HEART?/ WOMAN HARRY W. DESMOND i o HEART o/ WOMAN The LoVe Story of CATRINA RUTHERFORD Contained in Writings of ALE,XANDE,R ADAMS Transmitted to HARRY W. DESMOND N E, W Y O Be K J. F. TAYLOR & COMPANY M C M I I COPYRIGHT 1902, BY J. F. TAYLOR & CO. Published June, zqoz To My Friend FRANCIS AMES CONTENTS HAPTER PAGE I. ALEX ADAMS'S MEMENTOES i II. THE ORCHARD AT HEATHCOTE HOUSE . 5 III. ISAAC SCOTT MAKES HIS APPEARANCE . 13 IV. THE DAWN OF SUSPICION 24 V. A TORY IN RETREAT 31 VI. THE FIRST INTERVIEW ON THE "ASIA" . 39 VII. THE SECOND INTERVIEW ON THE "ASIA" 51 VIII. THE JOURNEY TO THE MANSE .... 56 IX. THE MANSE AND ITS INMATES .... 74 X. THE PRELUDE IN THE WOODS .... 92 XI. THE DELIVERY OF THE LETTER . . . . 101 XII. THE FIRST STAGE OF THE FLIGHT . . . 112 XIII. HELEN "JOINS THE PARTY 127 XIV. SOME OF THE PARTY TAKE THEIR LEAVE . 134 XV. THE CROWN POINT FORT 157 XVI. RALPH FORSWEARS THE PAST .... 163 XVII. THE BEGINNING OF DOUBT 173 XVIII. THE POWER OF AN AFFINITY ..,..180 XIX. THE MEETING OF THE CROSS CURRENTS 193 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XX. COMING TO CLOSE QUARTERS .... 201 XXI. Miss RUTHERFORD'S MESSENGER ... 221 XXII. CATRINA'S COMMAND 231 XXIII. BURNING THE BRIDGES 237 XXIV. THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FATE .... 249 XXV. CATRINA'S MESSENGER PAID 264 XXVI. IN THE ENEMY'S HANDS 276 XXVII. CATRINA PAYS THE RANSOM ..... 293 XXVIII. WHERE THE HEART Is THERE WILL OUR THOUGHTS BE ALSO 309 THE HEART OF WOMAN THE HEART OF WOMAN CHAPTER I. ALEX. ADAMS'S MEMENTOES. YESTERDAY, Sunday, the rain fell steadily, veiling the harbor beyond my windows in gray mist that obscured the distant Staten Island hills. It was a soft, wet day, when the air strangely carries any sound given to it, and in like manner, perhaps in sympathy, the mind prolongs its slightest reminiscence. I had little inclination to church, so stayed at home overhauling my papers. They wece of divers sort old accounts, letters, memoranda indifferent docu- ments of even no private value that a man of small affairs preserved for forgotten reasons. These neglected papers were of the very mood of the moment. As I went over them, one by one, I could not escape the thought how much our recent success in arms has cost us at the hearth and how complete is the severance the war has made between the days my papers recall and these new triumphant times of ours. Verily, the old play is off the stage, the old sentiments out of place, many of the old actors gone, many of the old haunts destroyed. 2 THE HEART OF WOMAN Why these regrets? I do not yet confess to old age, but I acknowledge that period of life when losses can- not always be consoled with the promise of future ex- periences. The recollections of twenty are like the fallen leaves of a sapling, but what consolation for what we have lost is there at fifty, shall I say? Miss Tenny Wendell where is she now? That in- vitation to dine with the family is eighteen years old. As I read it her girlish face flashed for a moment out of the paper like a picture in invisible ink. I scarce needed that other note, nearly as old, pinned to it, to recall that ride out to Greenwich with the Lieutenant-Governor's company, some twenty of us, gentlemen and ladies of the best fashion in New York, the halt at Mr. Richardson's country house, the fine parcel of silver eels we caught and had dressed for sup- per, the minuets we danced later and how merry we were riding home in the summer dusk. I rode with Miss Phipps, I remember, whom I kissed, as etiquette, and, in this case, inclination also required, when we passed the Kissing Bridge. The recollection of her brought again before me the Captain, her father, deaf of ear, but triumphant of voice, and the punch-wine and choice corned mackerel I regaled him and his friends with that distant October night at the King's Head, the best punch house at that time and most to my liking of all on the Boston Post Road. And speaking of punch, where did Col. Debuke learn the secret of his? How instable are the excellencies of ALEX. ADAMS'S MEMENTOES 3 life ! Surely not again shall I taste the equal of that he used to provide at his lodgings for his large acquaint- ance, where so often we spent the night singing and toasting the King and the Ladies plentifully, very merry all of us, until we broke up in the doubtful morn- ing hours. How distant those pictures appeared as my memen- toes evoked them ! Whither was that ancient company dispersed? "Dear! Dear!" the mute voice within exclaimed, "the saddest part of this growing old is the departures it has to reckon." And then, as though to prove my philosophy, my eye alighted on a memorandum I had made of that turtle frolic I gave at Williams's I fear to count the years ago. Indeed, had I not sat myself down this damp, gray Sunday, to a belated feast of memory, with empty dishes and vacant chairs ! But vacant for a moment only! "At Williams's," my spirit cried, "I culminated my friends around me ! If Memory is to play comforter to me, by heaven it shall be only on condition that those chairs are kept filled and my glass, that I may drink to the shades I gathered there !" I arose as though the faces were around me. My hand held the bumper filled to the overflowing as my heart was. "Your health, Madam Grace," I cried. "Yours, Madam Quincy. Yours, too, Capt. Phillips. Doctor 4 THE HEART OF WOMAN Bridges, dear old friend, to you. Sir Thomas, sir, your servant. Miss Betsy, your devoted. Miss Ca- trina " My hand fell suddenly, all my company vanished all but two whom I saw before me in the light of a sweet May day amid an orchard in blossom the blos- som of fifteen years ago. CHAPTER II. THE ORCHARD AT HEATH COTE HOUSE. THIS orchard was a part of the country house Mr. Oliver Heathcote built near Greenwich Village, north of my Lady Warren's, a few years before he was stricken with the small-pox in 1772 and died. He had devised the grounds quite in the English fashion, sur- rounding the house with a hedge of box. A fine ave- nue of locust trees made a delightful approach to the porch in front. Behind the mansion was arranged a beautiful pleasure garden with three terraced walks and a marble fountain. Beyond all was a large orchard that sloped down to the pebbly shore of Hudson's River. His widow migrated hither from the city annually during the torrid months. The house was finely ac- commodated for company, and as the inclination of the lady of the manor was decidedly hospitable, she was never without a number of relatives and friends around her. Among the former was Catrina Rutherford. It must have been in the latter part of May. I re- member the air had in it the first soft hazy sultriness of summer when I rode with my friend, Ralph Ten- nant, out of New York, along the country lanes, through the sleepy little village of Greenwich and right up to Mrs. Heathcote's gate. He had forced me to 6 THE HEART OF WOMAN the journey with so little explanation, had been so strangely uncommunicative on the way, that I suppose I hesitated for a moment when we had dismounted. "You don't fear to make new friends, Alex?" he asked, knocking the dust from his boots. "No, indeed," I replied, as we passed up the ave- nue. "But I confess to a liking for some trifling prep- aration." "You don't need it," he said, smiling. "You must remember Miss Rutherford, my companion of your company at Williams's last year. This is my Aunt's." "Oh," I said, "I might have guessed as much." The front entrance stood open to admit the air. Be- yond the further end of the cool dark hallway, through the other door, likewise open, we caught a glimpse of the garden and the river. Ralph entered without ceremony. He conducted me straight into the parlor, a large room elegantly set off with pier glasses. It was darkened to exclude the sunlight. Coming so directly from the glare without I scarce perceived that any one was present before I heard: "Ralph; my dear boy! This time you have caught me napping! The last two days have quite worn me out. I see we did not tire you so much last night that you could not make the journey again this morning. Ah! Unconquerable" youth!" There was a tone of pleasantry and affection in the high, sharp, clear voice. "I promised this return," said Ralph lowly as he THE ORCHARD AT HEATH COTE HOUSE. ^ kissed the speaker on the forehead, "and," he added, "I have ventured to bring my dearest friend, of whom I have often spoken, Mr. Adams." "Your dearest friend," she repeated slowly and with an accent of curiosity as she rose to my presentation. "I am delighted to meet a gentleman so highly ap- proved." As I bowed to this courtly welcome I saw Mrs. Heathcote was a lady of stout proportions and walked with the aid of a heavy gold-headed cane. Her feat- ures were singularly aquiline, her complexion of a sallow tint that rather emphasized her penetrating dark eyes. She was attired in black, with a scrupulous neat- ness. There was, indeed, in her appearance and man- ner an unmistakable air of high distinction. "The moments that remain are few, Ralph," she said. "It is arranged finally that Catrina goes down in Mr. De Lancy's sloop. That is the easiest way. Mr. Hicks has been very kind in arranging this matter for us. Without his aid I don't know what we could have done. The adieux are all said." "Where is Catrina?" Ralph asked. "In the garden, I believe. Poor, motherless child," she continued, speaking rather to me than to Ralph. "She is loath to make this journey. Naturally enough, she barely remembers her aunt. Ralph, you may leave me to entertain Mr. Adams." Miss Rutherford did not perceive Ralph until he had lifted the low branches of the apple tree under which she was resting and was almost by her side. 8 THE HEART OF WOMAN "Dreaming, Catrina?" Her reverie was still half with her as she asked : "Was I?" "Were you !" he exclaimed. "The last minute is sad- der than you expected, eh? What are you doing here?" She smiled. "You will think me foolishly sentimental, but I couldn't go without bidding my old trees goodby. Ralph, do you remember the day we named them?" Catrina's voice was close to tears. With intent to support her Ralph answered briskly: "My memory isn't short. Shall I ever forget it? Then I was to sail. I don't forget, either, I had as little inclination for Oxford as you have for Virginia." "You are scarce home Ralph when this wind blows me away. It is too bad!" she complained. "Do you know, I don't think I should be going, but for Mr. Hicks. He advises it so strongly." "I wish any protest of mine could keep you. Aunt won't listen. We have scarce had time to renew the old friendship." "Was it ever broken?" she asked quietly. "No, indeed; no," he said. "But it isn't quite what it was, is it, Catrina? There is a difference. I don't know what. A dozen times I have meant to speak to you, but you say I always take the easy road, and somehow it has been easier to say nothing. I thought when I returned we would drop into the old ways, but I suppose they belonged to childhood. Alex says there is always a break or change when " THE ORCHARD AT HEATHCOTE HOUSE g Ralph's feelings were carrying him along. "When?" asked Catrina, as he hesitated. Ralph was gazing at the river flowing before him. " when the current reaches the deeper waters and feels the tides." Catrina remained silent. She knew Ralph was scanning her face. She also felt that in his words the reserve, the vague sense of some novel element in their old frank association which she had noticed since his return from Europe was striving for a voice. For the first time in their long companionship his tone stirred her. Ralph had been extravagantly gay recently. Catrina was half- consciously happy that now at the hour of her de- parture his spirits should terminate in a mood so similar to that brooding within herself. "Feels the tides," she repeated slowly. "The tide is carrying me away in earnest. Still " She turned sharply. Clapping her hands together, she caught a falling blossom, as though it were a but- terfly. "Do you know I have been watching these fall for the last hour. Oh, Ralph, how I hate to leave ! What are you thinking of?" she asked, looking at him in- tently. "Oh," he answered, shaking off his meditation, "I WHS wondering I suppose it's impossible to say how long you will be away?" U I don't know. How long will these troubles last, Ralph?" IO THE HEART OF WOMAN "Goodness knows! I hope not so long that you'll forget old friends." "Forget !" she echoed quickly. "Why should I for- get? As you said a moment ago, my memory isn't short.' "It is my memory against yours?" "The challenge doesn't daunt me." "Remember you'll find little in Virginia to keep us here in mind. I know how it is." "Still you didn't forget. Neither shall I. But, Ralph " Catrina hesitated. "I I wish let me beg a keepsake, any trifle as as a token of the challenge between us. Do you mind?" "What have I?" "Any trifle," she said. "I have nothing else for you," he said like one for- getting himself. Then he added quickly : "Catrina, take this old ring. Keep it until you return. I can't give it to you. Mother gave it to me." He offered her the jewel from his finger. "Oh ! No, Ralph," she cried, much confused. At that moment they heard the stumping of Mrs. Heathcote's cane on the walk and my own footsteps approaching. "It is too large. I may lose it," she added as he quickly slipped it on her finger. "Catrina," he whispered hurriedly, "it may fit better by-and-by. When you return " "Catrina! Catrina!" commanded Mrs. Heathcote. THE ORCHARD AT HEATHCOTE HOUSE II "You must hurry, child, Mr. De Lancy is now due. Here, dear, this is Mr. Adams, Ralph's friend." "I have met Mr. Adams before," she said, striving to cover her excitement. "I had the pleasure of meeting him when Ralph and I were indebted to him for a very pleasant entertainment. I fear I was almost unbidden." "Not unbidden," I said earnestly, much struck on this second encounter by the sweetness of her features, "certainly twice welcome." "You are very kind," she murmured, and hurried from us into the house. Four hours later Ralph and I stood on the waterfront in New York near the Whitehall slip to watch the sloop go by. When Miss Catrina passed the point of the island she signalled to us as prearranged. Ralph and I waved back to her our good-by. We waited, gazing at the movements of the craft until she passed almost beyond the Narrows, where the brig Mercury was wait- ing to go out with the tide, taking Miss Catrina and two members of Mr. De Lancy's family. Ralph at last turned to me. "Well, Alex, let us go," he said. "I fear I have tired you to-day. Truth is, this parting is, somehow, dole- ful." As he offered no explanation to me so far of my part in the day's proceedings, I asked: "What does it mean, my boy?" I was so much his elder that at times I confessed my years. 12 THE HEART OF WOMAN "Alex, "I swear I don't know !" he exclaimed with vehemence. 'There are people doomed to resolve ever too late. Oh, come, let's drink to the travelers." Beyond this I got nothing out of him. I knew he and Miss Catrina had been companions since childhood. So much he had told me when he requested permission to make her one of my party with himself at Williams's. Five years before, at the time he departed for England to complete his education, he was little more than a lad. I don't think there was a differ- ence of a year in their ages. It is true during the few months since Ralph's return he had been a constant visitor at his Aunt's, but I who knew him so well and saw so much of him, observed nothing that indicated anything beyond a renewal of the old associations. But, even of this he said nothing to me. Long afterward in talking of the matter with Mrs. Heathcote, she said, speaking perhaps rather to justify an old woman's pride in her intuition than with any clear memory of actual perceptions at the time : "Oh, I was not blind, Mr. Adams, I assure you. I knew Catrina and I knew Ralph, and I recognized in them that there are some natures that are naturally al- lied." "Vanity," I thought. Yet here am I writing about it. As events happened and afterward I learned from many sources the full history of the matter, and now I am setting it down in order only to see it as a whole and understand it if I can. CHAPTER III. ISAAC SCOTT MAKES HIS APPEARANCE. UPON leaving our station on the water front near the fort we strolled slowly to my lodgings on Queen street, whither I asked Ralph to repair with me long enough to permit me to despatch a short note to my friend, Gen. Putnam, in answer to one of his. As a re- sult it was dusk before we entered the Provincial Arms. The Mall was deserted. When we passed Trinity the lights in the houses on Broadway were beginning to appear feebly. That was an utterly careless visit of ours, begotten of merely a momentary mood; yet how exactly, as now I look back I see it fitted into the plot Destiny had de- vised. We found the taproom filled with a more numerous company than ordinary. Entering, I saluted a few of my acquaintance present. There happened to be va- cant a small table in a remote corner, and Ralph and I sat down to it and ordered our wine. At first the conversation around, though loud, was so general that we were little disturbed by it. I en- deavored to bring Ralph to a more cheerful mood. The talk of the room was all of a political cast. The country was in open revolt against the home government. 14 THE HEART OF WOMAN Every day brought forth some event to inflame or im- passion men. The Virginia convention at Williams- burg a few days before had instructed its delegates in the Continental Congress to move for a declaration of independence, and this action of the southern patriots had given at last public voice to the extreme sentiments of a large body of the people. Independence had yet a bold sound to many, but like the blast of a trumpet, the tone stirred even the timid. Perhaps in unconscious sympathy with 'the topic of the general company I dropped into politics with Ralph. "I know which way you lean, Alex," he said at last, smiling. "I'm so cold I fear I shall not please you with either extreme. I have been out of these simmering years that others have passed through." "I'm no extremist," I broke in. "But in a serious moment like this there is a station which every man is bound to take." "Well," said he, "I have no foothold yet. My predi- lections, if I have any, run in my father's footsteps. You know, with him loyalty was the first duty of a gentle- man." A voice shrill as a pipe penetrated the buzz of con- versation. "It's damned insolence, I say, for Freddy North and that immaculate Johnny Bute to talk of clemency and pardon to this free people. For what, in the name of heaven? For protecting our homes? Asserting our rights? Let them send over their boasted 'regulars' ISAAC SCOTT MAKES HIS APPEARANCE 1 5 Hessians, Brunswickers, Hanoverians, Waldeckers the free and independent states of America are not to be terrified by all the slaves of king-ridden Europe." Instantly the room was in silence. The man who had attracted the company's attention was a small, slim, wiry individual, with a bristling, ex- citable manner. His dress declared him a person of some importance. He was surrounded by a numerous following. Many, quite evidently, had been drinking freely. Of these was a gentleman the very opposite in stature of the speaker a portly man, with an immense head, who, despite his pea-green coat, white satin vest and nankeen small clothes, discovered in his attire a certain personal negligence. He was lounging back in his chair, with his legs stretched out under the table. "Scott !" he exclaimed, drowsily, "I like your invec- tive. There are teeth in it always." The little man smiled vainly. "I wish I had your thunder, Reilly," he said by way of a return of the compliment. "Gad, I don't doubt it," said the big man, calmly, "but," he added, striking his chest with a ponderous hairy fist, "your body would first have to suffer a trifling inflation. "We cannot all be Jove," said the other, uneasily. "By Jove, we can't !" exclaimed Reilly, with a loud laugh. "But come, Scott, speaking of 'regulars,' oblige this patriotic company with that song of yours, 'The King's Own Regulars.' I assure you, gentlemen, as Mr. Scott sings it, his voice is the very fife of satire." 1 6 THE HEART OF WOMAN The littlej : man peevishly demurred, but the spirit of the company would entertain no refusal. Glasses were refilled and Mr. Scott, after further pressing, in a kind of piping recitative and with very evident nervousness began : Since you all will have singing and won't be said nay, I cannot refuse, when you so beg and pray; So I'll sing you a song as a body may say, 'Tis of the King's Regulars, who ne'er ran away. In a deep bass voice Mr. Reilly echoed, thumping the table as though it were a drum: " 'Tis of the King's Regulars, who ne'er ran away." Grown proud at reviews tyrant George had no rest; Each grandsire of his had rebellion suppressed, He wished a rebellion, looked round and saw none, So resolved a rebellion to make of his own. He pitched on the Yankees. Said he, they won't fight. So he sent us away to take over their right. And to spare our review clothes he begged, and begged louder: "Brother Kings for God's sake sell the Yankees no powder." Our General mighty did bravely devise How at Lexington we might the Yankees surprise. We marched, and remarched, and at last, being beat, Our General's plan of surprise was complete. Near Boston we met with some rebels one day, We marshalled ourselves all in ISAAC SCOTT MAKES HIS APPEARANCE \J The company in the room, with the exce Hion of our- selves and another couple of gentlemen sitting at a table near to ours, had either gathered around the singer or had drawn up their chairs closer to him. All were mightily amused. Every stanza was greeted with noisy hilarity. I must say even to myself there was something piquant in the misty picture of that little man in the yellow candle light befogged with tobacco smoke de- livering that doggerel in his peculiarly monotonous and strident voice, which piped higher and higher as his excitement mastered him under the stimulus of the general applause. Early in the performance it was evident our two near neighbors did not relish the entertainment. One was a red-haired, robust, beefy-faced man of great breadth of shoulder. His finery did not hide a pronounced coarseness of nature. His companion was younger, tall, agile of frame, with noticeable quick, frank and sympathetic eyes. While Mr. Scott was repeating his ode I saw the elder of these two, more than once, place his hand on the shoulder of his friend, in a re- straining manner, but at the beginning of the last verse the younger man jumped to his feet impetuously, kicked over his chair and broke out in a voice clearly habituated to command : "Enough of that ribald treason ! Cunningham, I can stand this no longer ! Damn me if my protest shan't go for what it's worth." He strode past me to Mr. Scott. 1 8 THE HEART OF WOMAN A tense silence fell upon the room. "Am I to understand you desire to interrupt me, sir?" cried Mr. Scott excitedly, before the other had time to address him. "I care little, sir, how you understand it. You shall not proceed with your disreputable song if it lies in my power to choke it in your throat. I have yet to learn that rebellion absolves the subject of his duties or the gentleman of his manners." "Who, pray, is this doughty minion of King George?" sneered Mr. Scott. "You're welcome to my name, sir. I am Percy. "Lord Percy! You are braver in the tavern, my lord, than we found you in the field. Your run from Lexington didn't wind you, I see. "Insolent rebel!" The next moment Percy had seized his opponent by the throat. Immediately the room was in an uproar. Cunning- ham, Lord Percy's companion, made a dash to aid his friend and felled two of the crowd who endeavored to impede him. Ralph was close to Percy. Without a moment's thought he was up, seized him from behind, and flung him aside against the table at which we had been sitting. Percy would have fallen but for the momentary sup- port this obstacle afforded him. Leaning against it to steady himself, he eyed Ralph. "This is hardly the way to re-establish your reputa- tion, laying hands on an old man," cried Ralph. ISAAC SCOTT MAKES HIS APPEARANCE 1 9 Perhaps Lord Percy was stung. Certainly it arrest- ed prompt attack upon Ralph, for he cried : "Who the devil are you ?" "You are as welcome to my name, as we were to yours. My name is Tennant." The commotion that followed drowned Percy's reply. "Down with the Tories !" roared some one. 'Tar "and feather them !" "The Liberty Pole !" What might have happened I cannot say. The com- pany was closing around the two Tories. At this junc- ture both realized the precariousness of their position. Fighting, they made toward the fireplace for a door- way that led to the garden in the rear of the tavern. It was a sharp shuffle. Blows were struck at ran- dom. But the two succeeded in reaching the door, and covered by the darkness, fled to the river's edge, fol- lowed by the irate crowd. It appeared Percy and his friend had made their en- try a most risky adventure for them by water, for their boat was on the shore. I among the first reached the bank. The fugitives had made good their escape, and we could hear the retreating sound of oars rapidly plied. Somebody discharged a pistol at random into the darkness. Almost with the echoes of the report re- turned the cry: "There will be a day of reckoning, you rebels !" In a tavern almost everything that happens fur- nishes an occasion for drinking. It was not surprising 2O THE HEART OF WOMAN that when the excited crowd re-entered the taproom conviviality was renewed on a liberal scale. The un- expected episode was, of course, the topic of all conver- sation, and denunciation of all Tories was washed down with an abundance of good Whig liquor. Shortly patri- otism reached a highly spirituous and turbulent mood. Ralph and I lingered, at first, listening, but our in- terest fagged and we were about to depart, when Mr. Scott, as though aware of our intention, came over to where we were sitting. His face confessed liberal pota- tions. His manner was a bit unsteady, but betrayed a certain suavity and good nature quite invisible when I first cast eyes on him. His wine had mellowed him. Addressing Ralph, he said : "I hope, sir I sincerely trust you don't think I'm tardy in thanking you for your service recently?" "My service, sir?" inquired Ralph. "Your really eminent service, sir. Gad, restoring my windpipe to the performance of its its function, isn't that a service? I came near to finishing more than my ditty." "Oh, that was altogether too lively for a swan song," said Ralph, smiling. "Swan song! Ha! Ha! I fear you consider me something of an old cackling goose sporting my voice in public. But as you are from Oxford, sir, I may say, deeming myself inter flwnina nota ct fontes sacros, I hoped my indiscretion had an air of merely homely levity. When we encounter the crowd it must be nugis armatus. Am I not right?" ISAAC SCOTT MAKES HIS APPEARANCE 21 The little man delivered himself in a rhetorical, jerky, comical manner, blinking his eyes rapidly in an endeav- or to hide his unsteadiness. "Of course, Mr. Tennant, I'm aware my perform- ance may have been off offensive to you and," he added, leaning over the table to whisper, "if it was I apologize. I am doubly grateful for your service if you'll allow it, also a little sur surprised " One could not help detecting a slightly obsequious note it was pitched a tone or two above familiarity in this rambling utterance, quite at variance with the speaker's previous acrid coldness. Ralph looked at me inquiringly, then at the stranger, who, seeing my friend's hesitation, asked : "Can it be you haven't heard of Isaac Scott !" "I have been absent from home so long, sir, you must forgive me ignorance of much I ought to know. Certainly until to-night you have been a stranger to me, even in name." "Five years in England yes, five 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775 and 1776 (he checked the count off on his fin- gers). It was, egad, a long break." He said this to himself in a tone of fine concession. Then bending toward Ralph he hastened to add : "Don't think I'm arguing myself a public character. You and I, sir, come closer to one another than that. It wouldn't have been strange not at all had you heard of me privately and preposterously eh? Stick- ing pins into you? Let me order those glasses refilled. Do. Eh?" 22 THE HEART OF WOMAN He ordered wine. When it had been set before us he said with a lush confidence : "I don't often feel like this, really I don't. It's ex- hilarating, isn't it?" "It's an honor I appreciate," said Ralph quizzically. "Honor? No. No. It's a service, sir, I intend to return for yours. No, that isn't it, I mean " he paused slowly struggling to think lucidly. "But drink. And let me propose a toast one day I assure you, you will drink as I do to the damnation of Whitehead Hicks." Flushed, his little eyes flashing with a serpent-like brilliancy, he rose and extended his glass to Ralph's. Instantly Ralph, too, was on his feet. "This is a queer insult, sir. I like it none the less be- cause you are making use of the name of my friend," he said warmly. "Your guardian, eh? Ha! Ha!" the little man rattled as he dropped back into his chair. "But I beg you to be seated do while I exs explain. Thank you." "Only for that purpose," said Ralph as he complied. "How comes it you know my affairs so intimately?" "An accident, sir a misfortune. Let me 'splain. For four four four years I was Hicks's partner. Damn him! Surprised? "You?" cried Ralph. "I sir I, to my everlasting regret. Four years to discover ugh the blindness of one's eyes! Poor optics ! Nature joined in the deceit. She has masked ISAAC SCOTT MAKES HIS APPEARANCE. 2$ that hypocrite most perfect disguise. King's com- missioner ! Thief ! Renegade ! Damn him !" The heat of the room and the operation of the liquor were increasing his tendency to incoherence. His moods, pompous, familiar, querulous, bitter, succeeded one another with rapidity. "This is no explanation," cried Ralph hotly. His glass to his lips, Scott replied nodding, "True! It's descriptive. But really really, it isn't from me. If you only understood you ought to demand a bill of particulars. (He said "billerticklers.") You are swin died, sir as I was. Demand a reckoning. Damn thief! Years of absence, eh? Golden 'tunity gambling scoundrel. Be careful distrust boyish confidence old fox King's commissioner ! Ha ! Ha ! Ha !" The wine had completely conquered him. He sat in front of us nodding sleepily. "This is outrageous," cried Ralph to me. "Eh?" murmured the little man struggling to awake. "Out-rageous ! 'Tis! eminently! Order'm in. They all drink. The King's own regulars! Ha!" He arose, looked at us stupidly. "Red coats ! Red hands ! Red wine !" he cried, wav ing his arms. He collapsed and fell to the floor. CHAPTER IV. THE DAWN OF SUSPICION. THE affair in the tavern did not improve Ralph's spir- its. Outwardly he affected little heed to the befuddled statements of Mr. Scott, but there is something sticky about defamation, and I could see Ralph was busy with the aspersions cast upon his father's friend. "That man's statements are inconceivable," he said to me in a musing way as we turned into Wall street, on the way home. "He was Mr. Hicks's partner," I suggested. "He says he was!" he exclaimed with force. "He was," said I. "How do you know?" he asked, turning on me. "My dear boy, remember I haven't been away from New York for the past five years. This town isn't so large that one of some prominence can be lost in it. Mr. Scott is well known a man of temper and irasci- bility, as you may judge, but he's honest. He stands well." "He does?" he asked, softly. "He does," I repeated. "Unless his liquor to-night made him quite irresponsible, I would not take any- thing he said too lightly. I recollect, at the time he THE DAWN OF SUSPICION 2$ parted from Mr. Hicks, there was talk of a fierce dis- agreement between them. Nothing but the discord of the times silenced it." "Ugh," he grunted. "This is the first I hear of it." "It may not be too late," I said. "Too late, Alex! For what, pray?" "Why," said I, "to protect yourself." "The*n you take stock in that drunkard's ravings?" he demanded. "Perhaps we had better drop the subject," I sug- gested. "No," said he, testily, "I don't wish it, having gone so far." "Well," said I, stung a little by his spirit, "I would prefer to drop it. I have no wish to offend you, Ralph, by unwelcome frankness." "Oh, come," he cried, with a laugh that was still a bit uneasy, "it would be queer if I couldn't hear any- thing you had to tell me." "If that be so," said I, resolutely, "I will confess I have little confidence in Whitehead Hicks. There's a polish there, like steel, that indicates sharpness." "He is a Tory, eh? Admit your prejudice, Alex." "Not at all," I protested. "I distrusted the man long before his political opinions were of any positive ac- count." "You distrust him the more, no doubt, now that he prefers the safety of His Majesty's flag to the freedom of this city. Eh?" "Ralph, there was no need of his speedy absconding 26 THE HEART OF WOMAN to that man-of-war out yonder. He replied before he was challenged. Such prudence has a meaning." "Much good his reply would have done after chal- lenge ! Did not Governor Tryon and others withdraw as early?" "Yes, but for known reasons. Remember, Hicks played the friend, even wore a Whiggish phiz for a time, then sneaked away. Strange, too, shortly after that visit of his to London." "To London !" he echoed. "Are you ignorant there, too?" I asked. "You in England at the time!" "I saw him not," said Ralph, dolefully. "That is strange. Very." "Yet you remember his appointments Scott hinted <af," I suggested, my own mind receiving a gleam of new light as I spoke. "But," I added, "why bother? Your property is of more importance to you than these political matters, which will clear themselves in time. Have you ever had an accounting?" "I have demanded none," he said. "And none was offered?" I vouchsafed. "None; but you see, Alex," he pleaded, " I came of age when abroad, and since I returned well, you know, at first I was all for pleasure, finding old friends, and lately everything has been too disturbed for busi- ness." "Too bad !" I cried. "There is more trouble ahead, and who can foretell the outcome?" We were by this time before the door of my lodg- THE DAWN OF SUSPICION 2"J ings. Although I pressed Ralph to enter for a while, he refused. "I wish," said he, as he gave me "good-night," "there was some way of my getting out to the "Asia" to-morrow. Jerry Alner, I hear, keeps a strict watch over all arrivals and departures since old Putnam's order forbidding communication between the fleet and the shore, and faith ! while I have a most real desire now to speak with the King's commissioner, I would not like it at the risk of being taken as a public enemy." "No doubt we can find a way," said I, "if you have a mind for it." "I think I have," said he. The next morning I was scarce seated at breakfast when Ralph arrived. He was in a much pleasanter mood than the evening before. Indeed, he was in quite boyish spirits, as was often the case with him, for he fluctuated from one extreme of humor to another with- out apparent cause. "If you were to ask me to breakfast, Alex, I might not refuse," he suggested gayly. "Not a bite have I had yet, though I have been up three hours." "What have you been doing?" I asked, preparing a place for him at the table. "Receiving apologies, Alex, from our friend of last night." "Who? Scott? Where the deuce did you meet him so early?" "I did not meet him; he came to me, as though he were an old visitor; polished with politeness, verbal with 28 THE HEART OF WOMAN regrets. He is a queer little old fellow. I don't alto- gether dislike him. Looked like a sick terrier. So- briety returns like a dyspeptic Puritan." "What did he say?" I asked. "What didn't he say? Talked for two hours. Filled in his incoherences of last night with a most circum- stantial tale of his late partner's villainies. The moral but there wasn't anything moral in his story the con- clusion is: some part, perhaps a large part, of all my floating property may be dissipated gone, apparently, to pay a gambler's debts of honor. If all I hear is true the outbreak of trouble must have been a happy refuge for a certain eminent person." "You take it easy," I said. "Why not?" Taking it hard won't recall a penny." "Then you believe Scott's story?" I asked. "I can't doubt it," said he. After a moment he con- tinued : "My affairs were the first cause of their separ- ation and enmity. It would all have been out, I sup- pose, had I been home earlier, and had not these violent times come upon us. Scott has other griev- ances, too, more personal. Fill up my cup, Alex. Don't be so absorbed. You are spilling it, man." "What steps do you intend taking?" I persisted. "Steps? I don't know. I am going for a sail to- night. Read that. We were wondering last evening how I could get a passport. See, one arrives this morn- ing, "On His Majesty's Service." I tell you, Alex, to think of an event is to make it happen. Remember that, as you go along." THE DAWN OF SUSPICION 2Q The letter Ralph handed me to read ran as follows : My Dear Ralph I have neither wrote to you nor seen you as much as I would like of late, solely on ac- count of our public disturbances, and the serious duties that have devolved on me in consequence. When I was forced to quit the city my departure was necessarily hasty, and I could do no more than barely acquaint you of my destination, which I did through our good friend Glover, and leave further news until I was conveniently placed for correspondence. My condition is still some- what constrained, and in the general interests I serve I have to observe more than ordinary strictness. There are matters, nevertheless, that we ought to talk over, and as the only way open is for you to come to me, won't you make the attempt, which I am sure you may with perfect safety? Signify to the bearer of this that you will be ready, and at 8 o'clock to-night a boat will be waiting you within hail from the shore at the foun- dry, close by Harrison's brewery. Four sharp whistles and one a trifle longer will be an understood signal. I have many messages to send to our friends, but will re- tain these until I see you; unless, indeed, I ask you now to convey my compliments to your aunt, Mrs. Heath- cote, whom, perhaps, you may see in the meantime. By the way, I had a few minutes' talk with Miss Ruth- erford as she passed down the bay. She is a charming young lady, and left with me a message for you you rascal. The warmest wishes and prayers ever attend you of Your affectionate Whitehead Hicks. "Are you going?" I asked dubiously, as I rehanded him the letter. "Why not?" he asked. "Burdened with new infor- mation I feel like making a voyage of discovery." 3O THE HEART OF WOMAN "You need much care, Ralph," I cautioned. "You are standing partly on quicksand. A false friend may be better than an active enemy in days like these. The old securities are themselves uncertain. Besides, though I take -Scott to be truthful in the main, his avowed hos- tility may have led him to exaggerate." "My dear Alex, don't fear. I'm not going to make hot charges. I think I can be a bit of a diplomat, if needs be. At least I shall try. By the way, Mr. Scott has invited me to go back home to Albany in his com- pany and pay a visit to his family. I feel so much like roaming just now that I have accepted. What do you think of it?" "Great heavens, Ralph ! What restlessness is in you these days?" "Don't ask me," says he, with a sudden depression. "Ralph, confess it you're in love," I said, rising and putting my hand on his shoulder. "Catrina?" I whispered. "Tush !" he said. Yet I knew there was something pleasant to him in the sound of that name. CHAPTER V. A TORT IN RETREAT. THOSE certainly were doleful days for good Tories. New York and the country around contained, per- haps, a larger number of persons than elsewhere, many of high eminence, whose sympathy or interests went with the British. But they were forced to pay dearly, in indignities and hardships, for allegiance to an un- popular cause. Tory hunting was a favorite pastime of an exuberant patriotism. Forced oaths of neutrality as the price of peace were exacted from the inoffensive. For the obnoxious or the hostile a coat of tar and feathers and a journey on a rail were regarded rather in the light of a patriotic levity than as punishment. I confess I never did take my politics so hard as not to deplore these outrages. A cause so righteous as ours could, I judge, have got along well enough without violence to individuals. No doubt this mob ven- geance quieted a good deal of active opposition on be- half of the king. Indeed, the position of a Tory in these parts, even before the immediate days I speak of, was become almost an untenable one for any but the ob- scure. Many had retired to quieter places where the political challenge was not quite so insistent, others 32 THE HEART OF WOMAN had fled across the sea, some sought such protection as the arm of England then afforded within this country itself. But since the evacuation of Boston this latter asylum was confined almost, if not entirely, to the decks of war vessels lying in the harbors. The "Asia," the "Duchess of Gordon" and other men-of-war re- ceived, I understand, numerous refugees from New York, who subsequently were conveyed to England on transports returning to the mother country. Others holding high official positions remained aboard "tak- ing a little salt water with their dignity," Reilly said until such time as the puissance of Britain could assert itself and restore them to their forsaken authority. Your Tory of no matter what cause is a cocksure crea- ture, and surely no Tory ever was more supremely con- fident of his alliance with Heaven and the inevitable order of things on earth than the American Tory of these first years of conflict. For him the success of the British arms was calculable by arithmetic. The failure so far of the British force to make headway against the Continental cause did not shake in the least his con- fidence. The legions had not yet arrived. Therein was his comfort. In 'retreat on board His Majesty's Ship "Asia," Whitehead Hicks was making these comforting cal- culations, as were other Tories. But in his sum there were many purely personal factors which he added up over and over again to be sure of no error, as he walked the deck, his white jewelled hands clasped behind his back, gazing now over to the picturesque roofs of A TORT IN RETREAT 33 Manhattan, now out through the Narrows to the sea horizon. I must acknowledge he was a remarkably striking figure. He impressed me greatly (as, I believe, he did everyone who came within the circle of his influence) with a sensation of immense personal force. His stat- ure, his voice, his manners were alike large and com-, manding By virtue of some most positive quality per- haps his superlative egotism. He dressed most hand- somely, which added an appropriate setting for his mas- sive regular features, the striking character of which was strangely enhanced by an almost babylike fineness of skin. His hands were as shapely and soft as a woman's, and always, as many had noticed, of a deci- ded warmness. He was extravagantly fond of jewelry, lace and fine linen. I never saw him but these parts of his attire seemed, as it were, to speak out to me of an immaculate whiteness permeating even to the man's fibre. Withal, he was never loud, but carried himself, his clothes, his manners, his jewelry, with an ease and naturalness that I may justly characterize as superb. About him, however, there was, despite a frankness that frequently appeared complete, a certain element which I think most people at all sensitive to such mat- ters felt in his presence, which I cannot better desig- nate than by naming it something unknown. Was the surface too highly polished to permit any revela- tion of what was going on within? Yet he could be communicative. His knowledge was abundant. His opinions always carried a large judicial tone. 34 THE HEART OF WOMAN Such was the man as he appeared. We who now know him to the core are aware of the ambition that stirred him, the active side of his intense egotism the tireless effort to put a sharper edge to his endeavor to cut his way through the hard obstacles that stood be- tween him and the power and affluence he so ardently desired. He started life with neither, the son of an English clergyman, Dr. Egerton Hicks, of aristocratic descent, who is well remembered, even to this day in Virginia, as the "Bishop of Jamestown," a nickname given to him on account both of his authoritative manner in so- ciety and his arrogance in ecclesiastic affairs. The son was sent to college in England, to Cambridge, I think, embraced the law, and years later, after failure to es- tablish himself successfully in London, came to New York. It is said he failed in the great capital, being too addicted to good company and the courtly life, and be- cause of over-confidence in the favor of high friends. Disappointed, but not disheartened, deeply in debt, he fled to New York as a last resort. In so provincial sur- roundings his "personal size" was immediately re- vealed. He had a natural instinct for "position" pub- lic visibility and soon cut a figure in the highest life of the colony. Esteemed for his elegance by his equals, courted by his inferiors for his supposed reputation with the lordly in England, he imposed himself wher- ever he would yet, if I may say so, by all he was un- consciously mistrusted. Why? Probably no one ex- actly knew. A TORY IN RETREAT 35 By and by his father died leaving him some prop- erty. He promptly paid off at least part, some persons said all of the debts he had left behind in England. This act of honesty undoubtedly was managed with some publicity, yet not everybody was convinced by it. He conformed strictly to all religious usages without ever being esteemed devout. He drank with the best, and yet was never in their eyes a good fellow. He talked learnedly, but men like Mr. Alexander and Judge Smith declared him shallow. He courted the power- ful and wealthy with splendid indifference and with crafty persistence, yet he never won their favor to the point of benefits. Lieutenant-Governor Golden un- doubtedly used Hicks's abilities to build up his own for- tunes, and dodged payment in kind. Sir Henry Moore, when governor, as well as the Earl of Dunmore, his successor, shared Mr. Hicks's company freely, and then preferred men with whom they had been very much less familiar. Indeed, the only close friend he ever had, as far as I know, was Ralph's father, Livingston Tennant, and in this case surely the friendship was entirely one- sided. Livingston Tennant believed in the man, and proved it, when dying, by entrusting to him, as guar- dian and trustee for his only son, the management of his large sugar houses, his shipping business and his considerable possessions in land. William Tryon was then Governor, being newly ar- rived, July 9, 1771. Whitehead Hicks, by this time facing the downward years of life, made an effort that no doubt had something of the desperate in it, to reach 36 THE HEART OF WOMAN the success for which he so long had striven. At this particular moment he was better prepared for the strug- gle than he had ever been. Due to the elder Tennant's confidence he now occupied, for the first time, a sub- stantial position in the life of the colony. For the time being he had power over if he did not actually possess wealth. He formed a partnership with Judge Scott, partly, no doubt, for the sake of additional prestige, Scott being one of the most distinguished men then at the bar, and partly, some said afterward, to cover his future operations. He took for himself and Ralph an imposing house on Broad street. He dressed, it was noticed, even more luxurious than 'ever. He enter- tained sumptuously. The Governor and his suite as well as the officers of the garrison, were constantly with him. 'Tis said he gambled freely with the best born among the latter. He opened communication with his old friends in England, particularly Lord Mansfield, and while Ralph was there visited that coun- try. Then, finally for Fortune will reward the hard suitor for her favors he was appointed member of His Majesty's council and judge. But there is some pity in it to the last the goddess was fickle with him. The offices were obtained at the very outbreak of hostilities between the mother country and the colonies, and the positions were, therefore, empty ones. 'Tis said he got them because, under the circumstances, they were nom- inal. Certainly before he had possessed himself of them he and his patron, Tryon, were forced to flee to the king's warships. A TORT IN RETREAT 37 Aboard the "Asia" he was necessarily an idler. This enforced leisure gave him time to plan splendidly. Had he been less keen, less fearful of being his own dupe, he would have allowed himself the luxury of feeling sure of success. Could he not indeed feel it at his finger tips? His appointments snatched, 'tis true, from the debris of British rule were for the moment of little more value than drafts upon an extinct banking house; but might he not be certain that the might of England would triumph by and by, and make them good? What could defeat him this time? Repeatedly he analyzed the situation, aching to dis- cover its weakness, desiring rather to face it now, when preparation was possible, than hereafter, when dis- appointment would be crushing. "Damn it, the ground seems firm," he would say to himself. "Yet, if not? Ugh! I am too deep in it with Ralph, and worse luck, must go further. Why does a brat like that possess" he paused in his thoughts and smiled as he added "possess what I have to spend? Certainly there might easily be nasty trouble there. Still, he knows nothing. This forced flight of mine, by gad ! came in the nick of time. They say the devil's children have their father's luck. One year that's all I need. Catrina's safe for a time. I was lucky nip- ping that in the bud. Her fancy for Ralph might easily become something closer to the heart. Youth is a quick soil. Still- He smiled again, extended his white right hand, making the rings sparkle in the sunlight. 