—why! it's preposterous! Man +alive! you've got to nip that!" +</p> + +<p> +"Don't know how I can, Mr. Ryder. When +Colonel Brack gets set on something he's hard to +change. And then there's Pop Cudger—he's in +this, too, and he never stops to hear what any other +fellow has to say once he begins on a thing." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder groaned dismally. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Giddings has arrived and is anxious to +see you," went on the clerk. "Say! I'm going to be +manager here in place of Bangs. And if I make +good I'll owe it all to you," declared the grateful +young man. +</p> + +<p> +"And say, your wife will be tickled to see +you——" +</p> + +<p> +"What!" Ryder for a moment lost control of +himself, but George was too full of news to notice +his emotion. +</p> + +<p> +"Naturally she'd be lonely. She's been sticking +as close to Mrs. Brack as though the old lady was +her mother. And the colonel is evidently dead stuck +on Mrs. Ryder. I think he'll even forgive you, +sir," and George chuckled. +</p> + +<p> +Ryder swallowed hard, and finally was able to +speak without a noticeable tremor in his voice: +</p> + +<p> +"Guess it is too early to go upstairs. Nobody +will be up yet." +</p> + +<p> +"No. Mrs. Ryder has not telephoned down for +her breakfast. And I believe Mrs. Brack is with +her, anyway." +</p> + +<p> +"Tell 'em I'm here if they 'phone down," said +Ryder, and went into the breakfast room. +</p> + +<p> +Before he completed his leisurely meal Mrs. Judson +swept into the room in a wonderful morning +gown. She caught sight of Ryder, looked her +astonishment for an instant, and then advanced +down the room with the evident intention of +speaking to him. +</p> + +<p> +It was rude, but Ryder would have knocked her +down had she been a man. As he could not do +this, he deliberately turned his eyes away and +ignored her. The cut direct could not be mistaken, +and several noticed the widow's discomfiture. +</p> + +<p> +A moment later one of the bellboys brought +Ryder a note. He tried to seem undisturbed as he +opened and read it: +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="noindent"> +"DEAR SIR:— +</p> + +<p> +"Come to me in the parlor before seeing your +wife. She does not know yet that you have +returned. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + "Sincerely,<br> + "ALICE J. BRACK."<br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +He arose finally and made his way to the parlor, +with an apparent ease of manner he did not at all +feel. It was the same room that had been the scene +of so many events on that night when Pop Cudger +and his colored retainer had guarded Van Scamp's +famous painting of "The Cheesemonger." +</p> + +<p> +The tranquil countenance of the colonel's lady +seemed to John Ryder one of the most beautiful +he had ever seen. Her smile encouraged him. Her +first words filled him with delight: +</p> + +<p> +"Yes; she is well." +</p> + +<p> +He could have hugged her! But Mrs. Brack +added gravely: +</p> + +<p> +"Before I let you go up to the poor child, you +must tell me your side of the story. All of it. She +has trusted everything to me. I understand her +mistakes and her misery fully. And I tell you now +that no shadow of wrong rests upon her conduct. +Can you say as much, Mr. Ryder? +</p> + +<p> +"I have promised that you shall not see her +unless you can explain satisfactorily what you have +done. Tell me, why did you, a perfect stranger as +she declares, represent yourself to her as the man +she expected to marry and for whom she was waiting +on that dock?" +</p> + +<p> +"Then Miss Mont was right!" exclaimed John Ryder. +</p> + +<p> +"Miss Mont? Do you mean your wife?" +</p> + +<p> +Ryder eagerly told Mrs. Brack in detail of the +mystery of the two girls named Mont and of all +Rose Mont had surmised. He knew now who Ruth +must be. His listener sat enthralled until he had +completed his story. Then she suddenly took him +by both shoulders and gave him a little shake. +</p> + +<p> +"John Ryder," she said, repeating (though in a +more refined phrase) Miss Solomons' stated opinion +of his character, "John Ryder, you are a particularly +foolish man. There is one principle of married +life which you have overlooked—it is the +foundation, indeed, of wedded happiness. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Mutual confidence</i>. If two people possess that, +happiness may come or go; that is a craft that +sails with variable winds. But trust must remain +if wedded comradeship is to last. +</p> + +<p> +"The very first thing that started suspicion in +your mind should have made you go to your wife +for an explanation. Because you did not do this +you both have got into much sorrow and anxiety. +</p> + +<p> +"Tell me," the woman added suddenly: "Which +of these two women do you love? You fell in love +with that other Miss Mont on the steamship, and +asked her to be your wife. You must have thought +you loved her. But you met this poor child you +have married and seem to have felt no difference +in the two. And yet there must be a difference—a +vast difference. +</p> + +<p> +"Which of them do you really love?" +</p> + +<p> +"There is no doubt in my mind, Mrs. Brack," +he told her with earnestness. "I was attracted by +Rose Mont's face and by her qualities of mind. I +thought I loved her. Possibly, had I married her, +I never should have known that I had mistaken +admiration for love. +</p> + +<p> +"But Ruth I have married. And from the moment +I knew she was mine—yes, from the moment +we clasped hands upon the wharf—my feeling for +her was far different from that I had held for +Rose. +</p> + +<p> +"Rose has no power over me, Mrs. Brack. I +cannot explain it very clearly; but it is true. There +is no response in me when I touch her hand or +when she is near me. But Ruth—I tell you I love +my wife, Mrs. Brack, and I'll fight for the possession +of her if any man tries to take her from me!" +</p> + +<p> +"That is enough! I believe you!" the woman +said, her eyes shining. "You need comfort as well +as Ruth, for you, too, have suffered. And I am +going to tell you something, that which will bring +to your heart the assurance it needs. +</p> + +<p> +"Your wife has been a poor girl all her life. Of +late she has been a nurse, supporting herself +entirely. She was tacitly adopted into the family of +this John B. White when she was very small. +</p> + +<p> +"Afterward the family suffered reverses and came +to America, bringing Ruth with them. When the +elder White died, this son was taken by an uncle +and aunt to Europe to finish his education there. +But Ruth was old enough when they separated for +them to have felt some attachment. +</p> + +<p> +"They corresponded. For two years now his +letters have been loverlike. He had studied to be +an artist and had gained some celebrity in Italy. +The less the girl encouraged him the more eager +he was to come to America and prove to her that +she still loved him—as he claimed to love her. It +was born of the man's romantic nature, I presume; +yet he, poor fellow, has lost everything in this affair. +Ruth agreed finally to marry him if, upon his +appearance, she should be assured he was a man she +could learn to love. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, you may well blush, Mr. Ryder," pursued +Mrs. Brack, smiling. "She discovered instantly—in +the flash of an eye—that she could love you. She +did love you. She does love you. She declares +vehemently if White had met her she would have +run away from him. +</p> + +<p> +"After their terrible scene the other day—did you +know about that?" Ryder nodded. "She came to +you for an explanation—for help. You are still a +young man, John Ryder. You do not understand +women. You left her alone—when she needed +you—and without a word to comfort her. +</p> + +<p> +"White might have been foolish enough to linger +about and cause more trouble, but Miss Solomons, +who overheard his talk with your wife, tells me +she 'chased him.' That girl is dreadfully slangy +and appears to be hard and unfeminine; but she +has a soft heart under it all, Mr. Ryder." +</p> + +<p> +"I can well believe it," agreed Ryder, thinking of +"Little Laurel's Lovers." +</p> + +<p> +"I met your wife in the corridor ready dressed +to leave the hotel," pursued Mrs. Brack. "She had +packed her trunks and would have been foolish +enough to run away. +</p> + +<p> +"It was by chance—no, it was providential—that +I spoke to her. And because I am an old woman +and have lived my life and have both suffered and +been happy, she told me all. I saw that Mrs. Judson +would succeed in making her scandalous story +(that I had already heard and then understood) +sound true if we were not careful. She has even +been saying that you ran away from your +bride——" +</p> + +<p> +"Confound her!" ejaculated John Ryder. "And +after all Ruth's kindness to her!" +</p> + +<p> +"She is confounded—and by her own evil tongue. +All gossips are in the end," said Mrs. Brack. "My +husband and I have been in this hotel fourteen +years. If <i>I</i> approve of a person the guests at large +are not very likely to believe the scandalous stories +of such flutterbudgets as Mrs. Judson. +</p> + +<p> +"I have made Ruth appear with us in the