38 THE HEART OF WOMAN "They say," he continued, "a young girl prefers ma- turity, and" gazing at his shapely silk hose "egad, this is maturity." He arose, stretched back his shoulders and inhaled deeply. "I never felt younger. Pshaw, I shall win there, too !" Despite this mental manoeuvring it was something of a shock to Whitehead Hicks to hear from Lord Per- cy of Ralph's part in the episode in the city tavern. "Who did you say seized you?" he asked, rousing himself. "A fellow named Tennant," replied Percy, "a good- looking chap. Do you know him?" "There are few persons over there not known to me," was the cautious answer. The speaker was inwardly saying : "Can Ralph be such a hot-headed fool? At least why not remain neutral; that is the safe course for him. Besides, a hostile alliance with rebels, going so far as to do public violence to friends of mine whose good will I need, compromises me! The fool should know bet- ter." Moreover, the possibility that Ralph was intimate with Isaac Scott alarmed him. How far was the ac- quaintance gone? Was he, Hicks, after all living in a fool's paradise? He must find out. CHAPTER VI THE FIRST INTERVIEW ON THE "ASIA." TOWARD 8 o'clock that evening Ralph slipped away from my lodgings and made for his rendezvous on the river shore, near the foundry. The night was not en- tirely propitious for an expedition of the sort he was undertaking, being clear and starlit. After a brisk walk along Broadway, thence past Vauxhall and along the road to Greenwich, he arrived at his destination. In the neighborhood of his trysting place a little boy wished him good-night and went away humming along the country lane, but no one else met him. The moon was in the first quarter. Its faint cold light shim- mered like sparkling iridescence on the water rippled by a fresh northwest wind. When sure of being unno- ticed Ralph crept down to the beach. For some mo- ments he scanned the river. Not a living thing was vis- ible, nothing but the flowing tide and a few lights twinkling at Paulus Hook and Habuck on the far shore. He listened. There was no sound save water lapping the pebbles and the hum in his ears of the whistling breeze. The scene was lonely, and exhilarating. Had the appointment miscarried? Ralph turned and looked down the stream. In the bay the faint silver reflection of the moon stretched out through the Nar- 4O THE HEART OF WOMAN rows to the dark horizon. Not a speck on the water in- dicated a boat. As he watched, the soft irresistible far away spell of the sea rilled him. He put his hands to his lips trumpetwise and whistled. The signal startled him; made his blood tingle. He fancied some one was creeping up behind him. He even turned around sharply. Nothing. He patched the river again, and after a moment discerned a boat approaching from the north, out of the deeper purple of the centre of the stream. It was manned by four sailors and a young petty officer. It moved rapidly, dancing on the waves. "Your name?" asked the officer as the keel grounded at Ralph's feet. "Tennant," replied Ralph quickly. "Jump in, sir." Not a word was spoken as they slipped down with the tide past the quiet city. Ralph noted each familiar landmark as it glided by, and off the point of the island wondered where that other voyager was now who so recently had hailed it in passing. Evidently he was desired not to speak. He had no inclination. His thoughts were weaving themselves with rare subtlety into the moving scene, and the jour- ney every minute became more and more like a pas- sage in a dream. All the more like a dream was it when by and by, after a long pull, the dark hull of the "Asia" towered before him with its huge black spars and in- tricate web of rigging against the faint moonlit sky. A perfect silence reigned on shipboard. Lights in one or two of the portholes were the only signs of life THE FIRST INTERVIEW ON THE "ASIA" 4! visible to one on the water. The challenge of a sentry as the boat neared the vessel and the young officer's cheery answer died away in pleasant echoes. Ralph clambered up the mountainous side of the "Asia" in a lubberly way and found himself for the first time in his life on the deck of a man-of-war. But for the sentry who received him it might have been a long abandoned derelict. THat was his first impression. As he looked about him rapidly he saw light from a cabin in the quarter-deck streaming through an open door. Within at a table covered with a red cloth under a lamp sat Mr. Hicks and Lord Percy. They were playing cards. "This last trick decides' it," Percy broke out, "I get it!" The silence was complete. Ralph could hear dis- tinctly. "No, no," protested Hicks. "You are too sure." "Come," said the other, turning down the face of his cards. "How do we stand so far?" "Too far apart to quite please me," said Hicks, laughing. "A matter of some 900, 1 believe." "Double or quits I take this trick. Can I tempt your courage?" "You can tempt it, but not taunt it," said Hicks, calmly scrutinizing his cards. "I accept." Percy turned his cards face upward. "Can you beat that?" he cried triumphantly. "Egad, no !" exclaimed Hicks. "It makes me think more of your luck, Percy, than your pluck." 42 THE HEART OF WOMAN An officer who had accosted Ralph the moment of the latter' s presence on deck now entered the stream of lamplight and stood in the cabin doorway to announce Ralph's arrival. "Oh, is that so?" said Hicks nonchalantly. "Tennant!" exclaimed Percy upon hearing Ralph's name. "My violent young friend of last night?" "The same, I believe," said Hicks, putting away the cards in a drawer. "I have a little authority with him. In future he shall show more courtesy to my friends when on shore." "Hicks, you astonish me, I swear; your lines of com- munication are everywhere." "I have lived in these parts, you see," said Hicks non- chalantly. "Gad ! If we were all like you there'd be less of our damned blundering." "You flatter outrageously,'"' Hicks was saying as the officer arrived with the visitor. "Ah, Mr. Tennant!" exclaimed Hicks, turning around and facing Ralph. "I'm pleased you were able to keep my appointment." He extended his hand, but his manner was markedly distant. "I understand you have already met Lord Percy," he said; watching Ralph. "The introduction was in a measure forced," said Ralph, nettled a little by his cold reception. "Possibly Lord Percy would prefer we remain strangers." "Not at all," said Percy quickly, with something of THE FIRST INTERVIEW ON THE "ASIA" 43 geniality, "now that I have time to do full justice to the acquaintance." "You were certainly pressed a little last evening," said Ralph smiling, "I am glad you managed so well. Faith, that was a nasty crew at your heels." "His lordship undoubtedly feels very grateful for the assistance you rendered him," said Hicks, slowly. "I can hardly imagine so," said Ralph sharply, an- noyed by his guardian's manner. "Nevertheless there are reasons why he should." "Oh, well," said Percy, "I was the prime offend- er. That was a silly affair, Mr. Tennant. A man who can't hold his tongue at the right moment oughn't to talk afterward." "Your silence now," said Ralph, "has something more than philosophy in it." "I am glad you take it so," Percy said, lightly. "Good-night. I'll leave you and Mr. Hicks to finish your business together." With a pleasant bow to both he departed. Instantly Hicks's manner changed. "Sit down, my boy," he said, pointing to a chair. "How are you? It's some time since we met." "But once or twice," said Ralph, dryly, "since my return from England." "Gad! that is so. Well, I've been most terribly pressed, as you can understand." "I'm sorry I just missed you so often at my aunt's," said Ralph, regarding him intently, "and also in Eng- land." 44 THE HEART OF WOMAN It was the first note of challenge. A quick, scarcely perceptible frown passed over Hicks's face. "Yes," he said, lazily crossing his legs. "It was un- fortunate, though, of course, I can't tell how often I lost my opportunity at Mrs. Heathcote's. In England is was absolutely necessary that I should be quite in- cognito." "Perhaps," said Ralph, "I ought still to be ignorant." "Oh, no," he replied quickly, "the knowledge is harmless." "I'm glad you say that," said Ralph, "because I find so many possess it." "You don't say so? You surprise me, indeed. Still so many things are happening that an unfortunate ex- ile like myself must be ignorant of. For instance," he continued, crossing his arms on the table and leaning forward, "it was by the merest accident that I learned my young friend had joined His Majesty's enemies. I must say had I been consulted I would not have ad- vised that step. It surprises me. It even injures me if that is to be considered." He raised his voice as he uttered the last words. Hicks's cool, superior tone irritated Ralph. "Admitting," says Ralph, a trifle hotly, "the full ex- actness of your information, I can't exactly see how any act of mine reflects on you." "Come, come," said Hicks, familiarly, throwing him- self back in his chair and running his thumbs into the armholes of his finely embroidered vest, "these are jealous days. One in my position is easily af- THE FIRST INTERVIEW ON THE "ASIA" 45 fected by his known alliances. They must be above suspicion." "If the duties you were good enough to undertake for my father expose you to any suspicion now it is be- cause you have preferred not to terminate them," said Ralph. "Eh?" said Hicks, frowning, "I- He paused, arose and closed the open door of the cabin. "Then I take it you are no rebel, Ralph? I was but half joking," he said cheerily, as he reseated himself. "No, indeed," said Ralph, watching him curiously. "Yet I'm a poor Tory." "Well," he said, in the easiest possible tone, "what does it matter? After all, your situation differs vastly from mine. To be frank, I am far from saying caution is not the better part for you. You see, your property and interests are all local, and between ourselves, Ralph," he added, pursing his lips and looking serious, "the Continentals have greater strength, in many ways, than it does for us to admit." "It isn't a matter of policy with me," interposed Ralph. "No ! No, to be sure, I understand partly inclina- tion. Gad ! I don't know if I were a younger man but I would stand elsewhere." "You don't understand me," persisted Ralph. "I am really of neither side." "Pre-cisely. I think it wise. There is no saying how things will run. But there, I know you don't need my 46 THE HEART OF WOMAN advice for I hear," he added, quickly, "you stand re- markably well with the Whigs yonder. And you have given no pledges? Tis clever, Ralph, immensely clever, egad!" He laid back in his chair and chuckled. "Really, you have more news than I have," said Ralph, wondering at the man. "Come, don't disappoint me. Am I not right? You are friendly with old Putnam, Washington, Reilly and er Scott?" As he said this Ralph observed how intently he was watched. "I know only the latter," said Ralph, throwing back the ball. Not a muscle betrayed the man. "Intimately?" he asked, nonchalantly. "There are degrees. I should say not intimately yet." Ralph maliciously added : "But he has been good enough to invite me to his home at Albany." "Really? They say we never know a man till we have met him amidst his own surroundings. When do you go?" "At the end of this week," said Ralph. "So soon !" he exclaimed, like one calculating. "Well, well. I wish you a pleasant trip. Will you be long away?" "The visit is unconditional," said Ralph. "Exactly so," he said in a musing way. "Then I shan't see you for a little time?" THE FIRST INTERVIEW ON THE "ASIA" 47 "Possibly not," replied Ralph. "Partly for that rea- son, and partly because our roads must necessarily run somewhat apart for a time, it occurs to me I ought not to trespass on your indulgence longer, but propose to relieve you of duties I ought to have assumed myself long ago, and which must be particularly hard on you now. Besides, what you said a moment ago warns me I oughtn't to put your kindness to further risk." "What did I say a moment ago?" he asked sharply. "Political misconduct of mine reflected on you." "Yes, to be sure." He arose and walked to the cabin window. Turn- ing around, he added : "Well, my boy, I needn't tell you I'm not a bit sorry if you are ready to take over your estate. I confess I expected it sooner. It has been, you can understand, something of a burden and anxiety to me, though the service, such as it has been, was a willing one, for my old friend's sake and for yours, too." Ralph hesitated, struggling to reply to this speech in kind, but the effort was beyond him. The play was of too high an order; so high, indeed, that for a mo- ment he found himself questioning his own suspicions. All he could bring himself to say was : "When can we settle the matter?" "Oh ! at any time," said Hicks, with unbounded readiness. "There are, of course, necessary prelimin- aries to be gone through with, you know. I fear they can't be done quite so quickly, me aboard ship, as were I on shore. But, even as it is, they needn't take long," 48 THE HEART OF WOMAN he added. "I will see Tyndall and get matters in proper' shape as soon as possible perhaps by the time you re- turn. Eh?" "That will be soon enough," said Ralph, utterly sur- prised at the turn matters had taken. "Can't be done too soon, my boy now you are ready," he said cheerfully. "I suppose you will con- tinue where your father and may I say? myself left off?" "I intend to," replied Ralph slowly. "Good !" he cried enthusiastically, "How that would delight the old gentleman ! Dear me, I always advised him not to force your hand when he was all for pres- sing you, and here you are of your own election doing as he would have dictated. Well, you see, Ralph, there is something besides force governing the world. When do you say you leave?" he asked. He was pacing the cabin, his hands tucked under his scarlet coat. "Friday or Saturday, I believe," said Ralph, watch- ing him as he walked to and fro. "Saturday," he said, more to himself than to Ralph. Then he added, quickly: "Don't you find the cabin close? Stuffy cupboards these ! Let us walk outside." Ralph followed him to the deck. "Beautiful night, isn't it?" he exclaimed, scanning the heavens. "I hope Miss Rutherford is finding weather like this." "I hope so," said Ralph, feeling his heart take a sud- den jump. THE FIRST INTERVIEW ON THE "ASIA" 49 "I fancy she has a warm spot in her heart for you," he said, linking his arm in Ralph's. "As an old friend of hers, I hope so." "Oh, quite so. I meant in that way," he said sober- ly. "Really I think her affection leans But there, I must be discreet. That's a secret, sir." As he said this he fell to whistling. "You said she left a message for me?" "Did I? Oh, yes. Another good-by; that was all. She seems to see little prospect of returning. I'm sorry to think we have seen perhaps the last of her for years. Pleasant girl." "What makes you think that?" asked Ralph quick- ly, perplexed alike by Hicks's manner and utterances. "Ah, did you see that star fall?" he cried, pointing to the west. "Why do I think so? Because I judge some Virginian cavalier will plant so fair a tulip in his own garden, and it will take root there, notwithstanding well, the little affair I hinted of. Women are fickle, Ralph; none more so than the young." Despite himself Ralph felt he had received a heavy dose of cold water. An officer approached Mr. Hicks and suggested it was time for the visitor to be making his way back to the city if he desired to reach shore that night. "To be sure," said Hicks. "I mustn't keep you, Ralph; I am responsible for your safe return. I hope you'll have a pleasant trip to Albany, my boy, and when you get back I'll be ready for you." When Ralph was safely in the rowboat again he 5<D THE HEART OF WOMAN looked up. He saw Hicks leaning over the black bul- warks gazing down upon him. As the sailors pushed off he heard his voice above calling: "Ralph, I may ask you to take a note or two for me to friends in Albany. Will you?" "Gladly," Ralph cried back. The picture of that moment was never forgotten. CHAPTER VII. THE SECOND INTERVIEW ON THE "ASIA." * RALPH was scarcely beyond hail when Hicks turned away from the bulwarks and walked quickly to the cabin. At the threshold he arrested his steps as sharp- ly as he had started. Then he paced the deck slowly for a time in deep contemplation. At last he exclaimed, striking his thigh loudly : "By Jove!" Calling a sailor he said : "Tom ! Ask Mr. Brant please to come to me for a few minutes." He re-entered the cabin, seated himself, and with one of his fine white fingers as a pointer began to trace over the intricate pattern in the tablecloth. "Damn me!" he mused, "I swear, too much thinking is like that design. You can go on tracing it forever. It starts and ends nowhere. You must break it to have a beginning," he cried, throwing himself back in his chair. "Hallo, Brant! Take a chair. Close the door first, will you? Thanks." A tall, bronzed-skinned, dark-haired man entered. He was lithe and boney. His manner had a marked air of repression. He was dressed in fashion and with 52 THE HEART OF WOMAN some elegance. Yet despite his appearance and man- ner, his pleasant and smiling dark eyes and genial coun- tenance, he was unmistakably Indian. He spoke ex- cellently well in a voice of most agreeable tone. He seated himself in the chair Ralph had occupied and waited for Hicks to speak. "I find our affairs," began the latter with great delib- eration, "are moving more rapidly than I anticipated." The Indian arched his eyebrows interrogatively, but said nothing. "I learn," continued Hicks, "that our good friends in Tryon County, Sir John Johnson, Col. Guy Johnson, Mr. Butler and your sister Miss Molly are in some danger." "Ah!" exclaimed Brant quickly. "What have you heard?" "That fellow Schuyler has concluded to secure John- son. He's arranging to send a Col. Dayton do you know him? with a force to Johnson Hall to arrest Sir Johnson, and, of course, whoever else they can lay hands on. We must get word to Johnson as soon as possible." "Undoubtedly. Have we time?" asked Brant. "Plenty. We are forewarned. The talk is to move a fortnight hence." "It would be prudent to count on a shorter time," said Brant thoughtfully. "Good; yet we can meet them." "Yes," assented the Indian, "we can move quickly." "My friend can, I know," said Hicks, patronizingly. THE SECOND INTERVIEW ON THE "ASIA" 53 Brant smiled. "Still," he said, "the enemy may move as quickly." "I doubt it," said Hicks, positively. "My informa- tion is from the highest authority." "Gen. Schuyler himself?" asked the Indian. "Oh, we are not friends. I'm not in the General's confidence," replied Hicks, laughing. "Nof directly," said Brant shortly. "But the ground has ears." "His Majesty's arm is far-reaching. Those blather- ing shirt men up there will find it to their cost." Hicks's bravado did not stir the Indian. He closed his eyes momentarily, as though it annoyed him. "Johnson, of course, is armed and ready?" asked Hicks. "After his parole?" Brant asked, affecting his aston- ishment. "Damn paroles in days like these! No one is obliged even in honor, to abide by a forced oath." "I don't think," said the Indian slyly, "Sir Johnson's conscience requires that excuse." "A gentleman, Brant, never needs excuses," said Hicks, grandiloquently. "True," said the Indian softly, "he assumes them." "Damn me, Brant, but I never know exactly whether you are smiling." "You always find me at your side," said the Indian. "True, true, Brant," said Hicks. "When these troubles are over the King will make good my promises to you." 54 THE HEART OF WOMAN This speech pleased the Indian. He smiled. "Well," he said, after a moment, "I must be prepar- ing to start. To-morrow is not too soon." "No," said Hicks, decisively. "There are reasons for delay. "Delay?" exclaimed the Indian in amazement, "and two hundred miles to travel !" "I know. You must wait until well, perhaps un- til Saturday." "Two days !" cried Brant, jumping up. "Two weeks if it must be," said Hicks loudly rising as he spoke. "May I inquire the reason?" asked the Indian quietly. "I will tell you. Sit down. Good ! Now listen. I have more important duty for you to perform for His Majesty than even the protection of my friend, John- son." "And my sister?" added the Indian, laconically. "And your sister," repeated Hicks. "Proceed, pray," said the Indian; "you interest me." "I expect to," said Hicks, calmly. "In the morning I will give you a letter addressed to Sir Johnson. I will ask you to do me the kindness to cause it to be deliv- ered, but not on any account to deliver it yourself, to a person named Ralph Tennant now in New York. I want you, unobserved, to acquaint yourself with that individual. My information is that either on Friday or Saturday he will set out for Albany with an elderly gentleman named Isaac Scott. Discover the route they travel. Meet them, by accident naturally, on the road. THE SECOND INTERVIEW ON THE "ASIA" 55 Accompany them if you can. Never lose sight of them, cost what it may, until the bearer of that letter deposits it in Sir Johnson's hands. These two persons, I may tell you, are most dangerous most dangerous to His Majesty's cause in these parts. In my letter I will ex- plain the matter to Sir Johnson and will request him to see that the young man certainly, the old man if possi- ble, are detained for a time in the North. Perhaps you can aid Sir Johnson. If you can, you will do me that is, the government a great service. I would like you in secret to feel this is a commission for you as much as for Sir Johnson. Can I count on you?" "Until when are they to be detained?" asked the In- dian. "Until His Majesty's power is re-established in New York. I will let you know. Again, can I count on you?" "Have. I ever failed you?" asked Brant. CHAPTER VIII. THE JOURNET TO THE M4NSE. ISAAC SCOTT'S interest in the fierce politics of the hour was intense. Undoubtedly he was an ardent patriot. He had been bred in the good New England school where opinions naturally take the form of prejudices, and thought requires its enemy somewhere. I have always fancied the mental process of the people of those eastern colonies was never quite a satisfactory one to them until it hit something. In this New Eng- land spirit, Isaac Scott espoused the patriot cause. Pos- sessing the vanity of speech he loved to occupy as much as possible the public stage provided for him by the struggle. He fondly believed he was one of the great actors on it. He deluded himself that he was making great sacrifices for his country. He liked the idea that he was running the most heroic risks. He recounted to his family every indignity perpetrated by the Tories upon patriots, as a sly vicarious proof of the sympathy he himself merited. I am sure there were moments when he was the object of his own profound pity. His enthusiasm convinced him he would welcome, if needs be, any British stake that was entirely free from the danger of fire. With it all I doubt not he was enor- mously happy talkative, excited, officious. He THE JOURNEY TO THE MANSE. 57 worked and bubbled, was indeed one of the light por- tions of the bloody fermentation of the times. Wisdom and humanity usually obtain only a limited scope in all great popular uprisings. I thank Heaven my coun- trymen exhibited so much of these higher qualities in their bitter conflict for their rights. But I who passed throughjt all cannot be blind to the fact that our think- ing was not always as large as our aspirations, nor our hands as clean as our initial motives. These remarks are intended to explain why Isaac Scott was not ready to set out for home until the last moment. He lingered, visited and talked. On Satur- day, when perforce he must start on horseback with Ralph, he was well-nigh surfeited with his own conse- quence. His black satin seemed to shine with a high personal gloss. He was returning like a hunter with his bag stuffed with game his head full of tales of his own importance. It was always at these moments that he regretted keenly the poor hearing of Madame Eliza, his wife, and Helen, his daughter's imperturbable deaf- ness for the heroic. Still, he knew his aged partner's ready curiosity and her power of assimulating the ac- cented words she caught (if only she had not that fatal propensity of deflecting an idea wrong side up !) and his daughter's filial readiness to please him (if only she could suppress that annoying smile in her eyes!), and so he was tolerably pleased with the prospect before him. I bade the travelers good-by, and made a promise to despatch any news I could of events as they hap- 58 THE HEART OF WOMAN pened in New York. The day was exceedingly fine. Ralph was in good spirits over the journey he was be- ginning and was amused, I could see, by the self-im- portant air of his companion, who, jerking his head around repeatedly, a trick he had when excited, sat stiff as a ramrod on his horse as they proceeded along the Bowery lane and Kingsbridge road to Kingsbridge, and thence to the Hudson River. How little I knew of what they were setting out to meet! "I shall not be away very long !" cried Ralph to me, little dreaming that before I should see him again the footing of his life would be entirely changed. The two travelers proceeded leisurely under the May foliage, through little villages where the inhabitants, aroused by the clattering hoofs, watched them with an amazed curiosity, past rich fields where the spring life seemed almost to be oozing in the warm sunshine, now skirting patches of forest filled with verdant light and redolent with cool wood scents, now wandering almost on the very shore of the great blue river with its vistas of broad water, rocky cliffs and tree-covered hills. They halted at Tarrytown for the night. Early the next morning they were up and on the road again. Everybody who has undertaken a trip of the nature of Ralph's and Mr. Scott's must have found one dis- covers one's companion quite as much as the country traveled through. My young friend was all for the beauty of the scenery. Mr. Scott, who had a short sight for Nature, was forever bringing the conversation 59 back to a personal turn, in which he himself figured largely. Ralph relapsed into good-natured silence, with only an occasional monosyllable, leaving the old man to rattle on about his life, his family, his ancestry, his estate, his friends, the coach Ross had built for him, what Gen. Schuyler or some other notable had said to him on such and such an occasion, how he had ad- vised this or that course at this or that juncture, and how much more satisfactorily events would have gone had his advice been taken. Ralph's quiescent mood, given more to the scene than to the sense of his com- panion's gossip, greatly pleased the elder man, who found in his fellow-traveler's mild receptiveness what he accounted as sympathy and intelligence. He was greatly in love with Ralph long before they crossed the Croton and reached Verplank, where they were forced to stop awhile on account of a lameness that had de- veloped in one of the forefeet of Mr. Scott's horse. "I can get another beast here," he said to Ralph. "The Red Lion has a good stable and the landlord is well known to me." When the travelers entered the main street of the village they were surprised to find a large concourse of people, evidently gathered together hastily. Men without hats or coats, women in house attire, laughing, roaring and screaming, were gathered around a centre of interest at the base of a huge Liberty pole that stood before the inn. "What's the matter?" asked Scott, reining up, for no one made way for his passage. 60 THE HEART OF WOMAN "Oh, nothing," replied a tall, bronze-faced man bet- ter dressed than the rest. " Tis a little patriotic amuse- ment, that's all. A party of girls led by the parson's daughter are tarring and feathering a young fellow who has the bad taste to admire King George. Jump off; I'll hold your horse. The play is really worth the seeing. I've watched it till I'm sick of laughing." He laughed loudly. It was in this way that Brant encountered the trav- elers. "Gracious !" exclaimed Scott, excitedly. "I must see this. Dismount, Ralph. Perhaps this gentleman " "Certainly, with pleasure," said Brant. "I can man- age the two, I judge, for a few minutes." Ralph dismounted. Scott pushed a way through the crowd to the inner line, whence they gained a full view of the proceedings. In a clear space around the Liberty pole were gath- ered possibly a score of resolute looking Amazons, mostly young women in the bloom of life. Co-oper- ating with them was a tall farmer who stood a little aloof with a long leather whip in his hand. At the foot of the pole sat a young man, pale and terror-stricken almost to death, a picture of utter dejection. His hair was dishevelled, his face scratched and bleeding, his clothes torn from him to the waist by his oppressors. On his lap lay the body of a big goose that his trem- bling fingers were plucking with nervous difficulty. "He ain't very brisk at his work !" exclaimed one of the women. THE JOURNET TO THE MANSE 6 1 "No, that's a fact. Hurry up, Mr. Tory. I should think you'd want to get your coat on before ladies." "It's an outrage to any respectable goose to have to clothe such a thing as that," said a vinegary maiden contemptuously. "Ain't he white and soft. Pinch him," she added, as she nipped the victim. Others followed her example, making the young man bellow like a calf. "Be nimble, then," commanded the parson's daugh- ter. "I can't," whined the fellow. "These feathers stick so." "They'll stick faster by and by, I warrant you," was the reply. "It's a good Whig bird," roared a voice from the crowd, "and hates to feather a Tory scamp. Three cheers for the goose !" The crowd were in a jolly humor. They cheered, laughed and joked while the sorry object of their mer- riment worked on dejectedly until the bird was as de- nuded as his own back. "There! That'll do," said the parson's daughter. "We'll singe the pin feathers for you. Stand up, Mr. Tory!" The wretch obeyed the command and leaned against the Liberty pole to steady his trembling legs. "Come, girls, are you ready? Let's sweeten him, then." Upon this the tormenters poured over the young man's head and body a bucketful of molasses which 62 THE HEART OF WOMAN had been obtained in place of the traditional tar, which the neighborhood was unable to supply. The crowd roared, the girls screamed as the brown liquid crawled down the victim's face and body. "That's only the lining," cried the parson's daugh- ter. "Now for the good old Tory coat !" The women covered the young man with the feath- ers he had been forced to pluck. A most deplorable looking object, a strange hybrid creature, stood shaking before them. "I wonder whether King George would know his friend?" asked one. "It ain't a rare bird these days," replied another. "They say they have a recipe for cooking them at Windsor," said the parson's daughter. "But before we 'shoo' this specimen let's make him cackle. Look up, you Tory Goose! Raise your long neck! You look so fine you ought to have been born with those feathers. Give us a little speech. We'll teach you for once to speak the truth. Repeat what I tell you: 'Ladies and Gentlemen I regret I have given you so much trouble. I promise always to remember you kindly for having taught me that King George is a tyrant who deserves the gibbet. Long live trie Con- tinental Congress ! Down with the King !' ' The poor wretch mumbled these words as com- manded, his mouth half filled with molas'ses and feathers. "Down with the King!" roared the mob. THE JOURNEY TO THE MANSE 63 "Now chase him !" cried the parson's daughter. In a moment the fellow was fleeing before a hooting mob of men, women, children and barking dogs. The village was almost emptied. Neither Ralph nor Mr. Scott joined in the chase. As they looked around to find the stranger who had taken charge of their horses they saw that he and themselves were almost the only persons left in the street. "Great fun, isn't it?" asked Brant as they approached him. "That's the way all such vermin should be treated," said Scott. "Those are the girls to bear patriots. My friend here won't quite agree with me, I'm afraid," he added, smiling at Ralph. "It isn't that I won't," said Ralph, "I can't. By God, we're a set of savages yet !" "You might take my young friend for a Tory," said Scott, jocularly. "He isn't. He's moulting. But, sir," he added to Brant, "we owe you many thanks for your courtesy. May I ask to whom we are indebted?" "Schuyler Monroe is my name," replied Brant. "Oh!" said Mr. Scott, who now for the first time had a moment to look closely at the stranger. "Am I wrong in guessing that you are not entirely of our blood?" "Your guess is quite correct, sir," replied Brant, coolly. "I am of the original inhabitants of this land. I am named after Gen. Schuyler, a friend of mine." "An old friend of mine, too. Estimable man. I am Isaac Scott. Perhaps you have heard of me?" 64 THE HEART OF WOMAN "Indeed, yes," said the Indian, smiling. "Gen. Schuyler often speaks of you." "This is Mr. Tennant," continued Scott. The Indian bowed to Ralph's salutation and said : "Well, as I can be of no further service to you I wish you good-by, for I have a journey ahead of me." "Perhaps we have detained you. Have you far to go?" asked Ralph, who found himself interested in the stranger. "Oh, to Albany," said Brant, carelessly. "That's our destination," exclaimed Scott, "and, devil take it, my horse has gone lame. I must ex- change him at the Red Lion here." "Any exchange you can make now will be a poor one," said Brant. "How so?" asked Scott. "Capt. McDonald was through these parts yester- day and took away with him every beast worth oats." "Gracious! What are we to do, Ralph?" asked Scott. "Wait or walk," said Ralph, laughing. "There's an alternative," suggested Brant, quietly. "There is?" asked Scott. "I proceed by boat to Poughkeepsie. Tide and wind favor this afternoon," replied Brant. "You are wel- come to such accommodation as the sloop affords. At Poughkeepsie you can, no doubt, find mounts." Mr. Scott looked at Ralph inquiringly. "I fear it's intruding, but the idea strikes me very happily," said Ralph. THE JOURNEY TO THE MANSE 65 "Don't take it as an intrusion," said Brant, quietly. "You are really welcome." The matter ended by a full acceptance of the prof- fered service. As a preliminary to the voyage Scott invited Brant to dine with them at the inn. A few hours later the three were moving briskly up the Hudson with a strong tide and a fresh southerly breeze. ' They glided swiftly by little river villages and smaller settlements, the white houses of which glis- tened in the mellow afternoon sun. Brant knew every one of them. His mind had a marvellous affinity for the curious, the supernatural and the tragic. Sitting aft in the sloop upon improvised cushions of blankets, now pointing to the shore, now with eyes uplifted to the huge bellying sail, he took great delight apparently in recounting weird tales to his guests, often weaving them into the moving landscape. He took infinite pains to make his companions comfortable. His care had, apparently, so little effort in it, was done so in- differently, that in a short time Ralph and Mr. Scott were completely at their ease, congratulating them- selves on the outcome of their mishap. They were soon past Peekskill and then with a shift of sail entered the Highlands. "I swear I'm not sorry that horse went lame," said Scott. "I'm not much given to water in any form, but this excels jogging along hard roads." "That beast and I are friends hereafter," said Ralph, sleepily. He was stretched out full length on the deck basking in the sun. 66 THE HEART OF WOMAN "I believe you are half asleep, Ralph," said Scott in a tone of indolent admonition, yawning himself as he spoke. "No," protested Ralph. "I'm merely dozing to let Mr. Monroe's weird tales have their full effect. Our friend is a born story-teller, isn't he? I wish I could remember half his narratives." The Indian smiled. "If you'd like a nap there's a softer couch in the cabin," Brant suggested. Ralph declared he was comfortable enough. He had no idea of sleeping. Mr. Scott, however, was habituated to an afternoon doze, and seized the propo- sition for himself. "That couch has an attraction for me, Ralph, that it may not have for you, if Mr. Monroe will excuse my perverting his suggestion to my own use." "It's at your service," said Brant. "Then I'll take it," he continued, his sleepy eyes blinking heavily as he stood for a moment at the cabin hatchway. "I remember one day at my friend, Mr. Livingston's, up the river here, the ladies left the host and myself together after dinner, expecting us to join them shortly. I don't know how long they waited. By and by Mrs. Livingston admirable woman re- turned to find us. There we were, sunk in our frills, snoring at one another across the table. Ha! Ha! How they joked us when we entered the drawing room ! If I'm away too long, Ralph, wake me." THE JOURNET TO THE MANSE 6/ Left in the company of Brant (for I take no account of the bewhiskered, farmer-like sailor who owned the sloop and navigated it with the precision and muteness of an automaton) Ralph kept silence, listening in the rich satisfaction of perfect idleness to the musical splash of the water at the bow of the boat. He recognized that the situation demanded some effort on his part to be sociable. He sought for something to say, but the mood of the moment was too entirely indolent and dif- fusive for speech. With half apologetic intent he turned to his host. Finding him in a brown study he regarded the situation as tolerated. "Queer fellow," he thought, as his vision reverted to the forest-clad hills. "Yet naturally amiable." Brant was studying Ralph. My young friend al- most from the first moment of their encounter had in- terested this educated savage. I quite understand the attraction myself, for it was one of my delights in our friendship. Nature is no democrat. Her gifts pos- sess an aristocratic force. The prerogatives she had conferred upon Ralph were those of a peculiarly win- ning nature. His carelessly distinguished manner, open, persuasive, even boyish, was of a sort that rarely failed of notice with any one, but for Brant it was well- nigh irresistible. He held to the white man's civiliza- tion partly by imitation perpetually renewed and, per- haps, the element of all others that attracted him most was one that Ralph possessed in a high degree the air of "quality." The sloop passed suddenly out of sunshine into the 68 THE HEART OF WOMAN shadow of one of the towering crests of the Highlands. Ralph raised himself on his arm and exclaimed how beautiful the view was the May forest, the silent hills, the darker valleys, the intense white sunlit clouds. "Yes," said the Indian, "I love this spot just here where hills, forest, sky and river are huddled together. Some years aeo," he continued, and his voice had a pe- culiar soft tone for the reminiscent, as though the nar- rator was listening to an invisible speaker and was re- producing what he heard, "I had a strange experience in the furthermost point of that valley yonder, down there, you see, between those two tallest hills, but rather closer to the further one. That's it. Just there. I and two young men set out early in January to hunt. We had no plan, could make any tree on our way the turning point. We wandered along the river, jour- neyed inland, visited the villages, made calls on friends I knew, such as Mr. Livingston whom your friend spoke of a little time ago, and at last found ourselves entering the Highlands close to where we are now. It was dusk. It began to snow. The night, silent as a hunter in mocassins, came on swiftly and we were caught. What to do? Find a hole somewhere. Try to make a fire and wait. There was nothing else. "We were looking around for shelter when suddenly I caught sight of a light in the distance. It was from a big fire. It blazed cheerfully through the tall black trees, which, in the wind, cast moving shadows on the snow as of warriors dancing. We crept up to it. To our surprise it was an encampment of Indians. The THE JOURNEY TO THE MANSE 69 evening meal was ready. We saluted the chief, who hailed us as we approached. We told him our distress. We were received with the hospitality and courtesy which are of the heart of the Indian. We ate and smoked. In due time we wrapped around us the furs provided and fell asleep, the warm blaze of that huge fire flickering before our tired eyes. The next morn- ing " Brant suddenly paused. No actor could have marked a transition here better than he did, as he instantly and with quicker speech resumed. "The sun was shining brightly; the air clear, cold and blue. Not a sound save the occasional snapping of a forest twig. The snow had muffled the earth. The air was chilled to stillness by the frost. I was the first to awake. I looked around. My two companions were asleep beside me, but the camp it was gone, gone as a dream vanishes. Not a trace of our hosts, not a ves- tige of fire, not a fragment of food, not a footprint on the snow, not even the furs we had wrapped around us. Guess our surprise! "When at home again we related our experience. Then we learned that our hosts that snowy night were a small band of Algonquins who had all been treacher- ously murdered by my own people years before the white man first trod the shores of the Hudson." Ralph listened to the tale intently interested by Brant's dramatic manner. When the narrator finished he turned to his compan- ion as expecting comment. 7O THE HEART OF WOMAN Ralph rose from his position on the deck and drows- ily stretched himself. "Treachery ! Bloodshed !" he exclaimed, "Isn't it a pity that's the history of the Indian everywhere?" In an instant Brant was on his feet. The two men faced one another scarce an arm's length apart. The Indian's dark eyes flashed into Ralph's. "Bah !" cried Ralph instantly. ''How stupid of me ! Pardon me," he added, extending his hand. "Really, it never occurred to me that er " "Never mind me ! I don't speak because I, too, am Indian and proud of it," cried Brant passionately. "You accuse the Indian! My people! My race! Are they more treacherous than yours? Yours?" His voice was raised to its highest key. The cry "Yours, yours," rang among the surrounding hills. "Now! now!" urged Ralph, smiling, "I have asked your pardon, why " "No!" cried Brant, impetuously. "There's nothing to pardon. Be frank ! You are white ! Speak ! You ! I have learned the white man's ways. They are more treacherous than any Indian's, and, by God, I know!" "Very well," said Ralph. "Let it be so ! We won't dispute about it. I'd agree with you at once if I didn't think you are mistaken greatly." "Ha! Ha! Greatly!" laughed Brant ironically. "Ha " He stopped suddenly, looked Ralph in the face stead- ily, then said in a suppressed voice : THE JOURNEY TO THE MANSE 71 "You have a letter in your pocket from Mr. White- head Hicks?" Instinctively Ralph placed his hand over his breast pocket. "And Mr. Hicks is your friend?" sneered Brant. "My friend, yes!" Ralph asserted. "He has asked you to deliver that letter yourself to Sir John Johnson?" "How do know all this?" "Never mind !" replied Brant, authoritatively. "May I see that letter?" Ralph drew back a step. "I forget," said Brant, sarcastically. "I'm an Indian. Something in Brant's voice touched Ralph. "You are not quite fair," Ralph pleaded. "I don't distrust you. I am dumfounded by your knowledge of my affairs." As Ralph spoke he extracted the sealed package from his pocket and scanned the superscription en- grossed in a heavy hand, as though it had acquired a new interest for him. "That's it!" cried Brant, exultantly. "That letter from your friend denounces you as an enemy of the King, a dangerous person. It requests Sir Johnson to lock you up you understand? Eh! Whiteman's honor! Bah!" Ralph was staggered far beyond the Indian's sur- mise, for suspicion worked with amazing rapidity among a number of facts, of course, unknown to Brant. The Indian watched him intently and gleefully. 72 THE HEART OF WOMAN "No!" cried Ralph. "I don't believe it. You are trying to deceive me. What's your purpose? Out with it." "Deceive you!" exclaimed Brant. He seized the letter from Ralph's hand. Before it was possible to interpose he angrily tore it open. "Deceive you !" he cried. "Whiteman or Indian, who deceives? Read! There is your friend's warrant. Read! Read!" He forced the letter roughly into Ralph's hand. The suddenness, the boldness of the act overwhelmed Ralph. "I would befriend you," cried Brant in a changed tone. "You believe me?" Ralph was silent. "Read, then!" persisted Brant. Ralph refolded the letter and placed it in his pocket. "I shall have some difficulty to explain your inciv- ility," he said. "You won't read?" repeated Brant. "Read? No!" "You'll deliver that?" cried Brant in amazement. "I'll deliver it!" For a moment Brant was silent. "You have shown me the other side," he said. At Poughkeepsie the two travelers parted from Brant. The latter excused himself from proceeding further in their company on account of some business he had to attend to in the village that might delay him even a day or two. However, he played the host to the THE JOURNET TO THE MANSE 73 end, aiding Mr. Scott to procure horses from a farmer whom he knew. When the final preparations for the start were in hand, he drew Raloh aside and asked : "Are you offended with me?" There was a touch of appeal in the question. "No," said Ralph frankly, "though I don't under- stand you. I am sorry you refuse to explain. You are a queer fellow, but rightly or w r rongly somehow you appeal to me." "Then don't deliver that letter," urged Brant. "Trust me so much !" Ralph smiling, shook his head. "Then read it;" persisted Brant. "Haven't you told me its contents?" cried Ralph as he mounted his horse. "Why need I? But I wish you would dispel the mystery for me." "No! No!" said Brant, shaking his head solemnly. "Impulse has carried me too far already. Don't mis- trust me, however." "I don't," said Ralph. "I feel there is something gen- erous in what you have done. If I ever know I will repay you if I can. As it is I thank you. Don't for- get you have promised to see me in Albany. If you fail I shall doubt you." "I shall see you," said Brant. CHAPTER IX. THE MANSE AND ITS INMATES. WITHOUT further incident of note the travelers reached the Scott homestead, which stands half a day's leisure- ly journey north of Albany, and close to the east bank of the river. Mr. Scott was proud of being so large a landholder. He named his home "The Manse," no doubt from some precedent he had come across in his reading, for he was much given to enact his literature. Tradition, however, was obstinate. Neighbors around clung to the ancient title of the place, and spoke of it unpoetically as the "Loper House," the original domi- cile having been built by one Paulus de Loper, an early settler in those parts and a sturdy ancestor of Mrs. Scott. Indeed, it was from the wife that the husband possessed the estate. It was of very vast extent, of I cannot tell how many hundred perhaps I ought to say how many thousand acres. The confines north and east were indeterminate, being affected by several coun- terclaims involving questions of grant and patent. Un- doubtedly there were disputes, for there were lawsuits, but they were as distant as the land concerned, and ap- parently troubled nobody. Scott declared gravely that the questions involved went to the very foundation of THE MANSE AND ITS INMATES 75 British dominion in the western world. I opine he would very much rather have parted with the land than the litigations. The former was of little value to any one; the latter brought him into contact with judges, governors and other high officials, and furnished per- petual activity for his busy vanity. The house itself was not a pretentious structure. It was a square, comfortable, two-story brick dwelling, covered with strong lime mortar, with a pleasant hooded porch before the front -door. Several noble elms overtopped the roof, survivors of the primitive for- est. Pasture and cultivated land stretched away east- ward with every evidence of high fertility, almost to the foot of the pine-clad hills. To the south was an exten- sive orchard, flanked with gardens, a big gabled barn, other smaller farm buildings and a fence, on many stakes of which were affixed the skeleton heads of cat- tle. In the cavities of the skulls little winter birds con- structed their nests. Beyond the orchard fence ran the highway, and there, under a clump of sycamores, a few Indian families had built their wigwams. These Mohawks depended for their subsistence in part upon hunting and fishing and the benevolence of the family in the Manse, and in part upon the livelihood they de- rived from their small native handicrafts. Some negro slaves also lived in this quarter, and cultivated little patches of ground around their hut-like homes. In the rear of the great house was a small flower garden, bor- dered by the river bank, lined with willows. Here was the recreation ground of the inmates of the Manse 76 THE HEART OF WOMAN where, dinner over, they gathered to enjoy the sum- mer afternoons and the cool of the long evenings. It was a perfectly rural home, much more farm-like than Scott pictured it for himself, his head full of de- scriptions of English estates. However, to justify his imagination he spent more than was judicious in pur- chasing fine furniture and silver pieces to make a show within doors until his wife demurred, declaring he had well-nigh driven his family into the kitchen with his elegance an accusation which he regarded as evidence of the obstinate heredity of Dutch frugality and what he termed "a vile, impecunious view of life." However, as Mr. Scott had fairly completed his importations be- fore madam's objections attained to the vigor of a pro- test, he allowed her opinions the semblance of law. He viewed with intense satisfaction the elegant and spa- cious parlor he had fitted up a room which, in its ap- pointments, might well challenge comparison with any apartment in the region, even anything in the Schuyler house further down the river the dining room wherein the mahogany and silver whispered confidentially to a visitor of good living, and the library filled chiefly with books on law and music. I have always held these studies to be naturally in- compatible. Mr. Scott's case was not really an excep- tion. He harmonized these conflicting studies through the possession of an execrable ear. He owned a harp- sichord and spent a deal of time when at home indefa- tigably attempting to tune it. No one could discover upon what system of harmonics he worked, but the re- THE MANSE AND ITS INMATES 77 suit was always weirdly discordant. After hours of la- bor he would permit himself the satisfaction of a little practice with some simple melody, only to be com- pletely upset by his wife's invariable formula: "Isaac, are you still tuning or playing?" Mrs. Scott possessed some untutored musical talent, and this question always produced in Scott a hopeless and envious frame of mind. But these were matters of many years ago. When Ralph made his visit to the Manse the master's extrav- agance had long been incorporated into the household economy. The harpsichord had added certain infirmi- ties to its original defects, but the ear of the mistress of the house was unable to detect them. Mrs. Scott was older than her husband. The last ten years had curiously blanched her. Every bit of color, even the shadows and stains that time makes, had so faded from her appearance that one scarcely could es- cape remarking a pallor that seemed deeper than the skin. The mistress of the Manse was still a shapely woman, retaining something of the powerful frame and masculine figure which marked her youth, and con- sorted then, in no ill-fitting way, with her robust health and vigorous activity. Of late, however, age had, per- haps I should say, stilled this force rather than dissi- pated it. Her abundant hair was as white as paper. It differed scarcely by a shade from her complexion. Her blue eyes were not so much dimmed as diluted, and the affliction of partial deafness imparted at times a muffled, forgotten tone to her voice. Locomotion 78 THE HEART OF WOMAN was difficult for her, so she spent much of her time either reading religious books or gazing mutely and fixedly before her no doubt through one of those nar- row windows of memory at which the prisoners of age forever station themselves. Her rule at the Manse and it always had been rule, a government of duties inflexibly performed and ex- acted had devolved upon her daughter Helen, the only surviving child of a union of incompatibilities. In the daughter the mother reappeared, but now poetized by youth, with something added of delicacy and softness always lacking in the original. The moth- er's virtues were hard-working, scolding drudges. The daughter possessed to the full all the maternal good qualities, but they lacked everything of the deliberate or arbitrary. They were unconscious and poised. Scott was known to have spoken of "something metallic in some women," and his utterance was pretty generally regarded as a breach of martial reticence. Be that as it may, Helen was not of the obnoxious class. She was a fair-haired, blue-eyed, comely girl, of a thoroughly healthy nature, without humors, indirec- tions or fancies of any kind. She lacked the last finish of high breeding, but the deficiency seemed to be on purpose to reveal the unsophisticated excellence of the material. Her view of life did not reach in any direc- tion beyond the undoubted boundaries of common- sense, admitting no horizons or anything that indicated a world far off. Her world, indeed, was the flat, every- day world a world wherein the virtues and decencies THE MANSE AND ITS INMATES 79 figured prominently, but at the same time necessarily, merely like so many chairs and tables and other utilities of a well-ordered existence. What shall \ve say of the poet without rhapsody, the lover of truth without fervor, the martyr who regards his suffering as a matter of interest to the physician only, the philanthropist who makes charity a kitchen virtue, the enthusiast who promptly puts the heroics of life to work as common servants? We may complain that such miss the spirit in the exercise of the office, but we are compelled to acknowledge they give us the fact while they seem to ignore the principle. Helen Scott perpetually disappointed me by her blind adher- ence to commonplace motives, and then confounded me by the incalculable heights to which they carried her. When Mr. Scott and Ralph rode up to the front door of the Manse, accompanied by half a score of romping negro children, Helen was the first of the household to greet them. She came from the flower garden, wear- ing a great calash. She carried a rake over her shoul- der and a small painted basket in her hand. Her face was flushed by labor. Perhaps its color deepened a little when she perceived the stranger. After assisting her father to dismount she greeted him affectionately, but without effusion. She curtsied politely to Ralph when Scott introduced him, but paid no attention to the pa- ternal remark that here was a gentleman full of stories for her of the gayeties of London and New York. "We were not expecting you," she said to her father. 8O THE HEART OF WOMAN Brushing the dust from his shoulders she said affec- tionately "I hope you are going to settle down with us for a long time, eh?" "My dear girl," said Scott, as he stamped his cramped feet, "it wouldn't be wise to make treaties quite so quickly as this, even with you. Wait till I see how you are going to treat me and Mr. Ralph here. I will tell you this, however, I have a great deal to do around here." "I hope that doesn't mean we are not to see much of you?" "In times like these " began Scott, gravely. "When everyone is beating the big drum," she said, smiling, "you are better off at home. Besides, you must be careful to avoid falling into the crow's habit of life." "The crow's, Helen?" "Yes; the crow is the only bird that doesn't feed where it sleeps. But let us go in. Dinner must be ready. 'Chalk,' take care of the horses." Chalk was an off-colored negro. Ralph soon felt himself quite atjiome in the Scott household. At first his reception struck him as some- what cold. This impression, however, quickly disap- peared as he recognized that it was occasioned by the unceremonious manner of people thoroughly accus- tomed to themselves. He was familiar with a more sophisticated society, where certain sentiments were often exaggerated by expression. His appearance at the Manse made not the slightest change in the house- THE MANSE AND ITS INMATES 8 1 hold life. He was promptly accepted as a member of it. Though the kindness he received came slowly, it came in so ordinary a guise as scarcely to invite his recognition. When greeting Ralph Mrs. Scott limited her wel- come to a stiff "How do yer do?" She spoke with some country accent, and always with the decision of a mind irrevocably made up. Ralph ventured to remark that they would have ar- rived a day or two sooner had not his host been de- tained by affairs almost to the moment of starting. "How's that?" she asked shrilly, bending forward and putting her hand trumpet-wise to her ear. When Ralph repeated his remark she leaned back in her chair and said : "Umph ! I know Isaac." Comment was a habit of speech with her. From her laconic manner Ralph concluded a deal of her conver- sation was mutely with herself. At times she indulged in sudden unexpected outbursts of speech as though her pent-up cogitations had passed control. At dinner when the master of the Manse was re- counting his experiences in New York and describing the political condition of the country she interrupted with: "Of course I know nothing of the matter" (this was a favorite preface of her's to all dogmatic utterances) "but you can't convince me that all this rumpus and fightin' doesn't come from the laziness of men these days. They'd rayther gad around and break one an- 82 THE HEART OF WOMAN other's heads than stick to their business as God in- tended them. Look at Will Breed and the gang of idle loafers he has gathered around him. They haven't paid rent nor done a stroke of work for nigh on a year, yet they think they've got excuse enough going around the country telling other people how they ought to be discontented and arguing them into a state of disorder. In my days it was the duty of a man to look after his family and meet his obligations. Now it doesn't mat- ter if only he stands around enough and curses the King. No wonder the country's in a bad way. Mark my words it will be worse yet, and I know who'll be to blame." It was customary not to pay any verbal attention to these outbursts. The old lady seemed to be rather grat- ified than otherwise by the absence of reply. She didn't hear the remark made by Jacob Lorn, who sat at the other side of the table. "Women are naturally slaves." He uttered this indolently as though weary himself of the conclusion. "Uncle Jacob," said Helen calmly, "I'm surprised even that melon doesn't sweeten your remarks." "It is excellent, Helen," conceded the gentleman slowly, filling his mouth as he spoke, "but a melon is a type of woman. You cannot tell by any known out- ward sign the sweet from the insipid, the fruit from the turnip or how the one or the other will in the end af- fect your system." "You may well guess, Ralph," said Scott, laughing, THE MANSE AND ITS ITS INMATES 83 "that Uncle Jacob is not exactly an admirer of the fair sex as you and I are, my boy, Eh?" "Only the young man and the middle-age gallant," continued Uncle Lorn in his imperturbed manner, turn- ing to Ralph, "fool themselves with illusions about women. I said a moment ago Woman was naturally a slave. I don't contradict myself now when I add Woman" is a tyranny. A man can work through every other delusion of life and come out somewhere on the other side in fair possession of himself, but there is no escape, sir, none, for the man who once falls under the domination of that absolutism of whim and feeling called Woman." "You speak very positively, sir," said Ralph, to whom these utterances had a fresher sound than to others at the table. "The study of Woman has been the labor of my life," Lorn replied in his tone of assurance. "I am busy now with a book on the subject." "The misogynist with his counterblast down the old home chimney is not a new character," said Ralph, who was inwardly irritated as the young ever are when the natural aspirations of youth are cut across the grain. "My work rests upon a new basis," said Lorn simply. "I thought all such doctrine rested upon an old basis," said Ralph, "a basis of say fifty years of life." "Ha ! Ha !" roared Scott, "that strikes you, Jacob, within three years." Ralph hastened to disclaim any personal direction to his remark. #4 THE HEART OF WOMAN ""No, 'no," he continued. "I had in mind merely the idea that any misogynist's views are in general a dys- pepsia of middle age." "Or the acidity of early mistakes," suggested Lorn, sarcastically. "You are not married?" he continued, rising. "No," replied Ralph. Despite himself, Ralph's face flushed. "Ah !" cried Lom, sardonically, his small white teeth glistening in his dirty-colored round face. "The red flag of love! Eh? My lady's emissary is already ar- rived. The peasant of our dull days is promised a new heaven and a new earth in exchange for his clayey acres. Dear, dear, how easily we are intoxicated upon the ferment of the old ditch-water ! The idea that hap- piness is centred in a vertigo ! That the lost voices of life speak at last in a month's delirium! Eh? Better get drunk on Jamaica toddy, The after effect is less dis- tressing. After this outburst Lom taciturnly shuffled out of the room. Scott bade Helen fill Ralph's glass. "You'll find Burgundy the best antidote for that sour stuff, Ralph," he cried. "You mustn't mind Jacob. Here we all are used to him. He doesn't sound so of- fensive when you know him. He represents the imbe- cility of an idea." "Father, Uncle Jacob is intolerable at times." "Oh!" said Ralph. "An opinion is not necessarily anything more." THE MANSE AND ITS INMATES 8$ "Good !" cried Scott, who was growing jovial. "And as Socrates thought a purgation necessary after speak- ing impiously of love, let us, Ralph, offer a recantation for our friend's heresy by drinking to Woman." "The ideal of love !" exclaimed Ralph, laughing. "The divine !" cried Scott, lifting his glass. "You are two very foolish men," said Helen, good- naturedly. "Come, mother, let me help you upstairs." "Isaac, what are you talking of?" asked Mrs. Scott, aroused by the hilarity. "Of Woman, my dear," answered Scott. "You ought to know better, your daughter present and this young man." "We were treating her from the purely poetical standpoint, my dear, as women should ever be treated. Eh, Helen?" exclaimed Scott, winking his little black eyes first at Helen and then at Ralph, as he drained his glass. Ralph surprised himself by the rapidity with which he acquired a sense of domestic settlement at the Manse. He was compelled more than once to remind himself that he was only a visitor and that his relation- ship to the family was of an exceedingly short and cas- ual character. Yet the master of the house treated him with almost the confidence and familiarity of a parent. The mistress with few preliminaries involved him in her ceaseless petty reminiscences then pleased to the ex- treme by his deference, pronounced him "an uncommon young man." Helen, tirelessly occupied supervising house and farm, gave him a frank welcome whenever 86 THE HEART OF WOMAN he joined her in the gardens, at the barns or on the lawn at the rear of the house, overlooking the river, where she frequently sat in the afternoons sewing. Per- haps it was a certain looseness in the household life that made it so easy and seemingly so natural for him to find a place. Even Uncle Jacob accepted him in his indif- ferent style. "The only difficulty with you at present, Mr. Ten- nant," he said, "is you are so hopelessly young." When Ralph replied, "That is a defect which soon remedies itself," the older man sighed. Ralph frequently visited Lorn, who was not a resi- dent of the Manse. He lived in a dilapidated, ancient farmhouse not far from the negro settlement. He was a distant relative of Mrs. Scott's and was "uncled" in the family by courtesy, not by right. He was an intel- lectual outcast professed himself an atheist, a pessi- mist, a contemner of many established facts. He was a solitary by choice. A half-breed squaw managed his household, mutely served him and struggled, against his wishes, to keep his effects in some degree of order and the decayed house and grounds in some sort of habited appearance. At times, for days and even weeks, no one but she would see him or know where he was. Then for a pe- riod he would visit the Manse frequently, and after- ward without a word disappear. He was a tireless reader. He sat all day with his books. In the twilight he was accustomed to stroll up and down in front of his house, always keeping to the THE MANSE AND ITS INMATES 87 middle of the highway. The Indians, negroes and whites made him the subject of legends and stories, many of a discreditable order. Lom's true history Ralph never learned. A certain reticence on the part of those who presumably were ac- quainted with his life seemed to hint at some capital er- ror in the background. He never spoke of the past himself. *No recollections or experiences betrayed him. Only by rare momentary preoccupations, by an occa- sional tone or glance could the most careful scrutinizer divine that at times the shadows were before him and their distant voices in his ears. With Helen only was he invariably complaisant. He never denied himself to her visits. He submitted with a strange docility to her wishes. One day when she made him a call with Ralph, in the course of which she admonished him for some personal untidiness, he stood for a moment before her like a child, and when she ex- claimed, 'There! Isn't that better?" when she had fin- ished sewing on a button he said softly : "God made you, Helen, you busy bee, to atone for a million other errors." For days Ralph drifted riding, visiting, making himself useful to Helen whenever she would permit him. In the middle of the week Scott wandered off to make a visit to the Schuylers. Gen. Schuyler was the head of the patriot movement in the region and at that moment was about to begin military operations against Sir John Johnson at John- son Hall, who, despite his pledge previously given, had 88 THE HEART OF WOMAN been actively organizing armed resistance in the Mo- hawk valley on the behalf of the British King. After parting from Brant at Poughkeepsie Ralph had recounted to Scott the episode with the letter on board the sloop. Scott in his fiery way declared it was .perfectly clear Brant was a British spy and an emissary of that scoundrel Whitehead. Ralph objected to that view. "I can't see it," he said. "If so, why should this Mon- roe warn me against supposed danger?" "You Tory bat!" exclaimed Scott, "why why well I'll tell you why. Because, sir, their game is always underhand. That fellow is part of the trap. They don't want you, of course. It's me they're after. Well, good luck to them if they can catch me. I can imagine I'm a thorn in their side. Let's read the letter." "On suspicion merely?" asked Ralph. "Oh, I've no scruples in dealing with those con- founded rascals. If you have why destroy it." "Do you know," said Ralph, "I have a strong inclin- ation to deliver it." Scott looked steadily at Ralph. "I wouldn't make a fool of myself and think it was something grand." "Do you believe anything of what Monroe told me?" asked Ralph. "Not a word," was the reply. "Well, then," concluded Ralph, "I'll keep the letter until we arrive at the Manse. Is it far from Johnson Hall?" THE MANSE AND ITS INMATES 89 "No," Scott replied. "Helen, my daughter, often made the trip when Sir William Johnson was alive." At the Manse Ralph's first inquiry was regarding Johnson. Mr. Scott learned that the baronet was not at the Hall. He couldn't discover Sir Johnson's exact whereabouts at the moment. "In a day or two I shall know," he said, "when I have seen my friend, Gen. Schuyler. You are not thinking of that confounded letter, are you, Ralph?" "Well," replied Ralph, "I am not exactly thinking about it. I have decided to deliver it." That "decision" has a little history. When questioning Helen regarding the Johnsons one afternoon, sitting on the lawn, Ralph told her the story of the letter and her father's notion of the exist- ence of a plot. "A plot! Another plot!" she said as she paused in her sewing. "I am really tired of hearing of plots. Every farmer who happens to return home by an un- accustomed road is at once suspected of something. It is all very foolish. People who have been living to- gether in this part of the country, knowing and respect- ing one another for a generation, have suddenly taken it into their heads that half of the community are vil- lains. Everybody is acquainted with the Johnsons. Sir William Johnson for years was one of our most impor- tant public men and officially he was certainly highly considered. His son, Sir John Johnson, hasn't the old- er man's astuteness, but he impresses me as a gentle- man much above any dirty work. My cousin lives at 9O THE HEART OF WOMAN Johnstown. She and her husband say Sir Johnson is a man of great kindness. It is so easy to suspect peo- ple, Mr. Tennant, and give them bad names." "Then you would advise the delivery of that letter?" "I see no reason for any other course. You can send the letter by messenger. My cousin and her husband are visiting in Albany now. When they return in a day or two, I am sure they will take the letter for you. Father has got you into a fog. What do you suppose could happen from so simple a matter?" Ralph was a little nettled by the young lady's plain ideas. "No! no!" he said. "Your father is not to be charged with obscuring my views. Your suggestion of a messenger would work admirably were I not bound to deliver the letter personally." "Well, if you promised to deliver it yourself, do so, although Johnson Hall is, perhaps, fifty miles from here some say less, some more. But the journey is pleas- ant at this time of the year. I wouldn't mind it myself if Susanna and Chris were ready. At any rate, if you'll wait a few days no doubt you can have their company. Christopher Gist you'll find a fine fellow and Susanna a pleasant girl, if you'll take ordinary country people like ourselves at their country value." "Miss Helen, you're most disrespectful to yourself and your family," said Ralph. "Mr. Tennant, remember you promised to drop mere language." "I'll stick to it," replied Ralph gayly, "and promise THE MANSE AND ITS INMATES 9 1 anything else you ask for if you will introduce me to your cousins and join the party yourself. Will you?" "I'll see," said Helen, cautiously. "When Chris was here last week he begged me to make a visit. They have just finished their new home, and I have a wo- man's curiosity to see it." CHAPTER X. THE PRELUDE IN THE WOODS. WHEN Scott was told that Helen contemplated a trip to Johnstown with her cousins and Ralph he forbade the project excitedly and denounced it as imprudent and even dangerous in the highest degree. "Gen. Schuyler," he said, "has given me the latest particulars of Sir Johnson's 'doings.' ' Clearly these stories had greatly incensed the little man against the baronet. He assumed the air of one in authority. Even with Schuyler himself, he demand- ed loudly the arrest of the "titled Judas." He pictured Johnson Hall as a "Sodom of Toryism," and declared the military would be held responsible if forthwith the place was not wiped out. He greatly excited himself but he stirred nobody. The Johnsons had many friends, and Schuyler was loath to take any step that might provoke bloodshed. He had written a letter of expos- tulation to the baronet, which he believed would re- move the necessity of despatching troops to Johnstown. The "moderates" were satisfied with the situation. Few believed that Johnson would provoke armed hostilities. "I know Sir Johnson," drawled Christopher Gist, a tall, bony, fair-haired countryman, who had imbibed from his fields the spirit of the slow processes of na- ture; "he won't do nawthin' beyond saving his dignity. He wants to stand well with government and keep THE PRELUDE IN THE WOODS, 93 up the family traditions, that's all. He ain't his father by more than his years, and he knows he would have no chance if the people around here tells him to quit. Of course, he's parleying with the Indians, but there's nawthin' to that but talk." Chris's slow ways acted like pepper on Scott's nerves. While Chris was talking Scott's fingers were busy bristling what little hair remained on his head. "Phew !" cried Scott, unable to contain himself, "you haven't the slightest, the remotest idea of what you're, talking about. Egad, Chris, I hope your judgment on farming is sounder than on politics. Let me tell you I shall have something to say in this matter. Johnson is a dangerous man. His instincts are criminal. We clipped his wings once and now, by gad, it's time to shoot him. Mark my words, Dayton will be after him before the end of the week." "I guess you've been mistaken before," said Chris. "Come ! come !" said Helen. "Isn't all this unneces- sary? We have nothing to do with Sir Johnson, and, as to Mr. Tennant, he has only to deliver a letter the duty of a few minutes. I am sure people are not going to let passion guide them. Gen. Schuyler and Sir John- son are too sensible to settle differences by blows." "But what the d what, in Heaven's name, Helen, is the sense of marching right into trouble?" "None at all, father; on the other hand, why should we suppose that our peaceful people are about to go on the warpath like a tribe of drunken Mohawks? Don't you think it's a mistake to be thinking and talking of 94 THE HEART OF WOMAN fighting? It seems to me that is the surest way of bringing on trouble. The sanest course is to go about our business quietly and take it for granted that other people are doing the same." Everyone at the Manse agreed that Scott greatly exaggerated the situation; even outside among his friends Scott found it difficult to meet anybody who shared his sanguinary fervor. Preparations were made, and early one glorious morning near the end of May the little cavalcade Chris and his wife, Helen and Ralph set out joyfully from the Manse. Whenever Ralph spoke to me of this trip he termed it "the prelude in the woods," The wild, unknown country, the beauty of forest land and stream, the still- ness of unfrequented paths, the scents and colors of May, intoxicated him. He said the past seemed as by magic to fall behind him into a remoter period. Long before the party reached the little village of Schenec- tady he found it impossible to believe that but a short time ago he was walking the streets of New York. The events of the month past were more like a story told him than his own experience, and far off, at an incalcu- lable distance, he surveyed the picture of it all. "This trip," said Ralph gayly, as the road entered the forest, "reminds me of those journeys undertaken in old times by knights and ladies in search of adventure. Doesn't this recall to you some of Spenser's stories?" "No," said Helen prosaically; "I haven't read Spen- THE PRELUDE IN THE WOODS 9$ ser. I am so ignorant as not to have heard of him be- fore." Ralph's learning was still in the callow stage and given to essay its wings. "Still, you like poetry?" he urged. "No," she said promptly, "at least only in a certain way. My chief objection is it substitutes imaginary feelings and interests for real ones. I can't applaud people who spend their time indulging in mock senti- ments. I suppose I am deficient. There is so much beauty in the world that nobody pays the least atten- tion to. As to heroism and adventure, there's more in merely paying one's debt than the average person is capable of?" "You are a great girl for wanting to get things on the paying basis!" exclaimed Ralph. "I believe if you could you'd turn all our fine feelings into good work- ing horses." "Yes, I would," said Helen stoutly. "The most self- ish person going is your man or woman of fine feeling. They are always running into sunsets and moonlights and after somebody else's poor dog. They have a fine sense for everything except their own day's work. Real- ly, isn't there something finer in a dirty. duty stuck to than in knights and ladies and adventures that have nothing to do with real life?" "Why, of course," answered Ralph, laughing, "there is something fine in all other forms of personal morti- fication." "You are making fun of me," said Helen, abashed. 90 THE HEART OF WOMAN Like all persons who rarely exhibit their feelings, sHe was sensitive. They were proceeding side by side. Chris and Su- sanna were jogging on silently in front. Ralph im- pulsively took Helen's hand in his. "Believe me," he said, "I am laughing, but not at you. You you know it's so queer to see you bowling over my old ideas like so many pins. You always do. Yet it all seems right, and I feel too lazily happy to-day to set them up again." Helen withdrew her hand quietly from Ralph's pos- session. She was blushing, and struggled with an ef- fort to hide her confusion. That afternoon the travelers rested at a rough farm- house belonging to one of Chris's friends, and remained there until morning. It had the sad, forgotten look of an outpost. There was an air of painful human strug- gle in the contrast between the lean cultivation of the half-cleared fields and the strong luxuriance of wild nature. Here Ralph caught his first glimpse of the world that had tutored Helen. In the hard work of the household, in the hardships of a pioneer's life cheerfully accepted, in unconscious kindness, in wealth created of pitifully small means, in the unmeditated poetry of dull lives, Ralph saw something of the fine meaning un- derlying Helen's prosaic philosophy. He thought he understood and the black and white of the drab pic- ture glowed with color. For Helen there was no color in it, nor did her appreciation of the facts need any. Therein lay the difference of temperaments. THE PRELUDE IN THE WOODS 97 In the evening as they were strolling about the farm Ralph said: "I understand now what you were saying this morn- ing." Then he tried to explain. "How you do heighten things!" she said, smiling. "I had no intention of throwing such a grand air about such little matters. How else would you have people act?" "Then I am all wrong again," he said, "and my pion- eer farmer is as false as my mediaeval knight." "I didn't say either was wrong," she replied. "I sup- pose it is your way of looking at things. That is the right way for you." The next night they slept in the newly built Gist homestead. It stood a little outside the village of Johnstown, and spoke indubitably of Chris's frugality and skill. Chris was a born pioneer, hardened in mind and body to the last degree. It was said that wherever he trod the weeds died. His mellow acres and trim home bore witness to the truth of the saying. His wife, Susanna, was a blank round-faced woman in whom na- ture had reduced all the issues of life to one term toil. She had, apparently, no ideas, no desires she worked. She accepted the days as they came without the slight- est question and grew a little stouter and a little less shapely every year. I am setting down these dull facts because there was a new principle in them for Ralph. By some alchemy of contrast it worked upon him. Life hitherto had been too suave and easy with 98 THE HEART OF WOMAN Ralph to raise any vital appeal to his sense of duty. Duty had been as yet only an idle idea with him. He felt something invigorating now in the new scenes he had entered. Helen seemed to be the incar- nated spirit of this life of plain purpose and dull strain that produced a fine human dignity in homespun and endowed the daily commonplaces with a voice of song. It was reaction, undoubtedly; delusion in some meas- ure perhaps; nevertheless the fact remained that Ralph's new surroundings affected him powerfully and in the end Helen in the midst of them played the part of a Calypso enchanting him with the humble joys of life. He never for a moment recognized that only the facts that were appealing to him were Helen's; the spirit of his admiration was a part of his nature over which Catrina silently ruled. Often the image of Ca- trina flashed before him, a soft, wistful, appealing im- age, always very close to him indeed, but still, now something of a picture, a vague ideal, a dream, the hail of a far-off desire compared with Helen's vigorous real- ity. Attraction, sentiment, the habit of old things led his thoughts again and again back to Catrina, but his admiration was Helen's, and she became associated with ever so many new busy possibilities for his life. The truth is, speaking personally of Ralph, he was walking during those days in a delusion, heedless of his own nature, ignoring the past, even with a certain careless wilfulness offending but never silencing the half-conscious sentiment which had struggled for a voice in the orchard. It was the confusion of youth, THE PRELUDE IN THE WOODS 99 youth's blindness, its wayward treatment of the logic of life. Ralph watched with delight Helen's enthusiasm over the new home and Chris's silent pride as he showed his visitors about the place. The new farmhouse was a two-story structure, built partly of recently felled logs. Three little dormer win- dows peeped out of the roof, close up to the edge of the eaves. The big red brick chimney climbed up the outside of one of the end walls. The entrance, with its Dutch door swinging in halves, was hooded with rough shingles and flanked by a pair of rough columns and two fixed wooden benches. This embellishment had cost Chris a deal of labor. The well stood in front of the house with its bucket swinging high on a long pole. The base of the building was heavily banked with earth to exclude the winter cold. "Now," said Helen to her cousin, "when I am away I can picture you sitting evenings in this cozy porch as though I was with you. It is just right for the shade of those trees. Isn't it? And this kitchen, Susanna, isn't it exactly what you wanted? You won't have to go out of doors any more to the wood pile. Isn't it all beau- tiful, Mr. Tennant?" It was the triumph of the Hand. Ralph joined heart- ily in the paean, for there was something infinitely touching in this humble work of the homely instincts. He felt how sweet and wholesome the common parts of humanity may be. To his hosts, and to Helen also, he was the guest of IOO THE HEART OF WOMAN honor. They treated him as though aware of the fact he was condescending to rough ways. Chris provided extraordinary provender. Susanna put forth all her skill at the big kitchen fire. Ralph insisted upon help- ing Helen set the table in the rude, unptastered kitchen with its small square windows. They lingered over the meal in the still twilight. Accompanying the liquid evening song of the wood- birds there was something like music in the air which was well attuned to Ralph's voice as he told his hushed auditors of the far-off world he had seen and in truth belonged to. Chris and Susanna were awed. "Are people happier there?" asked Helen finally. She on her part felt a stranger moving among her old thoughts. "Nothing can be happier than this," said Ralph. CHAPTER XI. THE DELIVERY OF THE LETTER. THE following afternoon Ralph started for Johnson Hall. He had questioned Chris about the baronet and was no'w firmly of the opinion that there was not the slightest reason for distrust. Helen decided to accom- pany him on his visit. She was on terms of intimacy with Johnson and his wife, and always made them a call when in Johnstown. The Hall stood about half a mile north of the village, on a slight eminence. As Ralph approached the man- sion he noted with surprise its stateliness and extent, and the unexpected beauty of its surroundings. The buildings at first sight appeared to be of stone, but that was only a semblance. The main edifice was con- structed of clapboards, though the two detached wings, one on each side, were really built of stone, and being pierced at the top for musketry, possessed a de- cidedly martial appearance. The gardens were finely kept and the nursery on the southern side gave addi- tional testimony of the owner's refined taste. At first Ralph's attention was given wholly to these matters. Presently he observed in the rear of the house signs of commotion. A number of men were hurrying to and fro. As Ralph and Helen neared the front door one of them ran around and excitedly in a Scotch ac- cent demanded their mission. IO2 THE HEART OF WOMAN The man's peremptory manner annoyed Ralph. "Suppose you allow me to state that myself when the door is opened," said Ralph. "No door'll be opened to you this day," said the fel- low. "You had better be away with your lady." "Do you bring this from Sir Johnson," asked Ralph, "or is it your own impudence?" "Ain't I telling you the master's too busy to be sending messages to anybody? Go home! That's the proper place for you." "Get out of the way or I'll lay this whip across you !" cried Ralph, angered by the man's persistency. The next moment he had dismounted, assisted Helen to the ground and knocked at the door loudly. No one answered. "Didn't I tell you to be going away? Little heed they'll give to your clanging. You're an obstinate cal- lant." With this denial at the doorway the situation sud- denly took on a new phase. "Is any one sick? What is the matter?" asked Ralph. "I have an important letter for Sir Johnson, and this young lady is a friend of Lady Johnson." The Scotchman eyed Ralph cautiously. "An important letter! It's just possible," he said slowly, "but with the sight of it I'd know." "Well," said Ralph, laughing, "I am afraid, my good fellow, your doubts must remain unsatisfied. When I see Sir Johnson I will be able to judge how far you are exceeding your instructions. I suppose, Miss Helen, THE DELIVERY OF THE LETTER 1 03 there is nothing to be done but make our way home again." He was about to help Helen to remount when the Scotchman who had been pondering the situation said : "Hold on! I may be wrong; there is no telling. If you'll bide a wee and give me your message I'll see what I can do with it. But, mind, I dare promise you nothing." "Well," said Ralph, beginning to take the strange position good humoredly, "I won't hold your con- science to account. Tell Sir Johnson a gentleman is waiting his pleasure with a letter from Mr. Whitehead Hicks. Can you remember that name?" "I've a unique memory for names and dates," said the fellow seriously. "Here, here; hold; you have only part of the mes- sage. Tell Lady Johnson Miss Scott has given herself the pleasure of a call." The last word was scarcely uttered before the man bolted around the corner of the house. "What's up, I wonder?" asked Ralph turning to Helen. "It's all most extraordinary," said Helen. "Quite in- comprehensible. There isn't a sign of life in the front of the house. Did you notice, the shutters are all closed?" Ralph stepped out of the porch and was surveying the building when the door was quickly opened by the Scotchman who first accosted them. "You may walk in," he said, slowly, and with a man- IO4 THE HEART OF WOMAN ner much subdued. "If you'll be pleased to step into this room Sir Johnson and my lady will shortly see you." The two visitors were conducted to the end of a great wainscoted hall, with broad staircase and mas- sive mahogany balustrade, to a little room which opened on to the side of the house. The shutters of this room were closed and the light so completely ex- cluded that the furniture was scarcely discernible. "I suppose I ought to leave the door open," said the Scotchman, doubtfully, "but perhaps " Fearing a change of mind Ralph broke in: "Yes, I'd leave the door open, I'm sure that is right." "It is hard to be sure of anything these days," said the man, departing. Helen was striving to control her laughter. "Oh !" she cried, "this is a most ludicrous situation, but whether I ought to laugh at it I don't know. What does it mean?" Without, in the big hall, there was not a sound save the slow beat of a clock somewhere. The house might have been deserted. After a while Ralph heard men's voices in a distant room. By and by an elderly woman came quietly down the stairs. With a crippled curtsey she announced that her ladyship would be pleased to receive Miss Scott if she'd be so kind as to ascend to her room. Left alone, Ralph seated himself to await his own reception. He was detained perhaps another ten min- utes before he heard the opening of a door on the other THE DELIVERY OF THE LETTER 1O5 side of the hallway. The Scotchman returned. He was bidden to conduct Ralph to Sir Johnson. He led Ralph solemnly through the hall and into a spacious parlor, darkened precisely as was the room they had just left. At the furthermost end of the apartment was an open door, partly screened by heavy curtains. The only light the room received strayed through this door- way. The Scotchman drew the curtain aside. Ralph passed through the entrance and found himself in a lofty library. The walls were wainscoted with mahog- any and covered with books in rich bindings. A table in the centre was* well filled with bottles and glasses. Around it, in various attitudes of expectancy, sat three gentlemen. One was a short, stout, pig-faced man. His staring, small black eyes, under almost invisible brows, scrutin- ized Ralph boldly as he entered. He wore an officer's uniform, the upper buttons of which were undone to facilitate respiration. Opposite him lolled a taller man of middle age, in civilian garb. His strong, resolute melancholy features were sadly marred by a purplish birthmark and a large, red nose. The head of the table was possessed by a man younger than either of his com- panions. The aristocratic effect of his clean-cut face, thin lips and sharp, intelligent eyes was enhanced by his trim, well-fitting, powdered wig. Perhaps he gained something by contrast with the less refined physiog- nomies of his associates. He rose slowly as Ralph en- tered, and at his height showed a tall, shapely figure. IO6 THE HEART OF WOMAN "I am told you bring a letter from my friend, Mr. Hicks?" he said. "Then I have the honor of speaking to Sir John Johnson?" asked Ralph. "I would return the compliment, sir," said Sir John- son quietly, "had not certain extraordinary circum- stances, which I trust you'll overlook, deprived me of the usual formality of your name?" Ralph announced himself. "Pray be seated, Mr. Tennant. Allow me to intro- duce my two friends Col. Claus, Dr. Bruce. I hope you'll join us. There's a glass. Bruce please pass the bottle." The two gentlemen returned Ralph's salutation; then, without another word, the glasses of all were rilled. There was an air of precision in the reception. Ralph perceived that Sir Johnson and his friends alike were in stifled excitement. "Coming from so staunch a Tory as my friend Mr. Hicks, I suppose I needn't hesitate to ask you to join us in a toast to the King?" said Sir Johnson. As he spoke Johnson elevated his heavy eyebrows. "I'll gladly join you," answered Ralph promptly. Johnson's face relaxed. His example in rising to the toast was followed by his guests. "Now, Mr. Tennant," said Johnson, in a prompt tone, as the party reseated themselves, "our time here is very short. I must press you for your business, even at the expense of hospitality. The truth is we have received word that Col. Dayton and a large force is on THE DELIVERY OF THE LETTER IO7 the way to Johnson Hall to commit a most treasonable outrage. Gen. Schuyler has ordered my arrest. As two hundred men are no match for a thousand we are compelled for the time being to flee before the storm. If you had delayed your visit by a few minutes Mr. Hicks's letter would not have reached me." "In dflivering this," said Ralph, as he handed the letter to Johnson, "I hoped to have full time to explain the peculiar circumstances under which, as you see, it was opened. Perhaps it will suffice now if I assure you the outrage was committed by another, and that nev- ertheless its contents remain inviolate." A noticeable air of suppression fell upon the party when Ralph said this. "Umph !" ejaculated Col. Bruce. Sir Johnson frowned as he received the letter. For a moment he held it in his hand scrutinizing it. Ralph resented, particularly, the doubtful gaze which the pig- eyed colonel turned upon him. It was an awkward minute. Perhaps nothing could have added more to Ralph's discomfiture than the in- trusion that then occurred. A big window filled a large part of the further end of the room. At one side of it opposite Ralph was a low door, which suddenly opened and a tall man in Indian costume entered. Ralph instantly recognized his companion of the sloop. His wild attire added to his mien a fierceness of aspect which for a moment greatly startled Ralph. He wore moccasins elegantly trimmed with beads, leg- Id6 THE HEART OF WOMAN "I am told you bring a letter from my friend, Mr. Hicks?" he said. "Then I have the honor of speaking to Sir John Johnson?" asked Ralph. "I would return the compliment, sir," said Sir John- son quietly, "had not certain extraordinary circum- stances, which I trust you'll overlook, deprived me of the usual formality of your name?" Ralph announced himself. "Pray be seated, Mr. Tennant. Allow me to intro- duce my two friends Col. Claus, Dr. Bruce. I hope you'll join us. There's a glass. Bruce please pass the bottle." The two gentlemen returned Ralph's salutation; then, without another word, the glasses of all were filled. There was an air of precision in the reception. Ralph perceived that Sir Johnson and his friends alike were in stifled excitement. "Coming from so staunch a Tory as my friend Mr. Hicks, I suppose I needn't hesitate to ask you to join us in a toast to the King?" said Sir Johnson. As he spoke Johnson elevated his heavy eyebrows. "I'll gladly join you," answered Ralph promptly. Johnson's face relaxed. His example in rising to the toast was followed by his guests. "Now, Mr. Tennant," said Johnson, in a prompt tone, as the party reseated themselves, "our time here is very short. I must press you for your business, even at the expense of hospitality. The truth is we have received word that Col. Dayton and a large force is on THE DELIVERY OF THE LETTER IO/ the way to Johnson Hall to commit a most treasonable outrage. Gen. Schuyler has ordered my arrest. As two hundred men are no match for a thousand we are compelled for the time being to flee before the storm. If you had delayed your visit by a few minutes Mr. Hicks's letter would not have reached me." "In delivering this," said Ralph, as he handed the letter to Johnson, "I hoped to have full time to explain the peculiar circumstances under which, as you see, it was opened. Perhaps it will suffice now if I assure you the outrage was committed by another, and that nev- ertheless its contents remain inviolate." A noticeable air of suppression fell upon the party when Ralph said this. "Umph !" ejaculated Col. Bruce. Sir Johnson frowned as he received the letter. For a moment he held it in his hand scrutinizing it. Ralph resented, particularly, the doubtful gaze which the pig- eyed colonel turned upon him. It was an awkward minute. Perhaps nothing could have added more to Ralph's discomfiture than the in- trusion that then occurred. A big window filled a large part of the further end of the room. At one side of it opposite Ralph was a low door, which suddenly opened and a tall man in Indian costume entered. Ralph instantly recognized his companion of the sloop. His wild attire added to his mien a fierceness of aspect which for a moment greatly startled Ralph. He wore moccasins elegantly trimmed with beads, leg- IIO THE HEART OF WOMAN Ralph was dumfounded. Brant's tale on the sloop flashed upon his mind. "You must see, Sir Johnson," he said, "I am hope- lessly in the dark as to what you mean. I can do noth- ing but ask you to enlighten me." The candor of Ralph's appeal evidently impressed the baronet. Johnson looked at Ralph steadily for a moment, and finally said: "There's nothing in that letter which need necessar- ily be private from you; read it." The waters seemed to flow over Ralph as line by line the treachery of Hicks was disclosed to him. "Infernal villain!" he exclaimed, crumpling the let- ter in his hand. "Please don't destroy my letter," said Johnson, "and, Mr. Tennant, please, now let us get down to business." "You don't believe what that, that Sir Johnson, I have no words for this. You cannot believe it !" "You see, sir, as I explained a moment ago, unfor- tunately I don't know you and I do know Mr. Hicks. He is a crown official and one of my oldest friends. Your credentials are against you, you must admit. This occurs at a most awkward moment for all of us. I am compelled to leave my home " He paused, and turning to Claus, said : "I don't know what to do except make Mr. Tennant accompany us." "Make," cried Ralph. "Request, if you like it better." "By what right, sir?" THE DELIVERY OF THE LETTER III "Force majeur, my friend," said Johnson, incisively. "I have to bow to it myself," he added, smiling, "and I hope what my dignity submits to yours will accept." "Then you mean to use force?" asked Ralph. "Mr. Tennant, you must see that if any one is to blame for your predicament it is not I. But in this mat- ter I intend to obey what is practically an order from the crown. I prefer to be pleasant. If you will permit me we will not speak of force. I shall be glad to have you as a guest with us on our expedition which starts immediately. Do you accept?" Ralph hesitated. "My courtesy cannot wait," urged Johnson. "Miss Scott is " commenced Ralph. "I will see to that. The young lady shall be con- ducted safely to where she is staying." "But all this is an outrageous proceeding," cried Ralph. "Mr. Tennant, there are one hundred men outside there, moving at my orders, and they will not consider any of my commands outrageous. Do you understand?" "I suppose," said Ralph hopelessly, "I am in your power. I can't see now what to do but submit and bide my time for satisfaction." "Good !" exclaimed Johnson. "Brant, Mr. Tennant will take a place in our company. CHAPTER XII. THE FIRST STAGE OF THE FLIGHT. AT the rear of the Hall around the stables and barns was assembled a loosely dispersed company of about one hundred and fifty men. Perhaps one hundred were provided with some form of baggage. The others were not of the expedition. Evidently the strain of prepara- tion was over and silence prevailed. When the master and his company stepped out of the rear door burdens were instinctively grasped, good-byes were said hastily for the last time and without a word of command audi- ble to Ralph the little troop set forth. No regular for- mation was adopted. The men moved in twos and threes as accident ordered. The first part of the march passed over the Johnson estate, through field and ploughed land, afterward through partly cleared woods beyond which ran a forest road. This pathway was almost unknown. It had indeed a traditional existence among the inhabitants of Johns- town, but scarcely more. It had been constructed a long time ago, according to the pioneer's time-piece, for military reasons and at the expense of Sir William Johnson, the present baronet's father, at a period when the Mohawk's faith in the English agent was raw and untested. The purpose of the road was attack. With the prolongation of peace it fell into neglect. The sum- THE FIRST STAGE OF THE FLIGHT 11$ mer hid it with tangled vegetation, the winter buried it with timber and leaves. Yet there is a magic in man's ringers which creates a certain tenacious residuum in his handicraft exceeding hard to quite obliterate. Hunt- ers and woodsmen occasionally came upon the aban- doned road like a forgotten thing, but they soon wan- dered from it and lost the exact bearings of their dis- covery. In the early summer this path afforded a tol- erably passable trail to the north. It was completely overarched with foilage and might be likened to a nar- row tree-flanked aisle winding with an apparently in- terminable indefiniteness of aim up and down hill-sides, skirting brooks and mountain streams, dodging as it proceeds all the harder obstacles of the route. To Ralph, a stranger to the untrod wilderness, there was something occult in the instinct that seemed to guide Johnson's marching column. As soon as the forest was entered the company fell into a long file. Johnson with his companions and Ralph brought up the rear. For hours scarcely a word was spoken. The spirit or retreat chilled every one. The hard, set pur- pose of the flight, the weary anticipation of distance and difficulties ahead silenced the party. On the march Ralph's indignation over his own ab- duction slowly parted with its fervor. The novelty of the situation, his unprepared share in it, his ignorance of the exact meaning of the circumstances with which he was strangely keeping company, in the end intense- ly interested him. The only obligation upset by his ab- sence was his duty to Miss Scott. That she was per- 114 THE HEART OF WOMAN fectly safe he was sure, and he half suspected some ex- planation to quiet any anxiety for his absence would be given to her by the remaining members of the Johnson household. His attention slowly deviated from himself to a sense of the forest itself. He began to feel some- thing of its remoteness, vastness, silence and inhospi- tality. Thence he turned to his mute trudging com- panions whose passage into the wilderness now wore the air of an impertinent intrusion. Partly fascinated, he fell into step with the party. He found himself watching with interest the long, vacillating line of hu- manity ahead of him that