dining-room. +That put a stop to all the gossip. And +so—she is waiting for you in her rooms now, +Mr. Ryder. She is a girl that any man—I do not +care how high he may be—should be proud to +secure for a wife, and——" +</p> + +<p> +"I am going to her!" cried John Ryder, and +darted away. +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +About a week later, one evening, as John Ryder +and his wife were going up from dinner, the clerk +handed him a letter. The envelope was creamy and +very thick, and the writing, angular and firm, +betrayed the feminine hand. +</p> + +<p> +"This is from Miss Mont," he said to his wife, +and when they reached their suite she sat eagerly +upon the arm of the big chair while he opened the +envelope. +</p> + +<p> +Together they looked over the letter that threw +light on important facts which correspondence on +both sides had brought to view. In one place Rose +Mont wrote: +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +"From what your wife writes me about her +remembrance of her early years and from my own +memory, I am confident that she is the sister Ruth +whom I so dearly loved when our parents died and +we children were scattered. I remember I almost +cried my eyes out for her, although for the boys and +for our older sister, Gertrude, I did not greatly care. +</p> + +<p> +"And that we should grow up to look so much +alike!" +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +Again she wrote: +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +"Your invitation, seconded by dear Ruth, is +appreciated; but I must refuse it now. I could not +come to disturb your new-made happiness. Besides, +Mr. Marks has contracted for a seven-week engagement +in Chicago and we start for the West +to-morrow. When I return to New York in the spring +or early summer we will have recovered our +equilibrium, I fancy, and we all, as brother and sisters, +may meet with more freedom. Until we meet, God +bless you! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + "Your sister,<br> + "ROSE MONT."<br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +"Well, I'm sorry she's taken up that stage +business," Ryder said with a sigh. "And yet she has +talent for it and she's a good woman. We'll give +her the time of her life when she does come East. +We'll be in our own home then, honey." +</p> + +<p> +Ruth was looking at him very closely, but he was +quite unconscious of the meaning of this scrutiny. +Suddenly she seized him around the neck and +hugged him tightly. +</p> + +<p> +"Well," she murmured, "I won't be jealous of +my own sister." +</p> + +<p> +Ryder did not hear. But he held her away from +him for a moment and looked into her eyes. +"Where's that chain and locket you used to wear?" +he suddenly demanded. +</p> + +<p> +A vivid blush flooded into her throat and cheeks. +"That—that's put away. Johnny White gave it to +me when I was a little girl. It—it had a lock of his +hair in it I thought it was <i>your</i> hair, dearest. +How silly of me!" +</p> + +<p> +Ryder smiled grimly. "And you used to kiss it, +I'll be bound, thinking it was mine?" +</p> + +<p> +"How did you know?" she demanded, starting up +rather petulantly. +</p> + +<p> +"Humph! I know a lot of things now—since I've +been married. By thunder! Marriage <i>does</i> open +a man's eyes." +</p> + +<p> +And then he laughed and drew her down against +his breast again, and they were silent for a long +while. +</p> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +THE END +</p> + +<p><br><br><br><br></p> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75754 ***</div> +</body> + +</html> + + diff --git a/75754-h/images/img-050.jpg b/75754-h/images/img-050.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bda6cd5 --- /dev/null +++ b/75754-h/images/img-050.jpg diff --git a/75754-h/images/img-129.jpg b/75754-h/images/img-129.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b3b7c0a --- /dev/null +++ b/75754-h/images/img-129.jpg diff --git a/75754-h/images/img-243.jpg b/75754-h/images/img-243.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..351acea --- /dev/null +++ b/75754-h/images/img-243.jpg diff --git a/75754-h/images/img-cover.jpg b/75754-h/images/img-cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8d846e --- /dev/null +++ b/75754-h/images/img-cover.jpg diff --git a/75754-h/images/img-front.jpg b/75754-h/images/img-front.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0170d57 --- /dev/null +++ b/75754-h/images/img-front.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5dba15 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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