crunched a way over rotting timber, fallen branches and obstinate low underbrush, while the afternoon sun transfused the forest with a lucent atmosphere of emerald. Here and there bright light struck in, but for the most part the woods were shadowless as the bottom of a green ethereal sea. The flight was maintained with the utmost expedi- tion. The tramp continued unslackened throughout the afternoon. The melancholy lights of the evening faded. One by one the woodland sounds of the day were stilled, and as the night stole in they were suc- ceeded by the weird nocturnal cries of marauding ani- mals. About nine o'clock the moon, then near full, be- gan shining brightly through the heavy lattice-work of foliage, and as the dark outlines of the trees stood forth in the silver light they pictured themselves to Ralph as stationary files of black phantoms watching the strange flight through their remote domain. During all these hours Ralph trudged in file between THE FIRST STAGE OF THE FLIGHT 1 1 5 Sir Johnson and Col. Claus. The former stalked along in as deep contemplation as Ralph. Claus occasionally broke silence by an oath when his foot struck some stub or he stumbled. "You can't swear a way through these damned woods. Lift your feet !" cried Dr. Bruce. The tone of his vorce indicated that he, too, was relieving his feel- ings. "I'm not a giraffe like you and Johnson," cried Claus Ralph was pleased to hear the Colonel puff over his labor. Brant was marching further to the rear, with Col. Butler and Sam Burton, an Englishman and head over- seer of Johnson's estate. Only once Johnson dropped back abreast with Ralph. The movement was undeliberate. Observing his position Sir Johnson glanced hastily at his captive and ejaculated in a sad and uneasy tone : "After all we move slowly." "Neither pace nor spirit is lively," said Ralph, ma- liciously. "The tail of the party seems to have been scotched after all." Johnson frowned. His mood was too heavy for an- ger. He stepped ahead to his previous position, leav- ing something of pity behind with Ralph. Near midnight a cry to halt echoed along the mov- ing line. A stop had been ordered on the side of a wide, shallow stream. Ralph followed Johnson to a spot where the forest verged on a high natural embank- ment. But a step beyond was fairyland created by the Il6 THE HEART OF WOMAN magic of the moon. Twenty feet below the water sparkled gloriously as it rippled over its stony bed and wound out of sight in both directions amid low pine- clad hills. The men commenced wading across the stream. Voices were raised. In a moment the tension of the fugitives was relieved and the air was filled with sound. "This won't do!" cried Johnson angrily, turning to Brant. "Don't the fools know anything?" "Silence!" shouted Brant. His voice reverberated in the hills. The echoes died in silence that seemed limitless. "How far have we gone?" asked Johnson. "About eighteen miles," Brant replied. "Enough? Dare we rest?" "No. Nothing is safe until we are on the further side of Beaver Lake." Johnson relied implicity on the Indian's judgment. After a few minutes the entire party crossed the stream and resumed the march. Ralph found him unexpectedly by the side of Brant. The Indian's barbaric attire and furtive stride amid the night shadows of the wilderness gave the young man, despite himself, a disagreeable chill. He regarded askance the bent projection of the body, the rolling glide of his companion and began wondering whether those forest-taught motions were also accompanied by the stealthy mind of the savage. Suspicions protruded themselves out of every corner of their strange encoun- ter until at last Ralph was speculating how far old Isaac THE FIRST STAGE OF THE FLIGHT Scott was right when he said that Brant was actor in a conspiracy. He ended by feeling that somehow he was that man's prisoner. The thought irritated him. After a while Brant said in a whisper, intended to be solicitous : "This must be an unexpected tramp for you?" "It oughtn't to be after that meeting with you." Ralph intended to probe rather than insult, but the sting of the words once uttered strangely roused in himself a latent resentment. "Unfair again!" said the Indian softly. "When we won't learn we blame others." "Civilized maxim: Indian practices, eh?" said Ralph perilously close to a sneer. The Indian seized Ralph's arm with a grip that pained. Without a word Ralph turned and struck his com- panion a blow in the chest that set him coughing vio- lently. Neither paused in the march. Those following some paces behind did not see the incident perhaps be- cause of the darkness of the woods. Expecting some reply to the attack Ralph stepped aside and put himself on guard. "You fool!" hissed Brant. "I should have replied quicker than your thought if reply had been in me. Heavens, why don't I?" "Why don't you? I'm weaponless," sneered Ralph. "I'm the fool, Mr. Tennant. That's why. In my own way I have been stupidly pleading for friendship. Something appealed to me. I don't know what it was Il8 THE HEART OF WOMAN now. I was asked by Whitehead Hicks to see you secured up here. Instead, I warned you of your dan- ger. I followed you to that Scott house and wherever you went afterward. I can tell you every step you have taken. I hoped to prevent your going to Johnstown. I missed you finally only because of Sir Johnson's urgent call. I even sent some one to warn you again at Gist's farm-house. When I learned you had slipped away with Miss Scott to the Hall, I hurried in, as you saw, to aid you. I couldn't prevent them bringing you along. Before I left I sent word to Miss Scott that you were safe and would be back soon. Only your per- sistent folly has tripped me. And now you " Brant paused. Presently he drew himself up and said: "Mr. Tennant, among my people I am nobly born." "I am ashamed of myself," said Ralph, humiliated deeply by this confession. "It is belittling the offense to ask your pardon. The only excuse I can find is you did not explain yourself. Since Johnson showed me Hicks's villainous letter I have associated you some- how with the treachery." "I am sorry for you," said Brant. "I thought my hints would be sufficient. Besides can you under- stand? I shrank from entirely betraying Hicks." "Well, well," said Ralph. "I am a fool. I had no idea of the debt I owe you." "Never mind, it is just as well to continue to over- look it." With this the Indian hurried forward. Ralph did THE FIRST STAGE OF THE FLIGHT IIQ not see him again until after sunrise, when the weary band encamped on the shores of Beaver Lake. Beaver Lake as Ralph viewed it in the clear, still morning air did not appear to measure more than a mile by perhaps half that distance in width. The water was extremely deep and blue and it reflected with a serene fidelity the surrounding forest and the high, tree-clad hills. The sun was not quite risen. The day breezes were not stirring and little dissolving cloudlets of thin mist floated over the surface like bits of white veiling. The timber crept down almost to the last foot of the shore, which was lumbered with blanched trunks of fallen cedars whitened by the action of water and sunshine. Johnson decided to push around to the opposite side of the lake and encamp there. A suitable spot was soon found. Baggage was dropped and in a few minutes several fires were crackling and the incense perhaps of the first white man's breakfast in the locality rose to heaven. The party were scantily provided with food, the staple articles carried being dried beef and corn meal. But there was plenty of fish in the lake and Burton and Brant were not long in providing a toler- able repast for Johnson and his friends. The meal was spread under a group of pines near an opening in the woods that permitted a full view of the lake. "You'll join us, Mr. Tennant?" said Johnson, cour- teously. "You're kind," replied Ralph, "but oughtn't the prisoner to get prison fare?" I2O THE HEART OF WOMAN "He may deserve it," said Johnson, laughing, "but I could not condemn him to anything that will lie heavier on his stomach than this. Eh, Claus? How's your appetite?" It was plain the gentleman in Johnson would not be denied in the host. His pleasantry was an attempt to put the company in good humor. "Don't talk of appetite," growled the Colonel. "I lost my belly somewhere in those dammed woods. The rebels could have me, I tell you, if I had to begin this over again." "There's loyalty for you, Mr. Tennant !" cried John- son. "Mine's short in the legs, that's all," said the Colonel, stretching himself with difficulty on the ground beside the meal. "It's too lonely a virtue in these woods to please me," said Bruce. "It seems just at present it's receiv- ing the usual rewards of vice. Doesn't it strike you that way?" "Treason, gentlemen !" cried Johnson, jocularly. "What an example for our young Whig friend here! He may think he has fallen into good company." "You put me in the wrong class," protested Ralph. "The wrong devil !" cried Claus. Johnson regarded Ralph dubiously. "I mean it," reasserted Ralph; "I wouldn't shun the name, even here, if I loved it." "Hicks didn't give you much of a character as a Tory," ejaculated Claus. THE FIRST STAGE OF THE FLIGHT 121 "My character, one way or the other, wasn't in Mr. Hicks's hands," cried Ralph. "But your letter " began Bruce. "We had better not open that letter again," inter- rupted Johnson. "Thank you," said Ralph. "That is really the best way to .deal with a very gross injustice." "Egad!" spluttered the Colonel, who evidently ob- jected to an evaporation of the subject. "That's your way, always, Johnson. I can see you have quite won over the enemy, dazzled him by a dull neutral tint. Hasn't he?" To this appeal Ralph replied : "Truth is often a matter of silence." "Bravo !" cried Johnson. "They make a good pair, Bruce, don't they?" grumbled the Colonel, whose bad temper, after all, was more noisy than real. The little man was puffed with a petty vanity that always reacted against strangers until it had been placated, and Ralph was experiencing the sour side of it. Johnson's determined suavity and the satisfaction of the meal were, however, a powerful embassy for peace. Bruce, whose nature was neutral and indolent, sided by mere passiveness with Johnson, so that in a short time the Colonel was forced to either stand out as an excep- tion or join the general amity. The conversation by devious turns migrated to London and the question of the steps the government would take to suppress the rebellion. Finding Ralph was acquainted with the 122 THE HEART OF WOMAN capital, the Colonel capitulated by asking whether Mr. Tennant had happened to meet the Earl of Chichester. Ralph replied he had not an admission which imme- diately called forth an account of a visit Claus had made to London many years ago, of the fine rooms he had lodged in near Bloomsbury Square, how he had met the noble earl at a reception given by the celebrated Lady Beaumarch, and how he had scored a great suc- cess with the august company gathered there by an ac- count of the history and manners of the Mohawks. It soon became apparent that the Colonel possessed a fixed repertoire of events. He had not the slightest sense of repetition. Whenever a cue was given it called forth a specific story. His experiences, too, seem to have been suddenly arrested somewhere in the past at a time when he was rich, great, funny and clever. In his egotistical middle age these ancient vir- tues and splendors had been extinguished, and he struggled, as with Ralph, to shine by the reflected light of tediously renewed reminiscences. His foible was a standing butt for the satire of his friends. "Claus ought to warn you in case you ever are tempted to repeat that story that Chichester died when, no doubt, you were in the cradle," said Johnson, laugh- ing. "Don't be envious, Johnson, because Claus's mem- ory is both youthful and aristocratic," cried Dr. Bruce. "I'll swear I'm younger than either of you," cried the Colonel, who hated any reference to his age, "and as to " THE FIRST STAGE OF THE FLIGHT 12$ A voice suddenly sounded across the lake. "Hallo! Hallo!" The echoes reverberated through the forest. Instantly all except Brant jumped to their feet. "Down!" hissed Brant. "Down! Crawl behind here !" All dropped to the ground, and from behind some undergrowth listened. "Hallo! Hallo!" "Who can it be?" whispered Johnson. "We are followed," said Brant. "Not a sound. Dr. Bruce, will you go around those trees and tell the men to be silent and ready?" The cry had stilled every sound in the encampment. "Damn it!" said Johnson. "We will fight them here." "Egad, I'm ready!" said the Colonel, producing a brace of pistols. "Be still!" whispered Brant. "Watch!" Ralph had an excellent view of the opposite shore through the foliage of a high bush. The cry was repeated. It was followed by the sound of snapping timber. Presently, to his astonishment, Ralph saw Chris Gist emerge, balancing himself on the trunk of a fallen tree. "Great heavens !" exclaimed Ralph. "Hist!" commanded Brant. "Why not call to him?" asked Ralph. "Don't dare to !" Johnson commanded. Ralph turned around quickly. 124 THE HEART OF WOMAN "I know him; he is a friend of mine " "Hush!" cried Claus angrily. "There is some one else there. If you open your mouth again, Tennant, I'll put a bullet in you." "Indeed?" said Ralph derisively. "Can you shoot so straight?" "Gentlemen, silence, I command you," said John- son. Brant put his hand on Ralph's arm. "Be still," he pleaded. The underbrush on the opposite shore opened again, and, to Ralph's intense surprise, he saw Helen step down to a little stretch of pebbly beach. Without a moment's hesitation Ralph put his hands to his mouth and cried : "Hey! Ho! Helen!" Instantly something stung his ear, accompanied by a deafening report. The Colonel had discharged his pistol at him not ten feet away. Quickly as this murderous act had been performed, Brant had been quicker. With a blow he had diverted the Colonel's aim and well nigh broken his arm. Despite the pain he was suffering the Colonel struggled to his feet, intending to use the second wea- pon upon the Indian. Brant threw him to the ground. The puffy little man was no match for his agile antag- onist. His arms were quickly pinned to the earth, and then, Brant, springing away with the loaded weapon, released him. The entire episode occurred in so little THE FIRST STAGE OF THE FLIGHT 12$ time that Ralph scarcely had realized all that had hap- pened when he found Johnson and the Doctor at his side, stanching the blood trickling from his ear. The Colonel, too angry to rise, was passionately hurling oaths at Brant. The roar of profanity must have been audible across the lake. "This is a nice situation!" cried Johnson, in vexa- tion. "You have to thank that traitor for it !" yelled Claus, shaking his fist at Ralph. "I think," said Brant, addressing Johnson, "I know who hailed us. It is Chris Gist." "Gist? What the devil can he be doing here? And with Miss Scott! It's extraordinary!" Brant smiled and winked at Ralph. "I think I understand that, too," he said. "The deuce you do !" exclaimed the Colonel. "I will hail them," said Brant. "Good or bad, we had better learn what's over there." Johnson assented. Brant went down to the water's edge. At first the Indian uttered a low, guttural cry that was immediately answered by a sound similar to his own as an echo. Then he called : "Gist." In replying, the tall farmer very nearly lost his bal- ance and fell into the water. He recognized Brant, hailed him by name and asked if Mr. Tennant was "over there." "Who's with you?" asked Brant. 126 THE HEART OF WOMAN "Only Miss Scott and Canas " "All right, all right," sang Brant, interrupting the reply. Sir Johnson, I had better get over there and learn what's wanted." "Be careful, Brant. Look out for tricks." "I'm sure we needn't distrust; still, call out to Gist you are sending some one over by the head of the lake. I'll work my way around the other way." Whispering to Ralph, "Keep your temper," he hur- ried off. "Mr. Tennant, I sincerely trust you are not responsi- ble for this intrusion," said Johnson seriously. "Rest assured I'm not," said Ralph, "that is, in any direct way." "Direct or indirect," cried Claus. "What does it matter? That fellow has had us tracked!" "Silence!" commanded Johnson. "Not another word between you gentlemen. There's no danger from that wound, Doctor, is there?" "It's merely a scratch," said Bruce. "I think our friend can afford to lose a little blood." CHAPTER XIII. HELEN JOINS THE PARTT. BRANT was away longer than was expected. Ralph and his companions stood in silence watching the ap- proaches to the camp. Johnson, by posting a number of his men armed with flintlocks in spots that com- manded the openings, showed he was not quite assured his enemies were not upon him. Plainly with great relief he hailed Brant returning with Helen and Gist. "This is a terrible road for a lady !" Brant cried from a distance. He and Gist were visibly fatigued by their efforts to clear a path, almost step by step, for Helen. Ralph and Johnson went forward to meet the new- comers. "Miss Scott, what does this mean?" asked Johnson, half severely, half pleasantly. Helen blushed and looked toward Ralph. She saw the blood on Ralph's face. With a cry of alarm she hastened to him. "What has happened, Mr. Tennant?" she asked. "Nothing at all," said Ralph; "a mere accident the inability of some one to handle firearms as a gentle- man." Helen turned to Sir Johnson a look of searching in- quiry. 128 THE HEART OF "He is perfectly sound," said Johnson, smiling. "Don't be alarmed." "I feared something dreadful had happened when Mr. Tennant didn't return to meet me at the Hall. Lady Johnson could give me no information." "You thought your friend had been murdered or something equally terrible had befallen him, eh?" asked the baronet. "I didn't know what to think," said Helen, candidly. "I blamed myself for having influenced him to deliver that letter." "Oh, ho, Miss Scott ! So you, too, know of that let- ter? But do sit down; I am sorry I have no better seat for you than these pine needles. I'll have some- thing prepared for you to eat I daren't say cooked." They made Helen as comfortable as possible with the trunk of a tree as a rest for her back. Then Johnson resumed : "So you know of that letter?" he asked. "Certainly," she replied, looking at Ralph. "You know its contents?" asked the baronet slyly. "Of course not, Sir Johnson." "Ah ! of course not; excuse me." "Then why did you ask me?" asked Helen promptly. Johnson looked at his inquisitor good naturedly for a moment, then continued as though he had not heard the question. "So you decided to follow Mr. Tennant when you found him missing?" "I decided to catch up with him with you. I felt HELEN JOINS THE PARTY 12g sure there had been some mistake, and as I knew you so well, Sir John " Johnson bowed. "You thought you could induce me to liberate my captive?" he asked. "Exactly so," replied Helen. "How did you discover the road we had taken?" For a moment Helen was confused. "Lady Johnson said told me you were all going away and Mr. Gist " "Mr. Gist discovered the path, eh? Is that so, Mr. Gist?" "That's about right," said the farmer, slowly. "I am sure you will understand why I am inquisitive. Will you tell me how you knew exactly which route we had taken?" "Well," drawled Gist, "when we hunt a deer we know pretty well the path it will take, and when we are looking for a fox we govern ourselves likewise." Everybody laughed at this, including Sir Johnson. "Do you think Dayton knows as much about foxes?" asked Johnson. "I think he's content with having smoked you out." "Oh, he is, is he? Thank you." "That's my opinion," said Gist. "He's got the Hall, and I'm inclined to think he's enjoying himself there." "Umph !" ejaculated the baronet. "Well," he con- tinued sadly, "it's the fortune of war ! However, Miss Helen, I wish you could assure me that no one knows of your trip or the road you took except yourselves." 5 I3O THE HEART OF WOMAtf "No," Gist replied; "no one. I wouldn't have brought Helen along, in spite of her pleadings, had I known you were 'moving so fast. We calculated we could catch you before nightfall. You see I helped your father build that road. Though it's in fair condi- tion yet, I must say you moved pretty lively. More than once I told Helen to stop, but she kept saying another mile would bring us up to you." "Miss Scott, how am I to thank you?" said Ralph, deeply stirred. "Walking doesn't tire me as it does some girls," said Helen. "Miss Scott," said Johnson enthusiastically, "had I known you were coming in this way damn me if I wouldn't have received you with military honors." This exclamation thoroughly disconcerted Helen. "But here," said Sir Johnson, "you must eat some- thing and rest " "No, no," interrupted Helen. "I will take some- thing to eat, if you please, and I am sure my cousin will; but we must be hurrying home. No one knows where we are. Think of their anxiety! And, Sir Johnson, now that you know now that everything is all right of course, you will let Mr. Tennant accom- pany us?" "Not so fast, Miss Scott. You must remember you are using the terms of peace at a time, when, unfor- tunately, we are in a state of war." "Peace or war, I don't expect to find you commit- ting an outrage." HELEN JOINS THE PARTY \^\ "Neither am I," replied the baronet, positively. "Mr. Tennant is detained by authority." "What authority?" asked Helen. "The highest the King's." "Is that so, Ralph?" "Sir Johnson hardly means exactly what he says," said Ralph. "Don't I? Indeed!" said Johnson. "I assure you I do." "Mr. Whitehead Hicks is not exactly the King," said Ralph. "But, there, I have no intention to de- bate that matter again." "I am afraid we wouldn't agree," said Johnson. "Then am I to understand that you insist upon forc- ing Mr. Tennant to accompany you?" demanded Helen. "My dear young lady, do you hold a brief for your friend?" asked Johnson. "The matter is simply this," said Helen boldly. "Mr. Tenant was warned by many not to deliver that letter to you. His intention, I believe, was to deliver it at all hazards, but, perhaps, if I had not assured him you were an honorable man, the counsel of others might have prevailed." "For his sake and for yours I'm sorry they didn't," said Johnson, "though I thank you for expressing a good opinion of me." "Then you intend to persist in your present course?" "Most decidedly," said Johnson, showing a trace of anger. 132 THE HEART OF WOMAN "You greatly disappoint me," said the girl, flushing. "I'm sure, when I return home, some steps to convince you of your wrong-doing will be taken by others as surprised at your conduct as I am." "I am sorry you put the matter in that way," said Johnson, thoughtfully, "for you have crystallized in my mind a disagreeable necessity which I hoped I could see some way of disregarding. Miss Scott, this is a very serious business we are all engaged in. The liberty and perhaps the lives of my men and myself are at stake. Only for desperate reasons, you know, do people leave their homes, and desperate reasons often require desperate acts. I don't see how I can allow you or Mr. Gist to return home. Our safety demands it." This announcement stupefied Helen. "You can't contemplate such an outrage!" cried Ralph. "I contemplate anything necessary to the success of the steps I have been forced to take," said Johnson. "But you are not fighting women !" exclaimed Ralph. To drag a young girl through the hardships of Oh ! it's monstrous !" "She came not at my invitation," said Johnson calmly. "And she won't stay at it, either," said Gist shaking his head. "What do you say, Claus?" asked Johnson. "Say !" exclaimed the Colonel. "Why, five minutes after they are back in Johnstown our route will be HELEN JOINS THE PARTY 133 known. Perhaps, on the way home they'll meet a party sent this way and then?" The Colonel shrugged his shoulders and turned his little black eyes upward. "To my thinking we have dangers enough," said Bruce, "without adding anything to them." "What do you think, Brant?" asked Johnson. "Perhaps," suggested the Indian, "Miss Scott and Mr. Gist would promise " "Sir Johnson in an outrage of this sort, I will prom- ise nothing," said Helen resolutely, "neither shall my cousin." "That decides it," said Johnson shortly. CHAPTER XIV. SOME OF THE PARTY TAKE THEIR LEAVE. DESPITE Ralph's vehement protests and Gist's angry defiance, Johnson held to his determination. "It's an act of war," he said. "I cannot afford to run any risk. No doubt to-morrow we can place Miss Scott near to some habitation whence she can be re- turned home safely." From Beaver Lake the fugitive expedition proceed- ed still almost due north. A few miles of the renewed and painful journey were through the unbroken forest. It was toilsome traveling. Johnson did all in his power to make the way easier for Helen. She was placed at the end of the column, so that the path might be as much beaten as possible, and Ralph, Gist and Brant assisted her over all obstacles. Repeatedly Ralph declared his sorrow at having been the cause of bringing her into so hard a situation. The girl refused to hold him at all responsible. Her chief concern was for Gist's wife and for her own fam- ily in case word should reach them of her disappear- ance. "Apart from that," she declared, "this isn't so terri- ble, and it ought to satisfy your love of romance. Or must you have the dragons and giants?" Ralph was glad she could be gay. SOME OF THE PARTY TAKE THEIR LEAVE 135 As Dr. Bruce said, Helen civilized the expedition. Not only Ralph and Gist were her cavaliers, but after a while Johnson and his friends were constantly of her bodyguard. Her position might easily have been ex- tremely awkward. Helen's straightforward nature freed it at once from perplexity. Her wholesome simplicity and imperturbable common-sense banished without a word every fictitious element and reduced the situation to a thorough working order. On the march Johnson endeavored to explain to her fully his position. "I quite understand your position," she said, "I blame you only because you don't consider mine." "Believe me, I do, but I am powerless. The circum- stances are against you, Miss Scott." "No; you mean you want them all on your side, and unlike the gentleman you ought to be, you prefer to consider your own safety at the expense of " " keeping you a day in our company," interrupt- ed Johnson. "You have given us that honor before when there was nothing at stake. If I may not claim it now on behalf of myself and those with me, let me beg it on account of my wife. The failure of my plans would be a serious matter for her." "No, no," said Helen. "I go with you solely because I must. If I had my way I would return immediately. You mustn't seek pardon for a tyranny, Sir Johnson, on account of our friendship." "Should I allow you to return, would you ?" be- gan Johnson. "You mean alone?" asked Helen. 136 THE HEART OF WOMAN "Oh, no! With Mr. Gist, of course." "And"' Helen hesitated "Mr. Tennant?" "He remains," said Johnson resolutely. "In that case would you promise ?" "In that case," broke in Helen impetuously, "if I could find a dozen men in Johnstown who can feel a wrong I would see that you did not escape unpun- ished." "Then it is war between us, Miss Scott?" exclaimed Johnson good naturedly. "Yes," said Helen firmly. "Well, I'm sorry; but let it be only in opinion until we part. Belligerents agree to truces." "This is a poor place to quarrel," said Helen, smil- ing despite herself. "You have the advantage now." "Damn me," exclaimed the baronet, "if I was alone in this, Miss Helen, I swear it should not rest with me !" Helen blushed and turned to Gist for retreat. Sir Johnson undoubtedly felt acutely his position re- garding Helen. He was cast in a gentle mould, and in the game he was playing he was working against the grain. He had no taste for rough circumstances and cared little for the driving tyrannies of the will. But, like all men forced despite themselves, his determina- tion was hard in proportion to its factitiousness. He ceased parleying with Helen regarding her situation and joined her like the rest of the party on a general footing. It was after noon when the camp on Beaver Lake was broken up. The day was sultry for the season and SOME OF THE PARTY TAKE THEIR LEAVE 137 the renewed march through the woods heavy and wear- isome. However, every hour that passed without chal- lenge insured the safety of the expedition, and, with the return of confidence, the haste of the start and the heavy sense of restriction on the men were relaxed. Claus, whose middle-aged gallantry was irrepressible by any circumstances, paid Helen the most deferential attention. As he aided her over obstacles he recounted many of his "episodes," while Dr. Bruce, in a boyish spirit, secretly decorated the back of his attire with twigs and leaves, many of which Brant's ingenuity had contrived into strange figures and devices. "Egad ! What are you all tittering at?" cried the Col- onel, interrupting himself. As he turned around Helen perceived his adornments and joined heartily in the laughter. "Why, Miss Scott, what is the matter?" "Go on, Colonel; go on," cried the Doctor. "You've told that story so often it is getting to be funny again. Isn't it so, Miss Scott?" "It is all new to me," said Helen, repressing her laughter, "and very interesting. Please don't let them interrupt you, Col. Claus." "They are a blackguard lot, Miss Scott," said the Colonel. "The fun is all in front of us," continued the Doc- tor. "Why should not we laugh?" "Certainly, we have left mighty little behind us," said Johnson, with a trace of sadness. Near sunset the party passed out of the forest into a 138 THE HEART OF WOMAN piece of broad, sandy country skirted by noble hills, behind which the sun was setting. The distant sky was brilliantly colored. The nearer landscape, dimmed in the twilight, was filled with patches of purplish shadow. Here traveling was comparatively easy. As the men trudged along some one started a familiar hymn, which was quickly taken up by the long line of fugitives. It added a touch of human solemnity to the melancholy evening stillness in that untrodden solitude. Ralph drew nearer to Helen. "At nightfall," he said, "the earth seems to call all its troubles home, as it does the birds." "Does it seem so?" she asked. "Are there any trou- bles not made by man himself?" Proceeding a few miles further, the expedition en- tered the hill country. Here a rough road, scarcely more than the furrows of infrequent cartwheels, indi- cated that Johnson and his men were come within the radius of civilization. Remote as the signs were, they had a delightfully homely significance for the wander- ers, and, despite some fear, it was finally decided to fol- low the road which ran in the general direction of Johnson's route. It wound about in a ravine at the base of two steep hills covered to the tops with forest. Darkness had settled in the hollow. What light there was shone above in the twilighted heavens. Even this faint reflection had well-nigh faded entirely before the party reached a point where the road suddenly dipped and the ravine opened upon a wide amphitheatre of hills. Below, the flat'ands were crossed by a stream. SOME OF THE PARTY TAKE THEIR LEAVE 139 The still evening air was filled with the limpid sound of falling water and with the warm balsamic odors of pines. The column halted as by common consent. "By heavens, isn't that lovely!" cried the Doctor, surveying the scene. "Nature and peace wedded." "Oh, be d d," ejaculated the Colonel derisively. "But, what's that? A light?" "It is," cried Johnson. "Hold on. It moves !" In her excitement Helen seized Ralph's hand. "There's a house there," cried Brant. "The light is within doors." Every eye was strained watching the solitary beacon belo\v in the hollow. It had become stationary and only a faint illumination penetrated to the world with- out. "This is unexpected," said Johnson. "Who can live in a spot like this?" "Some trapper," replied Brant. "Egad, we were nearly trapped !" exclaimed the Col- onel, with whom fear was always an exaggeration. "Bah !" said Bruce. "Do you think he could take us all in? We're a valiant lot !" "It is not that Bruce," interposed Johnson. "Our danger is always in the rear. We want to take our trail with us, if we can." "You can't put it in your pocket here," continued the Doctor. "We've struck the straight and narrow path with a vengeance. Forward or backward we must stick to it or quit it." "For God's sake, do not talk of going back !" cried I4O THE HEART OF WOMAN the Colonel. "I'm sinking into my boots already. Be- sides, think of Miss Scott here." The Colonel certainly was thinking little of the girl. But the courage of every one was footsore. Satisfaction was general when Johnson, half against his judgment, decided to proceed to the habitation. "We may find a home for you to-night, Miss Scott," said Johnson, cheerily, as the descent was undertaken. "I shan't be sorry, but don't go into danger on my account," said Helen. "Well, I must say you are a whole-souled enemy," said Johnson pleasantly. "Oh, I'm not vindictive !" cried Helen. "I see you are not. I shall^ follow so good an exam- ple to the end," said Johnson, "and you shall have a bed to-night if we have to force it." The privates of the company were left stationed on the hillside. As the principals approached the house they were greeted by the sonorous bay of a hound, fol- lowed by the sharp barking of a number of dogs. The habitation was a low building standing almost on the edge of the stream. In front of it was a big stack of firewood. So much could be distinguished in the dark- ness. When Johnson was about to rap, the front door was thrown open, and by the light within an elderly woman could be seen peering into the darkness. "Don't be alarmed," said Johnson, stepping into the faint yellow haze. "We're only belated travelers." "Bless my soul, bless my soul!" cried the little wo- man in a series of rapid ejaculations without a pause. SOME OF THE PARTY TAKE THEIR LEAFE l^l She was not in the least perturbed, but continued : "I'm not a bit surprised. I knew it when the old rooster came to the door this morning and crowed and crowed and crowed. 'All right/ I said, 'get along with you. If God had given you a tongue you'd tell me who it is, but you've done yer best and the best of us can do no "more.' ' "I'll help the rooster out," said Johnson, laughing. "My name is Carter. This is my daughter, and these gentlemen some friends of mine." "I'll give you as good as yer send; my name is Phoebe Moon come in it's a poor home, but the door opens inward. I thought at fust you was Eph." "Your husband?" inquired Johnson as the party stepped into the low-ceiled, kitchen-like room. "Why, bless yer soul, no, Eph's my boy," said the wiry little old woman bustling around to find seats for the company. "My old man's in the next room clean daft. Dear, oh, dear! Dear, oh, dear!" she sighed. "How sad!" said Johnson. "Isn't it?" she asked, with a frankness that was com- plete. "One of yer will have to take this two-legged stool. You sit here, my dear," she rattled on to Helen. "Where may you be from?" "Perhaps we intrude?" said Johnson speaking up. "Intrude? Don't think of it. Lord, what is there here to intrude on?" exclaimed Mrs. Moon in un- feigned astonishment. Hard living had made truth with her an invariable and irreducible quality. 142 THE HEART OF WOMAN "I was thinking of your husband," suggested John- son. "Heavens and earth, why if he knew you were here the powers that be couldn't keep him from taking a hand in this." Addressing Helen as the feminine head of the party Mrs. Moon continued: "He's daft on quality; spends his time talking to jus- tices and generals and ladies. Lord, he has barely set his eyes on any of 'em, although he was a parson once, my dear. Introduces them to one another, dines with 'em, bows them out and God knows what other spook- ish business. We daren't cross him. He is married just at present to Mrs. Van Rensselaer and hasn't a word to say to a poor thing like me. Oh, Lord! Oh, Lord ! It's a fearful maggot as has got into his head, but we don't complain, for he's just as happy as if it were all gospel; but here I am talking and talking when, of course, all of you have not had a bite to eat, and there's little in the house except a bit of salt pork unless I can squeeze the hens and get an egg or two for you." "We don't mean to eat you out of house and home," said Johnson. "We have food with us and we shall be very grateful if you will permit us to cook it and beg of you a bed for to-night for Miss my daughter." "Let me do the cooking," cried Helen, jumping to her feet. "Did you ever hear the like? Why Before Mrs. Moon had completed her protest a low, SOME OF THE PARTY TAKE THEIR LEAVE 143 uneven, leather-hinged door on the left opened and a big, flabby man entered from the adjoining room. He stood irresolutely for a moment on the threshold. His meek, blue eyes, surrounded by watery red lids, gazed vacantly at the unexpected company. "Here are some friends called to see us, Caleb," said his wife. "I told you this morning when the rooster came and crowed and crowed and crowed to look out." "Friends of your?" he muttered enviously, at the same time squeezing his eyes like one struggling to awake. "Close the door, do, Caleb, and sit down," command- ed the wife, who was busy starting a fire in the big, rough stone fireplace. "You see," she whispered to Helen, "he can't understand how I should know any one not that I do, you know. Dear! Dear! the fire won't hurry. Something evil's whistling close by, and that always calls the draught away, always affects Ca- leb, too. You see his spirit's out." Helen smiled and turning to Mr. Moon heard him mutter in a disappointed tone : "I was looking for Captain Gallup." "He'll be here by and by, said Dr. Bruce. "We met him on the way. He was detained, that's all." "Oh !" exclaimed the old man vacantly. He withdrew to a corner and stood in the gloom with folded arms, leaning against the wall. Despite the evil whistling, the sticks finally burned briskly and then more brightly illuminated the room the uneven floor, the rough board walls with stretched 144 THE HEART OF WOMAN pelts nailed upon them, the smoke-stained beams above from which many skins were suspended, looking as though the original possessors had been evaporated. The furniture was of the roughest. The primitive ori- gin of all of it was indubitably attested by makeshift ex- pedients. While the meal was cooking Johnson and the men returned to the hillside to arrange the encampment for the night. During the preparation Mrs. Moon rattled on to Helen without cessation. Her volubility was as inconsequential as a child's. Evidently the visit was not an incident in a remote existence, but an event of incalculable proportions. The old woman was testify- ing the fact by a frantic excitement of speech. Helen found it difficult to keep pace with her so rapidly did her chatter flit about among household details, small episodes and strange notions incredibly tangled with the commonplace. While her tongue wagged her fin- gers were busy at the fire and the table, and in rum- maging into out-of-the-way places for utensils evi- dently seldom used by the household. "I wish this was a decent meal you were going to sit down to," she said, "but a poor woman's larder is filled with pork and wishes, and one's too heavy and the oth- er's too light for genteel eating, but what the Lord hasn't provided you'll have to excuse." "What you have is delicious, I'm sure," said Helen. "It smells very appetizing." "It will do if your taste don't quarrel with your ap- petite, my dear. Shall I make you raspberry tea? 1 SOME OF THE PARTY TAKE THEIR LEAVE 145 gathered the leaves myself when the moon was on them. I like it better than dittany or sage." "I don't think I ever tasted raspberry tea," said Helen. "No? Or dried pumpkin sweetnin', eh ! Well, that's the best we get out here. Eph's real fond of it. I can't help being curious, but I suppose you're engaged to that stoutest man with your father?" Helen blushed as she tried to ask indifferently: "Whom do you mean?" "The little squat fellow with the small black eyes. I tell Eph, my dear, the first sign a man gives is when he stares at a girl as a toad does at a light." Helen laughed heartily at this recognition of Col. Claus's hitherto unsuspected admiration. She felt somehow more at ease with herself on account of the direction in which Mrs. Moon's inquiry had been shot. "Oh, no," she said frankly. "He's almost a stranger to me." The men returned, and in a spirit of generous amia- bility the party sat down to the meal. Johnson brought brandy from the camp and made a punch which every one shared out of a big leather mug which Mrs. Moon produced as a particular mark of honor to her guests. Johnson insisted upon Mr. Moon joining the com- pany. "We would like our host to greet us," said Johnson, "and receive from us our toast and compliments to him- self and his wife, to both of whom we are deeply in- debted this evening. 146 THE HEART OF WOMAN The sentiment was noisily supported by Claus, who thawed quickly under the feeblest radiation of comfort. "Bravo!" cried Bruce. "Hear! Hear!" At the invitation the old man stepped silently like a ghost out of his corner and took the seat which Ralph had risen to proffer him. He regarded the company sleepily, and in dull obe- dience drank heavily of the liquor. Apparently he was still only half conscious of the situation. But the brandy touched some dormant spring of intelligence. While Claus was struggling with a florid toast to Helen he arose and, leaning across the table, cried : "You're Capt. Gallup; that's who you are." "The name ill fits his marching," cried Bruce, laugh- ing, "however close it goes to his identity." "Don't mind that gentleman," waved the Colonel. "You have touched me, sir, in a tender spot, I assure you. I am proud to acknowledge the name, sir; mine, if not by long descent, at least by an interminable rec- ollection." "I know you've held it long enough to make it a very decent name," said the old man, amid the laughter of the company, "and your father, too, the justice, was a high-minded man. He thought a great deal of my pres- ent wife, formerly Mrs. Van Rensselaer." "Just listen to that daft creature !" cried Mrs. Moon, who was replenishing the fire. "Hold your tongue," commanded Mr. Moon. Turning to the company he continued: "People won't keep their places these days." SOME OF THE PARTT TAKE THEIR LEAVE 147 "Lord, but the poor thing has lost his!" sighed Mrs. Moon. Her remark was no bolder than comment ad- dressed to herself. The awakening of Mr. Moon at this moment was a surprise for which no one was prepared in the slightest degree. " The sad vacuity of the old man was suddenly peopled by a brilliant phantasmagoria in the midst of which his own transformed person played a command- ing part. Some curtain had been withdrawn from be- fore the mind permitting a distorted imagination to play either among old recollections or with the stored results of reading. He insisted upon introducing "My wife, Mrs. Van Rensselaer that was," to each member of the party, whom he named with the fluency of long familiarity. Bruce was Justice Chew, Johnson was Dominie Stu- art, Ralph was Capt. Winn, Helen, Miss Laura Ames. He added to the company, with touches of reality that were corporeal, Mrs. Evertson, Dr. Smith, Gen. Schuy- ler, Lord Howe and Mr. Binn, "a pestiferous little red- haired rat," who greatly troubled him. He ordered in musicians with bass-viols, clarionets and flutes. He en- tirely reset the table with drinking cups and chargers, and insisted that Johnson as the dominie should take his seat "above the salt." He commanded, and appar- ently the order was served, ducks, neck of mutton, whipped sillabubs, parmesan cheese and porter. Bruce and Claus were immensely entertained by his humors. They played second fiddle to his fantasies and occasionally led the dance. 148 THE HEART OF WOMAN "I must confess, Mr. Moon, you show a neat talent at ordering a dinner," cried Claus. "You honor me, Captain," said the old man. "Let me warn you, sir," cried Bruce, "the Captain's taste is really very menial, I doubt greatly whether he'd be content above a week with refined fare like this. He'd change it all for Indian pudding and molasses." "The Justice is given to pleasantry, eh?" said the old man, knowingly, to Claus. "I know him." "I'm glad," cried Claus, "for in this case that's my only protection." "Though I guess Capt. Gallup, at a pinch, can take care of himself. What do you say, dear Mrs. Evertson?" The lady was somewhere in mid-air close to Mr. Moon, for the old man in a low tone of gallantry asked the question of vacancy. "I fear you are in danger yourself, sir," said Bruce, "if manners didn't prevent Mrs. Van Rensselaer speak- ing her mind." The idea tickled the old man. "Ha! ha!" he laughed. "You side with authority, Captain." "Always, particularly when it's feminine." "Authority never can be feminine. Eh, Miss Helen?" asked Johnson. "Do you deny force to woman?" asked Helen. "No, no! Heaven forbid!" said Johnson, "but the feminine side of it is persuasion." "What have you done with Mrs. Van Rensselaer my wife?" asked the old man, suddenly. SOME OF THE PARTY TAKE THEIR LEAVE 149 "Me, sir?" asked Bruce. "She was between you two," cried the old man. "Here?" demanded Claus. "In that case the lady must have been sorely tasked for breath. I don't won- der she disappeared." "I will have no fooling with my wife, sir !" cried the old man, rising. "You wrong the lady, sir; she is entirely too spiritual to suffer at my hands," said Claus. "Here, here, Claus; careful!" said Johnson, in warn- ing. "In this matter I'm like the fellow who said he had removed his hose without taking off his shoes," said Claus. "Cut them off," suggested Ralph. "'No, no. His shoes were not on," cried the Colonel, laughing. Mr. Moon started angrily for the other side of the table, but was arrested by the sudden appearance of a tall man, who without a premonitory sound stepped across the threshold out of the night. "Hallo, Eph !" was Mrs. Moon's greeting. "Well, mother," was the reply. Without bestowing the slightest apparent attention upon the company the gaunt trapper threw his hat in- to a corner and sat himself on a stout wooden box near the fireplace. "Tired, Eph?" Now, don't tell me yer not; don't I see you are tired as yer can be." "No, I'm not," was the reply. I5O THE HEART OF WOMAN The tone was surely, but (as with the rough, indif- ferent manner) it was only an external refuge of a shy, unpractised habit. "This is your son?" suggested Johnson. "This is my boy, Eph," replied Mrs. Moon. Eph, these gentlemen " "Found your home on their way to-night and ven- tured to intrude for the sake of this young lady," said Johnson. "The trapper's eyes passed slowly from Johnson to Helen. Then the gleam of curiosity was extinguished. "Your father has given us a royal entertainment," said Bruce. "Mrs. Moon certainly has been more than civil," said Ralph. Johnson and Helen joined the chorus of gratitude. Each remark was received by the trapper like a stone thrown into a mud bank. It made a momentary im- pression and was effaced as it visibly sank beneath the surface. An awkward silence ensued, broken at last by the question: "Who are those men out yonder?" asked Ephraim. "They are my party," said Johnson. "I thought they might be Dayton's folks," said the trapper. "Dayton !" cried Johnson in alarm. "What have you heard of him?" demanded Claus. "Yesterday at Barker's they said he was on his way out here." SOME OF THE PARTY TAKE THEIR LEAVE !$! ''Barker's!" repeated Brant; "near the Signal Post?" Ephraim assented by a nod of the head. "Had they passed there yet?" asked Brant. "Don't know," replied Ephraim with exasperating indifference, "I was making for Gus Smith's." "By God ! They'll trap us yet," cried Claus in alarm. "Hold on," said Johnson. "Mr. Moon, if they had already passed Barker's surely you would have heard it, wouldn't you?" "Maybe. Maybe not." Johnson's foot tapped the floor petulantly. "If Dayton should come here after we are gone can I count on your knowing as little about our move- ments?" asked Johnson. There was annoyance and a touch of spirit in the question. "Are you Sir Johnson?" demanded Ephraim, rising, his gaunt figure illuminated by the glow of the embers. The question had the force of a challenge. "I am," said Johnson. "Then save yourself; there's none here you can trust to," "That has the ring of rebellion," cried Bruce. "Yes," said Johnson; "and, to be fair, the frankness of honesty. Well, gentlemen, this is a serious turn. Miss Helen, what are we to do with you? Leave you here?" Helen glanced quickly at old Mr. Moon standing before her, his mad flash burned again to the socket; at Mrs. Moon, trembling under a sense of unknown clanger; at Ephraim, the gaunt, hairy and implacable, THE HEART OF WOMAN facing Johnson. The situation was not an inviting one. Finally her eye caught Ralph's. "You know my conditions, Sir Johnson," she said. "And you mine." "I have nothing to say, then," said Helen, firmly. "Well, I'm sorry you continue to force my hand," said Johnson, with a shrug. Then turning to Ephraim, he said: "Before we go we would like to discharge our in- debtedness to you and your family, sir." "You don't owe nothing here that ain't paid when you leave. You're welcome to the little we have. If it had been more you'd be welcome to it as strangers." The fellow evidently did not mean to be uncivil, but there is an honesty that repulses more than rudeness. Within half an hour the expedition was plunged again in the woods, moving as rapidly as possible by a circuitous route which Brant hoped might baffle any pursuers. During the next five days the tramp continued a weary struggle through forest underbrush. The coun- try became wilder and more mountainous. The only relief obtained was when a trail was struck. Not a habitation was seen. The party was moving by com- pass. At nightfall encampments were pitched on the banks of streams and on hillsides, wherever a suitable spot could be found. Fatigue was slackening the pace of the men. Halts were frequently called, after which the road was resumed with a sullen determination, SOME OF THE PARTY TAKE THEIR LEAVE I 53 gradually giving place to despair. Helen suffered greatly, but struggled resolutely to meet the efforts of the men to help her along. Johnson ordered many rests on her account, and improvised a litter upon which she was carried wherever possible. "I didn't calculate on this task, even for myself," said Johnson. "I'm sorry I dragged you into it." The master was so thoroughly crushed that Helen had no heart to upbraid him. Ralph was in a state of desperation regarding Helen. The knowledge that the girl had sacrificed herself for him was appalling. He could see nothing but disas- ter ahead. He consulted Brant frequently, and ap- pealed to him with fervor that visibly affected the In- dian. "Johnson's commands are not law in a case like this. The girl must be saved. Do you understand me?" "Yes, my friend; but "' "Damn all other considerations!" "Ah; but it is not so easy." "You must find a way for me. Mind, if anything happens I'll shoot Johnson like a dog. There are two, perhaps three, to save." "You love her?" asked Brant, slowly. Ralph did not reply. "Do you?" the Indian asked. "Why do you ask?" "Because, my friend, you ought to." "Why do you say that?" "You have eyes as I have, and I have seen," 154 THE HEART OF WOMAN For a moment Ralph was silent. Then he broke out again : "What are we to do, Brant? Help me, and I swear I will add a thousandfold to all I owe you." Then the Indian was silent. Taking Ralph's hand, he said : "You must wait a little. To-morrow I think we shall reach the Elk River. You will be about thirty miles from the big lake, where you can find your way to the fort at Crown Point. You will risk the journey with her and Mr. Gist?" "Risk it ! I'll risk anything. But can she do it, my friend?" "Perhaps. Love will help her, and Gist is a strong man." "You leave me out of the calculation," said Ralph smiling. "No; but you haven't told me you love her." "Only because I can't. I " "You don't know, eh?" "I don't know," repeated Ralph. "Well, tell Gist to be ready. But I would say noth- ing to Miss Scott yet." The following night a resting place was chosen on a deep, wooded hillside under a clump of very tall trees within the forest. The trees formed almost a circle and their united branches formed a species of foliated dome high in the air above. At their base there was no small growth of struggling sapplings; nothing but some small plants and a few wild raspberry bushes. SOME OF THE PARTY TAKE THEIR LEAVE 155 Within the circle the station for the night was fixed. In the centre a big fire was lighted, the red glow of which illuminated the forest amphitheatre and created strange shadows beyond in the dark wood pathways. While the evening meal was preparing the men gath- ered around the huge fire. Johnson and Claus sat watching the stream of ascending sparks that were mounting incessantly into the gloom above. Ralph was half lost in reverie, when he felt some one touch him lightly on the shoulder. At a sign he rose and fol- lowed Brant. The two withdrew into the darkness. "Where is Miss Helen?" whispered Brant. "There she is," answered Ralph, pointing across the fire. "Do you hear the murmur of the river down there?" Ralph could distinctly hear the fretting of water over stones. "That," continued Brant "that is the Elk River. It flows in the valley below between these hills. Go to Miss Scott and Gist. Whisper to them to withdraw, one after the other, to this tree. Meet them here your- self. Then, as silently as possible, steal down the hill- side. Wade across the stream. The night is clear and if the waters are not high and they ought not to be, for we have had little rain you will find something like a pathway over the stones on the other side. Go down stream and then hide in the woods. Some search may be made for you. I'll attend to that. Our direction is the other way, and they'll give you up 156 THE HEART OF WOMAN soon. Go down always down stream until you reach civilization. Keep to the stream as your guide. When you reach Lake Champlain you will be within sight of the Crown Point forts. There you will be safe. At the bottom of this little lane I have placed a bag of food for you and a couple of pistols. I am sorry I can't go with you, but " Brant faltered. "What can I say to you? How can I repay you?" Ralph asked, taking the Indian's hand in his. "By keeping me in your heart until I see you again." CHAPTER XV. THE CROWN POINT FORT. RALPH tried vainly to give me some account of the journey down the Elk. His recollections consisted of nothing but confused impressions of a long chasm topped with trees, swirling water boiling and eddying among the sun-burned boulders, and a forlorn strug- gle along weary mile after mile to support Helen and carry her to some habitation. The probabilities are that the final burden of the journey fell upon Gist, but the farmer had nothing to tell of it, except : "Well, we got into the fort all right a trifle late one evening." The fort was built, it will be remembered by Am- herst at Crown Point in the middle of the century. It was intended to check the inroads from Canada of the French and their Indian allies. Indeed, a French fort already occupied the site, but was demolished by the English. Unquestionably real military instinct select- ed the spot, as it effectively commanded the passage of the lake southward. At this point the land sweeps around a bay like the lower part of a big letter G, and it is on the small projection, where the waters narrow to the width of a broad river, that the fort stands. The wide curvature of land on the west bordered by high hills, rising one behind another, is extremely pictur- esque in outline. To the east, in Vermont, on the other 158 THE HEART OF WOMAN side of the lake (which here, to the north, is very broad and blue), stretch alluvial flat lands, climbing for miles in many undulations to the foot of the Green Moun- tains. The fort so Ralph told me is a big affair, comprising many two-storied massive stone and brick buildings, all encircled by high earthworks, which rise above the buildings so that from them one can look down onto the multitude of chimneys and the great parade ground. I believe the fort was never fully oc- cupied. When Ralph, Helen and Gist sought its shel- ter it was almost deserted. The patriots had seized it a short time previous as a consequence of Ethan Allen's heroic enterprise at the forts lower down the lake at Ticonderoga. The authorities did not deem it neces- sary to hold it in force, and it was in charge of a small body of men, commanded by a Capt. Murray, when the party arrived. The fugitives were received with kindness, and quar- ters were assigned them in the officers' building. For three days Helen was confined to her room in the care of a Mrs. Stoddard, the wife of a broken-down Methodist parson. Mrs. Stoddard was a mild, tall, middle-aged woman. She was a muffled being, who mutely glided and cringed, and was forever perform- ing a sort of dry wash on her thin, boney hands with imaginary soap and water. Ralph likened her to "this- tledown." Certainly she was as light and noiseless as those floating summer spheres. Her presence within the grim, heavy walls of the barracks seemed as con- tradictory. Her husband was a coarse, selfish black- THE CROWN POINT FORT I5Q guard, who had been driven from place to place, earn- ing a living as he moved by subterfuge and sponging. He was an intruder in the fort. It was apparently his last refuge. Even upon these terms he took life with a splendid opulence. He was one of those superb mill- ionaires of poverty, rich in boundless egotism and as- surance, who regard each to-morrow as their honest debtor. The hard selfishness of the man's fifty years was written in the sensual lines of his raw-red face and in his shifting eye; the pity of them was to be read in that mild protest, the pale, crushed woman who clung to him even when sorrow had forsaken her. Poor, ten- antless life! A little candle was lighted somewhere in its vacancies when she, the only woman then in the fort, began to nurse Helen. When Helen recovered and extended to her a frank, unquestioning sympathy and gratitude, she sobbed: "Please, please, don't thank me. You are so lovely; this is so pleasant ! I am so happy. Don't you see?" Murray, the commander, a rough country fellow, full of an adventurous and fighting spirit, spent a deal of his time grumbling at inaction and gambling with Stoddard. They settled their accounts in I. O. U.'s a form of easy payment \vhich affected the good temper of neither, no matter how large the amounts were. They were a splendidly matched pair of irresponsibles. No doubt each had taken the measure of the other, yet neither questioned in the slightest the pretensions of his fellow. They drank freely, slapped one another on the back and shared sympathetically their mutual dis- l6o THE HEART OF WOMAN gust of present conditions and their splendid anticipa- tions of the future. They were poor company for Ralph or Gist, both of whom were naturally impatient to be off south. Murray told Ralph he didn't know when it would be possible to go down to Albany, the journey at the moment being dangerous on account of the hos- tile attitude of the Indians. "Take it easy for a while," he advised, "We'll get you and your gal on as soon as we can. I'm expectin' to hear from our people down there any day." Thus the three visitors were constrained to spend their time mostly in their own company. They wan- dered about the big parade ground until they came to know every stone in the long blocks of buildings that flanked it. Their favorite recreation was lounging on the ramparts of the earthworks where they could look out over the blue waters of the lake to the magnificent stretch of mountains that swept around them on al) sides. Gist passed many hours fishing for pike and pickerel off the ruins of the old French Fort Frederick. Some- times Mrs. Stoddard would join Helen, always with a solicitous : "Now you are sure I am not intruding?" The greater part of the time Ralph and Helen were alone. Their companionship had reached a stage so hard to analyze that Ralph deliberately gave it up. Helen had in a most unobtrusive manner become his confidant regarding himself. She inspired him by be- lieving in him. Her healthy nature profoundly influ- THE CROWN POINT FORT l6l enced his flexible and wandering spirit. More than once, as he recognized this, Brant's last question in the woods flashed upon him. Was it love? What was it Brant had seen in Helen? Ralph had watched her intently. If love were there, the light was so steady and devoid of shadow that the watching only confused him the more. The puzzle. provoked him perhaps all the more because others apparently saw so easily what he after much difficulty missed. He nearly knocked Stoddard down one day when that individual reminded him with a knowing leer that he was a clergyman and "quite competent to officiate, my boy." Even Gist seemed to draw himself closer to him, as though anticipating relationship. Ralph perpetually returned to the subject those dronish summer days when the world seemed so far off. One sunny afternoon, sitting on the high ram- parts under the shadow of a cannon, he suddenly stopped pulling up the grass to ask: "Helen, why do you think romance is humbug?" He put the question without the slightest idea of any thing further. "That old subject again?" she said smiling. "It is what you call a 'horizon.' You know," she continued laughing, "the business of a 'horizon' is to move away from you as you approach it. What is the use of the 'unattainable'?" "Then what is love, Helen?" 1 62 THE HEART OF WOMAN Helen turned away. Ralph could see her heart was throbbing as she said in a broken voice: "A holy duty, the obligation of life." The words stirred Ralph as the summer air ruffled the surface of the lake. They seemed to plead. "A holy duty," he repeated, "the obligation of life! Would you give that to me, Helen?" Turning to him, Helen answered simply: "Yes, gladly, in exchange for yours." He drew her to himself and kissed her. CHAPTER XVI. RALPH FORSWEARS THE PAST. I HAVE depicted this moment in the career of my two friends so briefly because naturally even the most in- timate can know little of the details of events so in- tensely personal. There is much, however, that I have tried to clear up for my own understanding. I must confess I haven't been able to arrive at any very distinct conclusions. Catrina, no doubt, was a much nearer complement of Ralph's nature than was Helen. She was of his world not only of his locality and peo- ple, but of his temperament and ideals. I can under- stand how powerful Helen's unsophisticated appeal must have been to Ralph, particularly as he was of a make especially prone at that time to exaggerate per- sonal issues. Helen's stubborn adherence to what she regarded at first as an obligation easily passed over to a heroic act of friendship. Gaining in proportions, as it did by mere continuance, it gained also for Ralph in significance. I can also see how Helen's common- sense, rising at times to so high a pitch, appealed to him as a more substantial form of his own vagrant emotions. Her wholesome acceptance of the com- monplace side of rough existence must have had an in- vigorating touch upon one who was a good deal of a dreaming idler. Ralph's attachment was the result of 164 THE HEART OF WOMAN admiration, respect, gratitude, high hope, all appearing in the guise of endearment. What it lacked was pas- sion and the inconquerable compulsion of the heart. It might have been necessary to idle away a deal of time in the fort had not Helen been able, soon after her arrival, to despach a letter to her father. When Scott received it, his rejoicing was pitiful to see. For a time it almost crazed him. He thought the note might be a Tory joke. Fear and hope, sorrow and joy alternated so quickly that the old gentleman went among his neighbors with his letter, crying, denounc- ing and laughing in turns. The outcome was a num- ber of men set out for Crown Point the risk of the journey not being very great, for the country was thicker with rumors than dangers and some days later the three lost ones returned amid great rejoicing, for the story abroad was that Ralph, Gist and Helen had been murdered by Johnson's Mohawks. Scott was half drunk with self-importance and wine. When Ralph told him his tale of what had happened in the fort, he threw his arm around him and cried: "That completes it all. Helen could not do better, my dear boy. Neither could you." Mrs. Scott would have the wedding as soon as pos- sible, and her wishes ultimately ruled, although Helen was set the other way. Indeed there was very little of the eager or impa- tient in Helen's nature. It was her manner quickly to bring everything to a level. Within a week of her return home she was in her old place, busy to the last RALPH FORSWEARS THE PAST 165 hour of the day with her old occupations. Ralph knew of her presence more by a sort of perpetual sisterly touch that met him at a score of points and in a score of ways than by any demonstration of a lover's affec- tion. In the evenings the two strolled around the Manse or sat on the lawn under the trees, talking of everything but their love, while within the house a gathering of relatives, attracted to the Manse like birds, one after the other, by some feminine instinct were busy with delighted industry in preparing for the event, about which the two chief participants were ap- parently so indifferent. Helen at no time in her life had the slightest desire to speak of any of her feelings; it never occurred to her to give them utterance and thus parade them and in a sense set them up for inspection. Perpetual con- fession was no part of her idea of love-making, neither had she any notion of the lovers' ecstatic communion of silence. She was delighted to find Ralph was not "foolish," and she accounted it another warrant for her affection. At this time Ralph wrote to me regarding the step he had taken. It was a dry epistle, mostly given up to the affair with Johnson and the journey through the woods. He invited me to the wedding, and concluded with a sentence or two which perhaps I dare quote: Helen is most anxious to see you, for I have told her so much of you. I am sure you will like her, Alex, not for my sake alone, but because you will recog- nize at once the unmistakable beauty of her character! 1 66 THE HEART OF WOMAN You will see she is just the girl for me clear-headed, domestic, direct the very opposite, in short, of your moody and wayward friend. "An affair of contraries, eh?" I muttered as I sat down to write my congratulations and promise my presence in Albany later. Ralph wrote also to his aunt, Mrs. Heathcote. Upon receiving the news she sent asking me to call on her at once. Since my friend's departure, I had paid her several visits, and we were on most cordial terms. "I suppose the dreadful news has reached you?" she began. "Why dreadful, madame?" I inquired. "Oh, you are his friend, I know, and sympathize with him. Relatives, I suppose, go further in matters like these. It is Isaac Scott's daughter, isn't it? Dear, dear; quite unobjectionable, I presume. Ralph writes as though I was thoroughly informed, and carried their pedigrees in my head." "Surely you don't disapprove," I said, noticing her peevish manner. "Mr. Adams, unfortunately I can't. It is worse: I am disappointed, stricken, if I may say so, to the heart." Not quite understanding her mood, I inquired whether she intended making the journey to share in the festivities. "I should go if I had to walk every step of the way. He is my only boy, Mr. Adams." RALPH FORSWEARS THE PAST 167 She always referred to Ralph in that motherly way. Early in October, on a glorious Indian summer day, the marriage bells were set ringing. As I write their ghostly echoes are flung again to the wind, but some- thing now is added to their tone quite inaudible that distant autumn day. How impersonal bells are! They have the same note for every one for rich and poor, young and old, the well mated and the badly matched. To all alike they sing in cheery cadence, "Godspeed I wish you." It is only the echoes that reverberate through the days and years afterward that catch from life the spirit of joy or sorrow. At Mrs. Heathcote's request for traveling at that moment was beset with great difficulties, on account of the military operations I accompanied her to the Manse. We arrived the evening before the wedding. So great a crowd attended the ceremony and the feast afterward that at first I judged Mr. Scott must have sent a bellman through the country with a general sum- mons. But in those rural parts, unlike our towns, every- body knows everybody, and all decent people are inti- mate in some degree with one another. Besides, Mrs. Scott's family must have been numbered by the hun- dred. So many aunts, uncles, cousins, half-cousins and fractional relatives never, I thought, could be gathered within the circle of a living generation. For a w 7 eek previous to the wedding they all turned to, and there was a mighty baking of pies and cakes. The big oven at the Manse was fired and filled twice a 1 68 THE HEART OF WOMAN day regularly. The great barn was cleared out and long tables were set in it for the "commonalty," the Indians and the negroes. The dining-room in the house was reserved for the "quality," and as we all sat down in it on the wedding day, led by Ralph and his bride, the abundance appeared sufficient to provide for the couple during the remainder of their lives. The long room, a trifle dark in tone ordinarily, was made gay with golden rod and the rich red leaves of the sumac; but indeed the brightness of the mahogany and the faces present were, to my thinking, enough of decoration. When we were all seated there was scarce enough room for the service of the venison, turkeys and pigeon-pasties, pumpkin pies, apple tarts, Indian pud- dings and other viands, though I must not forget to mention a new vegetable that was given us, called "sellery," of which Scott was almost as proud as of his wine. As we feasted, shouting and laughter came from the barn without. I thought it harmonized pleasantly with our own quieter jollity. It was an interesting domestic spectacle. On both sides of Ralph and Helen were seated several grandmotherly old ladies, including Mrs. Scott, who insisted on remaining with Helen. Ralph received his dignities with quiet enjoyment. Helen evidently regarded the entertainment more as a family gathering than as a feast to herself. Scott was in his best mood and kept the tables laughing and RALPH FORSWEARS THE PAST 169 drinking. He called for toasts for every one and with every one; an exercise in which he was nobly sup- ported by Parson Cowles and another timid cleric, whose, name, I think, was Payne. Gen. Schuyler, too, was in excellent, boisterous spirits. He swore that the marriage was entirely of his making, for had he not ordered Johnson's arrest fhings might have been very different. "And now," he concluded, "as I was father of this event damn me ! I think I am entitled to appoint my- self godfather at the next celebration." The old ladies tittered and Helen blushed as the laughter circled around her. Amid the stir Scott arose, crying: "We have not heard from Uncle Lom ! Where are you, Lom? Is his glass full over there? Well, then, I call on Uncle Lom for a toast to the bride and groom. Egad, we can't leave him out. I call for Uncle Lom." Lom's reputation silenced every one. Hitherto he had been almost unobserved. He had placed himself near the end of the long table in a corner of the room. Despite the expectancy he kept his seat for a minute. When he arose he was so much in the shadow that his features were scarcely visible to me, but I knew by the tone of his voice that he was deeply moved. "Helen, my dear," he began slowly, "I of all others don't want to be the guest without the wedding gar- ment. Sitting here, I have been trying to sum up what I am about to lose, and I find I can't calculate I/O THE HEART OF WOMAN it. But it isn't for that reason I haven't joined with the others in hailing- you a happy woman and congratulat- ing the young man to whom you have joined your life. I wish I could know for certain whether I should con- gratulate either of you. The marriage day always sings for itself. The joy of later days depends greatly upon whether your natures and the inward and out- ward changes that the years must bring to you both ratify the act you have just performed. No doubt I am open to the charge of being a pessimist because I can't delight in that dull affection which in nine cases out of ten succeeds the brief ecstasy of this moment. I believe, as the parson has just said, 'marriages are arranged in heaven,' but in a sense vastly different from his. In the case of most couples heaven has had less to do with the mating than mere proximity and chance. The real marriage which all marriages sim- ulate at the outset is rare, as all other precious things are rare, because it requires a very fortunate combina- tion to produce it. To play the fiddle well is not given to everybody. It needs qualities, if it is to be done at all. Yet we think it easy for any one to make perfect music from the most delicate and sensitive of all the chords of life. Mere effort of will or force of struggle, I know, won't do it in one case any more than in the other. There are scores of fiddlers for the one master player, and in thousands of homes burn two dull candles for the one sanctuary illuminated by the divine inextinguishable light of love. Still, Helen, I wish my soul could go with you as your servant. If I could RALPH FORSWEARS THE PAST 17 1 pray I would beg that any blessing I am entitled to may descend upon your head." It was an unhappy speech. "Just like Lorn !" every one muttered, in displeasure. "How dare he !" The tears were in Helen's eyes. For Ralph the air was suddenly filled with reverberations of a minor key. The company were right glad when Scott proposed a change of scene to the barn outside for dancing. Reels and contra-dances were started to the vigorous scraping of old Phineas Elmer's fiddle, and as though to confound Lom everybody found it answered as well as the finest playing of the great master Lom had hinted of. In this manner the day declined. The twilight con- verted the merry dancers in the barn into moving shadows. Ralph stole into the house for a few min- utes' respite from the gayety. As he entered the dark hall he met some one coming down the stairs. "Why, my dear aunt, is that you?" he asked, as the person touched him. "Ralph, my boy, I have been thinking of you. I am glad to have you alone for a minute. Come in here with me." She led the way into the deserted dining-room and there dropped into a chair. She took both Ralph's hands in hers as he stood before her. "You are so tall, Ralph. Do you mind kneeling so that an old woman who loves you can speak to you?" 1/2 THE HEART OF WOMAN She drew her nephew down gently. This simple action and the position in which Ralph found himself recalled the far-off first love of every human soul. "Ah, my boy!" said the old lady, "I am glad my thoughts have spoken to you. I daren't kiss you for her, for that is too sacred. But I can kiss you for my- self. There! May you be happy! And now, Ralph, I am going to give you another kiss, one full of love on behalf of somebody who in deeper sadness than fills my heart to-day, would, I know, if she were only here, wish you well and ask God to bless you my other child, Catrina." As she placed the kiss on Ralph's brow it seemed to burn there and her words whispered to him something of a sad reproach. Without a word he hurried into the gloaming. CHAPTER XVII. THE BEGINNING OF DOUBT. AMONG the letters that came to Ralph after his mar- riage was one from Mr. Whitehead Hicks. This is how it ran : My Dear Ralph Your long silence makes me deeply anxious about you. I fear you must be suffer- ing in health, otherwise I know I should have had at least a word from you ere this. When you receive this pray remember I will cheerfully forgive you your long silence in exchange for the glad news 'that you are well. I hope I am troubling about nothing, but if you recollect you didn't even hint to me of so long a stay with your new friends. Indeed, didn't you make a near but indefinite appointment in relation to your affairs? As I promised you, I set about preparing a final settlement at once and soon had everything in tolerable shape, though really there wasn't much to do. Of course, as you can imagine, the big fire that swept away almost the entire eastern half of New York (started by some villainous rebel when His Majesty's troops entered the town) destroyed, I deplore to tell you, the two sugar houses which your father took so much pride in building. The contents also were en- tirely consumed. Though the military worked very hard, very little was saved for any one. Certain of our accounts kept in the little counting house by Tyn- dall are burned, so that much of my careful figuring goes for nothing, but that is a small matter compared to the loss of so much valuable property. However, 174 THE HEART OF WOMAN praise be to the Lord of Hosts ! His Majesty is now firmly possessed of this rebellious city. We are scotch- ing the traitors whenever they dare show themselves. We shall not spare the impudent rogues, and I am thankful that at last I am in authority to assist in the retribution. If you have any pressing needs don't hesitate to draw for any moderate sum you may re- quire on yours, etc., etc. P. S. By the way, have you heard the rumor that Miss Catrina is engaged. I hope you remember what I told you on the "Asia" and will credit rne a little as a good prophet. "Isn't he an unmitigated scoundrel !" cried Ralph angrily, as he handed me the letter. "He must have written that lying epistle purely on chance; dropped it as it were, by the wayside, to serve as a bit of stray evidence in case of eventualities." We, I mean Ralph and myself, were sitting on the edge of the river bank behind the Manse, dangling our feet in the air like two idle schoolboys. At my request Ralph had been recounting to me with all the detail he could recall, the adventures that had befallen him since we parted in New York. In the course of his story when he came to the receipt of this letter he took it from his pocket and handed it to me to read. "Yes," said I, returning it, "Hicks is a few shades blacker than I ever thought." "Is he really in power?" asked Ralph. "Oh, dear, yes," I said. "There are few in New York bigger than he. Hicks is naturally fitted for a situation of the sort when people cease to be curious THE BEGINNING OF DOUBT 175 about the civil virtues. His is a predatory genius, just suited to these times. Clear of sight, strong of will, given to unmitigated action. Howe and all the au- thorities rely greatly on him. Besides, he is one of those men who always keep a strain on the rope of op- portunity and take in every inch payed out to them." "Umph!" said Ralph. "How am I to deal with him?" "He will not be an easy man to handle roughly now. You see there are no civil authorities to support you. I judge it impossible to force him." "No doubt," said Ralph. "What remains?" "I would advise you to meet him for the time being with his own weapons. Play his game with him. Ac- cept his pretenses as though you believed them. Be quiet. Say little. You see his weak point; don't press against it." "Would you answer that letter?" "Surely. Tell him of Johnson's violent act in terms that will make it appear you haven't the slightest idea he was concerned in it." "And my marriage? Evidently he knows nothing of it." "Oh, let him suppose some letter of yours has mis- carried." "Alex! Alex!" cried Ralph, laughing, "I had little idea my old friend had so much of the Michiavelli in him." "My dear boy, I don't believe in a sword any more than I believe in deceit; but if I could use nothing but a 1/6 THE HEART OF WOMAN sword in my own rightful defense I would sharpen it to the last degree." "I am not disputing the temporal wisdom of your philosophy, Alex, I am only marvelling how left- handed we all can be. Tell me what can Hicks mean by his repeated references to " He hesitated. "Catrina?" I asked. "Yes. Of course there isn't the slightest truth in what he says?" "Do you think he has any aspirations himself?" I asked at random. "Great heavens !" he cried, as though I had struck him. He rose and paced the river bank, repeating fiercely : "No! no! no!" "Why not?" I asked, pushing my thought home. "If the beautiful girl is not an attraction, surely her comfortable fortune might be to a struggling adven- turer." "Good God, Alex, hush !" I was surprised to see I had pained him. He aston- ished me all the more when he dropped down beside me and after gazing sullenly at the river for a minute, cried : "I would kill him for that." "Tut ! tut !" I said. "What interest have you there?" "Don't I know the man?" he asked angrily. "To be sure," I answered simply. "But the young lady? She may prefer to manage her own affairs." THE BEGINNING OF DOUBT "That's so," he said. Then he laughed and cried: "Oh, come! Let's get the canoe out and work up stream a mile or two. It's good for the appetite- healthier than floating easily with the tide. Tra-la-la! tra-la-la ! Come on, Alex ! We have lots of time be- fore dinner." There had been no wedding journey. The country was too disturbed for it. Ralph and Helen decided to . remain quietly at the Manse for a time a resolution that greatly pleased the parents. Mrs. Heathcote and myself were pressed very kindly to make a long visit, and the Aunt agreed, on condition that the couple re- turned to New York when she went. "I haven't seen Albany since I was a young girl," she said. "I would like to renew old impressions, if that is possible. Mr. Heathcote and I made the jour- ney shortly after our marriage, and, Helen, dear, it would please me greatly to reverse the trip for you and my boy." When Helen demurred, alleging the inconvenience her absence would cause her family at that moment, the old lady replied: "Your duties are elsewhere, my dear. Your busi- ness is to keep pace with your husband. Don't forget, child, how closely you have been shut up in this farm world of yours. You need to broaden your views and interests. Remember how much Ralph has seen. Even with you, Helen, clay will still be clay for him." Helen repeated to* Ralph what Mrs. Heathcote had said. 1/8 THE HEART OF WOMAN "Dear old Aunt," Ralph said. "She has a very fool- ish notion, Helen, about me, and she won't forsake it, argue as I may." "I wouldn't wish her to do so," said Helen proudly. "I like her all the more because she sees in you " "Helen, what?" "What I know." "You dear, good girl! But don't join with her in what she says about 'clay' and broader 'interests.' We have both agreed, haven't we that the world is what one makes it, and that things are little or great accord- ing to the spirit in which we touch them?" When Ralph talked in this way Helen was delighted. She was immensely happy in these days in her tranquil way. As she had said, her idea of marriage was duty a quiet, pleasant companionship, full of mutual in- terest centred entirely within the home. In fact, the creation of the home, the domiciling somewhere of the domestic virtues, labors and peace was, with her, the chief purpose of marriage. The personal element figured somewhere in the plan as a necessary but not a dominant feature. Certainly she never counted upon any irresponsible moments or upon moods existing for themselves only. It had been arranged before the marriage that as soon as Ralph had straightened out his affairs with Hicks a new house should be built on the Manse estate. "The property will be yours, Helen, some day," said Scott, "and you and Ralph might just as well enter THE BEGINNING OF DOUBT 179 into possession of it at once. Mother and I have enough for our wants. Let me tell you this, Helen, regarding Ralph's future land is the only thing that keeps a man a gentleman." Helen, of course, wouldn't agree to the latter bit of aristocratic philosophy, but she had argued it out too often with her father to care to repeat the conflict. She w r as delighted to know that she would not suffer any change of scene, and that her new life with Ralph would be in the main a continuation of the old. Ralph was to settle down by her side as a helpmate. He was to have his books, guns and friends, of course, and occasionally their lives would be varied by journeys to his relations and to hers. The journey to New York with Mrs. Heathcote struck her as perhaps a too early concession to the least essential part of the programme, but she was not arbi- trary where her own wishes were concerned. Moreover, it so happened that, though it was origin- ally arranged that the start should be made for New York at the beginning of November, the serious news that came of fighting around the city, particularly at White Plains, caused several delays, so that it was not until the middle of December, when the first snow was whitening the ground, that the journey to the Heath- cote House in King street was begun. CHAPTER XVIII. THE POWER OF AN AFFINITY. EVERY one knew the Heathcote residence on King street. It was built, I think, in 1741, at the time of the negro troubles, when New York was little more than a village in size. North of Wall street there were then very few buildings except country houses in the fields. When Josiah Benson announced his intention of erect- ing for himself the home that subsequently came into the possession of Mr. Heathcote, his enterprise was regarded as a trifle distant and decidedly eccentric. The truth was, Benson was a great lover of flowers. As he had made money out of government contracts he decided to indulge himself with a sort of semi-coun- try place for his beloved tulips and other rarities, where he could have more space for them than was procur- able on Broad street. He built his new house with the long side facing the road. Columns supported the porch, the ceiling of which was made by the jutting roof of the main building. The edifice was very mas- sively constructed, all of stone except the shingled, double-angled roof, with its row of gabled windows. The chimneys were particularly heavy, one in the cen- tre and one at each of the ends. The gardens around were elaborately and beautifully planted, and every- body was pleased that Mrs. Heatheote did not allow these to fall into the slightest neglect. In the summer THE POWER OF AN AFFINITY l8l time the grounds were ablaze with color. Little won- der the place was known to everybody. There was nothing more beautiful in the town than that large house, embowered in foliage and blossom. Fortunately the conflagration of September follow- ing the British occupation spared this happy retreat of so much loving toil. Nevertheless it was upon a sad sight of destruction and desolation that Helen gazed from her window the morning after her arrival in town, A broad swath of black ashes ran across the city diag- onally. Trinity Church had fallen and many other notable buildings. Looking across Broadway the vista was now entirely open. Helen could see the river, covered then with floating ice, the long line of war- ships and transports riding at anchor in the harbor, and behind them as a background the snowclad hills of Staten Island. The streets of the city were full of military, and their brilliant uniforms contrasted with the wintry whiteness of the highways. But for the sol- diers the city would have appeared half deserted. "Dear me! Dear me!" exclaimed Aunt Heathcote, as she took Helen for a walk to show her the city. "What a change since I left a month or two ago ! How hideous, stupid and criminal these troubles are ! Don't you think so, dear? Or are you of your father's fierce opinion?" "I don't believe in bloodshed, and I can't entirely agree with father's extreme position. I must confess, though, that more than once it has stirred my blood to see those Hessians march past. Doesn't it yours?" 1 82 THE HEART OF WOMAN "Not a bit," the old Tory replied, quickly. "Fight- ing is fighting, and some men are better employed at that than at anything else." The early days of that visit passed calmly and pleas- antly. There was so much to show Helen, and Ralph delighted in taking her around. Mrs. Heathcote accepted Helen, but she did not wel- come her with the heart. The old lady's feelings were obstinate in all matters, and I regarded the result that Helen obtained any foothold, in the face of the fact that she was esteemed an intruder and usurper, as a very high proof of the strength of her good qualities. Here, too, she conquered by a serenity which made her oblivious to petty feelings and by a working kindness and persistent amiability that nothing disturbed. Old age, I fancy, is a trifle vainer and sillier than youth. Certainly it is more selfish, perhaps because it can less afford to be prodigal. However that may be, it is very approachable through its egotisms and its comforts. Helen's natural deference to age and her ready ser- viceableness quickly appealed to Mrs. Heathcote, who admitted the enemy into her camp by confessing to herself, "that the girl has really some very nice quali- ties," and surrendered so far as surrender was possible, when a few weeks later she found herself one after- noon in the parlor unpremeditately comparing Helen with Catrina, with a result not as conclusive as she desired. "Dear, dear," she sighed, dropping her sewing. "This world is terribly mixed!" THE POWER OF AN AFFINITY 183 "What makes you say that, Mrs. Heathcote?" asked Helen. "Do stop calling me Mrs. Heathcote," commanded the old 4ady petulantly. "I'm Ralph's aunt and I sup- pose I'm yours, my dear." The softened cadence of the speech conveyed the real meaning of the speaker. Helen rose and kissed the old lady. "There, there, dear. You really are a very lovable girl, if only " "If only what?" asked Helen. "Oh, if only an old woman was not an old fool. Well, well, I have two nieces by adoption and I ought to be very content." "Two of us!" cried Helen. "I never heard of the other one, Auntie." "I suppose not, I suppose not," she sighed. Then to Helen's astonishment she burst forth: "Oh, how my soul yearns for her to comfort her! I know it! I know it ! It is she that will suffer my darling." Helen was trying to comfort the sobbing old lady (to whose emotion, of course, Helen had no clue), when there came a knock on the outer door, followed by the sound of Hicks's voice in the hallway. Helen hastened upstairs to warn Ralph. "Hicks, eh? Give me my coat." "Ralph, do be prudent. Probably he is only mak- ing a ceremonial call on your aunt. Hadn't you better let him alone?" "Let him alone! Helen, dear, my mind has long 1 84 THE HEART OF WOMAN been made up to this. I must see that man sometime soon, and I desire to meet him in the most natural way possible. You needn't fear a scene. Whatever goes on shall go on behind the curtain. Aunt knows noth- ing of his infamy, and he shall think that I know as little." "Shall I come down, too, dear, when I get this ob- stinate hair of mine fixed?" "To meet him that villain!" "He won't poison me. I would like to see him." "Oh, well, do as you please. As you say, he won't poison you." Entering the low-ceiled parlor, where a great wood fire was burning, Ralph heard Hicks's rich, insinuating voice : "I had no idea you were out of town until lately and on such a mission, too. Ah! I am surrounded with surprises. Why, here is the rascal himself!" Hicks rose suddenly. His face visibly lost 'some- thing of its color, but his sharp eyes nothing of their steady directness. In a second he recognized Ralph was peaceful, and then both his lace-berufHed hands were extended in welcome. Ralph gave him his two hands, and thus for a moment, clasped in that friendly way, the two men searched one another. "My dear Ralph," said Hicks, softly, "I can't tell you how glad I am to see you under such circum- stances." "I am sure of it," said Ralph. "I knew you, of all THE POWER OF AN AFFINITY 185 my friends, would be the most concerned in my wel- fare." "But why, why, my dear boy, did you not let me know?- Mated and married, and not a word to me! Me!" Hicks extended his arms as though his heart were visible. "Then really did my first letter to you go astray?" asked Ralph innocently." "I assure you," said Hicks. "Candidly, I received not even so much as a whisper. What must you have thought of me?" "Don't fear. I never for a moment doubted your interest in me." "Ah! That was generous, I confess, under such circumstances." "Haven't I too many proofs of your friendship!" said Ralph, enthusiastically. "As I didn't hear from you, I concluded something there is so easily some- thing had obstructed your plans. Something official or imperative," he added. "Yes ! Yes !" said Hicks. "No doubt I missed your letter somehow, due to the commotion of the last few months, and my own movements not necessarily too open, Ralph. You understand?" "Oh, yes, indeed!" said Ralph laughing. "In dealing with an enemy we have to use subterfuge (what do you lawyers call it? 'trick and device/ eh?) to snick him in the back! The Indians are pretty good at that." 1 86 THE HEART OF WOMAN The thrust went home. Hicks tried to dodge it. For the first time he showed a faint nervousness. "Yes, Indians yes yes," he said, laughing un- easily. Then he caught himself, and went on very seriously. "That reminds me, Ralph, of your letter the one I did receive. Do you know that nearly knocked me down?" "I expected it would," said Ralph, humorously. "Didn't it surprise you?" "That isn't the word for it, said Hicks tittering. "I am sure it isn't," smiled Ralph. For a moment the two men sat laughing together. Then Hicks demanded in a most earnest manner as though the speculation puzzled him deeply: "But what did Johnson mean by his outrage?" "Never could find out," answered Ralph nonchal- antly. "Except one day he dropped a hint." "A hint, eh? Umph! Did it clear the matter?" "On the contrary, if I may say so, it darkened it. He said he had been ordered to restrain me by an enemy I had one in authority." The lids of Hicks's eyes half closed. Ralph fancied he could hear the older man's heart beat. For a mo- ment Ralph wondered how Hicks would emerge. Slowly his eyes opened. Unflinchingly he met Ralph's gaze. "An en emy, Ralph of yours? Some one in au- thority? Was it a riddle?" "It was to me," said Ralph promptly, "but I am sure Johnson had the key to it." THE POWER OF AN AFFINITY 187 "Come, come," said Hicks in a sprightly tone. "Johnson was fooling you." "Oh, no! No! no! There was no joking in those woods. If it was, it is a joke the perpetrator is abso- lutely certain to pay the price for some day. It's a queer account that never comes to a settlement. "Indeed, my boy, yes. I am mystified beyond words. I wish I could help you to clear up the matter." "Do you know my thoughts went immediately to you?" "Me!" cried Hicks in alarm. "Yes," said Ralph, "I knew I could count on your assistance." Hicks laughed. "Oh, yes, I see. Why, of course." "Why," exclaimed Ralph laughing, "my dear friend, you did not think I meant " Again the two men laughed together. "My idea was," continued Ralph, "you might in- duce Sir Johnson to reveal his motive to you. You know him so well. "Slightly, slightly, Ralph. I shall surely write to him the first opportunity I have." "You are very good," said Ralph. "No thanks for so small a matter, my boy." "I shan't take it as a small matter if you will do it for me. You can appreciate how deeply I feel on the sub- ject." "Not another word, Ralph. You know you may count on me." 1 88 THE HEART OF WOMAN "I know I can," said Ralph. "For the present, then, we will drop the matter; but do tell me this : What were the rumors you heard about Catrina?" Mrs. Heathcote had listened to the dialogue hith- erto without a word. At the mention of Catrina's name she roused herself in her armchair. "Rumors concerning Catrina!" she exclaimed in amazement. "You mustn't think, dear Aunt, that Virginia is as distant as the New York forests. Mr. Hicks has heard some startling whispers. Surely you received the news. Catrina is to be married." "Catrina to be married !" cried the old lady. "Ralph Tennant, what delusion is this! All this time have you . Oh, speak! Who has said this?" It gave Ralph the utmost pleasure to witness how disconcerted the imperturbable Hicks was by this sud- den change of the attack. "Mr. Hicks kindly sent me the news, probably to surprise me, but I had no idea it would surprise you, dear Aunt." "Where did you hear this nonsense, Mr. Hicks?" demanded the old lady imperiously. Hicks had partly recovered his self-possession, but he failed painfully as he exclaimed : "Some of our young officers I forget now who mentioned it casually and with many doubts and qualifications. He thought he had met Miss Ruther- ford, and a gentleman had been pointed out to him as her fiance. It may not be so. A mere mistake." THE POWER OF AN AFFINITY 189 "A mistake!" echoed Mrs. Heathcote, nearly beside herself with anger. "A crime ! I am surprised, Mr. Hicks, that you should allow such stories to go un- punished, much less to spread them yourself." "I did but write it to Ralph," he pleaded. "It has done no harm, my dear Aunt," said Ralph "Ah! Helen my wife has been very anxious to meet my father's friend." Hicks no doubt was very thankful for the interrup- tion. He greeted Helen with great warmth. Though she was awkward and silent in his presence, he main- tained a steady fire of courtly nonsense. She had stolen his ward from him. Such conspiracies were possible in those distant backwoods. He was delighted to see, too, that Ralph's eye was as true as his heart. Then he abruptly terminated his visit by rising and inviting Mrs. Heathcote, Helen and Ralph to a ball which \vas to be given shortly by Lord Howe and some others of the chief commanding officers. Ralph persisted in playing his game with Hicks until at last I believe he came to enjoy it. He was a con- stant visitor at the Fort just as Hicks was a regular visitor at Mrs. Heathcote's. My plan, for so I dare speak of the method of dealing with Hicks, succeeded so well that Ralph received a goodly sum of money which I am sure he would never have touched had he essayed the violent. He was no doubt favored by the fact that Hicks had won largely at cards, and I am sure made heavy profits out of a connection he had formed with Cunningham, the provost marshal. I had no THE HEART OF WOMAN idea Ralph could be so astute. Really, I think he pulled the wool completely over the old fox's eyes. Perhaps this was due to the fact that he dropped en- tirely the subject of Johnson and those northern events. Ralph visited me often, and I rejoiced again in our companionship which now became very steady; but the more I saw of my friend, the more I detected or thought I detected a certain I won't say a false note, but a certain falseness of pitch. There was a strain somewhere, which resulted in frequent forced gayety, succeeded by hours of black dejection. With Helen, and of course I saw much of her, he was invariably thoughtful and kind, but it struck me dare I say it? there was a very little bit of earnest acting in it. The change of scene, the new life, the impressive company with which Mrs. Heathcote filled her house, were all very agreeable to Helen. She told me it pleased her more than she anticipated. "But it is such a useless life," she complained, as though the complaint justified her in sharing it. To Ralph the life was intolerable. "But what to do, Alex!" he exclaimed hopelessly. "Helen is becoming more Whiggish every day, until now she is an inveterate enemy of the government. And I, well, I am more indifferent than ever. Do you know, if it wasn't for Helen I believe I'd clear out of the country somehow. I wish one of those vessels that arrived in the bay this morning would take me off. THE POWER OF AN AFFINITY IQI As I watched them come to anchor and furl their sails they seemed positively to call me. The best step I suppose is to go back to the Manse." "You couldn't do better, Ralph," I hinted. "I know," he sighed; "Alex, the devil of unrest is in me." "Exorcise him !" I said. "With what charm, oh! magician?" "Hard work is a good medicine." "Aching sinews, eh? Well, that would be better." When he was in these moods he would sit sometimes for hours with an open book on his knees in a deep chair in a corner of the Heathcote parlor. There he esconced himself after he left me that afternoon. The ladies were busy upstairs. The fire crackled and as the winter day died its early death, the glow of the embers crept further and further out into the dark- ening room. The house was very still. The snow deadened the sounds outside in the street. The low croning of old Dinah, the negress, in the kitchen, exactly harmonized with the vague, half-formulated thoughts that were floating in Ralph's head. No doubt he heard the knocking on the outer door, but he paid no heed to it. He was half lost until the servant opened the parlor door and he was aroused by hearing : "Step in, if you please. I will tell Mrs. Heathcote." That moment was the last of the twilight. But for the pine logs the furniture would have been merely so many shadowy outlines. 1 92 THE HEART OF WOMAN Ralph pulled himself together and advanced from the darkness of his corner, intending to pass upstairs. When he reached the centre table the stranger, too, advanced and stood within the halo of the hearth. His own name was uttered with a cry that thrilled him. No other voice in all the world could have so thrilled him. Never before had he recognized its power. Now there was something exultant in its sum- mons. "Ralph!" "Catrina!" Fear and joy throbbed within him. He seized her hand. "You! You! he said. "Catrina!" The semi-darkness was kind to the girl. She stood struggling wildly for words. Half choking with hap- piness, half in tears, she faltered : "I could stand it no longer Ralph. I had to come and and I brought you back your mother's ring." Saying this she tore her glove from her hand and be- seechingly held out the jewel to him. While Catrina and Ralph were standing thus the ser- vant came in with the candles. At precisely the same moment, at the other door behind Ralph, Helen en- tered. The visitor had not given her name and Helen had come down in the place of the lady of the house. Helen looked at the stranger, then at her husband. Then she heard Ralph struggle to say: "Catrina allow me my wife." CHAPTER XIX. THE MEETING OF THE CROSS CURRENTS. I HESITATE to set down anything further regarding that unexpected scene in the Heathcote parlor. In that episode the waters of many cross-currents met. Deeply as I am interested in all the persons con- cerned, I must confess to a feeling particularly acute for the hard thrust of circumstances against Catrina. That moment, with its few sudden words, was to her like a revelation flashed in a thunderstorm. Were I to say that until then she was unconscious of her love for Ralph I would quite misstate the case. Certainly I am entitled to believe that her affection so far had had curiously little in it of the self-conscious. It was indeed almost something instinctive. The long famil- iar association assisted in obscuring a sentiment that had developed with the unobtrusiveness of a natural process. Catrina's love for Ralph was the blossom- ing of her own life. The sympathy of those earlier days was but the first stage of that love which declared it- self in a cry at the moment of which I am now writing. The poor girl had been driven to return to New York by an unbearable loneliness and sense of want. The unexpected meeting with Ralph in the parlor forced from her that excuse of an overladen heart the fal- tering reference to the parting in the orchard. She had recalled that scene frequently when away, and the more she studied it its outlines gained in vividness as its sig- 194 THE HEART OF WOMAN nificance became more tantalizingly dubious. Did Ralph love her? Something blacker than the evening darkness was before her eyes as she said to Helen : "Thank you; let me go up alone, please. I can find my way." Mrs. Heathcote's door was open. With a cry she threw her arms around the astonished old lady, who could say nothing but mutter: "My darling girl! Catrina! Catrina!" Pressed closely to her, the girl sobbed mutely. "Darling, what does this mean?" Mrs. Heathcote whispered in her ear. "I was so lonely. I want wanted to see you?" The light of the candle fell upon Catrina's blanched face. The look in her eyes alarmed Mrs. Heathcote. "Catrina, you are in pain. What is the matter?" "Nothing nothing now. I am only a little tired." The girl pressed closer to the old lady, and for a hid- ing place rested her head on Mrs. Heathcote's bosom. "My darling, why didn't you write? Why didn't you let us know you were coming? Why didn't you " "I did write," murmured Catrina. "You did? When? After you received my letter about Ralph?" "I have received no letter." "No letter, Catrina? Yet you know!" "Yes. Now!" The sadness of this affirmative caused the old lady to silently stroke the girl's hair. THE MEETING OF THE CROSS CURRENTS IQ5 "Yes," she repeated, "my poor child." The tone of pity irritated Catrina. "Don't Auntie, dear; don't, please don't. I am only tired a little." Catrina suddenly made herself busy taking off her wraps. Mrs. Heathcote watched her. "Wouldn't you like to go to bed, dear, and rest?" asked Mrs. Heathcote, tenderly. She was seeking some action to relieve the situation. "No," answered Catrina promptly. "I shall be all right in a little while really. Why ! I haven't asked how you are, Auntie." Mrs. Heathcote paid no attention to this inquiry. She remained silent, deeply occupied with her thoughts. "You met Ralph down stairs?" she asked presently. Catrina turned away as she replied. "Yes." "And Helen?" "Yes! Yes! Auntie, dear, please don't trouble ^bout me." "Come to me, Catrina. There! You knew, my child, you can't fool your old Auntie." "Don't! Don't! Everything is all right. I am so happy, now I am with you." Mrs. Heathcote kissed the pleading, uplifted face. "Others can't have loved you as I do," she said. "No one loves me, Auntie, but you." The tears nearly forced their way to Catrina's eyes as she said this. 196 THE HEART OF WOMAN "I am afraid that is so," said the old lady dolefully. "We must fight it out together, Catrina." "Oh, Auntie ! That's just it," cried the girl, eagerly. "I understand," said Mrs. Heathcote, significantly. "You think you won't falter?" "Oh, dear, no. Why should I?" asked Catrina, smil- ing sadly. "Because the heart is a great tyrant, child. Ah! Catrina," continued Mrs. Heathcote, shaking her head, "this is but, there is the supper. You had better not "No, no. Let us go down," said Catrina, rising. "With your house so full will I be in the way?" "Catrina, dear," interrupted Mrs. Heathcote, "re- member this is your home, just as it was Ralph's until "And still is his, now more than ever," Catrina whis- pered affectionately, as the two descended the stairs, with their arms around one another. The meeting in the parlor had thrown Ralph into a sad state of perplexity. Contradictory thoughts and feelings surged and clashed within him. He felt he was not master of himself. He struggled to speak naturally to Helen after Catrina had gone upstairs to his aunt, but he made such a hopeless failure of the in- different that he was forced to take refuge in the ex- cuse that he had not been feeling well that afternoon. "This surprise nearly upsets me altogether," he said. "It is like being suddenly confronted by someone from the grave. You know, Helen, Catrina and I have been THE MEETING OF THE CROSS CURRENTS 197 friends since we were four years old. Quite lost sight of her lately. Last thing I heard she was engaged to some one in Virginia. I suppose that was only a ru- mor. She is a very pleasant girl. You'll get on splen- didly with her." Helen did not quite understand. Possessing no clue to the actual condition of affairs, she turned to the ob- vious and concluded that Ralph was not very well, as he had said. At the supper table Helen was greatly impressed by Catrina's quiet beauty and winsomeness. She did not fail to perceive that the girl was deeply disturbed by something, but of this Mrs. Heathcote's explanation seemed sufficient: "Catrina is almost exhausted by her voyage, but she insisted on joining us to-night." "There's plenty of time for rest, Auntie. I want to see you all. Dear me, isn't this homelike after Vir- ginia!" "You didn't enjoy yourself?" asked Ralph, trying to appear indifferent. "Everybody was very kind," said Catrina, meeting Ralph's gaze with self-possession that outwardly was perfect, "but it was all so strange. Strange faces, strange scenes, strange voices "By heaven's that's it," cried Ralph. "There's something a trifle strange in your tone, Catrina. Don't you think so, Auntie?" "Yes," replied the old lady, dryly. "I would not be surprised." 198 THE HEART OF WOMAN "Do you know, Catrina, we heard you were going to settle down there," said Ralph. Catrina turned to her aunt. "My dear, Ralph is only repeating a foolish tale Mr. Hicks invented that you were well about to be married. Absurd !" "Oh!" said Catrina, thoughtfully. Then she added quickly: "I had a good example, Ralph, didn't I?" Catrina said this with a sense of triumph in herself. It struck Ralph like something cold. It seemed to half empty his heart. He looked blankly across the table i s he said : "The very best, Catrina. Usually I'm a poor light for any to follow." Helen was sitting beside him. He placed his hand on her lap under the table. It was an act close upon de- spair. Catrina noticed it. She felt it like the prick of cold steel. It pained her, at the same time it touched the very quick of a hopeless pride. "How utterly foolish I am !" thought Catrina. "Exactly as I half expected," were the words that shaped themselves in Ralph's brain. Both settled down resolutely to the commonplace, and the rest of the meal was passed in talk about Ca- trina's journey and the events that had happened in New York since her departure. After supper, as the four passed into the parlor, Ca- trina put her arm around Helen. Detaining her for a moment she whispered: "I am a late comer, but may I wish you happiness. THE MEETING OF THE CROSS CURRENTS 199 Helen? May I kiss you? Ralph and I are such old friends." Helen was delighted. "Let .me join the old friendship," she said. "Don't count me as anything new." "How can you be 'new,' " asked Catrina, smiling; "when Ralph was waiting for you all those years." Ralph overheard a part of this conversation and he resented it, he knew not why. After a while he excused himself and later strolled into my room. I could see something was amiss, but I asked no questions. At last he said suddenly : "I told you about those ships this afternoon?" "What ships?" I asked, clean forgetting what he had said. "Oh!" he replied hastily, "the ships I saw come to anchor this morning. Didn't I tell you they seemed to do more than catch my eye?" "Yes, yes," I said; "I remember. They appealed to your sense for the blue." "Don't joke," he said, studying the floor. "Catrina was aboard." "Catrina!" I exclaimed, verily surprised. "She arrived at Aunt's this evening." "Gracious ! what a surprise !" "It was," said he slowly. "Is she well?" I asked. "Oh, very," he replied laconically. "You say it as though you were disappointed," I said laughing. 2OO THE HEART OF WOMAN "Disappointed," he replied. "Why! No! Why should I be? What nonsense !" Then to rally him, I went on : "Still nonsense and the best of women go well to- gether at times." "Don't talk to me of women," he exclaimed bitterly. "I believe I hate them all." "Lord, every man says that at some time, Ralph, but nobody means it," I said. "No man ever really hated a woman unless," I added, "that hate was born of an- other woman." "Nonsense !" he cried. He was evidently in so poor a mood I thought it best to say: "Nonsense! Of course, it is all nonsense. That's what I told you at the beginning." "I am going back to the Manse, Alex." "Good," I cried. "When?" "Don't know yet," he said. "Soon. Perhaps "Ralph, leave the calendar alone for the present. It will be a good thing to discuss by and by. Come with me now for a stroll. I am stuffy for a little exercise." We made a call at the Fort and spent an hour or more with Lord Percy and my friend Sir Frederick Chalmers. I enjoyed the evening hugely, but I fear it was spoiled for Ralph when he learned on returning home that Whitehead Hicks had made a long visit to welcome Catrina. CHAPTER XX. COMING TO CLOSE QUARTERS. AFTER this Ralph spent more of his time with me than ever. He rarely spoke to me of Catrina or of anything that happened in the Heathcote household. Indeed, he showed a strange apathy regarding all events, public or private. His only desire was to settle his affairs with Hicks, but obviously he avoided the man. He harped repeatedly on his determination to get back to the Manse, but he took no steps to this end as the weeks slipped by and winter gave place to spring. I never could get any account of these weeks. All I know is Hicks was a constant visitor at Mrs. Heath- cote's, and Ralph absented himself from the house, as though it had become distasteful to him. He was most willing to go anywhere with me, and, seeing he found greater pleasure than ever in our companionship, I took every occasion to distract him. One night, I remember, I took him with me to Mr. Liddle's. It was the end of March. Mr. Liddle's, it will be remembered, was perhaps the gayest house in New York during the British occupation of the city. He was wealthy and he was English. He was a man with nothing beyond the barest scholastic education, but, as though this deficiency left room for other mat- ters, he was filled to overflowing with the trader's wis- dom. He seemed to exude it in his manners, his clothes, the knowing brightness of his eyes, his coarse assur- 2O2 THE HEART OF WOMAN ance. His nationality was intolerably loud, and when the British troops were again masters of Manhattan his inbilation was boisterous. He pushed himself upon the English officers and officials, and I doubt not they must have been greatly amused by the sycophancy of his forced familiarity. He invited them to his house, threw it wide open to them, and the superfluity at his entertainments appeared like an offset offered for his personal defects. Away from home, engaged in an arduous campaign, his guests accepted him as an amusing incident of the war. They shared his hospitality with the manners of gentlemen and the humor of blackguards. They per- mitted him to squander his money on them; at the same time they treated him with a contemptuous good humor which he was too blind to perceive. I had had many business transactions with the man, and found his honesty was solid, if coarse. Sir Frederick Chalmers was an old friend of my uncle's and, learning of that, I suppose, Liddle insisted that I should be one of the company that night. "Bring any of your friends along; the more the mer- rier," he said as he left me a raw hospitality to which I paid no attention at the time, but which I accepted later, on Ralph's account. His house was brilliantly lighted when we reached it. Within we found it uncomfortably crowded with a big company, mostly military. As usual, everything was provided lavishly. The host, in a loud, jubilant mood, moved among his guests, and appeared to enjoy the COMING TO CLOSE QUARTERS 2O3 boisterous joking and horseplay carried on much of it at his expense. "I'm a gentleman," I heard him say, "and know what gentlemen like. You'll get no such madiery as this, General, from the rebels. Nothing but 'ard cider. There are times when I don't count the cost of any- thing." The company amused me. I think it did Ralph, though, no doubt, very differently. I was interested studying the men on whom the government relied to crush the American cause. Some of them undoubted- ly were men of intelligence and seriousness, but for the most part they struck me as hopelessly befuddled by, the trivialities of an aristocratic atmosphere. They seemed absolutely incapable of grasping a naked fact or of making a working scheme of new conditions. Their conceit was stupendous, but it matched their con- tempt for the rebel. I talked with many of them and was wearied of the reiteration when I ran across Ralph. I saw he had drunk a little too much; was becoming loud and unsteady. I asked him to go home with me but he stoutly refused. I suggested we get our hats, and take a little fresh air for a moment on the balcony. As I lifted the window he whispered : "Hicks's here somewhere. Saw him for a moment. Smiled lovingly and isn't it cold?" The garden below was pitch dark, save where the lights of the house fell upon the paths and flower beds. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I don't know which, Ralph had spoken before we stepped without. The in- 2O4 'HE HEART OF WOMAN stant we were in the night air we heard Hicks's voice somewhere beneath us: "The truth is I need that money, Cunningham, and I must depend on you for it. That beggar of mine, Tennant, has drained me lately. It is a big stake, but I shall win." "So you say," growled Cunningham. "Have I been mistaken with you yet? Besides, J don't want to remind you how I have assisted " "No. You merely remind me that you don't re- mind me," broke in Cunningham uneasily. "Come, Cunningham, you know I have reasons " "Don't care for any man's reasons only his mo- tives." "And I don't ask anything to-night," said Hicks, raising his voice, "but vour 'yes' or 'no.' ' "I suppose I daren't say 'no,' " mused Cunningham. "You are usually a good judge of what is prudent," said Hicks, dryly. "Who is this girl?" asked Cunningham. "Ah!" cried Hicks. "Curious?" "No," snarled Cunningham, "but if I am to help you, why not tell me? You want confidence as well as money? She's wealthy, you say?" "Very," replied Hicks, in a tone of good-natured superiority. "Sure?" "I usually am sure." "Umph! Young, I suppose?" "You may suppose as much," replied Hicks, lightly. COMING TO CLOSE QUARTERS 2O$ "Good looking?" ''Have I no reputation with you for taste?" Hicks was humoring his questioner. "Tell me who she is, and, damn it, I'll have to give you the money." "I object to conditions, Cunningham," said Hicks, tartly. "But there, after all, if you will aid me you shall know her name. Mind ! keep your mouth closed here- after. It's Miss Rutherford." Ralph's intense interest in the conversation had re- strained him up to this point from outbreak. At the mention of that name, and before I could withhold him, he lunged forward and threw his hat in the direc- tion of the speakers. It must have fallen close to them. Hicks cried : "Hello! what's this?" I tried to pull Ralph back. He wrested himself from my grasp and called: " 'Scuse me. There's a fearful draught up here." "Who the devil are you?" cried Hicks. "Ten nant," cried Ralph; "at your service." "Oh, you, my boy?" asked Hicks, in a disconcerted tone. "B'lieve it is," replied Ralph; "ask Alex, here. He knows." "I won't bother the gentleman to identify you," said Hicks, with a short laugh, "but it is a pity, Ralph, you have given yourself the trouble to descend for this part of your apparel." "No," said Ralph. "Can't be troubled t'night. Put 2O6 THE HEART OF WOMAN it on the bushes ! If I forget it will remind me of some- thing important in the morning. Good-night, Hicks. Come, Alex. This place's too cold. I had no end of difficulty in getting Ralph to his home. He was all for returning to defy or threaten Hicks. "You needn't fear," I said. "Hicks is not a man who needs a blow." "I did but throw him a hint, Alex." "He picked it up," I said, significantly. "Ralph, you have absolutely nothing to gain by this outspeak- ing. And," I added, "in this matter of Catrina you had better trust the girl rather than anything you can do." "I trust nobody any more," he said, with a maud- lin accent. "Catrina is " "You are in no condition to discuss Catrina," I in- terrupted. "You're right, Alex. I'll talk to'r in the morning." This midnight project, however, was not carried out, partly, no doubt, for lack of opportunity. Catrina, during these months, was fighting so hard a battle with herself that she required every entrench- ment possible. I say "with herself," for she was so certain of the distance of Ralph's position that she did not account him at all concerned in the conflict. Her greatest anxiety was to hide from him even the slight- est evidence of her inward struggle. The only com- fort she allowed herself, and no doubt it was what main- tained her from a breakdown, was the cold familiarity COMING TO CLOSE QUARTERS 2O7 of a routine intercourse. She met Ralph at the table and when the family drew together in the evening, but she never permitted herself to be with him a moment alone. This was one of her refuges. The other was Helen. She pressed close to Ralph's wife with all the strength of her nature, and the friendship that resulted afforded her an additional sense of security. Helen had not known before so warm a companion- ship. It was a new experience for her to be the object of so constant an affection. Catrina both puzzled and attracted her. Helen had no previous idea of so exotic a nature. At times Catrina appeared to her like a su- perior creature exiled from her own world. At other times she appeared to be a loving child relying upon her for comfort and direction. Repeatedly, as though it gave her exquisite pleasure, Catrina confessed her new love for Helen. "You are so serene, dear," she would say; "so free from the weakness and confusion that always trouble me." "Catrina, that is really all in your imagination," Helen would assure her. Catrina would not permit that notion. "No," she said, "you see and do. I merely wish and would do. Oh, dear ! How I would like to have a lit- tle of your strength and directness!" "For what, Catrina?" "To be myself!" answered Catrina quickly. "Don't look at me like that. When you do I know you don't understand." 208 THE HEART OF WOMAN "I wish I did understand, then I could try to help you." "You do, Helen, you do and that's why I love you. No wonder Ralph loves you and you are so happy." Catrina often talked to Helen of Ralph. She al- lowed herself this secret luxury with a vague idea there was something curative in asserting indirectly Helen's possession of her own heart's loss. The process was painful, but it was analogous to the homely remedy of curing a burn by the application of heat. She had many opportunities for this sort of medication. The two girls were constantly together and Helen was a ready listener to stories of Ralph's earlier days. More- over, Catrina stimulated their companionship by seizing with a feverish delight every opportunity offered for entertainment. I don't think she missed a single ball or party or theatrical performance given at this time. She and Helen were to be seen everywhere, and their acquaintance and company, I know, were eagerly sought after by a host of admiring officers. Catrina became the belle of the town. Her health was drunk enthusiastically by stricken subalterns and gouty gen- erals alike, who hovered around her in public and crowded to Mrs. Heathcote's parlor whenever the old lady threw her doors open, which, indeed, was frequent enough to make me believe she sympathized with Ca- trina's hunger for the eventful. No wonder Ralph was dumfounded at Catrina's gayety, but he was more annoyed at Whitehead Hicks's persistent attentions to the girl than at anything else. COMING TO CLOSE QUARTERS 20Q Perhaps it was open defiance, due to that unfortunate episode at Mr. Liddle's, perhaps it was to serve as a public declaration to Catrina's other admirers, but, whatever the cause, it was plain the old fox had aban- doned caution and was playing his game openly. He called daily at Mrs. Heathcote's. By an unequivocal assumption of authority he forced himself into a fam- ily position in the household. He courted Mrs. Heath- cote and dominated her; he flattered Helen and even pleased her despite herself by his frank cordiality; he lavished kindness upon Catrina, playing to her mood with an adroitness of which he was probably not aware. Ralph he ignored with a sporty familiarity. He enact- ed the prince to perfection, and as step by step he felt he was winning, he became in dress, spirits and manner triumphantly young. Ralph was hopeless. At this point, I am sure he was ready to relinquish the fight. Even Helen went against him when she said, in response to some objec- tion of his : "Mr. Hicks isn't the best of men, perhaps, but then I know of only one such. He can be very kind and considerate. By the way, he has invited Catrina and all of us to witness a play to-morrow." At first Ralph decided not to be of the party, but fear and attraction were in fhe end too strong for him. The performance, I remember well, was given in the little theatre in John street. The piece, a burlesque of the late Mr. Fielding's entitled "Tom Thumb," was played with spirit and humor by gentlemen of the 2IO THE HEART OF WOMAN army and navy. Capt. Stanley spoke a prologue of his own composition, and the scenes were painted by Capt. De Lancy. The house was crowded with a very brill- iant company, but Hicks's party w r as the centre of all eyes. I had my seat at some distance from my friends and could notice how universal the attraction was. Helen never appeared to me more beautiful. She had put on a new gown which particularly suited her fair complexion. Catrina, rich as a dark-red rose, was a bewitching contrast. Catrina's gayety was infectious. The party laughed so heartily at the nonsense on the stage that Mrs. Heathcote felt called upon to reprimand them more than once. Even Ralph caught the spirit of the hour. With this renewed elasticity of mkid returned some- thing of the old pugnacity toward Hicks. He dis- puted with him Catrina's attentions at every point. When, between the scenes, I made my way to pay my respects to Mrs. Heathcote, I found him in a rare state of boyish volubility. An old gentleman having quitted his seat gave me a place beside Catrina during the re- mainder of the performance. I ought not to have been deceived by her mood or by Ralph's, but I was. I found myself rejoicing in the general happiness. Even Hicks showed buoyancy as airy as the rest, when, alas ! a few words hsard on leav- ing the theatre recalled me to a sense of the conflict that was being fought with the weapons of hilarity. Hicks had proposed a supper at his home, which, Ca- trina, by promptly accepting, forced the others to ac- COMING TO CLOSE QUARTERS 211 cept also, though Mrs. Heathcote made a weak demur un the score of too late hours. On leaving the theatre Ralph boldly forced Hicks aside by offering his arm to Catrina. The act was ob- viously rude. Hicks had established himself as her escort. Indeed, he was already at her side. I saw Ca- trina hesitate and flush scarlet. Hicks stood motionless, watching her intently. It was plainly a conflict. Fin- ally, she placed her arm in Ralph's and he deliberately quickening his pace walked off with her. "Behold a clear case of abandonment, Mrs. Ten- nant !" said Hicks angrily and loud enough to be heard ahead by Catrina. "Oh! He mustn't say that," stammered Catrina. The words made her shiver. "Never mind what he says," whispered Ralph reck- lessly. "I wanted to ask you not not to accept his in- vitation." "Why, Ralph?" asked Catrina. She tried to speak proudly. "Well, Catrina, doesn't it suffice because I ask you?" "That is no reason," she said, shortly. "I supposed as much! Well, then, I have a better reason." "What is it?" "Promise me to decline and I will tell you. It is real- ly serious." "I have accepted. You wouldn't have me be impo- lite?" "We mustn't forget etiquette, must we? Well Ca- 212 THE HEART OF WOMAN trina, I wouldn't ask unless I could give you a good reason for declining." There was a tone of beseeching in his voice. It moved Catrina. She was silent for a moment. Willingly her heart would have accorded him any re- quest, but she answered : "Ralph, I would rather go." "I will not interpose, then," said Ralph, dropping her arm. "But go or not, as you will, I think you ought to know that Mr. Hicks has declared to his friends he will marry you." "Indeed!" said Catrina, annoyed by Ralph's petu- lance. Mr. Hicks honors me, I am sure." "You aspire, then?" said Ralph, bitterly. "What else is left to a woman?" she asked. "A smaller matter, no doubt to love." "Might not the larger affair carry the lesser?" she inquired jauntily. "It might; I hope it will," said Ralph sadly, "but for your sake, Catrina, I wish it were the other way." "What secrets have you two?" cried Hicks, who had crept up with Helen almost to their heels. "Oh," said Catrina, defiantly, "Ralph was lecturing me on love." "Goodness !" said Hicks. "Worse and worse ! Hear that, Mrs. Tennant ! Are not the young man's hands full enough?" The tide upon which Catrina had cast herself moved rapidly. Her hope, begotten of her despair, was that it would finally carry her to some tranquil resting place; COMING TO CLOSE QUARTERS or should that blessing be denied her she could with- draw to shore again for a new resolve. In both she en- tirely miscalculated. The first error she recognized when she perceived that the events of the last few months were not setting her free from the bondage of her feelings. The struggle had cost her much. She had won nothing but a number of petty, empty tri- umphs and hollow truces. The strain was breaking her pride, and more than once the words trembled on her lips : "Ralph, can't we be friends again somehow as in the dear old days?" She knew the phrase was false and the idea behind it deceptive. The "old days" were past. She hesitated Ralph was so cold and drifted. "What can I do? What shall I do?" wailed in her heart. She would welcome now any escape. As she thought over what Ralph had told her of Hicks's declaration, she concluded there at least was a door behind which she could lock herself. Hicks's movements were hence- forth intelligible to her. She commenced to accept them as significant in the sense her suitor intended. The more she surrendered herself to this last refuge the more she came to loath the man who tacitly offered it to her. Though she never refused Hicks's atten- tion, she became frigidly cold to him, and he attrib- uted this to Ralph's interference. Like all gamblers, Hicks knew the value of bold- ness. Fox as he was, he could play the lion. At this 214 THE HEART OF WOMAN point, when he felt success might easily be his at the cost of a hard stroke, he did not hesitate to deliver it. He waited his opportunity and one afternoon at the beginning of April he seized it when alone with Ralph in his own rooms. At his request Ralph was visiting him regarding their financial affairs. Seated at a table by a window overlooking Bowling Green, Hicks, with a bundle of papers before him, gave the young man a long account of his stewardship. He spoke tersely and resolutely. As Ralph listened and watched him he remarked that every trace of the old familiarity had been dropped. "It is a long story," concluded Hicks leaning for- ward and putting a hand on the papers between them, "but it is necessary because I know these papers, due to accidents and disasters, are not quite complete in themselves. I am sorry I have to ask you to take any- thing on trust, but if you wish to be as scrupulous as I would like you to be, perhaps Tyndall, and certainly myself, will aid you in filling in anything you may think missing. Take the papers and examine them carefully. Perhaps you ought to consult a lawyer. Judge for yourself. Mr. De Kay is a good man, if you care for a recommendation from me." He pushed the papers toward Ralph and continued : "As I calculate, or, rather, as the accounts show, there is still due you in money 3,015. I am ready to pay that sum to you at any time. He rose and paced to the other end of the room. Ralph rose also as he said : COMING TO CLOSE QUARTERS 21$ "Well, that closes matters between us!" "It closes that particular matter between us," said Hicks, sharply, spinning around on his heel. The innuendo was so clear that Ralph did not hesi- tate to take it up. "You have corrected me exactly," he said. "There are other accounts, I know." "Undoubtedly," said Hicks sternly, "and I would like to settle those also now, with your permission." "The only difficulty in the way is I have hardly made up my mind yet what form of payment I ought to ex- act from you," said Ralph. The sarcasm struck Hicks like a whip. He brought his fist down angrily on the table as he sneered : "Suppose we come out of the bush like men?" "I have not yet come, out of the woods," said Ralph deliberately. "Indeed," said Hicks, "you enjoyed the trip so much!" "Thanks to you. That was a kindness, sir, which I would be ungrateful not to pay to the full." "If you do it will be the first debt to me you have had the willingness to discharge." "I am glad you take it so," said Ralph. "Believe me, I shall win your good opinion in that matter." "I am ready at any time," cried Hicks, "to find you a man and not a sneak." "That insult becomes you," said Ralph. "I doubt whether quite as much as it does you," re- plied Hicks, bowing. 2l6 THE HEART OF WOMAN "You infernal blackguard !" roared Ralph. "I leave it to your fine sense of propriety whether a man recently married who endeavors to tamper with a young girl's affections should talk of honor," said Hicks, calmly. "You know you lie," said Ralph confidently. "My knowledge may not be as searching as yours," said Hicks deliberately, "but before I terminate this in- terview I desire for the good of you and yours please remark I say 'yours/ sir to warn you that I will tol- erate no longer your rascally cross-purposes with a cer- tain young lady. "Your friendliness is overpowering, as usual," said Ralph, "and as one warning merits another, let me ad- vise you to withdraw your aspirations, or " "Or?" interrupted Hicks. "Or," continued Ralph, "I shall present that unset- tled account of mine for payment. You understand?" "So fully, Mr. Tennant, that I think there is nothing further to be said." Hicks opened the door. As Ralph went out the two men bowed to each other. Ralph came over to me and told me of his encounter with Hicks. "Well, Ralph," I said, as he finished his story, "cer- tainly you have cleared the decks for action." "I am glad I have," he said firmly. "The policy of repression suits me little." "I don't know what you have to gain," I said cau- tiously. COMING TO CLOSE QUARTERS "I do," he said. "Room for my feelings to work in. I am positively happy, Alex. Damn temporizing, I say." "But, Ralph," I persisted, "this is not your affair." "I shall make it mine," he said resolutely. "Have you any idea of Catrina's feelings? Per- haps "There shall no longer be any doubt," he said loud- ly. "I am resolved that she shall not wed Whitehead Hicks, not if I have " "Go on," I urged. "Oh! I have a choice of several courses, he said slowly. "You will go so far?" I asked. "Alex, I will go to hell if that is necessary." "Ralph, think, there is great danger in this mood." "Nothing can change it, Alex." "And Helen," I suggested, "are you thinking at all of her?" He became silent at this. "Then he cried: "She must share my fate, Alex." "Fate!" I exclaimed, disgusted, "you are not going to justify an unkindness by that sorry fiction of every hothead and rascal who kicks his duty out of doors or defies his conscience?" "Alex, don't say that," he pleaded. "Don't you know me?" "Know you, my boy who better?" He grasped my hand as I, carried beyond myself, continued: 2l8 THE HEART OF WOMAN "I love you, Ralph, because despite your ever-wav- ering nature I have seen that God has placed within you so much of that pure white light that is the only guide of poor humanity. It has burned dimly, my boy, of late. I have watched it. You mustn't extinguish it. Be careful ! The dim thoughts of many months found voice at that moment. Ralph shrank back from me. Falling into a chair he buried his face in his hands. "Oh, Alex, I love her, I love her," he moaned. The unspeakable pity of the thing overpowered me. I knew I was not face to face with a momentary senti- ment, or with selfish wilfulness. Facts of a different kind, the cruel misplaced results of two lives, were be- fore me." "I have guessed that, Ralph," I said. "I have fooled myself, fooled everybody, mistaken everything," he cried hopelessly. "Yes, yes," was all I could say. "I had dim premonitions," he went on, as though the confession eased him; "I put them aside because they were so vague. Duty seemed elsewhere. The in- clinations of a month had all the promise of a lifetime." "Exactly so," I muttered. "I understand." "Alex! Will anybody else understand? Sometimes I don't think I do myself. I was sure I would be hap- py in Helen's strength and loveliness. I had no other thoughts. I would have been happy if " "Ah, the 'ifs/ Ralph," I said with pity. "I have not changed, Alex," he went on, "not a bit, COMING TO CLOSE QUARTERS 2 19 believe me. I love her still that's what puzzles me that is I love her just as I have loved her from the first. I love her in that way so well that I would kill this other love," he continued fiercely, "but I can't. I have tried. It is my life, Alex! Am I a knave? What am I? Tell me, if you can." "You are no knave, Ralph," I said, "but you must be more than that. Our virtues must be positive." "Good God! I don't shirk the hard path," he ex- claimed. "Prove it!" I cried. "There is only one way by taking it." "Where will it lead to?" he asked hopelessly. "What comfort can I be to any one? Of what use as I am? The facts will remain, Alex, though I deny them in my prayers every day." "I am no preacher, Ralph; last of all would I make a sermon of your agony, but my whole belief speaks to you when I say, that no matter what the cost of life may be, there is only one way to pay the lesser price for it." "Martyrdom!" he exclaimed. "Be it so!" I said; "you cannot avert the revenge of facts. Your only choice is between meeting it nobly or basely. The sum must be worked out. Two and two will make four no matter from which end you count. The dirty end, the dirty result there will be no less suffering in that without the offset of a single valid recompense. The question is this : Wil-l you lift your head in face of your troubles, or will you bend it?" 22O THE HEART OF WOMAN My words touched him. Pale to the very heart, I knew, he stood before me as he cried: "By God, I will not bend !" "Be that your oath !" I said, my eyes full of tears. "There shall be knights of Heaven's nobility and the chivalry of a quiet purpose in these dull days of ours !" "How you ennoble me, Alex!" he cried, taking my hand. "That is not given to me, Ralph," I said, verily humbled by this high result. CHAPTER XXI. MISS RUTHERFORD'S MESSENGER. HICKS was no laggard. He assumed the offensive at once, by driving early the next morning to the house on King street. Usually his visits were addressed nom- inally to Mrs. Heathcote. On this occasion he asked directly for Miss Rutherford. Ralph had already left the house on some business connected with the papers turned over to him the day before, and it was not until Mrs. Heathcote told him on his return that he knew Catrina had gone driving with Hicks. "I am surprised you allow it, Aunt," he said, angrily. "I see no reason to prohibit anything so harmless," said the old lady; "Mr. Hicks is one of our oldest friends." "As though I don't know that, Aunt! But do you know Mr. Hicks is boasting that he will marry Ca- trina?" "There is nothing so very dishonorable in that," said Mrs. Heathcote, sniffing; "if I was a man I would say the same thing and mean it." The old lady had never quite forgiven Ralph the dis- appointment of her hopes. Ralph saw it was useless to carry his objections fur- ther in that quarter at that moment. There was noth- ing to do but to wait until Catrina returned. He made 222 THE HEART OF WOMAN up his mind that he would then talk plainly to her about Hicks. He couldn't believe that Catrina would take another step along the road she was traveling, af- ter she had heard his disclosure. "She doesn't know what a villain the man is," he thought. "It is strange that she tolerates him at all in that role. Yet women are subject to queer caprices. Has not Catrina already half confessed that her vanity, ambition (Heavens, what is it?) is flattered by that scoundrel's attentions? Should she persist " While musing thus Ralph was standing by the win- dow looking vacantly into the street. As though this dreadful possibility had suddenly shaped itself before him he turned around so quickly that he nearly knocked out one of the panes. He returned several times to the house to find whether Catrina had come home. After dinner he was bound to escort Helen and Mrs. Heathcote to Mrs. Wade's, and as that lady's house was situated near St. George's Square, indeed close to the mansion afterward occupied by His Excellency, George Washington, he was absent on this duty a longer time than on any of the other rounds. He had barely left the house on this mission when Catrina entered. Old Dinah noticed as she admitted her young mistress that she was flushed and excited. Catrina asked at once for her Aunt. When the negress said Mrs. Heathcote had gone out the girl hurried breathlessly upstairs, where Dinah found her later, sobbing bitterly on her bed. MISS RUTHERFORD'S AIEZSEXGLR 223 "Then a great big soldier who- could only say, 'yah, yah,' brought a letter for Mis' Catriney," was Dinah's story, "and when I gave it to missey she looked at it ever so long and then she tore it open and read it and brushed her hair back and went down stairs as stately as a queen and began writin' in the parlor." It was there Ralph found Catrina, when, after leav- ing his wife and his aunt at their friends,' he returned home. As he entered the room Catrina looked up from her writing just to give him a glance. She bent her head over her paper, and continued writing without saying a word. Ralph sat down and waited. He began to count the panes of glass in the windows, and to draw imaginary lines from picture frame to picture frame to check his impatience. He listened to the scratching of Catrina's quill as it dashed along, hesitated, resumed, then finally stopped. Its sputtering at times seemed almost vocal. Ralph found himself striving to find words for the sounds. Twice Catrina tore up the sheet she had filled, and each sundering sounded like a screech to Ralph. He smiled at his fancies. Finally Catrina ceased writ- ing. She reread her letter and then placing it before her on the table with a sigh, gazed at it, her face resting on both her hands. "Is it hard to find words, Catrina?" asked Ralph, unable to contain himself longer. "Yes," she said with a sudden start, "but I have found them." 224 THE HEART OF WOMAN "I have been watching you," said Ralph. "Have you?" she asked softly. "That pen of yours," continued Ralph, "seems to have been speaking a language I couldn't understand." He was speaking merely of the fancies of a moment before. He had no intent to question, but his words were curiously significant to Catrina. "Speaking to you?" she asked in surprise. She paused, considered for a long time and then con- tinued like one resolved. "Speaking to you, Ralph? No, you have little love for my correspondent." These words brought Ralph quickly to his purpose. Walking to the table he said : "I don't intend to be rude, Catrina, but may I ask are you writing to Mr. Hicks?" She felt glad in answering: "Yes." Ralph's fingers tightened. In Catrina's manner there was something of defiance, and he felt he was about to plead a lost cause. "Catrina," Ralph began, "I have long wanted to have a serious talk with you." Here he found it difficult to proceed. "Have you?" she asked smiling nervously. "What it is about?" "About Mr. Hicks," said Ralph quietly. "Catrina, I beg you to renounce all acquaintance with that man." Seized with a daring that astonished herself, Ca- trina said: MISS RUTHERFORD'S MESSENGER 22$ "He told me you would, Ralph." "Did he dare to tell you why?" cried Ralph. "He told me you had quarrelled with him over some money matters and were his enemy." "He lies!" cried Ralph. Ralph's anger was pleasant to Catrina. She regard- ed him half fascinated as now, standing before her, he poured out his long tale of Hicks's dishonesty and treachery. "Now you can understand," he concluded, "why I am interested in knowing what your relationship with that man is. Is it serious, Catrina?" For lack of words, and dominated by a purpose that set every nerve quivering, she pushed over toward Ralph a letter from among the papers in front of her. It was from Hicks. While Ralph was reading it Catrina was free to scan another document of infinitely greater interest at that moment Ralph's face. Twice Ralph tried to read the letter. The words slipped from his eyes and blurred. Only the purport of the lines stood forth Hicks's fervid pleading that Catrina would answer in the affirmative his request of the morning that she would consent to be his wife. Again a sense of triumph flashed through Catrina as she witnessed the pain reflected in every line of Ralph's face. "You promised to consider that question?" he gasped. "I asked for a little time and promised " 226 THE HEART OF WOMAN "And your answer?" he asked, sternly. "I have I would " she faltered. "Catrina, you be his wife his wife !" cried Ralph. "Yes," she muttered. "No, it shall never be !" Ralph's violent prohibition alarmed her. There was a ring in the voice that made her gasp for breath. When Catrina welcomed Ralph's first approach to this subject she had not the slightest idea of the passion she was about to stir, or that she would madden one whom she hoped at most to sting. As she answered Ralph's questions one by one her heart beat faster, and the desire for the revenge of love forced her on. She had been mute so long. She rejoiced in this last op- portunity to make a confession by denial and speak her heart's meaning, even in an inverse sense. "You have no right to forbid me," she said, striving to assert herself. "No right!" exclaimed Ralph, hopelessly. "My God, don't I know it !" Catrina felt her heart pulse in her throat. Thought was impossible. Wild joy, the cry of many days, filled her. "I must marry him," she said, exultantly. "Sooner I would kill him, or even you," cried Ralph. "I must marry him," she repeated. "You love him?" asked Ralph, fiercely. Catrina bent her head. "Ah !" cried Ralph, triumphantly, "it is so ! You will not marry him, Catrina. Thank God !" MISS RUTHERFORD'S MESSENGER 227 "Oh, Ralph, Ralph," she pleaded, "I must. Don't you know, I must." "No, Catrina," said Ralph, softly, bending toward her, "you shall marry no one until you can give him your love." "My love?" asked Catrina, wildly. Fear and joy shone in her eyes as they met Ralph's. As to Ralph, a joy akin to madness filled him as he said: "My love, then, Catrina the love of yours that is mine mine !" She covered her face with her hands as she cried : "Hush; hush, Ralph!" "The words at least are honest, Catrina," said Ralph. "Still, they are only words. You have nothing to fear." "Nothing to fear," she said blankly. "It is not fear, Ralph." The hopelessness of the situation appalled Ralph. "Catrina, I'm a scoundrel to make you suffer. I de- serve to be shot. "Ralph," she said rising. "Don't you know if I could, I would wrap my life around you to shield you? Suffer!" she continued almost delirious. "Suffer! I will suffer for you gladly always. Oh! I am happy now." Bursting into tears, she placed her head on the table and sobbed. Events had so far transcended Ralph's calculations that he was dumfounded. He ached to comfort Ca- trina. He had passed the limit of words. Mrs. Heath- 228 THE HEART OF WOMAN cote and Helen would be home again shortly. He had not yet settled with Hicks. "Catrina," he asked "where is your reply to Mr. Hicks?" "There," sobbed the girl, pointing to her letter. "I may tear it up?" he asked. "I don't care what you do with it," she said sadly. Ralph tore it into a hundred pieces and threw them on the fire. "Now, Catrina," he said, returning to the table, "an- swer that letter again." "What do you want me to say, Ralph?" she asked helplessly. "Whatever your heart dictates. I will not tear it up a second time." "What my heart dictates," she murmured as she seized the pen and wrote: "I cannot be your wife. I don't love you. This is final. I can only beg you to forgive me if it hurts you." She handed the note to Ralph. "Seal it and address it," he commanded. She complied. As he rose she asked alarmed : "Where are you going, Ralph?" "To deliver this," he answered holding forth the let- ter. "You?" she exclaimed. "Do you object?" he asked. "I object to nothing, Ralph, any more." He went to the door. Turning around he advanced to Catrina and took her hand. MISS RUTHERFORD'S MESSENGER 22Q "Catrina," he said, "I am partly mad I believe. I must think if I can. I don't know what to say to you. I have said too much much more than I intended. Forgive me. Can you?" "Forgive you! For what, Ralph?" "For being fool, coward and knave," he replied bit- terly. "If love came at our bidding, Ralph," she said with delicious softness, "we could send it away at our will. Its reality consists in its being beyond our control. For a thousand reasons I wish I didn't care a little for you. But," she added, her voice vibrating, "for one one one reason, I rejoice, and if that brings me suffering, don't fear that I would put it away from me if I could." Catrina said this with a sweetness that went far be- yond the words. It was the benediction of love ac- ceptation of its martyrdom. Ralph bowed his head and, not daring to trust himself, hurried out with the letter. He went directly to Hicks's house. The noise of the streets stunned him. The promanaders floated before him like moving specks in the clear blue afternoon air. The red brick houses, the patches of green budding foliage, the drab of the streets everything seemed unfamiliar, with a far-off strangeness, as though after a long absence he had returned to old haunts. He was surprised to meet Hicks, elegantly attired in scarlet and lace, leaving his own door. Ralph was so deeply preoccupied he almost ran into his enemy. To 23O THE HEART OF WOMAN cover his surprise he saluted courteously. Hicks drew himself up haughtily. "I have a letter for you," said Ralph. Hicks instantly recognized the superscription. Yield- ing to his anxiety he tore open the letter. His face changed color to an ashy gray as he read it. With a look full of hate he turned upon Ralph contemptuous- ly: "I am sorry," he said, "I haven't the coin with me or I'd pay Miss Rutherford's messenger at once for his service." CHAPTER XXII. CATRINJS COMMAND. DURING the remainder of the week Catrina was con- fined to her room. Her nerves, after the long tension they had suffered, completely gave way. Yet during these days of exhaustion there were moments of de- licious calm for her, when she lost herself in some vague distant spring land, lying deep in the blue May sky, into which she gazed with half-closed eyes through the window near her bedside. Ralph during these days walked the earth sadly, striving to find some process for himself that would restore its ancient beauty and give to his existence again its lost healthy tone. He told me the whole story one pleasant afternoon as we sat on the rocks near Whitehall. The rising tide was filled with sea odors and the water gurgled among the stones as the summer waves rolled in. "What would you advise me to do, Alex?" he asked, as he finished his sad recital. "I can think of no other medicine, Ralph, but ac- tivity." "That's the remedy to which my mind also perpet- 232 THE HEART OF WOMAN ually turns," he said. "If I could only feel the spur of some interest !" "There are surely spurs enough," I said, "for a young man." "True, there ought to be. Somehow they have lost their prick." "That's only a momentary insensibility," I said hopefully. "I trust it is," he said. "To-day anything I turn to must have in it some element of the extreme." "Not despair," I said. "No, I am righting hard against that. I hope I am still a bit of a man." "You hinted you were about to return to the Manse," I reminded him. "You must see," said he, "that's out of the question for me just yet a while. It's too quiet. No place would be so haunted with voices as a prison. The still- ness would be forever speaking; the walls would re- flect back the pictures in one's eyes. Isn't it so?" "I see your point," I answered. "If not the Manse, where else? You can't stay here." "I have no such idea," he said. "Where, then?" I asked. He hesitated before replying. "Now, don't jump at me when you hear what I have to say," he began. "Consider fully the situation I am in." "I will," I promised. "Well," said he, "I am determined to enlist." CATRINrfS COMMAND 233 ''Enlist?" I cried, my promise going to the winds. "You'd make a fine Hessian !" "You mistake," he said. "I go with the flag of my country; not its government." "Why, your very bones are Tory !" I cried. "Your father's instinct is only accidentally suppressed in you.' "Helen's are not," he said. I saw at once the road his determination was taking. "Does Helen know?" I asked. "Know what?" "Anything." "She may guess a little," he said, "but know she can- not." "If she knew all, Ralph, would she ask you for this " "Atonement?" he repeated. "Atonement, then," I said. "Don't you see the real purpose of your own plan?" "I am not looking very curiously," he said, as he tossed a piece of driftwood into the water and watched it bob up and down on the waves. "She will never permit it," I said. "She must," he asserted positively. "My mind, Alex, is made up." "The American cause looks like a lost cause now," I suggested. "What of that?" he said, laughing. "I am destined to take to lost causes. What do you think?" He was in a headstrong state these days. I noticed he went with great determination upon his course. Catrina soon* moved about the house again. Ralph 234 TH E HEART OF WOMAN avoided her in the most set manner. Catrina sup- ported him in this. No doubt she understood and sympathized with his action, but I judge there was torture in it. Only once did he depart from his plan, and that exception, no doubt, he had determined upon. He induced her to visit the old house at Greenwich with him. "It is my last request, Catrina," he urged, and I can understand how this compulsion overcame the girl's scruples. They went, without a word, along the road he and I had taken a year ago. The house was in charge of a caretaker, but he led the way around the terraces down into the orchard. Dear me ! The strongest of us have a sense of some sort for sentiment. Our feelings curiously tend to seek their intimate situations. When we know the cup is poisoned we find some desperate satisfaction in drink- ing the lees. It is senseless to charge the dying with being morbid or to ask them to view things with our healthy eyes. There was none too much of health in Ralph at that time, and his thoughts were for the most part merely so many reflections of his feelings. The old caretaker saw the two and came out to give them welcome. Ralph, after listening to her chatter for a time, excused her with the statement that he and Catrina had made the trip merely to see how the or- chard was promising. As the woman hobbled away, Ralph said: 'The orchard hasn't changed, has it, Catrina?" CATRINA'S COMMAND 2$ 5 "No and yes," she answered. "I didn't mean to bother you again," he said. "I simply couldn't do without a moment with you to finish some half-said things. No other place I could think of offered an opportunity but here." "I have come with you, Ralph, because you com- manded, but isn't it better for both of us to leave those half-said things unsaid?" "If you wish it so," he said. "I have no wishes that clash with yours," she pleaded. "I will say nothing you would not wish me to say. I am going away," he continued, "which is the only proper course if anything is proper now." "That is best, I suppose," said the girl, bending her head. "You don't 'suppose,' Catrina you are sure." "Yes, I am sure." "In a few days I shall join the American army." "Ralph!" cried Catrina. "Why not?" he asked. "But that isn't the question. Some step has to be taken. I see no other quite so satisfactory. Do you?" "No," said the girl, hopelessly. "Before I go, is there anything I can do for you, Catrina?" "Me?" she asked. "No, Ralph, nothing." "I have confessed to you," he went on, "what I ought to have kept secret " "I I read it," she said, softly. 236 THE HEART OF WOMAN "You cannot belittle my fault by accusing yourself." "It would have made no difference, Ralph, the other way." "Sometimes I see it all that way," he said, "but now I am anxious to guard you against any extreme while I am away." "That matter is ended," she said, referring to Hicks. "Nothing else of that desperate kind is possible?" he asked. "Nothing now," she replied, solemnly. "Remember, I am speaking only of forced steps, Catrina. I am not covertly asking a pledge." "Pledge !" she cried. "I understand, Ralph. Neither in that sense do I make any promise that might trouble you, but but " Rebelling tears choked the girl. "Never mind, Catrina," he said, tenderly. "I think I understand." "Do you?" she supplicated. Then she burst forth: "I I at the end of my life, Ralph, I will be waiting here to to bless you." "Catrina, I am a pauper before you with nothing to offer." "Yes, you have, Ralph," she cried. "Return to me some day, Helen and yourself hand in hand." "Is that" he faltered. "My command," she cried, hysterically. CHAPTER XXIII. BURNING THE BRIDGES. RALPH decided not to hesitate to burn his bridges be- hind him. He appealed to me to aid him through my personal acquaintance with some of the leaders of the American cause. I was glad enough to do this. Of course, I recognized the step he contemplated was a desperate one. I knew also there was something better than desperation in it. I hoped the new life he intended to plunge into would in the end completely restore his peace of mind. There were undoubtedjy great hardships ahead, but if he joined the Continental army they would be endured in a cause that even in his eyes could be by no means ignoble, and with men a majority of whom had cast upon the issue more than the mere adventurer's stake. When Ralph returned with Catrina from Greenwich he sought Helen at once. She was in the rear garden, assisting Mrs. Heathcote, who at that time of the year was always deeply interested in her flower beds. The scent of lilac filled the air and the spring beauty and promise formed a melancholy contrast to Ralph's bitter hopelessness. He shrank from the cruelty of disturb- ing Helen's apparently happy content. 238 THE HEART OF WOMAN "Look at the buds already on this rose-bush," she said to Ralph. "Won't it be beautiful in a few weeks? Don't you think the spring has come very quickly this year?" "Yes," he assented, his mind faltering with its pur- pose. "It seems only the other day the frost left us. Dear me! that is full of buds, Helen, isn't it?" "Isn't it?" repeated Helen, joyfully. "This ought to be a great year for roses." He was glad to linger thus with Helen, stretching to the last moment even the semblance of the old rela- tionship. He followed her around from plant to plant, helping her in her labors. "Where have you been all the morning, Ralph?" Helen asked carelessly, as she stooped to disentangle the leaves of a large geranium. "Oh !" exclaimed Ralph in a low, uneasy voice, "Cat- rina and I made a trip out to Greenwich." "To Greenwich! You and Catrina! Why didn't you tell me?" Helen lifted her head as she put this question. "No particular reason," answered Ralph, slowly, "unless just at that moment I didn't want to say any- thing about it." "Oh!" said Helen, thoughtfully, as she bent down again over the flowers. For a space neither spoke. Helen's thoughts were busy. Ralph hesitated to begin with his subject, partly from a sense of cowardice, and partly from abhorrence of inflicting a wound the depth of which he was unable BURNING THE BRIDGES 239 to foresee. Looking around he saw that his Aunt had stepped within doors. He took Helen's hand and said : "Helen, let us sit down for a few minutes in the sum- mer-house. I have something to tell you." "What is it, Ralph? Has anything gone amiss, dear?" Helen instinctively feared and she tried to read some- thing in advance in Ralph's face. "You are not well?" she asked tenderly, as she seated herself beside him in the little arbor. "I am well enough in one sense," he replied, study- ing the ground. "But, darling, you have been troubled about some- thing for some time. I have seen it." "Have you?" he asked, watching her closely. "Have you guessed the cause?" "I have tried to, Ralph, and and at times I have fancied perhaps it is because I don't make you happy." "And at other times?" "I have thought I might be mistaken," she said, slowly. Silence fell upon both of them again. Each alike felt it was something to have said so much. Ralph sat staring before him. Tears were master- ing Helen when she threw her arms around her hus- band and begged : "Tell me, Ralph. What is it? Don't I deserve to know?" "It is all the other way," said Ralph, kissing her. "You are so good I ought not to have to tell." 240 THE HEART OF WOMAN "Ralph, I can endure anything but doubt and fear." "Fear of what?" "That we are apart ever so little." At these words he shrank back, dismayed, from his resolve. "Tell me, Ralph," pleaded Helen softly, stroking one of his hands. "I wish I knew how to, so that you wouldn't mis- understand." "I have never misunderstood you. Why now?" "Because in one sense, Helen, love is intensely sel- fish." "Selfish!" she exclaimed. "Selfish Helen, I mean where its own interests are concerned." "Don't say that, darling," said Helen. "Love would sacrifice everything, renounce everything " "Everything but love," interrupted Ralph. "Everything but love !" Helen repeated in a dazed way. "Oh, Ralph, what do you mean?" "I mean love is intolerant of anything that even for a moment, no matter how caused, interferes with "Ralph, go on, go on," she beseeched. "What is it you are trying to tell me?" "Helen, I hardly know myself. You won't under- stand. I shan't be able to make you understand." "You are not trying," she said in a tone kindly but direct. "It is not so hard to be direct if we mean the facts to be understood." "That is all well enough," he said bitterly, "when the BURNING THE BRIDGES 2^1 truth is a simple matter. It is easy for me to say I was in Greenwich this morning, but perhaps I might talk to you forever, before you would understand pre- cisely why I was there as I understand it." "Perhaps you fear I would understand too well," she said with spirit. "Perhaps," he replied sorrowfully. " Too well' is exactly what I fear." Ralph's vagueness struck Helen as a purposeful in- directness. She instantly guessed what he was hover- ing around. A score -of little suspicions and trivial de- tails of the past winter returned to her now with start- ling vividness. "Ralph, are you speaking at all of Catrina?" "I am, Helen," he said solemnly, "but I implore you, for your sake and mine, to pause in your con- clusions." Helen paled. The garden she was staring into was blotted from her sight. Ralph placed his head on her shoulder and this act recalled her. With a shudder she threw her arms around him. "I have feared something, Ralph. I have seen and I have been blind. What is it?" "It is so weak to say it, Helen, but it has been be- yond me. Do you understand?" "No, Ralph, I don't. It is so strange after after all." "Yes," he repeated, "after all. I didn't know, Helen, or rather I didn't realize, but she has been in it all from the first." 242 THE HEART OF WOMAN "From the first!" cried Helen. "From the very first, from the old days when we were almost children together." With a cry of pain she said: "And now I am in the way!" Ralph attempted to put his arm around her, but she withdrew. "No! no!" she cried. "I don't know what excuse to make to you " he began. "Oh, don't try," interrupted Helen bitterly. He continued. "If indeed any excuse is really valid. I shall not be surprised if you spurn me instead of helping me to fight-" "Fight for what?" she asked. "For you," he replied. "Isn't it rather late?" she replied. "To fight for you," he repeated angrily; "to continue to fight for you to the end. Don't be sarcastic, Helen, or superior. Are you so strong that you never can falter in anything ever, or am I so base that I am un- worthy of forgiveness or help? Do you want to teach me that the only unpitying judge in the world is the woman who once said she loved me?" "You are cruel," she cried. "You may well say that, Helen, if you desire merely to close my lips. If I had stolen, you might still par- don me, if I had murdered, you might still help me; but because I tell you of that which which I have fought BURNING THE BRIDGES 243 against, weakly if you like, but with some suffering, you have neither forgiveness for me nor the pity of the stranger." With a cry she turned to him. "Don't say that, Ralph. I can pity you, and " she faltered "I can forgive you if " "If what, Helen?" "Oh, Ralph, don't you love me?" "I do, Helen, though probably you won't believe me, because in some respects I have to qualify it." "Ralph, there is only one love possible. Either I possess it or I don't." "As I live, Helen," cried Ralph vehemently, "you are mistaken. As I loved you at first I love you to- day. You were satisfied; you would have continued so to the end." "You are trying to fool me," said Helen. "Will you tell me one thing?" "I will tell you anything, but the risk of misunder- standing must be yours." "Could you tell any other woman you love her?" "I could not deny it were I asked," Ralph replied. Helen rose. Her pride was stricken. ,"I am in the way, then; I knew it," she said bitterly. "Go to her." "Yes," said Ralph, "that is the inevitable attitude. Love usually is no more freely given than the shop- keepers' wares. In both cases we may obtain only on condition we pay the price. The force of the argu- ment is on your side now, but you are not right. I 244 THE HEART OF WOMAN shall say nothing more, for it's useless. My course was determined some days ago, though I did hope it would be in another spirit your bidding would go with my departure." "You are going!" cried Helen in alarm. "Oh, don't fear; not to her. Were I as free as the winds I would flee her." "Where are you going?" Helen asked blankly. "To join the Continental army." "No, no, Ralph !" she implored. "Your own cause, Helen is that nothing to you?" "I didn't mean, Ralph " she faltered. "I don't know what you meant, Helen. Now, I don't know what you think of me," said Ralph, "but there are some things you shan't misunderstand. I won't let you believe I am seeking any selfish ends or taking the easiest path. There is nothing that I would do but fight this out under your standard, whether you have me or not." "You mustn't go, Ralph. Stay with me." "And be doubted and silently suffered." "It will not be so, Ralph." "It will be so," he insisted. "I promise you." "You can't promise that, Helen. Belief is like love not to be controlled. A minute ago I told you I loved you, despite well, let me say it boldly my love for Catrina. Now, answer me as I answered you. Do you believe me?" "Ralph, don't ask me. Kiss me." BURNING THE BRIDGES 245 Ralph kissed her as he said: "You can't answer me? You don't know whether you can believe me, do you?" "I can't understand it," she said. "Time will show, Helen. If you have no faith to- day, is the future, the clear truth of what I tell you, worth hoping for?" "Need you ask?" "No," he said. "I think not, and that's enough." Mrs. Heathcote was coming down the garden. "Come, Helen," said Ralph, "I have much to ar- range with you. Let us say no more about this." "But you won't go?" "Help me to be true to my own ideals, Helen, and don't protest." After the evening meal Ralph told his Aunt of his determination to join Gen. Washington's forces. Helen and Catrina were seated at the table within the light of the candles. Ralph expressed himself in a jocular fashion. He said his sympathies were always with the under dog, and as in this case the nether animal was hard pressed, he felt like giving him what help he could. Alex had promised to assist him in the initial steps. "I never knew there was a martial streak in our fam- ily, Auntie. Did you? Isn't it queer it should break out now?" Mrs. Heathcote turned to the two girls. Both were occupied with their thoughts. The work they were doing served as an excuse for not lifting their eyes. The old lady understood the meaning of the silence. 246 THE HEART OF WOMAN She had received hints enough lately of the situation to prepare her for this plan of Ralph's. In telling of the refusal sent to Hicks, Catrina had half confessed the meaning of the interview she had had with Ralph re- garding her letter. Now, as she viewed her silently disunited family, Mrs. Heathcote sighed. "Is this irrevocable, Ralph?" she asked. "It is the very best step possible," answered Ralph. "Dear! dear!" said the old lady. "How impossible happiness is! I counted so much on you, Ralph." "You can still, after a little while." "A little while," she repeated; "that is all that is left to me." "I am sorry, my dear Aunt. For your sake and that of others I wish there were another course. What else do you see?" "Oh!" exclaimed the old lady, petulantly, "all I see is a huge mistake." The tears were in Catrina's eyes. She hurriedly left the room. Mrs. Heathcote immediately followed her. Ralph went over to Helen and put his arms around her. She lifted her pale face to him as she said, wistfully; "A huge mistake, Ralph." "My darling wife, my Helen, that's what the world says. It is for you and me to prove it wrong. Help me, Helen; I will pay you back." "Oh, Ralph, I wouldn't be worthy of the love I want from you if if I wouldn't share the struggle with you to the end." "And forgive me?" he pleaded. BURNING THE BRIDGES 247 "I think if I could understand it I would find there is nothing to forgive." "Not quite that, Helen," he protested, as he bent down and kissed her. Before the end of the week Ralph departed with Helen for the Manse. The farewells were hastily made, as though every one shunned the ordeal. The parting was almost as between strangers. When Catrina said good-by to Helen she longed to kiss her in the old affectionate way, and a prayer for forgiveness fluttered to her lips. But Helen contented herself with saying "Good-by, Catrina," and the impulse froze, and all that remained of it was : "God bless you, Helen." Scott was delighted to welcome the couple home. He had no idea how flat his sly jokes about bride and groom fell upon sad ears, or how pathetic were his re- marks about the honeymoon journey and the necessity for settling down at home at last. Ralph and Helen agreed not to say a word to any one regarding their unfortunate position. Later they might be happy enough to retrace their steps over the road they had traveled in the last few months, and they judged it prudent not to leave behind any witness of their old discomfiture. When Ralph told Scott of his purpose to join the Continental army the old man stood for a moment swallowing his surprise; then he exclaimed : "Egad ! What is there a woman can't do with a man ! 248 THE HEART OF WOMAN She makes him and then remakes him! I wouldn't have believed it possible, Helen. I swear I wouldn't. Well, you've got the bit in his mouth, and no mistake. Just like you, my girl! It's a good cause, Ralph a noble cause one I have sacrificed something for, as you know. Give me your hand. I'm prouder than ever of you." CHAPTER XXIV. THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FATE. AT this time, it will be remembered, Gen. Washington had withdrawn his army into the New Jersey moun- tains above Quibbletown. The British headquarters in the field were at Bruns- wick. Thence by way of Amboy communication was held open with New York. These were the only points in the Jerseys left in possession of the British. Gen. Howe was in command, with Lord Cornwallis, Lieut. Gen. De Heister and others. Since the battle at Princeton early in the year the army seemingly had been committed to a policy of complete inactivity. Never surely was generalship more impotent, or utterly lazy. In New York, I remember, we heard almost daily of little outpost affrays which were invariably dignified by rhetorical military language in the reports as though they were affairs of importance. Presently the humor of the thing penetrated even the Tory intelligence. People began to ask when the serious business of stamping out the rebellion would be taken in hand. 25O THE HEART OF WOMAN So far something of the air of a picnic had attached itself to the British operations. Certainly, many of the officers were acting as though they were engaged in holding a series of reviews instead of successfully prosecuting a war. New York was very gay. Diver- sions of every sort were kept going with indefatigable energy, and whenever the movements were not car- ried too far afield from the city pleasure followed the army like a lot of aristocratic baggage. Hicks figured among the gayest. The rebuff he had received from Catrina didn't upset his high spirits in the least. He was evidently making money. His rooms became notorious as the scene of the most reck- less gambling of the time. With imperturbable good humor he continued to visit Mrs. Heathcote, and when the old lady attempted to hint that his presence might be distressing to Catrina, he replied: "I trust I may still be permitted to occupy my old position, though I am denied the higher one I aspired to. I am too old, Mrs. Heathcote, to carry around a broken heart, too seriously attached to you and the young lady to refer again to an incident that for me is closed. I have too few friends to allow you to cut me off unless, indeed, you think I merit it." "Like yourself, Mr. Hicks," said the old lady, "I have too few friends left to wilfully dismiss one." Hicks sighed. "Time dismisses us fast enough," he said. Then he added, "Pray, what has become of my young friend Ralph and his fair bride?" THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FATE 2$ I "You don't know?" asked Mrs. Heathcote, inno- cently. "I thought all his friends knew." "Unfortunately Ralph and I had a little falling out. I regret it deely. Youth is hotheaded, Mrs. Heath- cote, and well, to be fair, I must add old age is often tender of its dignity. But it won't do to tell tales be- hind any one's back. It will all blow over, I hope. Where did you say he was?" Mrs. Heathcote hesitated. "It is no secret, I suppose," urged Hicks. "No, no," said the old lady, "I'm sure you are still his friend." "A few rash words cannot efface the memories of years," said Hicks, assuringly. "Perhaps I can still be of service to him." "I am afraid not, Mr. Hicks, you are on the wrong side. Ralph has joined the Continental army." "The rebels!" exclaimed Hicks in triumph difficult for him to hide. "Don't judge him too hard. His wife's influence is accountable for it." "To be sure ! Dear me ! Dear me ! Perfectly clear ! I must say it does honor to his heart if not to his judg- ment. Where is he serving?" "With a Col. Clarkin's regiment of dragoons some- where near Morristown, according to the last word we received from him." "Umph ! Dangerous position !" said Hicks, thought- fully. "I am going out to New Brunswick myself in a day or two with Gen. Howe. I believe there are some 252 THE HEART OF WOMAN important operations afoot. It would be curious if I should catch sight of the young fellow, wouldn't it?" As near as I could find out Ralph at that moment was stationed in the hills just above Scotch Plains with a corps of about one thousand men under the command of Lord Stirling. There is a pass at that point through the mountains, and this force was acting as an advance guard. Some of the men were quartered in the village at the foot of the gap. There were only a few scattered houses there, the largest of which, owned by a farmer named Meeker, stood at one corner of the crossroads. Ralph had the good fortune to be quartered here with Col. Clarkin himself, and fifteen others, including a Dr. Rowley. Ralph had struck up a close acquaintance with this man, and, as with all friendships he made, this one was destined to greatly affect his career. Rowley was a Jerseyman born in those parts. I judge there was somewhere a streak of Irish in his fam- ily. He possessed the happy, irresponsible, good-na- tured spirit of the Celt a most companionable man, daring, resourceful and sympathetic. He was of fine stature, had a deep bass voice and his pleasant eyes twinkled out of a mass of dark hair that almost entirely covered his face. He was originally a blacksmith. Ralph met him first at Morristown, shortly after he presented himself to Col. Clarkin with my letter. It was some little ailment incident to change of living that threw him into Rowley's acquaintance. "Pulse normal," he said in his jolly way, holding THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FATE 2$$ Ralph's wrist and scanning his face. "Grog is what you need, my young friend no piddling pills. Medi- cine's a farce, with a grim epilogue, once in a while. Doctors' reputation is based on the fact that sick men only die once. Look at me ! Would you believe it, I am sick, my constitution broken and what's left of me covered with a tormenting itch? Ah, listen to that violin! Isn't there in that gut something soft and tender, stirring to the passions? It's the most endear- ing sound in the world, always excepting the whisper of a woman's voice close to your ear." He rattled on in this style, to Ralph's great amuse- ment. 'Then you don't think there's anything the matter with me?" "With you? Nothing that the worst to come won't cure." "You offer a cheerful remedy," said Ralph, laugh- ing. "One you needn't thank the apothecary for!" cried Rowley. "You're a bit homesick, my boy, for the sweet felicities you've left behind you. I know the symptoms melancholic gloom. But when you've vomited sickish food half the time, as I have, you'll find you've emptied the contents of a surfeited heart. Come to my tent; I've a little grog there. If you've an ear for music you shall hear a song of mine extolling war and Washington. This is a great place of penance for a glutton." Rowley was well nigh a specific for Ralph's malady. 254 THE HEART OF WOMAN He added almost a touch of the homely to the raw, in- hospitable novelty of the camp and its rude, hard life. Wherever he went the man radiated his abundant vi- tality and good humor. It was impossible to be gloomy in his company. He was forever saying or doing the unexpected. Even his perpetual longing for food and his complaints about his own physical ailments had an air of something very close to purposeful geniality about them. He had a great liking for music, though without a bit of a voice himself. As soon as he dis- covered Ralph could sing tolerably he commenced to prize his fellowship with a warmth that pleased Ralph as much as it astonished him. Night after night he sought the young man and carried him off to sing homely melodies to himself and his company. "None of your confused music for me," he would say. "And only occasionally the rollicking. I like the melancholy air something with just a touch of wretchedness and despair in it. You have the thing, Mr. Tennant, down to the perfection of a disease." "That's a fearful compliment," said Ralph, joining in the laughter of Col. Clarkin, Major Wells and others who were cronies of Rowley. "I don't mean it to be such, my boy. A man ex- tracts his superlatives easiest from his own profession, and I gave you one out of mine. And faith, when you think of it now, do you believe a robust, well-fed, porky nature was ever attuned to music?" "Egad, doctor, you've got to explain away your own case !" cried Adjt. Moore. THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FATE 2$$ "Myself!" exclaimed Rowley. "Wasn't I hinting at myself, with my broken constitution? How could you miss the point when it was so near you? Clear your throat from the bottle beside you, Mr. Tennant, and if you please we'll start where we ended last night with 'The Sentinel's Grave.' ' Whether we indorse Rowley's opinions upon the nature of music or not, certainly it is a quick and strong source of attraction between individuals. If Rowley was a happy discovery for Ralph the benefit was re- turned in full. "You're just the antidote I've needed, Mr. Tennant" said Rowley. "If I liken you to a medicine, don't think you mayn't regard me as a friend." "After all the ill you've told me about pills and bo- luses!" said Ralph laughing. "Don't mind my similitudes if you can get at my meaning," said Rowley. In this way a treaty was concluded between the two men that was soon in full effect. By and by intelligence reached headquarters that the British below were in motion. Their movements were at first taken to indicate an attack. Gen. Stirling, with a detachment including Ralph's regiment, was ordered to Scotch Plains. The weather was extraordinarily warm, the roads so dry and dusty that the long march over the hills from Morristown severely tired the men. Scouting parties were immediately thrown out to cover all the roads from New Brunswick by way of Metuchen and Woodbridge. The activity of the British, how- 256 THE HEART OF WOMAN ever, was confined to their own camp. Small parties were detached on petty marauding expeditions result- ing in the capture of a few prisoners and the plunder of the homes of a number of inhabitants in the country around. Elizabethtown was surprised at night by a party of Highlanders and Hessians, who succeeded in burning some stores collected for the Continental army before they were driven off by the militia. But these operations were so desultory and purposeless that it was difficult to divine their object until word was re- ceived from Staten Island that the British were prepar- ing to embark at Amboy for New York. This news was hailed with delight by Gen. Stirling's little army, particularly when word came down later from Wash- ington's headquarters that reinforcements were coming and operations were to be commenced to harrass the enemy's retreat. On the day this news was received, Rowley burst into the little back room of the Meeker house, where Ralph was sitting struggling to darn some stockings in the fading light of the gloaming. The windows were opened wide upon the garden to admit the faint even- ing air. Some robins were singing their liquid "Hurry up. Hurry up," in an old apple tree, and from the woods beyond came the many sounds of the camp. "Hurrah ! Hoorooh !" cried Rowley, throwing his cap on the table. "What are you up to, my boy. That isn't the way. Give it to me. Let me show you. First you must run a lot of parallel threads. So. Then let me see. Oh, yes. You go in and out, up and THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FATE 2 57 down, this way. Try it yourself. Hold ! You mustn't pull on the string; that only puckers it." "What were you hurrahing about?" asked Ralph, stopping his work to wipe the perspiration from his face. "You said you wanted something to do." "Well?" "You've got it. Lieut. Fryer and a dozen more are ordered to Westfield to-night. You're one of them." "What's it all about?" "Don't know exactly. Something's on foot." "I am sorry you are not included. "That's the fun of it, my boy. I am going. I begged in as guide. Gosh ! I know every tree around here !" "Where is this Westfield?" asked Ralph. "A little place about three miles away. There's a road there leads right on to Rahway. Rahway is on the road to Woodbridge, and from Woodbridge you can follow your nose to Brunswick. See! Hurrah! Sing up !" "Hurrah!" said Ralph. "When do we start?" "At eight. Say, Ralph, there's an old flame of mine near Westfield, and I swear if Mary Hadsell doesn't decapitate half a dozen chickens for us to-night she'll have no more charm for Rube Rowley." Shortly before 8 o'clock Lieut. Fryer mustered his little company and explained that the first objective of their nocturnal march was Farr's farmhouse. "Don't I know it!" exclaimed Rowley. "Shoulder- ing one of its stone flanks almost on the highway. It's 258 THE HEART OF WOMAN a disreputable, dilapidated place you're taking us to, Lieutenant." "No doubt," said Fryer. "We are after disreputable characters. Did you ever hear of the Farrs, Rowley?" "Did I ever? Who hasn't around here! The en- tire family are only one remove from bandits." "Well," said the Lieutenant, "last night they broke into Mr. Marchand's house, killed his son " "Charley Marchand?" exclaimed Rowley. "I believe so; plundered the house, insulted the women and whipped the old man, half naked, almost into the camp here. The orders are to arrest them." The march at first was along the road that ran east- ward, skirting the base of the hills. Before the out- break of troubles it was a route much traveled by those who preferred to make their way to New York by land instead of by sloop from Perth Amboy. It was in ex- cellent condition and overarched by trees that excluded the light of the clear, moonless night. The men moved rapidly through the cool evening air in which there was not a sound except the shrill trill of innumerable frogs. Instead of branching off at the road leading directly into Westfield, upon Rowley's advice it was de- cided to continue on further and take a cross road that passed directly in the rear of the Farr farmhouse. This lengthened the journey by perhaps a mile, but the ad- vantage was apparent when the men were halted be- hind the clump of big trees through which twinkled the lonely ray of a solitary lighted window. "There are three doors," whispered Rowley, "one on THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FATE 259 this side and one in the basement in front, and one on the veranda just above it." In a few minutes the house was surrounded. Men were stationed behind the trees with orders to stop any one attempting to escape. Fryer with Rowley, two troopers and Ralph marched up the flight of rickety steps and knocked loudly on the upper door. The knocking was repeated several times before any sound was audible within. Then slow, shuffling foot- steps were heard, and the door was timidly opened by a gray-haired hag. She held a light, which illuminated her wrinkled face. Her eyes were struggling with sleep. She gazed in a dazed way at the soldiers as they brushed past her and entered the stuffy, scantily furnished room she had just quitted. It contained only a few chairs, a rickety tossed bed and a table, on which were the remnants of a meal. In one corner sat a young man, who rose in a crippled manner when the soldiers entered. He re- garded them with staring eyes as though speechless. His excitement was evinced by a rapid twitching of his long, distorted fingers and a nervous jerking of the head. "What do you want?" drawled the old woman stand- ing at the doorway. "Where's Eb Farr and John Farr?" demanded Fryer. "Oh, for the Lord's sake !" wailed the old woman. "None of that!" commanded Fryer. "Out with it! Where are they?" "Mister, they ain't here. I swar' to you." 26O THE HEART OF WOMAN "Search the rooms, boys. Who are you?" asked Fryer. "I'm their blessed mother," snivelled the old woman. "Oh, you are? Well, we'll take you along. Who's this dumb-head?" "He's my poor son, that had the top of his head blowed off and is paralyzed. Don't be hard on us, mis- ter. We've done nothing." "Where are the other two? If you don't tell me I'll hang both of you before morning." The old woman dropped on her knees and clung to Fryer's legs and wailed: "Spare us, mister! We haven't done nothing. Don't be hard on a poor old woman. It's only this morning we helped one of your ladies and the gentle- men with her." "Who were they? Where were they going?" asked Fryer. "I don't know who they were, but they were fine folks." "Where were they going?" "I I swar I don't know, mister. Don't be hard on us." "They were go go going to er er Collins's," stammered the young man, struggling hard to speak. "They wer'n't," shouted the old woman. "You idiot blast you !" Rowley entered. "There's not a soul in the house but those two," he said. THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FATE 26 1 "Do you know where Collins's is?" asked Fryer. "Collins? Yes? He's a forsworn Tory. Lives on the hill beyond Westfi eld. What of him ?" "I believe our game is there to-night." "No, no," cried the old woman; "you're wrong. You wouldn't believe a poor idiot like him?" pointing to her son. "Well," said Fryer, decisively, "we're goin' to see. If you tell us the truth it will go easy with you two. If you don't you'll hang sure. This is your last chance' if you want it." "T tell them, mother," sputtered the young man, upon whom the proceedings were having a demoraliz- ing effect. "Tell nothing!" cried the old woman. "I'd sooner hang." "Wi will you sp spare us if I I I tell you?" asked the young man, approaching Fryer. "Don't you dare, or I'll curse you," cried the frantic woman. "Take her out, Connor," commanded Fryer. The trooper was compelled to drag Mrs. Farr, curs- ing and struggling, into the hallway. Fryer shut the door to drown her cries. "Now," he said, addressing the paralytic, "tell us." "Wi will you spare us? Her, too?" "Yes. Go on." "They h have have go gone to Co Col ins's." "After that lady and her friends?" 262 THE HEART OF WOMAN The young man nodded his head. "Plunder, eh?" "Sh she's rich," said the fellow, with evident ad- miration. "No doubt," ejaculated Fryer. "Come on, boys. Bring that chap along." "What shall we do with that old hag outside and this cripple?" asked Rowley. "Lock them up somewhere in Westfield for a time. The constable will care for them." The village was about a mile away. The distance was quickly covered, although part of the road climbed a steep, rolling hill. Ralph enjoyed the excitement of the midnight march, and told Rowley it was the first bit of fun that had fallen to him for months. At West- field the two prisoners were committed to the charge of the constable. "Have you heard any thing of the British moving along the Metuchen road to Scotch Plains?" he asked. "No. Who told you they were?" asked Fryer. "A couple of boys who passed through here this evening said as they were." "Don't believe it," said Fryer. "They were hoax- ing you. Howe's got tired of camping in Jersey, and started for New York this morning." "That sounds more like it," said the constable slowly. "You say you will be back for these two?" "Yes, in a few hours. You know Collins? How is he acting now?" "All right now. Tame as a lamb." THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FATE 263 "Have you heard anything of the company he has to-night? A girl with a couple of fellows?" "Oh, yes ! They hired a rig of me to drive over to Morristown." "Who are they?" asked Fryer. "You tell! Blessed if I can. A spry lot. They paid all right." "Aha !" cried Rowley, "the plot deepens now. We've got a wench in it." CHAPTER XXV. C4TRINJS MESSENGER PAID. COLLINS'S house stood on a knoll amid a plantation of firs, somewhat nearer to Rahway than to Westfield. Henry Collins was a loyalist of means. He had been a member of the Council, but retired a few years before the outbreak of war, partly on account of age, partly perhaps in order to take his leisure, for he was still in vigorous health, despite his years. He was a widower with two daughters, elderly old maids, for the mar- riage of whom it was said the parent offered a tempt- ing reward. Every year rumor increased the sum, until finally many of the married men around wondered why it was ineffectual. Collins himself was a tall, si- lent, hard-fisted man. Though his neighbors joked about him and his daughters behind his back he said nothing, but superintended the tilling of his fields, which were by far the finest in the county. He was an indefatigable worker, a taskmaster who spared neither man nor beast. At eight o'clock every evening his house was closed and the inmates retired. The only suspicion he allowed any one of moments of relaxation was derived from the occasional sight of him driving home, his head sunk on his breast, taciturnly drunk, CATRINA'S MESSENGER PAID 26$ with the reins loose on the horse's back. No one dis- covered where he went for his liquor, but the old gray horse, who knew the roads like a dog, was always a sign to people that the master was bound on a spirit- ous expedition. When Fryer and his men reached the house, con- trary to all experience it was ablaze with light. In approaching it a careful search had been made of every possible hiding place where the Farrs or any com- panions who might be with them could have secreted themselves. It was a fruitless effort, the purpose of which no doubt had been frustrated by the unwonted gayety within the house. But the light and the evi- dence of life at that late hour had a very different effect upon the disappointed troops. "Shall we make them a call or return to Westfield?" debated Fryer. "Their welcome can't be less hospitable than this empty midnight," said Rowley. "There's an air of food about the place. I've no prejudice against Tory mutton. Have you, Ralph?" "No, indeed," said Ralph. "Well, let's try it," concluded Fryer. When Fryer knocked at the door it was opened by an elderly woman, who regained her tongue only when her master from within an adjacent room demanded : "Who is it, Kate?" "Soldiers !" repeated the servant, looking at the three men before her. "Soldiers!" exclaimed Collins. 266 THE HEART OF WOMAN Ralph heard a woman's voice, followed immediately by the appearance in the hall of the master of the house, accompanied by a lady. The next moment two other ladies and two gentlemen stepped forth. "Continental troops!" exclaimed Collins. "What does this mean?" The lady who first appeared placed her hand on Col- lins's arm and gently drew him back. "Why, my dear Mr. Collins," she said, with the pleas- antest surprise possible, "are you so astonished these days at the sight of a soldier? This officer will explain his mission if you won't keep him standing with his back to an open door." "Yes ! To be sure ! Come in, gentlemen," said Col- lins awkwardly. The party reentered the parlor with Fryer, Rowley and Ralph. The room was brightly illuminated. Its prim, cold furnishing contrasted strangely with the laden supper table, from which, evidently, the unexpected knock at the door had summoned the eaters. Rowley was immediately attracted to the young woman who had so far taken the most prominent part in the reception. As their eyes met she encountered his regard without the slightest appreciable recogni- tion. Nevertheless, there was in her glance an inde- finable suggestion of easy familiarity. Her name was Margaret Curzon. She was perhaps thirty years of age, tall and well shaped. Her abun- dant dark hair was rather stiffly drawn over a narrow CATRINA'S MESSENGER PAID 267 forehead and thence down behind a pair of exquisitely delicate shell-like ears. Her complexion was fresh as a cherry blossom and her small red lips covered a fine set of teeth, which she displayed frequently with a dry titter that often served her in place of words and in moments of nervousness. Her general air was that of a grand lady, but this was denied perpetually by a subtle contradiction of manner and tone. The other two girls Dorothy and Mary, Mr. Col- lins's daughters were dried, old-fashioned specimens of spinsterhood, awkwardly out of place in the strange company around them. The two men, a Mr. Spiers and a Mr. Roebuck, were both young gentlemen of pretentious manners and in- clined to a flashy garrulousness. There seemed to be a good-natured understanding between them that the entertainment their host had provided was of an excep- tionally fine sort and merited their constant attention. Fryer introduced himself and his two companions by name, and then briefly explained to Mr. Collins how their intrusion had come about. Mrs. Curzon evinced the highest interest in the narrative. "Damn rogues, those Farrs!" said Collins venom- ously. "They ought to have been exterminated long ago. They wouldn't be troubling any one now if the numbskulls around here had listened to me." "What a dreadful position !" cried Mrs. Curzon, put- ting her hands before her face with affected alarm. "Perhaps they're staring in at us now through one of these open windows. I suppose even a murderer has 268 THE HEART OF WOMAN a choice about victims. Dear me ! which of us is the tid-bit?" "There's no doubt about the tid-bit," said Rowley, laughing in his loud way, "though I'm not so sure of the victim." "And you're a doctor!" said the woman, glancing archly at Rowley. At the same time she was studying Ralph, who stood beside the doctor. "You mustn't ask me to confess my misfortune in public," said Rowley. "And you've cut people up?" "Both living and dead." "What a wretched feeling you must carry around with you. I hope Mr. Collins will give you a seat at the other side of the table. You see, Mr. Tennant," she whispered loudly, "I'm gently reminding our host of his duties." "How's that?" asked Collins, who had lost himself for a moment in thought. "I was suggesting that we all resume supper," said Mrs. Curzon in a delicate tone of command. "You think that's best?" asked Collins. "Why, my dear man, what could be better?" Then she added, gayly: "The balance wasn't quite right be- fore. Do you know what I mean by 'balance,' Doctor? A companionable meal is like a good see-saw, isn't it? goes best when the weights are even. You've played the old game, haven't you?" "Haven't I?" replied Rowley, boldly; "and if you were on one end, madam, and I on the other, you might CATRINrfS MESSENGER PAID 269 remedy any little deficiency in weight by creeping a little closer." "Doctor!' she exclaimed, in reproof. "Madam !" 'Take your seat, sir, on that side of the table, where Mr. Collins can reprove you if you transgress again. I'll give Mr. Tennant a place at my side." Rowley was eager to get to the table, but Fryer de- murred. "My men are outside," he said, addressing Mr. Col- lins, "and I hardly- "Soldiers outside !" exclaimed Mrs. Curzon, in a tone of alarm. "How foolish ! To be sure ! Didn't you tell us? No wonder I saw eyes through those win- dows. Poor fellows! How many are there?" "We are not an army, only a dozen," said Fryer, a man who was extremely diffident in the society of women. "Bring them all in! Eh, Mr. Collins?" asked Mrs. Curzon. "As you say," muttered Collins, "but are you think- ing" "Bring them in!" commanded Mrs. Curzon. Then changing to her playful tone she continued : "If there isn't enough to go around some good fellow shall have my share rations, you call it, don't you?" Fryer protested against intruding too far, and in this he was joined by Rowley. The matter was settled by the men being summoned to the barn, where Collins, at the dictation of Mrs. Curzon, ordered a meal served. 2/O THE HEART OF WOMAN Then the host and his guests sat down to the un- finished supper. There was not only abundance to eat, but plenty to drink, and in a short time Rowley and Mrs. Curzon had the table in a very jolly mood. Even old Collins became talkative. The two old maids tittered and giggled at the rather coarse fun of the two young men, who pretended to make love to them. Rowley strove to understand Mrs. Curzon. She was evidently the centre of the situation. Plainly she was playing a part with him. Was she merely a flirt, a woman openly in search of admiration at any risk? The Doctor had a full share of vanity and was ready enough for an adventure, out there was some- thing public in this invitation quite inexplicable in the light of his past experiences. However, lie was not a man to allow the ball, whatever it meant, to be tossed to his side without endeavoring to return it. "Doctor, please uncross those knives," she said with a shudder. "Do you know I'm terribly superstitious? Tell me a cure for it." Marriage or any other commonsense thing." "Oh, I've tried that old remedy," she said, tossing back her head. "That's commonplace, not common sense. I thought you'd suggest something new. Really, Doctor, my life is made miserable by supersti- tion. I can't see a pin without picking it up, nor spill salt without throwing some over my shoulder, nor go under a ladder, nor put on my stockings in the morn- ing " CATKIN 'A 1 S MESSENGER PAID "What fatality is attached to that innocent and in- teresting proceeding?" asked Rowley, laughing. "Don't you know?" she asked, innocently. "No, indeed!" "I thought everybody knew. You know you mustn't dress one foot completely before you've put something on the other." "As you have made this a professional consultation, pray tell me how you get over the difficulty?" Rowley's eyes were twinkling at his own audacity, but Mrs. Curzon was a match for him. "Oh!" she said, in the most innocent way. "First I put on my left stocking, then my right stocking, then my left shoe, then my right." "Excellent!" exclaimed Rowley. "And I'm safe, despite my ignorance! My practice, though, is quite the reverse of yours, but it goes a little further, to in- sure greater safety." "How is that?" she asked with an arch challenge. "Well," replied the Doctor, soberly. "I first put on my right, mark you, my right, stocking, then my left, then my right boot, then my left; then my right gar- ter " Here Rowley broke down and burst into uproarious laughter. "You see," he cried, "my plan is more extensive than yours." "You mean, sir, your capacity for description carries you to greater lengths." "No," said the Doctor, scratching his head. "I'm 272 THE HEART OF WOMAN a plain man, and don't believe in leaving anything to the imagination." "He's outrageous! Isn't he, Mr. Tennant? By the way, you are of Col. Clarkin's regiment?" "Yes," answered Ralph, surprised that this woman, who had paid him so little attention, should ask that question. "What makes you ask?" "Nothing," she replied, indifferently. "I wasn't quite certain I heard Lieut. Fryer correctly. Besides, when the Doctor leaves us in the morning I want to be sure of his address, in case my case should grow worse." "I'm afraid it's a prescription you need more than a doctor's address," said Rowley, boldly. "You shall write one for me in the morning?" "In the morning!" said Rowley. "I am afraid I'll be over the hills and far away then, as the song runs." "Do you tire so soon of our entertainment? I took you for a more gallant man, Doctor. To leave me in . What do you call it?" "In the lurch?" he suggested. "Indeed!" she went on. "We are only beginning the night. Mr. Collins, I am afraid our guests are getting dry, and Miss Dorothy might give us some music. Who sings? Do you, Doctor? Ah, I know you do. There's music in your voice. He sings, doesn't he, Mr. Tennant? I am sure I can get the truth from you." It was plain the lady was set upon making a night of it. She would accept no refusal. She spurred Mr. CATRINA"S MESSENGER PAID 273 Collins to press his guests to remain, and not count the hours. Mr. Spiers, a red-haired little man, said in a lame way: "It is all so jolly it would be a shame to break up." Mrs. Curzon cajoled the Doctor, declared she must have a dance with him. All doctors danced elegantly. She wanted to hear Ralph sing. Their unexpected visit was a perfect god-send to lonely company shut up in a country house. She appealed to Mr. Collins whether that wasn't so, and the host replied he sup- posed so. What was another hour or two, she asked gayly; no one could miss it. Then she trilled in a high falsetto voice : The hour that we steal from the night, my love, Is an hour that we give to the day. She suggested more grog. Lieut. Fryer should mix it this time. She was sure there was some military recipe for the drink, a species of tradition which never deserted the ranks. Rowley supported her high spirits to the utmost. He had drunk enough to be reckless, and the air of abandon that had fallen upon the party conquered him completely. Fryer and Ralph succumbed to it in turn, and soon everybody, including even the two old maids, were given over to a feverish hilarity. Rowley sang, Ralph sang, old Collins resurrected the remnant of a voice and croaked with a great deal of pride a number of ancient glees. The two young men rendered some comic songs, and Miss Dorothy played the harpsichord indefatigably. Every one was in an exhausted and 274 THE HEART OF WOMAN half-befuddled condition when the first light of day- break dawned in the east. The fresh morning air, filled with the twittering of the awakening birds, came in through the windows and dispelled the spirit of the revelry. "We really mus' be going," said Fryer unsteadily for the twentieth time. He was sitting on the sofa half asleep. "No, no," cried Mrs. Curzon eagerly. "At any rate not until the daytime. We'll breakfast and then part. Eh, Doctor?" "Fair enchantress!" exclaimed Rowley, rolling to- ward Mrs. Curzon, with his hand placed over his heart. "Who who shall deny you? Breakfast! Command us ! Lead on ! I'll follow you to the la st dish ditch." "Did your lips stumble onto the truth then, Doctor? Dish or ditch, which is it?" "Both, my fair, so long as you " The sentence was interrupted by a shot, followed by a discharge of musketry. The firing was so close to the windows that the smell of gunpowder quickly filled the room. Fryer, Rowley and Ralph fled to the door and were met by a number of inrushing British troops. "Treachery!" cried Fryer, as he and his two com- panions were roughly seized. "At last !" cried Mrs. Curzon, as she dropped into a chair. "I thought they would never come." A few minutes later Lord Cornwallis and a brilliant company of officers entered. With them was White- head Hicks. Ralph was standing against the wall in CATKIN A 1 S MESSENGER PAID the hall between two grenadiers. As Hicks brushed past him, with a superb air of triumph, he said : "I hope Miss Rutherford's messenger is satisfied with his payment." It was a clear confession of a plot, but victim as he was of it Ralph could not see the machinery of the trap that had caught him. Had he been within the parlor and overheard the hurried words between his enemy and Mrs. Curzon he would have understood. "I thought you would never come," said the woman as Hicks bent over her. "You managed well. You're a great girl. He swallowed the letter?" "No," she said in a tired way. "The letter never reached him. It was all accident. The devil worked for you." "Don't call yourself names," said Hicks laughing. "No matter how gained, I'm your debtor." CHAPTER XXVI. IN THE ENEMT'S HANDS. CHANCE certainly had played cruelly against Ralph. In every detail Hicks's plan to ensnare him had failed except in the result. The letter purporting to be from Catrina, which he had concocted for Mrs. Curzon to carry to Morristown, had failed of delivery. Although Ralph did visit the appointed trysting place he was not unaccompanied as directed. The British troops en route to attack Lord Stirling were hours late in setting out, and even later in passing the Collins House, never- theless Hicks's triumph was complete. Save for that momentary passage in the hallway, Ralph saw nothing of his enemy, but he felt constantly the vicious pressure of his hand. Ralph and his fellow prisoners of war were sent to Amboy. A few days later they were transported with the entire British army to New York. On arriving in the city they were marched up Broadway, passing within sight of Mrs. Heathcote's home, to the new jail where Cunningham was provost marshal. Hicks's hope, no doubt, was that Ralph would be incarcerated in that pitiless prison, but when Fryer's little troop, in- IN THE ENEMTS HANDS 277 creased greatly by other captures, arrived before its ominous doors it was so full, even in the inhuman cal- culations of the authorities, that only twenty men of the batch were taken in. The remainder were faced about and distributed among the other prisons in the city. Fryer and most of Clarkin's men were locked up in the New Dutch Church. Ralph and Rowley and three others were lodged for one night in the Rhine- lander sugar house, and then transferred to the prison ship Jersey. The jail was probably more comfortable than the ship, if I dare speak of degrees at all in con- nection with these pest holes, but certainly in the latter Ralph was spared the effect of Hicks's direct influence, which, no doubt, would have been exerted through Cunningham. The Jersey was an old dilapidated hulk that had been battered in battle with the French fleet. She was originally a sixty-four gun ship. She had been stripped of figurehead, masts and rigging, and lay anchored like a rotting derelict near the tide-race, a short distance above the Brooklyn ferry. She had already acquired a ghastly reputation. Filth and Pestilence, Despair and Death were the most tireless members of the guard that day and night watched over crowded decks. Other sentinels came and went, but these ghostly sentries re- mained at their posts. Ralph and Rowley were put aboard early in the fore- noon. They found they were numbered with about a thousand other unfortunates, who packed the deck so densely that it was well-nigh impossible to take a step 2/8 THE HEART OF WOMAN without jostling some one. Hot as the noonday sun was, the fierce striking heat was preferable, as the new comers soon learned, to the stench and suffocating at- mosphere below. Rowley squeezed a way through the, crowd, and Ralph followed him to the old quarterdeck. Then they turned and surveyed their situation. The heat quivered in the air. It burned the eyes. It fell like the breath of something molten on the backs of the crowded mass of men. It was reflected from every surface, from threadbare coats and from the pale skins of disease-stricken faces. On the quarterdeck were a few persons, evidently visitors. They gazed at the sight below with the in- terest of spectators watching wild beasts in captivity. Some one, perhaps $lit of pity^ ordered a bag of apples thrown to the prisoners, and, then ensued a scramble so hideous in its ravenous intensity that Ralph and Rowley, in dismay, pressed back hard against the deck- house, fearful of being trampled under foot. When the surging had subsided, Rowley turned to Ralph: "Well?" he said, tightening his lips. "Well?" repeated Ralph. Neither could say more. A lank individual standing beside them munching an apple asked : "You're new fellows here, I reckon?" "New!" exclaimed Rowley. "It's more like forty years already!" "Wait till you've been here five months, as I have, and had dysentery twice and smallpox." IN THE ENEMTS HANDS There was a sardonic note of superiority in the speech. "I'm glad you feel like bragging," said Rowley, an- grily. "I don't covet the honor." "It is something, though," said the fellow, indiffer- ently, spitting out the core of his apple. "Wait till you see the corpses go over in the morning. Somehow it isn't the healthiest that stand it." "Gosh!" cried Rowley, speaking to Ralph. "I un- derstand now what Job got out of his comforters !" But if the day was painful the night was hideous. At eveningfall the prisoners were sent between decks and battened down with iron gratings. There were no lights and the square-barred portholes admitted only a faint phosphorescence. Ralph and Rowley found them- selves wedged in an unseen crowd of beings that jostled, yelled and cursed like demons in the darkness. It was useless to struggle. Indeed, at the moment, neither had much feeling for a fight. Dejection was the first symptom of the prison disease, and its last stage hardened indifference. Between the two was the relief of death. When the struggle subsided sufficiently our two friends sank down to a place for themselves on the floor of the deck. Pressed against them were unknown forms. The air was too suffocating for sleep. The lungs panted, the blood throbbed in the brain. The heat was insufferable. The stench was like some solid infiltration. Yelling of various kinds was kept up pur- posely for hours. Slowly as the hours wore along a 28O THE HEART OF WOMAN tragic peace settled down upon the prison crew like the waters closing over drowning men. But even the final quiet was occasionally broken. "Thief ! Look out ! I've lost something !" cried some- body. Instantly there was commotion amid the mass of in- cumbent forms. Every one was feeling for his few possessions. Presently the man who had raised the alarm cried : "All right, I've found it." "What was it?" yelled a voice. "Only my pillow. It got into my ear !" Laughter and hooting rose again. Several times Ralph thought the stillness at last was permanent, and tried to keep his eyes closed, but re- peatedly someone disturbed it. "Cobb's gone mad ! Look out ! He's got a knife !" was the final cry. Delirium was no uncommon visitor to distracted minds. Half the sleepers jumped to their feet in terror. What was written on their faces the darkness hid, but their horror-stricken feelings of expectancy seemed for a moment to electrify the air. But this time the alarm was false, and as midnight settled without over the quiet city the silence of exhaustion and disease reigned on the Jersey. It required three days to dull the acute sense of hor- ror that these scenes created in Ralph and Rowley. The two were so overpowered by the situation in which they found themselves that they passed the days almost IN THE ENEMY'S HANDS 28 1 mutely with one another. Both felt it utterly useless to discuss their position or denounce the cruelty of it. The indefinite prospect before them seemed intolerable and morning after morning, as they saw the sick or the dead carried away they wondered in what manner they themselves would finally disembark. Rowley did one afternoon set out on what he called a tour of inspection. Thinking had become oppressive and he was seeking relief in activity. "I want to study where we are, and find out who's aboard. Do you want to come?" "No," Ralph replied. "Are you getting desperate?" "For the last half-hour I've been looking at that baby-faced sentry there. He's got so used to this thing that he doesn't notice it. My fingers are itching to wring his neck; I mean actually wring it." Rowley went through the motion with his hand. "There's a strength in my blood now that could break iron. Is it a sense for murder? You don't have that sort of feeling, do you? I can't lay down. I'm like an old rat; I must gnaw something." When Rowley returned he was in better mood. "Did you meet any one you knew?" asked Ralph. "No, but some one I was glad to know. I tell you, Ralph, the poorest man is carrying around merchandise he doesn't know how to use. That's why moping doesn't pay." "What did you find?" "An idea, Ralph, an idea with a twinkle, the merest twinkle, of daylight in it." 282 THE HEART OF WOMAN "Tell me," suggested Ralph. "No, not yet. I must think it over. It's useless in its present condition. I got it from the queerest little pardieuing Frenchman. He has just got over the yellow fever. When he found I was a doctor he poured out his tale of how they maltreated him yonder on one of those hospital ships. Before I got through with him I had caught his disease " "Yellow fever?" cried Ralph. "No, the shrug of the shoulders. I swear I don't think my eyebrows are straight yet. When he finished I couldn't help saying, 'Eet is ter reeble !' That started him afresh. He threw his arms around me and told me of an 'ange,' or something of that kind but I guess it's a woman left behind at Aix-le-Bains, in Savoy." After this Ralph noticed that Rowley spent much of his time pondering something and in scrutinizing every one who visited the Jersey. On the fourth morning a deputy purser named Willis came aboard. He was a frequent visitor a fat little man with goggle eyes, who strutted around with an air of great importance. Rowley had spoken to him once with ill success at first, but he stuck to him and hu- mored him until the fellow had said as he departed : "If there is ever anything I can do for you, Doctor, of course I'll be glad to." This morning he was standing close to the quarter- deck, not far from the post where Ralph and Rowley usually stationed themselves. IN THE ENEMY'S HANDS 283 Ralph was gazing wistfully over the bulwarks to- ward the Manhattan shore when Rowley leaned over his shoulder and whispered: "Don't move and don't look around. I think that amiable friend you've told me of is on the deck above scanning the crowd. If I'm right, he's looking for you. He's with Admiral Arbuthnot, and I'm pretty sure some one addressed him as Mr. Hicks." Ralph started. "Keep still ! He's a tall, big fellow, clean-cut face, dark eyes, quite dressy." "Yes, yes," said Ralph, eagerly. "He hasn't spotted you yet. Keep your head down. I want you to turn around suddenly. If it's he hail him at once pleasantly." "For Heavens- "Shutup! Do as I tell you ! Do it friendly!" "I can't, Rowley!" "Go on, man; play the part. I have a plan." "Plan!" exclaimed Ralph, bitterly. "Mighty little good any plan is here." "Never mind ! Do as I tell you, quick ! Wave your hand to him; say, 'How do you do, Mr. Hicks. Hope you're well.' Hurry up now. Much may depend on it." With this he gave Ralph a pull that almost turned him around facing his enemy above. The suddenness of the move deprived Ralph for a moment of possession of himself. His eyes met Hicks's. Instinctively obey- ing Rowley's orders, he hailed him. 284 THE HEART OF WOMAN "How do you do, Mr. Hicks? Are you well?" If Ralph was surprised at his own act Hicks was fairly dumfounded. Involuntarily the old habit of speech sprang to his lips. "Ah, my boy," he cried. Then he added, "I'm glad you take things so easy." "How are you?" asked Ralph, gaining control of himself. "Delightfully well, as you can believe." "That's good news," said Ralph, now enjoying the audacity of the play. "How's every one?" "Splendid!" said Hicks, enthusiastically. "I hope I shall see you again?" "I shall not lose sight of you, don't fear." The sarcastic ring was rising in Hicks's voice. Rowley pulled Ralph around. "Don't stand there jabbering with those " Rowley said this loudly and roughly, as he jerked Ralph away to the centre of the boat. He didn't finish his sentence, but when he was out of earshot he whis- pered : "Immense! I had to stop you, Ralph, for fear another word would spoil it. Stay out of range until he's gone. Remain here. I must leave you now for the second act. I'll be back soon." For the first time since they came aboard Rowley's spirits were jubilant. Ralph hadn't the faintest idea of his plan. Whatever it was this last phase of it must have been a momentary inspiration, for it was impos- sible that Rowley's moody cogitations of the past few IN THE ENEMY'S HANDS 285 days or his scrappy chats with his fellow prisoners had led him to contemplate any action with Hicks. Ralph watched him press through the crowd till he reached Wills. He saw him lead the deputy purser aside, and then he lost sight of him. It was useless to speculate upon his companion's scheme, which Ralph felt must be utterly vain, and he turned his eyes to Hicks. The sleek, jaunty and superior air of his enemy worked upon him like acid, and he felt rising that sense of mur- der Rowley had spoken of. "You devil !" he thought, "shall I ever be quits with you? By G d, if I get a chance at you it shall be for a bigger stake than you ever gambled for before." He watched Hicks as he was rowed ashore, and traces of the hate must have lingered in Ralph's eyes, for Rowley, returning at that moment, asked: "What's the matter, Ralph?" "I feel as you did about that sentry." "Towards his Highness, eh?" "Yes. It's terrible, Rowley, when another human being affects you like a burning iron." "Good ! Let the iron work ! Press against it ! I want you to keep there for a time. Tell me, would you kill him?" "Fairly? Yes." "Bah! Fairly! Has he been fair? Are we here fairly? Damn your soft ringers ! I owe him much less than you do, and yet if he was within striking distance of me now I'd die if I couldn't grind my heel in his face. Be a man! 286 THE HEART OF WOMAN "I shan't be less if I ever meet him." "That sounds better. Let's get into that corner where I can whisper to you. Now listen. You under- stand there's little chance for us if we stay in this hell- hole." "Mighty little," Ralph assented. "There are thousands of corpses on that shore yon- der under four inches of sand. That's the risk we run if we stay." "If we stay!" exclaimed Ralph. "I didn't know they'd given us much choice." "It isn't what they give us; it's what we can take." "Oh! this is your plan?" "I'm coming to it, and it's a good one, with just this little danger attached to it we may get a bullet through our heads." "That's a small matter," laughed Ralph. "But when you play for a win on chance, my boy, you must take your chances. Ninety-nine points in your favor and still you may be defeated by the hun- dredth, ninety-nine against you, and the one may let you through." "Is it so desperate as that?" asked Ralph. "Not quite," said Rowley; "but there's a fine touch of the desperate in it. It began with that Frenchman I told you of. He was telling me what a scurvy lot these Englishmen are and how they bled the little money he had from him on the hospital ship. 'Are they that bad?' says I. 'Are they! They sell every- thing, even la mort,' says he in his broken lingo. 'Ex- IN THE ENEMTS H4NDS 287 cept freedom/ I said, correcting him. 'There's a price for that, too,' he sighed. 'Expensive, I suppose?' I said. 'A hundred pounds,' he said, 'is what the little lobster-eyed man asked.' ' "The deputy purser?" exclaimed Ralph. "The same," said Rowley. "It appears when he found the Frenchman had money he dropped him the hint." "Why didn't he accept?" asked Ralph. "The other fellows hadn't left him enough. And be- tween us, Ralph, neither have we, for two. That is the point that's been worrying me. Do you see now why I asked you to do the friendly to Hicks this morning in the presence of Wills. I wanted to make an effect on Mr. Deputy-Purser." "And?" " "So far everything is fine. I took him on one side and hinted to him in the pleasantest way that he was about to lose one of his guests. I asked him if he had seen the gentleman who had hailed you. I told him he was trustee of your estate wealthy, friend of the Ad- miral's, friend of everybody. You had merely gone off on an adventure after a girl. You understand? Then I suggested there \vas money laying around for some one, and it was a pity it should not go to the right party. He was shy at first, but by and by he asked how much. 'Perhaps 500,' I said. "Five hundred pounds !" cried Ralph. "It was as easy to be rich, Ralph, as poor. The amount dazzled him." 288 THE HEART OF WOMAN "It does me. We haven't got it." "We've more than a hundred, though, and damn it, think of it, Ralph you can give him a draft on Hicks for the rest." Ralph laughed outright. "Lord, I'd give anything to be there when that draft's presented," said Rowley, joining in the laugh. "But look here, this afternoon he is coming to you for the money. Mind, I've spoken only of your escape." "Without you !" "That's it exactly. I knew you'd take it that way. Show him the money and the draft and I'll leave it to you to bargain me in." "I wouldn't go alone, Rowley." "Good! tell him so. It's as easy for him to man- age two as one, and he'll see it, particularly as I have hinted to him that others are after your cash." "But suppose he goes to Hicks?" "He hasn't got the draft yet, has he? I haven't even told him of it. He doesn't know Hicks's name, and he won't until you tell him. He'll be on duty then." "In the meantime he may find out." "That's our risk. We won't be any worse off. When you see him, mind, be independent. Treat my plan as though it were an intrusion. Indeed, perhaps you've half made other arrangements. Who knows? I don't." Rowley winked and began to whistle. Late in the afternoon Rowley brought Wills over to Ralph. "Mr. Tennant," said Rowley, "this gentleman has IN THE ENEMTS HANDS 289 been more courteous to me than others, and you'll do me a great favor if you can in any way thank him for it." With this Rowley walked away. Wills was eager enough for a. bargain, but he strongly demurred to the suggestion of the benefits being shared by another. "Never mind, then," said Ralph, indifferently. "If you can't see your way I'd rather leave matters as they are. One or two, the risk is the same. Besides, my friend was somewhat extravagant with my 500." The mention of the amount stirred the fellow's cu- pidity. "As you say," he said, dubiously, "whether it's one or two perhaps makes little difference." When Ralph was proceeding to produce the money Rowley joined them. The draft proved to be a serious objection. For a moment it seemed as though the negotiations had failed. "Do you expect any man to carry around 500?" asked Rowley. "Don't lose a good chance. The other fellow is willing enough and the money's sure. I have no doubt Mr. Hicks is arranging the matter without a penny, and Mr. Tennant is partly for waiting. You can come with us if you like, and get the money. There's no harm in telling you it's straight to Mr. Hicks we are going." Rowley's persuasions succeeded in the end, due, no doubt, to the fellow's fear that if he refused he might be putting away an unusual gain. He had witnessed I9O THE HEART OF WOMAN idea Ralph could be so astute. Really, I think he pulled the wool completely over the old fox's eyes. Perhaps this was due to the fact that he dropped en- tirely the subject of Johnson and those northern events. Ralph visited me often, and I rejoiced again in our companionship which now became very steady; but the more I saw of my friend, the more I detected or thought I detected a certain I won't say a false note, but a certain falseness of pitch. There was a strain somewhere, which resulted in frequent forced gayety, succeeded by hours of black dejection. With Helen, and of course I saw much of her, he was invariably thoughtful and kind, but it struck me dare I say it? there was a very little bit of earnest acting in it. The change of scene, the new life, the impressive company with which Mrs. Heathcote filled her house, were all very agreeable to Helen. She told me it pleased her more than she anticipated. "But it is such a useless life," she complained, as though the complaint justified her in sharing it. To Ralph the life was intolerable. "But what to do, Alex!" he exclaimed hopelessly. "Helen is becoming more Whiggish every day, until now she is an inveterate enemy of the government. And I, well, I am more indifferent than ever. Do you know, if it wasn't for Helen I believe I'd clear out of the country somehow. I wish one of those vessels that arrived in the bay this morning would take me off. THE POWER OF AN AFFINITY IQI As I watched them come to anchor and furl their sails they seemed positively to call me. The best step I suppose is to go back to the Manse." "You couldn't do better, Ralph," I hinted. "I know," he sighed; "Alex, the devil of unrest is in me." "Exorcise him !" I said. "With what charm, oh! magician?" "Hard work is a good medicine." "Aching sinews, eh? Well, that would be better." When he was in these moods he would sit sometimes for hours with an open book on his knees in a deep chair in a corner of the Heathcote parlor. There he esconced himself after he left me that afternoon. The ladies were busy upstairs. The fire crackled and as the winter day died its early death, the glow of the embers crept further and further out into the dark- ening room. The house was very still. The snow deadened the sounds outside in the street. The low croning of old Dinah, the negress, in the kitchen, exactly harmonized with the vague, half-formulated thoughts that were floating in Ralph's head. No doubt he heard the knocking on the outer door, but he paid no heed to it. He was half lost until the servant opened the parlor door and he was aroused by hearing : "Step in, if you please. I will tell Mrs. Heathcote." That moment was the last of the twilight. But for the pine logs the furniture would have been merely so many shadowy outlines. THE HEART OF WOMAN In another minute a light could be seen bobbing close to the water. 'They're after us," said Rowley. "Where are we? Never mind. Pull inshore." Before the two reached the New York shore their pursuers were in mid-stream almost opposite the land- ing where Rowley was setting his boat adrift. "They're going up-stream a bit yet. Good !" he whispered. "Let's run. Put this pistol in your pocket. There were a couple on the seat, and I took them." As fast as their feet could carry them Ralph and Rowley hastened at random through the lanes. They passed few houses and still fewer people, and in a short time found themselves on the Bowery. Here they halted. "It's fatal to go north," said Rowley. "There are outposts there. If we are seen these rebel rags will undo us. We must get rid of them somehow. How?" "There's my Aunt," suggested Ralph. "She could help us. But if they search anywhere it's likely to be there." "Still no one would think of that but Hicks. He won't know till morning. All we need is an hour or two and a change. The rest we can manage." Nothing better could be though of. In truth Ralph felt right glad when they slipped through the familiar wicket-gate at the end of the back garden and knocked at the kitchen door of Mrs. Heathcote's. CHAPTER XXVII. CATRINA PATS THE RANSOM. DINAH answered the summons. "For the Lord's sake, Mr. Ralph!" was her greet- ing. "Not a word, Dinah," said Ralph, as he squeezed her rough, black hand. "Keep your eyes and your lips shut. You haven't seen me, mind. This gentleman and I have escaped from the prison ship. We must make haste away. Where's Aunt?" The old woman was shaking with excitement. "Missus is in the parlor, I guess, with Miss Catrina." "Come along, Rowley." Ralph led the way and burst into the parlor. Catrina was reading to Mrs. Heathcote. The old lady's short sight prevented her recognizing her sudden visitors until she heard Catrina's delighted cry. "Ralph!" "My dear boy, what does this mean?" asked Mrs. Heathcote. With few words Ralph explained the situation. "I won't think of your going away," said the old lady imperiously. "They can't molest you here. Be- sides, Mr. Hicks will arrange this matter." 294 THE HEART OF WOMAN "He !" exclaimed Ralph. "He's at the bottom of it all. He's a villain, Auntie." "Ralph, you do him wrong." "The story is too long, but trust me, I'm not mis- taken. He visited the ship this morning to be sure I was safe; yes, to taunt me." "Oh, Auntie!" cried Catrina, wringing her hands. The dreadful prison ship! Think of it! And he was here this afternoon and said nothing!" This confounded Mrs. Heathcote. "It is too terrible to believe," she said. "I give you my word he merits hanging, madam, if ever a man did," said Rowley. "Never mind, Auntie. Don't bother about him now," said Ralph. "He and I will have many things to settle when we meet next. What we need now is a change of clothes, something to eat and a little money." "Why, my dear boy, if you think that's best you shall soon be fitted out," said the old lady, beginning to bustle around. "How is Helen?" asked Ralph. "We've not heard a word from her, Ralph," said Mrs. Heathcote, regretfully. "We would have heard if anything was amiss," said Catrina, cheerfully. "Come, Auntie, if you will see about the clothes I will help Dinah with the meal." "Poor, dear fellow," Ralph could hear her say, as she passed into the hall with Mrs. Heathcote. "We are all right, my boy; in an hour we'll be safe," said Rowley, gayly, when the two were alone. "I don't CATRINA PATS THE RANSOM 295 know which is the most delightful, the old lady or the young." Ralph's thoughts were too busy to allow him an idle word. The room was full of memories for him. One by one they carried him back like so many stepping stones to his boyhood days. By and by Mrs. Heathcote returned with some of her husband's clothing, which she had retained in a pious wardrobe of old mementos. A selection was soon made and the two men were taken upstairs to divest themselves of their tell-tale regimentals. They made a laughable appearance as they reentered the parlor, for Mr. Heathcote's suits were too large for Ralph and too small for Rowley. Catrina set to work with a needle to remedy the worst defects. As she was kneeling before Ralph to tighten a too ample vest he placed his hand gently on her hair. She permitted it to remain there for a mo- ment and then as she removed it gently she raised her eyes to his sadly and shook her head. "Egad !" said Rowley, surveying himself. 'This suit has all the effect of a year's high living. I feel as if I had the gouty habit and an enlarged liver." In a state of tense excitement the little party sat down to the meal Dinah had prepared. Every one struggled for composure, but speech came in a disjointed,, spasmodic form. "You'll write at once to Helen, won't you, Auntie? Tell her I'm all right. Say nothing about the prison ship." 296 THE HEART OF WOMAN "Where are you going?" asked Catrina. For answer Ralph turned to Rowley. "Our best plan," said the doctor, "is to get up to the north of the island to-night and push farther along to- morrow if we can. I don't think we shall meet any troubles we can't get over. The only thing I regret is I can't see Hicks when that draft is presented." "What draft is that?" asked Mrs. Heathcote. With great gusto Rowley told the tale of his dealing with Wills. The old lady failed to appreciate the humor of the financial part of the transaction, for she said seriously : "If Mr. Hicks doesn't pay it I will." "Let me pay it, Auntie," begged Catrina. "My dear young lady, in that way you'll buy two good men at a ridiculously low figure," said Rowley. "I can't estimate Rowley's worth," said Ralph laugh- ing, "but I swear it's too high for me." "Tell Auntie I may," pleaded Catrina. "You'll never see that draft, Catrina," said Ralph, "but if you do you may pay it on condition you allow me to return" it." "No," she cried, "no conditions." "You want to buy me body and soul?" asked Ralph. "No," said Catrina, dropping her voice, "but I would like to know you owed your ransom to me." A knock at the outside door startled the company. "Who can it be this time of night?" asked Mrs. Heathcote alarmed. "Go back to the kitchen, Dinah, I will answer it." CATRINA PAYS THE RANSOM 297 All were standing. Rowley felt for his pistol. "We'll fight it out, Ralph," he said. "It can't be any one after us," said Ralph. "Prob- ably some messenger." "But, Ralph, supposing ' began Catrina, her face white as a sheet. "If it is, Ralph, here's the old passage." Saying this she opened a part of the partition at the side of the fireplace and revealed a low passage that went straight through the big chimney. Ralph and she had often played in it. It was not unlike a long flue open at the top to the air. The knocking at the door was urgently repeated. "Go along, Auntie," said Ralph. "Whatever it is, it is best to answer it. Be careful, that's all." "They shall not touch you, said the old lady reso- lutely as she went out into the hall. "Go in there! do," pleaded Catrina. "Hurry! Hurry!" "The young lady's suggestion is best," said Rowley. The two men stooped and entered the passage. As Catrina closed the partition behind them she heard Hicks's voice in the hall. Catrina's heart was beating wildly. More than once she was forced to gasp for breath as she leaned against the door and listened to the words uttered without, but the very intensity of her excitement came to her as a positive relief after the apathy, despair and loneliness she had experienced during the last few weeks. It was a moment of danger, she knew. Some crisis was at 298 THE HEART OF WOMAN hand exactly of what nature she could not guess. Her only clear thought was that Ralph was in her keeping, and there was something akin to joy for her in the sense of peril. The exhilaration of a vague resolve filled her as though in response to the beat of her emo- tions. She could hear Hicks alternately pleading with Mrs. Heathcote and commanding her. "I shall not remind you again that you are running a great risk in delaying me," he said finally. "If you will not allow me to see Miss Rutherford alone for a few minutes, well and good; you must take the conse- quences." "You shall not," said the old lady positively. "Mr. Hicks, I command you to leave my house." Catrina threw open the door. "With your permission, Auntie, I will see Mr. Hicks. I have something to say to him." "Mr. Hicks has/ no business here at this late hour that I will countenance," said Mrs. Heathcote sternly. "Miss Rutherford, if my business could be transacted at any other time needless to say I would defer it. In a very few minutes there will be nothing for any of us but regrets. However, rather than insist further Hicks moved toward the street door. "How long do you want with me, sir?" asked Ca- trina. "A mere matter of two or three minutes." "Can't you deliver your your business to my aunt, also?" "I can't. Absolutely," replied Hicks, resolutely. CATRINA PAYS THE RANSOM Laying a hand on Mrs. Heathcote's shoulder, Ca- trina said : "I think it is best, Auntie, dear, that I should see Mr. Hicks. Leave us for a minute; I will call you." "I don't like this intrusion," persisted the old lady, "but if you think " "I do," interrupted Catrina, who, turning to Hicks, said as she stepped away from the threshold: "You may enter, sir." After whispering hurriedly to her aunt, she followed her unwelcome visitor. "Will you permit me to close the door for a mo- ment?" were Hicks's first words after casting a rapid glance around the room. "You may," said Catrina. "Thank you. Miss Rutherford certainly is treating me with discretion if not with welcome." Catrina watched him as he deliberately closed the door and even more deliberately walked to the supper table, which he scanned with an insolent air of triumph. "I am sorry," he said, "I was not one of your com- pany to-night. I didn't know you supped so late." "What is it you want?" asked Catrina angrily. "You said your time was very limited." "True. Will Miss Rutherford be seated? Thank you. Now r will you listen to me to the end I shall be brief without exclamation of any kind? I shall place my subject before you in such shape that when you have heard me it will be necessary for you to an- swer only 'yes' or 'no.' ' 3<X> THE HEART OF WOMAN Hicks raised his voice in uttering the last three words. Catrina felt there was something pitiless in the alternative. To avert his steady gaze she said ner- vously : "Please proceed." "I am glad you are interested. My fate and that of others, who I believe have Miss Rutherford's warm shall I say, sympathy? depends upon her answer." Seating himself in a chair facing Catrina, he bent for- ward and commenced to twirl his thumbs slowly in ac- companiment to his words. Despite his outer assur- ance a slight tremble in his voice occasionally betrayed the struggle he was making to completely master his feelings. Compelled by the force of the man and the sense of danger attached to him, Catrina sat watching him like one fascinated. "A short time ago," Hicks began, with the utmost deliberation, "I was presumptuous enough to place at Miss Rutherford's feet what remains of my life, honor and fortune. Up to a certain point, I must confess, she was admirably candid with me. She closed every door of hope to me except one she permitted me to press my suit. Finally, though still disdaining any- thing higher than friendship for me, she condescended to seriously entertain my proposition. She left one afternoon, having more than half promised that if I would be satisfied with a greatly qualified acceptance she would consent to be my wife. I told her that if she would grant me so much so little from the lover's standpoint I would wait contentedly until, by service CATRINA PATS THE RANSOM 3<DI and proof of my devotion, I had won the rest. Was Miss Rutherford playing with me then, or merely using me for some purpose? I would fain believe neither, and yet within a few hours of encouraging me she dis- missed me by an incredibly short note, delivered to me by a man who more than once has avowed himself my enemy. Do you wonder if I ask myself what part he played in my dismissal? Of one thing I am certain, Catrina but for his influence you would never have written that letter. Dear me! What is that? Are you really troubled with rats here?" "Oh, no. Go on," begged Catrina, nervously. "Ah ! Well, then. I am not a man to lose easily or to give up without a struggle the dearest prize of my life. Catrina, I will win you yet if I can win you by any means. Foul or fair I care not, but dp me the justice to acknowledge that hitherto I have played fair. I should have won you ere this but for unwarranted op- position. You know that. I am not guessing at my facts. You rejected me as a sort of price you were forced to pay to an unholy tyranny. Good! I am now gcing to propose that you accept me for the same reason." Hicks rose to his feet. His voice was defiant. He could no longer hide his sense of triumph in the situa- tion. With one fist clenched, and leaning upon the table, he continued : "A couple of men escaped this evening from His Majesty's prison ship. I have guessed where they are. Perhaps Miss Rutherford knows. Unless you speak 3O2 THE HEART OF WOMAN they are probably safe. Your silence, I take it, is as- sured; therefore their fate lies in my hands. One of those men is my enemy. At last, thank Heaven, he is absolutely in my power. I can kill him as easily as a terrier could that rat we heard a moment ago in yon- der partition. Do you blame me if I rejoice? Do you wonder if I demand the highest ransom I can think of to forego my revenge and permit him to escape un- hurt? Not all the riches in the world could tempt me; but I love you, Catrina, beyond riches, and on one condition will place that man's life and liberty in your hands. I left the fort with the understanding that a squad of soldiers was to follow me here exactly thirty minutes after I departed. There are now," continued Hicks, placing his watch on the table, "fifteen minutes remaining. If the military arrive I may be powerless. If you will give me your solemn promise and I'll trust you not to default that you will marry me within six months I will leave here instantly and no one shall be disturbed." Breathlessly, Catrina arose, her hand pressed hard against her heart. "Is is that the only way?" she asked, blankly. "Absolutely," replied Hicks, "if you want to save him." "To save him!" murmured Catrina, hysterically. "Yes, yes, if that is the only way yes." "You promise to marry me within six months?" he persisted. "Yes, I do," she replied, solemnly. CATRINA PAYS THE RANSOM 303 "My God, but you love him !" exclaimed Hicks. His bitter expression of admiration had been barely uttered when the partition was thrown open and Ralph, livid with anger, stepped into the room. Rowley followed him. "Blackguard and scoundrel!" cried Ralph, striding toward Hicks. "Miss Rutherford shall make no bar- gain with you. I shall buy my own safety at my own price." Hicks, white as his lace frills, stumbled back a step or two at Ralph's sudden onslaught. "Oh, Ralph!" cried Catrina in fear. But there was a ring of joy in her voice that maddened Hicks. "You can hope for nothing from me," cried Hicks, addressing Ralph. "Nothing from you, you villain ! No, nothing but what I can take. Don't you think you owe me some- thing?" "Nothing but what I would pay you," sneered Hicks. "Don't fear, then, you shall have your opportunity now. You have shown what you want of me, and you have tried by every trick of dirty treachery to get it. Let me tell you what I want of you your life." A cry escaped Catrina. She placed her hand on Ralph's arm. "We are not settling accounts that way to-night," said Hicks, struggling to be cool. "We are, Mr. Hicks, I assure you. Thanks to you we have a few minutes left. How many?" Ralph asked as he handed Hicks his watch. 304 THE HEART OF WOMAN "If you are interested," said Hicks. "Capt. De Lancy and his men will be here in about ten minutes. Don't you think you had better rely upon Miss Ruther- ford's arrangement with me?" "Yes, do, Ralph," pleaded Catrina. "When I can kill this wretch?" demanded Ralph. "No, Ralph, dear; don't." "Catrina, there's only one word that can save him. Do you love him?" "Ralph I think I "Forswear yourself to me, Catrina. Look up ! Do you wish to spare him or me?" "Can you ask?" Catrina pleaded. "Good ! Rowley, Mr. Hicks and I will have to count on you. Offer him his choice of the pistols." "Ralph, you are not going to " cried Catrina. "My dear, you must leave the room. Let me lock the door. For my sake be silent for a few minutes. My safety depends on it. Can't I trust you?" Saying this, Ralph led her to the door. "Is there no other way? I will marry him, Ralph." "And kill me?" Catrina bowed her head. Then suddenly she turned the key in the door and quickly withdrawing it put it in her bosom. Throwing her arms around Ralph's neck she cried excitedly: "You shan't send me away. I have courage. God guard you, Ralph. I hate that man." The vehemence of this utterance appalled Hicks. He was standing against the wall like a dog at bay. CATRINA PATS THE RANSOM 305 "Is this murder?" he cried. "Let me out. Give me the key, Miss Rutherford." "Don't put a finger on her," cried Ralph. "Stand back, or I'll shoot you without pity. Take your place at the other end of that table. Mr. Rowley shall count three and our account with one another will be settled." While Rowley was struggling to induce Hicks to take a choice of the weapons Ralph pleaded with Ca- trina to leave the room. "I will not," she cried passionately. "If you force me out I will raise an alarm. I am safe here. I won't move. Fight if you will and kill him." "You splendid girl !" cried Ralph, as he kissed her. He went to the end of the table and took his station there. One pistol remained on the table before Hicks. Rowley handed Ralph the other pistol. "We are in your hands, Rowley. See that the play is fair. Proceed !" Hicks, now deadly pale, was standing where Rowley had placed him. He was nervously fingering the wea- pon before him. Hate and fear were struggling within him for control. He was no coward, but he lacked the desperation that ruled Ralph. Moreover, the revul- sion of feeling from the sense of triumph a few minutes before tended to unnerve him. He felt he was caught in the trap he had made for his enemy. A moment or two more and he would be safe ! He looked around the room. He saw Catrina standing trembling against the door supremely beautiful he thought in her devotion to the man she loved. Rowley, massive and cool, like 3O6 THE HEART OF WOMAN a judge, stood at his side, midway between himself and his antagonist. The little world that counted for every- thing at that moment was against him. Gripping his pistol tight he looked at Ralph's face, hard set with one purpose to kill him. Only a few feet separated his antagonist from him, and his heart quailed when he heard Rowley say, deliberately: "Keep your pistols at your side, gentlemen, until I have asked you whether you are ready and then counted one, two, three. At the command 'Fire !' raise your weapons and shoot. If either of you deviate from this I swear I will put a bullet through him on the spot." "I will have none of this," cried Hicks. I refuse to give color of self-defense to any murder you may in- tend." "Coward as well as scoundrel, eh?" sneered Ralph. "To the last then I have given you more credit than you deserve. Look at him !" "The gentleman is careful of his fine carcass," cried Rowley. "Go on," cried Hicks, wincing under the lash of in- sults that made his face livid. "I will settle with you, too." "You settle !" cried Ralph. "Renegade, false to your only friend's trust; thief, who stole and gambled the money committed to your charge; sneak, who, under the cloak of friendship, plotted " "Liar!" roared Hicks. "So ho! You can feel!" cried Ralph, insolently. CATRINA PAYS THE RANSOM 307 "Yet you could play the part of spy to entrap me and then come here, you scoundrel, to force this girl by threat to marry you. Gentleman, that you claim to be; coward, that you are; daring to prate of revenge ' "Stop !" cried Hicks, threateningly. " when you haven't the courage to take it. I would spit on you if it wasn't that it would wash some of the filth from the King's commissioner." Provoked, maddened to the last extreme, Hicks, with .a yell of rage, lifted his pistol and fired at Ralph across the table. The bullet entered Ralph's shoulder and his weapon dropped from his hand. Catrina rushed to Ralph. "Murderer!" cried Rowley. Snatching up Ralph's pistol, he discharged it at Hicks. "Murder! Murder! My God, to die thus!" cried Hicks, as he sank to the floor. His cry rang through the house. . The moment's silence that followed was broken by Mrs. Heathcote's voice and the sound of hurrying feet in the garden without. "The soldiers!" cried Catrina. "Run, Ralph, run! Here's the key, Mr. Rowley." In an instant the door was opened and the three were fleeing through the kitchen. The hammering of the soldiers on the front door aroused Hicks. "The rear garden, De Lancy," Hicks gasped. "Mur- derers ! Shoot them !" He had made himself heard. He could hear the 3O8 THE HEART OF WOMAN sound of footsteps hurrying around the house, and as he fell back exhausted he panted with satisfaction. Once out in the garden, Ralph and Rowley made straight for the wicket gate. The next instant they were past it. Turning quickly, Ralph put his arms around Catrina and kissed her. "Hurry, hurry!" she cried. "Halt!" roared a voice, followed immediately by a shot. The bullet struck Catrina in the back. With a cry she grasped the palings to steady herself. Hearing the cry, Ralph returned. "What's the matter? Are you hurt?" cried Ralph. "No, no!" she cried. "Only frightened; hurry. God bless you." Peering through the darkness, striving still to watch Ralph's retreat, the night grew blacker before her eyes, and she sank to the ground. CHAPTER XXVIII. WHERE THE HEART IS THERE WILL OUR THOUGHTS BE ALSO. THE first news that I received of either Ralph's cap- ture or escape reached me amid the excitement that attended the reported murder of Mr. Hicks. The story ran that Hicks had been foully slain at Mrs. Heath- cote's by two desperadoes who had escaped from the prison ship. I made my way at once to King street and there in a few moments I learned the sad reality. Hicks had expired during the night. The soldiers had found Catrina and carried her into the house. No one but Mrs. Heathcote and the doctor was per- mitted to see Catrina until the end. She lingered only a few days, dreaming of Ralph, as her Aunt told me afterward. "Auntie, I love him," she repeated frequently. None of us heard of Ralph for many weeks. With great effort Rowley managed to get him as far as New Rochelle. His wound became seriously painful and perhaps his life was saved only by the hospitality of a Huguenot family, who received and sheltered the wanderers. 3IO THE HEART OF WOMAN A month elapsed before the patient dared undertake the journey northward, even by short stages. He ar- rived at the Manse pitiably weak and there learned of the dark sequel to the escape from the Jersey. With a silence that was the very soul of tenderness Helen nursed him back to health. She knew that the sadness upon him was the shadow of another love, a haunting spirit that rendered her affection, as she thought, a common-place thing of clay, yet pitying Ralph without measure, serving him without thought of sacrifice, she offered him, in the guise of duty, a love that was as priceless in its own way as the one he had lost. As I think of it I bow my head in wonder at the thought of how much the silences of life contain. When Ralph was physically recovered he went back to the army. I didn't see him or hear from him until the war was ended. He bore an active part in the operations that closed with the surrender of Corn- wallis and was promoted rapidly. He was colonel when he entered New York with Gen. Washington on the day the British evacuated the city. Helen, jubilant over the happy termination of the long civil struggle, had come down to Mrs. Heathcote's with Isaac Scott to meet her husband. Ralph paid me an early visit. The campaigning has given him rugged health, but I soon perceived the old boyishness and elasticity of spirit were quite de- parted from him. "Put your hat on, Alex," he said after our greetings were ended. WHERE THE HEART IS 311 On the street he linked his arm with mine and led me up Broadway to St. Paul's chapel. "It is here?" he said, half in question, as we turned into the churchyard. I knew what he was seeking. Without a word I conducted him to Catrina's grave. Without a word, his hand on my shoulder, he stood gazing at the little mound of earth for some minutes. The tears were in his eyes when he turned away and still clinging to me walked homeward. THE END. "Too good a novel to remain unclaimed." Chicago Evening Post. # # * THE OF ELIZABETH Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert Ornamental cloth cover, gilt top. $1.50 Times' Saturday Review, Philadelphia ft The anonymous author of this clever story shows all the ear-marks of a practiced writer. It would not be surprising when the name is revealed to find it by no means unfamiliar. The book is well constructed, consistent and logical, and although its theme would lend itself easily to sensational treat- ment, it is handled with conspicuous delicacy and restraint. Elizabeth is a thoroughly natural and charming character. There is sufficient humor to leaven the seriousness of the main thread of the story. It is a good tale, capitally told." 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